"And we are… done!" He told everyone said, finishing up rem and ram very hair. He had done a braid up the back of her head that turned into a side ponytail on her left side.
"Holy crap, I'm too agreement as they told him
Have they were trying to understand how much wagons might even cost combining them with them as a certain princess and a merchant were trying their hardest to calculate the right amount of money to be required to have that thing operational.
The audience began to think and discuss with each other for some more than ten minutes as they were seeing and estimating how much a ship like theirs have might cost if there are like theirs worlds ' but good luck with that kids does you're not going to come anytime close.' as the the warden thought at that moment.
As Al decided to come up with his answer as the last time he remembered it was around 50 million dollars US as it might be a little more expensive so "Uh around 100 million in total if I'm correct as things were not that expensive back then so it might be not today ?" AI give the warden his answer not sure if it's right one or But it won't be that expensive ordered.
As then The Warden starting to shake his head in denial as he then explained to them the true amount and the truth at the matter "Not even close Al The amount you're telling was more than 20 years ago and Time has changed and so much more even the economy system has changed over the years and the correct answer is it's 12 billion dollars US " As the warden told them the answer to as everyone shock and surprise as Then They heard a "thumb" noise as they saw towords direction of the sound as the certain merchant Anastasia and certain knight hater Al All sudden fainted as where they're sitting as it fell down for them as for the merchant her knight "ANASTASIA SAMA !!!!! " as Julius came to her queen as he grabbed her at the right moment as he put her back on her chair as her entire camp started to circle around to check her if she is all right.
When they all heard the correct answer from the warden as they all surprise by the cost of the ship and then started to wonder how much will there weapons arsenal and equipment might cost in total as they couldn't just imagine that alone as they can all agree on one thing is that Subaru is from a rich world and They wouldn't be surprised how much money he makes in a month.
"But we ask about the jaeger just not aircraft carrier now" As ask the Warden was just has about it explained everything to everyone as for everyone's or now starting to as nodded at her question because in truth that none of them didn't want to know about some kinds of strange carrier And it's documentary and backstory but what do you want to know is about the very foundation of giant robot's as
that didn't want to know about some carrier that handles and carries ships but what they want to know about the giant Jaeger as That how much will they cost and is it possible for them to reproduce such
a item or device in other matter as in magic fuel or combine it with technology magic and maybe they could just Have the information off the entire build and it very structure at the same time and combine it all into one somehow they could use it in their advantages in other or difficult situation at their hands like the whole whale incident that appeared all Long time ago.
Well before I can say this because before the Jaeger, aircraft carrier is the most expensive military weapon in the whole world and he can buy the excluding F-35 program and then program not aircraft because each plane only 80-110 million, it's the program that cost to the trillion dollar mark and with the event of whole kaiju at a uprising and all time very high and the very jaeger is the most expensive weapon system on the planet at the very least moment" As the warden started to explained this to the entire audience at the moment as Everyone were at least taking notes or were just nodding At the moment as they were trying to look smart while the others were generally concerned and let's just say intrigued at the information that was being provided towards them for it's very expensive and dangerous at the same time and As the Warden just doesn't want to know what they might do with this very much information at the moment as he can tell one thing the technology in their hands Will be utterly useless
Can be very destructive as he knows how humans can be with their toys as he just started remembers his very entire world's bloody history as how many different countries have advanced their technology and weapons just kill each other or just trying to start a genocide on one another and then started to clean their damn hands off as they're nothing but cowards and true murderers in the end as really what has happened to Earth as its lost it's true value as time went on and how many innocents will more be gone over time really It just sticking him but I would not provide this information of mass destruction to another world and to their people as this technology should be kept away from them Maybe help them in some other ways like agriculture and not help them in weapons at the very slightest.
"But then Mr warden then So how much will it truly cost as this is confusing me more ?" As Emelia and r then ask the very original question again as He couldn't stop but to understand her reasoning and then truly doesn't understand another one and her motivations sometimes in what does he even sees in her first of all as she's not that intelligent When it comes to some minor things and Just move on already to someone else who can actually give you a better future in the long run anyways.
________________________________________________
As the warden started to look around as the audience was starting to get very unpatient about the entire manner so he decided to act lighten them about the entire true cost at the very matter in hand's" Ok Let's just say it is Around 100-200 billion dollars each build to begin as it's cost is very high and let's just say the labor work is a different matter entire but I didn't started with the yen yet each So you're all safe in the matter when it comes to" As the warden told them the correct answer as to everyone in the room as shock and surprise as Then They heard a "thumb" noise as they saw towords direction of the sound as the certain merchant Anastasia and certain knight hater Al All sudden fainted as where they're sitting as it fell down for them as for the merchant her knight "ANASTASIA SAMA !!!!! " as Julius came to her queen as he grabbed her at the right moment as he put her back on her chair as her entire camp started to circle around to check her if she is all right.
somewhere that a jeager cost 10x of an aircraft carrier) the audience shock by how expensive the jeager cost"That's not include the maintenance, service and logistic"L answer
"Wait! 200 billion is without maintenance, service and logistic?!" shouted surprise
"Yes, if all of them included and it can go thru one trillion dollars easily in just one operational year" L answer again the audience still in shock and began to understand why the world governnment chose to build a wall instead of more jaeger they are very expensive and They basically love their money more than the lives of people very much.
