AN: Yeah, it's been a few months since I last updated this, but I think this story benefits a little from the delay, and I can explain a few good reasons as to why.
Raven: Oh really? This should be interesting. You're not just going to leave at the typical "I got busy" excuse?
AN: First off, it's not an excuse if it's true. I do have other stories to work on, you know. Second, let me explain some stuff before judging.
Reason number 1 as to why the delay was beneficial: if you'll notice, this chapter is being posted after the conclusion of RWBY Volume 9, in which we learned a lot of big things. Some of which are in regards to one of the stars of this story. Seriously, you guys have no idea how glad I am we finally know what Summer's canon confirmed weapon is. Heck, we even got some scenes of Summer interacting with the people in her life, meaning she was speaking to them, and now we have a few more clues on what happened to her. Sure, it's raised a lot more questions, but the answers we got in exchange...worth it. So yeah, in case it's unclear, stuff revealed in Volume 9 will have something of an effect on this story.
Summer: Out of curiosity, if my weapon wasn't revealed in Volume 9, what kind of weapon would you have given me?
AN: I was thinking something along the lines of a spear-like weapon and sniper rifle combo, myself, but honestly, after learning what we have, I think the ax and hunting rifle combo is much more suiting to you.
Now, reason number two, the recently released Transformers Rise of the Beasts. Now if I wanted a motivator for writing Transformers stories, even if it's just one chapter, that would be it, because that movie was...AWESOME! Easily 10/10 great movie, if you ask me. Like, I'm pretty sure it has secured a spot on my Top 10, no Top 5 favorite movies of this year. Right up there with the likes of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3.
Qrow: Yeah, those were some good movies. But what about The Flash?
AN: What about The Flash? That movie sucked. I mean, it shouldn't be too surprising, given how DC movies tend to be (at least in terms of live-action, theatrical releases), but it still needs to be said that it sucks. Especially since the best parts of the movie had nothing to do with the title character.
Taiyang: Okay, buddy. We get it. No need to go on the full rant with that one. [shoots an annoyed look at Qrow] Why'd you have to bring that up?
Qrow: [shrugs with hands up in his defense]
AN: [sighs] Right, sorry. We're not here to talk about how terrible DC live action movies are. That should be reserved for a story that actually features said heroes. We're here some real fun.
Raven: Not like there's going to be much of that. I mean, we won't even get to be fighting anyone until after...
AN: DAH! SPOILER! [hits control]
Raven: Wait, what? [get a mountain of chocolate pudding dumped on top of her until she's burried under it] AW! WHAT THE ACTUAL...?!
AN: Hey, you asked for it. Now then, before anyone else tries to give anything away, here's our regular story ads and the disclaimer.
If you haven't already, please check out our YouTube channel "Studio Fandom". It's the best place to get updates as to what I'm doing with my writing stuff at the time along with various other content. And if you want to look at some pretty cool artwork, we've also got a DeviantArt page now "studiofandom", so check that out too, when you get the chance.
I do not own anything from any of the Transformers or RWBY franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story
Chapter 3: Hello Team STRQ
Despite the excitement of a training exercise with Atlas Academy's recent graduates and other assorted soldiers, not every huntsmen or huntress was obligated or even able to participate. One reason they could not would be because there were only so many slots to fill before they had too many people, but the other would be due to prior commitments and plans being made. In the case of one particular team of young huntsmen, it was a little bit of both, and you could see it clear as day in the expressions on each of their faces.
"I'm just saying why are we going shopping to celebrate graduating when we could have joined in on knocking those Atlas snobs down a few pegs?" the more roughed-up looking of the two boys complained. "I mean, if we're going to be spending our lives fighting monsters and bad guys, it makes more sense to celebrate by fighting tough enemies."
"You mean former enemies, Qrow. Remember? Atlas isn't an enemy anymore," the blond boy of the four corrected.
"Yeah, so the politics and a few pieces of paper say, Tai. The actual people, not so much," Qrow retorted.
"Oh my god. Are you still upset about the job we took in Atlas a few weeks before graduation? Just let it go already, little brother," Qrow's twin sister groaned with a roll of her crimson eyes.
"Don't give me that, Raven. We all know if Summer and Tai weren't there, you would have shoved your sword right up Gelé's ass," Qrow fired back.
Raven just stared at her brother, while the rest of their teammates looked on with tense expressions before she finally shrugged and admitted, "Well yeah, but at least I was only picking fights with someone who was at least close to my age."
"And you do remember that his last name is Schnee now, right? As in Schnee Dust Company? Any attack on them wouldn't be five minutes of relief. It would be five seconds, and the last thing I want is any member of my team getting wrapped up in drama like that," the team's leader gently reminded her friends with a peaceful smile.
"Yeah, yeah. Still don't know how Jacques convinced old man Nicholas to let him take over the SDC as opposed to his own flesh and blood. Sure, the company's steadily growing bigger and better, from some perspectives, but the work conditions and methods of getting there…well, if I didn't know any better, I'd say the old man might've been from the tribe like me and Raven," Qrow muttered.
"Qrow, I know you're not as fond of our roots as you used to be, but you could at least try not to insult our family like that," Raven scolded. She then smirked as she added, "Besides, you're still the one who tried to pick a fight with a kid."
"I did not! She was picking a fight with me! That little brat is a monster in the making, I tell you!" Qrow insisted.
Tai and the girls could only laugh at Qrow's continued insistence of his innocence, but only because they had a hard time believing little Winter would seriously have been trying to pick a fight with someone so much older than her. Then again, none of them saw the dirty looks Winter had been throwing Qrow ever since she saw him pull out his flask. It did not help that she always made sure to act well-behaved every time their team leader was around, but then again, it was hard for most people to be bad in the presence of Summer Rose. Just like it was hard to say no to her when she had a plan in mind for her team to undertake, much like today. That did not stop some of them from trying now and then of course.
"We're getting off track here. Short-Stack, how could you have seriously passed up a chance for us to knock those Atlas elitist snobs around? I even heard old Jimmy was taking part in it! You know how much I love knocking him off his high horse," Qrow complained.
"I gotta admit, that does make it pretty tempting," Tai agreed. He may not have as great of a dislike for James Ironwood as his friend did, but he would be lying if he said he thought of the lieutenant as a likely best friend.
