Patriot-M89: Yo! Finally got something out before this year ended. After a while of thinking and planning, here it is. You'll finally get to see Fort Cobalt.

So, enough yapping...let's go!

Chapter 7:

Fort Cobalt Pt.1

Dorm Room

Beacon Academy

Vivid green eyes fluttered, as their owner groaned, before they finally opened, blinking away the bleariness in the process.

"W...w-wha...?" Dorée grunted out, before she began to look around her surroundings. She saw she was in the same room as before, but thanked her lucky stars that no one was there, especially a certain duo she wasn't planning on explaining anything to. She moved her arm, and blinked at the lack of resistance before she turned her head and was surprised to see that she was not tied up like the last time she woke up.

"Okay...that's odd," she muttered, before she began to slowly sit up on the bed she was on before turning and placing her feet on the floor. She then placed her face into her hands as she shook her head gently to get the dizziness she still felt from the sedative.

"Ugh...my head," she grumbled, as she massaged her temples, "I feel like it got stomped repeatedly by a Megoliath...and decided to take a dump on it."

She sighed a bit as she slowly stood up and shook her head again, finally getting rid of the grogginess, before her eyes shot open again.

"...Sprite," she said, with a hint of panic as she looked at her gauntlet before sighing in relief seeing the Scroll still in it's compartment, she then turned it on before speaking, "Sprite? Are you okay, partner?"

She quickly got her answer as Sprite's holo form appeared, with a relieved look on his face.

"Yeah, I'm good." He said, "And I'm happy that you're awake, again. Especially after Merlot showed up and you clobbered him,"

Dorée scowled at the memory of the Mad Scientist, "I should've killed that bastard then and there, and saved Aunt Ruby and everyone else a lot of grief." she said with obvious distaste in her tone.

"We don't know how that would affect the timeline, Dorée," Sprite cautiously warned.

"Probably be a better world without him in it," she said with finality, before she sighed, "Enough about him. How long have I been out?"

"After you were last sedated after you slammed the mad doctor into the wall? About ten hours," he said, causing Dorée to groan in irritation.

"I can't believe I forgot about Papa Ren's Tranquility Semblance," she admonished herself, "It not only hides him and others from the Grimm, but also suppresses emotions...damn!"

"Mistakes happen Dorée." Sprite comforted, "It's a common trait among Humans and Faunus. You're not the only one."

She then takes a deep breath to calm herself, before she spotted her sword and shield and immediately went over to retrieve them and placed them on her back.

"What about our hideout at the Old Palace?" She asked Sprite, "Did they take anything?"

Sprite sighed as he knew she wasn't gonna like what they took,

"The hideout itself is compromised. As for what they took: a few containers of supplies, including food, ammunition, and weapon maintenance kits, a few racks of weapons, including the CM5 Rifles* you brought from Fort Cobalt, and finally...you're not gonna like this, but the crate containing your backup armor, your circlet, and your storybook," He finished reporting, and the reaction was just as he expected.

"WHAT!?" she screamed in panic before she began to breathe erratically. Sprite seeing his partner beginning to panic, knowing how much she treasured those specific items, decided to intervene before she did anything drastic.

"Dorée! Please don't do anything rash!" he pleaded with her, and when she looked to him, he immediately stopped before she said anything, "Listen to me! We'll get them back, I promise! Right now is not the time, remember what Miss Rose taught you,"

Dorée actually stopped as she remembered what her honorary aunt had taught her.

"Please don't be hasty into getting into a fight, Dorée," The Rose Reaper had said, "It will only get you into big trouble."

Dorée thought on those words for a few moments before taking a deep breath.

"Alright, I'll follow your logic on this one," she said, before looking around the room, "So...any guards or any of the teams here to watch over me?,"

"Well...no," Sprite gave it to her straight, causing her to blink, "They all left to get something to eat. Though Ruby and your mo- Miss Nikos were reluctant to do so,"

He quickly changed the last part of his sentence as he noticed the vivid green eyes narrowed that he almost spoke the one word she didn't want to call the Argus Champion. Her expression softened a bit before she quirked an eyebrow.

