Chapter Text
RWBY Watches Classic Movies
Chapter 24
"How's it going with the plans there, sis?" Yang asked, looking at Ruby's sketches.
"Well, it's not perfect yet, but I think I found a possible method of having your prosthetic arm turn into a miniaturized plasma cannon." She said, rubbing her chin in thought.
"Why bother?" Yang said, deploying her wrist gun, "It's already a gun."
"Yeah, but wouldn't you rather have the option of something with a little more ompf?"
"Nah, the plasma cannon seems like a mid-range weapon, and Ember Celica already has that option depending on what ammo I'm using. The wrist blades, though, that's something I'd be interested in. Nice little 'surprise, bitch' kind of thing."
“We're gonna harvest the skin, the talons, and the wing." Roman told his crew as they prepared to head out. "Atlas bigshots'll go nuts for that stuff. Let me see that map!" Neo walked up and held out a map. Roman pointed to a business sector in the city. "Here's where the Kaiju fell. Here's where we concentrate our efforts."
“You got it boss." Junior said, motioning for the Malachites to follow him.
“Hey!" Came a voice from the secret entrance. Oobleck stood in the storefront, shaken and soaking wet. "Alright, guess who's back, you one-eyed bitch! And you owe me a kaiju brain."
Roman smiled at the brass the kid had grown in just under an hour as he regarded the shaking scientist.
At the Shatterdome, Jaune and Ruby, still in their armor, were greeted by thunderous applause from all the workers. They shook hands and gave quick hugs until Tai walked up through the crowd. He was in his civilian clothes, with his injured arm in a sling. He shook Jaune's hand and looked back at an ashamed-looking Yang.
“My kid'll never admit it," he said quietly, "But she's grateful. We both are."
Jaune looked to Yang, who gave an acknowledging nod that said 'good job' and 'I'm sorry' at the same time.
"You're not out of the dog house yet, asshole." Yang said.
“Mr. Arc! Ms. Rose!" Ironwood said as he stepped off an elevator and made his way over to them, the crowd parting before him. "In all my years fighting, I have never seen anything, quite like that. Well done." His smile was faint, but it was enough to split Ruby's face in a glowing smile. "I'm proud of you. I'm proud of us all." He changed into speech-making mode.
"But, as harsh as it sounds, there is no time to celebrate. We lost two crews. No time to grieve. Reset that clock!" he ordered, only to receive quiet mutterings from those nearby. He looked to Ruby, who was putting a hand under her nose. He checked his own to see blood on his finger. He took out a handkerchief and used it to stop the bleeding. "Reset the clock!" he repeated before storming off.
Jaune looked to Ruby for answers, but he knew she would give none. She knew, of course, but it wasn't her place to tell him. Nodding, Jaune decided to just get answers from the source.
"Well this is ominous." Blake said.
Out in the city, Roman stood amongst the ruins of what remained of Otachi, the other half having landed somewhere in the ocean, Oobleck waiting impatiently at his side. His workers grinded away at the corpse diligently, thankful their boss cared enough to ensure his workers had the proper safety equipment. Roman Torchwick was many things; thief, a menace to society, and a war profiteer, but let it never be said he didn't have a soul. Even in his days as a dust thief, he had always assured his crimes were of a more genteel nature; nobody was to be harmed, if at all possible, and nothing was to be taken beyond the goal of as much dust as possible.
This kid, however, was testing even his rather extensive patience.
“I still can't believe what you did to me." He complained, trying to make conversation, "I mean, I could have been eaten."
“Well, that was certainly part of the plan." Roman said dryly. Okay, maybe he had a little bit less soul than most, but hey, if you were gonna survive the criminal underworld, you had to sacrifice a few things. "Lucky for you, that didn't become necessary, huh?"
“Okay, yeah. Thank you so much, you're so kind." Oobleck shot back, "Now can you please tell me what is taking your workers so long to get that brain?"
“Well, they have to pump the cavity full of CO2, just like any other laparoscopic surgery."
"Lapra-what?" Yang asked.
"Laparoscopic, Yang." Summer corrected her, "It's a kind of minimally-invasive abdominal surgery utilizing small incisions instead of one large cut."
“Yes, of course, obviously. The CO2's going to delay the acidic reaction- "
“And," Torchwick interrupted, "It allows us to harvest. But our boys need oxygen pumped into their suits. Means they have to move slowly." He pulled out a hand-held radio and spoke into it. "Hey Junior, mind giving us a sitrep?"
“We've reached the upper pelvic area" Junior replied with a grunt as he pushed some muscle aside and moved into a large pocket within the body, followed by the Malachites. They all wore hazmat suits with O2 being pumped directly in. "We'removing to the 25th vertebra. Whoo! Boss, be glad you ain't in here. Even through the suit, it smells like dead catfish in here." He shined his light around and found his target. "Boss, the secondary brain…" he looked at the massive organ, which was dripping with fluorescent blue blood, "It's damaged. Total loss."
