Disclaimer, I don't own any of the copyright intellectual properties shown in this fic. I am merely writing this for fun. Also! I forgot to mention on the first chapter that this fic was actually inspired by Nacoma23's fic, "The Invincible Whitley Schnee". Give that fic a read if you have the time, I hope this fic will one day reach that level of good writing. Anyway as promised here's the 2nd chapter.

For What It's Worth

1.2

The muster of capes went by as a blur to him. At first he couldn't believe the ridiculousness of the situation he found himself in, especially when a tall, admittedly handsome, man in a domino mask and blue skin-tight spandex started giving a speech praising their will and courage for showing up. Empty platitudes of similar words were thrown in the mix and Whitley couldn't find it in himself to care at that point. Instead, he focused on the people that were in his immediate surroundings and noted that the people looked like if the Atlesian military were combined with the circus. He couldn't find it in himself to take them seriously with how they looked.

Although lacking a mirror, Whitley noted that he at least looked way better than those in his surroundings. His silver-painted power armor had a sleek design that lacked the bulkier parts of those wearing a similar set. He didn't understand why he had access to his Pulse rifle, Gauss cannon and other deadly arsenal that he was sure were only drafts back in the workshop but he wasn't complaining.

The handsome man's speech went on and two other individuals joined him. A woman in black spandex that hugged her body a bit too well with some armor panels topped off with a helmet that covered most of her head except the mouth. The other was some green creep in a hood whose entire demeanor screamed antisocial. If this went on then Whitley was sure he'd die of boredom. All in all the gist of his situation was that he was in some city called Belfast in the northern part of the world. It was freezing since it was winter and they had to fight some thirty-foot-tall lizard with a hydrokinetic semblance of sorts.

He definitely wasn't in Remnant anymore if he could half hazard a guess.

Thankfully by the grace of Oum or whatever deity the people of this world believed in, the man's speech came to an end. They all got sorted into categories, Whitley joined the range group if his equipment was anything to go by. After which some guy in blue chauffeur garb sent them to a rooftop in a nearby building in a flash. He'd ask questions to know more about his surroundings but the atmosphere of the situation made him reconsider. Whitley wasn't an expert on body language but even he could tell that almost everyone around him was scared beyond reason.

The weather was cold and could even put the Atlesian cold to shame. Some of those beside him, specifically the ones who weren't wearing power armor or anything similar were visibly shaking. To him however, this weather was just the norm considering his upbringing which was a boon to him. The intense rain however proved to be a massive annoyance to him as it never rained in Atlas during the winter. Worse yet, due to the intensity of the rain, his power armor's hud was struggling to give him a clear feed of what was in front of him. That was concerning to Whitley because even if his advanced suit was struggling for better vision then what did that mean to those who only wore a simple domino mask.

'Not my problem they came unprepared.'

They waited a few minutes until everyone's armband, how'd he overlook it he wondered, and started talking.

"Leviathan landing imminent, 30 seconds till impact."

Like cogs in a massive engine, the individuals around Whitley began preparing a firing line with their equipment some stretching their limbs that were surrounded with colorful energies. He detached the Gauss cannon from his back and activated it. Electric green hues crackled across the rifle and Whitley couldn't help but smile smugly at his tech. He may not have built it but it was still his technically speaking.

Soon enough a massive sphere of water with something dark in the middle came charging straight towards the city from the east. For the first time since being shoved into this scenario, Whitley felt a hole in his stomach. The sphere charging towards them was so massive that even through the poor visibility anyone present could easily see it. What made the hole in his stomach go deeper was the ridiculous speed it had directed at them.

Having no orders directly given to them, all the ranged individuals open-fired in perfect unison. It was as if seeing the target shoved Whitley into the collective hive mind of everyone gathered.

Hues of every color imaginable in diverse shapes and forms came crashing down into the target. The city lit up from all the energy that was being fired and for a moment the oppressive darkness provided by the weather had vanished. The uncountable energy fired landed square at the middle of the sphere and layers upon layers of water were stripped clean off in massive clouds of steam.

Whitley's very own Gauss cannon was easily the strongest weapon being fired at the rooftop he stood on. Even if it was only in half power. Alas, what should have been a proud moment for the tinker was eclipsed by the growing anxiety as the sphere didn't seem to lose any momentum. Soon enough the sphere was gone as the final layer of water turned into steam and Whitley finally got a view of what they were trying to kill.

