Gamer4 in. I dedicate this episode to the little bat that somehow found its way into my house the other day. We found it rather weak, and put it outside with some fruit to restore its strength. Hope you're doing okay, little buddy. Nothing to do with the episode itself, I just... hope you're alright.
Episode XXVI
Hyperspace Battle
"Okay, not to say I'm not enjoying catching up with what Blake and Ruby are up to in this world..." Pyrrha piped up.
"Says you," Blake shuddered.
"But I thought this world was meant to focus on Jaune and PENNY," Pyrrha concluded.
"About... Penny?" Ironwood flinched imperceptibly.
"Strangely enough, she's a robot in this world," Winter quickly stepped in, throwing him a meaningful look.
"I... see," Ironwood coughed. "How unusual."
"Unusual indeed!" Penny hiccupped quickly.
"We'll be gettin' back to them soon," Tom promised. "Now... let's go."
Blake waited until their small ship was on the opposite side of a warp column before slowing down and checking on her new charge. "How are you feeling, Ruby?"
"Fine! Better than ever, in fact!" the young girl beamed, clearly happy to be out of that cell.
Blake glanced around. "I should report to the subcommittee. Can you handle the controls for a bit?"
"Of course!" Ruby puffed her chest out a little. "I'm an observational realian- this is the kind of thing we're built for!"
"Oh, she's so cuuuute!" Yang fawned.
"Almost enough to make me forget-" Tai started.
Blake smiled and transferred the controls.
"Great! Setting course for Fifth Vytal!"
Blake's chest seized a little. Here it came, the moment she'd been dreading. "Ruby, we're... not going to Fifth Vytal. My orders were to bring you to New Vale."
"...That," Tai sighed.
"What?" Ruby asked, eyes widening. "Not... to Fifth Vytal? Why?"
Blake understood all the questions lingering underneath that simple one-word query.
Why not to Dad? Doesn't he want to see me?
"He should," Tai growled. "He must be insane not to."
"Or perhaps came to his senses," Raven spoke up.
"I am not in the mood for your horseshit, Raven!"
The outburst was surprising enough to her that she did not retaliate.
Unfortunately, Blake didn't have much in the way of answers as to what Taiyang Xiao Long did or didn't want.
"I'm sorry. Those were my orders. Something about a project that requires your inclusion."
Ruby pouted, but adjusted course nevertheless. "Alright... now on course for New Vale..."
Ruby looked down at the ground. A hand was placed on her shoulder- she looked up in surprise to see Whitley.
"...First time?"
News of Ruby's rescue was enough to merit another meeting for the Committee in question. "I've received word that the Prototype has been recovered- she is on her way to New Vale as we speak," announced James Ironwood.
"Well, that was certainly... fast," Robyn Hill nodded, her lips slightly pursed.
"Wait, she's the one who's working with the Chateau, ain't she?" Yang remembered. "She must have been puling for you to fail!"
"But she didn't," Weiss reminded her quickly. "Ruby's safe, no need to go punching the screen!"
"Nice to hear," Taiyang Xiao Long agreed. "Once she's at the UMN Control Center, we'll all have some peace of mind."
"It seems quite a bother to send her all the way to New Vale, though," interjected the Committee's youngest member, a Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck. "Couldn't we have had her taken here, to Fifth Vytal?"
"Ah, Oobleck as well?" Ozpin smiled. "It seems we have some good hands on this committee."
"So weird to actually understand what he's saying..." Ruby considered.
"Nah," Tai shook his head. "There's special protection that only the facility on New Vale is equipped to handle."
"Summer Rose certainly didn't like making things easy on anyone, did she?" Robyn pondered. She directed a pointed glance at Tai.
He sighed. "Don't worry about me, you're only speaking the truth."
"Special... protection?" Sun pondered.
"Ah, I see," Ironwood realized. "We assumed that the information she was given was passed to her orally by her mother- but she's a realian... a humanoid computer, I am given to understand?" He glanced at Winter.
"Something akin to that," she nodded. "I see... she didn't tell her anything- she uploaded information into her."
"My brain is like... a computer?" Ruby was pulling faces, clearly trying to imagine it.
"I suppose that would make it easier for her to study..." Weiss considered.
"Ah, a mentat," Whitley nodded his understanding of the situation.
"What did you just call my sister?" Yang growled, cracking her knuckles.
"Nothing offensive!" Tom quickly intervened. "And yeah, something like that."
"With all this effort, we ought to be certain that this realian truly holds the Y Data," Ironwood commented.
"There's no need to worry about that," Tai shook his head. "She has it, alright. The keys to the warp column leading to Old Vale... and that's just the tip of the iceberg. God alone knows what exactly Summer stuffed in that girl. The only way to know for sure is to look."
"So that's why everyone's after her," Neptune deduced. "It's the only way to get through the gate to Old Vale..."
"Where the Zohar waits," Ren agreed.
"Why do they need the gate?" Torchwick scoffed. "What, it's locked in another dimension or something?"
"Well, no, we've heard nothing of that sort," Ozpin shook his head, drinking from his coffee.
"Yeah, I guess they could go there without the gate... assuming they don't mind the thousands, if not millions of years it will take to get there without faster than light travel," Ironwood explained succinctly.
"Thousands... millions..." Torchwick stammered, clearly having trouble even comprehending the idea.
"Space is big," Neo giggled, happy to hide that she'd been wondering the same.
"We're relying on you, Xiao Long," Robyn's eyes narrowed. "If this goes wrong, it will be another delay on the Zohar Project."
"Well, it's not like we don't have any other leads," Tai shrugged. He pulled out his scroll and cast an image to the big screen. It was rather grainy- it looked like security footage, showing two women sitting around a desk. One was easy to identify- it was Summer Xiao Long, nee Rose. She had designed Ruby, the 100-Series Prototype in her own image, from the black hair (sans red tips) to the silver eyes. The only major difference was her cloak- Ruby's red traded out for a brilliant white. She wore a kind smile- nobody looking at that smile would have guessed at the madness that lay beneath.
"Mom..." Ruby looked down at her feet.
The other woman was more of a mystery. She was far younger- likely only a teenager. Her head was turned away from the camera, leaving them only with shoulder-length brown hair. She wore a standard Beacon Uniform, leaving very little to work with in identifying her.
"Wait... that's..." Velvet slowly realized.
"This image was processed from the only surviving surveillance camera," Tai introduced. "This girl seems to have been serving as an assistant, or apprentice. Given the time this photo was taken, it's pretty certain she helped compile and store the Y Data."
"Who is she?" Freya Maxwell finally spoke, leaning forward.
"The records were destroyed during the Fall," Tai shook his head. "All we know is that she was fourteen, and studying at Shade Academy- even that much is second-hand from Summer herself."
"Shade, you say?" Oobleck asked, leaning forward. "At fourteen? Must have been a prodigy..." He looked to be thinking very hard. Finally, he snapped his fingers. "Adele! I believe that girl is Coco Adele! I recall her vividly- she was a student of mine, top of her class!"
"It is, it's Coco!" Velvet nodded brightly. "So she might know how to get to Old Vale too?"
"Well... about that..." Jaune gulped.
"You know her?" Robyn asked sharply. "Could you get in contact with her?"
"I'm afraid not," Oobleck shook his head. "I am afraid Ms. Adele entered mortality two years ago, at the young age of twenty-six. Rarely has the galaxy suffered so great a loss..."
Velvet froze. "Coco... dead?"
"I guess we forgot to mention that part..." Even Nora looked downcast.
"That doesn't mean this is a dead end, though," Freya commented. "Where did she go after the Fall?"
"I believe she joined up with Sector."
"That does make sense," Tai nodded. "Sector was Summer's main financial backer. Seems only natural her apprentice would end up working there."
"Perhaps we'd be best served to find anyone who worked for or alongside Ms. Adele during her time in Sector," Freya proposed. "It may be a shot in the dark, but she may have passed on information about the Y Data, even if unintentionally."
"Oh! Oh! Like Jaune-Jaune!" Nora hopped up and down. "Oh, yeah, it's all comin' together!"
"Come to think of it, he was supposedly there during the Fall, wasn't he?" Pyrrha remembered. "Hmm... I wonder if he came into contact with the Zohar himself?"
"I kinda hope not," Jaune admitted. "That thing creeps me out..."
