RWBY Watches Classic Movies - Old_Wolf_Logan (2024)

Chapter 1: Chapter 1

Chapter Text

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 1

Teams RWBY, JNR, Sun, Ilia, and Oscar were walking down the streets of Mistral together, ready for a relaxing night out, with Qrow, Ghira, and Kali following them.

"Remind me again how you two dolts managed to convince me to go with you on this little outing again? We have very important plans to be making." Weiss complained.

"That's exactly why we're doing this." Yang retorted, "Sure, there's a lot of planning to be done before we can set out for Atlas-"

"Ugh, don't remind me." Weiss and Ilia groaned.

"But we can't do any of that with fried brains. We need to take some time to relax, and recharge. Otherwise, we won't be any good when we need to be. Ain't that right, Blakey?"

"I can confirm that she is right this time." Blake said with a small grin.

"Ha! See? Wait a minute, what do you mean 'this time'?"

"Besides," Ruby said, cutting of her sister, "We got free tickets to this theater anyway, might as well use them."

"What movie are we seeing anyway?" Jaune asked.

"I dunno," Ruby replied, looking at the tickets, "It looks to be some sort of film festival, but it doesn't list any of the movies."

"Ah, well, not knowing is half the fun, am I right?" Yang said.

"I believe Ms. Schnee would fight you on that." Ozcar said.

"Hey!"

A few minutes later, the group of thirteen entered the theater laden with popcorn, drinks, and enough candy to last them till judgement day. Yang and Ren were designated distributers of said candy, because, well because Ruby and Nora. Ilia made sure to sit next to Blake and Sun, but as far away from Weiss as possible. She still had trouble trusting the former Schnee heiress. The adults sat a few rows back to allow the youngsters a relative bit of privacy. The lights began to dim, and everyone, thinking the film was about to start, quieted down and stared at the screen. However, instead of the film beginning, a shaggy white wolf walked out and sat before them.

“Greetings,” he said in a deep, spectral voice, his mouth not even moving, "I am the Old Wolf. You may call me Logan. Welcome to my theater. Tonight, you will be entertained by a series of hand-picked movies of my own choice from a world known as Earth. However, each of these movies will be staring all of you in one capacity or another."

"What?!" everyone said collectively.

“You will all be featured at some point, as well as people you know who are not present. Perhaps even people you'd rather not look upon at all. If it helps, simply think of these as alternate universes.

“And do not worry about how long you will be here. By stepping into this theater, you have entered what is essentially a pocket dimension that is unbound by the laws of reality. You will be returned to your world either when I get bored, or if the ideas cease to come to me."

"And what, exactly, gives you the idea that you have the right to do this to us?" Weiss asked indignantly.

“Stick around, Ms. Schnee, and you just might find out. And yes, I do in fact know all your names and a good deal of your personal histories."

“Now let us begin with a personal favorite of mine."

The theater filled with the sounds of the jungle as the beginning credits began to roll along with the title.

"Jurassic Park, huh? Never heard of it." Ruby said, through a mouthful of popcorn.

"Course you haven't," Yang said, sipping her soda, "Movies from another reality, remember?"

"Am I the only one here who has a problem with that?" Weiss said with exasperation.

The screen showed a thicket of jungle which was shaking, showing signs of movement within. Occasionally, it would show a Faunus worker wearing an orange hardhat. Qrow stood amongst the group of Faunus workers- all holding weapons that looked obviously non-lethal- holding his Harbinger fully deployed in scythe mode .

Ruby could tell he was serious about whatever was happening since his flask was nowhere to be seen.

Eventually, a forklift appeared from within the jungle carrying a small shipping container with what appeared to be ventilation holes cut into it.

"What's in the box!" Yang said with a grin.

"I knew letting you watch Seven as a kid was a bad idea." Qrow said to himself.

The forklift brought the container over to a loading dock next to some sort of holding pen and lowered it to the ground before quickly backing off. Text appeared onscreen, reading "Isla Nublar, 120 miles west of Menagerie."

"So this stuff takes place in our own world?" Ilia voiced aloud.

"Apparently, though I've never heard of an island near Menagerie by that name." Ghira said

"Real world, fictional setting. Classic set-up." Blake said.

Qrow approached the box before turning back to the workers.

"Okay, pushing team, move in there. I want tasers on full charge." He ordered.

Whatever was in the container screeched and caused the container to shake, scaring the crew and making them back away in fright.

"Jeez, what the hell is in there?" Nora said with a flinch.

"Must be dangerous at least, especially if they're taking this many precautions just to get it in a holding pen." Jaune answered.

"Steady!" Qrow called out calmly, "Go on. Step back in." More workers moved to help their co-workers, working to find purchase on the container without risk to themselves. "And push." The container moved until the end facing the holding pen was flush with the pen. "Locked. Loading team step away." The workers moved away from the container quickly, while another Faunus with lion ears climbed on top. "Geoffery, raise the gate." The man, Geoffery, apparently, nodded and grasped the bar in front of him and began to lift it.

"Getting a bad feeling about this." Ruby said.

When it had reached Geoffery's waist, the creature in the container shrieked and ran. However, instead to propelling itself forward, the container moved backwards. Geoffery lost his balance and fell off to the side of the container. Whatever was inside grabbed him by the legs and tried to drag him in, but he caught the side of the container, screaming in pain.

“Block the opening!" Qrow yelled as he moved to help Geoffery, tossing away his scythe "Don't let her get out!" The workers who were armed surged forward and began to fire their weapons like mad. Geoffery tried to grab one of the ladder rungs on the side, but was pulled back and lifted bodily off the ground, causing Qrow to stumble. He rose to his feet and tried to wrap his arms about the man's chest. The creature inside shrieked in pain from the many weapons firing on it.

“Work her back!" Qrow yelled with a growl, struggling to save the man's life. He could feel Geoffery slipping from his grip.

"Shoot her!" he ordered. He was only holding Geoffery's arm now. "Shoot her!" he cried again. Gunshots rang out, but it was too late. Geoffery slipped through his arm and was lost.

"Holy crap." Yang said, wide-eyed like the rest of her friends. Absentmindedly, she reached over, took some of Ruby's popcorn and ate it.

Ruby did nothing to stop her.

The scene transitioned to a man with snow white hair and blue eyes, dressed in an all-white business suit and holding a briefcase, standing on a wooden raft being pulled towards shore by a rope. He nervously waved to the men onshore. The text onscreen read "Mano de Dios Amber Mine, Vacuo."

"Whitley?" Weiss said, snapping everyone out of their stunned silence.

"Who?" Ruby asked.

"My asshole little brother, who weaseled his way into being the new heir of my family's company."

"So I guess we can assume that this is another one of your family's mines?" Ilia said with a little snark, earning an arm pinch from Blake.

"I don't think so," Weiss replied, "Look."

A rather large, light skinned man with a rather impressive moustache sat with three more dark-skinned, Faunus men, turning a hat in his hands.

“I really dislike this kid." He said quietly so that only the workers could hear him. They chuckled, obviously agreeing with him.

"Professor Port?" It was Yang's turn to be incredulous.

"See? First off, the SDC only deals in Dust. We don't even have the tech to mine amber, nor does my father see any profit in it. Second, if this were an SDC mine, conditions would be far, far worse for the workers, mainly because the overseer would be one of my father's hand-picked toadies from Atlas who shares his views in almost everything. Someone like Port would never be put in charge.

“Peter." Whitley said, offering him his hand, half in greeting, half in request for help off the raft.

“Hello, Mr Schnee. Welcome." Port said with easy friendliness, taking his hand and leading him towards the mine.

“What's this I hear at the airport? Ozpin's not even here?" Whitley said with slight incredulity, getting right to business.

“He sends his apologies." Port replied, already tired of the young man.

“We are facing a twenty million lien lawsuit by the family of that worker, and you're telling me Ozpin can't even bother to see me?"

"Holy sh*t!" Sun said.

"How much?" Now it was Ilia's turn.

“He had to leave early. He wanted to be with his daughter, she's getting a divorce."

“Well, I understand that, but we've been advised to deal with the situation now. The insurance company-" his last word trailed off as he slipped on a rock.

“You okay?" Port asked, helping him up.

Whitley dusted himself off and continued, "The underwriters feel that the accident has raised some very serious safety questions about the park. That makes the investors very, very anxious. I had to promise to conduct a very thorough, on-site inspection."

Port stopped and turned to face Whitley, "Ozpin hates inspections. They slow everything down."

“Peter, they'll pull the funding. That'll slow him down even more." Whitley said as a rat Faunus came running up to Port and told him something in a language none of the viewers understood, Faunus aside. Port replied in the same language, and followed the man with an excited look on his face.

They stepped into the mine proper, which was filled with different kinds of Faunus in lamp-helmets digging away at the rock. Whitley, being inexperienced with such things, immediately rammed his head into a support beam. "Ow!"

“Watch your head." Port said after the fact.

Ignoring his momentary embarrassment, Whitley continued. "If two experts sign off on the island, the insurance guys will back off. I've already got Nora Valkyrie, but they think she's too trendy. They want Jaune Arc."

"Why would they want me to consult?" Jaune asked.

"Why not?" Ruby chirped.

"You still give yourself far too little credit, Mr Arc. Need I remind you that Team RNJR never would have made it to Haven if not for your leadership?" Ozcar said.

“Arc?" Port asked with a laugh, "You'll never get him out of Vale." He took something that a worker gave him and called for his workers to come have a look.

“Why not?" Whitley asked, confused.

“Because Arc's like me. He's a digger." Port said as he gazed at the stone in his hand. It was a chunk of amber with a mosquito fossilized inside.

Chapter 2: Jurassic Park, Part 2

Chapter Text

RWBY Watches Earth Movies

Chapter 2- Jurassic Park, Part 2

The scene changed to a person- no one could tell if it was human or Faunus- brushing loose dirt off a dark grey, almost rock-like, bone. More people could be seen brushing off more bones. Another was hand-scooping dirt out of the eye socket of a skull. A top-down view showed at least six people working on a complete skeleton, trying to excavate it. More text appeared, reading "Badlands, near Mountain Glen, Vale".

"They must be bold to be digging near Mountain Glen." Ozcar said.

"Or crazy." Said Blake.

A woman with shoulder-length black hair with red tips came up a hill towards the skeleton. "Dr. Arc, Dr. Nikos, we're ready to try again." She said.

"Yang." Ruby said quietly.

"I know sis," she said, pulling her sister into a one-armed hug.

'Summer Rose,' Ozpin thought to himself. One of his greatest regrets, if not THE greatest. She had been a model for aspiring huntresses. An excellent student, a capable leader, a good friend, a better mother. If Ozpin had a choice, she would have been a surefire candidate to be one of the Maidens. If he could fault her for anything, it was how obstinate she could be about things. Then came Mountain Glen. Even then she knew how dangerous the mission was, but she accepted it nonetheless. He knew anyone trying to talk her out would meet with failure, so he hadn't tried to stop her. That was the first mistake. The second was not sending any back-up when he could have. Technically speaking, as a council member, he had the authority to interfere in a huntsman mission in any way he saw fit. Qrow, Tai, Glynda, anyone would have gone to help her, but the call never went out. Because he never got a request from her. And at the end of it all, all that was left of Summer Rose was Ozpin's guilt, a shattered Xiao Long-Rose family, and a simple headstone on a cliff on Patch island.

Jaune stood up, his messy blonde hair mostly hidden under a tan, wide-rimmed fedora. He wore a red flannel shirt rolled up to his elbows, khaki pants and aviator sunglasses.

"I hate computers," he said to himself.

"Good look fearless leader. I'm actually kind of digging the stubble you have going." Nora said, lightening the mood.

"You think?" Jaune asked, rubbing his chin.

A woman with long red hair stood up next to him wearing a blue shirt rolled up to her elbows and tied around her midriff, and blue jeans. She also wore a tan hat and sunglasses, just different styles. She looked at Jaune with a grin and put an orange-red bandana around his neck.

"The feeling's mutual," she said with a chuckle. They put their arms around each other and walked down the hill.

"Well, it looks like this version of me isn't so thick if he's with Pyrrha." Jaune joked.

"You both look older as well. Late-twenties to early-thirties, I'd wager." Ren added

At the bottom of the hill, a pair of young men put a black shotgun shell into the top of a strange looking machine with wheels. They locked it into place and stood on it. One of the men pulled the pin on the shell and the machine shook as it fired the shell into the ground, creating a cloud of dust. While the men ejected the shell and reset the machine, a crowd gathered around a tent where a computer station was set up. Jaune and Pyrrha were at the front, looking at the screen.

“How long does this usually take?" Pyrrha asked the young man operating the computer.

“It should bring an immediate return," the man said as he typed on the keyboard and tuned on the screen, "Shoot the radar into the ground, and the bone bounces the image back." He started talking to himself as he worked. The screen started out blurry, but as the man continued typing, it became clearer, showing a complete skeleton, like what the team on the hill was already digging up. "This new program is incredible. Few more years development and we won't even have to dig anymore."

“Where's the fun it that?" Jaune asked, making Pyrrha laugh.

“It's a little distorted, but I don't think it's the computer." The young tech said.

“It's not," Pyrrha said, approaching the computer, "Postmortem contraction of the posterior neck ligaments. Velociraptor?"

Ruby's eyes lit up at the name. Yang noticed this and groaned internally. If there was anything Ruby loved as much as weapons, it was dinosaurs and Velociraptor was one of her favorites.

"Jaune, you're a paleontologist. A dinosaur hunter!" she said excitedly.

“Yeah. Good shape, too." Jaune said, taking a closer look at the computer screen and pointing at it, "It's five, six feet high. I'm guessing nine feet long. Look at the extraord- "Jaune stopped as the screen frizzed out when he accidentally touched it.

"Those measurements don't seem right," Ruby said.

"What do you mean?" Weiss asked.

"Here we go," Yang said as she placed her head in her palm.

"They're too large. Velociraptor was a relatively small dinosaur, about two feet tall and six long. What Jaune just described sounds more like a Deinonychus." Ruby said.

"Rubes, I beg of you, please just enjoy the movie. If I want info, I swear I will ask you." Yang pleaded with her.

“What'd you do?" the tech asked as he worked to fix the image.

“He touched it," Pyrrha said with a laugh, "Dr. Arc's not machine-compatible."

“Hell, they've got it in for me," he said, "and look at the halfmoon shaped bones in the wrists. It's no wonder these guys learned how to fly." The people around him began to chuckle. "No, seriously." He said, turning to face them, "Alright, well, maybe dinosaurs have more in common with present-day birds, than they do with reptiles. Look at the pubic bone; turned backwards, just like a bird. Look at the vertebrae; full of air sacks and hollows, just like a bird. And even the word 'raptor' means 'bird of prey.'

"A very interesting theory." Ruby said.

“That doesn't look very scary." Said a voice from behind. Everyone turned to see a short, chubby boy in a t-shirt, shorts and a ball cap speaking, "Looks more like a six-foot turkey."

This elicited even more chuckling from the crowd.

“A turkey, huh?" Jaune said, putting his hands on his hips and giving the kid his full attention.

“Oh, no," Pyrrha groaned, "Here we go."

“Okay, try to imagine yourself in the Cretaceous period. You see this six-foot turkey as you enter a clearing. He moves like a bird, lightly bobbing his head. And you keep still because you think that maybe his visual acuity is based on movement, like T. Rex. He'll lose you if you don't move. But no, not Velociraptor. You stare at him, and he just stares right back. And that's when the attack comes, not from the front, but from the side." He made a whistle as he brought a finger from each hand in front of the kid, "From the other two raptors you didn't even know were there. Because Velociraptor's a pack hunter, you see. He uses coordinated attack patterns, and he is out in force today."

He circled around the back of the kid and brought out something from his back pocket. "And he slashes at you with this." He showed it to the kid, it was a long, curved fossil claw that he held in one hand between his index and middle fingers.

"A six-inch, retractable claw, like a razor, on the middle toe. He doesn't bother to bite your jugular, like a lion, see. No, no. He slashes at you here," he cut across the boy's chest with the claw, "Or here," he cut along one of his thighs, "Or maybe across the belly, spilling your intestines. The point is, you are alive when they start to eat you. So, you know, try to show a little respect?"

“Okay," the boy whispered. Jaune started back up the hill to the main dig with a small smile on his face. Pyrrha soon caught up with him.

"Damn, Vomit Boy, that was legit intimidating."

“Hey Jaune, if you wanted to scare the kid, you coulda pulled Crocea Mors on him, ya know." She said.

“Yeah, I know. Kids," he said, exasperated, "You wanna have one of those?"

“I don't want that kid, but a breed of child Dr. Arc could be intriguing. I mean, what's so wrong with kids?"

“Ah, Pyrrha, look, they're messy, they're noisy, they're expensive."

“Cheap, cheap."

“They smell."

“They do not smell!"

“Some of them smell. Babies smell!"

“Give me a break." Pyrrha said laughing.

Suddenly, a Bullhead came over the rise and began to set down near the camp, throwing up dust and dirt, and endangering the bones. Jaune and Pyrrha ran back down the hill to preserve their hard work, yelling at their students to cover it up. Pyrrha moved to help them lash a tarp over the bones before they could become to covered up again with dirt and dust, while Jaune ran up to Bullhead's co*ckpit and began yelling at the pilot.

"What's all that about?" Ilia wondered aloud.

"I've read that once a dig like this begins, you have to keep going until you can extract everything you can from the find. If they don't cover up the bones, they just wasted all the time and effort it took to dig 'em up in the first place." Ruby explained.

“Just cut it, will ya? Shut it down." He yelled, but the pilot began pointing to the trailer, trying to tell him something. Giving up, Jaune ran to the trailer and stormed in. Inside was an older man in all white clothes with messy grey hair, black glasses, and a cane rummaging through the refrigerator.

“What the hell do you think you're doing in here?" he said, exasperated. There was a loud pop as the man opened a fresh bottle of champagne as he turned around. "Hey, we were saving that!"

“For today, I guarantee it." he said kindly.

“Who in Oum's name do you think you are?" Jaune said, approaching the man and pointing at his chest.

“Ozma Ozpin, and I'm delighted to meet you finally in person, Dr. Arc," he said, taking Jaune's finger and shaking it.

"So, that's what Professor Ozpin looked like, huh?" Kali said, "I had never seen him before now."

"Nor I," said Ghira.

He let go and blew the dust off his hand, "So, I can see that my fifty-thousand a year has been well-spent." Jaune looked as though he had just met the most important person in the known world.

"Hey kid," Qrow called, "Something tells me your other half ain't exactly a school teacher in this universe."

"He agrees," Oscar replied.

Pyrrha stormed in next, angry and covered in dust, "Okay, who's the jerk?"

“This is our paleobotanist, Dr. Nikos," Jaune said politely, turning a complete 180 from his earlier tone, "Uh, Pyrrha this is Mr. Ozpin."

"What the heck's a paleobotanist?" Yang asked.

"Probably similar to a paleontologist, but focused on plants." Blake guessed.

Pyrrha's face went beet red with embarrassment as Ozpin came over to shake her hand, "I'm sorry about the dramatic entrance Dr. Nikos, but…"

“Did I say jerk?" she said, trying to make a joke.

"Is it just me, or is Pyrrha's face going as red as her hair?"

"Oh yeah," Jaune said.

"That brings back a few memories," Nora said.

"Yes," Ren agreed, "Quite a few. Most of them involving you, Jaune."

"Gee, I wonder why?" Jaune deadpanned back.

“… we're in a wee bit of a hurry. Will you have a drink? We won't let it get warm. Sit down, sit down."

Pyrrha, flustered, tried to make the countertop presentable while looking for a few clean glasses. "Well, uh…"

“I'll just get a glass or two- "

“Well, let me have this- "

“No, no, no, I can manage this. I know my way around the kitchen." He shooed Pyrrha off as he grabbed a glass from the sink and began cleaning it with a dish cloth. "Now, I'll get right to the point; I like you, both of you. I can tell instantly about people, it's a gift." Jaune and Pyrrha sat down on one side of the kitchen with Ozpin leaning against the countertop, pausing while he cleaned the glass. "I own an island, off the coast of Menagerie. I've leased it from the government and I've spent the last five years setting up a kind of biological preserve. Really spectacular. Spared no expense. Make the one I've got down in Vacuo look like a petting zoo. And there's no doubt, our attractions will drive kids out of their minds."

“And what are those?" Jaune asked.

“Small versions of adults, honey." Pyrrha answered back sarcastically.

"Man, P-Money has got some SASS in this universe." Yang declared.

“And not just kids, everyone," Ozpin said as he began on another glass, "We're going to open next year, that is if the lawyers don't kill me first. I don't care for lawyers, do you?"

"Nope," Everyone but Oscar said in unison.

“We, uh, don't really know any." Jaune and Pyrrha answered nervously.

“Well, I do I'm afraid. There's a particular pebble in my shoe that represents my investors. Says they insist on outside opinions."

“What kind of opinions" Pyrrha asked.

“Well, your kind, not to put too fine a point on it." Ozpin said as he started filling the glasses with champagne, "I mean, let's face it, in your particular fields, you're the top minds. And if I could just persuade you to sign off on the park, you know, give it your endorsem*nt, maybe even pen a wee testimonial, then I could get back on schedule."

“Why would they care what we think?" Pyrrha asked.

“What kind of park is this?" Jaune added.

Ozpin looked at Jaune with an amused grin. He handed him a glass and said, "It's right up your alley. I tell you what, why don't you come down, just the pair of you, for the weekend?" he handed Pyrrha the other glass and sat on the kitchen countertop, allowing his legs to dangle over the side, "I'd love to have an opinion of a paleobotanist as well. I've got a Bullhead standing by at Beacon."

"Dinosaur theme park, I'm calling it," Sun said confidently.

“Look, I'm sorry," Jaune said, standing up, "This just isn't possible. We just dug up a new skeleton… "

“I could fully compensate you by fully funding your dig…"

“And this is a very unusual time."

“For a further three years."

Jaune and Pyrrha looked at each other and knew what that offer meant to them and the crew outside. The clinked their glasses together and started to laugh.

“Where's the airship?" Pyrrha said for Jaune who was lost for words. He clinked glasses with Ozpin and hugged Pyrrha, laughing hysterically with her.

The next scene showed a dirty sedan pulled up to a small market and dropped off a man in a red polo shirt and blue jeans, carrying a leather bag and a beige backpack. His garb was unfamiliar, and his sunglasses obscured his face, but nobody could mistake the flaming orange hair and black bowler hat of Roman Torchwick. He walked into the market without paying his cabby as text appeared that read "Kuo Kuana, Menagerie".

"Torchwick," Ruby growled, old memories resurfacing.

"Well, that Old Wolf guy did say we were gonna see people we'd rather not."

"Well, hopefully, he's a bad guy. At least then it'll harder to sympathize with him." Ruby pouted.

"Now, you see, those kinds of words hurt, Little Red." Said a voice from the back.

Everyone turned to see, from left to right, Roman Torchwick, his right hand, Neo, along with Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury.

"What the f*ck are you asshats doing here?" Yang yelled, not noticing that the film had paused itself.

“I brought them here, Ms. Xiao Long. I thought it prudent, seeing as some of them will be showing up in the films yet to come. And don't anyone try attacking them. If you will notice, all your weapons are no longer with you, and your Semblances are being suppressed, including Ms. Fall's Maiden powers."

"It's true," said Cinder, "See?" she held up a hand and her face twisted into a grimace as she tried to summon a fireball, but nothing happened.

“Now, with all that in mind, I believe we can return to enjoying the film, while I listen to your commentary. First, however, I believe we should balance out the bad with the good, so…"

A light appeared behind them. The group turned and saw standing before them, Neptune Vasilias, Taiyang Xiao Long, Winter Schnee, Glynda Goodwitch, and- standing front and center- Summer Rose.

"M-mom?" Ruby croaked out, while Yang stood speechless and Qrow rose from his seat. Ruby jumped into her mother's arms, planting a fierce hug on her. Yang tried to do the same, but Summer gave her a two-finger jab to the forehead. "That was for dropping an f-bomb. Now, c'mere, Firecracker."

The theater stayed quiet as the mother and daughters reunited for the first time in years. Tai walked up to Qrow, hugged him, and quietly introduced himself to the Belladonnas before taking a seat next to his old partner. Weiss walked up to her sister and was able to maintain a sense of decorum for about ten seconds before she latched onto her sister, as if she had not seen her in years. Sun approached his best friend and gave him a firm bro-hug.

"Dude, I have so much to tell you," Sun said.

"I'll say, but maybe after the movie, yeah?" Neptune replied.

Glynda walked over to Oscar and hesitantly said, "Is that you Ozpin?"

"Yes, it is Gylnda. And you have to idea how happy it makes me to see you again. How go things at Beacon?"

"Slow but steady." She said as she took a seat next to him, "The frozen Grimm Dragon is proving to be the biggest problem."

"I should think so. I did imprison it under that mountain for a reason, you know."

“I hate to be 'That Guy'- "

Neo held up a sign that said, "I highly doubt that."

“But I must ask everyone to please return to their seats so that the movie may continue."

"So, what's the movie?" Summer asked, taking a seat between her daughters.

"Jurassic Park, starring us." Ruby said, wiping the last of her tears of joy from her eyes.

"Huh?"

"Alternate universe, Mom. Probably best not to question it." Yang said, handing her a bucket of popcorn.

As the movie resumed, Roman walked to a restaurant looking for his contact. His contact turned out to be none other than Mercury Black, who was in the middle of a meal when he noticed the flame-haired man.

“Yo, Torchwick!" he said, waving him over.

Torchwick walked over, took a seat, placing his pack to one side and the bag on the other and said, "You shouldn't use my name."

“Torchwick. Torchwick! We've got Torchwick here!"

"Yeah, sounds like something you'd do." Emerald deadpanned.

"You're not incorrect." Mercury replied.

Mercury said, annoying the man, "Ya see? Nobody cares. Nice hat. If you really wanna blend in, ditch the bowler."

"I would never!" Roman said.

Neo held up a sign that said, "He speaks heresy against the hat!"

Torchwick grabbed the bag and handed it to Mercury. "750,000 lien. On delivery, 50,000 more for each viable embryo. That's 1.5 million if you get all 15 species off the island." Mercury started laughing with giddiness.

“Oh, I'll get 'em all." Mercury said.

“Remember, viable embryos. They're no use to us if they don't survive."

“How am I supposed to transport them?"

Torchwick reached into his backpack and pulled out a can of shaving cream. "The bottom screws open. It's cooled and compartmentalized inside. Customs can even check it if they want to." He screwed the top back on.

"That's pretty clever. Low-key, easily over-looked." Emerald commented

"Probably some kind of Atlas tech." Qrow chimed in.

“That's great, lemme see." Mercury took the can and poured a small amount of cream onto his hand.

“There's enough coolant inside for thirty-six hours."

“No menthol?" Mercury joked.

“The embryos have to be back in Kuo Kuana by then."

Mercury looked at Torchwick seriously as he wiped off his hand, "That's up to your guy on the boat. 7 o' clock tomorrow night on the East Dock. Make sure he gets it right."

“How are you planning to beat security?" Torchwick asked nervously.

“Oh, I've got an 18-minute window. Eighteen minutes and your client catches up on 10 years of research." A server came up to the table and handed them the check. Mercury looked at Torchwick questioningly, "Don't get cheap on me, Torchwick. That was Ozpin's mistake." He said as Torchwick examined the bill.

"So that's their game." Weiss said under her breath.

"What is, dear sister." Winter asked.

"It's industrial espionage, that's what's going on. I was wondering why anyone would meet Mercury in the first place- "

"Hey!"

"-but apparently, he works for whatever Ozpin is doing in Menagerie, and whatever Ozpin is working on, Torchwick's employer wants to know what it is, most likely so he can get in on it."

"So, he goes for a disgruntled employee, knowing the best way to get inside information is from someone on the inside who is easily bribed," Winter finished, "Sounds like something Father would do."

"In a heartbeat, if he had a heart."

"Wow, they really have a hate-boner for their old man, don't they?" Tai said to Qrow.

"Tai, I've met him. Trust me, you don't know the half of it." Qrow said.

Chapter 3: Jurassic Park, Part 3

Chapter Text

RWBY Watches Earth Movies

Chapter 3- Jurassic Park, Part 3

A small transport Bullhead flew over the ocean. Inside were five individuals. On one side sat Ozpin, who was still in his all-white clothes and held his cane. Next to him sat Pyrrha who had changed into a clean pink shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, shorts that showed off her long legs, and boots. She leaned against Jaune, in his blue shirt and khaki pants, who was messing with his fossil raptor claw. Across from them sat Whitley. The top of his outfit was pure business, white shirt, tie, grey blazer, but instead of pants, he decided on a pair of grey shorts and he was holding an off-white hat. Next to him sat the most unexpected person of all.

"NORA?!" everyone exclaimed.

Nora's get-up was almost diametrically opposite to what she normally wore; a black button-up shirt that showed a tasteful amount of cleavage, a black leather jacket, black slacks, black dress shoes, even dark glasses. From her neck hung a gold necklace that held a pendant of her personal emblem, the lightning hammer. She decided to break the silence.

"I'll be honest here, Nora, that is not an outfit I would ever think you would wear." Yang said

"Me neither. Black is good and all, but I think I like whites and pinks better."

“So, you two dig up dinosaurs?" she asked.

Pyrrha chuckled, "Well…"

“We try to," Jaune finished. Nora started laughing a bit at that.

“You'll have to get used to Dr. Valkyrie. She suffers from a deplorable excess of personality, especially for a mathematician."

"A doctor of mathematics?" Weiss said curiously, "They can't be talking about our Nora."

"Hey!"

“Chaotician, actually," Nora corrected as she put a piece of gum in her mouth and started to chew, "Oz here doesn't subscribe to chaos, particularly what it has to say about his little science project."

“Codswallop. Nora, you've never been able to sufficiently explain your concerns…"

“Oh, Oz, don't. Because of the behavior of the system in phase space?"

“A load, if I may say so, of fashionable number crunching."

“Dr. Nikos, Dr. Arc, you've heard of Chaos Theory?" she asked.

"What's Chaos Theory?" Ruby asked, confused.

"A sign of how old this movie must be," Ozcar replied, "Chaos Theory is an older term for complexity theory, which is basically the study of science and math as it relates to the real world."

"How so?" Weiss asked, interested.

"Most of the math and science you learned is linear and predictable. Complexity theory deals with unpredictability and sudden changes. For example, any form of turbulence. I could go into more detail, but I'd rather save it for later."

“No." Pyrrha answered.

“No? Non-linear equations?" Pyrrha shook her head, "Strange attractors?" More silence, "Dr. Nikos, I refuse to believe that you aren't familiar with the concept of attraction." Pyrrha turned her head to hide her blush.

"Wow, looks like Nora has the hots for P-Money," Yang teased.

"I can see that happening, actually," Ren said. Nora looked at him warily.

"Seriously?"

Ren nodded, "She went through a bit of a… phase back in combat school."

"Oh, I'm gonna get some mileage out of this."

Ozpin turned to Whitley, and said, "I bring the scientists, you bring a rock star," then he looked out the window, and pointed, "There it is."

The Bullhead began its' approach, heading for an opening in the cliffs. The opening became a full canyon, heavily forested. The transport continued through the canyon until it reached a landing pad near a waterfall and a small pond.

"So pretty," Ruby said wide-eyed, causing Summer to chuckle and kiss her head.

As the Bullhead hovered, Ozpin spoke, "Bad wind shears. We have to drop pretty fast. So, hang on, because it can be just a little thrilling." Suddenly, the Bullhead lurched downward. All the passengers, besides Ozpin, almost flew out of their seats.

Ozpin chuckled and looked at the couple. "Yahoo." He deadpanned. Whitley laughed politely, while hurrying to put his seat belt on. Nora was calm, and coolly put hers on. Pyrrha did the same, but Jaune wasn't as lucky, since he somehow managed to grab two female buckles. A small argument ensued as Jaune struggled to secure himself. Ozpin tried to help by throwing out instructions, "You need that piece over here, and that piece… well, we'll have landed by the time you get it right."

Forgoing everything else, Jaune just decided to side with practicality by tying both ends tightly about his waist. He didn't care much if he looked stupid, so long as it worked, which it did.

The Bullhead finally landed. Nearby waited a pair of red and tan jeeps with numbers on the side. A man ran up to the transport and opened up the door for them. Ozpin went out first to admire the scenery, followed by Whitley, who immediately hurried for a car. Pyrrha and Jaune came next, with Nora bringing up the rear, mainly so she could admire Pyrrha's.

"Well, Vomit Boy, looks like this version of you can handle his motion sickness." Yang teased.

"I am never gonna live that down, am I?"

"At this point, it's a nickname. And those don't change very easy with me."

As the Bullhead pulled away, the jeeps, with Nora, Jaune, and Pyrrha in the lead one, and Ozpin and Whitley in the rear one, traveled down a dirt road and through a gateway in a fence that had to be almost twenty feet high. As they passed through, workers closed the gates. On the door was a sign that read,

"Danger, 10,000 Volts."

Nora grinned evilly at this.

"Nora, no," Ren said.

"Nora, yes!"

In the rear jeep, Whitley and Ozpin were in a heavy conversation, almost an interrogation.

“The full fifty miles of perimeter fence are in place?" Whitley asked.

“And the concrete moats, and the motion sensor tracking system. Whitley, dear boy, relax. Try and enjoy yourself." Ozpin said back in exasperation.

“Let's get something straight, Oz. This isn't a weekend excursion. This is a serious investigation of the stability of the island. Your investors, whom I represent, are deeply concerned. Forty-eight hours from now, if they're not convinced," he pointed at the lead car, "I'm not convinced. I'll shut you down, Oz."

Ozpin smiled and said, "In forty-eight hours, I'll be accepting your apologies."

The jeeps pulled to a stop atop a grassy hill somewhere on the island. Pyrrha was busy examining a plant she had found, talking to herself.

"This shouldn't be here," she said. Jaune looked off to the side, seeing something off screen that rendered him speechless. He stood up in his seat and took off his sunglasses to get a better look, mouth open in shock. "Jaune, this species of Veriforman's been extinct since the Cretaceous Period. I mean, this thing- what? What?" she said as Jaune reached down, grabbed the top of her head and turned to face the same direction as him.

She saw it and also stood up in her seat.

Walking across the plain, not twenty feet from the cars, was a huge creature. It looked similar to a giraffe with it's long neck, stocky body, and long legs. Ruby recognized it immediately. A brachiosaur. It walked past the cars, bellowing as it passed, and up to a tall tree and began eating. Jaune and Pyrrha exited their car and walked up to it.

"Well, now, somebody had better pick up that phone," Sun said smugly, "Cuz I freaking called it!"

"Hey, back off Monkey Boy. Puns are my thing!"

"You're just jealous cuz I can do it better."

"Are they really ignoring the fact that there is a flesh and blood dinosaur on screen?" Emerald piped up.

"I can see two people who aren't," Torchwick said.

"Like mother, like daughter," Neo's sign read. Then she held up another that read, "And yes, folks, this is how I talk."

“It's- it's a dinosaur," was all Jaune could muster.

Pyrrha was no better, barely managing an "uh-huh."

Ozpin walked past the lead car towards Jaune and Pyrrha, chuckling. Nora remained in the car, no less astonished. "You did it," she whispered, "You crazy son of a bitch, you did it." the driver overheard and turned to look at her.

Jaune and Pyrrha walked closer, making observations all the way, "We could tear up the rule book on cold-bloodedness," he said, "It doesn't apply. They're totally wrong. This is a warm-blooded creature."

"What make them think that?" Weiss asked alod

“This thing doesn't live in a swamp."

“This thing's got a, what? 25, 27-foot neck?" Jaune asked, briefly turning to look at Ozpin then back up at the dinosaur.

“Brachiosaur? Thirty." Ozpin corrected.

“Right."

"That's how they know." Ruby said.

"What do you mean?"

This time, Summer spoke, "Well, first there's the fact that it's walking around in direct sunlight and isn't dead. That indicates that its body can regulate its body temperature on its own, and only warm-blooded animals can do that. Then there's the neck length. Only a four-chambered, warm-blooded heart would be able to pump enough blood up that neck and into the brain so that animal can function."

The brachiosaur let out a short bellow before it suddenly reared-up on its hind legs and reached for a clump of branches higher-up in the tree, towards the top. It grabbed them in its mouth, pulled until they all snapped off, and fell back down on all fours, causing the ground to shake.

" We're gonna make a fortune with this place," Whitley said to himself.

"And there's the Whitley we know and hate," Weiss deadpanned.

"It seems something rather big happened back home," Winter said, "What did I miss?"

“How fast are they?" Jaune asked Ozpin.

“Well, we clocked the T-Rex at 32 miles an hour," Ozpin replied.

"What?" Ruby and Summer said together.

"Man, Neo, you weren't kidding," Torchwick commented under his breath.

“T-t. Rex?" Pyrrha asked, amazed, "You said you got a T. Rex?"

“Uh-huh."

Jaune grabbed Ozpin by the shoulder, "Say again.”

“Heh, we have a T. Rex."

Jaune didn't feel so good. He felt light-headed and was losing his balance. Felt like he was gonna hurl. He tried to stay vertical, putting his feet shoulder-width apart and putting his hands on his knees, but he eventually fell on his butt.

“Put your head between your legs," Pyrrha said.

"Will we see it?" Yang teased Jaune.

"Please stop," Jaune groaned.

“Dr. Arc," Ozpin said with a chuckle as he walked past them to look at the valley the hill overlooked, "My dear Dr. Nikos, welcome to Jurassic Park." Jaune turned and beheld an even grander sight; a pair of Brachiosaurs emerged from a lake down in the valley, while a small group of Parasauralophus were drinking from the lake.

“They're moving in herds. They do move in herds," he said to Pyrrha. Ozpin knelt next to the pair. "How'd you do this?" Jaune asked him.

“I'll show you." He said quietly.

Chapter 4: Jurassic Park, Part 4

Chapter Text

RWBY Watches Earth Movies

Chapter 4- Jurassic Park, Part 4

The jeeps pulled out of the jungle and up to a semi-circular grey building with three cone-shaped rooves made of either wood or straw. They unloaded and were guided up the steps and through the large double doors by Ozpin. Inside was a large lobby that contained complete skeletons of a T. Rex attacking a Brontosaurus, surrounded by a winding staircase that led to a second-floor balcony. From the ceiling hung a banner that said, "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth."

"Well, now we know why Roman is paying Mercury so much to steal stuff," Emerald said, taking a sip of her soda.

"I'm just wondering why he didn't hire you, Emerald," Cinder commented, making the dark-skinned girl blush slightly.

"Well, Ice Queen did say they needed a disgruntled employee," Mercury said, grabbing another handful of popcorn, "And we don't even know if Em is even in this movie."

"You don't get to call me that, Black." Weiss said with a death glare.

“Good day," Ozpin said as he led them into the lobby and up the stairs, "Now, the most advanced amusem*nt park in the entire world, incorporating all the latest technologies. And I'm not just talking about rides, you know. Everybody has rides. No, we've made living biological attractions so astounding that they'll capture the imagination of the entire planet."

"Think Father would ever try something like this?" Weiss said to Winter.

"Possible," she replied, "If he thought it would be worth his time and money."

"SDC amusem*nt parks. That's hard to imagine."

“So what're you thinking?" Pyrrha asked Jaune.

“We're out of a job," Jaune deadpanned.

“Don't you mean 'extinct'?" Nora said with a sh*t-eating grin.

"Jaune, I think you'll need your Semblance to heal that burn." Nora teased.

They entered what appeared to be a movie theater of some kind. Jaune, Nora and Pyrrha sat in the front row, while Ozpin directed Whitley to sit a few rows behind them.

“Ah, here he comes," Ozpin said as an image of him in a dark business suit walked on screen, "Oh, well, here I come."

“Hello, heh heh, hello," the on-screen Ozpin said.

“Say hello, say hello," the off-screen Ozpin encouraged. The doctors just waved.

“Hello, Oz," On-screen Oz said.

“Oh, that's right. I have lines," Off-screen Oz remembered. He reached into his chest pocket and pulled out a small stack of notecards.

“Oh, well, fine. Fine, I guess. But, how did I get here?" Onscreen Oz said.

“Well, let me show you," Off-screen Oz said as he found his place, "But first, I'm going to need a drop of blood. Your blood."

"I guess this takes talking to yourself to a new level," Yang said. Everyone groaned, while Neo held up a sign that said 'Boo!' "Oh, screw you guys, that was funny!" she pouted. Summer giggled and rubbed her head.

“Oh, right," On-screen Oz said nervously as he held a finger out. Off-screen Oz made a jabbing motion at his counterparts' finger. The on-screen version immediately pulled his finger back following a cartoonish noise, "Oz, that hurt."

“Relax, Oz. it's all a part of the miracle of cloning."

Suddenly, a second Ozpin stepped out from behind the one on screen. They greeted each other as another one stepped out. As this continued, and Off-screen Oz took a seat next to Whitley, Nora, Jaune and Pyrrha began talking amongst themselves.

"And I thought one Ozpin was bad enough," Cinder said.

“Cloned from what?" Jaune asked, "Loy extractions never recreated an intact DNA strand."

“Not without massive sequence gaps." Nora added.

“Paleo-DNA from what source?" Pyrrha mused, "Where do you get 100-million-year-old dinosaur blood?" Ozpin hushed them as the movie continued. On-screen Oz- the original one- stared at the pricked finger as a cartoonish spiral moved up out of his finger and behind his head. A vaguely anthropomorphic cartoon DNA strand tapped him on his right shoulder before zooming back to his left.

“What? What?" On-screen Oz spotted the cartoon and said, "Oh, Mr. DNA, where did you come from?"

“From your blood," he responded, his voice heavily accented, "Just one drop of your blood contains billions of strands of DNA, the building blocks of life," the screen switched to that of a blueprint, "A DNA strand, like me, is blueprint for building a living thing," his form shifted into a white, dashed line outline of a Brachiosaurus, "And sometimes, animals that went extinct millions of years ago, like dinosaurs, left their blueprints behind for us to find. We just had to know where to look."

"Is it just me, or does he sound suspiciously like Serge?" Jaune said, confused.

"What, you mean from that Blue vs Red show?" Ruby said.

"Yeah, that's the one."

"Mmm, kinda, I guess, but not as gruff."

A cartoon mosquito was shown on a grey, scaly background as Mr. DNA continued, "A hundred million years ago, there were mosquitos, just like today. And, just like today, they fed on the blood of animals. Even dinosaurs." A real-life image of a mosquito being trapped in sap was shown, "Sometimes, after biting a dinosaur, the mosquito would land on the branch of a tree and get stuck in the sap," another cartoon of a pair of men digging to recover a chunk of amber appeared, "After a long time, the tree sap would get hard, and become fossilized, just like a dinosaur bone, preserving the mosquito inside," an image of a man carefully drilling into a chunk of amber appeared, "This fossilized tree sap, which we call amber, waited for millions of years with the mosquito inside until Jurassic Park scientists came along," having drilled a hole into the amber, the scientist stuck a needle it, "Using sophisticated techniques, they extract the preserved blood for the mosquito and bingo: dino-DNA."

"What do you make of it, Mom?" Ruby asked.

"Well, the logic itself is sound, but it still lies too far into the realm of pseudo-science."

"I guess you're right. It would take an unbelievable amount of amber, which is already limited by itself, plus you'd never know if you even had dinosaur blood, even if you did get some kind of blood-sucker."

Jaune, at this point, was leaning against a handrail in front of him, drinking it in. Nora, having become more interested leaned forward as the explanation continued, "A full DNA strand contains three billion genetic codes," Mr. DNA appeared on an orange background with complicated black text zooming across the screen, "If we looked at screens like these," he indicated the text behind him, "Once a second, for eight hours a day, it'd take two years to look at the entire DNA strand. It's that long. Since it's so old-" he was hit by a zooming block of text and taken with it. He quickly reformed and continued, completely unfazed, "It's full of holes. Now that's where our geneticists take over."

The screen showed a laboratory full of computers and workers, "Thinking machine super computers and gene sequencers break down the strand in minutes, and virtual reality displays shows our geneticists the gap in the DNA sequence. We use the complete DNA of a frog to fill the holes, and complete the code. And now, we can create a baby dinosaur," The screen showed a cartoon egg hatch, revealing Mr. DNA as he morphed into a fully-grown sauropod. Music began playing that was a bit too immature.

“This score is only temporary," Ozpin explained, "It all has very dramatic music, of course. A whole march or something. It hasn't been written yet. Then of course, the tour moves on." He pushed a button on a remote and the hand rail came down to become a lap bar. The whole room began to move as the screen came up, revealing a large pane of glass in its place. As the room moved, its showed what appeared to be the genetics lab.

“Well, lookie here," Mr. DNA's voice said, "Those hard-working cowpokes you see behind the glass…"

“This is overwhelming, Oz," Whitley said to Ozpin, "Are these characters autoerotica?"

“No, no, we don't have any animatronics here." Ozpin replied, ignoring the boys' slip of the tongue, "Those are the real miracle workers of Jurassic Park"

"Auto-what?" Ruby said, confused.

"Ask again in three years sis." Yang said laughing at Weiss and Winter's matching facepalms.

“… in unfertilized emu or ostritch eggs," Mr. DNA continued.

Jaune, who had been paying attention to the science, spoke up, "Well, wait a minute, how do you interrupt the cellular mitosis?"

“Can we see the unfertilized eggs?" Pyrrha said eagerly.

“Shortly, shortly," Ozpin said, as Jaune began struggling against his restraints.

“Can't you stop these things?" he asked

“I'm sorry, sir, it's kind of a ride," Ozpin replied.

Nora, looked at the two scientists and said, "Okay, one, two, three." Catching on quickly, Pyrrha and Jaune added their strength to Nora's and pushed the lap bar up and filed out.

“They can't do that," Whitley said in near disbelief. When the lap bar raised for him and Ozpin, he said, "Can they do that?"

The doctors walked into the busy laboratory with Ozpin and Whitley in tow. The walls were pure white, as were the clothing of all the scientists. Some wore full jumpsuits, designed to dampen the build-up of static electricity. As they walked in, a familiar voice came over the PA system.

“A reminder; the boat for the mainland will be leaving at 1900 hours. All personnel be at the dock no later than 1845. No exceptions." Emerald said.

"Hey, there I am!"

"Sounds like you're some sort of big-wig around there," Roman commented.

"Or a secretary," said Mercury, earning him a fist slammed on his hand. "Worth it."

Ozpin took the lead and walked over to a scientist with shoulder-length black hair with a pink streak, magenta eyes and wearing one of the white jumpsuits. He was intently writing on a clipboard when Ozpin walked up behind him and patted his shoulder.

"Renny, look! You're a scientist, just like you wanted to be as a kid!" Nora said, shaking her best friend/closet boyfriend.

"Really, Ren? You wanted to be a scientist?" Blake said, hiding her surprise.

"Originally, yes. But when Nora came and told me she was signing up for combat school to be a Huntress, I knew that I had to sign up as well just to keep her from getting expelled."

“Good day, Ren." He said as he handed his cane and hat to a scientist and started to put on a pair of nitrile gloves.

“Oh, good day, sir," Ren said as he returned to his work.

Jaune looked about the lab until his eye was caught by a table full of eggs. They looked like any other kind of bird's eggs, except for the fact that each one was about the size of a toy football. Attached to the table was a rudimentary robot arm that would occasionally turn the eggs.

“It's turning the eggs," Pyrrha said.

Nora pointed to an egg that was standing up right and shaking. It was hatching. Jaune and Pyrrha noticed this and gathered around to watch.

Dr. Ren noticed as well. "Ah, perfect timing," he said, "I'd hoped they'd hatch before I had to go to the boat."

“Ren, Ren, Ren, why didn't you tell me?" Ozpin said excitedly, "I insist on being here when they're born."

The screen focused on the egg as it hatched, with Ozpin occasionally talking, giving it encouragement, "Come on. Come on. Come one, little one," he gave a grandfatherly chuckle, "Come on then. Come on then. Very good. Push, push. Very good," he smiled as the little creature finally made it through the egg.

“Oh, God," Pyrrha said, amazed.

“There you are." Ozpin said as he started to pull the bits of egg shell that were stuck to its head and face. The newborn dinosaur start to make little squeaks and squeals as he did so. "They imprint on the first creature they come in contact with. Helps them to trust me. I've been present for the birth of every little creature on this island."

“Surely not the ones that have bred in the wild?" Nora said.

“Actually, they can't breed in the wild," Ren said, joining them around the birthing table, "Population control is one of our security precautions. There's no unauthorized breeding in Jurassic Park."

“How do you know they can't breed?" Nora asked as Ozpin, Pyrrha and Jaune doted over the infant.

“Well, because all the animals in Jurassic Park are female. We've engineered them that way."

"Nora doesn't look too happy, does she?" Ruby said concerned.

"Yeah, it's kinda weirding me out." Yang agreed.

As Nora paced around the table, Jaune asked, "Blood temperature seems like, about high 80s?"

“Ren?" Ozpin asked for clarification.

“91," he answered.

“Homeothermic?" Pyrrha asked for clarification, "It holds that temperature? That's incredible." Jaune took the remainder of the egg and began to examine it. However, just as he was beginning, the arm came around, took it from his hands and placed it back in the nest before swinging around into an waiting position.

"Did I just get sassed by a robot?" Jaune said with a small chuckle.

"Looks like." Yang said with a wide grin.

“But, again, how do you know they're all female?" Nora questioned Ren, "Does somebody go out and pull up the dinosaurs skirts?"

"Nora!" Weiss yelled. Mercury was laughing his ass off, unaware of the glares that Cinder and Neo were giving him.

“We control their chromosomes," Ren explained defensively, "It's really not that difficult. All vertebrate embryos are inherently female anyway. They just require an extra hormone given at the right developmental stage to make them male, and we simply deny them that."

“Deny them that?" Pyrrha asked skeptically.

Nora took a seat, "Oz, the kind of control you're attempting here, it's not possible. If there's one thing the history of evolution has taught us, it's that life will not be contained. Life breaks free. It expands to new territories and it crashes through barriers, painfully, maybe even dangerously, but… Well, there it is."

"I never thought I would hear something so insightful coming from Ms. Valkyrie of all people," Goodwitch commented.

"I'm surprised myself," said Ozcar.

Hearing this, Jaune and Ren gave each other knowing looks and shook their heads. They knew all too well just how mature and wise their bubbly, hyper little ginger could be when she wanted to be.

“There it is." Ozpin said unconvinced.

“You're implying that a group composed entirely of female animals will breed?" Ren asked.

“No," Nora defended, "I'm simply saying that life finds a way."

Jaune held the infant dinosaur carefully in his hands, marveling at what he was seriously doing. Really, he was holding a baby dinosaur! In his own hands! He wondered… "What species is this?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

“Oh," Ren replied, looking up from his clipboard, "It's a Velociraptor."

Jaune's face hardened as he almost glared at the scientist, "You bred raptors?" His voice was as dark as his glare. Ren looked up and simply nodded, thinking he might have done something to upset the man. Jaune looked back down at the infant Velociraptor as it grasped at his fingers and squealed softly.

"Well, that's f*cking ominous," Roman quipped

Chapter 5: Jurassic Park, Part 5

Chapter Text

RWBY Watches Earth Movies

Chapter 5- Jurassic Park, Part 5

Jaune stood outside the holding pen from the beginning of the movie, looking up at it.

“Dr. Arc!" Ozpin called as he and the others walked up to the pen, "As I was saying, we laid on lunch for you before you set out into the park. Our gourmet chef, Alejandro- "

“What are they doing?" Jaune asked as a crane lifted a steer into the air.

“Oh, feeding them." As the steer lifted higher into the air, Ozpin tried to make Jaune come along, saying "Alejandro's prepared a delightful menu for us. Vacuoan sea bass, I believe. Shall we?"

"Vacuoan sea bass?!" Blake said excitedly, her mouth starting to overflow with drool. She was saved from embarrassment when Yang reached over and closed her mouth for her. "Thank you."

"No prob, kitty."

"Well, if anything, the chef has excellent taste," Torchwick said. A few people looked up at him, surprised. "What? When you're a professional thief, you need to spend the money on something fast, or risk getting caught. Expensive food like that is always a good choice."

"Am I the only one worried about the cow?" Ruby said, tugging at the edge of her hood nervously.

The cow moved over to the pen as the group clambered up a staircase and onto a viewing platform. A gate in the top of the pen opened up as the steer was lowered into the pen and disappeared into the dense foliage. As the top gate slammed shut, the jungle erupted in growls, shrieks, and cries. The foliage moved incredibly fast, allowing those on the viewing platform to see the Raptors tear their lunch to pieces. Nora looked physically shook at what she had just seen, holding a hand over her chest to steady her breathing and the other clutching a railing to keep herself somewhat upright. Pyrrha had a sort-off grimace and Jaune looked on in stunned fascination until a gruff voice brought him back to Realityland.

"Holy sh*t." Yang said quietly. She had seen some brutal things in her life, the Fall most prominent among them, but she could only imagine the brutality that was going on in that cage. Ruby clung to her mother, burying her face in her arm, as Summer tried to soothe her.

“They should all be destroyed." Said Qrow as he walked up the stairs to the platform. He was wearing his usual garb, with Harbinger noticeably absent.

“Ah! Qrow Branwen, my game warden from Vale," Ozpin introduced him, "Bit of an alarmist I'm afraid, but he's one of the best Huntsmen I know and knows more about Raptors than anybody."

Jaune immediately started asking him questions, as they both leaned back on railings, facing each other. "What kind of metabolism do they have? What's their growth rate?"

“They're lethal at eight months, and I do mean lethal. I've hunted most things that can hunt you, but the way these things move…"

“Fast for a biped?"

“Cheetah speed. Fifty, sixty miles an hour if they ever got out in the open, and they're astonishing jumpers."

“Yes. That's why we're taking extreme precautions." Ozpin tried to reassure everybody. He tried to show Pyrrha their security measures until they were interrupted when one of the Raptors made a brief shriek.

“Do they show intelligence?" Jaune asked Qrow, "Because their brain cavity- "

“They show extreme intelligence. Even problem-solving intelligent. Especially the big one. We bred eight originally but when she came in, she took over the pride and killed all but two of the others. That one," he paused to take a sip from his hip flask, "when she looks at you, you can see she's working things out. That's why we have to feed them like this. She had them all attacking the fences when the feeders came."

“The fences are electrified, right?" Pyrrha asked.

“That's right, but they never attack the same place twice. They were testing the fences for weaknesses, systematically. They remember." He said, as he took another sip from his flask. As he did, the crane started to raise the harness that held the steer. As it came up, the group saw that the harness was torn to pieces, shredded in some places.

“Yes, well, who's hungry?" Ozpin said, trying to lighten the mood.

"And I thought we were well off with the monsters we have." Ozcar said.

"Sir?" Glynda asked.

"Imagine what life is like right now, only having to deal with the Grimm." He replied.

"Okay…" Glynda replied, not quite following.

"Now imagine what life would be like if we had to deal with a population of those things, in addition to the Grimm."

"Oh."

"I'll do you one better." Qrow said.

"What's that?"

"Imagine if Salem had a few of those under her control." The room was deathly silent at the thought.

A plate of fish fillets was placed in front of Pyrrha, who didn't have much of an appetite after what she saw at the Raptor pen. Everyone was seated around a black stone table with a series of projection screens behind them cycling through ads for different rides as a recording of Ozpin described each one.

Blake started drooling again.

“None of these attractions are ready yet, of course," said Ozpin, "But the park will open with the basic tour you're about to take. And then other rides will come online, six or twelve months after that. Absolutely spectacular design. We spared no expense."

“And we can charge whatever we want," Whitley chimed in, "Two-thousand a day, ten-thousand, and people will pay. And then there's the merchandise- "

"And there it is again." Weiss said, exasperated.

"You're not going to enjoy this movie much as long as he's in it, are you?" Winer asked

"Pretty much."

"Yeah, we definitely need to talk later."

“Whitley," Ozpin interrupted, "This park was not built to cater only to the super-rich. Everyone in the world has the right to enjoy these animals."

“Sure, they will. We'll have a coupon day, or something." Whitley joked, Oz joining in on it.

"Great, and now there's two of them."

“Gee, the lack of humility before nature that's being displayed here… staggers me." Nora said quietly.

“Thank you, Dr. Valkyrie, but I think things are a little different than you and I had feared."

“Yeah, I know, they're a lot worse."