Oobleck cursed at this. "Son of a bitch! How could they screw that up?!"
“Wait. Wait." Junior said, catching Oobleck's attention.
“Did he say 'wait'? Why wait?" he ran over and took the radio from Torchwick's hands, who immediately grabbed it back. Seeing her boss's irritation, Neo readied to draw her concealed blade.
“Do you hear that?" Junior said as the fleshy cavern shook with a thump, "It's like a heartbeat."
"There is no way that thing is still alive." Weiss said.
"Oh no. Oh no, no, no…" Jaune said, putting the pieces together and really not liking the conclusion.
Roman didn't really hear anything, but Oobleck did. He took the radio from Roman again. "Oh my god. Oh my god! Listen to this." Roman tried to grab it back, but Oobleck blocked him, focusing on the radio. "No, no, no, just listen. Just listen. Do you hear this?" The thumping continued within the cavern. Outside, Oobleck realized what he was hearing and loosened his grip on the radio, allowing Roman to snatch it back.
“It's pregnant." He said.
"What?" the crowd said in disbelief.
Suddenly, screaming could be heard over the radio, and moments later, a miniature Otachi- well, miniature for a Kaiju- burst from the cut where Junior had gone in. The nearby workers scattered in panic, causing a general panic to spread to the entire work area as the baby Kaiju chased them down.
Oobleck fell behind in the stampede and was left alone as the infant caught up to him. He fell forwards and crawled to get away from the monster. The monster reared up to attack him, and he curled up into the fetal position, only for it to collapse in front of him, stone dead.
Looking back, he saw its dead eyes and was shocked to see that Jaune was right. He never wanted to see another Kaiju up close again, at least not one that was alive anyway.
“I knew it." Roman said, walking up from behind, startling the doctor, "Gone. His lungs weren't fully formed. Umbilical cord tied around his neck, no way he could survive outside the womb for more than a few minutes. One look! That's all I needed. I knew he wouldn't make it." He pulled out a butterfly knife, spun out the blade and threw it at the beast, hitting it in the flesh between its nostrils. "Ugly little bastard." He retrieved his knife and wiped the blade with a piece of cloth,
"Anyway, I would have-" Suddenly, the infant's head reached out and grabbed Roman in its jaws, tossing him a bit before swallowing him whole. It let out a final roar and finally fell over. This time, it didn't get back up.
Nearby, he saw Roman's hat sitting on the ground. He walked over and picked it up, too stunned for words. He considered putting it on in memory of the man, but Neo quickly walked up and took it from him, holding it close to her chest as tears welled in her eyes.
"Well, that's one way to go out." Torchwick commented.
"Wait, you're okay with seeing yourself die in front of you?" Emerald asked, surprised.
"Spearmint, there's an old saying; 'we were born in order to die.' If that's true, why worry about how you'll die? I preferred to live my life the way I wanted, at least I did until a certain someone put me on a leash and got me locked in an Atlas brig." He glared at Cinder who was completely unapologetic.
Back at the base, Ironwood coughed as he splashed some water on his face, not hearing Jaune come in.
“So, how sick are you?" The blonde pilot asked, leaning against a wall, arms crossed over his chest, "And why didn't you tell me?"
Ironwood sighed, knowing he couldn't order his way out of this one.
"What's to tell?" he grabbed a towel and began drying his hands. "You know, those Mark 1's, we scraped those bad boys together in 14 months. Last thing we were thinking about was radiation shielding. I ran nearly a dozen missions with Qrow, Ruby's father. He and Summer, his wife, helped me stay under the medical radar for a while, but the last time I jockeyed was Shion. I finished the fight solo, but for three hours, I burned. They warned me if I ever stepped foot in a Jaeger again the toll would be too much." He looked at Jaune with complete honesty. "You and I are the only ones that ever ran solo combat. That's why I brought you here."
"Huh, that actually explains a lot." Yang commented. In this universe, she and Ruby were only cousins, not sisters. Qrow and Summer had passed, making Ruby an orphan, and Ironwood adopted her, probably her godfather in the first place. She also gained an amount of respect for this Ironwood. Knowing he was a former pilot, and thus had seen some of the same sh*t her alternate had, made it clear why he was in charge of the Jaeger program. She had assumed he was more like the Ironwood she knew very little about and had something of a grudge against for not believing her back at the Vytal Festival.
'I think Qrow's broken.' Tai thought, looking at the dumb grin his old partner had.
A bell tolling informed Ironwood of an incoming call on his vidscreen. He turned it on to see Nora in the control room.
“What is it?"
