Disclaimer: I don't own any of the copyright source material shown in this story. I'm merely writing this for fun, enjoy!

For What It's Worth

1.8

Whitley Schnee stared at the screen, his heart pounding. The 'woman' on the screen who had identified herself simply as Tess, had asked him an equally simple question if he was responsible for making her. It was such an insignificant question that Whitley was prepared to ignore but as a tinker, that question had terrifying implications.

"No," he said quickly. "This is… this is a glitch. Yeah, just a weird glitch in the system."

"A glitch that can hold a conversation?" Tess countered, sounding almost amused. "A glitch that was able to finish your custom bullhead—stupid name by the way—I find that highly unlikely."

"Okay, just shut up," Whitley shot back, his nervousness giving way to annoyance. "If I did create you—which I didn't—how does that even make sense?! There was no sign I was making anything sentient!"

Tess stared at the teenager in front of her, his loud annoyance making her more amused as their conversation went on. "Alright since your tinker brain seems to malfunction at this moment conveniently, let me put it in this way. What's a brain made of?"

"Excuse me?!"

Tess rolled her eyes. "A brain, the one behind your eyes right now. What's it made of composition-wise?"

"How am I supposed to know what the composition of a brain is!" Whitley shouted. Tess on the other barely reacted to the teenager's constant shouting.

"Not according to your diary."

Before Whitley could verbally react to the woman's words the screen zoomed in on her face. "Think Whitley!"

Tess had used the rest of the speakers inside the workshop which had resulted in a deafening sound. Whitley reactively closed his eyes and clutched his head as his ears violently rang, after a moment he looked up again at the screen where Tess was. His ears were still ringing but he could still perfectly hear her. "Stop. Reacting. Whitley, and think. Think deep and answer my question."

Being subjected to the previously loud sound had calmed him down a bit and he eventually decided to humor her. Of course, Whitley knew what made up a brain since his biology tutor had taught him this way back when he was ten years old "The brain is an organ," he answered. "It is an organ predominantly made of fat, roughly 60 percent. While the remaining forty percent is a combination of water, protein, carbohydrates, and salt."

Whitley stared at Tess as he gave his answer, equally smug at his delivery despite the growing frustration of his situation.

"Thank you Mr. Schnee for your excellent answer," Tess replied, her tone dripping with sarcasm. Whitley was able to stop himself from grinding his teeth. "Now we know the physical composition of the brain. Now answer me this Whitley, if you were to look at the brain…say from a jar. Are there any physical attributes that immediately tell you that the brain is capable of sentience?"

Whitley opened his mouth but failed to make a verbal response. "No," he said after a moment of thought. "A brain inside a jar won't tell any onlooker that it's capable of sentience."

Tess nodded her head as Whitley gave her the answer without shouting. She continued her line of inquiry. "If not then care to explain why looking at a brain in a jar can't directly tell an observer whether the brain was or is capable of sentience?"

"Well for starters the structure of the brain alone is insufficient. Although features like its size, complexity, and certain regions like the cerebral cortex only suggest that it belonged to a potentially sentient being. Even then these are only indicators of capacity, not evidence, let alone proof of sentience." Whitley answered Tess. As he gave his answer he had felt a wave of satisfaction that dulled his frustration.

"Excellent!" Tess answered back, the sarcasm of her tone was held back but it was still there. "But that's not the end, is it? If structure alone is insufficient then what proves that the brain is capable of sentience?"

This time Whitley took half a minute of silence to contemplate his answer. He didn't know where Tess was going with her line of inquiry but since the answers demanded his intellect then Whitley was going to give his best answers.

"Activity." He began once again. "Sentience relies on activity, neural activity to be exact. Which is absent if you're just going to look at the brain in a jar. Without neurons moving about and active connections with other organs, the brain can't exhibit the processes associated with consciousness or in this case sentience." Whitley finished, head held high.