“Now, wait a minute, we haven't even seen the park yet- "

“Whitley, let her talk." Ozpin interrupted, "There's no reason, I want to hear every viewpoint, I really do."

“Don't you see the danger inherent in what you're doing here, Oz?" Nora questioned, "I mean, genetic power is the most awesome force the world has seen since the harnessing of Dust, but you wield it like a kid who's found his dad's gun."

“It's hardly appropriate to start hurling- "Whitley said before Nora cut him off again.

“If I may, if I may, um, I'll tell you problem with the scientific power you're using here: it didn't require any discipline to attain it. Okay? You read what others had done, and you took the next step. You didn't earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don't take any responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could, and before you even knew what you had, you patented it, and packaged it, and you slapped it on a plastic lunchbox, and now you want to sell it. You're going to sell it."

"She's right, you know." Glynda pointed out.

"She is?" Weiss asked.

"I am?" Nora asked.

"It's the same in real life. Each and every one of you spent years in a combat school, training your fighting skills, your Auras and your Semblances to become the highly skilled fighters you are today. Well, with a few exceptions." She said with a pointed look towards Blake and Jaune, "And in that time, you became, not only skilled, but also disciplined enough to not abuse those skills."

Ozpin was shaking his head in disappointment, "I don't think you're giving us our due credit. Our scientists have done things which nobody has ever done before." He said.

“Yeah, yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they never stopped to ask if they should!"

“Condors! Condors are on the verge of extinction- "

“No, no, no…" Nora groaned. He was missing the point.

“No, if I was to create a flock of condors on this island, you wouldn't have anything to say."

“No, hold on, this isn't some species that was obliterated by deforestation, or by an increase in Grimm numbers. Dinosaurs had their shot, and nature selected them for extinction."

“I simply don't understand this Luddite attitude, especially from a scientist. I mean, how can we stand in the light of discovery, and not act?"

“Oh, what's so great about discovery? It's a violent, penetrative act that scars what it explores. What you call discovery, I call the rape of the natural world." Nora said with a smug grin.

"Welp, there's an image. Thanks Nora." Blake said.

“Well, the question is how can you know anything about an extinct ecosystem?" Pyrrha said hoping to diffuse the tension in the air by changing the subject, "And therefore, how could you ever assume that you can control it? I mean, you have plants in building that are poisonous. You pick them because they look good, but these are aggressive livings things that have no idea what century they're in and they will defend themselves. Violently, if necessary."

"It's astounding how often people forget that about Nature." Said Ozcar.

Ozpin, looked about, amazed that so few people were with him. "Doctor Arc," he said, "If there's one person here who can appreciate what I'm trying to do…"

Jaune took in a breath before voicing his thoughts. Ozpin was not going to like what he had to say.

“The world has just changed so radically, and we're all running to catch up. I don't want to jump any conclusions, but look, dinosaurs and man. Two species separated by 65 million years of evolution have suddenly just been thrown back into the mix together. How can we possibly have the slightest idea what to expect?"

“I don't believe it," Ozpin said with a chuckle, "I don't believe it. You're meant to come down here and defend me against these characters, and the only one I've got on my side is the bloodsucking lawyer. Ha!"

“Thank you," Whitley said, taking it as a compliment of his abilities as a lawyer. A older gentleman walked over to Ozpin and began whispering in his ear, making a smile break out on his face.

"Of course he'd take it as a compliment," Weiss giggled.

"Hey, Ice Queen Sr, is that a smirk I see?" Qrow called.

"Silence, you!" Winter said, throwing her popcorn at him.

"That's a yes."

“Well," he said, standing up, "They're here."

As the group descended into the main lobby of the visitor's center, Ozpin was talking, again.

“You four are going to have a spot company out in the park," he said, "Spend a little time with our 'target audience'."

“Grandpa!" a pair of young girls said, running up to Ozpin. The older one had blonde hair, worn in two pigtails over either shoulder. She had an orange scarf around her neck, a tan blouse with a dark orange belt, black shorts, and brown shoes. The younger one, also somehow the faster one, had short black hair tinted red at the tips. She wore a red sleeveless hoodie with a matching cape, a black skirt and black sneakers.

"Oh my Gods! Look at how smol you guys are!" Nora cried

"Oh, Gods, look at how awful my hair looks." Yang said, stroking her beloved mane.

"Hey! I resent that," Summer said, "I did your hair like that because you looked adorable."

"Mom, I was seven. I looked adorable no matter what. Now, with this," she ran her hand through her hair, "and this figure, I had men wrapped around my little finger back at Beacon."

"Except for the two literally right across the hall." Ruby quipped.

"They don't count. They were spoken for."

"Damn straight!" Nora said, laying her head on Ren's shoulder.

“Kids!" Ozpin called, holding his arms out. The girls ran up the stairs two at a time, and hug-tackled him, causing him to fall backward, "Oh, hey, careful with me!"

“We missed you!" Yang said excitedly.

“Thanks for the presents!" Ruby said with an ear-to-ear smile.

“We loved the presents!"

“Good, good, did you enjoy the helicopter?" Ozpin asked. As the kids dived into their exciting retelling of their trip, the camera panned up to look at the adults. Pyrrha was smiling with amusem*nt. Jaune looked at her, just knowing that she was going to use this against him. Nora's expression was neutral, almost like she had seen this before. Whitley wore a look of exasperation, as if he already knew what he was going to be doing today.

Chapter 6: Jurassic Park, Part 6

Chapter Text

RWBY Watches Earth Movies

Chapter 6: Jurassic Park, Part 6

As the group exited the visitor's center, their new charges in tow, a pair of red, green and yellow SUVs pulled up alongside. They had glass sunroofs, a trio of lights on top, and, most curiously of all, no drivers. The kids were extremely excited, and Ozpin had to try to keep them from being accidentally run over. As soon as they stopped, Yang climbed in one and started looking around.

“Aren't they lovely? Aren't they glorious? These will be your transports for the afternoon." Oz said proudly.

“No drivers?" Whitley asked, somewhat confused.

“No. No drivers. They're electric. They run on this track in the middle of the roadway. Totally non-polluting, top of the line. We spared no expense."

“It's an interactive CD-ROM!" Yang said excitedly as she messed with the touch screen on the dash, "See? You just push the right part of the screen and it talks about whatever you want."

“Yang, darling, you're alright in there," Ozpin said, directing traffic, "Dr. Nikos, come with me. Dr. Arc, come in the second car."

“I'm gonna ride with Dr. Nikos." Nora said, trying to sound casual.

"Yeesh, Pinky," Torchwick said, "Could you be any more obvious?"

"Really? That the best nickname you could come up with?" Nora said, expertly deflecting his comment.

"I'm with her Boss. That one was kinda weak." Neo's sign read.

"Traitor." Torchwick grumbled.

Ozpin had already begun ascending the staircase back into the visitor's center by the time Jaune had started back toward the rear car. He stopped when he noticed Ruby in his way. She looked up at him with recognition and slight admiration.

“I read your book." She said.

“Oh, that's- that's great." He replied stiffly.

“Do you really think dinosaurs turned into birds and that's where they all went?"

“Well, a few species may have evolved along those lines." He grunted as he climbed into the car, Ruby hot on his heels.

“Cuz they sure don't look like birds to me." Ruby said with a chuckle. Jaune looked to Pyrrha for help, but he saw that she was enjoying this, so he got back out of the car, knowing Ruby would follow. "I heard that there was this meteor that hit the Earth someplace down in southern Vale, and made this big crater- "

“Listen…" Jaune interrupted, pausing to try and remember the girl's name.

“Ruby." She finished for him.

“Ruby, which car were you planning on?"

“Whichever one you are." She replied.

"Well, seems you're as persistent as ever, Little Red." Torchwick said.

"She always was, even at that age." Summer said with a smile.

"I get it from my mother." Ruby sassed, causing Summer to ruffle her hair.

Taking this into account, Jaune formulated a plan. He started walking towards the lead car and held the door open for Ruby, acting like a total gentleman, Ruby talking the whole way, "Then I heard about this thing in Omni, about this meteor making all this heat and it made a bunch of diamond dust. And that changed the weather. And they died because of the weather. And then my teacher tells about this other book by a guy named Winchester. And he says- "at the mention of his rival, Cardin Winchester, Jaune closed the door on Ruby and turned back to the other car, only to see Yang standing before him, messing with one of her ponytails and smiling.

“She said I should ride with you cuz it'd be good for you." Yang said innocently.

Jaune looked up and saw Pyrrha in the front seat of the second car laughing to herself. So that was how she wanted to play, was it?

In the control room, Qrow led Ozpin in, briefing him on a weather report he had just received.

“The National Weather Service is tracking a tropical storm, about 75 miles west of us." Qrow said, taking a quick swing from his flask.

“Ay yay, yay, yay, why didn't I build in Mistral?" Ozpin said to himself, but loud enough for all to hear.

“I'll keep an eye on it," Qrow assured him, "Maybe it'll swing south, like the last one."

Ozpin patted a dark-skinned technician on the shoulder. The hair gave her away immediately. Anyone there would have recognized that hair color and style anywhere. "Emerald," he said, "Start the tour program."

Emerald swung around in her chair and began furiously typing on a keyboard. She was wearing a button-up shirt with the top two buttons undone and tucked into black slacks underneath a white lab coat. In her mouth was a lit cigarette, which seemed fairly new as very little of it was ash.

"Hold onto your butts." She said, more as a personal ritual than anything else. A final line of code, and the program began.

"So, Em," Mercury said, breaking away from his soda, "What do you think your role in all this is?"

"Well, at the very least I'm not a secretary, thankfully. Maybe I'm a chief operator of the park?"

"Whatever it is," Cinder said, "You at least know exactly what you're doing, and it's clear that Ozpin trusts you explicitly." 'Perhaps we should have tried this tactic to overthrow Shade.' She thought to herself.

Outside, Whitley was in the driver's seat of the lead car with Yang and Ruby in the back talking excitedly to each other, while Jaune, Nora and Pyrrha were in the rear car with Pyrrha alone in the front. As the cars began to move, little snippets of dialogue were heard.

“You want to join the future, right?" Whitley said.

“Oh, Oum help us, we're in the hands of engineers." Nora said sarcastically.

As the cars moved along the bumpy trail, a voice came over the radio system, saying, "During most of your tour, the appropriate information will be automatically selected and displayed for you. Simply touch the area of the screen displaying the appropriate icon."

Ruby leaned over the driver's seat and looked ahead, seeing a massive gateway made of a dark stone arch with torches set in and wooden doors. "Hey, look!"

“Are we gonna hit that?" Yang asked.

“Welcome to Jurassic Park!" the computer voice said.

As the cars passed through the gate, Nora looked up and joked, "What have they got in there, Grimm Kong?"

"Damn, that's an old reference." Yang said, ignoring her mother's look about her language, "Just how old is this you, Nora?"

"Dunno. Maybe my mid-thirties, I hope."

"Doesn't that guy on the recording kinda sound like Professor Port?" Ruby said

"Not pompous enough." Commented Jaune.

"Mr. Arc!" Goodwitch looked scandalized

"Now, Glynda, you have to admit that he's not entirely wrong." Ozcar said.

Back in the control room, Ozpin was at a computer terminal wearing a headset. He entered a short line of code, and the interior of the lead car came on screen. "The voice you're now hearing is Anthony Sardinha." He said, "We spared no expense."

Back with the cars, they were passing through a dense jungle with electric fences on either side, as Mr. Antfish began speaking again.

“If you look to the right, you'll see a herd of the first dinosaurs on our tour, called Dilophosaurus."

“Dilophosaurus?!" Jaune said, quickly looking out the window.

“sh*t!" Pyrrha exclaimed, mirroring Jaune's enthusiasm.

"Ruby?" Yang said, looking to her little sister for information.

"Dilophosaurus," Ruby said almost mechanically, "Carnivore, early Jurassic period. Name roughly translates to 'two-crested lizard'. Averages about 20 feet long and five to six feet tall, weighing a little under 900 lbs. Pretty much tiptoes the line between a large and medium-sized therapod."

"Thank you."

" One of the earliest carnivores," Antfish explained, "We now know that Dilophosaurus is actually poisonous, spitting its venom at its prey, causing blindness and, eventually, paralysis, allowing the animal to eat at its leisure. This makes Dilophosaurus a beautiful, but deadly addition to Jurassic Park."

"That's interesting." Ruby said, leaning forward, "There's never been any evidence of that."

"Makes sense, if you think about it." Summer said, "Venom sacs aren't made of bone, so they would have decayed long before the bones had fully fossilized."

Everyone stared out the sides of the cars as they rolled by, trying to get a glimpse of the dinosaurs Antfish was talking about. Even Yang was struggling against Ruby to get a good look, but there was nothing to see but more jungle and high fences.

“Jaune," Pyrrha said, "Where?"

Jaune's face simply crinkled into a frown as the cars passed their last chance to see into the paddock and he slammed a hand into the door, conceding defeat. "Damn."

Back in the control room, Emerald was rapping a pencil against a computer screen, "Vehicle headlights are on and they're not responding." She said, running off the error and adding it to her list, "Those shouldn't be running off car batteries. Item 151 on today's glitch list. We have all the problems of a major theme park and a major zoo, and the computers aren't even on their feet yet." She took a drag from her cigarette, which had shortened considerably.

Ozpin turned to the man who sat before a trio of computer screens in a lab coat. If anything, his workplace resembled a nest more than anything else, with food and drink containers, candy bar wrappers, assorted papers, and what appeared to be a barely hidden lewd magazine scattered about and around his desk.

" Mercury," he said, "Our lives are in your hands and you have butterfingers?"

"Hey, there I am!"

"Is that a PlayFaunus magazine I see on your desk?" Emerald said.

"Looks like it. Never pegged you for that kind of a guy, kid." Roman commented.

"Eh, what can I say? I appreciate the female form. Racial distinctions are lost on me."

"Am I the only one offended by the fact that he has that… thing?" Weiss asked.

"What, sister? A p*rno mag?" said Winter. Weiss looked scandalized that her older sister, her idol, could even utter the words. "This, dear sister, is one of the downsides of being a part of a unisex team. You lack any true understanding of what the opposite sex is like until you have had to live with them."

"What about Whitley?"

"Not the same. He has his own room in a multi-million lien mansion that could easily house every person in this theater. Your team's sister team is a perfect example of what I'm talking about. Am I correct, Ms. Valkyrie?"

"It's true Weiss." Nora confirmed, "You should have seen Pyrrha turn redder than her hair when we accidentally found Jaune's stash one time. Man, did he get an ear-beating from Pyrrha."

"Okay, but I somewhat expected that of Arc. Surely, Ren wouldn't have something like that."

"Of course not. He's more into hentai."

“If we're quite finished talking about people's p*rn preferences, let us continue with the movie."

Mercury laughed as he turned around in his chair, "I am totally unappreciated in my time. You can run this whole park from this room with minimal staff for up to three days. You think that kind of automation is easy?" He took a sip of his cola "Or cheap? You know anyone who can network eight connection machines and debug 2 million lines of code for what I bid for this job? Cuz if you do, then I'd love to see them try."

“I'm sorry about your financial problems, Mercury, I really am, but they are your problems."

“Oh, you're right, Oz, you're absolutely right. You know, everything's my problem."

“I will not be drawn into another financial debate with you, Mercury. I really will not."

“There's hardly been any debate at all."

Ozpin fixed Mercury with a firm look he had used on his kids, "I don't blame people for their mistakes. But I do ask that they pay for them."

“Thanks, Dad." Mercury said sarcastically.

"Well, now we know why I picked you to infiltrate the Park." Torchwick said.

"Unfortunately, I have to agree." Weiss said, with Winter nodding beside her.

"What'cha mean, Weiss Cream?" Yang asked.

"Obviously, Mercury, hard as it is to believe, designed the computer code that runs that entire park."

"And at some point after he finished," Torchwick continued, "Ozpin short-changed him and caught him in a legal loophole. This has him angry at his employer, which makes him very easily tempted. It's a delicate balance of business sense and understanding human behavior."

"Basically, don't f*ck with engineers."

“Merc," Emerald said before Ozpin could retort, "The headlights."

“Yeah, I'll debug the tour program when they get back, alright?" Mercury said. Emerald's look indicated his answer wasn't enough for her. "Okay?! It'll eat a lot of compute cycles. We'll lose part of the system for a while. There's a finite amount of memory, you can't use it for everything. Are you gonna compile for half an hour- "

“Quiet! All of you!" yelled Qrow, who had been there the whole time, patiently watching the security feeds, paying extra attention to the Velociraptor pen, when he looked up and saw the current position of the tour vehicles, "They're approaching the Tyrannosaur paddock."

The cars pulled out of a tunnel and came down a small hill before stopping before a long stretch of fence and more jungle. Jaune, who had crawled into the trunk of the car he was in, so everybody could see properly, looked out and saw a whole lot of nothing. Just like the with Dilophosaurs, the jungle was silent, save for the occasional bout of chirping birds.

Nora chuckled to herself and began ticking off her fingers, saying, "God creates dinosaurs. God destroys dinosaurs. God creates man. Man destroys God. Man creates dinosaurs."

“Dinosaurs eat man," Pyrrha said, "Woman inherits Remnant."

Nora started laughing while Jaune gave her a knowing look as she stared out the window, trying to see if there was something, anything, that she was missing.

“We'll try to tempt the Rex now," Emerald's voice said over the radio, "Keep watching the fence."

On cue, a small cage rose from the ground, inside of which was a goat, tethered to a metal post by a chain and collar.

“What's gonna happen to him?" Ruby said, somewhat confused. As the cage came down, she put the pieces together, "He's gonna eat the goat?"

“Excellent." Commented Yang.

“What's the matter kid?" Whitley said, keeping his eyes forward, "You never had lamb chops?"

“Well, yeah, but…"

In the other car, Jaune watched the scene unfold, with low-key disgust. "T-rex doesn't wanna be fed. He wants to hunt. You can't just suppress 65 million years of gut instinct."

Sensing it was not in any danger just yet, the goat laid down. Everyone in the cars took this as a sign that nothing was going to be happening anytime soon, and so sat back and waited for the tour to continue.

In the control room, Ozpin sat at his desk with his head resting in one hand while his other lazily typed a line of code, bringing up the interior camera of the rear car. Coincidentally, it was around this time that Nora decided it would be very funny to make fun of him by getting really close to the camera and start talking to it.

“Now, eventually you do plan to have dinosaurs on your dinosaur tour, right? Hello? Hello? Yes?"

“I really hate that woman." Ozpin sighed as he put his other hand under his head.

"I'm with Nora," Ruby said with a pout, "So far this has been the most boring tour of a DINOSAUR THEME PARK ever. Of all time."

Nora sat back down next to Jaune, who had climbed back into a proper seat, as the cars began to drive away from the dense jungle and into what appeared to be vast plains.

“See the Tyrannosaur doesn't obey any set patterns, or park schedules. The essence of chaos." She said, groaning as she sat back down.

“I'm still not clear on chaos."

“Oh, it simply deals with unpredictability in complex systems." Nora explained, "The short hand is the Butterfly Effect. A butterfly could flap it's wings in Vacuo and in Atlas you get rain instead of sunshine."

“Nnnyooom!" Pyrrha said, bringing her hand over her head.

“Ah. Did I go too fast?" Nora said, messing with Pyrrha's hair playfully, "I went too fast. I did a fly-by. Give me that glass of water." She indicated one of the small cups on the dashboard, "We're gonna conduct an experiment. We should be still, the car's bouncing up and down, but that doesn't really matter, it's just an example. Now, put you hand flat, like a hieroglyph." As she got Pyrrha into the proper position, Jaune noticed something out in the field. It looked like there was a vehicle out there, identical to the Jeeps they had ridden in to get to the visitor's center.

Nora continued her experiment with Pyrrha, saying "Now, let's say a drop of water falls on your hand. Which way's the drop going to roll off? Towards your fingers or your thumb or your wrist?"

“Thumb, I'd say." Said Pyrrha.

Nora dipped her middle finger into the water and let a drop of water fall onto the knuckle of Pyrrha's middle finger. The drop ran off her hand toward her wrist. "Aha! Okay," Nora said, taking note of what had happened, "Now, freeze your hand. Don't move. I'll do the same thing, start with the same place again. Which way's it going to roll off?"

“Let's say, back the same way."

“Same way?" Nora confirmed as she repeated the process. This time the drop rolled down between Pyrrha's fingers. "Ah, ah. It changed. Why?" Nora said, taking Pyrrha's hand and rubbing it softly, "Because tiny variations, the orientation of hairs on your hand- "

“Jaune, look at this."

“-The amount of blood distending your vessels, imperfections in the skin- "

“Imperfections in the skin?" Pyrrha said coyly.

“Microscopic. But they never repeat and vastly affect the

outcome. That's, what?"

“Unpredictability." Pyrrha finished. As she did, Jaune opened the car door and stepped out, walking into the field.

“See? See?" Nora said excitedly, "I'm right again. No one could have predicted that Dr. Arc would suddenly jump out of a moving vehicle."

“Jaune! Jaune~!" Pyrrha called after him, following his lead.

“And there's another example." Nora said aloud, laughing to herself, "See, here I am now by myself, talking to myself. That's Chaos Theory."

"Anyone else find it really ironic that Nora of all people is preaching about chaos and unpredictability?" Blake said.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Nora said indignantly. Teams RWBY, J_R, Qrow and Glynda fixed her with a deadpan stare. "Okay, point taken." She said sliding down in her seat. Ren couldn't help but chuckle and rubbed her head comfortingly.

Chapter 7: Jurassic Park, Part 7

Chapter Text

Chapter 7: Jurassic Park, Part 7

Back in the control room, things were getting a bit crazy. There was an alarm going off because people had exited the cars, Ozpin was telling Emerald to stop the tour program, which she was doing as fast as she could, and Qrow was going on about they should have put locks on the car doors. The one person not losing their sh*t was Mercury, who was sitting at his terminal and appearing to be doing actual work. Which he was, kind of. He had accessed the security cameras and had a few feeds on-screen. Notably, he had brought up the camera for the embryo cold storage room and for the east dock, where the boat was loading and unloading supplies. Nearby sat his can of ‘shaving cream.’

'What are you up to, Mercury?' thought Blake. She had remained mostly silent, trying to figure out the plot from her literary experience.

Back in the field, the group had entered the park, Jaune leading and with the kids quick behind him. Ruby had just run up to start talking to him, picking up where they had left off.

“So, like I was saying, there was this other book by a guy named Winchester, and he says the dinosaurs died from a bunch of diseases, he definitely didn't say they turned into birds."

“Where are we going?" Pyrrha asked, "Did you see something?"

“Uh, is there anyone else who thinks we shouldn't be out here?" Whitley said nervously.

“And his book was a lot fatter than yours," Ruby said, "It was like this." She showed him, holding his book up for comparison.

“Really?" Jaune said, somewhat annoyed.

“Yours was fully illustrated." Pyrrha chimed in, knowing he didn't like discussing Cardin in any way.

Yang, who had been walking next to him, tripped and fell on a rock. Jaune grabbed her elbow to help her up. "You okay?" he asked. She nodded and slipped her hand down to grab his.

Jaune tried to escape her grasp while Ruby pestered him to watch what she was doing. Pyrrha saw this, and stuck her tongue out at him impishly until a low bellowing made everyone stop in their tracks.

"The f*ck was that?" Yang asked, receiving a light smack upside her head from her mother.

"Don't know. Never heard anything like it." said Ruby.

'I have.' Summer thought. It reminded her of the beast that had nearly claimed her on a hunt in Mistral back in her Team STRQ days.

“Everybody stay here." Jaune said as Yang finally released his hand. He walked off into a field of waist-high grass. Not two seconds later, Ruby followed him, ignoring Pyrrha and Yang's protests. She followed Jaune's path through the grass and came upon a sight that made her gasp.

“Woah!" she said quietly. It was a fully-grown Triceratops- or she thought it was at least, it was huge to her eyes. It was lying on its side, breathing heavily through its mouth, where its tongue was hanging out. Standing next to it were Jaune and a man with green hair and large round sunglasses. They spoke briefly before Jaune reached out and touched the beast, rubbing his hands along it's frill.

"Is that Professor Oobleck?" Weiss asked in surprise.

"Doctor Oobleck, Ms. Schnee." Glynda reminded her. They might not be her students anymore, but they should still respect the title he bore.

“Don't be scared." Oobleck said, "It's quite alright. Mr. Branwen tranquilized her for me. She's rather sick, I'm afraid."

Pyrrha approached, absolutely stunned. She knelt beside its' snout, practically on the verge of tears she was so happy. "Oh my god." Jaune knelt next to her, moving around towards the stomach. Even Ruby had joined in, rubbing it on the frill and one of the horns. Meanwhile, Whitley and Yang stood off to the side, amazed at the sight before them.

“She was always my favorite when I was a kid," Jaune said to Pyrrha, "And now I see she's the most beautiful thing I ever saw."

"My favorite too!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Said the girl who changed her favorite every time she found out new stuff about a different one." Yang teased, "Hey, Dad, what was her record for longest favorite again?"

"Brachiosaurus, standing at four months, which was then replaced by the entire Sauropod family once she found out about the larger members." Taiyang said without missing a beat.

"If this is what she was like before her weapons obsession," Weiss quietly said to Winter, "Quite a few things about her suddenly make a lot more sense."

Pyrrha beamed at him in agreement before she looked down and noticed something; what looked like some kind of lump on its tongue. She reached into its mouth to inspect it, causing the beast to let out a soft bellow. Pyrrha soothed it before she reached in and pinched the lump, causing a sort of puss to burst forth. "Microvesicles. That's interesting." She said with obvious disgust. Oobleck walked over and handed her a small flashlight. "What are her symptoms?" she asked.

“Imbalance, disorientation, labored breathing. Seems to happen about every six weeks or so." He said and Pyrrha began to inspect the beast's eyes. Jaune, meanwhile, had placed his ear to the dinosaur's stomach and was listening to it breathe. It was then that Pyrrha noticed something about the dinosaur's eyes.

Normally, when an animal was tranquilized, the eyes would become constricted. However,…

“These are dilated." Pyrrha said, shining her flashlight in the dinosaur's other to show Dr. Oobleck.

“Really?" he looked at them and was convinced.

“That's pharmacological. From local plant life." Pyrrha said to herself. She got up and started to scan around for anything that may have caused such an effect. Her search brought her to some nearby bushes that had lilac colored berries on them, along with small piles of smooth stones. "Is this West Mistralian lilac?" she asked as Nora walked over behind her.

“Indeed. We know it's toxic, but the animals don't eat them." Oobleck confirmed.

“You're sure?"

“Very much so."

"I think I know where this is going and we are not going to like it." Blake said.

“Well, there's only one way to be positive," Pyrrha said, turning around, "I'd have to see the dinosaur's droppings."

“Dino-droppings? Droppings?" Nora said.

“Yeah."

"Yup, there it is." Blake confirmed with a look of nausea.

"I don't get it." Nora said.

"Just keep watching."

In the control room, Qrow was on the phone with Ozpin and Emerald alongside him. They were all looking at a computer showing a meteorological model of a large storm.

“Yep. Yeah, I got that," he said into the phone, before covering the receiver with his shoulder, "That storm center hasn't dissipated or changed course. Looks like we're gonna have to cut the tour short. Pick up tomorrow where we left off."

“Are you sure we have to?" Ozpin said.

“It's not worth the risk, Oz." Emerald chimed in as Qrow went back to the phone, confirming details.

“Tell them when they get back in the cars." Ozpin ordered.

Emerald turned to the control room, "Ladies and gentlemen, last shuttle leaving for the dock leaves in approximately five minutes. Drop what you're doing and leave now."

“Damn!" Ozpin said angrily, slamming his cane on the ground.

Out in the field, Nora had shed her jacket, rolled up the sleeves of her black shirt and was sauntering up to a large brown mound with flies buzzing around it. she took off her dark sunglasses and said, "That is one big pile of sh*t."

"Oh, God." Said Weiss, finally piecing together what Blake was talking about. "Oh, no, no, no."

Meanwhile, Pyrrha was busy digging through a smaller mound nearby, thankfully wearing rubber gloves that came up to her biceps.

The entire theater erupted with cries of disgust, mostly from the assembled teenagers. Ruby, Yang and Summer covered each others eyes. Weiss covered her mouth in an attempt to prevent herself from vomiting, while Winter, Blake, Ilia, and the adults just grimaced through it. Even the Villains section was affected.

"Oh, God," Torchwick said, "I think I'm gonna be sick."

"SPEW INCOMING!" Neo's sign said. A bucket appeared in Roman's hands right as he began to puke. Neo flipped her sign around, smiling, and began rubbing her boss' back with her free hand. "Thank You, Wolf Guy!"

“You're right, there's no trace of lilac berries." She said to Dr. Oobleck, "That's so odd though." She began talking to herself as she wracked her brain for some sort of answer. "Alright, she's suffering from Melia toxicity every six weeks…"

As she began to walk back towards the Triceratops, Nora turned to Jaune and said, "She's tenacious."

“You have no idea." Jaune said back.

“You will remember to wash your hands before you eat anything?" Nora yelled at Pyrrha, jokingly.

"You'd think that would be a friggin' given, you know?" Weiss said.

Mercury rapidly typed in a line of code, causing an icon to light up on his screen that said "Execute?"

"Uh oh." Blake said to herself, her literary senses going off in her head.

Thunder cracked overhead, startling Whitley and causing Yang to just look around, almost unbothered.

“Doctors, if you please," he said, "I have to insist that we get moving."

Jaune and Pyrrha stood up, turning their attention away from the dinosaur.

“You know, if it's alright, I'd like to stay with Dr. Oobleck and finish up with the Trike." Pyrrha said, eager to spend more time with the beautiful creature, "If, you know-"

“Of course, of course," Oobleck interrupted, "I'm in a gas-powered Jeep. I can drop her off at the visitor's center before I make the boat with the others."

“Great. Then I'll catch up with you if you wanna go on." She said to Jaune.

“You sure?"

“Yeah, I want to stay with her a little longer."

As Pyrrha knelt besides the 'Trike' Yang walked over and, almost bodily, pulled her sister away from the dinosaur while the others began making their way back to the cars. Meanwhile, the storm intensified.

"Something tells me that sh*t is about to hit the fan." Yang deadpanned.

Mercury looked at the recording he had of the East Dock and the man who spoke into the phone.

“There's nothing I can do." He said as the surf washed over the dock, "The captain says we gotta go, we gotta go."

“No, no, listen, you gotta give me the time." Mercury pleadedinto his headset, "I did a test run on this thing and it took me twenty minutes. I thought I could maybe push it to eighteen, but you gotta at least give me fifteen minutes. Gimme the fifteen minutes."

“No promises," the sailor said before he hung up the phone. Mercury looked up at the three remaining individuals and sighed.

“Visitor vehicles are returning to the garage." Emerald reported.

“So much for our first tour," Ozpin mused while idly toying with his cane, "Two no-shows and one sick Triceratops."

“It could have been worse, Oz. A lot worse."

“Anybody want a soda or something?" Mercury said, getting up from his desk and counting some coins, "I'm going up to the machine. I thought maybe I'd get somebody something, cuz I've had all these sweets and I'm gonna get something salty to offset it. Any takers?" Silence followed. "Oh, real quick, I finished debugging the phones." He began zipping up his jacket, "You should also probably know that the system is gonna be compiling for about 20 minutes so some of the minor systems will switch on or off, but it's nothing out of the ordinary."

Seeing Emerald acknowledge him, he turned to his computer and clicked on the red "Execute?" icon. It automatically closed the majority of his windows and brought up a built-in stopwatch program. He synchronized his watch with the computer stopwatch and turned to leave.

"He's making his move." Weiss said.

"With his usual amount of arrogant calm." Emerald chimed in.

The cars, meanwhile, were moving through the jungle back towards the visitor's center, rain pouring down in sheets. The girls were with Whitley once again in the lead car, while Jaune and Nora took up the front seats of the rear car.

“You got any kids?" Jaune asked almost randomly.

“Me? Oh, hell yeah. Three. I love kids." Nora responded before taking a swig from a flask. "Anything at all can and does happen. Same with partners, for that matter." She offered the flask to Jaune.

“You're married?" Jaune said, waving off the flask.

“Occasionally. I'm always on the lookout for a future ex-Mrs. Valkyrie."

"Well, that explains why she's going after Pyrrha." Jaune said to himself.

"Can you blame me?" Nora chimed in. Ren and Jaune looked at each other and shrugged. She had a point.

Mercury walked up the ramp out of the control room with his usual swagger, shoulders lax and hands in his pockets, but his eyes were laser focused on the entrance to the lab on his right. He took out his watch and checked the timer. "Five… Four… Three… Two… One…" As his timer hit zero, he heard the airlock door unlock. He grinned and pushed it open with impunity, knowing full well that all the cameras inside were knocked out.

Emerald, at the time, was lighting a new cigarette when an alert on her computer caught her attention.

“That's odd."

“What?" Ozpin asked, bored.

“Door security systems are shutting down."

“Well, Mercury did say a few systems would go off-line, didn't he?"

"He's as good as you, Emerald." Cinder said.

"He wishes." Emerald scoffed. She had to admit though, it was a clever idea to write a program like this into his own code. With a single keystroke, he had unlocked the entire facility at a time completely determined by him.

In the lab, Mercury pushed open the door to the cold storage room and raised the two towers that kept the embryos frozen. He pulled the can of shaving cream from his jacket pocket and set to work putting the embryos in the internal compartment, delicately, one at a time. When he had finished, he returned the towers to their original positions, resealed the door behind him, and screwed the shaving cream canister back together.

'He's good.' Emerald thought to herself.

“By the way, Dr. Nikos," Nora said, trying and failing to be subtle, "She's not, like, available, is she?"

“Why?" Jaune replied, not liking the direction Nora was going.

The single word clicked in Nora's mind. "I'm sorry. You two are…"

“Yeah." Jaune said, getting ready to dig into Nora before the cars suddenly came to a halt. "Okay, what'd I touch?" he said sarcastically.

“Uh, you didn't touch anything. We stopped." Nora said, thankful for the unexpected distraction.

"Nora, you are one lucky S.O.B." Yang commented.

"Thanks for saving me from awkward conversation, Mercury!" Nora said cheerfully.

"Sure thing, Pinky, but you owe me one." Mercury said, playing along.

More alarms were now blaring in the control room, causing Emerald to actually start worrying.

“Aw, what the hell? What the hell? What the hell?"

“What now?" Ozpin asked.

“Fences are failing all over the park."

“Find Mercury! Check the vending machines!" Ozpin ordered Qrow.

"Now he's getting reckless." Emerald said.

"How do you mean?" Cinder said.

"Keep watching."

It wouldn't do any good, though. He wasn't even in the building anymore. A Jeep stopped in front of the main gates to the park. Mercury hopped out, ran up to a control box, ignoring the pouring rain, and activated the manual override for the gate. He ran back to the car, and blasted through the gate into the park itself.

Back in the control room, Emerald walked over to Mercury's computer and was repulsed almost the second she sat down.

"Look at this work station!" she said, shoving trash of the desk, "What a complete slob.

“The raptor fences aren't out, are they?" Qrow asked, worried.

Emerald did a quick check on the computer and replied, "No, no, they're still on."

Ozpin looked to Qrow and asked, "Why the hell would he turn the other ones off?"

"Okay, so at least he's not completely reckless." Emerald commented, a little bit relieved.

"I see." Cinder said, "By turning off the fences, he runs the risk off the animals getting out while they were down."

Once again, Ozpin's question was answered as Mercury pushed open another gate, giving him direct access to the park. He walked back to his car and zoomed through the gate. The roads were bumpy as all hell, and he could barely see out the windshield, so it was no surprise when he saw a sign, he tried to stop his car but ended up fishtailing and crashing into said sign. He got out and looked at it. It said 'East Dock' and had an arrow underneath that was supposed to show which way to go.

The only problem was that the arrow had fallen off, leaving him clueless as to where to go.

“sh*t." He muttered to himself.

"And he didn't come up with contingencies for surprise weather conditions, like, I don't know, a tropical storm in the tropics?" Emerald deadpanned.

Back at the control room, Emerald was busy try to fix what Mercury had done, talking to herself as she typed.

“Access main program… access main security… access main program grid." Each one failed, and after the third try, the screen began to repeat a single phrase; 'YOU DIDN'T SAY THE MAGIC WORD!' Suddenly, a cartoonish image with Mercury's face appeared on another screen and began to say, 'Ah, ah, ah, you didn't say the magic word!' on a loop.

"Please!" Emerald yelled, "God damnit! I hate this hacker crap."

“Call Black's people, in Vale." Ozpin said, pushing a phone towards Emerald. She started dialing but gave up when she didn't hear a dial tone.

“Phones are out too."

“Where did the vehicles stop?" Ozpin asked Qrow, looking up at him.

"Well, that's freaking ominous." Ruby commented

Chapter 8: Jurassic Park, Part 8

Chapter Text

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 8- Jurassic Park, Part 8

The goat bleated within the Tyrannosaur paddock, audible over the pouring rain as Jaune ran back to his car to take cover from the storm. The cars had inexplicably stopped right in front of the enclosure, and, not knowing what to do, he went to confer with the only other adult present.

"Oh, this oughta be good." Torchwick said, sitting up in his seat.

“Their radio's out too." He said, as he climbed back into the driver's seat and closed the door, soaking wet. "Schnee said to stay put."

“Kids okay?" Nora asked, concern evident in her voice.

“I didn't ask. Why wouldn't they be?"

“Kids get scared."

“What's to be scared of? It's just a little hiccup in the power- "

“I didn't say I was scared."

“I didn't say you were scared." Jaune said, giving Nora a sidelong glance.

In the front car, Ruby jumped up and cried "Boo!", startling her big sister and waking up the white-haired adult in the driver's seat. Yang's momentary fright was justified. Ruby was wearing a large pair of goggles over her eyes that were colored in yellow and green camouflage and clearly too big for her.

"Some things never change, do they little sister?" Yang said, ruffling Ruby's hair.

"It was easier to do when we were little." Ruby said, waving away her sister's hand.

“Hey," Whitley said shortly, "Where did you find those?"

“In a box under my seat." Ruby chirped.

“Are they heavy?"

“Yeah." Ruby said, weighing them in her hands. They were heavy to her, at least.

“Then they're expensive. Put them back." Whitley said as he returned to resting his eyes, letting the drumming of the rain on the windshield help him fall asleep. Ruby gave him a small pout before completely disregarding what he said as soon as his eyes were closed and climbing into the trunk area with the goggles still on her head. As she passed Yang in the back seat, the blonde grabbed a pamphlet and gave the brunette a light smack on the head with it.

“Don't scare me." She said quietly.

Ruby stared out the back windshield of the car and turned on the goggles. Instantly, the world turned shades of green and she could see as well as she normally could in the daytime.

“Woah, cool. Night vision." She said as she began fiddling with the zoom dial. She saw that the rear car had one of its doors open and Dr. Arc was filling up a canteen of some kind with rain water.

"Is that what it's like for you, Blake?" Ruby asked, referring to the natural night vision most Faunus possessed.

"More or less." She replied "At least it's not as fuzzy for us, but then, technology vs nature isn't always a fair comparison."

Feeling that his canteen was sufficiently full, Jaune pulled his hand back in, closed the door, and took a sip from the canteen before offering it to Nora, who politely took it.

In the front car, Ruby took off her goggles, turned and halted her sister, who had been fanning herself with the pamphlet she had smacked Ruby with.

“Do you hear that?" she asked quietly.

"Hear what?" Weiss said, confused. Next to her, Blake's ears were twitching. She heard it.

"Ilia?" she asked her old friend

"I heard it." Of course, she did. Ilia's hearing was as good as any other Faunus, better considering what her former occupation was in the White Fang.

"Heard what!?" Weiss asked.

"Watch and find out." Her sister said, putting a calming hand on her shoulder.

She slid into the back seat and leaned over the front passenger seat, starring at the two small cups of water on the dash. They were rippling, though nobody in the car was moving. Soon, a dull thudding could be heard, loud enough to even wake up Whitley, who had been dozing comfortably. Slowly, the thudding grew louder, and he saw it reflected in the water.

“Maybe it's the power trying to come back on." He whispered. Ruby remained unconvinced.

"Getting Kuroyuri flashbacks, here." Jaune said, growing more nervous.

"Right there with ya, buddy." Ruby said.

" What is that?" Yang asked as Ruby crawled back into the trunk and looked out the car again, this time in the direction of the goat in the paddock, realizing that she hadn't heard it in a while. As her night vision came into focus, she saw that the goat was gone, the pole it was tethered to bent, and the chain swinging freely. Yang and Whitley too saw this, and Yang started to breathe a bit heavier. She turned to her sister and said, "Where's the goat?"

Her question was immediately answered when one of the goat's legs fell on the sunroof, scaring her and Whitley. Ruby however, simply took off her goggles and looked up at the fence. What she saw scared her silent.

"Son of a bitch!" Yang yelled, calming herself down from the jump scare. Summer gave her that one; even she had jumped a little in her seat.

Hanging from the supposedly electrified fence was what she thought was the tiny, two-clawed fore arm of a T. Rex. She thought it impossible until the arm slid off the fence and the beast's massive head came into view as it swallowed the rest of the goat whole and turned to look at the vehicles.

“Oh, Oum!" Whitley said before he scrambled out of the car.

" He left us." Yang whispered in shock.

"Nothing to say, sister?" Winter asked.

"Can't fault him that one." Weiss replied, "I doubt I wouldn't have done the same, had I not already been trained as a Huntress."

Whitley ran past the rear car, scared out of his mind, before he ran for a nearby bathroom and hid himself in a stall, yelping when he fell backwards onto the toilet.

“Where does he think he's going?" Jaune said with disdain.

Nora shook her head slightly. "When you gotta go, you gotta go."

Suddenly, the two adults heard a thump, followed by the sounds of several of the thick wires of electric fence snapping free. Somewhat unsupported, the fence creaked loudly as it began to shift.

“Dr. Arc?" Yang said, hoping someone would come help them.

The T. Rex, meanwhile, continued to tear the wires from the fence. Finally free, it stepped over the moat, onto the road, and let out a roar.

"Look at the size of that monster!" Nora exclaimed.

"Tyrannosaurus Rex," Ruby said calmly, "The King of the Dinosaurs. 40 ft long, 12 ft tall at the hips, and weighing up to 15 tons. One of the largest carnivorous dinosaurs on record and possessing the strongest bite force of any terrestrial animal."

"Not helping Ruby!" Weiss said.

'Mmmm, if only I had a few of these with me when I attacked Beacon.' Cinder thought, licking her lips. Neo saw the look on her face and scooted as far away from her as she could.

“Boy do I hate being right all the time." Nora whispered, staring at the mighty beast before her. The Rex let out another mighty roar before circling around the rear car.

“Keep absolutely still." Jaune told her, "Its vision is based on movement."

"Actually, that theory's been disproven."

"Not now, Ruby." Said Blake.

Yang, on the other hand, did not know this and was busy rummaging through the trunk until she found a case with a high-power portable flashlight, which she immediately took out and turned on, searching for something, anything. The T. Rex, who had been busy with the rear car, saw the beam of light and instantly started towards the lead car.

“Turn the light off." Jaune said firmly, knowing it would do no good. "Turn the light off."

“Turn the light off!" Ruby yelled as the Rex came closer, eventually stopping next to the open front door. Calmly and slowly, Ruby reached out, grabbed the handle, and closed the door as quickly and silently as she could. The first, she succeeded on. The second, not so much. She knew because, as soon as the door closed, the Rex's head immediately swung in the direction of the noise with a snarl, leaving the girls frozen with fear breathing heavily.

Ruby and Yang now had the monster's full attention. Problem was, the Rex couldn't find them. Oh, it knew they were there, but the rain was messing with its sense of smell, and since the car wasn't moving, it couldn't see it. Instinct told it they were right in front of it, but it's brain couldn't confirm it. It lowered its head until it was looking directly at Yang, who simply shone the flashlight in its eye, causing it to move away.

The girls looked at each other in uncertainty. Finally, the Rex let out a frustrated roar that made the girls cover their ears it was so deafening. It looked directly into the car, and the girls scrambled back in fright. This was their first mistake, for the Rex let out a short snarl and gave the car a nudge with its snout, causing the car to lift up onto two wheels and the girls within to start screaming.

"I think that means 'I see you!'" read Neo's sign.

Ruby clambered into the back seat. "Turn- turn it off!" she said to Yang, trying to wrestle the flashlight from her grip.

“I'm sorry!" Yang wailed as she and Ruby started bickering with each other as they tried to get the flashlight turned off. What they didn't realize was the beam from the light travelling upward until it shone out of the glass sun roof over their heads. This was their second mistake.

The next second, they found themselves on their backs, screaming and holding the sunroof up with their hands as the Tyrannosaur rammed its head through the roof to get at them. It reared its head back, and dived in for a second chance, not understanding why it was unable to reach its quarry.

Meanwhile, Nora and Jaune watched it all go down.

"Do something, you idiots!" Roman yelled at the screen. Even he

would have done something to help by now.

Using the side of its head, the Tyrannosaur then rolled the car onto its roof, with the girls still inside, and began to attack the undercarriage, holding it steady with one foot. Having seen enough, Jaune leapt into the trunk and found a crate- the exact same as the one Yang had found previously. However, instead of the flashlight, he grabbed a flare, lit it and stepped out into the rain.

“Hey!" he yelled, waving the flare about. The Tyrannosaur gave a roar in response, its foot still pressing down on the car, flooding the now windowless cabin with mud.

"Alright, Vomit Boy, you have its attention." Yang said, "So what's step two of your master plan?"

"How the hell should I know?" Jaune defended.

"Don't worry, fearless leader," Nora chirped, "I have faith you'll pull it off. After all, he's still you, alternate universe or not."

Nora seemed to have a similar plan, and lit up a flare of her own.

Back outside, Jaune was waving the flare from side to side, keeping the beast's attention, before throwing the flare into the jungle. The T. Rex followed with a bellow and Jaune's plan would have worked perfectly, if Nora hadn't jumped out the other side of the car.

“Hey! Hey! Hey!" she yelled, waving her flare about, catching the Rex's attention.

Nora cringed, knowing what her counterpart had just done. "Sorry." She said guiltily.

Jaune gave her an 'it's okay' look and rubbed the top of her hair.

“Nora, freeze!" Jaune ordered.

“Get the kids!" she yelled as she held the flare aloft and began to run.

“Get rid of the flare!" Nora threw her flare into the enclosure, but the Rex obviously found her to be the better prey as it continued to follow her as she fled. In the bathroom, Whitley was praying to the Gods as the Tyrannosaur finally caught up to Nora. It crashed into the outhouse with a roar, throwing Nora aside with its snout and causing it to collapse, burying Nora in dried palm fronds. Whitley sat on the toilet in the rain, looking up at the beast who gazed down at the scared little man before it. Before Whitley could utter a word, the beast grabbed him up to his waist in its jaws and violently shook him side to side.

"Wonder how the Ice Queens are doing." Qrow said to Tai.

"Probably not great. They did just watch their brother get eaten." Tai replied.

'What the f*ck is wrong with me?' Weiss thought to herself, bringing a hand up to her head, 'Why did that feel good to watch?' Winter saw the look of her sister's face, and gently took her hand to comfort her.

Jaune, meanwhile was busy extricating the girls from the overturned car.

“Dr. Arc!" Yang cried as he helped her out.

“I'm stuck!" Ruby said with a grunt, "The seat's got my feet."

“I'll get you next." He told Ruby as he helped Yang get to her knees. She was covered in mud, her wet and dirty hair plastered to her face. When she finally got out and Jaune was able to turn his attention to freeing Ruby, Yang looked up and screamed when she saw the T. Rex.

Jaune reacted instantly, grabbing one of her arms and covering her mouth with his free hand. "Don't move!" he whispered, "He can't see us if we don't move." The Tyrannosaur stood before them, making a large foot print in the fresh mud. It leaned down until it was almost a foot away from their faces, but it ran into the same problem of being unable to see them. It tried to sniff them out, blowing Jaune's hat off his head in the process, but to no avail. In frustration, it spun the car around clockwise, forcing Jaune and Yang to scramble to keep up. When the car finally stopped, they found they now had cover from the beast.

The Tyrannosaur turned its attention back to Ruby who remained under the car, no longer stuck, yet still trapped. She screamed as the hunter attempted to flip the car over to get at her. Yang and Jaune tried to go around the other side of the car but were blocked by the T. Rex when it pushed the car in its attempts to get Ruby. It pushed further still until Jaune and Yang found themselves at the edge of a twenty-foot drop into the T. Rex's enclosure.

"Wait, how is that even there?" Ruby said. "If that drop was there before, there's no way the Rex should have been able to-"

"Sis? Shut up!" Yang said, earning her a head smack from her mother, "I think you should be more concerned with the you who's stuck in a car being attacked by the most infamous dinosaur of all time."

"Oh." Ruby said, eyes widening, "Right. That."

"Did Red actually forget that her alternate self was being attacked?" Roman asked Neo.

"And I thought you were a dum-dum." Neo signed.

Jaune grabbed one of the wires, swung Yang onto his back and began to climb down the side of the concrete wall. About three feet down, they heard the T. Rex snarl in frustration and saw the front of the car move out over the wall. It was going to go over the side and hit them on the way down! Terrified, Yang wrapped her arms around Jaune's throat.

“Yang!" he strained to say, "Yang, you're choking me!" The car moved further forward. He looked to the side and got an idea. "Grab the wire!" he said, as she started to swing himself closer to it, Yang's arm outstretched. With each swing, they came closer to grabbing the other wire, while the other car came closer to falling over the side of the wall, until it finally fell, landing in a tree in the enclosure, ostensibly with Ruby still inside. Luckily, Yang managed to grab the wire as the car fell.

Seeing its prize gone, the Tyrannosaur let out a final mighty roar.

"Anyone else really glad those guys are extinct?" Sun said, trying to lighten the mood.

"YES!" said almost everyone in the theater.

"Well…" Cinder said, considering it in her head.

Chapter 9: Jurassic Park, Part 9

Chapter Text

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 9

Back in the Control room, Emerald was sitting at Mercury's computer with Pyrrha, Ozpin, and Qrow watching her.

“Keycheck space minus 0. Keychecks off. Safety space minus 0." Emerald said, reading off the command history of the terminal aloud, "He's turning off the security systems. Doesn't want anybody to see what he's about to do. Now listen to this next entry, it's the kicker. 'White rabbit object'. Whatever it did, it did it all. But with Keychecks off, the computer didn't log the keystrokes, so now the only way to find it is go through the computer's lines of code one-by-one."

"Credit where it's due, kid," Roman said with a nod, "This you knows what he's doing."

"Please, it's common sense, nothing more." Emerald scoffed.

"I'm more concerned with this 'white rabbit object'." Winter said.

"What about it?" Weiss asked.

"I believe that Ms. Schnee is saying that an object shouldn't have been able to do everything it supposedly did." Ozcar said.

"Huh?"

"In programming language," Winter said, "An object is essentially a clump of code that acts as a literal object in the digital space of the computer. It can be moved around and manipulated, but it can't cause anything that Ms. Sustrai is describing."

"I believe Mr. Black simply created a command and disguised it as an object." Ozcar proposed.

"A back door." Winter nodded, the theory making sense.

“How many lines of code are there?" Pyrrha asked.

“‘Bout two million." Emerald said, taking a drag from her cigarette.

“Two million?"

"Damn!" Yang said in surprise,

"That sounds about right." Winter commented.

"How do you figure?"

"Have you ever seen computer code, Ms. Xiao Long?"

"No…"

"That's an accurate amount. Trust me."

“Yeah."

“Qrow," Ozpin said, turning to his warden, "I wonder if you'd be good enough to take a gas jeep, and bring back my grandchildren?"

“Sure." He replied. As he walked off, he took a small swing from his flask.

"Yeah! Uncle Qrow to the rescue!" Ruby cheered.

"Wonder if this means we'll get to see him fight a dinosaur?" Yang said.

"Taking all bets, folks!" Qrow called. Kali giggled at this, while Ghira gave him a quizzical look and Taiyang simply facepalmed.

“I'm going with him." Pyrrha said, following after him.

“Oz. Oz!" Emerald said trying to get the older man's attention. When he finally turned around, she told him flat-out, "I can't get Jurassic Park back online without Mercury Black."

Back in the park, Mercury was driving down a muddy dirt road, wondering where the hell he was. He felt that he should have reached the docks by now. He blew past a sign. Realizing what it indicated, he immediately turned the wheel to the right as far as it would go in an attempt to turn around.

"Why do people in movies always seem to think that will work?" Emerald observed.

"Never thought I'd say this," Blake said, "But you have a point there."

Unsurprisingly, he failed and wound up fishtailing past a wooden fence and down a hill, where he was stopped when a fallen tree caught his rear wheels. Realizing he was stuck, he jumped out of the car to assess the situation. Looking around, he finally found the road that would lead him to the dock. Now to get himself unstuck.

He unwound a hook attached to a length of wire from a winch attached to the front of his jeep, muttering his plan to himself.

"Winch this sucker off the thing and then I tie it to that tree over there. Pull the car down and the wire goes back in the thing. Easy."

"Murphey's Law." Ilia said, making Blake smile, getting the joke.

As he turned around, he slipped on the wet ground and fell down a small waterfall, landing face-first in the mud.

"You can't catch a break, can you Mercury?" Cinder said mockingly.

"It's what he gets for not taking weather into account." Emerald said.

"Oh, and you could do so much better?" Mercury said angrily.

Emerald gave him a sardonic smile. "Yeah, good point." He said, making Cinder give Emerald a high-five.

“Perfect. Just f*cking perfect." He swore to himself. He picked himself up and walked over to the tree. "Cool down Merc, focus on the money." He checked his watch as he wound the wire and hook around the tree, "Yeah, I still got time."

As he tightened the wire, a dinosaur, poked it's head around the right side of the tree with a squeak. It was small, about the size of a bird house, and had two crests rising from it's head in a v formation.

"And that would be a dilophosaur." Ruby said proudly

“Hello?" Mercury said nervously, checking his back. When the dilophosaur repeated the action on the other side of the tree, Mercury saw it, and regarded it with a scoff and a co*cky smile. "Huh. 'Kay, bye."

He started back towards the jeep, not knowing that his new friend was following him until it let out another of its hooting squeaks. Mercury turned around and saw that the dinosaur was as tall as his waist, and well-muscled for its size.

"Small bugger, isn't he?" Mercury commented.

"It's probably a juvenile. The average size of a full-grown dilophosaur was about five feet tall at the hips, and 23 feet long." Ruby explained.

“You know, I'd be more worried about you if you were one of your big brothers." He said, pulling up the hood of his coat. "What do you want? Food? Take a look pipsqueak, I just fell down a hill, I'm soaking wet and I'm irritable. I have no food on me, so scram." When the dinosaur failed to move, he shook his head and scoffed in disgust. "Can't even follow orders. No wonder you're extinct. I'm gonna run you over once I get my car down here."

"God, Legs, can you not be dick? For, like, five minutes?" Yang said.

"What can I say, Blondie? He shouldn't have messed with someone at the top of the food chain." Mercury said, putting his feet on the chair in front of him, trying to look cool.

"Making a lot of assumptions, there, Legs." Blake said.

"That nickname's not going away anytime soon, is it?"

"Nope!" said Team RWBY.

That said, he turned and started back up the hill, moving against the water and mud flowing down it. As he reached the top, he turned around and saw the same stupid creature standing behind him. That's when it happened. Suddenly, a large colorful frill came up from the dilophosaur's neck, framing its squawking face. It reared its head back and spat something at Mercury, covering his chest and some of his neck with a foul-smelling black goo. Touching it, Mercury could feel his skin begin to tingle where it made contact.

Sufficiently freaked out by this, he scrambled to his feet and made his way to the open car door, turning to make sure the dilophosaur was where it should be. This was a mistake, as the dinosaur again spat at him, though this time the goo landed on his face, specifically, in his eyes. It burned, and he screamed in pain, trying to rub it from his eyes. He tried to get in the car, but rammed his head on the door frame. He fell over, and as he did so, the can of shaving cream fell out of his pocket. It was carried away by the current down to the bottom of the hill where it was buried in a mound of mud.

Mercury managed to pull himself back into the car and slam the door shut behind him. He breathed a sigh of relief before he heard it again. The sound of that frill and the deafening roar of the dilophosaur. He turned and had just enough vision left to see the monster in the car with him before it attacked him.

