//------------------------------// // Falling From The Sky // Story: The Multiverse in a Nutshell // by Pennington Inkwell //------------------------------// "Alright, Sunset... If I'm correct, the next wire you'll need to cut will be the third blue one to the left of your hand." Sunset took a deep breath and moved her fingers down the row of wires she was currently working on, counting off blue wires until she reached the third. She wrapped her hand around it and gave it a yank, snapping it off at the connection point. "Okay, what next?" "That should have disabled the backup system for the timer. Now all you need to do is disconnect the actual explosive charge from the rest of the device. If I had to make a guess, it's probably that glowing red crystal, right?" Sunset took a deep, shuddering breath. With Fitz's help, she'd been able to sort through the cacophonous mess of wires and slowly disable the bomb. Nestled in the heart of it was a large fire dust crystal with multiple wires attached to its surface. She reached out and brushed her fingers against it, feeling the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. It was primed and ready to blow, charged right up to the brink of overloading. "We don't know which of the wires are necessary and which are redundancies, you'll have to disconnect them all at once, and do it fast. Are you sure you can do that with only one hand?" Sunset grabbed at it as firmly as she could with her single functional arm. It was about twice the size of a softball, so she couldn't get her fingers entirely around it, but the geometric shape gave her edges to grasp onto. "Kali ma... kali ma..." Missy chanted under her breath. Sunset wasn't exactly sure what it meant, but she knew that if Penn were here, he'd appreciate whatever it was she was referencing. But he's not here... right now, there's just ME! With the decisive thought, she pulled as hard and as violently as she could, throwing her entire body back with the force. She felt the wires snapping and her fingers beginning to slip across the crystal's smooth surface. A moment later she was laying on the floor, the beating heart of the bomb grasped in her hand. "DONE! Hah, Sunset, you did it! You managed to disable a bomb via video call!" Sunset smiled, feeling relieved as she stared at the dust crystal in her hand. "WE did it, Fitz. Thank you!" "I'm expecting a full debriefing after this, Sunset!" Coulson's voice added. "Yes, sir, but the mission isn't over, yet!" Sunset started to push herself up to her feet, feeling Missy's arms beneath her shoulders offering a miniscule amount of lift to her efforts. Once she was back up on her legs, Missy flew back around in front of her and held her phone back up to show the familiar SHIELD team all watching with anxiety. She gave her best attempt at a salute while still holding the crystal. "Sorry I sprung this on you all." "Hey, we're all friends here. Just glad you called when you needed us..." Skye smiled at her, eyes filled with worry. "Make sure you get that arm looked at ASAP." "And get that crystal away as fast as possible!" Sunset nodded again before the screen switched itself off as Isis ended the call. She looked at the crystal in her hand, then up at Missy, who was still holding her phone. She reached out, offering the crystal to her. "Trade?" Missy smiled, grabbing the crystal out of her hand and replacing it with her phone. "Trade." The two of them nodded to each other before she grunted with effort and shot up into the air, disappearing into an air vent in the ceiling. Sunset looked down at her phone, taking some comfort in having Isis back on their side before slipping it back into her pocket and grabbing her lightsaber. She gave the switch a flick, summoning the red blade back to her side as she turned back to the battle her teammates were waging. Even three-on-one, Team RWB was losing. Each of them looked as if they had been run ragged, while their opponent was still looking like he was only trying to enjoy himself. They had hit a lull in the battle, everyone was trying to catch their breath, and he was watching her with interest as she walked back towards them. "Okay... 'Tyrian,' was it?" she gave her saber a swift swing, taking comfort in the sound of it humming against the air. "I finished what I came here for, so if you wouldn't mind moving aside, we're got homework due Monday and I want to get a head start on it." Tyrian grinned, tilting his head at her. "Oh? And why would I do that?" Sunset smiled in return. "Because I've got an artificial intelligence taking over this entire facility as we speak." "Law authorities have been informed of not only this failed operation, but your presence, Tyrian Callows. You are, after all, a wanted criminal. Professor Ozpin and his hand-picked group of teachers from Beacon Academy are also inbound. Cinder Fall has failed in her own mission, as well. I estimate that you have approximately seven minutes before they arrive and your chances of escaping to return to your master reach zero." This actually caused the smile to fall from Tyrian's face. He took a turn to glare at each of them, his gaze finally coming to rest on Ruby. "I will not fail my queen!" Everyone moved at once. Blake, Sunset, and Weiss all moved to protect their team leader, while a dark weapon sprung up from behind Tyrian, lashing forward faster than any of them could counter. Time seemed to slow down as Sunset tried to swipe at the scorpion-like stinger, but she could tell that her blade was coming up short. We're not gonna make it! CLANG! There was a gong-like sound as the stinger landed its blow, but not on its intended target. It had come to a full stop with its tip embedded in a familiar bronze shield. "WHAT?" Sunset looked up to the stop of the stairwell, tears in her eyes as she recognized the five people standing at the top. "Check out who I found running around upstairs!" Yang cheered. "I'm sorry we took so long!" Pyrrha called, her rifle in her hands and trained on their opponent. "THE CAVALRY IS HERE!" Nora shouted gleefully, wielding her war hammer with both hands and a manic look in her eyes. Sunset sighed with relief, watching as Tyrian pried his tail out of the shield's surface, spinning around to glare at Team JNPR as they descended. He didn't make any attempt to move as more weapons trained their aim on him, including the telltale click of Ruby's sniper rifle reloading. Any attempt to attack again and he would be filled with more holes than a Swiss