"Ah, back to the grind." Adam sighed. He noticed that the usual groups and Ozpin were there along with a new customer. "Oh god." He sighed.
"Ozpin. Students." General Ironwood greeted as he entered the room. "Criminal scum." He growled lowly. "If the situation were proper, I'd end your reign of terror here and now."
"My reign of terror." Adam chuckled out sarcastically.
"Yep." Ozpin said aloud before sipping his coffee. "So what's on for today?" Ozpin asked, trying to shift attention back to the screen.
"What? No more friendly banter." The voice asked. No one responded. "Oh alright. Tell me something, have any of you ever heard of Gears of War?" The voice relented before asking. The screen turned on as the people pondered his question.
Deep in what appeared to be an underground hollow of sorts, filled with fluorescent fungi and plant life, a giant centipede like grimm appeared and began to move through the large space of the underground, maneuvering thround the jagged rock formations and different elevations.
It's body was black, with burning red streaks running down its body from head to diverging at its two back legs. Its legs were covered in bone and its mask, having four red markings with two on each side of the head, split with the red line, allowed tiny red eyes to pop through. The beast itself could fill more than two thirds of a football.
The beacon children couldn't help but shiver a bit at seeing the creature. Even Adam felt a bit squeamish.
"The mighty ashura." Ironwood said aloud. "Haven't seen one of those in four years and even then it wasn't that big."
The beast seemed to calmly storm along the ground until cracks of varying sizes began to appear all around. It began to knowingly writh and hiss angrily while monitoring the area, keeping its antenna on the gound in a haphazard fashion.
"RRRAAAAGGH!" A deep and gravelly voice roared out before the grimm's face was assaulted by a hail storm of bullets and explosives. White and grey Lizard like men wearing similar yet various armor types seemed to pounce from multiple sides along the tops of some of the chasms while several soldiers rushed forward with cleavers lined with red dust towards the beast's legs. While most of them made it through, a few weren't so lucky. The screen went dark just as a leg crashed down on one of the warriors.
"Who were those guys?" Ruby asked a bit nervously. They seemed a bit off. And scary.
"I don't know." Ozpin answered. "I doubt they exist in our world."
'Never hurts to be cautious.' General Ironwood thought to himself.
When the next scene came, it displayed an underground city akin to a giant fortification atop a glowing lake. Among the roads and buildings, walked soldiers and beasts of different sizes. From the simple drone to holy kantus, walking around the city doing hatever task they needed. Then came the mighty beasts they domesticated from the small wretches all the way to the colossal brumaks and corpsers.
'Oh my Oum.' Were the thoughts of the students seeing all of these creatures that lived underground. This is the type of shit they had nightmares about as kids. Ozpin, Ironwood, and Adam made a mental note to check underground whenever they could. For various reasons.
"To think they've domesticated such beasts." Adam said in astonishment.
"It's definitely fascinating." Ozpin stated.
"Yeah. That's one word for it." Ironwood said dryly.
In the middle of the city lied a gigantic palace, filled to the brim with special looking guards of sorts. Inside that palace lied the most important person. The queen.
"Mom, I really think you should reconsider." And Jaune, who stood before his mother's throne. His outfit was different except his hoodie. Instead of jeans, he had jet black pants with red spiked knee pads. His breast plate was a rusty red and a black sharp looking cross was carved into the center of his chest plate. His left shoulder and elbow pads weren't spiked except his right one. His last outfit edition included a pair of black googles around his neck. Also, he was way more pale.
"First off, not surprising and kinda cool. Second, he looks a lot more... battle ready." Yang started off in her usual tone but grew more hesitant as she said this.
"Personally, I like his look. It be better if was pink though." Nora commented.
"Hey Weiss, Jaune'a actually royalty. What do ya think that?" Ruby giggled out.
"As if-I'm sorry, what do you mean by actually royalty?" She growled out in a low tone.
Queen Juniper quirked an eyebrow. "And why should I do that?" She asked in slightly annoyed tone.
"Because two wrongs don't make a right?" He weakly pointed out. His mother just stared at him. "Okay, multiple reasons. One, not all surface dwellers are bad and you know this."
"Because of the surface dwellers, grimm exist. Not only that, but they prove incompetent as they squabble amongst each other for power, feeding the grimm." She pointed out nonchalantly.