"Well, it's too late now. The sign-up is already closed, we're already here in town, and the exercise is probably over already," Summer reminded the boys.
Both boys let out moans of disappointment while Raven just rolled her eyes and turned her attention to the main matter at hand. "I still can't believe that of all the ways to celebrate our graduation, you want to do it by going out and getting yourself a car."
"I'm not getting myself a car, Raven. I'm getting a car for the team," Summer insisted for what must have been the tenth time now. She had not actually been counting, but from the way she playfully rolled her eyes while hiding a slight tiredness in having to give the explanation again, they did probably have it quite a few times now.
"Summer, you've never been a great liar, and that's not changing today. We all know you just want to get a car because you want to avoid walking everywhere," Raven chuckled.
"Just because most things in Vale are in walking distance, doesn't mean everything in the world is, Raven. Besides, if we can save some money by getting our own vehicle instead of paying for a transport every time we have a mission outside the kingdom, all the better," Summer reasoned.
"Whatever story you have to tell yourself, Miss Leader," Raven playfully teased, earning an adorable pout from Summer in response. It was probably meant to be a glare, but even years after their first meeting, Raven still could not take it as anything close to that. Then again, whenever Summer did full-on glare at someone, she was not the person on the receiving end.
"Speaking of stories, are we gonna talk about the Goliath in the room, or what?" Tai could not help but ask, casting a rather tense silence over their group once he did.
Even several days after it happened, Team STRQ was still trying to wrap their heads around what Professor Ozpin had told them. To think all this time the Grimm actually had what they could most closely compare to a queen, and it did not stop there either. No, this queen was an immortal witch that Ozpin had been fighting for centuries if not longer. Add in the fact Ozpin himself was a reincarnating wizard who had been cursed to inhabit a new body every time he died, and that he was the old man who gave kind four maidens incredible magic powers, giving rise to the Four Maidens from the fairy tale of the same name, and it was pretty incredible for anyone to believe.
To make matters even more surprising, Ozpin revealed he had actually been essentially grooming their team to become his newest and best strike team in this war, partly because of some special power Summer had because of her silver eyes. In retrospect, it did explain why they had been able to get away with so many different shenanigans over the years while in school, but it did not really help all that much in getting Summer to figure out if those supposed powers were even real. Ozpin seemed convinced that they were, and given what he had shared with them, they felt pretty inclined to believe him. Sure, they thought he was crazy at first, but then he demonstrated some of his remaining magical power by giving the twins a very surprising new ability.
"I still can't believe you two agreed to let Ozpin give you the power to turn into birds. You do know that opens things up to so many jokes, right?" Tai grinned at both the twins.
"Tai, may I point out that I can easily change my answer to your proposal at any time?" Raven half threatened. At least Summer and Qrow thought it was only half a threat. Sometimes it was a little hard to tell for sure with Raven. Apparently Taiyang had just as much trouble telling the difference, because he quickly backed off even if the reminder of how Raven did agree to marry him.
Qrow did not even bother attempting to hide his shudder. "I still can't believe you two are actually getting married."
"Aw, what's wrong, Stilts? Feeling a little jealous?" Summer teased while nudging his side with her elbow.
"More like disgusted. This is my sister and one of my best friends, after all," Qrow ribbed back.
"Hey, at least you guys seemed to be handling the change pretty well," Summer noted, returning to their original topic. She then grew a little sheepish as she asked, "Out of curiosity, you guys haven't developed a sudden taste for worms, bugs, or any other kind of food that normal birds would eat, have you?"
"Very funny, Sum," Raven grumbled with a roll of her eyes. "How exactly is this the part we're focusing on though?"
"Probably because out of everything Ozpin told us, this seems like the easiest thing to process. Or at least the simplest," Taiyang shrugged in reply.
The other three had to give their resident jokester credit, because he did have a point. In the grand scheme of things, that did seem like the simplest thing to process. At least when you considered everything else they still needed to process. To be honest, none of them really knew just how well any of them were able to process everything, but out of all of them, there was at least one person who they felt they should be most concerned about.
"How are you handling all of it, Summer? I mean, none of this seems like the kind of thing you had been expecting based on what you've always said about your big dream of becoming a huntress," Qrow asked of his friend and leader.
Summer was surprisingly quiet for a short time, before she eventually put on a smile and said, "I mean, yeah, it's a lot to take in, but when you get right down to it, nothing has really changed about my dream. It's just given a little more perspective and a larger scope. I always knew becoming a huntress meant we'd have to fight monsters and bad guys to save the world, so being told there's a source to all of them, or at least an ultimate big bad out there to face just means we now have a better understanding of where we need to strike if we ever want to finally bring real peace to the world."
Even though she said all of this, the rest of Team STRQ could not help but notice how she had paused before answering. Sure, Summer had always been a ray of sunshine who could see the positive side of things, but learning all that they had would have shaken even the most steadfast of people. Still, if Summer did not want to talk about any issues she might be having with the larger mission they had joined, they would not push her. They all knew she would come to them in her own time eventually, assuming things did not work themselves out first. For now, they had another matter to attend to, and it was fast approaching right now.
The second she saw the dealership sign, Summer's smile lit up into its usual, shinning brilliance, and her excitement shone through just as brightly. "Oh! This is it!" Summer cheered. "Team STRQ's mission vehicle, here we come!"
Looking upon the dealership they would be browsing around in, the others were much less enthused than their team leader was. "Summer, you do know this is a used car dealership, right? The chances of finding something really good here are pretty slim," Tai gently reminded his friend.
"Hey, everything's gotta start somewhere. Kinda like that little cabin you and Raven had bought out in Patch," Summer reminded him.
"And which you and Qrow have been living at with us like a couple of freeloaders," Raven joked in response.
"Not our fault housing and apartments in Vale are so expensive," Qrow shrugged in response. "Besides, every place I tried looking at ended up getting trashed by my Semblance."
"And revealing some serious flaws with them in the process that would have made the place nowhere near worth the price they would have been charging you, Qrow. If anything, I'd say your Semblance saved your neck in that case," Summer pointed out. She then led them forwards into the dealership office as she declared, "Now come on team. We've got us a car to buy!"
