AN:

First:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Second:

Ha.

Finally:

I've been planning that moment pretty much since I left Aldric Sr.'s fate as 'never found the body'.
There were some changes and some pipe dreams that never made it to the light of day, among them being an indescribably massive desire to have set up an Inigo Montoya moment and had Cinder kill him instead of Aldric, as well as having Aldric kill him instead through a massive reference to 'Deadpool kills the Marvel Universe' and grow the hammer, but instead I ended up choosing this one because I think it fit thematically, not just with what I wanted to have happen, but with the entire story, both pre and proceeding it.

Chapter 49

"Oh... Gawd." Aldric rumbled, as Cinder limped her way to him, briefly pausing to scoop Aldric's Revan mask off of the ground. "Make that... Two gods we've killed." A beat, "kind of." And wasn't it sort of ironic that Aldric had killed a figure from a major religion, with the BFG 9000?

Cinder raised one of Aldric's arms over her shoulders, and slid her own arm under his, hoisting him to his feet. "What is that?" She asked, nodding to the lifeless hunk of metal at their feet, before she fitted the mask over Aldric's head.

"It's a big fuckin' gun." Aldric said, nodding over to the hammer. "So..." He grunted, as she helped him shamble his way over to Mjolnir. "Might've just been the head trauma, but had he taken off his helmet?"

Cinder nodded, "I didn't learn his name, but he was a survivor of your plane crash. He betrayed our leader, intended to take the relic for himself."

Aldric hummed, "what a fuckin' idiot." He grunted, noting the irony.

The two reached the scorched magical mallet. Aldric slid his arm from Cinder's shoulders and slowly lowered himself to his knees, leaning down to inspect the hammer. With his right arm a useless hunk of bruised, limp flesh, Aldric ran the fingers of his cybernetic limb over the haft, closing them for just long enough for the weapon to register him, and for the triquetra to appear on its side. Now Cinder too stooped low, interest flaring in her eyes. "It... Is magic."

"Of a sort." Aldric nodded, shuffling over to the other side, where he found the inscription, and finding it to be exactly what he expected it to be. "Hm." He nodded. "Well this ain't going anywhere."

Cinder looked to him, then to the hammer. "If he be worthy." She recalled, to Aldric's nod. "But what makes one worthy?"

"That's where..." Aldric's voice cracked, as he felt a rib poke into his lung; he did his best to clear his throat, but there was an audible rasp to his voice even now. "Where I'm lost. Grand total of... Two, three, I think, people picked that thing up legitimately. Two of those three being unique circumstances." Aldric continued, as Cinder helped him straighten up. "Four if you count Superman, but again... Unique circumstances."

Cinder silently regarded him for a moment, before shaking her head. "We need to go. You are nearly dead and I am not far behind."

Aldric would give her that, and allowed her to guide him to the burning helicopter. The only brief pause coming from the two confirming Mercury's death, looting him for his valuables, and then Cinder appropriating one of Aldric's Ant Man disks to shrink his corpse down to a size where it took only one brief pass with a lightsaber to incinerate it. Aldric kept the BFG, shrinking it down and stuffing it back in his Nuke Pocket, deigning it better with him as a paperweight he might have an application for, than boiled by a lightsaber. Once they removed as much evidence of their presence as possible, the two approached the helicopter. When they reached it, Cinder left him leaned up against a rock jutting out of the ground, while she went closer. She used her powers to shield herself as she waded into the fire, and after a few minutes, she bent down, and then straightened back up, before exiting - now holding a horribly mangled and dented briefcase in her gloved hand.

Playing devil's advocate, Aldric nodded to the case. "Sure it's in there?"

Cinder ran her hand along the glowing hot metal, it cooling with an audible hiss, the bright red glow dulling down as she did so. She nodded once, "I can sense it... It is there. It is real." She said, reverently.

Aldric pursed his lips, nodding. "Behold my works, ye mighty, and despair." He said, accepting Cinder's help, and now leaning on her once again.

"You are aware, I would hope, that such a phrase is typically indicative of mountainous pride before a thunderous fall."

Aldric wasn't sure if the feeling of something dropping in his stomach was shit draining in the most expeditious way, or the sense of impending doom. All he could be certain of was that he was damn glad his identity was still hidden. While, clearly, Aldric couldn't see it, Aldric could tell from the tensity in her muscles that Cinder no doubt had an 'Oh shit!' expression on her face that mirrored his own, as Ozpin's voice crept across the quarry scarred by the battle of Masters.

"Let me do the talking." Aldric whispered, so low and so throatily that it barely crept past the two of them.

Cinder nodded and turned the two to face down Ozpin, who had returned with his group, all geared up for war and ready to finish off the half-dead Master and Maiden. Ozpin, specifically, looked livid, to the point where Aldric swore he could see said anger radiating off of him.

