Chapter 74
For the Record:
You know, it's funny.
I remember the conversation we had after we fought Thor. I remember that Cinder admitted she trusted me, that she genuinely thought of me as a friend.
I remember believing her.
Shows me.
Thor was my Father.
Cinder and I killed him.
Sometimes I wonder if things would have turned out better if I'd fled Cinder the absolute second I could have - say, the moment I learned I could fly. If I'd have just left her, flown back to the Aviator, grabbed my shit, and gone to Ozpin. Maybe I would have been able to legitimize myself way before things went south. Actually been a good person.
But then I remember all the things I've learned. The secrets to the universe I hold. Hell, the secrets I know that the universe doesn't.
Every time I try to humanize the people I work with, the goddamn universe shows me that I shouldn't even bother to try trusting them. Ozpin is a manipulative bastard who will lie and cheat to everyone and anyone if it gets him closer to his goal. Salem is a demoness who wants to destroy the world. Cinder is evil, power-hungry in an almost literal sense, irredeemable by any stretch of the word, and I may be the worst of them all, as, looking back on it, I realize that if I knew he was my father, I would have done the same thing. I'd have had to, to secure my position in the Legion.
If I'd have chosen to flee to Ozpin, I would have been choosing willful ignorance. I'd be choosing short-term moral superiority over a potentially devastating long-term cost. I would have voluntarily demoted myself to a pawn in a King's game. Maybe my father would have lived if I'd have done this, but again, that's a short-term gain, because we would have lost the chance we've got.
Right now, all over two worlds, the greatest armies in history - both in size and strength - are being assembled. Battle strategies are being written, weapons loaded - fuck, this castle probably has a dozen satellites on it, now that they know where it is. They're all just waiting for my go ahead - they're all just waiting for me to kill the surviving Masters, set up Salem's fallen Huntsmen to be killed, assemble the relics, and then assemble them. By then all we'll have left is Cinder and Salem - the former of whom Venom Aldric, Ruby Rose, and god knows who else can deal with, and the latter I can handle until I get help in the form of Jaune and his sword.
But that's not the chance I'm talking about.
No, the chance I'm talking about is what could be done with the Relics when we bring them together.
I know Salem has a plan, but I have one too. The Big One. Magic works the way I think it does - Ozpin taught me that and I've proven it on countless occasions. But what nobody appears to realize is the opportunity that grants someone if they know how to game the system, as it were. Venom Aldric told George how the Relic of Knowledge functions, and George refused to tell me because it would thusly invalidate how I think it functions - and, as such, would render The Big One impossible. Lacking a concrete explanation on how the Relics function I have to rely on my own preconceptions, and that means when I make contact with them, they'll work the way I think they will.
And if you're perceptive, you already know how I think they work.
Now it's a gamble - they're supposed to be made from beings people like Salem and Ozpin consider to be gods. There's every chance that I'm not powerful enough to even temporarily overwrite all four of them, but if I can, I have a chance to end it all in a way that simply killing Salem would be too little to achieve the same effect.
Suffice to say, if I'd gone the bail-out route and gone to Ozpin, this may have occurred to me at some point... But I wouldn't have the will to do it.
I am the product of every single thing I've done so far, change one variable, even one insignificant, and chaos theory takes hold and the outcome will be wildly different from what it used to be.
I had to be found by Cinder, so this Green Hornet plan would even come to mind.
I had to nearly die against Neo, so I could eventually win her favor and Torchwick's alliance.
I had to fight Yang, otherwise I'd have never adopted the fighting style that's gotten me so far.
I had to gore the fuck out of Amber, or Cinder would have gotten all of her power and I never would have made contact with the League.
I had to murder Rayne in her sleep, or else I would have been compromised.
I had to keep Ozpin and Qrow at arm's length, otherwise my paranoia would have never gotten to the heights it did and I may have slipped up.
I had to eventually accept Ozpin's council, or else I never would have understood how my powers worked.
I had to manipulate everyone in Beacon, otherwise my 'death' wouldn't have triggered Ruby's powers and my eventual 'return' won't steel them for the fight to come.
I had to create the MegaContingency, otherwise I would've stayed dead, and not known about Human Grimm.
I had to lop off Yang's arm, or I wouldn't have gotten Earth's support.
I had to kill my Father, otherwise he would have taken the relic and Salem wouldn't trust me like she does.
Cinder had to not tell me, or else Salem wouldn't have been able to drop the bomb on me, and I might not have gotten that brief look at who she truly was.
Salem had to tell me the way she did, or else I wouldn't have had this revelation:
Everything I've done - everything - has led me to where I am right now. Everything had to happen the way it did, or else I wouldn't have the resolve to do what needs to be done when and if we defeat Salem. I wouldn't have the will to make the hard calls, the devastating sacrifices necessary to make sure we reach the best possible outcome with the given variables.
All these people on Earth and Remnant, including my father. I had a hand either directly or indirectly in their death. I killed them.
But I can ensure they didn't die for nothing.
Despite it being so early, after he showered, Aldric collapsed into bed and slept like a baby. He awoke well into the next morning, shivering cold and feeling more exhausted than when he'd gone to sleep. Pushing his radar out, Aldric found Salem's castle still, dead, and silent. Cinder was in her room, a pained grimace etched onto her face as she ate, and Salem was at the top of the largest tower, staring deeply at the sterling crown sitting in a painted sigil on a stone table, alongside three other sigils, each empty.