cheese jigsaw puzzle missing half its pieces. "Are you girls okay?" Jaune asked, giving their foe a wide berth as he ran around to them. Weiss nodded, finally dropping to her knees with exhaustion. Blake didn't speak a word, desperately trying to catch her breath and pointing to Sunset. Sunset turned slightly, trying to keep her shattered arm out of sight, but Jaune's wide-eyed expression made it clear that she hadn't been successful. "Sunset! Your arm, it's-" "Not important right now." Sunset cut him off. "We did what we came here to. The bomb isn't going to go off, and as long as nobody with bad aim gets an itchy trigger finger, this dust shouldn't get set off by accident. Missy's safe, Amity Colosseum is safe... and as an extra, we managed to catch one of the bad guys!" "So... we won?" Ruby asked, not taking her eyes or her aim off of Tyrian. "I can also report that Cinder Fall has been neutralized at Beacon Academy. She will no longer pose any threat to anyone." All of the huntsmen and huntresses glanced at one another, scarcely believing it. "Aww, you mean we got here just in time for everything to be OVER?" "You got here just when we needed you to, Nora... Sunset smiled, finally switching off her saber and taking the luxury of grabbing gently at her wounded arm and pulling it close to her body. It hardly lessened the pain, but no longer needing to suppress the instinct to focus on the battle was cathartic. Yang walked around to her, looking closely at her out-of-shape arm, then to their prisoner. Her normally-violet eyes shifted to a burning red. "Did HE do that?" Sunset nodded. "Yeah. I got stupid, tried to rush him. He threw me down the stairs." "You want me to even the score?" she growled. Sunset shook her head. "What good would it do? He's evil, but we're not going to torture him." "Sunset Shimmer, I am receiving a message for you... The source is proving... troublesome to trace." Sunset sighed, reaching and grabbing her phone. "It's probably SHIELD calling me back, I DID leave them hanging in the middle of the fight. Go ahead and answer it, Isis." The screen of her phone flickered on, and she gasped and nearly dropped it in shock at the image presented to her. It was Penn. He was in a cold stone cell, laying on the floor. His clothes were in ragged tatters and covered in bloodstains, and dried-up rivers of blood were laid out from puncture-like wounds all along his arms and legs, as well as a large slash across his chest that had already scabbed over. He was gaunt and pale, with multiple large bruises over his body where he hadn't been given other injuries. He was curled in the fetal position, whispering to himself unintelligibly as she watched. "I never wanted to do this. It's barbaric. However..." The camera moved closer, highlighting the injuries before backing away again and turning to reveal what Sunset had no doubt was his captor. She was as pale as a corpse, as though every ounce of warmth and color had been long ago drained from her. Her long silver hair was done up in a tight bun, with only three tassels wrapped in black ribbons on either side of her face and long bangs hanging freely. Her cheeks were being slowly encroached upon by black veins, like a spreading infection that made her look toxic to so much as touch. The most striking feature, however, were her eyes. They were jet-black with bloody red irises that sent a chill into her, despite distance that speaking through a screen gave. "Well, even without the brains of their operation, Sunset Shimmer and her mechanical marvel seem to have proven themselves even more frustrating adversaries than I first thought. Congratulations." "Give. Him. Back." Sunset narrowed her gaze, staring straight back into the monster's eyes without flinching. Deep down, she hoped that she could muster up even half of the menace Penn did when he had made the same demand for her soul from Joshua. "I would be quite happy to, but I'm afraid that he has something that I want, and he has been quite obstinate in his refusal to hand it over. Perhaps you could change his mind on the matter?" Her tone was cordial, professional, and almost... warm. Sunset felt her skin tighten as goosebumps formed. It was almost identical to the tone she'd once heard from Princess Celestia as a filly, that same gentle-but-firm guidance, now in a dark and corrupted reflection. "What? We know you took the portal gun out of Penn's car, what else could we have that's worth taking?" She gave Sunset a bemused expression that quickly became antagonizing pity as her apparent stupidity. "The device was a trifle, a toy for one of my followers. All I want is a piece of information." She leaned towards the camera, her red eyes glowing from within. "I want the location of the portal you entered our world through. That I can EXIT our world through." Sunset was taken aback at the request. It was certainly not one she had expected. "All of this... just for THAT?" "Oh, certainly not, but I was able to get most of the rest of my demands from your companion. However, I've made it clear that, should this information be denied to me again, well..." the camera swiveled back around to look at Penn, who had uncurled slightly and turned to look at her. Sunset felt her heart breaking as she took in the sight of him, tear-streaked and bruised with dark circles under his eyes. And then he smiled. "Are you kidding?" his voice croaked. "I could leech off of her hospitality forever! I feel like a mosquito at a blood bank!" He seemed to try to sit up, only to fail as he lacked the strength. Instead, he poorly turned the attempt into a lounging pose. "L-look at these luxury accommodations! A ceiling over my head, a floor beneath my feet, and TWO pair of sides? Better than where I was living when we met, right? Plus free food every-" His eyes widened as a force seemed to overtake him, lifting him into the air and throwing him against the back wall. He collapsed like a wet paper bag, seizing and coughing from the force of the impact for several seconds before he regained control, still giving the camera a smile. "The- the convulsions are natural... I promise..." With that final statement, his eyes rolled up into his head and he fell unconscious. The camera turned back to Salem, who was regarding him with a sad look. "I had such high hopes for him, if he were to see reason. I tried promising him a place in my inner circle, power, riches... He turned each away, and I had to grow more and more forceful. Even threats upon your life