“Sir, it's happening." Nora said, worry evident in her voice, "I just got two signatures with unprecedented dilation, 40-meter spikes."
“What Category?"
“Checking the ratios, but Category 4 seems like a safe bet."
“Where are they headed?"
“That's the thing. They're not headed anywhere. They're hovering just over the Breach. It's like they're protecting it or something."
"Hmm." Jaune said, pondering the information.
"Your analysis, Mr. Arc?" Ozcar asked.
"Not good. Assuming they are on defense, that means they know our plan."
"How could they have found out?" Weiss said, before the pieces clicked in her head, "Unless-"
"Yup, they got it from Oobleck. Roman said that the Drift is a two-way connection, so they probably gleaned the information from him when he Drifted with the brain fragment."
"So then, can we assume that these two Kaiju possess as many advantages as possible to defend the Breach?" Winter asked.
"Absolutely, but those advantages are limited. Underwater fighting changes things. The only real advantage I can come with is a fishlike form to maximize speed and maneuverability. Acid spit is out since there'd be too much resistance underwater, and I can't see an EMP working in that environment." Jaune continued to list off more advantages, with Winter listening intently. His attitude towards authority was a problem, likely a result of prolonged exposure to Qrow, but his tactical abilities were too impressive for her to ignore.
“Alright. Mors, Celica, on-deck."
“Sir, Tai can't ride. His arm…"
“You heard me."
"Is he gonna do what I think he is?" Blake said, eyes narrowing.
"I think so…" Jaune said.
"What? Tell us!" Nora said.
"Spoilers." Jaune said, flicking her in the forehead.
Out at the Kaiju impact site, the black-market crew had finished their work and the Atlesian government was taking over, cordoning off the area with police lines and barricades. The only civilians allowed in were Watts and Oobleck, the latter of whom was setting up his make-shift Drift rig, while the former was talking with Nora in the control room.
“Two signatures?" he said, confused, "Two? There's only two? Not three, like I predicted?!"
“Arthur, I haven't exactly had a very good day, okay?!" Oobleck said as he thrust a probe into the skull of the dead Kaiju infant.
"That's putting it mildly." Yang deadpanned.
“I got about five minutes before brain death occurs-"
“Should be three…" Watts said to himself, mentally going over his math.
“-And I don't wanna spend it talking about your theories!" he leapt down from the corpse and began typing rapidly on the key board.
“This is all wrong!" Watts said, ignoring his colleagues' words. "There should be three Kaijus coming through the breach, not two!"
“There should be three and there's two? I'm sorry, it hurts to be wrong, doesn't it, Arthur?"
“I am not wrong, but there is something here that we don't understand."
“Okay. Arthur, hopefully we can argue about any mistakes in your predictive model in the future. But in the meantime, the neural interface is way off the charts! If you want to help, help with that!"
“Bartholomew, I am not wrong." Watts insisted as Oobleck put on the neural interface rig and activated it. "There is only one way to make sure, and that is to do this… "he typed a code sequence into the computer, "together." Oobleck looked at him dumbfounded. "That's what the Jaeger pilots do, isn't it? Share the neural load?"
"Thank you, finally some character development for this guy." Blake sighed.
"Kinda forced, don't you think?" Ilia said.
"Still better than nothing."
“You're serious?" Oobleck was still somewhat shocked. This was the guy who had fought against him and mocked him from Day 1. And now he was willing to help him? It really must be the End of Days. "You- you would do that for me? Or, with me, I guess?"
“Well, with world-wide destruction a certain alternative, do I really have a choice?"
Oobleck grinned, holding his hand up for a fist bump. “Then say it with me, my man; 'We're gonna own this bad boy!'"
“By Jove, we are going to own this thing for sure!" Watts said as he awkwardly tried to figure out what Oobleck wanted him to do with his fist.
'Who is this man and what did he do with the real Watts?' Salem thought to herself as she looked over the menu. Somehow, she felt hunger and thirst creeping up on her.
Back at the Dome, everyone in the hanger was scrambling to get last minute deployment preparations done, except for Yang.
“Hey, Nora! Nora!" she yelled, walking up to the ginger-in-chief of the base.
Nora turned to face her. "You're not suited up." She said, focusing on her tablet.
“Yeah, I'm aware of that, lover girl. I need to know what's going on."
“The General said suit up. So, suit up."
“Nora, I can't pilot Celica on my own. Dad's hurt, so who's going to be my co-pilot?" she asked as Nora walked over to Jaune and Ruby, who were already geared up and ready to go.
As if in answer to her question, the hanger's main doors opened up and in walked General Ironwood, decked out in full combat armor, Taiyang at his side. They walked up to the foursome and Ironwood winced, adjusting the gear at his waist.
"That is an… interesting look for James." Glynda said, trying to make it sound like a compliment.