As then back to the Giant screen in front of them.
"Ration card time, come on come on" one the man in chargers facility and the construction started to shout around the area to gain some attention of the other workers who are there.
"Okay i got good news i got bad news fellas which one you want to hear first?" the man ask the workers around.
(. )
Bad news!" a guy shouted
"Bad news, 3 guys died yesterday working on top of the wall" The man answer
The workers and audience feels sorry for them
"What's the good news?" another guy shouted as he was just stand there nearest Subaru.
"The good news is that I got three new job openings slips on the top of the wall "As the worker just started to groan at this development in there working careers.
"Okay who wants to work? and Who wants to eat" The man ask everyone who are gathered there as no one speaking up but all of a sudden the screen show Subaru just standing there as he was listening to everything they were doing.
don't know" He reply
"Wait ? What are you doing there? "lida ask him
"After the incident that cost Iida's life and almost you as wel, you decided to quit the PPDC because of trauma" As the warden explain to the entire cast about it.
The audience is silence understand that kind of experience can bring trauma, losing brother if he is the only family you got left is not easy
As now the screen is showing us that Subaru is currently working on top of the wall welding some metal. he finish look around and began sliding down the i beam(that's doesn't look safe many people think)
He put his backpack in some container when the news on the tv began to report a kaiju attack halfway around the world
"I'm here in Sydney, where earlier today yet another kaiju attack took place" a reporter reported and the workers the reporter added
"The kaiju an enormous category 4 broke thru the postal wall in less than an hour" As the reporter add witnessing something extraordinary and terrifying.
🆔🆔🆔🆔🆔🆔
A nearby sign read "Solitan East-West Anti-Kaiju Wall". The estimated time of completion was graffitied over with the word 'NEVER'.
"Ration cards, guys!" a foreman called out, gathering the men and women, human and alike, around him. was among them. He looked much the same, save for the slight stubble of a beard on his face and the muted glint in his eyes.
"Ration cards?" asked.
"During times of war," Beatrice started to explained this to the all cast members there "All things must be rationed in order to avoid a crippling shortage and Food, water, fuel, everything is strictly managed by the state."
" Fascinating"
"Alright, guys, I got good news and I got bad news. Which do you want first?" the foreman asked.
"Bad news?" the man next to Jaune said, raising his hand.
"Bad news? Three guys died yesterday, working at the top of the wall." The news sent mutters throughout the crowd.
"What's the good news?" someone else yelled out.
"Good news? I got three new job openings. Top of the wall." The muttering was no better. "Alright! Who wants to work? Who wants to eat?"
Subaru was sent to work at welding several braces to the wall, along with a company's worth of other men and women. He finished with his last piece and stood up, looking over the wall. It was an enormous structure, easily as tall as demon samurai had been, but he doubted how effective it would be and it was basically a shell of steel and concrete, and an unfinished one at that. He figured that this section alone would take another decade of constant work to finish. Maybe less if they got enough people to work on it 24/7. But that was about as likely as him sealing the Breach single-handedly. He descended from his spot back to the ground level, where he stowed his gear away for the day. As he did, a news report was coming on the communal TVs.
"I am here in - , on the coast of - ," Said a panicked -, "Where earlier today, yet another Kaiju attack took place. The Kaiju, an enormous Category 4, broke through the coastal wall in less than an hour!" A gigantic grey-skinned beast with a face in the shape of an axe head, broke through the solid steel and concrete with ease and headed for the city. "The Wall of Life had been deemed 'unbreachable' by its builders."
"Why the hell we even building this thing for ?" a worker next to Subaru yelled out angrily at the new about there wall and are there just wasting there time and life for Nothing.
"Th-that thing tore through the wall like it was nothing..." another worker who was next to Subaru said, horrified at the reveal about there wall.
"Ironically," - continued, "It was the recently decommissioned Jaeger, Ember Celica, piloted by Tai and Yang Xiao Long, that finally took the beast down."
A scroll video taken from a high-rise cafe patio showed a yellow and black Jaeger charge the Kaiju, pounding it with a one-two combo before knocking it away. Its chest opened up and six barrels popped out, though, instead of bullets, missiles flew out. Each one found it's mark and the Kaiju fell.
