19

Alloy

Reconstructing memories of Summer into pictures isn't simple. It takes a lot of focus to 'generate' the image, and I have to maintain a clear mental image of the scene. So much so, that it actually became easier for me to reconstruct the entire scene in 3D.

The real problem is two fold. One, I only have one and half memories of Summer, the piggyback through the woods and the (maybe real, maybe not) image of her by the cliffside.

Two, is detail. As much as I have references linked in my head (oh wow, I am the Deepfake AI), there isn't really enough photos of her.

"What if we used my Semblance?" I offer Qrow. "I jump across, spend time memorising the memory, and-"

"That a good idea?" Right. Even though I have the Aura to do it, I have to remember that Aura isn't points to use on spells and has actual repercussions if poorly used.

I'm not all that trained either. Amber's skills in Aura usage and manipulation didn't come across to me. That little fact triggered all sorts of questions from Pietro, leading us to think that while the Soul is the source of Aura, that there is a very real, physical, component in it's use.

I may have pointed out that if there wasn't, Penny's and my core wouldn't need to be made out of Aura Responsive Materials (Dust) to hold our souls. Could have bound myself to a gun or something.

"Sorry, thinking." I apologise for drifting off. Though...

"Got an idea?" He's reading my face, which is a good sign that I am slipping better into my body.

Little facts click into place, far slower than if I was mentally fresh, but... "You channel Aura through your weapons and stuff, right?"

"Yeah?" Hey, it's not that obvious.

"Did you see a white flash when I Transferred across?" If...

"Maybe? I don't know, the only time you hopped over we didn't even know what your Semblance was."

"Right. And it would only have been a moment from weeks ago. So, when I jump across, I've noticed that I get a... vision of sorts. A white environment, a soulscape I think." Ah, that's not a good expression on his face.

"Because of course your Semblance wasn't grey enough." He mutters.

"I would guess it's the same mechanic that the Maiden powers use for transfer." Because guesses are all we really have. Not without experimentation to get some data to build a theory off.

"Magic?" Ha. Magic. He's saying it like it's bullshit. Which, it is, but even magic follows rules.

Science isn't a body of knowledge, its a way of thinking. A way of extracting Truth from Reality.

Magic follows rules. Seemingly stupid rules, but rules. And rules can be learned.

"Soul contact." He takes a sharp hiss in. "That's my best guess. When someone dies, the magic doesn't disentangle itself instantly and ends up dragging their Soul to the next candidate. The 'white void' is the brain or soul or whatever's attempt at understanding the resulting interaction."

"We really shouldn't be talking about this," Qrow is tense.

"Alright. Cultural or Security?"

Are you hesitant because it's analysis, science, of the soul? Remnant's post Great War individuality suppression reaction? Or because we are kind of out in the open on the balcony. Sure, it's secure, James made sure of that, but not perfectly.

"Both," Right. Duh.

"Fair," That kind of killed the mood. "sorry."

"You don't know," He justifies for me.

Yeah, but that justification can't last. Especially not with me going to fake being a native to Remnant.

I look back up at the stars, and again I'm hit with how different they are. It's a funny thing. I might not know a lot of constellations, but I guess there's an ingrained understanding of what they should look like that is bothering me. Like the uncanny valley effect.

Not that it bothers me too much. No, what hurts is that it's a reminder that I don't belong here. The stars aren't wrong.

I am.

"So, where were you going with that?" Oh, my Semblance.

"I don't jump across, but just 'feed' my Aura in and make a link. Cheaper costs, less dangerous in case I burn out, and an accelerated moment of paused time to talk in case it's needed," I sigh, "Pretty intimate though, now that I think about it. A whole aspect of morality I am not at all accustomed to."

Qrow quietly half snorts, "'accustomed to'"

I suppose that is a bit of a formal choice of words. It just felt natural to use that. Probably something there to unpack, but I'm not going to bother right now.

"Well, I let you in before..." He drawls.

"Seriously?" I might not have the best grasp of Remnant's culture, but that is a pretty serious thing, if I'm guessing right.

"I'm feeling lucky." He waves it off.

"Qrow..." I warn. That sounds self destructive.

We turn to look at eachother before he speaks. "I trust you."

Damm. That's...

Enough to trigger psychosomatic prickles across my skin. Enough to make me worried. Qrow doesn't trust easily, not that I can tell. Not with how he said it.

"I'm not sure I-" He glares. "Don't list my 'achievements', please."

"Alright. How about why you did them." Bastard.

"I hate all of you," I lie.

We work out a process. Of sorts.

Good news, I can half control my 'link' with Qrow, which costs a lot less Aura and generates a soulscape. Bad news, it happens in real time, unlike the Maiden process. Which sucks for combat applications. I hoped that a quick high five or nudge of the shoulder would be enough for me and whoever to have a planning session mid combat, or a break, but apparently that isn't going to work.

I can, with effort on Qrow's part and my own, access memories though. And, with how I work in 3D, it is much more than a photo.

The sun is rising and Summer's voice echoes from Qrow's scroll. "'How did you even get up- No, no. I don't want to hear it. Just, get down Qrow. And for the Brother's sake, put some clothes on!'"

A young, Beacon, Summer Rose finds Qrow with his pants down hiding in the rafters of an arched hall, a theatre stage I think, after an upper-classgirl ran out with very little clothing on her body.

The edges of the video are blurry, I can only compensate so much, but the important things are not. Summer's face, her fist balling and un-balling as she holds her exasperation in check, and her expression moment's later when a (slightly) younger Glynda Goodwitch finds them and sighs.

Qrow wanted that particular memory to show Tai that nothing happened. A bad rumor got around the school once the situation got half known, blown way out of proportion. The early days before the team realised just how bad his Semblance can get.

Though, walking out of the theatre stage with a slightly disheveled Glynda and Summer while Qrow is only half dressed is a pretty good start for a rumor. It's... naive? Innocent? Bittersweet, that's the word.

It's bittersweet to see how carefree they are. How a cliched anime trope of bad luck, slipping on clothing, and a mass of tangled limbs for a moment is played out entirely.

Raven and Qrow might be sent to Beacon to learn how to kill Huntsmen and masses of Grimm, but that's a tiny blemish compared to what was to come.

Before Maidens and Magic, Witch and Wizard, Gods and Relics.

And death of family.

The morning is filled with tests under Pietro, and I am stable. Well, kinda. I run through my capabilities again. My Aura might be regenerating, but it's not fixed. With my new reduced capacity, I am about 20% of my previous reading. Worse than that, the regeneration is very slow.

