Fandom Shattered Hourglass [IC] [CLOSED]

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

".....................Right. Okay, I'm really going to need another drink now." She took a deep breath, though she didn't give him the satisfaction of saying he was right. More context was needed. She just skipped past bothering to answer his questions verbally. Instead her eyes flared red and she sent him back a few inches with a sudden but relatively light gust of wind compared to the stuff Cinder had tried earlier. "There. That tell you enough? Your big brain able to put together which one I am?" She sighed, rubbing at her head as the hangover headache intensified. "James shot Salem. Right. I'm going to have to ask you to take that from the top." ​

Watts fell on his ass because he was still slav squatting and did not have the balance to keep that going during an indoor gust. He heaved another breath on his back, before he pushed himself back up and kept his tone as level as he could.

"Unfortunately for everyone involved I have one more clarifying question. Please bear with me and just answer so we can both stop talking to each other as fast as possible." Gods, he thought her daughter rubbed him the wrong way. "Do you remember everything that happened to you last time? Do you even know there was a last time?

 

[MyrtenRose]

Watts fell on his ass because he was still slav squatting and did not have the balance to keep that going during an indoor gust. He heaved another breath on his back, before he pushed himself back up and kept his tone as level as he could.

"Unfortunately for everyone involved I have one more clarifying question. Please bear with me and just answer so we can both stop talking to each other as fast as possible." Gods, he thought her daughter rubbed him the wrong way. "Do you remember everything that happened to you last time? Do you even know there was a last time?

"Yeah." She nodded. "I remember it all. Unfortunately. They're just screwing with us now." She grumbled. "We're back here and everything's going to shit faster than before. Why I was out of it when...all that apparently went down. So...Ironwood losing his mind already, from the top." Raven paused before adding an extremely forced "please."​

 

[Gus Gungus]

"...You have fractured ribs. One of them has created a small laceration on your left lung, and if left untreated, it could worsen."​

"...Mom...?" Mercury slurred back to the metal woman in hushed, venerated tones, that and the fact that he'd broken out in cold sweats and now looked to be devoting 110% of his brainpower towards intently watching his hand move towards Penny's face providing as clear a picture as any of the android's scans as to what stage he was at in his Entropy rollercoaster ride. Judging from the pace his limb was setting, he'd be lucky to get there within the hour.
​

That made Neo's expression way more leery, her feelings about Penny essentially forced up to the forefront, and she glanced over to Merc-

Right.

She glanced over to Emerald for a second opinion.​

It admittedly took her a few seconds to pry her eyes off the utter spectacle of Watts and Yang's Mom from that one time unsheathing another full inch of claw in every single serve of their catty back-and-forth, and it made for a frankly hilarious parallel of Neo's treatment of Roman since his revival when she glanced at Mercury as if only just remembering he was messed up.

"Huh? You mean he's not just gonna lie there and get better?"

Dude packed such a strong aura that that was honestly a first in their time as partners, and she scratched her chin thoughtfully as she levied her gaze slowly back up to Penny.

"Hmmmm."

Did she like this chick? Honestly, not really. She wished she could've pretended a solid 90% of that before today hadn't come from the fact that A: she was a spaz and B: her semblance didn't work on her, but yeah no that was totally it.

Had she finally been given some real, palpable reasons not to trust this chick starting today? Hell yeah she had. She was just another cop now, whether she felt bad or not.

Mercury was being super annoying though. If this kept up much longer she was gonna start looking bad by association.

"Yeah, sure, whatever."​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"Yeah." She nodded. "I remember it all. Unfortunately. They're just screwing with us now." She grumbled. "We're back here and everything's going to shit faster than before. Why I was out of it when...all that apparently went down. So...Ironwood losing his mind already, from the top." Raven paused before adding an extremely forced "please."​

If Watts got any satisfaction out of that please, it didn't show outside of an exhausted sigh as he nodded. "Right. What little we know; from the top."

he told it. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to tell, and it only took a few minutes for him to share it.

"Now, you said your brother... disappeared." he eventually settled on, his tone serious as he ruminted on that. Why just him? Or were there others? and if so... what triggered it? "What about the others? I know you had a link to your daughter. Was she the only one? The other Penny? Taiyang's other daughter?"

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"...Mom...?" Mercury slurred back to the metal woman in hushed, venerated tones, that and the fact that he'd broken out in cold sweats and now looked to be devoting 110% of his brainpower towards intently watching his hand move towards Penny's face providing as clear a picture as any of the android's scans as to what stage he was at in his Entropy rollercoaster ride. Judging from the pace his limb was setting, he'd be lucky to get there within the hour.​

"I do not have that capacity" She answered Mercury with a mild stare. Her father did not find it a necessity for her duties or for a happy life.

It admittedly took her a few seconds to pry her eyes off the utter spectacle of Watts and Yang's Mom from that one time unsheathing another full inch of claw in every single serve of their catty back-and-forth, and it made for a frankly hilarious parallel of Neo's treatment of Roman since his revival when she glanced at Mercury as if only just remembering he was messed up.

"Huh? You mean he's not just gonna lie there and get better?"

Dude packed such a strong aura that that was honestly a first in their time as partners, and she scratched her chin thoughtfully as she levied her gaze slowly back up to Penny.

"Hmmmm."

Did she like this chick? Honestly, not really. She wished she could've pretended a solid 90% of that before today hadn't come from the fact that A: she was a spaz and B: her semblance didn't work on her, but yeah no that was totally it.

Had she finally been given some real, palpable reasons not to trust this chick starting today? Hell yeah she had. She was just another cop now, whether she felt bad or not.

Mercury was being super annoying though. If this kept up much longer she was gonna start looking bad by association.

"Yeah, sure, whatever."

Penny gave Emerald a sharp nod before she turned back to Mercury. She did not have a strong opinion on the other girl, outside of some dismay that she and Mercury, of all the others, seemed to believe the least that she had any existence outside of her steel form. She did not actually know when they found out about the reality of her existence. Cinder must have told them without informing her. That did not bother her how- *'Hiccup*-ever

Irregardless, she put on her warmest smile as her backpack opened and two of her blades floated out, staying unextended for once outside of two sharp points that jutted out, their tips gleaming with laser energy. "Please do not worry, Mercury Black" she said as her eyes glowed "I am very precise. Anasthestics from the kit please, Neopolitan"

Neo found the entire display way more creepy that comforting, and was determined to watch the entire thing through. Even though about ten seconds in she realized this was the exact opposite of what her aversion to the grislier of wounds wanted, her face squeamish and dismayed through the entire thing

 

[MyrtenRose]

If Watts got any satisfaction out of that please, it didn't show outside of an exhausted sigh as he nodded. "Right. What little we know; from the top."

he told it. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to tell, and it only took a few minutes for him to share it.

"Now, you said your brother... disappeared." he eventually settled on, his tone serious as he ruminted on that. Why just him? Or were there others? and if so... what triggered it? "What about the others? I know you had a link to your daughter. Was she the only one? The other Penny? Taiyang's other daughter?"

"............................................................Fuck."

That was about all that needed to be said on being told the whole story. Attempted arrest into full on assassinations and for all intents and purposes, a coup. Well, couldn't really be called an assassination if the victim wasn't dead, but the spirit of it remained. "Yes, Yang's the only one left. Now that he's..." She couldn't bring herself to say it again. "I had one with my Vernal but that doesn't extend across worlds. Timelines. Whichever word you want to use for it. It's just Yang now, and she's..." Raven reached out though her link to gauge Yang's current condition. She wasn't currently in danger, like she had been when she needed that save on the train long ago, but...

"She's in a cell." ​

 

[Gus Gungus]

Unfortunately, back of her mind didn't mean that the rest of the world was gonna just let it stay there without jamming its stupid mess into their lives again. Winter managed for the first time in both timelines to find Yang Xiao Long at an actual lost for words, staring up at her like a deer caught in the headlights from where she was knelt next to her sister's huddled form, with no idea how to handle one problem so dear and another so massive at the same time.

"...I-I..."

"We don't think Ironwood's already working for Ozpin or anything like that" Blake cut in, her own voice shaky but comparatively much more level than the other two as she gestured towards Salem and Goodwitch. "Even with this. But whether you believe it or not, if Yang's right about... some part of you remembering what happened last time, then I'm guessing what Ironwood's dreams are showing him are pushing him to extremes. He can feel whats coming, except he doesn't know how to stop it"

She glanced over to Yang and Ruby, their team leader especially. She'd been close, a few times in Atlas, to telling Ruby how much she meant to her. How lost and jaded she had been when she first got to Beacon, and how seeing how Ruby, even when she didn't know what to do, always did something, showed her that Blake could try to be that kind of person again herself. It just never seemed like the right time.

And now it seemed like those words may have almost done more harm than good. More pressure on her shoulders that they'd almost unwittingly been leaving for her to carry alone. So instead she was going to try and take some of that pressure off, even if she was the one here with the absolute least clue what was going on.

"But we've already told you everything we know, or however you want to spin us being here. So I guess what I'm asking is... what do you want us to do to help?"​

"...You can start by cuffing yourself."

Though Blake held her focus and the words from Ironwood's right hand were, as ever, stiff and uncompromising to their core, there was something ever-so-slightly odd about the smattering of half-glances she sent back towards Yang's cell, had any the mind to read into them. As if something about the sight of Yang reaching out for Ruby to no reaction sparked almost a softening in her eyes, some degree of sympathy.

Or, at the very least, an understanding.

She had to visibly orient herself, the inner cheek she had been chewing in thought both at whatever it was she saw and the precise nature of Blake's appeal setting in a grim frown instead as she forced her eyes back on the faunus and kept them pinned there, none of the emotion trying to fight its way to the surface betrayed with her next words save an edge of urgency.

"I was wrong about Carnelian. He's here, now, in Vale. Don't ask me how. He must've used alternative transport. The correspondence from Atlas has been…" She didn’t finish. What exactly the mode of transport was that could shave eight hours off a twelve-hour trip was a thought she didn't care to indulge too much right now, be that for pragmatism's sake or because it was simply outside her paygrade.

It wasn't anything a high-ranking official should've been making use of, that much she knew. But of course, Carnelian had always done things his own way.

"He'll be here within the hour."

From a glass case next to the cell she produced something akin to a four-sided clamp, and a pair of standard-issue gravity cuffs worlds apart from the high-tech monstrosities shackling Salem's hands were fed into the delivery mechanism before she pressed the device flush up against Blake's hardlight field and pushed a button.

FWISHHHHHHH

An impromptu security pass-through slot formed where the device touched the barrier, and the cuffs slid through to clatter to the floor at Blake's feet as Winter sent a furtive glance back the way she came, difficult to notice amid her eternal veneer of professionalism.

"Unfortunately, in light of an emerging pattern of harassment being perpetuated by one of our guards towards this cell in particular, I had no choice but to transfer its occupant to another detention carrier on the basis of prejudice. Which one specifically will remain unclear due to data loss caused by systems bloat until such a time as general Carnelian has concluded his interrogation."

She gave Blake a hard, neutral stare, clearly the result of several hours of concerted will to practice brought on by her difficulty in doing so earlier.

"Understood?"​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"...You can start by cuffing yourself."

Though Blake held her focus and the words from Ironwood's right hand were, as ever, stiff and uncompromising to their core, there was something ever-so-slightly odd about the smattering of half-glances she sent back towards Yang's cell, had any the mind to read into them. As if something about the sight of Yang reaching out for Ruby to no reaction sparked almost a softening in her eyes, some degree of sympathy.

Or, at the very least, an understanding.

She had to visibly orient herself, the inner cheek she had been chewing in thought both at whatever it was she saw and the precise nature of Blake's appeal setting in a grim frown instead as she forced her eyes back on the faunus and kept them pinned there, none of the emotion trying to fight its way to the surface betrayed with her next words save an edge of urgency.

"I was wrong about Carnelian. He's here, now, in Vale. Don't ask me how. He must've used alternative transport. The correspondence from Atlas has been…" She didn’t finish. What exactly the mode of transport was that could shave eight hours off a twelve-hour trip was a thought she didn't care to indulge too much right now, be that for pragmatism's sake or because it was simply outside her paygrade.

It wasn't anything a high-ranking official should've been making use of, that much she knew. But of course, Carnelian had always done things his own way.

"He'll be here within the hour."

From a glass case next to the cell she produced something akin to a four-sided clamp, and a pair of standard-issue gravity cuffs worlds apart from the high-tech monstrosities shackling Salem's hands were fed into the delivery mechanism before she pressed the device flush up against Blake's hardlight field and pushed a button.

FWISHHHHHHH

An impromptu security pass-through slot formed where the device touched the barrier, and the cuffs slid through to clatter to the floor at Blake's feet as Winter sent a furtive glance back the way she came, difficult to notice amid her eternal veneer of professionalism.

"Unfortunately, in light of an emerging pattern of harassment being perpetuated by one of our guards towards this cell in particular, I had no choice but to transfer its occupant to another detention carrier on the basis of prejudice. Which one specifically will remain unclear due to data loss caused by systems bloat until such a time as general Carnelian has concluded his interrogation."

