And When They Fail...
"Psst!"
Sunset felt a soft jab at her shoulder coming from underneath her."H-huh?"
She rolled over as much as she dared in her hammock, peering down and seeing Ruby looking up at her with wide eyes. She awkwardly folded her arms behind her back and rocked back on her heels. "Sorry to wake you up, but... can I borrow Isis?"
"Hmm?" In her bleary state, Sunset had to take a second to process the request before nodding and digging her phone out of her pocket. "Sure... just give it back in the morning, don't read my texts, and stay out of Penn's video messages..."
"Thanks, Sunset!" Ruby chirped, only to immediately cover her mouth and glance around to make sure she hadn't woken up any of her teammates. Sunset simply nodded and closed her eyes again, ready to go back to sleep.
"Umm... hello? Isis?" Ruby whispered from her bunk.
"Greetings, Ruby Rose.""Can you help me with my homework?"
"Affirmative."Sunset knew she could sleep through their conversation easily, but she decided to wait up just a little longer before going back to sleep. Even in the entire month she had spent at Beacon, Isis had hardly interacted with the rest of her teammates unless she was addressed directly. Sunset hadn't been able to determine why.
"So, if 15x - 105 equals 45..."
"x equals 10.""...Got it..." Ruby muttered, her tone clearly indicating that she didn't get it.
"What about if 12x - 36 equals 60?"
"x equals-"Sunset rolled her eyes. "Stop." She groaned as she rolled herself out of her hammock, dropping to the floor and landing on her feet. She walked over to Ruby's bed, hopping up onto the top bunk with her team leader and making herself comfortable. "You're never going to learn anything if Isis just gives you the answers. Now, what's the first step of solving one of these equations?"
"Sunset Shimmer, the alarm you asked me to set is going to go off in thirty seconds. Would you like me to delay it?""Alarm? Why would you have an alarm set for the middle of the night?" Ruby tilted her head in confusion. "I know why I'M up this late, but you always get your homework done early!"
Sunset caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye. A quick glance to the window revealed a tiny hat on top of a familiar head poking over the window sill to peer into their room. "I'm afraid... I'm gonna have to cancel it for tonight, Isis." Sunset gave Missy her best apologetic glance, but it didn't seem to stop Missy from returning her look with an angry glare before sinking back down out of sight.
"This is the third time this week you have failed to complete a task related to-""I know!" Sunset snapped, only to immediately cover her mouth and check to make sure she hadn't woken anyone else up. "I know, but I think it can wait one more night..." She turned her attention back to the sheet of paper in front of Ruby. "Now, what's the first step in solving an equation like this?"
"Uhmm..." Ruby tapped her pencil against her lip in thought. "We... put x by itself?"
Sunset smiled. "Close. We DO have to do that, but how?"
"By... getting rid of the normal number?" she scratched in a "+ 36" beside the "- 36" and crossed them both out.
"Yes! But don't forget, you have to keep it balanced, soooo..."
"So..." Ruby tapped her chin again, but didn't write anything down. Sunset reached over and took the pencil to write in the same "+ 36" beside the 60 on the other side of the equation.
"So, anything you do on ONE side of the equal sign, you have to do on the other! See? Perfectly balanced!"
"As all things should be.""So... 12x equals 96?"
"And we only want to know what one x is, so..."
"We divide both sides by 12! And that means x equals 8!"
"Exactly!"
"Thanks, Sunset. I can do normal math, but once they start mixing in letters I get all confused!"
Sunset smiled and gave her a pat on the back. "That's how a lot of people feel about algebra the first time they see it. Don't worry, you get used to it."
"I really didn't want to wake you up in the middle of the night for help with homework again..." Ruby muttered. "But you're the only one who gets all this math stuff instantly!"
Sunset smiled slightly. This was NOTHING compared to the calculus she was learning in her senior year at CHS, or even the calculations required for her spells at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns.
"My old school focused a little more on math and science than combat skills. I've done all of this before."
"You never really tell us much about your old school..." Ruby muttered, turning on her side and propping her head up on her hand. "Is that the place on your scroll's background?" She reached out and pressed a button on the side of Sunset's phone, summoning up the lock screen. It was a picture that Sunset had picked out soon after she and Penn had started traveling together: the photo of her and her friends in the band room, all posing for their pre-tour group photo.
"Yeah, that's it. Canterlot High School."
"Canterlot? I've never heard of a place called Canterlot."
"It's... pretty far from here."
"And these are your friends?"
Sunset nodded again, pointing to each one of them in turn. "That's Pinkie Pie, I think you'd get along with her really well. That's Rarity, she's the most generous person I've ever met! Applejack is there, she's an AWESOME cook! I mean, whenever Team JNPR invites us over for pancakes, I always think about how much better they'd be paired with her apple fritters. There's Twilight. If you think I'm smart, she's a certifiable genius! That's Fluttershy, the only person I can think of who's more quiet than Blake, but mostly because she's scared of everything! And finally, that's Rainbow Dash. I think if she and Yang met, there'd probably be several explosions as their competitive streaks clashed."
That last statement got a snicker and a nod out of Ruby. "And... if you don't mind me asking... why are they... well, all different colors? I've never met someone with blue or purple skin!"
Sunset shrugged. "Just born that way. It's not that weird where I come from."
Ruby snickered again. "'Where you come from?' Keep talking like that and we might start thinking you're some kind of alien, Sunset!"
Sunset rolled her eyes. "I think 'Sleepwalker' and 'Sunset' are plenty of names for me! Now, let's start on the next problem."
"Okay..." Ruby groaned, focusing back on her work. "Hey, Sunset? I promise we're gonna find them."
Sunset blinked again, the last person to make her that promise springing back to mind, and just how long and how far it had carried him from his home. She looked around their room, making note of the rest of their teammates that Ruby was supposed to be leading. For a split second, Sunset felt a pang of loneliness spark in her chest as she realized just how removed she truly was from the world around her. She was an interloper, just a traveler passing through, even if this particular stop HAD lasted longer than she intended.
"Ruby... Don't make a promise you don't know you can keep."
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"Nice try... but you just triggered my trap card!"
"NOOOOOO!"
Sunset wasn't entirely awake, but she didn't need to be for her brain to put the half-heard statement together with Ruby's mournful wail. Instantly, she was on high alert, starting straight into an upright position and grabbing wildly for her lightsaber.
Unfortunately, in a hammock, this had the effect of sending her spinning wildly out of control, entangling nearly every single one of her limbs in the fabric and leaving her suspended upside-down from the ceiling, awkwardly flailing the saber downwards.
"D-don't worry, Ruby! I'm coming!" Sunset called, wriggling back and forth against her restraints. Maybe I can cut myself free if I-
"Sunset? What are you doing?"
Sunset looked up, finding herself staring straight into a pair of golden eyes.