Just as the speech had said, his HUD confirmed its size as being roughly 30 feet tall. The green lizard-like creature's mouthless face and three eyes, two at the right and one on the left, stared emotionless at the city's general direction. Despite this Whitley was convinced the creature was staring directly at him.

So this was Leviathan.

The hole in his stomach had stopped growing as it had turned into full-blown fear. The micro observations he'd been doing since the start were gone. His entire focus was completely directed at the monster.

Whitley cranked his Gauss cannon to fire at full power and blinding colors of green engulfed the rooftop, firing his massive load of energy beams against the monster. The fact that this didn't bother anyone nor did it put a skip in their movements spoke to the testament of fear everyone felt. Whatever pride he felt for his tools was gone and for once he was begging that maybe someone on his rooftop was secretly hiding tech more powerful and better than his that could save the day.

Unlike the water that vanished instantly when hit with the rainbow-colored energy, it did nothing to Leviathan. The effects their collective weaponry brought upon the monster did nothing but probably annoy it.

By then fear had evolved into panic. All of Whitley's instinct was screaming at him to just run away as far as possible from here. The only thing keeping him was that no one beside him did. He at least could still feel a bit of pride in his surroundings.

The green creep from before who was beside the man who gave the speech showed up in front of the entire muster.

'By Oum what was that man doing!?'

The green creep raised his arms and a red ball of energy that his HUD claimed was as hot as the sun formed above his head. By all rational accounts, everything and everyone within the immediate vicinity should have burned to a crisp but it hadn't affected them, somehow. By the time the red ball of energy was of respectable size the green creep threw it at Leviathan and it impressively stopped the overgrown lizard, giving everyone gathered renewed hope and motivation even Whitley. For about five seconds Leviathan was back on his path towards the city.

The barrage continued and other powerful displays by other capes were also shown but none of that mattered to Whitley because his HUD was counting down the seconds Leviathan would crash into the city. As the countdown finally reached zero any semblance of control the individuals had in the city was ripped out of their hands.

Quite literally even.

It happened so fast that Whitley's power armor had automatically deployed its armor lock long before he realized it. Even when his limbs locked into place it barely registered to Whitley that he had been thrown off the rooftop he was in by a massive wave of water, landing heavily in the streets below him. When he finally got back full control of his power armor Whitley struggled to get back on his feet due to the waist-high water that permeated the streets.

His ears rang and some parts of his body ached as a result of getting hit by the wave going at a ridiculous speed. Deftly checking the status of his power armor, Whitley gave a relieved sigh that his armor held up despite the damage it had taken. He would've done an even more detailed system check had the voice in his armband taken him out of his focus.

"Echo deceased, CD-4. Big Ben down, CD-4. Overseer deceased, CD-4. Bulletproof deceased, CD-4. Aquaherd deceased, CD-4."

Whitley had ignored the armband's voice when a body floated towards him. He gagged at the sight, shoving the body away only to be met with a few more wading about him. To make matters worse Whitley had recognized the bodies as the other individuals that stood beside him on the rooftop when they were unleashing their payload against Leviathan.

Was he the only survivor of his group?

The thought was too much for the boy and he'd disengaged the mouthpiece of his helmet. Vomiting on the water that felt more and more oppressive by the second. The air left a strong salty aftertaste in his mouth before he closed the mouthpiece. A stray thought entered his mind if the taste in his mouth was that of the dead bodies that marinated the water threatened to make him vomit again. It didn't matter however as his power armor automatically released stimulants in his body before that and aggressively forced Whitley to calm down and think.

The stimulants gave him a minor headache but it was a welcome one if it distracted him from the death surrounding him. With his mind back in the present Whitley accessed the situation he was currently in. Firstly his primary weapon, the Gauss rifle, was gone either because he lost it or got damaged were irrelevant. So he took the Pulse rifle from his back and armed it. Secondly, his armor was at 70% strength although unfortunately the jet systems in his power armor were gone so that meant he had to run in waist-high water if he wanted to get from point A to B. Third, despite the shock of seeing dead people around him his physical health was still above average and he hadn't suffered any lasting damage even after getting the air knocked out of his lungs.

