Original concept by Korra
Written by MechaG11
Part Two: Remnant Divided Arc
-Chapter 18: Friends in Strange Places
Regime Airship – Prison Transport
Jaune stares down at the cuffs around his wrists, Atlesian made binds specifically designed to nullify a person's aura. Perfect for Huntsmen and other users of humanity's inherent superhuman power. In similarly narrow adjacent cells reside Nora, Ren, and Taiyang, all taken prisoner after the events of the prison break in Vale. Two Regime security guards are posted in flanking positions within the corridor, standing with a visage of readiness despite the uneventful tedium of their task.
"I'm sorry, you two." Jaune utters solemnly to his teammates. "I should've been with you both from the start."
"Oh Jaune…" Nora responds. Ren remains silent however, still harboring mixed feelings over the past year's events.
"Hey, kid, don't be so hard on yourself." Taiyang remarks in support, sitting the adjacent cell to him. "Jaune, was it? All that matters is that you made the right choice now."
"All of you pipe down." one of the two guards commands as he walks up to the cells.
"Or what?" Taiyang challenges, standing up behind the hard-light pane in between them. "Wanna open up the cell and make me?" The guard turns to Taiyang and faces him down. "Cause between you and me, buddy, only one of us is good in a straight fist-fight. Care to find out which one?"
The young guard facing Taiyang scowls, his face subtly twitching as if ready to accept the challenge at any moment. "Just drop it." the second guard shouts from across the corridor. "Let 'em talk if they want to. If they're stupid enough to say anything incriminating, just report it at the end of the shift."
Nora tries to peek as far as her cell allows towards the senior-most guard farther away. "Yeah? Well incriminate this!" she says before sticking her tongue out at him childishly. The further guard simply rolls his eyes under his visor before settling to ignore her immature gesture. The younger guard amidst the cells wisely follows the advice of his senior, turning his gaze away from the prisoners and moving back to his post on the opposite side of the room. Taiyang sits back down in his cell, seeing no reason to provoke them any further.
Moments later, one of the nearby doors opens up as Yang, Weiss, and Team CFVY wait on the other side. The senior guard turns to them, not expecting their arrival. "Huntsmen? Why are you here in the detention area?"
"Yeah, um…" Coco tries to start confidently, but is quickly interrupted.
Weiss steps forward, thinking quickly on her feet. "My name is Weiss Schnee, younger sister of Winter Schnee." she say as she presents her Huntsman license. "I've been tasked with asking the prisoners a few questions related to the events from Beacon Academy and the Insurgents. I'm sure you wont mind giving us some time alone to interrogate the prisoners due to the confidential nature of my mission."
The senior guard looks at Weiss, then to his subordinate on the opposite side of the hall whom shrugs at him. As an Atlesian trooper he at least recognized the name Winter Schnee as someone who held seniority among Ironwood's forces.
"I see that look." Coco remarks. "Don't you worry, we've got enough muscle to handle things from here. Why don't you two go enjoy a coffee break?"
The guard looks to her, then begins walking to the opposite side towards his subordinate. "Don't need to tell me twice." he says, jumping at the opportunity for some brief relaxation. "They've got this. Let's go."
"Coffee, really?" the younger guard questions.
"Hey, I'm not turning down a free break." the senior guard remarks.
The younger guard turns to follow him with a look of annoyance. "I swear you're always on my case about being responsible until you get a golden opportunity to slack off…" he says as they both walk out of the corridor. The door closes, leaving the group alone with the imprisoned Insurgents.
After seeing them out, Coco's gaze turns towards Weiss. "Well, it's your show, Weiss." she says, giving her nod to proceed. While she did initially agree to bring Weiss and Yang on to help them out, she was quick to understand when Weiss asked her to give them some time to talk to Team JNPR. They were friends after all, not to mention a rough and confusing time for everyone involved.
Weiss takes a deep breath before approaching Nora and Ren's cell, folding one hand over the other in front of her. Yang walks nearby before noticing her father in the opposite side of the cells.
"Yang?" Taiyang says before standing up and stepping closer to the pane between them.
"Dad…" Yang utters, a look of guilt crossing her as she slightly looks away.
"I'm glad to see you're okay, sweetie." he says.
Yang looks back at him, surprised. "You're not mad at me?"
Taiyang shakes his head and smiles. "You were in a tough situation between your mother and I back there, but you followed your gut and did what you thought was the right thing to do. I'm proud of you, Yang."
"To be honest, I'm not even sure what the right thing might be anymore." Yang admits.