And all he could do was scream.

"Yeesh," Yang said with a grimace, "That's a hell of a way to go."

"So, you were saying about being on the top of the food chain?" Blake said, looking up at Mercury, who said nothing as he listened to his counterpart die.

Jaune stood by a drain pipe as he used the water flowing out to wash the mud from his face. The rain had finally stopped by the time he and Yang had reached the foot of the concrete wall, and he was a man on a mission, and that mission only had one objective: Rescue Ruby. Yang stood nearby, hysterical, muddy and wet. Jaune turned and scanned the trees to find the one the car had fallen in.

“Ruby! Ruby?!" he yelled when he found the tree. When he heard no reply, he turned to Yang, "Now, Yang, listen." However, she was still hysterical. "Yang! I'm right here. I'm gonna look after you, but I have to help your sister. So I want you to stay right here, and wait for me."

“He left us." She said quietly, referring to Whitley, "He left us!"

“But that's not what I'm gonna do." He said calmly, looking her dead in the eye. "Okay? Stay here."

Not feeling safe out in the open, she crawled into the storm drain.

Jaune approached the tree, calling Ruby's name, but still getting no answer. He feared she might be dead, or unconscious at least, but there was only one way to know for certain. Even though he didn't like it, he began to climb the tree.

“Ruby? You hear me? I'm coming up." He called up as he climbed, brachiosaurs bellowing in the distance. The entire way up, he talked to himself about how he hated climbing, hated trees, that they were too tall.

Eventually, he reached the car. He continued to call out Ruby's name, softer now. He looked in and saw her sitting on the glove compartment and leaning against the seat in front of it. Her clothes were soaked and muddy, as was her face, and she had a long gash over her right eye. She opened her eyes and saw him standing outside the car.

“You okay?" Jaune asked as he opened the driver's side door.

“I threw up." She croaked. The smell confirmed it.

“Oh," Jaune said awkwardly, "That's- that's okay. Just give me your hand." He offered her his, but she didn't budge. "Ruby, I won't tell anyone you threw up, just give me your hand." He tried to reach further in by using the steering wheel, but only succeeded in turning the wheels of the car. Ruby grabbed the arm rest and a part of the car frame and carefully hauled herself to her feet. She took Jaune's hand and, together, they managed to get her out with only a small amount of creaking from the car itself. Finally, Ruby was out of the car and standing on a sturdy branch close to Jaune.

“That's wasn't too bad, right, Ruby?" he said calmly.

“Yes, it was."

“It's like coming out of a tree house. Did your dad ever build you a tree house?"

"He did!" Summer said, "Tai, do you remember when the girls helped you build that tree house that one summer?"

"Yeah. Wasn't that the year we discovered Yang's semblance?"

"Gods, please make them stop." Yang said, rubbing her temples as Ruby giggled at her expense.

“No."

“Yeah, me too." He said, "Now, the thing about climbing is, you never, never look down."

Ruby looked down. "This is impossible." She said.

Jaune looked down, immediately regretting it. "So…" he gulped.

“How am I supposed to do this? It's like- "

“I'm gonna help you with your- "

They both stopped when they heard the car groan as it shifted downwards. Jaune saw the tire had been turned in his direction and was now overextended. He put two and two together, knowing exactly whose fault it was.

"Ruh roh." Sun said.

Neptune nodded in agreement. "Ruh roh."

“Oh no," he whispered before ordering, "Ruby, go!"

They had descended a few feet when the car moved again. Jaune saw it coming and braced himself for impact. Thankfully, it was halted just a few inches from Jaune's back by a sturdy tree branch. Jaune and Ruby resumed their descent as the branch holding the car groaned under the load it was bearing. Jaune looked up and saw the branch begin to give.

“Oh, gogogo, go, Ruby, go!" The duo began to operate almost on instinct, using any branch that looked safe to climb down. Luckily, they were all strong enough to support them. The car resumed it's fall, mowing down every branch in its path. "Faster, Ruby!"

Finally, as they neared the base of the tree, Jaune ordered Ruby to jump down. They landed between a pair of roots that the car also landed on. Jaune pushed Ruby forward as the car began to fall over. He then grabbed her and shielded her as they allowed the car to fall on them. Good thing the sunroof had been smashed in the attack.

“Well," Ruby said, catching her breath, "We're back, in the car again."

“Well," Jaune said with a small chuckle, "At least you're out of the tree."

"See? Silver lining." Qrow said as he organized the bets on him on his scroll.

Chapter 10: Jurassic Park, Part 10

Chapter Text

Chapter 10

"So Qrow, what's the spread?" Tai asked his former partner.

"Welp, we got a cool six hundred lien on whether I live through this movie or die at some point."

"And unsurprisingly, your nieces and their friends all bet for you"

"Meanwhile, Team CRME back there are all betting against me."

"What about the heterochromatic mute girl?"

"She and her boss are gonna split his share."

"How do you know?" Qrow showed him the text he had received earlier. "Ah."

Qrow and Pyrrha's jeep pulled up to the scene of the attack. Without the T. Rex around, it was fairly peaceful, so long as you ignored the giant hole in the fences, the massive footprints, and the missing car. Pyrrha jumped out before the jeep had even stopped.

“Where's the other car?" she said, growing far beyond worried, "Where's the other car!? Jaune!"

“Dr. Arc!" Qrow called.

“Jaune!"

“Arc!" Qrow lifted up a piece of the outhouse and shined his flashlight on the object underneath. "I think this was Schnee."

“I think this was too." Pyrrha said, almost retching at the sight of a mangled piece of meat. Suddenly, they heard the tyrannosaur roar in the distance. "I think it's ahead of us."

“It could be anywhere," Qrow said, "With the fences down, it can wander in and out of any paddock it likes."

A loud groaning drew their attention to a previously unnoticed body, Nora, who was covered in ferns. Pyrrha pulled them off and noticed that her belt was tied tightly around her leg.

“She put on a tourniquet. Nora? Nora?!"

“Remind me to thank Oz for a lovely weekend." She said with all the sarcasm.

"Even in an alternate universe, we can count on you to try and brighten the mood, can't we Nora?" Jaune said. Nora responded by curling up like a dog and lying her head on his lap. Jaune and Ren chuckled at her antics.

The tyrannosaur roared again. "Can we chance moving her?" Pyrrha asked Qrow.

Another roar, this time sounding closer. "Please, chance it." Nora answered.

A few minutes later, they had Nora loaded into the back of the jeep, while the tyrannosaur continued to roar and Pyrrha looked around the area where the other car had been, the obvious target of the attack. There was broken glass, pamphlets, brochures, and general wreckage everywhere, and she noticed a drag line that led to the fence.

" Pyrrha! Come on!" Qrow half-yelled/half-whispered. Pyrrha, meanwhile, continued to investigate the scene, eventually leading her to look over the concrete wall, where she saw…

“The other car!" she called. Qrow and Pyrrha made their way to the car which lay overturned and somewhat compacted at the base of a tree.

"Oh, sure, leave the cripple in the back of a car to investigate a car wreck with a super predator on the loose. Great plan." Nora's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Would you do any different if it was Ren?" Weiss asked. Nora remained silent, hoping no one would see her turning tomato red.

"That's what I thought." Weiss said with a satisfied grin.

“Dr. Arc?" Qrow called.

“Jaune!" Pyrrha said, hoping against hope that he was in there.

“They're not here." Qrow said when they looked inside. Disappointed, Pyrrha looked at the ground where she noticed footprints leading away from the car. Looking closer, she noticed that they were three different sizes; one adult and two kids. Her best guess was that Jaune had found the kids and led them into the park, probably trying to find a way to the visitor's center.

Back on the road, Nora was resting in the jeep when she was awoken by large thudding sounds. She opened her eyes and glanced down to the T. Rex footprint-turned puddle. Her blood pressure picked up when she heard the sound again and saw that it was accompanied by a ripple in the otherwise still water each time.

“Anybody hear that?" she said to nobody in particular, "That's a, um… It's an impact tremor, is what it is. I'm fairly alarmed here." She saw Qrow and Pyrrha running breakneck towards the jeep and began waving them over. "C'mon! C'mon c'mon c'mon! We gotta get out of here. Now, now. Right now!" She kept berating them as they jumped in the jeep. Just as Qrow managed to get it started and moving, the T. Rex burst from the trees they had come from with a roar and gave chase. Qrow shifted into first, but the tyrannosaur gained on them.

“Must go faster." Nora said.

Nora and Pyrrha yelled at Qrow to shift gears, but he remained calm and checked the wing mirrors. He saw the tyrannosaur gaining on them, jaws open. Nora moved herself away from the beast, inadvertently moving the gear shift forward.

“Get off the stick!" Qrow said, "Let me move!"

“Lookout!" Pyrrha yelled.

“Down!" Qrow yelled. Everyone ducked as the windshield was smashed off by a thick, low-hanging tree branch. The T. Rex simply barreled through the rest of the branches hanging overthe road. It managed to get up next to the speeding jeep and rammed its head into the side, trying to run it off the road. However, it failed, leaving only a dent in the door and a screaming Pyrrha. Qrow finally shifted into the highest gear and left the dinosaur in his dust as it backed off.

"'Bout time, Old Man." Nora quipped.

"You're lucky I don't have a clear shot at the back of your head, Pinky." Qrow grumbled.

"Why didn't he just go that fast from the start?" Yang asked.

"The tyrannosaur would have still overtaken them." Winter explained, "You see the same thing with Grimm from time to time. Such large predators are natural sprinters, but only for a short period of time. You need only outlast them long enough to make your escape."

“Think they'll have that on the tour?" Nora joked as they left their pursuer behind them, roaring in frustration.

Elsewhere, Jaune and the girls heard the tyrannosaur's roaring in the distance, stopping them in their tracks.

“Are you hearing this?" Yang said quietly, obviously still freaked out to hell.

"I've never seen Yang like this." Ruby said, "It's kinda weirding me out." Blake and Weiss voiced their agreement.

"Well, how would you expect me to act after being attacked by the greatest predator the world has ever seen and being unable to do anything about it?"

Jaune heard it, and began quickly assessing the situation. After everything they had been through in the past few hours, there was no sense in forcing the kids to march through the night to get to the visitor's center. Better to let them sleep, if only for a few hours. But where would be the safest place? They could go back to the storm drain, but that would mean going back into known Rex territory. There weren't any caves he could see, and they would only make themselves targets for any nocturnal carnivores that might be in the area. That only left one option, one that Ruby was sure to hate.

“Here, Ruby, Yang," He said taking their hands and leading to the large tree behind them, "Let's, uh, climb this tree." Ruby whined, as he knew she would, "C'mon, Ruby, let's get up here."

“I don't want to." She moaned as she reluctantly began climbing, "I hate trees."

“They don't bother me." Yang said as she followed suit.

“Oh yeah? Well you weren't in the last one."

"Well, at least your recent trauma hasn't affected your wit in the slightest." Weiss said with a small smile.

Eventually, they climbed high enough that Jaune guessed they were out of the tyrannosaurs reach. At least he hoped. When they finally settled on the branches, Ruby pointed out in the distance.

“Look!" she exclaimed, pointing at the trio of long-necked sauropods in the valley below, "Those are brontosauruses- I mean, brachiosauruses" she corrected.

"Had me worried there little me." Ruby said.

“They're singing." Jaune said, switching back into observing scientist mode without realizing. The trumpeting sounds they made did indeed sound like music, but there seemed like there was more to it. So, he decided to conduct an experiment. He got onto a higher branch, balled his fists and put them to his lips. He then proceeded to make several noises, trying to imitate the calls of the brachiosaurs. It apparently worked as a few more brachiosaurs raised their heads and all of them turned to face him.

" Shh! Don't make the monsters come over here!" Yang said, slapping his leg.

" They're not monsters, Yang, they're just animals. These are herbivores." He explained.

" That means they only eat vegetables," Ruby said, "But for you I think they'd make an exception."

" Ruby." Jaune said with a tone of warning.

" Well, I hate the other kind." Yang said, pouting.

" They kinda just do what they do." Jaune said as he took a seat behind the girls. Without warning, the girls sat against him, Yang on his left, Ruby on his right. As Ruby managed to get comfortable, he felt a sharp pain on his rear. He reached back and dug out his fossilized raptor claw.

"Ruby, what are you doing?" Jaune asked when Ruby walked over and leaned against his shoulder.

"Just checking something." She replied, getting comfortable.

"Checking what?" Jaune said, looking over at Yang, who was cracking her knuckles, her eyes beginning to change color.

"Huh," Ruby said, looking down at Nora, "He actually is a pretty good pillow."

"Right?" Nora said.

"Well, well, Vomit Boy, looks like you're more of a ladies man than I thought." Yang said with a forced smile, one of her eyes twitching.

"Please don't kill me."

" What are you and Pyrrha gonna do now, if you don't have to dig up dinosaur bones anymore?" Yang asked.

" I don't know." Jaune said, not having thought about it in all the insanity, "I guess… I guess we'll just have to evolve too."

" What do you call a blind dinosaur?" Ruby asked.

" I don't know, what do you call a blind dinosaur?" Jaune said with a feeling about where she was going with it.

" Doyouthinkhesawrus." Ruby answered with a smile, making Jaune chuckle. "What do you call a blind dinosaur's dog?"

" You got me."

" Doyouthinkhesawrus Rex." Another chuckle from Jaune.

"Boo!" Sun said.

"Get new material!" Neptune agreed.

"That pair of jokes makes Yang's puns look like comedic genius." Weiss said.

"Even I have to admit that was pretty weak, Sis." Yang said. Ruby threw a handful of Jaune's popcorn at her.

“Jaune?" Yang said, feeling groggy.

“Yeah?" he answered.

“What if the dinosaurs come back while we're all asleep?"

“Well, I'll stay awake."

“All night?"

“All night." he reassured. A few minutes later, the sisters were out cold. Jaune regarded his claw for a moment before he tossed it out of the tree, where it landed near the base.

"You'd make a good dad, kid." Taiyang said.

Back at the visitor's center, in the cafeteria, Ozpin sat alone at a dining table with tub after tub of ice cream before him. Pyrrha joined him as he scooped himself another pile of dessert.

“They were all melting." He said as she took a seat.

“Nora's alright for now, I gave her a shot of morphine." She reported.

"And there's the one who conveniently knows enough medicine totreat minor wounds." Said Blake.

"Are you keeping a list or something?" Weiss asked.

"Mmm, something like that." Blake replied.

"She's a cryptic one isn't she?" Winter whispered to her sister.

"You have no idea."

“They'll be fine." He said, trying to reassure himself more than her, "Who better to get the children through Jurassic Park than a dinosaur expert?" he took a bite of his "meal" and asked, "Do you know what the first attraction I ever built when I graduated from Beacon was? It was a flea circus. Petticoat Lane. Really quite wonderful.

“We had a wee trapeze, and a merry-go… a carousel… and a see-saw. They all moved- motorized, of course- but people would say they could see the fleas. 'Oh, I can see the fleas, Mommy. Can't you see the fleas?' Clown fleas, and high-wire fleas, and Fleas on Parade… but with this place? I wanted to show them something that wasn't an illusion. Something that was real. Something they could see, and touch. And not completely devoid of merit."

“But you can't think through this one, Oz, you have to feel it." Pyrrha said.

“You're right. You're absolutely right," he said, a small smile growing across his face, "Hiring Mercury was a mistake, that's obvious. We're over-dependent on automation. I can see that now. And the next time, everything's correctable."

“Oz…" Pyrrha groaned. He was missing the point.

“Creation is an act of sheer will. Next time it will be flawless."

"No offense, Oz," Qrow said, "But I can't tell if this version of you is stupid, stubborn, or both."

"You're not wrong, so none taken."

“It's still the flea circus. It's all an illusion!"

“When we have control again- "

“You never had control, that's the illusion!" Pyrrha shouted, allowing her worry and grief to flow, "I was overwhelmed by the power of this place, but I made a mistake too. I didn't haveenough respect for that power and it's out now." She let her point sink in, giving her a chance to calm down. "The only thing that matters now are the people we love. Jaune, and Yang, and Ruby, Oz they're out there where people are dying. So…" she wiped her tears and ate a spoonful of ice cream, "It's good." She said with a chuckle.

“We spared no expense." Oz replied quietly.

"Never let it be said that Pyrrha couldn't make a speech when she wanted to." Yang said.

‘You have no idea.' Jaune thought, a tear threatening to break through. Gods he missed her.

Chapter 11: Jurassic Park, Part 11

Chapter Text

Chapter 11

The Sun had risen. Jungles birds were heard chirping and singing in the distance. The group of three was still asleep in their tree.

"Cue rude awakening in 3… 2… 1…" Sun said.

But not for long.

Soon, a brachiosaur leaned in its head and began- somehow quietly- to eat a cluster of leaves nearby the trio. Jaune was woken by its breathing as it leaned in. He remained still, with a smile on his face, as he watched the sauropod eat. Soon, Yang was woken by the noise. She did not react as well as Jaune. She began scrambling away from the dinosaur in fright, waking Ruby, whose eyes widened at the sight.

“Go away!" Yang said loudly.

"Called it." Sun said, earning him an elbow to the gut by Neptune.

“It's okay, it's okay." Jaune said, trying to calm her, lest she scare the beast off, "It's a brachiosaur."

“It's a veggie-saurus, Yang! Veggie-saurus!" Ruby chirped.

“Veggie…" Yang said, trying to comprehend the meaning.

“Mmm. C'mon, girl. C'mon." Ruby said, wanting to reach out and touch it.

“Okay." Jaune said as he reached behind him and tore off a branch with a large clump of leaves on it. He held it out to the brachiosaur, hoping she would take the bait. The sauropod eyed the meal curiously, as if trying to sense the ulterior motive.

"Right, cuz that'll make it do what you want." Weiss said with a roll of her eyes.

"Now, sister, your friend might be on to something here." Winter said, watching with interest.

Eventually, it gave up and took the branch in its mouth with a loud, booming cry. It tried to take it from Jaune's hands, but the man kept a firm grip and managed to bring the head closer, allowing the children to pet it. Yang, by this point was finally calming down.

"See?" Winter said to Weiss, who was pinching the bridge of her nose.

"I mean, it works with Zwei. Why not a brachiosaur?" Ruby said.

"But Zwei is a dog! It's supposed to be different!"

“Looks like it has a cold." Ruby observed.

“Yeah, maybe." Jaune agreed. He wasn't sure if an illness in a dinosaur would be capable of spreading to humans, and he didn't particularly feel like finding out.

“Can I touch it?" Yang asked, finally warming up to the creature.

“Sure." Jaune said, "Just think of it as kind-of a big cow." Ruby giggled at the accuracy of the comparison.

“I like cows…" Yang said as the brachiosaur began to lean away from the tree. She reached out to try and pet it, but the brachiosaur was far out of her reach, so she tried to softly coax it back up. Instead, it sneezed, spraying Yang with all manner disgustingness.

Ruby crawled up behind her and yelled out, "Oum bless you!"

"And once again, this me is scarred for life." Yang said.

A few minutes later, the trio was walking through the jungle, resuming their quest to return to the visitor's center with Yang thoroughly grossed out.

“Oh great." Ruby said, jumping at the opportunity to tease her sister, "Now she's never gonna try anything new. She'll just sit in her room and never come out and play on her computer."

“I'm a hacker." Yang said as she climbed over a tree root.

“That's what I said. You're a nerd." Ruby said, as she climbed over the same.

“I am not a computer nerd. I prefer to be called a hacker."

"Yang? A hacker? Now I'm convinced this is an alternate dimension." Ruby said.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Yang said, rounding on her sister. She was met with deadpan stares from everyone.

"Sweetie, even I know you don't know the first thing about hacking." Summer said, putting a hand on her daughter's head.

Jaune climbed over the same root. When he did, he looked down and was shocked at what he saw.

"Oh, Gods." The kids ran over to him, sitting on the ground before a collection of broken eggshells. "Do you know what this is?" He asked the kids, picking up one of the shells. "It's a dinosaur egg. The dinosaurs are breeding."

“But grampa said all the dinosaurs were girls." Ruby said as she took the eggshell from Jaune.

“Amphibian DNA." Jaune said, putting the pieces together.

“What's that?" Yang asked.

“Well, on the tour, the film said they used frog DNA to fill in the gene sequence gaps." Jaune explained, picking up another of the shells, "They mutated the dinosaur genetic code, and blended it with that of frogs. Now, some West Vacuoan frogs have been known to spontaneously change sex from male to female when in a single sex environment. Nora was right." he scoffed, then pointed at a line of tracks leading away from the nest, "Look. Life found a way."

"Wow, Nora was right about something." Weiss said, amazed. Ren and Jaune shared another knowing glance as Nora propped her head on her hands and kicked her feet up.

Back in the control room, everyone was having a discussion about what to do next, and from the sound of things, Emerald did not like Ozpin's idea.

“No, no, no, that's crazy. You're out of your mind. He's absolutely out of his mind." Emerald said.

“Wait, what exactly would this mean?" Pyrrha said, confused.

“We're talking about a calculated risk, my dear, which is about the only option left to us." Ozpin explained, "We will never find the command Mercury used. He's covered his tracks far too well and I think it's obvious now that he's not coming back. So, shutting down the entire system- "

“Well you can get someone else to do it, cuz I won't do it." Emerald snapped, "I will not- "

"Bet she wouldn't be like this if Cinder was giving the order." Mercury commented, earning him another stomped foot.

"You'd think the kid woulda learned to shut up by now." Neo signed to her boss.

"He's a little slow, I'll admit." Roman said back.

“Shutting down the entire system," Ozpin said, trying to calm Emerald down, "Is the only way to wipe out everything that he did. Now, as I understand it, all the systems will then come back online under their original start-up modes, correct?" he turned to Emerald.

“Theoretically, yes, but we've never shut down the entire system before. It may not come back on at all."

“Will we at least get the phones back?" Pyrrha asked.

“Yes. Again, in theory."

“What about the Lysine Contingency?" Qrow asked, "We could put that into effect."

"Ooh, ominous." Nora said.

“That is absolutely out of the question." Ozpin said immediately, and not without a bit of an edge to his voice.

“What's that?" Pyrrha asked.

“The Lysine Contingency is intended to prevent the spread of the animals if they ever got off the island." Emerald explained, taking a drag from her cigarette, "Dr. Ren inserted a gene that creates a single faulty enzyme in protein metabolism; the animals can't manufacture the amino acid lysine. Unless they're completely supplied with lysine by us, they slip into a coma and die."

"Good gods!" Yang said, horrified.

"An effective plan, if nothing else." Winter commented, Glynda nodding her agreement.

"Still!"

“People. Are. Dying!" Ozpin said with controlled anger. He stared her down before quietly asking "Will you please shutdown the system?"

With reluctance, Emerald unlocked the electrical power box and ran through the process in her head. She hesitated while reaching for a switch labeled 'C-3', before finally flipping it downwards, causing her personal work station to shut off. She did the same with 'C-2', causing another station to go black, before finally shutting down Mercury's station. Qrow and Pyrrha each grabbed a flashlight before Emerald threw the main power switch, plunging the room into darkness. She waited a full minute before doing the process again, flipping the secondary switches back on before holding onto the main power switch.

“Hold onto your butts." She said as she threw the main switch. Nothing appeared to happen. Emerald closed her eyes, thinking that it had all failed, when she heard a small beeping sound coming from Mercury's terminal. She walked over and saw a single line of code at the bottom of the screen. 'System Ready.'

“It's okay!" she said, relieved, causing Ozpin to walk over, "See that? It's on! It worked."

Nora, who had been slumped on an elevated walkway and silent until this point, grabbed the handrail and tried to pull herself into a sitting position. "What do you mean 'it worked'? Everything's still off." She said.

“Well, maybe the shut down tripped the circuit breakers." Emerald theorized, hopeful, "All we have to do is turn them back on, reboot a few systems in here- phones, security doors, a half-dozen others- but it worked. The system's ready."

“Where are the breakers?" Qrow asked.

“Maintenance shed, other end of the compound. Three minutes, I can have power on in the entire park."

“Well, now, just to be safe," Ozpin said, taking charge, "I want everyone in the emergency bunker until Ms. Sustrai returns and the whole system is up and running again."

"This all sound too easy to anyone else?" Sun asked.

"My gut tells me this whole thing is about to go from bad to worse." Qrow said, taking a sip from his flask.

"How could 'dinosaurs running loose in a theme park' get any worse?" Weiss said.

"The raptors could get out." Qrow said, leaving the theater silent as the movie continued.

It was midday, and Jaune and the kids were walking up a hill in an open plain. Ruby was complaining about the heat and how hard the trek was getting and Jaune was trying to reassure her by telling her how close they were. As they crested the top of the hill, they saw a large group of ostrich-like dinosaurs running over the top of another hill not too far from the them.

“Ruby. Ruby, can you identify them for me?" Jaune said.

“They're Gal-uh… uh… Gala-umm…" she knew them, but she couldn't quite get at the name. "Gallimimus!" she finally said with pride.

“Are those, uh, meat-eating… um… meat-asauruses?" Yang asked, worried.

"Good question. Ruby?" Yang said.

"No. Though it possesses the characteristic two-legged therapod structure, Gallimimus was a part of the herbivorous ornithomimid family of bird-like dinosaurs."

"Thank you." Yang said, making Ruby smile as her mother rubbed her head.

“Oh, look at the wheeling, uniform direction changes." Jaune said as the Gallimimuses suddenly turned towards them all at once. "Just like a flock of birds evading a predator."

While Jane was busy observing, Ruby realized something, making her eyes widen.

"They're, uh…" she chuckled, "They're flocking this way." She said before she turned and ran. Yang followed her, as did Jaune when the dinosaurs began to overtake them, squawking as they ran past. They were taller than Jaune, and really did look like over-sized, feather-less ostriches with full arms for wings. The trio ran for a large, fallen tree and took shelter beneath it, waiting for the herd to finish stampeding past them.

When they finally passed, the trio crawled under the log to the other side and took shelter there. Lucky they did, for a few seconds later, the tyrannosaur burst from the tree line with a roar, lunging at a pair of the charging Gallimimus. It missed it's target, but caused a third to stumble, sealing it's fate. The tyrannosaur grabbed the smaller creature in its jaws, dragged it a few feet, and then bit down even harder, shaking it from side to side, killing it. It looked up, searching for any who dare try to claim it's kill, meat hanging from it's jaws, while the trio watching from their hiding place.

“I wanna go now." Yang whispered.

“Just look how it eats." Jaune said.

“Please!"

“Bet you'll never look at birds the same way again."

"Oh, come on!" Yang said, "Haven't they been through enough without having to watch an animal get eaten?"

“Yes." Ruby said, enraptured at the site of a tyrannosaur devouring its prey.

“Go now?" Yang said, almost desperate.

“Okay," Jaune said, checking behind him and finding a good way out. "Keep down and low me."

As he and Yang crawled away, Ruby stood up to get a better view of the carnage. "Look how much blood…" she said before Jaune grabbed her bodily and pulled her away.

"Red flag!" Tai yelled out, making Kali chuckle and Ghira nod approvingly.

Pyrrha was pacing around the bunker. The power should have been on by now. Something was very wrong. Nora was laid down on a metal table, with Ozpin tending to her leg wound and Qrow leaned against a wall, twirling a set of keys in one hand.

“This is just a delay." Ozpin said, "That's all it is. All major theme parks have delays. When they opened Schneeland in 1956, nothing worked."

"Schnee-what?!" Weiss said, incredulously. Winter possessed an expression to match.

“Yeah, but, Oz, if the Pirates of Menagerie breaks down, the pirates don't eat the tourists." Nora said.

“I can't wait any more." Pyrrha declared. "Something went wrong. I'm gonna go get the power back on."

“You can't just stroll down the road, kid." Qrow said, walking over to a metal locker nearby.

“Well, don't be too hasty," Ozpin said, checking his watch, "I mean, she's only been gone…"

“I'm coming with you." Said Qrow. He opened up the locker and pulled out his Harbinger. He grabbed a set of Dust bullets and put them into his pocket before checking the weapon's mechashift function. Ozpin pulled out a set of blueprints out of a drawer, closing it with his hip, and placed them on the table, accidentally hitting Nora's injured leg.

“Now," he said, turning to the correct page, "This isn't going to be like switching on the kitchen light, but I think I can follow this and talk you through it." Qrow looked over the blueprints, trying to memorize it, while Pyrrha retrieved a pair of walkietalkies. She clipped one to her hip and connected a headset to it.

“It ought to be me going." Ozpin said.

“Why?" Pyrrha asked, not liking the possible implication.

“Well, because you're… and I'm…" Ozpin said, trying and failing to not sound the way he did.

"Is he really going there right now?" Emerald asked.

"Old men and their chauvinism." Cinder said, shaking her head.

“Look, we can discuss sexism in survival situations when I get back. Now, just walk me through this step by step. I'm on channel two."

“Let's go, Nikos." Qrow said, ascending the stairs.

"You go girl!" Neo signed.

"How's the gut?" Tai asked Qrow.

"Still churning. Something's coming. I can feel it."

Chapter 12: Jurassic Park, Part 12

Chapter Text

Chapter 12

Pyrrha and Qrow exited the bunker to the sounds of chirping jungle birds. Qrow held his Harbinger at the ready in sword form with Pyrrha a step behind him. On their way to the maintenance shed, they passed the raptor pen. Qrow looked up and cursed to himself quietly. Pyrrha looked and gasped in horror; a section of the fence had been destroyed. The raptors were out. Qrow noticed a set of prints in the dirt and crouched down to inspect them. They appeared to be raptor tracks and they led into the jungle- in the same direction as their goal.

"Well, sh*t." Said Sun.

"Death flags are a-flyin'." Said Neptune.

“Oh, Gods." Pyrrha whispered.

“The shut-down must have turned off all the fences." Qrow reasoned, "Damn it, even Mercury knew better than to mess with raptor fences." He looked down, trying to formulate a plan.

There weren't a lot of options. Without those breakers being reset, power would stay off. And even if there was another way, Emerald would be the only one who would know, and she was most likely dead. No, there was only one option left to them: push forward. "Alright, follow me." He said, as he walked into the jungle, staying on the path.

"This cannot end well." Ilia said.

"You think?" Blake said sarcastically.

A few minutes later, Pyrrha could see the entrance to the shed, about a quarter-mile down the road. It was a straight shot through the jungle, with only a few fallen trees blocking the path.

“I can see the shed from here." She told Qrow, who was facing another direction and staring intently into the jungle, "We can make it if we run."

“No, we can't" Qrow said calmly.

“Why not?" Pyrrha asked, worried.

“Because we're being hunted. In the bushes straight ahead."

“Oh, Gods." Worry turned into terror faster than Ruby when cookies were at stake.

“It's alright."

“Like hell it is."

“Run." He told her, "Towards the shed. I've got her." He turned to Pyrrha, who was rooted to the spot, "Go! Now!"

Pyrrha started to turn, but bumped into the fallen tree behind her. Cursing, she clumsily vaulted the log and took off as fast as she could while Qrow stalked into the jungle. Maintaining her speed, she vaulted over one log, before stepping onto another, jumping, and using a branch to swing over a tangle of branches below her. A couple logs and a dirty puddle of what she hoped was water later, she made it to the concrete bunker, swung the door open, and slammed it shut behind her. She stopped herself at the top of a staircase and stared into the black.

“Ms. Sustrai?" she called, hoping the engineer was still down there. When she called again and still received no answer, she got on the walkie talkie and contacted Ozpin. "Oz, I'm in." she said as she brought out and turned on a flashlight, and began to descend the stairs.

"I don't think I like her calling me that." Emerald said.

"It is a little too professional, isn't it?" Mercury agreed.

"That's what Pyrrha's like." Jaune commented "She was always like that, kind, polite… even to her enemies."

“Great. Now, ahead of you is a metal staircase. Go down it." he instructed.

“Okay, going down."

“After twenty or thirty feet, you'll come to a T-junction. Take a left."

“Just have her follow the main cables- "Nora said.

“I know how to read a schematic." Ozpin said indignantly.

Back in the park, Jaune and the girls reached one of the electrified fences. Jaune didn't know if the power was still out, so he decided to find out. As he approached, he grabbed a stick off the ground. He climbed onto the concrete base and looked up at the warning lights; they were dark. He tossed the stick into the fence- and nothing happened.

“I guess that means the power is still out." He said, turning back to the girls.

‘But there's only one way to be sure.' He thought. He reached out for the fence with both hands, and as he did, an idea came to mind. He grasped the wire and began screaming and shaking the wire. Ruby and Yang screamed in fright until he stopped and looked at them with a sh*t-eating grin.

“That's not funny." Yang pouted.

“That was great!" Ruby laughed.

Everyone was laughing after that.

"Freaking smart ass!" Yang said.

"I actually pulled something similar to that on my sisters back before Beacon." He said.

"Bet they reacted to that well." Blake commented.

"You'd be surprised."

“Well, maybe…" Jaune said as he turned back to the fence and tried to find a way for him or the girls to slip through. When a roar from the tyrannosaur came the forest behind them, the girls immediately jumped onto the concrete base and all three began to climb the fence.

Back in the maintenance compound, Pyrrha turned a corner and sighed. "Dammit, dead-end."

“Wait a minute, wait a minute," Ozpin said, trying to figure out where he had gone wrong, "Uh, yes, there should have been a right turn- "

Nora grabbed the walkie-talkie from him and began talking to Pyrrha, "Pyrrha, look above you. There should be a large bundle of cables and pipes all heading the same direction. Follow that."

“Okay, following the piping."

Back at the fence, the trio had reached about half-way up when Yang spoke up.

"Ruby, I bet I could get to the top and be on the other side before you could even get to the top." She boasted.

“What would give me?" Ruby asked.

“Respect?" Yang teased.

“Come on guys, it's not a race." Jaune said, trying to play the middleman.

"It absolutely is! Ten lien on me." Yang said.

"I'll take that action." Ruby said, holding her hand out for her sister, who gave her a low-five to seal the deal.

“I see the box," Pyrrha said, walking through a chain-link door, "Says high-voltage… yeah." She opened the cabinet and saw several rows of labels with a red button and a green button next to them.

Jaune and Yang had finally made it to the top of the fence and were making their way to the other side with Ruby close behind. She struggled a bit when she made the change over, but Jaune was there to support her, reminding her to find her footing before descending.

"Ha! Pay up short stuff!" Yang cheered. Ruby grumbled as she started rooting through her purse for her wallet.

“Pyrrha," Ozpin said, reading from an instruction manual, "You can't throw the main switch by hand. You have to pump up the primer handle in order to get the charge. It's large, flat and grey."

“Alright, here goes." Pyrrha said as she began counting how many times she pushed the handle up until an indicator changed position. "Okay. Charged."

“Now, under the words 'Contact Position', is a round, green button, which says 'Push to Close'. Push it."

Pyrrha did as instructed and immediately the labels began to glow a light red, almost pink color and the green buttons did the same.

In the park, Jaune and Yang had made it safely to the other side, but Ruby was still about halfway down. Suddenly, an alarm began blaring, frightening Ruby and causing her to slip. Thankfully, she recovered quickly.

"Oh no." Yang said, causing Ruby to stop her task and stare at the screen.

“Now, Pyrrha, the red buttons turn on the individual park systems. Switch 'em on."

Pyrrha rapidly began flipping the plastic casing off the buttons before pressing them, mouthing each one to herself. The camera slowly panned down, revealing the last three. They said 'Velociraptor Pen Fence', T-Rex Paddock Fence', and 'Perimeter Fence'.

“Ruby!" Jaune called up, Yang behind him, yelling at her sister to get down, "Ruby, you're gonna have to jump."

“Are you crazy? I'm not gonna jump!" she yelled back.

“Ruby, do what Dr. Arc says! Now!" Yang yelled up, jumping anxiously.

“Just let go. I'll count to three." Still, she didn't move.

Pyrrha pressed the switches for the Control Room and the Visitor's Center Tour.

“I'm coming up to get you!" Jaune yelled up, before he turned to Yang to reassure her that he would be coming back.

“Okay," Ruby said, finally collecting her nerve and moving into position to jump. "I'm gonna count to three."

Pyrrha activated the Carnivore Feeder Compound and the Velociraptor Pen Fence switches.

“One." Ruby said. Jaune turned around.

Pyrrha turned on the T-Rex Paddock Fences and went for the final switch.

“Two-" Ruby barely finished the word before she was electrocuted and thrown back off the fence by the shock. She fell fifteen feet into Jaune's arm, causing him to fall on his back from the impact.

Weiss had her hands over her mouth, Blake had turned away, and JNR was holding each other's hands.

"Ruby!" Yang shouted, as Summer embraced her youngest daughter, who hid her face in her mother's shoulder.

“Ruby! RUBY!" Yang yelled, running up to Jaune, who had laid Ruby on her back and was checking her vitals.

“She's not breathing." He said.

The lights began to come on in the underground complex.

Pyrrha was smiling, ecstatic even. "Mr. Ozpin, I think we're backin business!"

Suddenly, a raptor burst its head from the cables behind her, shrieking. It resembled the tyrannosaur, though the head was longer, narrower and pointed. It tried to break free from the tangle of cables as Pyrrha screamed and ran out of the chain-link door, slamming it behind her as the raptor broke free from its rubber-coated prison bars and jumped at her.

Pyrrha backed into a wall and felt a weight hit her shoulder. Looking down, she noticed a familiar dark-skinned hand and forearm. It was Emerald.

“Oh, Ms. Sustrai." Pyrrha said, relieved. She turned around to look at the woman, only to find that the limb wasn't attached to anything. She holding the bloody stump of Emerald's arm, severed at the elbow. She dropped the limb in shock, and began hyperventilating, backing up to the chain-link wall. The raptor lunged at her with a shriek, causing Pyrrha to fall forward. It then began using its teeth and claws to tear the chain-link from the frame. Pyrrha picked herself up and began to run with a limp- her ankle was probably twisted-, dragging the flashlight behind her, with the raptor close behind. She ran up the stairs and slammed the door to the underground compound behind her. She continued to run until she reached the chain-link outer gate and slammed that door behind her as well. When she did, she collapsed into tears.

"I think I'm gonna puke…" Emerald said. On cue, a brown paper bag materialized next to her. She grabbed it and ripped it open just in time for her to spew her guts out. Cinder reached out and began rubbing her back, and Mercury put his hand on her shoulder.

'Welcome to the club.' He thought.

As all this happened, Qrow was busy creeping through the jungle, searching for his prey, Harbinger in hand. Eventually, he heard a rustling from the ferns directly ahead of him followed by an unmistakable growling. Calmly, he took the Dust rounds from his pocket and placed them on a nearby tree. Trying to remain as quiet as possible, he shifted Harbinger into gun mode. He took one of the Dust rounds, and loaded it into the chamber before priming the firing pin and taking aim.

Suddenly, the head of a raptor poked out of the foliage beside him with a hiss.

“Clever girl…" Qrow said before the raptor jumped on him. He tried to fight back, but it was too late. He screamed in pain as a snake slithered by the exposed head of the other raptor.

"At least you're not going out alone missy." He said to Emerald, who had calmed down. He handed his flask to her, "Take it, you need something to wash the taste out, right?"

"Thanks." She said as she took a swig of the burning liquid. She then turned to Mercury, "By the way, you owe me some lien."

"Ah, daughter of a bastard…"

Jaune was busy performing CPR on the motionless Ruby, as Yang paced beside her, crying her eyes out.

'C'mon little Red.' Torchwick thought to himself, 'You survived Beacon, you can survive this.' Despite how he acted, he didn't hold any grudges against the girl. He knew she was tough and skilled, but that was to be expected of an aspiring Huntress. More importantly, he knew she was lucky. You couldn't get through life like she did without a little bit of luck. Neo saw the look on her boss' face, and took his hand comfortingly.

“Ruby!" Jaune yelled as he filled Ruby's lungs with air. He compressed a few more times before he tried again. This time, Ruby coughed as he pulled back. She tried to catch her breath as Jaune cradled her head in his arms. "That's it! Good girl, good girl!"

“Three." Ruby said weakly, her breaths heavy and ragged.

Yang, despite her worry and relief, chuckled.

The theater let out a collective sigh of relief.

"Dammit, Old Wolf!" Yang raged. "f*ck you, man! Are there gonna be any more of those?" Summer didn't even punish her daughter for her language, for she was saying exactly what Summer was thinking.

“Maybe…"

Jaune kicked in the door to the visitor's center, carrying Ruby inhis arms. Based on the light, he guessed it was some time afternoon. They walked to the empty cafeteria where he placed Ruby on a table.

"Alright, I need to find the others, and get you to a doctor. Yang, you'll look after Ruby?" he asked the older girl, who nodded rapidly "Hey! Your hair's all sticking up." He said, patting Ruby's head. "Big Ruby, the human piece of toast." He joked, earning a small grin from Ruby. He turned to leave, saying, "I'll be back soon. I promise." And with that, he made his way back outside.

Ruby got off the table and headed for the buffet, limping as she went. She stopped before an array of pies, cakes, and- most importantly- cookies. Despite the bandages on her hands, she grabbed the dessert knives and tried to find the best place to start.

"Welp, this isn't going to end well." Yang joked.

"Ruby plus a buffet of sweets?" Weiss said, "Yeah, get ready for a sugar-induced apocalypse."

"The world is not prepared." Blake teased.

"You gonna take that, Red?" Torchwick asked.

"Well, they're not wrong…" Ruby said fairly.

'These are the people who have thwarted my plans three out of four times?' Cinder thought.

“Pyrrha!" Jaune called. He was on the lawn outside the visitor's center. He knew that if anyone would be able to survive this place, it was her. She may be a scientist, but she was still the four-time champion of the Mistral Regional Tournament, and the pride and joy of both Sanctum and Beacon Academies. She was an incredible fighter, and almost as good at tactics as he was. He turned and saw Pyrrha coming up the hill, red-pink overshirt discarded so that she only had her blue undershirt.

She saw him and her relief nearly eclipsed her fear. Almost.

“Run." She said through gritted teeth, before breaking into a limping run herself. She threw herself at Jaune, who wrapped her into a tight hug. She reciprocated, going so far as to wrap her legs about his.

"Well, at least things are looking up, kinda." Jaune said, trying to lighten the mood.

Chapter 13: Jurassic Park, Finale

Chapter Text

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 13

Yang and Ruby were busy engorging themselves on the buffet, unaware of the danger they were in. Yang was happily chowing down on a plate of fruit and veggies, with a side of Jell-O while Ruby was methodically working her was through cakes, pies, cookies and pudding.

"Well, there's one thing in this movie that is true to life about you, Ruby." Weiss teased, "You both have the same bottomless appetite for sweets."

"Sister!" Winter scolded.

"Now, hold on, Ice Queen Sr," Yang said, holding up her hand, "She's not wrong."

Ruby smiled at her sister until she noticed Yang's expression; she was looking past Ruby and whatever she saw had shaken her to her core, physically and mentally. Ruby turned around and saw the shadow of a raptor lining up with an image of itself. She quickly took Yang's hand and they ran for the kitchen. It was a large place, to be expected of a soon-to-be major theme park. There were rows of stainless-steel counters, ovens and several specialized appliances neither of the girls recognized. Yang quickly turned off all the lights before she and Ruby ran to the end of one row of counters and took shelter behind it.

The raptor walked down the hallway, it's toe claw clicking with each step, as it followed their scents down to the door of the kitchen. The tip of its nose could be seen through the small window in the door to the kitchen. Ruby poked her head out just enough to see the door and the window set in it. The raptor looked in with one eye and then fully faced the door, letting out a breath with a short cry. Scared, Ruby immediately withdrew her head back into cover, not knowing if the beast had seen her or not.

"We're in the denouement now, folks." Blake said, "This is where everything will be decided."

"Day-knew-what now?" Yang asked.

"English, please!" Sun teased.

Blake grinned at the jab. "Denouement, the final act." She explained.

"Then just say that next time. No need to get all arty on us." Yang said.

"I knew what you meant, Blake." Weiss said, trying to cheer her friend up.

Back in the bunker, Jaune pulled a shotgun out of the locker where Qrow had kept Harbinger. He loaded it and chambered a round. He was never much of a marksman, usually preferring close-quarters fighting, where he and Pyrrha had made for an unbeatable team. Unfortunately, he and Pyrrha had left Crocea Mors and Miló and Akoúo back in Vale, so he would make do with what he had.

“It's just the two raptors, right?" he looked over to Pyrrha, who was tending to Nora's wounds as best she could, "You're sure the third one's contained?"

“Yes. Unless they figure out how to open doors." She half-joked. They both knew from Qrow how intelligent these creatures were, so it was a definite possibility.

"Aw man, Pyrrha why you gotta jinx it like that?" Nora face-palmed.

As if summoned by the mere thought of it, the handle on the kitchen door began wiggling, slightly at first, until it turned all the way, allowing the door to swing open slightly. All the raptor then had to do was use its head. Literally, in fact. It used the tip of its snout to push the door open and unintentionally lock it there. It looked around, hissing, knowing its prey was in here somewhere.

"Ya see?" Nora said, exasperated, "Jinx!"

"That's usually my job." Jaune joked.

“Ruby, what is it?" Yang whispered.

“It's a Velociraptor." She answered.

Growing frustrated, the raptor let out a series of 'poofing' noises before letting out a loud roar. Immediately, another raptor walked into the kitchen, accidentally nudging its companion. The first raptor apparently took offense at this and nipped its partner in the neck. The second raptor hissed at the first in pain, but ultimately submitted.

“Follow me." Yang whispered as she led Ruby a few rows down from the raptors, crawling to keep out of sight. After making it to the third row, they turned in and kept close to the counter. One of the raptors was in the next row over, so they tried to keep their movements as quiet as possible. The raptor next to them let out a noise, causing the sisters to immediately put their back to the near wall. Hearing the raptor continue on its way, they resumed their trek in the opposite direction of the raptor.

Suddenly, the raptor swept its tail over the counter top, causing pans and cooking utensils to spill over the sisters. Scared, they threw caution to the wind and crawled even faster, making it to the next row. Thankfully, their movements were covered by the crash of metal and plastic. Yang made it into the next row, but Ruby was not as lucky. She only made it as far as the end of the row before she was forced to press her back to a wall covered in cooking spoons when a raptor stuck its head under the counter. It looked around a bit and withdrew its head, and Ruby let out the breath she had been holding.

"Too close." Ruby said, letting out a breath.

But luck is a heartless bitch, as proven by a soup ladle Ruby had jostled when it fell to the floor with a clang, drawing the attention of both raptors with a snarl.

"For the love of- "Ruby yelled putting her hands over her face.

"Good Gods, Red. Did you step on a pack of black cats before you went to that island or does Fate just have a grudge against you?" Torchwick said, feeling bad for the little girl on screen.

"I don't know. Going off what has happened to me thus far in this movie, I think it might very well be both."

Ruby and Yang moved again, as did the raptors, one of whom jumped up onto the countertop, gaining a vantage point. Yang made it to the end of the row they were currently on, while Ruby could only move into the row before pressing her back to the counter. Yang tried to get her to move, but Ruby adamantly refused. The raptors reached Ruby's previous position, one of them sniffing at and licking the ladle that had fallen in order to get her scent.

Before it could, however, Yang distracted them with a ladle of her own. She rapidly tapped it on the ground, gaining their undivided attention before she retreated into the oven that was behind her. All the raptor saw was her reflection as she tried to pull the oven closed, crying and screaming. Easy prey. Or so it thought. The beast charged her with a roar, teeth and claws bared. It lunged at Yang's reflection and bashed its head into the stainless steel, stunning itself as Yang made her escape to the last row.

"Okay, that was clever, Blondie." Mercury commented.

"Thanks, I guess…"

Hearing her sister's actions, Ruby was emboldened. She saw her chance in the form of the open freezer door. She looked back and, seeing that the remaining raptor wasn't looking, made a break for it. The raptor turned, saw her and gave chase, using the counter-top in front of it to boost its initial charge. Gimp leg and all, Ruby ran as fast as she could, knowing that the animal was hot on her trail.

Upon entering the freezer, she faced her next challenge: stopping and making it out before her pursuer could recover. She solved the problem by grabbing one of the storage racks, spinning herself around out of the raptor's path. Unfortunately, it didn't completely work, and she fell on her chest. The raptor followed, but couldn't find purchase on the icy floor. As a result, it crashed into the rack in front of it, spilling several steaks of beef and fish. Ruby managed to find her footing and ran out of the freezer as the raptor got to its feet, jumping at her as she closed the door on it.

"Points for gutsy Little Red." Mercury added.

Yang ran to assist her sister, and, together, they trapped the beast in the freezer. As Ruby stepped to the side to catch her breath, Yang sealed the animal's fate by using a small metal pin to lock the freezer door closed. Letting out a small sigh of relief, she grabbed her sister and led her out of the kitchen.

"And an assist for Blondie." Mercury commented.

"You keeping score or something?" Emerald said.

"No." Mercury said quickly, hiding his Scroll and the spreadsheet it bore.

"That's two raptors down at least." Ozcar commented.

"Only one, actually," Cinder corrected, "And we just saw they have the capacity to open doors, so it's likely the one Little Miss Destiny thought she trapped got out."

Jaune stood up and glared murderously at Cinder. "You so much as refer to Pyrrha again, and so help me I will kill you with my bare hands, no matter what the Old Wolf says."

"Sit down, Mr. Arc." Glynda and Logan said at once. Jaune acquiesced while Cinder grinned smugly at him.

Meanwhile, Yang's raptor had recovered by this point and saw its prey running away, hissing with frustration. When Yang and Ruby reached the cafeteria, they ran into the waiting arms of Jaune and Pyrrha, who happily scooped up Ruby in a hug.

“It's in there!" Yang said to Jaune.

“Control room." Pyrrha ordered, leading the way, Jaune keeping his gun trained on the entrance to the kitchen the entire time.

They entered the control room to see that all the lights and monitors were working fine.

“We can call for help?" Yang asked desperately.

“We have to reboot the system first." Pyrrha said, running to Mercury's terminal.

“The door locks!" Jaune said as he closed the door behind him, trying to figure out the automated door lock, "Pyrrha, boot up the door locks." He looked back up and saw the face of the raptor staring at him. It exhaled with a huff and looked down.

Jaune followed it and noticed the door handle start to move. He grabbed it immediately, but the door was thrown open against him, causing him to drop his shotgun as he tried to hold it closed. Pyrrha saw this, and ran to help him, throwing herself on the ground next to him, her back to the door.

‘Dammit, boot up the door locks!" Jaune yelled at Pyrrha as he struggled with the raptor.

“You can't hold it by yourself!" she yelled back as the raptor let out a shriek.

Ruby was jumping up and down in panic, while Yang simply turned around and calmly took a seat at Mercury's computer. She looked it over and was amazed.

“It's a UNIX system." She said as Ruby ran up behind her. "I know this. It has all the files of the whole park. It tells you everything. I gotta find the right file." She began typing furiously.

"Now that is definitely not our Yang." Taiyang commented.

"Hey!" Yang whined.

"Yang, be real." Ruby said with a quirked eyebrow. "Sure, we're children of the Internet, but neither of us is versed in computer language. You least of all, probably."

"Can we focus, please?" Weiss said, annoyed.

“Try to reach the gun." Jaune said to Pyrrha. He had put his own back against the door, putting his full weight against it. Pyrrha tried to slide her foot under the strap and pull it towards her but failed.

“I can't get it unless I move!" she cried.

“Semblance?"

“No good, I never touched it and I can't concentrate on it without slacking off on the door."

"Damn, that was probably our only shot." Jaune said, thinking of solutions as best he could. Pyrrha's Semblance was essentially her trump card, but it required a good deal of focus to use. The only reason she could do it so well in Beacon was because she was so intimately familiar with her weapons. She also mentioned once that she had trained herself to fall into what she called a 'battle meditation' whenever she was in a fight against multiple opponents, allowing her operate on a more primal, instinctual level, thus reducing how much concentration she needed to operate her Semblance.

Yang had moved over to a Zoology section of the system when the raptor managed to get its fingers in the door. Jaune slammed it closed on them and the raptor screeched in pain. Not seeing what she was looking for, Yang moved over to Physical Security, thinking she would have better luck there.

“This might be it, this might be the right file," she said as she selected an icon that said 'Chemical'. "This isn't the right file."

Ruby jumped anxiously behind her. The raptor pulled its finger back out of the door.

“C'mon, Yang!" Ruby said. The raptor stuck a hand back in.

Yang clicked on the Visitor's Center file and the screen changed to a schematic of the visitor's center. Several icons began popping up, all labeled 'Secured'. Jaune and Pyrrha managed to get the door fully closed just as the automatic lock slammed shut, allowing them a chance to breath. They walked over to the cheering kids, Pyrrha amazed that they had succeeded.

“What works?" Jaune asked.

“Phones, security systems. You name it, we got it!" Yang said.

Jaune grabbed the phone and began dialing.

In the bunker, Ozpin was helping Nora with a blanket when the phone behind them began ringing. They looked at each other in surprise before Ozpin turned around and answered it.

“Arc?" he said.

“Mr. Ozpin, the phones are working." Jaune said, gun in hand.

“Are the children alright?"

"Glad you have your priorities straight, Oz." Taiyang called down.

"The safety of my students is and always has been my primary concern." Ozcar replied, not that it wasn't true, but he was more scared of Glynda than what his students might say if they heard otherwise.

“The children are fine. Call the mainland, tell 'em to send the damn Bullheads." There was a breaking of glass behind him. The raptor had thrown itself at one of the tempered glass windows, breaking it, but not shattering it. It wouldn't take many more hits before the glass finally gave.

“It's gonna come through the glass!" Pyrrha yelled. Jaune dropped the phone and took aim with the shotgun. He fired off four rounds, audible on the other end of the line.

“Arc!" Ozpin screamed into the phone, but Jaune couldn't hear him. He had dropped the gun when it jammed after the fourth shot and grabbed a nearby ladder. He managed to get everyone into the ceiling and out of reach of the raptor just as the beast burst into the control room with a roar and a hail of shattered glass. Taking no chances, he used his heel to knock over the ladder, preventing any chance of them being followed.

Taking the lead, he saw a patch of light about ten feet ahead of him and headed towards it. The raptor looked up and saw the metal plates of the ceiling bending whenever someone put too much weight on them. The group was nearly to their exit when the raptor's head burst into the ceiling, directly under the panel Yang was on.

"sh*t!" Yang cursed as she jumped in her seat.

She screamed as she was lifted unsteadily into the air. Jaune turned and kicked the raptor in the face until it fell out of the ceiling, taking Yang with it. She hung onto the framework, her legs flailing mere feet above the fallen raptor, who quickly recovered and jumped for her. Thankfully Jaune and Pyrrha managed to pull her back up in time. Jaune hurried everyone into the ventilation system and led them to a metal grate right above the scaffolding in the main lobby. He exited first, followed by Ruby- who he helped down every step of the way- then Yang, with Pyrrha bringing up the rear.

They had reached the final piece of scaffolding when they heard the roar of a raptor off to their right. wasting no time, Jaune led the group onto the rickety Apatosaurus skeleton, Yang headed for the neck, Pyrrha the tail, while Ruby stayed with Jaune on the side of the torso farthest away from the raptor, which then leapt onto the skeleton, causing it to break apart.

Everything went even further south from there, if such a thing was even possible. Pyrrha fell from her section of skeleton when her weight became too much for the wires holding it up to bear, as did Yang, though she had a chance to jump down before the whole thing fell and so avoided being covered in debris. Ruby- at Jaune's behest- fell to the floor before the torso did and so was able to find a safe place to curl up as the rib cage came charging down at her, with Jaune and the raptor unwillingly coming along for the ride.

Pyrrha recovered before she heard a hooting sound come from behind a plastic tarp. Looking up, she saw a faint shadowy outline in the shape of a raptor, which was confirmed when the beast lifted the tarp with its snout.

"Called it!" Cinder cheered smugly.

Yang screamed as the first raptor came around the ruined skeleton with a roar. She scrambled to her feet and backed into Jaune and Ruby as the beast chased her. She almost ran into the other raptor, but Pyrrha grabbed her by the arm and shoved her behind herself.

And there the four of them stood; unarmed, injured, tired and caught between two of the most intelligent killing machines on the island. The other raptor slowly stepped towards them, each step bringing it into a pouncing pose. It bared its teeth and claws and leapt at them-

Only to be plucked out of the air by the jaws of the Tyrannosaur.