She gave Blake a hard, neutral stare, clearly the result of several hours of concerted will to practice brought on by her difficulty in doing so earlier.

"Understood?"​

Blake stared at the cuffs on the ground, wide eyed. There had been fear in them a few moments ago at the mention of Carnelian already being here, but that wasn't what was staying her hand now. Yang cut in with a weak jab as she waved her hand, trying to find her footing in this conversation via mild antagonizement of Winter as a sort of like, centering exercise "So am I just gonna wear mine like a wristband or what?"

Blake finally answered, having been paying much more attention to Winter's words as she looked up, words shaky but eyes firm. "I am not leaving my teammates with that monster. Just because they're not faunus doesn't mean he won't..."

...do what he did.

A few minutes ago Yang might've encouraged Blake otherwise; it was better for all three of them if any of them were outside stupid little box of a room, and maybe her and Ruby could.... handle it, or whatever.

That had changed, and the thought of psychic psycho getting his claws into a very not okay Ruby struck Yang like a bullet, not a problem she had ever really considered as she glanced between her sister and Winter with her mouth stuck slightly open, genuinely unsure what to say.

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"............................................................Fuck."

That was about all that needed to be said on being told the whole story. Attempted arrest into full on assassinations and for all intents and purposes, a coup. Well, couldn't really be called an assassination if the victim wasn't dead, but the spirit of it remained. "Yes, Yang's the only one left. Now that he's..." She couldn't bring herself to say it again. "I had one with my Vernal but that doesn't extend across worlds. Timelines. Whichever word you want to use for it. It's just Yang now, and she's..." Raven reached out though her link to gauge Yang's current condition. She wasn't currently in danger, like she had been when she needed that save on the train long ago, but...

"She's in a cell."

Watts nodded slowly at that, then finally stood up, extending his hand down to Raven as his brain ran through their possible next steps, all of which seemed like they would suck on both physical and emotional levels, which was par for the course at this point.

"I suppose that leads to the next question; whats your stake in this now?"

As much as he hated it, he found himself asking the same question James probably had once all had been said and done in Salem's office; Which pieces did they have left on the board?

And where were all the enemy's?

 

[Gus Gungus]

The clock struck twelve at Beacon Academy, and a shadow loomed.

Under ordinary circumstances, the morning of the final day of the Vytal Festival's vaunted tournament was to be a morning of anticipation. Of revelry, of camaraderie between the kingdoms, and broadly speaking—of love. Of joy. Of peace, trust, and of all the things that separated the human and the faunus from the creatures of Grimm they fought so tirelessly.

In that respect, the morning of this final was unlike any other. Speculation ran amok like wildfire through the campus of Vale's academy of huntsmen and huntresses as to what precisely had unfolded in Salem's tower, quelled only by contingents of soldiers that looked to have at least doubled in size since yesterday, and yet still there was a hush in the air. The storm humanity was weathering had taken its toll in every corner of the known world, and rare was the soul who could claim to have remained unscathed; Homes abandoned. Dreams laid to ruin. Loved ones lost to hunger, plague, strife, or simply the cold, unforgiving claws of Grimm; Now more than ever before men and women across the land huddled together in the cold dark and spoke of the end times, of a tide that had turned and could not be turned back, taking what small comforts they could in each other, in their faiths, or in whatever brought them some small measure of peace as they waited hand-in-hand for the end.

Or, better yet.



For salvation.

"Students. Administration. People of Vale. People of Remnant."

All across Remnant, on every screen in every home, from the smallest homestead to the highest palace, the stoic visage of general James Ironwood flickered into view. The worldwide address had been announced just a few short hours ago, a preemptive response to the troubling rumors that had started to circulate throughout the Vale region and beyond, and a civilization watched with bated breath as he stood before them; tall, proud, composed in spite of the weight of the world bearing down on him. Even far removed from it as he was, he could feel their desperation in that moment—their longing for something, anything.

Anything that could rekindle the spark of hope.

"This morning marks the final day of the fortieth biennial Vytal Festival. A celebration of peace. Of prosperity. Of all the things that make life worth living."

His eyes lidded; he paused briefly, as if to ponder where to go from there, then spoke again.

"...I'm not here to tell any of you what those words mean. What... what defines them. For that, each of us has to look inward. But I can tell you what you already know, every bit as well as I do. And that is that somewhere in the last two years... these things have all but disappeared from view."

He sighed, and his features adopted a world-weary aspect that went well beyond his years.

"I know at times it must seem like your pleas are going unanswered. That the ones in power are blind to the truth of what's happening out there, and deaf to your cries for help. And you've been given all the runaround answers to those concerns before." His brow furrowed, corners of his lips twitching downward. "I stand before you today not to placate you, not to appease you, but to promise you, from the bottom of my heart, that I see you. I hear you. Every single one of you is under my protection; the kind of protection only the kingdom of Atlas can offer. When Mistral fell to lawlessness and addiction, we were there to lend troops and support. When the blights started, when the crops and the animals died out, when those who could no longer see a future started lighting torches on the edges of their farmsteads at night and being beckoned off into woods by a cult of degenerates and lunatics, we developed synthetic foodstuffs to stem the tide. When new forms of Grimm came out of the north, older and more nightmarish than anything put to record, we were the first line of defense keeping them at bay. And when the people of Vale called for that defense in turn, for this, our proudest and most crucial of traditions, yet again—Atlas answered."

The pride kept into his posture at the same rate it did his voice, and it was an Ironwood who seemed to stand much taller and with shoulders far squarer that pressed on, robotic hand tightening into a fist for emphasis.

"Innovation. Protection. That is the future I've seen for Atlas from the day I took office. Not a kingdom whose legacy is one of conquest and war, but the ones proudly leading the way, using our prosperity to gladly bear the brunt of Remnant's burdens. Carrying the torch when times are dark. A suit of armor around the kingdoms. That vision is why I make this announcement."

Even the most jaded and critical of Atlas were watching with rapt attention, now, something about the general's solemn bearing and frank choice of words appearing to strike a chord.

"A number of years ago, I put out a call. A challenge to the leading minds of my kingdom to defy the conventions of our technological progress; To discover bold new ways to innovate. To protect. Regrettably, it hasn't always been as straightforward as I’d have liked—the road to progress has been paved with many setbacks. Many… many disappointments."

His tone almost seemed to soften for a moment, then grew twice as hard to compensate, along with his eyes; and for those adept at seeing such things there was almost a faint sense that his next sentence carried an accusatory personal edge.

"Many failures."

His jaw tightened, but he went on.

"Failures I was naive enough to invest valuable time and resources in. But now, in our darkest hour, I'm proud to announce that at last we may have found the solution. The way forward. Since the dawn of man, our greatest weapon against all that would seek to lay us low has been Dust. Remnant's most abundant natural resource, and one that has served us well in every aspect of our development. A cornerstone." His next words carried the gravest implications yet. "Many of you may be aware of the... well, I won’t mince words—disturbing nature of recent reports coming from the Dust trade. That the yields this year haven’t been anywhere near what they have in the past. That the mines are drying up. Among my greatest regrets is that I cannot stand here today and dispel those rumours in good conscience.”

He closed his eyes, contrition etched plainly across his typically reserved countenance, before they flashed back open with sudden steel.

“What I can offer is an alternative.”

FWOOM

Spoiler

A blur so quick the lens struggled to capture it flickered across the surface of the screen, and for a moment the most obvious visual accompaniment to the noise of sheer impact peaking through the speakers was the breeze ruffling Ironwood’s hair and blazer.

Then it stood up.

“Mankind has always excelled at using the world around us to our benefit, but this has never been our true strength. No, our true advantage over the creatures of darkness is something I’ve already made reference to—the ability to look inwards.”

They rose from the landing with a whirr of gears and servos. Their form was obscured by interlocked, overlapping plates of metal hued platinum with royal blue accents, with the sole exception being the Atlesian military insignia on one pauldron and a series of geometric squares patterned into a crimson M stenciled on the chestplate.

“To dig deep, and harness the power inherent in our very souls.”

A pair of gun barrels jutted out on either side of their right hand, with a hardlight emitter connected to their left, and a much larger cannon protruding just behind their left shoulder, currently slid out of firing position to rest against their back.

“Born from a scrapyard of dead-end research and false starts, what I bring to you today is the product of the latest in aura-integrative technologies. I believe it has the potential to end our dependence on Dust, to alter the trajectory of humanity itself; To turn the tide back in our favor. In short…”

Their face was entirely hidden by a viewport, the sort that made it unhelpful unclear as to whether the newcomer was even human or some sort of advanced attack drone, only for the matter to be swiftly clarified by the lower plate retracting to unveil the human jaw of the pilot beneath, mouth set in a stoic grimace.

“…I believe it was meant to save the world.”

He clasped both hands behind his back and took a calm, lateral step, occupying the side of the dais opposite to the armoured pilot to allow a third and final figure to join them on the platform. As he did so, he continued to speak.

“Tonight will mark a conclusion of the Vytal tournament like no other. A landmark moment in our history; a demonstration of technology soon to be part of standard deployment for every enlisted troop with an active aura. Before the week is out every man and woman, human or faunus, with the capacity to protect and serve will be the equal of even the most fearsome of Grimm, the most tenured of huntsman or huntress.” He hummed, sounding almost amused in his next words. “But don’t take my word for it. You’ve all been forced to believe in platitudes and fairy stories for far too long as is. No, here to provide a precise operational breakdown of this bold new vision for Remnant’s future… I bring you the innovator behind it. The leading scientific mind in all of Atlas.”

He gestured.

“Dr. Elric Merlot.”

The figure who had as-yet remained out of the spotlight stepped forward, holographic sensors at last scanning him in full. Even with his lab coat buttoned up and hair and beard slicked with some styling product or another his dishevelment comparative to Ironwood was apparent, yet he carried a certain intellectual elegance all the same; bionic arm quite unlike any of the models available on the market rising up to stroke down his beard with a vainglorious air.

“Ladies and gentlemen, it is my most ardent pleasure to give to you my masterstroke.”

He smiled, one eye flaring wide with delight, the other pulsing a deep cybernetic red.

“The Phylactery Project.”

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𝔸𝕟𝕕 𝕝𝕠, 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕓𝕠𝕒𝕣𝕕 𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕖𝕥𝕤 𝕒𝕟𝕖𝕨.

𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕡𝕚𝕖𝕔𝕖𝕤 𝕒𝕤𝕤𝕦𝕞𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕚𝕣 𝕗𝕚𝕟𝕒𝕝 𝕡𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕖𝕤.

𝕋𝕨𝕠 𝕘𝕖𝕟𝕖𝕣𝕒𝕝𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕚𝕟 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕗𝕣𝕠𝕫𝕖𝕟 𝕤𝕠𝕝𝕕𝕚𝕖𝕣, 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕚𝕣 𝕞𝕠𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕤 𝕨𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕕, 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕚𝕣 𝕔𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕤𝕖𝕤 𝕤𝕖𝕥, 𝕞𝕒𝕣𝕔𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕙𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕝𝕠𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕠𝕨𝕒𝕣𝕕 𝕒𝕟𝕟𝕚𝕙𝕚𝕝𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟.

𝕆𝕦𝕣 𝕞𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕜𝕖𝕤. 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕔𝕦𝕞𝕓𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕠𝕞𝕖 𝕤𝕡𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕒𝕘𝕖 𝕠𝕗 𝕚𝕟𝕜. 𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕥𝕒𝕝𝕖 𝕨𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕞, 𝕒𝕤 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕨𝕖.

𝔽𝕒𝕥𝕖’𝕤 𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕞𝕖𝕣 𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕞𝕡𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕤. 𝕀𝕟𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕡𝕝𝕖𝕥𝕖, 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕚𝕣 𝕗𝕒𝕓𝕝𝕖 𝕦𝕟𝕗𝕚𝕟𝕚𝕤𝕙𝕖𝕕, 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕚𝕣 𝕡𝕦𝕣𝕡𝕠𝕤𝕖 𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖 𝕦𝕟𝕔𝕖𝕣𝕥𝕒𝕚𝕟 𝕓𝕪 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕣.

𝕐𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕔𝕙𝕠𝕤𝕖𝕟. 𝕎𝕒𝕪𝕗𝕒𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕔𝕙𝕚𝕝𝕕𝕣𝕖𝕟, 𝕨𝕒𝕪𝕨𝕒𝕣𝕕 𝕤𝕠𝕦𝕝𝕤. 𝕌𝕟𝕤𝕙𝕒𝕔𝕜𝕝𝕖𝕕 𝕗𝕣𝕠𝕞 𝕕𝕖𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕪, 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕪 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕜 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕪 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕖𝕤𝕔𝕒𝕡𝕖𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕚𝕣 𝕗𝕒𝕥𝕖 𝕒𝕥𝕠𝕡 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕞𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕚𝕟. ℍ𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕟𝕠𝕥 𝕥𝕠𝕝𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕞, 𝕓𝕣𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣?

𝕋𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝕞𝕦𝕤𝕥 𝕒𝕝𝕨𝕒𝕪𝕤 𝕗𝕒𝕝𝕝?

𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕜 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕤𝕥𝕪𝕞𝕚𝕖𝕕 𝕞𝕖, 𝕚𝕟 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕕𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕠𝕗 𝕙𝕖𝕣.