"Two, why not try to work with them, come together in a way to-" His mother raised her hand to silence him.
"You just want to become a "hero" for the people don't you?" She asked tiredly.
"Better than slaughtering them!" He yelled in a exasperated tone.
"Goodness." Pyrrha gasped out.
"I don't think I like this version of Mrs. Arc." Nora said allowed.
"None of us do." Blake muttered.
"Personally, I think her people should align with us. From the look of things, it seems as though her people know the pain of being rejected from society. With both of our strengths, we could rectify the world." Adam said in his freedom fighter tone, causing the students to groan.
Ironwood tched before he spoke. "A genocidal queen wouldn't save you from me or the military."
"Yet I'm still breathing without all of that." Adam sighed. "Such arrogance."
Juniper shook her head. "They slaughtered your ancestors Jaune. They kepts us chained and confined before plunging the locust into the abyss."
"That was the past. This is the present." She still looked unconvinced. "At least let me indulge in their existence before you get rid them. Let me try to unite the people I can. Please?"
"No." She said with a tone of finality. "There's no point in you getting attached to a race that will eventually cease to exist. End of discussion." She said as her top generals, Skorge, Raam, and Karn entered the room before bowing to the royal mother and prince. "Now go, I have plans to make." Jaune grunted angrily as he left before stopping at the doorway.
"This isn't something dad would want." Jaune muttered darkly before exiting. Juniper heard and sighed.
"Quueeen." Raam said. She shook her head.
"It's fine. He'll grow out of it." She said as a hologram appeared and the room went dark. "Now, back to the agenda."
"It's good to know that Jaune would stick up for others." Ren said. Everyone nodded in agreement. "Also, anyone else unnerved by the large one's voice." Everyone voiced an agreement. Even Adam.
From the look of things, almost everyone was resting, save for a few soldiers and palace guards. And Jaune.
He was currently packing his bag and making sure his armor was where it needed to be after concealing the synbols. On his bed, rested a wretch with a collar. He gave him one last pat on the head, causing it to squirm happily.
"What kind of pet is that? It looks like a hairless monkey dog monster." Ruby quipped.
Once he made sure everything was alright, he exited his room and began to maneuver his way around the gaurds in a stealthy fashion. After a few moments of stealth (and familiar spy music) he made it to a secluded courtyard, containing a reaver in special plating. It noticed him and began to nuzzle him.
"Hey girl. How ya doin'." He cooed as he rubbed her head and she got low. "You and me are gonna go for a ride." He said as he began to climb aboard.
"Jaune's gonna ride that! He can't even ride a bullhead!" Yang shouted. Everyone gave her a look. She sighed. "Yeah, yeah, different Jaune's and whatever."
"Prince." A deep voice called out groggily. Jaune quickly craned his neck around and saw the elite boomer staring at him. "Prince?"
"H-hey there." Jaune coughed out a bit before his tone became serious. "Aren't you supposed to be on guard duty?"
"Supposed to watch over palace." He answered.
"And why aren't you?" Jaune asked with an edge to his tone. Boomers weren't smart but they could pick up the vibes from their commanders.
"You aren't supposed to leave without permission." He answered. Depsite not showing it, the boomer became nervous as the air seemed to thin.
"I am the son of Juniper. Your prince. You dare to oppose me?" He growled out. The boomer shook its head. "Besides, my mother authorized it. She simply didn't tell you because you our of low rank and worth. To disrupt the others over a pointless announcement of my leaving would be foolish too. Return to your post and don't mention this to anyone who lacks clearance, am I understood?" The boomer nodded and with a curt nod, Jaune took off on his reaver.
"God I love those tubs of loveable fat-muscle." Jaune said as he took off in an inconspicuous manner.
"Jaune lording his power over others, thats new." Blake muttered.
"And kinda hot." Weiss muttered to herself. Only Blake caught on to that comment.
Jaune quickly made it out of the hollow and landed once he arrived at a safe distance from Vale. He quickly did something to the saddle computer than got off his reaver and patted her on the head. "Head on back home girl. I'll see you at my graduation." He said cheerfully as the reaver reluctantly flew back to the hollow. Then he made his way to Vale.
Jump cut a few scenes later and we find him at the team announcements.
"Uh? Mr. Voice?" Nora assked.