weren't enough to make him crack. That's why I sent Tyrian to retrieve you, I'd hoped you would be the more rational out of the two." Sunset wanted to understand the fact that this was a trap. If she could escape this dimension with the assets she had, Salem could cause havok everywhere she went, and her first stop would be a world with no magic, no aura, no semblances... no huntsmen or huntresses. She knew that if Penn would go through all of this to stop Salem from getting that information, then he was willing to give his life to stop her, and she ought to be willing to do the same. She wanted to believe all of that, but right now the only thought she could comprehend was that she was on the brink of losing her best friend. "If I tell you, you promise to let him go?" "Any other information I could get out of him could be easily found for myself on the other side of that portal, so he would be of little use to me. I suppose I could return what is left of him to you as thanks." Sunset took a shuddering breath, looking around at her new friends. They were all at different stages of worry. Finally, her eyes settled on Pyrrha, who locked eyes with her. "Do what you have to, Sunset." Sunset nodded, feeling her resolve steel. Whatever happened, if she and her friends were all together again, they could handle it. "Fine. The portal is-" "NOWHERE YOU'RE GONNA FIND IT, YOU OLD HAG!" Missy's voice screeched as she flew by and snatched Sunset's phone from her hands. She held the camera up at arm's length, pointing into it and glaring at her without so much as a trace of fear. "MISSY! What are you DOING?" Missy ignored Sunset's pleas, continuing to address Salem directly. "Now you listen to me, you and all six of those bent toothbrush bristles you call your hair! I've got a counteroffer for you! How about you let my buddy go before me and my whole archetype show up at your door and go all 'Exodia' on your Reptilianne-looking butt!" "MISSY, STOP!" Sunset pleaded, tears welling up in her eyes. "THIS COULD BE OUR ONLY CHANCE TO GET HIM BACK!" "What do you have to say to THAT, you sorry excuse for a spellcaster?" In response, the entire arena rocked and shuddered, knocking everyone present off of their feet. Suddenly, Sunset felt lighter, as if she were riding in a downward elevator, and her stomach tried to fly up into her throat. When Salem replied, her voice broadcast over all of the speakers, rather than just from Sunset's phone. "In that case, I'll have to keep my word to him about killing Sunset Shimmer if he refused to cooperate. Goodbye, little ones." "ALERT, ALERT! IT APPEARS SECONDARY CHARGES HAVE DESTROYED TWO OF THE THREE ANTI-GRAVITY GENERATORS! OUR DESCENT HAS BEGUN, WE WILL BE IN FULL FREE-FALL IN TWO MINUTES!" In that moment, Tyrian took advantage of the distraction, bolting from the room and up the stairs, leaving the students all behind. As Missy floated down, Sunset grabbed her by the shoulder with one hand, violently shaking her. "WHY? WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT, MISSY? That could have been our one change to get him back!" Missy stared back defiantly, not wavering under Sunset's frantic questioning. "I can explain, but right now this arena is going down! We need to get out of here!" "Missy's right!" Sunset felt Ruby's hand on her shoulder. "We've gotta get out of here before the whole arena crashes to the ground or none of us are going to survive! There's no way a crash landing won't set off all this dust!" "There is a complication with such a course of action. We are currently above a populated area. Specifically, downtown Vale." That caused everyone to freeze in place, staring at the explosive payload. "Are you kidding? This dust alone could blow up half the city, let alone the rubble of the arena flying everywhere!" Jaune cried. "Projected casualties are more than ten thousand." "What do we do? What CAN we do? Should we... set it off early?" Nora asked, notably less enthused than normal. "The falling rubble would still cause massive damage." Sunset let go of Missy, taking several deep breaths to try and calm herself. "Isis, can you fix it?" "Negative. This is not mere damage, the generators are completely destroyed." She felt herself crumbling inside as the next words passed through her lips. "Then... we need to minimize the casualties. The longer we wait to set this all off, the more concentrated the damage is going to be." "Wait... we're not going to try to save everyone?" Missy asked, her voice quiet and disbelieving. Sunset's next word exploded out of her, tearing through the air as a throaty scream as tears rolled down her cheeks. "HOW? Every time we think we finally get ahead, our enemies predict it! Their backup plans have backup plans! They outsmarted Penn, they outsmarted you, and now they outsmarted me just for good measure! And since YOU slammed the door on our last chance to work things out, thanks for THAT, by the way, there's no way we can stop this!" Sunset turned her back on Missy, walking to the nearest container and slicing it open with her saber. It popped open, exposing the crystals inside. She pointed the tip of her saber at one of the fire crystals. "So yeah, I'm giving up and looking at the big picture, for once! We can't win, but we can lose LESS!" Everyone paused, shocked at her words. Sunset stared at the blade of her saber, pondering the death sentence she was giving herself. "With my arm like this, I'll just slow everyone down, especially if we have to fight our way out of here. It makes sense for me to do it." In that moment, Missy's face lit up with recognition. "PYRRHA!" "Huh?" Missy dashed across the room, grabbing Pyrrha by the shoulders. "Your semblance! You can control metal! Can you guide the arena someplace safe, like the ocean?" "The closest body of water is approximately one-point-five kilometers to your 1 o'clock." Pyrrha's eyes widened as she shook her head. "I- I'm sorry, but I can't move something this big! Not by several orders of magnitude!" "YES, YOU CAN! You can do it if Jaune helps you!" "Uhm, Missy? I'm flattered, but I'm not THAT strong-" "THIRTY SECONDS TO FULL ANTI-GRAVITY FAILURE! PLEASE EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY!" Missy rolled her eyes. "No, your SEMBLANCE, Jaune! You can boost other people's auras so they can do CRAZY stuff! If you both work together, you can do it!" "But- I haven't unlocked my semblance, how do YOU know what it is?" Pyrrha glanced between Jaune and Missy, then closed her eyes