“I don't remember it being so tight." He said.
“There's a fat joke there, but that's beneath me." Tai said, lightening the mood.
"Not beneath me! Looks like someone needs to lay off the Twinkies, eh, Ice Queen?" Qrow jeered.
"You're just digging a deeper hole, Branwen."
Ruby quickly took Ironwood's arm and pulled him away from the group. Anger and worry warred for dominance on her face.
"Getting in that Jaeger will kill you." She said, tears welling up.
“Not getting into one would kill us all." She replied. "Listen, you are a brave girl. I'm so lucky to have seen you grow. But, if I'm going to do this, I need you to protect me." The tears finally broke through, and Ruby sniffled a little. "Can you do that?"
Ruby wiped the tears away. "Yes, sir."
“Good." He hugged her and climbed up onto the foot of a Jaeger. "Everyone, listen up! Today… today… at the edge or our hope, at the end of our time, we have chosen not only to believe in ourselves, but in each other! Today, there's not a man or woman in here who stands alone. Not today. Today we face the monsters that are at our door, and take the fight to them. Today, we are CANCELLING THE APOCALYPSE!" The room erupted in cheers and applause at his speech.
"Very well spoken." Ozcar said.
"Indeed." Glynda agreed.
“Hey General!" Yang said as she caught up to Ironwood in the halls. "You know, that was a great speech and all, but, uh, how exactly are you and I supposed to match up in there?"
“I carry nothing into the Drift. No memories, no fear, no rank. And as for you?" He turned to face her, "Well, you're easy. You're an egotistical jerk with mommy issues. A simple puzzle I solved on Day One." Tai walked up behind them with Zwei, who barked at them. "But you are your father's daughter. So, we'll Drift just fine."
"Wow, I have never felt insulted and complimented at the same time…" Yang muttered.
"It's not inaccurate, though." Ruby said.
"Don't worry," Blake reassured her, "You've gotten much better."
Somehow, Yang could sense the finality of his words and she knew that she probably wasn't coming back from this.
"Works for me." She said, shaking the General's hand before turning to her father.
“Hey, kid." Tai said, tearing up. "When you drift with someone, you feel like there's nothing to talk about. I just don't want to regret all the things I didn't say."
“Don't." Yang told him, holding back tears as well. "You don't need to. I've always known." Zwei barked, grabbing her attention. She knelt down and smiled at the corgi, scratching him behind his ears. "Hey, handsome." Zwei groaned in satisfaction. "Oh, I'm gonna miss you." She stood back up and told her father, "Look after him for me."
“James!" Tai said as she walked off. "That's my daughter you have there. My daughter."
Yang stood up and walked over to her father and gave him a crushing hug which he returned in kind. "I love you, Dad."
"I love you too, kid."
Jaune and Ruby were busy prepping for the Drift in Crocea Mors.
“You know, Ruby," Jaune said, "All those years I spent living in the past… I never really thought about the future." Ruby looked up at him. "Till now. I never did have good timing." He said with a chuckle, making her smile.
Two flights of Bullheads carried the two Jaegers out over the Great Ocean, with Ember Celica now fitted with its nuclear payload on its back.
Back at the Kaiju corpse, Oobleck and Watts were hooked up to the make-shift Drift machine.
“You ready?" Oobleck asked, grabbing the controls.
“Of course." Watts said nervously.
“Initiating neural handshake in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1!" he pressed the button and groaned as he felt the Drift wash over him again.
It was much the same as it was before, but this time he felt Watts' memories mingling with his own, as well as those of the infant Kaiju. When it finally ended, both men were shaking, though Oobleck was taking it far better than Watts, who had a substantial nosebleed, and had gone as pale as Weiss.
“Are you okay?" Oobleck said, disengaging his neural rig.
“Yes, of course." Watts said, quickly disengaging his own rig, "Completely fine." He then quickly ran to the nearest trash can, where he violently deposited everything he had eaten that day.
Cinder smiled at Watts' humiliation. It was so satisfying to see one of the people she loathed most in such a state, especially after what he had put her through during her recovery.
Oobleck saw this and rubbed his back.
"The Drift." Watts whispered, turning to his colleague, "You saw it? Did you?"
“Yeah. Listen, we have to warn them. The Jaegers- the Breach- the plan!"
“It's not going to work!"
"sh*tsh*tsh*t!" Jaune muttered to himself. Could this be related to how all previous attempts at the Breach had failed?
"Well, that's just perfect!" said Nora.
Back over the ocean, the Bullheads disengaged their cargo of giant robots. They fell into the ocean up to their waists. They closed all access ports and began to walk until they were completely submerged.
In the control room, Tai took over Ironwood's place behind Nora.
“Both neural handshakes strong, boss." Nora reported.