"Either way, we won't be able to accomplish much until we find a way back to Old Vale," Ironwood noted gravely. "Without the true Zohar, we are blind in the dark."
"Clearly, whatever they're trying to do, the Zohar plays a key role," Ozpin assessed.
"Just in case that heavy-handed dialogue didn't tip us off enough," Raven rolled her eyes.
"Alright, we had to wait a little longer, but we're finally back to Jaune," Tom announced.
"You've got to be kidding me! This is ridiculous!"
Pyrrha winced. She and Jaune were in the Serenity's communications room, speaking to their director- and Jaune was not pleased with what he was hearing. "What is the meaning of this?!"
The director- a man with an aviator haircut and slight beard and moustache, sighed. "It means exactly what it says, Jaune."
"Gotta be somethin' bad if it's got Fearless Leader this angry," Nora crossed her arms.
"Well, either I'm going crazy, or you're telling me that as soon as PENNY reports to New Vale and receives her secondary equipment, we're supposed to turn her over to the Second Division!"
"That's the long and short of it, yes. That was the plan from the start, wasn't it? I get that we don't want to see her go, but going through your report, I'm not seeing any major problems with her."
"No major problems?" Ironwood repeated. "I would say a unit acting autonomously is at least some reason for concern. Er-" He saw Penny looking shocked out of the corner of his eye. "If they're not intended to be, of course."
"Which this version of PENNY clearly is not," Winter agreed.
A tic was going in Jaune's left eye. "No major problems?! She's operating on her own! She's using a mode that was supposed to be disabled two years ago- how can we turn her over without understanding that?! Who else is qualified to do that kind of work with her, if not me?!"
The director took a long, deep breath. "Neon and Flynt told me everything that happened aboard the Discovery. Our division didn't lose anyone, by some miracle, but without PENNY, it would have been far worse. Would you have preferred her to stay asleep while you all died around you?"
"Oh, good, Neon and Flynt and everyone else survived," Nora sighed in relief.
"I do wish my other could have saved everyone's lives," Penny admitted.
"People were dying even before she activated," Ruby recalled. "It wasn't your fault."
"...Thank you, Ruby."
"Of course not," Jaune shook his head. "But still, this isn't something I can just turn my back on."
There was a somewhat tense stare-off between the two- Pyrrha found herself reminded of the staredown between Jaune and PENNY before they'd boarded. Finally, the director gave in.
"Alright. I'll see what I can do. Neon can take care of the paperwork."
"...Thank you, sir," Jaune bowed his head.
"Hmm, all he can guarantee is a little extra time," Ghira noted. "No doubt the higher-ups will want to see their investments returned sooner rather than later."
"Just... try not to do anything foolish," the director concluded. "I don't want to see a repeat of Sidewinder either, after all."
There was a beep, and the director's visage was replaced with that of Neon Katt. "Nice going, Chief!" she beamed, directing a thumbs-up at him. "Oh, and Pyrrha, too! Flynt and I are so glad you two are safe! You should have let us know sooner! The military sent out a notice saying you were killed, you know!"
"Well, er... glad to disappoint, I guess," Jaune smiled lopsidedly, scratching nervously at the back of his head. Now that things had died down, he was back to his more reserved self. Pyrrha smiled.
"I imagine the department was in an uproar."
"Oh, yeah," Neon nodded quickly. "You've got a lot of admirers, Chief!"
"Stop it, you two," Jaune shrank away. "No need to lie to my face..."
"It seems this Jaune has some of the same self-esteem issues ours has," Ren observed.
"Worse," Jaune shook his head. "Even I know that you guys would be busted up if you thought I'd died."
"I don't... even want to think about it..." Pyrrha shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself.
"No, it's true!" Neon's eyes widened. There was a call from behind her. "Yeah, I'll be there in a sec! Listen, I gotta go- see you on New Vale!"
The transmission ended. Jaune took a deep breath, then snapped his fingers. "Oh, right, I promised to make dinner for everyone!"
Pyrrha flushed, turning bright red at the thought of eating Jaune's cooking. "Oh, that... that's right, you did, didn't you?"
"Oh, Jaune's cooking is divine!" Pyrrha beamed.
"It's passable," Ren shrugged.
"Oh, enough of that, Ramsay!" Nora rolled her eyes.
"Can you let the others know I'm getting ready?" Jaune asked quickly. "I gotta get started!"
"Right- of course!" Pyrrha nodded and hurried out.
Jaune took a second to make sure the communication equipment was all powered down before following her out.
He was making his way down a hall when he heard something he hadn't quite expected to hear this far out into space- the sound of a piano. He followed it to its source and located none other than lie ren in his room, sitting at a piano, tapping away at the keys. A bright, cheerful tune, his fingers flying across the keys.
"Eine kleine Nachtmusik," Winter identified.
"Gesundheit," Qrow offered.
"That's not- oh, nevermind," Winter rolled her eyes.
He drew to a halt when he noticed Jaune's entrance. "Oh- hello, Jaune," he greeted with a small smile.
"You... have a piano?" Jaune asked- rather dumbly, he couldn't help feeling.
"I find it soothing," ren admitted, somewhat shyly.
"What... what song was that?" Jaune asked conversationally.
"Oh- Eine Kleine Nachtmusik," ren introduced- then, seeing the confusion on Jaune's face, chuckled. "A Little Nightmusic," he translated. "No surprise you don't recognize the language- it's dead nowadays."
"Nobody speaks Atlesian anymore?" Ironwood arched a brow.
"If they're under one Galactic Federation, it wouldn't be entirely surprising if everyone spoke one common tongue," Ozpin guessed. "Even if not... well, modern Atlesian is already quite different from Atlesian two hundred years ago, let alone six thousand."
"It doesn't exactly sound like a lullaby," Jaune commented.
"No, and I don't think it was meant to be," ren shrugged. "It was composed about a hundred years before the songs Captain Branwen likes to listen to, and even those are over five thousand years old." He raised a hand to his chin. "I find that interesting, you know. So many years between those eras, but nowadays, we look back on them as one long era- the Era of Lost Vytal. We spent hundreds of thousands of years on that planet, certainly longer than we've spent in space, but looking back, we can see it only as one... one single stretch of time."
Jaune felt a wave of deja vu- it took him a second to realize why. ren spoke in the same dreamy, philosophical tones that Ozpin tended to speak in whenever he visited the CEO's office.
"Ren likes waxing poetic!" Nora confirmed with her arms crossed.
"Irrelevant bullshit," Raven scoffed. "Exactly what I'd expect them to learn at Beacon."
"That's... something to think about, alright," Jaune nodded.
"Sorry," ren snapped out of it. "I tend to ramble sometimes. Sun and Neptune like to make fun of me for it- either I'm not talking at all, or talking far too much. No in between."
"Ren... talking too much?" Yang chuckled.
"Pray you never end up on the receiving side of one of his Powerpoints," Jaune groaned.
"No problem with that," Jaune shook his head, smiling. "Oh- I came in here to tell you, I'm getting ready to cook some dinner!"
"Well, that sounds lovely," ren smiled, rising to his feet and stretching out his back. "It'll be nice not to have to cook for once."
"Oh, good, he doesn't seem as harsh a critic," Nora sighed.
"Nora... have you ever presented me with something that wasn't microwaved?" Ren asked faux-casually.
"OH GOD, IT'S HAPPENING AGAIN!" Nora whimpered, wrapping her hands around her head.
It didn't take long for the entire crew to gather in the dining hall- Qrow, Pyrrha, Jaune, and ren all sat around one table, while Sun and Neptune took seats at a very conspicuously stocked bar. Cardin silently took a seat as far away from everyone else as he could, and ate in absolute silence. The only person missing seemed to be Hazel.
"In the words of my forefathers, 'Chow down!'" Jaune announced with a smile.
Pyrrha dipped into the curry Jaune had prepared, and immediately broke into a smile. "Chief, this is delicious!" she praised.
"Damn good food!" Sun nodded his agreement.
"Eh, ren's cooking is better," Qrow shrugged as he tore into the meal- it was already half gone.
"Heheh... Uncle Qrow's such a soon-dare," Ruby giggled.
"Where did you even hear that word?" Qrow stared.
"Curry, huh?" Tai observed. "Good, good, a man should know how to cook."