Even if they did not share in Summer's enthusiasm, the rest of Team STRQ could not help but smile at this latest show of it. None of their smiles faded for even a second as they entered the main office of the dealership, and soon caught sight of a very familiar face behind the counter. Sure, he was not currently facing them, being so buried in some busy work on his computer at the time, but they did still recognize his signature blue hoodie, red shirt, dark blue pants, and sunglasses even from an angle.
"Hey, welcome to Prime Auto where you'll find all the deals for all the wheels. And not just in terms of cars, either. If it's a vehicle of any kind, or involves maintenance or repair work for any kind of vehicle, we're your non-stop shop for it all," the man at the counter started off as he slowly turned to face the team. "What can I do for—Team STRQ! MY FRIENDS! So good to see you guys!"
"Hi-ya Dave," Summer waved cheerily before suddenly getting wrapped up in a big, warm hug. "Oh! Still a hugger, huh?"
"Only for the people who always deserve it, like you guys," Dave informed her before proceeding to hug the rest of Team STRQ. Even Raven, who had long since given up warning him away from hugging her when her threats ended up having no effect on the man. "I mean, if it weren't for you lot, not only would I have been eaten alive by Grimm, my whole business would be completely dead."
"Ah, just doing our jobs, buddy," Tai shrugged like it was no big deal.
"Yep, and we'll be doing it even more now, since we're now official huntsmen," Qrow proudly boasted.
"Get outta here! You guys have all graduated? Congrats, all of you!" Dave cheered happily. He then furrowed his brow a little as he asked, "But wait, if you've just graduated, what're you doing coming around here instead of going out to celebrate with your classmates or something?"
"Because this is part of our celebration," Summer proudly revealed, much to Dave's confusion. "We decided to celebrate by getting our team a car."
"And by a team car, she means she wanted to get her first car," Raven clarified, making Summer pout at Raven's latest attempt to suck the fun out of things.
Dave on the other hand was more focused on what Raven had said than Summer's reaction. "Your first car?" he repeated while gazing at Summer in surprise. "You wanted to get your first car to celebrate your graduation, and you came to my dealership for it?" When Summer nodded, Dave could not help himself. He just had to give the newly minted huntress another big hug. "Aw Summer! You are easily the best person alive! Customer of the day for life right here, ladies and gents!"
"Aw, you shut your stupid face," Summer giggled bashfully while wriggling to get free of the death grip she had gotten caught in.
"Can we move this along, please? Maybe if we get this done fast we can get back in time to join the joint exercise," Qrow begged. "I know sign up is closed, but there's always a chance some folks might have backed out last minute and freed up some slots we could fill."
"Again, it's already well underway and probably over by now, Stilts. You're just gonna have to grin and bear it. Besides, I'm sure you'll get plenty of other chances to punch James in the future," Summer said in the hopes of finally appeasing her friend.
"Well, since we're in such a rush anyway, let's get right to it, shall we?" Dave suggested, finally releasing Summer from his hug. "But let me just give you a little advice before you start looking at the stock. The driver don't pick the car; the car will pick the driver. It's a mystical bond between man and machine, not unlike the bond you huntsmen have with your weapons I'd wager."
Summer smiled, liking the sound of this advice and the analogy, and then proceeded to follow Dave out onto the lot with the rest of her team, eager to find out which car would be the one to pick her.
"Oof! Suddenly I'm kinda glad we didn't sign up for the exercise," Tai suddenly says a little later while they were browsing, drawing everyone's attention to him.
"What's the matter, Tai?" Qrow inquired, knowing he would not just say something so random out of nowhere, especially given the way he was looking at his Scroll.
"Notification from Beacon saying to steer clear of the Emerald Forest," Taiyang explained while flipping the device around so the others could see. "Something crashed down in the middle of the forest right when the exercise had finished, and apparently, it led to some kind of skirmish that's resulted in a lot of Atlas troops getting injured at best. James is among the casualty list."
"Whoa, hold on. James Ironwood is among the casualties? Like the mighty Lieutenant Ironwood has actually been that badly hurt?" Qrow repeated in disbelief. Not that you could blame him. James Ironwood was said to be among the best of the best to ever come out of Atlas, so hearing that he had been taken down by something or really just anything that badly came as quite the shock.
"Is he okay?" Summer asked, more concerned about the lieutenant's well-being than the fact he had been beaten by someone or something.
"Not sure. Update just says that all the survivors are being transported to a hospital and that Glynda is overseeing everything for the time being," Tai replied.
"Well that certainly put a damper on the good vibes we've had going all day," Raven drawled. It was not that she was uncaring about the matter; she just did not know what else she could say or how to better process it.
"Hey, if you guys aren't feeling it right now, you can always come back and pick this up later," Dave offered, clearly trying to let his friends know their worries were not going unnoticed. He may be a businessman, but he liked to think he was also a friend to everyone who came into said business too. Especially in the case of Team STRQ.
"No, no. We're still going to make a decision. Maybe finding the right car will bring back some of those good vibes," Summer suggested, her eyes already scanning multiple vehicles in the hopes of finding something she might like.
The others just let out tired sighs, and Summer had just been looking around in the hopes finding the one car she could connect with in that way Dave had explained earlier. So far, they had come across quite a few good looking cars, which was saying something considering this was a used car lot, but had turned down all the suggestions because she apparently just did not feel the connection with any of them. They had passed on a few sports cars, a jeep, and even a cute little Volkswagen bug at one point, and Summer had said no to all of them. Frankly, they were starting to think they would not even find the car Summer was looking for here.
Tai on the other hand did find something he liked, and he did not hesitate to let everyone know as he climbed onto the vehicle in question just to test out how it felt. "Well hello beautiful," Taiyang cooed as he tested out the feel of the handle bars on the motorcycle he was currently sitting on. "Hey Summer, are you sure you want a car? Because from what I hear, a lot of huntsmen do have some pretty sweet bikes, and can do a lot more in a fight on them, too."
"Tempting, but a bike can only carry so many people, Tai. Maybe if you can convince Raven into it, you get yourself a motorcycle," Summer teased.
"I wouldn't expect that to work. Somehow, I just can't see you on a motorcycle. At least not without it leading to you getting seriously hurt in one of your attempts to be cool," Raven smirked knowingly.