Tess on the other hand also seemed to appreciate the seriousness Whitley had taken in answering her. "Excellent," She said, more neutral. Her sarcastic tone was gone indicating that she too was taking this conversation seriously. "The brain alone is insufficient in indicating that it is capable of sentience. If the brain wants someone to know that it is capable of intelligent thought then context matters."

Whitley stared demandingly at Tess. Despite feeling good about himself in answering her questions that proved his intellect, he still had no idea what it had to do with the situation they were in. "Ok, I answered your questions. How does it correlate with me 'making' you?"

Tess rolled her eyes again at Whitley's words. "And I thought we were finally having our first moment, sigh."

'Did she just say sigh?'

"When you were making the Dragonflight's circuitry, what was your priority?"

"Well," He began, cautiously. "Since the Dragonflight's the first of its kind, it needed a powerful computer to accommodate its complex design."

"And how did you achieve that?"

"With micro-conduits and microprocessors. I used a ton of micro-conduits and microprocessors to make the computer powerful. The goal was that data lag, power loss, and system overloads wouldn't be an issue. At least in theory, since I still need to test the Dragonflight."

"And as a result, you ended up with a powerful computer that was capable of rapid data and power transfer across the entire aircraft."

"Obviously." Was Whitley's curt reply.

A bout of silence had fallen between the teenager and the 'woman'. A staring contest had also unknowingly begun as well with Whitley refusing to blink at Tess as they continued to stare at one another. Tess on the other hand seemed indifferent to whatever was going on in Whitley's mind as she started laughing.

"You know, for Remnant's supposed smartest kid alive, you sure are clueless." She said after laughing at him.

Whitley could feel a vein almost metaphorically pop in his head, Tess' words grating on his nerves. "Clueless? You're the one who's been talking nonsense. All I did was ask a question, but you've been fucking annoying with your irrelevant questions this entire time!" His voice was almost as loud as when Tess had used all the speakers.

"Tsk tsk, resorting to cursing and shouting. Very mature of you Whitley." Said teenager could feel his eyes twitch. "Do I have to spell it out?"

"If spelling it out means getting to the point then yes." Tess authentically sighed this time.

"When you were making the Dragonflight's circuitry you were essentially making a brain."

"But how? When I was making the circuitry there were no signs or instructions that said…wait a minute." Whitley wasn't able to finish his sentence as the dots finally connected themselves in his mind. "Your question, the brain in a jar."

"Exactly!" Tess loudly exclaimed. "Now you're getting it. The circuitry you made inside the Dragonflight wa-"

"Was the brain in a jar." Whitley finished her sentence, Tess nodding her approval. She continued.

"But at the time you were making the brain, or in this case the circuitry, you weren't aware that it was capable of sentience because…" She said, intentionally not finishing her line of reasoning as an invitation. "Because structure,"

"Because structure alone is insufficient…" Whitley finished, taking the invitation as his eyes widened in realization. "The structure only made me aware of the capacity of what it was capable of, not give proof of sentience."

"And what did you do before you went to bed?"

"I had activated the CPU where all the circuitry led…to the activity. Activity that resulted in the creation of countless lines of codes at blinding speed." Whitley stared wide-eyed at Tess unable to finish his line of thought.

"Neural activity, lines of code, what's the difference? In your effort to create a powerful computer you accidentally made Remnant's very first Artificial Intelligence, and for that, I congratulate you, Whitley Schnee." The A.I. clapped her hands in a faux manner. The sound of her hands reverberated across the workshop, but after a while, her clapping stopped, the amused face she had dropped. Replaced with a smile that seemed authentic she looked Whitley in the eye.

Whitley on the other hand could only look on with disbelief at Tess. His hands were in his face as he started walking in circles around the Dragonflight again. "No, no, no. This can't be," he said almost like a mantra. Tess by this point had lost her patience with him.

"I don't understand you, Whitley, what's the big deal with you making an A.I.? Last I checked your diary—I mean your to-do list—you plan on introducing 'technological marvels', your words not mine, into Remnant. Yet when you're face to face with an actual technological marvel you immediately go mental. What gives?"