"Apparently, curry is just a thing in this world," Jaune recalled.
"Don't worry too much," ren chuckled. "Whenever I cook, he says it pales compared to the Rainforest Café."
"Listen," Qrow objected, holding out a finger. "You haven't lived until you've eaten at the Rainforest Café on New Vale. Don't bother with the one in Destiny Land, though, it's a ripoff."
"Destiny Land is a ripoff in general," Qrow scoffed.
"A few years ago, I'd have argued, but in the past couple years...yeah," Tai agreed reluctantly.
Jaune allowed a chuckle to himself. "Oh, I know all about the Rainforest Café. Actually, I worked there while I was going to Shade Academy."
"Hmm..." Pyrrha pondered. "That... actually explains a lot."
"I guess there are worse things than being a waiter," Jaune considered.
"It's a perfectly respectable profession," Ghira nodded approvingly. "Especially while working towards a higher education."
Qrow slammed a mug down on the table. "Fill 'er up!"
Jaune looked to the large bottle of whiskey that had been placed on the table. "Yeah... I'm definitely remembering my Café days..." Nevertheless, he filled Qrow's flagon as requested. "Anyways, it was good practice for back home. God knows my sister never did any cooking. She's too busy reading her books- paper books."
"Well... I'm sure she has her reasons," ren suggested, barely higher than a whisper.
"What's wrong with paper books?" Blake demanded, affronted.
"They're almost a relic of the past now, let alone six thousand years from now," Torchwick laughed.
Blake narrowed her gaze at him, but Tom casually stepped between.
"Renny?" Nora asked, faux-casually. "Do you... know Jaune's sister?"
"Never met her," Ren shook his head dismissively.
"Well, beats the hell out of the Stooges' cooking, I'll say that much," Qrow grunted.
"Hey!" Sun objected. "You all liked my banana bread!"
"You haven't lived 'til you've tasted my banana bread!" Sun boasted.
"True," Neptune nodded agreeably.
"Yeah, but the ramen you tried to serve with it... not so much," Neptune commented, drumming his fingers.
"...Also true," Neptune shuddered.
"Hey, at least I had nothing to do with The Appetizer!"
Qrow, who had just been taking a large drink of whiskey, did a spit take. "Hey! We agreed never to talk about that- especially while we're eating!"
Neptune, meanwhile, looked like he was having a traumatic flashback. "Never again... never again..."
Cardin grunted to himself. "Idiots..."
"Oh, dear... it's gone inter-dimensional..." Pyrrha gulped.
"Even fleeing our reality won't let us escape..." Ren shuddered as much as he was capable of.
"So, ren doesn't always do the cooking?" Jaune asked.
"I suppose I should have spoken a little differently," ren smiled. "I was looking forward to an edible meal not prepared by me. Though... there is one person who never cooks..."
"Don't blame me for that," Qrow objected again. "You're the ones who never let me in the kitchen."
"And after your attempt at making- what was it? An omelette cocktail- I don't really blame us," Sun smirked.
"Damn near lost the ship to that one," Neptune groaned.
"Oh, God, it's our graduation party all over again..." Tai whimpered.
"You were lucky I was there to lessen the casualties," Raven reminded him.
Winter opened her mouth, closed it, and shook her head. "No... I don't want to know."
"Enough of that- fill 'er up!" Qrow demanded, thunking his flagon again. Jaune was still laughing as he filled it up.
"Er... Chief?" came Pyrrha's voice from beside him. "Mind if I... have some of that?"
Jaune blinked in surprise- he hadn't taken Pyrrha for a drinker. "Oh, sure," he nodded, pouring in a small amount. Pyrrha accepted her cup graciously, violently red in the cheeks.
"I hope she's better than our Pyrrha at holding her liquor," Jaune swallowed.
"She can't hold it?" Yang asked, giving a cheshire-cat grin.
"I would hope none of you have tested your capabilities in that regard," Ozpin cleared his throat to remind him of the adults that were present.
"It was an accident!" Pyrrha eeped.
"And we all learned our lesson!" Jaune assured him emphatically. "She was out for three full days!"
"We're just fortunate Nora only got the cider," Ren concurred.
"Boo, it was boring!" Nora pouted.
When the meal ended, most of the crew cleared out- Qrow, Neptune, and Sun returned to the bridge, Cardin to his cabin, and ren... presumably in the same direction. Jaune and Pyrrha were left to clear the dishes, but that was fine by Pyrrha- she'd been waiting for a chance to speak to Jaune one-on-one.
"So, what do we do now? Just... stick with everyone until we arrive on New Vale?"
"I guess that's the plan," Jaune nodded. "Everything changed so quickly..." He straightened up. "But, I guess there's no use crying over spilled milk."
He glanced over at Pyrrha, noting how uncomfortable she looked. "Is there... something wrong?"
"Well... you know I'm a woman of details..."
"Yeah, that's how you got through Shade," Jaune nodded.
"I looked up this ship's registry- they're with the Maxwell Foundation. Have you heard what the news says about them? They discriminate against faunus, and take in realians and other synthetic people to use as slave labor..."
"Given the name it shares with a Schnee's alias, I'd hardly be surprised," Adam sneered.
"No! Winter isn't like that at all!" Weiss rushed to her sister's defense.
"Where exactly did you hear that?" Jaune asked, surprised. "On New Vale, they're known as a very charitable organization- they take those people in because they have nowhere else to go!"
"That is quite a different story," Velvet noticed.
"Of course, a human would be blind to the atrocities committed by their own kind," Adam scoffed.
"Hmmm... still, many a news source has been known to distort the truth to their own ends," Ghira considered. "I should like to see some more of the organization itself before casting judgement."
"And that is why nobody will remember your name," Adam scoffed.
Pyrrha still didn't look all too comfortable. Jaune sighed. "I don't really trust what every news organization says anymore- everyone is too quick to twist things to suit themselves. The only w ay to know for sure is to see it for ourselves. New Vale sees the director, Freya Maxwell as a hero."
"I don't know if I'd go as far as to say 'hero,' but she's definitely a good woman."
Jaune and Pyrrha both jumped as they spun to see ren walking into the room.
Winter jumped when she felt Nora's eyes on her- actually pressed against her. "And how do you know Ren, hmmmm?!"
"I've never met her before today," Ren sighed, pulling her back. "Stop attacking any female one of my others has met before, if you please."
"Oh- ren, didn't see you there," Jaune smiled apologetically. "What's up?"
He gave a sheepish sort of laugh. "Sorry- I really should announce myself. I thought I'd take some time from my grueling schedule of thumb twiddling to come and help with the cleanup."
00
"Oh, sure!" Jaune beckoned him closer. "Finished most of the cleanup, but there's still the drying to do!"
With ren's help, the dishes were done very quickly. They were stretching, working out the kinks from a job well done when ren noticed a plate of curry that hadn't been touched. "What's this?"
"Oh, that was for Commander Rainart," Jaune explained. "I guess he never showed up."'
"That... does not bode well," Ozpin muttered uncomfortably.
"Yeah, we already know Tiny's pullin' with the Chateau," Qrow agreed. "I want that guy in sight whenever we can manage it."
"I did call him," Pyrrha noted slowly.
Jaune shrugged. "Well, guess I'll just heat it back up and take it to him! After that, might as well call it a day."
"Sounds like a plan," Pyrrha agreed, turning to head to her cabin.
ren, however, lingered behind a little longer. "If I may ask... where's PENNY?"
"Taking a nap in her service module," Jaune related. Per their word, Qrow and the others had scavenged amongst the wreck of the Discovery and recovered PENNY'S maintenance pod, transferring it to the hangar. "I'm guessing she'll be out for a few more hours. Did you... want to go talk to her? I mean, you have my permission- I'm sure she'd like that."
"I am always happy to make a new friend!" Penny beamed.
"As long as it's just friends, buster!" Nora interjected.
"What else could we be?" Penny asked, tilting her head.
"I'll explain later, Penny!" Ruby interjected quickly.
"Thank you very much," ren bowed before leaving the kitchen himself.
PENNY's room was very dark as ren made his way through it- her module was the only real source of light. At a touch, it opened up, revealing the robot herself, on her back, looking for all the world like a normal woman at rest.