and dropped to one knee, placing her hand on the floor. A dark aura began to spread out from her and onto anything made of metal. "I... believe in you, Jaune!" "Missy, are you INSANE? Everyone needs to get out of here!" Sunset cried. Missy just turned around, giving her a dark glare, one more intimidating than she thought the little girl could be. She didn't need to speak for Sunset to get the message, hearing her voice echo in her head. Even if you give up, I won't. That's what partners DO. We play to the last card. They all lurched again, and Sunset felt herself begin to grow lighter and lighter as the arena entered free-fall. Pyrrha cried out in pain as her power was pushed to its limits, but it didn't seem to be making a difference to their speed. Jaune dropped to his knees beside her, his eyes wide with fear. "P-Pyrrha, what do I do? How can I help you?" "J-Jaune, focus! GAAAAAH!" Pyrrha cried, her other hand gripping at her head. "But HOW?" Sunset looked around at everyone, all of her new friends from Beacon come together, now about to die together. Team RWBY was staring at her, unsure of what to do or say, just horrified at her attempt at self-sacrifice. Missy and the rest of Team JNPR were gathered around Pyrrha as she pushed herself to her absolute limits trying to save not only them, but the rest of the people below them. Even if it seemed hopeless, she was trying. The more she thought about it, the more a small part of her began to boil and push up from deep in her soul, pushing aside the frustration and despair. Finally it exploded to the surface, forcing her into action. Hope. She ran across the room, kneeling beside Jaune and Pyrrha. She reached up and took hold of Jaune's hand, swiftly placing it on top of Pyrrha's, and then putting hers on top. "I wanna try something... Hold on tight." Sunset focused, reaching inside of herself and tapping into the magic resting there. And suddenly, they were all swept up in a flurry of memories and emotions. Sunset felt like she was standing at the center of a hurricane. She'd never tried reading two people's memories at once, but she had a hunch. She took a deep breath and focused, trying to calm herself down and NOT think about how everyone's lives depended on her being able to do this theoretical thing she'd never tried before. She reached out, plucking Pyrrha's memories out of the mess. Just as she suspected, for every memory of Jaune she could find, there was a wave of overwhelming emotion that came with it: Affection. Adoration. Love. I knew it! Living next door to Team JNPR and sharing classes, it was almost impossible for her to miss it. Jaune was the only one who didn't treat Pyrrha like some kind of unattainable paragon. To him, she was just Pyrrha... or so she thought. Now Sunset focused on Jaune, trying to find memories of Pyrrha. Late-night training sessions, tutoring, unconditional support... All of them were rattling around in Jaune's head and each one was dripping with admiration, barely-contained and misunderstood emotions all jumbled together that he couldn't seem to make sense of or couldn't believe. And Sunset was between them, the mediator of these star-crossed souls. And she knew just what to do. She focused on bringing the two together, letting their memories, their perspectives mingle until the two of them finally understood one another. "If you two don't do this... each of you are going to lose the person most important to you in the entire world..." Sunset forced her own thought into the mix until it had dissipated to them both. "Don't let that happen. Don't you DARE let each other die!" Sunset waited for a reaction, and she got one. It was like an explosion, slamming into her hard enough to break her concentration and send her reeling back until she was laid out on the floor, back in the colosseum. She glanced up and smiled when she saw the result of her work. Pyrrha and Jaune were holding one another tight, wrapped around each other in a passionate embrace. Jaune's white-colored aura was glowing and flowing into Pyrrha's red, making it all the brighter until it was almost blinding. The arena lurched to the side, knocking everyone still standing off of their feet. Outside, Sunset heard the sound of rushing water as their fall finally came to a stop. Everyone looked around, their eyes wide and faces incredulous as they took in the fact that they had truly survived the crisis in one piece. Everyone, that is, except for Nora. "FINALLY! Geez, do you have any idea how long everyone's been waiting for you two to confess to each other?" Pyrrha and Jaune finally let go of one another, but they kept their eyes locked on each other. Pyrrha was crying, and Jaune's eyes were wide with shock. "Pyrrha, I had no idea you-" "I know... I'm sorry. I just knew that you had feelings for Weiss and-" "If I knew how you felt-" "Oh, just shut up and KISS already!" Nora shouted. Jaune gave her a skeptical look, but Pyrrha seemed to take it as a challenge, smirking and leaning in to press her lips to his. There was surprise at first, but the two of them quickly seemed to melt into one another. Sunset pushed herself back to her feet, grabbing Missy by the back of her collar and dragging her through the air towards the stairs. "Why don't we give them a little time alone?" Along with the rest of Team RWBYS, the six of them made their way upstairs in near-silence, each still processing the magnitude of the events they had just survived and how fast it had all happened. "So... how did you know that would work?" Ruby finally asked as they were nearing the "ground" level. Sunset shrugged. "I guess... it was when Pyrrha said she trusted him, but he didn't know what to do with that information. I thought that if they could just see themselves the way they see each other, there's nothing that could stop them, you know?" "Well, I'm glad you were right about that!" Weiss added. "Because the idea you had prior to that was RIDICULOUS!" "Yeah, seriously, don't scare us like that!" Yang chided, moving to give Sunset a slug on the arm and only stopping herself at the last second. "That was seriously messed up!" Sunset felt her face flush. "Sorry. I was just so tired of losing, and after it seemed like I lost Penn for good, I got a little desperate, you know?" "We didn't lose Penn for good..." Missy grumbled. "Were you not LISTENING to him? He doesn't want to be rescued!" "Were YOU listening?" Sunset yanked on Missy's collar, pulling her around to face her like she was holding a