"That was awfully reckless of them," she said suspiciously, before mentally adding 'Not to mention that reincarnating fool is not that stupid,'

She observed the room a bit, her eyes narrowed a bit as she looked at every nook and cranny.

"I already scanned for cameras and listening devices," Sprite informed, "There are none,"

And cue Dorée's paranoia-meter going up a few pegs.

'What the hell are you up to, Old Man?,' she mentally growled, before looking at the window and began walking over, Sprites holo-form shutting off, as she reached and opened the window, her suspicion getting higher seeing that it was not locked or bolted in any way.

"Hmm...,"

She then poked her head out and saw how far up they were, which was about three floors.

"Huh, a little high...," she muttered before a smirk adorned her face, "...thankfully, I dropped from higher places,"

She then climbed out onto the window as she looked down. Sprite meanwhile, felt a VERY familiar feeling as he guessed what his partner was about to do next.

"Uuuhhhh, pardon me Dorée, but is this REALLY a good idea?," he said nervously.

Said girl just smirked, before saying "We'll be fine," as she concentrated her aura to her legs, before stepping forward and dropping like a rock toward the ground, before landing with a loud thump, and leaving a crater in the cobblestone ground, but leaving her unharmed.

"I really HATE it when you do that," Sprite deadpanned, which Dorée's reply was to roll her eyes as she stood up from the ground and just flicked some dust from the landing.

"You forget who taught me about landing strategies," Dorée snipped, causing the A.I. to groan.

"How can I NOT forget," he groaned, causing the time traveler to actually chuckle before looking around the area for a way out...until her eyes landed on a familiar yellow motorcycle, and a Cheshire smile formed on her lips.

"Hello, gorgeous," she purred, which Sprite noticed and immediately noticed what she was looking at.

"...No," he flatly said, but the smile didn't leave Dorée's face as she began walking toward the bike.

"Oh yes." She retorted.

"Dorée...don't," her partner said, his tone actually pleading with her to reconsider, "You KNOW whose motorcycle that is!"

Dorée scoffed at the A.I. acting like a scared-y cat, "Where's your sense of adventure, Sprite?"

She could feel the flat glare from the computer program.

"It went on permanent vacation," he intoned. And Dorée just shook her head.

'Wimp,' she thought before stopping in front of the bike and began inspecting it, until she noticed the key was still in the ignition. 'Yang must be supremely confident that no one would steal her wheels while they're out in the open like this,'

She then proceeded to get on the blonde brawler's bike before turning on the ignition, revving the engine, and setting it into gear.

"Let's see what you can do, Bumblebee,"

With that said, and hitting the accelerator, she swung the motorcycle around and quickly vacated the school grounds.

Meanwhile, Headmaster's Office

However, Dorée's escape was unfortunately not unseen as the three teams, along with Ozpin, Qrow, and Glynda watched on the holoscreen as the time traveler made off with the motorcycle of the now angrily growling Yang, who was gnashing her teeth and her eyes turned red. Blake and Ruby were doing everything they could to calm her down, but she turned her head slowly to the lead pair of JNPR.

"Hey," she started, her tone conveying how she's feeling at the moment, "Kid from the future or not, if I find one scratch on my ride or she totals it...she's DEAD. MEAT. Got that!?"

"Miss Xiao Long, please...," tiredly groaned Glynda, "...you'll get your motorcycle back after we arrive at Fort Cobalt,"

"Speaking of which," Ruby said, her leader's tone in full force, "When do we leave?"

Ozpin rested his chin on his steepled fingers as he watched the screen as Dorée finally disappeared from sight.

"We'll give her a half-hour head start," he said to his students, "Then we'll leave by airship and land by the road that leads to the front gate. Myself and Qrow will enter from another way that Dorée, hopefully, doesn't know about and isn't laid with traps."

"The kid probably already knows about it, Oz," Qrow drawled out, "If she's like her parents here, she's got her mother's instincts, and her dad's strategic mind. She would need a way out in case someone gets through her traps and tin can army."

Jaune and Pyrrha blushed at the drunken Crow's words, while Glynda gave him a glare for embarrassing the two, while Qrow just waved it off.