Ironwood saw a chance and took it. "Quite impressive- robotic technology in our world hasn't nearly reached this level. She looks indistinguishable from a human!"
"We can only hope our own technology can reach such a zenith one day," Winter confirmed, catching on quickly.
"Oh, yes! Yes indeed!" Penny hiccuped.
"Hmmm... something weird..." Neptune muttered to himself.
ren hovered a hand over her face, his eyes watery. "It's been... so long," he muttered, almost to himself. "I wish I could tell you how happy I am to see you... introduce you to Nora..."
He looked down her body, taking in every detail. "So... where's the rest of you?"
"Um... what? How does he know her?" Nora asked- not aggressively, for a change. "Wasn't she only born like, a week ago?"
"Even that sounds like a stretch, if what you've told us is right," Kali agreed.
"Hmm... I clearly know Nora... somehow..." Ren observed. "But my diction indicates I knew her first, we somehow lost contact, and I met Nora later. Which... leads us back to the problem that PENNY wasn't born until only a day or two prior."
"And what does he mean, 'Where is the rest of me?'" Penny asked with her hand to her chin.
"I don't know how he could know she had missing parts when Jaune doesn't," Sun agreed.
"Hmm... I don't think that's exactly what he was saying," Pyrrha shook her head. "This is the strangest thing we've heard in these worlds, and that's quite something to say."
He looked up when he heard heavy footsteps approaching. "Good night," he whispered quickly, before disappearing out the back door a second before the front door opened, revealing the gargantuan body of Lietenant Commander Hazel Rainart.
He looked around quickly as he entered. "...Thought I heard someone..."
"Is this Hazel someone who's likely to bring harm to her?" Ironwood demanded.
"Hmm... not unless he was ordered," Ozpin concluded. "Of course, I speak of our Hazel, rather than this one in particular."
He turned his attention towards the robot in the pod before him. He'd been feeling very faint since the battle of the Discovery- or perhaps it had been since he'd nearly been killed by that gnosis. Dark memories were stirring in the back of his mind, memories he'd just as soon forget, but that now seemed to be stuck to him like leeches.
One of these horrible memories centered around the robot laying in this pod. It began on his home planet- on Chorus, one day in the rain...
"He's from Chorus?" Neptune recognized the name. "Ain't that the planet that disappeared and started all this to begin with?"
"It is," Weiss nodded.
"Ohh... how he must feel that the organization he works for destroyed it?" Kali sympathized.
The industrial district of Chorus was immediately identifiable from a distance due to the presence of the hundreds of towers used for nuclear fusion, providing for its immense power needs. It was in front of one of these towers that Hazel met his contact.
He knew nothing about his contact, only that Commander Taurus had instructed him to meet with her. Hazel trusted Adam Taurus with his life- if he had received instructions to leap from the tallest bridge in the federation, he'd do it without question. Nevertheless, there was a chill running up his spine as he approached this contact- this woman.
"While I certainly like the idea of having a human lapdog of such loyalty, even I have to ask... why?" Adam admitted.
"I couldn't begin to guess," Ozpin shook his head. "He's never been the most... stable of individuals."
He knew it was a woman based on her size and build, but that was all he could tell. She wore a black coat and jeans- the hood was up, and she stood resolutely with her back to him throughout the encounter.
"Yeah, that's a woman," Torchwick agreed."And one not interested in being identified."
Per Adam's orders, Hazel made no effort to unravel her identity regardless. She produced a flash drive from a pocket, holding it out with her right hand. When Hazel held out his own palm, she dropped the drive into it.
"Sidewinder," she instructed in a hoarse whisper.
"Keeping talking to a minimum, talking like she has a cold... yeah, she doesn't want anyone recognizing her voice either," Neo noticed.
"So, we can trust this will work correctly?" Hazel asked, examining it closely. "Hmm... you must have gone to some lengths to-"
He looked up, and the woman was gone.
"Classy," Yang snorted. "What, is she secretly Batman?"
"I'm sure Batman would have nothing to do with the dealings of the Chateau!" Weiss objected- then flushed. "Or so I'm given to understand via hearsay, of course..."
"Still a fan?" Winter asked of Team RWBY.
"It's so cute how she thinks it's still a secret," Yang chuckled.
"Oh... hush!"
A week later, Hazel and his squad descended on the planet Sidewinder. They were dressed in full body armor and helmets as they approached the facility where, according to their information, the first start-up experiment for the Polendina project was set to begin.
"Uh-oh!" Ruby gulped. "I, uh... just realized what's about to happen!"
"Sidewinder... Polendina Project... oh, crap," Blake muttered, closing her notebook.
"Oh, dear... how bad?" Kali asked.
"You... might want to look away from this, Penny," Ruby suggested.
"No... facing unpleasant truths is part of being human... isn't it?" Penny glanced at Ruby nervously.
"I... I guess that's true."
The information hadn't been faulty- they had kicked down the door to find Sector's First R&D Division busy as bees, their crown jewel PENNY inert in a pod in the center of the room.
They all looked up, horrified, when the room was flooded by soldiers. Hazel raised his voice to be heard over the ensuing discord:
"Everybody, down on the ground, please! This facility is now under the jurisdiction of the U-TIC Organization- do not resist, and you have no reason to fear! Any resistance will be met with deadly force. We appreciate your cooperation."
"Trying to be pretty polite for a hijacker," Qrow narrowed his eyes.
"If the students' concern is anything to go by, they'll be facing retribution soon enough," Ozpin observed.
He approached the pod, producing his scroll, to which all the data from the flashdrive had been transferred. With a few simple taps, the pod was forced open.
"PENNY! No, PENNY!" cried a voice that Hazel only now recognized as Jaune Arc's.
It was followed by a scream from someone he now supposed must have been Coco Adele- "No, Jaune, don't resist! They'll kill you!"
The robot within the pod looked much as she did now- the only major difference was the color of her hair, a muted gray compared to today's bright ginger.
"She looks more like my sister than my other," Penny tilted her head.
"Hmm, a prototype indeed," Ironwood agreed.
Everything seemed to be going to plan as a hand rose jerkily from its slumber, assisting the torso with rising from the bed. She rose up, gazing around in her primitive visor using those same jerky motions...
Then all hell broke loose.
Her head turned- ninety degrees, then a hundred eighty, and finally a full 360 before she crouched like an animal and leapt at the soldier nearest her. He screamed as she ripped off his arm and tossed it carelessly over her shoulder with all the difficulty of tearing tissue paper. Hazel moved to attack, but she struck him in the chest, sending him clear across the room- he felt two ribs break.
"Oh, my!" Penny placed her hands over her mouth.
"Dear God..." Winter stared in horror.
"She's moving like the Grudge," Yang shuddered.
"I don't want to remember that movie!" Ruby squeaked.
She showed no favoritism- she punched a scientist aside as carelessly as any of the soldiers before wrenching a gun from one of the organization members and firing back into him before twisting the gun into a knot.
There was screaming... blood everywhere, some of it splattered across Hazel's visor...
"Yeesh, I almost feel sorry for the bastard," Torchwick winced.
The lights went out at some point- Hazel didn't see how it happened. He fumbled through the darkness until he stumbled onto the outside, rain lashing against the ground, lightning off in the distance. He was practically crawling when he heard rapid footsteps behind him- he realized with a jolt that that monstrosity was following him, moving faster than he ever could even in perfect shape.
She crawled across the ground like a possessed woman in a horror movie, her head twisting around to gaze at the sky- some sort of demented spider.
"Well, I'm not sleeping tonight," Nora freely admitted.
"I... I promise I would never do any such thing!" Penny swore.
"We believe you," Pyrrha agreed. "She's not supposed to be acting like that... something's wrong. Very, very wrong."
"The woman!" Jaune realized. "The woman who gave him the code- it was a set-up!"
"You think she did it to try and take out a bunch of U-TIC soldiers?" Sun asked.
"If that's it, she clearly didn't care about collateral damage," Velvet pointed out, biting a nail and half-tempted to hide her eyes behind her ears.
Backup arrived in the form of a U-TIC helicopter, opening fire with all weapons at the aggressor- but she dodged everything, her arm transforming into a cannon and blowing them out of the sky in a single shot.
The last thing Hazel heard before he passed out was Jaune's voice screaming out- "NO! PENNY!"