"Look, I'm not gonna keep doing the whole "at the very beginning" thing. They would get boring and tedious, especially if nothing significant was shown. That and other key scenes need to be shown."
"And would Weiss Schnee, Jaune Arc, Ruby Rose, and Pyrrha Nikos shall form team WJRP otherwise known as Wrapping Paper. Yes I'm serious." All was silent until some broke out into a snicker and more broke out until everyone started laughing at the disappointed team. Ozpin smiled and held up a hand. "Okay everyone, I'm kidding. They shall be team whirlpool."
'I'm so gonna process him.' Jaune bitterly thoght with a somewhat forced smile. 'At least I got a cool team.' He thought to himself.
The three members of team WJRP gave Ozpin a deadpan look. He shrugged. "Gotta amuse yourself somehow."
Jaune was seen the next day fidgeting with his tie to Weiss' disbelief. "Do you seriously not know how to put on a tie?" She asked in a tone mixed in shock and deadpan.
"The only things that should go around necks are goggles and barbed wire." He retorted as he comically fidgeted with a tie. "Can't I just wear my armor?" He whined
"You are a student of Beacon and you will dress like it." She responed sharply. Jaune groaned. Their first class was boring in Jaune's opinion. All Port did was talk about grimm and anatomy, stuff his mother already did. Then he unleashed a boarbotusk and Jaune easily snapped its neck. Boring! What did interst him was the class discussion on the batles between Faunus and humanity. Listening to battle strategies and such became his interest the moment Karn and mother introduced him. Although he wasn't a fan of Cardin's comment towards the faunus. It was rude and rude gets you hurt.
Now he was in combat class and even more interested. "Would Cardin Winchester and Jaune Arc please come up." Glynda announced. They were at a space from each other and unsheathed their weapons. cardin's explosion mace and Jaune's Crocea Mors. Only it looked darker and was way more jagged while his retractable shield was sharper around the edges. "Begin." She announced.
Jaune and Cardin began the fight. Or shall I say, one sided flailing and effortlessly-hit-and-run. Jaune easily maneuvered and beat his aura to red.
"Woah." Yang breathed. "Couldn't even call what Cardin did fighting."
"More like flailing angrily." Ironwood added.
Meanwhile, Juniper sat on her throne amongst her seven daughter's holographic projections, they were dressed in in a smaller more regal female versions of the theron armor, and generals who stood before her. "As you all know, Jaune has fled Nexus and most likely gone off to attend one of the academies. This not only puts himself at risk, but us as well."
"Why not send our forces over and tear one of the cities apart from below? I could do that if you want?" Coral offered. Almost everyone shook their heads at her bloodthirsty ways.
"No way. That's beyond reckless and Jaune might get caught in the crossfire." Violet argued back.
"That and we don't have the resources for that, especially if he's in Vale. Not yet. We still need to recover some more of the relics and a maiden power." Juniper said. "We're gonna have to do things in a small scale manner, including the raids and outpost set ups. Recovering Jaune will have to be of lower priority for now."
"Why not send in one of the elite theron squadrons to search for him in each of the cities. They're smart enough to not get caught and could monitor him from a distance if need be." Sapphire offered. Juniper thought for a moment and nodded.
"That could work. If you're close to a city, send four of your theron elites to each of them and have them work in duos across the area. Whether they work under the cover of night or day is left up to you. And Coral, don't send yours." Juniper held up a hand. "Why, because we know about the tendencies of your troops."
"Fair enough." Coral said as she pouted.
"Now skorge." Juniper shited her attention to the high kantus priest. "Have you made contact with the riftworm yet."
"Man, this all so sketchy and frightening." Ruby said allowed.
"I, for one, don't like the way Arcs family is developing in this stroy." Ironwood said aloud. "Covert operations and a genocidal ruler. Just more unneeded add ons to the list of Remnants troubles."
"Hopefully, the situation won't escalate." Ozpin said.
Team WJRP and RYBN were shown at the docks. From the looks of things, Sun had already passed by and Weiss was arguing with Blake.
"Well maybe they their passion wouldn't feel so enflamed had people like the Schnee not used them like slaves." Blake retorted angrily. "And people like you not look and put them down like common criminals."