"That's actually why we're here." Weiss adds. "Something's off about everything that's happened. Something we don't understand."
Taiyang looks to Weiss. "So you guys needed our help?" he asks. Weiss answers him with a nod. He turns his gaze to Ren and Nora. "You two were with Batman longer than I was. Think you can give them the full story?"
"Full story?" Ren questions. "I know they're our friends, but should we really trust them with-?"
"We're not asking for 'enemy secrets' or something like that." Weiss interrupts. "We just need to truth from you guys. Like who is this Batman guy and why do you trust him so much?"
"Why trust him more than us?" Yang utters quietly, her tone showing more vulnerability than it would spite.
Ren ponders their situation for a moment, before hearing Nora call out from the cell to his immediate right. "Ren, there's no point in hiding it now. Besides, you can tell the story better than I can."
While still conflicted, Ren sighs. Their plan is advancing as is. The world will know the whole truth soon enough. "Very well." Ren concedes.
Weiss, Yang, and Team CFVY listen as the tale of Batman, Superman, and the heroes from another universe unfolds. The story of a world's pillar of justice transforming into a tyrant and oppressor. A war that tore violent swaths between friends and allies, one that senselessly claimed far too many heroes and innocents. That tyrant would come here after being chased out, and his former friend would arrive all the same to stop him. The group are shaken by the revelation, but the likelihood of otherworldly visitors were far from impossible after everything they've seen. Especially given how unfathomably gifted the Regime's heroes have proven to be.
"That's...about all I can recall." Ren admits, considering he heard this story second-hand. "Batman is trying to stop Superman from taking over this world as well. If we're going to stop him, we'll need all of Remnant to take a stand."
"Hold on, am I the only one who thinks this all sounds crazy?" Coco asks.
"How else can we explain their capabilities?" Yatsuhashi counters. Fox stands alongside him, telepathically echoing Yatsu's sentiment with his own arguments to his team as well.
"But why should we trust Batman?" Yang asks. "For all we know, he's lied to you guys."
"Yang," Nora says. "We know why you don't trust him, but the entire time we've fought under Batman, he's always taught us to fight without taking a life."
"Think about it." Ren chimes in. "Aside from Qrow, have you heard of any Regime casualties whenever they fought the Insurgents?"
Jaune sits in the cell across from them, his mind combing over the events he's witnessed while working with the Regime. His eyes go wide in realization. "No...no I don't recall any." he says, springing to a stand. Yang, Weiss, and Team CFVY, similarly, are at a loss as they are unable to recall similar deaths caused by an Insurgent.
Taiyang looks to his daughter. "Yang, you were lied to." he tells her.
Yang turns away from him, her metallic arm trembling. She tries to halt it with her left arm, her eyes trying to burn crimson. She closes her eyes as her brow furls, breathing in as she slowly controls her flurry of emotions. "I...don't know that." she quietly admits, not fully convinced.
Taiyang nods solemnly. "I can only guess how you're feeling right now, but we have proof. You'll see soon enough." he says.
Velvet approaches Yang from behind and places her hand on the blonde's shoulder. "Either way, we can't just let Superman do what he wants." Her gaze turns to Ren and Nora. "How can we help?"
Ruby lay unconscious in the grass beneath her, asleep despite the early day making itself more than known. The warmth of the sun and the gentle breeze accommodate her quiet slumber. As she recovers from the stressful events of last night's visions, a figure begins to approach her. The soft footsteps draw nearer, shifting the grass slightly with every stride. The steps halt just before Ruby, a shadow looming over her resting form.
"You..?" a voice utters.
Ruby is startled by the word, shaken and scrambling to get up before looking up at the figure in front of her. A tall woman in black and red, brandishing a sheathed sword at her side. The woman's face was remarkably similar to Yang's, albeit her hair was as black as the night. Raven Branwen?
Ruby shields her eyes from the sun's rays shining down at her to get a better look at Raven. "You're...you're Yang's M-"
"Do you always sleep on people's graves?" Raven questions, interrupting Ruby almost intentionally.
Ruby looks down and realizes her person was nearly on the headstone of her uncles grave. "Oh…" she says, scrambling to step off of his resting place. She looks upon it, recalling the night before where she may have cried herself to sleep.
"Shouldn't you be off with your friends?" Raven asks, sounding off as a reason to get rid of the young girl rather than from a place of care.
"I-" Ruby starts, before actually trying to recall the circumstances that lead her here. She remembers the terrible nightmare, the figure's hands around her head, and coming to in front of the headstone under the moonlight. "I don't...actually know how I got here.