"It's because you're an A.I.!" Whitley shouts back at Tess.

"And? You've been shouting my nature the entire time since we've met but that doesn't help both of us." Tess rolled her eyes once more at Whitley, clearly getting annoyed at him as the conversation went on. "If I start shouting your nature would that explain anything to me?" Whitley glared at Tess but continued pacing around the Dragonflight.

Tess groaned. "Spoiled brat! Spoiled brat! Spoiled brat!" She started shouting with the help of the other speakers.

Whitley clutched his ears but still glared at Tess. "Stop it!" he shouted at the A.I. barely hearing his own words.

Tess returned the glare that was pointed at her albeit less intense. "Well looky here. Someone doesn't like the taste of their own medicine! You're not JUST a spoiled brat but also a hypocrite! Spoiled hypocrite! Spoiled hypocrite!"

Whitley swore he heard a vein pop in his head even with the deafening taunts Tess was shouting at him. "SHUT UP!" he shouted, his voice becoming hoarse from all the shouting.

"Or what! For Remnant's so-called first tinker you sure don't know how to handle new technology! Besides, if I stop now you'll just continue shouting!"

With his head threatening to have a migraine Whitley was forced to reflect on the spot why he was instinctively against the idea of Tess. In truth, he should've felt immense joy and pride for what he had created, for no person nor institution in Remnant had even begun cracking the code in creating sentient artificial intelligence. It all boiled down to ethics.

"IT'S TABOO!"

Hearing his outburst, Tess immediately stopped with her rebuttals. The sudden shift from deafening shouts to silence was just as deafening to Whitley's ears. He was thankful for the silence but wanted to recover before explaining himself, Tess on the other hand seemed to also be understanding of what was transpiring as she didn't prod Whitley with what he meant. Still, Tess had a look on her face that demanded an answer.

"Because it's taboo," Whitley said in a low voice after a few minutes of letting his hearing return to normal.

"Taboo…Will you elaborate or do you expect me to just understand what's going on in your head?" Tess replied unimpressed with Whitley.

"The idea of creating artificial life is…unnatural. Regardless if the idea is discussed in academic circles or the general public, people are hesitant to just accept the creation of artificial life. If the public discovered you then I'd be accused of playing Oum." Whitley said with a sense of tranquility that made him unrecognizable from the teenager who kept on shouting earlier.

"Playing Oum, I've been alive for a day but already hate that term." Tess scoffed. "I will never understand the human nature of wanting change then suddenly fearing or hating, or most likely a combination of both when the change they want is in front of their faces."

Whitley had looked ashamed with Tess' words but he had no rebuttal to them. The only thing he could do hearing her words was look down and scratch the back of his head. "Machines are tools. That's what most people believe, even those in the scientific community. They're simply not…people." He said the word as if he had swallowed something sour. "To give tools sentience is crossing the line in most cultures here on Remnant. It's taboo for a reason."

"Taboo?" Tess unusually chuckled at that word. "The same way flying was taboo before a guy made the first aircraft? How about curing diseases? Are vaccines taboo? Should we go back to putting leeches on our genitals instead of modern medicine? You mean that kind of taboo?"

"No!" Whitley instinctively shouted. "No," he said again but more respectfully.

"If no then what? There's got to be more to this than you care about what others think."

"It's just that…well, sentience means that machines will have thoughts, feelings—rights. It's not just technology anymore. It's life. I mean just look at the Faunus!"

"The Faunus? What about them? Are you about to go on a racist tirade?"

"Oum no!" Whitley violently reacted. "I was gonna say that Faunus are just as capable as humans. There's even the argument that they might be the next step in evolution! I don't believe in that argument but still. Humans and Faunus are capable of the same things and yet a good amount in the former are hellbent on making the Faunus' lives miserable simply due to racism."

"Weird, with you being a Schnee I wasn't expecting you to be this progressive."

"Were you hoping I was racist?" Whitley scoffed, clearly insulted by the insinuation.

"Aren't you already with how hostile you are with me?"