"H-how dare you?!" Weiss snapped. "Had they not lived up to the stereotypes, people wouldn't feel the way they do. They should take themselves just as accountable." Before more could be said, Jaune yawned in an attention grabbing manner.
"You guys are being really stupid. Look, people choose their own paths, regardless of others." He said as he looked at Blake. Weiss began to look a little more smug until Jaune looked at her. "At the same time, being constantly put down by people who don't acknowledge the wrongs done and look down on the whole does NOT help." He finished. "Now, why don't we all calm down and enjoy the day?" He asked happily. Weiss angrily walked off while Blake sorta did the same. Jaune shrugged. "Guess it's just us."
Weiss and Blake glanced nervously at each other. Boy, did things get real at the time. Thank goodness they were past all of that. Adam, on the other hand, gave Weiss and Ironwood a harsh glare which Ironwood returned.
During the night, Blake was sneaking off with Sun in tow, quickly arriving at the docks. They thought it was just them, but they were wrong.
"What are two doing out?" Juane asked from behind them, causing them to jump in surprise.
"Woah! Bro, what are you doing here?" Sun asked in a surprised fashion. Jaune shook his head.
"Sorry, my question first." He said cheekily. Blake sighed.
"Dammit, you shouldn't be here. This place is filled with White Fang." She said with some edge in her tone.
Jaune shrugged. "I know that. I was actually gonna come here to see what was wrong too, then I saw you guys. You know this is dangerous right?" He asked with a concerned tone.
Sun smirked. "Well, we wouldn't be hunters if danger was an actual concern."
"As nice as this conversation is, we need to focus on the task at hand." Blake reminded them. They quickly got a position near one of the crates and surveyed the area.
"That's far more white fang than usual." Blake commented.
"Probably thanks to the locust. Extra men do to the extra danger from the locust. For all we know, the locust could be using the white fang as scapegoats too." Ozpin guessed. Adam didn't like the sound of that.
A lot of Whitd Fang gunts in the area, all being led by Roman Torchwick. This didn't sit well with Blake. She quickly lunged forward before Jaune or Sun could stop her and made her way to Roman with Sun tagging along. Jaune shook his head at their poor ambush tactics and made his way to one of the bullheads amidst the chaos, but was confronted by a big White Fang lieutenant and six surrounding grunts.
"Should've stayed in bed brat." The lieutenant said as he revved up his chainsaw and grunts moved up. Jaune cracked his neck before pulling out his sword.
'God, that dudes weapon looks plain. Skorge's double sided chainsaw staff is way cooler.' Jaune could've sworn he heard a slight squeal somewhere. Weird. Jaune lunged forward, surprising his assailants who lunged forward as well.
Jaune easily spun and ducked under a slash and countered with his own, easily taking down the first guy before the second and thrird rushed at him. Jaune deflected a blow to his left, pushing the attacker away and jumped above a low right slash, delivering a double kick to the other attackers face. When he was on the ground, he quickly curled up with his legs out, kicking the second grunt away before he could stab down. When the fourth atacker came, he grabbed her sword hand and broke her wrist, causing her go cry out in pain as her sword dropped. He then took her hostage and put Crocea Mors to her throat. The other two grunts, who had rifles, couldn't shoot without Injuring their comrade and refused to do so. Jaune smirked before something caught his attention. A familiar presence. Just the lieutenant was ordering his grunts to open fire, something akin to a crossbow struck one of the right grunts arms before blowing up her side entirely.
"Oh shit!" Yang yelled while her sister looked away. The other students either gasped or flinched at the sight. Adam and Ironwood simply looked surprised while Ozpin had no visible reaction. He was a bit off though.
As the lieutenant stood in shock and the last grunt cried out in horror, Jaune unintentionally let the grunt go, allowing her to run off. Jaune's eyes widened and he muttered. "Oh no." As another bolt snagged the other shooters legs, obliterating his bottom half. He snapped from his trance when the lieutenant came forward with his chainsaw raised which he easily blocked the attack with his shield and moved up. He quickly kicked the man's left knee, distracting him with pain and nearly knocked the chainsaw from him. He sheathed his blade and grabbed the attacker before tossing him away. He quickly looked around for torgue shooter. He looked around as the sense of being watched faded and cursed when he lost them.