The foursome looked up at their supremely unlikely savior as the Tyrannosaur viciously shook the raptor from side to side before slamming it on the ground, stone dead. The first raptor howled in fury before charging the Tyrant Lizard King, leaping onto its neck, causing it to roar in pain. As the Tyrannosaur chomped at the raptor, trying to get the nuisance off its neck, Jaune and the girls made a break for the front door.

As they reached the bottom of the steps, Ozpin pulled up in a gas jeep, Nora taking up the middle. As Pyrrha helped the kids into the car, Jaune vaulted the front passenger door.

“Mr. Ozpin," he said as he climbed in, "After careful consideration, I have decided NOT to endorse your park."

“So have I." Ozpin replied before peeling off towards the landing pad.

"Nice line, Vomit Boy." Yang complimented.

"Our fearless leader has his moments." Nora said cheekily.

"Few and far between as they are." Jaune mumbled.

Back inside, the raptor was tearing away at the Rex's neck. The Rex shook one side of its body, causing the raptor to slip just enough for the Rex to grab it. The raptor struggled to free itself, so the Rex simply chomped down on it and threw it into the skeleton of its long-dead ancestor, killing it on impact. It turned and bellowed a mighty roar of victory as the 'When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth' banner fell to the floor.

"Badass…" Ruby whispered, wide-eyed. Summer could only giggle at her youngest and kissed her on the head.

The Bullhead was waiting for them at the landing pad. Pyrrha helped Yang into the aircraft, followed by Ruby, held by Ozpin. As Jaune helped Nora in, Ozpin turned and stared at his failed project, a brachiosaur crying out peacefully in the distance. It was such a grand idea, bold in how fundamentally simple it was.

‘How then,' he thought, 'did it all go so wrong?'

Jaune walked up to him and moved to help him into the ship. Ozpin jumped at the contact, still anxious and fearful, but he calmed when he saw it was only Jaune. As the airship flew over the ocean towards Menagerie, Ozpin simply stared at the chunk of amber that topped his cane and reflected, while Nora slept quietly. Jaune wanted to do the same with Pyrrha, but he was rather preoccupied as Yang and Ruby had fallen fast asleep in his arms. He smiled at Pyrrha, she had been right about him and kids. He would be a good father, should that day ever come.

Pyrrha, however, gave him a weak, tired smile and looked out at the crystal-clear water.

"Uh-oh." Yang said.

"What?" Ruby asked worried.

"I know that look. I don't think Jaune and Pyrrha are gonna be together much longer after this."

The Bullhead flew into the distance as the credits began to roll.

"Well, that was definitely a thing." Yang said as she stood up and stretched out.

"Such a good movie." Ruby agreed.

"Good plot, even if there were a few holes here and there." Blake commented.

"The special effects were rather good as well." Weiss said, "Mr. Wolf, how old is this movie?"

“At the present time, it is 26 years old in its home universe."

"Well, I would dare say it has aged rather well." Winter agreed.

‘I am glad that you all enjoyed it. I assure you there is more to come, but first, I must decide on an order. While I do, please feel free to grab more concessions, free of charge. Ms. Belladonna, I would like to mention I have added a full sushi bar."

Blake's ears perked up at the mere mention of fish and she began salivating. Seeing that people were staring at her, she quickly recovered.

"I believe I will take you up on that. Thank you."

“Uh huh, go wild, kitty. It's not going anywhere any time soon. I will alert you all when the time comes to return."

Chapter 14: Intermission

Chapter Text

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 14- Intermission

Team RWBY was chatting amongst themselves about the movie as they exited the theater to grab more sodas, popcorn, candy, and -to everyone’s surprise and Ruby’s delight- cookies of several different varieties. Blake, meanwhile, zipped over to the sushi bar at speed to rival Ruby’s.

Having followed them out, Winter tapped her sister on the shoulder. “Excuse me ladies,” she said, “May I borrow my sister for a few moments?”

“Weiss?” Ruby asked a little nervously.

“Don’t worry Ruby, it’s fine.” She assured her leader, “I was expecting this. Go ahead with out me, but be sure to get my snacks.”

“Diet Pepsi, medium popcorn, and Sour Skittles. I remember.”

“Good, and Yang?”

“Yeah, Weiss-cream?” the blonde brawler replied, using one of her least favorite nicknames.

“No more than three cookies.” The ex-heiress said, pointing at Ruby.

“Awww, c’mon!”

“Three, Ruby. We’ve seen what happens when you have too many and I will not have you bouncing off the walls in there.”

Winter walked with her sister over to the entrance so they could have some extra privacy. “Sour Skittles?” she asked with a quirked eyebrow.

“What?” Weiss said, crossing her arms over her chest in her signature pose, “Since I went to Beacon, I have learned much about myself, such as the fact that I find salty and sweet go very well together.”

“If you say so, sister. Now, explain your attitude towards our brother.”

Weiss’s smile fell. This wasn’t a topic she was exactly comfortable with, especially after that movie. “How much do you know?” she asked.

“Very little. I left for Mistral shortly after you arrived home after the Fall. When I was brought here, I was on my way back to Atlas. Mr. Logan was good enough to catch me up on the last few days of you and your team’s exploits. I must say I’m impressed, both with your decision to leave, and your actions in defense of Haven.”

“So, you don’t know why I left?”

“No, would you mind starting there?”

“There was a gala one night. A ‘charity fund-raiser for Beacon’ organized by Father. He asked me to sing- though ask is a very generous term- and I was basically obligated to attend the gala afterwards. I lost my temper. Accidentally summoned Mr. Pig, who then attacked one of the attendees. Would have killed her if General Ironwood hadn’t dealt with him and defended me. Father stripped me of my inheritance, gave it to Whitley and placed me under house arrest. I spoke with Whitley afterwards and he basically confirmed that he was behind Father’s decision.”

“Mr. Pig?” Winter said with a grin.

“A boarbatusk I killed in one of my classes. I have so many summons now that I’ve taken to naming them, okay?” Weiss responded to her sister’s teasing as she expected.

“So, you hold a grudge against Whitley for freeing you from your burden. Am I understanding this correctly?”

“Well, yes, but the inheritance was more than a burden to me, it was goal. I had dreamed of becoming a Huntress and then the head of the SDC to restore dignity to our family name, a name our Father married into for power and has since dragged through the mud. Whitley single-handedly crushed my dream, but he also freed me from the burden, allowing me to improve and grow.”

“And our brother’s death scene? How did that make you feel?”

“Disgusted with myself. I may hate Whitley, but he is still my brother, so when I felt a tinge of joy at seeing him get eaten…” She cried softly as Winter pulled her into a hug.

Team STRQ’s reunion was no less emotional. Summer had both of her old teammates in fierce bear hugs, trying to squeeze as much affection into them as she could. The Bella-parents stood off to the side.

“Oooh, I missed you both sooo much!” she said.

“Summer, please!” Tai said, rapidly tapping his wife on the arm, “Can’t breathe!”

“Wuss.” Qrow said, no less strained, but not tapping out.

“Asshole!”

Remembering that, unlike her, the boys required air, Summer released them. The moment she did, Tai embraced her with a deep, loving kiss.

‘Gods, she even smells the same.’ He thought, catching a whiff of her signature strawberry-mint shampoo. Breaking the kiss, he held her close, a few tears finally coming forth.

“I missed you so much.”

“Me too, babe, me too.” She replied.

“So,” Qrow said, not wanting to be left out, “Mind telling us what Heaven’s like?”

“Wish I knew. I know that’s where I ended up, but I guess the Old Wolf pulling me down must have messed up my memory something fierce. Can’t even remember what did me in.”

“That’s for the best, I assure you.” Said a voice from behind. They turned and saw a large wolf sitting behind them. His fur was snow white, his fangs were insanely long, and his eyes sparkled with a deep intelligence. “I do apologize, Ms. Rose, but some memories simply should not be remembered, your death being one of them.”

“Alright, but what about the bits about Paradise?” Qrow asked.

“That, I’m afraid is beyond my power. I am a deity, Mr. Branwen, but even we have our limits. Only the Brothers could allow someone to keep knowledge about the afterlife, and even then, only if they deemed it necessary”

“Qrow, don’t worry so much.” Summer whined, so much like her daughter, “Just be glad we’re all back together.”

“Well said, Ms. Rose. Now, if I may have everybody’s attention? We will be having some more viewers from this point on. First, a pair of former Beacon students who are currently attending Shade Academy in Vacuo.”

“Well, would you check this place out. Pretty swanky.”

“It’s big too. Must be popular.”

“Coco! Velvet!” Ruby yelled, running over to the two older girls, leaving her snack at the counter. The pair looked the same as they ever had, Coco like a fashion queen, Velvet like her shy best friend.

“Hey Red,” Coco said, lowering her sunglasses to get a better look at her, “Been a while. You’ve certainly changed. Nice outfit.”

“Looking good yourself, Coco.” Yang said as she sauntered up. The two had always had a playful, flirtatious banter, even at Beacon. Yang was probably the only person in the whole school who matched Coco for sheer confidence. As the girls chatted, Velvet walked over to greet Blake, who was greedily digging into various salmon and tuna rolls.

“Hey Blake, how are you?” she asked, spooking Blake, who grabbed her sushi and moved several feet away, guarding her food like a hungry animal.

“Velvet!” she said once she realized who she was. She embraced the girl while Ilia approached. “It’s good to see you.”

“And you too. Hey, you’re not wearing your bow anymore!” Velvet was the only person in Beacon, aside from Teams RWBY and JNPR who knew about Blake’s Faunus heritage. She even knew about Blake’s past in the White Fang and why she left.

Blake looked embarrassed as she explained. “After Beacon, I kinda had a change of heart. I decided to stop hiding who I was, so I started with the bow.” Before she could introduce Ilia, the Wolf spoke once more.

“This next arrival will likely upset many of you, but his presence is necessary as he will be involved in future stories.”

“What the hell is this?” Adam Taurus said as he walked in the door. He looked the same but for his face. His usual White Fang mask had been discarded in favor of a piece of black cloth over his eyes.

“This, Mr. Taurus, is your chance to gain perspective and different viewpoints, though I highly doubt you’ll ever change. But, before I let you any further, I must request that you turn over your weapons.”

“You and what army, mutt?” Adam said, snapping his head towards the massive wolf.

Suddenly, an army of wolves materialized from the shadows, red-eyed and snarling. A few of the black-pelted, red-clawed ones looked like they might actively attack, but the older-looking ones with grey fur kept them in line.

“This army, Mr. Taurus.Everyone, meet my pack. They are my enforcers here. They will attack anyone who tries to start trouble, and unlike your White Fang followers, their loyalty knows no bounds.”

Seeing he was cornered, he laid his weapons at the wolf’s feet.

“A wise decision. And now for the final arrival. As Ms. Sustrai said in the last movie, hold onto your butts.”

“Hello again!”

Jaune dropped his drink, spilling it all over Nora and Ren’s shoes, though they didn’t mind; they recognized that voice too. Team JNR turned and saw Pyrrha standing in the door, wearing- not her battle gear- but a snow-white dress, similar to the one she wore to the Vytal Ball.

“PYRRHA!” Nora yelled. She made to run to her sister, but Ren held her back. When she asked him why, he simply nodded at Jaune, who had slowly walked up to his old partner. He reached out and gently touched her cheek, not believing that this was real. But it was. His hand met resistance, and felt warmth from the woman he loved. He wrapped her in a fierce hug, followed by Nora and Ren.

Finally, their team was whole again, if only for now. Jaune didn’t care. He just let the tears flow.

As the group flowed back into the theater, Logan, unnoticed by all, made his way to the best seat in the house, the exact center of the middle row. There sat Salem, who observed as the theater filled with more people, popcorn and soda nearby, though both looked untouched.

“Thank you for agreeing to come, Madam. I trust things are to your liking?”

“They are, though I’m not accustomed to these food and drink items you provided me with.” Salem said as she looked at a menu.

“Well, they are what you have to choose from. Try them, and I believe you will find them to your liking. In any case, I must return to my duties. Remember, no one will know you are here unless I will it, and your powers are actively being suppressed. For all intents and purposes, you are mortal here.”

Hearing that stirred something in Salem, something she hadn’t felt in years. Not since Him. Was that… joy?

Chapter 15: Trailers

Chapter Text

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 15- Trailers

“Now, is everybody ready to continue?” The Old Wolf’s voice said. Summer sat with the rest of the parents, having a very lively conversation with Kali. Winter was nearby, keeping close watch on Adam, who sat a few rows down from the parents on the far side of the theater. Team JNPR, now complete, sat beside Team RWBY, Pyrrha and Jaune joined at the hands, while Coco and Velvet sat with Sun, Neptune, Oscar and Glynda. Team CRMEN took their seats in the back of the theater, having made their own foray for snacks by sending Mercury and Roman to fetch it all. “Good. Before we start the next film, we will be watching some trailers for upcoming features.” The entire audience, minus an obvious few, groaned. “Yes, yes. I feel your pain, but trust me, you don’t want to miss out on these.”

The theater dimmed as the projector came to life. On the screen came the usual MPA warning, before the trailer started.

“We always thought alien life would come from the stars…” Jaune narrated.

General Ironwood, Nora and Watts ran out onto a balcony, followed by a horde of people, all looking up. Nora pointed and Ironwood looked through a pair of binoculars.

“Alright, starting off strong.” Yang commented.

“But it came from deep beneath the Great Ocean.”

A fiery rift opened up under water, electric discharge arcing in all directions and bathing all around it in light.

“What the hell is going on?” Ironwood asked, his voice sounding like it was from a radio.

A gigantic monster crashed its way through a city.

“Is that some kind of Grimm?” Ruby asked. The beast had to be even bigger than the Goliaths she saw at Mountain Glen.

“I don’t think so.” Ozcar said, leaning forward.

“It’s nothing I’ve created at least.” Salem thought to herself.

“The first Kaiju made land in Argus…” Another, different monster tore its way through a suspension bridge. “The second attack hit Shion.” Yet another Grimm burst through a gigantic wall. “And the third one hit Vacuo. And then we learned, this was not gonna stop. In order to fight monsters, we created monsters of our own.”

FROM DIRECTOR LIE REN

Jaune walked into a room decked out in full white plate armor that was clearly battle-worn. He and another in similar armor were strapped in at the feet. The room turned out to be a co*ckpit within a giant humanoid head.

“Another one starring me?” Jaune said.

“I wonder if you and Pyrrha will be romantic interests again.” Blake commented.

“Again?” Pyrrha asked.

“Tell you later.” Jaune told her.

“The Jaeger Program was born.”

The head dropped onto a humanoid body and locked into place.

“Two pilots, our minds, our memories, connected. Man and machine become one.”

One of the giant robots was air-lifted out of a hangar. Two more were dropped into the ocean and walked until they were submerged.

GO BIG.

“Today, at the edge of our hope…” Ironwood said.

A monster fought one of the robots in the sea. Jaune and Ruby, dressed in matching black plate armor, fought a flying one.

OR GO EXTINCT.

“At the end of our time,”

A robot collapsed in a frozen coast.

“We’ve chosen to believe in EACH OTHER.”

Yang, dressed in plate as well, stepped out of the head of her robot.

“Ah, yeah, giant robot pilot in the house.”

“Today, we face the monsters at our door…”

A robot and a Kaiju charged at each other.

“Today, we are CANCELING the Apocalypse!” Ironwood yelled, dressed in his own black plate.

What followed were a series of snaps of giant robots fighting Kaiju.

“It is rather amazing.” Oobleck said to a scowling Torchwick.

A giant robot approached a Kaiju in the middle of a city and began to wield a cargo ship as though it was a sword.

PACIFIC RIM

“Okay, I am officially hyped.” Sun said.

“Amen, brother.” Coco said, giving the Faunus a high-five.

A figure stood in a desert, star off at the setting twin suns before her.

Another, robed in white, knelt before a beeping robot of some kind.

Strange looking aircraft flew into the sky somewhere on a jungle world.

Soldiers, clad in gleaming white plate armor walked side-by-side down a hallway.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far way…

“Okay, hit it!” Yang ordered. Blake threw a switch and whatever the hell they were in disappeared into space.

“Okay, so now it’s some kind of space movie.” Yang said.

“I like the music. Makes everything seem more epic.” Velvet commented.

EXPERIENCE THE MOVIE

Weiss stepped out of the shadows, holding a long-barrel pistol of some kind.

Blake roared as she pounded away at a metal door.

Ruby sat on the floor next to a tall, green, humanoid robot and the beeping one from before. The smaller one was projecting an image of Weiss onto the floor.

“Help me, Taiyang Xiao Long. You’re my only hope.” The projection said.

“Hey, finally!”

“Is that what you said to Tai when you needed help studying for finals in third year?” Qrow teased Summer, who slapped his shouder.

THAT CHANGED THE WORLD

“I’m Ruby Rose, I’m here to rescue you.” Ruby said. She was, for some reason, wearing the white plate of the soldiers.

“I’m the hero!” Ruby cheered.

“How do you know it’s not me or dad?” Yang asked.

Yang ran up a ramp in the middle of a gun fight- well, a gun fight with lasers, apparently.

“Yang Xiao Long, Captain of the Millennium Falcon.” Yang said. She sat next to Blake at a table in a… less than reputable establishment. What can only be assumed is her “Millennium Falcon” flew into the sky.

“Okay, screw it, you can be the hero Rubes. I’ll take badass space-cowboy any day.”

“Of course you would.” Weiss rolled her eyes with a small smile.

“Somebody has to save our skins!” Weiss said as she grabbed Ruby’s laser gun and fired it down the hallway. The craft from earlier were seen approaching a large grey orb, everyone thought was a moon.

“I approve.” Weiss said, smiling ear-to-ear now.

“Let go, Ruby.” Taiyang’s spectral voice said.

“The Force is strong with this one…” A figure in black plate armor said as it flew a spaceship behind another.

“Ten bucks says it’s Raven.” Qrow said.

“Done.” Tai shook his hand.

“Boys!” Summer scolded, “I’m in.” she put her hands on her teammates.

A series of combat sequences followed, culminating in a turret blowing up a spacecraft.

“I got it!” Ruby yelled up the ladder behind her.

“Great, kid. Don’t get co*cky!” Yang yelled down at her.

Taiyang and the One in Black fought with laser swords(!).

“WANT!” Ruby cried.

STAR WARS

“I don’t know what all this trouble is about,” the green robot said in Ren’s voice, “But I know it must be your fault.” The pink and green robot made some raspberry-esque beeps in response.

“So, wait, is Renny not an actor in this one?” Nora asked, confused.

“His character seems to be some kind of android, so he’s at least a voice actor.” Winter commented.

A pen of steel and concrete sat in the jungle near an ocean cliff. Yang ran into the pen, hand outstretched before a quartet of Velociraptors.

“More dinosaurs, yay!” Ruby cheered.

“Why am I in there!?” Yang yelled at herself, “Did I not get traumatized enough the first time?”

“It’s not about control.” She narrated as she told the raptors to stand down. “It’s a relationship.” The raptors roared at her, yet she calmly stood her ground. “Based on respect.”

“I think you got over it, Yang.” Ruby said, calming her sister down.

“I agree.” Blake said, “Look, you’re practically controlling them, and they almost killed you last time.”

“Seriously, what did I miss?” Pyrrha asked, looking to anyone for an explanation.

“Allow me, Ms. Nikos.”

Pyrrha clenched her eyes shut as information flooded into her head. “Agh, thank you, I guess.”

The scene shifted to Yang standing in front of a small house, looking up at Cinder, who was wearing a power suit. “These animals are thinking I gotta eat, I gotta hunt,” The raptors were seen running through open jungle in the dead of night. “I gotta…” she made a pushing motion with her fist. Cinder rolled her eyes. “You gotta be able to relate to at least one of those things.”

“Classy, Yang, very classy.” Cinder drawled.

“Are you my love interest in this?” Yang asked, almost appalled.

“Hot.” Mercury said, earning him stomped feet from Emerald and Cinder.

“You’d figure the kid would learn by now…” Tai said, listening to the string of curses coming from the grey-haired lad.

A huge crowd of people could be seen walking around a large street leading up to a large conical building.

A truck full of more people was seen driving through a herd of running Gallimimus.

“Every time we’ve unveiled a new attraction,” Cinder said as a flare was dropped in front of a goat in forest, people watching from a semi-concealed viewing station. “Attendance has spiked.”

More people watched underwater as an aquatic dinosaur devoured a large shark.

“That was awesome!” A younger Winter said to a much younger Weiss.

“So, this is a new park, but this one succeeded.” Weiss observed.

“Clearly. Seems they actually learned from their mistakes.” Winter agreed.

“And this time, we’re the stars.” Weiss said proudly. Winter threw some popcorn at her playfully.

“Corporate thought genetic modification would up the wow factor.” Cinder said as she walked up a metal staircase, Yang close behind.

“She’s not wrong.” Winter said. Despite her efforts, she still possessed a measure of business sense.

“They’re dinosaurs. Wow enough.” Yang commented.

“Neither is she.” Ruby commented. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

The pair stood in an empty viewing gallery. A large eye could be seen in the jungle.

“She was designed to be bigger than the T. Rex.” Ren said. He looked older and more refined, his hair quaffed to the side and slicked back in a ponytail.

“Nice look, Ren.” Pyrrha said.

“Thank you.”

“What happened to the sibling?” Yang asked as she inspected claw marks on the inside of the concrete pen.

“She ate it.” Cinder replied.

Yang and a Faunus worker were stopped in their tracks when a massive, clawed foot blocked their path. They turned and ran as the monster followed them, though the worker was not as lucky as Yang, who made it out alive.

“Looks like this one might be a bit more brutal than the last one.” Torchwick said.

“Are you concerned?” Cinder asked him.

“Ehh.” He said, wiggling his hand in a kinda-sorta way.

“We have an asset out of containment!” Cinder yelled into a phone and she drove a white car.

A team of hunters walked through the jungle, following a beeping sound.

“What it that?” Cinder asked.

“Her tracking implant. She clawed it out.” Yang told her.

“How would it know to do that?”

“She remembered where they put it in.”

“Officially concerned.” Weiss quipped.

Blood dripped onto the exposed flesh of one of the hunters before they were set upon by the monster-saurus.

Yang and Cinder stood in a field of death, looking out over the dead or dying bodies of several Apatosaurs.

“She’s killing for sport.” Yang said with some disgust.

Winter and Weiss sat in a large glass ball and looked behind them. A large claw puncture the glass as they screamed and were tossed around by frightened animals.

“You got 20,000 people.” Adam said as the carnage unfolded, “You got no more boats. You don’t have enough guns.”

“If we do this,” Yang told Adam, face-to-face, “We do this my way.”

“Well, I’m convinced this is an alternate universe. The day I work alongside a human, is the day I become a vegan.” Adam said.

“Was that supposed to be a joke?” Yang asked Blake.

“I guess?” she responded, not completely sure, “He loves his red meat about as much as I love fish, so…”

The raptors were released from their pen and ran up to Yang, who was riding Bumblebee through the jungle. Yet, they did not attack her. Rather, they ran alongside her for a time before passing her.

“We have eyes on target” a voice said over a radio as a man in a Bullhead aimed a mini-gun out the side.

“Light it up!” Adam ordered.

The Bullhead crashed into an aviary, releasing a variety of flying dinosaurs.

“Something’s wrong.” Blake said to Yang as she aimed her shotgun, “They’re communicating.”

“We are talking about an animal here.” Cinder protested.

“A highly-intelligent animal.” Yang told her.

The flying dinosaurs attacked the visitors, one woman being carried up by a pterodactyl in front of Weiss and Winter. Another strayed to close to the water and was eaten by the aquatic dinosaur.

“The hell is that, anyway?” Yang said, hoping Ruby could answer.

“Well, based on physiology, I can narrow it down to a few different species, but I haven’t seen enough of it to make an accurate I.D.” Ruby said, holding her chin in thought, “Mom?”

“No such luck sweetie.” Summer said.

“Le gasp!” Neo’s sign read, making Roman snort.

JURASSIC WORLD

“Where did you get this?” came a familiar voice.

“On a dig, down in Thebes.” Neptune replied. He sat next to Velvet, who was examining a small octagonal object, yet did nothing at all to hit on her. Velvet hit a button on the side of the box, and it opened up in intricate patterns.

“Neptune,” she said, “I think you found something.” She opened it up and saw it was a map drawn on ancient-looking paper.

“Finally, some new faces.” Coco said, patting Velvet on the back. Velvet blushed at the impending attention, and her ears fell behind her head.

“There is an ancient legend,” a narrator said. A group of camels was seen walking through the desert “Of a place known as the City of the Dead.”

“Hey, looks like this one’s set back home!” Sun said excitedly.

“More like a doorway to hell.” Jaune said as he walked through some ruins in a military uniform.

“Where the earliest pharaohs were said to hide the wealth of Vacuo.” Velvet said to Neptune and Ilia examined the map.

“That true, bro?” Neptune asked his leader.

“It’s just a legend, but yeah, that’s part of it.”

Jaune rolled out a rucksack full of weapons onto a table Velvet was sitting at.

“Are we going into battle?” Velvet asked with a nervous smile.

“There’s something out there.” Jaune said as he began inspecting a revolver. “Something underneath that sand.” He descended into a ruin on a rope. He walked through it with a torch held before him, followed by Velvet and Neptune.

“What, no Crocea Mors?” Jaune asked.

“Maybe you never went to Beacon?” Pyrrha theorized.

“The uniform looks military.” Winter said, “If he went military instead of huntsman, he would be more proficient in firearms than hand-to-hand.”

“They came to uncover its secrets…” The narrator said.

“Mummies, my good sir, this is where they made the mummies.” Neptune said as they walked through a room in the ruins.

“They sought to unlock its treasure…”

Jaune fired a gun at a mirror, causing it to spin until it reflected sunlight and lit a vast treasure room.

“And then there was light.” Velvet said.

“What they did…”

A team of Faunus workers carried a chest into the middle of the room, surrounded by Cardin, Dove, Sky, and Oobleck. Oobleck uncovered a stack of onyx-colored tablets.

“Oh, my Gods,” Oobleck said in wonder, “It does exist.”

“I believe this may be the Book of the Dead.” Velvet said as she placed the stack of tablets in front of her and opened the puzzle box, Jaune crouching nearby with a shotgun in hand. She placed the open box in a lock on the top tablet, turned and unlocked it.

“Was unleash a force, unlike any the world has ever known.”

“Yup, there’s the bad news.” Blake quipped.

“It’s a classic trope.” Ilia agreed.

A wall of sand chased a plane through the desert.

“You must not read from the book!” Oobleck yelled.

A trio of Faunus workers opened a panel in the ruins and were blasted with something that melted their skins.

“Good gods!” Weiss said, covering her mouth.

“You have unleashed a creature we have feared for more than 3000 years.” Blake said. She was dressed all in black and had a tattoo under one eye.

“He will regenerate, and no longer be the undead…” Oobleck said, as though reading aloud.

Jaune fired a pair of revolvers at a walking corpse, doing jack all to stop it. “We are in serious trouble.” He said, fear apparent on his face.

“Gee, ya think, Vomit Boy?” Yang said.

Fire rained down on the city of Vacuo.

“Can you swim?” Jaune yell-asked Velvet, who was in nothing but a nightgown.

“When the occasion calls for it!” she responded indignantly.

“Trust me,” he said as he picked her up bridal style, “It calls for it!” he tossed her overboard.

“Galactic Pictures invites you…”

Jaune, in his military uniform, looked on the ground and saw a screaming face appear on the sand.

“His powers are growing.” Blake said, looking to the sky.

A swarm of locusts flowed into the ruins, causing everyone to scatter for cover.

“This just keeps getting better and better.” Jaune said sarcastically, holding a sword in both hands.

“So, wait, I DO know how to use a sword?” Jaune was confused.

“Maybe not as a primary weapon, but I’m sure you know the basics.” Pyrrha reassured him.

“To experience the adventure…”

Ozpin leaned in to kiss a sleeping Velvet.

“It seems he has chosen his sacrifice.” Ilia said to Blake.

Ozpin was holding the Book of the Dead open in his arms and looked up at Velvet.

“That will live forever.”

“If he turns me into a mummy, you’re the first one I’m coming after.” Velvet said to Jaune.

THE MUMMY

“That’s not a threat by the way.” Coco said.

“Wha-“ Jaune turned to ask her but immediately turned back when he saw Velvet cracking her knuckles.

“Ghira Belladonna presents: Back to the Future, a Glynda Goodwitch film.” A narrator said as a strange looking car backed out of a truck.

“Ruby leads an ordinary life.”

“She wishes.” Yang joked, remembering what her sister had said on the way to their first day at Beacon.

“Is normal knees really so much to ask for?”

“No Rose or Xiao Long ever amounted to anything in the history of Patch.” Glynda said mere inches from Ruby’s face.

“Yeah, well history’s gonna change.” Ruby retorted calmly.

“And 1985 is not her year.” The narrator said as Ruby played a single note on a guitar and the amp she was plugged into blew up in her face, throwing her backward into a couch.

“19-what?!” Ruby said.

“I feel old just watching this trailer.” Tai said.

“But Dr. Oobleck is about to change all that.” The man in question stumbled out of the weird-looking car, with Ruby catching him before he could fall.

“Are you telling me made a time machine… out of a Delorian?” Ruby said bewildered.

“He’s sending Ruby 30 years back in time.”

“Oh look, more sci-fi.” Weiss said with a roll of her eyes.

“Hush, you. At least they’re about different things in sci-fi.” Blake scolded.

“Time travel? I’m in.” Yang said.

Ruby yelled as she drove the car into a barn(?).

“It works!” Oobleck yelled in triumph.

“Now, she’s trapped in the past, about to meet her future mother, and he’s making an impression on her father.”

“We’re in it?” Tai was surprised.

“This’ll be new.” Qrow said.

“Oh, Gods, not my awkward high school phase.” Summer whined.

“She’s got spirit. I like it.” Taiyang said as Ruby rode past on a make-shift skateboard.

“Anything you do could have serious repercussions on future events!” Oobleck warned Ruby.

“Now, she’s got to make her mother and father fall in love, and only Dr. Oobleck can help her get back to the future.”

“Oh, good luck with that.” Yang laughed.

“And what does that mean?” Ruby asked indignantly.

“It means you’re about as romantically subtle as Jaune.” Weiss said.

“Not going to dignify that.” Jaune said, putting his arm around Pyrrha, who leaned into him.

“Are you telling me this sucker is nuclear?!” Ruby said, offscreen.

“Precisely.” Oobleck told her, onscreen.

“Ruby Rose, Bartholomew Oobleck.”

“Woah man, this is heavy.” Ruby said in shock.

“There’s that term again, heavy.” Oobleck said in confusion, “Why is everything so heavy in the future? Is there something wrong with Remnant’s gravitational pull?”

BACK TO THE FUTURE

“Please keep in mind that these movies will come out sooner or later, but not one after another. After all, I do have other plans.”

“I love it when you make things ominous.” Nora teased.

Chapter 16

Chapter Text

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 16

“For our next film, we will be jumping to something a bit more recent. It may not be a classic film, like Jurassic Park, but it has earned the praise it so rightly deserves."

"What do you think it'll be?" Ruby asked.

"Either that first one or the third." Weiss said, thinking it over, "The fourth one might also qualify, but I don't know our hosts' definition of 'classic' in regards to movies."

"Well, I wanna see that Pacific Rim flick." Sun said energetically, "Giant robots vs giant monsters? What could be better?"

The theater dimmed as the movie began.

Kaiju, (Animan) Giant Beast.

Jaeger, (Solitan) Hunter.

“When I was a kid," Jaune's voice began to narrate, "Whenever I'd feel small or lonely, I'd look up at the stars. Wondered if there was life up there. Turns out I was looking in the wrong direction."

"Yes," Sun cheered, "Thank you, Wolf Man."

Electricity began crackling on screen, illuminating the surroundings. It appeared to be arcing over some kind of crevice or canyon.

“When alien life entered our world, it was from deep beneath the Great Ocean. A fissure between two tectonic plates. A portal between dimensions. The Breach."

A fiery crack began to take shape underwater, and the electricity increased in intensity as a massive roar could be heard coming from the Breach.

“I was fifteen when the first Kaiju made land in Argus."

"No…" Pyrrha said, horrified.

"What's wrong?" Jaune asked her.

"That's my hometown…" she replied.

A giant lizard-like monster with what appeared to be an axe head on its' face attacked a suspension bridge filled with abandoned cars. It tore through the steel and concrete construction like it was paper, cars falling into the water, followed by the bridge itself.

Atlesian combat aircraft performed a strafing run on the beast, machine guns firing dust rounds that did nothing more than annoy it. One of the craft broke off from its fellows, trying to evade the claws only to be destroyed by the tail.

“By the time tanks, jets and missiles took it down six days and 35 miles later, three cities were destroyed. Tens of thousands of lives were lost." News footage of the damage done ran by in a pseudo-montage. "We mourned our dead, memorialized the attack, and moved on." The head of the monster was shown in a museum, easily three times bigger than any adult. "And then, only six months later, the second attack hit Shion."

“The acid factor of the Kaiju blood," Lisa Lavender reported in the background, "Causes a toxic phenomenon, called ‘Kaiju Blue.’"

“And then the third one hit Vacuo." Jaune continued. "And then the fourth." A Kaiju skeleton could be seen on the deck of an Atlesian aircraft carrier.

"Well, these things definitely aren't some new kind of Grimm." Ozcar commented.

"Indeed," Glynda agreed, "Not if they leave remains. The Grimm turn to dust after death, that is an immutable fact."

'Much as I hate to admit it, they're right.' Salem thought. 'Though the concept of creating such Grimm is intriguing…'

“And then we learned: this was not gonna stop. This was just the beginning. We need a new weapon. The world came together, pooling its resources and throwing aside old rivalries for the sake of the greater good. To fight monsters, we created monsters of our own." A man in an intricate headset came on screen. Another with complex machinery covering his upper left side was shown in front of a massive robot. The man clenched his fist, and the robot did the exact same. "The Jaeger program was born."

“There were setbacks at first." The same man could be seen being carried into a medical room and be swarmed by doctors. "The neural load to interface with a Jaeger proved too much for a single pilot." The man died on the table. "A two-pilot system was implemented. Left-hemisphere, right-hemisphere pilot control. We started winning." News reels glorifying the Jaegers and their pilots played. "Jaegers stopping Kaijus everywhere. But the Jaegers were only as good as their pilots. So Jaeger pilots turned into rock stars. Danger turned into propaganda. Kaijus into toys. We got really good at it. Winning. Then… then it all changed."

"Bet you anything the pilots are all Huntsmen." Ruby commented.

"It would make sense." Weiss agreed, "Operating such machines would probably require the most skilled of warriors."

"I know you're not talking about me." Jaune joked. Pyrrha punched him softly on the shoulder.

The screen went black. A radio was beeping in the darkness.

“Crocea Mors, report to Bay 08, Level A-42. Kaiju. Code name: Knifehead. Category 3." A lady said over the P.A. system. Jaune was awake instantly, jumping out of his bunk.

"Yo, Joan, wake up!" he said, pounding on the bed above him. "Movement in the breach." He stood up and did his best to wake up his sister. "Hey, c'mon! We're being deployed." Joan groaned as she struggled to wake up. Jaune grinned. She never had been a morning person.

“Great. Good morning." she said.

"Wait, what?! What am I doing there?"

"And who is the babe?" Neptune asked, earning a glare from Weiss.

"That's my twin sister." Jaune replied, doubly amazed.

"Shutting up now." Neptune said.

"What? That's where you draw the line?" Sun asked his partner.

"Personal rule, Sun: Sisters of bros are off-limits."

WESTERN SOLITAS- 2020

KAIJU WAR, YEAR 7

Joan jumped down from her bed as Jaune pulled on a muscle shirt and grabbed a bottle of water from their mini-fridge. She was nearly Jaune's mirror-image, but with a few differences. Long blonde hair that came to her waist, full figure with defined muscles, and the exact same eyes, a deep sapphire blue.

“Kaiju's a category 3," Jaune informed her, "Biggest one yet. Code name: Knifehead ." He tried to sound intimidating with the name.

“What time is it?" Joan asked with a groan, still trying to wake up.

“Two."

“A.M.?"

“Yup. What do you say? Next notch on the belt?" Jaune said, going over for a fist-bump, which Joan half-assedly returned. There was a knock at their door.

“Come on, Arcs. Time for the drop." A voice came from the other side. Joan walked over to the bathroom to take care of business.

“Hey, kid." She said to her younger brother.

“Yeah?" Jaune turned to face her.

“Don't get co*cky." She said with a grin.

"Yeah, that's definitely Joan." Jaune smiled.

"Who's the elder?" Nora asked excitedly. Information about the legendary Arc Seven was scant at best, and everyone was eager to hear about them.

"Joan is by about a minute and a half, and she loves to remind me of it every chance she gets."

“Years before," Jaune was narrating again, "You wouldn't have picked my twin sister Joan and I for heroes. No chance. " The pair were walking down a corridor in what appeared to be military flight suits under pilot jackets with the name Crocea Mors on the back over the Arc family crest. They walked into what looked like a laboratory. "We were never star athletes, never at the head of the class, couldn't even make it into Beacon. But we could hold our own in a fight. And it turned out we had a unique skill; we were Drift compatible." They stood in the room in black body suits. As Jaune continued talking, they were covered in metal plate armor. An engineer pulled what looked like a metal spinal column out of a padded box and attached one to each of their backs. To finish the suit up, each twin put on a helmet with a clear visor that exposed their face.

"Now that's definitely different." Jaune commented.

"What is?" Ren asked.

"Beacon was always my dream. Joan was never super excited about it. She loved me, and supported my decision, even knew about how I got in, but she was never into the idea of 'Huntress as a career'."

"So, what does she do?" Nora asked.

"Last I heard, she was working towards a history degree up in Atlas."

"Shut up!" Weiss hissed.

They stepped into their co*ckpit, locked themselves into their harnesses and grabbed their controllers in opposite hands, Jaune on the left, Joan on the right.

“Good morning, Arc kids." Came a familiar voice over the radio.

“Nora," Jaune replied, "What's happening, sister?"

“How'd that date with Ren go last night, Ms. Valkyrie?" Joan added.

"Us? On a date?" Nora blushed profusely.

"Is that so hard to believe?" Ren teased, "It is an alternate reality, after all."

" Oh, he loved me. His girlfriend, not so much." Nora replied.

" You're gonna get your ass kicked one day." Jaune warned her.

"Nora, you dog!" Yang laughed.

"Sounds about right." J_PR nodded.

“The heart wants what it wants, brother. And that bitch May is welcome to try all she wants."

“Engage drop, Ms. Valkyrie." Said Ironwood as he walked up behind Nora. He wore his usual Atlesian military dress uniform, but with the addition of a new patch on his left shoulder.

"So, the General is a ranger in this?" Winter observed.

"Seriously?" Qrow said, suddenly more interested.

"What are rangers?" Velvet asked.

"Atlesian special forces." Winter explained. It was common knowledge, no harm in telling them, "They serve as advanced front line troops in war time. Every one of them is a veteran soldier who has had their Aura unlocked, but never underwent Huntsman training. Think of them as the bridge between Specialists like myself, and the regular military forces.

“Aye, sir." Nora said, straightening up in her chair. "General Ironwood, on deck." She flipped a few switches. "Securing the Con Pod, gettin' ready to drop."

A pair of engineers locked the door to the co*ckpit and stepped back as the bridge began to retract. Inside, Joan and Jaune finished preparations.

“Release for drop." Joan reported, almost bored, but mostly still tired.

“Crocea Mors, ready for the big drop." Jaune reported more enthusiastically.

The clamps holding the pod up released and it fell like a lead weight, held on course by a clamp on the neck section attached to a bar behind it. The rush from the feeling of free fall brought Joan to full consciousness and hyped up Jaune even more. The head landed in the neck section and performed a full clockwise rotation before fully locking in place.

"Nope. No thank you, sir. Nuh-uh" Ruby said shaking her head.

"Tai?" Summer asked her husband concerned.

"Ruby can't handle rides with only vertical momentum." Tai explained with a grin. "She can handle just about any rollercoaster out there. They could make you go up, down, side-to-side, even backwards; so long as there is some kind of horizontal momentum, she's fine. However, take that away, and only do up and down…"

"NOPE!" Ruby cried.

“Coupling confirmed, sir." Nora reported in the control room.

“Engage pilot-to-pilot protocol." Ironwood ordered. In the co*ckpit, Jaune and Joan flipped a few final switches as the last locks moved into place and the nuclear engine roared to life in the Jaeger's chest. A pair of giant concrete doors opened before the Jaeger as it began to be moved towards them. Outside, the weather was horrible; stormy, rainy, and made all the worse by the fact the base was apparently next to the ocean. The ramp Crocea Mors was on lowered it into the surf.

“Crocea Mors, ready and aligned, sir." Jaune said.

“Rangers, this is General James Ironwood. Prepare for neural handshake."

“Starting in fifteen seconds." Nora said, working furiously on her keyboard.

“Ready to step into my head, kid?" Joan said to Jaune, jokingly.

“Please, after you. Ladies first and all that." He joked back to his big sister. Joan closed her eyes and let the process take over. A series of visuals flowed across the screen, every one of them focused on the twins. A family of nine all eating dinner together. The twins sharing a bedroom growing up. The twins playing in the snow with their sisters. The two of them training and applying to get into Beacon. The two comforting each other when they failed.

"What is all this?" Weiss said.

“The drift." Jaune narrated, "Jaeger tech. Based on DARPA jet fighter neural systems. Two pilots melding through memories with the body of a giant machine. The deeper the bond, the better you fight." The images faded and the twins sighed heavily when the linked was established.

“Neural handshake strong and holding." Nora reported to Ironwood, who was hovering behind her.

“Right hemisphere is calibrating." Joan said, raising her right arm.

“Left hemisphere, calibrating." Jaune said, raising both arms.

As he did, Joan's left arm mirrored him. They extended their arms and quickly brought them back. Their raised their hands to head level and flexed each of their fingers one at a time. They finished off by bringing their fists together in front of their chests before returning to attention. Outside, the Jaeger matched every movement.

"Amazing…" Ruby said, awe-struck.

"The power of the human spirit never ceases to amaze me." Ozcar said.

'Hmph. And all it took to produce was the loss of thousands of human lives.' Salem thought.

“Arcs, your orders are to hold the Miracle Mile outside Mantle, copy?" Ironwood said over the radio.

“Copy that, sir." Jaune said.

“Sir, there is still a civilian vessel in the gulf-" Joan reported, examining the holo-map in the co*ckpit.

“Soldier," Ironwood interrupted, "You are protecting a city of two million people. You will not risk those lives for a boat that holds ten. Am I clear?"

“Yes sir." Joan complied, turning off the comm link.

“Man, that's cold." Jaune said, looking to his sister, "You know what I'm thinking."

“I'm in your head. I know."

“Then let's go fishing." Jaune said with a grin. Together they moved the Jaeger into the rough surf, eventually submerging it.

"Come on, sis, put some muscle to it!"

“Worry about yourself, kiddo." Joan replied with a grunt.

“There are some things you can't fight, acts of God." Jaune narrated. "You see a hurricane coming, you have to get out of the way. But when you're in a Jaeger, suddenly, you can fight the hurricane. And you can win. "

ATLESIAN COASTLINE, 10 MILE LINE

In the middle of the storm, a small fishing boat was being tossed around in the chop. It honestly looked like a toy in a child's bathtub. The men onboard fought to stay there as they stacked crab cages while the captain screamed orders at them, trying to be heard over the storm.

“Get 'em tied down and go down below! Now!" he ordered. "How far to the mainland?" he said as he stepped into the wheelhouse.

“Seven miles off Mantle, sir." The helmsman reported

“But we won't even make it past the shallows!" his first mate interjected.

"Hey, I remember them!" Sun said. "They're the ones who got me and Blake to Menagerie."

"Blake and I. " Weiss corrected.

"Same difference."

"Two kinds of people, Weiss. Two kinds of people." Blake patted her teammate on the shoulder reassuringly.

“What about that island, three miles east?" the captain said, pointing to the radar.

“No-no, it's two miles, sir." The helmsman corrected. He looked again and corrected himself, "O-one mile, sir! It's getting closer."

“How the hell can it be getting closer?" the first mate yelled, but the captain knew.

He looked out the wind shield, and whispered, "Kaiju."

As the Kaiju rose out of the water, the captain began yelling at the crew to turn, but it was too little too late. It was a massive grey beast, easily as big as the Goliaths Ruby saw outside Mountain Glen, and its' codename was accurate to say the least. Its' head was wedge shaped and looked like the tip of a combat knife. It roared when it saw the tiny ship before it, but before it could attack, the waters behind the boat began to churn. Light could be seen coming up from the depths, followed by the white and yellow body of Crocea Mors, soaking the crew to the bone as it stood up. The Jaeger let out its own roar at the Kaiju, challenging it and trying to get its attention off the boat. Crocea Mors reached down and scooped the boat up with one hand, cradling it close to its chest.

“Adjust the torque!" Joan told Jaune as she held the ship in her hand.

“I'm on it." Jaune said, pressing a few buttons and taking a fighting stance, which Crocea Mors mirrored. Knifehead swiped at Crocea Mors, but the Jaeger turned its shoulder, causing the claws to deflect off its armor plating while she placed the boat back in the water and pushed it away from the fight. The mech turned back to the monster and the real fight began.

"It's time for a death battle!" Sun cried.

They started off with a quick left-right combo, and followed with a two-handed over-head slam. The Kaiju recovered quickly and jumped at the mech, attempting to get at the co*ckpit. Crocea Mors blocked with its' left arm, and pushed it off, grabbing the Kaiju's head before it could dodge. Its free hand began to change into some kind of weapon.

“Plasma cannon engaged." The onboard computer said. The voice sounded very familiar.

"Was that…." Pyrrha said, tears starting to form.

"Penny." Ruby confirmed. She gave Cinder a hard look before returning to the screen.

“Get him!" Jaune said, struggling to hold the brunt of the Kaiju's strength. "Come on, shoot him!"

“I'm on it! I'm on it!" Joan told him, aiming the arm cannon at the beast's gut. She fired three times, causing the Kaiju to fall back into the water.

“Plasma cannon discharge in the shallows, Sir!" Nora yelled to Ironwood, "Seven miles off the coastal line."

“Mors, what the hell is going on?" Ironwood said over the radio.

“Job's done, sir." Jaune reported, breathing heavily, "Lit it up twice, bagged our fifth kill."

“You disobeyed a direct order!"

"They did what they had to in order ensure the maximum amount of lives saved." Summer shot back.

"They got lucky." Winter argued. "What if another Kaiju had appeared and they had no back-up?"

"In such a situation, you would be correct Ms. Schnee." Glynda said, "However, such was not true, therefore, they made the correct choice. And besides," she turned to look Winter in the eyes, "Do you really believe James would be so foolish as to not consider such a possibility? He may be many things, but careless is not one of them."

“Respectfully, sir," Joan interjected, "We intercepted a Kaiju and saved everyone on that boat."

“Get back to your post now!" Ironwood turned away, not able to counter their logic.

“Sir, Kaiju signature rising!" Nora reported. She moved to another terminal to check the data. "That thing's still alive."

Ironwood got back on the radio. "Mors! We're still getting a signature! That Kaiju is still alive!" The Twins scanned the water around where the Kaiju fell, it's blue blood glowing in the water. "Grab the boat, and get out of there now!"

Suddenly, with a speed that belied its size, the Kaiju leapt out of the water at Crocea Mors with a roar. The mech grabbed the sides of the Kaiju's head before it could latch its jaws on the co*ckpit, holding it in place as it tried in vain to snap at them.

“Take it, Jaune!" Joan shouted.

“I got this." Jaune replied, activating his arm cannon. He moved it into position, but was intercepted when the Kaiju tore through his arm with its nose. Jaune screamed in pain, clutching his upper arm.

“Loccent, we've been hit!" Joan yelled into the radio, but it wasn't functioning.

Alarms went off in the control room. "Left arm's gone cold, sir." Nora reported, worry evident in her voice.

'And this is where things go to hell.' Blake thought.

Knifehead tore off the arm cannon, which landed in the water near the boat, and began clawing at the head of the injured Jaeger. The twins were rocked around by the impact, when the tip of a claw appeared in the ceiling.

“It went through the hull!" Joan yelled, "Jaune, listen to me. You need to- "she was cut off when she was torn from the co*ckpit completely along with a sizable chunk of the Jaeger's head.

“NO!" Jaune cried.

In the theater, Jaune was gripping the arm rests so hard, the plastic groaned under the pressure. He fought back tears, and Pyrrha helped in her own way.

He wanted to mourn, but he didn't have time. His sadness quickly turned into rage, and he knew just where to put it. He struggled to move his controller to his other arm so he could operate the remaining arm of the Jaeger. The Kaiju slammed him into an iceberg and continued to wail on him. He let out a battle cry as he fired the plasma cannon one last time.

In the control room, everything was normal on the screens.

“Crap." Nora said as she tried to fix things. "Second discharge fried all the comms. I'm not getting anything, sir." Ironwood walked away. In his gut, he knew; this is where everything went downhill. Before he could focus on that, he had to focus on the PR fire. How was he gonna spin this?

The next day, on an icy beach, and old man and his son were walking along with a metal detector.

“Now, I want you to keep your eye on that gauge there." the Old Man said to his grandson(?). "Now you know what I'd like to find? I'd like to find a whole ship. That's what I'd like to find." The metal detector started beeping rapidly. "Wait, wait, wait." He found the source and told the boy to dig. "Well? What is it?"

“It's just an old toy." The Boy said, handing him an old metal toy robot. "We never find anything good." Suddenly the detector started beeping rapidly again.

“Listen!" the old man said as he tried to find the source. He couldn't find it on the ground, so he looked up and what he saw amazed him.

Crocea Mors had survived it's battle with Knifehead and was making its way to shore right at the pair. It stopped a few hundred feet out, fell to its knees, and finally collapsed in the snow. The pair ran up to the Jaeger to see if anyone was hurt, but the old man told the boy to stay back. He approached the damaged head section and saw Jaune crawling out of it, his armor in disarray and covered in blood from a cut on his chest. The old man tried to offer him help, all he could think about was Joan. She was gone. His twin sister, the person he was closest to in this world, was dead. He finally collapsed into the snow, exhaustion taking him.

PACIFIC RIM

"Hell of a way to start a movie." Summer said.

"Starting to notice a pattern with these." Qrow said.

"It's only the second movie." Tai said.

"Once is chance, twice is happenstance, three times…" Summer said.

"Guess we'll see in the next one." Qrow said as he took a swig from his flask.

Chapter 17: Pacific Rim, Part 2

Chapter Text

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 17

“The Kaiju are learning our defenses." Ozpin's disembodied voice said, "They're adapting. Evolving. And we're losing Jaegers faster than we can build them. Kuroyuri, Kuo Kuana, Mantle. Category 4 Kaijus are now coming through the Breach. I think even you can see, General, this is no longer the most sound strategy." Ironwood stood before a wall of monitors, each one bearing the face of a diplomat. He was flanked by Taiyang on one side, and Nora on the other.

5 YEARS LATER

WESTERN SOLITAS BASE- CLOSING DAY

“The frequency of the attacks has increased." Ozpin continued, "The Jaegers are not the most viable line of defense anymore."

"Pfft, not the most cost effective he means." Winter scoffed. "This is why I can't stand politicians."

"What do you mean?" Weiss asked her.

"The war isn't going their way, and they don't want to pay for something that can't be guaranteed."

"They'll give up instead of taking the risk." Blake finished. She understood the reasoning, not just from her novels, but from her time in the White Fang.

“I am aware." Ironwood spoke up. "Those are my Rangers that die every time a Jaeger falls, which is why I'm asking you for one last chance, one last assault with everything we've got- "

“Listen to me!" Lionheart said, "The Jaeger program is dead, General. On the other hand, the Coastal Wall program is a promising option."

"They think a wall will keep out gigantic monsters from what might as well be the very depths of hell?" Sun laughed. "I think I agree with Big Sister Schnee. These guys are pansies."

“The world appreciates everything you and your men have done, but it's over." Ozpin said, "We will authorize you to take all remaining Jaegers to the last battle station: Atlas. We're prepared to fund you for the next eight months, while the Coastal Wall is completed. After that, you'll receive no further support."

“You have your answer, General." Glynda said. One by one, the screens winked out, leaving the trio alone with their thoughts.

“So, what? That's it? We're done?" Nora asked, rage evident in her voice.

“Suits and ties and flashy smiles. That's all they are, Jimmy." Taiyang said, knowing what his old friend was thinking. Ironwood took a pill from a small metal case and swallowed it.

"We don't need 'em." He said with determination.

"This is a side of James I can like." Glynda commented.

"I should hope so, you've only ever seen him as an administrator and a politician." Winter said, "You've yet to see why he became a general of the Atlas military."

A whistle blew over a construction site in a frozen tundra.

‘WALL OF LIFE’

SITKA, SOLITAS- 50 MILES WEST OF MANTLE.

A nearby sign read "Solitan East-West Anti-Kaiju Wall". The estimated time of completion was graffitied over with the word 'NEVER'.

“Ration cards, guys!" a foreman called out, gathering the men and women, human and faunus alike, around him. Jaune was among them. He looked much the same, save for the slight stubble of a beard on his face and the muted glint in his eyes.

"Ration cards?" Ruby asked.

"During times of war," Winter explained, "All things must be rationed in order to avoid a crippling shortage. Food, water, fuel, everything is strictly managed by the state."

“Alright, guys, I got good news and I got bad news. Which do you want first?" the foreman asked.

“Bad news?" the man next to Jaune said, raising his hand.

“Bad news? Three guys died yesterday, working at the top of the wall." The news sent mutters throughout the crowd.

“What's the good news?" someone else yelled out.

“Good news? I got three new job openings. Top of the wall." The muttering was no better. "Alright! Who wants to work? Who wants to eat?"

Jaune was sent to work at welding several braces to the wall, along with a company's worth of other men and women. He finished with his last piece and stood up, looking over the wall. It was an enormous structure, easily as tall as Crocea Mors had been, but he doubted how effective it would be; it was basically a shell of steel and concrete, and an unfinished one at that. He figured that this section alone would take another decade of constant work to finish. Maybe less if they got enough people to work on it 24/7. But that was about as likely as him sealing the Breach single-handedly. He descended from his spot back to the ground level, where he stowed his gear away for the day. As he did, a news report was coming on the communal TVs.

“I am here in Attika, on the coast of Vale," Said a panicked Lisa Lavender, "Where earlier today, yet another Kaiju attack took place. The Kaiju, an enormous Category 4, broke through the coastal wall in less than an hour!" A gigantic grey-skinned beast with a face in the shape of an axe head, broke through the solid steel and concrete with ease and headed for the city. "The Wall of Life had been deemed 'unbreachable' by its builders."

“Why the hell we even building this thing?" a worker yelled out angrily.

“Th-that thing tore through the wall like it was nothing…" another worker said, horrified.

“Ironically," Lisa continued, "It was the recently decommissioned Jaeger, Ember Celica, piloted by Tai and Yang Xiao Long, that finally took the beast down."

A scroll video taken from a high-rise cafe patio showed a yellow and black Jaeger charge the Kaiju, pounding it with a one-two combo before knocking it away. Its chest opened up and six barrels popped out, though, instead of bullets, missiles flew out. Each one found it's mark and the Kaiju fell.

“Look, they decommissioned the Jaeger Program because of mediocre pilots, it's that simple." Yang told a reporter. "That's Ember Celica's tenth kill to date. It's a new record." She bragged smugly.

"Wow, Yang, you compensating for something?" Blake joked.

"Why am I the dick head here?"

“And you're still going to Atlas? Even at a time like this?" the reporter asked.

“Well, orders are orders, what else am I supposed to do?"

Jaune pushed his way through the crowd, having heard enough from the pompous blonde. He knew her dad, Taiyang- or at least he thought he did, they had only met the once- and he never struck Jaune to be like that. As he walked, he heard the sounds of a chopper flying overhead. He went to the worker's entrance and saw a military Bullhead land about fifty feet away, and out stepped the one man he never expected to see again.

James Ironwood looked the same as he had five years ago, though maybe a bit greyer around the temples. He was prepared for the cold, though, with a heavy fur-lined coat. Growing up in Atlas as he had, one would think he was more resistant.

“Mr. Arc." He said when he spotted Jaune.

“General." Jaune replied, meeting him halfway from the entrance. "Looking sharp."

“Long time."

“Five years, four months."