"Hey, just saying," he said, as he took a swig from flask, much to many girls disapproval.

"What will happen if she decides to fight?" Weiss asked, "If what we learned about her is any indication, she'll fight tooth and nail, no matter what. And then there's...,"

"Her paranoia," Ren finished, "Merlot really was thorough when he made Dorée believe that everyone will be out to kill her...considering how she was born."

"Then we'll just prove to her how wrong he really is," Nora growled, "And if that creep of a doc decides to try to get his ugly mitts on her, he's gonna be in for a rude awakening!"

Both Jaune and Pyrrha didn't say anything, the former wondering how best to speak to her in order to convince her that they mean the time traveler, again mentally reminded she was his daughter, no harm. While the latter was struggling with the maternal instincts she was having toward Dorée. However, there was one thing that the champion wanted to ask.

"What about the Relics in her care?" she asked the professor, "What do we do with them?"

Ozpin sighed at that.

"In all honesty, Miss Nikos. I'm not sure," he said, causing all the students to look at him, "While calming down Dorée and getting her to trust us is paramount, the relics are a different matter altogether. In the case of the Four Relics of the Brothers, I had placed them in the Academies separate from each other in order to prevent them from being captured by Salem altogether. These new Relics however...I can't just bring them all to Beacon, or place one each in one of the other Academy vaults, as that will make the schools even bigger targets than they are now. Not to mention...if Cinder were to learn of their existence and their abilities, she will inform Salem. And...I fear what will happen once she learns of the Relic of Time,"

That caused the students to shiver at the thought. If Salem ever gets her hands on the Hourglass...Gods help them.

"For now, that's a bridge we need not cross yet," Ozpin spoke up, "In the meantime, prepare yourselves for the trip to Fort Cobalt."

The students all nodded as they left the Headmaster's office in order to collect their gear and any provisions they might need."

That left the three adults alone with each other.

"Ozpin, I fear that Miss Schnee's earlier statement about Dorée to be not completely unfounded, considering what happened yesterday," the combat instructor said.

"Understatement of the century, Glyn," Qrow said, "Not to mention how she'll react when she's cornered like a animal, and all that garbage that Merlot's pumped into her head comes to the forefront. I just know it's gonna turn ugly, now that she's fully awake and rested,"

Ozpin hummed in agreement with their concerns.

"I agree with all of you," he said, "And I hope it doesn't come to that. Especially since she sees me as one of those who denied her the chance to be born a Human, rather than being grown in a tube...and robbed her of the Parents she should've had."

On the Road

One Hour Later

Something was amiss here. She knew it. Hell, she felt it. Had been for the last hour.

Ever since she left the academy, there were no signs of any pursuit coming after her. No Bullhead Airships, no Police cruisers, no Huntsmen and Huntresses trying to ambush on the road. And it was getting on her nerves. Again she asked herself what Ozpin was up to.

"Sprite. Are you sure no one is coming after us?" she questioned, her voice not hiding her anxiousness.

"I'm sure, Dorée," Sprite said confidently, "I scanned all police traffic frequencies, and all other channels on the Dust Net. No Hunters have been called in to apprehend us, and the Atlesian Air Fleet is still a long ways out till they arrive at the beginning of the Second School Semester. Which is hours away I might add."

Dorée was not convinced, her eyes narrowing further in suspicion.

'I don't know what you're up to, you reincarnating waste of space.' she mentally growled, 'But know that I will not fall for the same bull shit you always spout out. It will not work on me,'

With that she accelerated faster, continuing on her journey to the Fort...

...However, she was unaware of being watched as following from a good distance, but keeping pace, was an all-terrain armored vehicle, colored in a forest camouflage pattern. At the wheel of the vehicle was none other than Tick, as she grinned her crocodilian smile.

"As fast as fast can be, you'll never escape me, Luv," she sadistically sang as she eyed her prey up ahead, as she stayed off the road, "Oh ho ho, how I can't wait to play with you,"

"Tick...you know we can hear you, right?" came the deadpanned tone of Sandra through the comm earpiece, "The Doctor wants her alive, and uncrippled,"

Tick groaned as she rolled her eyes at her associate's admonishing.