"I was never good at tracking the elites. Fuck!" He cursed. They were gone and they knew of his location. Not only that, but they comprised themselves a bit in their effort to protect Jaune. As endearing as that was, it was far from necessary or helpful. Jaune quickly turned around at the sound of multiple blades and lasers. A ginger girl was kicking some serious ass.
"Jaune what-oh my Oum, what happened?!" Sun shouted as he saw the corpses. Blake quickly rushed over and gasped before looking at Jaune.
"I don't know. Someone shot them when they had their rifles aimed at me. We must not be the only vigilantes running around."
"Why is Jaune lying?" Ruby questioned.
"He can't just come out and say his true identity. I also doubt he wants to get anyone involved with the locust if possible." Ozpin answered.
"He's endangering the lives of others all for the sake of false heroism. That's beyond unacceptable." Ironwood stated. The beacon children were more than bothered by this whole mess presened in that universe. If this Jaune was anything like Jaune from their world, he was plagued with worry. His crazy family combined with the usual craziness was beyond bad for everyone.
"Okay guys." The voice called out as the screen began to static for a bit. "We're gonna have a major jump cut. For a quick overveiw, know that Jaune does his somewhat usual stuff, albiet way more clueless, blunt, and battle hardened. Jaune tries his hardest to avoid suspicion and the locust. Despite the disruption around other parts of Remnant, the situations themselves go somewhat the way they normally do in Vale even though people become somewhat suspicious of Jaune." The voice finished as the screen turned on to reveal a shocking sight.
Jaune stood in front of an amused Cinder while a battle raged on outside and within Beacon. A dragon was raining fire and destruction upon the school as grimm emerged from its body and hordes swarmed around Vale while robots raged onward. The Atlas military, teachers, and hunters were scrambling to save as many lives as possible while White Fang struggled to retreat.
"My god." Ironwood whispered to himself in horror. Even Ozpin looked shocked at the sight.
"My my, your a brave one." She complimented sarcastically. "Such a noble knight throwing his life away."
"Shove it burn out. I'm simply looking for a new sheath to rest my blade." He said as he looked her up and down. "And I believe I've found it." He said cockily. Cinder smirked before sending a ball of flame in Jaune's direction. He quickly blocked it with his shield, but the smoke and light momentarily blinded him. He barely had time to dodge several arrows shot his way which left him open for a hip slash. He treid to whirl around in retaliation, but Cinder quickly ducked under and stabbed upward, cutting Jaune's forehead as he tried to twirl around and stab her. She deflected it with her left sword and lashed with her right sword with fire blasting from the blade. He barely managed to block with his shield, actually recoiling from the blow. This allowed Cinder to deliver a fiery kick to Jaune's midsection, blasting him away with a burning pain. He tumbled and rolled away. When he landed, he could barely get up, coughing and gasping for air as he rolled on his back.
"How unsightly." Cinder said as she easily grabbed his hand as he attempted a weak stab up and impaled Jaune's other arm to the floor while she burned his sword hand, in response he gritted his teeth. "A fine warior dying like a stuck pig in a pointless struggle."
The beacon students just looked on in horror while Ozpin silently hoped for a miracle. Ironwood didn't like the boy for lying but respected how he was fighting for the safety of others. Hell, he was only seventeen anyway! Adam... felt something I believe.
Just as hope seemed lost, the earth began to tremble and the building seemed to shake as well.
In the streets below, the grimm went oddly silent and so did the people. It was brief.
Crashes and booms were heard as the ground shattered from beneath the monsters. Those who didn't fall faced greater monsters. Locust forces poured from the emergence holes along with their war beasts and flooded the sky with their reavers, tearing the grimm, robots, and White Fang stragglers apart with bullets, explosives, claws, and etc. They not only laid into the grimm, but began to help the citizens and hunters by pulling the wounded and non-combatants from combat.
"What? I thought they were genocidal?" Yang asked aloud. "Not that I'm complaining at the assistance."
"I doubt the queen had a change of heart. Something isn't right." Ozpin stated.
Larger and specialized reavers began to assault the dragon along with Brumaks providing support on the ground. The grimm was getting shred to pieces by the heavy assault, much to Cinder's shock and horror. An excellent momentary distraction for Jaune to kick Cinder away from him. She easily recovered midair and glared at the boy with extreme malice. Fighting off his shock, he glared right back.