Blake's calm voice brought Sunset's panic to a momentary halt. "I'm... going to go save Ruby from losing her soul in a demonic children's card game?"
A moment later, a pair of icy blue eyes came up to join the gold. "I'm sorry, what? That's absurd!"
Sunset leaned over slightly, finally actually taking note of her surroundings. The rest of her teammates were looking at her as if she were insane. Down on the floor between the two sets of beds, Ruby and Yang were seated on opposite sides of a playing board, each holding a set of cards in their hands and commanding a small army of figurines. Ruby gave her an apologetic shrug and a smile.
"Sorry, Sunset! We kinda get dramatic whenever we play Remnant... I kinda forgot you were asleep!"
"From the sound of it, you were having some kind of crazy nightmare, so we might have done you a favor!" Yang leaned back and smiled. "Not so sure we can say the same of your hammock, though!"
Sunset sighed and let her hand hang limp, looking down towards the floor. Below her, she could see a protrusion coming up from the shadow of the window sill... in the shape of a tiny hat sitting on a head and the tips of a pair of wings. By the time she had snapped her head back up to look at the window, a flicker of movement and a soft giggle was all the evidence that remained.
"Y-yeah... just a nightmare. Totally impossible."
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"Heya, SunShim! So, here's a quick status update!" Penn's eyes darted from side to side, as if checking for any eavesdroppers. He was always nervous in these messages, Sunset had noticed. Still, getting the occasional pre-recorded message was comforting in the face of his near-total radio silence over the past weeks. "I can't believe it, but my plan seems to be working! I've gotten a lot of fresh info! He smiled, only for it to fade again seconds later. "Bad news is, it seems like the villains' plans are moving twice as fast as they were before, and they've somehow accounted for some of their more glaring weaknesses. Isis has found the Black Queen virus in just about every major system on the continent! News broadcasters, communications arrays, anything and everything related to security or public safety!"
"I have purged the virus at every turn, but it seems to spread as quickly as I can delete it. I can only fully stop it by taking direct and deliberate control of a system, myself.""Which means we're extremely lucky Isis was built for parallel processing." Penn added. "So I'd tentatively say the virus is under control, as long as she's paying attention to it." He took a deep breath and lifted his hands, showing a pair of heavy blue gauntlets. The wide metal plates covering his lower arms and flaring out almost looked like a pair of duel disks. "The training's been slow, but Isis and I are up to running my drills twice a day, now! I can even do it without needing to dunk my arms in an ice bath afterwards!"
Sunset got a chuckle out of that. She'd been intrigued when she'd found out that he had made his own weapons, but he refused to show her how exactly they functioned, yet. There had been an endearing moment of solidarity between the two of them in complaining about their unforgiving training and the monotony of repetitive drills.
"Anyway, to get to the point... my plan's working." He glanced around again, then looked above the camera. "Isis, any pings? Are we still alone?
"Affirmative. This area is still secure."He breathed a sigh of relief before looking back into the camera. "I should be able to start getting much more detailed info about our enemy's plans and movements from now on... Which brings me to my next point." His eyes narrowed and his expression grew grim. "Isis has been telling me about your progress, and I've figured out where YOU are on the timeline. It looks like things aren't that far off for Team RWBY from what I know." He pointed a gloved finger at her. "YOU need to keep a close eye on Blake Belladonna. I know you don't want me to tell you her secrets, but-
Sunset reached up and tapped the screen of her phone. "Isis?"
"Yes, Sunset Shimmer?""Is he about to blatantly disregard Blake's privacy?"
"Negative."Sunset nodded and tapped the screen again, allowing the video to continue.
-there's SOMEONE here that she needs to avoid at all costs! An EXTREMELY dangerous individual who wasn't around by this point in the show!" His eyes narrowed. "If things happen the way they're supposed to, Blake and Weiss are going to have a fight. A MAJOR one. She will run away afterwards. It is ABSOLUTELY IMPERATIVE that you don't let that happen! Keep her at Beacon, or at least with Team RWBY, at all costs! Do you understand me?" He paused there, as if expecting her to answer, then nodded in confirmation as if she had agreed. "I swear, if you would just LET ME talk about details, I could cut straight to the heart of the matter...
"Yeah, well, trust is important, too..." Sunset muttered, knowing her couldn't hear her.
"Anyway, Missy's been playing the part of Beacon's guardian angel, I hear, so things should be relatively undisturbed there. But the moment you leave campus, I cannot tell you what to expect, so she's going to stick to close to you. Isis and I are doing just fine on our own, and I feel better knowing you've got someone watching your back." In the background, Sunset could hear voices shouting indistinctly, and his head snapped to the side, eyes wide. "Gotta go! Stay safe out there!"
"You, too..." Sunset whispered as the recording came to its end. She and Missy still had NO idea what he was even doing, but she worried he'd followed her example and thrown himself into the deep end of something he wasn't ready for. She'd tried to tell herself he had a plan, just like with the Daleks and in Aperture, just like when he dueled... but doubt still gnawed at her.
"Sunset! Come on, we're gonna be late!" Ruby whined from the hall.
"We're wasting daylight!" Weiss added her own whine.
Sunset smiled and swung her legs out of her hammock with practiced ease before dropping to the floor. "I'm coming, I'm coming!"
"This is no time for a nap, Sleepwalker!" Yang added. "Actually... never mind! Nap away!"
Sunset rolled her eyes as she finally stepped out into the hallway, arms held wide to display herself. "Okay, I'm here! Can't a girl take a phone call?"
"Phone call? From who?" Blake's head tilted in curiosity.
"Was it your boyfriend?" Yang leaned in with a smirk, only to find her face immediately pushed back by Sunset's hand as she walked past the rest of the team and towards the dorms' exit.
"I don't have a boyfriend."
"No... But you do have a boy who is your friend!" Weiss corrected as the rest of the team caught up to her.
"Who you constantly worry about..." Blake continued.
"And who sends you secret messages you don't let ANYONE else listen to!" Ruby's grin matched Yang's, confirming something about the cocky smirk was genetic.
"They're not secret! They just have private information!" Sunset's face didn't even flush slightly as she dismissed the absurd accusations. "And I worry because the last time I saw him, he was in the middle of a forest full of monsters with only Isis to defend him! I have no idea where he is or what he's doing, and he refuses to tell me, of course I'm going to worry! He IS a boy and he IS my friend, but really, truly, honestly, there is nothing romantic there!" She finally took her own turn to smirk as the rest of Team RWBYS had their salacious hopes crushed. "If anything, he treats me like his kid sister, and..." she tapped her chin in thought. "I never had any siblings, but... I would say he's about the closest I've ever had to an older brother. A relationship between us would just be weird."
Yang shook her head. "Poor guy..."
"What's THAT supposed to mean?"