"Bloody Hell, Sandra! I know that!" She retorted, "Bollocks, you've been bugging me, over and over, with that instruction for the last MILLION times!"

It was silent for a moment till she heard the sound of Sandra sighing in irritation.

"Just...keep your eyes on her," she gruffly said, sounding fed up with Tick's attitude.

"Alright, mum," the crocodile Faunus sassed, as she continued on with her pursuit, her predatory smirk going back on her face.

Meanwhile...

Cinder tapped her finger on the arm of the chair she was sitting on as she looked at the video of the so-called 'Maiden Knight' that was 'acquired' by Roman and given to her to watch on her Scroll. More to study her movements and search for a weakness, and to find out who she really was. As she watched the video, she was quite impressed by how ruthless the girl was, as she decimated the White Fang puppets with ease. The ease in which she wielded her sword as if she was dancing rather than fighting, how she used her shield as more than a defensive weapon, and the hidden automatic pistol behind the shield as she shot down a few White Fang as they charged at her with just swords.

The Fallen Maiden rolled her eyes and shook her head at the display the fools showed.

"Idiots...," she muttered to herself, and continued to watch the video before she heard Mercury's own Scroll as he watched something on the Social Media network.

"Heh, gotta admit, that Nikos girl sure is something," he said, making Cinder blink.

"Who?" she said, and Mercury turned his Scroll toward her and pointed at the screen.

"Pyrrha Nikos. Graduate from Sanctum Academy and Mistralian native from Argus where the said combat school is," the silver haired teen explained, "Winner of the Sanctum Tournament three times in a row, and is considered the 'Invincible Girl' due to the fact that no one's been able to defeat her...not once,"

Emerald, not far away spoke up at that, "She must've been well trained as a kid...of course, I'm sure you'll be able to handle her, Cinder," she quickly added, not wanting to anger the one who saved her from a life on the streets.

Cinder however, didn't respond to that as her eyes narrowed at the screen watching Pyrrha fight in one of her tournament duels, her third according to the title of the video. She then began to look back and forth between the girl on her scroll, and the girl on Mercury's. She began to notice one similarity between the two...

"They fight the same...," she muttered again, garnering blinks of confusion from her two cohorts.

"Cinder?" Emerald queried, as the woman stood from her chair and to stand beside Mercury as she placed her scroll alongside his, while Emerald moved over as well to see what Cinder meant.

"Their fighting style..." she elaborated, "...it's the same...though it's unnoticeable at first due to the fact there is other fighting styles mixed in, Nikos' style is the most pronounced used by the Maiden Knight,"

Both Mercury and Emerald both looked closely, and immediately noticed the similarity, albeit Pyrrha was more restrained in her fights, while the Maiden Knight was showing no qualms in how she dispatched her enemies.

"You're right," Emerald said with a slight widening of her eyes, "And the only difference I see in their fighting is how ruthless the Maiden knight is, while Nikos is more subdued. You think they're the same person?"

"Not unless if she did a rushed hair dye job," Mercury said, as he switched to a picture of the said girl, alongside a scraggly blonde teen, "This was was taken the day after the Dock Heist, It takes a person at least four to fifteen times to completely wash it out. Yet Little Miss Champion's red hair is still red,"

Emerald's eyes narrowed at that.

"And where did you hear this, and why?" she asked suspiciously, and Mercury rolled his eyes at her accusation.

"Hey, we would have to change our looks if we were caught," he countered, "And I had to make sure it was not the permanent stuff either! I prefer to go back to my natural hair color, thank you very much!"

"Enough!" Cinder growled as her eyes glowed like fire silencing the two, before she turned her attention back the two screens before speaking again, "When we arrive at Beacon after Lionheart gets our Haven identities in order, we'll keep an eye on the 'Invincible Girl' and if she is the Maiden Knight...then we will plan to deal with her, and remove a thorn in our side,"

With said Person

Said champion gasped as she felt a dark chill go down on her, as if somebody had just walked over her grave.

"Pyrrha, you alright?" Jaune asked his partner as he heard her gasp and saw her turn as white as a bedsheet. Pyrrha meanwhile was trying to calm her heart from the terrible feeling, while she also felt a pain in her chest where her heart was.