"Look, they decommissioned the Jaeger Program because of mediocre pilots, it's that simple." told a reporter. "That's Ember Celica's tenth kill to date. It's a new record." She bragged smugly.
"Wow, , you compensating for something?" Blake joked.
"Why am I the dick head here?"
"And you're still going to ? Even at a time like this?" the reporter asked.
"Well, orders are orders, what else am I supposed to do?"
Subaru just pushed his way through the crowd, having heard enough from the pompous blonde on tv and He started to remember him and his dad, Taiyang- or at least he thought he did, they had only met the once- and he never struck Subaru to be like that. As he walked, he heard strange commotion outside as it was the sounds of a chopper flying overhead as He went to check it out as the worker's entrance and saw a military black hawk land about fifty feet away from him and out stepped the one man he never expected to see again in his life.
General looked the same as he had five years ago, though maybe a bit greyer around the temples. He was prepared for the cold, though, with a heavy fur-lined coat. Growing up in Atlas as he had, one would think he was more resistant.
"Mr. ." He said when he spotted Jaune.
"General." replied, meeting him halfway from the entrance. "Looking sharp."
Long time."
"Five years, four months, two weeks."
"Can I have a word?" beckoned him in and led him to a secluded part of the wall.
"Step into my office, General." He said as he took a seat on a nearby piece of rubble.
"Took me a while to find you." said. "Anchorage, Sheldon Point, - "
"Well, man in my position travels with the wall, chasing shifts to make a living. What do you want?" really didn't really feel like bandying words with the Old Man. Just get to the point already.
"Insolent little..." growled, biting her finger to hold in her rage.
"Lighten up, ." said, "He's allowed to be bitter after what happened."
"I've spent the last six months activating everything I can get my hands on." He told Jaune honestly. "There's an old Jaeger, a Mark 3. You may know it. It needs a pilot."
'So that's what this is about.' thought. "I'm guessing I wasn't your first choice."
"You are my first choice. All the other Mark 3 pilots are dead."
Jaune stood and walked over next to the general. "Look, I can't have anyone else in my head again." His turn to be honest. "I'm done. I was still connected to Joan when she died. I can' go through that again, I'm sorry."
As he walked away, As general turned around on the spot.
"Haven't you heard, Mr. ? The world is coming to an end. So where would you rather die? Here," he indicated the wall that was most likely never going to work against a Kaiju, "Or in a Jaeger?"
"Good question. ?" turned to him.
"Can't say about this me, but I would rather die trying than die knowing I had a chance to do something about it."
"As expected of our fearless leader." bragged.
"Fool." said so that only the back row could hear.
"But an admirable fool." commented, with agreeing.
...
...
...
...
The Bullhead flew over to a military base built into a cliffside under the flying city of Atlas, Mantle nowhere to be seen.
...
ATLAS BAY
1800 HOURS
SHATTERDOME JAEGER STATION
The air ship landed on the helipad, Ruby waiting nearby with some umbrellas. Ironwood stepped out, followed by Jaune, and took the proffered umbrella.
"Mr. Arc, this is Ruby Rose. One of our brightest. She's the head of our Mark 3 Restoration Program. She personally selected your co-pilot candidates."
"I imagined him differently." Ruby said in the native language of Anima. Before Ironwood could warn her, Jaune spoke.
"Hey, better or worse?" he said with a grin.
Her face darkened in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, Mr. Arc. I've heard a lot about you."
"Ruby? Jaune? You two speak Animanian?" Pyrrha was amazed.
"I studied it back in Signal." Ruby explained. "I'm not fluent, but I can get by."
"My family went on a lot of family trips to Mistral growing up, so I learned enough to get by conversationally."
He gave her a forgiving nod. No point holding a grudge because of ignorance. They walked inside, getting away from the rain.
"We will tour the facility first," Ironwood said, leading them to an industrial elevator, "Then Ms. Rose will show you to your Jaeger."
"Hold the door please!"
"Wait for us!"
A pair of men ran into the elevator, one a skinny man with messy green hair, the other just as skinny with greying black hair and a very fine mustache. As the elevator descended, the man with green hair began fussing over a large specimen in a tank.
"Stay back! Kaiju specimens are extremely rare. So look, but don't touch, please." He said.
"Okay, I know Dr. Oobleck, but who's the other guy, and why does looking at him give me the willies?" Yang asked.
"Arthur Watts." Winter said, "A deceased former Atlesian scientist."
"This Barty looks significantly younger, don't you think, Glynda?" Ozcar observed.
"Indeed. He looks the way he did back when we were in Beacon together."
"Mr. Arc, this is our research team." Ironwood explained. "Dr. Watts and Dr. Oobleck."