"Then clearly, you're not looking hard enough at what's right in front of you, babe," Tai smirked as he tried to strike a cool pose on the bike. "Tried" being the keyword, as he ended up just looking goofy, much to everyone's amusement.
Summer's chuckles ended up dying first as something finally caught her eye, and she quickly gravitated towards it. Sure, the yellow sports car with black stripes did not look like the nicest car on the lot, and there were more than a few obvious scratches and dings in it, but for some reason, Summer just felt like there was something special about it. Upon getting closer, she spotted a logo on the driver's side door that really grabbed her attention. It was nothing too significant really, but there was just something in the simplistic design of the kind-looking face that gave Summer a feeling she could not quite place. Not in a bad way, of course, but more in a sense that brought comfort and relief.
When she finally stood next to the car, Summer could not help but run a hand along the side of it, feeling the smooth metal and every little blemish in it. She had to pause once or twice, as she could swear a few of the marks felt like bullet holes or even some other type of battle damage, but considering the way it looked, she figured she must be imagining things. At least, that was Summer's thought until she actually looked at the spots where she felt those particular blemishes. Being a huntress, Summer was more than capable of recognizing a point of impact from various types of weapons, and from what she could tell, there were signs of scorching from some type of explosive, probably Fire Dust, and she definitely confirmed there were more than a few bullet holes as well. She figured this might mean the vehicle had been in the area of a battlefield before it ended up here, or may have even belonged to another huntsmen before they traded it in. Whatever the case, Summer wanted to get an even closer look at this particular car, and she could only think of one way to do it.
"Hey Dave, mind if I give this one a try?" Summer called out, getting everyone's attention over to her and the car in question.
While Team STRQ were quick to approach and inspect the somewhat beaten up car a little closer, Dave eyed it rather curiously as he came over. "Huh, that's odd," Dave muttered. "I don't remember having two of this kind of car on the lot. Or at least, I don't have it in the records."
"Well it's sitting right here, so maybe you just missed it or something," Qrow offered in suggestion.
"Couldn't be. I've been going over all the inventory records almost all day," Dave protested as he looked over the car a little bit. Upon giving the driver's-side door a tug, he found it was unlocked, and when he opened it out spilled a few empty shells of Dust bullets and some other types of ammunition he did not recognize. "Damn. What happened to you, tough guy?"
"Don't you mean something like old girl? I thought guys typically referred to all vehicles like they were women, or at least all cars," Raven critiqued inquisitively.
"I find that concept to be a little sexist. If every car has its own personality, who says they can't have their own gender too?" Dave defended. He then knelt down to look over the vehicle a little more closely and said, "Still, this must have been an old huntsmen's car or something, based off the obvious signs of battle damage, but I thought for sure all the cars we had like that had been patched up decently enough by now."
"Maybe one of your guys just brought it in while you weren't paying attention," Taiyang suggested.
"Hm…Yeah, I guess that could be the case. It's not like this thing just rolled onto the lot by itself or something," Dave finally shrugged in agreement. He then turned back to the newly minted huntsmen, only to stop short when he saw Summer had already climbed into the car and was sitting in the driver's seat, hands on the wheel like she was ready and raring to race off the lot. Not one to pass up on a possible sale, Dave just casually strolled over and leaned down so that he was level with Summer and asked, "So, how's this tough warrior feel to you, Summer?"
Summer gently moved her hands along the dash and steering wheel for a few minutes, getting a feel of the vehicle overall, even going so far as to rub some dirt off the center of the steering wheel revealing the same symbol from earlier beneath all the grime, until finally, she smiled as she came to her decision. "It feels good," she announced. "Perfect even. How much would you be willing to sell this for?"
Dave nodded along to Summer's words until she finally asked that question, and immediately put on his salesman cap. "Well, normally I'd offer a basic price, but since I get the feeling you don't want to drive this thing out of here in its current condition, assuming it'll even start at all…" He ended up being cut short when the engine suddenly roared to life, much to everyone's surprise. "What the…?"
"Sorry. I noticed it had one of those fancy new keyless start buttons, and I figured I'd try it out just to see what would happen," Summer shrugged sheepishly. "Guess there's a key fob for it in here somewhere."
"Hey, at least now we know if it'll run or not," Qrow shrugged like it was no big deal.
Dave could not help but frown a little, having realized he might have lost a chance to charge a little extra for some repair work, but he managed to wipe it away easily enough. After all, these were not just some random strangers he was selling to; they were good friends. So, he switched back to the original track on this conversation. "Right, so, I guess you guys don't want to waste any time driving it home, do you?"
"The sooner we can get it out of here the better if you ask me," Raven shrugged, and though it went unspoken, the guys both agreed with her sentiment. Summer on the other hand looked like she just wanted to drive it home right away because she was excited at the prospect of finally having a car.
"Okay then. What kind of budget are you guys angling for?" Dave then asked.
This was the part Summer was a little worried about. Sure, Dave was a good friend, but he was also a businessman, so she was not so sure how he would feel when he heard what their max budget was going to be. Still, it's not like they could leave the question unanswered. "We were kinda hoping to have a max of four thousand?"
"And not a single lien more. We still need to make sure we'll have money to pay our first few rounds of bills for the new house after all," Taiyang insisted, with Raven nodding in agreement.
Dave silently started at Team STRQ for a few seconds, an even expression on his face, until he finally said, "You know, if you guys were anyone else, I'd tell you to get out of the car and call you a bunch of cheapskates." That made half of Team STRQ nervous, while the other half just narrowed their eyes at him rather dangerously. At least until his usual smile popped onto his face again. "But you guys aren't anybody else. You're Team STRQ! My favorite huntsmen to ever come out of Beacon! And honestly, who can say no to a happy face like Summer's? Go on, tell me someone can do it."
That earned a round of laughter from everyone involved, especially since none of them could name a person who could say no to a happy face like Summer's, and once they settled down, Qrow asked, "So does that mean…?"
"Sure. I'll sell this to you for an even four thousand," Dave agreed. He then got a little sneaky grin on his face as he asked, "Unless you want me to do some quick body work on it? You know, get out the dents, clean up the scratches, slap on a fresh coat of paint, that kind of thing? I wouldn't charge you that much extra for it."