Standing here, looking at her sleeping so peacefully, Hazel found it difficult to imagine that it was the same robot. Certainly, a great deal had changed in the intervening two years, but at her core, it was still the same robot, built off the same archetype.
Trembling, he reached for his gun, ever at his side. He pulled it out, cocked it, and took aim at her head. Never again... never again...
"No, don't do it!" Ruby pleaded. "It's not the same anymore!"
"Right- she saved the entire team on the Discovery without hurting anyone but the gnosis!" Jaune agreed.
A wave of nausea overcame him- he truly felt as though he were about to vomit. He looked at his free hand, and for a brief moment, it seemed to shimmer in front of him- as though it had been momentarily transparent.
"Umm... I get that this is a different world, but I don't imagine that's normal here, either?" Sun asked.
"No... no it is not," Ren denied.
"Hello?"
He spun around to see Jaune Arc standing in the doorway, a tray of food in his hands. He quickly turned the safety back on on his gun and holstered it. "Ah... Mr. Arc."
"Is this... what it feels like to be saved?" Penny asked.
"I don't know if I'd go that far!" Pyrrha shook her head quickly. "I... don't think he was going to shoot her regardless."
"You never know, someone in that headspace..." Ghira sounded less confident.
"I... didn't see you in your room," Jaune explained, a note in his voice that told Hazel he hadn't missed the gun's presence.
"Oh, I was... taking a look at PENNY. I wanted to see her up close for myself."
"...With your gun out?"
Hazel winced internally. "It's... a bad habit of mine, I'll admit. But... I always feel most comfortable with it around."
"I guess that makes sense," Jaune conceded as he took a seat nearby, placing the tray next to himself. "You are a soldier, after all. Not as bad as my sister, walking around in normal life waving a longsword around. I can't tell you how embarrassing it is..."
"That sounds cool!" Ruby objected.
"I... really don't understand what my other's problem with Saphron is," Jaune repeated. "We always got along just fine in our own world."
Hazel allowed his shoulders to relax- he took a seat next to Jaune's, picking up the tray. "Yes, that certainly does sound... unusual." He looked up towards PENNY again. "So... this is the android built to take on the gnosis... you'd never know it from looking at her."
"I guess not," Jaune shrugged. "But still... you should have seen her. So many people on board the Discovery would have died, if not for her."
"You sound proud," Hazel noted, after swallowing a bite of curry. "You're one of her prime developers, correct?"
"Yeah," Jaune nodded. "I know... I know she's meant to be a weapon, but I can't help seeing her like... like a daughter. Or maybe like a friend..."
"Oh, I'd love to be friends with you, too!" Penny beamed.
"Well, I don't mind," Jaune smiled, somewhat awkwardly.
"Oh, wonderful!" Penny glomped him. "We can try on clothes, and paint our nails, and talk about cute boys!"
"I think... you'd have more success with some different activities," Pyrrha giggled- she couldn't even find it in her to be jealous.
"Pyrrha- help- suffocating!"
Hazel allowed himself another couple bites to give himself time to think. "It seems... only natural that you'd feel proud. Aside from the crew, everyone on this ship is alive because of her. You, your friend... me and that lieutenant. Winchester, isn't it?"
"Cardin Winchester," Jaune agreed. "I... I'm not sure how to feel about him. Before PENNY found us, he... he almost did something... horrible..."
"What did he do?" Velvet asked tentatively.
"He almost used the ship's realians as his own personal explosives arsenal," Blake hissed.
"Strangely enough, he stopped when he saw... well, he saw a vision of you," Jaune recalled.
"Me?" Velvet tilted her head. "I don't understand."
"Believe me, we don't get it either," Nora assured her, nodding.
Hazel thought for another minute. "I don't pretend to know much about him," he confessed. "The Discovery was our first mission together, but... in times of crisis, people can do things they'd normally not consider. I've seen it happen far too many times. People get desperate, and in their throes, do the unspeakable..."
"Hmmm... that is unfortunately true," Ghira nodded. "I've seen it happen as well- and not just in regards to the White Fang."
"That wasn't your fault, dear," Kali whispered, running a hand through his hair.
"I know... that hardly makes it any easier."
His fingers twitched, drawing Jaune's attention to the incredibly neat way that he ate- the curry remaining on his plate was near geometrically perfect, a far cry from the mess that Sun and Neptune had made- even Pyrrha couldn't claim to eat so... perfectly.
"Something funny?" Hazel asked.
"Oh- I just noticed how... neat you are," Jaune decided to just come out with it.
"Oh, that- it's just... part of who I am. At least... now it is."
"That is... an unsettling way of putting it," Whitley noticed.
"Not necessarily!" Nora chimed in. "Maybe he was just a slob in the past, and his time in boot camp straightened him out!"
"Maybe they ought to send you to boot camp," Raven scoffed.
"We tried," Jaune, Ren, and Pyrrha all groaned at once.
"I've never seen a drill sergeant break down like that before," Jaune shivered at the memory.
"Shouldn't have gotten between me and my pancakes," Nora growled.
Jaune cast around for something else to talk about. He'd only ever really seen Hazel as a superior- now that they were, in effect, equals, he found himself curious about what made the big guy tick. "So, what brought you on board the Discovery in the first place?"
"Well, there's no magnificent story about that, I'm afraid," Hazel shrugged as he picked up the cup of whiskey Jaune had brought him, downing it in one gulp. "I'm a soldier, and soldiers go where we're assigned. That's truly all there is to it."
"Yes... he's telling the truth about that," Ozpin nodded. "He is, however, leaving out details about who issued those orders."
He returned the cup to the tray, sat it down, and rose to his feet, exiting the room with no further conversation.
Jaune glanced at the plate- it was sparkling clean, not a speck of food left wasted. "...A soldier, huh?"
"Wastefulness is not something you'll find in the army," Winter confirmed.
Jaune returned the tray to the kitchen, then headed up to the bridge- he still didn't feel all that sleepy.
"Hey, Mr. Sector," Qrow greeted. "Right on time- we're just about to make the jump into hyperspace."
"Hyperspace!" Ruby grinned eagerly. "We're gonna see what hyperspace looks like!"
No sooner had the words left his lips than a holoscreen appeared- a generic female avatar in a generic blue room with the letters UMN behind her. "Thank you for choosing the UMN Transfer Gate," she smiled politely, as if there was any other option for getting from one planet to another within a lifetime. "We would like to confirm your vessel's registration. Organization: Maxwell Foundation. Vessel Class: Type II Cargo. Vessel Number 53.20150201. Designation: Serenity. Captain: Qrow Branwen. Is this all correct?"
"Yeah, that's us," Qrow nodded.
"Please transmit your flight plan."
Neptune tapped a few keys on his console.
"Thank you. Cargo: Scrap metal. Destination: New Vale. Hmm... you appear to have excess cargo mass."
"What can I say? We got a little carried away," Qrow shrugged.
"There will be a surcharge on the bill sent to the Maxwell Foundation. Is this okay?"
"Have at it."
"Very well. Have a safe and pleasant journey!"
The screen faded, and Sun scoffed. "Caught in the act..."
"Yeah, we know how particular they are," Qrow muttered.
"Eh, nothin' new," Neptune shrugged. "They oughtta know that by now."
"You could've sent the bill to Sector," Jaune put in.
"What, and make this all more complicated than it already is?" Qrow scoffed. "No thank you."
A rift in space opened up ahead, and Serenity passed into it- the world around them became a blur of color as they quickly exceeded the speed of light.
"Hyperspace... so cooool!" Ruby drooled.
"Nice to know bureaucracy is still going strong in the distant future," Qrow sighed, taking a long drink from his flask.
"And people say we never agree on anything," Ironwood matched with a sigh of his own.
In the depths of hyperspace, Blake took stock of their surroundings and scoffed. "Tch, they found us faster than I thought."
Ruby glanced around and saw a small unit of U-TIC ships streaking towards them. "Sending you the gun controls!"
"Please do," Blake agreed. "Time to earn my keep as your bodyguard. You handle evasive maneuvering."
Ruby nodded, and showed her mettle by deactivating their ship's thrusters, bringing them to a stop almost instantly. Their pursuers streaked by, giving Blake ample time for Blake to blast three of them into the walls of the column, where they were destroyed entirely.