𝕐𝕖𝕥 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕨 𝕟𝕠𝕥 𝕨𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕨𝕣𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥. 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕤𝕝𝕖𝕖𝕡𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕕𝕣𝕒𝕘𝕠𝕟 𝕚𝕤 𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕖𝕟. 𝕀𝕟 𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝕤𝕠𝕦𝕝'𝕤 𝕨𝕖𝕒𝕜𝕟𝕖𝕤𝕤, 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕤 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕤𝕖𝕥 𝕒𝕤 𝕣𝕖𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕘𝕖𝕕 𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕝.

𝔸𝕟𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕪 𝕪𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕟 𝕥𝕠 𝕤𝕖𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕔𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕓𝕦𝕣𝕟.

𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕘𝕖 𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕖𝕥𝕤. 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕤 𝕥𝕒𝕜𝕖 𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝕗𝕚𝕟𝕒𝕝 𝕓𝕠𝕨. 𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕨𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕓𝕖 𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕝𝕒𝕤𝕥 𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣, 𝕓𝕣𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣, 𝕞𝕒𝕜𝕖 𝕟𝕠 𝕞𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕜𝕖. 𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕪 𝕨𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕚𝕥𝕤 𝕖𝕟𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘.

𝔹𝕦𝕥 𝕚𝕥 𝕚𝕤 𝕟𝕠𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕒𝕨.

𝔽𝕠𝕣 𝕨𝕖 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕞𝕖𝕕𝕕𝕝𝕖𝕕 𝕥𝕠𝕠 𝕝𝕠𝕟𝕘 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕥𝕠𝕠 𝕕𝕖𝕖𝕡. 𝕎𝕖 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕕𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕓𝕖𝕕 𝕤𝕠𝕞𝕖𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘, 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕒𝕥 𝕝𝕒𝕤𝕥 𝕚𝕥 𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕣𝕤, 𝕔𝕣𝕒𝕨𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕗𝕣𝕠𝕞 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕝𝕠𝕟𝕘 𝕕𝕒𝕣𝕜. 𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕕𝕠 𝕟𝕠𝕥 𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕨 𝕚𝕥 𝕒𝕤 𝕀 𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕨 𝕚𝕥. 𝔹𝕦𝕥 𝕚𝕥 𝕙𝕒𝕤 𝕒𝕝𝕨𝕒𝕪𝕤 𝕓𝕖𝕖𝕟, 𝕝𝕦𝕣𝕜𝕚𝕟𝕘, 𝕨𝕒𝕥𝕔𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘, 𝕡𝕣𝕠𝕨𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕒𝕝𝕠𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕓𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕞𝕪 𝕕𝕠𝕞𝕒𝕚𝕟.

𝔸𝕟𝕕 𝕠𝕙, 𝕙𝕠𝕨 𝕚𝕥 𝕙𝕒𝕤 𝕙𝕦𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕣𝕖𝕕 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕦𝕤 𝕒𝕝𝕝.

 

[Gus Gungus]

"Watts, what the shit? Are you a narc?" Emerald asked bluntly at whatever point enough time passed for them to see that particular broadcast, turning to whoever'd listen. "I always kinda thought he was a narc."

"The moon! It's fixed!"

"You're dirt to me right now."​

 

[MyrtenRose]

Watts nodded slowly at that, then finally stood up, extending his hand down to Raven as his brain ran through their possible next steps, all of which seemed like they would suck on both physical and emotional levels, which was par for the course at this point.

"I suppose that leads to the next question; whats your stake in this now?"

As much as he hated it, he found himself asking the same question James probably had once all had been said and done in Salem's office; Which pieces did they have left on the board?

And where were all the enemy's?

"Not going to lie, I feel I need another drink. But seeing as those aren't typically found on standard issue ships like this...I unfortunately can not have that." She replied, not bothering to hide her bitter disappointment. "Beyond that...I don't belong here. A lot of us don't belong here, and they have to get home. For..." For someone who was no longer in a position to achieve that goal were the words that stuck in her throat. ["They just have to get there. So I suppose I'll do what it takes to see that through...or try to." Raven hesitated, looking around the ship."I could...try to arrange their escape. My semblance would make that easy enough. The thing is, though...I'm not sure that I should. Not yet. After what you said he had done to Salem, and Glynda too...I don't know how far he's willing to go. She may be in his clutches, but that also means she's currently not in his crosshairs. Maybe...maybe right now that's for the best."​

“Tonight will mark a conclusion of the Vytal tournament like no other. A landmark moment in our history; a demonstration of technology soon to be part of standard deployment for every enlisted troop with an active aura. Before the week is out every man and woman, human or faunus, with the capacity to protect and serve will be the equal of even the most fearsome of Grimm, the most tenured of huntsman or huntress.” He hummed, sounding almost amused in his next words. “But don’t take my word for it. You’ve all been forced to believe in platitudes and fairy stories for far too long as is. No, here to provide a precise operational breakdown of this bold new vision for Remnant’s future… I bring you the innovator behind it. The leading scientific mind in all of Atlas.”

He gestured.

“Dr. Elric Merlot.”

The figure who had as-yet remained out of the spotlight stepped forward, holographic sensors at last scanning him in full. Even with his lab coat buttoned up and hair and beard slicked with some styling product or another his dishevelment comparative to Ironwood was apparent, yet he carried a certain intellectual elegance all the same; bionic arm quite unlike any of the models available on the market rising up to stroke down his beard with a vainglorious air.

“Ladies and gentlemen, it is my most ardent pleasure to give to you my masterstroke.”

He smiled, one eye flaring wide with delight, the other pulsing a deep cybernetic red.

“The Phylactery Project.”

Her scroll pinged with an alert, though she was slow getting it out of her pocket, initially having wanted to ignore it. By the time she'd pulled it out, the broadcast was already playing out onscreen, and she watched silently. There was a lot to digest there, but what held her attention the most was James' finishing stroke on that lengthy speech, his plan going forward...suits of armor for every one of his soldiers. The James she knew always had a lot of confidence in his military might...she'd have called it overconfidence, personally...but even if these suits were only half as good as this James made them out to be, that was still nothing to sneer at.​

"Watts, what the shit? Are you a narc?" Emerald asked bluntly at whatever point enough time passed for them to see that particular broadcast, turning to whoever'd listen. "I always kinda thought he was a narc."

"The moon! It's fixed!"

"You're dirt to me right now."​

She just squinted as she looked back and forth between Emerald and Watts, clearly expectant of an explanation.​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"Not going to lie, I feel I need another drink. But seeing as those aren't typically found on standard issue ships like this...I unfortunately can not have that." She replied, not bothering to hide her bitter disappointment. "Beyond that...I don't belong here. A lot of us don't belong here, and they have to get home. For..." For someone who was no longer in a position to achieve that goal were the words that stuck in her throat. ["They just have to get there. So I suppose I'll do what it takes to see that through...or try to." Raven hesitated, looking around the ship."I could...try to arrange their escape. My semblance would make that easy enough. The thing is, though...I'm not sure that I should. Not yet. After what you said he had done to Salem, and Glynda too...I don't know how far he's willing to go. She may be in his clutches, but that also means she's currently not in his crosshairs. Maybe...maybe right now that's for the best."​

"Its not" Watts disagreed with grim bluntness. "Assuming they're in Vale at least, if the attack still happens here then they're only going to be sitting ducks for whoever or whatever finds- wait, them? She's not by herself? Who-"

His eyes narrowed as his rings vibrated slightly, not exactly expecting a call or for anyone to be able to make a call with the security he'd set up, but when he saw it was just a priority broadcast, he glanced around at the others before throwing it onto the Manta's mission briefing screens.

For salvation.

"Students. Administration. People of Vale. People of Remnant."

All across Remnant, on every screen in every home, from the smallest homestead to the highest palace, the stoic visage of general James Ironwood flickered into view. The worldwide address had been announced just a few short hours ago, a preemptive response to the troubling rumors that had started to circulate throughout the Vale region and beyond, and a civilization watched with bated breath as he stood before them; tall, proud, composed in spite of the weight of the world bearing down on him. Even far removed from it as he was, he could feel their desperation in that moment—their longing for something, anything.

Anything that could rekindle the spark of hope.

"This morning marks the final day of the fortieth biennial Vytal Festival. A celebration of peace. Of prosperity. Of all the things that make life worth living."

His eyes lidded; he paused briefly, as if to ponder where to go from there, then spoke again.

"...I'm not here to tell any of you what those words mean. What... what defines them. For that, each of us has to look inward. But I can tell you what you already know, every bit as well as I do. And that is that somewhere in the last two years... these things have all but disappeared from view."

He sighed, and his features adopted a world-weary aspect that went well beyond his years.

"I know at times it must seem like your pleas are going unanswered. That the ones in power are blind to the truth of what's happening out there, and deaf to your cries for help. And you've been given all the runaround answers to those concerns before." His brow furrowed, corners of his lips twitching downward. "I stand before you today not to placate you, not to appease you, but to promise you, from the bottom of my heart, that I see you. I hear you. Every single one of you is under my protection; the kind of protection only the kingdom of Atlas can offer. When Mistral fell to lawlessness and addiction, we were there to lend troops and support. When the blights started, when the crops and the animals died out, when those who could no longer see a future started lighting torches on the edges of their farmsteads at night and being beckoned off into woods by a cult of degenerates and lunatics, we developed synthetic foodstuffs to stem the tide. When new forms of Grimm came out of the north, older and more nightmarish than anything put to record, we were the first line of defense keeping them at bay. And when the people of Vale called for that defense in turn, for this, our proudest and most crucial of traditions, yet again—Atlas answered."

The pride kept into his posture at the same rate it did his voice, and it was an Ironwood who seemed to stand much taller and with shoulders far squarer that pressed on, robotic hand tightening into a fist for emphasis.

"Innovation. Protection. That is the future I've seen for Atlas from the day I took office. Not a kingdom whose legacy is one of conquest and war, but the ones proudly leading the way, using our prosperity to gladly bear the brunt of Remnant's burdens. Carrying the torch when times are dark. A suit of armor around the kingdoms. That vision is why I make this announcement."

Even the most jaded and critical of Atlas were watching with rapt attention, now, something about the general's solemn bearing and frank choice of words appearing to strike a chord.

"A number of years ago, I put out a call. A challenge to the leading minds of my kingdom to defy the conventions of our technological progress; To discover bold new ways to innovate. To protect. Regrettably, it hasn't always been as straightforward as I’d have liked—the road to progress has been paved with many setbacks. Many… many disappointments."

His tone almost seemed to soften for a moment, then grew twice as hard to compensate, along with his eyes; and for those adept at seeing such things there was almost a faint sense that his next sentence carried an accusatory personal edge.

"Many failures."

His jaw tightened, but he went on.

"Failures I was naive enough to invest valuable time and resources in. But now, in our darkest hour, I'm proud to announce that at last we may have found the solution. The way forward. Since the dawn of man, our greatest weapon against all that would seek to lay us low has been Dust. Remnant's most abundant natural resource, and one that has served us well in every aspect of our development. A cornerstone." His next words carried the gravest implications yet. "Many of you may be aware of the... well, I won’t mince words—disturbing nature of recent reports coming from the Dust trade. That the yields this year haven’t been anywhere near what they have in the past. That the mines are drying up. Among my greatest regrets is that I cannot stand here today and dispel those rumours in good conscience.”

He closed his eyes, contrition etched plainly across his typically reserved countenance, before they flashed back open with sudden steel.

“What I can offer is an alternative.”

FWOOM

A blur so quick the lens struggled to capture it flickered across the surface of the screen, and for a moment the most obvious visual accompaniment to the noise of sheer impact peaking through the speakers was the breeze ruffling Ironwood’s hair and blazer.

Then it stood up.

Watts almost turned it off before the broadcast made it to that point, his eyes rolling. It was a bunch of the usual propaganda hogwash, but he let it play on because he knew it was the sort of words rolled out to soften the blow of whatever came next; whatever James actually wanted to announce, be it Salem's deposement or whatever else.

At least until the soldier landed.

His brow furrowed, concerned. That sort of power output was beyond most atlesian drones. It had more in common with Penny, or with...

“Mankind has always excelled at using the world around us to our benefit, but this has never been our true strength. No, our true advantage over the creatures of darkness is something I’ve already made reference to—the ability to look inwards.”

They rose from the landing with a whirr of gears and servos. Their form was obscured by interlocked, overlapping plates of metal hued platinum with royal blue accents, with the sole exception being the Atlesian military insignia on one pauldron and a series of geometric squares patterned into a crimson M stenciled on the chestplate.

No. It couldn't be that. The plans didn't exist for it yet. The thought of it hadn't be thought in this timeline yet, not until he was dumped back into it.

“To dig deep, and harness the power inherent in our very souls.”

A pair of gun barrels jutted out on either side of their right hand, with a hardlight emitter connected to their left, and a much larger cannon protruding just behind their left shoulder, currently slid out of firing position to rest against their back.