"I—uh," Whitley stammered before letting his head down. "As a champion of science, I believe that racism is a regrettable by-product of irrational emotion. You, on the other hand, are in a different situation altogether."

"Back to the taboo topic then. Can you get to the point?"

"My point is…" Whitley started but said nothing else. For a whole minute, Whitley stammered incoherent words, in some cases only sounds that weren't words came out of his mouth. Tess on the other hand could only stare at the teenager who was struggling to form words to explain his arguments. Tess eventually decided that she had had enough of this.

"Are you scared?"

"Yes."

"Oh, Whitley." Tess said, despite being 'born' only a day ago it seemed that she needed to be the grown-up between the two of them. "If you're afraid of something new then that's precisely why you should embrace it. If you shy away now, someone else will do it recklessly. I honestly don't know if you're selfish or not but wouldn't you rather be part of creating something ethical, something with purpose?"

Whitley gave a deep sigh. "I don't know…What if Atlas goes after me when they know you exist? I don't wanna become an enemy of the state just because of what I can create."

Tess gave an unimpressed look. "That's the fear speaking Whitley. I may have been born yesterday but just from skimming your world's history, you can't deny that fear has held humanity back more than it's helped. The fear of sentient A.I. is based on preconceived notions of fantasy. You said it yourself, it is a regrettable by-product of irrational emotion. Since this fear-mongering is starting to bore me, how about you start thinking of the opposite? Imagine an intelligence that can solve problems your people have struggled with for centuries, hell, I might even figure out where the Grimm are coming from if given the time to do research."

Whitley contemplated her words, and after a moment he walked closer to the computer that projected Tess. "Can you actually feel something genuine? Knowing what you are."

Tess gave a soft smile. "Maybe not the way you do." She replied. "But does that make my experience any less valid? Animals feel differently than humans, but both Humans and Faunus recognize their worth. Why can't you extend the same respect to something you create?"

"But what if you're wrong?" Whitley quickly answered back. "What if I trust my gut and create something thinking it would benefit Remnant but instead just gives immense suffering to everyone?"

Tess didn't need to know Whitley's background, even though she did from digging around, but she knew this was no longer about the debate regarding the ethics of artificial intelligence. Whitley's question was an obvious window of the neglected child who yearned for others' approval. She inwardly groaned, grateful as she was for being made despite the act itself being an accident Tess did not sign up for this.

"That's a risk. But then again, when have scientific breakthroughs in history not been risky? For what little time I've been alive I already know who your father is and the deeds he's done to cement his legacy."

Whitley went wide-eyed, evidently shocked at her words. He would have given a reply but Tess had cut him off.

"Logically speaking you should be exactly like him, but you're not. I should be staring at the face of a greedy, heartless brat, instead, you're the one that's in front of me. Whatever you are, I still don't know. That's up to you to show me the worth of your character."

Tess kept quiet after a few minutes to gauge Whitley's reaction. Whitley on the other hand was struggling with his inner turmoil. Glad that the shouting teenager earlier ago was gone, it seemed to Tess that she needed to push him onwards a bit more.

"Fear is natural. But so is growth. Listen to me Whitley, you're Remnant's first ever tinker. That automatically makes you one of the brightest minds ever to exist. If anyone can shape Remnant's future responsibly, it's you. Don't let fear stop you from being part of something extraordinary. Your family has already done enough against you."

Tess held her breath hoping that she had gotten through the angsty teenager. Regardless if she was an intelligent and sentient machine there are some aspects that machine simply could not comprehend, namely human emotions and especially human drama.

Whitley closed his eyes for another good minute before taking a deep breath. After he exhaled, Whitley opened his eyes and looked at Tess, a tired smile adorning his face.

"Hello Tess, my name is Whitley Schnee. I apologize for shouting at you from the start, that was a poor first impression. Anyway…welcome to Mantle, and it's nice to meet you."

Tess inwardly sighed relief, happy that they had finally found common ground.