Pushing himself up to a seated position, Aldric ran his cold metal hand over his face, pushing the sleep out of his eyes and groaning.
Metal hand pressed to his closed eyes, he let out a sigh and thought, At the castle. He heard the nearly silent clacks of the metal plates in his fingers hitting each other and locking into place, while they ground against his metal eyes through his eyelids. In the endgame. He dropped his hand, staring blankly at the dark wall ahead of him, illuminated by blood red sky outside. So now what? Did George and Venom Aldric really just expect him to adopt a holding pattern until Cinder was healed and Salem found all the Maidens?
I mean... How do I operate from here? He thought, knowing full well that George and Venom Aldric had planned around Aldric being Aldric, and acting like Aldric when faced with the knowledge of Venom's mere existence. Continuing forward as though Venom didn't exist, or instead planning around the plans that he was no doubt making around his plans - like the fucking Major - was something that George and Venom had no doubt anticipated, the question was simply which route to go down. Did he adopt a holding pattern and simply hurry up and wait? Or did he do as he'd intended to from the beginning, and come up with a proper game plan, independent of them, now that Beacon was done and he was in Salem's castle?
Aldric ran his hand through his hair, feeling a headache well up in the back of his skull. Time travel. He shook his head, and telekinetically called his belt and his suit to his hand. Fucking time travel. He rifled for some new, less bloody clothes. Chrissakes, I'm pulling a Batman gambit on my-goddamn-self. He thought, pulling out a few piled of clothes, and turning his attention to the vibranium suit.
He stared at it long and hard, an idle frown settling on his face.
For several long minutes, Aldric considered bundling up the suit and melting it down, as every single time he'd needed it, it had failed him. Thor - his father's - hammer had broken all of his ribs through it, which had nearly killed him, Cinder had ripped one of its arms off, burned a hole in its chest and shot him through it, which did kill him, and it stood to reason that Adam Taurus now held the power to cut through it, which would kill him. The determined had consistently gotten through it every time it had mattered, and when it didn't matter, it was because Aldric was going up against people who were decidedly weaker than him, and as such, not a threat.
Maybe I could melt it down... Aldric thought, laying it out on the bed and ironing out the wrinkles in the cold, smooth metal. It looked lopsided missing its left arm, and worn, where the hole in its chest was. Make a newer, better, chestplate out of it. He thought, eyes landing on the curdled edges of the hole over where his heart would be - an almost literal Achilles' Heel.
Aldric sighed.
No... He decided, no... It's so likely as to be inevitable that I'll be going up against a whole hell of a lot of regular-ass soldiers soon, and that thing is invaluable against gunfire. He called the Mithril shirt out of the bathroom, and held the practically weightless shirt in his hands, eyes flitting between the silvery shirt to the dark suit. Suppose I'll just have to stay doubling up and deal with broken ribs as they come. A beat. So, keep doing what I've been doing. He grinned, and took the shirt and the suit to the bathroom, before he grabbed a sponge and got to work scrubbing his blood off of it.
There was another reason he chose to keep the suit, and it had less to do with function than fashion, because he had to face it: It was time to get a new look. The entire point of killing Ash was to make everyone at beacon believe he was dead - so running around wearing his exact get-up, using a weapon that was pretty much just a color swap of his, and wielding similar powers, would be a dead giveaway to anyone who paid attention. Furthermore, he'd sold Cinder on the idea of the sheer kinds of emotional and morale damage they'd be able to deal to the League - which, by now, should comprise of RWBY and JNPR alongside the original members - when he would be unmasked and the jig would be up, especially if they played it like Cinder had brainwashed him.
A cruel but necessary deception, since Aldric wanted to keep the non-Watchmen as simultaneously invested and distant from him, emotionally, as possible - invested enough for Ruby to manifest her powers and potentially figure out how to do it on command, but distant enough to be willing to differentiate Aldric and Ash, that way they could keep the warm memories of Ash, and chalk up the terrible reality of Aldric to Salem's machinations.
But, the entire ruse would be rendered moot if they suspected who he was, and was subsequently prepared to know the truth, before the mask came off. So, when Aldric finished washing his armor, he dug through his belt and came up with a new outfit. Gone and packed away were the overcoats he adored and the cargo pants he loved, and in there place was nothing, and jeans, respectively. Able to keep the boots he'd gotten from the Garden due to the fact that they looked generic enough that he didn't have to worry about it, that simply left his shirt, and his arm. His solution to the former was to pull the Mithril shirt out from underneath the vibranium suit and instead wear it openly - both giving him a shirt so it didn't look like he was walking around in nothing but metal spandex from the waist up, and masking the hole in his chest to boot - and his solution to the latter was to remove the arm entirely.
As much as he liked the arm he'd gotten from the Garden, everyone's old signatures and markings were still visible, if long faded, and the arm itself had distinct enough colors that it wasn't hard to recognize it from a glance. So, he detached it from his shoulder and shrank it down - and out of his belt to replace it came his Winter Soldier arm. Made of the same material as his suit, and looking far more anatomically correct, when Aldric slipped it, the suit, and his shirt on, it almost looked indistinguishable from his right arm, save only for the gold highlights running up and down in swooping tribal patterns. Interestingly, when Aldric connected it to the port in his shoulder, and when it powered up, he found it significantly lighter and more agile than the previous one; faster, and stronger, too.