"Please, call me Barty." Oobleck said amiably. "Only my mother calls me doctor. Arthur, these are human beings, care to say hello?"
"Bartholomew, how many times must I ask you not to call me by my name?" Watts said irritably. "I swear, you're just as bad as Cinder."
Oobleck let the insult side as he rolled his sleeves up, showing a series of tattoos.
"Who's that?" Jaune asked, indicating a tattoo of a Kaiju on the inside of one forearm. "Yamarashi?"
"Oh, this little Kaiju?" Oobleck pointed at the tattoo. "Yeah, you got a good eye."
"My sister and I took him down in 2017."
"You know he was one of the biggest Category 3s ever? He was 2500 tons of awesome." Noticing the stares, he immediately backtracked, stumbling over his words.
"Well, looks like young Oobleck was about as smooth as Ruby." Yang teased.
"Unfortunately, you're not wrong." Glynda sighed.
"Do excuse him. He's a Kaiju groupie, he loves them." Watts said condescendingly.
"Shut up, Arthur, I don't love them. I study them. And unlike most people, I wanna see one alive and up close one day."
"Trust me," Jaune said, putting his hand on the young man's shoulder, "You don't want to." He, Ironwood, and Ruby exited the elevator. "So that's your research division?"
"Things have changed." Ironwood said as he opened a large bulkhead door. "We're not an army anymore, Mr. Arc. We're the resistance. Welcome to the Shatterdome." They walked into a huge Jaeger hangar bay filled with workers of all kinds; technicians, engineers, laborers, everything they needed to keep everything running smoothly. Above the entrance was a massive countdown timer. "The War Clock." Ironwood explained. "We reset it after every Kaiju attack. Keeps everyone focused. The frequency of attacks is accelerating."
"How long until the next reset?" Jaune asked, almost getting run over by a truck.
"A week, if we're lucky. My experts tell me there'll be another attack even before then. This complex used to launch thirty Jaegers in five bays just like this one. Now we've only got four Jaegers left."
"I didn't know it was this bad." Jaune said. Had he known, perhaps he would have come back sooner.
"It is that bad." He pointed to a white Jaeger, undergoing minor repairs. "White Scion, Atlas. One of the greatest. Assembled in Atlas proper. Full titanium core, no alloys. Fifty diesel engines per muscle strand. Deadly, precise fighter. She's piloted by the Schnee siblings, local kids. They've successfully defended Mantle and Atlas seven times. They use the Thunder Cloud Formation."
"Hell yeah, triple arm technique." Jaune said, remembering the machine's past exploits.
"Very effective."
Jaune looked back and saw Winter and Weiss playing basketball with Whitley. Some form of 2-on-1 that Winter was on the losing side of.
"Well, that's nice to see." Weiss said.
"What, you and your brother getting along, or your big sister getting her butt handed to her by her little siblings?" Nora asked.
"Yes." Weiss smiled.
"That tank?" he pointed to a Jaeger coming back in from a deployment. "Last of the F-90s. Pack Alpha. First generation Mark 1. Heaviest and oldest Jaeger in the service, but make no mistake, Mr. Arc, it's a brutal war machine. And those two, Blake and Ilia Belladonna."
'I am suddenly VERY interested.' Ilia thought, turning pink.
"I've heard of 'em." Jaune said. "Perimeter Patrol. Menagerie Wall."
"Under their watch it stayed unbreached for six years. Six. Years. "
Nearby, another Jaeger was being pulled into dock.
"Tai! Yang!" Ironwood called out and beckoned them over.
"Stay here." Tai told his daughter as he took their dog along with him.
"Zwei! Come here! Remember me?" Ruby said.
"Don't drool over Ms. Rose." Tai told the corgi as he trotted over to Ruby. "She's a pretty girl, and he gets all wound up."
"Wait, am I not your daughter in this, Dad?" Ruby asked, confused.
"I guess so, sis." Yang said.
"Jaune, this is Taiyang Xiao Long, an old friend from the Mark 1 glory days." Ironwood introduced him.
"I know you, man." Tai said, shaking Jaune's hand, "We rode together before."
"We did, sir. Six years ago. My sister and I. It was a three Jaeger team drop."
"That's right, Mistral. I'm sorry about your sister."
"Thank you, sir…"
"Tai and his daughter, Yang, will be running point for us in Ember Celica." Ironwood indicated the sleeker-looking Jaeger behind them, "Fastest Jaeger in the world. First and last of the Mark 5s. Vale decommissioned it a day before the Attika attack."
"Yeah, it's a good thing we were still around."
"Wait a minute, running point on what?" Jaune asked. "You haven't told me what I'm doing here."