disobedient kitten by the scruff of its neck. "He was being facetious! He was trying to deflect the situation with humor!" "No, he was talking in CODE!" Missy shouted, flailing her hands to try and emphasize her point. Before Sunset could ask her to clarify, they were all cut off by a booming voice coming down the hall. "HALT RIGHT THERE, CRIMINAL- Miss Rose?" "Professor Port?" Ruby countered, taken aback at their teacher's sudden appearance. "What are you DOING here?" "Girls, you must evacuate with all haste! We received word that there was a BOMB here at the arena! Someone has launched an attack on the very heart of collaboration between the kingdoms!" "Uh, yeah, who do you think SENT that message?" Yang asked, folding her arms over her chest. "Sunset already defused it." Ruby stepped up, cutting the bombastic professor off before he could ask his next question. "Professor, I know you probably have a lot of questions, but Sunset broke her arm and we REALLY need to get it looked at as soon as possible!" Professor Port walked up to them, gently lifting Sunset's injured arm to look more closely at it. "Yes, that is most certainly broken... Luckily emergency services are just outside! I'll see you girls safely to the paramedics, myself!" Sunset felt practically giddy, the pain in her arm all but forgotten. "Once again, Team RWBYS finds itself at the center of great peril... and emerges victorious! Why, you girls will make top-notch huntswomen one day, I would stake my life on it!" For a moment, he appeared to be launching into one of his hour-long lectures, but to everyone's surprise, he stopped himself and leaned in close, lowering his voice. "However, might I suggest you girls take today's injuries as a warning? If you try to rush along the path to greatness, you risk your very lives. I know Professor Ozpin instructed you not to come here..." "Well, if they hadn't, you teachers all would have gotten here too late, and I'd be in little duel spirit pieces all over Remnant!" Missy added, still pouting in Sunset's grasp. Her pout now had a different target, however, focusing more on their teacher. "Which is why I believe all of Vale owes Team RWBYS a debt of gratitude today!" Professor Port declared, returning to his usual bombastic self. "In fact, perhaps all four of the Kingdoms do! However... I only hope our other professors can see your reward as outweighing your punishment for your disobedience! For instance..." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "In all of my years, I have never seen such a reckless, brainless, deliberately disrespectful disregard for the safety of yourselves and others!" Professor Goodwitch slapped her riding crop against the table hard enough to rock the entire assembly and create a dent in the metal surface. "The police may have used the security footage to rule you out as terrorist suspects, but this level of deliberate disobedience to the headmaster and reckless self-endangerment would be enough to convince me to have each and every one of you expelled!" Sunset had started out just as intimidated as the rest of her friends, but after Professor Goodwitch reading them the riot act had gone over an hour in length, she had been more focused on her new cast and sling and the problems they would present. Mostly the fact that her arm was itching. "However... that decision isn't up to me. That decision can only be made by Professor Ozpin. Unfortunately, he is dealing with another situation that took place while the rest of us were rallying huntsmen and local law enforcement together to assault what we thought was a White Fang base of operations..." She pushed her glasses further up her nose, glaring at the two assembled teams with equal fury. "As such, you will all be confined to your dorm rooms for the night until he can deal with you tomorrow." When they were finally dismissed, there was a tension hanging over RWBYS and JNPR, but a few tired-but-happy glances confirmed that everyone felt the same way: it was a far cry from the tension of the rest of their day. Soon, they had all said their goodbyes for the night outside their dorm rooms and gone their separate ways. Sunset had never been so happy to be back in the dorm, but a problem presented itself almost immediately. "Uh, girls? How am I going to climb into my-" "DIBS!" Yang shouted, catapulting over her head, leaping off of their desk and flying up towards Sunset's hammock. She was cut short, however, as Blake grabbed at her ankle, yanking her back down just short of her goal. "Your bed is still on the top bunk, Yang, I thought we agreed on this!" She tsked to herself before activating her semblance, using her shadow double to propel herself upwards and landing perfectly in Sunset's usual spot with catlike grace. "Just toss me that manuscript, Sunset. You can have my bed until your arm is better." Sunset wanted to argue, but something in Blake's eyes told her that this was going to be another one of her stubborn moments. Sunset sighed and reached over with her good hand, tossing the manilla folder up to her teammate. "I thought you finished reading that a while ago?" "Well, yeah, but that was before I knew it was actually Isis's life story from another world! Now I can read it with whole new eyes!" She and Twilight HAVE to meet each other whenever we find her... Sunset kicked off her shoes into their usual spot before she laid down on Blake's bed, instantly sinking into the mattress and pillows in a way that instantly made her aware of every pain and ache in her body. "Yup... I'm never giving this back, Blake. Sorry, the hammock's yours from now on." "Fine, but that means I'm keeping those books I found in the car." "No, please, Penn will kill me if he finds out you stole Inkheart!" "Sounds like it's the bed or your life, Sunset..." Weiss snickered. Sunset hummed to herself as if she were thinking hard. "Tough choice..." This finally broke the tension, releasing their nervous energy and sending a fit of giggles through the girls. With the last burst of energy released, each of them sunk into their respective resting spots. "You know, whether or not Professor Ozpin throws the book at us... We did the right thing today, girls." Ruby declared. "Most certainly!" Weiss declared. "Yeah. It feels... good." Blake rustled the loose pages of the manuscript. "Not every loose end is tied up, but we really dealt a heavy blow to the White Fang. It'll be a long time before they recover, if at all." "Well, I had a lot of fun!" Yang added. "Doesn't