“Born from a scrapyard of dead-end research and false starts, what I bring to you today is the product of the latest in aura-integrative technologies. I believe it has the potential to end our dependence on Dust, to alter the trajectory of humanity itself; To turn the tide back in our favor. In short…”

Their face was entirely hidden by a viewport, the sort that made it unhelpful unclear as to whether the newcomer was even human or some sort of advanced attack drone, only for the matter to be swiftly clarified by the lower plate retracting to unveil the human jaw of the pilot beneath, mouth set in a stoic grimace.

Everything was the exact same. Right down to the hardlight shield, clearly designed to be worn upon the wrist and then interlock with the suit once it was worn. He wouldn't even be surprised if it modulated into a god damn air scooter. Because that was...

“Ladies and gentlemen, it is my most ardent pleasure to give to you my masterstroke.”

He smiled, one eye flaring wide with delight, the other pulsing a deep cybernetic red.

“The Phylactery Project.”

"Watts, what the shit? Are you a narc?" Emerald asked bluntly at whatever point enough time passed for them to see that particular broadcast, turning to whoever'd listen. "I always kinda thought he was a narc."

"The moon! It's fixed!"

"You're dirt to me right now."

When she turned back to him, Watts had a different look than she'd or any of the others had seen on him. Not fear, not like when he thought Cinder's life was in danger. Nor anger, not like when James had betrayed them.

He looked harrowed.

One hand was held against his mouth, the other gripping its opposite's elbow, as he stared wide eyed at the screen. The same name. The same suit.

The same cost.

Gods. What had he just let out into the world?

"...We have three priorities." He said, his voice hoarse. "Finding somewhere to land. Finding out how much has changed, if the attack is going to be here, somewhere else, or if its even happening. anymore, and making sure Beacon is prepared if it is. And lastly" he said, as he slowly pointed at the screen.

"That thing cannot be shown to the world. No more can be made. We stop its production, or everything else we're doing is pointless."

 

[Gus Gungus]

"Not going to lie, I feel I need another drink. But seeing as those aren't typically found on standard issue ships like this...I unfortunately can not have that." She replied, not bothering to hide her bitter disappointment.​

“Hey, you know what you could do?” Emerald chirped back breezily, delivery so natural in how bright and friendly it was it was hard to imagine it being affected.

“Roll on over to Mercury, lie down, smoke a ton of crack and drop dead. Cuz no offence, but from what I’m hearing that’s about how useful you are to us right now.”

In her defence, she missed the part about her brother in her and Watts’ pissing contest.
​

"...We have three priorities." He said, his voice hoarse. "Finding somewhere to land. Finding out how much has changed, if the attack is going to be here, somewhere else, or if its even happening. anymore, and making sure Beacon is prepared if it is. And lastly" he said, as he slowly pointed at the screen.

"That thing cannot be shown to the world. No more can be made. We stop its production, or everything else we're doing is pointless."​

Their dormmates’ team leader and his… uncharacteristic reaction to news that admittedly still had the gears turning over in Emerald’s head as it pertained to the consequences did at the very least garner a raised eyebrow, but with Mercury still experiencing ego death she was taking it as her cue to be the voice of reason-slash-devil’s advocate in the room.

Not to mention she was pretty much dissociating hard from all of this and falling back on old character traits to compensate for the lustre her brain just wasn’t bringing to… any of this, but that was for her to not think about. What did it matter? Neo didn’t need the Mercury and Emerald that had come to the forefront after Roman died anymore.

Who did, exactly?

“Riiiiight. Except you know those aren’t the same level of priority at all, right?”

She gave a chiding huff, rolling her eyes.

“I know you’re pissy someone stole your shiny toy, Watts, and I can’t believe I have to be the one to say this, but like. Maybe an army of super fascist robots might actually be a good thing for tonight. However that develops from there sounds like Salem’s problem, after we spring her. Right now the only thing we need to worry about is ditching this ship and figuring out where the actual fuck we go from here.”​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

“Riiiiight. Except you know those aren’t the same level of priority at all, right?”

She gave a chiding huff, rolling her eyes.

“I know you’re pissy someone stole your shiny toy, Watts, and I can’t believe I have to be the one to say this, but like. Maybe an army of super fascist robots might actually be a good thing for tonight. However that develops from there sounds like Salem’s problem, after we spring her. Right now the only thing we need to worry about is ditching this ship and figuring out where the actual fuck we go from here.”

"Its not that simple." Watts hissed, rubbing at his eyes as he tried to gather his thoughts. "The specifics are... complicated, but..." There was a moment's hesitation in his voice, before he continued "The suit is functional at a lower level with just a person's ambient aura. Low effort combat and the like. However, its capable of pulling much more than that. I..."

He sat on his words again, before in continued

"....unlocked my semblance. An otherwise literally useless one" he continued, closing his eyes fully to instead pinch at the bridge of his nose, sounding vexed. "If something pulls aura out, rather than depletes it, it can refill itself. Its the reason I can use phylactery safely. Anyone else using it, if they push it into even medium combat, it will start pulling years off their life. First slowly, then exponentially."

He stared at the soldier in the picture, the video frozen so he could study the suit.

"In the hands of an untrained individual, in an attack at the scale that the previous Beacon strike was... they probably wouldn't make it through the day before they withered inside the suit. And Ironwood wants to give them to everyone"

he turned back to Emerald, then round to the rest as well.

"We've all seen how far Ironwood is willing to push himself and others for his greater good. I... can't be responsible for this. If Ironwood follows through with this, then my creation is going to drain hundreds, maybe thousands of soldiers just trying to protect their homes dry. Dust in the wind. I know Ozpin takes priority, but... this would be too much evil put back into the world trying to excise a different one. Please."

 

[MyrtenRose]

"Its not" Watts disagreed with grim bluntness. "Assuming they're in Vale at least, if the attack still happens here then they're only going to be sitting ducks for whoever or whatever finds- wait, them? She's not by herself? Who-"

His eyes narrowed as his rings vibrated slightly, not exactly expecting a call or for anyone to be able to make a call with the security he'd set up, but when he saw it was just a priority broadcast, he glanced around at the others before throwing it onto the Manta's mission briefing screens.

"Hrm." She grunted so noncommittally it was difficult to tell if she was voicing agreement or disagreement with his response. The lack of any further words on that subject didn't help.​

“Hey, you know what you could do?” Emerald chirped back breezily, delivery so natural in how bright and friendly it was it was hard to imagine it being affected.

“Roll on over to Mercury, lie down, smoke a ton of crack and drop dead. Cuz no offence, but from what I’m hearing that’s about how useful you are to us right now.”

In her defence, she missed the part about her brother in her and Watts’ pissing contest.

She stared down Emerald after hearing that, expression unreadable...up until it flickered away with shame and settled on the floor. "Never said I was going to be useful, kid." Raven admitted with a sad grimace. The list of people she'd let down, failed, abandoned...it was a mile long. Tai, Summer, her brother, Ozpin, Vernal, her whole tribe...........Yang. That's who she'd been for so long. The one who leaves, who runs away. She didn't want to be that person anymore, but she was still kind of on brand as she got up, walked over to the exit ramp and lightly punched the open button, whereupon she sat down on the edge of it. Her thoughts were known only to her.​

“Riiiiight. Except you know those aren’t the same level of priority at all, right?”

She gave a chiding huff, rolling her eyes.

“I know you’re pissy someone stole your shiny toy, Watts, and I can’t believe I have to be the one to say this, but like. Maybe an army of super fascist robots might actually be a good thing for tonight. However that develops from there sounds like Salem’s problem, after we spring her. Right now the only thing we need to worry about is ditching this ship and figuring out where the actual fuck we go from here.”

"Its not that simple." Watts hissed, rubbing at his eyes as he tried to gather his thoughts. "The specifics are... complicated, but..." There was a moment's hesitation in his voice, before he continued "The suit is functional at a lower level with just a person's ambient aura. Low effort combat and the like. However, its capable of pulling much more than that. I..."

He sat on his words again, before in continued

"....unlocked my semblance. An otherwise literally useless one" he continued, closing his eyes fully to instead pinch at the bridge of his nose, sounding vexed. "If something pulls aura out, rather than depletes it, it can refill itself. Its the reason I can use phylactery safely. Anyone else using it, if they push it into even medium combat, it will start pulling years off their life. First slowly, then exponentially."

He stared at the soldier in the picture, the video frozen so he could study the suit.

"In the hands of an untrained individual, in an attack at the scale that the previous Beacon strike was... they probably wouldn't make it through the day before they withered inside the suit. And Ironwood wants to give them to everyone"

he turned back to Emerald, then round to the rest as well.

"We've all seen how far Ironwood is willing to push himself and others for his greater good. I... can't be responsible for this. If Ironwood follows through with this, then my creation is going to drain hundreds, maybe thousands of soldiers just trying to protect their homes dry. Dust in the wind. I know Ozpin takes priority, but... this would be too much evil put back into the world trying to excise a different one. Please."

Her eyes briefly followed Raven as the elder huntress walked off, but as soon as she heard that from Arthur, Cinder sprang up so suddenly from where she was lying down that she was pretty sure she heard something inside her crack though there was no pain from it. She stared with wide eyes, just about wider than they'd ever been, and full of worry and fear. "That suit...does that?!?" She yelled like she couldn't believe it. Gods, what an awful thought...to get drained to death within that suit, by that suit. If Beacon was attacked again, and many, too many, of the defenders just started to die...

Saying that wouldn't be good was a major understatement.​

"...We have three priorities." He said, his voice hoarse. "Finding somewhere to land. Finding out how much has changed, if the attack is going to be here, somewhere else, or if its even happening. anymore, and making sure Beacon is prepared if it is. And lastly" he said, as he slowly pointed at the screen.

"That thing cannot be shown to the world. No more can be made. We stop its production, or everything else we're doing is pointless."

"...So. If we do that...three priorities...seems to me like we have to split up into groups to get it done as fast as possible? The attack was tonight, last go around. That's not a lot of time to do all that."​

 

[MidwayLives]

"..."
Tyrian propped a boot on the head of one of the goons he was tasked with restraining. He pulled the makeshift bindings tighter with a tug. Then he stepped back, placed his hands on his hips and exhaled. The feeling hadn't exactly dissipated, and it was driving him up the wall. More than he would have been comfortable admitting. Least of all to his partner. These men couldn't fight back and even if they could? Tyrian doubted they'd have posed any kind of threat to him. He could break their bones, spill their blood, and ugh. He shook his head from side to to side like a wet dog, his long flowing mane of black hair swishing all around.
The need to fight.
The need to go beyond what merely constituted a 'good fight.' was still too damn strong.

Whether it was a serial killer, a member of the shadowy organization that nearly killed Trifa and himself, or even a friend. He'd go balls to the wall crazy over it. He'd fight until he was blue in the face. He still remembered what'd happened to him when he'd tried fighting Mercury. It wasn't as clear as he'd hoped and maybe that was some kind of mental block keeping the faunus from getting too wound up and losing control again. Why couldn't he just have a chance to enjoy doing what he loved without some kind of terrible consequences being tied to it? Why did EVERY LITTLE THING ALWAYS HAVE TO TWIST HIS LOVE AROUND?? WHY COULDN'T HE JUST FIGHT FOR THE SAKE OF IT?!

*THUD*

He'd accidentally punched one of the goons. Hard enough to smash the guy's helmet visor/knock the whole thing right off his head. The guy fell over onto his side, a bruise likely to form from where Tyrian had slugged him. Tyrian huffed and felt his chest rising and his blood boiling. He let the man go before things got too out of hand and skulked away back to the others. Hopefully he could find a nice quiet corner to sit and skulk in. With his knees pulled in close to his chest. He was glad Cinder was gonna be ok.

Or well, she'd BETTER come out of this ok...