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"Ugh..." Penn groaned as he walked up to the door of his room. Being the sole cybercriminal in Roman's operation had come with that distinct perk: a room of his own. It wasn't much, a literal hole in the wall, but it had electricity and a bed, and it was only a short walk to the public bathroom. According to his own claims, it was far better than he had expected. As for Isis, she enjoyed the fact that they had provided a small pet bed for her drone body. It was unnecessary, but an unexpected show of consideration. From her perch on his shoulder, Isis watched him lean over to peek at the hinge of the door, just as he had every time since he'd moved into the room. This time, however, his eyes widened in surprise and he regarded the door with a suspicious squint. She looked down at the ground under the hinge, her digital eyes picking out a thin piece of graphite snapped into several pieces.
It was an ingenious security system in its simplicity. Penn claimed to have stolen it from the pages of a Japanese manga titled "Death Note." If someone opened his door, it was almost certain that they would fail to notice the piece of mechanical pencil graphite laid across the hinge, especially in the low-light environment. If it was broken, then someone had entered his room while he had been gone.
"Isis, be ready... someone's been in our room." He gave his wrist a quick flick, activating one of his gauntlets. It was the left hand, which he had dubbed "Immovable." Pieces of metal shuffled and untangled themselves, unfolding into a wide blue shield. His other hand reached for the doorknob, readying himself to open the door.
Isis changed the attachment in the tip of her tail, rotating through tools until she reached the electric taser that she had built in for self-defense. A swift analysis of his body posture showed her that he was aiming for subtlety. His entire right side was relaxed, as it would be the first parts of him visible from inside the room. His left, however, was tense, keeping his shield at the ready. She opened the slot in her casing to expose the taser's electrodes, but kept the electricity on standby instead of continuously arcing it.
"I am prepared."With a slow nod, he cracked open the door, stepping back until his entire right side was exposed. Isis arched her head, peering inside along with him.
The room appeared untouched and empty. There was no sign of intrusion, and no reason to believe any of their few belongings had been touched. Visually, it exactly matched her records from when they had left in the morning. Penn blinked, then flicked his wrist again, causing the shield to collapse before he stepped into the room. Contrary to previous habit, however, he left the door open once he was inside. It was a strategic move, an easy escape route. He was still on guard. He removed his right gauntlet and set it on a nearby desk, then reached into his pocket. A moment later, he raised his phone up to eye level.
"Isis, give me a ping, would you?"
"Ping." It was his shortened version of asking for sound navigation and ranging of the immediate area. Isis opened the drone's mouth, switching tools until she arrived at the appropriate receiver. Given the small confines of the area, a low-frequency ping would be plenty accurate. An inaudible-for-humans tone of 200 kilohertz rang through the room, returning to her fractions of fractions of a second later. Curiously, the data it returned provided vindication to his request. She routed the assembled reading to his phone screen, matching it to the perspective of his camera.
"There is an incongruence with visible data approximately three meters and 35 degrees clockwise of your current position."After another second of staring, he nodded and returned his cell phone to his pocket. With a twitch of his fingers, the remaining gauntlet transformed again, a pair of gun barrels springing up on either side of his wrist.
"Count of three, Ice Cream. One."
He pointed the weapon directly at the aberration. According to the sound navigation and ranging, it was a flat wall that was three feet forward from his actual wall, still displaying the nightstand and wall behind it perfectly for the naked eye.
"Two."
There was another pause, and Penn shook his head disapprovingly.
"Th-"
He was interrupted by the sound of breaking glass as the mystery wall shattered to pieces. Behind it was a girl they had both seen before. The most noticeable trait was her heterochromia. Not only were her eyes two different shades, one pink and one brown, but the trait extended to her hair, leaving her with contrasting shades on either side of her head. She was dressed in a classy white tailcoat with pink lining the inside, a brown corset, and brown pants with tall white boots. She was clearly displeased, giving Penn an angry glare.
Neopolitan. She was Roman's closest and most trusted subordinate, his right-hand woman. Her semblance was known as "Overactive Imagination," the ability to create fragile constructs that displayed illusions of her choosing. She was extremely skilled in hand-to-hand combat and agility, to the point that only one character of the main cast had landed a single blow on her, period, and only when he had caught her by surprise. Neopolitan had also displayed a level of delight in beating and nearly killing others that indicated a wide sadistic streak for her enemies. She was a high-level threat, were she to be honestly attacking them.
Penn, meanwhile, didn't seemed fazed, lowering his weapon and rolling his eyes. "If you wanted to watch me get undressed, Neo, you only needed to ask."
Her glare deepened for a moment, only to be replaced by a look of disgust as the meaning of his words sunk in. She shook her head violently before storming across the room and out the door, slamming it behind her. Penn reached over and physically tugged on the knob, confirmed that it was really closed before locking it behind him.
"You know, I think I'm growing on her! Isis? Double-check my eyes?"
Isis nodded and released another sonic ping.
"It would appear that we are once again alone."Penn nodded and removed his second gauntlet before collapsing onto the bed. He took a deep breath, which he then released with a long, long sigh. It was a signal of the final release of the tension of the moment, and Isis took it to also mean that she could put away the taser. "So, Roman's spying on me. Makes sense." He raised his hand and waved it nonchalantly.
Given the context, Isis made another scan of her own initiative. There were no signals being sent or received from the room. Visual analysis showed no lenses or reflective surfaces that would indicate hidden cameras. They had scanned the quarters for bugs when they'd first arrived, but it didn't hurt to have up-to-date data.
"He sent Neo, I'm flattered!"
"This indicates that we are still under suspicion by Torchwick.""Well duh. We came here out of the blue asking for nothing in return except to learn from him. Of course he's suspicious." He stretched out on the bed before turning over onto his back. "I'm going to get some sleep before tonight's shift."
"Are we totally prepared for tomorrow's move to Mountain Glen?""We already moved Sylvia down into the tunnels, what else is there to DO?"
"Would you like to bring anything else in this room with us? Your extra ammunition for Immovable and Implacable? Any extra articles of clothing you've kept here?""Already accounted for, I carry all the ammunition on my belt, anyway, and all the clothes I could need are in Sylvia's trunk. The only thing I need to bring is my ammo and my uniform, both of which I'll have on me when we leave. We're all set. Oh!" he sat up, giving her a look of concern. "Did you remember to wire some cash to the owner of that dust shop from last night?"
"Affirmative. There should be ample funds to recover from the damage and the stolen property."He let out a sigh of relief as he sunk back into the bed. "Thanks. I feel just awful about doing all of this. Stealing from the military or a giant corporation that exploits its workers is one thing, but a cleaning out a little Mom-and-Pop dust shop for everything they have? That's different... Where do you keep getting this money, anyway?"