"We're going for the Breach, Mr. Arc." Ironwood explained. "We're gonna strap a 2400-pound thermonuclear warhead to Celica's back. Detonate an equivalent of 1.2 million pounds of TNT, and you and two other Jaegers will be running defense for them."
"Nora, how big of a boom is that?" Jaune asked their resident explosives expert.
"Big." Nora replied simply.
"Um, okay, but how big?"
"Big." she said again, "Like 'wipe out an entire section of Vale' big."
Jaune was bewildered. "I thought you said we were the resistance. Where'd you get something like that?"
"See the Schnees back there? They can get us anything." He turned to Tai, "Tai, shall we?"
"Good to see you again, man." Tai said as the pair walked off.
"I'll show you to your Jaeger now." Ruby said.
"I'll be right with you, I promise, just gimme a second?" he asked her. When she nodded, he ran after Ironwood and Taiyang. "General!" he caught up with the men, and lowered his voice. "Sir, we've gone after the Breach before. Nothing goes through. What's changed?"
"I have a plan, I need you ready. That is all."
...
"Can we just discuss how absolutely badass you all looked in that last scene?" Nora asked.
"Ms. Valkyrie, please watch your language." Glynda sighed.
"Now, now, Glynda," Ozcar said, "Should we really admonish them for making accurate statements?"
"Please don't encourage them, Ozpin."
'Ozpin?!' Salem, thought, looking at the young man sitting next to the older woman. 'So, he's reincarnated already? My plans must accelerate.' She tried to contain her rage as best she could.
Watts muttered to himself as he worked on a complicated math equation spread over several large chalkboards. Ironwood and Tai waited patiently until he was ready to explain. Nearby, Oobleck was busy dissecting a piece of a Kaiju.
"The hell is he working on?" Weiss asked, unable to work out the math. "I can't even understand that math, much less decipher his writing."
"His chicken scratch is as bad as mine." Ruby commented.
"I assume it's some sort of predictive model." Winter hypothesized, "Worry not sister, this math is higher than anything we've ever studied."
"In the beginning," he started, "The Kaiju attacks were spaced by 24 weeks. Then 12, then six, then every two weeks." He descended the ladder he stood on and moved one of the chalkboards to reveal move math followed by a large four in a box. "The last one in Attika was a week. In four days we could be seeing a Kaiju every eight hours until they are coming every six minutes. General, we should witness a double event within seven days."
"Dr. Watts, I am to drop a 2,400-lbs thermonuclear bomb. I need more than a prediction." Ironwood said.
"Congrats, Ice Queen, you called it." Qrow said.
"Silence, drunkard." She shot back.
"What? It was a compliment!"
"Well, that's a problem," Oobleck said, looking up from his work, "See, cuz he actually can't give you more than a prediction." He tossed the bit of Kaiju gut he was holding at a table, which it fell off of.
"No Kaiju entrails over my side of the room! You know the rules." Watts said angrily as he kicked the offending organ over a painted yellow line on the floor. "Every bloody day, he's incessant- "
"Gents!" Tai barked, breaking up the fight. "On point."
"Numbers do not lie." Watts said firmly. "Politics and poetry. Promises. These are lies. Numbers are as close as we get to the handwriting of the Gods."
"An interesting philosophy." Glynda commented.
"And accurate, to a degree." Winter agreed.
"What?" Oobleck laughed.
"Would you give me a moment?" he snapped, annoyed at his colleague, "There will be a double event. And shortly thereafter three, and then four, - "
"And then we're dead." Ironwood finished. "I get it."
"Alas, this is where the good news comes."
"If certain death is the bad news, what could the good news possibly be?" Velvet commented.
"Hey, Sun," Coco whispered to the monkey faunus, "That girl okay?" she pointed at Ilia.
Sun waved his hand in front of her eyes, receiving no reaction. "I think she's catatonic after seeing her and Blake together." Coco gave him a confused look. "I'll explain later."
He walked over to a holographic projector and began to draw a crude diagram.
"Here is our universe," he drew a circle with his fingers, "And here is theirs." He drew another below the first. "And this is what we call 'The Throat', the passage between the Breach and us. We know it's atomic in nature. I predict that the increased traffic will force the Breach to stabilize and remain open long enough to get the device through, and collapse its' structure."
"Yeah, and that's where I gotta chime in." Oobleck said, "Because, really, I wouldn't want to go in there with that limited amount of information."
"How is that limited?" Yang asked. "He has enough information to form a plan. That's good enough for me."
"But it's all based on predictions." Jaune said. "If I was going to perform something like they're planning, I would want every bit of info I could. All they know is that it connects two worlds, allows the Kaiju to pass through and that it is somehow atomic."
"What more would you need to know?"