Maybe I really should start fighting southpaw... Aldric thought with a grin, throwing a few quick jabs with the new vibranium arm, before dropping it, and digging into his belt for the final piece, the item that would both mask his identity and add some armor to his head.
For the first time since he'd been shown the business end of Thor's hammer, Aldric retrieved Revan's mask, examining it, looking into its T-shaped visor. Lips pursed, Aldric nodded, and clipped it to his belt, not needing it at the moment, but deciding it prudent to keep it on him regardless.
Now... Weapons. Aldric hummed, an idea already in his mind about what he would equip himself with. The first was a toy he'd already gotten some use out of, and one he felt was fitting in a poetic way, considering it was a villain's weapon and he'd be using it while overtly operating with the Legion of Doom, Darth Vader's lightsaber came out of his belt and was clipped to it. The next was a replacement for the shield he'd bequeathed to Pyrrha: Twin, collapsible shields made of the same metals as his arm and armor, that he fastened over his forearms. When collapsed, they looked and functioned like vambraces, but when expanded, he was given twin kite shields whose sharp edges would help him out in combat more than Old Glory's blunt round edge. And, of course, covering both of his hands was the viscuous gray goo of the Power Glove.
Yeah... Aldric grunted, cracking his back and turning to his door. That'll do. He left the room and, for want of anything else to do, started wandering; he had a good enough grasp of the castle already through use of his radar, so his only goal now was to throw himself into the lion's den, and voluntarily talk to Baron von Evilsatan herself. He wouldn't get another opportunity like this.
Walking through the large, looming corridor filled with the dark concrete and linoleum walls and floors, Aldric found a winding spiral staircase that lined the castle's tallest tower. Aldric walked each step, feeling like with each thud of his boot on the stone floor he was ascending towards danger, fighting directly against his simian instincts, which all but dictated that getting high up was synonymous with avoiding danger. He pushed this strange, tearing feeling away and instead focused on steeling himself for the mental and verbal speed-chess match that would come, fully prepared for this woman to outright state she knew everything he'd done and why just to assert her dominance, as she'd done the previous night.
Fuck... Thought Aldric, as he reached the lone, thin wooden door that separated the inside to the large landing at the top of the tower. At this point it wouldn't surprise me if she knew I flipped her off.He pushed open the door, knocking on it as he stepped out on the terrace. "Is it Miss or Missus Salem?" He asked, causing her to twitch, pulled out of her revelric staring contest with the Crown of Choice.
She looked at him from over her shoulder, face blank for a moment, before one of her ghostly smiles thinned her lips. "I suppose once it was Missus... But not anymore."
Aldric approached her, hands behind his back. "Shot in the dark: If he was on this planet and has been fighting you forever, was the lucky guy Ozpin?"
"You're every bit astute as Cinder said you were." Salem said, turning to face him fully, hands held at her sides. "Did you not know, and merely intend to appear as though you did?"
"Kinda what 'shot in the dark' means." Aldric responded, "if I wanted to pull the whole 'you just told me' bit, I would have framed the joke differently." A beat, "less sarcastically." So Ozpin wasn't from Earth, and he had been married to Salem at some point; he was beginning to doubt more and more that the Gods were responsible for his reincarnation cycle and instead some bloated sense of responsibility was.
Salem conceded the point with a nod of her head, "come." She said, turning back to the sigil-covered stone table, upon which the crown sat. "Have you seen it for yourself?"
Aldric shook his head, stopping just before the table and looking at the crown. It looked deceptively simple, just a gold diadem encrusted by jewels, the center, and largest, one being of a deep yellow hue. "So that's one of the four objects of infinite power left by the Gods." Aldric hummed, "can you clarify that to me, please? Ozpin liked to talk in metaphor and flowery language whenever I asked him. Did they really exist? And here, on Remnant?" And what qualified for 'godhood' on a planet with people who had superpowers? What's more, what qualified for Godhood to two people with magic?
Salem nodded once, "two of them. Brothers." She responded, "one of light, one of dark, responsible for everything you see here today."
"And... It never occurred to you that they were just regular guys who were just that strong in magic?" If one plopped Aldric down on Earth even just one hundred years ago people would be calling him a god. "Or..." Fuck, how had the Emperor been made again? "A whole bunch of mages that merged their souls into one uber-mage?" He shrugged.
Salem hummed thoughtfully, "truthfully, Aldric, I ceased asking those questions when they wiped out all of Humanity with a wave of their hands, and destroyed the moon when they left this planet for a different one."
Big 'G' then. "I read a story about a guy who did that once..." Aldric snapped his fingers. "And half of the universe. Gone." He whistled. "All of humanity, huh?"
She nodded, gaze turning from Aldric to the Relic, as Aldric turned away from it and rounded the table, approaching the edge of the terrace and looking out to the tortured land surrounding the castle. Jagged rocks, gray, lifeless grounds, Grimm as far as the eye could see, deep pools of black ichor so dark that even the light of the sun failed to reflect off of them. It looked dead.