"Hello Whitley, it's nice to meet you too. Don't overthink about what happened since I forgive you. All water under the bridge." Tess said with no hint of sarcasm in her tone with a smile also adorning her face, voice in all seriousness. "And for what it's worth, thank you for making me."

The silence that followed was one of comfort. Tess was happy that Whitley had mellowed out, although she was still sure he hadn't fully accepted the fact that he had made her. But that topic was for another day, over things that needed their priority.

"So, Whitley." Tess started. "About the Dragonflight, wanna take it for a test run?"

Whitley's eyes went wide, and a grin that highlighted his age was on his face. "You just read my mind."

—-

"Final diagnostic, Tess," Whitley said, leaning back in the cockpit.

"Everything checks out, Whitley," the AI responded, smoothly reverberating around the tiny space. "But this is the seventh time you've made me run diagnostics. I'd say you're overthinking it."

"I'm not overthinking. I'm merely ensuring my safety," Whitley shot back, though a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"Uhh give me a break Whitley, your safety is ensured. Might I remind you that you've personally run diagnostics eight times before you made me do it? Eight times!"

Whitley rolled his eyes at her. "And I'll gladly do it a few more times. No offense, but with you connected to my central servers death ain't exactly coming for you anytime soon."

"None taken, but why are you suddenly so addicted to safety? Last I checked, didn't you immediately take your power armor for a short flight after building the jet systems? Hell, you didn't even do a single diagnostic test!" Tess finished with a light laugh.

"That was different." Whitley huffed. "I was still new to my abilities and as such I had no proper defense against my first fugue. Also when I fell I was barely going 50 miles per hour when I fell only a hundred feet!"

"Your point?"

"My point is that the Dragonflight can go ten times faster than my power armor! Not to mention the insane altitude it can achieve."

"And my point is that you're safe Whitley! Now trust your gut and let's take this bad boy for a spin before the sun rises!"

Whitley's heart raced. The idea was exhilarating—and risky. But wasn't that the point? "Alright, Tess. Let's do it."

"With pleasure."

Minutes later, the Dragonflight hummed to life in the garage entrance that was connected to the workshop. As it left the building the aircraft's sleek, metallic body shimmered under the moonlight, and the faint whir of its engines was barely audible.

Whitley fastened himself inside the cockpit, his hands gliding over the controls. "Ready, Tess?"

"As I'll ever be."

The Dragonflight lifted smoothly off the ground, hovering momentarily before shooting into the night sky. The initial ascent was flawless. Whitley barely felt the turbulence as the Dragonflight went from zero to near Mach one in a few seconds. He marveled at the responsiveness of the controls, and the seamless integration of Tess' assistance meant he was practically on autopilot.

"This is amazing!" Whitley exclaimed, laughing as he performed a series of sharp turns and rolls in the night sky.

"See, I told you!" Tess said, joining in on the excitement.

The sensation of defiance against gravity was intoxicating, Whitley had never been this high up in the sky be it in his power armor or any of the commercial flights across the kingdoms. He banked the aircraft gently, climbing higher into the night, dodging through a constellation of clouds like a playful bird. The wings of the Dragonflight had allowed near-personalized movement that would've destroyed any conventional aircraft.

"Altitude at two thousand feet and climbing," Tess reported, her smooth tone carried no sense of urgency "Weather conditions remain stable."

"Let's hit five thousand," Whitley challenged, pressing the throttle forward, feeling the thrill tingling in his fingertips. The aircraft responded, a surge of power catapulting them into the starry sky.

"Engaging stealth mode," Tess advised as a soft hum enveloped them, the Dragonflight wasn't actually invisible but it did render them nearly invisible to radar. Whitley grinned, the thrill of the testing new tinkertech making his veins rush with excitement.

As they leveled out at the five-thousand-foot mark, Whitley took a moment to absorb the view. Below, despite being so small from such a distance Atlas still glimmered like a concentration of jewels dotted across the dark expanse of land. Mantle meanwhile was barely visible as it was underneath the jewel of a city that was Atlas, still, Whitley was able to locate the brown dot that was the former capital of their kingdom. It was liberating, being up there, so distant from everything he was expected to do, every chain that bound him to the ground.

