Here we go.

Cover Art: Kirire

Chapter 121

In the week after the Interdimensional Chatroom was sequestered in their facility, there had been no less than fifty anomalous eradications and containments across Remnant, and likely more in the alternate world where more members of ARC Corp were alive. There wasn't a correlation between ever single instance of an anomaly in the other world compared to their own, but the rate was over 50%, which made it worthwhile to investigate every instance. Most of ARC Corp was thrilled with the progress.

It was Jaune and Blake who struggled the most.

Their alter-selves were friendly and easy to talk to, but they weren't them, and that had never been more obvious than when the other Blake Belladonna shared the anomalous case of the Monstrous Spider. An arachnid-based anomaly caught in the Vale home of a Mrs Scarlatina, which they had hunted down and eradicated in scorching fire.

AC01: It was a monstrous thing. Hideous and ugly. It screeched as the flames consumed it, and Jaune and I unloaded fire into it until nothing was left.

It was the first instance where Blake had hated her other self.

Ultimately, she wrote it off as her alter-self not having known Timothy properly. Naturally, Jaune and her logged the case – they could do nothing else – and they visited the Scarlatina home as they were expected to. A day later, a new file was added to the systems marking the odd case as one of those few that didn't correlate.

After all, there was no spider creature in that home.

Case closed, right…?

Faking and hiding cases like that became a panicky game for the two of them, but it was better they get first chance to do so before passing the Intel onto ARC Corp. Had the Interdimensional Chatroom been in someone else's hands, they might have investigated first and found any one of the many anomalies Jaune had hidden over the years.

The Mosquito Man was another file, referencing Alistair and his extermination, and a host of other anomalies Blake had seen at Alistair's bar were also incriminated. The Containments Office in the alter-world was much more efficient than theirs, but then that made sense since that office had more resources. They actually had their own office and their own teams, the Jaune of that world being trusted by his family.

He wasn't an anomaly after all.

Just another difference they'd discovered via casual conversation, and one that had soured the two instances of Jaune against one another. The alter-Jaune instantly became colder and more critical, and requested Blake be the one to deal with him. Meanwhile, the semi-regular chats between Jaune and the alternate version of his mother had ceased the moment it was found out. Jaune had been withdrawn ever since.

AC01: Things must be desperate over there if ARC Corp is still using him after he's been contaminated.

AC02: Jaune is loyal to the family and the company. I trust him.

AC01: That's fine. You DO have countermeasures for if he loses control, right?

AC01: You have a way to kill him.

AC02: Leave it.

AC01: I can't. This chatroom is a strategic asset to our world as well as yours, and we've found out it's being looked after by an anomaly. Can't you see how dangerous it would be if he destroyed it?

AC02: He wouldn't.

AC01: Maybe not on purpose but a momentary lapse of control could damage it by accident.

Blake hissed and logged off, closed the laptop, picked up the files they'd shared and left the room. Her alter-self had the unique ability to both be her closest friend and her worst enemy at the same time, and Blake had to assume it was because no one knew how to get under her skin more than she did. It was as easy to trust herself as it was to despise herself, and they both know each other's deep, dark secrets.

This must be what having a twin sister is like. You both know the right words to say to hurt the other…

In the control room, Jaune was reclining on a seat with his feet up on the counter. He had a white mug of coffee in one gloved hand, and the kettle perched nearby suggested it wasn't the first. He raised an eyebrow on seeing her storm in.

"Not a fun one?"

"Sometimes, she pisses me off so much I want to reach across dimensions and slap her."

"Hmmm." He took a sip. "I know the feeling."

"Do you hate your alter-self as well?"

"Hate is a strong word. In a way, I feel jealous. Bitter. He's me but better in every way."

"He's not better," Blake said, setting the papers down and taking the seat beside Jaune. It was their job to log case files now so that the rest of ARC Corp could access and act on them. Glorified secretaries, it felt like. "He's just luckier."

Jaune sighed. "Is there a difference?"