Just as Cinder was about to say something, a familiar voice (to Jaune) was heard above them. "Rrriiiiissssseee".
"That voice." Weiss cringed.
"Almost like the wind, but far more unsettling. It's that locust general." Ren stated.
As soon as Jaune heard that voice, he looked into the sky in shock, unsure if he should be happy or frightened. "Raam." Cinder didn't spare him a second before firing her arrows him. Only for said arrows to be blocked by a powerful figure's birds. Said powerful figure quickly jumped off his specialized reaver, leaving it to his copilot, and landed between his prince and Cinder with his knife drawn.
"For the horde." Raam said as he fixed Cinder with a harsh glare. Now, his looks didn't intimidate Cinder, but the air of power around him did make her highly uncomfortable.
"Raam, be careful! She has the fall maidens powers!" Jaune yelled. Cinder smirked as Raam looked surprised. Then he smirked, unsettling both his prince and Cinder. He quickly grabbed his prince and threw him off the roof, to both his onlookers surprise. Luckily, a reaver caught him and made off to a safe zone.
Then he faced and pointed at Cinder before speaking. "Vanquish." And charged with a speed betraying his size.
"Imagine having to fight someone like that." Nora said before she shivered.
"Ugh, I'd rather not." Ironwood commented. Everyone looked at him oddly. "Hey, I'm still a person. Things unnerve me too, ya know."
Adam scoffed. "Could've fooled me Robo Cop." He muttered. Ozpin mentally high fived him.
Meanwhile in the streets below, as the locust forces pushed back the grimm horde, the beacon students were quickly led back to a safe zone. Made by the locust.
"Would someone tell me what the fuck is going on?!" Yang yelled out, trying to be heard over the sounds of war and other panicking people. "Where's my team?!"
"Who are these guys?!" Another student yelled.
"Can someone help find my scroll?!"
"Everyone calm down!" Glynda yelled out. "I know you're scared and confused, but we're trying to find out what's going on ourselves!" She yelled. It didn't work until something else yelled out.
"Silence!" A tall monstrous figure in spiky armor known as a kantus yelled out. Everyone was silent in an instant by his voice. "We are here to help! Other safe zones, more survivors. You'll meet your kin later!" He yelled in his abnormal voice. The people didn't know what to say. These strange beings were helping them, but my god they're so uncomfortable.
"What the heck is with these guys and their voices?" Nora asked. Her teammates shrugged.
"Evolution." Pyrrha and Ren said in a what can you do manner.
As the fight raged on below, Raam was currently owning Cinder in combat. She was putting up a good struggle, but lacked the experience Raam did and had yet to truly experience the maiden's power. Raam was suffering from a few burns and slash wounds while Cinder was profusely bleeding, some of it internally. She wasn't going to make it.
"Worthless." Raam taunted as he moved forward. Cinder, unwilling to die, unleashed a massive torrent of flame. Raam's semblance of shadow kryll barely held up and as he pushed forward, the flame began to overwhelm him. Ignoring the blinding light and flames, he charged before he felt something wet on his hands and arms, heard the satisfying squelch, and heard his enemies dying cry.
"Well... that's satisfying to watch. Can I get a replay?" Adam seriously asked. Shockingly enough, no one disagreed. Not even Ruby.
Cinder was dead atop Raam's knife. And with her corpse held the Fall maiden's power. With the corpse he called for his reaver and made off to the Nexus. His queen would handle the diplomatic affairs.
Shortly during the aftermath, Atlas forces tried to scramble around the area and secure a perimeter without pissing off the currently more powerful military power. It wasn't going so well and oddly enough, the civilians were siding with the locust, since they actually drove off the grimm, robots, and terrorists, saved lives, and "displayed competence" in rescuing the kingdom. Of course the people were suspicious, but they liked the thought of locust protection over Atlesian protection right now. Especially since they began to help in reconstructing the city and Beacon.
Ironwood was currently trying to get diplomatic with the queen via special scroll in a room filled with his personal guard and the theron elite as queen Arc put it.
"It's simple Mr. Ironwood-"
"General Ironwood." The queen chuckled along with her therons.
"Sure. Anyway Mr. Woodmetal, I do believe the people have spoken. My military wasn't even using 1/7 of its power while your... fleet, as you like to fancy it, was nearly shattered by one women and her squad of children."