Aldric lightly pushed Cinder forward, such that she had to take a step, before he tightened his grip and pulled back. "Sarah..." Aldric said, aloud, "we..." He gasped, "they might be with her."

Cinder realized what he was doing, and looked from him, to the League, back to him. "But, aren't they -"

"We just fought a guy with Thor's fucking hammer, lady!" He barked, "this could just be another layer! We have to go -"

"Oh, you're not going anywhere." Qrow grunted, as Goodwitch briefly pulsed with a purple light, and Aldric and Cinder found their retreat halted, as though they had walked into a wall.

Aldric slowly moved his only good hand to his scorched belt, as the head of the League took a step closer, the anger Aldric thought he'd seen earlier now clearly becoming visible, as an emerald fire licking at the silver-haired man's skin. "Do you two realize what you've done?!"

"Take my gun and point it at them." Aldric grunted, and Cinder did just that.

"Don't come any closer!" She shrieked, in a far lighter, meeker voice than she usually used.

To his credit, Ozpin did stop, but he wasn't any happier. "That was it!" He called out, "two planets - that was what would keep the peace! Buy us their help in rebuilding! You just slaughtered their people on our planet - AFTER THEY'D LEFT US - IN GOOD FAITH!" He screamed, his voice briefly taking on an otherworldly rumble, the ground shaking beneath him.

He doesn't know. Aldric thought, finding comfort and terror in that. He can't know.

"If another war starts, if this ceasefire fails, if PEOPLE DIE -" He thrust his finger in their direction, as his other hand readied his club in a sword's grip. "That blood will be on your hands!" He screamed, "give us the relic! I will not promise anything but death should you refuse me!"

"Listen, man..." Aldric called out, as his fist closed around one vial in particular. "I hope you are who I think you are... But you know I can't take that chance -"

"You have no damn idea what it is you're stepping into, little boy!" Ozpin growled, briefly striking the cane on the ground, swinging it like a golf club, and even that small tap against the ground caused another quake that threatened to steal Aldric's feet out from under him.

It also, however, masked his ripping his hand out of his belt, and thus allowed what happened next to come as a complete surprise. Aldric threw the vial at the ground, it shattered, and then the ground shook even more, as something grew out from within it. It stood at nearly fifty feet, appearing theropodal in nature, with gigantic, thick plates of armor covering its body. Two wing-like arms extended out from both sides of its body, and a long tail snaked along the ground.

Metal Gear Ray roared out to the heavens, its cry piecing the sky and shaking the chests of everyone in the vicinity. Its head then dropped down, leering down at the Justice League. Ozpin, Qrow, the rest of the League, they all stared up at it in shock, while Cinder turned from it to Aldric, and then down to the poucn he'd pulled it from.

"How?" She whispered.

"Atoms are... Like... Ninety nine percent empty space. All else equal, best way to shrink something is to close that distance." Aldric's general assumption was to just think the Pym Particles somehow managed to fix the issue of magnetic force pushing electrons apart, because without that, his theory fell apart. "Just be happy I went with Ray and not Liberty Prime, Sarah." He said, leaning back and finding Goodwitch's telekinetic wall gone. "Come on!" Cinder turned the two of them around and practically carried Aldric as they retreated.

Ozpin's head snapped down, but before he could try to run after them, Ray's 'wings' began hissing, as they lit aglow with intense heat. It charged the League and they, unable to ignore it for fear of their own lives, engaged.

Except for one: "Tai, go - get them!" They heard Ozpin call out.

Oh you've got to be fucking kidding! Aldric and Cinder limped faster, but Taiyang was fresh-faced and without injury - they only bought themselves a few seconds.

Cinder, however, had an idea, "on my word, turn us around!" Aldric grunted in affirmation, and as Taiyang was almost upon them, she called out, "now!"

Aldric spun the both of them around, Cinder raised his bolter and fired fast enough to make it seem as though it were automatic, and each impact and each bolt's explosion caused Taiyang to break off, dashing to the right, as Aldric shouted, "third pocket, right hip!"

Cinder stuffed the gun in her sweatshirt and dug into the pouch pressing against her hip. Out came a vial, which, after she crushed it, revealed a bushel of small silver orbs, each with a single button on them. Aldric ordered her to hit one button and throw the bunch as Ray slammed his massive blade into the ground, causing the ground to briefly quake. Cinder did as she was told, and the grenade she's primed burst into blue flames, whining loudly. She spun the bushel once before winging it at Taiyang.

But Aldric didn't at all expect him to bear hug the bushel, and, in the scant seconds he had before they exploded, gather them up into his hands. The plasma grenades exploded in a gigantic blue fireball, but it halted just past Taiyang's fingers, and then shrank down - the fire running along the blonde warrior's arms and sinking into his body.