"Good hustle, sis!" Yang cheered.
From the ashes of those three arose at least ten more.
"Stubborn bastards, ain't they?" Torchwick chuckled.
Ruby lay as hard into the accelerator as she could, sending their ship screaming off as fast as it was capable. "Sending out omni-directional distress signal!" she announced. Then, her eyes widened. "Blake! There's a civilian ship in this column! We have to warn them!"
"Oh! Oh! This is where we're gonna meet!" Ruby bounced up and down excitedly.
"That does seem rather likely," Ren agreed.
"Can you open a channel?" Even in these dire circumstances, Blake miraculously kept her tone absolutely calm.
"Securing an emergency channel! Go ahead!"
"Something tells me they won't be too eager to simply cry off," Ghira speculated.
"Never really been our style," Jaune admitted with an awkward smile.
Neptune blinked when a notification popped up on his screen. "Hey, Captain, we're getting a transmission- emergency class."
Qrow knitted his brow. "Put it through."
"Attention, civilian spacecraft," began the voice on the other end. "A battle has broken out in hyperspace. For the safety of your ship and crew, we recommend gating out as soon as possible."
"No question, that's Blakey!" Sun grinned.
"You seem rather familiar with our daughter," Ghira's brow furrowed.
"Oh, has little Blakey got a boyfriend?" Kali beamed hopefully.
"MOM! DAD!" Blake whined.
"Hold up, hold up, hold up!" Qrow raised his hands, though this transmission had no visual component. "You're fighting in hyperspace?! The hell did you dipshits come from?"
Neptune's fingers were flying across his terminal- a second later, another holoscreen appeared, showing a single ship clearly struggling to outmaneuver the small fleet that was right on its tail.
"I didn't know there were ships that small that could enter hyperspace!" Jaune exclaimed.
Behind them, the door opened, and Pyrrha came sprinting in, her eyes wide and mouth open. "What's going on?"
"Your guess is as good as ours, Ms. Sector," Qrow grunted.
"Blakey, you've got some 'splainin' ta do!" Yang chuckled.
"Yes, I'll get on that, as soon as we end this battle going on at speeds multiple times that of light," Blake sighed.
The escaping ship dipped beneath the Serenity, pulling ahead- the ships pursuing it ignored them entirely- which is to say, Sun had to pull off some maneuvering of his own to avoid getting shot up or crashed into. "Watch it, assholes!" he screamed.
"Huh, never thought I'd be the type to get road rage," Sun considered.
"There's getting mad at someone for cutting you off on the freeway, and there's getting mad at someone for nearly destroying your ship at warp speed," Neptune pointed out. "I think you're justified here."
"These your people?" Qrow demanded of the Sector employees.
"No, that's not one of our ships," Jaune shook his head. "None of them are."
ren dashed onto the bridge, assuming a navigation terminal across from Neptune just as he announced, "The small ship is sending out a distress signal!"
"What shall we do, Captain?" ren asked.
Before Qrow could answer, Sun cursed again. "Dammit, we're in their line of fire!"
"Well, get out of the way!" Qrow threw his arms up.
Sun dipped their ship lower and lower, to the point they were nearly brushing the walls of the cylindrical column.
"Without touching the walls, you moron!" Qrow yelled. "You wanna get us killed?!"
"Scraping against the walls of a wormhole... I may not fully understand the science at play, but that just sounds like bad news bears all around," Tai nodded.
Neptune and Pyrrha found themselves clinging to each other as the ship rattled violently the closer it drew to those walls. "I wanna live!" Neptune wailed. "I wanna liiiiiive!"
"Our father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come..." Pyrrha was reciting rapidly under her breath.
"I was raised in a rather religious household," Pyrrha reflected.
Deep below the ship, Cardin and Hazel were being thrown around their respective cabins like rag dolls.
"What the hell is going on up there?" Cardin snarled, rushing to his door, intent on finding out.
"Hate to say it, but some soldiers in this situation could be handy," Nora considered, her chin on her knuckle. "I will be keeping my hammer on standby, though."
"Looks like a party!" Sun called behind him. "We joining in, Cap?"
Once again, Qrow was unable to answer before a stray beam from one of the pursuers finally hit the Serenity.
"Hit to Sector Four!" ren announced. "Outer hull partially damaged!"
"THAT TEARS IT!" Qrow roared, his eyes alight with fury- which he took out by kicking the back of Neptune's seat. "Any enemy of theirs is a friend of ours! Sun, take us in!"
"Best uncle ever!" Ruby cheered.
"Not that he has any idea it's you he's saving," Weiss pointed out.
"Ah, let her have this, Ice Queen," Yang ruffled her hair ("HEY!")
"Aye aye!" Sun beamed- this was clearly what he'd been waiting for from the start.
"Crap!" Neptune whimpered. "He's getting that look in his eye!"
The door opened, and Cardin appeared. "What the hell are you do-"
He was cut off by the abrupt acceleration of the Serenity, Sun's eyes gleaming. "Don't you worry about a thing!" he called. "Between the Serenity's logic drive and my piloting, there's nothing we can't handle! Let's! Get! FUNKAAAAAYYYY!"
"Oh, God!" Neptune wailed.
"That never bodes well," Neptune agreed with his other, shivering. "It's orientation all over again!"
"You and I remember orientation very differently," Sun side-eyed him.
"Manning weapons!" ren quickly announced.
A small cannon unfolded from the Serenity's side and began blasting away at the pursuers that had passed them.
"A futile endeavor," Adam scoffed. "A civilian ship against all those military vessels?"
"You've clearly never seen Sun behind a steering wheel," Neptune gulped.
"Blake!" Ruby squeaked, eyes widening.
"I see it," Blake nodded. "These people must like trouble. How are you holding up?"
"I'm fine!" Ruby nodded- and it was true. Realians were built for situations like these. She supposed it wasn't actual adrenaline coursing through her right now, but whatever it was, it was having the same effect.
"Wonderful," Blake nodded.
Ruby beamed, and took the ship as close to the wall as she dared, creating waves of what might have been fire or plasma that flew back and destroyed any of the pursuers unlucky enough to get caught up in them.
"They have more ships, but we've got better people piloting the ships!" Nora prouldy thumped her chest.
"And you're none of them, so sit down," Raven hissed.
"I don't take orders from you!"
"Very good, Nora," Ren praised quietly. "Though do, in fact, sit down."
They couldn't hear it, but Sun was cheering them on. "Damn, that ship has some moves! Catch the wave!" The gleam in his eye grew more pronounced. "I can feel it, baby, I can feel it!"
"Don't you fu-" Cardin started, but was once again cut off as Sun approached the wall himself, creating the same wave effect and destroying the ships on their tail. Everyone either grabbed onto the nearest solid object for balance or simply fell to the floor- indeed, Hazel had spent the past few minutes trying to leave his room, only to get knocked back to the ground.
Neptune's eyes widened. "Reinforcements!"
Sure enough, while the Serenity's waves were enough to wipe out three pursuit ships, another five had already appeared to take their place. As ever, though, their focus was on the smallest ship involved- they were working together to shoot it down, and it was steadily becoming harder and harder to evade.
"They can only dodge for so long..." ren muttered, his knuckles white on the controls beneath his gloves.
His words were proven true as a beam knocked out one of the ship's jets.
"SHIT!" Qrow cursed.
"We're going down!" Ruby cried. "I'm yelling timber!"
Abruptly, ren turned towards Jaune. "Jaune... how are you at UFO catchers?"
"The hell are you talking about, twink?" Torchwick rolled his eyes. "What does that have to do with anything?"
Ruby let out a yelp as their ship gravitated towards the nearest wall- now surfing on it was all they could do.
Blake closed her eyes in resignation. "Well... we did what we could, but it seems this is the end." She had no qualms about dying herself, of course, though she truly wished she hadn't dragged the young, innocent Ruby into it. "I'm sorry I couldn't see you through this safely."
"It's not your fault," Ruby smiled sadly. "Thanks for everything."
"Are you... afraid?"
"A... a little," Ruby admitted. "But... as long as you're with me, I'll be okay."
Blake's chest hurt again. "I... see."
"I don't wanna die!" Ruby cried. "And I don't want Blake to die with me!"
"Oh, don't worry, your stupid uncle is gonna save you with a UFO catch-" Torchwick was about to scoff.