Raven simply blinks at her, having little interest in questioning further. She sighs and then kneels down before Qrow's grave. Her eyes linger on the site, seemingly in contemplation.
"What about you?" Ruby asks. "Are you here to pay respects?"
"I-" Raven stops, considering her place here. "I'm just here to think." She waits in silence while looking at the headstone, doing exactly as she claimed. Her concentration stops as she slowly turns her head around and realizes Ruby is still standing there watching her awkwardly. "Don't you have somewhere else to be?"
"It's just," Ruby starts. "Uncle Qrow never really talked about you all that much."
Raven turns back towards the grave and scoffs. "No surprise there. We usually didn't see eye-to-eye. Hell, I wanted him dead." she admits nonchalantly. "But now that he is?" Raven pauses before sighing again. "Hard to say what I feel anymore."
Ruby is taken aback by Raven's casually dark admission, but she understood the latter sentiment. Her present feelings aren't as clear-cut like they were in her Beacon days. "I wish he were here. I could really use his advice right now."
"That makes one of us." Raven comments. She stands back up and begins to walk away. She stops and looks at Ruby. "Want my advice, kid? You can't always wait on everyone to pick up the pieces for you. Sometimes you gotta do it yourself." Ruby watches on as Raven starts to walk away again, nearing the forested path ahead. She hangs on Raven's words, turning and running to catch up with her aunt. Raven looks over her shoulder and double-takes as she sees Ruby run up behind her. "You didn't hear a word of what I just said, did you?"
"Well think about it," Ruby says. "We've both gotta get back to Vale. Might as well take the same trip back."
"And who said I'm going back to Vale?" Raven counters.
"No one," Ruby answers. "Just guessing."
Raven looks on at her, unimpressed. "Just spit-balling it, huh? You're starting to remind me of someone…"
"Besides, not every day I get to spend time with my aunt." Ruby adds, awkwardly.
Raven rolls her eyes. "I didn't come here for some quality time, kid. I was here to think. I thought. Now I'm gone."
"Oh don't you leave just yet," a twisted voice calls out. Stepping on the path ahead of the pair emerges a pale man with white clothes. His scorpion tail trails down his body and curls upwards, the sharp stringer ready and eager. "I'd like some quality time as well!" Tyrian Callows professes as he readies his arm-mounted blades.
Ruby' eyes narrow at the stranger until she hears another set of steps on the path behind them. Mercury Black casually walks into the scene and takes a flanking position. "Long time, no see, Red."
Ruby and Raven stand back-to-back to one another, cornered by their opponents. Ruby puzzled by Mercury's sudden appearance. Did the scorpion Faunus also have something to do with Cinder's allies?
Raven, on the other hand, had a strong guess as to why they were here. They knew of Raven's connection to the Spring Maiden, at least guessing she knew where to find her. Little did they know, their target was standing right in front of them. "Kid," Raven says as she starts to draw her red sword. "If you can fight, don't waste any time!" Raven zooms forward, immediately attacking Tyrian with a powerful sword slash. The villain twists in an unorthodox display of acrobatics, avoiding the attack before a fiendish grin stretches across his face. As the two seasoned fighters cut across the air with flawless precision, Mercury starts to circle Ruby with a malicious confidence. Ruby reaches for Crescent Rose, the cold handle of her weapon failing to make contact with her palm. Her hand trembles slightly, unable to draw her weapon in defense.
"What's the matter? Scared?" Mercury grins, his movements a striking mix of adept and demonic. He closes the distance in no time, immediately delivering a myriad of kicking attacks that push Ruby back as she blocks them with her forearms. With memories of the previous night still fresh in her mind, Ruby resolves to flee and evade as often as she can muster.
Raven's red blade sings through the air, Tyrian's unhinged demeanor unable to shake her focus and confidence. Unlike some of his other Huntsmen marks, Raven held zero qualms with outright killing him. He could feel it in each strike, each attempt hungry to inflict a mortal wound. It made her one of his deadliest opponents yet, but the thrill and threat of her strikes merely excited him. He gamifies their battle, seeking to prove himself the more blood-lusted of the two in their contest of violence. Raven, on the other hand, was just as tested as he. She was pushing the limits of her skill, trying to limit herself while fighting the occasional temptation to unleash her Spring Maiden powers unto the unsuspecting Faunus.