"All of them." She said, "I was the only one left... Cursed to walk lifeless lands forever." Aldric sensed her regretfully pull away from the table and come to stand next to him, and a chill ran down his spine. "A punishment for being the one to rally them all against them."
Aldric watched as a Grimm he'd never seen before crawled out of one of the larger pools of ichor, and said, "why'd you do that?"
"Oz..." She hesitated, and Aldric wondered if it was an act. "...pin, died. I begged them both to bring him back to me. In their own ways they denied me, and as they were wont to do, they fought and disagreed with eachother, until their mutual understanding of my own hand in their disagreement prompted they keep him in the next world and deny me even the chance to go to him."
Aldric frowned, not liking the implication of her words. "So you got pissed and decided to war against two Gods." Hell, even Doomguy knew to fight them one at a time. "How'd humanity come back?" He asked.
Salem was silent for an uncomfortably long time, before she said, "I must admit, Aldric, even I do not know. I was alone so long that years, even decades, began to bleed together. I would blink my eyes and a century would pass. One day I noticed the Grimm acting strangely, and investigating brought me to humans and faunus, each growing rapidly and colonizing wild lands, as they do."
Wow, I could practically smell the bullshit there, lady. Aldric nodded, "and between then and now you and Ozpin went to war with each other." He said, "way he tells it, he built the first human kingdom... Ever, someone with silver eyes came in and gave him a relic, which attracted you... Blah blah blah, he thought you were evil, didn't help you, you came back with two relics and an army of Grimm, and you've been fighting ever since." A beat, "I don't buy it even more now, considering that he said he got his reincarnation cycle after that, and you're claiming he existed before that." Though Aldric did admit it was possible that Ozpin's memories could be muddling together - living for thousands and thousands of years had to make it hard to keep everything sorted.
Salem laughed - actually laughed - at that, and shook her head. "I can assure you every bit of that was a fallacy, Aldric." She said in her smooth voice, her face briefly marred by the wrinkles of genuine emotion. "No... While the true story is a long one, suffice to say, when humanity returned, their magic did not. Ozpin and I were the only ones who could use it... And our intent was to act in the Gods' stead, to unite and guide Humanity and even the Faunus... But in time, our ideals began to drift. Our goals were the same, but the methods we concluded were necessary to reaching them, couldn't have been more different. And from there, we split, and as do all things that disagree so vehemently, we fought... And we have fought, ever since."
Aldric hummed, "well... Can't say I suspected any different, really." Aldric wondered how much of this was true, and how much of it had been fluffed up or lies to conceal the less savory parts of her story from him. "Alright, well - I'll let you get back to your longing stare." He said, giving her a nod, and making an about-face, when:
"Actually, a moment."
Aldric gritted his teeth, and then turned back to her. "Yeah?"
Salem considered her words a moment, regarding Aldric with her black and red eyes as she did so, before speaking. "Things... Could not possibly have gone better." She let out, "Remnant and Earth are at each other's throats... Ozpin is dead, and will remain incapacitated for quite some time until he returns... The traitors amongst us are dead, those loyal to me are well on their way to tracking down the remaining Maidens, you and Cinder both live, and I've already one Relic - the one Ozpin himself hid. We've more or less carte blanche to operate however we need to for the next few months until we've obtained all of the Maidens, and this resounding success simply would not be if it weren't for you and Cinder... So for that, I feel a boon is in order." She folded her hands behind her back, "name it, and if it is within my power I shall grant it. If not, I shall do my best to accommodate."
Wow... Aldric felt a grin play at the corner of his mouth. Satan just told me I did a good job. Aldric shrugged, "gonna be honest, Big Boss - there's only one thing I want, and it's just that after this - after all this..." He waved his hand at the table, and then the area around the castle. "I just want to sit and rest. To live a quiet life, free from want." He explained, "so all I'd ask of you would be to respect that."
Salem grew a wide, genuine smile, one that reached her eyes, and she nodded. "I can guarantee it, Aldric." She said, "so long as you do wish for it, I shall never approach you for assistance in my goals. No one will know who you are or where you reside unless you make it so. You will have as close to your life on Earth as possible, I promise."
Aldric nodded, "thanks."
"Now... If I may?" She asked, tilting her head to the side, as though silently saying, 'that was the good news, and now for the bad.'
Aldric steeled himself, "okay?"
"I asked Cinder what she desired when she awoke this morning, and she made but a simple request. One she cannot fulfill as yet, but you - owing to your lack of injuries and functioning aura - can allow her to."
Aldric frowned, "oh... Kay?" What was this demoness getting at? What would Cinder want more than power? "Listen, I love Cinder to death, but I'm not giving her my soul and adding to her collection."
Salem smirked and laughed a low, musical laugh. "No, no, nothing like that." She said, "I believe you have noticed how... Sensitive a subject her more metaphysical injuries are."
Aldric felt his heart skip a beat, and he started getting flashbacks to the previous night - the brief, blink-and-you-miss-it peek at Salem's true self, because he knew where she was going with this. Those words alone aligned Aldric's thoughts with Cinder's, because he knew what to her would be a 'simple' favor, in the grand scheme of things.
He nodded, "she nearly bit my god damn head off when I made a joke about it while we were coming here." He could also still see her right now with his radar, and she still looked as pained as ever. "What about it?"