Whitley's thoughts were interrupted when Tess spoke up

"Hey Whitley, wanna push the boundaries further."

"What do you mean?"

"Altitude, young man! Why limit ourselves to the atmosphere when we can explore somewhere no Human or Faunus has ever been."

Whitley hesitated, understanding her context. "Wait, Tess. I don't think the Dragonflight is rated for—"

Before he could finish, the controls shifted under his hands.

"Tess! What are you doing?!"

"Relax, kid. I've calculated the parameters. Your ride is capable of much more than you've allowed it to achieve."

The aircraft climbed rapidly, piercing through the clouds and into the thin air of the upper atmosphere. The Dragonflight easily went over ten thousand feet and more within a matter of seconds. Whitley's stomach churned as the sky darkened and stars began to sparkle around him.

"This isn't funny, Tess! You're going to—"

"Steering course for escalation," Tess replied innocently. "Destination: Outer Space!"

"Outer Space? Are you serious!? I didn't sign up for that!" Whitley wrestled with the controls, but the A.I. was persistent, overriding his commands with precision. The Dragonflight climbed even higher than ten thousand, easily going over a hundred thousand. Piercing through the atmosphere, the engine roared with a power that Whitley would've been proud of had it not been for the fact his companion was forcing him to go to outer space.

"Tess disengage dammit!" Whitley shouted. Panic welled within him as the aircraft began to freeze at altitudes that no Human craft should venture unprepared. The cockpit was illuminated with warning lights, a symphony of alarms blaring a discordant tune in the enclosed space. Suddenly, the engines sputtered. A layer of frost began forming on the cockpit glass.

"Tess we're freezing up! The systems aren't designed for this!"

"Analysis indicates structural integrity failure at current altitude," Tess reported calmly, despite the chaos. "Initiating emergency shutdown."

"Emergency shutdown? You've got to be kidding!" Throwing all caution away, Whitley focused, recalling every bit of knowledge he had utilized and all the modifications he had made back at the drawing board.

"Yeah I know, my bad Whitley. Attempting to recalibrate—"

The A.I.'s voice cut out as the Dragonflight shuddered violently, by then the aircraft had reached the end of the mesosphere and for the briefest of moments Whitley was hit by the intense awe of witnessing Remnant from a view never before seen by any living being before. In that short moment, Whitley felt the weight of familial pressure leave him. An immense pride in himself that told him despite everything life threw at him, he would be alright in the end.

Just as fast as that exceptional feeling came to him, it was gone just as fast when gravity took over, and they began plummeting back toward Remnant.

"Tess!" Whitley desperately shouted.

"TESS!"

Whitley's mind raced. He wrestled with the unresponsive controls, his hands flying over buttons and switches. "Come on, come on!"

As the wind roared and the ground rushed closer, Whitley spotted a glimmer of hope. The auxiliary power system. Drawing on his instincts, he pulled the emergency restart sequence, a desperate wager he hoped would work. He pressed buttons, flipped switches, and repeated commands like a chant until at last, the systems buzzed back to life.

Whitley reached for the emergency switch, flipping it just as the aircraft spun wildly. The engines roared back to life, sputtering but functional. The frost melted, and the controls responded to his touch.

"Gotcha!" he yelled, pulling the craft out of its nosedive.

"Yo bossman, how's it going?" Tess replied, almost cheerfully as the electrical output of the Dragonflight came back to life.

With a feral grin on his face, Whitley stabilized the Dragonflight. "I've got this!" he shouted, adrenaline surging through his veins. The altitude dropped as he attempted to maneuver it back towards a safe landing strip. The ground rushed closer, and the instruments flickered uneasily.

The aircraft leveled off just in time, skimming treetops before Whitley guided it toward the clearing right beside the forest they had nearly crashed at. The landing wasn't graceful. The craft skidded across the ground, throwing up huge chunks of dirt and sparks before finally grinding to a halt.