Oh... Of fuckin' course. Aldric thought, his heart sinking into his chest. Bitch had to get it from somewhere. Yang's entire shtick was taking hits and converting the damage into more power for her, and since Raven clearly didn't have those kinds of powers, that meant it was only logical for her to have inherited it from her father, who had a far greater mastery over such an ability.

Because the universe just wanted to fuck him, at every available chance, that's why.

I really wish I'd fucking gone with Prime! Aldric thought, as the blue fireball dissipated into nothing, and Taiyang's eyes glowed with the power he had just stolen. "In my defense, Sar... I was hoping that'd distract him, more than it would kill him." So that eliminated his lightsaber and hers as an offensive option, it would just be like a battery to him. "But I've got another idea..." He grunted, pulling out another vial and toying with it in his hand, "how long would it take you to do preflight checks on an aircraft you've never flown before?" He asked, as the blonde warrior flexed his muscles and affixed his glare upon the two.

Cinder blinked, "uh... I have no idea." She said, "five... Minutes?"

Aldric looked past Taiyang, the League's battle with Ray was going well, for them - it was already sporting a healthy amount of damage. None of them had yet tried cutting off its big fucking swords, but that probably had something to do with them struggling to deal with its ranged attacks. Missiles, bullets, bombs, and its blades carved apart the earth around them and the League buzzed about almost like bees trying to kill it.

Aldric deposited the vial, and then his shield, in her hands. "I can do five minutes." He said, as Cinder gave him a concerned look. Aldric, however, gave her no chance to argue, and then shoved off of her, barely able to keep his balance as he limped over to Taiyang, his only good arm held out and head cocked to the side. "Alright." He gasped, "come at me, bro!"

Cinder, though she clearly objected, seemed to realize that it was their only option - of the two of them, she was the only pilot, and though a lot of his ribs were floating around in his chest, Aldric's armor meant he was the better suited of the two to be trading punches with the father of a brawler. So as Aldric brazenly approached the man, arms held out, she peered down at the vial in her hands, seeing a boxy-looking jet, unlike anything she'd ever seen, from Earth or Remnant. She closed her fist over the vial, then about-faced and threw it, and when it shattered against the ground, it expanded into a gigantic, dual-winged vehicle with olive green armor. Cinder rushed inside, of it while Aldric made it within feet of Taiyang.

The father of the brawler gave him a piteous look, eyes still aglow with the energy he'd taken.

"I know enough about you people to know the kinds of hits you took fighting one." He said, leering into the T-shaped visor masking Aldric's face. "Just give it up, kiddo."

So, I keep calling myself Cap with all the passive stuff aura did to my body. Aldric thought, cybernetic arm held slowly going to his organic one, grasping it firmly. Let's put my money where my mouth is. He roughly pulled it into place, mentally overriding the pain that kept it limp and practically forcing it to start functioning again through force of will alone, before bringing both hands up in a boxing stance, "whew... Maximum effort."

Taiyang let out a sigh, frowning, with a shake of his head. "Okay." He said, adopting his own fighting stance.

Aldric let out a quick breath of air, then lunged forward. He threw a jab at Taiyang, who palmed it out of the way and, with a scowl and a loud grunt, slammed his fist into Aldric's chest. It, however, rebounded explosively - appearing as though all of the energy he'd absorbed had been poured into that attack and had been dispersed on impact. Aldric hadn't felt a thing, but Taiyang didn't appear to be so lucky, flying back with a surprised yelp.

Mhm... Aldric thought, settling back into a neutral stance. Just like I thought. It was less impact force that made it through the Black Panther suit than it was simple, raw, sheer weight, momentum, and mass - none of which Taiyang had too much of an advantage of over Aldric. I just might be able to pull this off... Until Taiyang realized that his helmet wasn't made of the same stuff as his suit.

Regardless, after Taiyang recovered, he sprinted back after Aldric, and over the distant roar of the battle with the humongous mech, Aldric could just barely hear the engines to the Pelican beginning to whir to life. He didn't have time to revel in it, though - as Taiyang breached his defenses and unleashed a flurry of punches faster than Aldric had ever seen before. The older fighter quickly figured out that, every time he punched Aldric's left flank, he called out in pain, and was soon focusing his attacks on Aldric's more heavily injured side, each strike causing his broken ribs to grind against eachother, to press harder into his organs, to shear open his insides just a little more. All the vibranium suit did to eliminate the force of impact, and even though they were both just human, and not even approaching the last Master's level of strength, Taiyang's own strength was still sufficient enough to push Aldric's ribs and cause injury unrelated to the impacts.