"Thanks, but I think we'll manage that on our own," Summer declined, knowing she had a few tools for doing just that back at home.
Dave took that in stride and then led Team STRQ back to the office so they could finalize the deal for Summer's new wheels. A short time later, after Dave had given the vehicle a few more checks to make sure it was both capable and safe to drive, Team STRQ were driving back to Patch in Summer's new car. They were still refusing to call it their team car, even if it was the only vehicle any of them owned at the moment, all with smiles on their faces and Dave watching after them with a proud smile of his own.
A second alter, a young man in the typical attire of a garage worker walked in from behind him, and when he saw where Dave was staring, he could not help but ask "Was that Team STRQ just now?"
"Yep, fully graduated and now proud owners of a new car," Dave told his employee. He then gave said employee a curious look and asked, "Speaking of, where did you and your boys find that car, Sparkplug?"
"What are you talking about?" Sparkplug asked.
"The car I just sold them. It wasn't in our records. Or at least, not that exact car. We do have one like it, but this one was seemed like a new addition to the lot. I figured you, Spike, or Sam had brought it in at some point today," Dave explained.
"Uh, wasn't me, boss. The boys and I only just got here. I mean, yeah, we did go out to find some abandoned or dirty cars to bring in and fix up, but we didn't actually find anything that could be driven off the lot just like that. Even us Witwicky's aren't that lucky," Sparkplug shrugged.
Now Dave was even more confused. If Sparkplug and his sons had not been the ones to bring in that car then how did it get on the lot in the first place? After thinking it over, Dave just shrugged it off, not seeing why it mattered now. It was probably just something he had missed in the records like Qrow had originally suggested.
A few hours later, Team STRQ had returned to Tai and Raven's new home on Patch, and all but Summer had gone inside to just relax for the rest of the day. Summer on the other hand had spent that time in the garage doing some work to fix up her new car. Despite the outward appearances, most of the damage did seem to be cosmetic, while everything else was easily fixed up with a little elbow grease. Afterwards all Summer had to do was buff out the dents and scratches, and then slap on a new coat of paint. Luckily, Summer had been expecting to need to do such work, and had spent the last week collecting the supplies she would likely need for such work. She was just glad that they had secured the correct paints needed, because she did not want to have to waste anymore time going to another store just to get the right shades of yellow and black.
By the time Summer had finished, the car looked good as new, save for one or small blemishes that you would only notice if you were actively looking for them, and she could not help the proud, happy smile crossing her features. It was certainly a bright spot to the day after they finally heard about what had happened to everyone who got hurt during the incident in the Emerald Forest. Most everyone came out alright, but Ironwood was said to have been hurt worse than anyone else. Apparently Atlas was sending one of their best doctors all the way from the floating city itself to oversee his treatments, so it must have been pretty bad. They did feel some relief at hearing that James would make it, but the fact that a special doctor was being called in to help with his treatments could only mean something big was going to have to happen in order to ensure he stayed that way.
Shaking the ideas of what James was likely to be going through, be it now or in the near future, Summer turned to head into the house so she could show off her hard work to her teammates. Just as she had reached the door though, she heard something hit the floor with a loud clunk and turned around to see something had fallen off from the car's underside. Not wanting to take the chance it could be something important, Summer quickly rushed over, grabbing a flashlight along the way, and slid under the car to see if she could spot where the thing had fallen from. She only barely paid the object as much mind as necessary to move it aside for the time being, but she could not help but notice that it looked almost like a large rifle of some type.
Casting that thought aside, Summer shined the light around the car's underside, trying to find where the thing could have dropped from, only to have little to no luck. It honestly boggled her mind as to what it could have come from when there did not seem to be anything it could have been attached to, almost as much as the other peculiarity she found. At one point on the car's undercarriage, she could swear she saw something that looked a lot like a face. Not one like the emblem she saw on the car's doors and steering wheel, but definitely a face all the same. It actually looked a little cute in Summer's opinion, but amusement turned to shock when the eyes on the face suddenly lit up.
A second later, the sound of shifting gears and metal reached her ears, and her eyes went wider than they already were as the car's form slowly shifted into something else. Summer was not so stunned that she could not move of course, because she quickly scrambled up onto her feet when she found enough room to do so, and it looked like she was not the only one doing so. The thing that had once been her car now stood on a pair of legs as well, and she soon watched as arms and hands formed out from the side while the face she spotted a second ago shifted into a head positioned on what could have once been the car's hood. Before long, the car had completely turned into a large robot that was apparently bigger than the garage itself, since it ended up hitting its head on the ceiling it tried standing up straight, and to her surprise, the thing actually reacted like a regular human being would!
"Ow! Scrap, are you kidding me?" the big robot cursed as it knelt down while rubbing its head. "This is just not my day. First leaving Cybertron, having to split up from Optimus and the rest of the Autobots, and then there was the crash followed by the worst case of first contact ever, thank you so much for that Blitzwing, getting shot at, and now I'm rudely woken up by someone shining a light in my face and hit my head when I try to stand?! Ugh! What next? Is Starscream gonna come swooping in to snuff out my Spark? Because right now, I wouldn't be opposed to…" At this point he finally realized he was not alone in the room, and that Summer was still staring up at him like he had grown two heads, which to be fair, probably would not be too much of a stretch from her perspective. Eyes widening as if realizing he had just made a mistake, the robot quickly back tracked as best he could and said in his best robot voice, "Uh…I mean… Error. Insufficient space for unit to properly stand. Beep-bop, beep-bop, Boop."
Now, Summer had been training all her life to be a huntress; to fight against criminals and the Creatures of Grimm, and she had just recently been told that the Grimm had a leader in the form of a witch named Salem, so she was expecting her life to get pretty freaky and scary. A car suddenly turning into a highly intelligent robot, or actually being a robot that could turn into a car was probably so far outside the norm of what she had been expecting that one could not blame her for her reaction to this revelation. And that reaction was to scream, making the robot panic as well.
"No, no! Shh! Shhhh! Quiet! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please don't be scared and stop screaming," the robot attempted to ask, only for Summer to freak out even more and rush into the house as fast as she could. Pretty considerable considering her Semblance might as well have been a speed Semblance.