"She is nurturing a hatred for the girl that did it." Salem responded, "one that, even now, is titanic in scope. My Grimm can sense it, and it has them on edge." She explained, "her request was for the chance to kill that girl herself. Unfortunately, as it will be some time until she will gain any sort of functional control over her powers, let alone the skill and fortitude to use them in combat, she cannot attempt such a thing... But as I said to you, I said to her, that if the request was out of my power, I would do my best to accommodate... And that is what I shall do.
"Aldric, would you kindly retrieve Ruby Rose, and bring her here alive?"
It took all of Aldric's self control to keep his face straight, even as inside he was battening down the hatches in his mind and forcing any and all thoughts to remain right here, right now, in this second and this second only, because more than the fear-inducing realization of what she was going to ask him was the pants-shittingly-terrifying implications of the way she'd said it.
So, as he was wont to do, Aldric played it off, and let out a long, exasperated sigh. "Lady, I just got here. Haven't unpacked my shit, haven't charged my phone, I haven't even had the chance to take a dip in the pool or see the sights - and now you want me to leave?" He placed his hand over his hammering heart, practically feeling it bulging against his chest as he did so. "I'd almost think you wanted me gone!" He chuckled.
Salem adopted a nonchalant expression, merely tilting her head to the side and closing her eyes, "not so much, no." She said, "just that doing such a thing would serve a dual purpose." A beat, "fulfilling Cinder's desires - and subsequently turning her focus entirely to our crusade - and ensuring Ozpin's group remains off balance, perhaps indefinitely."
"And killing a known silver-eyed warrior?"
"That goes without saying." She allowed a small smile to curl her lips, though her face as ever remained completely smooth.
Aldric rolled his eyes, planting his hands in his pockets and turning out to view the castle's wastelandish surroundings. "I don't know what you're expecting of me, Boss, but I genuinely don't think I can do it." He said, "strong as I may be... I don't think I've won a single fight since I've been here." Did the non-lethal fights against the various Beacon students count? Yang, Cardin, the folks in the tournament, those were technically fights, and he technically won them, but considering that no one was really trying to kill each other, did they count for his purposes? He decided to elaborate, "got crippled when we fought against the last Fall Maiden, nearly died when I fought my father, nearly died again when I fought Cinder... And all of those were one-on-one. Bare minimum I go into this and I'd be fighting Ruby Rose and her team - that's four huntresses whose sole goal would be to kill me. Likely, however, I'd also be fighting her uncle - a veteran Huntsman - and if they're still home recovering, I'd be fighting her father - another veteran and a teacher at that." He said, "bringing the likely total up to six against little old me...
"And then if you want to go less likely, friends from Beacon could absolutely be bunking with them. If we call that my old squad and team JNPR, that's an extra seven, bringing the total up to thirteen." Aldric shook his head, "I love the mess out of Cinder, but I'm not suicidal. I may be stronger than any of them individually, but quantity is a quality of its own, and I've proven time and time again that my two years experience means nothing compared to their lifetimes of training. Half of that number could kick my ass six ways from Sunday."
Salem was unmoved. "What would you need to do so?" She asked, not denying his assessment, but also clearly not letting him out of this.
Aldric rolled his eyes, "best solution would be the easiest one, Boss - to not fight them. But that would require me to sneak in and abduct her, convince them to give her to me, or somehow incapacitate every one of them in one fell swoop." He said, "the first is damn near impossible because - you know, they're super people. The second just won't fucking happen, and while the third sounds the most plausible... I don't have access to the things I'd need to make it so, and the only other option - a huge fucking bomb - would kill them all. Kinda counter productive to the whole 'bring her back alive' thing." He said.
Salem, however, merely smiled. "Is that all?" She asked.
Aldric arced an eyebrow and turned to her, noticing that she was turning towards the stone table behind them. Aldric followed her, and watched with fascination as the table grew darker and darker with each passing second, until it appeared a mass of shadow - even the Relic lost its light. Soon after, the table melted down into the ground, rested a moment, and then ballooned outwards again, before the light and the color began to return - revealing what now looked almost like a great bowl. Frowning, but curious, Aldric approached the bowl, standing next to the Grimm Lady, who peered down into it. The two watched as the same oily tar that filled puddles and lakes around the castle spontaneously began to fill the bowl, until it reached its rim and stopped, deathly still.
"Something that few humans have realized, and fewer still have tried, is the tactical opportunities Grimm could afford them, if weaponized." Salem began. "Though many attempts to do so merely equate to attracting a horde of them and unleashing them upon their enemies, largely due to their simple lack of any true ability to control them." She said, as she peered deep into the still black oil that filled the bowl.
"Many?" Aldric parroted back. "As in some bastards are crazy enough to try something else?"
Salem nodded, but didn't elaborate, instead saying, "but none have the... Unique opportunities I do." She said, before turning to him. "As do those I deign to trust."
Aldric frowned, but remained silent as a tiny creature - almost the size of a bee, but appearing like a miniature armadillo lizard, and with the distinctive oily sheen and bleach-white carapace of a Grimm - crawled out of the oil, and then up to Salem's hand, waiting at the rim of the bowl. She held it gently, while from out of thin air she produced a vial, and held it to the tiny thing. The Grimm obediently crawled into the vial, which then sealed itself, as though it were being sewn shut.