THUNK.
With a loud clunking sound on either side of their ship, they found themselves being lifted away from the wall- looking on the outside, they found themselves between the fingers of a long arm protruding from the Serenity's catapult deck.
"...Sunnuvabitch," Torchwick sighed, really wishing he had a smoke.
"Nice catch, Jaune!" Neptune whooped, thumping him on the back.
"Wonderfully done," Pyrrha beamed at him.
"I've had... more practice with UFO catchers than I'd care to admit," Jaune smiled sheepishly.
"One truly never does know when the most bizarre of talents may come in handy," Ozpin reflected with a chuckle.
"Just like that winter you were glad I wore cargo pants," Tai smirked at his daughters.
"Ugh, don't remind me," Yang pleaded.
Another transmission came in- Blake quickly accepted. "Alright," said the gruff voice that had addressed them before. "We're gonna pull you in, nice and easy. Hurry inside once the hatch closes. We'll handle the rest from here."
"Blake!" Ruby beamed.
"...Fans of trouble indeed." Even Blake couldn't fight a small smile at the revocation of their death sentence.
"Oh, so she can smile," Sun grinned.
"I'll ask you not to be so familiar with my daughter," Ghira drummed his fingers.
"I'll thank you to do just that!" Kali grinned.
"Ugh..." Blake wanted to disappear.
Neptune brought the arm in, but then encountered another problem. "Er, Captain? The hatch isn't closing."
Qrow let out a low growl. "Damn rusty hunk of junk and its damn electric problems! Murphy can go to hell!"
ren took over the transmission. "Attention, vessel occupants- the hatch is jammed. We still have some shielding up, so if you put on your spacesuits and use your ship for extra shielding-"
"Roger," came the calm voice that had first made contact. "We're a cyborg and a realian down here, so we should be fine."
"I just thought... wouldn't it be funny if, after all this, these were actually two completely different fights, and they went down there and it was Team NDGO or something?" Nora giggled.
"You have a very strange idea of 'amusing,'" Whitley stared at her.
The escape ship's last service to Ruby and Blake was to open up its own hatch, allowing the two of them to hop out, making sure to crouch behind it for maximum coverage. It was dark and smoking in several places- its days of hyperspace travel were most certainly over.
"Are you okay?" Blake asked.
"I'm fine!" Ruby assured her. "I told you, I'm a lot tougher than I look! What about you?"
Blake couldn't help a slight smirk as her eyes flicked to her various synthetic parts. "Well... I'm built as tough as I look."
"That almost looked like... smugness," Yang smirked.
"Oh, shove off," Blake rolled her eyes.
Ruby smiled- a smile that quickly disappeared when she looked to the sides and saw the remaining ships circling around, moving closer and shifting into mech forms as they prepared to board.
"Quick, further in!" Blake instructed- they broke into a run. "Keep me updated on their situation- they're supposed to capture you alive, they won't do anything too rough."
"Not to me, but what about you?" Ruby fretted.
"We're being boarded!" Neptune called out.
Qrow looked to the port side, where one of the ships had pulled up alongside them. "Surrender and maintain cruising speed," it instructed. "If you do not comply, we will be forced to treat you as a threat. Repeat- surrender and maintain cruising speed, or we will be forced to attack. We guarantee your safety if you follow our instructions."
Qrow narrowed his eyes at the automated voice. "My ass guarantees our safety- these autotechs will take us down either way. Sun! Full throttle!"
"With pleasure!"
Sun, still riding his high, used the ship itself to ram their assailant into the column wall. By the time he let up, the ship could do nothing but fall below Serenity and explode- and explosion that gave the catapult deck the jolt it needed to finally finish closing.
"I... totally planned that," Sun laughed.
"Sweet!" Neptune beamed. "The deck's locked and sealed!"
"This is insane!" Pyrrha cried, wide-eyed.
"One ship got in!" ren announced. "It's transformed into AMWS form!"
"'Aims?'" Ironwood glanced at Tom.
"Assault Maneuver Weapons System," Tom explained. "Basically an AGWS for more general combat."
"You have any weapons on board this thing?" Cardin demanded, eyes narrowed.
"First door on the left after you leave the bridge," Qrow instructed. No sooner had he said it than Cardin had taken off.
"I've got a weapon of my own back at my cabin," Jaune announced. "I can help-"
"No!" ren cut him off. "It's too dangerous. You're just our passengers- this is our responsibility."
"I can't just stand by either!" Jaune shook his head. "We'll wake up PENNY on the way!"
He turned to Pyrrha. "Pyrrha, go find the Commander and protect the cabin!"
"I- alright." For a moment, it appeared as if Pyrrha might argue, but to Jaune's relief, she did no such thing.
"Heh, Pyrrha ignoring one of his orders... that's a real fantasy for ya," Nora giggled.
It was a mad sprint through the ship towards the room PENNY had taken over as her maintenance bay, where they found her already awake. "Jaune, the ship is under attack," she announced helpfully.
"Yeah, we noticed," Jaune nodded quickly. "Look, we're going to the catapult deck to fight them back. Come with us!"
"Affirmative," PENNY nodded. "I will eliminate the enemy units."
"Without damaging the ship."
"Affirmative," PENNY nodded again. "Proceeding at thirty percent output."
"What good are you at 30%?" Raven scoffed.
"Remberin' the scene we witnessed earlier... I wouldn't second-guess her," Qrow reminded her.
From there, it was one brief elevator ride through the hangar, where they located their new passengers- a black-haired cyborg with cat ears and a young realian in a red cloak and hood.
"There you go, Nora- it really was them," Ren pointed out calmly.
"Ah," Blake turned to face them. "Is one of you this ship's captain?"
"Only passengers, I'm afraid," Jaune shook his head. "The unit that pursued you- where is it?"
The cyborg jerked her head behind her. "A soldier came through here earlier with a large gun- I can't imagine it going well on his own."
They all turned and dashed in to find Cardin flat on his back, coughing up blood, but still defiantly aiming his gun up at the large mech towering over them. "Smile, you son of a bitch," he growled, aiming at the sensors.
"I... well, I don't want him to die!" Velvet gulped.
It reared back an arm to end his life- only for PENNY to intervene, bringing out her arm cannon and blasting away at its shoulder. The mech turned to them- if it had a face, they'd imagine it would be glaring at them.
"Mystic powers!" the realian cried. "Grant me a miracle!"
Her silver eyes flashed, as Grey Effect waves emitted from her, effectively frying the sensors it was using to detect them, allowing Blake to get in close with some of the larger guns she could pull from the UMN. Jaune aimed his MWS in cannon form and blasted everything he had at it while PENNY transformed her cannon into a blade for more close-quarters combat.
Blake blasted away a leg, giving Jaune the courage to shift his MWS to sword form and dig its large blade into the machine's good arm. PENNY landed in front of the head, turning her arm back into a cannon and taking careful aim before blowing the head away- the remainder of the mech collapsed to the ground, motionless.
"Area secured," she announced, turning the cannon back into an arm and hopping off of the ruined mech.
"We're the best!" Ruby cheered.
"A very fine display," Ozpin praised.
"Points for not relyin' on some deus ex machina bullshit this time around," Torchwick rolled his eyes.
With the threat out of the way, the realian hurried to Cardin's side. Her hands glowed as she once again chanted her mantra- "Mystic powers, grant me a miracle!" Slowly, beneath her hands, Cardin's wounds began to heal.
"Hey... stoppit," he muttered, attempting to shove her away half-heartedly. "I... dunneed yer help..."
"You're still drowsy from blood loss- you do need the help," the realian insisted. "Now stay still!"
"Very well done, Ruby," Ozpin praised. "It's easy to help our friends- finding it in ourselves to help those who deride us is far more difficult."
"Heheh... thanks?" Ruby scratched at the back of her head.
"Vanessa would have a fit if she were here..." Tom smiled.
The cyborg smiled and took a deep breath as she turned to the rest of the crew. "I'm sorry for the trouble. Now that everything's over... can you take us to the captain?"
Serenity dropped out of hyperspace, allowing the crew to assess damages. Pyrrha was shaking as she looked over ren's abandoned terminal. "Damage all over," she confirmed. "Radar system down- the emitter's probably destroyed. Generator output dropping, with no signs of slowing..."