As it still costs me about 6% per jump, I have about one full Semblance use a per day. 7.2% Aura regenerated after 24 hours.

Even worse than that is how the damage hasn't gone. Tears and holes still persist, only covering 20% of my body in total. Were I organic, a shotgun blast would pass mostly unhindered and kill me. No wonder Pietro used nanolaminate, more than just because I'm built off Penny-tech. For combat I am basically naked.

Not that my Aura is completely useless. If I weave it through the metal like Penny, or any other trained armor wearers, The webbing like shape can bolster the strength of the nanolaminate. Less than a full plate, but at least the webbing like shape is evenly distributed across my body.

That's an entire skill I have to learn though. We can't just copy if from Penny, not with how the soul/body thing works.

No wonder Qrow was worried about me using my Semblance.

I'm basically crippled.

The only reason I don't feel like it is because I've never had a soul before, so I don't feel the loss. 4 days with a full soul isn't much experience to draw from.

Ruby and Yang aren't crying, but they are attached to me. I've spent the day recovering from the book writing (stop calling it Alloyed Warfare), encoding memories of the show into video, and giving these two huggers attached to me memories. It's not that difficult, more tedious, but tedious is really, really relaxing right now.

Still, they have to let go eventually. Eventually.

Finally.

"That's why I got you a scrapbook Penny," I start to my sis- still an instinctual revulsion at myself at the word, "Because even though you may or may not have perfect memory, having external copies makes it more real. Also, unless you have a mirror, you can't take photo's of yourself with your friends."

A scrapbook and a scroll, though mostly because of the camera. Simple things, and seemingly worthless to someone (else) who can make video files from memory.

But I imagined Penny at Beacon, in a group photo. The camera can't take photo's of itself, and seeing herself, side by side with Ruby... well. That was worth the debt I thought I was putting myself into.

"Then let's take a photo!"

Oh. She wants one with me.

How my plans backfire.

Suns down early, thanks to the combo of winter and Solitas, but everyone is still up.

I feel awkward, with people an almost decade younger than me. Most of the time I can ignore it (except Ruby and Penny), so much so that I managed to briefly convince myself that I might have married Ren when I woke up confused ages ago, but here? Like this?

Studying?

I hate school, and while Dust is very interesting subject to study, this is still a study group with a bunch of young Uni students.

That's the closest I can relate Beacon (and the other Academies) to. University.

I tried to go to Uni, once. The classroom setting triggered my PTSD.

I'm pathetic.

No, just... Read the book Weiss got you. I need to know this stuff, I mean, I'm literally made of Dust.

Dust is split between two main groups. Simple and Complex.

Simple is further broken down into three main classifications, Primary (Fire, Water, Wind and Electricity) which is the most basic. Secondary, which is a combination of two Primary, and Tertiary, which there aren't as many because even though it only takes three Primary's to make it, most require special mixing conditions that push them to get designated as Complex Dust.

But, of course, that's just one set of names for it, because of course even for one of Remnant's most crucial resources, there's naming disagreements and traditions and the ever present uniqueness factor.

No wonder the Rooster Teeth couldn't give a coherent showing of Remnant, it's a horrific patchwork of what much be thousands of cultures over the millennia, each a trace from a civilisation that rose and fell far too quickly due to Grimm (And Salem).

Complex or Specialised? Primary or Base? Uhg, Dust can even be coloured without affecting it's properties for added customisation (or to confuse opponents), making things even more muddled.

I put the book down and rub my eyes, eyes that don't even need rubbing. The book might use a nice, clean Simple(Pri,Sec,Tri)Complex system, but that's clearly just Atlas trying to streamline things. Dust, probably because it's actually magic bullshit, has dozens of types that don't make sense and defy classification. Probably why there is a 'complex' category.

Hard light might be invented by Atlas and well understood, but magnetism Dust? Oh, it works, and they can even make it, but for the longest time it was seen as a 'Chaotic' Dust type. Uhg, Chaotic Dust, another name.

"Something wrong?" Pyrrha must have glanced up and spotted me.

"This is Atlas propaganda," I huff, half as a joke.

"Hey!" Weiss...

"It's true! What is complex Dust, Weiss? I'll tell you what it is. It's 'Dust we don't have any idea what it is, but we can't admit that so we'll call it something else.' At least 'Chaotic Dust' tells the person, 'Hey, we know nothing about this!'"

A couple of people snigger as I disrespect Atlas. Seems there is still some Kingdom loyalty/rivalry going on. Hmm, nobody from Vacuo in our group, we should fix that.

Later.

"BULLSHIT!" I finally shout.

Over the past two hours, Pyrrha, Jaune, Ruby and Nora have asked me if I am alright. The more I read on the Base Dust Types, the worse my headache becomes. Fire, sure I can work with that janky as explaination. Water, total violation of mass-energy conservation. Wind? Ehh, the energy is fine but the complexity of how it effectively controls the fluid (air) that bothers me.

"Swear," Ruby calls out from across the room, asking for money. She's been trained to do that by Taiyang, I think. Fine, I'm loaded anyway, and giving money to Ruby isn't the worst I can do.

I flick ten Lien to her scroll, and then ready more to go. I think I see Yang leaning over and whispering to Blak- Oh those fuckers were betting on how long it would take for me to break.

If I wasn't so pissed at Dust, I might be at them.

"Dust is Bullshit!" Ruby's scroll vibrates again as I send her more money, and as I launch into my rant. "Ridiculous energy density? Sure, I can get behind that. Matter creation, hard, but maybe it's drawing it and venting it elsewhere. Atomic control of air molecules in coordinated formation, the processing power from that is stupidly high, but hey, the Soul can think, why can't Dust?"

I huff. "But... I draw the line at FTL."

If I had someone in front of me, I would be shaking them. "You lunatics" (10 Lien) "don't even understand just how broken that makes reality! Causality itself is broken! You don't even use real radio, just some bastardised" (10 Lien) "magical bullshit" (10 Lien) "approximation of it! One that completely ignores perhaps the only fundamental constant of the universe, the Speed Of Motherfucking Light!" (20 Lien for that one.)

I huff, trying to control- "Is it that important?" Oh Penny.

"Is it important? Is it important? 299,792,458 meters per second in a vacuum! Always that speed! Always! No matter what is going on, from space itself being torn apart to the entropy death of the universe!"