“Can I have a word?" Jaune beckoned him in and led him to a secluded part of the wall.

“Step into my office, General." He said as he took a seat on a nearby piece of rubble.

“Took me a while to find you." Ironwood said. "Anchorage, Sheldon Point, - "

“Well, man in my position travels with the wall, chasing shifts to make a living. What do you want?" Jaune really didn't really feel like bandying words with the Old Man. Just get to the point already.

"Insolent little…" Winter growled, biting her finger to hold in her rage.

"Lighten up, Ice Queen." Qrow said, "He's allowed to be bitter after what happened."

“I've spent the last six months activating everything I can get my hands on." He told Jaune honestly. "There's an old Jaeger, a Mark 3. You may know it. It needs a pilot."

‘So that's what this is about.' Jaune thought. "I'm guessing I wasn't your first choice."

“You are my first choice. All the other Mark 3 pilots are dead."

Jaune stood and walked over next to the general. "Look, I can't have anyone else in my head again." His turn to be honest. "I'm done. I was still connected to Joan when she died. I can' go through that again, I'm sorry."

As he walked away, Ironwood turned around on the spot.

"Haven't you heard, Mr. Arc? The world is coming to an end. So where would you rather die? Here," he indicated the wall that was most likely never going to work against a Kaiju, "Or in a Jaeger?"

"Good question. Jaune?" Pyrrha turned to him.

"Can't say about this me, but I would rather die trying than die knowing I had a chance to do something about it."

"As expected of our fearless leader." Nora bragged.

"Fool." Cinder said so that only the back row could hear.

"But an admirable fool." Torchwick commented, with Neo agreeing.

The Bullhead flew over to a military base built into a cliffside under the flying city of Atlas, Mantle nowhere to be seen.

ATLAS BAY

1800 HOURS

SHATTERDOME JAEGER STATION

The air ship landed on the helipad, Ruby waiting nearby with some umbrellas. Ironwood stepped out, followed by Jaune, and took the proffered umbrella.

“Mr. Arc, this is Ruby Rose. One of our brightest. She's the head of our Mark 3 Restoration Program. She personally selected your co-pilot candidates."

“I imagined him differently.” Ruby said in the native language of Anima. Before Ironwood could warn her, Jaune spoke.

“Hey, better or worse?” he said with a grin.

Her face darkened in embarrassment. “I'm sorry, Mr. Arc. I've heard a lot about you.”

"Ruby? Jaune? You two speak Animanian?" Pyrrha was amazed.

"I studied it back in Signal." Ruby explained. "I'm not fluent, but I can get by."

"My family went on a lot of family trips to Mistral growing up, so I learned enough to get by conversationally."

He gave her a forgiving nod. No point holding a grudge because of ignorance. They walked inside, getting away from the rain.

“We will tour the facility first," Ironwood said, leading them to an industrial elevator, "Then Ms. Rose will show you to your Jaeger."

“Hold the door please!"

“Wait for us!"

A pair of men ran into the elevator, one a skinny man with messy green hair, the other just as skinny with greying black hair and a very fine mustache. As the elevator descended, the man with green hair began fussing over a large specimen in a tank.

“Stay back! Kaiju specimens are extremely rare. So look, but don't touch, please." He said.

"Okay, I know Dr. Oobleck, but who's the other guy, and why does looking at him give me the willies?" Yang asked.

"Arthur Watts." Winter said, "A deceased former Atlesian scientist."

"This Barty looks significantly younger, don't you think, Glynda?" Ozcar observed.

"Indeed. He looks the way he did back when we were in Beacon together."

“Mr. Arc, this is our research team." Ironwood explained. "Dr. Watts and Dr. Oobleck."

“Please, call me Barty." Oobleck said amiably. "Only my mother calls me doctor. Arthur, these are human beings, care to say hello?"

“Bartholomew, how many times must I ask you not to call me by my name?" Watts said irritably. "I swear, you're just as bad as Cinder."

Oobleck let the insult side as he rolled his sleeves up, showing a series of tattoos.

“Who's that?" Jaune asked, indicating a tattoo of a Kaiju on the inside of one forearm. "Yamarashi?"

“Oh, this little Kaiju?" Oobleck pointed at the tattoo. "Yeah, you got a good eye."

“My sister and I took him down in 2017."

“You know he was one of the biggest Category 3s ever? He was 2500 tons of awesome." Noticing the stares, he immediately backtracked, stumbling over his words.

"Well, looks like young Oobleck was about as smooth as Ruby." Yang teased.

"Unfortunately, you're not wrong." Glynda sighed.

“Do excuse him. He's a Kaiju groupie, he loves them." Watts said condescendingly.

“Shut up, Arthur, I don't love them. I study them. And unlike most people, I wanna see one alive and up close one day."

“Trust me," Jaune said, putting his hand on the young man's shoulder, "You don't want to." He, Ironwood, and Ruby exited the elevator. "So that's your research division?"

“Things have changed." Ironwood said as he opened a large bulkhead door. "We're not an army anymore, Mr. Arc. We're the resistance. Welcome to the Shatterdome." They walked into a huge Jaeger hangar bay filled with workers of all kinds; technicians, engineers, laborers, everything they needed to keep everything running smoothly. Above the entrance was a massive countdown timer. "The War Clock." Ironwood explained. "We reset it after every Kaiju attack. Keeps everyone focused. The frequency of attacks is accelerating."

“How long until the next reset?" Jaune asked, almost getting run over by a truck.

“A week, if we're lucky. My experts tell me there'll be another attack even before then. This complex used to launch thirty Jaegers in five bays just like this one. Now we've only got four Jaegers left."

“I didn't know it was this bad." Jaune said. Had he known, perhaps he would have come back sooner.

“It is that bad." He pointed to a white Jaeger, undergoing minor repairs. "White Scion, Atlas. One of the greatest. Assembled in Atlas proper. Full titanium core, no alloys. Fifty diesel engines per muscle strand. Deadly, precise fighter. She's piloted by the Schnee siblings, local kids. They've successfully defended Mantle and Atlas seven times. They use the Thunder Cloud Formation."

“Hell yeah, triple arm technique." Jaune said, remembering the machine's past exploits.

“Very effective."

Jaune looked back and saw Winter and Weiss playing basketball with Whitley. Some form of 2-on-1 that Winter was on the losing side of.

"Well, that's nice to see." Weiss said.

"What, you and your brother getting along, or your big sister getting her butt handed to her by her little siblings?" Nora asked.

"Yes." Weiss smiled.

“That tank?" he pointed to a Jaeger coming back in from a deployment. "Last of the F-90s. Pack Alpha. First generation Mark 1. Heaviest and oldest Jaeger in the service, but make no mistake, Mr. Arc, it's a brutal war machine. And those two, Blake and Ilia Belladonna."

'I am suddenly VERY interested.' Ilia thought, turning pink.

“I've heard of 'em." Jaune said. "Perimeter Patrol. Menagerie Wall."

“Under their watch it stayed unbreached for six years. Six. Years. "

Nearby, another Jaeger was being pulled into dock.

“Tai! Yang!" Ironwood called out and beckoned them over.

“Stay here." Tai told his daughter as he took their dog along with him.

“Zwei! Come here! Remember me?" Ruby said.

“Don't drool over Ms. Rose." Tai told the corgi as he trotted over to Ruby. "She's a pretty girl, and he gets all wound up."

"Wait, am I not your daughter in this, Dad?" Ruby asked, confused.

"I guess so, sis." Yang said.

“Jaune, this is Taiyang Xiao Long, an old friend from the Mark 1 glory days." Ironwood introduced him.

“I know you, man." Tai said, shaking Jaune's hand, "We rode together before."

“We did, sir. Six years ago. My sister and I. It was a three Jaeger team drop."

“That's right, Mistral. I'm sorry about your sister."

“Thank you, sir…"

“Tai and his daughter, Yang, will be running point for us in Ember Celica." Ironwood indicated the sleeker-looking Jaeger behind them, "Fastest Jaeger in the world. First and last of the Mark 5s. Vale decommissioned it a day before the Attika attack."

“Yeah, it's a good thing we were still around."

“Wait a minute, running point on what?" Jaune asked. "You haven't told me what I'm doing here."

“We're going for the Breach, Mr. Arc." Ironwood explained. "We're gonna strap a 2400-pound thermonuclear warhead to Celica's back. Detonate an equivalent of 1.2 million pounds of TNT, and you and two other Jaegers will be running defense for them."

"Nora, how big of a boom is that?" Jaune asked their resident explosives expert.

"Big." Nora replied simply.

"Um, okay, but how big?"

"Big." she said again, "Like 'wipe out an entire section of Vale' big."

Jaune was bewildered. "I thought you said we were the resistance. Where'd you get something like that?"

“See the Schnees back there? They can get us anything." He turned to Tai, "Tai, shall we?"

“Good to see you again, man." Tai said as the pair walked off.

“I'll show you to your Jaeger now." Ruby said.

“I'll be right with you, I promise, just gimme a second?" he asked her. When she nodded, he ran after Ironwood and Taiyang. “General!" he caught up with the men, and lowered his voice. "Sir, we've gone after the Breach before. Nothing goes through. What's changed?"

“I have a plan, I need you ready. That is all."

Chapter 18: Pacific Rim, Part 3

Chapter Text

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 18

"Can we just discuss how absolutely badass you all looked in that last scene?" Nora asked.

"Ms. Valkyrie, please watch your language." Glynda sighed.

"Now, now, Glynda," Ozcar said, "Should we really admonish them for making accurate statements?"

"Please don't encourage them, Ozpin."

‘Ozpin?!’ Salem, thought, looking at the young man sitting next to the older woman. ‘So, he's reincarnated already? My plans must accelerate.’ She tried to contain her rage as best she could.

Watts muttered to himself as he worked on a complicated math equation spread over several large chalkboards. Ironwood and Tai waited patiently until he was ready to explain. Nearby, Oobleck was busy dissecting a piece of a Kaiju.

"The hell is he working on?" Weiss asked, unable to work out the math. "I can't even understand that math, much less decipher his writing."

"His chicken scratch is as bad as mine." Ruby commented.

"I assume it's some sort of predictive model." Winter hypothesized, "Worry not sister, this math is higher than anything we've ever studied."

“In the beginning," he started, "The Kaiju attacks were spaced by 24 weeks. Then 12, then six, then every two weeks." He descended the ladder he stood on and moved one of the chalkboards to reveal move math followed by a large four in a box. "The last one in Attika was a week. In four days we could be seeing a Kaiju every eight hours until they are coming every six minutes. General, we should witness a double event within seven days."

“Dr. Watts, I am to drop a 2,400-lbs thermonuclear bomb. I need more than a prediction." Ironwood said.

"Congrats, Ice Queen, you called it." Qrow said.

"Silence, drunkard." She shot back.

"What? It was a compliment!"

“Well, that's a problem," Oobleck said, looking up from his work, "See, cuz he actually can't give you more than a prediction." He tossed the bit of Kaiju gut he was holding at a table, which it fell off of.

“No Kaiju entrails over my side of the room! You know the rules." Watts said angrily as he kicked the offending organ over a painted yellow line on the floor. "Every bloody day, he's incessant- "

“Gents!" Tai barked, breaking up the fight. "On point."

“Numbers do not lie." Watts said firmly. "Politics and poetry. Promises. These are lies. Numbers are as close as we get to the handwriting of the Gods."

"An interesting philosophy." Glynda commented.

"And accurate, to a degree." Winter agreed.

“What?" Oobleck laughed.

“Would you give me a moment?" he snapped, annoyed at his colleague, "There will be a double event. And shortly thereafter three, and then four, - "

“And then we're dead." Ironwood finished. "I get it."

“Alas, this is where the good news comes."

"If certain death is the bad news, what could the good news possibly be?" Velvet commented.

"Hey, Sun," Coco whispered to the monkey faunus, "That girl okay?" she pointed at Ilia.

Sun waved his hand in front of her eyes, receiving no reaction. "I think she's catatonic after seeing her and Blake together." Coco gave him a confused look. "I'll explain later."

He walked over to a holographic projector and began to draw a crude diagram.

"Here is our universe," he drew a circle with his fingers, "And here is theirs." He drew another below the first. "And this is what we call 'The Throat', the passage between the Breach and us. We know it's atomic in nature. I predict that the increased traffic will force the Breach to stabilize and remain open long enough to get the device through, and collapse its' structure."

“Yeah, and that's where I gotta chime in." Oobleck said, "Because, really, I wouldn't want to go in there with that limited amount of information."

"How is that limited?" Yang asked. "He has enough information to form a plan. That's good enough for me."

"But it's all based on predictions." Jaune said. "If I was going to perform something like they're planning, I would want every bit of info I could. All they know is that it connects two worlds, allows the Kaiju to pass through and that it is somehow atomic."

"What more would you need to know?"

"How can the Kaiju get through but we can't? How numerous are they? If there's enough of them to come through every two weeks, why haven't they accelerated the attacks sooner? Why didn't they just wipe us out when they first came through? There's so many questions, and not enough answers that aren't speculation."

"Mr. Arc, have you ever considered joining the military?" Winter said, trying to sound casual with her headhunting.

“Bartholomew, don't embarrass yourself." Arthur groaned.

“Just, hear me out for a second, please." He sighed when the two leaders came over to him. "Why do we judge the Kaiju on a Category system? It's because each Kaiju is completely different from the next, right? you see what I'm saying? One looks like a shark and another looks like a fish- "

“Dr. Oobleck, just get to the point." Ironwood sighed.

“The point is I don't think they're all completely different after all." He pulled over some squares of meat that clearly came from a Kaiju. "Now, these are some samples I've collected. Now, this one was harvested in Attika." He pointed to the one on the left, "And this," he pointed to the other, "Was harvested in Shion. Six years ago. They have the same exact DNA. They're clones."

"What does this information tell you Mr. Arc?" Ozcar said, wanting to test his student.

"That the Kaiju can be mass-produced somehow. Which once again raises the question; why are the human and faunus races still alive?"

"That's true." Pyrrha agreed. "Considering the damage done in the very first attack, if the Kaiju had sent more than one in the initial attack, nobody would have survived."

"Which suggests that there's a plan."

"Which suggests intelligence."

'Atlas would benefit from having him in our ranks.' Winter thought.

While the leaders took in the information, Watts chimed in, "And this is the part where he goes completely crazy." He said smugly.

Oobleck walked up to a tank with what looked like some sort of organ in it floating in yellow-green liquid.

"There's so much more to the Kaiju than we understand, and we've really only scratched the surface. This is a piece of a Kaiju's brain. Now, unfortunately, it's damaged. It's a little weak, but it's still alive. Now, I think I can tap into it, using the same technology that allows the two Jaeger pilots to share a neural bridge. Now think about that. I could tell you exactly how to get through the Breach yourselves."

"In theory, at least." Jaune said.

"What? That sounded like it was exactly the kind of information you need." Nora said, confused.

"It is." Jaune explained, "But it never hurts to take everything with a healthy dose of skepticism."

"You've become rather jaded haven't you?" Pyrrha said.

"Trauma changes people, for better or worse." Jaune said.

"I'm sorry." She whispered.

Jaune wrapped his arm around her shoulders and kissed her forehead. "So am I."

“You're suggesting that we initiate a drift with a Kaiju?" Tai asked unconvinced.

“Well, not an entire Kaiju, just a tiny piece of its brain."

“The neural surge would be too much for the human brain to handle." Tai said.

“I agree." Ironwood said.

“I don't agree." Oobleck protested.

"Why would it be any different?" Ruby asked.

"I don't know." Weiss admitted, "Maybe it has to do with the size of the brains or the bodies?"

"I know the answer." Blake said.

"What is it?" Nora asked.

"Because plot." Blake said with a smirk.

“Watts, I'd like your data on my desk, ASAP."

“Of course, sir." Watts said smugly.

Oobleck continued to protest, but Ironwood cut him off with a hint of warning. "Thank you, Bart."

“Bartholomew," Watts said when the leaders walked off, "I know you're desperate to be right so you've not wasted your life being a Kaiju groupie, but it's not going to work."

“It is going to work, Arthur," Oobleck said "And I'll tell you something else: fortune favors the bold, dude."

“You heard them." Watts fired back. "They won't give you the equipment, and even if they did, you'd kill yourself!"

“Or I'd be a rock star."

"Okay, now that sounds like the Oobleck I know." Glynda said with a smile.

"Indeed. He would never allow something like outside doubt to stop him." Ozcar agreed.

"He's going to do it anyway and it's most likely going to backfire spectacularly." Blake said.

"You're making a lot of assumptions here…" Yang said.

"Assumptions based on personal knowledge." Blake countered.

Ruby led Jaune into a busy work area filled with the sounds of heavy machinery and blow torches, sounds Jaune had become all too familiar with in recent years.

“There she is." Ruby said, pointing past the edge of a catwalk. Jaune looked and his chest filled with joy.

“Oh my god." He whispered, walking forward to lean on the railing. There stood Crocea Mors in all her white and gold glory. "Crocea Mors. Look at her. So beautiful. She looks like new."

“Better than new." Ruby told him, proud of the improvements that had been made. "She has a double-core nuclear reactor. She's one of a kind."

“She always was."

"Hey Ruby, remind you of anyone?" Yang teased.

As the sisters bickered, Jaune pulled Crocea Mors from his belt and smiled as he remembered everything he and the weapon had been through. He felt he could identify with what his big-screen counterpart was saying.

“How do ya like your ride, Jauney-boy?" said a familiar voice. Jaune turned and saw Nora walking up behind them. "Solid iron hull. No alloys. Forty diesel engines per muscle strand and a new fluid synapse system."

Jaune dropped his bag and wrapped Nora in a fierce hug that she returned three-fold.

"Nora! It's good to see you, girl."

“Good to see you too, brother." Nora said, "It's just like old times. They'll never stop us."

"Nora, may you never change." Pyrrha said. Nora beamed and laid her head in Pyrrha's lap.

After his little reunion, Ruby led him to his quarters. They were spartan, but that was to be expected of an empty room.

“So, what's your story?" Jaune asked, putting his bag on his bed and starting to unload some personal items. "Restoring old Jaegers, showing has-beens like me around. That can't be it. You a pilot?"

“No." Ruby said with an embarrassed smile. "But I want to be, more than anything."

“What's your simulator score?"

“51 drops, 51 kills."

“Damn, that's impressive. But you're not one of the candidates tomorrow?"

“I am not. The general has his reasons."

"Sounds like a dad answer, doesn't it?" Yang said.

"Oh yeah." Ruby agreed

"I wouldn't know." Weiss said. "My father never paid much attention to us unless he directly profited from it in some way."

"Gods, the more I hear about your old man, the more I wanna deck him right in his stupid face." Yang said, eyes flashing briefly.

"Let me take a swing after." Blake said.

"Hey, just so we're clear, Winter and I have first dibs on that, got it?" Weiss said.

Blake and Yang looked at each other. Blake raised an eyebrow, and Yang shrugged in return. Then turned back to Weiss.

"Fair enough." They said together.

“Yeah, he always does, doesn't he? But with 51 kills, I can't imagine what they'd be." He started leafing through a stack of old pictures.

“I hope you approve of my choices." She said, changing the subject. "I've studied your fighting techniques and strategy. Even… Solitas."

“And what do you think?"

“I think… you're unpredictable. You have a habit of deviating from standard combat techniques. You take risks and injure yourself and your crew… I don't think you're the right man for this mission."

Jaune nodded at the criticism. "Well, thank you for your honesty. Chances are you're right. But one day, when you're a pilot, you're gonna see that in combat you make decisions. And then you gotta live with the consequences." He looked down at the photos, resting on one of him and Joan, "That's what I'm trying to do."

"Jeez, could I be any more edgy?" Jaune said, making Pyrrha chuckle.

Ruby walked across the room to her own quarters and opened the door with a huff. Who was he to lecture her? He was just some over-the-hill ex-pilot. What did he know about anything, much less how she felt? She turned around and saw him walk into the doorway with no shirt on. She noticed how toned his body was, but more than that, she saw the scars that covered his chest. Most had paled over the years, but one on his left side was still a light pink. When she saw that he had noticed her staring, she quickly shut the door to her room, red as her namesake.

Jaune saw this and closed his door with a frown. She couldn't fool him. Seven sisters had taught him many things about female behavior, and he knew that look, had seen it plenty of times with Joan. More than likely, she was watching him through the peep-hole in her door.

Sure enough, Ruby sat down with a pout after he closed the door.

"Hmmm, looks like little Ruble enjoys the view." Yang teased.

"Blake?" Ruby said, face red from embarrassment. Blake quickly slapped Yang upside the head with an audible smack.

"Ow!"

"Thank you."

"Not a bad set of abs." Coco said.

"Pfft. Please, get on my level." Sun scoffed.

“The candidates are ready." Ruby told Ironwood as he oversaw the control room. "We will commence the trials immediately."

“Good." He replied simply.

“But there is one thing. - "

“Ruby." Ironwood said with a hint of warning. He turned to face her. "We have talked about this. We will not be talking about it again."

"Ironwood is acting like a dad a little too well." Blake commented. "Does he have any children in real life?" she directed the question toward Winter.

"None that I know of." She replied, glad that the truth protected the General. With Taurus in the room, she had to be extra careful.

“You promised me." She protested. " I should be the one piloting Crocea Mors with him. "

“Ruby." He tried to calm her while dismissing Nora. "Vengeance is like an open wound. You can not take that level of emotion into the drift."

“For my family! I need- "

“If we had more time." he promised her before walking off.

"Adoptive father, calling it." Blake said.

"Wanna put money on that?" Yang offered.

"20 lien."

"Deal." They shook hands to seal the deal.

Jaune walked into the mess hall, all the tables seemed to be full and the line for food was long. He felt like he was back in high school, which was not a good thing, since none of his sisters were here to keep him company while he ate. Being the middle child, he always had two or three siblings around him in school, with Joan being a given.

He also noticed that there seemed to be a system of cliques revolving around the different Jaeger crews. He saw Blake beckon Ilia over in a sultry voice, the Schnees all sat together in descending order of age, and the Ember Celica crew seemed to be having an animated conversation centered around Yang.

“Jaune!" he looked up and saw Taiyang descending a staircase with a pair of trays filled with food. "Come sit with us." He said amiably.

“Oh, that's ok, I'm good- " he tried to deflect politely.

"YOU FOOL, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Jaune yelled at his counterpart. "TAKE THE OFFER! TAKE IT!" He looked around and saw everyone staring at him. "Sorry. Just flashing back to school."

"Let me guess, fish out of water?" Coco said.

"That puts it lightly. I was the biggest nerd back in the day. Spent most of my lunch time either alone or with whatever sisters were in the same school as me. Joan was always an option, but she was more social than me and her friends were never really my friends. They just put up with me for her sake. Uh, Ruby, you okay?"

Ruby was staring at him wide-eyed like he had just said the most profound thing in the world. "Mood-kindred…” she whispered.

"You too?!"

"Yes! Dear Gods above, yes!"

"Oh, come on Rubes, Signal was not that bad." Yang said.

"Maybe for you it wasn't, Little Ms. Blonde and Buxom. For me, it was hell outside of P.E. and combat class."

"You still had friends…"

"Yeah, three of them! Three genuine friends out of a school of a thousand kids! And one of those three only became a real friend after he tried and failed to get to you through me!"

"Wow… Ruby, I'm sorry, I didn't know…"

Ruby managed to calm herself enough to regain control of her senses. "It's okay Yang. It worked out in the end, didn't it?" she gestured to the Beacon students sitting around them. Yang smiled, recognizing how much her little cinnamon bun of a sister had grown.

“Come on, there's plenty of room at our table." Tai said, thrusting a food try into his hands.

"Where were guys like him when we were in school?" Jaune said.

"Probably hitting on the Yangs of the school." Ruby joked.

“I haven't seen bread in a while…" Jaune said, salivating at the spread before him.

“It's Atlas." He said, as if that explained everything. "Beauty of an open port; no rationing. Got potatoes, peas, sweet beans, pretty decent meatloaf. Pass the potatoes?" Jaune looked and handed him the mashed food. He pointed over at Yang, who was giving Jaune an appraising look. "Jaune, this is my daughter, Yang. She's my co-pilot now."

“He's more my co-pilot, right Dad?" Yang said smugly. "So, you're the guy, huh? You're the guy who's gonna run defense for me in that old rust bucket of yours?"

"Yeah, I do not care for this version of you, Yang." Jaune said. No one insults his giant fighting robot and gets away with it.

"You are not alone." Yang growled.

Jaune's eye twitched at the insult, but he let it slide. Best to not make an enemy out of an ally. "That's the plan." He said evenly.

“Cool." She said, feeding Zwei a piece of meatloaf. "So, when was the last time you jockeyed, John?"

Man, this kid is pushing it. "'Bout five years ago." He said, giving her his full attention.

“What have you been doing for five years?" she grinned "Something important, I imagine."

Ok, yeah, I do not care for you. "I was in construction."

Yang chuckled. "That's great. I mean, that's really useful. You know, we get into a fight, you can build us a way out, eh, John?"

“It's Jaune ." He corrected her. The least she could do to not be a f*cking prick was say his damn name right.

"Did you guys really think my name was John when we first met?" Jaune asked. He looked around and saw people not meeting his eyes, even Pyrrha.

"I knew it wasn't!" Ruby said, trying to cheer him up.

"Thanks Ruby."

"In our defense, the names are incredibly similar." Blake said.

"Why do you think I called you Arc so much?" Weiss chipped in.

“Whatever." Yang said, getting serious, or as close to it as she could get while still being an asshole. "Look, you're Ironwood's bright idea. My old man, he seems to like you, but if you ask me, it was guys like you who brought down the Jaeger Program. To me, you're dead weight." She stood up and put on a military hat. "You slow me down, I'll drop you like a sack of Kaiju sh*t. I'll see you around, Jaune. Come on, Zwei." The corgi obediently jumped down off the bench and hurried off after his owner.

“You can blame me for that." Tai said with a little guilt. "Her mother left soon after she was born, so I raised her myself, but I never knew whether to give her a pat on the head or a kick in the ass."

Jaune turned to Taiyang. "All due respect, sir, I'm pretty sure which one she needs."

"Gotta agree with the kid." Qrow said. "This you done f*cked up with her, Tai."

"Sadly, you're not wrong." Tai said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Wait, so if the Raven thing still holds true, what about me?" Summer asked.

Tai considered this and looked to his old partner, who, surprisingly, was slightly red in the face. Apparently they had both come to the same conclusion.

Chapter 19: Pacific Rim, Part 4

Chapter Text

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 19

Jaune stood in the middle of a room with a padded floor and stands off to the side. The stands, along with one of the hallways, were filled with on-lookers as the Jaeger trials went underway.

His first opponent was a girl from Mistral with dark brown skin and platinum blonde hair. They fought with quarter staves, Jaune fighting silently, while his opponent was rather the opposite. He swept her staff down and hooked his in her arm. He then used it to throw her over his shoulder before thrusting the tip at her throat, stopping just short of it. The room filled with impressed applause.

Across the room, Ruby stood next to Ironwood with a tablet in hand.

“4 points to Zero." She said.

"What are they doing?" Kali asked.

"Some kind of trials, I assume. Mr. Arc doesn't have a co-pilot for his Jaeger, after all." Winter said.

"But why do they have to fight?"

"It's the only way warriors know how to express themselves." Adam put forth.

"You really think you should be talking right now, Taurus?" Yang said, glaring daggers at the man.

"Am I wrong?" he said, matching her gaze. "You're clearly a warrior, as are all your little friends. Can you honestly look me in the eye and tell me you haven't been able to better understand any one of them on multiple levels after a good spar with them?" Yang frowned and looked away. "Like I thought."

His next opponent was a monkey faunus with the same hair color as the last one, but with a lighter skin tone. He spun his staff around in an attempt to impress/intimidate Jaune before jumping right into a flurry of blows, each of which Jaune blocked before hitting him in the side and slamming him face-first into the mat, pinning his left shoulder.

"Okay, wow, I felt that." Sun said, rubbing his side.

“4 points to 1"

Next up was a bull Faunus with red hair, blue eyes and fair skin. He swung his quarterstaff over his head into a sword ready. Jaune did the same, spinning into a kendo ready. His foe made the first move, going high right, then aiming for his legs. Jaune blocked all of them easily before blocking a flowing strike to his left followed by an over-head strike. He hooked his staff behind his opponent's knee and spun him over backwards. He landed face-first and disarmed, securing another win for Jaune.

Blake didn't want to admit it, but the scene reminded her of the old days of the White Fang under father. She was a child and Adam was a teenager teaching her how to defend herself, with her father's permission of course. He hadn't yet received his scar yet, and was filled with optimism and ideals. That was the Adam she had loved as a brother, not the radical he became.

“4 points to 2." Ruby said.

“Okay, what? You don't like them? I thought you picked them personally." Jaune said, panting.

"Excuse me?"

“Every time a match ends, you make this little gesture, like you're critical of their performance."

“It's not their performance, it's yours. Your gambit. You could have taken all of them two moves earlier."

'She's missing the point.' Adam thought to himself. 'These matches aren't about winning. They're about finding someone he can work with.'

“You think so?" Jaune asked, intrigued.

“I know so." Ruby said confidently.

“Can we change this up?" Jaune said to Ironwood, pointing his staff at Ruby. "How about we give her a shot?"

The audience seemed to like the idea and Ruby looked at him hopefully.

"No. We stick to the cadet list we have, Ranger. Only candidates with Drift Compatibility-"

“Which I have, General." Ruby protested.

“Ruby, this is not just about a neural connection, it is also about a physical compatibility." He told her quietly.

"Well, if that's not a Dad move, I don't know what is." Yang said with a grin.

"Gotta agree." Jaune nodded. "My dad was the same kind of protective with my sisters."

"Well, we only do it because we care." Taiyang grumbled.

“What's the matter, General? Afraid your best and brightest can’t hang in the ring with me?" Jaune taunted. It had the desired effect. Ironwood took the tablet from her and gave her the green light. Ruby placed her boots to the side of the arena and took a staff offered by one of the candidates.

“Four strikes marks a win." Ironwood reminded them.

“Remember, it's about compatibility." Jaune reminded her as they passed by one another. "It's a dialogue, not a fight. But I won't dial down my moves."

“Okay." Ruby agreed, "Then neither will I."

"At least this Ruby knows how to trash talk properly." Yang teased.

Both performed a few flourishes while taking their readies, Ruby with her staff behind her, Jaune in a classic broadsword ready. Jaune took a few steps forward and struck first, stopping just short of her head.

“1-0." he said.

Ruby moved before he was ready, knocking his staff aside and making the same strike.

"Wow. Maybe she's a little too into this." Weiss grimaced. Ruby just smiled at her counterpart.

“1-1." she said. She sheathed her staff in her hand, but Jaune lightly hit her exposed left side.

“2-1. Concentrate." He moved into a staff ready and waited. When she didn't retaliate, he seized the initiative but soon found himself defending a series of quick blows before finding himself in the same losing position as before with Ruby's staff inches from his face.

“2-2. Better watch it." she warned. They took their readys and Jaune struck first again. After a short exchange, Ruby forced him to his knees and scored another victory, putting the tip of her staff along his neck. The audience applauded.

“3-2." She said, stepping back into a ready.

“Ms. Rose." General Ironwood said. "More control."

The two fought the next round over several minutes, changing between attacking and defending almost like it was a dance routine. Each attack was blocked before flowing into an attack of their own, which the other would dodge before returning to the attack. It was beautiful really. That is, until Jaune managed to hook his staff into Ruby's arm and shoulder throw her over him. She landed hard and he pointed his staff at her.

There were no words as Ruby batted his staff aside and spun up into another ready. Jaune was surprised but grinned when she dared him to attack. They traded blows once more until Ruby managed to hook Jaune's leg and force him backwards onto the mat. She pinned his leg under her arm, winning the match.

Ruby stood up, put her arms behind her back and smiled a Neo kind of smile; cute, yet terrifying.

"Hello everyone, my name is Ruby Rose. Do. Not. f*ck with me." she said sweetly.

"Understood!" her friends said together before Ruby took her seat again, humming the movie's theme music to herself.

“Enough." Ironwood said. Ruby released Jaune, stood and bowed before the general. "I've seen all I need to see."

“Me too." Jaune said, getting to his feet. He placed his hand on Ruby's shoulder. "She's my co-pilot." Ruby looked at him with shock. He flashed her a grin.

“That's not going to work." Jaune and Ruby looked back to Ironwood.

“Why not?" Jaune protested.

“Because I said so, Mr. Arc. I've made my decision. Report to the Shatterdome in two hours, and find out who your co-pilot will be." He turned and left, leaving a stunned Jaune and Ruby standing in the middle of the arena. Ruby left to shower and change. Jaune stood in the arena, following her as she left, and saw Yang standing in the hallway with a smug look on her face.

"Mm. Still hate this me." Yang said to herself. Blake heard her and put a hand on her shoulder.

A few minutes later, Jaune caught up to Ruby, who he found tying her shoe in the middle of the hallway where their rooms were.

“Ruby!" he said, getting her attention. She looked back, surprised to see him and quite nervous. She backed up into the wall, like he was some kind of bully. "What was that about?" he asked her, genuinely curious and concerned, "I mean, I'm not crazy. You felt that, right? We are Drift-compatible."

“Thank you for standing up for me." Ruby said politely as she tried to squeeze past him. "But there is nothing to talk about." She went for the door and tried to open it.

“That's my room." Jaune pointed out when the door refused to open.

"Oh, this brings back memories." Yang said with a chuckle.

"Yang, don’t you dare- " Ruby said before Weiss shut her up by shoving a cookie in her mouth.

"What kind of memories?" the ex-heiress asked.

"Specifically, there was this one time back in Signal where one of the upperclassmen Ruby had a crush on said she looked cute in her picture day outfit. She was freaking scatter-brained all day. Confused my locker for hers, forgot where her classes were, even accidentally walked into the boy's room at one point."

"No!" Pyrrha said, Nora cackling in the background.

"Oh yeah. Thankfully, I caught her before she made it too far in."

"I'm gonna kill you, Yang!" Ruby leapt at her sister, but Blake chopped her in the back of her neck, knocking her out. Weiss pushing the girl back into her seat and placed another cookie in her hand.

Cheeks burning, Ruby walked across the hall and opened the door to her own room.

"Come on, I thought you wanted to be a pilot! Ruby, this is worth fighting for." She stopped in the doorway and turned to face him. "We don't have to just obey him."

“It's not obedience, Mr. Arc. It's respect." With that, she closed the door behind her and locked it.

General Ironwood's elevator descended on his way to his next appointment. A drop of blood hit the tip of his mirror-shined dress shoes. He felt woozy and just a little bit nauseous. He could feel liquid on his upper lip. He reached up and see what it was. Blood. His nose was bleeding again. He pulled a small pill case out of his pocket and took one. He didn't have much time left, he knew this. So why was he puss*-footing around the Crocea Mors piloting issue?

“In the wake of this Attika Incident," Lisa Lavendar reported, "Which showed the ineffective nature of the Wall of Life Program, many are questioning the motives behind the Council's joint decision and wondering why the Jaeger Program has been discontinued. Riots have erupted along the coastlines of several cities along the Great Ocean."

Jaune was watching the report on the vid-screen in his room as he changed in preparation to get back in the saddle. He walked over to the pictures he had taped to the wall and his eyes fell upon another picture of him and Joan. This one had been taken when they were kids. Jaune was braiding her hair while she quizzed him for a test he had the next day at school.

"Okay, I can confirm that that actually happened." Jaune said, preempting the question he knew was coming.

"You know how to style hair? Yang said.

Jaune looked to Pyrrha. "May I demonstrate?"

"Of course." she said, getting up from her seat and sitting down in front of Jaune with her back to him so that Jaune could proceed.

“We have relocated millions of civilians and supplies 300 miles inland to the safe zones." Ozpin reported at a press conference.

“Safe zones for the rich and powerful! What about the rest of us?" one of the reporters yelled, causing murmurs of assent from her colleagues.

“The Councils are united in the belief that the Wall of Life is still our best option at this time. and that is all they have to say on the matter." Ozpin responded coolly.

"Ms. Xiao Long, I am beginning to understand your feelings." Ozcar said, hands tightening around the top of his cane. "I also dislike this version of me."

Oobleck was taking apart a machine and using the removed parts to build something else. Once he had finished, he grabbed a small recording device and turned it on.

“Human-Kaiju Drift Experiment, take one." He said to the device before putting it in his chest pocket. "The, uh- the brain segment is the frontal lobe." He narrated as he grabbed a bunch of wires and plugged them into the tank that held the Kaiju brain fragment. "Chances are the segment's far too damaged to Drift with. Unscientific aside, Arthur, if you're listening to this, well I'm either alive and I've proven that what I've just done works- in which case, ha, I won. " He put on a strange helmet and activated it before going to type on a computer. "Or I'm dead, and I'd like you to know that it's all your fault. It really is, you know, you drove me to this. In which case, ha, I also won… sort of." He paused as he grabbed a large red button and let out a long calming sigh.

“I'm going in in three… two… one…" he pressed the button. He gasped as he felt the feeling of the Drift wash over him. His memories flowed in front of him; fishing with his father as a kid, his days in college, studying Kaiju at a government lab. Then the Kaiju's memories came. He saw what looked to be their home world. He saw the leaders of their race stitching him together. He saw his arrival to Remnant, and the fight that had killed him.

The scene returned to the lab, where Oobleck was on the ground, unconscious and convulsing. Watts came in and discovered him.

“Bartholomew!" he said, running over to him. "Bartholomew! What have done?" he hit the emergency kill switch and the machine shut off.

"I… don't know what to make of this…" Jaune said, pausing in his work with Pyrrha's hair.

"Nor I." Ozcar admitted.

Jaune exited his room and started to head down the hall to the Shatterdome. Halfway down, he turned around and walked back to Ruby's door. He made to knock on it, but stopped when he heard that the test was starting sooner than he planned. He thought he had maybe another half an hour, but he got a move on when he heard differently. Ruby had been watching from her room, and pouted when he walked away.

Suddenly, a knock came from her door, and a smile came across her lips. She stood, and calmly opened the door with a pleasant smile. This smile quickly disappeared when she saw who was on the other side.

Ironwood bowed, and Ruby returned it.

“May I come in, Ruby?" he asked. Ruby moved aside, inviting him in. He looked at her quarters, delaying to find the right words. He turned and held a small toy scythe wrapped in white cloth in his hands.

“A long time ago, I made you a promise." He said, handing her the gift. She took it reverently, surprised that he had kept them all these years. " Get ready."

"The hardest part is letting go." Tai said. Summer smiled and laid her head on his shoulder.

"If our James is anything like this one, I believe he would make an excellent father." Glynda commented.

Winter smiled knowingly, agreeing with Glynda. She knew he had it in him. When she had given up her claim to the SDC in favor of military service, Ironwood had taken her under his wing and given her a home when her father had cast her out. He mentored her and eventually became an even truer father figure to her than Jacques could ever hope to be.

Chapter 20: Pacific Rim, Part 5

Chapter Text

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 20

"And we are… done!" Jaune said, finishing up Pyrrha's hair. He had done a braid up the back of her head that turned into a side ponytail on her left side.

"Holy crap, Vomit Boy!" Yang exclaimed.

"Jaune, that's so cool!" Nora gushed.

"Where did you learn to do that?" Velvet asked.

"Once again, seven sisters." he said. "If you want to survive as the only son in that kind of environment, you have to learn how to please your opponents. Thankfully, being good at hair styles was a common weakness for all my sisters."

About this time, Ruby regained consciousness. "Huh, wha-? What's going on?"

Weiss pointed to the cookie in her hand. "Cookie coma." she lied.

"Again?" she said, exasperated, "Man, I really do need help, don't I?"

The control room was busy getting ready to test drive a Jaeger that had been left to collect dust for five years. Nora was in the middle of it all, delegating orders and triple checking everything she could think of. But above all else, she wanted pancakes. Sweet, sweet pancakes, buttered, stacked twenty high and doused in syrup. But not powdered sugar. That was just blasphemy. She knew it and Ren knew it, Gods bless his soul.

Jaune was already suited up in new black armor and waiting in the co*ckpit of Crocea Mors.

“Setting harness for test mode. Awaiting second pilot." He said as he flipped the necessary switches. He looked around and noticed subtle differences. Seems they had upgraded the co*ckpit during restoration. He snapped back to reality when the arrival of his co-pilot was announced. "I'm gonna take this side, if you don't mind. My left arm's kinda shot." He said grumpily.

"Gee, I wonder why?" Blake said dryly.

"I don't blame him." Yang said, her left hand unconsciously rubbing her prosthetic forearm.

“Sure." He looked to make sure he wasn't hallucinating when he heard that voice. He smiled when he saw Ruby standing next to him in matching armor. "What? Nothing to say?" she teased.

He shrugged. "No point. Two minutes, you'll be inside my head." He smiled at her. "You look good."

“Pilots on board and ready to connect." Penny's voice reported as Nora took her chair, Ironwood and Taiyang watching anxiously.

“Prepare for neural handshake." Ironwood ordered.

“Initiating neural handshake." Nora replied as she activated the sequence.

The co*ckpit locked into place on the body, and the restraints pulled away. Inside the co*ckpit, Jaune and Ruby activated the handshake on their end.

“Alright, we're not in the simulator anymore, Ruby." Jaune said, "Remember, don't chase the R.A.B.I.T. Random Access Brain Impulse Triggers. Memories. Don't latch on, just let 'em flow. Tune them out. Stay in the Drift. The Drift is silence." She nodded and closed her eyes. Jaune did the same as the familiar feeling of the Drift washed over him. He saw his memories flow before him, as he had with Joan, but he also saw Ruby's; a small girl playing with her parents, a man with messy black hair and a scraggly beard, and a woman with silver eyes and a white cape. The same girl in grade school, getting a perfect score on her math test, her parents joyful and proud. The little girl crying, alone in ruins. Joan's final moments.

They snapped to reality with a jolt. In unison, they lifted their right hands, then their left before assuming a fighting stance. On the outside, Crocea Mors did the same.

"Seems that both of them have rather tragic pasts." Weiss observed.

"Was that Mom and Uncle Qrow?" Ruby asked, confused.

"Looks like it." Yang answered.

"What d'ya think about that, old buddy?" Tai said, ribbing his old partner. When he got no response, he turned and saw Qrow sitting there with his mouth open. "Qrow? You alright man?" Tai waved his hand in front of Qrow's face, trying to bring him back.

"I think the movie broke him." Mercury said, tossing popcorn into his mouth.

“Okay, Crocea Mors. Lining up nicely." Nora said to herself, checking the vital readings. "Better get ready." She told Ironwood and Taiyang.

“General! General!" Watts yelled as he half-ran into the control room.

Ironwood looked back. "Not now, Dr. Watts. I'm sure you can appreciate how important this moment is to me." He turned back to the Jaeger.

“Bartholomew created a neural bridge from garbage and drifted with a Kaiju!" Surprised, then concerned, Ironwood followed him to the lab.

Oobleck was sat in a chair, shaking from the experience. He slowly sipped a glass of water and starred into space.

"I found him prone, on the floor," Watts told Ironwood as they approached, "And he's sort of dazed." Ironwood gestured for him to stay put while he approached the shaken man.

“Bart?" he asked.

Oobleck looked up and grinned at him. "I told you it would work."

“Yes, you did." Ironwood said with small smile. He pulled up a chair and sat down. "Well, what did you see?"

“You know, it was only a fragment of a brain, so all I was really able to get was, like, a series of images or, or impressions, like when you blink your eyes over and over and over again? All you see are, like, frames- "

“Bart, look at me." Ironwood placed his hand on the man's shoulder to calm him down, "Now, I want you to take your time, and be very specific."

"Me too." Jaune said, leaning forward.

Oobleck took a moment before he continued. "Okay. Well, I don't feel like they're just attacking us out of some animalistic urge, you know, just hunting and gathering. I think they're attacking us under orders."

“That's impossible." Watts scoffed.

“Is it impossible?" Oobleck said, quickly getting very angry. Soon, the men descended into childish squabbling, each talking over the other.

“YOU! SHUT UP!" Ironwood stood and pointed at Watts. He turned back to Oobleck and sat back down. "You, keep talking."

"Seriously, STFU." Jaune said.

"I have never seen the General that mad before." Winter said, surprised.

"I have. And I never want to see it again." Glynda said with a shudder.

Oobleck quickly recovered from the shock of seeing the normally unflappable general snap in anger and continued.

“These beings, these masters, they're colonists. They overtake worlds, they just consume them and move on to the next. And they been here before as a sort of trial run. It was the dinosaurs! But the atmosphere wasn't conducive, right? So they waited it out, and waited it out. And now, with ozone depletion, carbon monoxide, polluted waters- we've practically terraformed it for them.

“Cause now they're coming back. And it's perfect. See, the first wave, those were just the hounds. Categories 1-4, that was nothing. Their sole purpose was to aim for the populated areas and take out the vermin- us! The second wave, that is the exterminators, and they will finish the job. And then, the new tenants will take possession."

"Holy f*ck…" Jaune said, putting his head in his hands. This was too much for him to take in all at once. The implications were too great. His mind was swimming with questions he couldn't find answers for. He felt someone take his hands in theirs, and saw Pyrrha kneeling in front of him.

"Hey, It's just a movie." She told him, putting her forehead on his. He immediately calmed down at her touch and was smiling by the time she sat down beside him.

Ironwood stood as he took all this in. This was valuable information. It explained somewhat how the Kaiju operated, and why they- humanity- had seen such success in the early years of the war and why things were getting so hard over the last few years. It also gave him an idea what to expect next. Unfortunately, it was too little too late at this point. He needed more information.

“Bart, I need you to do it again." He told Oobleck. "We need more intel."

“W-well, I can't do it again." He told the General. "I mean, not unless you've got a fresh Kaiju brain laying around." The General just looked at him with the barest hint of a grin. "Do you?"

"Ah, the military keeping secrets. A classic." Blake joked.

Crocea Mors brought her fists together, finishing the start-up sequence. Below, the other Jaeger crews applauded the apparent success. In the control room, Tai had taken command in Ironwood's absence, with Yang observing nearby, her arms crossed over her chest.

“Pretty impressive." Tai said.

“Yeah, he remembers how to turn it on. Big deal." Yang said sarcastically.

"Gods dammit- "

"You hate this you." Team RWB_ said as one.

"We get it, Yang. Movie you is currently a massive tool." Ruby said.

“Hey, show some respect." Tai said angrily. "When his sister died, he brought the Jaeger back to shore on his own. I've known one other pilot who's been able to do that."

Back in the lab, Ironwood brought out a large hard drive and plugged it into a computer. "Now, there are certain individuals whose business is the preservation and exploitation of Kaiju remains." Ironwood said as Watts brought up the files.

“Yeah, uh, black market dealers, right?" Oobleck said, trying to tidy himself up a bit.

“Right." A series of images flashed across the holographic computer screen. "They're in and out in a matter of hours. They neutralize the acidic factor of the blood and harvest what they need." The images stopped on a man with a cane and a cigar standing in front of a Kaiju skeleton with his back to the camera. "Now, this guy, is Roman Torchwick. He runs the Kaiju black market here in Solitas, as well as in Vale. When our funding ran out, we turned to him for help, and in return, I gave him exclusive rights to all Kaiju remains in the region."

“You did that?" Watts asked.

"General Ironwood would never stoop to such lows, even in the most dire of circ*mstances." Winter said angrily.

"Oh you would be surprised, Ice Queen Sr." Torchwick said with a grin.

"And what is that supposed to mean, criminal?"

"It means that ol' Iron-stick-in-the-mud is as fallible as anyone else here, even you. We mortals are outrageously flawed creatures. We try to hide it with glory and virtue, but in a do or die situation, people will do just about anything to get their way, even if it means dirtying their hands with the criminal element."

"And when did you become a student of the human condition, Roman?" Cinder said, intrigued.

"Round about the time my Huntsman career started going south."

“Last days of war, gentlemen." Ironwood pulled a blank piece of notecard paper out of his inside jacket pocket and handed it to Oobleck. "Here, take that. Go the intersection of Stark and Tull. Show them that card. Look for that symbol. And a word to the wise: do not trust him."

Back in the Jaeger, Jaune and Ruby took a fighting ready.

“Calibration complete." Penny's voice said.

“The hull! It went through the hull!" Jaune heard Joan's voice say. He looked over to Ruby and saw himself on the worst day of his life. Suddenly, the memory took over and he felt all the emotions Joan had felt.

"Well that ain't good." Coco commented when Yang didn't.

"This isn't going to end well…" Blake said to herself.

“Pilot out of alignment." Penny reported.

“Both out of alignment." Nora said, triple checking her read outs.

“Both of them?" Tai asked in shock.

“Both of them!" Nora stood and began speaking into a microphone. "Crocea Mors! You're out of alignment! I repeat, you are both out of alignment!"

“I got it, "Jaune said, "Just let me control it."

“You're stabilizing, but Ruby is way out. She's chasing the rabbit!"

“Ruby." Jaune turned to her and tried to talk her back to him, but it was too late. She was gone, lost in a memory. If only it was a good one.

It was snowing as she walked down the main street of a small village. She had her small toy scythe in her hands.

“Mama!" a little girl cried. Ruby looked up and saw a small girl with black hair and a red hood and cape walking alone through the desolation that had been her hometown. A siren could be heard in the distance. The streets were abandoned, cars and other vehicles lay where their owners had chosen to flee.

A squad of combat Bullheads flew overhead. Young Ruby looked behind her and saw they were firing at a Kaiju that looked like a hermit crab, though the gun fire had little effect. The Kaiju roared and began to chase her, running through buildings and trampling cars in its pursuit. Ruby screamed and ran for a nearby alleyway. When she reached the alley, she ran and hid behind some dumpsters, too scared to pay the smell any mind.

Jaune was there waiting for her. He tried to remind her that it was nothing but a bad memory, but she couldn't see or hear him. A loud thudding shut them both up as they could tell the beast was getting closer. Soon the monster's full form was seen at the end of the alley. It looked down and roared when it saw her. Ruby screamed, left her hiding place and put her hand out in front of her.

In the real world, she did the same. And so did the Jaeger.

“Weapons system engaged." Penny said. "Plasma cannon powering up." The Jaeger's arm shifted into plasma cannon form. The other teams, recognizing what was happening, quickly evacuated everyone from the hangar bay.

“Weapon system engaged! Go to fail safe!" Nora ordered.

“Fail safe's not responding." A technician reported. "There's a problem with the neural blocker. Her connection's way too strong."

“Fully charged." Penny said.

Jaune tried to snap her out of it, but she was locked into the nightmare. Nora ordered the control room evacuated before she dived behind the control console. The Kaiju in Ruby's nightmare clawed at her, coming within a few meters of her.

Nora began pulling cables out of the console.

“Pull the main power line!" Tai ordered. "Get the main power line!"

In the dream, a squadron of Bullheads carried a Jaeger overhead. It let out a roar as it fell, drawing the Kaiju's attention. They fought briefly and loudly, scaring Ruby, who covered her ears and crouched away from the noise.

Ironwood ran into the control room, yelling at the men and Nora to take the Jaeger offline.

“I just did!" Nora said, showing him the plug she had just pulled.

The plasma cannon powered down audibly, the cannon transforming back into a hand and hanging limply. Jaune disengaged from his harness and walked around to disengage Ruby. She collapsed into his arms and he left her fall gently. He took off her helmet and hugged her close.

“Neural connection invalid." Penny's voice said. "Would you like to try again?"

"My god…" Glynda whispered, aghast.

"Ms. Rose, are you…?" Ozcar asked, but Yang waved him silent. Ruby was staring at the screen in shock, the cookie she had been working on fallen from her hand. Weiss pulled her into a hug, a rare occurrence, and a sure sign that something was wrong. But Ozpin was not who she need right now, neither was her father, her mother or her uncle. What she needed was her sisters, her team. They knew this, and so they each piled hugs upon her, the theater silent as the grave.

Chapter 21: Pacific Rim, Part 6

Chapter Text

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 21

Though Atlas was considered the "better part" of the Atlas capital, it still had its slums, just like Mantle. However, due the affluence of certain residents, the disparities in wealth were even greater than in Mantle, and this was made apparent to Oobleck as he made his way into the so-called "Bone Slums" of Atlas' red-light district. The air was full of honking horns, massive chatter, disgusting smells, and even more embarrassing sounds coming from nearby buildings.

He shined a black light on the card Ironwood had given him and saw an image of a smiling Jack o' Lantern face. He looked around, but saw no obvious signs of what he was looking for, though he did see how the Bone Slums got their name; the rib cage of a long-dead Kaiju was towering over the shops and tenement buildings. He found a nearby sign with coloring that matched his card, and decided to take a look with his blacklight. He found the same symbol on it, with a arrow pointing to the left underneath it.

"Liking where this is going already." Torchwick whispered to himself. Neo apparently heard him and gave him a small fist bump, clearly reading his thoughts.

‘Might as well follow it.' he thought. He continued this process until it brought him to a balcony outside a shop a few miles away. Outside sat a pair of young women, twins in fact, one with long hair dressed in white and light blue, the other with short hair dressed in red and black. Oobleck checked out a pole near the door and found the symbol again. 'This must be it.' he thought before going inside.

The walls were lined with various toys and knick-knacks from around Remnant. Behind the counter stood 'Junior' Hei Xiong.

"So Roman owns a toy shop or something?" Ruby scoffed.

"It's called a front, Little Red." Roman said.

Seeing Ruby's innocent confusion, Blake explained, "It's a cover for his dealings. Black market anything isn't exactly legal, so he hides it behind something unassuming to avoid the cops. The White Fang does it all the time."

“Hey." He said quietly, "You looking for some Kaiju bone powder?"

“S-some bone- some bone powder?" Oobleck asked, confused. "No, why would I want that?"

“Male potency." Junior said with a grin. "I take it myself."

Yang gagged violently, but managed to keep it down. "Never say these words again." she said, her fist in front of her mouth, trying to regain control.

“I see." Oobleck grinned back politely. "No, thank you. I'm looking for Roman Torchwick."

Junior signaled the twins to lock the door before walking over to the wall opposite the counter.

"Roman Torchwick, huh?" he said, pressing a hidden button on one of the shelves, "Good luck, kid." He motioned for the doctor to walk through as several more walls opened up, revealing a large busy room. All over it, people were working on Kaiju body parts.

“Oh my gods." Oobleck said in awe. "Oh my gods! This place is heaven!" he walked over to a nearby tank. "That's a lymph gland from a Category 2. And what are you working on here?" he asked a man who was taking a hand sander to what looked to be a large claw. "Is this a cuticle? In mint condition!?" he walked over to another man handling a large bug. "Is that a Kaiju skin parasite? I've never seen them alive before. They usually die as soon as the Kaiju fall! I thought you couldn't keep them alive!"

"Oh, Gods, is this what I'm like in a weapons shop?" Ruby asked, cringing.

"YES!" Team _WBY said, not missing a beat.

“You can if you soak them in ammonia." Oobleck turned and saw Roman Torchwick in his usual garb, Neo at his side. "What do you want?"

“I'm looking for Roman Torchwick?" he held up the card Ironwood gave him. "I was told he was here?"

“Who wants to know?"

"Man, talk about cheesy." Nora commented.

"Is there ever an answer to that that isn't?" Roman fired back.

"… Touche, sir."

"How about an honest one?" Ruby said with a little sarcasm.

"Ah, but where's the fun in that?" Roman joked.

“I really can't say." Oobleck said, trying to sound cool. Before he could react, Neo had walked up, drawn the hidden blade from her parasol, and shoved it in his nose. She slowly lifted, threatening to cut open the man's nostril. "AAH! AAH! JAMES IRONWOOD SENT ME!" Neo withdrew the knife, leaving no permanent damage. "GAH! Oh, that's great. So I take it you're him?"

“Sorry 'bout that kid, but you can't be too careful when your business is black market everything ." Torchwick said as Neo wiped off the blade with a small rag. "Now tell me what you want, before I have Neo here gut you like a pig and feed you to the skin louse."

"Hey, Wolf Guy, I think Neo deserves a little treat for that performance!" Roman shouted.

"Sir, I am inclined to agree with you." Logan said. Next thing Neo knew, an entire gallon tub of her favorite brand and flavor of ice cream appeared in her lap and a spoon in her hand. Drooling, she tore off the lid and inhaled the sweet aroma of frozen deliciousness.

"Let me guess, Neopolitan flavor?" Mercury joked.

"Nope, Double Mint Chip." Roman said.