get much more 'thrill seeker' than defusing a bomb while dropping out of the sky!" "They didn't happen at the same time!" Weiss argued back. "They happened close enough! Come on, let me have this one!" "It's dishonest!" "It's awesome!" "Isn't our multiple brushes with death enough for you without fictitiously combining them into an unrealistic fable?" Sunset could almost close her eyes and imagine it was Rarity and Rainbow Dash arguing. The similarities were uncanny. "Hey, Sunset? What about you?" Ruby's voice asked. Sunset sat up slightly, seeing that all eyes in the room were on her. "We all saw your friend-" "He's alive. If, and this is a REALLY big 'if'..." Sunset still felt her temper flare as she remembered Missy's actions, but her insistence that Penn had been talking in code had convinced her to hear the duel spirit out. Unfortunately, the moment they were outside, Missy had made herself scarce before anyone else could see her."If Missy is right, then he's alive, and I don't have the whole picture. So I'm just going to have to be content with the knowledge that he's still alive, at least for now... and keep hoping a little longer." "You've got an awful lot of faith in her." It wasn't an accusatory or skeptical statement Blake made, just a simple declaration of fact. "Well, that's what partners have to do. I WAS the one who summoned her into this world. If we don't trust each other, what good is it for us to watch each other's backs?" "Yeah! You've gotta trust your partner!" Ruby cheered, hanging down from her bed to look Weiss in the eyes. "Isn't that right, bestie?" "We're partners,, not 'besties,'" Weiss replied with her typical coldness. "Speaking of Missy, she will be arriving shortly, if you would be so kind as to open your window?" "On it!" Ruby shouted, jumping down from her bed and flinging open the windows. THUNK! "OW! My nose!" "O-oh, sorry, Missy! I didn't know you were just outside!" "It's okay..." Missy muttered, rubbing her head as she floated into the room. "Nice place." "Thanks!" An awkward silence fell as the girls all looked at their new visitor. "I, uh, brought Isis with me..." She reached into her tiny hat, somehow producing the familiar repair drone. "Greetings." There was another awkward beat of silence. Weiss was the one to break it this time. "Look, why don't we cut to the chase? Missy, why ON EARTH would you antagonize Penn's jailer when he was already in such sorry condition! That could have easily gone wrong and egged her on to finish him off then and there!" Sunset sat up as much as she could, propping herself against the wall to watch Missy's reaction. She folded her arms over her chest, clearly upset with Weiss's phrasing. "Sunset was the one about to kill him! If we gave Salem what she wanted, she'd have no reason left to keep him alive! Why do you think she would EVER keep her word? He's clearly been pissing her off, there's nothing she'd like more than to no longer need him!" "Watch your language, young lady!" Weiss interjected. "NO! Bite me, Ice Queen!" Missy placed her hands on her hips and leaned in with an indignant flap of her wings. "Right now, the only one who gets to order me around like that is my big sister, and she's nowhere to be found! Sunset almost got my buddy killed and all of you hated ME for saving his life! Unlike the rest of you, I didn't GET to fight for my right to party, I got tied to a BOMB! So forgive me if I'm a bit cranky, but I think I'm within my rights to say the words 'pissed off,' because I most certainly AM!" Missy's outburst left everyone in stunned silence before she cleared her throat. "Now then... Isis, can you play back Penn's message?" "Affirmative." "Are you kidding? I could leech off of her hospitality forever! I feel like a mosquito at a blood bank!" "Since when does Penn, someone who HATES living in the south, talk in those kind of southernisms?" "That hardly proves anything..." Weiss muttered. "Alone, no, but she has a point..." Sunset muttered. "One time I offered him twenty bits just to hear him say 'y'all' like a friend of mine used to, and he said there wasn't enough money in the world to change his mind..." "He wanted to draw our attention to it." Missy sat down on the desk beside Isis's drone. "Leeches and mosquitoes are both considered parasites by most people-" "Although mosquitoes are not technically designated as parasites officially..." "-or at the very least act like it," Missy continued. "That could have been nothing, but listen to what he said next! THIS is what tipped me off that he was speaking in code!" "L-look at these luxury accommodations! A ceiling over my head, a floor beneath my feet, and TWO pair of sides? Better than where I was living when we met, right? Plus free food every-" "Okay... I still don't get it," Yang stated flatly. Missy gestured to the dorm. "Look around. How would you describe this room? A ceiling, a floor, and..." "Four walls?" Missy snapped her fingers, pointing straight at Ruby. "Say that again!" "Four walls! Isn't that what he said, though?" "No! He said 'two pair of sides!' It doesn't sound weird when you first hear it, but it's wrong!" "She's right... It's not proper grammar. As contradictory as it sounds, 'pair' is singular, 'pairs' is plural." "And who would say 'two pair of' when they could just say 'four?' Especially when they're practically on the brink of de-" Weiss caught herself as Missy gave her a dark look. "When they're clearly so exhausted?" Missy smirked. "Because he was playing around with phonetics, looking for a duelist's ear! But apparently, I'm the only one here who picked up on it. He wasn't saying 'pair of sides,' he was saying paracide!" "Of course! Paracide!" Ruby jumped down from her bed, thrusting her finger skyward in celebration. There was a moment before she surreptitiously leaned over to Weiss. "What's a paracide?" Missy looked over at Isis's drone and snapped her fingers again. "Not what, who? PARASITE Paracide! It's another card spirit, just like me!" The drone opened its mouth, projecting the image of a monster card onto the ceiling. All of them recoiled at the image with groans and shrieks. It was some kind of disgusting green-and-red insect with sharp segmented legs and a group of wriggling tentacles sprouting from its back. "Okay, so maybe it's not exactly like me... I'm much prettier." Missy chuckled to herself. "Parasite Paracide might not look pretty, but it has one of the most unique effects in the entire game!" She pointed up at the image. "Out of thousands of cards, it's the only card that can insert itself into your opponent's deck, and when they draw it, they take damage!" "So... you think he was talking about this card?" "He said he was the one leeching off of Salem, didn't he? He wasn't just talking about this card, he was saying he IS this card! He's trying to tell us that he's right where he wants to be, waiting to spring something nasty on Salem!" Missy folded her arms over her chest. "That's... awfully twisted logic." Missy shrugged. "Makes sense to a duelist. 