Aldric quickly found himself first on the defensive, and then on the retreat, it taking all of his exhausted, ailing, bleeding energy just to try and intercept the rib strikes that were only exacerbating the situation. For every one strike Aldric managed to defend against, two more made it through his upheld arms and caused more damage. Aldric barely even had the time or opportunity to counter, and whenever he did, it was seldom that Taiyang wouldn't bob or weave out of the way, or intercept the attack. Worse, was that Aldric quickly realized Taiyang was intentionally pushing this fight towards the dropship - and whenever Aldric tried to take control of the momentum of the fight, Taiyang would punish him for it, eventually managing to break another rib through sheer attrition.

Blood covering the inside of his helmet, and every breath a wheezing, raw gasp, if Aldric had been out of energy before, he could barely even stand now, to the point that he was partially hunched over. Taiyang, on the other hand, sported a grand total of one bruise, stood tall, and was ready, rearing, and full of energy, the piteous look still in his eyes.

"Come on, kid." He said, "just stand down." He practically begged.

Aldric, however, had to force himself to stand up straight, with a pained groan, and the sound of his back creaking from the effort. "Ah..." He swallowed, bringing his arms up. "I can do this all day." He said, vision so blurry that he could barely even see Taiyang, let alone the battle with the Ray, behind him.

Taiyang shook his head, "alright, this is it." He said, charging forward.

Aldric was barely able to bring his arm up to block a left hook; Taiyang took his responding uppercut to open him up to a wide punch to his ribs, causing the young fighter to seize up in pain and list over to the side. Yang's father followed it up with a jab to Aldric's helmet, so strong that Aldric stumbled back, vision going gray and stars sprouting up. Shaking them away only made the pain worse, and left Aldric ill prepared for Taiyang's coup-de-grace, as his left fist became enshrouded in fire and he clapped it to his right, which exploded with energy.

Then he exploded, as a missile came roaring in and detonated right in front of him and Aldric. Both of them went flying in opposite directions, and Aldric found himself sliding to a halt underneath the now idly hovering Pelican. He, however, was out of it - he'd first spent everything to fuel the Dragonball Z attack, and then what little he'd recovered he'd spent weathering Taiyang's beating. He wasn't Goku, he couldn't just rest for thirty seconds and then go back to fighting on the level of a god, he could barely loll his head back and forth, let alone haul himself to his feet and put up his dukes.

Fortunately, Cinder seemed to know this, as the Pelican listed forward and lowered itself down, now hovering inches above the ground as its ramp hissed open. She was sprinting down it before it was even fully extended; the half-Maiden tenderly grabbed Aldric on his less injured side and hauled him up to his feet with a grunt. She half-walked, half-dragged him inside.

"Up." Aldric rasped.

"What?" Cinder's head snapped over to him, as she hit the button to bring the ramp back up and close off the dropship.

"Climb." He gasped, "this... It can get to orbit. They can't follow us that high."

Cinder nodded, bringing Aldric to the captain's cabin and strapping him into the copilot's seat. "Brace yourself." She said, "I barely recognize half of what I see, so this won't be gentle."

Aldric descended into a fit of wheezy, groggy giggles, which were soon drowned out and stopped first by the ship violently jerking to the right with the sound of a loud impact, and then Cinder scrambling for the flight stick and pulling it as far back as she could, while climbing into the pilot's seat. The engines picked up and Aldric was pressed back into his seat as the ship sped up, climbing higher and higher into the air, going faster and faster. Aldric heard a few more pings hit its hull, no doubt the League throwing what little they had at it that they could, that wouldn't be of a detriment to their battle against Ray.

Then, something strange happened. Aldric blinked, and all of a sudden, where the sky outside the windshield was dark, it was made of metal, and where Aldric had first been sitting on a chair, he found himself on his back on a grated floor. There was something poking into his arm, and he felt as though he were in a lot less pain than he had been just a moment ago, though in its place was a feeling of soreness, like his entire body was just one great bruise. Speaking of his body, he realized that most of his clothes were missing, replaced by bandages wrapping almost every available inch. With a groan, he turned his head to the side, and found an IV hooked up to him, feeding him whatever was inside of its fluids, and Cinder was sitting on a chair on the wall, one of Aldric's few remaining overcoats draped over her like a blanket.

Another blink, and while the scenery didn't change overmuch, he found that the soreness had dialed down, and Cinder was in a different chair, awake now, and idly rifling through his utility belt, examining the small vials of the various tricks and goodies he'd shrunk down and prepared. He made to speak, but little more than a grunt escaped his lips, catching Cinder's immediate attention. She placed the vial and the belt down and slid off of her chair, kneeling beside Aldric, but what she said fell on deaf ears, almost literally - as Aldric blinked again, and again time slipped him by.

Now, however, he woke up with a clearer head, and the soreness was manageable. His throat still felt dry, but his ribs didn't feel like they were actively trying to shred his organs. He actually felt like he could sit up, now, and he did - which attracted the attention of Cinder, who, upon seeing him more lucid than before, she rushed towards him.