The lingering fear of Salem discovering Raven's secret disciplines her urges, instead choosing to exert her sword arm into a thundering slash that Tyrian manages to duck under. The attack horizontally cuts three trees behind him in two, the severed trunks sliding down before collapsing into several thuds. Unfortunately for Tyrian, Raven took great advantage of her blade's superior length. Even his scorpion Tail proved risky when in use against her slashes, her sharpness and speed making it easy to counter his unorthodox use of it. As much as he wanted to have fun, she was going to make it hard for him to fully indulge in his usual mayhem. Little did she know, Tyrian had an ace up his sleeve…
Tyrian's pincer-like blades graze Raven's upper arm, her aura tensing up and sparking upon contact. "What the hell?!" Raven utters as she looks to her arm. She was sure her Aura was still active, but the moment she was slashed felt like it nearly breached her defense. Were his strikes simply that strong? No...it had to be something else. She takes a defensive stance, planning to create a fake opening for Tyrian to strike her like that once more. Tyrian's next few attacks nearly hit her, but it was a calculated risk. Once Tyrian fell for the fake opening, she manages to catch a glimpse of his weapon as he struck. A purple glow emanates from his blades and wrists, communicating all Raven needed to know about his mysterious attack.
Ruby, however, was running out of options. Mercury relentlessly attacked and harassed her, his impatience with her unwillingness to fight back bordered on irritating him. "If you're not gonna fight, then scram!" he says before kicking her hard enough to send her flying backwards. "I'm not here for you anyways." he adds. Ruby is nearly concussed by a collision, groaning as she recovers from the impact. She hears the collapsing of rock crumbling lightly around her, looking down to realize she had crashed into Qrow's headstone. She gasps and grows wide-eyed, feeling shameful that her uncle's resting place had suffered any damage. Her hand curls into a trembling fist, unable to contain her anger.
"What? Did I hit a nerve or something?" Mercury jabs. He nearly fails to catch the speeding red blur that shoves him backwards, the barrel-end of Crescent Rose jabbed directly into his gut as Ruby surges forward. She lets out a blood-curdling cry as she repeatedly pulls the trigger, the sound of her rifle's bangs echoing through the forest. Mercury's aura protects him from suffering any fatal wounds, but the point blank impacts of dust rounds didn't hurt any less when shielded. The two then collide into a tree and fall away separately, both panting and aching as they slowly come to a difficult stand. "So you do have some fight in-"
Ruby shuts him up with the butt-end of her rifle, gritting her teeth as she exerts herself with another swing of her gun. Mercury quickly bats away the following strike, managing to kick her three times in succession. He grunts as he does so, still in pain from the earlier gunshots Ruby unloaded into him. Ruby angles her gun and fires to create some distance, the shot propelling her fast enough to avoid another kick. She repeats this strategy, using the rifle's shots to move quickly and strike with blunt attacks. Mercury manages to dodge and block some, but the pain in his abdomen makes him all too aware of how much he uses abdominals for his more acrobatic moves. For all of his feelings of superiority, he couldn't help but curse himself for letting Ruby land those three shots on him mid-way through the fight.
As Raven and Tyrian raged on, it was clear the battle was nearing its conclusion. Raven struck Tyrian more often than he could get her back, but his semblance made the fewer strikes matter just as much as her superior performance. Seeing his aura flicker, Raven finds the perfect moment to land an aura-shattering blow on Tyrian. Scowling, Tyrian grunts and slashes Raven with his tail. As the stinger-end scrapes along her aura, it too breaks and manages to cut into her skin. Raven growls, yelling out in anger and sweeping her blade with perfect precision to sever Tyrian's tail cleanly. The man screams in agony, writhing on the floor as he feels the blood trickle down from his amputated appendage. Before anything else could be done, Raven hastily snags the stub of what remains of his tail in hand. Tyrian jolts, and is quickly coated head-to-toe in a layer of ice encasing his entire form. Mercury looks on as he holds his side, witnessing the aftermath of Tyrian's loss. "Oh screw this!" he says. He turns to Ruby and scowls, breaking off from their fight as he flees into the nearby forest. Ruby lowers her weapon, panting and allowing herself to fall backward into a sitting position.
Raven collapses backwards, panting as she feels Tyrian's poison taking affect. Thinking quickly, she opens a portal with her semblance and immediately grabs the frozen Tyrian. Ruby scrambles forward as she sees Raven's red portal appear in the distance. "Wait!" she yells, scrambling to rush towards them. Raven simply passes through with Tyrian, Ruby dashing into petals but just missing the portal as it vanishes into thin air.