"I...I'm not sure," she said, "I feel like something bad is going to happen,"

Jaune's eyes widen in worry at that, "Is it...?," he began to ask, but Pyrrha shook her head.

"No, this is different," she said, "I just know that when we come back from this mission, we best be on our guard,"

Jaune couldn't help but agree with that, knowing what they learned of their possible future, they need to be on guard. He then grabbed his partner's hand causing her to blink and look up at him.

"You're right," he said, "Considering what Sprite told us, and what Dorée came back to prevent. We need to be ready to act."

He gave her hand a gentle squeeze as the Champion of Sanctum slowly but surely began to smile, as the Bullhead airship carried them, their team, and their friends as they continued on their course toward Fort Cobalt.

It was quiet on a solitary road, long forgotten and nearly overtaken by nature. Animals walked on the old asphalt surface as they minded their own business and steering clear of the creatures of Grimm. Not that the said monsters of darkness ever bothered them in any way, only preferring to attack humans and Faunus, despite the former's rather cruel, and ironic, bias towards the latter. But that's beside the point.

However, that was about to change as they immediately sense something coming their way, as they looked in the direction where a strange sound was coming from, before they bolted away into the trees. Just as when the originator of the sound, the motorcycle Bumblebee sped through the animals once where. It's rider accelerating the gas, not planning to stop anytime soon, until she reached the safety of the fortress just now entering her view.

Dorée actually smiled as she admired the motorcycle's capability to travel in any terrain, no matter the condition of the road.

'I have to admit, Auntie Ruby's sister knew how to look after a bike as well as she did. Especially since it handling great on this old road,' she thought, before she saw the looming gate of the abandoned fort getting closer, before it began to open up, letting her inside.

'Good boy, Adler,' she though fondly of her robotic companion as she raced toward the opening gate before passing it and into the fort itself, which to be honest looked more like a fortified town rather than a normal military fort. They would be right, considering that Fort Cobalt was known as a Bastion Fort, a hybrid between a fort and a small town, it's outer walls in the shape of a twelve pointed star, with "kill zones" within the gaps of the stars in order to prevent any attackers from hiding from defending fire from the inhabitants.

The fort did what it was built to do, surviving before and after the Great War, before the Council of Vale decided to cut it's military budget. That meant that maintaining the fort was untenable, and thus ordered it abandoned, including leaving behind it's arms foundry, which was responsible for producing one of the best rifles Vale ever made, the Cobalt Model 5 Assault Rifle, or CM5, Cobalt Rifle, or known affectionately known by the troops who used it as the "Spank Paddle", due to the shape of the thumbhole buttstock.

Though they could still be found in museums, or in collectors' hoards, and history enthusiasts, no new batches of the rifle were ever made...until Dorée and Sprite showed up and reactivated the foundry, in which she used it to equip her modified AK-130 Androids with the rifle, replacing the, in her mind, clumsy hand mini guns in the robots' arms. She vowed to find the idiot who thought that was a good idea, and kick them in the balls so hard they wouldn't have children.

But...that will have to wait for later, as she drove her 'borrowed' ride through the streets of the fortress/town, a solemn frown on her face as she looked at the abandoned buildings.

"To think this place used to be a thriving community," she said to herself, "And now...,"

"It's a ghost town," Sprite said, "Shame really. It would've been great to see this place in it's prime,"

Dorée nodded at that, before she spotted their final destination, the Central Command Building, which also doubled as the Mayor's residence. She began to slow down, before parking the yellow/black them motorcycle at the front door of the building, before setting it in park and turned off the ignition before getting off. As soon as she did, she hearc what sound like the screech of a bied of prey, only it sounded mechanical in nature, causing her glance up and a smile appeared on her face, as a silver colored, mechanical bird flew toward her before landing on her shoulder. The bird looked like a common eagle,, except for the sound of servos heard as it flapped it's wings making a mixed whoosh and whistling sound as it settled itself, before giving the blonde/redhead a gentle nuzzle with it's mechanical head, it's blue mechanical eyes actually showing joy in seeing her.