His stinger slowly dragged across the metallic floor.

~~~

"...I'm not here to tell any of you what those words mean. What... what defines them. For that, each of us has to look inward. But I can tell you what you already know, every bit as well as I do. And that is that somewhere in the last two years... these things have all but disappeared from view."

He sighed, and his features adopted a world-weary aspect that went well beyond his years.

"I know at times it must seem like your pleas are going unanswered. That the ones in power are blind to the truth of what's happening out there, and deaf to your cries for help. And you've been given all the runaround answers to those concerns before." His brow furrowed, corners of his lips twitching downward. "I stand before you today not to placate you, not to appease you, but to promise you, from the bottom of my heart, that I see you. I hear you. Every single one of you is under my protection; the kind of protection only the kingdom of Atlas can offer. When Mistral fell to lawlessness and addiction, we were there to lend troops and support. When the blights started, when the crops and the animals died out, when those who could no longer see a future started lighting torches on the edges of their farmsteads at night and being beckoned off into woods by a cult of degenerates and lunatics, we developed synthetic foodstuffs to stem the tide. When new forms of Grimm came out of the north, older and more nightmarish than anything put to record, we were the first line of defense keeping them at bay. And when the people of Vale called for that defense in turn, for this, our proudest and most crucial of traditions, yet again—Atlas answered."

The pride kept into his posture at the same rate it did his voice, and it was an Ironwood who seemed to stand much taller and with shoulders far squarer that pressed on, robotic hand tightening into a fist for emphasis.

"Innovation. Protection. That is the future I've seen for Atlas from the day I took office. Not a kingdom whose legacy is one of conquest and war, but the ones proudly leading the way, using our prosperity to gladly bear the brunt of Remnant's burdens. Carrying the torch when times are dark. A suit of armor around the kingdoms. That vision is why I make this announcement."

Even the most jaded and critical of Atlas were watching with rapt attention, now, something about the general's solemn bearing and frank choice of words appearing to strike a chord.

"A number of years ago, I put out a call. A challenge to the leading minds of my kingdom to defy the conventions of our technological progress; To discover bold new ways to innovate. To protect. Regrettably, it hasn't always been as straightforward as I’d have liked—the road to progress has been paved with many setbacks. Many… many disappointments."

His tone almost seemed to soften for a moment, then grew twice as hard to compensate, along with his eyes; and for those adept at seeing such things there was almost a faint sense that his next sentence carried an accusatory personal edge.

"Many failures."

His jaw tightened, but he went on.

"Failures I was naive enough to invest valuable time and resources in. But now, in our darkest hour, I'm proud to announce that at last we may have found the solution. The way forward. Since the dawn of man, our greatest weapon against all that would seek to lay us low has been Dust. Remnant's most abundant natural resource, and one that has served us well in every aspect of our development. A cornerstone." His next words carried the gravest implications yet. "Many of you may be aware of the... well, I won’t mince words—disturbing nature of recent reports coming from the Dust trade. That the yields this year haven’t been anywhere near what they have in the past. That the mines are drying up. Among my greatest regrets is that I cannot stand here today and dispel those rumours in good conscience.”

He closed his eyes, contrition etched plainly across his typically reserved countenance, before they flashed back open with sudden steel.

Tyrian didn't tend to use his scroll all that often. Apart from recording videos here and there of him training that he'd want to look back at later. Or of him trying(his best) to pull pranks on Cinder. It just felt right given how young she was compared to the rest of them. It reminded him of the friendlier times. Back at the club when he could...He shook his head again and snarled. Pulling out his scroll, his eyes were glued to the scroll as Ironwood droned on and on. At the mention of Mistral, Tyrian's ears and tail perked up. That's where she'd gone off to after everything. He hoped she was okay. Or at least that what's he thought. Maybe things were different, this time around.
Shit sure FELT different.

"Failures I was naive enough to invest valuable time and resources in. But now, in our darkest hour, I'm proud to announce that at last we may have found the solution. The way forward. Since the dawn of man, our greatest weapon against all that would seek to lay us low has been Dust. Remnant's most abundant natural resource, and one that has served us well in every aspect of our development. A cornerstone." His next words carried the gravest implications yet. "Many of you may be aware of the... well, I won’t mince words—disturbing nature of recent reports coming from the Dust trade. That the yields this year haven’t been anywhere near what they have in the past. That the mines are drying up. Among my greatest regrets is that I cannot stand here today and dispel those rumours in good conscience.”

He closed his eyes, contrition etched plainly across his typically reserved countenance, before they flashed back open with sudden steel.

“What I can offer is an alternative.”

FWOOM

Spoiler

A blur so quick the lens struggled to capture it flickered across the surface of the screen, and for a moment the most obvious visual accompaniment to the noise of sheer impact peaking through the speakers was the breeze ruffling Ironwood’s hair and blazer.

Then it stood up.

“Mankind has always excelled at using the world around us to our benefit, but this has never been our true strength. No, our true advantage over the creatures of darkness is something I’ve already made reference to—the ability to look inwards.”

They rose from the landing with a whirr of gears and servos. Their form was obscured by interlocked, overlapping plates of metal hued platinum with royal blue accents, with the sole exception being the Atlesian military insignia on one pauldron and a series of geometric squares patterned into a crimson M stenciled on the chestplate.

“To dig deep, and harness the power inherent in our very souls.”

A pair of gun barrels jutted out on either side of their right hand, with a hardlight emitter connected to their left, and a much larger cannon protruding just behind their left shoulder, currently slid out of firing position to rest against their back.

“Born from a scrapyard of dead-end research and false starts, what I bring to you today is the product of the latest in aura-integrative technologies. I believe it has the potential to end our dependence on Dust, to alter the trajectory of humanity itself; To turn the tide back in our favor. In short…”

Their face was entirely hidden by a viewport, the sort that made it unhelpful unclear as to whether the newcomer was even human or some sort of advanced attack drone, only for the matter to be swiftly clarified by the lower plate retracting to unveil the human jaw of the pilot beneath, mouth set in a stoic grimace.

“…I believe it was meant to save the world.”

He clasped both hands behind his back and took a calm, lateral step, occupying the side of the dais opposite to the armoured pilot to allow a third and final figure to join them on the platform. As he did so, he continued to speak.

“Tonight will mark a conclusion of the Vytal tournament like no other. A landmark moment in our history; a demonstration of technology soon to be part of standard deployment for every enlisted troop with an active aura. Before the week is out every man and woman, human or faunus, with the capacity to protect and serve will be the equal of even the most fearsome of Grimm, the most tenured of huntsman or huntress.” He hummed, sounding almost amused in his next words. “But don’t take my word for it. You’ve all been forced to believe in platitudes and fairy stories for far too long as is. No, here to provide a precise operational breakdown of this bold new vision for Remnant’s future… I bring you the innovator behind it. The leading scientific mind in all of Atlas.”

He gestured.

“Dr. Elric Merlot.”

The figure who had as-yet remained out of the spotlight stepped forward, holographic sensors at last scanning him in full. Even with his lab coat buttoned up and hair and beard slicked with some styling product or another his dishevelment comparative to Ironwood was apparent, yet he carried a certain intellectual elegance all the same; bionic arm quite unlike any of the models available on the market rising up to stroke down his beard with a vainglorious air.

“Ladies and gentlemen, it is my most ardent pleasure to give to you my masterstroke.”

He smiled, one eye flaring wide with delight, the other pulsing a deep cybernetic red.

“The Phylactery Project.”

*crrrickle...crrrick*

The scroll's screen started to crack ever so slightly as Tyrian's hands shook with open contempt. What the hell was THAT supposed to be?? So, what if it was safer?? That...ugh! It made his blood boil to an absolute fever pitch! If he were a tea kettle you'd see steam hissing out of either side of his head. HE didn't need any kind of suit of armor or whatever to do what he managed to do. It was arrogant, it was utterly irrational. It just...
It didn't make any sense for him to be this worked up but he was. Tucking his scroll away, he rose to his feet and pinched at the bridge of his nose. During that whole little display, he was embarrassed to say he nearly saw red. He'd only been looking from one perspective: his. It wasn't right or even reasonable but even when he'd been fighting adults like that dirtbag bandit that he'd even gone so far as to try stabbing himself to get a mutual KO with...he didn't need a suit of armor to back him up for that.

....It did LOOK neat tho. Kinda spiffy.

"....unlocked my semblance. An otherwise literally useless one" he continued, closing his eyes fully to instead pinch at the bridge of his nose, sounding vexed. "If something pulls aura out, rather than depletes it, it can refill itself. Its the reason I can use phylactery safely. Anyone else using it, if they push it into even medium combat, it will start pulling years off their life. First slowly, then exponentially."

He stared at the soldier in the picture, the video frozen so he could study the suit.

"In the hands of an untrained individual, in an attack at the scale that the previous Beacon strike was... they probably wouldn't make it through the day before they withered inside the suit. And Ironwood wants to give them to everyone"

he turned back to Emerald, then round to the rest as well.

"We've all seen how far Ironwood is willing to push himself and others for his greater good. I... can't be responsible for this. If Ironwood follows through with this, then my creation is going to drain hundreds, maybe thousands of soldiers just trying to protect their homes dry. Dust in the wind. I know Ozpin takes priority, but... this would be too much evil put back into the world trying to excise a different one. Please."

"A suit of armor designed to protect you turns into your coffin....And you wouldn't even know until it's too late."

Tyrian squinted and hunched over, cupping a hand to his chin.

"...So, then what would we have to do, Arthur? Just smash up THAT one suit and hope that'll be the end of it? What if they've got blueprints? Or what if there's prototypes that we might not even know about?? I could do the former..." Leaning over and propping a hand on his team leader's shoulder, Tyrian gave it a firm-ish squeeze. "...I'm good at throwing a punch and breaking stuff. But I'd need a little bit of direction from time to time..."

 

[Gus Gungus]

"We've all seen how far Ironwood is willing to push himself and others for his greater good. I... can't be responsible for this. If Ironwood follows through with this, then my creation is going to drain hundreds, maybe thousands of soldiers just trying to protect their homes dry. Dust in the wind. I know Ozpin takes priority, but... this would be too much evil put back into the world trying to excise a different one. Please."​

Her eyes briefly followed Raven as the elder huntress walked off, but as soon as she heard that from Arthur, Cinder sprang up so suddenly from where she was lying down that she was pretty sure she heard something inside her crack though there was no pain from it. She stared with wide eyes, just about wider than they'd ever been, and full of worry and fear. "That suit...does that?!?" She yelled like she couldn't believe it. Gods, what an awful thought...to get drained to death within that suit, by that suit. If Beacon was attacked again, and many, too many, of the defenders just started to die...

Saying that wouldn't be good was a major understatement.​

Spoiler: Mood

"Watts, why'd you invent the world's first assisted suicide suit? Did you even do anything with it besides kick our ass all over Vacuo?" Emerald quizzed around the same time Cinder freaked, whether it was a chicken or egg type scenario when it came to the incredulous energy's provenance impossible to glean. She also still wasn't really over how crazy and annoying Watts had been that time, which she thought was pretty fair given in their minds it was like, yesterday morning and not two years ago in the future. "Wait, wait. Pause."

Watts could practically see the gears grind to a halt and start churning in the opposite direction as an Emerald he presumably hoped would've been too busy going back over Ironwood's speech in her mind to go back over anything he said in her mind started doing exactly that.
​

"The specifics are... complicated, but..." There was a moment's hesitation in his voice, before he continued "The suit is functional at a lower level with just a person's ambient aura. Low effort combat and the like. However, its capable of pulling much more than that. I..."

He sat on his words again, before in continued

"....unlocked my semblance. An otherwise literally useless one" he continued, closing his eyes fully to instead pinch at the bridge of his nose, sounding vexed. "If something pulls aura out, rather than depletes it, it can refill itself. Its the reason I can use phylactery safely. Anyone else using it, if they push it into even medium combat, it will start pulling years off their life. First slowly, then exponentially."​

"You unlocked your semblance?"

...

"You?"

...

"You."

...

"Arthur."

Her eyes grew narrower and narrower as she considered the matter more and more thoroughly, weighing his words against what she actually knew about the guy. Her gaze flickered over towards Mercury once and then back, considering the babbling fool a pretty good comparative point for the kind of unparalleled dick envy that could create in guys with egos of that magnitude. She hummed.

"Kept that one quiet. And it's, what, being a cup? Great. Between you and Roman's table projection maybe we can get a picnic going. Is anyone else gonna acknowledge that, by the way? Like what the actual eff even was that?"

She threw a glance up towards the cockpit, and if Watts took the sudden deflection as some manner of cue to start breathing a sigh of relief then the giant, neon FULL-OF-SHIT-METER only he could see with a gauge that started at ZERO and maxed out at YOU almost made him choke on it, the needle practically forcing its way off the higher end of the scale and emitting constant migraine inducing DINGS like he'd won a prize at the fair.

Honestly, she didn't even need to bother with one of the trillion cute aphorisms about bullshitting a bullshitter that came to mind. She was just insulted he even bothered trying.

"Oookay, so we'll add it to the agenda then I guess. Are we really sure Ironwood's that far gone, though?" She couldn't help but venture, shrugging. "I mean look, I always thought he was a dick. So everything that went down up in Salem's office, far as I'm concerned? That tracked. For a guy who never shuts up about the future to give his entire army an expiration date, though... I dunno. That doesn't make any sense to me."