Tai nodded affirmative, and spoke into a mic, "Two signatures still in circle formation, Codenames Scutter and Raiju. Both Category 4."
“Roger that." Ironwood spoke. "Keep it up. It's half a mile to the ocean cliff, three thousand meters to the Breach."
“Half a mile?" Yang asked, "I can't even see an inch down here. How are we supposed to deliver the bomb?"
“Visibility's zero." Jaune observed, "Switching to instruments."
They were going to have to rely on the computer rather than their eyes. A Kaiju swam past them, unseen by them, but not by the computer.
Nora pointed it out to Tai, who relayed the info.
“Mors, we got movement on your right. I repeat, three o clock. Three o clock!"
Jaune checked his right, but Penny chimed in.
“One-hundred-meter radius clear."
“Right flank's clear, I got nothing." Jaune told them.
“Left now and moving fast!" Nora reported "Fastest Kaiju on record!"
Jaune shook his head. "I don't see anything, it's moving too fast."
"Looks like you were correct, Mr. Arc." Ozcar said, expecting it.
“Eyes on the prize, Mors." Yang told them. "Six hundred meters from the drop."
A chopper landed at the dome, releasing Watts and Oobleck, who bolted for the control room.
The Jaegers reached the shelf and jumped down, the breach in sight.
“400 meters and closing!" Yang reported. She was right to sound optimistic; it looked like they might actually pull this off and come back alive after all!
"Man, either they're really moving or there are a lot of small time skips going on." Nora said.
“Bogeys are stopping." Nora reported, bringing up a general overhead picture of the battlefield. The two Kaiju were on the other side of the Breach from Celica and Mors, holding their ground.
Jaune frowned at this. Even to a novice like him this whole thing was starting to reek something fierce. They have the advantage, they have the initiative, they should use it while it was still there to be had. So why would they just stop moving like that?
“Celica, bogeys are stopping. One o clock!" Tai relayed. At the info, Celica and Mors stopped in their tracks.
“General, what are you doing?" Yang yelled.
“They're stopping. Why the hell are they stopping?" he answered.
“I don't give a damn, sir! We're three hundred meters from the drop!"
“Something's not right."
“Celica, the bogies aren't gonna wait." Taiyang said. "Take the leap, now!"
“Don't do it!" Oobleck yelled as he and Watts ran into the control room, "Don't do it, it's not gonna work! Move, you fascist!" he shoved Tai out of the way and took the mic from him. "Blowing up the Breach is not gonna work!"
"Alright, let's hear it." Jaune said, sitting forward and listening intently.
“What do you mean? What's not going to work?" Ironwood asked.
“Sir, just because the Breach is open doesn't mean you're going to be able to get the bomb through."
“The Breach genetically reads the Kaiju like a barcode at the supermarket and then let's them pass." Watts explained.
“Okay? So you're going to have to trick the Breach into thinking you have the same code."
“And how are we supposed to do that?" Jaune asked.
“By making it think you are a Kaiju. "
“You're going to have to lock onto the Kaiju and ride it into the Breach." Watts told them. "The Breach will then read the Kaiju's genetic code and let you pass."
“If you don't, then the bomb will simply deflect off the Breach like it always has, and the mission will fail." Oobleck finished.
Jaune sat back, wide-eyed. Everything made sense now.
"Brilliant." He whispered. "They were always playing the long game. They designed their way in to be effectively one-way for anyone who wasn't them and kept us busy fighting their pawns."
"So they used them as chaff?" Pyrrha asked in disbelief.
"It's attrition warfare." Winter said. "Any life lost is an acceptable one so long as it provides results."
"And even when they lost, they won by gaining data on us." Jaune added. "The benefits of a hive mentality."
Taiyang took back the mic, annoyed more at Oobleck than the information he and Watts brought back. "Alright, now that you've heard all that, Celica, take the leap."
“Sir, I have a third signature emerging from the Breach." Nora reported, panicked.
“Third signature emerging." Taiyang relayed, before turning to Nora. "What category?"
“It's a triple event." Oobleck whispered.
“Oh, Gods, I was right." Watts said in horror.
“Loccent, what category is it?" Ironwood asked. Nora couldn't even say it, simply moving so that Taiyang could see the readout. His eyes widened and he swallowed his growing fear before he told them.
“Category 5. First one ever."
It slowly emerged from the Breach, glowing orange rather than the usual blue of its lesser cousins. It was a bizarre beast, having the head of a hammerhead shark, a pair of clawed arms, and a mass of tentacles for legs.
"So, yeah, I'm just gonna call this one Cthulhu, no matter what the film says." Yang joked, lightening the mood.
"Rabble, rabble, rabble, all hail Cthulhu, Dark Lord and Master." Blake said.
Ember Celica took a fighting stance, scissor blades coming from out of its wrists similar to Mors' sword.