"Hello Adler," Dorée said as she caressed his stainless steel beak, "Have you been a good boy while I was gone?"

Positive chirps were her response, before Adler began gently nipping at her red banes, causing her to chuckle at his antics.

"Alright, alright, settle down. I missed you, too," she said, before her face turned serious, "Listen...I fear we're about to have some uninvited guests, so I want you to have the Turrets, and the AK130s at yellow alert till I say otherwise. If they're either White Fang, Cinder, her posse, Merlot, or any androids or goons with a Merlot Industries logo on them, don't hesitate to give them our 'Hot Welcome'. But...if it's student teams from Beacon or any other Huntsmen Academy, just try to scare them off. But, if that Headmaster shows up, don't take any chances with him,"

The mechanical raptor gave an understanding nod at this, before it hopped from Dorée's shoulder and flew off to carry out it's instructions. The vigilante nodded before she then proceeded into the building.

While walking through the halls of the HQ, Sprite took notice that Dorée's were more aggravated than usual, while her fists were clenched, and her breathing being hard and fast.

"Dorée...Are you alright?" The A.I. in concern for his partner, but when she didn't get a response, he knew that something was definitely wrong, as they continued on their way through the green paint chipped halls, climbed a set of stairs, and going through more hallways before arriving at a set of doors with a label above that said: Central Control.

Sprite got even more nervous, as his partner thrusted her arms forward and shoved the doors open.

'Oh Sisters, she is REALLY pissed!' he thought to himself, watching as Dorée removed her weapons from her back and placed them on a rack specifically for them, before heading to a holotable in the center of the room, before she took out the scroll on her gauntlet and placed it upon the table. Sprite's form quickly materialized, and the A.I.'s foreboding got worse, as his partner leveled the most disappointed glare right at him.

"Sprite, we've known each for a VERY. LONG. Time...correct? We always had each other's backs, right?" she asked, and the computer program could only nod his head, clearly afraid of her current bad mood, "Then I want you to answer me...one. Single. Question."

Sprite felt like he was going to short circuit when the disappointed glare...suddenly turned into a death with daggers glare as she loomed over him.

"What. Did. You. Tell them?" she growled, and the A.I. knew what that question meant.

'Oh...fuck,'

Meanwhile:

Humming was heard as Tick draped camouflage netting over her transport, before she began stretching and cracking her joints and knuckles. Preparing herself to go into the forest and stay off the main road so as not to be spotted.

"Never thought she would use this old place as a hideout," She mused, "Out of the way. People have forgotten about it. Perfect set up. But, it's take more than some old walls to stop me,"

With that, the servant of Merlot proceeded to walk into woods...taking no heed of the sign that clearly said:

WARNING!

THIS FOREST IS DANGEROUS!

KEEP OUT!

...She REALLY should've read that sign.

Patriot-M89: And finally finished! Now for some notes. First...

The CM5 rifle, is a Mini-14 version of the M5A2 Folsom carbine from Resistance...however, unlike the Folsom carbine, instead of using the .303 British round, it uses Remnant's version of the 6.8 x 43mm round, AKA, 6.8 SPC, which was discontinued for some B.S. reason. It still has the SAGE style forestock, and the wooden thumb hole buttstock. As for the M203 40mm grenade launcher...not ALL of them will have, but different attachments like a sword size bayonet for fighting close quarters with Grimm.

As for the town portion of Fort Cobalt, and it's overall condition, think of it like a mix between Pripyat and Silent Hill...minus the preventable tragedies that caused them to be abandoned in the first place. Also, I based it on the Bastion Forts of the past that replaced the older Medieval fortresses due to cannons and other firearms.

As for the bit said by Tick, if any of you lived in the 90's and watched America's Funniest People...you'll know who.

AFP Jackalope: THAT'S MEEEEE!

Patriot-M89: What the!?

AFP Jackalope: That's all folks, see you next time!

Patriot-M89: Oh why you little wannabe Deadpool! *grabs shotgun*

AFP Jackalope: As fast as fast can be, you'll never catch me! *runs away while cackling*

Patriot-M89: Till next time, everyone! I got a little rodent to hunt down, stuff, and mount on my wall! Later!