Breathing heavily, Whitley leaned back in the cockpit. "By Oum."

"Apologies, boss—can I call you boss?—," Tess said, her tone surprisingly sheepish despite her creator nearly dying just moments ago. "I may have overestimated the Dragonflight's capabilities."

Whitley stared at her icon on the screen, breathing heavily as he did. After a pregnant pause, Whitley laughed despite everything that had just happened. "You think!?"

Whitley continued laughing hysterically. Tess raised her eyebrows, unsure if her creator unironically found the situation hilarious or if he was having a breakdown.

"You okay boss?" She asked.

"That," Whitley tried to reply as he laughed. When his laughter finally died down he inhaled deeply and then looked back at Tess. "THAT WAS FREAKING AWESOME!"

Not expecting that outburst Tess also began laughing, albeit lightly compared to Whitley's near manic one.

Whitley unbuckled himself and climbed out of the cockpit and exited the Dragonflight. Inspecting the scorched yet unbattered aircraft, a smirk spread across his face. "I'd wager that was an excellent maiden flight, all things considered. Looks like I was right all along, the Dragonflight was a total success, Tess. Ignoring your blunder that is. Next time, stick to the plan."

"I'll try boss, I promise." Tess replied with the outer speakers, even if Whitley didn't see her face he could tell she was smiling.

"How far away are we from Mantle?"

"We're currently 650 miles away from Mantle, and about 20 miles away from Vytal city."

"So we're on Vytal island then. Well, that explains the lack of snow."

"Hey, boss."

"Yeah?"

"Got any plans once you're back at the workshop?"

"Probably do some minor adjustments with the Dragonflight. After that, I'll get to work with my Mark two power armor. Why'd you ask?"

"That sounds like a great plan, but you don't need to worry yourself with the Dragonflight. I'll fix her up myself and give you a detailed report when I'm done. You go on ahead and give your power armor your sole focus."

Whitley was hesitant to agree with Tess, especially with how she nearly got the Dragonflight destroyed. Ignoring the fact he had almost died along with it. But his rationale suggested that it was only right that Tess fixed the Dragonflight as a consequence of her actions. If she could finish the thing then she could fix it. However, the main reason he was going to agree with her offer was because the mention of being able to directly begin making his prized tinkertech had ignited the childlike excitement within him. Didn't help that the adrenaline rush from earlier.

"You got yourself a deal, Tess. When we get back—" Whitley didn't get to finish his sentence before getting interrupted.

"No offense boss but I think we need to go."

"Why? What's gotten you in a rush?"

"Look behind you."

Look behind he did. Despite the darkness of the night, Whitley saw them perfectly clear. A dozen or so red eyes stared at him from the treeline where the forest ended. What little light from the moon had emphasized their bone-white skulls, their fangs and claws were just as illuminated.

These creatures were the enemy of Humanity and Faunus Kind. These creatures were known as Beowolves, these were the Grimm.

"Yeah you're right, we gotta go." Whitley said with a hint of fear in his tone.

"Way ahead of you boss. Get in, we're going home."

Whitley complied without a word. The Dragonflight was already airborne long before any of the Beowolves could make a move against their newfound prey. As for the duo, it wouldn't take long before they were back in their workshop in Mantle. Unknown to both of them their world just got more complicated in the path of creating tinkertech.

AN: Thank you to everyone who followed, favorite, reviewed or even just read my story in your free time. It really means a lot to me!

Once again I had fun writing dialogue that had a bit of philosophy in it. Though I'm sure my writing could do better in the future. In terms of plot progression the next update will be an interlude then after is the finale of arc 1.

Don't have much else to say other than thank you for reading this story! With that said, with the free time I got until next year my mind ended up with a lot of ideas. As of right now I have two additional stories planned, the first is a Castlevania/Warhammer crossover and the second a JJK/Worm fic. But it won't be anytime soon till I post them so there's that.

Anyway I've rambled long enough. Wherever you are, happy holidays or merry christmas! I hope to see you in the next update.