Whitley did another round of system checks and found that for the most part, his situation wasn't that bad. Yet. For better or worse he was still in the fight against that overgrown lizard. He either needed to get into higher ground or regroup with the nearest operational group. Regardless he doubted that his actions would result in anything worthwhile. His strongest failed to do anything so he doubted his second string of weapons would.

"Damn it Whitley, get it together!"

He was stalling with his thoughts, it was time for action. Whitley order-blinked at his HUD and made his power armor hack into his armband. The inner relay systems of the armband gave him the position of the nearest group of range capes which were a few blocks away to his east. With his destination set, he was finally in motion since getting his thrown off the rooftop.

A silent offering of peace to the bodies around him was offered.

Heavy legs ran across a street where the water level was at his waist. In reality, it was less like running and more like violent wading as the water hampered his legs. It seemed that his power armor was struggling to adapt to the temperature of the place as certain parts of his armor began overheating. Whitley wanted to complain but with each body he passed by it started to feel like a blessing to be able to experience the cold hell he was in. He had stopped offering peace at some point with the sheer volume of bodies that floated around.

"Wait a minute… the sound."

He hadn't noticed it at first due to the death and destruction in his immediate area surrounding him but the sounds. The distant echoes of explosions from energy discharges and sound barriers being constantly broken was getting louder.

No, not louder, it was getting CLOSER.

"Oh shit."

The ground beneath him shook and the water levels rose another few inches. Leviathan had unleashed another massive wave if anything was to go by and the green dots in his HUD that symbolized the nearest group all turned red.

Dead, all of them. Whitley had begun to regret hacking into the armband as his HUD map began showing red dots everywhere. Another wave was felt and more red dots came. Enough was enough and Whitley had reached his breaking point.

By Oum's name what the fuck was he doing here to begin with!?

Whitley turned around and ran as fast as he could in these waves. Running as far as he could from the sounds of combat that were getting louder. His hands had already tried to throw away the Pulse rifle in his hands but the maglock systems had kept the rifle in his hands. His headache was also getting stronger as his power armor was injecting every stimulant in his body all at once. Alas his panic was stronger and it seemed the stimulants achieved nothing but make his head ache even more.

At the end of the street, the building to his right erupted and a female cape clad in black crashed into another building across the other street. Whitley had recognized the cape as the female who stood beside the man who gave the speech.

Time seemed to crawl into a halt as the very thing that had caused all this destruction came out of the hole the female cape was thrown out of. Whitley had never felt so small, so insignificant, so weak at this very moment. He wished that he would shrink so that Leviathan would just ignore and move past him. From the way Leviathan moved it seemed like it was too busy fighting the female cape and Whitley hoped he'd continue after her.

That was not the case. Leviathan stopped dead in his tracks in the middle of the road Whitley stood in, and turned its head. The monster stared at Whitley and he stared back. To his point of view it had felt like Leviathan was staring straight through Whitley's very being.

At this very moment Whitley Schnee did not see Leviathan.

At this very moment, he saw his father, a proud smile on his face giving him a slap on the back.

At this very moment he saw his mother. Giving her maternal smile to him as she hugged him and kissed his cheek.

At this very moment, he saw Winter, a rapier in both their hands. Being both a mentor and older sister to the young boy.

At this very moment, he saw Weiss inside the music room with him. Her voice echoed across the room as he played the piano alongside his singing sister.

At this very moment, Whitley Schnee had forgiven the sins of his family.

The fact that Whitley was forced to forgive their sins against his will in the hope of ending this nightmare is the very reason that of all the Endbringers, Leviathan was the one he hated the most.

The standstill eventually came to an end and surprisingly it was Whitley who made the first move. Whether by muscle memory or because of his power armor's programming he would never know. His hand had disengaged the Pulse rifle's safety and shouldered the weapon. With a shout fueled by the breaking of his mind Whitley emptied the magazine of his Pulse rifle at full auto.

Leviathan charged at the lone tinker and although he had no mouth, Whitley would swear in the days to come that he saw the Endbringer smiling.

—-

"AAAHHHHH!"

THUD!

Frantic eyes scanned the room as Whitley struggled to get up off the floor from falling from his hammock. His body didn't register any pain as his brain, as well as his body, was still on full alert expecting Leviathan at any minute.