"Guys, guys, guys! You are not going to believe this," Summer screamed as she raced into the living room, startling everyone.
"Geez, Sum, settle down. If you wanted to let us know you finished working on the car, you could have just told us," Tai gently told her.
"No, it's not that! I mean, it kind of is, but it's something else!" Summer insisted. "The car turned into a giant robot!"
"It…what?" Raven ended up voicing for everyone.
"Yeah, exactly! I was just looking around underneath the car, and then I saw this weird, face-looking part of it. Next thing I know, the eyes on the face are lighting up, and the thing starts changing and shifting like our weapons, only it doesn't extend out weapons, it turns into a huge robot! You've gotta see for yourselves, come on!" Summer insisted, rushing back to the garage as fast as she could without her Semblance.
Knowing Summer could get pretty excited over just about anything, the rest of Team STRQ followed after her at a much more leisurely pace, even when Summer persisted in trying to get them to hurry up like an excited child. When they walked into the garage though, they did not see any giant robot. Just the car they had bought earlier that day sitting right where Summer had parked it earlier. Granted, it did look a lot nicer now than it did earlier, but it was still just a regular looking car and not a robot. The other three soon shot Summer annoyed looks for what they assumed to have been a prank, while Summer just looked at the car in confused wonder.
"But…but… It was a robot," Summer protested.
"Yeah, yeah. Very funny Short-Stack," Qrow grumbled as he turned to leave. His path ended up being blocked by his leader though.
"No, I'm telling you! It…he…The car was a robot! I can prove it!" Summer insisted. Her eyes quickly scanned the room for some sign of such proof before her eyes located the dent in the ceiling the robot had made when it hit its head. "Look! Look up there! That's where it hit its head on the ceiling."
Taiyang and Raven were a little annoyed at seeing their ceiling damaged, even if it was just the garage ceiling, but they did still have a counterpoint to Summer's argument. "Summer, I hate to tell you this, but Tai and I got this place pretty cheap. For all we know, that was already there before and we just didn't notice until now."
Summer growled in frustration at how her teammates refused to believe her on this, because that was probably her only bit of proof she could have used here. So, with little else to lose, Summer rushed over to the car and gave its hood a few taps. "Hello? Mister Robot? Listen, I know you're real. Can you please change so I can prove to my friends I'm not joking?" Summer tried coaxing. The car did nothing though, making Summer grow a little more annoyed. Still, she kept a pleasant tone and expression as she tried another approach. "Um, I order you to transform. Right now….Transform please?"
"Summer," Raven started to say.
"Just give me a minute! I'm telling you it can turn into a robot!" Summer insisted, but when the car just sat there doing nothing, her patience finally wore out, and she immediately went with a more hasty action. She quickly dashed over to Sundered Rose, shifted it into rifle mode, and aimed it at the car as she said, "Okay, how about transform before I blast you in your windshield as a starting point!"
Now the other three were worried. Summer had spent all day working on this car, and now she was going to start shooting at it just to prove she had not made up a story about it turning into a robot? They were just about to try and stop her when suddenly, the car jerked back all on its own before doing exactly what Summer said it could do: transform into a giant robot. From the look of things, it was trying to be careful in not hitting its head on the ceiling, but from the look on his face and the way it was waving its hands at Summer, it seemed a little more concerned with the girl holding him at gunpoint.
"Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa! Don't do that! Please, don't do that! I just recovered from the last time one of your people shot at me!" the robot insisted in a panic. It's panic only seemed to double when Qrow and Raven both drew their swords out of shock at seeing the robot before them, and he could not help but curse, "Ah scrap."
"What the hell?" Raven gasped in shock.
"Okay, that's not normal," Qrow admitted, holding Harbinger so that he could use it in either gun or sword mode at a moment's notice.
"Hey, hey, easy now. Let's all just stay calm, and don't do anything—WHOA!" the robot suddenly exclaimed as it accidentally tripped over something behind it in an attempt to back up. It may have been a little silly, given how little room there was in the garage to begin with, but no one wanted to be near a person aiming a weapon at you.
When Team STRQ saw him trip and crash down on his back, they could not help but lower their weapons in confusion, and that confusion only grew when the robot ended up scooting back into a corner and huddling up in a ball, eyeing them worriedly like he was the one who should be scared of them. Tai had just been reaching for his own weapons when this happened, and upon looking a little closer, he noticed that it might not have been just for show.
"Hey Summer, is it me or does it look like he's…shaking," Taiyang asked of his leader.
Hearing Tai's question made Summer lower her weapon entirely so she could better look at this machine, and she realized he was right. The robot was shaking, and upon studying its eyes, she could swear she detected a hint of fear in them. "He's…He's scared," Summer realized.
"Of what? Us?" Raven asked. "He's a giant robot, who looks like he could kill us just by stepping on us."
"In fairness, we're the ones holding him at gunpoint, and this is after one of us threatened to shoot it," Qrow pointed out to his sister.
Realizing she may have inadvertently made a mistake after hearing what Qrow said, Summer lowered her weapon completely and slowly started to approach the giant robot. It flinched back a little more though, and it was clear its eyes were still on her weapon, so she quickly switched Sundered Rose into storage mode and holstered it. "Hey, look, it's okay," Summer assured the robot with her hands up as an extra show of good faith. "I'm not going to hurt you. Assuming you don't want to hurt me, of course."
Seeing Summer do all this prompted the robot to slowly move out of his corner and then slowly reach out a hand towards her, prompting Summer to take one of his finger in her hand in the closest thing they could manage to a handshake. "There you see?" Summer said. "We're all friends here. And sorry for scaring you."
"Uh…Don't worry about it. I think I should be apologizing for scaring you anyway, so I guess we can call it even," the robot hesitantly said.
"Geez. Why would you be freaked out by us anyway? Again, you're a giant robot," Raven pointed out.
"Who had just been getting shot at by other…uh, what exactly are you all?" the robot asked.
That confused the four for a minute until Qrow hesitantly replied, "We're huntsmen."
"No, not your job. I meant what do you call your species, because I don't want to be insensitive and just keep calling you organics," the robot clarified.
"Oh, well, we're humans," Summer replied.