"Aldric, slow down." She called out, rushing over, feet banging against the ground. "You've been out for two days, take it slow."

"Oh... Holy shit." Aldric groaned, lethargically, running his hand over his face and through his hair. "Three days, fuck."

Cinder shook her head, "two, Aldric."

"Mm..." He nodded. "I missed being in outer space?" He arced an eyebrow, rubbing his eyes.

To which, she shook her head again. "No, we are still up here." She said, "I felt it prudent to wait until Vale had cooled down."

Aldric nodded, "sounds smart." He said, yawning. "Shall we get moving?"

Cinder acquiesced, helping Aldric to his feet. The blanket covering Aldric pooled around his feet, revealing the little but bandages covering him from the waist up, and the unspoilt pants Cinder had scrounged out of his belt covering his legs. Aldric saw his suit, mask, and weapons folded up in a corner as they stepped up the stairs and into the captain's cabin. He noted, on second glance, that his shield had been wiped clean - the red white and blue now reflecting with a sparkly sheen, the star standing proud on the center. Cinder helped him to sit down in the copilot's seat, and as she climbed into the pilot's seat, Aldric found that she'd closed the shutters in front of the windshield.

Makes sense... There wasn't an atmosphere to filter Remnant's sun, leaving the shutters open would blind them every time they walked in and looked out.

Cinder stretched for a moment, before leaning over the controls, and tapped away at a computer. The shutters opened up, slowly revealing first the great blue sphere below them, and then the black, starry void surrounding it. Aldric could see the green, draconic continents of Remnant slowly coming into view, many blanketed by milky white clouds.

Strange... Aldric thought, a frown settling on his face. I thought... I'd be in awe. He'd read a lot of stories about astronauts being stricken with a sense of overwhelming awe, and a feeling of being tiny, when they looked upon the Earth from outer space, but Aldric felt nothing. Maybe because it's not my world? He wondered, leaning back into his chair, as Cinder pushed the dropship forward, and slowly began their descent back to terra firma.

"So... How did you capture a dragon in that belt?"

Aldric scoffed, "ah! Well..." He chuckled, "technically it's a giant robot... And very fucking carefully." He said, "had to go out into Forever Fall to magic it up without anyone seeing."

Cinder nodded, "and you just... Carried it with you?" She asked, "why?"

"I call it my 'nuclear option'." He said, "wicked, stupid, fuck-awful powerful things from fiction that just up and break the mold of this world." He had also chosen it specifically because, if one Raiden could take it apart without dying, the entire Justice League of Remnant could do the same with only a few bumps and bruises. "Same with the BFG I killed the Master with."

Cinder blinked, "that reminds me, actually... What happened, there?" She asked, peering down at Aldric, "after you blasted him?"

The thought also prompted Aldric to lean up in his seat, and search the world, to see if it wasn't bearing some sort of visible scar from that. "I think the lesson to be learned is that trying to fuel that kind of stuff myself is a bad idea. I took that from a story where people can break planets on accident... Because I don't care what who says, at the very least Goku could kick Thor's ass." He said, seeing no such blast scars. "But considering the lack of feeling in my arm at the time... Pretty sure it took all of my aura and gave me a heart attack. So... Lesson learned!" Which also put a damper on his pipe dreams of trying to ape the kaioken, or other various transformations. "I pin my lack of success simply on the fact that I didn't have enough time to finish it off."

Cinder rolled her eyes, "so why do you wait to use those things?" She asked, "I am certain someone as... Versed, in your own culture as you, would know of something that would make your struggles trivial."

Aldric nodded, "thus the nuclear options." He said, with a wave of his hand. "But to answer your question... Fuck - truth be told, Cinder, I've been scared of my power before I knew I was basically a reality warper." He said, "but now? Well... Ozpin has this theory running, about the powers of Masters and Maidens. That magic is, what its wielder thinks it is. Ozpin, coming from a time before advanced science or high fiction, merely thought of magic as a way to manipulate the world around him - and his best efforts only made things like fire, barriers, strength, and that sort. Maidens, from antiquity to now... Well, there isn't much evidence, aside from the person sitting next to me." He said, "so, without telling me, Ozpin tested that theory... On me, after he figured out that the nanites that make the Power Glove shouldn't work the way I had them working. The long and short of it was that he told me I was a reality warper, capable of literally anything as long as I had a basic understanding of it. Then, rapid fire, I started pulling lightsabers, bolters, plasma grenades, and Metal Gears out of my ass.

"Coming from a dude who, just one year ago, could barely snap a twig over his knee? That's terrifying, Cinder." He said, "that thing I shot the Master with? Came from a video game whose hero's literal one and only goal in life was to just kill demons. The giant robot? One whose goal was ironically to avoid combat - and you may understand why." He ran his metal hand through his ill-washed hair, briefly realizing he couldn't remember the last time he'd showered or shaved. "And, in a word, those are not the worst things I have on me." He wouldn't be kidding if he said the only reason he'd opted out of having a Flood Spore, or some similar kind of biological terror, had been his lack of any foolproof method of containment.