"Tens of thousands of transactions occur every day in even a single multi-billionaire corporation such as the Schnee Dust Company. When amounts are truncated to the nearest cent in these transactions, I simply take the remaining fractions of currency and divert them to my own account. While the individual amounts are minuscule, the total adds up to thousands of lien per hour.""And nobody misses what most people don't even know is there! Wow, that's REALLY clever, Isis!" he followed up the statement with a yawn before pulling his blankets up to his chin. "Thanks for taking such great care of us... we couldn't do this stuff without you."
"There is no need to thank me, but you are quite welcome."-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Downtown Vale was a sight to see. Streamers, flags, and balloons were on every corner and flagpole, and the air was practically abuzz with excitement, even with a long stretch of time still remaining before the festival itself. It almost reminded Sunset of Equestria's Summer Sun Celebration in terms of scale and sheer excitement. Signs displayed warm welcomes to the kingdom for international travelers and every shop seemed to have put their best foot forward and their highest-quality wares on display.
Weiss had unconsciously taken the lead out of sheer excitement as she reveled in the energized atmosphere.
"The Vytal festival! Oh, this is absolutely wonderful!"
"I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much, Weiss..." Ruby muttered. "It's kind of weirding me out."
"How could you NOT smile? A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world!" Weiss swung her hands out to the side, gesturing all around them. "There will be dances! Parades! A tournament! Oh, the amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breathtaking!" she gleefully skipped head, starting the group walking again down the sidewalk.
Yang folded her arms and pouted slightly. "You really know how to take a good thing and make it sound boring..."
"Quiet, you!"
Sunset smiled. "It reminds me of home, actually. One of my old friends, Pinkie, used to throw big parties all the time! Any time she could find a reason, there would be streamers, balloons, and cake." She chuckled to herself. "Birthdays, anniversaries, half-birthdays, quarter-birthdays, month-iversaries, someone just being down in the dumps... she knew about it and she'd be there to celebrate! And if she couldn't find a reason, she'd throw an 'emergency party planner planning party' to think one up!"
"Sounds like that would get old kind of fast..." Blake raised an eyebrow, but Sunset simply shook her head.
"Her energy was contagious, and she really put her heart into it, no matter how small the occasion seemed. She made each one feel special, and that made YOU feel special." Sunset felt a pang of homesickness strike in her chest.
"Well, speaking of your friends," Weiss declared, "I heard that students visiting from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today! Not only does it give us a chance to look for your lost friends, but as a representative of Beacon, I feel it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom!"
"Is THAT why we're spending our weekend visiting the stupid docks?" Yang grumbled.
"Ugh, it smells like fish!" Ruby added, pinching her nose.
Blake didn't seem fazed by the smell, simply rolling her eyes at Weiss. "She wants to spy on them so she'll have the upper hand in the tournament."
"You can't prove that!" Weiss snapped, folding her arms over her chest defensively.
"Woah..." Ruby whispered, drawing everyone's attention away from the docks. She was staring down the street, to a building covered in yellow police tape and being examined by several officers. The five of them walked closer, trying to get a better look at the scene of the crime. The windows were shattered and the inside of the store had been more or less completely destroyed. Ruby walked right up to the boundary of the yellow tape before looking up at the closest officer. "What happened here?"
"Robbery. Fourth dust shop to be hit this week..." he shook his head in disgust. "This place is turning into a jungle."
"Ugh, that's terrible..." Yang muttered.
"They left all the money again!" a voice called from inside the store.
"Yeah, it just doesn't make a lick of sense..." the officer replied, turning to another one of the investigators. "Who needs THAT much dust?"
"Yeah, I dunno y'know what I mean?"
"You thinkin' the White Fang?"
"Yeah, I'm thinkin' we don't get paid enough..." the second officer replied before they both walked back inside.
"Hm!" Weiss folded her arms over her chest and turned her nose upwards in disgust. "The White Fang, what an awful bunch of degenerates!"
The White Fang... Sunset had heard of them in her classes, specifically her history classes. When she'd first arrived at Beacon, she'd noticed many students had animal-like traits, varying from person to person. Over time, she'd learned that they were considered a different race from humans entirely, called Faunus. Unfortunately, being a different race meant that the humans of this world had felt no obligation to treat them as equals, often exploiting and subjugating them. The faunus had fought back, of course, and had eventually been accepted as fellow citizens. Still, they were mistreated and discriminated against to this very day. Because of this, they had formed a political group to fight for their equal rights called the White Fang. Unfortunately, over the years, democracy and deliberation had given way to violent protests and domestic terrorism in pursuit of faster and more effective results. Today, members of the White Fang were considered violent radicals and often the first people to be blamed in the wake of criminal activity.
It was an awful example of the things humanity was capable of at their worst. Fear and greed had caused a massive cultural rift with what could have been their greatest allies. The mere idea of two intelligent races convergently evolving until they were nearly indistinguishable filled Sunset with glee and excitement. In her world, humans often lamented the idea of being the sole intelligent species in the universe, desperately searching the stars for any sign of intelligent life. Here, humanity didn't need to look beyond their own neighborhood for signs that they weren't alone, and they had squandered it!
"What's your problem?" Blake asked, narrowing her eyes at her teammate.
"My problem? I simply don't care for the criminally insane!"
"The White Fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths." Blake folded her arms over her chest and glared at Weiss. "They're a collection of misguided faunus."
"Misguided? They want to wipe humanity off the face of the planet!"
"Well, then they're VERY misguided!" Blake turned back to the crime scene. "Either way, it doesn't explain why they would rob a dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale!"
"Hmm... Blake's got a point." Ruby interrupted Weiss and Blake's glaring match. "Besides, the police never caught that Torchwick guy I ran into a few months ago! Maybe it was him!"
"That still doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum!" Weiss declared, keeping her nose pointed upwards. "Those faunus only know how to lie, cheat, and steal!"
"That's not necessarily true..." Yang raised an eyebrow at Weiss's sudden aggression.
Is this the fight Penn was warning me about? Sunset thought. "Yeah, don't you think-" Her argument was cut off by yelling from the docks.
"HEY, STOP THAT FAUNUS!"
As the rest of Team RWBYS turned towards the docks, Sunset felt a firm hand grab her shoulder, yanking her backwards and into a dark alley.
"WOAH HEY WHAT-" Sunset spun around, naturally falling into a ready position with both fists raised. After a moment, however, she relaxed at the sight of a familiar face. Well... a familiar face hiding behind a pair of glasses with a fake nose and mustache attached.
"Don't worry, Sunset! It's just me!" Missy lifted the entirety of her "disguise" off of her face with a smile. "Do you know how long I've been trying to get a chance to talk to you alone?"
Sunset reached into her pocket and retrieved her phone, giving it a simple shake to indicate that Missy could have called her.
"Pfft, that wouldn't have been very spy-like, would it?" Missy waved away the obvious solution. "So, did you find anything telling us what the bad guys have been up to?"
"I just got here."
"Not here, at the school!"
Sunset shook her head. "Ever since initiation, it seems like everything's been going smoothly... Are we sure things are as bad as we thought they were?"