"Yes. The alter-Jaune didn't get where he is through skill or ability or being a harder worker. He just lucked out that his mom didn't die, he didn't get changed into an anomaly, and his family didn't turn on him. You wouldn't call a lottery winner a better businessman than someone who worked their way up from nothing."

Jaune set the mug down, a reluctant smile tugging at his lips. "That helps. Thanks."

He sat up and took half the papers, helping her through them. He'd been down in the dumps ever since alter-ARC Corp found out the truth about him and started acting like his current version. He'd probably known it would happen sooner or later, but it must have been a nice change to be able to talk to versions of his family that didn't distrust him.

He'd chatted with his mother and sisters on the other side like a normal person, and they had responded in kind until recently. His mood had plummeted on losing that, and she couldn't blame him. He'd probably never realised how much he wanted it until he got it.

"I still have to use it," he said. "Whether they like me or not. I know this is going to sound weird, but would you be okay if I pretended to be you…?"

"That's not weird unless you're using my face and name to pick people up online," Blake quipped, earning a startled laugh from him. "I'm fine with it if it's for work. Just be careful around my alter-self. If anyone will notice, it's her."

"That's fine. I'm only planning to pose as you when I have to talk to my alter-self and family. I just don't need the drama of them withholding information from me. As annoying as this is, it's still a big sign of trust that we've been put in charge of this. And the last thing we want is for it to be taken away."

Especially since them having first crack at the information was letting them hide the many cases of them breaking the rules. It wasn't always easy, either. They'd had to reach out and visit some peaceful anomalies and instruct them to relocate. No one liked it, seeing it as a callous eviction, but they couldn't hide or withhold information from alter-ARC Corp. It'd be too suspicious if they did. Thankfully, the anomalies left in Vale were so cowed that they didn't do much more than grumble. It helped that Jaune was embezzling money to Coda and Alistair so they could pay for new housing for displaced anomalies.

"We've a lucky break today," Blake said. "Doesn't look like any of these cases are ones in Vale."

"That's a relief. Well, let's get these logged and clock off. I don't know about you, but I fancy a pizza tonight."

"If you're buying, sure."

Blake was relieved to see the tension leave him as they worked. With any luck, he'd be able to put the attitudes of his alter-family behind him.

/-/

Pretending at being her let Jaune slip back into the job without too much difficulty. There were still times he had to be himself, if only so they wouldn't be suspicious, but he let himself be antagonistic, and then arranged (in their minds anyway) for "Blake" to take over the majority of the work. That served as their excuse for why "Blake" was now doing 80% of the interactions using the Interdimensional Chatroom.

He always called her in and they'd switch places whenever the alter-Blake would take over, knowing she'd be able to tell the difference, but since a lot of their communications were explanations of cases and case files, the ruse seemed to work. When one of them was just recounting a case, it was hard to tell the difference between her or Jaune.

Though it did worry her a little how much happier Jaune was as her.

Not that she thought he wanted to switch places or anything, but it concerned her that he was letting himself get attached once more. He was like an introvert making friends online for the first time, and she couldn't help but think it unhealthy for him to be doing so under the disguise of someone else. It was a recipe for developing a complex as far as she was concerned, especially if he started to get it in his head people liked her more than they did him.

Because to be frank, Jaune's family disliked her just as much as they did him. They were just more professional with her since she was an employee of theirs, and it looked bad for them to be acting out with her. When she came in to switch places with him in the afternoon, he looked just a little worn, standing and offering her a smile that wasn't all there.

The second he was gone, Blake scrolled up and hissed under her breath.

It had been Juniper on the chat, and she'd expressed interest in what measures "Blake" was taking to monitor Jaune for potential anomalous breach and offering helpful advice. Advice like how to plant secret cameras in his room, and how she should arm herself with a Slaved Anomaly that could combat flames so she could snuff his – and him - out if she ever had to. Acting as her, Jaune had simply played along and been forced to sit and listen to his mom discussing the best ways to kill him.