"Your 'nuclear options' must take unassuming forms..." Cinder responded, but after a beat, she added, "though I suppose I should consider my audience when I say such things."

Aldric had to force himself not to laugh, for fear of cracking his barely mended ribs. "Lady, you make me laugh and I'll probably barf up a lung." He said, "but, that's not the only reason. Yeah, my power terrifies me like nothing else, but... Those things in my belt? The worse things I specifically avoid? They're not mine. If I grew to rely on them, as opposed to simply having them there in an emergency, then if I ever lost them, I'd be toast. That power wouldn't be mine, it would be that weapon's - and someone else could easily take it." He explained, "and considering the things I'm hoping to do, the people I fight, and the situations I'm frequently in... I can't really have that, now can I?"

Cinder nodded, realization dawning in her eyes. "Thus why you always fall back to your shield."

"Pretty much." Aldric yawned. "I can control that, it has use beyond its immediate function, and if I lose it, I am still capable of fighting without it. Compare and contrast my lightsaber, which is much the same, but is arguably even safer for me to lose, because if someone stole it from me and tried to use it against me, they'd be just as liable to chop something of theirs off as they would to injure me."

"Then call me curious. I looked through your belt while you were unconscious... But I couldn't recognize many of the things you had."

Aldric snorted, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. "Trying to figure out what heat I'm packing?" He grunted.

"It would help to know."

He let out another breath from his nose. "Put it to you this way, Cinder. I have a small green rock in a lead pocket on that belt that literally has no use on any living creature in this universe. And after today..." A beat, "well... However long ago it was we fought MC Hammer... I feel perfectly justified in it."

"That doesn't answer my question."

"Actually, it does." Aldric responded, pulling out a vial with his journal in it. "Gonna do this, then sleep some more. Wake me up when we get to ground?"

She nodded, "sure."

For the Record

Fun fucking fact:

Black Panther, shrugging off explosions and machine gun rounds, and all that?
Bullshit.

I mean, no, maybe half bullshit. The suit works as advertised: It stops/absorbs/jargons impact force, but it doesn't stop objects from moving. So if I have more momentum or am physically stronger than whatever's hitting me (say: A bullet hitting my chest), then it'll just bounce off and I won't be effected. But if it has more momentum/mass/strength/whatever than I do (Say: A moving car... Or the hammer Mjolnir.), suddenly things get screwy in ways I never had to deal with, with the shield, the long and short of which being broken down to the fact that the suit, instead of being made of firm plates, is essentially a bodysuit of chainmail, which compressed, bends, flattens, whathaveyou.

So if something with more massjargonjargonjargon hits me, the suit bends, my body resists it (thanks Newton!), and that means that all the goddamn magical metal in the world won't stop my ribs from breaking if it bends when I get hit in the chest by the hammer of Thor.

I'm also pretty sure that's why Cap's arms didn't get turned into jelly when he got smacked in the Avengers: Old Glory is a single, solid, plate of vibranium. Firm and unyielding, Cap's a supersoldier to begin with, and Thor wasn't trying to kill him. All of that together, and the more superior defensive capabilities of the shield outclass that of the suit.

So while I may be bullet proof, now, I'm nowhere near punch proof. Not for the level of people I've been fighting, anyways.
Or knife proof, actually - doesn't Black Panther get stabbed repeatedly in the comics, while wearing the suit?
Why the fuck am I wearing this, again? God damn it.

And, here's the strangest part: I bet through my word choice above, I probably 'sound' frustrated and a little pissed.
But at this point?

Well, I'll put it to you like I put it to Cinder. Paraphrased: I've got a chunk of kryptonite on my belt because I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Superman burst into here because he felt a disturbance in the Force.

Ugh, Jesus Fuck.
Mercury's dead, Cinder and I killed someone who wielded Marvel's Mjolnir, basically making him Thor, I had a heart attack when I tried to pull something from Dragonball Z to kill him, had to drop a literal Metal Gear on the Justice League so we could get away, got my ass whooped by Taiyang Xiao Long, and now we're in outer space flying back down to the ground.

Seriously. Superman. Would not. Be. Surprised.

I'd go more. You know I could go longer. But despite the fact that I've been out for two days (and I installed some of those CIA programs on this tablet, so I know for a fact she never even so much as turned it on, let alone tried reading this), I'm fucking exhausted. So I'm gonna sleep, probably going to piss myself when I realize I gave one of God's toys to Lady Satan, and then I'm probably going to get stabbed by my sociopathic... What the fuck even is she? And I'm not even going to be questioning my life anymore.

"Aldric."