"What?" Emerald asked, having never heard of it.

"Mint Chocolate Chip with York Peppermint Patties."

Neo clapped excitedly and began to tear the treat apart.

The pilots of Crocea Mors stood in the hallway outside of Ironwoods' office/quarters, an argument clearly audible over the concrete and steel walls. Jaune was pacing back and forth across the hall, while Ruby stood at ease against the wall across from the door.

“She can't control her Drift and he went out of phase first!" Yang argued.

“We all know what happened." Ironwood said calmly.

“We can't afford any mistakes!" Yang fired back. "The Kaiju keep evolving, and they keep kicking our asses! He's a has-been, she's a rookie. I don't want them tainting my bomb run, sir. "

“You need to watch your tone, Ms. Xiao Long." Ironwood said as Yang opened the door and stormed out.

“Hey, stay there. Give me a moment." Taiyang ordered from the doorway before closing it.

“You two are a Gods-damned disgrace." Yang practically yelled to the pair. "You're gonna get us all killed, and here's the thing, Jaune ," she said his name with enough venom to take down a Goliath. "I wanna come back from this mission, because I rather enjoy my life. So why don't you just do us all a favor and disappear? It's the only thing you're good at."

"Hey, Logan, any chance I could punch this version of myself in face?" Yang said, her eyes red at how her sister was being treated.

"Keep watching, Ms. Xiao Long, I think you will like your dopplegangers' immediate fate."

Not getting her way, Yang sat back in a pout.

“Stop, now!" Ruby said, taking a step forward before Jaune stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

“Yeah, that's right." Yang said with a grin. "You just hold back your little girlfriend. One of you bitches needs a leash." Before she even knew what happened, Jaune punched Yang in the face, followed by a left hook. Yang landed a left of her own, but Jaune recovered and blocked her next blow and drove her back with a few of his own, finishing with a heavy right to the face while Yang was on her knees.

"What if Mr. Arc's doppleganger does it for you?"

Yang considered it briefly, her eyes changing back to their normal lilac. "Acceptable."

“Apologize to her." Jaune said over the mutterings of the growing crowd.

“Screw you." Yang said as she stood up and swung at Jaune. He ducked the blow, and landed a kidney shot and a left hook. He pushed her into the wall and made to strike, but Yang ducked and drove him into the opposite wall. She soon found her arm locked under Jaune's and used to drive her into some piping. She cried out at the impact as a gout of steam whistled behind her.

“I said apologize to her." Jaune said. The pair squared off for a moment before Yang rushed him. Jaune blocked each attack and drove her to the ground in an arm bar submission hold.

“ENOUGH!" Tai yelled, breaking up the fight and causing the crowd to scatter. "On your feet, both of you!"

“Arc, Rose, in my office." Ironwood said with a sigh. Jaune backed up, staring Yang down. Yang took it as another challenge and went for him, but Tai held her back.

“No, this is over!" he said. "You're a Ranger for God's sake, why don't you start acting like one?"

"Jaune, this you has officially earned my respect." Yang said.

"Thank you?"

“I went out of phase first." Jaune argued, defending Ruby and his crew. "It was my mistake." They were in a pair of chairs in Ironwood's spartan office. The only noticeable feature was the window, which gave a beautiful view of Atlas.

“No." Ironwood argued solemnly, "It was my mistake. I should have never let you two in the same machine."

“So, what? You're grounding us?"

“Not you." Ironwood said, looking at Ruby. A look of realization crossed her face, followed by barely contained sorrow.

“Permission to be dismissed, sir?" she asked, barely managing to hold back the tears. Ironwood nodded and she quickly left. Jaune put his hands on his head in exasperated frustration.

"And now I wanna kill Ironwood for making Ruby cry." Yang growled.

"Blake?" Ruby said with a sigh, doing Weiss' trademark exasperation face. Blake slapped Yang upside the head. "Thank you."

“Sir, what are you doing? She is the strongest candidate, by far." He stood up and walked to the general. "What other options do we have? Huh? Tell me!"

“Do not let my calm demeanor fool you, RANGER!" Ironwood yelled, his anger boiling over, surprising Jaune. "NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR YOUR INSUBORDINATION. Ruby is too inexperienced to reign in her memories during combat." He moved to leave his chambers.

"Said every father ever, but not not in those exact words." Jaunesaid.

"Seven sisters?" Nora guessed.

"Seven sisters." he confirmed.

“That's not why you grounded her." Jaune said, stopping Ironwood in his tracks. The two men faced each other. "I was in her memories. I saw everything."

“I don't care what you think you saw."

Jaune flashed back to the end of the attack. When the Kaiju's roars had died down, Ruby exited the alley she hid in. The street was in ruins, and her attacker lay smote at one end of the road. Mechanical thudding drew her attention to the other end of the street, where she saw her savior: the crude, but unmistakable form of a Jaeger. The hatch on the head opened up, and out stepped a figure in all-grey armor. He took off his helmet to reveal a much younger-looking James Ironwood.

"Anything you'd like to say Ms. Xiao Long?" Winter asked smugly.

"He still made Ruby cry." Yang mumbled.

“I know what she means to you." Jaune told him. "I saw it. I- "Ironwood had heard enough and was walking away. "Hey! Hey!" he yelled after him.

“This conversation is over, Mr. Arc."

“General! General, can we just talk about this for one second?" Jaune yelled, grabbing him by the arm and spinning him around. Ironwood looked amazed he had dared to do that. "You were friends with her parents. When they died, you adopted her. You raised her . You are not protecting her now, you are holding her back."

“One, don't you ever touch me again." As he pushed the call button on the elevator. "Two, don't you ever touch me again. Now, you don't know who the hell I am or where I come from and I am not about to tell you my life's story. All I need to be to you and everyone on this dome is a fixed point. The Last. Man. Standing. I want neither your sympathy nor your admiration. All I need is your compliance and your fighting skills. And if I can't have that, you can go back to the wall I found you crawling on. Do I make myself clear?" When Jaune didn't respond, he simply held a finger to his ear and leaned in.

“Yes, sir." Jaune said reluctantly.

“Good."

"There's the James we know." Glynda sighed.

"It's not an in accurate portrayal." Ozcar said, trying to be positive about it.

It was lunch time again, and there were no friendly faces in the mess hall for Jaune. When he descended the stairs from the lines, the room went so quiet you could hear a pin drop, and so tense that you'd need a chainsaw to cut it. All eyes were on him, and he knew why.

‘I take it back.' He thought, ‘Now it's like school.' He caught Ruby's eye across the room and they walked off in separate directions, meeting up outside the mess hall.

“I'm sorry." Jaune said when they sat down in a more private location, the Jaeger repair yard. "I should have warned you. First Drifts are rough. But you weren't just tapping into my memories, you were tapping into my sisters too. When Joan was taken, we were still connected. I felt her fear, her pain, her helplessness, and then… nothing. She was gone."

Jaune tried to fight the angry tears, as Pyrrha took his hand. 'I know what to do, but it can wait. At least until after the movie.' he thought.

“I felt it." Ruby said, comfortingly. "I know."

Jaune sighed, and looked down. "You know, you live in someone else's head for so long, the worst thing to deal with is the silence. To let someone else in, to really connect, you have to trust them." He looked back up at Ruby and smiled softly. "And today, the Drift was strong."

A loud thumping drew Ruby's attention.

"Her heart." She said. Jaune looked and saw a massive crane taking part of the chest plate off of Crocea Mors, exposing her nuclear power core. "When was the last time you saw it?"

“Not in a looong time." he said, admiring the sight.

In the control room, Nora was walking in with a pair of coffee mugs and a stack of pancakes eight layers thick. Just a light snack.

“Movement in the Breach." The AI voice of Penny reported. "Double event. Two signatures detected. Dilation indicator, Category 4."

Nora's plate shattered when she dropped it.

"Well, sh*t." Coco said, Velvet nodding in agreement.

"Hm, Arthur was right about something for once." Cinder admitted begrudgingly.

Hearing this, Salem thought to herself. 'This in-fighting is becoming a hindrance. Perhaps I should focus on something to make my council more… cooperative with each other. Some sort of psychic Grimm, perhaps…"

Chapter 22: Pacific Rim, Part 7

Chapter Text

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 22

Ruby and Jaune blended into the crowd that flowed into the control room as Nora began her briefing.

“The Breach was exposed at 2300 hours." She said. "We have two signatures, both Category 4s, codenames Otachi and Leatherback. They'll reach the city within the hour."

“Evacuate the city, shut down all the bridges." Ironwood ordered. "I want every single civilian in a refuge right now. White Scion, Pack Alpha, you two will frontline the harbor. Stay on the Miracle Mile. Nothing gets in without a fight. Ember Celica, I want you to stay back and look after the coastline. We cannot afford to lose you, so you do not engage unless absolutely necessary."

“Yes, sir." Tai and Yang sounded off.

“You two." Ironwood said, turning to Jaune and Ruby. "You stay put." They nodded their assent. "Let's move!"

"Oh, that's real sensible." Jaune said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Is there a problem, Mr. Arc?" Winter said.

"No problem, unless you include the general who is holding back his best weapons."

"Are you questioning the general's decision?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Yes, I am." Jaune said, turning to face her. "Think about it. At the start of the movie, Crocea Mors was taken out by a single Category 4 Kaiju, and that was with a veteran crew with multiple kills under their belt. Now, they're dealing with two of the same opponents, yet all he's doing is essentially evening the odds by holding Crocea Mors and Ember Celica in reserve while the other two engage."

"Jaune, you know what his reasons are, right?" Weiss asked, trying to back up her sister.

"I do, and they're bullcrap. When we fight the Grimm, do we hold back? No, we use everything we have to beat them, because we know that they won't hesitate to kill us first. Terminate with extreme prejudice, that's all that works against monsters, and the Kaiju are no different as far as I can tell."

Minutes later, Scion and Alpha were being air-lifted to their posts by Bullheads, while Celica was wading out into the surf.

“Loccent, Celica's got the ball and we're on the move." Yang radioed in.

“Loccent, nearing positions and awaiting your orders." Taiyang reported.

“Remain in the Miracle Mile. Engage at your discretion." Ironwood radioed, "Also, keep your eyes open. These Category 4s are the largest we've seen, both in size and weight."

"Even more reason to-! Bah!" Jaune said, frustrated at Ironwood.

When Alpha and Scion had reached their positions, they disengaged their transport clamps, fell into the water, and began to patrol the area.

In the city, several people were chanting as they entered a temple of some kind, whose entrance was the mouth of a Kaiju skull.

“Look at them." Roman said. he and Oobleck were on a balcony overlooking the temple behind his… business. "They believe that the Kaiju were sent from Heaven. That the Gods are expressing their displeasure at our behavior. Freaking idiots…"

"Interesting…" Ozcar mused.

‘Hmph. They did that when they abandoned this world.’ Salem thought, remembering that day.

“And what do you believe?" Oobleck asked him.

“Well… I believe Kaiju bone powder is 500 lien a pound. What do you want?"

"Seriously?" Weiss said, "You could get six times as much premium SDC dust for that price!"

"What can we say Ice Queen? Sex sells." Roman shrugged.

“I need to access a Kaiju brain. Completely intact."

“No, no, no. The skull plate is so thick that by the time you drill into it- "

“The brain is completely unsalvageable, I know. But I'm talking about the secondary brain. Now, we both know that the Kaiju are so large, they need two brains to function properly, like a dinosaur. I want to get my hands on one of those."

“Hm." Roman grunted as he tried to figure out the angle. He decided to go with the direct approach. "What do you want a secondary brain for anyway? I mean, every part of the Kaiju sells. Cartilage, spleen, liver, even the crap! One cubic meter of crap has enough phosphorous in it to fertilize a whole field! But the brain? Too much ammonia. So what's your game, kid?"

“Well, that's classified. So I couldn't tell you, even if I wanted to." Oobleck replied, not knowing he was playing right into Roman's hand. Roman had met kids like him before; eager, co*cky, braggarts, prideful to a fault. "But it is pretty cool, so I might tell you." Roman hid his grin and crossed his arms in a fake pout. "I'm gonna tell you." Hook, line and sucker. "I figured out how to Drift with a Kaiju."

Roman's grin disappeared. "Are you funnin' me, kid?"

“It's fascinating how their minds work! Every single Kaiju, his mind's connected. It's like the species has a hive mind!"

Roman ripped off Oobleck's glasses and inspected his bloodshot eye. "Holy crap… you've gone and done it, haven't you?"

“I-I may have a little, yeah."

Sirens began blaring in the distance.

"You god damn moron." Roman said as he stormed inside.

"Summing up everyone's thought in a single sentence. Nicely put, Roman." Cinder said.

Roman looked at her like she was a crazy person. "Okay, stop that."

"What?"

"This whole complimenting thing. You don't do that. Ever."

"Well, death has a way of changing people, I suppose."

"You too? Welcome to the club."

In the bay, Pack Alpha and White Scion waded further out into the surf, when Scion picked something up on radar.

“Movement on the right! 3 o'clock!" Whitley reported. The inside of Scion's co*ckpit was much the same as any other Jaeger, with the exception of a third harness in front of the usual two. Winter took the lead spot, with Weiss and Whitley flanking her on the left and right respectively. Scion looked around the waters to it's right, searching for its prey, when it ambushed them, jumping out of the water and bashing them with its tail. They fell back several feet and shook off the attack.

“Activate Thundercloud formation!" Winter ordered as they rose.

When they got to their feet, the Jaeger's arms, all three of them, activated and the hands transformed into buzz saws. The saws roared to life and laid into the Kaiju, landing several hits, though not doing too much damage. They went for the head with a left, but the kaiju grabbed the saw, stopping it and crushing it. Scion went for the other side, but the Kaiju blocked that too. In response, Scion activated a series of rockets on its back, launching them over the Kaiju's head. They stopped directly over it, turned their hips around, fell the way they came and threw the beast over their head.

By the time the beast recovered, Alpha had charged in from behind. Alpha jumped on it, putting it in a headlock, and proceeded to punch it in the face.

“Yeah, that's it!" Blake yelled.

“Get some!" Ilia cheered.

"You were saying, Mr. Arc?" Winter said smugly.

"Still playing out, Ice Queen Sr. Keep watching." Jaune said, eyes glued to the screen

"We always did make a great team, didn't we, Ilia?" Blake said.

"Yeah. Good times."

Their joy was short lived as the Kaiju swept them back with its tail. In the distance, Ember Celica watched it all go down.

“Loccent, Scion and Alpha are in trouble. We're moving in." Tai reported.

“You are to hold your ground." Ironwood ordered. "Do not engage. We need you to carry that bomb. Do you copy?"

Tai looked to Yang as Alpha and Scion started getting wrecked.

“We can't just stand here and watch them die. Come on!" Yang protested.

“Ah screw this." Tai agreed. "Loccent, we're moving in now!"

Ironwood slammed the desk, and looked back at Jaune and Ruby, still awaiting orders.

The Kaiju (I think this one is Otachi, so I'm gonna call it that from now on) swung its tail overhead and grabbed onto Scion's head co*ckpit. It squeezed until the head finally crushed under the pressure, killing an entire generation of the Schnee family.

Ruby grabbed Weiss, who hugged her back tightly. Winter simply sat, shocked to see herself and her siblings die in such a way. Jaune thankfully had the presence of mind to keep his mouth firmly shut. Sometimes he hated being right.

“Scion is gone." Ilia reported, turning red with rage as the venerable Jaeger fell into the sea.

“Let's get this bastard." Blake growled.

"You will be avenged, Weiss." Blake growled to herself.

Alpha slammed its fists together in an obvious challenge before charging Otachi. Seeing the only other threat coming for it, the beast spewed forth a fluorescent blue liquid at the Jaeger. When it made contact, it began to eat its way through the metal armor on the Jaeger's chest and arms, as well as some of the head.

“This is Pack Alpha, we've been hit with some kind of acid." Blake reported. "Hull has been compromised. We need back up immediately!"

“Just hang on, Blakey, we're on our way!" Yang yelled as she and Taiyang began moving Ember Celica. Outside, the mech proved why it was the fastest Jaeger in the world as it began to actually run to their aid instead of the usual quick stroll. Alpha fought back as best it could, but was taken down when the other Kaiju leapt from the water behind them onto their back. It held them in place as Otachi grabbed their arm in its mouth and tore it off. Leatherback pounded on their head, damaging them further, while Otachi left to engage Celica. The yellow and black Jaeger punched it three times before connecting with a fierce uppercut, gaining some distance. Meanwhile, Alpha was finally overpowered and forced into the sea, water rushing into the co*ckpit. Leatherback reached down and crushed the head unit with ease.

"Mr. Arc, I- "

"Don't apologize." Jaune said firmly. "Apologies are no good to the dead."

Winter nodded and went to embrace her sister, Ruby moving to give them space.

“Damn it! We just lost Alpha, sir." Nora reported as a flatline rang out in the control room. Jaune was cool on the outside, but inside, he was seething with rage, and Ruby could tell. She took his hand, trying to comfort him.

Celica was putting up a good fight, always keeping Otachi on the back foot, never giving an inch, never relenting. Yang's rage and righteous indignation fueled them, but was kept from overpowering their rationality by Tai's years of experience. They finally grabbed the beast by the neck and waist, hoisted it above their head and threw it several hundred feet into the sea.

“Engaging air missiles." Tai said, activating Celica's trump card. Their arms assumed the power-up position, and their chest opened up, revealing the six launchers they had used in Attika. Unfortunately, Leatherback saw this and interfered. It's body began to glow as power moved up to its back and was released in a series of pulses. Tai and Yang yelled in agony as they felt their Jaeger power down and go limp.

"What? How? How is that even possible!?" Jaune ranted.

"Life finds a way?" Nora said, quoting herself in an attempt to make a joke.

"To be bullsh*t." Jaune pouted.

The control room itself was affected by the pulse as all the equipment shut down at once.

“What's going on?" Watts asked, "What happened?"

“Crap. It was the blast!" Nora yelled, checking all her instruments. "It jumbled all the Jaegers' electrical circuits."

“What the hell was that?" Yang said angrily, taking off her helmet.

“Loccent." Her father said, trying the radio, his helmet already removed.

“I've never seen that before."

“They're adapting." Watts realized, "This isn't a defense mechanism, it's a weapon."

“Get me Celica." Ironwood ordered.

“Can't. The Mark 5's digital. It's fried." Nora told him, "It'll take me two hours to reroute the auxiliary. All the Jaegers, they're digital."

“Not all of them." Jaune said, stepping forward. "Crocea Mors is nuclear. Analog." Ironwood regarded him, trying to make his decision.

"Do the right thing, Irondad." Jaune mumbled to himself. "It's the only way you'll win."

Outside, Otachi roared and ran towards the city, leaving Leatherback to guard the now disabled Ember Celica.

In the city, Junior was telling Roman the situation, while his workers were busy securing their cargo in case the store was hit.

“Two Kaiju out in the harbor. Time to GTFO, methinks." He told his boss.

“Hang on a sec, what's going on?" Oobleck asked as he caught up to Roman.

“There are two damned Kaiju headed straight for the city." He told the man.

“No, no, that's not possible. There's never been two before."

“Well maybe that's because nobody ever Drifted with one before!" Roman rounded on him, anger clear in his visible eye. "When Jaeger pilots Drift, it's a two-way street. It sets up a connection BOTH WAYS! A hive mentality, you said! Maybe, those two Kaiju are here for you."

Assuming this was true, Oobleck began panicking. "W-well, what are we gonna do?"

“Well, me and my crew are going to weather out this sh*t storm in my own private Kaiju bunker. You, however, will be headed to a public refuge. I tried it once. Once. " He pulled aside the hair over his right eye to reveal a mangled eye and a horrible scar, clear evidence of blindness in said eye. "Now, get the hell out of here." Everyone in the room drew a gun and pointed them at Oobleck, while Neo drew her blade and leveled it at his throat.

"Okay, I may not like it, but that's pretty badass." Roman said. Neo nodded in agreement, still working on her tub of ice cream.

"Much as I hate to admit it, yeah." Nora sighed.

Chapter 23: Pacific Rim, Part 8

Chapter Text

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 23

Sirens and screams filled the streets as civilians ran for the nearest shelter, hearing the roar of the Kaiju in the harbor. Oobleck was among them, climbing over abandoned cars and vaulting barriers to get to the entrance. As he neared, he ensured his admittance by yelling that he was a doctor, though not mentioning his field. It was enough for the guards, since they let him through. He made it inside the vault along with about 100 other people. The guards closed the heavy metal doors and activated the locks, sealing them in. The room was cramped with how many people were crowded in, but it at least had lighting, plumbing and air filtration, so they could survive for at least a day inside.

"Ren…" Nora said, gripping onto the arm of her definitely-not-boyfriend.

Ren put his hand on hers, knowing what she was thinking. He was flashing back to the that day as well, the day they first met and the day his whole world came crashing down.

Out in the harbor, Leatherback circled the deactivated Ember Celica. Inside the useless Jaeger, Tai and Yang tried to figure out what the actual f*ck was going on.

“There's no emergency power." Tai said.

“We gotta bail." Yang said.

“I'm gonna try something else." Tai said, detaching his harness.

“No," Yang yelled as he started to move about the co*ckpit, "Don't disengage!"

On cue, Leatherback tapped the co*ckpit on the side of the head.

Inside, sparks flew, Yang was jossled in her harness and Tai was thrown against the wall. He cried out in agony as he fell to the floor.

"Oh, that's not gonna feel great." Tai said, remembering when he dislocated his own shoulder during a spar with Qrow during Beacon. Thank the Gods for Aura or he would have been out of action for months.

“My arm!" he cried.

Yang ran over to him. "Come on. Get up old man."

“Don't! Call me that!" Tai yelled, pushing the pain down. He managed to right himself with a grunt.

"Seriously, I'm only in my thirties." Tai whined.

"Face it buddy, we're the old men now." Qrow said. "Then again, in my case I use that to my advantage." Summer gave him a quizzical look. "There are more than a few cute girls out there with a thing for older men. Ain't that right, Ice Queen Sr?" he winked at Winter, earning him a slap upside the head from Summer.

"Thank you, Mrs. Rose." Winter said with a smug grin.

“He's right outside. We gotta get outta here now!"

“We're not going anywhere!" Tai said angrily, walking over to a set of boxes on the wall of the co*ckpit. "You and I are the only thing standing between that ugly bastard and a city of two million people." He tapped each box once with the side of his fist. They opened to reveal a pair of guns within each. "Now we have a choice here: we either sit and wait, or we take these flare guns and do something really stupid." He glared at Yang, who soon began to smirk as she put the pieces together.

"Uh oh, I know that look." Ruby said.

"We all know that look, Ruby." Blake said with just as much worry, "That's Yang's 'let's do something crazy' look." Yang denied nothing, thus proving their point.

Air hissed as the hatch at the top of Ember Celica's head opened and Yang climbed out with a grunt, flare guns in hand. Tai followed, holding his injured arm close.

“How's the arm?" Yang said, half trying to lighten the mood, half genuinely concerned.

“Just give me the stupid gun." Tai shot back, taking the proffered gun. "Hey Ugly!" he yelled, catching the Kaiju's attention. He and Yang took aim at his face and fired. Yang's landed on his chin while Tai's hit its left eye causing it to roar in pain.

“I think we just pissed it off!" Yang commented.

"Brilliant observation." Yang said sarcastically.

It moved to slam its fists into Celica's head, but was distracted when flood lights appeared behind it. The sound of helicopters soon followed. The Kaiju turned and saw Crocea Mors being flown in behind it. The transport cables disengaged and she fell into the water with a splash, her reactor spinning, clearly ready for a fight. Inside, Ruby and Jaune were raring to go.

"Alright, time for things to get serious." Jaune said with a grin.

"Yeah!" Ruby cheered, "Go Team… what even is the name of our team attack?"

"Huh, never thought about it… Maybe, Red Knight?"

"Rose Knight!"

"I ship it." Nora said, making Jaune and Ruby blush and unable to look at each other.

"That's gonna be a thing now, isn't it?" Yang asked.

"Yup." Nora said, popping the P.

“Alright, Ruby." Jaune said, "Get ready, this is for real!"

Leatherback charged them, but they dodged to the left, ducking under its arms to get behind it and dig into the exposed flesh on its back.

“Yeah!" Tai cheered.

“Come on Mors! Kick his ass!" Yang yelled.

"Oh, so now you wanna stop being a dick!" Yang said angrily.

Jaune and Ruby dug around until they found what they sought. They pulled out a lump of flesh from its back and threw it away.

"What the hell was that?" Nora asked.

"I'm guessing they just ripped out whatever organ was used to create the EMP that shut everything down." Jaune said. "They just deprived it of its only real advantage."

"Now it's just a matter of brute strength and strategy." Pyrrha finished.

Leatherback roared and wrapped Crocea Mors up in a crushing bearhug. It shook them a bit before spinning around and bodily throwing them into the harbor. They crashed through a bridge and rolled to their feet, knocking several shipping containers several hundred feet away in doing so. Leatherback followed them onto the quay, crushing a fuel truck underfoot. Crocea Mors looked up at it and stood as it charged.

“Come on!" Jaune said. "Let's do this! Together!" They charged back, using rockets on their back at the last moment to jump up and bring their fist down atop the beast's head in a Superman Punch. They grabbed it's face and gave it two solid blows before pulling back for a third.

“Elbow rocket!" Jaune called out.

“Elbow rocket engaged." Penny replied.

Outside, the result was pretty self-explanatory. Crocea Mors elbow opened up and a military grade rocket lit up, quickly going from orange to blue and forming a mach cone behind the arm, which was locked in place. The lock disengaged and struck Leatherback square in the nose. The Kaiju fell back, knocking over a crane and crushing several more storage containers.

'Wow, really?' Blake thought.

"That is so cool!" Yang cheered.

It grabbed the crane for a weapon and swung it at Crocea Mors' head, but the Jaeger was just a bit too far back and so it only landed a glancing blow, the arm taking the brunt of the impact. Mors went for a return strike, but Leatherback reversed the attack and struck them in the chest, knocking them back, crushing even more containers.

They decided to play a little dirty and scooped up containers in both fists before turning back to their opponent. They hit it with a right cross to the face and followed up by bashing both sides of it's head with the containers and finishing with a left hook when it roared. The Kaiju fell over, but Crocea Mors quickly locked in a full nelson. Using this position, they lifted the beast up and threw it, though not far, the damn thing was so fat.

"Looks like it has an edge in strength." Jaune said, concerned.

"Only cuz it's fatter than Dad after a good turkey dinner!" Yang argued.

"Tai?" Summer said with some warning, remembering his eating habits and the health problems that they turned into.

"I regret nothing!" he said proudly.

Leatherback roared, officially done with the fight and charged them. Crocea Mors caught him, but couldn't hold him back.

“Plasma cannon! Now!" Jaune called out.

“Plasma cannon engaged."

Mors' right fist began transforming into the familiar weapon, simultaneously being pushed back by the charging Leatherback. They fired three times, but the beast didn't even slow.

“Empty the clip! EMPTY THE CLIP!"

They fired five more times, taking his arm off on the eighth shot. Now he was slowing down. They repositioned and fired into the wound another three times, the Kaiju losing all the steam he had just as the back of Crocea Mors' back foot reached the end of the pier.

The monster fell back, blue blood oozing from his shoulder and chest wounds. Mors' arm transformed back to normal and began to walk off. They stopped a few hundred feet away and looked back at the fallen monster.

“Hold on a sec." Jaune said. "I'm pretty sure this guy's dead, but just to be sure, let's look for a pulse."

“Okay." Ruby said, a little winded.

They turned back, and the other arm turned into a plasma cannon. They then casually shot the corpse four times before deactivating the left cannon.

“No pulse." Jaune said with a grin, making Ruby giggle, before directing their mech into the city in search of their other prey.

"Necessary? Not really. Cathartic? f*ck yes." Jaune said.

"So you have a problem with the general holding back, but you don't have a problem with mutilating a fallen enemy's body?" Winter questioned.

"In my counterpart's defense, the last time I used a plasma cannon on one of these things, my sister got killed. I think a small double-tap is in order."

"At the very least, they know it's dead." Weiss half-agreed.

In the shelter, everyone was packed together, talking amongst one another until a faint thud silenced them. More followed, the pattern sounding like footsteps. They heard roaring and screaming outside. A loud crash shook dust from the ceiling, scaring everyone. Everyone but Oobleck, who somehow knew what was happening.

“He stopped right above us." He whispered. "Oh my gods… oh my gods! This isn't a refuge, this is a buffet line!" Another crash. The ceiling cracked. "He knows I'm here. He knows I'm here!"

“Shh! He knows we're all here." A woman shushed at him.

“No, you don't get it! He's trying to get me!" he was beginning to panic, "He knows I'm here and he's trying to get me!" Now everyone around him was panicking.

“The Kaiju wants the little dude!" the woman yelled out in Solitan, a local Atlesian dialect.

"Bitch." Pyrrha muttered.

"Pyrrha!" Nora said, hand over her heart in feigned shock.

"What? I know how to swear."

"I'm so proud of you!" Nora said, tackling her in a hug.

Now everyone was really panicking. They shoved Oobleck away from them like he had the plague, while the man himself was trying to figure out what she had said to set them all off. He was finally shoved to the floor, where he landed hard enough to knock his glasses off. He searched blindly for the only things that gave him five functioning senses as the crowded formed a wary circle around him. As Oobleck managed to find his glasses, another loud thud came from directly above them. The cracks widened further.

With a final crash, two of Otachi's claws burst forth from the ceiling. They scratched around a bit before slowly retracting while Bart shakily put his glasses on. Otachi roared before sticking something that might replace his tongue down the hole he had made. It seemed to inspect Oobleck before it too retreated when a roar came from behind the beast.

Crocea Mors strolled down the main boulevard, dragging a large transport ship behind it. It swung the ship up into a sword ready and waited for the beast to attack. It needn't wait long.

"I'll give Team Rose Knight this, they know how to make an entrance." Coco said, nodding in approval.

Otachi leapt at the mecha, but was met with a strike to the side of its face with the ship. Mors reversed the swing and hit the foe on the opposite side, turning it into a flurry of blows. It went for a fifth strike, but its' improvised weapon was snagged by the claw on Otachi's tail. They tried to keep a hold on it, but their foe yanked it from their hands and tossed it aside. It spun through the air and came to a stop lodged between a pair of high rises.

Crocea Mors was knocked aside by the tail and fell several hundred feet away on its back, setting off the alarms of several cars. It sat up, crushing one of the cars and killing the alarm, and tried to get back to its feet. By the time they had, Otachi had run off. They gave chase, but quickly lost track of their prey.

“Can't pinpoint it, it's moving too quickly." Jaune said as they walked the streets in search of the beast. "Keep your eyes open." He told Ruby.

“Got it." she looked to the left, while Jaune focused on the right.

“Choppers, do you have a visual? Over." He called out.

"They have the strength advantage now, but their opponent is too fast. Plus, that tail is essentially a third arm." Jaune said, analyzing everything to find a solution. "They're gonna have to get creative here if they want to live."

They came to a stop at an intersection, trying to decide their next move. Suddenly, their prey jumped out at them from within an office building to their left. It tackled into them, causing them to fall into another high rise. They recovered quickly and landed a pair of uppercuts before going for a jab. Unfortunately, Otachi ducked the third attack and sent it into the building behind it.

Otachi grabbed the mech and threw it into another building. It pushed them through to the other side, where Crocea Mors used the momentum to roll back onto its feet. As Mors recovered, Otachi fired a jet of acid from its mouth at his foe. Mors saw it coming and quickly dodged the attack, letting it hit the building behind them, where it melted through most of the metal. Seeing the damage it inflicted, their next move became clear.

"sh*t, forgot about that." Jaune cursed his memory. "Okay, first things first."

Quickly, as the enemy roared a challenge, they thrust their hand down the beast's gullet, trying to repeat what they had done with Leatherback. This time, their foe put up more of a fight, wrapping his tail around their torso and free arm and snapping at their head with the claw. They dodged a few tries before grabbing it and holding it in place.

“I'll hold it!" Jaune called to Ruby. "Vent the coolant on the left side."

“Got it!" Ruby said, knowing his idea as she pressed the required buttons.

White mist sprayed from circular vents in Crocea Mors abdomen. Immediately, the tail began to seize up until it moved no more. Mors shattered the ice by flexing its arm and used its now free hand to hold the beast in place as it tore an organ from within.

"Ha! Two Nevermore with one bullet!" Ruby cheered, high-fiving Jaune.

Otachi roared in pain and leapt at Mors, forcing it to the ground. It stood with its legs on their chest and revealed a set of wings from under its arms.

"Oh, now that's just cheating!" Yang yelled.

"Hax! I call hax!" Ruby agreed.

The Kaiju took to the skies, taking Crocea Mors with it. They fought as best they could the whole way up, but it meant little as the beast carried them into the upper atmosphere.

“Atmosphere loss in progress." Penny reported.

“Temperature's dropping!" Jaune said, checking a readout, "We're losing oxygen! Both plasma cannons are shot. We’re out of options, Ruby."

“No, there's still something left!" Ruby said in Animan. She pressed a button near her.

“Sword activated." Penny said. Outside, a sword emerged from Crocea Mors wrist.

"Hax! I call hax!" Weiss said in an imitation of Ruby.

"Hey, whose side are you on?" Ruby whined.

“For my family!" Ruby declared as she and Jaune sliced their foe in half from hip to shoulder. The body began to fall, as did Mors, though at least they were able to turn around so they could see where they were going to land.

Ironwood, Watts, and Nora, along with a large number to the Shatterdome's staff ran out onto the helipads, ignoring the pouring rain.

“Look, there!" Nora said, pointing at a ball of fire plummeting towards the city. Ironwood looked through a pair of binoculars and saw that it was Mors.

“Mors, listen to me!" Ironwood said, talking to them through a walkie-talkie, "Loosen all the shock absorbers, use your gyroscope as balance, and ball up! It's your only chance!"

“Fuel purge!" Jaune yelled, pressing a series of buttons to purge the nuclear reactor. The force of the purge launched them backwards, diminishing their momentum, but they were still very high up. If they impacted, they could very well devastate the city. They aimed for a relatively empty area centered on a stadium. "We're coming in too fast! We're coming in too fast, brace for impa- " they impacted in the middle of the field, kicking up a huge cloud of dirt and debris that spread throughout the immediate area.

"Holy crap." Yang whispered. She prayed Ruby was okay.

Ruby and Jaune themselves were on the edge of their seats. It looked like they had landed on their feet, but didn't know if that was even a good thing. Their legs could be FUBAR for all they knew and Mors would be just another wrecked Jaeger.

Ironwood looked through the binoculars again and saw Crocea Mors rise from the crater it had made, shaking off the rubble and dirt and standing proud. As the crowd behind them cheered, the three leaders sighed and chuckled in relief. The students in the theater cheered along with them.

“Ruby, talk to me." Jaune said, worried. "You okay?"

“Yeah." Ruby panted, looking to her partner. "You?" They started laughing as the adrenaline high wore off.

“Go to Dr. Oobleck, now!" Ironwood told Watts.

“Yes, Sir!" Watts said with a salute and a smile.

Ironwood turned to Nora, "I want the two remaining Jaegers back to 100% functionality!"

“On it, boss!"

"Man, this movie sure delivers on the fight sequences." Yang commented.

"I know, right?" Ruby agreed, "This is giving me so many weapon ideas I can't even keep 'em straight in my head."

" I can fix that." Logan said, and a pencil and a pad of paper appeared in Ruby's lap. She cheered and immediately set to work sketching out new weapon plans.

Chapter 24: Pacific Rim, Finale

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 25^th 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."

Chapter 25

Chapter Text

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 25

“So, is everyone ready to start the next movie?”

“Let’s see,” Ruby said, running down a mental check list, “Popcorn?”

“Check.” Weiss said, holding a large bucket of popcorn in her lap.

“Soda?”

Yang belched. “Check!”

“Snacks?”

“Check.” Blake said over a mouthful of tuna.

“I’d say so.” Ruby smiled.

“Hit it!” Yang and Nora said together.

The hot desert sun shone over a pair of mighty white pyramids with golden tips. Nearby, a monolithic sphinx was under construction, nearly complete, as well as a bustling city. Off to the side, in the shade, a man rode a chariot past several men armed with shields and spears, each one bowing before him as he approached.

“Hey, it’s home! Maybe I’ll actually make an appearance in this one.” Sun cheered.

“Thebes, City of the Living.” Blake narrated. “Crown jewel of Pharaoh Seti I. Home of Ozpin, Pharaoh’s high priest, keeper of the dead.” Ozpin was dressed in black robes that displayed his chest and abs, well-toned for his age. “Birthplace of Salem, Pharaoh’s mistress.” Salem herself walked into a room with walls made of solid gold. Though, this wasn’t the Salem the crew saw back at Haven courtesy of Emerald.

“SAY WHAT NOW?!?” the audience screamed, even Ozcar.

“But- but- “Ruby stammered, looking something, anything to say.

“Mistress?” Cinder whispered. She knew that Salem was old beyond belief, but she never spoke of her past.

‘Ah, the memories…’ Salem thought, gazing upon how she used to look.

“No other man was allowed to touch her.”

“But that can’t be Salem! Salem doesn’t look like that! We saw her!” Ruby protested.

“You saw an accurate illusion of her, Ms. Rose.” Ozcar said, trying to explain without giving too much up. “That is how she used to appear.”

“Ozpin?” Glynda looked at him questioningly.

“Later,” Ozcar tried to deflect, “After the movie, I promise.”

“Just a head’s up then,” Sun said, “You are not gonna like where this is headed.”

“What do you- “

“Just watch.”

Salem walked past statues on either side of her and signaled for a group of men to bar the door. As they moved to obey, she walked through a golden veil. Ozpin awaited her on the other side. They regarded each other before embracing in a passionate kiss.

“But for their love, they were willing to risk life itself.”

“See what I mean?” Sun said.

“You alright there, Oz?” Qrow said.

“He, uh, he fainted.” Oscar replied.

“Sun do you know this story?” Weiss asked, genuinely interested.

“This bit, yeah. It’s an old legend back home in Vacuo, the kind parents use to keep their children in line.”

“Well, that’s ominous.” Coco commented.

In their passion, Ozpin accidentally smudged the black paint on one of Salem’s arms. As the men were about to close the doors, Seti pushed them back open on his own. He looked at the men, confused.

“What are you doing here?” he asked in ancient Vacuan. He walked past them and found Salem leaning against a sculpture of a cat seductively. Seti wasn’t buying it though. He saw the smeared paint on her arm. “Who has touched you?” he asked angrily. When he noticed Salem looking at something behind him, he turned, only for Ozpin to draw his sword. “Ozpin?” he said, shocked.

Salem stabbed a dagger into his back. As he cried out in pain, Ozpin sank the sword into his stomach. Seti screamed as Ozpin and Salem continued to hack at him. Suddenly, a banging came from the double doors.

“Pharaoh’s bodyguards.” Ozpin said, ready to fight. Salem urged him to save himself, but he would not leave her.

“Only you can resurrect me.” She said, drawing his attention long enough for her attendants to drag him away as the guards busted the door in. They were male and human for the most part, with the odd Faunus visible among them. They saw Seti dead upon the floor and his likely killer standing before them.

“My body is no longer his temple.” Salem declared before plunging the dagger into her heart.

A train of chariots were traveling through the desert at night, led by Ozpin.

“To resurrect Salem,” Blake narrated, “Ozpin and his priests broke into her crypt and stole her body. They raced deep into the desert, taking Salem’s corpse to Hamunaptra, City of the Dead, ancient burial site for the sons of pharaohs and resting place for the wealth of Vacuo.”

“For his love, Ozpin dared the gods’ anger by going deep into the city where he took the black Book of the Dead from its’ holy resting place.” Ozpin led a procession of his priests down a long staircase, a gigantic ebon tome in his hands. He and his priests began a ritual, chanting in a circle around Salem’s corpse. “Salem’s soul had been sent to the dark underworld, her vital organs removed and placed in five sacred canopic jars.” As the chanting continued, a pool of water began to ripple until some…thing rose from its’ depths and slowly flew over to Salem’s corpse. It assimilated with her, and she gasped as she tried to breathe. “Salem’s soul had come back from the dead, but Pharaoh’s bodyguards had followed Ozpin and stopped him before the ritual could be completed.”

“Ozpin’s priests were condemned to be mummified alive. As for Ozpin, he was condemned to face the Hom-Dai, the worst of all ancient curses. One so horrible, it had never before been bestowed.”

The audience cringed as they saw the tortures the priests were condemned to, and Ruby almost puked when she saw Ozpin get his tongue cut out, wrapped in bandages, placed in a sarcophagus, and covered in hundreds of insects.

The casket was locked and placed inside another, larger casket which was locked again.

“He was to remain sealed inside his sarcophagus, be undead for all of eternity. The Medjai would never allow him to be released, for he would arise a walking disease, a plague upon mankind, an unholy flesh-eater with the strength of ages and power of the sands, and the glory of invincibility.”

The camera panned up a statue of a man with the head of a dog made of onyx.

THE MUMMY

“So yeah, that’s the long and short of the story.” Sun said.

“Boy meets girl, the two fall in love, one sacrifices themselves for them other, both are doomed for eternity.” Blake said. “Why does that sound familiar?”

Sand passed in front of the statue, and the stone slowly turned from a smooth, midnight black to a rough, dull stone grey. Men in military uniforms ran past it.

HAMUNAPTRA, 1923

“For 3000 years, men and armies fought over this land, never knowing what evil lay beneath it.”

The military men took covered firing positions in a line outside the ruins of Hamunaptra, as a horde of desert-dwellers on horseback charged them, screaming and yelling.

“And for 3000 years, we, the Medjai, the descendants of Pharaoh’s sacred bodyguards, kept watch.” Blake, along with several other Faunus, watched from atop a cliff overlooking the battle.

“Oh, so I’m not just a narrator here? That’s cool.” Blake commented.

A man on horseback, likely the commander, slapped his horses’ flank with the flat of his sword and took off back into the ruins. The only ones to see this were a man with unkempt blonde hair, and another with silver hair.

Mercury looked to Jaune. “You just got promoted.” He said.

“At the ready!” Jaune yelled as he and Mercury took aim.

“Are we friends of something here?” Jaune asked.

“I guess.” Mercury assumed. “Eh, I’m just glad I’m in another movie.”

“Speaking of, anyone notice that I’ve been a central figure in every movie we’ve seen so far?”

“The reason for that Mr. Arc is that you are something of an Everyman. You as a person can fill a far wider variety of roles than most of the people in this theater. I assure you, however, this is the last one for some time.”

The horsem*n continued their charge.

“Steady!” he yelled out. “You’re with me on this, right?” he asked Mercury

“Oh, your strength gives me strength.” Mercury said as he moved a step back.

As the horsem*n got closer, Mercury thought better of this particular life choice. He threw down his gun and ran back to the ruins. “f*ck this! Hey, wait up!” he yelled.

“Coward!” Pyrrha yelled out.

“Screw you Magnet-girl! I choose life!” Mercury shot back.

“Fire!” Jaune ordered when the horsem*n got close enough. Unfortunately, his men were only able to fire a few times before he ordered a retreat, doing little damage overall. The horsem*n overwhelmed their position, but Jaune kept firing. When his rifle was no longer an option, he dropped it and drew a pair of revolvers. When those were empty, he dropped them too and drew a pair of pistols hidden in the small of his back.

Eventually, he too ran back into the ruins. He saw Mercury ahead of him, near the entrance to a tomb.

“Run, Merc, run!” he yelled. Mercury ran into the tomb and began to close the door. “Hey! Don’t you close that door! Don’t you close that door!!” He failed to make it before Mercury sealed it shut.

“What an asshole.” Jaune commented.

“At least you didn’t have to share a room with him.” Emerald said.

“Truly, you ladies were the ones who really suffered.” Roman said to Neo, earning a giggle from the ice cream enthusiast.

He ran through the ruins; the horsem*n close on his heels. Ultimately, they cornered him in front of the statue of the dog-man. He closed his eyes tight and waited for death, but it never came. For some reason, the horses panicked and immediately ran off despite the protests of their masters. Jaune opened his eyes, unable to completely process his good fortune.

Suddenly, the sand beneath began to move violently. He managed to get away and ran as the sands formed into the shape of a roaring man’s face.

“Okay, that’s creepy.” Yang said.

“You’re telling me.” Ruby shivered.

“I can do one better.” Summer said to Kali.

“What’s that?” Kali asked.

“Did your daughter ever do that while you and your husband were having some fun in bed during her pregnancy?” Kali and Ghira burst out laughing at the thought of it.

Blake and her troupe watched from the cliffs as the horsem*n quit the field, leaving the entire army of soldiers dead but for two.

“The Creature remains undiscovered.” She said. One of her men noticed Jaune running off into the desert.

“And what of this one?” he asked. Jaune stopped and looked back, seeing them staring at him. “Should we kill him?”

“No. The desert will kill him.” And with that, she led her men away from the carnage.

The scene changed to a thriving city, the pyramids from the beginning visible in the distance.

KINGDOM OF VACUO, 3 YEARS LATER

Several horse-drawn carriages passed by the Vacuo Museum of Antiquities. Inside the library, a familiar young lady was talking to herself as she worked.

“Sacred stones, sculpture and aesthetics, Socrates, Seth, volume one, volume two, and volume three...” Velvet was wearing a long skirt, a white blouse, glasses, and her long brown hair was done up in a bun. “And… Tuthmosis?” she chuckled, “What are you doing here?” she looked around herself until she found the ‘Tu’ section right across from her current stack.

“Oh, this is gonna be good, I can tell already.” Coco said, putting her hands behind her head and kicking her feet up.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Velvet said indignantly. Coco just pulled her glasses down with a finger and co*cked an eyebrow at her.

Instead of climbing down the ladder and re-positioning it like any sane person would, Velvet simply held the book out and leaned as far as she could, still at the top of the ladder. The result was predictable. She stretched too far and took the ladder with her, standing it up perfectly straight. She scanned the room, desperately looking for help. There was none.

Eventually, she lost her balance and fell on the stack she had been working on, causing it to fall over. It was dominos after that. The stack fell over, causing the next to fall over, and so on and on, until every stack in the library fell over in a giant oval, with Velvet at the center.

“Oops…” she said meekly.

“Called it.” Coco said, while Velvet used her ears to cover the blush on her face.

“What the…” Ilia said when she came into the library, “How even…” she saw Velvet standing in the center of it all and everything fell into place. “Look at this!” she said as she marched over to Velvet. “Give me frogs! Flies! Locusts! Anything but you! Compared to you, the other plagues were a joy!”

“I’m sorry, ma’am. It was an accident.”

“My girl,” Ilia said softly, “When Ramses destroyed Syria, that was an accident. You, are a CATASTROPHE! Look at this place! Why do I put up with you?”

Velvet saw an opportunity to redeem herself. “Well, you put up with me because I- I can read and write ancient Vacuan, and, um, I can… I can decipher hieroglyphics and hieratic, and,” she grew a little bit confidant and angry at the same time, “and because I am the only person within a thousand miles who can properly code and categorize this library. That’s why you put up with me!” she pouted a little bit.

“No, I put up with you because your mother and father were our finest patrons! Gods rest their souls.” Ilia sighed and looked Velvet square in the eye. “Now, I don’t care how you do it, I don’t care how long it takes, just clear up this mess!”

“And how is she supposed to do that?” Yang said. “I mean, it’s not like she’s me or Nora.”

“Actually, Velvet is stronger than she looks.” Coco said. “After all, she is a year ahead of you guys, and works out regularly.”

“Hell yeah! Buff Buddies for life!” Velvet high-fived her partner.

Velvet was about to set to work, when she heard a clattering coming from behind her in the display hall. It was a large, high-ceilinged room filled with artifacts- statues and paintings mostly.

“Hello?” she asked. When nobody answered, she grabbed a torch and began to walk deeper in. “Sun? Coco? Bob?” She started when she heard a thud from behind her. It was coming from the bottom half of a sarcophagus. She approached slowly, trying to keep her footsteps as quiet as possible.

Suddenly, the coffin’s occupant sat up and she screamed in fright. The screaming was followed by male laughter as Neptune sat up in the coffin.

“Have you no respect for the dead?” she asked him angrily.

“Of course, I do. But sometimes,” he put the skeleton’s arm on the rim of the sarcophagus. “I’d really like to join them.”

“Looks like its my turn.” Neptune grinned.

“Hopefully with more to come.” Sun teased, giving his friend a nooggie.

“Well, I wish you would do it sooner rather than later before you ruin my career like you did yours.” She put the skeleton back in its resting place. “Now, get out!” She gave him a light slap on the cheek.

“My dearest unofficial baby sister, I’ll have you know,” he stumbled as he clambered out of the coffin. “That at this precise moment, my career is on a high note.”

“Come on, Nep, please, I’m really not in the mood for you right now. I’ve just made a bit of a huge mess in the library,” she amended when Neptune gave her a funny look, “and the Bembridge scholars have rejected my application again.” She sat down at the feet of a nearby statue. “They claim I don’t have enough experience in the field.”

“Hey,” Neptune said, taking her hands and giving her a soft smile, “We still have each other. Always will.” She smiled at that.

“That… was actually kind of heartwarming…” Coco said a little surprised.

“Nep may look like a playboy, and act like one at times, but the guy is so loyal I could swear he’s part dog Faunus.” Sun defended.

She and Neptune went way back. They met as kids at a Vacuoan middle school. Neptune stood up to a pack of bullies on her behalf and kind of made it known to the rest of the school that she was under his protection. Somewhere along the line, they became like brother and sister.

“Besides,” he said, digging through his pockets, “I have just the thing to cheer you up.”

“Ah, come on, Nep, not another worthless trinket. If I have to take another useless piece of junk up to Ilia and try to- “she stopped when he showed her a small, grey, octagonal puzzle box. She took from his hand as he sat down next to her. “Where did you get this?” she asked, captivated. This was most definitively not junk.

“Does that thing look familiar to anyone?” Ilia asked.

“Yeah, didn’t they use something similar when they were mummifying Ozpin?” Yang said.

Hearing this, Blake made a mental note for her story analysis.

“On a dig, down in Thebes.” Neptune said. Velvet heard the lie in his voice. He couldn’t hide anything from her ears. She ignored it though as she continued to examine the box. “My whole life, I’ve never found anything, Velv. Please, tell me I’ve found something.”

Velvet twisted the base of the box and it popped open, revealing a small, folded piece of papyrus.

“Neptune, I think you’ve finally found something.”

“Oh man, red flags everywhere people.”

Chapter 26: The Mummy, Part 2

Chapter Text

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 26

Velvet took the map to Ilia immediately after performing a few tests on it. She opened it up to see the simplistic, yet stylistic designs ancient Vacuo was famed for.

“You see the cartouche there?” Velvet asked her, excitedly, “It’s the official royal seal of Seti I, I’m sure of it.”

“Perhaps…” Ilia said as she examined the map.

“Doubting much, Ilia?” Sun teased.

“Well, this me seems to be much older, so I think it’s logical for me to be skeptical of a much younger scholar.” Ilia defended.

“Huh, now that I get a second look,” Yang said, squinting at the screen, “I do notice some facial wrinkles and streaks of grey in your hair… ”

“I would say you’ve aged rather well.” Glynda complimented.

“Two questions.” Neptune interjected. “Who was Seti I and was he rich?”

“The second pharaoh of the 19^th dynasty, said to be the wealthiest pharaoh of them all.” Velvet explained, indulging her simplistic friend.

“Good. That’s good. I like this fellow. I like him very much.”

“I’ve already dated the map. It’s almost 3000 years old. And if you look at the hieratic right here,” she pointed to a corner of the map. “Well… it’s Hamunaptra.” That caught everyone’s attention.

“Dear Gods, don’t be ridiculous.” Ilia scoffed. “We’re scholars here, not treasure hunters. Hamunaptra’s a myth told by ancient storytellers to amuse superstitious tourists, old and new.”

“True. They told that story all the time back home.” Sun said with a nod.

“Yes, yes, I know all the rumors and tall tales about the city being protected by a mummy monster and all that, but my research has led me to believe that the city itself may have actually existed.”

“Wait a sec,” Neptune said, looking up from the map, “Are we talking about the Hamunaptra here?”

“Yes, ‘the City of the Dead’, where the earliest pharaohs were said to have hidden the wealth of Vacuo.”

“Yeah, yeah, in a big underground chamber.” Neptune said, recalling what he could of the legend. Ilia scoffed at him and shook her head. “Oh, come on. Everyone knows the story. The entire necropolis was rigged to sink at Pharaoh’s command. Just a flick of a switch, and the whole city would disappear under the sands, taking the treasure with it.”

“As the Valeans would say, it’s all fairy tales and hokum.” Ilia said as she held the map before her lamp as she examined it. Unfortunately, she held it too close and it caught fire. She cried out as she threw it to the floor in alarm. Neptune and Velvet scrambled to put it out, but by the time they did, the most important part had been lost.

“God dammit! You burnt off the part with the lost city!” Neptune said in dismay.

“Well that’s convenient.” Weiss said, rolling her eyes.

“Totally on accident, of course.” Yang deadpanned.

“It’s for the best, I’m sure.” Ilia said, sitting at her desk. “Many men have wasted their lives in the pursuit of Hamunaptra. No one’s ever found it. Most, have never returned.”

“Come, come, step over the threshold.” Arthur Watts told them. This wasn’t the Watts they knew though. He was grossly over-weight, and his mustache was swapped for a unibrow and a pencil-thin goatee. “Welcome to Vacuo Prison, my humble home!”

“Woah! Okay, not a good transition.” Emerald said, shielding her eyes while Cinder chuckled at this version of Watts.

Everywhere, men in uniform watched over prisoners as they worked in the yard. Velvet punched Neptune in the arm.

“You told me you got it on a dig down in Thebes.” She said, her ears displaying her indignance.

“Yes, well I was mistaken, wasn’t I?” Neptune said, rubbing his arm where she had hit him.

“You lied to me!”

“I lie to everyone. What makes you so special?”

“I’m your sister, you ass.”

“Well, then that just makes you more gullible, doesn’t it?” That earned him yet another punch.

“They may not be blood, but they’re siblings alright.” Yang said.

“Yyyup.” Ruby agreed.

“Hey, siblings don’t fight all the time!” Weiss chimed in, “Just look at Winter and I.”

“And by complete contrast, you and Whitley.” “Winter said, sticking her tongue out at her sister when she glared at her.

“Neptune, you stole it from a drunk in the local bar!

“Picked his pocket, actually, so I don’t think it’s a very good idea to- “he tried to walk away, but Velvet pulled him back in line beside her.

“Man up and face it, Nep.” She turned to Watts and asked, “What is this man in prison for?”

“Well, this I did not know.” He admitted. He even sounded different, less pompous and condescending, and more jovial, like a grandfather. “But when you said you wished to speak to him, I asked him myself. He said, ‘he was just looking for a good time’.”

On cue, the door to the meeting cell burst open and a man with messy, shoulder-length blonde hair and the beginnings of a beard was pulled out in chains by a pair of prison guards. They slammed him up against the bars and forced him to his knees.

“Jaune?” Team JNPR exclaimed.

“Why do I always have only the beginnings of a beard in these things and never a full one?” Jaune said, rubbing his chin.

“Really?” Yang said. “You find yourself in prison on unknown charges, and that’s the first thing that comes to your mind?”

“This is the man you stole it from?” Velvet asked, a little impressed at her brother’s guts.

“Yes, exactly.” He said, turning his face away, “Now why don’t we go find ourselves some lunch and- “

“Who are you?” Jaune asked. “And who’s the broad?”

“Broad?” Velvet was a little offended at the word.

“Well, see, I’m sort of a missionary-type, here to spread the good word and all that.” Neptune said, cutting Velvet off before she could lay into the man, “And this is my sister, Velvet.”

“How do you do?” Velvet said warily.

“Oh, well, guess she’s not a total loss.” Jaune replied.

“I beg your pardon?” she said indignantly.

“Wow, savage Jaune is savage.” Yang chuckled.

“At least you have jokes in this one.” Pyrrha added.

“Are you saying I don’t have jokes normally?” Jaune asked, chuckling when she floundered.

This time Watts cut her off, yelling something across the yard before excusing himself to deal with it.

“Ask him about the box.” Neptune hissed in her ear.

“Right, um, we found- um, excuse me.” Jaune had looked away when Watts had left and was staring at him in contempt. “Yes, we, uh, we found your puzzle box, and we’ve come ask you about it.”