"Celica, we see it." Jaune told them, a plan already in mind. "We're about a hundred meters back. We're gonna come around your three, try to flank him. Standard two team formation. Just try to keep him busy a little longer." Unfortunately, this plan didn't take the two other Kaiju into account, as evidenced by the speedy Kaiju ramming into their left side. It tried to take a chunk out of them, but Mors reacted quickly, grabbing its jaws and holding it at bay, but not without losing some ground. Once they stopped, Mors headbutted the monster twice before throwing it aside. They then jumped the monster and caught it in a headlock.
Meanwhile, Celica squared off against Cthulhu, who began to spin his tentacle around as he approached the Jaeger.
“Brace for impact!" Ironwood ordered shortly before they were hit and sent flying, crashing into an underwater pillar.
"Hot damn! Anyone else feel that?" Sun said.
Crocea Mors deployed the sword in its left arm and prepared to kill its foe, when said foe's friend interrupted, swimming in and grabbing the sword arm in its jaws, and tearing off the offending arm. Jaune and Ruby howled in pain at the loss, but wasted no time, deploying their other sword and driving it through their original opponent's brain. However, this somehow didn't kill it.
"Let's get this son of a bitch!" Jaune roared, truly pissed off.
Sword still in its brainpan, they dragged it over to a nearby thermal vent and stuck its face in there. Skin and bone melted off, giving it the chance to break free, but also leaving it in horrible agony. Jaune and Ruby too were tired and in pain, shown by them falling to one knee.
“Mors, coming up on your twelve-o clock, full speed!" Tai told them over the radio, "Get out of the way now!"
"Hey Jaune, you thinking what I'm thinking?" Ruby said with a grin.
"I do believe I am." He replied.
Looking up, they saw the Kaiju that had taken their arm charging them through the water. Seeing an opportunity, they took it and extended their sword. The beast's momentum was too great to stop or divert and so it cut itself clean down the middle, from the tip of its nose to the end of its tail. Mors stumbled, falling to one knee, its foe smote behind it.
"Crocea Mors wins. Fatality." Jaune said, dropping his voice as low as possible.
Meanwhile, Celica was recovering from the Category 5 hit it took.
“We're f*cked!" Yang said, checking the readouts, "We can't deliver the payload! We're still on, but the hull is compromised and half our systems are offline, sir!"
“We need to- "
Cthulu charged them, tackling them backwards through several more pillars before driving them into the ground. They rolled through, managing to get a swipe in before Cthulu grabbed their arms and swung them around, swiping at them a few times. Using their scissor blades, they caught their foe under the arms and held him in place. They lifted him up and allowed his weight to slowly cut his arms off. He managed to sit up straight, and let out a roar that had more shockwave than sound.
The faunus in the room let out loud cries of pain, as they covered their ears, in Blake, Kali and Velvet's cases, their animal ears.
"The hell was that?!" Sun yelled.
"It was like a dog whistle dialed up to a billion!" Velvet replied.
"Some form of species-specific communication, perhaps?" Weiss theorized.
"Whatever it was, it f*cking HURT! OW!" Sun cried.
This theory appeared to be correct, as the other Kaiju turned away from Crocea Mors and quickly swam towards its' brethren.
“Both Kaijus converging on Celica, fast!" Nora reported and Taiyang relayed.
“Hang on, Celica!" Jaune said as Crocea Mors slowly made their way to their comrades on one good leg, using their sword as a crutch. "We're coming to ya!"
“No!" Ironwood ordered. "Mors, do not come to our aid! Do you copy? Stay as far back as you can!"
“We can still reach you!" Jaune protested. "We're coming for you!"
“No, Jaune, listen to me!" Ironwood protested back, "You know exactly what you need to do! Mors is nuclear! Take her to the Breach!"
"What are they doing?" Nora said, confused.
"They're gonna blow their nuke to take out the Kaiju." Jaune explained, having figured it out. "Than he wants me and Ruby- "
"Ruby and I." Weiss corrected.
"- to take Crocea Mors into the breach and use her reactor to finish the job."
Jaune caught his meaning and agreed. "I hear you, sir. Headed for the Breach."
Ironwood took off his helmet, not able to breathe as well.
"Ruby! Listen! You can finish this! I'll always be here for you. You can always find me in the Drift."
Ruby felt like crying, but Jaune's strength was her strength, so she didn't.
“We're a walking nuclear reactor." Jaune told her. "We can destroy the Breach." She nodded and they turned around.
Ember Celica's co*ckpit was, in a word, f*cked. The red warning lights flooded the room, sparks shot everywhere, and water was vigorously dripping in. It was this environment that Yang Xiao Long and James Ironwood made their decision. This would be their last stand. Cthulu still stood before them, with its lesser friends closing in.