The Master groaned, "gimme... Like... Eight more days." He said, stretching his aching back, peering over to Cinder, then out past the windshield, as the dropship came in for a landing in the midmorning Remnant countryside. "Smooth flight."

"Indeed." Cinder nodded, "we're outside Vale... It shouldn't take more than two hours for us to return on foot."

Aldric felt like he should focus on something more important, as he pushed himself to his feet, and made for his pile of clothes. "How about... You tell me how in the flaming fuck you figured out how to expertly pilot a spacecraft." He said, "considering you're seventy plus years behind my planet on the science, and had... Like... Two days to study."

"Actually." Cinder began, as Aldric regarded the vibranium mail. "I took a leaf from your book."

"Oh?" He questioned, deciding discretion would be the better part of valor, and shrank the suit down with a throwing star, the idea going through his head that it would be better and easier to just shrink it now than it would to put it on, go back to Vale, only to take it off again in the hospital, when he swapped out with Neo and put on his Goud face again.

She nodded, "what I lack in your raw, magical power, I can make up for in skill. Your words." She said, "but also you like to tell me how much you... Grant yourself, in a manner of speaking, merely by willing it into existence." She let out a long breath, as Aldric slid on his pants. "I knew enough just by looking at it to get us in the air and to open and shut doors." She explained, "but after that, I knew I wouldn't be able to get us back. Not without cheating, a little bit. And keeping in mind what you said about personal understandings and mental connections... I took what I knew about flight, and used my own meager-at-the-moment abilities to add onto it. Thus -" She waved at the interior of the ship, as it landed itself.

Aldric looked up at that, blinking. "Well holy shit." He'd never even thought that he could use magic to cheat at school, only to cheat at life. "You learned how to turn on the automatic pilot." He shook his head and whistled, "wow." A nod, "nice, Cinder." A thumbs up, before he slid on his shirt. "Real good."

Cinder rolled her eyes, "can I keep it?"

Aldric burst out into laughter, before immediately kneeling down, fleshy arm pressed to his ribs. "Ah! Fuck you!" He laughed, "that... That was good." He shook his head, "you... You know what? Fuck it, yeah, sure. Keep it." He said, pouring through it with his radar in his ever-paranoid attempts to make sure she wasn't pulling the rug over him; finding nothing, he continued with, "it's a workhorse, and I've got something a bit easier for me to handle in the belt."

Cinder nodded, "thank you." She said, swiping a hand over a button that opened the bay, to let them outside.

"So what're we doing with the you-know-what?" Aldric asked, his eyes settling on the briefcase in her hand. "Just... Leaving it in here?" He asked, over the whirring of the motors in the bay door and the sound of wind whistling inside.

Cinder nodded, "it is not as easy to find it as you would think." She said, "leaving it here... In a random place, would protect it as well as keeping it on my person." She paused, "and should any random passerby come across this vessel, they would think to search it, and not... Say... A pit dug in front of a tree next to it."

They made their exit from the dropship quickly, the only brief pause before they began back to Vale coming from the two masking its presence with branches, leaves, and detritus from the woods. Once they removed and hid as much evidence of its presence as possible, and after Cinder buried the Relic, the two fled the area at a leisurely walking speed. Surrounded by trees, their return to Vale was once again held up when they were faced down by a pack of Beowolves. Aldric's face fell to one of blank annoyance, as he mentally prepared himself for another fight, whereas Cinder merely glared at them. They ran off at her look, prompting a shake of a head and an impressed whistle from Aldric.

"That's supposed to be our boss' influence, right?"

Cinder nodded. "During her battles with Ozpin, she learned how first to dominate Grimm, then to create them, and make her influence over them viral. They still have near total autonomy when they are not in her immediate vicinity, it is not a hive mind, or even a control she has, but rather an influence, and those she counts as allies benefit from said influence."

"She tell you that?"

To his surprise, Cinder shook her head. She seemed reticent and hesitant for a moment, before she sighed, face settling into a pensive frown. Before Aldric could comment on it, she spoke again. "No." She said, "I... Suppose I have never told you how I came to be involved with her." Aldric shut up, and shook his head. "It is... A long story. But when I made my decision, to pursue... Well, the pursuit of power." She said, with a sidewards nod. "I had done so not after a Grimm attack, but a bandit raid. I think there were other survivors, but I never found them. I had to hide in an ancient ruin and pray they wouldn't find me." She explained, "I found, in those ruins, a very old book. It led me to another in the same ruins, which led me to another, which had marked on it another location... Which I would discover later as another set of ruins."

Aldric hummed, "implying these books were the Boss', and these ruins were back from her and Ozpin's time." He said, not really having the mental capacity to sit through the whole story.