'Convoluted' is kinda the name of the game. It's not like he could come out and say 'Hey don't worry about me, I've got a cunning plan she doesn't know about!'" Missy hopped off of the table, floating up into the air gesturing to Isis again. "But if you want one last bit of proof I'm not just pulling this out of my butt, how about one more secret message he snuck in at the end?" "The- the convulsions are natural... I promise..." To everyone's relief, the image being projected onto the ceiling changed. This time it was a spell card divided into six equal parts, each one displaying a different natural disaster. "Convulsion of Nature is another one-of-a-kind card! No other card can do anything even remotely like this one can! When it's activated, both duelists turn their decks upside down! Suddenly, you can see exactly what not only you are going to draw on your next turn, but your opponent, too! It's Penn's way of saying he's going to flip the whole situation on its head!" The rest of the members of Team RWBYS looked at one another, still unsure, but Sunset was smiling. "If it were anyone else, I'd say you were delusional, seeing things that weren't there. I'd say there's no way anyone in that kind of condition can come up with a code like that, let alone a plan that could actually get him OUT of that place... but..." She looked up at the card being projected onto the ceiling. For the first time since she'd been in that shadow game, the sight of a Yu-Gi-Oh card didn't fill her with dread. In fact, she could that same unyielding hope that had forced itself free of her despair back at the arena once again filling her. "In this case, I'm going to trust the heart of the cards..." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "And so it would seem Team RWBYS, Team JNPR, Isis, and Missy saved the day, against all odds and explicit directions from their headmaster..." Ozpin muttered as he stared out at the group of students that had just finished recounting the tale of the previous day in many, many parts. Team JNPR had been on the receiving end of many surprises, from the repeated revelation of Sunset's true nature to Missy's extradimensional abilities and their ties to another dimension's secret government organization that Sunset just happened to have on speed dial. There had been some glossing over how exactly Jaune and Pyrrha had managed to redirect the arena into the harbor, but the flushed faces and not-so-sneaky looks they were exchanging painted a fiarly clear picture. "Well, I think the results speak for themselves! One symbol of peace between the kingdoms, delivered safe and sound into the harbor with a healthy helping of stolen dust to return to its rightful owners!" Missy leaned back in the air with a smile. "I mean, I wanted to wrap a bow on it, but where do you get ribbon that BIG?" "What are you talking about?" Yang shot Missy a raised eyebrow. "With all the water it kicked up, it absolutely had a bow on it! A rain-bow!" "AAY!" Missy grinned and the two of them shared a fist bump. "Except that it wasn't. This was still an international incident, and students of Beacon Academy were found directly at the center of it. Do you have any idea how this reflects on the school?" Ozpin leaned forward. "Accusations are flying like bullets, and even if the police cleared all of your as the ones who incited this incident, other kingdoms are asking questions! Questions that do not sound unlike threats regarding what exactly I'm teaching my students here and whether or not Beacon is a suitable environment for children!" Missy folded her arms over her chest, narrowing her eyes at the headmaster. "Considering what you're keeping in your basement, I have to wonder the same thing..." There was a threatening glint in Ozpin's eyes as he turned the entirety of his attention on Missy. To her credit, she didn't back down, staring right back at him with the same ferocity, despite being less than half his height. "Professor, are you really about to pick a fight with a twelve-year-old?" Sunset asked, rolling her eyes. "HEY! I'm NOT twelve!" This finally broke the stalemate, despite Missy's objections. Sunset pushed herself out of her chair. "Sir, I understand that you aren't happy with what happened yesterday. Believe me, we did everything in our power to turn the outcome in the favor of the people. What you call an 'international incident' was very nearly a calamity that would have single-handedly destroyed not only a large portion of the city of Vale, but the morale of this and the other kingdoms, which in turn would have lead to an epidemic of Grimm attracted to those fears and negative thoughts." She ran her one good hand across her scalp. "But if it will help save Beacon's reputation, I am fully prepared to leave the academy. I'll even provide a written affidavit saying that I was the one who convinced the rest of the students to follow me on this vigilantism." The room burst into a chorus of objections and shouts of displeasure, which Sunset had expected. Ozpin rose up out of his chair, slamming his hands on the table and silencing the room in an instant. "Everyone, please, calm down! No one is leaving Beacon today! Somehow," he took a moment to glare at Isis's drone, "footage of your heroics was leaked onto the CCT Network. Every civilian in the four kingdoms is aware of your role in saving Amity. What I've been speaking of are mostly politicians and military advisors, who have very little business dictating how I run my school, to begin with." He sunk back into his chair, pouring himself a fresh mug of hot chocolate. "In fact, ever since the discovery that the bombs in the anti-gravity generators were of Atlesian design, most fingers moved from pointing at Beacon to pointing at Atlas and their military..." "Wait, Atlas is being blamed? But we KNOW it was the White Fang!" Blake leaned forward, eyes wide. "They're not going to get away with it, are they?" "There are suspicions that Atlas may