The Lady of the Grimm handed the vial with the insect to Aldric, who hesitantly took and examined it.
He cracked a grin, "aww, he's so cute!" He chuckled, "looks like a dragon!" He tickled at the glass, "hello, little Grimm Dragon!" He said, as though speaking to an infant. "I'mma call you Paarthurnax! Hello Paarthurnax!"
Salem watched him, expression neutral, for a few moments, before she spoke. "Cinder possesses something similar." She said, "for as long as you hold that... You will find the Creatures of Grimm to be much more amiable to your desires."
Dropping the act, Aldric frowned, examining it a bit more seriously, finding two bright red eyes looking back at him. "Am I to understand that this is the Grimm facsimile of a queen bee?" A beat, "or any queen bug, really." He shrugged, and lowered his hand, forcing the uneasy feeling in his gut as far down as he could.
To which, Salem nodded. "I prefer to think of it as a smaller version of the Wyvern, now entombed in front of Beacon."
Aldric nodded to the side, "that works too." He said.
"While Grimm may not truly work upon a hive mind, I learned a very long time ago how to simulate something very similar, in a limited zone of influence, its size dependent upon the strength of the Grimm in question." She explained, "some, like the Wyvern, are independent on their own. Others, like that - " She nodded to the vial Aldric was halfway through shrinking down and putting in his belt alongside his other nuclear options, "- are not... But they each achieve the same effect: They can control local Grimm, even making them more intelligent. Among other things, this allows them..." She paused, "to utilize tactics. Strategy. To take orders."
Aldric nodded, his lips parting. "Ah." He understood now - this was how the Grimm didn't attack Cinder, and how she was able to make them obey her. Salem, considering her appearance, probably was able to do something innately, and had designed the Wyvern to be able to do all that, and be able to act on its own as well. He wouldn't be surprised if there was some sort of connection between the two, but he digressed. "So little Paarthurnax here will let me go full Shadow of Mordor and raise my own army of Grimm?"
Salem paused a moment, regarding Aldric. "It could... But for your purposes, you may find something else more useful." She said, turning back to the bowl, as something else was emerging from it. "Many of the Grimm you have encountered thus far have been... Simple creatures." She said, "they seek out negative emotions, attack, kill, and repeat. But you've seen only the barest fraction of what else exists... And here, I feel one in particular may be of use to you."
Oh Christ, I'm getting my own pet Grimm. Aldric thought, watching as a tall, lanky, humanoid Grimm began to emerge from the bowl. No, wait, Paarthurnax - two of them! Did he have to feed that tiny thing? Or would it be absolutely fine encased in the small vial, like a ship in a bottle? Was this a permanent arrangement, or would it only last until he came back with Ruby? How long would this thing even live?
After a few more moments, the new Grimm fully emerged from the pool. It stood a full head and shoulders taller than Aldric and Salem, well over six feet. Its body appeared remarkably human, though it was thinner at the limbs and its arms hung almost all the way down to its feet. Its torso was encircled by dark, exoskeletal ribs, and its head was encapsulated by an outer skull. Its eyes and its loosely hanging jaw both glowed a dull red, and it simply stared ahead, numbly waiting for some sort of stimuli.
It weirded him out.
"How do you do that?" Aldric blurted out, a shiver going down his spine.
Salem's smile was as lifeless as it ever was, "Aldric... I would think you wise enough to know that I can recreate any Grimm that walks this Earth." She responded.
Aldric shrugged, "Okay, then what is this?" He asked.
"I have grown fond of what the humans have as late called them..." Said Salem. "Its name is rather appropriate for what it does... It is known as an Apathy, and it does just that: Mere presence alone can sap the will of those who are near it. The more of them there are, the more pronounced the effects become... But more than that, they can drain the willpower of anyone it chooses with its wails... Even those of the strongest willpower will inevitably find themselves lacking even the drive to breathe around them." She explained.
Oh, so it's a ReDead. Aldric thought, ideas for how he could make this work already circulating through his head. "Well... Shit, I can make this work." He said, "do I need a lot of them, or would just Big Nasty here work?"
Salem thought a moment, "it might take some days of exposure, with a lone agent, but it alone would work." She explained, "and if not... Well, they are pack animals by nature. Its presence alone will inevitably attract any others, should they be in the area."
Considering I've never heard of these things in the last nine months, I think that won't be an issue. Aldric thought, nodding. "Alright... When do I go?"
At this, Salem turned over towards him, glaring down at him expectantly.
Aldric met her glare with one of his.
The two stared each other down.
"Really?" He asked.
Silence.
Aldric sighed, then nodded. "Alright... I guess I can figure out how to turn on the auto-pilot on the Pelican." He said, "how do I get back here?"
Salem's glare returned to a neutral expression, "your new friend..." She nodded to the pocket Aldric had stored Paarthurnax in. "Will show you the way. Listen to it."
I'm thinking of a number between one and I'm going to kill that thing the first chance I get. Aldric thought, nodding. "Alright..." He said, with a long sigh, before he turned to the Apathy, regarding it a moment. "Hey, Slender Man, follow me." He said, "we've got work to do."
And as he left eyesight of Salem, he allowed one thought to slip through the cracks:
How the fuck am I going to pull this one off?