"Humans…Huh. Well it's better than the name you guys came up with for the planet," the robot muttered.
"So then…what do we call you? Aside from robot," Taiyang asked, feeling it only appropriate to be as respectful of the robot as it was being to them.
"I'm a Cybertronian. Or Transformer. But you can still call me a robot, if you want. Any of them works," the robot shrugged.
At this point Qrow realized something about this robot. "You were the cause of that disturbance in the Emerald Forest, weren't you?"
"Is that where our ship crashed before getting surrounded by other humans?" the robot asked. "Because I can assure you, I meant no harm. I'm the Bot who was trying to save everyone. Blitzwing's the guy who actually attacked everybody, and then that one guy leading the soldiers just started shooting at me. Even after I saved him from getting blown to the AllSpark."
"Blown to the what?" Taiyang asked.
The robot sighed and replied, "Long story, but it basically means I saved him from being killed. Or at least, I did the first time. I don't know what happened after I finally managed to fight off Blitzwing for the time being."
"You keep mentioning a Blitzwing. Does that mean there are others like you?" Raven noted, still keeping a hand on her sword. Call her paranoid, but if this thing had a part in putting Ironwood into his current state, she did not think it was wise to trust it.
"Well yeah. I mean, clearly there's more than one of you humans, so is it really that big of a stretch think there might be other Cybertronians like me," the robot asked.
"And you can all turn into cars," Qrow reasoned.
"Well, not just cars. We can turn into just about anything. It depends on our configurations," the robot clarified.
Summer on the other hand was curious about something else, and could not hold it in for long. "Where did you even come from?"
The robot seemed hesitant to admit this, and given what he was saying, it sounded like he might have had a good reason to share as much as he had been so far. At least if doing so really had gotten him shot at. Still, he plucked up his courage and said, "I'm from Planet Cybertron."
"So…so you're an alien? Like a real alien?" Taiyang gasped in awe.
"As far as this planet is concerned, yeah."
"Then what are you doing here?" Qrow asked.
The robot lowered its head in obvious sadness as it admitted, "It's…a long story."
Seeing this topic clearly bothered the big guy, Summer gently patted his hand, getting his attention again as she said, "You can tell us about it later, if you want."
"Thanks, I appreciate that," the robot replied.
"Any chance you'll be able to tell us within the next few minutes though, because…" Qrow requested.
"Qrow!" Summer snapped.
"Okay, fine. Whenever the robot's comfortable," Qrow relented.
Hearing how Qrow referred to the big guy brought another thought to Summer's mind, and she did not hesitate to ask about it. "What's your name, by the way?"
"B-127," the robot replied.
"She asked for your name, not your manufacturing number," Raven pointed out.
"That's…I don't have a name," the robot admitted. "None of the Bots who were born in my caste do. Or they didn't. Most of us chose names for ourselves. I just haven't managed to think of something that fits."
"You mean all your friends just call you by some number?" Taiyang asked in disbelief. Even the Faunus had never been treated that badly as far as he was aware. To hear of anyone going through life without a proper name sounded wrong to him.
"Well, it's not like they do it out of spite or any other bad reason. Although, some of them did give me a nickname. They call me Bee," the robot shrugged.
"Bee huh?" Summer mused, the nickname immediately making her think back to one of her first thoughts when she saw the robot in its car mode earlier that day. "Hey, what do you think of the name Bumblebee?"
"Bumblebee?" Qrow and Raven both repeated in disbelief.
"What? His paint job made me think of a little bumblebee, and his nickname is Bee, so it could work for a proper name," Summer reasoned.
"But it sounds so lame," Qrow complained.
"Said one of the siblings who's named after a bird," Taiyang pointed out.
"Hey, at least crows and ravens are cool," Qrow muttered with a huff.
"Yeah," Raven agreed, exchanging a low-five with her brother as a show of sibling solidarity on the matter.
Bee on the other hand seemed to be seriously testing out Summer's proposed name as it mulled over in his mind. "Bumblebee…" he mused aloud after a minute or two, as if testing how it sounded in his own voice. He then seemed to smile a little as he said, "I like it. Definitely a lot better than anything I've ever tried coming up with. Like, the best I could ever think of was something lame like Goldbug or Stinger."
"Alright then, it's nice to meet you, Bumblebee," Summer nodded with a smile.
"Likewise, um…" Bumblebee started to say, only to stop short when he realized he did not know any of their names.
"Oh, I'm Summer. Summer Rose," the leader of Team STRQ replied. "This is Taiyang Xiao Long, Qrow Branwen, and his sister Raven."
"Ahem, Summer. Can we have a word with you?" Raven interrupted before the exchange went any further than that, making it a point to pull Summer out of the room before she could protest one way or the other.
"What Raven? What's the matter?" Summer questioned once she had finally gotten loose and the guys had joined them.
"Summer, in case you haven't figured it out yet, that thing in there is likely responsible for whatever happened in the Emerald Forest, and if that is the case, then for all intents and purposes, we're harboring a fugitive!" Raven pointed out.
"So what? We've technically been doing that since our first day at Beacon," Summer pointed out, not too subtly bringing up Raven and Qrow's tribe when she did.
"There's a big difference between a pair of kids from a tribe of bandits and a giant alien robot that probably blew up a small group of soldiers, Sum," Raven countered.
"Hey, he said they shot at him first, and given what we know about Ironwood, or just Atlas in general, it wouldn't be too big of a stretch to say he's telling the truth on the matter," Qrow reminded his sister.
"Besides, were you even looking at him a moment ago, Rae? The guy was huddling up in a corner scared out of his mind," Taiyang added on.
"We are talking about a machine, guys. How do we know it isn't just some Atlas mech that's malfunctioning? Or better yet, how can we really be sure it's telling the truth?" Raven continued to argue.
"Have you ever heard of any kingdom developing something as advanced as Bumblebee?" Summer asked in return. When Raven said nothing in reply, Summer knew she had her answer. Still, she did raise a few good points. They did not really know anything about Bumblebee aside from some small scraps of information and whatever they could piece together since she woke him up. At the sound of grunting coming from the garage, they all looked back in to see Bumblebee rubbing one of his arms like it was in pain, and that served to remind them that he was pretty badly damaged when they found him on the car lot, so Summer found it easier to come up with a solution. "How about this? We all just let him rest here for the night and heal up some more. He obviously needs to, and in the morning, we can question him. Sound good to everyone?"