This is getting out of hand… Blake sighed. But we can't ask for it to be taken away. There are too many cases crossing over that we've hidden. If ARC Corp investigates them and finds Alistair's bar, we'll be dead within the week.

Better to just knuckle down and ignore it.

AC01: Are you still there?

AC02: I'm here.

Blake couldn't resist.

AC02: I just don't agree with your measures. Jaune has proven his trustworthiness.

AC02: He's continued working for and serving ARC Corp even after his transformation.

AC02: One that I would argue is YOUR fault

AC01: I don't contest that fact. The me of your world clearly failed in her duty both to suppress the Twilight City and to escape it.

AC01: My son's fall to the anomalous rests solely on her shoulders as she was responsible for his wellbeing at the time.

AC01: But that does not change the fact he is now an anomaly and thus dangerous.

AC01: You must treat him as such.

AC02: Our agreement is to share information. You don't have the authority to dictate how offices in our dimension are run.

AC01: I am not dictating. I am explaining why you should act. I am attempting to reason with you.

AC01: What will you do if the worst happens and he DOES snap?

AC02: I will die when ARC Corp detonates this facility with us in it.

AC02: There are countermeasures against him. They're just countermeasures against me as well.

AC01: You're as stubborn as our own Agent Belladonna. I can see I'm speaking to a brick wall.

That pleased her for some reason. Not to say she hadn't butted heads with her alter-self as well, but at least her alter-self wasn't some brainless drone doing whatever the company wanted. Given they'd both been terrorists and both been in the White Fang, their personalities were close solely by virtue of going through the same stuff. Behavioural psychology, she supposed. The idea of nurture vs nature, except that they had both the same nature and the same nurturing.

The whole dating Yang thing was different, and weird, but her alter-self hadn't turned into some gushing loser about it, so Blake could put up with it. Even if it implied her alter-self had a better work-life balance than she did.

Again, she just got the luckier hand dealt to her. No disaster at Mountain Glenn meant no murderous child to make Yang hate us.

It was hard to feel too bitter about them having it better when it was down to blind luck.

At least that was how it felt, until that afternoon when she was talking with her alter-self once more.

AC01: Sorry I'm late. Yang got jealous and got into a fight.

Blake snorted. That did sound like Ruby's sister. It was also nice to see she had her flaws, since it helped Blake feel less like her alter-self was running away with life than she was.

AC02: Over you?

AC01: What else? You'd think the fact we're dating would be enough to show her she doesn't need to get defensive, but she can't stand people coming onto me.

AC01: It's embarrassing.

AC02: Tell her. Make sure she knows.

AC01: You think I haven't? If it were one time and I'd not told her off for it before, I wouldn't be so upset with her. It's BECAUSE this keeps happening.

AC01: It always does whenever we hang out with Adam.

Blake's smile froze, long with her fingers on the keys.

AC02: Adam? Adam Taurus?

AC01: Who else? You know what he's like. I'm assuming he's the same in your world.

AC02: Adam is dead.

There was a long minute or so of silence before her alter-self came back to her. And when she did, it wasn't as she expected.

AC01: Shit. I'm sorry. Didn't know.

AC01: I wouldn't have brought him up like this if I had.

Her alter-self obviously thought she was torn up about it, which would only make sense in a world where they'd been close. Close after she abandoned the White Fang, that was. Blake started typing.

AC02: I thought you said you ran away from the White Fang as well.

AC01: I did.

AC02: On the train?

AC01: The bomb train? Yes.

AC02: And Adam went with you?

AC01: No, lol. Adam was furious and hunted me down as a traitor.

The same as he had for her. It wasn't an upside-down world where Adam had gone rogue with her, then. But how was Adam alive and apparently chill enough to hang out with this Blake and her girlfriend? The Adam of her own world would have seethed with jealousy, and probably would have tried to kill Yang.

AC01: I ended up fighting him off a few times. Jaune too. Adam got it in his head Jaune had led me astray.

AC02: What changed?

AC01: Adam came for us in the midst of an anomalous event and we had to work together to get out alive.