The book snaps close, and my emotions collapse with it. "Dust is bullshit." (10 Lien)

"I..." That's a hazardous thought, though causality might be self healing/preventive of paradoxes if Stephen Hawking was right. Or am I misremembering. "You're all lucky I don't build a time machine."

"Wait, what?" Yang finally speaks. "Like, go back in time, time machine?"

"No. Like, send message back to previous version of time machine, time machine." I go slack the chair. "The speed of light is suppose to be the speed of time in the universe, if you can go faster than it, or in this case send a message, you can send a message back in time."

Though, to do that would require me to significantly alter the frame of reference of one transceiver. Dust might be bullshit, but it is stuck on this planet. I think the relative time gap of Earth's GPS satellites is only a few nanoseconds, so to get functioning system would require a decent velocity difference between the bodies. Once there is enough of a gap, I think we could relay the same message back and forth, zig-zagging through time until the construction and 'Radio Linking' of the Dust tranc- uhg.

Nope. No time travel. Paradoxes, or the universe increasing quantum improbabilities to prevent a paradox, should not be messed with. Nevermind the morality of such a device, which I avoided hard before.

I just hope the universe, or this universe, doesn't operate like that. "Time travel is fucking evil." (10 Lien)

Oh, and then Salem gets her hands on it. I asked Ozma why he protected the Relic of Choice differently to the others, and after he explained how it basically lets you look into the future, yeah. That's bad for the chess game.

"Right, everyone forget what I just said about time travel. I'm classifying it as a Manhattan level secret." Like nukes. And matter-energy equivilence. All it would take is one idiot with the Staff or a nifty Semblance to ask for a 'grain of sand of antimatter'.

Uhhggg.

This world is always on the verge of exploding or being overrun with Grimm or having two 'Gods' come down and kill everyone or... Breathe.

I put the book down and stand up. "I need to go beat something up. I can't deal with your blatant disregard of reality right now."

The hard light projection of a spider Grimm (Arachnene) shatters under my fist. Spiders have always creeped me out, though not to arachnophobia levels. A lot of people have that, so of course there is a Giant Spider Grimm. At least these ones are bright glowing cyan, and they aren't covered in little hairs.

A shiver runs down my spine at the thought of it.

"Feeling better?" Ren asks.

"Not as much as I would like, but better." There are actually multiple training rooms like this in Atlas Academy, as well as some smaller ones across the cities for Huntsmen, though they each have slightly different specialisations.

The one I used for the Ace Ops was apparently for illusion based combat training, hence why it had the option for reflective hard light projections. Heh, Marrow got screwed by a mirror.

"Another set?" He offers, scroll in hand and designated a non-target by the systems.

"Please. Urban this time, those things should crawl up walls." I could do it myself, but I think this is Ren trying to spend time with me.

Not that punching and kicking is the only thing I'm doing.

I put myself back into the basic stance and ready myself. Three Arachene spawn ahead of me and scuttle towards me, far slower than the real version would be.

It seems I might have learned something during my time with Yang, beating up bags, but that doesn't even equate to the merest of basics. I'm useless at combat. As great as my 'victories' are, I know the truth. In a fair fight, I lose.

Just ask Adam.

.

.

.

I lose.

Arachene aren't front line Grimm. Even before the alterations to the simulation to make it easier, they are only a threat to unarmed and surprised civilians. Not to mention the fact they are attacking me head on, completely out of character. Arachene get their killing power from traps, webs and always coming in groups.

A single common Beowolf is classed as a higher direct threat that this group of 3.

And I still lose.

"You still tense your body right before you strike," Ren points out.

It's something he's pointed out before, though my attempts at relaxing aren't working. As much as I could download a Knight's combat software, there are numerous problems with that.

One, Adam (and other people) have fought Knights before, which would make me predictable.

Two, I'm expecting to go up against primarily people, Knight software is primarily designed against Grimm.

Three, it's software, and therefore can be hacked. My current software toolkit is massively reduced compared to Penny's, but very, very secure.

And four, my Semblance. Can't bring combat software with me when I jump bodies.

I need to learn how to fight.

I'm worse than Jaune was when he started, I think. A moment to recall and... Yeah, definitely worse.

"I'm sorry," I start to Ren. "Not for this, but... I don't think I ever apologised about telling everyone about the hammer."

Ren's quick on the uptake. "It's no problem." I seriously can't tell if he is just saying that or if he means that. "I mean it."

But apparently he can read me. "Really? You sort of... It was..."

"When I said that we told nobody about it, I did not mean it was a secret. Just, a bad memory." Oh.

"Then I'm sorry for that."

"Accepted." Just like that. Easy. Too easy.

No, that's just my issues speaking. "Thanks."

Feet split, one slightly forward, the other back. Feel the center of gravity stabilised by the footing.

"Your Semblance," Ren interrupts, "the memory copy technique..."

I turn to look at him, though I keep my feet anchored. "That's pretty personal, at least as far as I can tell." By Remnant's standards. "Do you want some made?" Ren nods. "You sure? Do you trust me that much?"

"I do."

Again my self loathing anxiety toxic mixture of problems flares up, my skin crackling and I think I rock back a bit.

"All these people trusting me with something I barely understand. I don't even trust myself with this," I mutter.

"Then you should have more confidence in yourself." He gestures to my footing. "You need a strong foundation to work from."

He's quoting himself, and drawing an analogy to what we are currently doing.

"I'm trying. I'm just... It's difficult." Deep (and useless) breathe, hold, then release. "Not tonight, or tomorrow, my Aura is low."

Jaune might have a seemingly amazing Semblance to help someone in my condition, but Pietro, and myself, are worried that overtaxing it might cause further damage.

Ren accepts that, and pulls up his scroll, "Again then?"

"Again."

Down the alleyway, three Arachene spawn.

It's a nightmare.

It's just a nightmare.

I'm awake no- 'What a nice dream, but it's time to wake up.'

I'm breathing hard with lungs that do nothing, my panic still screaming in my body that isn't my body. 'A whole new life, friends, people who care about you, magic and a world to save. It's too good to be true.'

I hit the internal software button and unlock my body from the standing position from the charging station placed in my room.

'Time to wake up.'

I fall onto the bed I decided not to use and gasp, trying to ignore the truths he said.

'What next? Suddenly you get magic back? Or maybe another fight with someone so far beyond you, victory is impossible. But you win anyway, because that's what the dream is about.'

I know him.

He's me. The broken husk of a man standing there, dead smile failing to hide the hollow shell, clockwork turning in him.

'Nobody will ever love you. Time to wake up.'