Though they were all reluctant for various reasons, they did still agree to Summer's plan. All the excitement of the day was starting to catch up to them anyways, so they could probably use a good night's sleep. Summer decided to be the one to break this decision to Bumblebee, and the robot in disguise turned out to be much more agreeable with this plan than she had expected. Given how reluctant he had been before, she figured he would want more than a few hours to prepare himself for telling them about his history, but then she figured he was probably agreeing to this as a show of good faith and out of gratitude for letting him stay here for the moment.
With everything settled for the time being, Team STRQ all decided to call it a night early, leaving Bumblebee to his own devices. Doing so meant he had a chance to send out his beacon to the rest of his team, but given the current circumstances along with just how recently he had given his order to split up, he had to wonder if it would really be wise to signal the others right now. The last thing he wanted was to overwhelm these humans anymore than his backstory likely would tomorrow, and besides if Blitzwing really had not been alone, and if any of the humans he first encountered were still close by, then for all he knew, he could end up leading them right to his position.
In the end, he decided it would be best to hold off on signaling the rest of the Alchemor team until tomorrow for the time being. Whether or not he would do so before or after his conversation with Team STRQ on the other hand, now that was another matter entirely. One he was more than happy to put off for now as he transformed back into his alt mode and entered stasis once again, hoping his next wakeup call would be a little less rude.
AN: Okay, so I managed to work in quite a few little Easter eggs with this chapter, along with my usual cameo appearance. Hope you guys caught them all, and now, not only has Bee met Team STRQ, he's finally got his name too! Be honest, how many of you already suspected Summer was going to be the one who named Bumblebee? Come on? Admit it. I know some of you were thinking it.
Also, I guess you could say this also served as a way of me further debunking the idea of the Snowbird ship, since in this story, Winter is currently a child. Because while she is a legal adult and in her twenties in the RWBY series proper, she is still just Weiss's big sister, and compared to someone like Qrow, she is still just a kid!
Qrow: Okay, okay. Don't get a ship war started here or anything. I'm pretty sure you don't want that type of thing filling your reviews for this chapter.
AN: Right, sorry. Speaking of, let's answer a few reviews, shall we?
First off "twilightnite13", glad you enjoyed the chapter, and happy to hear I took you by surprise with what happened last chapter. And yeah, maybe it is a little worse for Ironwood to end up with his prosthetics this way, but I think it would certainly fit within his character to end up in such a state because of a mission that went bad. I wouldn't worry too much about him becoming Remnant's version of Sentinel Prime though, and as far as Ozpin is concerned...well, I think it's already a given he's more level-headed than Ironwood. We saw as more than once during the RWBY series, and that was just back in the Vale Arc.
"Dragon Rider 66", considering what happened to Ironwood in RWBY canon, I wouldn't bet on it too much. I mean, I may or may not have a couple ideas on how he can get better, but whether or not they actually happen all depends on how this series develops. Also, regarding what I said about Raven not being involved because of Yang later on, well...actually, I can't really say much about this one without giving away spoilers, but for now, let's just say Raven's not pregnant yet. Or at least, she isn't aware that she might be.
As for your question about which Gundam Series I would have RWBY crossover with...Well, that's a bit of a tough one to answer, because aside from series like Transformers, I have a hard time thinking of very many Gundam crossovers. I know I have a Gundam SEED & Captain America crossover posted on here, but that one was actually suggested to me by someone else, and they also helped me with fleshing out the ideas for it a little more. If I had to choose though...I would say probably Gundam SEED, Gundam 00, or maybe even Gundam Build Fighters. I've seen a couple of crossovers with the last one out there already, so it's not too hard to imagine why that would work, but honestly, I can definitely see Team RWBY as being members of Celestial Being, or even ending up in the world of the Cosmic Era after some type of event takes place.
"CT7567Rules", yeah, well what do you expect from the man who threatened to drop a bomb on his own people just to ensure a crazy, half-baked plan might have a chance of working? Still, I wouldn't expect him to go and form something like Cemetery Wind or anything that extreme just yet, but he will end up following a similar path to some certain other soldiers/military divisions from the Transformers movies. As for how he'll get promoted to general...well, that's something that you'll have to see for yourself later on in the story.
Regarding vehicle modes for the Bots in this story, at the moment, Bumblebee's could be compared to the camaro he took the form of at the end of the Bumblebee movie, but as for the other 'Bots, expect them to be not too different from some of the forms they typically assume. You'll get the exact details on each as the rest of the Alchemor team makes their triumphant returns.
"7-Eleventh", no Team STRQ and the Bee Team won't be finding Grimlock burried in Dino mode. He and the other Dinobots will all be aboard the Ark, so they'll have to find the ship if they want to locate any other Autobots. Right now, this story is only going to focus on the four Autobots we've seen the most in chapters, those being Bumblebee, Windblade, Drift, and Chromia, so don't expect any other 'Bots to show up until much later on. Like climax to the end of the story later. And again, don't worry, Ironwood won't be forming any elite strike teams just for dealing with the 'Bots just yet. But he will end up forming some type of team for something related to the Transformers soon enough.
Okay, so that's everything for now. Shall we wrap this up with the usual?
Summer: Like you even need to ask?
AN: Just being polite. Onto the Preview!...
While Decepticon forces start moving to locate the Alchemor team, Bumblebee enlightens Team STRQ on both the history of the Transformers, and his own mission. Whether or not the young huntsmen believe his story is something he's going to have take a few chances on, but whatever happens, he needs to make sure they understand just how much danger they're in just by being around him. Can he earn Team STRQ's trust? What kind of plot will the Decepticons start to enact to locate Bumblebee's team and/or the Ark? And just how many more surprises will await the Transformers on this strange new world? Find out next time in…Chapter 4: Missions of the Transformers.
Once again, be sure to check out my YouTube channel "Studio Fandom" and the DeviantArt page "studiofandom" if you haven't already. Always looking for more followers and subscribers on both. And as always...
Please read and review, and I'll see you next time. Till all are one, huntsmen.