Cinder nodded, "Ozpin brought Earth values, Earth philosophies, Earth ideals... I think the reason society as it exists today, exists today, because of Ozpin himself and his history with Rome." She explained. "But Salem... Did not come from Rome. She did not come from Earth. where Ozpin came to this world... Salem was born into it. The books she left were journals. My discovery of the first allowed me to follow her on the journey she undertook eons ago. Learn what she did, as she did, and in her own words." A beat, "if I had days, I could not describe to you everything I learned. I saw her life through her eyes, learned her ideals, her philosophies, her values... And through them, I was able to find her, herself... And, impressed, she chose to take me in. To train me, first in the ways of aura, but then in the ways of magic, to prepare me for when I would inevitably obtain that power for myself."

Aldric grunted, "hm... Maybe when all this is done, you can point me in that direction. Would sound like a fun little walkabout." He said, idly wondering what Cinder had learned that could have so intrinsically colored her worldviews.

She nodded, "perhaps." She said, "not many would agree with what she does or why she does it... But I suppose in the end it doesn't matter, so long as I am given what it is I desire."

"Power overwhelming?"

Another nod, "I don't ever want to have to worry about my life or the lives of whomever I deign to care."

Aldric noticed a catch to her voice as she said this, which he pointed out. "Got something you need to say?" He asked, as they reached a clearing, and found the bullhead the Fang had left for them.

Cinder remained silent until they reached a road, and began following it to the south. "When my village was torn apart, I was scared, Aldric." She began, "scared and angry. Scared that I may die, angry that neither I nor my family were strong enough to protect ourselves... To just be allowed to live another day." A pause, her hands sliding into the pockets of the clothes she had scavenged from Aldric's offerings. "I don't seek power for its own sake. I just want to be able to protect and provide for myself, to be able to stare this harsh world in the eyes and make it blink first. Such that I may have the freedom to pursue the life I would want, on my own terms. But... Do not mistake that for a disinterest, or distaste, in those who do not have power.

"Rather, a pity." She explained, "when Emerald died, I had been for the first time in a half decade faced with mortality. I mourned her, as did we all, but perhaps differently than you or Mercury, as you three..." Her face set in a frown, it appearing she was trying both to physically restrain herself from speaking, but also trying to force the words out. "I would consider friends. The first I have had since my home burned. But her death also strengthened my convictions... One mistake, was all it took for one of the most skilled thieves I knew to die. Mercury almost followed, had you not intervened.

"Then..." She sighed, "days ago, Mercury perished as well, and I've come to learn something."

Aldric groaned, leaning back into his chair and arcing an eyebrow, turning over to Cinder, whose expression was guarded. "Oh?"

"Life is fragile." She said, "but... We are not." She said, indicating herself and Aldric. "You and I... We are different. From Emerald. From Mercury."

"How so?" Aldric wondered.

Cinder's response was to spark a fire with a snap of her fingers. "We each possess the will to act, and our power only grows to match that will."

Aldric nodded, letting out a long sigh. She was trying to put to words not that they were different because they had magic in a world where so precious few either had or could access theirs, but rather the idea that they each had a goal, and would do anything and everything they wanted in the pursuit of that goal - and instead of stopping them, the world yielded to their will. If they found an obstacle, they simply grew in strength to surpass it, never to be stopped. Cinder could steal the power of Maidens, and Aldric was increasing his mastery over his own abilities. Alone, the two were mighty, but together, they were unstoppable.

Aldric said as much, "it sounds like you're rewriting your idea on self reliance."

She nodded, "Emerald and Mercury both died because their beliefs reflected my own: That the only ones they could truly trust and rely upon in a pitched fight were themselves. But when tested, those beliefs failed them, and life left them." She explained, "you and I, however... Neither of us alone could have taken on that Master. He was, simply, too powerful. But when we worked together, he fell almost immediately." They passed a roadsign, telling them how far away Vale was from here , and Cinder cast a serious look over at Aldric. "And forgive me if I am wrong, but is an idea like this not what you have been pushing from the very beginning?" She asked, "that of... Trust?"

Aldric grinned, "well holy shit, you do listen when I talk." He said, sliding his hands into the pockets of his coat. "And here I thought you just let me go because it was easier than shutting me up."

She nodded to the side, "well, I do, but I find it better to let a person rant. They may slip up, tell me something unintentionally."

"Very true." Aldric nodded, extending his hand over to Cinder. "Guess that makes us Partners?"

Cinder turned her head, gazing down at his hand as the two walked the road, before raising to look into his eyes. "Friends." She asserted, before shaking his hand.

Aldric nodded, "friends." It didn't escape him that, after the two finished shaking, she kept ahold of his hand for a moment, as though she didn't want to let go, before relenting. "Nebo Aldric and Cinder Fall, against the world." A beat, "alright, Hot Stuff. As a friend -" He pointed at her, accusingly, a grin growing across his bruised face. "Did you choose that fucking last name?!" He chuckled.