I'm awake, I'm... I'm...

Please. I don't want to go back. Please.

'Your name is-'

James himself is escorting me to something he wants me to look at, and as we stride down the halls I keep guessing myself. Are people saluting him, or me?

I've asked for a meeting with Jacques Schnee, though that will take place later today. Even without James' updates, it's clear that more and more people are being divided over the book. Not just the default resistance to change that all people have.

It's... silly. To me, at least. The Atlas Military is suppose to be a military, and while it's expected that there is some resistance (for example: RnD doesn't always make the best weapon for field conditions, despite design objectives), this is much more of an issue. The same factor that let Mantle to Atlas keep a military is now working against us.

Tradition.

I suppose the sheer amount of changes proposed doesn't help either. As much as I disrespected the mass blocks of troops that was the old way, it served a major factor in Grimm attacks. Moral. Only a small slice of the soldiers were able to get a proper look at what they are up against at a time.

Though, there is a growing support for dynamic (I'm not calling it Alloyed in my head) warfare. The philosophy of concentrated overwhelming firepower killing the Grimm long before they get in melee range is pretty tempting, not to mention beautiful to look at in the simulations.

The Siege of Vale helped, with spikes of forces met with myself and high Huntsmen density teams, dividing the enemy forces into groups to be cut down.

Another salute as we pass and head deeper underground, and that one is definitely at me. Is it still called underground if its in a floating mountain?

The final doors open, or I assume the final doors seeing just how much longer security took to clear us.

It's a room hollowed out with the bare stone still visible. Or, half of it behind the glass is. The other half is the same sterile white of Atlas Labs that I've seen a dozen times now.

What's interesting is the sheet of metal sticking out of the rock face, excavated carefully, with dozens of instruments pointed at it. Two labcoat science types are here.

"Tell me what you think," James still hasn't really told me anything, which is good science. No need to colour my preconceptions.

I stride in and scan my eyes over the room. Why this room? Why so secret? Why not...

A display catches my eye, a hologram of Atlas with threads running through the stone...

Others show... Ah. This room is secret because it's how Atlas stays flying. It's why they have excavated the metal sheet but not touched it. Just in case damaging the thing caused the city to fall.

Would it?

Little gears turn in my head, before hints of laughter bubble up in me. "Of course. No wonder..."

I look to James for permission. A nod. If he wasn't in stern general mode, he would be smirking.

"No wonder The Artist wasn't impressed with making a flying city," I crack up laughing. "It's so simple!"

I extrapolate further. Why that shape though? "What was the exact request?"

"'To raise the city of Mantle into the sky of Solitas.'" The male scientist states for me.

"Oooohhhhh, you bastard," I chuckle.

I take a breath and start to confirm my suspicions.

"Let me guess, the metal sheets repel magnets." The other scientists, a husky faunas based on her ears, eye's widen. "Its a room temperature superconductor, a material with one hundred percent electrical conductivity. It also displays some other interesting properties, such as being a magnetic dead zone, known as the Meissner effect."

"You... Understand how it works?" She asks, half shocked. Kinda sexy, actually.

"Yes," I shake one hand side to side, "to a degree. Magmatism and electricity are deeply interlinked. In this case, the planet's native magnetic field is being bent around the superconducting material and is applying a force to it, repelling it. Though, I would guess the material isn't a pure superconductor, that there are trace materials in it that serve to 'capture' and pin the field lines in place."

I starts pacing and looking at the displays, "That's why it's that shape, to create many layers of pinned flux before letting it go."

I shake my head and look to James. "Good news, Atlas isn't going to fall out of the sky. Better news, it's safe to cut off a chunk and analyse it, synthesise it, and then replace it."

He really is smiling now. "Bad news though. If you try to move Atlas, as it is," That is, without reusing the Staff, "out of the range of the Aurora Borealis, it will fall out of the sky."

"The sky of Solitas..." He realises the loophole The Artist put in.

"Good news again, once you have replicated it, you can make a different shape that won't fall out of the sky. Oh, and as a room temperature superconductor, it has a lot of really useful properties."

I grin and pace and explain. "The planet is generating a magnetic field, probably due to moving liquid metals in the core of the planet. Said giant electromagnetic field can be roughly modelled as a giant bar magnet running through the center.

"The field does more than just let your compasses point north, it also protects the planet from solar wind, that is energized particles constantly radiating out from the sun. A giant curved umbrella, if you will, and generally considered to be one of the things required for a planet to support life. Solar wind is no joke.

The male scientist is at least taking notes.

"Though, it can't protect all of it. A small fraction of the solar wind hits the planet where the poles are, energizing the atmosphere. That's what the Aurora Borealis is, energised atmosphere. The magnetic field lines are effectively straight up and down here, and on the other side of the planet. Technically, if you could move Atlas there, it would also float.

I look again at the hologram of Atlas, the seismic surveys they have done to map out where the superconductors are.

"There would be a little lift from other places, but because the city has a defined up and down that means you can't rotate it, and the current layout of the materials makes it highly effective only in this local shape.

I take a breathe, pausing, realising I have been talking inhumanly fast and without breaks.

"Sorry, got excited. any questions?"

Husky woman speaks up. "You're an alien."

I smirk, "That's classified," and wink, "and not a question."

"Can you start from the beginning?" Male asks.

"Well, the universe started with what we call a-" I crack up. "I'm joking."

.

Half an hour later I walk away with James, only a small part of my knowledge imparted. Warnings about critical temperature and how heating the metal too much will disable the superconductive properties. I avoided electromagnetism as much as I could, that is really going to be Menagerie's thing.

Hey, she's a Faunus scientist, maybe she'll come with me?

"I want some," I state to James. "When you get to recreated it, I want some."

He chuckles. "I'll see what I can do."

"Pfft. You better." I'm fully serious about that. There's no doubt in my mind that Remnant's

"Thank you."

"What for this time?" I sigh.

"For the ease of mind," In a few years, Atlas won't fall out of the sky regardless of what the staff is doing. I snigger at a thought. "What?"

"In a few years time, the Queen won't realise we can use of move the Staff if the city is still floating 'under it's power'." I crack up a bit. "And when she finds out, she gets all confused on how that's possible."

"If she is still alive." Hope. That we can win, that the eventuality of her discovering the trick isn't an eventuality.

"Ah well. Shame we'll never get to see her reaction then."

Ding dong, the witch is dead. The wicked witch, the stupid bitch.