"How can the Kaiju get through but we can't? How numerous are they? If there's enough of them to come through every two weeks, why haven't they accelerated the attacks sooner? Why didn't they just wipe us out when they first came through? There's so many questions, and not enough answers that aren't speculation."
"Mr. Arc, have you ever considered joining the military?" Winter said, trying to sound casual with her headhunting.
"Bartholomew, don't embarrass yourself." Arthur groaned.
"Just, hear me out for a second, please." He sighed when the two leaders came over to him. "Why do we judge the Kaiju on a Category system? It's because each Kaiju is completely different from the next, right? you see what I'm saying? One looks like a shark and another looks like a fish- "
"Dr. Oobleck, just get to the point." Ironwood sighed.
"The point is I don't think they're all completely different after all." He pulled over some squares of meat that clearly came from a Kaiju. "Now, these are some samples I've collected. Now, this one was harvested in Attika." He pointed to the one on the left, "And this," he pointed to the other, "Was harvested in Shion. Six years ago. They have the same exact DNA. They're clones."
"What does this information tell you Mr. Arc?" Ozcar said, wanting to test his student.
"That the Kaiju can be mass-produced somehow. Which once again raises the question; why are the human and faunus races still alive?"
"That's true." Pyrrha agreed. "Considering the damage done in the very first attack, if the Kaiju had sent more than one in the initial attack, nobody would have survived."
"Which suggests that there's a plan."
"Which suggests intelligence."
'Atlas would benefit from having him in our ranks.' Winter thought.
While the leaders took in the information, Watts chimed in, "And this is the part where he goes completely crazy." He said smugly.
Oobleck walked up to a tank with what looked like some sort of organ in it floating in yellow-green liquid.
"There's so much more to the Kaiju than we understand, and we've really only scratched the surface. This is a piece of a Kaiju's brain. Now, unfortunately, it's damaged. It's a little weak, but it's still alive. Now, I think I can tap into it, using the same technology that allows the two Jaeger pilots to share a neural bridge. Now think about that. I could tell you exactly how to get through the Breach yourselves."
"In theory, at least." Jaune said.
"What? That sounded like it was exactly the kind of information you need." Nora said, confused.
"It is." Jaune explained, "But it never hurts to take everything with a healthy dose of skepticism."
"You've become rather jaded haven't you?" Pyrrha said.
"Trauma changes people, for better or worse." Jaune said.
"I'm sorry." She whispered. Jaune wrapped his arm around her shoulders and kissed her forehead. "So am I."
"You're suggesting that we initiate a drift with a Kaiju?" Tai asked unconvinced.
"Well, not an entire Kaiju, just a tiny piece of its brain."
"The neural surge would be too much for the human brain to handle." Tai said.
"I agree." Ironwood said.
"I don't agree." Oobleck protested.
"Why would it be any different?" Ruby asked.
"I don't know." Weiss admitted, "Maybe it has to do with the size of the brains or the bodies?"
"I know the answer." Blake said.
"What is it?" Nora asked.
"Because plot." Blake said with a smirk.
"Watts, I'd like your data on my desk, ASAP."
"Of course, sir." Watts said smugly.
Oobleck continued to protest, but Ironwood cut him off with a hint of warning. "Thank you, Bart."
"Bartholomew," Watts said when the leaders walked off, "I know you're desperate to be right so you've not wasted your life being a Kaiju groupie, but it's not going to work."
"It is going to work, Arthur," Oobleck said "And I'll tell you something else: fortune favors the bold, dude."
"You heard them." Watts fired back. "They won't give you the equipment, and even if they did, you'd kill yourself!"
"Or I'd be a rock star."
"Okay, now that sounds like the Oobleck I know." Glynda said with a smile.
"Indeed. He would never allow something like outside doubt to stop him." Ozcar agreed.
"He's going to do it anyway and it's most likely going to backfire spectacularly." Blake said.
"You're making a lot of assumptions here…" Yang said.
"Assumptions based on personal knowledge." Blake countered.
Ruby led Jaune into a busy work area filled with the sounds of heavy machinery and blow torches, sounds Jaune had become all too familiar with in recent years.
"There she is." Ruby said, pointing past the edge of a catwalk. Jaune looked and his chest filled with joy.
"Oh my god." He whispered, walking forward to lean on the railing. There stood Crocea Mors in all her white and gold glory. "Crocea Mors. Look at her. So beautiful. She looks like new."
"Better than new." Ruby told him, proud of the improvements that had been made. "She has a double-core nuclear reactor. She's one of a kind."
"She always was."
"Hey Ruby, remind you of anyone?" Yang teased.
As the sisters bickered, Jaune pulled Crocea Mors from his belt and smiled as he remembered everything he and the weapon had been through. He felt he could identify with what his big-screen counterpart was saying.