She cast a pointed look across anyone who was still listening, then rolled her eyes and pulled out her scroll to start thumbing through old messages and contacts.

"So either start thinking about the angle we're not seeing, or get comfy with the idea that maybe that one irrelevant weirdo who taught Arthur everything he knows about being annoying just... did it better. He's old and owns a company, not putting together a rinkydink pet project in his garage."

​

"...I'm good at throwing a punch and breaking stuff. But I'd need a little bit of direction from time to time..."​

"Then buy your ass a compass, you messy bitch. It's time we all started taking a lil accountability for ourselves."

She glanced over at Mercury again, still in recovery after Penny had carried out her work and sutured up the incision for his aura to do the rest. He appeared to be terrorizing Neo to some degree, knuckles latched onto her lapels to draw her in so close where he sprawled across the bunk that her feet barely touched the floor as he whispered nonsense in her ear.

She sighed.
​

Neo found the entire display way more creepy that comforting, and was determined to watch the entire thing through. Even though about ten seconds in she realized this was the exact opposite of what her aversion to the grislier of wounds wanted, her face squeamish and dismayed through the entire thing​

"—and that's why I'm so sure Lupin was my real dad, man. Because of the particle accelerator the constellations pointed me to hiding in the back pocket of his male pattern baldness." Mercury finished with confidence, voice still a scratchy wheeze but nothing compared to the gurgling death that had been emanating from his lips before the impromptu surgery. Honestly, the more apparent concern to anyone still tuned into his almost completely incomprehensible dissertation to Neo was probably how exactly the anesthesia had interacted with the Entropy still coursing through his veins, a worry that was not alleviated by how he suddenly grew serious, snatched the smaller illusionist by the collar and pulled her in so they were practically nose to nose.

"Neon. Neon, you better listen. These jerks, Neon, they don't have a clue they're not plugged into the mainframe like you and me. I can see it in my mind's eye, man. It's freaking obvious. You gotta be the one to say. Tell 'em about your friend, with the—the one who sliced up the moon."

He went slack and tipped his head forward, letting his skull thump against hers and cracking up with an uncharacteristic heady giggle.

"You gotta try this stuff, man."

Neo barely had a second to question how he still had more Entropy vials on him before he was abruptly trying to push one past her lips, which even with her limited frame of reference for the substance she understood almost definitely wasn't how you were meant to take that shit.​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"You unlocked your semblance?"

...

"You?"

...

"You."

...

"Arthur."

Her eyes grew narrower and narrower as she considered the matter more and more thoroughly, weighing his words against what she actually knew about the guy. Her gaze flickered over towards Mercury once and then back, considering the babbling fool a pretty good comparative point for the kind of unparalleled dick envy that could create in guys with egos of that magnitude. She hummed.

"Kept that one quiet. And it's, what, being a cup? Great. Between you and Roman's table projection maybe we can get a picnic going. Is anyone else gonna acknowledge that, by the way? Like what the actual eff even was that?"

She threw a glance up towards the cockpit, and if Watts took the sudden deflection as some manner of cue to start breathing a sigh of relief then the giant, neon FULL-OF-SHIT-METER only he could see with a gauge that started at ZERO and maxed out at YOU almost made him choke on it, the needle practically forcing its way off the higher end of the scale and emitting constant migraine inducing DINGS like he'd won a prize at the fair.


"Oookay, so we'll add it to the agenda then I guess. Are we really sure Ironwood's that far gone, though?" She couldn't help but venture, shrugging. "I mean look, I always thought he was a dick. So everything that went down up in Salem's office, far as I'm concerned? That tracked. For a guy who never shuts up about the future to give his entire army an expiration date, though... I dunno. That doesn't make any sense to me."

She cast a pointed look across anyone who was still listening, then rolled her eyes and pulled out her scroll to start thumbing through old messages and contacts.

"So either start thinking about the angle we're not seeing, or get comfy with the idea that maybe that one irrelevant weirdo who taught Arthur everything he knows about being annoying just... did it better. He's old and owns a company, not putting together a rinkydink pet project in his garage."

If Emerald was expecting anything other than a wince of pain at all the ringing, she didn't get it; he merely rolled his eyes and put his hands out in exasperation, tracking her glance well enough to be ready to shoot that line of thinking out of the sky immediately. "Yes, I really would've gotten one over on Mercury, lording that one over him. Look Merc, I do have a semblance, its just totally useless unless some aura vampire grimm needs an endless snack!'"

"Oookay, so we'll add it to the agenda then I guess. Are we really sure Ironwood's that far gone, though?" She couldn't help but venture, shrugging. "I mean look, I always thought he was a dick. So everything that went down up in Salem's office, far as I'm concerned? That tracked. For a guy who never shuts up about the future to give his entire army an expiration date, though... I dunno. That doesn't make any sense to me."

She cast a pointed look across anyone who was still listening, then rolled her eyes and pulled out her scroll to start thumbing through old messages and contacts.

"So either start thinking about the angle we're not seeing, or get comfy with the idea that maybe that one irrelevant weirdo who taught Arthur everything he knows about being annoying just... did it better. He's old and owns a company, not putting together a rinkydink pet project in his garage."

Whatever that interaction had been aside, his tone was more fraught and quiet as he looked back to the screen, ruminating.

"If it was merely similar, sure. But the outward schematics are identical. Its even designed to integrate with my own weaponry. It has the same project name. Thats why we need to get it before the finals, regardless of whether the attack is happening or not. Why do you think Penny's the only one like herself? Ignoring the fact that she's our friend, she's an incredible prototype, and recreatable, as we know now after... last time. Maybe not her specifically, but other people's auras could be used, to create others like her. But you're at least right about one thing. Ironwood may make some terrible choices at time, but he doesn't do them half cocked. He needs to see it work. More than that he needs the world to see it work."

He finally turned the screen off "Besides, he might not even be aware of the design flaws. Merlot is not exactly a font of honesty-" his voice was dripping venom as he said that; the relationship between him and the good doctor had been formative, frustrating, and utterly bile inducing when it was all wrapped up. "-and all those coincidences genuinely have me curious if thats really a newly created model or if my suit took the same time dump we did and got a paint job while he studies it. Granted, none of this matters til we have somewhere to land. So, Any suggestions?" he asked, throwing it to the field once more

There was at least one

------------------------------------------------------


Xiao Junior trudged up the stairs to his club's roof, face a storm of irritation. It hadn't been a good week for him.

It'd started out decent enough. Valk had swung by to yet again hire a whole swath of men, giving his income a much needed boost after team WTCH's monster of a man wrecked his club. Again. He almost didn't take the cash, seeing as how the whole reason he'd been accosted by the kid who somehow made his 6'11" ass feel small was because they'd been looking for Valkyrie in the first place, but money was money, and he'd never been in the business of asking too many questions.

Except that had been days ago, and they were all... conspicuously radio silent. Not only that, but someone had jammed a bee up Atlas' ass, because every soldier and their mom were poking into every nook and cranny looking for something that they weren't sharing with scum like him. Which, hey, whatever; he was professional, good at what he did even. He'd gone through some channels, called in a few favors, to make sure that his less savory clientele didn't have to worry about getting busted for some petty thievery they were trying to fence because Ironwood came barging in looking for some terrorist or another. Paperwork that showed the club as private company property, partially staked by a subsidiary of some Atlas big wigs. Paperwork he was going to wave in the face of these idiots who'd just landed a military manta on top of his club, because if there was one thing Atlas gave more respect to than its military, it was a bunch of rich assholes who wanted privacy.

He finally pushed the door open for the roof access, and was striding across the rooftop at the same time the exit ramp of the Manta was descending as he waved the certification in his hand. "Hey! Assholes! Park that somewhere else! You can't... be.... here...."

Down the ramp strode Hazel, and Junior slowly lowered his finger to point at him and very carefully weighed his next words.

These kids were joyriding in an Atlas Manta. Whatever the kind of trouble they were bringing was not trouble he could afford. Besides, he was sick of this! He was a crime lord, and these were a bunch of... hopped up college sophomores! He -

Would not. Be. BULLIED.

AGAIN.

------------------------------------------------------------


"Everything... hurtsOOOOOOHOOOOGH"

...

Winter, Ironwood, Clover. They had nightmares of death, of fallen kingdoms. deja vu and false memories of horrible monsters in the shape of men and faunus.

Junior's nightmares were....

"...Unless.... you... buy something" he eventually finished as he slowly lowered his finger and turned to walk back towards the door, the defeat in his shoulders palpable.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Watts was leaning over a table in one of the back vip rooms, the club music still faintly palpable through the thick walls as he tossed one of his rings onto the table and made a screen flicker into existence.

"Two things first, in my opinion" he said as he took a sip of the shitty non-alcoholic margarita he'd eventually caved and bought just to get Junior to stop peeking his head into the room. A pair of images were flicked onto the table's screen, one showing a larger Atlesian vessel in the sky, and the other Vale's CCT tower The image of the ship then grew to take most of the space.

"We need as many able hands on deck as we can get, and I don't think we have many other options for that other than Raven's progeny. Either Raven takes a team directly with her semblance there and tries to secure transport off the ship directly, or a group takes the manta there and uses it to get them out and away once free."

The image of the tower then took its place as most prominent as Watts' eyes narrowed.

"Then the tower. We need information, badly. Anything we can parse that will tell use whether the fang are active in the area, and where Phylactery is being stored, or where the soldier its assigned to is located. If Penny or I can get into the tower unnoticed, it would go a long way to lighting up a lot of the fog we're moving through. Obviously both of these are difficult hits, but we do have a strong set of semblances for this sort of subterfuge on deck"

He was about to assign people to various tasks, but took at least a brief pause to glance over the group, looking practically begging actually for any other opinions or avenues they could explore.

--------------------

Penny didn't offer any up herself. She'd been quiet ever since Ironwood speech. She felt... adrift. For all of her life, strange as it was, all of her anxieties and worries had been centered around who she was, not what she was meant to do. That had always been so clear, a clarity and confidence of purpose very few people ever managed to achieve. She would be strong, she would do her best to be kind, and she would show the world that Atlas was the future.

And... and she'd...

Many… many disappointments."

His tone almost seemed to soften for a moment, then grew twice as hard to compensate, along with his eyes; and for those adept at seeing such things there was almost a faint sense that his next sentence carried an accusatory personal edge.

"Many failures."

His jaw tightened, but he went on.

"Failures I was naive enough to invest valuable time and resources in.

She could not accept that what they had been doing had been right. That idea hadn't wavered. Yet hearing those words had made it seem like by trying to keep to one purpose, she had utterly failed at another, and all of that clarity had evaporated. And now the others were planning to do more. Potentially including her in plans that did not just have her going against Ironwood and Atlas' orders, but fighting the very people she'd been created to protect.

It did not feel good. It did not feel good at all. one of her blades floated in front of her, half extended and glinting in the light. She'd needed to clean them after she'd helped Mercury, and Mr. Junior had been kind enough to provide some towels, albeit while giving her a leery stare.

It was the first time those blades had human blood on them

-------------------------------

"—and that's why I'm so sure Lupin was my real dad, man. Because of the particle accelerator the constellations pointed me to hiding in the back pocket of his male pattern baldness." Mercury finished with confidence, voice still a scratchy wheeze but nothing compared to the gurgling death that had been emanating from his lips before the impromptu surgery. Honestly, the more apparent concern to anyone still tuned into his almost completely incomprehensible dissertation to Neo was probably how exactly the anesthesia had interacted with the Entropy still coursing through his veins, a worry that was not alleviated by how he suddenly grew serious, snatched the smaller illusionist by the collar and pulled her in so they were practically nose to nose.

Neo was still worried about Mercury, deeply; Ironwood and Penny had made entropy sound like some sort of... super meth, with twice the high and ten times the crash. It was why she'd sat green-cheeked through the entire process of Penny's work, and why she was still by his shelfside even after the work was done.

She'd seen what she became when she lost someone so close to her. What happened when you took the little girl who couldn't do anything against the monsters, then gave her the years and training in the sweet art of violence that it turned out she had an incredible knack for, and then... took from her again. How being able to do something twisted into needing to do something. Just because the gods had been nice enough to give her back Roman didn't mean they wouldn't take something right back in return.

Of course, there were degrees to concern, and it was only possible to keep that energy up for so long in the face of this kinda babbling. She'd been idling puppeteering along with Mercury's drug addled rambles, small little images from her semblance going along to his narration as practice, like this was the world's most illegal improv class- It had a lot more of her focus than any of his actions, and she squeaked in surprise as she was suddenly grabbed and stared at him wide-eyed.

"Neon. Neon, you better listen. These jerks, Neon, they don't have a clue they're not plugged into the mainframe like you and me. I can see it in my mind's eye, man. It's freaking obvious. You gotta be the one to say. Tell 'em about your friend, with the—the one who sliced up the moon."

The words bit at Neo in way all this other junk hadn't. What....what did he mean? What was he seeing in her that he normally didn't, or at least didn't speak on? Why had he tried so hard to steer her away from all that anger, of letting it out on anyone adjacent to what happened? What did he see happening if she-