"Probably ran the ship into the hyperspace wall a few too many times," Neptune speculated ruefully. "Thanks to a certain maniac who drives like a damn lunatic!"
"A maniac who saved you by driving like a lunatic!" Sun pointed out indignantly.
"Yeah, without a second of consideration for what you'd put the navigator through!" Neptune half-agreed. "I'm getting carpal tunnel thanks to you!"
"You could have just direct-linked it!"
"Yeah, but it's way cooler to navigate by hand!"
"You wanna go?" Sun asked, approaching. "You wanna go!"
"You're both going out the airlock if you don't shut up!" Qrow roared. "I'm your captain, not your damn babysitter! My head hurts enough thinking about what these repairs are gonna cost!"
"We... may have had a few spats like that in the past," Sun admitted sheepishly.
"Not for a good few months, though!" Neptune preened.
"Er... we're back."
Everyone spun to see ren leading two others onto the bridge. Next came Jaune, muttering to himself, "I should have spent more time at the firing range..."
He looked around as the cyborg entered behind him, glancing around, taking everything in. "What's going on?"
"Nothing- you done good, kid," Qrow praised. A moment passed, and the realian entered, PENNY bringing up the rear.
"The soldier went to take a rest," the realian informed them.
"He's lucky he wasn't killed," the cyborg rolled her eyes.
"Lucky we were there to pull his fat out of the fire," Blake agreed with her other through narrowed eyes.
"Sounds like it," Qrow agreed. "Who're you two?"
The cyborg glanced at the realian. "This is Ruby, and I'm Ziggurat Eight, from the Black..."
She trailed off as she made eye contact with Ruby, who was pouting up at her. She sighed deeply. "...Call me Blake. We're acting in accordance with the Galactic Federation."
"Thank you for saving us, sir!" Ruby smiled brightly up at Qrow. It may have been the others' imagination, but they thought he turned a little red.
"Aw, we don't even know each other," Ruby pouted.
"We didn't know each other- looks like we've met now," Qrow pointed out with a smirk.
"Eh... no problem," he mumbled. "So, you two were the ones flying that ship, were ya?"
"Indeed," Blake agreed. "This one was being held by U-TIC- I was sent to break her out."
Qrow's brows furrowed. "U-TIC? Well, now I'm really glad we took your side..."
"You know them?" Sun asked, surprised.
"Let's just say I could have happily gone my whole life without hearing that name again," Qrow muttered, hand rising and fingering the necklace where he kept his dog tags.
"Well, what is it?" Neptune asked.
"Nothing you need to worry about," Qrow waved aside. "C'mon, we need a new course- nearest place we can make port and get some repairs."
"I wonder what happened between them?" Velvet thought aloud.
"If they were screwin' Summer as hard as they were, you can bet I wouldn't have liked it," Qrow nodded slowly. "Assumin' we knew each other in this world, of course."
About an hour later, the newly expanded crew met in the dining hall for some drinks and to unwind from the unexpected events of the past couple hours. Jaune took the opportunity to test something out, instructing PENNY to bring them their drinks- she complied swiftly and without complaint. It was food for thought- they still had some control over her- as long, it seemed, as it didn't interfere with these mysterious 'other orders' of hers.
"That was crazy, though," Sun smiled, plopping himself down next to Blake and Ruby at the bar. "You've got some nice moves, Blakey!"
Ghira growled.
Blake allowed herself a small smile, and leaned back to reveal a grinning, eye-sparkling Ruby. "Thank you very much!"
Sun blinked in surprise. "Wait, that was you?"
Ruby faltered a bit, as if wondering if she'd done something wrong. "Yes... I handled the flight controls..."
Jaune stepped in with a smile of his own. "Impressive- Sun was cheering for you the whole time, right, Sun?"
"Oh- yeah!" Sun nodded, smiling again. "Even- even by realian standards, it was impressive!"
He quietly retreated to have a drink with Pyrrha, muttering something about 'shown up by a kid.'
"Time heals all wounds, Sun," Blake rolled her eyes.
"Ruby- you, me, Mario Kart, full game," Sun challenged.
"You're on!" Ruby beamed, sparkles in her eyes.
Jaune took in Ruby's appearance. "Say... are you from the Rose Labs?"
"Oh- yeah, I'm the 100-" Ruby started, smiling, but quickly ground to a halt when Blake raised her hand. "Er- perfectly normal observational realian! Nothing special about me, no sir!" She quickly flapped her arms in her efforts to cover up her mistake.
"As ever, if loose lips sink ships, she would have the entire fleet at the bottom of the ocean within a month," Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose.
Jaune chuckled. "If you're worried about government secrets, you don't have to be- we're just about even, really. Nobody's really supposed to know about PENNY yet, either. So, a Hundred-Series realian from Rose Labs... and equipped with the Grey Effect, from what I saw."
Ruby, who'd been tapping her index fingers together, glanced up at Blake, who quietly nodded. She seemed to brighten a bit, and nodded herself.
"Well, that makes two Grey-Effect users," Jaune noted. "PENNY's got it, too- the most powerful version we could equip her with. A Sector original."
"Ooh, you're with Sector?" Ruby's eyes glistened.
"Yup, me and Pyrrha both!" Jaune nodded.
"Hello again!" Pyrrha chirped.
"That... is not how government secrets are meant to work," Ironwood muttered into the palm covering his face.
"They do seem to be warming up to each other unnaturally fast," Whitley observed.
"Maybe we're just all destined to be best buds, no matter the universe!" Nora happily declared.
"Hardly the most absurd theory, at this point," Ren admitted. "Still, I can't help feeling there's something else to it..."
"So," ren asked, "where were you trying to get to? We might be able to get you there if its not too far out of the way- for a small fee, of course. Right, Captain?"
"Why not?" Qrow shrugged. "God knows it feels more like a transportation job these days..."
"You could?" Ruby beamed. "Oh, could you take us to New V-" She paused again, glancing at Blake, who offered another covert nod. "-To New Vale?"
Jaune blinked in surprise. "New Vale? You too?"
"'You too?'" Blake repeated.
"Oh, nothing," Jaune waved his hands. "It's just... New Vale seems like a popular destination nowadays. That's where we're taking PENNY, too."
"What a... coincidence," Raven narrowed her eyes.
"Well, it could be," Tai shrugged. "Sounds like this New Vale is a big deal, galactically speaking."
"Indeed," Ozpin agreed. "But still..."
"Well, it certainly helps us if you're all going to the same place," ren smiled.
"Yeah... but first, we gotta get this hunk of junk fixed," Qrow muttered. "There's a dock colony not too far from here- we're gonna have ourselves a little layover. That alright by you?"
"Considering that we're responsible for the damages in the first place... no, we have no objections," Blake nodded, finally taking the drink that had been offered her a full five minutes ago.
"Great," Qrow nodded, rising to his feet. "C'mon, I'll show you around the place."
Jaune stared a moment- as did the rest of the crew. The same thought was on all their minds- Someone's being unusually nice...
"'Cause he's the best uncle ever!" Ruby cheered.
Shrugging, Jaune downed his drink before heading to sit next to Pyrrha and Sun. They had what was looking to be a rare moment of rest- they ought to savor it while they could.
"Alright, we're gonna take five with this world," Tom announced. "Next up, we ought to- hold on!"
The door opened, and Jack returned, Vanessa in his wake, her head hanging. "Did something happen?" Tom asked, concerned.
"She's done with Lana," Jack announced. "Made a deal- Lana gets to bring in four more reactors, but no more after that."
"More people are coming?" Ruby asked, surprised.
"Not right now," Raven sighed. "She's considering who she wants to bring in- she's got to make it count. What have we covered while I was gone?"
Tom and Jack filled her in quickly, and she nodded. "Well, it seems obvious to me where we ought to go from here. It's been a remarkably long time since we visited Chariots of Fire."
XXXX
Indeed it has- and, due to many life events, not least of which was my old keyboard finally choking out its last breath, it's been a while since the last episode as well. Heck, I may even have a new cat! ...Maybe. Assuming her old owner doesn't come back for her. I don't think they will- it seems like they abandoned her to the winds. But much like that bat and the cat who continued to love even when the world didn't love her, don't you dare go hollow- Gamer4 out!