have been outfitting the White Fang with weapons and technology needed to execute this type of plan in exchange for them focusing their attacks on Vale. It has the unfortunately compelling argument that only Atlas has the level of technology needed to overtake the Colosseum's systems so completely..." He rubbed at his temples. "There have even been a few annoyingly vocal fanatics expressing the opinion that the attack on the four kingdoms' symbol of peace should be taken as an act of war..." The students all looked among one another nervously. Isis's drone hopped down Missy's shoulders and flew to the desk. A moment later, the holographic display turned itself on, showing a display of a shrewd-looking man with a large moustache. "Doctor Arthur Watts. Disgraced Atlesian Scientist, technical genius, and known affiliate of Salem. I have been locked in a programming war with him and his 'Black Queen' virus since we arrived. He possesses the skills necessary to fake Atlesian equipment to leave at the scene of the crime. The evidence was clearly planted." "I know who Watts is and who he's affiliated with. The connection is as clear as day, but there's no way to prove it." Ozpin pushed Isis off of the top of his desk, sending her tumbling through the air until she caught herself and flew back to Missy's shoulder. "I also know about your little war with him, Isis. Your 'helpful' security updates that no one asked for have had almost every programmer in Atlas panicking for a month straight. Arthur is smart enough not to leave any evidence he didn't want there. It will be impossible to tie it back to him. So all blame rests on the White Fang... and on Atlas's military." Silence fell for a time over the room, the very real and very heavy possibility of war hanging over their heads. "Even when we win... we lose." Sunset spat the words under her breath. Blake rose up out of her chair, startling everyone with the force of the action. "What if... what if someone else took the blame? Stepped up and claimed that they were the mastermind behind it all?" "Well, while everyone enjoys a scapegoat, Miss Belladonna, there is hardly any more believable candidate than the one being accused already." Blake walked across the room to Missy, holding out her hand. The drone climbed up onto her, running up her arm and perching on her shoulder. She turned back to Ozpin, pointing to the tiny dragon on her shoulder. "Yes... there is. Isis works remotely, she installs herself onto every system she can access, anyone could believe that she was able to hijack some Atlas tech for the attack! You said yourself that she's been getting a reputation in Atlas for more than a month, from their perspective, she's been 'hacking' their security all along! And most importantly..." Sunset's eyes widened as she realized what Blake was thinking. "She's done it before! Back in her home dimension, she took over international weapons arrays and threatened both sides of a war so that they'd unite against her!" "EXACTLY!" "But... won't they hunt her? People will think that she was attacking them, literally EVERYONE will want to track her down and delete her!" Pyrrha argued. "That's not worth it, she's been working so hard to protect everyone! It isn't fair!" "I do not care for public opinion, my central processing core is located in a safe location, your world is still several centuries from being able to outclass a singularity artificial intelligence, and should anything happen, I have multiple backup and restoration protocols, as well as the ability to escape into other integrated internets and networks on other worlds. This plan is sound and logical." The rest of the assembled humans looked at one another, each uncertain. Finally, Ozpin returned to his chair. "Miss Isis... I believe we all owe you a debt just as much as these students who saved the arena, if not more so." "I shall begin writing my manifesto to release to the press. However, if you wish to repay me, I do wish for one piece of data that I have been unable to locate in all of my monitoring and integration of the Cross-Continental Transmit System." "And what is that?" "The coordinates of Evernight Castle. We have reason to believe Penn has a plan, but I would like to be ready if he should fail in his bid to escape." Ozpin sighed, a weary look in his eyes as he looked over at Sunset. "I suppose telling you NOT to go would serve little purpose, wouldn't it? If you choose to go to Evernight, you WILL die..." "The risks have been assessed, although any additional data on Salem and her abilities will serve to better aid us in our safety." Ozpin tapped on his desk, typing out a series of numbers. "Then I'll tell you everything I can, Isis..." He glanced up at the rest of the students. "And you alone. The rest of you are dismissed. I have only one request: Please try not to get yourselves, Beacon, or me into any more trouble? The next time you are in my office, I want it to be something that doesn't threaten the lives and safety of entire kingdoms." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Well, it seems your so-called 'friends' care as little for your safety as you do for theirs..." Salem muttered. Penn didn't hold back a smile. His message may have flown clear over Sunset's head, but Missy had been there. There was no way she didn't catch it. Salem leaned down, eyeing him with pity. "All I want is to make this world into something better. I wasn't lying when I said you could have a seat at the table, either. Yet over and over again, you spit in my face by turning me away! Do you WANT to see this world wallow and suffer because of the faults of man?" "Have you ever heard the phrase 'Absolute power corrupts absolutely?' Even if I DID trust you to remake the world, no one should have that kind of power..." Salem reached out, grasping him by the jaw and raising him up to eye level with her. "I should." When she let go he dropped to his knees, forced to kneel at her feet against his will. He looked up at her, a smile still on his face. "If you want what's in my head, you're going to have to dig it out yourself..." Salem looked down on him, and from this angle he could truly see the disgust she regarded him with. It was a seething hatred, the kind that didn't burn, it simmered, never growing weak or feeble with time, always being fed by the sheer gall of the world to exist in her presence. "Very well." She reached out with her hand, placing her fingertips against his forehead, and the world went dark.