AC01: When he saw that, learned the truth, he realised how there were worse things out there than the SDC and racists.

Blake felt sick to her stomach. Could it really have been that easy...?

AC02: He joined ARC Corp?

AC01: No. Adam is more of a contractor. Does work with us occasionally, but it's still awkward because I know he has feelings for me even if he does his best to hide them.

AC01: Not good enough to hide them from Yang, though. They get on one another's nerves.

She couldn't have cared less about Yang in that moment. Adam, Adam Taurus, had been talked down and turned to an ally, and all because the Blake of this other world had slowed down and let him escape, because she'd hesitated to go for the throat and trusted Adam to have her back against an anomaly.

Meanwhile…

Meanwhile, she had fed Adam to one. Just instantly assumed Adam would never change his mind and had him killed for putting Jaune in danger. Blake could taste the vomit creeping up her neck.

AC02: I've got to go.

AC01: I'm sorry I brought him up. I didn't know.

AC01: Whatever happened, I'm sure Adam doesn't blame you.

Blake shoved away from the computer and stormed out, almost bowling Jaune over. He had red around his own eyes.

"You too, huh?" he asked.

"I hate it!" Blake seethed. "I hate them! They have it better in every way. Your family is alive, they don't hate us, and she managed to talk Adam down! Adam is a friend of hers, and he helps out and he's stopped being a terrorist and… and…" Blake punched the wall. "And I fed him to a fucking monster because I assumed he'd never listen to a word I said."

"You couldn't have known."

"Maybe not!" she snapped. "But neither could that Blake, and yet she saved his life and turned him away from the White Fang." Her fist hit the wall again, aura preventing her doing more than bruising her knuckles. "I can't stand talking to her! It's like she's avoided every dumb mistake I've ever made!"

"I feel the same way. The other version of me is human, successful, loved, still has his mother and family around him. He's running an office that is respected and valued as a part of the company." Jaune took a deep breath and let it out in a heavy sigh. "It's depressing to talk to them and hear how great he is. This must be what it feels like to hear your close friends say horrible things about you behind your back. Just this sense of disappointment, not only in them but in yourself."

That was exactly how she felt. Blake rounded on him. "Are we really this shit?" she asked, unable to keep the bitterness from creeping in. "Are we really the worst versions of ourselves? Incapable and cruel compared to every other iteration?"

Jaune's smile was half-hearted at best. "I don't know. Maybe we are. But what can we do about it? We have to keep this thing here."

"We could destroy it. Say it was an accident."

"That's a lot of risk right there," he pointed out. "And all because we're feeling depressed hearing how great the lives of our alter-egos are. Isn't that even more pathetic?"

It really was, but she was feeling too pathetic to care. No matter what she did, it felt like this other Blake would casually throw her failures back at her. It'd be different if she was arrogant about it, but the way she apologised and tried to comfort her…

The other Blake couldn't even suspect Adam had died at her hands.

It was just too sad an outcome for her alter ego to believe it true. That was how much of a failure she was, that her alter ego couldn't even perceive that she might have killed Adam herself and fed him to a known-monstrous anomaly.

"Let's take a break from this," Jaune said, placing a gloved hand on her shoulder. The warmth radiating from it was almost comforting. "I've had some good news. We've been approved to take on an extra member of staff here – so long as they're support staff only. They won't be approved to go on active missions with us, but they can look after things in our absence."

"Right." Blake tried to smile; she really did. "Ruby, then?"

"Almost has to be, doesn't it?" Jaune replied. "As much as I don't want to encourage her to join ARC Corp, we need someone who won't see Timothy or Alistair and instantly run to tell my family and get us killed. Ruby is the only person who could do that without taking obscure and pointless risks on someone like Weiss Schnee."

Blake snorted. "As if she'd join us after what we did to her family."

"It was an extreme example," he said, shrugging. "Ruby really is our only viable option. I was hoping you'd help prep her for an interview. As much as I'm happy to take her on, my father wants to meet whomever we hire."