"How do ya like your ride, Jauney-boy?" said a familiar voice. Jaune turned and saw Nora walking up behind them. "Solid iron hull. No alloys. Forty diesel engines per muscle strand and a new fluid synapse system."
Jaune dropped his bag and wrapped Nora in a fierce hug that she returned three-fold.
"Nora! It's good to see you, girl."
"Good to see you too, brother." Nora said, "It's just like old times. They'll never stop us."
"Nora, may you never change." Pyrrha said. Nora beamed and laid her head in Pyrrha's lap.
After his little reunion, Ruby led him to his quarters. They were spartan, but that was to be expected of an empty room.
"So, what's your story?" Jaune asked, putting his bag on his bed and starting to unload some personal items. "Restoring old Jaegers, showing has-beens like me around. That can't be it. You a pilot?"
"No." Ruby said with an embarrassed smile. "But I want to be, more than anything."
"What's your simulator score?"
"51 drops, 51 kills."
"Damn, that's impressive. But you're not one of the candidates tomorrow?"
"I am not. The general has his reasons."
"Sounds like a dad answer, doesn't it?" Yang said.
"Oh yeah." Ruby agreed
"I wouldn't know." Weiss said. "My father never paid much attention to us unless he directly profited from it in some way."
"Gods, the more I hear about your old man, the more I wanna deck him right in his stupid face." Yang said, eyes flashing briefly.
"Let me take a swing after." Blake said.
"Hey, just so we're clear, Winter and I have first dibs on that, got it?" Weiss said.
Blake and Yang looked at each other. Blake raised an eyebrow, and Yang shrugged in return. Then turned back to Weiss.
"Fair enough." They said together.
"Yeah, he always does, doesn't he? But with 51 kills, I can't imagine what they'd be." He started leafing through a stack of old pictures.
"I hope you approve of my choices." She said, changing the subject. "I've studied your fighting techniques and strategy. Even… Solitas."
"And what do you think?"
"I think… you're unpredictable. You have a habit of deviating from standard combat techniques. You take risks and injure yourself and your crew… I don't think you're the right man for this mission."
Jaune nodded at the criticism. "Well, thank you for your honesty. Chances are you're right. But one day, when you're a pilot, you're gonna see that in combat you make decisions. And then you gotta live with the consequences." He looked down at the photos, resting on one of him and Joan, "That's what I'm trying to do."
"Jeez, could I be any more edgy?" Jaune said, making Pyrrha chuckle.
Ruby walked across the room to her own quarters and opened the door with a huff. Who was he to lecture her? He was just some over-the-hill ex-pilot. What did he know about anything, much less how she felt? She turned around and saw him walk into the doorway with no shirt on. She noticed how toned his body was, but more than that, she saw the scars that covered his chest. Most had paled over the years, but one on his left side was still a light pink. When she saw that he had noticed her staring, she quickly shut the door to her room, red as her namesake.
Jaune saw this and closed his door with a frown. She couldn't fool him. Seven sisters had taught him many things about female behavior, and he knew that look, had seen it plenty of times with Joan. More than likely, she was watching him through the peep-hole in her door.
Sure enough, Ruby sat down with a pout after he closed the door.
"Hmmm, looks like little Ruble enjoys the view." Yang teased. "Blake?" Ruby said, face red from embarrassment. Blake quickly slapped Yang upside the head with an audible smack.
"Ow!"
"Thank you."
"Not a bad set of abs." Coco said.
"Pfft. Please, get on my level." Sun scoffed.
"The candidates are ready." Ruby told Ironwood as he oversaw the control room. "We will commence the trials immediately."
"Good." He replied simply.
"But there is one thing. - "
"Ruby." Ironwood said with a hint of warning. He turned to face her. "We have talked about this. We will not be talking about it again."
"Ironwood is acting like a dad a little too well." Blake commented. "Does he have any children in real life?" she directed the question toward Winter.
"None that I know of." She replied, glad that the truth protected the General. With Taurus in the room, she had to be extra careful.
"You promised me." She protested. " I should be the one piloting Crocea Mors with him. "
"Ruby." He tried to calm her while dismissing Nora. "Vengeance is like an open wound. You can not take that level of emotion into the drift."
"For my family! I need- "
"If we had more time." he promised her before walking off.
"Adoptive father, calling it." Blake said.
"Wanna put money on that?" Yang offered.
"20 lien."
"Deal." They shook hands to seal the deal.
Jaune walked into the mess hall, all the tables seemed to be full and the line for food was long. He felt like he was back in high school, which was not a good thing, since none of his sisters were here to keep him company while he ate. Being the middle child, he always had two or three siblings around him in school, with Joan being a given.