Missy tapped her chin thoughtfully with the frame of the glasses. "Well, if your opponent isn't attacking, then you have to watch their back row for spells and traps. They might be waiting for the good guys to make the next move so they'll trigger something they've prepared during all this quiet time!"
The metaphor made a disturbing amount of sense. "So, what? How do we go looking for a 'trap card' they've set up for us without springing the trap?"
Missy smirked and tapped the screen of Sunset's phone. "Isis, can you pull up that map again?"
"Affirmative."On the screen of Sunset's phone, a map of the world came into view, along with a blinking dot near Vale's ocean coast. Missy tapped on the dot, which zoomed in until it became a three-dimensional view of some kind of floating mechanical island.
"We use the one advantage we have: we know where the bad guys are going to be before they do! Amity Colosseum!" She gave a soft flutter of her wings, carrying her up further into the air. "Isis managed to get a GPS fix on it before it arrived in Vale! I can fly up there and start looking around for signs of sabotage! If nothing seems to be wrong, then I can protect it before the bad guys get there!"
"That's great, but... I can't exactly fly." Sunset shook her head.
"No, but now that new students from the other kingdoms are arriving, you can protect Beacon!" Missy grinned and clapped Sunset on the shoulder. "Penn's been talking to you about what's going to happen, right?"
Sunset hissed through her teeth as she waggled her hand from side to side. "He's been pretty vague. I only got the first real warning from him this morning, and I don't even know what he was trying to protect us from! He just said to keep everyone away from the docks tomorrow night and make sure Blake doesn't run off on her own..."
Missy hummed as her brow furrowed in confusion. "Why would he say THAT? Blake running into the White Fang at the docks is a big character moment for her, it brings the whole team closer together! It was the finale of the first season!"
"Wait, the White Fang is going to be at the docks?"
"Yeah! When Weiss finds out she's a faunus, Blake goes there to try and prove they're not behind the robberies, but finds out they're working with Torchwick!" Missy placed her hands on her hips with a frown. "Did Penn SERIOUSLY not tell you any of this?"
"Blake is a- MISSY! That's private information!"
Missy gave a nonchalant shrug. "Yeah, well, knowing private information is what sets us apart from the cops who don't know jack squat." She blinked as a thought finally seemed to occur to her. "Wait, you SERIOUSLY didn't know that?"
"NO! I told Penn not to tell me anyone's private information!" Sunset groaned.
"You didn't notice the cat ears?"
"WHAT cat ears?"
"The ones she hides under her hair bow!"
"She's hiding cat ears under- Missy! Stop telling me all of Blake's secrets!" Sunset clapped her hands over her ears, causing Missy to give her a tired look.
"You want to help this world, save Beacon Academy, right?"
"Of course! I wouldn't have stopped here for an entire month if I didn't!"
"Then WHY are you cutting your ability to help down to nothing? You can respect their privacy or you can stay ahead of the threats. You're gonna have to make a choice, Sunset!" Missy placed her hands on her hips and floated a little higher to glare down at her. "Whatever it is Penn's doing, it's clearly dangerous, but if I know him, he's putting his knowledge to good use! You're purposefully giving yourself a handicap!" She reached down, snatching Sunset's phone from her hands. After a few seconds of furious typing, she handed it back to her, now displaying a trio of CGI-animated faces. "THESE are the ones who are going to be sneaking into Beacon with the festival prep! They're behind everything that goes wrong at Beacon! KEEP. AN. EYE. ON. THEM."
"Are you... mad at me?" Sunset asked, feeling surprised at Missy's terse frown.
"A little, yeah!" Missy huffed. "You've been off playing 'Main Character' while the rest of us were working on the real problems!"
Sunset felt a swell of indignation. "I haven't been playing anything! You think it's EASY being at Beacon?"
Missy folded her arms and leaned down until their noses were nearly touching. "I think you've been ignoring the idea of preventing disaster in favor of living like you're just another character in the story. You're trying to fit in."
"What's so bad about-"
"Look at this whole situation, Sunset!" Missy gestured to the two of them, bobbing up and down in the air with the sheer force of the motion. "You're talking to the spirit of a children's trading card about knowing the FUTURE! You came here through a portal from a different dimension! You came here specifically because you wanted to change the timeline of a once-fictional world! Your whole mission statement is to not fit in so hard you alter the course of history!" She pressed her palm against her forehead and sighed. "Why am I, of all people, having to give you a reality check, Sunset?"
"I- I've made friends here, Missy. Is it such a bad thing to want to respect them and their privacy?"
"No." Missy floated down again, poking her finger against Sunset's chest until it came to rest on the geode. "Don't try to claim something that noble, Sunset. Maybe it started off with that, but the thing about living in that little birdhouse in your soul is..." she frowned again, but this time, it seemed less angry and more... sad. "I know when you're lying to yourself."
Sunset felt a flicker of fear, even if she didn't understand why. "I'm not lying to myself!"
"Then how many times over the last month have you thought the words 'just like?' 'This is just like reading with Twilight!' 'This is just like Miss Cheerilee's class!' 'This is just like CHS!' It doesn't take a mind reader to tell what's happening. No matter how different the location or the context, going to high school with your friends is what you were doing before you broke the multiverse-" Sunset felt a sting of pain at that reminder, "and it's what you're doing now. You've made yourself comfortable. And maybe that's because Penn went off the radar and I've been focused on keeping watch over the school, we left you alone after you joined up with Team RWBY-"
"Team RWBYS," Sunset corrected reflexively.
"SEE? Sunset, you've gone native!" Missy folded her arms over her chest. "If Penn showed up right now and said that he had fixed it, that we were free to leave whenever we wanted, would you go?"
"Of course I would!" Sunset replied without hesitation.
"When? In a minute? In an hour? In a day? In a week? How long would it take for you to pack up your life here and leave? Would you hesitate to turn Team RWBYS into Team RWBY, the way it was supposed to be?"
Sunset blinked, surprised at the question. She'd stopped thinking about her time here in terms of, well, time. It wasn't "we'll be here a week or a month before we're back on the road," it was "there's a week until Oobleck's exam" or "the semester ends in a month."
"I- I guess I'd have to stay a little longer... Weiss's saber lessons are going really well..." she awkwardly scratched at the ground with the tip of her shoe. "And Blake still isn't finished with that book I gave her... Ruby's going to need help studying for our history exam, and I still owe Yang some hand-to-hand practice..."
"Have you done ANYTHING to look into the safety of Beacon? Have you investigated if there are any more dimensional portals nearby? Have you tried to find evidence of tampering in their computers? Have you even looked closely at your teammates to see if they know something they're not telling you?" Missy waved her hand to dismiss the last point. "Well, clearly not on that last one, you haven't even noticed Blake's bow wiggles when she's surprised or changes emotions!"