He pushed our meeting back, probably as a power play. Yes Jacques, I know I'm coming to you on your terms, and yes, I know it's a bit short notice, but... I mean did you even pencil me in for today or did you pencil me in for two days from now and just say that we had a meeting today.

Thing is, that actually plays to our advantage. I'm no stunning business woman, so I can use the time to prepare.

Preperations that are driving me crazy.

"I need a break," I cut Weiss off, "Sorry."

She glares for a moment, but there's not heat in it.

"To be honest, I could use a break as well. We have been studying for almost two hours," Studying, yeah. Studying your father and giving me a crash course in the SDC. "To the training room again?"

"No. I'm kind of burned out on learning right now... And I think I need to start thinking about making a weapon."

BANG! "Finally!"

Weiss almost falls backwards off her chair, "Ack! Where did you come from?"

I also almost fall back off my chair. As if summoned, A Wild Ruby Rose Appears!

"So, what are you thinking?" And here comes the questions.

"Ruby? Where did you go?" Yang's voice echoes through the doorway that was slammed open.

I thought it was a gun.

"Were you listening to us?" Weiss demands, temporarily distracting the Red Menace from the onslaught of questions I am too numb to hear.

"Nope! I just felt it, the call." Very temporary, as her assault is back on me.

Yang comes around the corner, following the fading rose petals (no matter creation, I tested that), when she spot us. I plead for help.

"Whoa, Rubes, slow down," She does.

Thank you, sweet relief. "Opps. Sorry."

What ever happened to that nice, quiet, socially awkward Ruby Rose. Can I have her back? The gun nut Ruby Rose is too much.

I let her hug me one too many times, that's probably it.

She's looking at me expectantly. I sigh in defeat. "Fine, can you go reserve a-"

And she's gone.

"She's been waiting for that for a while," Yang spells out, and I realise it's her trying to repay me for all the stuff I've done for her, "And she really wants to see what an 'alien gun' looks like."

Well, there's that too.

"There's nothing special about them," I mutter, "Remnant obviously has a much more advance weapons culture."

Out of necessity. Firearms might only be 100 or so years old (only slightly predating the Great War, as it turns out.), but the moment someone put Dust into a bullet, Remnant went crazy for it. Developed so fast that Mantle had machine gun emplacements against swords and bows. Not the best machine guns, but still belt fed automatic fire.

Schizo tech goes all the way back then.

Ruby doesn't let me finish my request as she passes me the part. Not that there are many left, but she has been pre-emptively passing me things, always steps ahead.

I suppress my sigh. While this isn't going to be my weapon, I did kinda want to make it. Weapons are cool, something I realise is a trace of the little boy who died that somehow survived.

Oh well.

I assemble the magazine. "Right, got roun-" A box of Ruby designed Whoosh cartridges appears in a flutter of red petals. "Thank you."

Parts have been seemingly teleporting to me all day.

"Done?" I nod. "It's... Simple. Not that that's bad or anything, simple is good. Maintenance will be easy and with the materials you picked it will be cheap to... Oh! It's for mass production." Ruby is almost grumpy at the idea, I think she was hoping for me to make My Weapon.

"It's a relatively simple weapon from Terra." I explain. "Mass produced, reliable, cheap. One of the most popular weapons across the world," I turn it over in my hands and look at it. "This is my first gun, Ruby."

"Practice." She nods again.

Well, that is true I guess. I'm still not sure what/if I am going to make My Weapon. "To the range? Let's hope this doesn't explode."

Ruby isn't vibrating (either she's burned out some excitement or she is really holding her self control) as we walk to the short testing range built into the side of the forge room.

Right.

Check, check, check. Weapon. Range targets and materials in case of over penetration. People around me. "Stand back please Ruby."

Earth's gun safety LAWS echo through my head. I might be a super durable robot, and Ruby might have Aura, but this is a Killing Machine. An instrument of Death. A single round or accident can end the life of someone.

Check again.

I load a single round into the magazine.

Check.

Ruby fidgets, probably not understanding why I'm going so slow.

Insert magazine. Check.

The target is metal plate a few centimetres thick. Behind it is a meter (3 ft) of solid steel, and behind that is several meters of stone. Hard light projectors enclose the entire range, in the event of ricochet. Either side of me is thick metal plates.

When I first woke up here, during the attack on Beacon, I thought I was dreaming. Firing a gun, mostly by Amber's skills, was easy, thoughtless. Incredibly dangerous.

I killed people.

I hold the assault rifle up.

This is a weapon. A device, a tool, whose primary purpose is to injure or kill. It demands respect.

Check. Safety on. Breathe. Insert magazine. Check. Lower safety lever. Pull charging handle back and chamber round. Check. Breathe.

Aim.

Check.

Place finger on the trigger.

Check.

Squeeze trigger gently.

The gun cracks and the metal plate ahead sparks, dings, and swings as the projectile hits it.

It works.

"Whoo!" Thanks Ruby, but this is actually kind of stressful for me.

I'm not exactly trained, and while Remnant might be a lot more relaxed about things, with Grimm, Aura and Dust scarcity, I admit I'm a little afraid. I flick on the safety.

That will probably pass in time with familiarity and training.

"Well, it didn't explode. Well, it did, but in the way it was suppose to." I idly comment.

Ruby huffs. "I can build a weapon just fine."

"Pfft. I wasn't accusing you. I was worried something was wrong with the design."

"A design I looked over?" She has her hands on her hips, mockingly.

It's not very intimidating, and if I were taller, it would lose all effect. However, I did deliberately want to be short. Smaller target profile.

"Fine," I yield, "Now, lets put some rounds through this thing."

I take my time to load up the magazine completely. 30 rounds of Ruby developed Whoosh and nitroglycerine double based cartridges get double stacked, pushing down the spring in the magazine.

Ruby eyes over what I'm doing, in case I do something wrong, but doesn't comment.

Right, checks done again and it's time to fire. I send 30 rounds in semi auto down range.

Then another 30.

Then another 30 in full auto.

Then another 30 in full auto.

Then another 29 in full auto, letting the last round sit in the chamber as a kind of cook off test. I might trust Ruby's work, and the design of the rifle, but there's always a chance things might go wrong. I am holding a device that sets off hundreds of explosions per minute in a confined space. That creates heat, heat that may set of the next round without a pull of the trigger.

I wait.

And wait.

Thermal vision of my eyes shows the heat slowly fading out.

"Well, it didn't cook off the last round, so I would call that a success."

Ruby holds up her hand for a high five. I make the terrible sacrifice to give her one.

I send the last round down at the target.