"Oof. I'm not sure she'll make a good impression."

"Because she's young?"

"Because she likes anomalies, I was going to say."

"That's why I need you to prep her. The argument I'm going to give my father is that we need someone who doesn't have bad experiences with anomalies, because they might destroy the Interdimensional Chatroom. Ruby is perfect because she's huntress-trained, hard-working, and she isn't terminally afraid or hateful towards anomalies. Perfect to sit down and chat on that laptop so you and I don't have to."

That'd be nice. Blake didn't think she could keep being faced with her alter ego doing better than her forever, and there was no alter-Ruby who was working for their ARC Corp from what they could see, so there wasn't any danger there.

"I'll prep her," Blake said. "Buy us time before the interview."

"No worries. My father has told us to advertise the vacancy. Getting you a few days is no trouble."

/-/

"Yes! Yes! A million times yes!"

"No!" Blake replied, tapping the shorter girl on the head. "That attitude will have you rejected way too quickly. You need to be professional. This is Jaune's father who will be interviewing you. He's not going to like you being this enthusiastic."

Ruby stuck out her bottom lip. "I can do that."

"No, you really can't," Blake replied, holding a hand to her face. "That's why I'm here. You're too happy for this kind of work. This job attracts miserable, paranoid people—"

"Like you?"

"Yes." Blake scowled. "Rude, but yes. Nicholas Arc is going to take one look at you and think you're a liability because of age and inexperience. That's why we need to stress the things that are good about you. And he will be asking, so tell me what your good points are."

Ruby stiffened. "Um. I'm quick and I'm stronger than I look?"

"Why are you asking me that? Tell me what you're good at. Be confident."

"I'm quick because of my Semblance and I have good aura control!" she yelled. A few people walking through the park turned to stare, before shrugging and going on about their days. "And… And… And I'm also into engineering and weapon design, so that could be useful if stuff needs to be built or repaired."

"Good point. I didn't think of that one. Make sure to stress it at the interview. Bring an example of something you've made – multiple if you can. If he sees you can be an asset, he'll look past your age and personality."

Ruby squirmed, likely upset at the idea there was something wrong with her personality in the first place. There wasn't, obviously. Ruby was lovely. It was just that "lovely" wasn't what one thought of when looking at recruits for ARC Corp.

"Now, why do you want to join us?"

"Because I want to be closer to Jaune."

Blake's hand snapped the girl's head. "I'm roleplaying his father!"

"Oh! Um." Ruby blushed. "It's because I witnessed an anomalous attack and I think they're a greater danger than the Grimm. My dad and sister are huntsman and huntress, but they don't have anyone to protect them from the anomalous. That's where I come in!"

"Better." Blake nodded. "And what do you think of anomalies?"

"They're dangerous. Reckless. Even if they don't intend to hurt people, they exist following rules our world does not, so even an innocent anomaly is a threat that has to be contained or, if it can't be contained, destroyed."

"Good. Good. But your face gives you away. You need to look more emotionally against them. Grimace, scowl. And if you're going to break eye contact, make it to look down at your fist or close your eyes in anger. You look like you're trying to convince me you didn't steal the last cookie with crumbs all over your lips."

"But I'm not a naturally angry person…"

"Fake it."

"I'm not good at faking stuff either!"

"Then you're about to get a crash course in acting. If it helps, think how if you fail, we'll have someone picked by ARC Corp and forced on us. Someone who will be more loyal to them than to us."

"That's just more pressure!"

"Someone who, if they ever see Timothy, will arrange for him to be exterminated."

Ruby gasped. "NO!"

"Yes." Blake nodded. "Timothy's life depends on this, Ruby. As do mine and Jaune's. If you fail, there's a good chance we'll all die."

A strangled sound escaped the terrified girl.

What was it they said? Ah yes, pressure makes diamonds. And a ruby was a gemstone as well, so surely a healthy dose of pressure would help bring out the best in her. Blake clapped a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Okay, let's try again…"

Next Chapter: 4th November

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