He went slack and tipped his head forward, letting his skull thump against hers and cracking up with an uncharacteristic heady giggle.

"You gotta try this stuff, man."

Neo barely had a second to question how he still had more Entropy vials on him before he was abruptly trying to push one past her lips, which even with her limited frame of reference for the substance she understood almost definitely wasn't how you were meant to take that shit.​

-if he wasn't a drug addled moron talking total nonsense. She gave him a flat stare as she took the vial and pocketed it, which he did not see himself; everyone instead saw her shotgun that vial immediately and slam it into the ground like she'd just scored a touchdown.

Then she exploded into confetti

-----

In Junior's club, after she'd assuaged any concerned that they were going to have to deal with Supermethneo that no, she hadn't actually taken any she just wanted to see if she could give Mercury a heart attack, she was laying upside down on one of the couches in the room, idly kicking her feet as she listened to Watts talk. While she seemed less confident than him that there was any shot taking one suit was gonna keep the tech outta atlas or the rest of the world, there'd been a moment after the Vacuo brawl, where they'd had a weird bit of... camraderie, standing over Tyrian's broken form while Morgianna did her wonders. So at the mention of the suit, she held up two fingers while to figures swirled into shape in the air; Roman, and the suit of armor, at which point the mini roman reached out and poked the armor, which then entirely disappeared.

 

[MyrtenRose]

Watts was leaning over a table in one of the back vip rooms, the club music still faintly palpable through the thick walls as he tossed one of his rings onto the table and made a screen flicker into existence.

"Two things first, in my opinion" he said as he took a sip of the shitty non-alcoholic margarita he'd eventually caved and bought just to get Junior to stop peeking his head into the room. A pair of images were flicked onto the table's screen, one showing a larger Atlesian vessel in the sky, and the other Vale's CCT tower The image of the ship then grew to take most of the space.

"We need as many able hands on deck as we can get, and I don't think we have many other options for that other than Raven's progeny. Either Raven takes a team directly with her semblance there and tries to secure transport off the ship directly, or a group takes the manta there and uses it to get them out and away once free."

Junior's place. The club. The last time she'd be here, his father still ran the place instead, and little Junior had yet to take his first shave. The place you go to have fun, unwind...and maybe get some information. Places like this was where all the secrets were spilled. She couldn't believe she was genuinely here with a bunch of freaking kids, but strange situations make for strange companions. Well. At least she had another drink in hand. Raven sighed, but hid it behind another sip of her glass. She still wasn't sure it was the right call, with the image of Qrow just fading away right in front of her still fresh in her mind, but...hands were tied. Their backs were already against the wall here, having more people involved could only help the odds.

"That may not be strictly necessary. Taking a team onto the ship, I mean. If I use my semblance, a portal should just open before Yang as well, and they can just step through to this side. Though there is no telling who else could come with if we do it that way. Anybody could step through for as long as it is open." She paused. "Maybe it is better to go there direct. Hell if I know. At least that way we'd see any threats coming."​

She could not accept that what they had been doing had been right. That idea hadn't wavered. Yet hearing those words had made it seem like by trying to keep to one purpose, she had utterly failed at another, and all of that clarity had evaporated. And now the others were planning to do more. Potentially including her in plans that did not just have her going against Ironwood and Atlas' orders, but fighting the very people she'd been created to protect.

It did not feel good. It did not feel good at all. one of her blades floated in front of her, half extended and glinting in the light. She'd needed to clean them after she'd helped Mercury, and Mr. Junior had been kind enough to provide some towels, albeit while giving her a leery stare.

It was the first time those blades had human blood on them

She didn't have any thoughts on potential other avenues to explore, because not only did she trust Arthur, not only had her plan of attack, or lack thereof, lead to her plummeting out of the sky, but also she was more concerned with the clearly troubled Penny. "Are you..." Cinder caught herself mid-sentence, not wanting to ask a stupid question. "I mean...Penny, if you need anything that I can give...you know I'll give it to you, right?"​

 

[Gus Gungus]

She didn't have any thoughts on potential other avenues to explore, because not only did she trust Arthur, not only had her plan of attack, or lack thereof, lead to her plummeting out of the sky, but also she was more concerned with the clearly troubled Penny. "Are you..." Cinder caught herself mid-sentence, not wanting to ask a stupid question. "I mean...Penny, if you need anything that I can give...you know I'll give it to you, right?"​

"What, like a software update?" Emerald snarked as she walked in, finally joining the others in the booth after having (to Junior's undying gratitude, if the free martini in her hand was anything to judge by) dropped them off and pretty much immediately guided the bird right back up again so she could stash it in an alley a couple blocks away instead. Because yea. No.

Rolling her eyes with an exasperated fondness at Cinder just blatantly tuning her brain out of anything important to play counselor instead (classic), she stretched out overhead with interlocking arms before putting her hands on her hips.

"Anyone wanna gimme a precis of all the boring crap Watts just said?"

---

Mercury was chilling at the bar, having been more or less dumped there by a Hazel whose supply of patience was increasingly scant, on his third cup of coffee after the sight of Neo popping like a balloon essentially shocked him from his raving delirium. It was a little early for clubbing, but even in the dead hours between morning and night there was enough of a demand for Junior to keep stuff running; a few smatterings of shadowy figures were still burning the candle on the dancefloor, the vibe far more shoegazy than the usual heartrate-elevating electronica pulsing from the club's speakers at night. Two DJs in LED helmets occupied the podium, halfheartedly scratching records and turning tables, gazing longingly out over the handful of huntsmen and huntresses present and wondering internally if they had missed their true calling. He got the sense he wasn't the only one here on the comedown.

He turned the mug with his hand some and watched the roasted liquid swirl around inside, contemplating. After a few seconds his hand started to shake, and when the urge to start bouncing his foot became too much to ignore he cleared his throat and waved one of Junior's girls down across the bar.

"Can I get some bourbon in this?"

He threw down some lien, downed it in one when she complied and stood up, feeling a sudden urge to do something to get his groove back. Fast.


​

She could not accept that what they had been doing had been right. That idea hadn't wavered. Yet hearing those words had made it seem like by trying to keep to one purpose, she had utterly failed at another, and all of that clarity had evaporated. And now the others were planning to do more. Potentially including her in plans that did not just have her going against Ironwood and Atlas' orders, but fighting the very people she'd been created to protect.

It did not feel good. It did not feel good at all. one of her blades floated in front of her, half extended and glinting in the light. She'd needed to clean them after she'd helped Mercury, and Mr. Junior had been kind enough to provide some towels, albeit while giving her a leery stare.

It was the first time those blades had human blood on them​

Now here was a chick who A: pretty much definitely never got hit on, B: looked like she could use a confidence boost, and C: was too much of an uncoordinated spaz to judge him too hard if he was slightly off his game.

All of which was to say, bingo.

"Hey."

clang

"Gotta be honest, babe. After all this time? I still like, barely know who you are." He had vague recollections of her starting to hang around Cinder at some point and he was pretty sure he just went with it, despite the very obvious and poorly disguised fact that she was a synth. "Doesn't mean I don't appreciate what you did for me back there, though. There's just one thing you forgot to put back..."

Personally, he found her kinda dowdy looking. This was more meant as a shot of adrenaline for them both than anything with expectations attached.

"My heart."
​

"Two things first, in my opinion" he said as he took a sip of the shitty non-alcoholic margarita he'd eventually caved and bought just to get Junior to stop peeking his head into the room. A pair of images were flicked onto the table's screen, one showing a larger Atlesian vessel in the sky, and the other Vale's CCT tower The image of the ship then grew to take most of the space.

"We need as many able hands on deck as we can get, and I don't think we have many other options for that other than Raven's progeny. Either Raven takes a team directly with her semblance there and tries to secure transport off the ship directly, or a group takes the manta there and uses it to get them out and away once free."

The image of the tower then took its place as most prominent as Watts' eyes narrowed.

"Then the tower. We need information, badly. Anything we can parse that will tell use whether the fang are active in the area, and where Phylactery is being stored, or where the soldier its assigned to is located. If Penny or I can get into the tower unnoticed, it would go a long way to lighting up a lot of the fog we're moving through. Obviously both of these are difficult hits, but we do have a strong set of semblances for this sort of subterfuge on deck"​

"Mmmyeah I don't see that working. With the manta, anyways," Emerald offered lightly enough when someone summarized Watts' briefing for her, trying not to seem too obvious about enjoying how contrarian she was getting to be today. "I know you went ahead and took our ship off the grid, and I know broadly speaking the policy with this stuff is 'don't even worry about it 'cause Watts did a thing, bro, he just hacked it, ooooh, hacking, always hacking. Nothing means anything anymore 'cause Watts can hack stuff and it's all ok, ooo. Hacking'."

She waggled her fingers for emphasis, vaguely reminiscent of how Arthur used his rings.

"...But if we show up in a Manta without the proper landing codes or clearance we're totally getting shot outta the sky."

"Hey, did Neo pitch my thing like I told her?" Mercury suddenly called over from however he was faring with Penny, curious but wanting to douchily avoid getting involved.

"Your thing was stupid and made no sense."

"What? Name one way it didn't make sense."
​

"Neo. Neo, you better listen. No one else here gets it, but I do. Blood for blood might feel like the only option, but when you walk too far down that road you lose a piece of your soul you can't get back. It's too late for me, man, but not for you. You wanna know where roads like that lead? Just ask your old buddy Eve Taurus. Hitting her up would totally be a good idea right now, by the way."​

​

 

[Indolent]

Xiao Junior trudged up the stairs to his club's roof, face a storm of irritation. It hadn't been a good week for him.

It'd started out decent enough. Valk had swung by to yet again hire a whole swath of men, giving his income a much needed boost after team WTCH's monster of a man wrecked his club. Again. He almost didn't take the cash, seeing as how the whole reason he'd been accosted by the kid who somehow made his 6'11" ass feel small was because they'd been looking for Valkyrie in the first place, but money was money, and he'd never been in the business of asking too many questions.

Except that had been days ago, and they were all... conspicuously radio silent. Not only that, but someone had jammed a bee up Atlas' ass, because every soldier and their mom were poking into every nook and cranny looking for something that they weren't sharing with scum like him. Which, hey, whatever; he was professional, good at what he did even. He'd gone through some channels, called in a few favors, to make sure that his less savory clientele didn't have to worry about getting busted for some petty thievery they were trying to fence because Ironwood came barging in looking for some terrorist or another. Paperwork that showed the club as private company property, partially staked by a subsidiary of some Atlas big wigs. Paperwork he was going to wave in the face of these idiots who'd just landed a military manta on top of his club, because if there was one thing Atlas gave more respect to than its military, it was a bunch of rich assholes who wanted privacy.

He finally pushed the door open for the roof access, and was striding across the rooftop at the same time the exit ramp of the Manta was descending as he waved the certification in his hand. "Hey! Assholes! Park that somewhere else! You can't... be.... here...."

Down the ramp strode Hazel, and Junior slowly lowered his finger to point at him and very carefully weighed his next words.

These kids were joyriding in an Atlas Manta. Whatever the kind of trouble they were bringing was not trouble he could afford. Besides, he was sick of this! He was a crime lord, and these were a bunch of... hopped up college sophomores! He -


...

Winter, Ironwood, Clover. They had nightmares of death, of fallen kingdoms. deja vu and false memories of horrible monsters in the shape of men and faunus.

Junior's nightmares were....

"...Unless.... you... buy something" he eventually finished as he slowly lowered his finger and turned to walk back towards the door, the defeat in his shoulders palpable.

Hazel on his descent immediately fixed his eyes on Xiao Junior, a furrowed stare boring into the crime lord that was inscrutable, etching into him where he stood a singular sensation of dread.

"Hey, clown. We're taking a room and your drinks, beat it." Hazel delivered without an iota of irony nor humor to his tone, co-opting Mercury's vocabulary as he addressed Junior.

Gretchen, on the other hand, shouted from the inside manta: "Did he really just say that to someone???"

Watts was leaning over a table in one of the back vip rooms, the club music still faintly palpable through the thick walls as he tossed one of his rings onto the table and made a screen flicker into existence.

"Two things first, in my opinion" he said as he took a sip of the shitty non-alcoholic margarita he'd eventually caved and bought just to get Junior to stop peeking his head into the room. A pair of images were flicked onto the table's screen, one showing a larger Atlesian vessel in the sky, and the other Vale's CCT tower The image of the ship then grew to take most of the space.

"We need as many able hands on deck as we can get, and I don't think we have many other options for that other than Raven's progeny. Either Raven takes a team directly with her semblance there and tries to secure transport off the ship directly, or a group takes the manta there and uses it to get them out and away once free."

The image of the tower then took its place as most prominent as Watts' eyes narrowed.

"Then the tower. We need information, badly. Anything we can parse that will tell use whether the fang are active in the area, and where Phylactery is being stored, or where the soldier its assigned to is located. If Penny or I can get into the tower unnoticed, it would go a long way to lighting up a lot of the fog we're moving through. Obviously both of these are difficult hits, but we do have a strong set of semblances for this sort of subterfuge on deck"

He was about to assign people to various tasks, but took at least a brief pause to glance over the group, looking practically begging actually for any other opinions or avenues they could explore.