"Soooo... what's it called?"

"Not a personal weapon, Ruby. The design is called an AK-47."

I check everything, flick the safety on, and look over the first weapon I have used in this body. It's not quite a 'pure' AK-47, that is I made some slight design changes to make it an ambidextrous weapon. Two extractors, linked together, can be slid left or right to move one of two bars into place. The charging handle goes all the way through, a second gap for the left handed case ejection. The safety lever is the same.

But either than that, it's as simple and reliable as I can make it.

I hit the magazine release in front of the trigger and pull out the mag. I was tempted to have the bolt lock open when it was empty, but reliability comes first. The ambi changes are enough.

There's a reason that the AK-47 is so popular, and it isn't because it is full of features and gimmicks.

"Alloy?" Ruby grabs my attention.

"Hm?" I look up at Ruby. "Oh. Um, Just thinking."

"Do you... not like it?"

I shake my head. "Nothing like that. It's just that guns, especially fully automatic assault rifles, are highly restricted where I'm from. I've never owned a gun before, barely fired any, and..."

There's something else. I look down at the rifle, and imagine it with a wooden stock and foregrip. "This weapon especially, it has history behind it."

As much as it is used by everyone... Terrorists use this weapon. Third world warlords send child soldiers out with this weapon. Gangs at war in the streets gun down eachother and bystanders with this weapon. Teens desperate and lashing out unload on classmates using this weapon.

It is stained.

And I'm going to give it to Menagerie and the White Fang. As much as I would love to say that the White Fang isn't the Red Fang, I know that there is a lot of overlap.

"Earth doesn't have Grimm, Ruby," My eyes don't leave the instrument of death. The song of slaughter. "And this is a very well tested design."

This is a tool for killing people.

"It won't be like that here," She's so convinced, so innocent.

Yet, she's probably right. This isn't the first automatic rifle Remnant has, I'm not introducing any new tech with this particular thing. Sure, it's the first weapon to be designed around the new Whoosh based cartridges, but that's only because Whoosh hasn't hit the market.

"Give it a new name. Like you." I look up at her. It's a simple solution.

Start again.

Why did I recreate this weapon, the AK-47 in particular? I could have made a P90, or a Glock17, or a revolver, or any other weapon in my head, or even started from scratch and designed something myself.

No, I picked this for a reason. Because it's tested, simple, reliable. Because it's cheap and easy to mass produce. Because I'm going to give it away.

Because the people need it. To prove that Dust isn't the only way. That the people of Menagerie can be free from Dust, the crimes of the Gele bastard, that they can stand on their own against Grimm and other Kingdoms.

"Independence."

I run over everything I have made notes on. Corporate opponents, recent and past major events (good and bad), an extensive personality profile of the Gele himself.

It's like I'm suiting up for a mission, though in this case the mission is words. I haven't had this body for long, but I am leveraging it to my full advantage.

After all, what kind of businessman can check his notes mid conversation, adapting and always informed thanks to wireless updates?

It's needed. As much as I don't like Jacques, he didn't get where he is by being stupid or naive. Respect your opponent. Underestimate them at your own peril.

After all, even with my advantages, and there is a lot, I am still trying to beat him at his own game.

Game face on. Time to suck some dick.

Minutes later I am exiting the luxury bullhead he sent to pick me up, a display of wealth to show off and make clear that I am on his terms. As if the date getting pushed back wasn't enough.

Ugh. Stupid games.

He isn't waiting for me outside either.

Which would be fine, except...

Weiss gets out first, and I follow. Never mind seeing his daughter.

I check my system to make sure my facial expressions are just right, making use of my synthetic nature. No way am I smiling on the inside.

Despite all the prep and work done, I'm not actually all that stressed. The outcome of this meeting is ultimately a test of my skills and practice for the future. While a success would help James, it's not critical.

We stand in the foyer of the Schnee mansion, waiting for him to send someone to get us. The meeting is basically a formal dinner, but without the dinner as I can't eat, and it would be rude not to.

I don't glance nervously at Weiss, though I do examine the architecture and decorations. Funny how different this is compared to the show. The same, but the meaning is different.

"Mr Schnee will see you now," Ah, thank you Klein.

There he is.

I give a little bow, "Thank you for taking the time to see me, Mr Schnee."

"Of course. It is a pleasure to meet one of daughter's associates."

Oh, so that's how it's going to be.

.

Talk, navigate, listen to and give almost matching opinions, he finally he gives me the opening for my attack.

"I understand there is quite a commotion happening in the military." 'Please, call me Jacques' says. Got you.

"You are well informed. James" use his first name to show familiarity, "has been trying to keep that quiet. It wouldn't do for the public to learn of such a division in the kingdom's defenders."

I know what is going on. Go on, ask me.

"Nothing serious, I hope?" Yeah yeah, we both know what is happening. Though, I don't think you realise I'm not as naive as I am presenting myself.

"It's..." I look at him, as if trying to gauge whether to trust him. A glance to the side at Weiss' empty seat, she was sent out, 'tips the balance'. "Not a major crisis, though it is one I am responsible for."

Jacques doesn't say anything, simply letting me 'vent'.

"How much do you know? Acutally, you especially are probably going to find out sooner than later." I sigh. "After Vytal..."

"It was a tragedy." He empathises.

"It was a disaster." A hint of anger touches my voice. "James, he..." I shake. "It doesn't matter. I sat down and reviewed everything. Tactics, technology, infrastructure. And while Atlas would survive an attack like that, I didn't like how close some of the simulations were."

I brush my hair out of my face and sigh again before continuing.

"So I rewrote how to conduct warfare."

Hahah. If I didn't need to control my face so much, the Gele's expression would make me laugh. "Really?" He doesn't believe me.

"My sister, Penny, she is far more combat oriented where as I am a scientist. Tradition should not impede effectiveness, especially for defence. There is a lot of traditions I have stamped on." There you go, leverage to use on me. "A lot of traditions. So much so that even though James approves and is trying to push it, there is a lot of resistance."

I frown slightly, "Honestly, I'm surprised you don't have a copy. It's not exactly classified, though they are trying to keep it quiet. Has James not given you one?"

He doesn't have a copy because I asked James to prevent him getting one. While the common soldier doesn't yet have one, almost every officer does. Some who are definitely getting 'help' from the Gele. It's been a good test of cybersecurity and

"No, he has been reluctant to share anything with me of late," He frowns with me.

Yeah, because you helped kill the Kingdom of Atlas once upon a timeline, and because I asked him not to for my plan.