Sunset didn't have a response to any of that, only looking down at her own shoes at the verbal berating.
"YOU insisted that we stay here and help, Sunset. You need to think about why the rest of us are putting ourselves at risk for you..."
When Sunset looked up, Missy was gone, leaving her alone with her thoughts. She looked down at her phone, trying to commit the faces and names there to memory.
Cinder Fall, Mercury Black, Emerald Sustrai... These were the same three who attacked Penn at the campsite, weren't they?
"Isis? Am I really just... making myself comfortable? Instead of focusing on our mission?"
"You have embedded yourself deeply in a position at the center of upcoming events. I cannot, however, determine whether or not you've lost sight of your goal. That is between you and the goal."Sunset groaned and turned to leave the back alley. In the distance, she could hear Blake and Weiss yelling at each other, but the reason for their argument went over her head as she pondered Missy's words.
I never thought Missy could be that harsh... Is she right?
The rest of the day passed in a haze for Sunset... a haze where nothing surprised her. Every time she wanted to jump into what was happening, she would stop and question herself. She'd second-guess herself and her place. Was she doing this because it brought her closer to helping people, or because she'd made these new friends to make herself feel better? If she could know everything that should and would happen, was she obligated to, even if it was against their wills? Could she do a better job helping them if she did? She felt like there was suddenly a new wall that had sprung up between her and her teammates, a dissociation from what was happening around her. It didn't surprise her when Weiss and Blake continued arguing all the way back to the school. It didn't surprise her when Weiss described in gruesome detail how the faunus of the White Fang had been at war with her family's company her entire life. It didn't surprise her when, in an outburst of passion, Blake accidentally outed her association with the White Fang. It was all according to plan. All in the script.
Is this... how Penn sees things? How he sees ME? Just... characters playing out a script? Actions predefined, not even aware we're doing it? It's no wonder he always calls us "characters" instead of "people."
It wasn't until Blake had dashed out of the room in a panic that Sunset finally felt herself snap back to some semblance of reality.
"BLAKE! WAIT! COME BACK!" Ruby cried, rushing to the door too late.
And then Sunset was back. The barrier fell away again, and she was once again living what was happening. And what was happening was that Blake had just run off on her own. The one thing that Penn had told her, for her own safety, Sunset mustn't let happen no matter what.
Blake was in danger because of Sunset's existential crisis.
"GAAH!" Sunset slammed her palm against her forehead. "STUPID! I was so caught up in- UGH!"
"Sunset? Are you okay?" Yang asked quietly.
"NO!" Sunset groaned and walked across the room, sitting herself down on the edge of Blake's bed. "Penn TOLD me this was going to happen, but I didn't listen! I could have stopped this!"
"Sunset, you can't blame yourself-"
"Yes, I CAN!" Sunset threw herself backwards, laying across the bed.
"Actually, being a mind reader means she could have known about this all along!" Weiss declared. "If she had just-"
"Yeah, except she promised she'd never use it on US!" Yang snapped, cutting Weiss off.
Sunset reached into her pocket, already knowing what she was planning on doing was a bad idea. "Isis, play Penn's message from this morning."
"That message was meant for your eyes only, Sunset Shimmer.""Just do it. Override it, or whatever." She rolled herself up onto her feet and set her phone on the desk. The rest of Team RWBYS gathered around to stare at the tiny screen.
"Heya, SunShim! So, here's a quick status update!"
"Skip ahead to the part I was talking about, please."
The video began to play in fast-forward, only stopping a few seconds later after Penn's transition to deathly seriousness.
"YOU need to keep a close eye on Blake Belladonna. I know you don't want me to tell you her secrets, but there's SOMEONE here that she needs to avoid at all costs! An EXTREMELY dangerous individual who wasn't around by this point in the show! If things happen the way they're supposed to, Blake and Weiss are going to have a fight. A MAJOR one. She will run away afterwards. It is ABSOLUTELY IMPERATIVE that you don't let that happen! Keep her at Beacon, or at least with Team RWBY, at all costs! Do you understand me?"
"That's enough, Isis..." Sunset muttered, and the screen switched off again. She turned around, seeing the rest of her teammates staring either at her phone or her with wide, terrified eyes.
"How did he..." Ruby whispered.
"What the..." Yang muttered, her third word drifting off to a silently mouthed obscenity.
Weiss didn't say anything, but her wide-eyed stare was enough to communicate her shock.
"I could have prevented this. And I didn't." Sunset shook her head. "I TOLD you he can tell what's going to happen... and I screwed up the ONE JOB he gave me because I was too busy thinking about whether or not it was okay to take information from him about the rest of you!"
"That's more than just a hunch..." Yang muttered as her face furrowed into a scowl. "That was specific! Has he been SPYING on us?"
Sunset sighed. "Trust me, I thought the same thing when I met him, but that's just what he DOES, and he's almost always right!"
"Which means wherever Blake is headed, she's in danger!" Ruby cried, grabbing at her head in panic.
Weiss, who had been silent until now, cleared her throat and drew everyone's attention. "Fine. I can accept your... strangely prescient friend. If he IS correct, then... how do we help Blake?"
"You DO care!" Ruby cheered, grabbing Weiss in a bear hug.
"Only because I want an explanation from her! Don't mistake this for forgiveness!" Weiss argued as she tried to pry her team leader off of her.
Sunset took a deep breath. "Isis might have a chance of tracking her by her scroll, but there's only one person who can tell us where Blake is going to be..." She shook her head sadly. "Isis... this is an emergency. Call Penn."
"Affirmative. Calling Penn..."The screen went black, except for the words "Calling Penn" displayed in pink letters. A few seconds later, the screen cut to an image of Penn. Sunset raised an eyebrow, noticing a change in wardrobe. He seemed to have eschewed his brightly-colored shirts and red cap in favor of a gray shirt and a long black coat. He had pushed a grimm-like mask up on top of his head to reveal his face, and was staring wide-eyed into the camera.
"Sunset? What happened? Isis said it was an emergency- woah!" he staggered back slightly, looking shocked at the group staring back at him. "This is new... Hello, girls..." He turned to look at someone off-camera. "Isis, is this a broken masquerade scenario?"
"Negative.""Penn, this is Weiss, Ruby, and Yang." Sunset indicated each of the girls with a small gesture. "Girls... this is Penn. He's the one I've been telling you about."
"It's... nice to meet you," Weiss stated with trepidation.
"You're the guy who knows about the future, right? That's a pretty crazy semblance!" Ruby declared.
"And knows a pretty freaky amount about us..." Yang muttered, regarding him with suspicion.
"The honor is all mine, ladies. And I'm afraid it's my JOB to know things, Yang. It comes in awfully handy in our line of work..." His eyes flickered back and forth. "Where's Blake?"
Sunset rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "About that... That's why I- WE called..."
He groaned and pressed his palm against his forehead. "You let her get away, didn't you?"