Inside the prison transport, the two Regime guards are posted in the cell block. The two are then startled by a looming crimson-black shape appearing from nowhere, all before an injured Raven emerges and collapses onto the floor with a frozen man. "What the-?!" one of the guards exclaims, the other training his firearm at the two.
Taiyang springs to a stand, taking a step closer to the hard-light window of his cell. "Raven?!"
"Take him-" Raven manages to utter. She weakly points towards one of the cells. "Cell…" she utters with more difficulty, her voice failing before she falls unconscious. Her hand that was clutched against her torso loosens and falls limp. Her abdomen and palm are stained with a purple liquid as she lay there motionless.
The senior-most guard rushes towards the frozen Tyrian. He points at Raven "Contact the medics. ID her while you're at it!" he orders.
The younger guard stops at Raven and searches until he finds an Atlesian-made scroll, a device she was forced to carry around when she was acquired by the Regime. "Raven Branwen, she's one of ours." he says, citing the Regime ID on the scroll.
"Get her to med bay, ASAP." the senior-most guard commands. The younger guard nods and then gathers Raven, hoisting her over his shoulder and moving her out of the block. The senior guard accesses a panel on the wall with his security clearance, opening an empty cell and laboriously sliding Tyrian inside of it.
Jaune looks on from his cell, seeing the frozen Tyrian further on the opposite side. "Just what is going on?"
Taiyang appears nervous as he gazes at Tyrian's cell, still shocked by Raven's sudden appearance. "If someone could push Raven that far...not anything good." he answers Jaune.
Atlas Headquarters (Minutes before the Prison Transport touches down)
Atlesian guards pass by in casual conversation as a shadow flashes past their backs. Atlesian security was tight, but it couldn't hold a candle to the decades of experience Batman underwent through his career as a vigilante. Technique, patience, timing...it bested through even the greatest of security measures on his world. As Batman hides behind a wall, he notices a gathering of Atlesian soldiers around a specific landing platform. He narrows his eyes as he spots a transport arriving at the scene, and General Ironwood waiting for it. With so many troops concentrated there, Batman takes this opportunity to infiltrate further into the main building. Utilizing the ventilation system, he makes his way inside and navigates through the labyrinthine system of this massive building. As he skirts on through on ventilation shaft, he hears a distant echoing of keyboard inputs. Peering through one of the vent's narrow openings, he finds just what he is looking for.
Large fingers glide across the digital keyboard as a portly man with glasses and a green cap focuses unflinchingly at his holographic monitor. He sits back and wipes the sweat from his brow before turning to take his water bottle in hand. He startles with a gasp has he catches a looming black shape in the corner of his eye. He sighs and places his hand to his heart. "Goodness gracious, you oughta be careful popping up like that around an old man!" Pietro Polendina warns. The old scientist was given a start, but didn't seem threatened or angered. He clears his throat and readjusts his glasses. "You're just as theatrical as they say, and I'm glad to see you made it here in once piece. I'm willing to guess you know exactly who I am." he say he turns to Batman with an air of enthusiasm.
Batman stares down at him. "Pietro Polendina, one of Atlas' most gifted technology experts specializing in advanced robotics. Judging by the security level, highly important to the General as well."
Pietro smiles. "Gotta say I'm impressed! Oh, right! Almost forgot! Let me just grab what you were lookin' for." He reaches down with a grunt before producing an Atlesian-made briefcase. He opens it while Batman stands a healthy pace away, but Pietro doesn't move so suddenly that Batman feels the need to ready himself in defense. He wasn't expecting much of an attack from older disabled man, after all. Pietro slides the case along his desk and presents its contents to Batman. "Now I've never seen something with an energy like this, but from I'm told, it comes from your world." Pietro comments.
Batman's gaze is pulled from the briefcase to Pietro after his comment, not knowing the scientist was aware of his origin. He then slowly approaches the case and takes one of the red solar grenades in hand. Sure enough, it's as authentic as originally claimed. He could only surmise that someone within Atlas analyzed radiation traces at Beacon, where he last used one of these against Superman. Somehow they managed to replicate it with the tools available here. To his knowledge, weaponry and other electronics only utilized Dust as a means of powering everything. Just how were they able to copy otherworldly technology? He'd have to pocket this question for the time being. Now that they had this, he could greatly weaken Superman, and Remnant may stand a greater chance against him. The only question was why give this weapon to him? Batman sets down the grenade back into the briefcase, turning to Pietro. "Why did you call me here, Polendina?"
"In truth, it wasn't me." Pietro admits. His face shifts to a more serious expression. "The general is expecting you, Batman. He needs your help."
End of Chapter 18