"Ever since he returned from Vale, he has been... different." Ah, playing the 'I'm concerned about my friend.' card. "Especially the past month. Regular meetings cancelled, appointments booked out, late replies to calls."

"We all have been. It is one thing to speculate and theorise a major Grimm attack on a Kingdom, another to see it. And, I am sorry. The past month has been my fault. James took significant interest in my work and we spent the time refining it." I frown again. "Still, you should have a copy, not just for your relationship with him, but because how it will affect the SDC as a whole."

Got you. Wriggle on the line, little fish. "How so?"

I hang a moment, before 'coming to a decision'. "You have friends in the military, correct?"

"I do." Wow, he doesn't sound eager at all, that is how good his control is.

"Then I'm sure it would be difficult to pin down exactly where any possible leak comes from." I pull out my scroll, (not that I need one, but best not advertise that) open the book and put it on the table.

"Very difficult." He smoothly pulls his and transfers the file. "Almost impossible, I would say."

I pocket my scroll again as he skims the file on his device. I let him read for a bit before driving the point.

Time to play villain.

"Dust is the backbone of our society. I may literally made of it, but that does not mean I somehow need it more than anyone else." He looks up at me. "Weiss is my friend, anything that helps her, helps me. And, she is the future of the SDC."

There you go. I'm just like you, sneaking my way into the Schnee family for profit and power. I give a meaningful look at the scroll in his hand. "If I were to speculate, I would suggest that you increase mining, in the event of unexpected and sudden demand. After all, old traditions led to an attack unseen since the Great War. People are scared."

Oh, now he is smiling. Not that fake thing, polite thing, but his real smile of greed and hunger. "Then perhaps it is time for some new, more effective, traditions."

I mimic said smile back at him. "I'm glad we understand eachother."

I exit the bullhead, head to the lounge and collapse, half ignoring the other two in the room.

"Now you know how we feel." Jaune is here, reading a comic.

"Uhg." I groan.

"That bad?" Blake is one of the few who hasn't actually been in the same room as the Gele.

"I have just spent the last 3 hours sucking the Gele's dick, how do you think I feel?" Blake scrunches up her face.

"Swear?" Jaune asks hopefully.

"Nope. How old are you?" I am not giving you Lien.

He shrugs and turns back to the comic, "Worth a shot."

"Did it at least pay off?" Blake asks.

"I think so. Hard to tell, he is a slimy bastard." Master of backstabbing more like it.

"Swear?" Jaune tries again. I think that might be developing into an injoke.

"Shush. Weiss succeeded." It was expected that she would be sent away so we could talk in private, so while I had him hard distracted (and could message her if he was coming), she had another mission.

Before he updates his security with stolen military level encryption, Weiss was to sneak in and implant viruses into the private system, as well as copy off all the data needed for the latter half of the plan.

Jacques' arrogance will stab in the back. The idiot has a copy of all the private files of the SDC in his home's computer system. Every black deal, 'favour' owed, 'employee fired', slave owned, rival corporation sabotaged and dismembered, current and future mine/slavecamp location, everything.

It's ours now, and the viruses will make sure that even as he updates his security, we have access. After all, we are already inside.

I do my final part for that and upload the file to the server, overwriting the security footage of Weiss' corporate sabotage with my deepfaked of her studying in her room.

I send the message to Weiss.

'Hey, I think I need some help with Dust study again. Are you up for that, or did you spend all day studying again?' You're safe, I have altered the files.

"I think I need to go to bed." I state and get up. "It's been a very successful day."

Blake smiles, and not in a nice way. Yeah, we got the bastard in the trap.

The days of an evil SDC are numbered, and counting rapidly down.

"I didn't want to believe it," Shame is the strongest emotion in James' voice.

Shock, horror and a slowly grown anger fill the room as we look over where 12.1% of the SDC's Dust supply comes from.

Everyone in Atlas in our group is here. RWBY, JNPR, AceOps, Winter, Penny, Pietro, Qrow, James and myself.

And all of us are disgusted. There isn't much video evidence, a good chunk of photos, and an overwhelming amount of audio (he recorded all his calls,) but it's enough to paint the picture.

Unregistered Dust mines, filled with people suffering. Captured Apathy Grimm successfully implemented. Branding.

Adam's face wasn't a one off. And how could it be? To brand something, you have to make a metal brand in the shape of what you wanted.

And the SDC uses paint to mark their containers.

Blake and Weiss aren't even looking at their scrolls anymore.

"When are we going to bring him in?" Marrow is the first to speak, and he all but demands it.

Penny, dear sweet Penny, she's crying into my shoulder. As bad as the video/picture/audio evidence is, it only represents a small amount of the horror. The spreadsheets are the worse. Accounting, not of lien, but of lives. People designated as equipment, capital, 'units'. Assessments of 'motivational strategies', the numbers speak of the dead.

Breeding.

Most of them are Faunus. Not all of them, but the genetic odds of how Faunus and Remnin breed means that a non-Faunus bloodline generally doesn't last past a few generations. Worse than that is the eugenics.

Faunus often have night vision, so why spend Dust lighting up the mines? Good hearing? Well that can be used for lookouts and listening through rock. Hard claws? They don't need tools, tools that wear out. Digging type Faunus are 'popular', so pair them up.

Numbers tell me that there are people who have never seen snow or sunlight.

In a world like Remnant, covered in Grimm, how easy would it be to have a little underground village where no-one can find it? To have trucks full of supplies 'go missing'? For a public facing mine to have an overinflated yield that is met thanks to supplements from the hidden mines?

Jacques isn't racist. He just doesn't care, and Faunus are more profitable 'equipment'.

"General?" Marrow asks again.

Nobody wants to say it. Nobody wants to hurt those who believe in justice.

I push Penny off. I will.

"The Dust market will crash." Blake's head snaps up and looks at me betrayed. "People will panic, and then there will be Grimm."

It doesn't even take a second for her to realise what I am saying.

"Nothing?"

Rage bubbles barely constrained in her, so much her scroll hits my head, cracking and falling to the ground. The numbness of the room is gone, the anger searing the room, boiling the air.

"Until-" James goes silent for a moment under Winter's glare, "until we can get Whoosh production-"

"If this gets out, the panic-" Qrow is on side, as horrible as it is.

"This is wrong!" Ruby is standing now, "And you want to help cover it up?" She accuse all of us, but her eyes are locked on Qrow, tears in them.

Higher the tension rises, anger turning to rage as murmurs fill the room. Penny whispers something that cuts all of us off.