"She had terrorists aiding her." The queen shook her head.
"Excuses. Excuses the people of Vale or any other kingdom wouldn't care for. Face it, your precious military suffered a powerful loss at Vale, both literally and symbolically. They are now mere body guards for your precious city compared to mine. Face it, this isn't a negotiation, this is a decree. Heed my demands then take your worthless military back to Atlas." She said in tone of superiority.
James clenched his fists before he sighed in a mixture of anger and defeat.
To say james was angry at what he saw on screen would be an understatement. He was so furious, he crushed the popcorn currently held in his hands, ignoring Ozpin's sigh at being denied some food.
"What do you want?" James asked. The queen smirked.
"One, release my son from your custody into ours. He is a prince, not a prisoner."
"Not my call. He's a student of Beacon." The queen laughed.
"Please. Beacon is in shambles and we both know where he went. Always trying to play the peace maker." She sighed somewhat nostalgically.
"You should try it." He muttered. "Fine. What else?"
"Have the Schnee set up transports to the locations I send your way. And remember, I'm monitoring the locations." Ironwood nodded. "Last but not least, Give us a ship filled with some of your finest military technology."
"Out of the question."
"Just like your survival?" She mocked.
"Is that a threat?" He growled. She smirked.
"More of a promise. Now will you comply?" She asked in a fake sweet tone. Ironwood looked conflicted until he reluctantly nodded in agreement. "Good. Now you three days to remove your forces. Goodbye Mr. barkmetal." The hologram promptly turned off and the therons left, leaving a frustrated Ironwood alone with his bodyguards.
"Disgusting." Ironwood muttered. Adam scoffed.
"Feeling oppressed yet? Imagine feeling that for hundreds of years."
Blake siged. "Dammit Adam, not now." She muttered.
WRP were shown in the courtyard of Beacon, looking for Jaune. Ruby quickly spotted him getting on top on one of the floating barges she heard about.
"Eeww." Ruby said.
"Looks like a testicle with teeth and spikes." Yang said as she cringed.
"Thank you for that WONDERFUL imagery Yang." Weiss sarcastically said.
WRP tried to make it over to him, but were cut off by a squad of theron. "Turn back." One commanded.
"No! He's our teammate, let us see him!" Ruby was held back by Pyrrha and Weiss for her own safety. Judging by how they gripped their Torgue bows, they weren't going to be gentle.
Jaune looked back at his team, tear stains noticeable on his face. He tried to call out, but one of the armored kantus gently nudged him forward and into the barge. Once they were all aboard, the doors closed and the barge took off.
"This is NOT the end!" Ruby shouted towards the sky. "Team whirlpool will reunite! I promise!" Even if Jaune couldn't hear them, it felt good to yell it in defiance.
The members of team WJRP weren't worried even if they were saddened by what was on screen. In spite of the odds, they would reunite one way or another. The screen began to shift. A final preveiw.
A twenty year old Jaune and Skorge were shown within the more shallow hollow, in a giant chasm of sorts, riding atop Skorge's hydra.
"Oum." Adam gasped. "Where does on get a mount like that." He said before he whistled.
"You wouldn't catch me riding one of those if I was dead." Yang blurted.
"You'd probably be in its jaws." Ren nonchalantly stated. Yang shot him a look and he shrugged.
The duo was waiting for something. Jaune looked surprised and looked towards Skorge who nodded and began to chant.
Everyone cringed. His mouth noises couldn't be called anything but alien and discomforting. Why can't the locust have one cuddly feature?
The earth around the chasm began to quake as something around them begn to move around. Dust and debris began to cloud the area as the cave seemingly shifted and crumbled. The hydra quickly began to fly towards the surface as something followed close behind. Once they made it towards the surface and made it towards the clouds, something burst from the ground. A giant rockworm, big enough to swallow a dragon breached the surface.
"We're ready." Jaune said to Skorge who nodded and began to chant, causing the worm to follow.
How startling.
"Holy shit... holy shit... HOLY SHIT!" Yang cried out as Nora shouted.
"It's a giant worm! There doing something with a giant worm!" Ren had to calm her down, despite being startled himself.
"And I now hate the underground." Ozpin said after calmly sipping his coffee.
"Well folks, that's it for episode four! Stay tuned for chapter five, where we'll see the RWBY children as vault hunters!"