He also noticed that there seemed to be a system of cliques revolving around the different Jaeger crews. He saw Blake beckon Ilia over in a sultry voice, the Schnees all sat together in descending order of age, and the Ember Celica crew seemed to be having an animated conversation centered around Yang.
"Jaune!" he looked up and saw Taiyang descending a staircase with a pair of trays filled with food. "Come sit with us." He said amiably.
"Oh, that's ok, I'm good- " he tried to deflect politely.
"YOU FOOL, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Jaune yelled at his counterpart. "TAKE THE OFFER! TAKE IT!" He looked around and saw everyone staring at him. "Sorry. Just flashing back to school."
"Let me guess, fish out of water?" Coco said.
"That puts it lightly. I was the biggest nerd back in the day. Spent most of my lunch time either alone or with whatever sisters were in the same school as me. Joan was always an option, but she was more social than me and her friends were never really my friends. They just put up with me for her sake. Uh, Ruby, you okay?"
Ruby was staring at him wide-eyed like he had just said the most profound thing in the world. "Mood-kindred…" she whispered.
"You too?!"
"Yes! Dear Gods above, yes!"
"Oh, come on Rubes, Signal was not that bad." Yang said.
"Maybe for you it wasn't, Little Ms. Blonde and Buxom. For me, it was hell outside of P.E. and combat class."
"You still had friends…"
"Yeah, three of them! Three genuine friends out of a school of a thousand kids! And one of those three only became a real friend after he tried and failed to get to you through me!"
"Wow… Ruby, I'm sorry, I didn't know…"
Ruby managed to calm herself enough to regain control of her senses. "It's okay Yang. It worked out in the end, didn't it?" she gestured to the Beacon students sitting around them. Yang smiled, recognizing how much her little cinnamon bun of a sister had grown.
"Come on, there's plenty of room at our table." Tai said, thrusting a food try into his hands.
"Where were guys like him when we were in school?" Jaune said.
"Probably hitting on the Yangs of the school." Ruby joked.
"I haven't seen bread in a while…" Jaune said, salivating at the spread before him.
"It's Atlas." He said, as if that explained everything. "Beauty of an open port; no rationing. Got potatoes, peas, sweet beans, pretty decent meatloaf. Pass the potatoes?" Jaune looked and handed him the mashed food. He pointed over at Yang, who was giving Jaune an appraising look. "Jaune, this is my daughter, Yang. She's my co-pilot now."
"He's more my co-pilot, right Dad?" Yang said smugly. "So, you're the guy, huh? You're the guy who's gonna run defense for me in that old rust bucket of yours?"
"Yeah, I do not care for this version of you, Yang." Jaune said. No one insults his giant fighting robot and gets away with it.
"You are not alone." Yang growled.
Jaune's eye twitched at the insult, but he let it slide. Best to not make an enemy out of an ally. "That's the plan." He said evenly.
"Cool." She said, feeding Zwei a piece of meatloaf. "So, when was the last time you jockeyed, John?"
Man, this kid is pushing it. "'Bout five years ago." He said, giving her his full attention.
"What have you been doing for five years?" she grinned "Something important, I imagine."
Ok, yeah, I do not care for you. "I was in construction."
Yang chuckled. "That's great. I mean, that's really useful. You know, we get into a fight, you can build us a way out, eh, John?"
"It's Jaune ." He corrected her. The least she could do to not be a fucking prick was say his damn name right.
Did you guys really think my name was John when we first met?" Jaune asked. He looked around and saw people not meeting his eyes, even Pyrrha.
"I knew it wasn't!" Ruby said, trying to cheer him up.
"Thanks Ruby."
"In our defense, the names are incredibly similar." Blake said.
"Why do you think I called you Arc so much?" Weiss chipped in.
"Whatever." Yang said, getting serious, or as close to it as she could get while still being an asshole. "Look, you're Ironwood's bright idea. My old man, he seems to like you, but if you ask me, it was guys like you who brought down the Jaeger Program. To me, you're dead weight." She stood up and put on a military hat. "You slow me down, I'll drop you like a sack of Kaiju shit. I'll see you around, Jaune. Come on, Zwei." The corgi obediently jumped down off the bench and hurried off after his owner.
"You can blame me for that." Tai said with a little guilt. "Her mother left soon after she was born, so I raised her myself, but I never knew whether to give her a pat on the head or a kick in the ass."
Jaune turned to Taiyang. "All due respect, sir, I'm pretty sure which one she needs."
"Gotta agree with the kid." said. "This you done fucked up with her, ."
"Sadly, you're not wrong." said, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Wait, so if the thing still holds true, what about me?" asked.
considered this and looked to his old partner, who, surprisingly, was slightly red in the face. Apparently they had both come to the same conclusion.