“No.” Jaune said, the pieces coming together in his head.

“No?” Velvet was confused.

“No. you’ve come to ask me about Hamunaptra.”

Velvet was stunned while Neptune indicated to him to keep the talk quiet. “How do you know that the box pertains to Hamunaptra?”

“Because that’s where I was when I found it. I was there.” He explained.

Neptune looked skeptical and approached the cell. “Well, how do we know that’s not a pile of bull sh*t?”

Jaune clicked his tongue. “You seem familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?”

“No, no, no.” Neptune said, trying to deflect, “I’ve just got one of those faces- “Recognition dawned on Jaune and he punched Neptune square in the jaw. The guards saw this and one of them hit him in the back with their club. His face screwed up in agony, but he rode it out without so much as a groan.

“Oof. I felt that.” Neptune said, rubbing his nose.

“Me too.” Jaune said, rolling his shoulders.

Velvet ignored the violence and confidently approached the cell. “You were actually at Hamunaptra?” Her eyes were practically sparkling in curiosity.

“Yeah, I was there.” He said with a roguish grin.

“You swear?”

“Every damn day.” He smiled.

“No, I-I didn’t mean like that- “

“Yeah, I know what you meant. I was there. Seti’s place. ‘City of the Dead’.”

“Could you tell me how to get there?” she asked eagerly. Jaune looked at her with surprise. This was new. “I mean, the exact location?”

“You want to know?”

“Well, yes.”

“You really want to know?”

“Yes!”

He beckoned her closer and suddenly reached out, grabbed her chin and pulled her into a kiss. When he pulled off, he said, “Then get me the hell out of here!”

“Wow, the pair on this one…” Coco said, sliding her glasses down her nose to get a better look.

“Ooh, ooh!” Nora said, bouncing in her seat, “They’re the couple of the movie! I’m calling it!”

“Oh, great.” Ren groaned, “The return of shipping Nora.”

“I shall call them… Bunny Knight!” At the name Jaune hung his head while Ruby burst out laughing.

“I almost forgot the bunny!”

“Do we even want to know?” Weiss asked of Jaune.

“For the sake of my minimal masculinity, I’d really rather you didn’t.”

The guards began to beat him again, but this time he fought back, if briefly. “Do it, lady!” he yelled as the guards dragged him back into the prison.

“Where are they taking him?” she asked Watts.

“To be hanged.” Watts explained. “Apparently, he had a very good time.”

Prisoners gathered in droves around the execution grounds and cheered as Jaune ascended the steps of the gallows. Watts sat in a viewing gallery alongside Velvet, observing the proceedings.

“I will give you 100 lien to spare this man’s life.” Velvet said desperately.

“Madame, I would pay 100 lien just to see him hang.” Watts replied.

“Two! 200 lien!”

“Proceed.”

“300 lien!”

Down below, the hangman placed the noose around Jaune’s neck and tightened it.

“Any last requests, pig?” he asked maliciously.

“Yeah, loosen the knot and let me go.” He said sarcastically. The hangman was confused by the request and relayed it to Watts.

“What are you, an idiot? Of course, we’re not going to let him go!” Watts yelled down. The hangman slapped Jaune upside the head for making him look the fool.

“500 lien!” Velvet offered.

Watts ordered a halt and turned to her. “And what else?” he placed his hand on her leg. “I’m a very lonely man.”

“Pig.” Coco, Velvet and Emerald said simultaneously.

She slapped his hand with her book, and he pulled away. Prisoners all around the yard laughed at him. He ordered for the execution to proceed.

“NO!” Velvet cried uselessly. The floor beneath Jaune gave out and he fell. The rope pulled taut and he began to swing. He grunted as he tried to breathe.

“This is not going to be pretty.” Velvet said. She took extra elective history classes with Oobleck, so she knew roughly what hanging as a form of execution entailed. At best, the victim would break their neck in the drop, but if that failed, they would die from strangulation which was an even worse fate.

Watts laughed in triumph. “Ha ha! His neck did not break! I’m so sorry miss. Now, we must watch him strangle to death.”

Seeing her only guide dying before her, Velvet knew she had no choice. She played her trump card. “He knows the location to Hamunaptra!”

He rounded on her in disbelief. “You lie!”

“I would never!”

“Are you telling me that this filthy, god-less son of a pig knows where to find the City of the Dead?”

“Yes.”

“Truly?”

“Yes! And if you set him free, we’ll give you… 10% of the treasure.”

“50%.” He fired back.

“Ooh, that’s a mistake.” Coco said. “Here’s a pro-tip I learned the hard way, kids; never, ever gamble or haggle with a rabbit Faunus.” She said the last with a glare at Velvet, who was whistling innocently.

“20.” She offered.

“40.”

“30.”

“25.”

“Ah!” she caught him. “Deal.”

He cursed himself for not keeping track. “Cut him down!” The guard that had led Jaune up the stairs cut the rope he hung from with a sword. When Jaune hit the dirt, the prisoners burst into cheers for one of their own. Jaune looked up and saw Velvet looking down on him triumphantly. The message was clear.

I did my bit. Time for you to do yours.

A few days later, a large white riverboat sat docked in Vacuo’s Port District. It was still undergoing the loading process as Velvet and Neptune walked up, luggage in tow.

“Do you really think he’s going to show up?” Velvet asked her brother.

“Knowing my luck, without a doubt.” He answered.

“But how can you be so sure?”

“Velvs, trust me, I’ve seen the type a thousand times. He may be a cowboy, but his word is his bond.”

“Well, personally, I think he’s filthy, rude, a complete scoundrel. I don’t like him one bit.”

“Anyone I know?” came a voice from behind. The siblings turned to see Jaune coming up behind them. His hair had been cut, his beard shaven off, and he was dressed in a white dress shirt, a tan coat and pants, brown boots and a leather rucksack over one shoulder. Neptune nodded a greeting, while Velvet stood staring with her mouth open.

“And that,” Winter said with a little pride, “Is what the military can do for just about anyone if they put the effort into it.”

“Uh, Pyrrha, you’re drooling a little bit there.” Nora teased her battle-sister.

“You do seem to have a habit of cleaning up very nicely, Jaune.” Ren observed.

“Eh, I try.”

“Oh, uh, hello.” Velvet said when she finally recovered. “How much of that did you hear?”

“Enough.” He said with a grin.

“Good day to start an adventure, am I right Arc?” Neptune said, offering Jaune his hand.

“Yeah. Yeah, real great.” He said with sarcasm, politely shaking the man’s hand. “Oh, before I forget, no hard feelings about the, uh…” he indicated his nose.

“Bah, all’s forgiven. Happens all the time.”

“He’s not joking about that.” Velvet interjected, rolling her eyes. “But, Mr. Arc, can you look me in the eye and guarantee me this isn’t all some kind of a… flimflam?”

“Okay, first off, ‘flimflam’? Second, let me tell you something, lady, my whole damned garrison believed in this so much, that without orders we marched from our post on the other side of the continent to find that city. And when we did, all we found was sand and blood.” He let his words hang in the air before speaking again. “Let me get your bags for ya.”

“Unfortunately, one of the downsides of the military is that some things can’t be unseen.” Winter admitted.

Velvet stared after him as he walked up the gang plank. Neptune saw the look on her face and grinned.

“Yes, yes, you’re right. Filthy, rude, a complete scoundrel. Nothing to like there at all.” He teased.

“Oh, shut it, you.” She shot back.

“A bright good morning to all.” Watts said as he came up next to them, thankfully in a fresh set of clothes.

“Oh, what are you doing here?” Velvet whined.

“I’m here to protect my investment. Thank you very much.” He said as he made his way on board.

“This is gonna be a looong trip, isn’t it?” Neptune asked.

“Yyyep.” Velvet responded with a pop.

Chapter 27: The Mummy, Part 3

Chapter Text

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 27

The shattered moon shone as full as it could over the nearly-cloudless night. The riverboat was moving steadily along downriver, but unbeknownst to anyone, a group of Faunus in all black were paddling up alongside it in a pair of rowboats. One of the men, who had lost a hand some time ago, affixed a hook to his wrist and began sharpening it.

Neptune was sitting at a card table with three very familiar and unpopular men.

“Oh, come on, what are they doing there?” Nora asked.

“Just be glad they aren’t here.” Coco said.

“Think it’s the White Fang in those boats?” Sun whispered to Ilia just loud enough that Blake could keep up with the conversation.

“Doubtful.” Ilia said with a shake of her head. “Unless there’s a shipment of SDC Dust on that boat. The White Fang may have gone after civilian targets, but it was limited to known racists or those with strong ties to the SDC.

“Stop messing with yer glasses and cut the damn cards, Sky.” Dove Bronzewing said.

“Well, without my glasses, I can’t see the deck to cut it, can I Dove?” Sky Lark quipped.

“Ah, Jaune, take a seat.” Neptune said when he saw the blonde walk onto the deck. “We could use another player.”

“I only gamble with my life, never my money.” Jaune declined.

“Never?” Dove said as he dealt the players their hands. “What if I was to bet you 500 lien, says we get to Hamunaptra before you?”

Jaune stiffened when he heard this. “You’re looking for Hamunaptra?”

“Damn straight we are.” Cardin Winchester responded.

“And who says we are?”

“Him.” Team C_DL said in unison, pointing at Neptune. He tried to look innocent when Jaune glared at him.

“Nep, buddy, seriously.” Sun said through a facepalm.

“Oh, like you’re any better.”

“Well at least I don’t go running to Scarlet with every piece of gossip I hear.”

“What about Blake? I kept her secret.”

“… Okay, fine I’ll give you that one, but still!”

“Well, how ‘bout it? Is it a bet?” Dove asked.

Jaune grinned. “Alright, you’re on.”

“And what makes you so confident, if I may ask?” Dr. Oobleck asked. He was sitting nearby, reading a large book and smoking a hookah.

“What makes you?” he asked back.

“Well, we got us a man who’s actually been there.” Cardin answered.

“Oh, what a coincidence, cuz Jaune here- “Neptune said before Jaune hit him with his rucksack as he slung it over one shoulder. He took the hint. “Right, so is it my play? Whose move is it?”

“’Bout as subtle as a boot to the head, aren’t you?” Coco chuckled.

“Nep deserved it.” Sun defended his fellow blonde. “He’s always had a problem knowing when to keep his mouth shut.”

“Hey!”

“Gents, we got ourselves a wager.” Jaune said, putting his free hand on Neptune’s shoulder and squeezed hard. “G’ Night all.”

One of the rowboats pulled up along the boat on the same side where Velvet just so happened to be reading by herself at a table. Jaune threw his rucksack on the table with a thud, scaring her.

“Sorry.” He said genuinely. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Mr. Arc, the only thing about you that scares me are your manners.” She said sharply.

He inhaled sharply. “Still angry about that kiss, eh?”

“If you call that a kiss.” She grinned.

“Ooh, catty.” Coco purred.

“I learned from the best.” Velvet said.

He chuckled. At least she has a sense of humor. He opened his rucksack to reveal it full of guns and knives of all sorts.

“Think he’s got enough firepower there, Rubes?” Yang said.

“THERE IS ALWAYS ROOM FOR MORE DAKKA!!” Ruby loudly proclaimed. Weiss, Blake and Tai facepalmed, all of them being thoroughly over Yang winding her sister up so.

“Should I be worried about her?” Summer asked Qrow, who shrugged.

“Um, did I miss something?” Velvet asked, confused, “Are we going into battle?”

“Lady, there’s something out there.” Jaune said, inspecting one of his revolvers. “Something underneath that sand.” He put the revolver into one of his holsters.

“Yes, well, I’m hoping to find a certain artifact. A book, actually. My bother thinks there’s treasure. What do you think’s out there?” she asked, pulling a knife out and inspecting it.

“In a word? Evil. The Bedouins and Tuaregs believe that Hamunaptra is cursed.” He took the knife from her, put it back and began cleaning a shotgun.

“Well, I’m afraid I don’t believe in fairy tales and hokum, Mr. Arc, but I do believe one of the most famous books in history is buried out there. The Book of Light. It contains within it all the secret incantations of the old kingdom.” She was smiling ear to ear just talking about it. “It’s what first interested me in Vacuo when I was a child. It’s why I came here. Sort of a life’s pursuit.”

“And the fact that they say that it’s made out of solid gold makes no difference to you, right?”

“You know your history!” Velvet said happily.

“I know my treasure.” Jaune corrected. He finished up with the shotgun and moved on to a semi-auto handgun.

Velvet fidgeted nervously, her ears dropping a little behind her head. “Um, by the way, why did you kiss me?”

Jaune laughed at the memory. “I was about to die. Seemed like a good idea at the time.” Velvet stood up and walked away indignantly. Jaune turned around, gun in one hand, magazine in the other. “What?”

“Well, this one is apparently as dense as I am.” Jaune joked at his own expense.

“Jaune, that is not just you. That is every man in existence.” Yang said.

“Regardless of race.” Blake added with a backward glance at Adam.

He heard a sound off to the side. Calmly, he inserted the magazine and chambered a round before walking over and discovering the source; a young-looking man with silver hair. Jaune grabbed him by the back of the neck and pinned him against the luggage.

“What a surprise! My old friend, you’re alive! I was so worried!”

“Well if it ain’t my little buddy Mercury? I think I’ll kill you.” He aimed the gun at Mercury’s chest.

“Hey, hey, jumping the gun a little bit, aren’t we?” Mercury said.

“You left him to die in the desert, Black.” Pyrrha said hostily.

“She has a point, Merc,” Emerald said, surprising Team CRM_N, “Even for you, that’s low.”

“Woah, woah, think of my kids!” he protested.

“You don’t have any kids.” Jaune said, not buying his crap.

“Someday I might...”

“In his dreams.” Emerald whispered to Cinder, earning her a small smile.

“Shut up!” he shoved him back. “So, you’re the one leading the Valeans. I might have known. So what’s the scam, Merc? You take them out into the middle of the desert, and you leave them to rot?”

“Unfortunately, no.” Mercury said, truthfully. “They may not look it, but these guys are smart. They only gave me half. I get the rest when I get them back to Vacuo. Looks like I gotta go round trip this time.”

“Thems the breaks, huh?” Jaune let him go and holstered his pistol on his hip.

“Why do you even care, Arc? You never believed in Hamunaptra. Why’re you going back?”

Jaune looked over at Velvet, who was petting one of the camels. It seemed to like it, with how it was groaning. “You see that girl? She saved my neck.”

Mercury looked Velvet up and down and grinned. “You always did have more balls than brains.” He said with a laugh. Jaune laughed with him for a little before grabbing him again.

“Good bye Merc.” Jaune said before throwing the man overboard with a splash.

“Serves you right, asshole!” Pyrrha said, making the Beacon group chuckle.

He turned back to his rucksack and started rolling it back up when he noticed foot prints on the floor. Wet ones. He checked over the side. Mercury was still in the drink, so who…

In her stateroom, Velvet was in a nightgown, going over notes about the Bembridge scholars. However, she seemed distracted. She couldn’t quite finish her sentences, and she seemed to be somewhere else mentally.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, girl, it wasn’t that good a kiss anyway!” she said to herself with a huff.

“Ha! Classic Velvet.” Coco said.

“Oh, please. You love me and you know it.” Velvet said, giving her partner a peck on the cheek.

“Hey, hey, save it for later.”

She set her book on her sink as she began to brush her hair. The book fell and she picked it up with an exasperated sigh. When she stood back up, she saw the man with the hook in her mirror. She gasped and would have screamed if it hadn’t died in her throat when the man grabbed her by the neck, pinned her against the wall and put his hook against her face.

“Okay, now I’m pissed.” Coco growled.

“Red flag!” Yang joked.

“Where’s the rape mace when you really need it?” Nora joked.

“Does she even need that?” Sun asked Ren.

“No. No she does not.”

“Where is the map?” he asked. She could feel how sharp the blade was.

“T-there!” she pointed to the table in the middle of the room.

“Good. Now, where is the key?”

“The-the-the key? What key?” she asked. He pressed harder, a thin line of blood falling down her cheek.

“Velvet!” Jaune yelled before he kicked in the door, a revolver in each hand. He aimed at the Hook Man, who used Velvet as a human- Faunus- whatever, a shield. Another man burst open the room’s window. Jaune gunned him down before he could react, filling the wall with holes and accidentally knocking off the oil lamp. It fell onto the couch, setting it on fire.

Her captor distracted, Velvet grabbed the candle that was resting on the map and drove it into the eye of her captor, who cried out in agony.

“Good Gods, babe, that was brutal!” Coco cringed. Maybe she should ease up on Velvet’s self-defense classes a bit.

She took cover behind Jaune as he led her out, gunning down another man in black who took the place of his comrade in the window. She ran down the hallway before turning back around.

“The map! I forgot the map!” she yelled, running back to her room.

Jaune caught her by the arm and pulling back beside him. “Relax. I’m the map. It’s all up here.” He pointed to his head.

“That’s comforting.” Velvet said sarcastically.

“Actually, I get where she’s coming from.” Taiyang said, Winter and Summer nodding in agreement. “Trusting him with directions is like trusting Qrow with directions.”

“Hey, I’m not that bad.” All the adults who knew him gave him deadpan looks and he conceded, grumbling and pouting.

“Did she forget that she also forgot to grab the little box-key-thing?” Weiss asked aloud.

The Hook Man walked around the room, clutching his wounded eye, when he spotted the small puzzle box on the floor.

“The key.” He said. He moved to retrieve it.

“Velvs!” Neptune said as he ran into the room. Upon entry, he accidentally knocked the Hook Man into the couch, setting him on fire. Neptune went for the puzzle box, but the Hook Man got there first. He chased Neptune out of the room and down the hall, burning bright and swinging his hook wildly.

The deck of the ship was in a panic. The men in black had set fire to it. Men were trying to evacuate the horses, while others were trying to abandon ship. Jaune led Velvet onto the deck giving her his rucksack. He leaned against a wall as he reloaded a revolver, taking cover from an assailant with a rifle. As he reloaded, bullet holes began popping up on the wall next to him. They slowly creeped toward his head and would have killed him if Velvet didn’t pull him out of the way. Silently thanking her, he grabbed the other revolver and began laying down suppressive fire as they moved to the other side of the ship.

“Can you swim?” he yelled over the din when they reached the other side of the ship.

“Well, of course I can swim, if the occasion calls for it!” Velvet yelled back.

“Trust me.” He said, picking her up bridal style. “It calls for it.” He tossed her over the side with a scream. He moved to follow her, but was tackled by another man in black.

“Thanks for the save, by the way.” Jaune said to Velvet.

“No prob. Bunny Knight needs to stick together, right?”

“That’s never going away, is it?” Jaune sighed, laying his head in his hands.

“Nope.” Ruby chuckled.

The man landed four solid shots to Jaune’s face, then kicked him into a pole. He punched him again before choking him. Suddenly, Jaune bent his arms, loosening his grip on his neck, then headbutted his attacker and switched places with him. Jaune ducked another punch and landed a quick series of blows to the gut, spinning the man around. He kicked the man’s rear and sent him through a door which burst into a gout of fire.

“Damn, Vomit Boy, you’re a pretty good brawler.” Yang said, impressed.

“Heh, maybe I took lessons from you instead of Pyrrha here.” Jaune replied, before turning to Pyrrha and whispering in her ear, “You’re my favorite.”

“Good answer.” Pyrrha whispered back with a peck on the cheek.

Jaune picked up his rucksack and slung it across his back as Watts ran up.

“Arc! Arc! What do we do? What are we going to do?”

“Stay here!” Jaune said, “I’ll go get help!” he vaulted the railing and landed in the river.

Watts stood on the deck for a moment until he realized what had happened. With a curse, he threw himself after Jaune.

“Dee dee dee!” Cinder said with a chuckle. Emerald looked at Mercury with a ‘what the f*ck’ expression on her face, but Mercury just shrugged and went back to the movie and his popcorn.

Nearby, Team C_DL was in a firefight with the boarders, hooting and howling as they fired at their assailants. Oobleck sat in cover nearby, scared stiff. Neptune ran up next to them and sighed at their behavior.

“Valeans.” He said with exasperation. Suddenly, the flaming Hook Man ran on deck and made a move at Neptune. Cardin saw this and unloaded into the man, sending him overboard. “Hot damn, nice shooting! And did I lose my cool?” he brought up the puzzle box. “I think not.” The balcony above him started to collapse, forcing both parties to abandon ship or be crushed by the debris.

“Should I be worried that this you is such a good thief?” Sun asked his friend.

“Eh, six out of ten.” Roman said, with Neo nodding in agreement.

“I could do better than that.” Emerald chirped.

A few minutes later, two groups washed up on opposite sides of the river. On one side, Team C_DL, along with Oobleck and Mercury, was leading the majority of the survivors and the horses onto the beach. On the other, Jaune, Velvet, Neptune and Watts washed up.

“We’ve lost everything!” Velvet wailed. “All our tools, all our equipment! All my clothes!”

“Hey! Hey Jaune!” Mercury yelled from across the river. “Looks like I got all the horses!” he bragged.

“Hey Merc! Looks to me like you’re on the wrong side of the river!” Jaune yelled back.

Mercury scoffed until he looked around. He began swearing profusely when he realized that Jaune was right.

Unbeknownst to anyone, Salem had paid virtually no attention to the movie since her initial appearance, instead choosing to look over the menu for anything that looked appetizing. She soon found that virtually none of the items on it were familiar to her. Things such as popcorn, nachos, candy, soda, and something called a churro were completely foreign concepts to her.

“Logan.” She said.

“Have you come to a decision, Ma’am?” the white wolf asked, appearing next to her.

“My decision is that nothing on this menu sounds even remotely edible, yet I see these humans consuming them in copious quantities. I would have your recommendations.”

“Well…”

Chapter 28: The Mummy, Part 4

Chapter Text

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 28

The next morning, the group was preparing to leave from a village they had come across the night before. While Velvet was with the young women of the village, and Watts was being attacked by some of the older women, Neptune and Jaune were busy haggling with a man for some camels to get them across the desert.

“I only want four, not a damn herd of them!” Neptune told the man, who kept insisting on selling him more.

“Will you just pay the man? For Gods’ sake!” Jaune told him.

“Fine.” He grumbled, pulling out his wallet and handing over a couple hundred lien. “Can’t believe the price of these fleabags.”

“The price is warranted, though.” Sun defended his countryman. “The more desert-y parts of Vacuo can only be effieciently traversed by camel-back. Horses will also do fine, but they have more trouble since they aren’t adapted to the climate.”

“Y’ know, we probably could’ve gotten them for free.” Jaune said, taking the reigns of a pair of camels. “All we’d have to do is give him your sister.”

“She’s not actually my sister, though it is a tempting offer isn’t it.”

“Yeah.” Jaune said, seeing Velvet walk up in the clothing of the native women. She wore black sheer cloth over her chest and legs, and a veil over her face leaving only her eyes visible. She wore the traditional cloth over her hair as well, out of respect for local custom. “Awfully tempting.” Velvet caught him staring and smiled.

“Mmm, me likey.” Coco purred.

“Hey, eyes up top, missy.” Velvet chided.

As the sun began to set, the group set off across the desert on camel back. They traveled single file, with Jaune leading the way, and Watts in back, thankfully downwind.

“Never did like camels.” Neptune complained. “Filthy buggers. They smell, they bite, they spit.” The camera cut to Watts briefly as he spat on the ground.

“I think they’re adorable.” Velvet said, scratching her camel’s head.

They travelled for several days in this manner. Though they moved mostly at night, they still had to contend with the scorching heat and blowing sand, and even so, they pressed onward.

One night, as they continued their trek, Velvet fell asleep in the saddle and would have fallen if not for Jaune being right next to her to lean against. Jaune gently set her back upright before returning to navigating. Neptune and Watts had done the same, though Watts was snoring so loudly that he woke Neptune. Annoyed, the blue-haired boy whacked him with his riding crop before feigning sleep, as Watts started awake with a mumble.

In the distance, Jaune heard the neighing of a horse. On a nearby rock formation, he saw several figures on horseback. The camera zoomed in to show the same group that had seen him leave Hamunaptra several years ago. Blake was also among them, keeping watch.

“This one is strong.” She said with a grim smile.

A few days later, the two groups from the boat met up by a cliff face, Jaune leading his group, and Mercury leading his.

“Morning, old buddy.” Mercury called to Jaune, who gave a nod of recognition back. The groups stood for a few moments, staring at the open desert, before Dove spoke up.

“Man, what the hell are we doing?” he said, annoyed.

“Simmer down, man. Just be patient.” Mercury assured him.

“Remember our bet, Arc.” Cardin said. “First one to the city, 500 in cashy money.”

“Hundred of those is yours if you help us win that bet.” Dove told Mercury.

“Deal.”

“Get ready for it.” Jaune told his group.

“For what, exactly?” Velvet asked.

“We’re about to be shown the way.”

As the sun crested the horizon, the air began to ripple. To Velvet, it looked to be a mirage, but mirages were never this elaborate. Suddenly, as if the veil that concealed it was blown off by the wind, a rock formation appeared in the distance. Set into it, was an elaborate, clearly ancient ruin. The air ceased rippling and the ruins seemed more solid.

“Okay, what the actual hell?” Coco said.

“This sometimes happens in novels.” Blake said. “If I had to guess, the city always existed, but its physical location is only made apparent under certain conditions.”

“Here we go again.” Jaune half-moaned.

At once, Jaune and Mercury urged their camels forward at a gallop. Team C_DL, Velvet, Neptune and Watts followed soon after, with Oobleck and the workers bringing up the rear.

“And they’re off!” Nora yelled.

“It’s Legs in the lead, with Vomit Boy closing in.” Yang said, joining in on the joke.

“But what’s this? Legs is cheating! He’s whacking Vomit Boy with his crop! Does he know nothing of fair play?” Ruby joined in.

“Oh, looks like Fearless Leader won’t be taking any of that! No sir. Oh, Legs is gonna be feeling that later.” Nora continued.

“The lead is massive!” Coco decided to get in on the fun. “But, here’s a surprise! Bun-bun has taken the lead!”

“Is that really going to be a thing?” Velvet asked.

“And Bun-bun wins!”

“That’s a yes.” Velvet sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

Camps were soon set up within the ruined city. The larger group quickly claimed the main entrance for themselves and set the diggers to work, with Oobleck directing them, and Cardin supervising and helping if needed.

Jaune’s group had claimed an opening towards the rear of the complex. While Velvet was busy polishing a large mirror, Jaune tied a rope around a large column. As he tied the knot, he constantly kept hitting Watts, just for kicks.

“Anyone notice that the workers are all Faunus?” Ilia said, feeling a little indignation. Adam had also noticed, and his ‘righteous fury’ was beginning to build.

“I had noticed that,” Blake chimed in before Adam could “But at least they aren’t doing all the work alone. CRDL is at least helping them when needed and, surprisingly, Dr. Oobleck is speaking to them in Faunuspeak.”

“Dr. Oobleck is fluent in over 15 languages and regional dialects, several of which are nearly extinct.” Goodwitch informed them, “He is an archaeologist after all, not just a teacher.”

Cardin noticed them working away from the rest of the group.

“Hey,” he said to Oobleck. “Do they know something that we don’t?”

“Possibly, though I doubt it. Ms. Scarlatina is far too young to know much of any real value.” Oobleck replied.

“That’s a statue of Anubis, god of the underworld.” Velvet said. “It’s legs go deep underground. According to my research, we should find a secret compartment at the base containing the golden Book of Light.”

Jaune walked up to her, his voice a little shaky. “So, uh, what’s the deal with these old mirrors?”

“Ancient mirrors.” Velvet corrected. “It’s an ancient Vacuoan trick. You’ll see.”

“Oh! I know that one!” Sun said excitedly.

“I know your from Vacuo, but you seem a little too knowledgeable.” Weiss said.

“I may not look like it, but I was a pretty good academic back in combat school. It’s how I got a full-ride to Haven.”

“Right. Uh, here, this is for you.” He handed her a small cloth roll. “It’s just something I, uh, borrowed off my Valean brethren. Should serve you fair to middling when your, uh. Yeah. What’re you lookin’ at?” he said to Watts, who said his hands defensively. Velvet opened it up to find a set of semi-new archaeology tools.

“Look out for bugs.” Watts said as Jaune descended the rope. “I hate bugs.”

“Ugh, me too.” Summer said with a shudder. Qrow suddenly burst out laughing. “What’s so funny, bird-boy?”

“I- I just remembered one time back in Beacon.” Qrow said in between fits of laughter. “There was a spider crawling down the wall behind you. You noticed it, shrieked, and jumped into Raven’s arms yelling for someone to kill it.”

“Oh, I remember that!” Tai said, “Raven wound up dropping you and killing it herself.”

“SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUUUUUP!” Summer whined.

A few minutes later, they were standing in a dark room filled with cobweb, the only light coming from the hole they came in from and the torch Jaune held.

“Do you realize that we’re standing in a room nobody has entered in over 3000 years?” Velvet said with wonder.

Neptune was the next down the rope. “Whooo, what is that Gods-awful stench?” he looked back and saw Watts coming down behind him. “Oh.”

Velvet walked over to one of the many mirrors, dusted it off and carefully positioned it. “And then there was light.” She said as the mirror reflected the light of the sun off of several mirrors, thus illuminating the room.

“Hey, that is a neat trick.” Jaune said.

“See?” Sun said with a little pride.

“Huh. Alright, credit where it’s due.” Weiss said.

‘What bizzaro world have I entered where a Schnee compliments a Faunus?” Adam thought in disbelief.

“Oh my Gods.” Velvet said. “It’s a sah-netjer.”

“Say what now?”

“A preparation room.”

“Preparation for what?”

“For entering the afterlife.” Velvet said, trying to sound all spooky.

“Mummies, man, this is where they made the mummies.” Neptune clarified.

The group went down a corridor off to the side of the preparation room. Jaune drew his pistol and led the way, torch before him. As they made their way, they heard a strange skittering sound, as if a swarm of bugs had just washed over them. They scrambled around a bit until it stopped.

“What the hell was that?” Neptune asked.

“Sounded like… bugs.” Jaune said.

“He said bugs!” Velvet whisper-yelled.

“What do you mean bugs? I hate bugs.”

“What? No cringing, Mom?” Yang teased.

“Young lady, you may be seventeen, and I may be dead, but don’t think I won’t come down there and put you over my knee!” Summer said with every bit of motherly authority.

“Yes, ma’am!” Yang said, the fear of the Gods officially put in her.

They exited the corridor and entered a new chamber. Inside was the base of the statue they had seen outside.

“The legs of Anubis.” Velvet said. “The secret compartment should be hidden somewhere inside here.”

As she moved to inspect the statue, whispers could be heard all around. Jaune determined they were coming from behind the statue, and moved Velvet behind him. He handed her the torch and carefully readied his revolvers, one in each hand. Neptune and Watts did the same, readying their own guns. When he neared the edge of statue, he burst around the corner, guns at the ready-

Only to be met by the other dig team, guns levelled at him.

“You sacred the bejesus out of us, Arc.” Cardin said with a sigh.

“Likewise.” Jaune said.

“Hey, that’s my toolkit.” Sky said, noticing the kit Velvet hand in her hands.

“No, I don’t think so.” Jaune said, raising his guns again. Team C_DL did the same.

“Okaaay, maybe I was mistaken.” Sky said as he backed away and everyone put down their guns.

“Smart boy.” Coco commented, wrapping her arm around Velvet’s shoulders.

“Well, have a nice day, gentlemen. We have a lot of work to do.” Velvet said.

“Ah, I believe that this is our dig site.” Dr. Oobleck said.

“We got here first.” Everyone’s guns went up again.

“This here’s our statue, friend.” Dove said firmly.

“I didn’t hear anyone call dibs.” Jaune said, “I assume you’re all familiar with the International Dibs Protocol.” As the boys continued their gun-point bickering, Velvet noticed a crack in the floor. She moved some rocks into it with her foot, and heard them impact on something below them. Her mental wheels turned as the plan came together.

“For goodness sake, let’s be nice, kids.” Velvet said, pushing Jaune’s guns with one arm. “If we’re going to play together, we have to learn to share.” She gave him a pointed stare. “There are other places to dig.”

“Thank you! If someone needs to play the adult, I’m glad it’s Velvet.” Weiss said.

‘Again? What the f*ck?’

“Hey, we were discussing very important matters, thanks!” Neptune defended.

“Yeah, the rule of dibs is a sacred bond.” Ruby agreed.

“If we ignored it, war and chaos would reign.” Yang said.

“Sometimes, it is all that keeps society from breaking down completely.” Blake nodded.

“Blake, no, not you too!” Weiss whined, making her teammates giggle.

Quickly, Velvet led her team down deeper into the complex. They came upon a vast room, barren but for a few small statues. Jaune and Neptune stood on these statues, Neptune holding the tools, and Jaune using them on the ceiling. At the moment, he was bashing it with a sledgehammer.

“According to these hieroglyphics,” Velvet said, “We’re right beneath the statue. We should come up right between his legs.”

“And when those damned Cowboys go to sleep- no offense...” Neptune said.

“None taken.” Jaune replied, handing him the hammer and taking a pickaxe instead.

“We’ll dig our way up and steal the book right out from under them.”

“Now, are you sure we can find this secret compartment thing?” Jaune asked Velvet as he swung the pickaxe at where he was just hammering.

“Absolutely, so long as those beastly Valeans haven’t beaten us to it. No offense.”

“None taken.”

“Hey, anyone see where our smelly friend ran off to?” Neptune asked.

“I just want to say that I love this interpretation of Watts.” Cinder said.

“Gee, I wonder why?” Mercury said snidely.

“Oh, don’t act like you don’t hate his guts either.” Emerald said, “That prick actually made Roman seem tolerable.”

“Should I be insulted or complimented by that?” Roman said to Neo.

Neo put down her spoon, and held up a sign, “Dunno. Both?”

Chapter 29: The Mummy, Part 5

Chapter Text

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 29

Watts was crawling down a passage he could have easily walked down were it not for his entomophobia. When he finally entered a full-sized chamber, he stood and was amazed by the first thing that caught his eye: a carving on the wall of a man covered in strange blue insects.

“What have we here?” he said, putting his torch in the ground next to him so he could see and use both hands. He inspected the insects and thought them to be some kind of precious metal. “Blue gold. This will fetch a pretty penny.” He said, pulling out a knife and plucking it off the wall. He held it in his hand to feel the weight of it. Satisfied, he put it in his bag and plucked off another.

“Pretty, pretty, shiny, shiny.” Yang said. Her team and Team JNPR joined her on the second verse.

‘Dear sister, what have they done to you?’ Winter thought, rolling her eyes with a smile.

Back at the statue, Team C_DL had found the hidden compartment and were preparing to open it. Oobleck was busy brushing dust off a certain hieroglyph when Cardin suddenly went at it with a crow bar.

“Careful!” Oobleck said, grabbing the metal rod. “Seti was no fool. I suggest we let the diggers open it.” Motioning to the men who were nervously backing away from the statue.

“I think we should probably listen to the doctor on this one, Cardin.” Dove said.

“Yeah, sure. Let them open it.” Cardin reluctantly agreed.

“That’s nice.” Adam said with venom, “Let the poor, honest, faunus workers do all the dangerous and laborious jobs. How typically human.”

“Jeez, what bug crawled up your ass and died?” Velvet said.

“Seriously, dude, get the f*ck over yourself.” Coco agreed.

“I will have to agree Mr. Taurus. And Just to make sure you behave yourself,” a pack of snarling black wolves materialized from the shadows around the White Fang leader, “I shall have Ragnar’s pack keep an eye on you until such time as your opinion is necessary. Do be careful though. Ragnar is in control of himself, but the rest of his pack is still rather bloodthirsty, I’m afraid.”

“They don’t seem that bad to me.” Summer commented, whilst scratching one of the wolves behind his ear.

Soon, a trio of diggers was working on the panel with crow bars of their own, Team C_DL and Mercury keeping their distance while Dr. Oobleck ordered the men in their native tongue. When they finally managed to remove the panel, they were blasted with some kind of liquid. When the mist from it’s release cleared, it was horrific; they had been practically melted. Their skin boiled and burned, and they screamed in agony as Team Asshole yelled in fright.

“Well, I suppose your concern was somewhat warranted.” Logan admitted.

“Ya think?!” Neo signed.

Down below, Jaune’s team was taking a break. Neptune was using one of the tools as a make-shift golf club, using it to hit rocks across the chamber, while Velvet was talking to Jaune about how the ancient Vacuans mummified people.

“So, lemme get this straight.” Jaune said, “They ripped out your guts and stuffed them in jars?”

“And then they’d take out your heart as well.” Velvet said, enjoying Neptune’s obvious discomfort. “Oh! And do you know how they got your brains?”

“Velvs, I really don’t think we need to hear this- “Neptune protested, though he knew it would do no good.

“They took a sharp, red-hot poker, stick it up your nose, scramble things about a bit, and pull it all out through your nostrils.”

“Yeesh, that’s gotta hurt.” Jaune said, rubbing his nose in discomfort.

“It’s called mummification. You’d be dead when they do this.” She assured him.

“Hey, if I don’t make it out of this,” Jaune said to Neptune, “Don’t put me down for mummification.”

“Like wise.” Neptune assured him, before hitting another rock. When he hit, the ceiling suddenly came down between them. Neptune stood stock still with a ‘did I do that?’ feeling blossoming in his chest. Luckily, it wasn’t the whole ceiling, just a massive block of carved stone, along with a few large stones from the actual ceiling.

“Wow, I think my heart rate shot up a couple dozen points there.” Taiyang admitted, clutching his chest.

“Should take better care of yourself there, partner.” Qrow poked the dragon.

“Said the alcoholic.”

“I’m not addicted to alcohol, I just like the taste.” Qrow grinned.

“Oh, my Gods.” Velvet said, coughing from the dust. “It’s a sarcophagus, buried at the base of Anubis.” She looked up and saw the hole where it came from. “He must have been someone of great importance. Or he did something very naughty.”

Back with Watts, he had almost cleared the wall of the bejeweled bugs, and was putting another in his bag, when he accidentally dropped it without noticing. It hit the floor without much noise and inexplicably began to shake. Then something burst out of it; a small, skittering beetle. It ran over to Watts’ boot and bit into it. Watts noticed this and began to scream as if he felt it crawling up his leg. He felt it climb higher and tore open his shirt.

“Oh my God!” Weiss muttered, putting her hand over her mouth in horror.

It wasn’t on his skin, it was under it. A lump was moving up his torso, like a migrating tumor, from his waist, up his gut, and disappearing in the middle of his chest. It reappeared crawling up his neck and into his skull.

“Holy f*cking…” Torchwick whispered.

“Talk about nightmare fuel.” Neo signed, leaning into Roman’s side for comfort.

“You said it, Neo.” Roman said, putting his arm around her like a father.

Velvet and Jaune worked to remove the dirt from the sarcophagus, while Neptune brought around a torch.

“Well, who is it?” he asked. “Does it say?”

“It says ‘He That Shall Not Be Named’.” Velvet said.

Jaune blew on a piece of metal below the oh-so-specific name, revealing what looked like an eight-pointed star. “This looks like some sort of lock.” he said.

“Well, whoever’s in here sure as hell wasn’t getting out.” Neptune commented.

“Yeah, no kidding. It’ll take us a month to crack this thing without a key.”

“A key…” Velvet muttered. “A key. A key! Now that’s what he was talking about!” she said as she dove into a bag.

“Who was talking about what?” Jaune said, confused. He looked to Neptune, who just shrugged.

“The man on the boat. The one with the hook. He asked me about a key.” She stood up and held up the puzzle box. She opened it and inserted it into the lock. A perfect fit. Velvet smiled proudly until they heard Watts screaming from the hallway. Jaune took point, gun at the ready, followed by Velvet and Neptune, who grabbed the puzzle box before leaving the chamber.

Watts ran into the hallway, clutching his head and screaming. He ran past the trio, not looking where he was going. He ran to the end of the hallway and rammed his head into the wall with a sickening crunch before falling over stone dead.

“Ya think he got it?”

“NOT NOW, YANG!!!”

That evening, Team C_DL’s group camped in the main complex, while Jaune’s group camped near their entrance outside the main complex. Velvet and Neptune were sat around a fire, having just finished a simple meal of vegetables and dried meat.

“What do you suppose killed him?” Velvet asked.

“Did you ever see him eat?” Neptune asked back, half-joking.

“Seems our friends from Vale ran into some trouble of their own today.” Jaune reported, sitting next to Velvet, shotgun in hand. “Three of their diggers were, uh, melted.”

“What?” Velvet said with incredulity.

“How?” Neptune asked.

“Acid.” Jaune said plainly. No point mincing the truth. “Pressurized salt acid. Some kind of ancient booby trap.”

“Uh, guys?” Ruby said, “Just making a, uh, team leader decision here. Once all the big stuff is taken care of and we can finally be Huntresses, no taking jobs that involve ancient ruins… or temples… or caves.”

“Good call, sis.” Yang nodded

“Maybe this place really is cursed.” Neptune said, throwing a dried stick onto the fire as the wind howled by, threatening to snuff it out.

Velvet rolled her eyes. “For gods- come on now, you two.”

“What? You don’t believe in superstitions?” Jaune said, poking the fire a bit, moving things around.

“No, I don’t.” Velvet said with defiance. “I believe that if I can see it and can touch, then it’s real. That’s what I think.”

“Yeah, well, I believe in being prepared.” Jaune replied, co*cking his shot gun one-handed.

“Well, then, let’s see what our friend the warden believed in, huh?” Neptune said as he began digging through the late warden’s bag.

“Rude.” Weiss said, crossing her arms.

“Not much he can do to stop it, Weissy.” Yang said.

“Still rude.” Weiss mumbled, sinking in her seat.

He rooted around for a few seconds before retracting his hand, yelling in pain, making Velvet scream next to him and Jaune jump up, ready for a fight.

“What?”

“What is it?”

“Relax,” Neptune said, sucking on the cut on his finger. “Just a broken bottle.” He pulled out the offending bottle. “Huh. Glenlivet. 12 years old. Say what you will about the stinky bugger, but he had good taste.”

“Meh, the stuff tastes better after 15 years.” Qrow commented.

As Neptune took a swig from the bottle, Jaune turned at the sound of horses whinnying. He handed the shotgun to Velvet. “Take this and stay here.” He ordered as he stood up and drew his revolvers.

“Wait!” Velvet said, following after him. “Wait for me!”

“Velvet, sorry, but didn’t the man with the bag full of guns just tell us to stay here?” Neptune protested, following after her.

Bandits began to swarm the camp, firing at random. Oobleck yelled for Cardin and his team to wake up and defend them. The whole team joined the fray, firing and killing the bandits with each shot. Jaune joined in soon after and, after taking some time to find his groove, began dropping bandits as well as C_DL. Velvet also came in, clearly out of her element. She heard a horse whinny behind her and gasped when she saw a bandit charging her. She yelled in fright and fired the gun, killing the rider and throwing her to the ground.

Neptune was kind-of part of the fighting too. He was crouched behind a ruined wall, sipping from the bottle and taking pot shots at passing bandits with a handgun. Mercury ran up next to him, grabbing the bottle from him and taking a long swing. It started to pour out of his mouth when he turned to see a bandit riding at them both, yelling his war cry. Mercury spat in Neptune’s face and they both ran for it in opposite directions.

“ARC!!!” Neptune yelled as the rider chased after him. Thankfully, Jaune heard him and tackled the rider from his horse as they passed. The rider, her mask falling off during the landing to reveal the face of Blake, drew her sword only to have Jaune shoot it from her hands. He turned and shot another rider from his horse. Blake retrieved her sword and knocked Jaune’s gun from his hand. He dodged her next two strikes and rolled backwards towards the fire. As he recovered, he lit a stick of TNT in the fire and held it threateningly in front of him.

“Enough!” Blake ordered, not breaking eye contact with Jaune. “Stand down! We will shed no more blood, but you must leave. Leave this place or die.” One of the bandits rode up with Blake’s horse. “You have one day.” She warned as she mounted her horse. She yelled a couple phrases in a language nobody recognized, with six notable exceptions.

“That’s Faunuspeak.” Ilia observed.

“So these Medjai people are all Faunus?” Blake asked.

“Most likely.” Ghira said, “Faunuspeak is almost exclusive to the Faunus race, but there are a few humans who are proficient in it, mostly academics.”

“Like Doctor Oobleck.” Weiss pointed out.

“You guys are missing the point.” Ilia said, “Remember at the beginning of the movie? Blake said that the Medjai were descendants on the Pharoah’s personal bodyguards.”

The faunus in the room were silent as they made the connection and realized the question that logically followed: if a human ruler entrusted his life to a small band of Faunus, then how did the problems of the modern day even come to pass? How could they?

At her command, the bandits fell back into the desert. Since the threat was gone, Jaune simply pulled the fuse from the dynamite and pocketed the explosive. He turned and saw Velvet on the ground, shotgun still firmly in her grip.

“Velvet.” He walked over and took the gun from her. He tossed it aside as he helped her up. “You okay?”

“Yes. Yes, I’m fine.” She said, visibly shaken.

“Ya see? This proves it!” Cardin said. “Ol’ Seti’s fortune’s gotta be under this sand. For them to protect it like that, you know there’s treasure down there.”

“These Bedouin Faunus are a desert people. They value water, not gold.” Jaune said, speaking from experience.

“You know,” Sky said, his face still half-covered in shaving cream, “Maybe, just at night, we could, uh, combine forces? For safety reasons?”

“Well, at least one member of Team dickhe*d has a brain.” Yang said.

“Sky isn’t like the rest of his team.” Velvet admitted, despite the hell CRDL had put her through. “Out of all of them, he’s probably the black sheep. He never joined in when they harassed me, and always seemed to have a look of disappointment.”

“Are you seriously defending them?” Jaune said, probably the person who could best sympathize with her.

“I’m just saying we shouldn’t condemn a single man for the actions of a group.”

“Or vice versa.” Blake said, with a pointed glance at Adam.

Later that night, Neptune was sleeping, and Jaune and Velvet had been drinking. Now, Jaune had been around liquor for a while. He knew how much he could handle, and he knew how to pace himself, so he had a bit of a buzz right now. Velvet however, had never really drunk period. She had no idea what the hell she was doing, and had no idea of her limits whatsoever. Needless to say, she was absolutely smashed. To the point where she had convinced Jaune to teach her some rudimentary fist-fighting. She had a half-way decent stance, and Jaune was showing her how to do a right hook.

“Alright, so just ball up your fist, and put it right here…” he moved her arm into the right spot. “Alright? Now, put it right here and mean it.” He put up one his hands as a target.

“Alright… mean it!” Velvet swung, connecting square in the middle of his hand with a satisfying smack. Unfortunately, she lost her balance and turned as she fell. Thankfully, Jaune caught her under the arms and helped her sit down.

“Okay, think it’s time for another drink.” Jaune said, Velvet giggling the whole time.

Velvet managed to stop giggling long enough to steady her breathing. “Unlike my brother, sir, I know when to say no.” she said before taking another swig from the bottle.

“No you don’t.” Coco chuckled. Velvet slapped her shoulder and leaned away from her, pouting.

“Yeah,” Jaune said with a chuckle, “And unlike your brother, you I just don’t get.”

“Ah.” She said, wincing as the liquid burned down her throat. “I know. You’re wondering ‘what’s a place like me doing in a girl like this?’”

“Yeah, something like that.”

“Well, you see, Vacuo is in my blood.” She said, taking out a small locket. “I never really knew my parents, but according to the matron of my orphanage, my father was a very famous explorer. And he loved Vacuo so much, that he married my mother, who was Vacuoan and quite an adventurer herself.”

“Okay. I get your mother, and I get your father. I get him, but…” he pointed at Neptune, “What are you doing here?”

Velvet sighed angrily. “Look, I, I may not be an explorer, or an adventurer, or a treasure hunter, or a- or a gunfighter, Mister Arc, but I am proud of what I am.”

“And what is that?” Jaune asked.

“I… am a librarian!” she said with drunken pride. “And now, I am going to kiss you, Mr. Arc.”

“Call me Jaune.”

Velvet leaned in for the kiss, and Jaune leaned in too, but Velvet’s liquor finally caught up to her and she passed out halfway to his lips.

“Oooh, so close.” Yang teased.

“You get a stay of execution, Arc.” Coco cracked her knuckles.

“Coco, please. Let the ship happen!” Nora said with a sh*t-eating grin.

Chapter 30: The Mummy, Part 6

Chapter Text

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 30

The next day, the teams returned to their respective dig sites. The diggers who had been injured the day before, unfortunately didn’t make it through the night, succumbing to their wounds.

And still, Team C_DL pressed onward. They managed to safely remove the slab and uncover the hidden compartment. Another trio of diggers carefully removed a heavy wooden box from within and set it on the ground. Sky blew the dust from the lid, while Oobleck used a rag to remove what didn’t. Dove made to open it, but Oobleck warded him back.

“There is a curse upon this chest.” He said.

“There’s a phrase I never thought I’d hear come from that mouth.” Weiss commented.

“I must agree with you, Ms. Schnee. Dr. Oobleck has ever been a voice of logic and reason with the chaos of Beacon.” Glynda said.

“Hey, kid. How’s Oz?” Qrow asked of Oscar.

“Oh, um, he’s kinda, um…” the boy said, not meet anyone’s gaze and keeping his eyes firmly on the ground.

“Kinda what?”

“Gimme a sec, I’m just trying to find the right way to put this. It’s like he’s locked himself in his room.” He paused, “He says he’s not coming out until the movie is over.”

“Curse my ass.” Said Dove.

“Yeah, who gives a crap?” Cardin agreed.

“Have a care, Mr. Winchester.” Oobleck warned him. “In these hallowed grounds, that which was set forth in ancient times is as strong today as it was then.”

“Alright, alright, Doc, we understand.” Cardin said defensively, “Now, what’s it say?”

Dr. Oobleck began reading the hieroglyphics in the lid, first in the tongue of Ancient Vacuo, then translated. “Death shall come on swift wings for whomsoever opens this chest.” When he finished reading, whisper echoed throughout the chamber, wind blew through and the torches flickered. This frightened off the diggers and worried Mercury, but the latter at least stuck around.

“We should not be here.” Mercury said, fear creeping up his neck as her drew his revolver.

“It’s not cowardice. I just have a well-developed sense of self-preservation.” Mercury said.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, Merc.” Emerald joked, patting his shoulder.

“It says,” Oobleck continued, “There is one, the undead, who, if brought back to life, is bound by sacred law to consummate this curse.”

“Well, then let’s make sure we don’t bring anybody back from the dead, shall we?” Dove commented.

“Can anyone say foreshadowing?” Blake joked.

“He will kill all who open this chest and assimilate their organs and fluids, and in so doing, he will regenerate, and no longer be the undead, but a plague upon this world.”

“Well, we didn’t come all this way for nothing, did we?” Cardin said.

“That’s right.” Sky agreed.

“It’s the curse.” Mercury whispered, all the stories he had heard about Hamunaptra over the years flooding into his mind. He ran from the room in fear, yelling about the curse.

“Not a coward.” Mercury mumbled, make Emerald giggle at his expense.

“Stupid, superstitious bastard.” Dove growled as Sky and Cardin opened the chest.

Down below, Jaune’s team had opened the sarcophagus to discover another inside with the same lock on it. Together, Jaune and Neptune lifted out the inner casket and propped it against the wall.

“Oh, I’ve dreamt about this since I was a little girl!” Velvet said excitedly.

“You dream about dead guys?” Jaune teased, but it rolled off her as she noticed something.

“Look, the sacred spells have been chiseled off.” She pointed to the center of the sarcophagus as Neptune retrieved the key from his pocket. “This man must have been condemned, not just in this life, but in the next as well.”

“Huh, tough break.” Jaune said.

“Yeah, I’m all in tears.” Neptune said with a grunt as he undid the lock. “Now, let’s see who’s inside, shall we?” Neptune and Jaune grabbed the sides of the casket and pulled as hard as they could. They strained for a few minutes-

When suddenly the lid came off and a blackened skeleton nearly fell out. Everyone screamed in fright for a moment before calming down. Jaune smiled in relief and laughed a little.

“Dammit, Wolf!” Tai said, clutching his heart. “Is this gonna be a recurring thing or something?”

“…Maybe…”

“Damn it! I hate when they do that.” Velvet said.

“Is he supposed to look like that?” Jaune asked, his face twisting in disgust.

“No, I’ve never seen a mummy look like this before. He’s still… still…”

“Juicy.” Neptune and Jaune said together, sharing a high-five afterwards.

“Gods, I think I’m gonna puke.” Yang said, clutching her stomach, “And the smell of that fish isn’t helping, Blake.”

“Deal with it.” Blake said, taking another bite of her snack.

“Yes.” Velvet agreed, for lack of a better term. “He must be more than 3000 years old and yet it looks as if he’s still… decomposing.”

“Hey,” Jaune said, walking over to the lid, “Look at this.”

The unofficial brother-sister pair walked over and saw what he noticed: the inside of the lid had several strange markings on it. Velvet had an idea, but there was only way to find out. She put her hands against the markings and ran the tips of her fingers along them.

“Finger nails.” She confirmed. “This man was buried alive. And he left a message.” she pointed to some rudimentary hieratic symbols. “Death… is only the beginning.”

Back above, Team C_DL and Oobleck was letting the chest air out whatever smoke had built up within and had blasted out at them when they opened it. Inside lay a large something wrapping in coarse linen cloth. Oobleck unwrapped it to reveal a large tome made of black stone with the familiar lock on the front.

“Oh my Gods,” Oobleck whisper, “It does exist. The Book of the Dead.”

“A book?” Dove said, growing angry. “Who cares about a stupid book? Where’s the damn treasure?”

“This, gentlemen, this is treasure.”

“See, now that sounds more like Dr. Oobleck.” Weiss commented.

“Hell, I wouldn’t trade ya for a brass- “Cardin said as he kicked the box. When he did, a side panel came off, revealing a set of five canopic jars, one of which had shattered over the millennia.

“There’s your treasure, gentlemen.” Oobleck said.

“Well, it’s a start.” Sky said.

“What? Perfectly preserved relics aren’t good enough?” Sun commented, a little offended.

“Are they made of gold?” Coco asked, lowering her glasses at him.

“Well, no, but- “

“Well, there you go, so shut up.”

Velvet pinched her side, before apologizing to Sun.

That evening, Velvet was walking by Dr. Oobleck’s tent, examining something in her hands, when she noticed the doctor struggling to get the book open. She noticed the lock on the cover, and a plan began formulating her head. She would first have to wait for him to fall asleep, though.

“I believe you need a key to open that.” She commented to the doctor before continuing on her way.

“Say, Arc,” Cardin said as he, his team and Mercury huddled around the fire at the Jaune’s campsite. “What do you think these bad boys will fetch back home?” he showed off his jar.

“We heard you guys found yourselves a nice gooey mummy.” Sky commented with a smirk. “Congrats.”

“You know, if you dry that fellow out, you might be able to sell him for firewood?” Dove joked.

“Gods, even in a movie they’re jackasses.” Yang said, crossing her arms.

“Agreed.” Jaune and Velvet said simultaneously.

“Look what I found.” Velvet said coming up on the campsite.

“You’re in her seat.” Jaune said to Mercury.

“Yeah, yeah…”

“Now!”

“Okay, jeez.”

“Scarab skeletons. Flesh-eaters.” She said as she took her seat between Jaune and Neptune.

“Isn’t that a classification of Grimm?” Ruby said.

“Yeah, it’s a species native to Vacuo, if I remember Port’s lessons right.” Coco said.

“How come we never learned about them?” Weiss asked.

“You would have in your next year.” Coco explained. “First year is spent learning about the more common varieties on Remnant; Beowolves, Usras, Nevermores. Second year, you start to learn about the bigger ones, like the Death Stalkers and the King Taijitu, as well as varieties that are specific to certain kingdoms.”

“I found them inside our friends coffin. They can stay alive for years feasting on the flesh of a corpse. Unfortunately for our friend, he was still alive when they started eating him.”

“So, somebody threw these in with our guy,” Jaune said, “and then they slowly ate him alive?

“Very slowly.”

“Well, he certainly wasn’t a popular guy, whoever he was.” Neptune commented.

“Yeah. Probably got a little too frisky with Pharaoh’s daughter.” Jaune joked.

Velvet chuckled before continuing. “Well, according to my readings, our friend suffered the Hom-Dai, the worst of all Ancient Vacuan curses, one reserved for only the most evil of blasphemers. In all my research, I’ve never found an instance of it actually being performed.”