“What can we do, sir?" Yang asked.
“We can clear a path, for the lady!" Ironwood said. Yang wanted to ask what that made her, but she knew she never acted much like a lady, so what was the point in being offended now?
“They're gonna detonate the payload." Nora realized.
“Well, my old man had a saying." Yang said as she took off her helmet and shook out her mane of blonde hair. "He said, 'If you have a shot, you take it.' So let's do this! It's been a pleasure, sir." Together, the flipped a set of switches to arm the device, then Yang pushed her activation button, then Ironwood flipped his. They heard the device power up behind them. As if they knew what was coming, the two Kaiju charged at the Jaeger, but it was too late.
The inferno was quenched, being several miles underwater, but the blast was no less powerful. It leveled everything within several hundred feet and sent the water back so fast that an air pocket was briefly created. Crocea Mors, being in the radius of the blast wave, dug its sword into the dirt to act as an anchor. When it had dissipated, they looked around, amazed at what was left before looking behind them, seeing the water rushing back into position and bracing for the impact that rocked them.
"Yang, are you okay?" Ruby asked her sister hesitantly.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" she responded casually.
"How about the fact you just died in a nuclear explosion?" Coco suggested.
"That what pretty bad-ass wasn't it?" Seeing the looks her friends were giving her, she threw her hands up defensively. "What do you want from me? I've always been pretty go-with-the-flow with my life, why would I care how I die so long as I lived the way I wanted to? So long as you guys celebrate my life instead of mourning my death, I'm fine going out in a blaze of glory."
“Systems are critical." Jaune reported as Ruby recovered, "Fuel's leaking, and our right leg's crippled." He looked at his partner. "Let's finish this."
“What are they doing?" Oobleck asked.
“Finishing the mission." Tai said solemnly.
“Loccent, we have the Kaiju carcass. We're headed for the Breach." Jaune said, as Crocea Mors limped toward the Breach, dragging one half of the Kaiju remains behind it. "You guys better be right about this, 'cause one way or another, we're finishing this." As they neared the cliff, the Category 5 dropped in front of them and roared. Jaune seemed unfazed by this turn.
“On my count." He said, Ruby nodding. "Three… two… one… now!" they each flipped a switch and a pair of rockets on Crocea Mors' back fired, launching them forward. Surprised, Cthulu was unable to react fast enough to avoid the incoming tackle. The force threw him off balance and he fell backward into the Breach, Crocea Mors holding him in place with their sword through his side.
"Ha! Surprise, bitch!" Nora cheered.
“Hold on!" Jaune shouted as they fell, Ruby growling as she strained to keep hold of the monster.
But the Category 5 wasn't going down easily. He used his tentacles to jab at Mors' back, and though not looking like it, it did a little damage.
“Ruby's oxygen is down!" Nora yelled, sliding over to another station.
“Can you reroute it?" Tai asked.
“Actively trying!" Nora growled.
In the trench, Ruby was still trying to hold Cthulu in place. Seeing her struggle, Jaune found something he could do to help.
“Hold on Ruby!" he said, pushing a few buttons, "I'mma burn this son of a bitch!"
Using the nuclear reactor's fuel purge, he managed to burn a hole straight through Cthulu's chest, finally killing the beast. With him out of the way, all they had to do was keep falling. Electricity began to envelop them as they neared the portal, culminating in their complete disappearance as they hit it.
“They're through!" Nora sighed, as did everyone else.
Including those in the theater.
The other side of the portal was… hard to describe. It resembled the inside of a brain somewhat, electricity arcing between honeycomb pillars, like electrostatic discharge from neurons and everything was shades of cobalt blue, the same color as the Kaiju blood.
Crocea Mors retracted her sword from Cthulu's corpse and let it fall. Inside, Ruby was beginning to fade.
“Oxygen levels critical, Left hemisphere. 15% capacity. " Penny told them.
Jaune acted fast, disconnecting his own oxygen tube and connecting it to Ruby.
“It's okay, Ruby. We did it." he assured her, though he knew she was unconscious. "I can finish this alone. All I have to do is fall. Anyone can fall." She groaned a little as she was lifted into her escape pod.
“Jaune, your oxygen levels are critical." Nora told him over the radio. "You don't have much time. Start the core meltdown and get out of there now!"
"How is that even possible?" Weiss questioned. "Aren't they basically in another dimension or something?"
"Maybe they have some kind of super radio!" Nora suggested.
"Doubtful, but we'll keep that in mind, Nora." Ren said with a small chuckle.
Ruby's escape pod launched out of the back out Mors' head and flew upwards, buoyed up by automatically inflated rafts.
“One pod is launched, no detonation yet." Nora reported. Tai slammed his fist in frustration.