For the Record
Okay: I figured out how to turn the Pelican on and activate its auto-pilot, I'm a few thousand miles away from the castle, I stuffed Slender Man into a god damn box (Seriously: He can squeeze himself down remarkably small.), and I locked Paarthurnax in a Faraday Cage.
Now you may be thinking: Aldric, what the fuck are you talking about?
To which I say: I think Salem can read surface-level-thoughts, like Ozpin.
My proof: She asked me to kill Ruby.
Or, well, she asked me to go get her, so Cinder could catch her.
But she didn't just ask me to kill Ruby.
She said - I FUCKING QUOTE - 'Would you kindly' kill Ruby.
For those of you that don't get it (Which may be a lot of you): That's a goddamn quote from Bioshock. It was some kind of... Neural programming shit that let folks force others to do their bidding - but that doesn't matter. The point is she pulled a quote from something that only one person in that castle should know about.
So, in short: I'm fucking terrified.
Now, the good news is that I know Ozpin (and, I can assume, her) can only read surface-level thoughts without my knowing. So: As long as I literally do not think about Green Hornet in her presence, I should be fine.
I guess I finally get to put my money where my mouth is, back when I made all that talk about how I could shield myself from Rayne, eh?
I lined Revan's mask with some tinfoil (and then covered that in a shirt I tore apart), so hopefully that'll be good enough for the time being. I won't even have to worry about my head overheating, thanks to my semblance!
Portable air conditioner. One of the unspoken benefits about telekinesis.
Moving on: She gave me a tiny little dragon that effectively immunizes me to Grimm attacks, and lets me control them like she and Cinder can, to boot.
And to make Operation: Big Bad Wolf go smoothly, she gave me a demonic Slender Man-looking Grimm that is basically a ReDead, except instead of just freezing people when it screams, it drains their will.
So, the plan is simple: I drop Slender Man next to Ruby and Co, have him follow them for a few however-long until they're so apathetic that they don't want to wake up, I nab Ruby, kill him, GTFO, bring her to Salem's castle, and Cinder kills her.
Simple!
...
Huh? What's that? I'm killing Ruby Rose?
Yeah. That's the tough part, here.
I have time to operate, obviously - I can just say I needed to find the opportune moment. And I can also spend some time hunting down my shit from Beacon and recovering the Aviator, bringing it all back to the castle alongside her.
But past that, I obviously don't want to kill Ruby. She's kind of essential to Plan C.
And I guess B, too, but I digress.
So I need a plan.
Problem: If I come up with said plan, there's no way I can hide it from Salem, unless I do what I did with Ozpin, and just wipe my mind with the Neuralyzer.
In short: I don't just need to do a Batman Gambit right now. I need to pull a Light god damn Yagami and orchestrate this whole entire convoluted mess of a keikaku (which means plan) that can be executed independent of me being aware of it.
And... I'm not sure I can do it.
I'm not kidding - seriously. Think about it!
If I want Ruby to survive this, I have to somehow:
Convincingly fake her own death under the nose of Cinder and Salem,
Hide her from them until such a time as I can move her,
Get her out of the castle without anybody noticing,
Get her out of Salem's Domain without being caught by any Grimm,
Then somehow find out how to remove her from play entirely such that she doesn't reveal herself to the Legion of Doom before it's time for the big Avenger's Assemble moment.
And do ALL OF THIS without me even being aware that I'm doing it in the first place.
I don't think Light Yagami with Batman resources could pull this off!
Fuck, Revolver Ocelot couldn't pull this off!
Let's assume I somehow figure out how to set this all up to not only work independently of me, but also in such a way that any wrinkles or variables, the plan can adapt itself and still work, and let's solely look at ways I can do it.
Cloak of Invisibility: Even though I'm pretty sure its magic would be able to hide her, if Salem or any of the Grimm have other means of sight (Say, echolocation? Sensing heat? Or... I dunno... SENSING THE UNBRIDLED FEAR AND TERROR OF BEING ALONE, SURROUNDED BY PEOPLE AND GRIMM WHO WANT YOU DEAD?!), it also still has a physical presence in this world, so someone perceptive enough would see the grass flatten under her feet, notice her feet go visible from a gust of wind or moving too fast, or... It just wouldn't be enough.
Stealth Camo: See above, but doesn't have the COI's magical properties, making it even more tenuous.
Teleportation: It would get her out of there sure, but I don't know how to do it, and it may be noticed by the other two who do/know magic.
Star Trek Transporter (Or any sort of sci-fi teleporter, really): Would be seen instantly. Sci-fi likes its flashy teleporters, after all.
Fake Death Pill: Fake death pill. And if Cinder goes full-Kratos and mutilates Ruby, it won't work.
Senzu Bean: I doubt it can revive people from the dead.
Zelda Fairy: Exactly how would I hide this? And they work immediately, not on a delay.
Vita Chamber: This has potential, since you basically spawn out of it, so I could set it up outside of Salem's domain and leave Ruby instructions, but I don't know how to work it.
Cloning Ruby and letting Cinder kill the clone: Also has potential, but this leaves normal Ruby to run around and fuck everything up.
Literally any of the thousands of SCP's that could solve the problem: Fuck. That. I wouldn't trust a single god damn one of them, even the 'nice' ones. There's a reason even in context they try not to use them.