"Wait, if you knew she was going to run, AND that we were going to have a fight... did you KNOW she was a member of the White Fang?" Weiss asked, pushing past Sunset to peer into the camera. "Why wouldn't you tell Sunset?"
"FORMER member!" Penn corrected, returning Weiss's glare. "Back when they were non-violent. She drew a line at taking lives and got out before it was too late. If you can GET OVER your racism, Weiss-"
"WHAT? How dare-"
"you'll realize that Blake is, and forever will be, your friend. Now you let Blake think you hate her for not only what she's done and now regrets, but for what she IS. Great job." He folded his arms over his chest, giving them all a raised eyebrow. "And if Sunset would just LET ME tell her the whole truth of these things, we could have gotten ahead of this..."
"If I wanted to invade their privacy I would have just used my geode," Sunset countered with an arm-fold of her own.
"Well, now we NEED the whole truth," Ruby stepped forward. "You said Blake is in danger if we let her go off on her own. How? Where is she going? Where can we find her?"
Penn took a deep breath, calming himself down. "I'm not sure I can tell you. That's your OWN future. Asking Sunset to nudge you away from disaster is one thing, explicitly giving you the script of your own-"
"Penn. Just tell us..." Sunset muttered. "I'm getting really tired of your whole 'time paradox' excuse."
Penn leaned in, glaring at the camera. "You're being awfully demanding for someone who called me while I was at work. Do you realize what I'm putting at risk if I get seen talking to you four?"
Weiss narrowed her eyes. "Does it have anything to do with that mask you're wearing?"
"That's a line of questioning I want to answer even less." He sighed, then glanced from side to side. "Look, the White Fang is going to be at the docks this Sunday to interrupt a dust shipment. Blake is going to go there to try and prove that the White Fang aren't behind the dust robberies, but they ARE. They've beefed up their security to pretty disproportionate levels, too. If Blake gets caught, she'll be executed... or WORSE, taken captive."
"How is getting taken captive WORSE than getting killed?" Yang asked.
"You don't know WHO they brought in to tighten security-"
"Hey, Doctor Jekyll! We need some help over here!" another voice interrupted, causing him to jump in place and slam the mask back over his face.
"JUST A SEC, I'M RUNNING DIAGNOSTICS!" He reached up and grabbed the camera, and the screen went black. "Blake's going to be having tea with Sun Wukong in downtown Vale tomorrow, then staking out the docks! Find her BEFORE nightfall!" he whispered. Finally, the black screen simply displayed the words "Call Ended."
Jekyll? Is he using a fake name? Sunset wondered. Why use THAT? It's obviously fake!
"Well, I guess we know where she's headed..." Yang muttered. "Even if the guy DID seem shifty."
"Hey! That's my friend you're talking about!" Sunset replied.
"Your FRIEND looks like a member of the White Fang, himself!" Weiss replied.
"That would explain why he knows about what's going to happen at the docks..." Ruby whispered before her eyes widened in excitement. "OH! I KNOW! What if he's a DOUBLE AGENT infiltrating the White Fang from the inside?"
This actually gave all of them reason to pause, and silence fell over the room.
"Are you kidding? Penn nearly died on our first day here! There's no way he'd put himself in MORE danger-"
"Ruby is correct."Sunset blinked in shock, turning back to her phone. "He's WHAT? I THOUGHT he said this was a 'Penn-and-Isis bonding adventure!'"
"It has been. We work quite well together. It has also been highly illegal and dangerous. That is why he did not wish for you to know the nature of his mission.""But... he did all that without telling me?" Sunset couldn't help feeling put-out.
"For the record, you enrolled at Beacon without telling HIM. I believe the appropriate phrase is 'Turnabout is fair play?'""Well, we know where Blake is going to be tomorrow. I guess all we can do tonight is wait." Yang sighed and flopped onto her bed. "IF he's right..."
"He said Blake would be with someone named 'Sun Wukong.' Does anyone know that name?" Weiss asked. After a chorus of shrugs from her teammates, the screen of Sunset's phone flickered on again, showing a crude-looking CGI rendering of a young man with blonde hair.
"You may also know him as the faunus you encountered at the docks. He is the first to approach her in a friendly manner after tonight's debacle.""That vagabond?" Weiss exclaimed.
"Should you look past first impressions, simulations based off his Haven Academy records would infer that you may find him to be a quite reliable individual.""Simulations?"
"I am programmed with a virtual synaptic network, allowing for comprehension of emotion and enhanced behavioral simulation.""So... you know what people are going to do before they do it, too?" Yang groaned.
"Negative. I can only make presumptions. I do not have the ability to account for all variables in a person's behavior, such as personal history, prior grudges, et cetera. My behavioral simulations generally need a wide margin for error. In fact, the only person whom I could predict reliably is Penn, himself.""What's he going to do next, then?"
"Continue the plan. He is infiltrating with the intention of using his forewarning ability to sabotage the White Fang. For now that means playing along. If you all wish not to see him executed, I suggest you refrain from using the emergency line again.""I guess we should get some sleep..." Ruby muttered. "There's a LOT of places to get tea downtown, and checking all of them isn't going to be easy!"
"Yeah... I'm guessing tomorrow's going to be hard on everyone..." Sunset muttered.
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"You're certain?" Cinder asked.
"Absolutely. I'd recognize this jalopy anywhere." Emerald smiled and folded her arms over her chest. "Looks like they patched up the holes I put in it."
Cinder smiled as she trailed her finger along one of the doors, enjoying the sizzle of the paint as she burnt her touch into it.
"No sign of that quantum thingy, though! Must have taken it with him! Just a bunch of tools, clothes, and camping supplies!" Mercury called from the trunk. "Looks like he's been living out of it for a while!"
"And it just so happens to turn up in the place where Stage Two is being prepared... interesting. It's no wonder Salem wants the boy alive." Cinder pulled open the driver's-side door and sat herself in the front seat. It was hardly the lavish interior of a luxury car, a poor man's vehicle, scraped together from junkyard scraps. Still, the driver's seat was a position of power, and sitting in his place, she felt herself beginning to get a feel for their target. "The amount of time we've spent on finding him has been embarrassing and split our focus between other equally important tasks."
"I think it's time we bring this chase to its inevitable end."
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Professor Ozpin sat behind his desk and took another sip of his hot chocolate.
"Ozpin, I'm SERIOUS!" Ironwood slammed his fist on the other end of the conference call.
"What you are describing to me sounds like the opposite of a problem, James."
"Ozpin, these updates have been coming from NOWHERE! Our best programmers can't keep up with them, they're getting lost in what is SUPPOSED to be their own code! True, Atlas's digital security is stronger than it has ever been, but we are no longer in control! We're locked out of our own systems!"
"And yet life goes on, safer and more efficient than ever because of it." Ozpin took a long sip, pondering the facts of the situation.