“Loccent, can you still hear me?" Jaune said over the radio. "I'm initiating reactor override now!" he entered the activation sequence but was met with an error message. Looks like he was gonna have to do this by hand. Jaune immediately disengaged his harness and walked around them to the control panel. Below it sat the manual controls for a core meltdown. He pushed the pillar down and twisted it into position. 'Okay, manual override engaged. Now let's GTFO, shall we?'
He walked back to his harness and engaged his own escape pod. As he was lifted up, he looked out the eyes of his mech one last time and saw that the landscape had changed.
The internal view of a brain was gone, replaced by things I can't really describe. If I had to, I would say this is the kind of thing H.P. Lovecraft would describe in his short stories. It was all so alien, it was hard to really comprehend. What I do know it that just after Jaune's pod ejected, Crocea Mors exploded, turning into a fire ball that engulfed everything around it for miles. Luckily, Jaune's pod made it back up into the Breach mere seconds before the blast hit it. The look in the eyes of those aliens who saw it about to happen could only be described by the phrase 'Oh shi- '.
“Direct hit! The Breach has collapsed!" Nora yelled, the control room filling with cheers before Taiyang ordered them to send the Bullheads to retrieve the survivors.
Back on the ocean, Ruby's escape pod breached the surface. She regained consciousness and pulled the internal release switch. The glass canopy shot off behind her, allowing fresh air into the pod. It opened up length-wise, allowing her to sit up and look around.
“First pod spotted." Nora reported. "Tracking solid, vitals strong."
“Okay, where's the second pod?" Tai asked.
“I've got it on tracking, but I'm not picking up any vital signs."
"Jaune?" Nora said, tears starting to form.
"Probably just a malfunction in the pod." Pyrrha assured her.
'Or I died from lack of oxygen.' Jaune thought to himself.
Ruby looked around, seeing only ocean for miles, when she heard the second pod breach the surface behind her. She jumped out of her pod and swam over to the other. She clambered on top and pulled the external release lever. She took off Jaune's helmet and checked for a pulse.
“Not getting a pulse." She said, worried. "I don't think he's breathing." She lifted him into a sitting position and hugged him tight, Nora buzzing in her ear, trying to calm her down. She begged for him to live, to not leave her.
“You're squeezing me too tight." A voice wheezed in her ear. She released Jaune, who breathed deep, sucking in as much air as he could. "I couldn't breathe." He joked. Despite herself, Ruby laughed at the dork.
Team JNPR let out a collective sigh of relief at the same time. Noticing this, they looked at each other for a moment before they burst out laughing, having missed this so very much.
The control room filled with cheers, sighs of relief from Nora and Tai, and mutual handshake-hug between Oobleck and Watts. Tai approached the intercom, and the room silenced itself immediately.
“This is General Taiyang Xiao Long." He said, using his new title. "The Breach is sealed. Stop the Clock!" everyone cheered as they watched the war clocks around the base slowly zero out.
Out on the ocean, Jaune and Ruby sat on his pod, staring into each other's eyes until they heard the Bullheads in the distance.
“Jaune, Ruby, we have your location. The Bullheads are on their way." Nora told them.
Wanting a little privacy, they each took out their ear pieces and threw them in the ocean. Afterwards, they simply enjoyed the other's companies. They could have kissed, but didn't.
"What? That's it?" Yang said. "You're not gonna seal the deal?"
"Are you complaining that Jaune didn't kiss your sister?" Weiss asked.
"Different realities don't count. Besides, we weren't even related the same way in this one."
"He didn't have to anyway." Blake said. Everyone turned to her. "Their minds were linked, so they already know the other's feelings. A kiss would have just been cliché. A good one, admittedly, but still a cliché."
"In any case, I thought it was a great movie." Pyrrha said.
"Second that." Sun said, before an idea came to him. "Hey Logan, any chance I can get that theme music for my scroll?"
“Done."
"So, what was the death count on that one? Like, ten major characters?" Roman said.
“Yeah, about that…"
At the remnants of Otachi's corpse, a knife suddenly burst from the infant's stomach. It cut an opening, and, slowly, Roman forced his way out. He gasped for fresh air before looking about.
“Neo! Where's my goddamn hat?!"
Roman almost fell out of his seat from laughter.
"Well, I gotta use the bathroom and make a run for more snacks. Anybody want anything?" Jaune said.
Receiving negatives all around, Jaune made his way to the restroom. He made sure no one else was around before walking into a stall and locking the door behind him. He took out his scroll and dialed.
“Hello?"
"Hey, Joan. It's me."
“Jaune? Holy crap, bro. Where've you been? You just up and left one day with your friends. Had us all worried sick."
"I'm sorry, sis. There was something we had to do. I was going to call you guys sooner, but sh*t happened."
“Are you okay?"
"Yeah." He smiled, relief washing over him. "Yeah, I am."