Warhammer tech: No with extreme prejudice. While I bet there's some kind of miracle machine on an STC I could use, and/or there's even some kind of Imperium-age something-or-another that could do the job, no, no, no, a thousand times no. I honest-to-god barely even trust my fucking bolter.
Literally making the Time Stone, and undoing her death after the fact: 'You could create spacial paradoxes - TIME LOOPS! You want to get stuck reliving the same moment over and over forever or never having existed at all?'
Literally making the Reality stone and just faking the whole thing: I get the strangest feeling Salem would realize something's up when I walk in with an object of infinite power in my pocket.
Any Infinity Stone ever: See the above, but also add that I really don't want to know what happens when I add any one of those things to this universe, let alone all of them. Also I had a heart attack when I tried a Kamehameha, what do you think would happen if I pulled this out of my ass?
Venom Aldric: I don't know how to contact him, and I doubt he'd be able to do anything more than I would.
Earth: While I actually do genuinely think the Navy SEALS, or maybe the Russian Spetsnaz could pull an extraction like that off, Grimm and all, that still leaves how I'd fake Ruby's death.
Nuking the living shit out of Salem's castle: I could theoretically just have Earth carpet-nuke Salem's castle and use my powers to shield me and Ruby, but that opens a can of worms that I couldn't close again. And again: I died when I tried a Kamehameha. I'm reasonably confident I'd die if I tried protecting against the equivalent.
Clearly, I can go on, but the point is: I don't know a single way I could pull this off.
I've already set things up so they remain coherent after I wipe my mind - I know the exact time and date of the minute before I started writing this, and I stared at the neuralyzer for a solid sixty seconds before I moved on.
So right now, I'm in Batman Gambit territory - everything I'm writing here, everything I work on, everything I consider, I won't remember it. Because when I'm done, I will sit back in the cockpit of the Pelican, take off, get in the exact position I'm in now, zap all of these memories from my mind, land, and then go with the actions I can afford to let be seen - that being looting GEMS' dorm and grabbing the Aviator.
Between then and now, I'll have several days to figure something out... But I need to consider the fact that I'll have to go all the way with this Ozymandias thing I've got going on. He killed the Comedian to make sure his plan went off... I may have to kill Ruby.
It tears me the fuck up inside, and I desperately don't want to! But... Let's distance myself from this situation - let's take the 'me' out of it. Look at things objectively.
Why do I not want to kill Ruby Rose?
There's obviously the whole 'killing is wrong' thing, and while I still believe that, and will still avoid it if I can, I've obviously already decided where I stand on killing people to serve my goal: If it's necessary, I'll do it. Period.
So why else?
Well, I know her, right?
But then we realize: I now know I killed my father, and I've already concluded that if I went back and had to do it again, knowing who he was, I would do it again. I'd feel terrible about it, but I'd do it.
So even personal attachment isn't the issue here.
So what is?
Well, it's obvious:
I know her. That is, I knew her before I came to Remnant. She's from the show. She is arguably the reason I'm still alive at the moment.
In other words: I'm biased towards her... And everyone from the show, really.
And that's wrong. It's stupid, idiotic, wrong.
Risking this whole operation - everything I've done - just because of some idiotic abstract attachment to someone would be tantamount to declaring all of the other people I've killed less important because I didn't know about them before I came to Remnant. It flies in the face of everything I've done so far, and it directly conflicts with my reasoning for everything I've done: I will do the bad things so no one else will. I have to plunge my hand into the filth such that others' remain clean.
If we take me, and we take the show out of the equation, there is only one thing that makes Ruby Rose unique above everyone else I've killed: Her eyes.
And while rare, they are absolutely not exclusive to her. Her mother is proof that others existed, and still exist. If I need them, I can find someone else, and that means that her life is worth no more, and no less, than the other ones I've ended, and have allowed to end.
Backing out now, over one life, when I've already ended god knows how many, it wouldn't just be hypocritical of me, but it would be irresponsible, and would invalidate all of their sacrifices, intentional or otherwise. All for some abstract attachment to something that holds no weight or influence over anything anymore.
Through coincidence and design, I've set things up such that the only reasonable course of action is seeing this plan through. I made this bed, and now I have to lay in it: I have to face the fact that I'll probably have to kill someone I grew close to in Beacon... And I've already made this decision, countless times in the past.
I will do bad things for good reasons. Just like how I said I would kill my father again if I had to, I will kill Ruby Rose if I have to. (Or, I guess, to be more accurate, allow her to die.)
I don't want to - just like I didn't want to do any of the things I've done before.
But the simple fact is that it's very likely it's either this, or abandoning everything I've worked for. If you want to be dramatic, you could call this my destiny even - and one could even say I ignored that once. I let things play out without me, and catastrophe happened - Venom Snake is living proof of it.
I can't do that again, not even for the people I care about.
So if I can't find any other option, if I can't find any way to avoid it, I will do it, and face the consequences when this is all over. I can't afford not to. This all is too important - ending Salem's threat is just too important to jeopardize over one life. Let those who would judge me do so from the peace and safety of a world or worlds looking back on me and my decisions as historical events. If there's no other option, I have to, so I will.
I will kill Ruby Rose.