“Well, there’s an overdone classic if I’ve ever heard one.” Blake commented.

“Happens that often, huh?” Weiss said.

“Even in your ‘romance novels’?” Yang teased.

Blake rolled her eyes before answering. “No, but it is pretty common in the suspense and thriller genres.”

“That bad huh?”

“Yes, they feared it so much that they never used it. It’s written that if a victim of the Hom-Dai should ever arise, they will bring with them the Ten Plagues of Vacuo.”

The mood was silent the rest of the evening until everyone decided to leave and find rest. When Velvet was certain everyone was asleep, she crept over to Ooblecks’ tent. The doctor was asleep on his back, his canopic jar in one hand and the book in the other. Carefully, she slipped the book from his hand without waking him, save for a small sigh.

She walked back over to her camp fire and set the book down, before going over to Neptune and searching through his jacket pocket for the key.

“That’s called stealing, you know.” Jaune said, opening one eye. He was asleep by the fire and held a shotgun in hand.

“Sheesh, Jaune, you think you could maybe give the gun a little space? Clingy is creepy, ya know?” Yang commented.

“Hey, after everything RNJR went through to get here, I say it’s common sense to keep your weapon close.” Jaune argued back. “Besides, that is not creepy. You want creepy? You should have seen Ruby on the nights we spent camped out for the night.”

“Jaune!”

“Oh, please tell me you have pictures.” Yang said mischievously.

“Fortunately for Ruby, no.”

“Damn.”

“But I do.” Nora whispered.

“According to you and my brother, it’s called borrowing.” Velvet said.

“Thought the Book of Light was made out of gold.” Jaune said, crawling over next to Velvet.

“It is. This is something else.” She said as she tried to open the key. “I think this may be the Book of the Dead.”

“The Book of the Dead? Are you sure you wanna be playing around with this thing?”

“It’s just a book.” Velvet said, unlocking it. “No harm ever came from reading a book.” She opened the cover and a gust of wind howled by.

“That happens a lot around here.” Jaune observed.

“Hint hint!” Blake yelled at the screen.

Velvet began reading from the book, speaking in the tongue of Ancient Vacuo. “’Amun Ra. Amun Dei.’ It speaks of the night and of the day.” She continued in Ancient Vacuan, and as she did her words echoed down the halls into depths of Hamunaptra. The camera focused on the mummy they had discovered. As she finished the chant, it began to move and howled.

“NO!” Oobleck yelled as he shocked awake. “You must not read from the book!”

The wind began to move strangely. The camels grunted in agitation, and Neptune was started awake with a grunt. A strange buzzing could be heard in the distance, waking everyone as if from an intense dream. They looked to the horizon and saw a strange mass heading right for them at alarming speed.

They began to run as soon as it broke the perimeter and they saw it was a massive swarm of locusts. Oobleck merely crouched in his tent, the insects crawling all over him and the Book of the Dead clutched tightly to his chest.

“What have we done?” he said, looking to the heavens.

“You opened Pandora’s Box, just as you humans have done for millennia.” Salem commented as Logan returned.

“Need I remind you that you were human once as well? All that separates you from them is your magic and your immortality.”

“And with those two factors alone, I am nearly a God. Did you do as I asked?”

“Yes, ma’am. Your order has been placed and will be finished shortly. Until then, please enjoy this drink.” A large red cup appeared in the cup holder on her right side. She sniffed the straw for any kind of odor. Detecting none, she sipped from the straw. “Sprite, a favorite of mine.”

Chapter 31: The Mummy, Part 7

Chapter Text

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 31

Team C_DL ran through the catacombs, driven by fear and adrenaline.

“Where the hell’d they come from?” Cardin yelled.

“I ain’t waiting around to find out!” Dove replied.

Sky brought up the rear, followed by several workers. He tripped on a rock jutting up from the floor and fell hard enough to knock his glasses off. As he searched for the keys to his sight, the diggers ran past him and Mercury rounded the corner. He ran past Sky and accidentally stepped on his glasses, crushing them with an audible crack. If he heard it, he obviously didn’t care, for he simply kept running. Sky however, did.

“Too use your vernacular, Ms. Xiao Long,” Glynda said, pushing her glasses up her nose, “That was a dick move.” All the students looked to Glynda with wide eyes. “What? I can curse as well as any of you.”

“Better, probably.” Qrow chimed in. “You should have seen her back in the old days. Goodwitch was a damned legend.”

“’The Good Witch with a Foul Mouth’ we used to call her.” Tai said, reminiscing fondly of his Beacon days.

He managed to find the shattered spectacles, putting them on to find they no longer had the corrective lenses in them, thus rendering them useless. He squinted in a futile attempt to see as he groped his way down the hall, keeping one arm stretched out in front of him, while the other stayed against the nearest wall. He heard noises and movement off to his right.

“Who’s there?” he said. When no one answered, he turned and drew his handgun. “Who’s there!?” he repeated with more terror in his voice. Behind him, a humanoid shadow walked through the light at the end of the hall.

“Oh great, frightened blind man with a gun. No way this can go horribly wrong.” Blake said.

Functionally, he was blind without his glasses. Normally, his other senses would be boosted to compensate, but he wasn’t totally blind so the boost his senses did receive was almost negligible. Still, the adrenaline coursing through his body had at least heightened his instincts to know when something was creeping up on him. The downside was that this was kind of a bad thing when said thing that was creeping up on him seemed to be literally EVERYWHERE AT ONCE. He spun around so much he began to feel dizzy.

That all stopped when he knew without a doubt that whatever was out there was standing mere inches from him. He turned slowly, and whatever he saw made him scream in terror.

“This went from actiony to horror very quickly.” Ruby commented.

“And rather well. That’s hard to pull off.” Blake added.

“And it’s not that cringy slasher horror either. Bonus points in my book.” Yang added, with Weiss nodding her agreement.

Deeper in, Jaune, Velvet, and Neptune were walking down another hallway, with Jaune in the lead with a shotgun and a torch. They turned a corner and were tossed around when the earth began to shake. A mound of dirt began to rise in front of them and soon erupted with hundreds of skittering beetles.

“Scarabs!” Velvet yelled, grabbing the boys by their shirts, and pulling them the other direction.

“GOGOGO! RUN” Jaune yelled. He turned and tossed the torch into the swarm, doing little, before unloading a few rounds of buckshot into them. They entered a new chamber and ran up a ramp, Jaune and Neptune jumping onto some pillars off to the side and Velvet to an outcrop in the wall in order to escape. A few scarabs tried to jump for them but were unable to make the jump and fell into the void, with the rest of the swarm just passing them by.

When the storm had passed, Jaune and Neptune looked at where Velvet had taken refuge, only to find it completely barren.

“Velvet?” Jaune said, confused.

“Velvs?” Neptune was more worried.

“Ah, the classic trap door.” Sun joked.

“Mmm, it’s a little overplayed nowadays.” Blake commented.

“Are you suddenly a film critic or something?”

“Just making observations using my literary knowledge as a base. And no, Yang, not that kind of literature.” She added as Yang opened her mouth.

The rumble of stone heralded Velvet’s re-emergence into an unknown section of the ruins. Giving the hidden door no mind, she looked around. She was in some kind of antechamber-

And that was as far as she got when she heard somebody moaning behind her. She looked around the pillar she was leaning on and was Sky, standing in the middle of the chamber with his back to her.

“Oh, Mr. Lark.” Velvet sighed in relief, “Thank goodness. I was just starting to get scared.” She moved to turn him around and was horrified to see his eyes were nothing more than bloody sockets.

“My eyes. My eyes!” he slurred, something was wrong with his mouth.

“Holy f*ck!” Yang yelled.

“What happened to him?” Ruby gasped, grabbing hold of Weiss.

“I don’t think I want to know…” Weiss answered, subconsciously wrapping her arms comfortingly around her partner.

She screamed and turned around to see the mummy they had uncovered, walking out from the shadows. She looked at its’ face and saw that it had brown eyes and a fresh tongue. And that answered her questions about Sky’s speech.

“Well, that’s one question answered.” Weiss said.

“Only 50 billion left!” Ruby said.

Sky fell over as Velvet instinctually began backing away from the creature, her every Faunus instinct telling her to run, but her body only partially able to respond. She backed into a wall, and the creature regarded her, looking her up and down. She noticed Sky crawling away behind him.

“Please help me.” She whimpered calmly.

“My tongue. He took my tongue!” Sky sobbed.

“Please don’t leave me…”

The corpse looked at her, his gaze twisting into a look of confusion.

“Salem?” it said.

“Ozpin?” Glynda said.

“Now he says he’s definitely not coming out.” Oscar said. ‘Wish I could join him.’

‘Ozma did that?’ Salem thought to herself, ‘I think I’m starting to like this version of him.’

On the other side of the wall, Jaune was bashing the wall with the butt of his shotgun.

“Damn it!” he said when nothing gave way and he started inspecting the rudimentary door frame. “Trap door. Must be a switch or something around here someplace.”

Suddenly, Cardin and Dove came running back into the room, followed by a digger and the familiar chittering of the scarab horde.

“Run, you sons of bitches, run!” Cardin yelled.

“Go.” Jaune said, sending Neptune into flight.

Unfortunately, the digger tripped and fell onto the ramp and was immediately swarmed by the scarabs. His screams were brief. When the insects finally left him, all that remained was a steaming pile of meat and bone.

“Great, even more nightmare fuel.” Torchwick commented.

“Remind me to never let us go to Vacuo.” Neo signed. She flipped over her sign. “Ever.”

Velvet tried to escape the mummy, but he just moved everywhere she did, cutting her off at every chance she tried to take.

“Come with me, my Princess Salem.” It said in the Ancient Tongue.

Jaune ran by the entrance to the antechamber, but doubled back when he saw her.

“There you are! Will you quit playing hide and seek?” he said running up to her and grabbing her hand. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.” When she didn’t move, he looked at where she was staring and saw it. “WOAH!” he almost dropped his shotgun.

“Velvet?” Neptune yelled as he, Cardin and Dove ran into the chamber, but skidded to a stop when they saw the walking corpse. The corpse turned back to Jaune and roared at him, making Velvet yelp in fright. Jaune simply yelled back at it and pumped it full of lead.

“Move! He said, pushing Velvet into motion.

“Right!” Neptune said, following suit. As they left, the corpse recovered and saw them leave.

“Oh, gross!” Ruby whined, covering her eyes.

“Aw, come on, man!” Nora did the same.

“Some close-ups are just not needed!” Yang complained, blocking the screen with her hand.

The group reached the surface, only to be met by the bandits from the previous night. They co*cked their guns and pointed them at them. One of them, who stood next to Dr. Oobleck, who still clutched the Book of the Dead in his arms, walked forward and pulled down their mask to reveal Blake.

“I told you to leave or die.” She said, “You refused. Now you may have killed us all, for you have unleashed a creature we have feared for more than 3,000 years.”

“Relax, I got him.” Jaune said.

“No mortal weapon can kill this creature.” Blake said, growing irritated. “He is not of this world.”

“Listen to the scary Faunus lady, me.” Jaune whispered. He was beginning to put together how this would go, and wasn’t liking it.

A pair of her men carried Sky in and laid him at the feet of Cardin and Dove. He groaned as the men took him into their arms.

“f*cking animals.” Cardin said, fury burning in his eyes.

“What did you do to him?” Dove demanded.

“We saved him!” Blake said, ignoring the racist remark. “Saved him before the creature could finish his work. Now leave, all of you, quickly, before he finishes you all.” She ordered her men in Faunuspeak, and they began to walk away. “We must now go on the hunt, and try and find a way to kill him.”

“I already told you, I got him.” Jaune said, not liking being dismissed. Blake stopped and turned to face him, looking him dead in the eye.

“Know this,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper, “This creature is the bringer of death. He will never eat, he will never sleep, and he will never stop.”

“Ah, now that is a trope that never gets old.” Blake said, “Really gives the situation a bit of weight and importance.”

“I don’t know.” Ilia

Mercury was still in the catacombs, revolver drawn and torch behind him, jumping at every shadow he saw, every whisper he heard, every breath of wind that passed by him. He backed up a bit and turned to find the mummy standing before him, causing him to drop his torch with a scream.

He slowly began backing up again, the creature following him, as he reached down his shirt and pulled out a small golden cross.

“May the good Lord protect and watch over me, as a shepherd watches over his flock.” he prayed. He saw it wasn’t working, so he pulled out several more necklaces bearing different religious symbols. He held up one of a sword piercing a crescent moon and began chanting in modern Vacuoan. “No? Okay.” he said, giving up and holding up another one, this time one of the Buddha, and began chanting in Old Animanian. He soon gave up on this one too. His back hit the wall and he tried one more, holding up a six-pointed star and speaking Faunuspeak. This time, the mummy stopped.

“The language of the slaves…” it said.

“Oh, f*ck you!” Adam said and threw his drink at the screen.

“You may be of use to me. And the rewards…” he held up his hand, revealing a small pile of gold rings and coins. “…Will be great.”

“Oh, my prince…” Mercury said reverently, staring at the treasure.

“Now,” Mercury looked up at his new benefactor, “Where are the other sacred jars!?” it said angrily.

Up top, the survivors of the expedition ran out of Hamunaptra on their mounts, and as the last one left, a skeletal hand burst from the ground with a roar.

“That would have been cooler if the special effect on it was better.” Yang complained.

“Wow, when did we all get so critical?” Weiss asked.

“Really?” Ruby asked.

“What?”

“Really?”

“Oh, nothing, Pot. My name’s Kettle by the way.”

Chapter 32: The Mummy, Part 8

Chapter Text

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 32

Vacuo was much the same as they had left it what seemed like years ago. Children ran through the streets and people went about their everyday lives, not knowing the terrible power that lay in the sands. The sky however, reflected the mood of the gang; grey, stormy, and foreboding. Jaune led the crew into Fort Shade, the safest place he could think of that he had access to. It was only through his military past, even as a mere mercenary, that the soldiers allowed him entry, happy to give shelter to a warrior.

“I thought you said you didn’t believe in that fairy tales and hokum stuff.” Jaune said as he walked out of Velvet’s closet with fistfuls of her clothes in hand. He shooed a cat off her suitcase and threw them in.

“Well, having an encounter with a 3000-year-old walking, talking corpse does tend to convert one.” Velvet said, taking her clothes and putting them back in the closet.

“This is true.” Ruby said, remembering everything she had been told in the past few days, and then what she had seen at Haven.

“Agreed.” Her teammates and JNR said simultaneously, thinking along the same lines.

“Well, forget it.” Jaune said, grabbing her night gowns from her dresser and tossing them in the suitcase. “We’re out the door, we’re down the hall, and we’re gone.”

“Oh, no, we are not.” Velvet grabbed her nighties and put them back where they belonged.

“Oh, yes, we are.” Jaune grabbed a pile of books and threw them in as well.

“Oh, no, we are not. We woke him up, and we are going to stop him.” Velvet began taking out the books one at a time.

“We? What we? We didn’t read that book. I told you not to play around with that thing. Didn’t I tell you not to play around with that thing?!” Jaune grabbed more books.

“They’re arguing like an old married couple.” Coco giggled.

“More like the two of us when Yatsuhashi or Fox don’t put the toilet seat down.” Velvet added.

“See, that’s a benefit to a unisex team.” Ruby said, “Team RWBY never has that problem.”

“On Team SSSN, we don’t really care.” Sun added.

“JNPR, you guys know what we’re talking about, right?” Coco asked, looking for any kind of support.

“Nope.” Nora replied.

“What?”

“Jaune and Ren were always very considerate when it came to bathroom usage.” Pyrrha added.

“I call bullsh*t.”

Jaune turned to look her in the eye. “Coco, do you really think I would have survived seven sisters if I didn’t learn very early on to put the seat down?”

“Well, what’s Ren’s excuse?”

“Nora.”

“Shh, movie now.” Nora said, growing annoyed.

“Fine then, me, me, me. I, I, I woke him up and I intend to stop him.”

“Oh, yeah? How? You heard the cat. No mortal weapons can kill this guy.” Jaune moved for the typewriter.

“Oh, well, then we are just going to have to find some immortal weapons.” Velvet took out the books and took the typewriter from him.

“There goes that ‘we’ again.”

“Look, will you just listen to me? We have to do something!” Velvet said as she accidentally closed the suitcase on Jaune’s hand, causing him to yell in pain. “Once this creature has been reborn, his curse is going to spread until the whole of Remnant is destroyed.”

“Yeah? And is that my problem?”

“Well, it is everyone’s problem!”

“Velvet, I appreciate you saving my life and all, but when I signed on, I agreed to take you out there and to bring you back. And I have done that. End of job. End of story. Contract terminated!”

“Wow, wasn’t expecting that from you, Vomit Boy.” Yang said with surprise.

“I agree. Your actions in the ruins weren’t quite so mercenary.” Weiss said.

“Then you’re naïve.” Torchwick said. “His actions from the very beginning were mercenary, albeit his own brand of it. The rabbit saves his life, he owes her, and to pay off his debt, he takes her where she wants to go and brings her back in one piece. Contract fulfilled.”

“But a mercenary would prioritize his own life over the life of another.”

“Depends on the merc. Everyone has a code of honor, even crooks like me, and each one is different.”

“That’s all I am to you? A contract?” Velvet said, putting a little hurt into the words to try and guilt him, but Jaune was having none of that.

“Look, you can either tag along with me or you can stay here, and try to save the world. What’s it gonna be?” He tried to make it sound like the obvious choice it was, but Velvet was about as stubborn as he was.

“I’m staying.”

“Fine.” Jaune said, moving to leave.

“Fine.” Velvet fired back.

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.” Jaune said, as he closed the door, claiming the win with the last word.

“Mom, Dad, please stop fighting.” Sun joked to fill the silence.

Down in the bar, guests were mingling about as native music was playing in the background. Port was walking around with a female companion of some sort, but he was far different from the one the gang recognized. He was in some sort of military uniform with a pilot jacket and a long trench coat, and was far removed from his usual jovial, bombastic nature.

“I’m the last of the Royal Air Corps stationed out here, you know…” he said with a slight slur as he inadvertently walked into the ground-level fountain. “Some bloody idiot spilled his drink.” He let it go and continued with his story, his companion hanging on his every word, a look of sympathy in her eyes, “All the other lads died in the sky and were buried in the sand. Good chaps, every one of them, too.” He walked by Jaune, who gave him a short hello and made for the bar.

“Why is this version of Professor Port so believable?” Weiss said, frustrated.

“Cuz, Ice Queen Jr., it’s Pete we’re talking about here.” Qrow replied.

“The sad part is, you’re not even wrong in saying that.” Glynda strained to say.

Port let his companion go, knowing she had better things to do than listen to an old drunk talk of the glory days, and followed after Jaune.

“You know, Arc, ever since the end of the Great War, there hasn’t been a single challenge worthy of a man like me.” He said as Jaune took a seat next to Neptune, who was looking at the key that had started this whole thing and couldn’t help thinking that it was all his fault for stealing it from Jaune in the first place. Seeing who was following Jaune, Neptune stashed the key in his chest pocket.

“Yeah? Well, we all got our little problems today, don’t we, Pete?” Jaune said as Neptune poured him a shot.

“I just wish I could have chucked it in with the others and gone down in flame and glory, instead of sitting around here, rotting of boredom and booze.” He took the shot Neptune had poured for himself and downed it. “Oh well, back to the airfield, ha-ha!” he said in his usual tone, clapping the boys on the backs as he left.

‘War guilt.’ Winter thought sadly. She had seen it before, not in General Ironwood, but in the older officers, the ones who had survived the Great War and the Faunus Rights Revolution. They all felt the same way; depressed, guilty that their men had died while following their orders. She knew it was stupid to think that way, but what did she know? She had been born in a time of peace, the only threats to humanity being the Grimm. She had never experienced war, so who was she to judge?

When he had left, Jaune immediately changed the subject. “So, tell me, has your sister always been…”

“Oh yeah, always.” Neptune cut in, having heard the question a million times before.

“Well, we’re all packed up, but the damn boat doesn’t leave till tomorrow morning.” Cardin said as he and Dove came up to the bar.

“Tail set firmly between your legs, I see.” Neptune said.

“Yeah, well, you can talk. You don’t have some sacred walking corpse after you.”

“So, uh, how’s your friend?” Jaune asked.

“He had his eyes and his tongue ripped out. How would you be?” Dove said with a little venom. Jaune didn’t take it personally, knowing he would feel the same in their boots.

“Could you imagine living like that?” Jaune said, actually feeling sorry for one of his old tormentors, “Being unable to see or taste, possibly even speak?”

Up in his room, Sky was doing his best to entertain a rather mysterious guest. He was in his pajamas and a robe, with heavy gauze wrappings covering his eyes. His guest was in heavy robes all over his body and a mask, impractical clothing for a desert climate, but he didn’t seem to mind.

“I’m so… pleased to meet you.” Sky choked out, holding his hand out to be shaken. His host recoiled and a hand grabbed his wrist.

“Prince Ozpin does not like to be touched.” Mercury told him, moving his arm back. “A silly southern superstition, I’m afraid.”

“Please, forgive me.” Sky said, reaching for some coffee, only to spill it.

“What are you up to, Merc?” Emerald said, leaning forward, resting her arms on her knees. “What is your angle?”

“Wish I knew.” He shrugged.

“Oops.” Mercury said, feigning concern for the blind man. “Mr. Lark, Prince Ozpin thanks you for your hospitality.” Sky tried to act humble and sh*t, but his face dropped at Mercury’s next words. “And for your eyes. And your tongue. But I’m afraid more is needed. The prince must finish the job.” He backed away from the doomed man. “He must consummate the curse that you and your friends have brought down upon yourselves.”

Sky pleaded for mercy as Ozpin removed the mask, revealing a rictus smile.

The boys in the bar toasted their glasses and took a drink, only to spit them out a second later, along with every other patron in the bar.

“Gods…” Cardin said, trying to get the taste out of his mouth, “Tastes just like- “

“Blood.” Jaune finished. He walked to the fountain and saw that it was now pouring out blood.

“Oh-ho-ho-kay!” Coco laughed nervously, “Yeah, wow! This thing isn’t pulling any punches is it?”

“’And the rivers and waters of Vacuo ran red, and were as blood’.” Neptune said, reciting the Bible passage perfectly.

“He’s here.” Jaune whispered, looking around.

Thunder rumbled as Velvet walked outside, reading a book in one hand and carrying another in the other hand.

“Oh, Velvet!” Jaune said, running up to her.

“Oh, so you’re still here, are you?” she said flippantly.

“Better?” Velvet asked her girlfriend.

“Much.” She nodded.

“We’ve got problems.” Jaune said with a nervous chuckle.

Thunder rolled overhead again, louder this time, and suddenly fire began falling from the sky. Men and women screamed as they ran for cover. Jaune grabbed Velvet’s arm and tried to pull her to somewhere safe, staying under cover from the fireballs, while the soldiers in the courtyard fared far worse, a few being immolated as they scrambled about, others killed by their ammo cooking off. Buildings all over the city were destroyed, and even the great pyramids were not spared.

Mercury hurried down a staircase next to Jaune and Velvet, only to quickly turn around and run back up. Too late, though. Jaune had seen him.

“Hey!” Jaune yelled, bounding up the stairs, catching Mercury by the shirt and pinning him to the wall. “Mercury, you little stink-weed, where’ve you been?” A familiar roaring from upstairs gave Jaune pause, and Mercury took the chance to escape. Jaune drew a revolver and followed the noise to its source, Velvet hot on his heels.

They came to Sky’s room to find a dried-up husk of the man in question sitting in his chair, clothing and bandages still on. They looked up and saw Ozpin regenerating himself. He had regained much of his former muscle mass, his skin, while still dried out and wrinkly, covered much more of his body and his face was now far more defined. He roared at the pair when the process ceased.

“Holy sh*t!” Yang yelled.

“We are in serious trouble.” Jaune said, utterly amazed and horrified at the same time.

“Ya think?!”

He drew his other revolver as Ozpin approached and unloaded into the undead man, to no effect. Ozpin, his strength enhanced by his curse, shoved Jaune, sending him flying across the room and crashing into Neptune, Cardin, and Dove, who had just entered the room.

Ozpin approached Velvet, speaking in ancient Vacuoan, “You saved me from the undead. I thank you.” He leaned in for a kiss but stopped when he heard a note from a piano. He turned and saw a cat walking onto the keys. He roared in horror and summoned a sand tornado to take him away, shutting the doors to the balcony behind him.

Jaune propped himself up and sighed. “We are in very serious trouble.”

“And kinda confused.”

“Sun, explain.” Weiss ordered.

“Got nothing for you.” He answered, genuinely stumped, “I’m as lost as you are.”

Velvet led the group to the museum she worked at, reasoning that they could find answers, or at the very least information, within.

“He does seem to like you, Velvs.” Neptune commented,

“Yeah, what’s that about?” Jaune asked knowingly.

“Jealous, much?” Nora teased.

“What’s this guy want, anyway?” Cardin asked.

“There’s only one person I know who can possibly give us any answers.” Velvet said, leading them to Ilia’s office. They turned a corner into the antiquities room to find Ilia deep in conversation with Blake.

“You!” she yelled, her male companions all drawing their weapons and training them on Blake.

“Miss Scarlatina.” Ilia said calmly. “Gentlemen.” She nodded curtly at the boys.

“What is she doing here?” Velvet questioned.

Ilia and Blake shared a look. “Do you really want to know, or would you rather just shoot us?”

“After what I just saw,” Jaune said, putting his gun away, “I’m willing to go on a little faith here.”

“Yay. Critical exposition.” Blake said in monotone.

“I do like a good explanation.” Jaune agreed.

“We are part of an ancient secret society.” Ilia explained, the conversation having moved to a new room, “For over 3000 years, we have guarded the City of the Dead. We are sworn at adulthood to do any and all in our power to stop the High Priest Ozpin from being reborn into this world.”

“So why did I leave the tribe?” Ilia wondered aloud.

“Not everyone has to be a warrior.” Jaune said. “Look at the Atlas military. Sure, they have the single largest military force on Remnant, but there’s no way a fighting force that size can operate of soldiers alone. Supplies, weapons, transportation, maintenance for the weapons and transports, food and water, uniforms, training. A military needs so much more than mere soldiers in order to be functional.”

“And your point is…”

“My guess is that your character may play some kind of intelligence role. She does necessary research and keeps her ears open for any news of strangers looking for targets of interest. She then relays that info back to the tribe, who decides how to respond.”

“And now, because of you, we have failed.” Blake said.

“And you think this justifies the killing of innocent people?” Velvet questioned.

“To stop this creature? Let me think.”

“YES.” Ilia and Blake said together.

“Question.” Jaune said, raising a finger, “Why doesn’t he like cats?”

“Maybe it’s cuz cats are giant assholes.” Yang joked. When Blake slapped her arm, she looked confused. “What? You know I was referring to actual cats.”

“You still could have said something.” Blake replied.

“And risk sounding like a racist in front of Captain Angst back there? No thank you.” She held up her prosthetic arm to indicate who she was referring to.

“Cats are the guardians of the underworld.” Ilia explained, making Blake smile just a bit, “He will fear them until he is fully regenerated.”

“And then he will fear nothing.” Blake finished.

“Yeah, and you know how he gets himself fully regenerated?” Dove said.

“By finding everyone who opened that chest…” Cardin started.

“And sucking ‘em dry! That’s how!” Dove was hysteric with fear, while Cardin was externally calm, trying to be the rock his friend needed.

“When I saw him alive at Hamunaptra, he called me Salem.” Velvet said, broaching a subject that had been nagging her. “A-and just now in Mr. Lark’s quarters, he- he tried to kiss me.”

“It’s because of his love for Salem that he was cursed.” Ilia said, looking to Blake, who was leaning over her, “Apparently, even after 3000 years…”

“He is still in love with her.” Blake finished.

‘Love… is that really what Ozma and I had? It’s sometimes hard to remember so long ago, before his betrayal.’ Salem thought over a small amount of popcorn. She was surround by every form of theater food available; popcorn, nachos, pretzels, soda, candy. She had pretty much formed a nest out of the stuff and was going through it methodically.

She found that she enjoyed the combined saltiness and butteriness of the popcorn and the slight crunch upon biting into it. She was nearing the end of her small bag and was trying to decide between mozzarella sticks and pretzel bites as her next dish, leaning towards the former.

“Yes, well, that’s very romantic and all, but what has it got to do with me?”

“Perhaps he will once again try to raise her from the dead.” Blake suggested to Ilia.

“Yes.” She agreed. “And it appears he has already chosen his human sacrifice.” They looked to Velvet.

“Over my dead body.” Neptune said angrily.

“Thanks for having my back, Nep.” Velvet thanked the boy.

“A wise man once said, ‘family don’t end with blood’.” He replied.

“Although, this may give us just the time we need to kill the creature.” Ilia mused, a plan slowly coming together in her head.

“We will need all the help we can get.” Blake said, looking to the sky, “His powers are still growing.”

Everyone followed her gazed. The sun was being swallowed in an eclipse.

“And he stretched forth his hand toward the heavens, and there was darkness throughout the lands of Vacuo.” Neptune said, reciting the Bible again.

“That is cosmic-level sh*t right there.” Qrow said, a little worried, “How the hell do you beat something that can do that?”

“Magic must defeat magic.” Summer said, changing her voice to sound older than she was.

Back at the fort, the soldiers manning the ramparts were amazed at this freak cosmological event. The next solar eclipse in Vacuo wasn’t predicted to occur for a few years, and a total eclipse in this area was decades away at best.

“We must stop him from regenerating.” Velvet stated in her room, the adventurers having unofficially decided to make it their temporary base. “Who opened that chest?”

“Well, there was me and Dove here.” Cardin said. “Oh, and Sky, of course.”

“There was that historian fella as well.” Dove threw in.

“What about my buddy Mercury?” Jaune asked.

“No, he scrammed out of there before we opened the damn thing.” Dove replied.

“Yeah, he was the smart one.” Cardin chuckled.

“Finally! Vindication!” Mercury cheered.

“Shut it, coward.” Emerald elbowed his ribs.

“I choose life!”

“Well, that sounds about right.” Jaune mused.

“Then, we need to find Dr. Oobleck and bring him back to the safety of the fort before the creature can get to him.” Velvet said, thinking the plan very obvious.

Jaune agreed. “Right. She stays here. You three, come with me.” His version of the plan was met with protests and complaints. Sighing, he turned around, picked Velvet up, throwing her over his shoulder, and deposited her on her bed. He locked the door behind him and grabbed Dove by the collar, bringing them nearly nose-to-nose. “This door doesn’t open. She doesn’t come out, and no one goes in. Right?”

“Right.” Dove nodded his head furiously.

“Right?” Jaune looked to Cardin who shook his own head. He gave Dove the key and began walking away. “Come on, Neptune.”

“Oh, uh, I thought I could just stay at the fort- “

“Now!”

“Right. We’re just gonna go fetch the historian guy.” He said to C_D_ as he hurried after Jaune.

“Whipped!” Sun said.

“f*ck off, I am not.” Neptune protested.

“You kinda are, kid.” Coco agreed.

“I am not!”

Velvet pulled out her scroll and opened an app. She shook her scroll, and it made the sound of a whip cracking. Neptune slumped in his chair in defeat.

Chapter 33: The Mummy, Part 9

Chapter Text

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 33

Dr. Oobleck ran through deserted streets, canopic jar in one hand, The Book of the Dead in the other. The slightest disturbance gave him pause as he looked for anyone following him. And why shouldn’t he? He knew of the supposed ‘curse’ he and the Valean treasure seekers had unleashed, and after what he had heard happened to Mr. Lark, he was beginning to believe it. And he should, for unbeknownst to him, Ozpin was stalking him through the streets, chasing him in circles, waiting for a chance to make his move.

Mercury, meanwhile, was ransacking the doctor’s office, going through everything in his search for the very objects that weren’t there and not giving a damn for subtlety.

“Well, well, well.” Jaune said as he and Neptune walked through the door. “Let me guess. Spring cleaning?”

“Jaune, you have got some good one-liners in this one.” Coco complimented.

“I can be funny if I want to.” He replied.

Mercury ran for the window, but Jaune cut him off when he threw a chair at his back, knocking him to the floor.

“Damn. Nice shot.” Neptune said.

“Aw, Merc, did you fall down? Here, let me help you up.” Jaune said as he picked Mercury up by his collar and slammed him against the wall. “You came back from the desert with a new friend, didn’t you, Merc?”

“What friend? You are my only friend.” Mercury said, poorly trying to play innocent.

Jaune slammed him against a desk on the opposite side of the room. “What the hell are you doing with this creep anyway? Huh? What’s in it for you?”

“It is better to be the right hand of the devil than in his path. As long as I serve him, I am immune.”

Jaune slammed him against a set of cabinets.

“Immune from what?” he asked as Mercury shook the stars from his eyes. Mercury responded in a language Jaune didn’t recognize. “What was that?”

“I don’t wanna tell you, you’ll just hurt me some more.” Mercury said quickly.

“You’re not wrong.” Jaune said.

“I don’t know if this is the best way to question someone.” Weiss said.

“Maybe, but it’s definitely the most fun.” Yang said with a grin.

“And coolest.” Ruby agreed.

“Not to mention a little cathartic, depending on the person.” Blake added. Weiss rounded on her with disbelief written on her face. “It was back in my White Fang days.” she said quietly.

“What are you looking for?” Jaune said, moving him to the middle of the room, “And try not to lie to me.” Jaune lifted him off the floor, holding his face mere inches from the spinning blades of a ceiling fan.

“Huh, that’s pretty creative.” Adam said, surprising even himself that he had said it.

“The book!” Mercury yelled in terror. “The black book they found at Hamunaptra! He wants it back. He told me it would be worth its weight in gold.”

“What does he want the book for?” Neptune asked. Jaune lowered Mercury so he could answer.

“Oh, come on, I don’t know.” Jaune shoved him back up. “Something about bringing his dead girlfriend back to life. But that’s all. He just wants the book, I swear!” Jaune lowered him. “And your sister. But other than that- “

His words were cut off by a shrieking from outside. Mercury took the chance and sucker punched Jaune in the gut, then jumped out the window onto the streets. Jaune and Neptune looked out the window he smashed to see the dried-up husk of Bartholomew Oobleck lying in the street, the black-robed form of Ozpin looming over him holding the black book under one arm.

He knelt and took the canopic jar from the corpse’s grip and turned to face his pursuers. More of his skin had returned, further defining his features- he actually had something of a nose-, but it was pale and sickly, and still had sizable gaps. He opened his mouth impossibly wide and roared, a swarm of flies issuing forth from him. Jaune and Neptune closed the wooden doors on the window, preventing the insects entry, while the people in the streets had to suffer them.

“Well, that’s two down, two to go.” Jaune said.

“Then he’ll be coming after Velvet.” Neptune finished.

“Anyone else getting the feeling that the folks who wrote this kinda wrote themselves into a hole?” Velvet asked, receiving a round of affirmatives.

“I’m going to keep watching.” Blake disagreed. “This thing is pretty well-written, and I doubt the writers would create that obvious a hole without coming up with a backdoor first.”

Back at the room, Dove and Cardin were growing bored on guard duty. Cardin was sitting at the table, looking at his canopic jar, while Dove was at the window, passing time by watching the soldiers perform evening drill maneuvers.

“To hell with this!” Dove said, slamming his fist on the window sill in frustration, “I’m going downstairs, get myself a drink. You want anything?” he asked Cardin.

“Yeah. Yeah, get me a glass of bourbon.” He replied absent-mindedly.

“All right.”

“A-and a shot of bourbon.” Cardin got up and followed after him, leaving the jar in his chair

“Yeah, okay, okay.”

“And a bourbon chaser!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll get your damn bourbon.”

“I think Cardin may have a drinking problem.” Yang joked.

“It’s only a problem when you run out!” Qrow retorted.

“Tell me he wasn’t like this after I died.” Summer whispered to Tai, tugging on his shirt.

“He’s gotten better, at least.” Tai offered, trying to defend his buddy.

“Don’t worry about the door!” he called after his friend, slamming the door shut. They had always been like this, ever since high school. It helped him relax to fall back into old routines. He turned back and saw the jar. Might as well indulge in those routines he thought as he fell into a pseudo-ready. He drew his revolver with a flourish and pointed it at the jar. He flipped it forwards, stopping it back in position, then returned it to its holster with another flourish. If he so chose, he easily could have become a professional trick-shooter, like that Oakley woman back in Vale.

Suddenly the wind howled from the open window, making Cardin draw his gun in alarm. He aimed at where the wind came from but saw nothing. Trusting nothing, he chambered a round and approached cautiously. Looking out, he saw and heard nothing, not even the guards that had been out there mere moments earlier. Thinking everything safe, he lowered the hammer on his revolver.

This lapse of judgement was rewarded when a wave of sand shot into the room with a roar. A full-blown sandstorm filled the small room, and the shadow of Cardin could be seen being lifted bodily off the ground and shriveled into skin and bones by Ozpin’s magic. The storm subsided, and Ozpin stepped into view. His skin was almost fully healed; it was a healthy pigment and covered most of his body, save for a hole in his neck and cheek. His signature silver-grey hair was also present. He looked to the locked door to Velvets room. As he stood there, a scarab beetle skittered out of his neck hole and into his cheek, where he bit down, killing the insect with a crunch and a squeal before he began chewing on it.

“I’ll give them this, this version of Ozpin is f*cking creepy.” Roman said.

“That’s putting it lightly.” Neo signed.

In her bedroom, Velvet was sleeping soundly, unaware as sand began pouring in through the keyhole, forming a small pile at the base of the door. This sand reformed into the shape of Ozpin, who approached the sleeping rabbit Faunus and sat down next to her. Ozpin regarded her.

“Salem.” He whispered, before leaning down to kiss Velvet.

This woke her up and she screamed into his lips when she saw him kissing her, and more disgustingly, his skin decaying where their lips met.

Jaune kicked open the doors, Neptune at his side with a small Deringer pistol pointed at Ozpin.

“Hey, get your ugly face off her!” Jaune yelled.

Ozpin glared at him, speaking in old Vacuan, and giving Velvet a chance to get away.

“Hey, look what I got!” he said, holding up a cat.

His eyes widening in terror, Ozpin summoned another sand devil and made a break for it out the open window.

Seeing the coast was clear, Velvet sat up from behind the bed with a sigh.

“You alright?” Jaune asked.

“Well, I’m not sure.” Neptune answered.

“My hero.” Velvet fake swooned.

“Sorry, Velvet, I’m spoken for.” Jaune said, holding up the hand that was clutching Pyrrha’s own.

“As are you missy.” Coco whispered in her girlfriend’s ear, while pinching her face lightly.

The trio collected Dove from the bar and quickly made their way to the museum to consult with Ilia and Blake about how to take down Ozpin.

“Okay, according to legend,” Velvet said as the group walked up a flight of stairs, “The black book that you and your friends found at Hamunaptra is supposed to bring people back from the dead. Until now, I wasn’t exactly willing to believe in it.”

“Believe it, sister. That’s what brought our buddy back to life.” Jaune deadpanned.

“Right. Now, if the black book can bring him to life- “

“Then maybe the gold book can kill him.” Jaune finished.

“Ha! Called it!” Blake cheered.

“That’s the working theory.” Velvet agreed. “Now we just need to find out where the gold book is hidden.” The group rounded a corner and found Ilia knelt before a massive stone with hieroglyphics on it, working on the same notion.

Suddenly, Velvet’s rabbit ears twitched. “Do you hear that?” she asked. The men shook their heads, but Blake nodded. The two Faunus ran to a nearby window and saw a harrowing sight outside. The poor citizens of the city were marching on the museum, torches and simple weapons in hand, and their faces marred by injury. They marched almost in unison and were chanting a single word, a name: Ozpin.

“Dear Gods, what happened to their faces!” Yang yelled, absolutely grossed out.

“Last but not least, my favorite plague, boils and sores.” Neptune said, not even bothering with the passage.

“They have become his slaves.” Blake explained, “So it has begun. The beginning of the end.”

“Not if I have anything to say about it. Come on.” Velvet said, rushing back to the stone, Ilia close behind.

Ozpin walked amongst his army, yelling out orders in the ancient tongue. Mercury was close behind, trying his best to keep away from the mindless, hideous slaves. As the army approached the museum, they ran for the door and began slamming it, trying to break it down.

Inside, Velvet and Ilia were translating as fast as they could. Feeling the pressure, Velvet did the only thing she could think of to keep herself calm; talk.

“According to Bembridge scholars, the golden Book of Light is located in the statue of Anubis…”

“That’s where we found the black book.” Dove said, half-angry, half-scared.

“Well, looks like the old boys at Bembridge were mistaken.” Neptune said.

“Exactly, they mixed up the books. Mixed up where they were buried. So, if the black book was in the statue of Anubis, then the golden book must be…”

“I’ll bet you anything it wasn’t an accidental mix-up.” Jaune said.

“Are you saying that the Medjai would go that far to keep their secrets hidden?” Ilia said.

“Yeah.”

“Using conspiracy as a defense. Not a terrible idea, I suppose.” Winter mused.

The army of Ozpin cheered as they finally broke the door and stormed in.

“Come on, Velvs, work faster.” Neptune pressed.

“Patience is a virtue.” Velvet replied in a sing-song voice.

“Not right now it’s not!” Jaune threw back.

“Hey, I was gonna say that.” Yang sulked.

“Uh, I think I’ll go ahead and get the car started.” Neptune said, running for the rear exit.

“I got it!” Velvet said, “The golden book is at Hamunaptra inside the statue of Horus. Take that Bembridge scholars!”

Neptune had reached the front and was mere feet from the car when Ozpin’s army began to flood into the street. Thinking fast, Neptune did the only thing he could do; play along.

“Ozpin! Ozpin!” he began chanting monotonously, acting as though he was enslaved as they were. Oddly enough, this worked and the mob went from violent and screaming to their previous brain-dead chanting selves, chanting along with him. They passed him by none the wiser, and once they had done so, he turned and ran to the car.

“Clever boy.” Coco said.

“When in doubt, improvise.” Neptune said with a shrug.

Jaune’s group, along with Ilia and Blake, ran out the back shortly after he managed to get the engine to turn over. Having thought ahead, Mercury ran out the front and caught sight of them. He yelled for his master, who stood in the window his prey had so recently occupied and roared, more to intimidate than out of anger.

“You’re gonna get yours, Merc!” Jaune yelled at his old comrade as the car drove off, “You hear me? You’re gonna get yours!”

“Oh, like I’ve never heard that before!” he yelled back.

“If I had a lien for every time I’ve heard that yelled at me, I might be able to qu- “ Mercury started to say before cutting himself short.

“Might be able to do what, Mercury?” Cinder said threateningly.

“Nothing. Nothing at all. Not a thing.” He said quickly, before a whip-cracking sound came from a certain bunny faunus.

They sped down the abandoned streets, trying to come with a plan, when suddenly Neptune hits the brakes. The reason why soon became apparent: standing in the headlights and blocking off the street was Ozpin’s mindless horde. Seeing no other way, Jaune stepped hard on Neptune’s foot, causing him to yell out as he involuntarily slammed on the gas.

“Hang on!” Jaune yelled out as they made contact with the horde, mowing down anyone in their path. Most of the slaves- cuz that’s what they were at this point, let’s be honest- were sent flying when they collided with the car. Soon though, they began to cling to car, making Jaune, Dove, Ilia and Blake fight them off barehanded. Even Velvet got in on it when she poked a man whose eyeball was swollen from infection, popping the organ and causing the man to cry out in agony, and thus setting Jaune up to toss him off the car.

Dove was surprised when a pair of slaves grabbed him from behind and began to pull. He called to Jaune for help, but was too late. The pair pulled him free of the car and onto the street, but he managed to roll through, dropping his coat and drawing his revolvers. He fired left and right, taking down his assailants with every shot until he finally ran dry. Oddly enough, the horde didn’t attack him when he did. They instead simply parted, allowing Ozpin to approach with a rictus smile on his face.

“I think we all know what comes next.” Ruby said.

“Mostly bad things.” Weiss answered.

“I had better be right about the gold book.” Velvet said, just a tad worried.

In fear, Dove dropped his weapons. He reached into his coat and pulled out his canopic jar, offering it to Ozpin in the hopes of sparing his life. This turned out to be the incorrect choice as Ozpin did the same to him that he had done to all his compatriots. Mercury stood by, almost unable to watch as Dove Bronzewing was sucked dry and left as little more than beef jerky over a skeleton.

Meanwhile, the car was eventually run off the road and brought to a halt when it ran into a fire hydrant. Water pouring forth, the party of five vacated the wrecked vehicle and ran into the market, the horde hot on their heels. They eventually halted when the group was finally cornered and resumed their chanting. Jaune held a torch before him, trying to keep them at bay while he thought up a plan.

Their chanting eventually receded, and they parted to allow a now whole Ozpin to approach his prey, followed by Mercury.

“It’s the creature.” Ilia said, hiding her horror well, “And he’s fully regenerated.”

Ozpin spoke in the ancient tongue, his voice normal now that he was whole once more.

“Come with me, my princess.” Mercury translated, “It is time to make you mine forever.”

“For all eternity, idiot.” Velvet corrected him.

Ozpin spoke again. “Take my hand, and I will spare your friends.” Mercury translated.

“Calling bullsh*t!” Yang said.

“Seconded.” Ruby agreed.

Jaune scoffed at the words, not buying such obvious bullsh*t.

“Have you got any bright ideas?” Velvet asked him.

“I’m thinking, I’m thinking.” He replied, wringing the handle of his torch nervously.

“Well, you’d better think of something fast, because if he turns me into a mummy, you’re the first one I’m coming after.” She said with finality before walking to Ozpin’s side.

“No.” Jaune said, drawing his gun and aiming at Ozpin’s head.

“I’m with Lover Boy on this one.” Coco said, “What the hell are you doing babe?”

“Hell if I know.”

“Don’t!” Velvet protested. “He still has to take me to Hamunaptra to perform the ritual.”

“She is right.” Blake said, trying to force his gun arm down. “Live today, fight tomorrow.”

“Tactical stalling.” Jaune said, recognizing the strategy.

“I don’t like it.” Coco said stubbornly.

Reluctantly, Jaune lowered his gun and glowered at Ozpin.

“I’ll be seeing you again.” He said, pointing his torch at Ozpin.

Ozpin smiled and began leading Velvet away. Mercury, however, went up to Neptune and began going through his pockets.

“Hey!” Neptune protested “Hands off!”

Mercury stepped back with the key in hand. “Thanks.” He said.

“Kill them all!” Ozpin yelled, making Velvet start to fight a losing battle against his grip.

“There it is.” Blake said, having been waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“See ya, pal!” Mercury said, as he scurried after his patron.

As the horde closed in, Jaune looked down and saw a way out, if not an altogether pleasant one; a sewer grate. He tossed the torch aside and removed the cover. He motioned for Neptune and Blake to go in first, promising Neptune that they would be going after Velvet. Ilia, meanwhile, drew a sword and began cutting down the slaves.

“Come on!” Jaune yelled once Blake was in.

“Go!” Ilia insisted before turning back to her bloody work.

With a growl, Jaune jumped in, and mere moments later, Ilia was overwhelmed by the horde. She fought as best she could, but ultimately died screaming.

“While I do not like the fact that I’ve died yet again in one of these, let it not be said I didn’t go down swingin’.” Ilia said proudly.

“And you played a bigger role this time.” Blake pointed out. “Last time, I don’t think you had a single line.”

“Looked like a bad ass, though.” Sun said.

Chapter 34: The Mummy, Finale

Chapter Text

RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 34

The next morning, Jaune, Neptune and Blake drove into a desert airfield, having reclaimed their car a few hours after they lost Velvet. A pair of local boys saluted them as they entered, another local lad raising the barrier for them. Port sat on a hill nearby, drinking tea under an umbrella and listening to Valean jazz.

“Morning, Pete.” Jaune said as the trio approached. “Uh, a word, if you don’t mind?”

“So what’s your little problem got to do with His Majesty’s Royal Air Corps?” Port asked, sounding infinitely better than last the group had seen him.

“When was the last time Vale had a King or an army?” Ruby asked.

“Not since the Great War.” Winter answered. “It is the same with most other nations as well.”

“With one rather large exception.” Glynda muttered.

“Not a damn thing.” Jaune said bluntly. This caught Port’s attention, and he put down his tea.

“Is it dangerous?” he asked, trying to hide his eagerness.

“Well, you probably won’t live through it.” Jaune said honestly.

“By the Gods, do you think so?”

“Well, everybody else we’ve bumped into has died, why not you?” Neptune joked. Nobody laughed.

“Well, well, well then.” Port stood up, his familiar bravado coming to the fore, “What’s the challenge?”

“Rescue the damsel in distress, kill the bad guy, save the world.” Jaune said.

Port began to laugh. “Well, then, Peter Port at your service, sir. Ho ho!”

“There’s the Peter we know and love.” Tai said with a grin.

“Eh…” The Beacon students said simultaneously, making a so-so sign with their hands.

The next thing the trio knew, they were loaded into an old fighter plane and were currently soaring low over the desert. Port was piloting, of course, while Jaune took the gunner position. Jaune looked to his right and whistled.

“Are you alright?” he asked the man strapped there.

“DO I f*ckING LOOK OKAY?!?” Neptune yelled back at him.

“I don’t know what other me is talking about, that looks fun!” Neptune said with wide eyes.

“Second that emotion.” Sun agreed.

“Easy to say when you guys have Aura, but he probably doesn’t.” Weiss said.

Taking that as a yes, he turned to the other side and whistled again.

“How ya doing?”

Blake’s face said it all, as she was grinning ear-to-ear. She had never even seen a plane before, much less ridden one, her world being a far simpler one, one focused on the old traditions and separated from the technology of the modern world.

Nearby, a sand devil was rampaging across the open desert. Port gained Jaune’s attention and pointed at it.

“See that? I’ve never seen one so big.” He yelled to Jaune.

“Never?” Jaune asked back, growing concerned.

“No.” Port replied before steering the plane towards Hamunaptra.

“Really?” Coco said, “No one’s gonna jump on that?”

“Too easy.” Sun said.

“Yang?” she looked to the blonde to see her entire team covering her mouth, preventing her from making the obvious joke, and the same happening with Team JNPR and Nora. Qrow also felt the compulsion, but he could feel the death glare Summer was aiming at him if he so much as considered it.

Meanwhile, Velvet and Mercury were thrown from the sand devil, landing in a soft dune which broke their falls.

“I need a new job.” Mercury said, as Velvet screamed at him to get off her, while crawling away.

The sand devil slowly died down and formed into the black-robed form of Ozpin. He walked down the dune past Velvet and Mercury, who both turned and saw their destination in the distance.

“Oh my Gods.” Velvet muttered, seeing the ruins of Hamunaptra. “We’re back.”

Ozpin looked up and saw the plane circling above. Velvet saw it too, knowing that Jaune had come for her, and while she smiled, Ozpin scowled. Such a nuisance.

“Man, bun-bun, you have fallen hard for this Jaune.” Coco said.

“I know, right?” Mercury complained, “All this lovey-dovey crap is making me physically ill.”

He reached out with his powers, and the Earth beneath them began to crack before a wall of sand rose up before them and began to chase the plane.

‘Interesting. If I ever gain control of another Maiden, this is a power we should try to replicate.’ Salem thought, munching on her mozzarella sticks. She had apparently developed a taste for cheese since trying this ‘theater food’.

“Oh my Gods.” Jaune said, seeing the wall from his rearward-facing position. “Hey, Pete! Pedal faster!”

Port saw the coming threat in a rearview mirror, and called out for everyone to hold on before putting the plane into a dive. The propeller screamed as they went over a cliff and skimmed over the ground, the wall hot on their heels.

Ozpin’s face soon appeared in the wall, smiling victoriously.

“Okay, I say again, f*cking creepy.” Roman said.

In defiance, Jaune began unloading the fixed .30 caliber machine gun into the face, to no avail. Ozpin roared and the sand wall overtook the plane.

“Stop it!” Velvet protested. “You’ll kill them!”

“That’s the idea.” Mercury said as Ozpin focused on the task before him, which required his full concentration.

Inside the storm, Blake and Neptune were screaming their asses off on the wings, Jaune was busy trying not to faint from blood loss from the multiple Gs he was pulling, and Port was laughing madly.

“Here I come, laddies!” he yelled with a maniacal laugh.

Velvet knew she need to break Ozpin’s concentration somehow, and despite her reservations on it, did the first thing she could think of: she grabbed Ozpin and drew him into a kiss, turning him bodily away from his task to make sure he couldn’t focus.

“Clever girl.” Qrow said.

“Did you just quote yourself from another movie?” Tai asked with a groan.

“Yes, I did, because it was a damn good line.”

“He’s got you there, honey.” Summer said.

It had the desired effect, as the sand wall dissipated almost immediately, but the plane was too far gone. It spun out of control, the engine blazing, and crashed behind another dune with a small explosion.

Thankfully for Velvet, who believed her saviors were all dead, the heroic trio managed to survive the impact. Blake managed to stumble to her feet, while Jaune awkwardly fell out of his gunner’ spot. Neptune, however, was stuck strapped upside down to the wing and was yelling for someone to cut him down. As Jaune did so, Blake walked over to the .30-cal and removed it. She believed it was still operational and knew that they would need all the firepower they could get.

“Peter!” Jaune called out to their pilot. “Hey, Pete!” he knelt beside the pilot and knew almost instantly; he had died on impact. He checked the man’s pulse just to be sure, and the lack of it sealed it. Peter Port had gotten his heroic death. He looked to Neptune sadly, and jumped back when the fuselage began to sink into the ground.

“Quicksand!” Neptune yelled, pulling Jaune back.

The trio retreated a few feet and watched the plane sink into the desert, Jaune giving a final salute as the tail fell from sight. He then picked up his gun bag and led the way to Hamunaptra, Blake bringing up the rear with the .30-cal on her shoulder. They had lost a lot of the time they had gained, and they had a job to do.

Inside the ruins, Ozpin led Velvet and Mercury down to the ritual chamber he had used all those centuries ago. Mercury held a gun on her and ordered her to keep moving.

“You know,” Velvet said, taking advantage of her quickly dwindling importance to talk back, “Nasty little dickhe*ds like you always get their comeuppance.”

Mercury laughed at her for a bit before he noticed how serious her expression was and his smile faltered somewhat. “They do?”

“Oh yeah.” She said with a nasty grin. “Always.” She walked off, leaving him behind and not a little bit afraid for his own skin.

“Gods dammit, I’m gonna die again, aren’t I?” Mercury complained.

“It does seem to be a theme with you.” Cinder nodded.

Blake and Jaune were busy removing rubble from a side passage, while Neptune stood behind them with the torch being entirely not helpful.

“Better get those bigger stones first. And take them from the top, otherwise the whole thing will come down on us. Come on, put your backs into it.” Jaune and Blake simultaneously turned and glared at him. “Right, well, you’ve got the idea, I guess.”

He turned and saw some form of sun mural on the wall with scarab jewels on it. Attracted to shiny objects like the child he was, he easily plucked one from the wall.

“Hey, Nep, ever hear of instant karma?” Sun laughed while Neptune groaned, knowing what was about to happen.

“Hey, guys, come check this out.” He said, as he admired the jewel in his palm. Suddenly, a live scarab broke free from the shell and began burrowing up his arm. He yelled in terror, catching Jaune’s attention. He ripped off Neptune’s shirt, to show a bulge traveling along his shoulder.

“Whoa!” Jaune yelled, “Hold him.” He told Blake, who immediately pinned his arms behind his back while Jaune pulled out a switch blade. Neptune screamed as Jaune semi-carefully dug the scarab out of his shoulder and threw it several feet with a flick of his knife. It landed on its’ back and quickly scurried at them, but Jaune calmly drew a revolver and blew it the f*ck up.

The gunshot echoed and caught the attention to Ozpin, who was trying to organize the ritual. He quickly tipped a jar of dust into his hand and blew it at a nearby wall, muttering an incantation. Groans could be heard from behind the wall and soon the stone began to crack. Suddenly, the mummified human carvings on said wall tore themselves from the stone and began shambling towards Ozpin.

“Bembridge scholars never wrote about this.” Velvet said, amazed and horrified at the same time.

They stopped short of Ozpin and bowed to him. He returned the bow and set them to task.

“Kill them,” he said, pointing back the way he had come, “And wake the others.”