As his mind finally registered that he was back in his workshop at the Schnee manor and not out in some sunken city, his erratic breathing slowly became steady. He stood straight for a while and after deeply inhaling and exhaling a few more times Whitley finally calmed down from his rude awakening.

"So that was Leviathan…Fuck him."

Squeak-Squeak

The wet sound of his feet made Whitley give his body a full look and discovered he was soaked. His topless upper body was utterly drenched. His sweat pants were equally drenched as well and he was almost embarrassed if he had soiled himself as a result of the nightmare. The lack of a yellow puddle however from underneath his hammock assured him that that was not the case.

Whitley breathed a sigh of relief for his still intact pride, then gave a frustrated groan at his situation. He was out of clothes by this point. Clean clothes he might add. It was as if Remnant itself wanted Whitley to leave his workshop.

So be it.

Heading to the part of the room with the hamper, Whitley stripped down his soaked clothes, grabbed the now definitely dirty towel, rubbed himself dry. With no clean clothes left he took a dry shirt and sweatpants from the hamper and wore them instead.

If he was leaving the workshop for a refill of supplies then might as well make the most out of it. When he left the workshop Whitley noticed a taped sign on the door and quickly recognized Klein's handwriting.

'You've been locked up in there for a month now young master. If you'd like sustenance then please proceed to the kitchen like always. -Klein'

"That bastar-!"

'No, no…'

Even if Klein's note had angered him, Whitley wasn't going to dishonor himself by cursing the only man who gave him affection after all these years. He was better than this. Even if the man had favorites.

'This note was written out of concern for my well-being. Nothing more nothing less. Get it together Whitley.'

This was another unfavorable aspect the youngest Schnee had observed since he had triggered. Anything or anyone who had gotten in his way of tinkering made him aggressive. It was one of the few aspects he disliked about his new abilities. He wasn't some mad scientist devoid of all reason taken straight out of a generic sci-fi movie.

He was Whitley Schnee and he was better.

"Thank you…Klein. I promise I will." He said to the empty halls, mostly as an affirmation to himself.

Maids and servants he came across quickly greeted him and scurried off away from him. Sure you could argue it was out of fear but Whitley had the best reputation amongst his family when it came to the treatment of their employees. Rather their reaction was out of surprise and/or shock at seeing the young heir deep within the servant's quarters.

Not even Nicholas Schnee ventured this deep in his own mansion.

Eventually Whitley got to his destination and entered the office of the employee's head quartermaster.

"Yes, what do you want? Haven't I already given you instructions for today?"

Bellowed a burly red haired man who was scribbling something in a ledger. Judging by how he sat it was clear that he was taller than Whitley. He also noted the well trimmed crimson beard the man had. 'Is that actually a requirement to be of rank in this place?'

"I was hoping you'd have an extra pair of men's night clothes for me to wear."

"Men's night clothes? What the he-"

Whatever else the crimson haired man was going to say came to an abrupt halt as he looked up at the man that gave the strange request. Wide eyes stared at Whitley and the boy could see the figurative gears in the man's head spin.

"Master Whitley," He said standing up fast and almost knocked his chair down. "I apologize for the tone of my voice, had I known who had entered my office I wouldn't have shown such disrespect."

True to his intuition, the man was over a foot taller than him. Whitley couldn't hide how humorous he found the massive man go from dominant to submissive in the blink of an eye.

Whitley shook his head, "No need to apologize. If ever it should be me apologizing for disrupting your work. Mr …?"

"William Redburns at your service young master." said the man bowing.

"A pleasure Mr. Redburns. Again I apologize for the intrusion and I don't want to waste any more of your time lest my bastard father you call your boss punish you."

The man, now known as William, didn't know how to react to Whitley openly cursing Jacques. It wasn't a secret at the mansion how the siblings viewed their father but no servant had ever heard any of them curse him so casually.

Seeing that cursing his father made the man in front of him be dumbfounded, Whitley took the responsibility to continue the conversation.

"Please take your seat Mr. .Redburns, it's just me. Now onto my request."

"Oh, oh yes. We most definitely have what you're requesting for you young master. When and where do you need it?"

"Right here and now would be preferable if it's not a bother to your operations."

"Not at all young master! Please give me a moment and I'll have what you need right here in a bit."