"What are you implying, Oz?"
"Only that this 'hacker' appears to be benevolent. I would obviously encourage you to continue trying to regain control, but perhaps rather than trying to STOP this rogue programmer, you should focus on recruiting them. Have they left any messages? Made any attempts to make contact?"
"No. They simply roll out one update to our systems after another, sometimes multiple a day. Sometimes they don't even makes sense, just changing little things, redundant systems, replacing syntax with things that are functionally identical! Sometimes they roll back to a previous version before completely revamping themselves in new ways! The only clue we've gotten so far is a name: Isis."
Isis... an ancient civilization's goddess of life and magic. That hardly sounds like our enemy... That made Ozpin pause again, coming to a new understanding. "I believe I see what is happening, James. You are seeing one half of a war. One fought in ones and zeroes, rather than with bullets and blades. One creates, another counters, and so on and so forth. If you would like a suggestion from me, I believe that you should turn your attention away from the perceived enemy... and start looking for the imperceptible one."
"You think there are two hackers?"
"I believe that I know conflict when I see it, regardless of the battlefield. I've fought secret battles long enough to know when one is happening right beneath my nose."
"I'll bring your suspicions to the council, Ozpin. But they've been so focused on this hacker, I doubt they'll be willing to change their target to one we cannot even prove is there."
The call came to an end, leaving Ozpin alone in his office again. He finished off his current mug of hot chocolate and set it back on his desk. This semester had certainly proven exceptional so far, and he didn't like what was happening so close to the Vytal Festival. Crime and tensions were at a high, people were growing nervous among their excitement, and Atlas had been pushing their security measures onto the other kingdoms with increasing fervor. If someone was truly attacking them now, it could put EVERYTHING at risk.
"I certainly would like to have a talk with this so-called 'hacker...'" he muttered.
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"Alright, kid, you've proven yourself pretty valuable." Roman tapped his cigar to knock off fresh ashes. "We've got one more job here in Vale, and it's going to be our biggest, yet. The grand finale! If all goes smoothly, I think I'd be willing to get you out of petty theft and promote you to the big leagues. Whaddya say?"
"Eager and willing, boss!"
"That's what I like to hear. Now, when this is all said and done, I just have one question... where would YOU like to go?"
The boy tapped his chin in thought. "I've heard whispers about things happening in Mountain Glenn, in the southeast. Going underground would be a nice way to tinker without any interfering signals, you know? Improve the Integrated Superior Intelligence System."
Torchwick had long ago learned to suppress his tells, especially when something surprised him. Still... finding out Cinder was right was a pain in the rear. It meant he was going to have to put up with Mercury and Emerald's gloating.
"Well, if you can make that little robot of yours even better, I'll accept that with a smile on my face! Soon as we pull this off, I'll have you on the first airship to Mountain Glenn..."
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And we're on the road to divergence!
Well, this is an interesting if not kind of chaotic chapter
So Sunset is slowly starting to realise what is her true place as a “multiverse-wanderer” and is slowly getting over her problem of wanting to get back to normal with out actually putting the effort in restoring “normality” and simply finding a place that remains her of home, it was about time!! I mean I get that she was trying to fit in, after all that gives her an adicional advantage of trust, i mean Peen is doing the same, but, she exaggerated, to the point that she basically forgot about her objective, i honesty think she needs to se a therapist if she wants to finish her adventure and return everything to normal, because in retrospective, it seems like she has some kind of trama that forces her subconsciously to go back to an environment similar to the one she was inhabiting before the traumatic event took place, in this case, blowing up the multiverse, now to be fair with her, anyone will develop a trauma after that, but the point is that if she doesn’t get over it, or finds help to get over it, then finding her friends and restoring the multiverse is going to take a long time.
Now in a less depressing/deep note, it seems that Peen and ISIS plan is about to be discover if not impeded, that’s a problem, but it was kind of expecting that, after all events are taking place at moments where they should not be happening so his “future knowledge” will not be as useful as before, so now is just question of waiting to see what’s about to happen.
That been said... this:
This tells me that, both Peen and ISIS (or at least ISIS) have some idea that a part of their plan has been compromised, after all, ISIS should have some kind of “silence-alarm” instead in the car (right?).
Any way, can’t wait for the next chapter, specially now that the stakes are getting higher and higher
So one gauntlet has close range weaponry while the other has long range weapons?
10123821
Penn usually focuses on defense. He took down the dalek by turning its own weaponry against it with a mirror, he used his own body as a shield to protect Sunset in Aperture, and his whole deck is focused around monsters that either can't be destroyed by battle or grow stronger over time. As Isis said, his philosophy is to "be a shield so strong, your enemies break themselves against it."
Immovable and Implacable are basically a pair of expanding shields on his arms with a couple token gun barrels attached around the edges in case he needs some offensive power. Think like Captain America's dual shields in Infinity War with a little more surface area.
i.pinimg.com/originals/c1/1d/3e/c11d3e4e0d086f466737942e2eea86f6.gif
They DO have one more surprise when used together, though!
10123434
A silent alarm? In an outdated old sedan from the 90s? With nothing worth stealing in it once they took the portal gun with them? I hate to say it, but you might be giving Sylvia a little too much credit, there.
10124082
I like how you made Ozpin figure out as much without looking ominiscent. Makes sense immortals like him and Salem can recognize patterns and hints so quickly, and react in consequence.
Let's see what Penn has in store to throw them off the scent.
*Whispers* If 15x + 105 equals 45, then x equals -4. It equals 10 if your actual equation was 15x - 105 equals 45.
10124465
Thank you! I missed that while I was writing it! Heh, I can do writing AND math well, but trying to do both at the same time just makes me sloppy!
10124483
No worries. My brain kept trying to tell me "Doesn't ISIS mean -10?" for longer than I care to admit when I first read it. LOL
Penn should show Sunset this:
Quite lovely to see another chapter so soon after I've caught up. RWBY arc continues. (Probably should watch that one of these days.) Things have certainly come to a head with Sunset realizing she's become ensconced with Team RWBY. Looking forward to seeing what happens next. Hopefully Sunset finally comes across one of her friends and this will all be worth it. Keep up the good work.
It seems weird that they are able to pick up on what Isis is doing yet not notice the virus that seems to be aggressively invading their systems.
How did Cinder manage that at this point?
I admit I never even noticed that on the show.
You had one job, Sunset. One job.
10138060
I don't know much about computer programming but if someone knew a system almost too well then they could create a virus to be as stealthy as it is in the show while simultaneously also planting itself in every system
10422839
My issue was more along the lines that if they noticed someone was messing with their system wouldn't that cause them to inevitably find the virus? The only reason it was never found in canon was that they had no reason to look.
To counter one MCU reference with another: I understood that reference.
When I started to read that last sentence, I thought SciTwi had found Sunser, but nope it's just Missy.