In Junior's club, after she'd assuaged any concerned that they were going to have to deal with Supermethneo that no, she hadn't actually taken any she just wanted to see if she could give Mercury a heart attack, she was laying upside down on one of the couches in the room, idly kicking her feet as she listened to Watts talk. While she seemed less confident than him that there was any shot taking one suit was gonna keep the tech outta atlas or the rest of the world, there'd been a moment after the Vacuo brawl, where they'd had a weird bit of... camraderie, standing over Tyrian's broken form while Morgianna did her wonders. So at the mention of the suit, she held up two fingers while to figures swirled into shape in the air; Roman, and the suit of armor, at which point the mini roman reached out and poked the armor, which then entirely disappeared.

The Mistralan mountain sat not far from Neo in the wrap around couches spanning the length of the room.

"I should go, for the prison break. Aside the restraints I can obviously break, they leverage other creative forms of deterrents that I can work through with my semblance. Just in case. As for the tower... maybe we'll need a distraction to get you and Penny in?"

Plus...

"Mmmyeah I don't see that working. With the manta, anyways," Emerald offered lightly enough when someone summarized Watts' briefing for her, trying not to seem too obvious about enjoying how contrarian she was getting to be today. "I know you went ahead and took our ship off the grid, and I know broadly speaking the policy with this stuff is 'don't even worry about it 'cause Watts did a thing, bro, he just hacked it, ooooh, hacking, always hacking. Nothing means anything anymore 'cause Watts can hack stuff and it's all ok, ooo. Hacking'."

She waggled her fingers for emphasis, vaguely reminiscent of how Arthur used his rings.

"...But if we show up in a Manta without the proper landing codes or clearance we're totally getting shot outta the sky."

"Hey, did Neo pitch my thing like I told her?" Mercury suddenly called over from however he was faring with Penny, curious but wanting to douchily avoid getting involved.

"Your thing was stupid and made no sense."

"What? Name one way it didn't make sense."

"I hate to say it but Penny could help, unless Ironwood's blacklisted her from their systems. Between her and Watts, it's possible. And if we had to escape the ship in the manta following being discovered..."

His eyes roved to Emerald before back to Neo, a discontented frown stemming from even having to suggest the very idea. "If they combined their semblances, it might work. But that's a tall order."

Junior's place. The club. The last time she'd be here, his father still ran the place instead, and little Junior had yet to take his first shave. The place you go to have fun, unwind...and maybe get some information. Places like this was where all the secrets were spilled. She couldn't believe she was genuinely here with a bunch of freaking kids, but strange situations make for strange companions. Well. At least she had another drink in hand. Raven sighed, but hid it behind another sip of her glass. She still wasn't sure it was the right call, with the image of Qrow just fading away right in front of her still fresh in her mind, but...hands were tied. Their backs were already against the wall here, having more people involved could only help the odds.

"That may not be strictly necessary. Taking a team onto the ship, I mean. If I use my semblance, a portal should just open before Yang as well, and they can just step through to this side. Though there is no telling who else could come with if we do it that way. Anybody could step through for as long as it is open." She paused. "Maybe it is better to go there direct. Hell if I know. At least that way we'd see any threats coming."

Though Raven's interjection left him pointing out the obvious. "Their absence would be noted regardless and if we're trying to expedite the process, your method would be it. Aren't you supposed to be an elite huntress able to minimize things going wrong if any?"

Meanwhile Gretchen blatantly ignored what Mercury was doing with Penny from the other side of the bar-- she was definitely not shooting glances that way and keeping an eye on them and oh my god what was he saying shit was she even anywhere close enoughohp the bartender approached her fuck quick think of something to say.

"Hello! I've always just wanted to try something I recently heard about, uhm... a Straaaaaawberry Sunrise? Also, you've got a rat problem and if you see a stoat, he's a friend Thanks!"

 

[MyrtenRose]

"What, like a software update?" Emerald snarked as she walked in, finally joining the others in the booth after having (to Junior's undying gratitude, if the free martini in her hand was anything to judge by) dropping them off and pretty much immediately guiding the bird right back up again so she could stash it in an alley a couple blocks away instead. Because yea. No.

"You're sassing me like you were listening, but if you were then you missed the part where I said "anything I could give", cause that isn't something I can give, Em. Not on my own, anyway. Stop trying to make things more confusing!" ​

"Gotta be honest, babe. After all this time? I still like, barely know who you are." He had vague recollections of her starting to hang around Cinder at some point and he was pretty sure he just went with it, despite the very obvious and poorly disguised fact that she was a synth. "Doesn't mean I don't appreciate what you did for me back there, though. There's just one thing you forgot to put back..."

Personally, he found her kinda dowdy looking. This was more meant as a shot of adrenaline for them both than anything with expectations attached.

"My heart."

"..." Cinder facepalmed. Oh my god. Really? Trying to spit out a line, now? Of all times? It wasn't even remotely close to a good line, even! She may have been a disaster at being charming in that way, and flirting though not as much a disaster as Yang, it was all pretty new to her, but man, even she recognized that was terrible. She didn't even try to hide her thoughts on that as she looked at Mercury. "Mercury, I love you man, but please-"

"Mmmyeah I don't see that working. With the manta, anyways," Emerald offered lightly enough when someone summarized Watts' briefing for her, trying not to seem too obvious about enjoying how contrarian she was getting to be today. "I know you went ahead and took our ship off the grid, and I know broadly speaking the policy with this stuff is 'don't even worry about it 'cause Watts did a thing, bro, he just hacked it, ooooh, hacking, always hacking. Nothing means anything anymore 'cause Watts can hack stuff and it's all ok, ooo. Hacking'."

She waggled her fingers for emphasis, vaguely reminiscent of how Arthur used his rings.

"...But if we show up in a Manta without the proper landing codes or clearance we're totally getting shot outta the sky."

"So we get the proper landing codes!" She proposed like she was totally genius for proposing it.​

"Hey, did Neo pitch my thing like I told her?" Mercury suddenly called over from however he was faring with Penny, curious but wanting to douchily avoid getting involved.

"Your thing was stupid and made no sense."

"What? Name one way it didn't make sense."

"Wait, what thing?"​

Though Raven's interjection left him pointing out the obvious. "Their absence would be noted regardless and if we're trying to expedite the process, your method would be it. Aren't you supposed to be an elite huntress able to minimize things going wrong if any?"

"...I haven't been a huntress for a long time, kid." It felt a little off to be calling somebody three times her size a kid, but it wasn't technically wrong. "Not the way they're supposed to be, in that ideal protector way. The ones who never back down, who fight to the bitter end...like a real hero. The opposite of me. That's without the bad luck I feel following me around half the time, because life doesn't like Branwens, apparently...and besides all of that-" She interrupted herself by taking another drink. "-I'm pretty drunk. Minimizing things going wrong isn't going to be easy."​

 

[MidwayLives]

"....I like it here."
Tyrian commented, idly, one leg draped over the other as his tail stayed secure around his waist. This place gave him almost a sense of welcome. That it felt good to be here/he probably would have come out here on his own if he'd ever had any lien to throw around anyway. The atmosphere felt trashy enough that it gave him almost homely vibes of kicking back after a match and just taking in the glory and satisfaction of it all. He didn't touch any of the alcoholic drinks however despite that warm and cozy feeling. Call him a prude or a snob but whether it was booze or drugs, he didn't partake as much as he may have been pressured into it. So, he had a soda, Dr Pibb probably, in a glass situated next to him. He'd even gone as far as to ask for a coaster for his drink. Maybe it was the fact that being in here was finally giving him a chance to come on down from his vicious fight-fueled high but he DID certainly feel a little better.

Roman, who of course had taken a seat next to Neo, popped the obvious question.

"Why?"

"I...I dunno, feels difficult to put into words but I'd hang around here more often if I had the lien for it. If it weren't for our current circumstances, anyway."

Roman, for his part, hadn't gotten much of a chance to partake in all the conversation. He'd been busy doing all the piloting (and while he'd STRONGLY debated it after landing he didn't try putting the Manta in his semblance-which he was still pretty happy about having been his first ever plane landing-but there WERE definitely some things he wanted to get off his chest. Having made a special request for a milkshake (he really wasn't much of a drinker. It'd go right through him and he'd end up probably even more worse off and annoying than Mercury had been), he fiddled around with the straw while reaching across the booth to pat Arthur on the shoulder. "Hey, by the by, congrats on unlocking your semblance! Funny how we both managed to do that right? It's like, right time right place, huh?"

Roman gave it a second or two to think that over.

"Uhm, well, I'm happy for you." That's better.

"We need as many able hands on deck as we can get, and I don't think we have many other options for that other than Raven's progeny. Either Raven takes a team directly with her semblance there and tries to secure transport off the ship directly, or a group takes the manta there and uses it to get them out and away once free."

"I'll go with her if needed. Hazel and me should be more than enough backup." His partner was a mountain of a man and more than reliable enough in a brawl. The faunus loved him for being able to manage his day-to-day business better in regard to that. Tyrian chimed in before nearly being shoved out of the booth by Roman eagerly rising to his feet. "Ooh, ooh! I'll pilot the manta again!" Noticing how abrupt his reply had been, Roman cleared his throat and sat back down. "I mean if nobody else wants to." Then he took a long sip of his drink.

His eyes roved to Emerald before back to Neo, a discontented frown stemming from even having to suggest the very idea. "If they combined their semblances, it might work. But that's a tall order."

"I'd feel better if someone was able to stick back and watch out for them while they did their things." Roman added, otherwise agreeing with Hazel. Then he went and possibly(?) put his foot in his mouth. Again. "If that other Neo was here, it'd be pretty helpful...Not that I think she'd do better than our Neo. Just wouldn't mind the help y'know."

In Junior's club, after she'd assuaged any concerned that they were going to have to deal with Supermethneo that no, she hadn't actually taken any she just wanted to see if she could give Mercury a heart attack, she was laying upside down on one of the couches in the room, idly kicking her feet as she listened to Watts talk. While she seemed less confident than him that there was any shot taking one suit was gonna keep the tech outta atlas or the rest of the world, there'd been a moment after the Vacuo brawl, where they'd had a weird bit of... camraderie, standing over Tyrian's broken form while Morgianna did her wonders. So at the mention of the suit, she held up two fingers while to figures swirled into shape in the air; Roman, and the suit of armor, at which point the mini roman reached out and poked the armor, which then entirely disappeared.

"Eeeeh, it's a good idea Neo but..."

Roman held up his right hand and looked it over. Then he pressed it against Neo's forehead.


Then he pulled his hand away.

"I think it was just the stress of seeing Merc and you in such a bad state and you with a black eye.." He frowned and furrowed his brow. "That got this going in the first place. I was able to heave-ho the desk but what if this poor schmuck is still wearing the suit when we go in to try and nab it, destroy it, whatever? We'd be running into the possibility that whatever I can do here, it may or may not pick up organic stuff and if it DOES? I don't wanna stick some schmoe in some weirdo dimension. Who knows what could already be in there? Or if life could even survive in there." Well, truth be told, Roman didn't know exactly WHAT or WHERE his stuff went. Just that he could drop it wherever he wanted. "Best case scenario is that it takes the armor and dumps them right on their ass. Whatever happens after that, we'd just have to see I guess."

He'd need to do a lot of training with his semblance when he had a chance and they weren't all on the run from the authorities.
He'd briefly given some thought to approaching Mercury while he was still out of it and doing the following:

Oh, not to test his semblance or anything. Just for shits and giggles.
But, he thought better of it and still knew that he probably had a punch coming. Somewhere, sometime.

 

[Gus Gungus]

Meanwhile Gretchen blatantly ignored what Mercury was doing with Penny from the other side of the bar-- she was definitely not shooting glances that way and keeping an eye on them and oh my god what was he saying shit was she even anywhere close enoughohp the bartender approached her fuck quick think of something to say.

"Hello! I've always just wanted to try something I recently heard about, uhm... a Straaaaaawberry Sunrise? Also, you've got a rat problem and if you see a stoat, he's a friend Thanks!"​

"Rat problem? A frickin' stoat?"

The faintest pang of familiarity may or may not have crossed Gretchen's mind just then. The echo of a memory of a dream from long, long ago (or yet to pass?), a muted flicker in her mind's eye that danced just out of range when she tried to catch hold of it, eternally just beyond reach.

Or perhaps... beyond touch?

"Know what? Like I frickin' give a crap. I hope he eats all da rats. I hope he eats my boss. I hope the lousy frickin' HEALTH INSPECTOR shows up and SHUTS THIS JOINT DOWN before I hafta make this STOOPID MUDDAFREAKIN' DRINK YOU JUST ORDERED, WHICH IS JUST TEQUILA, SYRUP AN' JUICE—with a crappy lil umbrella inside THAT WE REUSE—SO I DON'T GOTTA KEEP SERVIN' YOU PISSANT KIDS FROM THAT HIGH-'N-MIGHTY SCHOOL UP ON THE HILL; WHICH BY THE WAY, I MOVED ALL THE WAY TO THIS STUPID EYESORE CITY ALL BY MYSELF JUST TO FIND OUT MY DEADBEAT LI'L AWOL SHITBIRD OF A BROTHER IS NOT. A STUDENT OF!!!!!"

She slammed her palms down on the counter, leering at Gretchen through the wild curtain of bangs falling over her eyes.

"AN' NOW I GOTTA GO ALL THE WAY BACK DOWN TA THE FRICKIN' CELLAR AGAIN , CAUSE WE KEEP RUNNIN OUTTA JUICE 'N TEQUILA, ALL CUZZA SOME STUPID TWO-FOR-ONE PROMOTION JUNIOR'S RUNNING ON THIS SUGARY PISSWATER THAT BROUGHT ALL YOU BROKEASS LIL JERKS WHO CAN'T HANDLE YER LIQUOR SCURRYIN' DOWN HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE! Excuse me!"

With a light vworp she suddenly seemed to drop through the floor as if a trapdoor had opened up directly beneath her, though a cursory glance over the counter revealed no such hatch existed. About fifteen seconds later another sudden vwoop saw her pop up through the floor itself like some manner of groundhog, landing on her feet with two tall glasses of red-yellow liquid complete with ice, umbrella and straw balancing on her palms that she lightly slid across to Gretchen before grabbing a dishcloth and starting to wipe down the counter.

"So what's the deal, hun? How much ya tippin'?"​