"Thank you Mr. Redburns."

William activated a button on his table that released a miniature microphone. He said a few words into it before sending it back to where it came from.

"It'll be here in a moment, young master."

"Thank you once again."

Awkward silence quickly surrounded the room while the occupants waited. Whitley didn't know how to carry a casual conversation with someone who wasn't part of the Atlesian elite. William on the other hand wasn't expecting to be visited by the son of his boss at such an unusual time.

Whitley was alright standing in place in this awkward silence but it looked like the man in front of him wanted to ask something. With nothing better to do than wait he might as well humor the man.

"You have something on your mind Mr. Redburns?"

"I…yes young master, I have something on my mind."

…

"Well, ask away Mr. Redburns! I see no harm in indulging your curiosity."

"You see, rumors have begun circulating amongst the staff about your…activities inside the store room in the mechanical wing. None of it originating from my department I assure you!" Hastily added William, hand held up in surrender.

This time Whitley couldn't help but give a soft laugh at his words. It seemed that regardless of setting be it in the highest echelons of the Atlesian elite or the lowest streets of Mantle, rumors had a habit of rearing its ugly head.

"Not rumors, or at least not anymore. Tell me Mr. Redburns what are the specifics of these rumors that you've been hearing?"

"You build machinery finer than anything the Atlesian military could make. At least that's what the mechanics say."

"And what made the mechanics come to that conclusion?"

"Well apparently they saw you walking back to the store room wearing some kind of robotic armor that they claim made you fly like a bullhead."

Hearing those words made Whitley laugh out loud. Finding William's word unusually funny despite not being it.

"It's all true Mr. Redburns, I do make machinery ten times better than that of the Atlesian military."

William could only raise his eyes at the youngest Schnee's declaration.

"If that's true then, forgive me for this next question young master, but…how do I put it?"

"How did I get so smart despite having zero experience in the field or not attending any of the prestigious IT academies of this kingdom?"

The crimson haired man nodded at his words. Despite Whitley's kind nature, the man knew he had already overstepped his questions, and he was not about to risk his job security to sate his curiosity.

"Well in all honesty I hit my head over a month ago and woke up as the smartest man in Remnant."

"...What?"

"Wait no, that's actually not accurate at all. More like I had a seizure or stroke, semantics really, a month ago then woke up as the smartest man in Remnant."

William's mouth hung open unashamedly upon hearing Whitley's words. To be fair, how does one properly react to hearing a statement such as that? It seemed that revealing his trigger event would be the end of this discussion as a servant, who was also shocked seeing Whitley, arrived and handed the clothes to him.

"Oh and before I go Mr. Redburns, may I request that you send me another pair or so directly at my workshop later today?"

"Your workshop?"

"The store room at the mechanical wing."

"Oh of course young master! How many pairs will you be needing?"

"About 50 pairs will do."

"50!?"

"Will that be a problem? That wasn't a threat by the way, will my request negatively affect your operations?"

"I, uh… no young master. Your request won't affect my operations negatively. I was just shocked. 50 pairs of night's clothes will be sent to your workshop later this afternoon if that's agreeable to you."

"Yes, very much agreeable. Thank you Mr. Redburns for your service. I shall take my leave now, and be well."

Later that day William couldn't help but take a swig of his own alcohol from his encounter with the youngest Schnee. He hadn't had that much interaction with the main family but he couldn't help but wonder if they were all that eccentric.

With that admittedly amusing interaction over it was time for Whitley to return to his room. He desperately needed a bath after all.

Just a little longer and he would be back to tinkering.

AN: Thank you to everyone who gave this fic a follow, favorite, review or even just read it in their free time. I hope you found this update entertaining as I did when I wrote it. I'm 50% done with the third chapter of this fic so you can expect it somewhere along the weekend.

With that said, I remember the first time I read the Leviathan fight all those years ago and wondered how Skitter and the Undersiders survived that fight. Plot armor aside every time I imagined myself as a cape in Worm I always assumed I'd instantly die in my first endbringer fight. Actually the first draft of this chapter I had Whitley inside a bootleg gundam (spoiler?)and beat up Leviathan. But I got bored just from writing that and decided what the POV of a side character with no plot armor would be like in an enbringer fight instead.

Anyway that's the end of my rambling and I hope to see you soon.