"it's in me"

She staring at her hands.

So many deaths for the Dust that is our blood.

"Oh Darling." Pietro pulls his daughter in close. "It's not your fault."

"We can't do nothing." Pyrrha votes.

"We won't." I state.

"And we won't just wait until you're ready." Jaune clips the loophole out, not that I was going to use it. His team stands by his vote in agreement.

"Find another way." Ruby throws my words back at me and stares at me.

I didn't ask to be her hero, the person she looks up to as someone who swoops in and saves the day. I just tried to do the best I could.

So why does her almost hopeful, almost betrayed tone cut so deep?

Doesn't matter. She is right. If we take this path, and then 'win', how much would it cost?

A Queen of ashes is no Queen at all.

Worse, I glance at the adults in the room, at the divide between idealism and realism. This will tear us apart if left to fester.

Clover starts to speak, but I ignore him as I test a feature that I really shouldn't have. That Pietro never really designed.

Remnant computers are weird, by my standards. They aren't logic gate based, but instead neural network based, making use of the native calculation aspects of Dust and placing them into a neural lattice. A 'chip' in Dust tech is a hollowed out bit of plastic that is very carefully filled with liquid Dust, forming a network of nodes and threads. The first were 2D, but modern Dust circuits are 3D.

I first noticed it when I tried to do a batch of math, the calculations taking far longer than made sense. Of course, once I realised it was neural network based, it made sense. Dust is people, maybe even Soul residue or something, which is why it can even host a Soul like Penny's or mine. It's also why so many devices are so easy for me to use, I'm not so much a program connecting to a device and running on their framework as I am a mind expanding to use more brain.

It's why unrealistic Hollywood hacking works here. It's why Atlesian Knights hesitate or show fear. It's why people who use Dust can give complex 'commands' when they pump their Aura into it.

But, circuitry here is still a computer. Which means I can force myself to think faster for brief bursts of time.

Time slows down as I overclock myself.

Clover's words are still understandable, but I ignore them.

List the problem:

Unforgivable usage of slavery - Revealing will cause major market upset. - Upset causes panic then Grimm - Kingdom falls.

List assets:

The people here. Whoosh. My database of science. Contacts in Menagerie.

State final objective:

1. Ceasing all slavery based operations.

2. Survival of the Kingdom and it's people.

3. Keeping the group together to fight Salem.

What paths will lead to that? Moral outrage will lead to death of Kingdom.

Will it? What if it didn't. If the panic levels were kept low enough... A controlled burn.

Threat added: Salem.

She will capitalise on the tension from the reveal. Death of Kingdom ensues.

Analyse.

"A lllloooooyyyy?" Ignore.

If JNPR do the reveal missions early, then what? Public favor of them will increase as faith in the SDC... Weiss leading the charge. Renew favor with White Fang/Fauns if she guts Gele and the SDC for them, just as planned.

Is accelerating our plan an effective option?

Dust market will still tank, leading to instability. Faith in the SDC, and Atlas as a whole will drop with other kingdoms, and members of Atlas. Unless.

The SDC isn't the Atlas council or military. Leverage divide between them. Crashing the SDC will... Nationalise it. The council takes over the SDC, Weiss becomes either figurehead or leaves.

No, not nationalise it, but threaten to unless Weiss can clean it up.

Someone is talking to me. Ignore it.

Meanwhile announce Whoosh, which will direct attention and business to Menagerie.

Solution partial devised, however Salem is still a threat. All our current plans rely on things being status quo, too much change opens opportunity for Salem to attack. On top of that, so much attention to Menagerie, myself, and my tech will increase the likely hood of her realising the game has fundamentally changed.

Someone grabs my shoulder. It's fine, I'm done.

Time flows normally again. "Ouch! She's hot!" Harriet's hand leaps back.

"Sorry, overclocked my processor." I explain. "We have a choice. Accelerate our plans to resolve this faster, but at the risk of Salem taking advantage of the ensuring chaos."

"You overcharged your core?" Pietro hangs on that.

"Yes." I state in a tone to talk about that later. "Short term or long term. What is Morally Right or what is Tactically Correct. I vote Right."

That restores a bit of Ruby's faith in me, though James frowns a little. I look to him. "What does victory look like?"

It's a hard call, for those that can see ahead long enough. Even without Salem, this could go deeply wrong.

The votes come in. RWBY, JNPR, and Penny vote Right almost instantly. Marrow, Vine, Clover and Winter are quick to follow. Pietro abstains. Qrow looks to to his nieces but votes Correct. James is behind Qrow with Correct. Elm and Harriet sway, torn between following James and the long term gains against the data they stare at before going Right.

Not everyone is here, but there are enough votes even if they choose Correct. "Well then. Someone will have to inform the others."

I close my eyes and breathe. "James, organise a patrol that comes close to" I look at the data for the worst site, "mining site 3F9A. Not too close, but a last minute adjustment will have them 'accidentality' discovering the site. Clear it out."

He nods as his own plans form and we fall back into place, a habit and relationship built from the weeks working very closely together. "Ace Ops, training exercise using new Whoosh rounds."

I take in the adjustments and accept them. We will need to introduce Whoosh early to counter the Dust panic. A shame, I wanted it to be 'discovered' by Menagerie. "Congratulations Ruby for inventing Whoosh."

She did put the most work into it, developing the dozen cartridges that we are looking at for mainline use.

"My father will disown it." Weiss steps in, and the tension in the room winds down as we get to work, "and it's obvious he has plants in whatever team investigates. Or he could simply bribe them."

"Let the investigation fail then." I plot. "When you, outraged, and JNPR 'discover' a second site, it will be sufficent to have James direct a lot more resources it."

"Bastard won't be able to sweep it under the rug." Qrow murmurs. The fact that Ruby isn't asking for money shows how bad this is.

"Then we will stay in Atlas to support Weiss as we launch phase two." Jaune adds, steel in his voice.

Looks like JNPR is skipping all of phase one. A shame, I was looking forward to them becoming stars. "We won't live stream the mines, not unless we really need to put pressure on him, though recordings will be kept in reserve." Pyrrha understands just how much panic a recording of the conditions would be.

"The Red Fang's popularity will soar with this." Blake states.

With more support, the Red Fang will conduct more attacks and possibly risk trying to bring down another Kingdom. It's a trade of lives, those in the mines versus the ones in the future.

"After it becomes obvious my father's popularity is dragging the SDC down, the board of directors will scapegoat him."

"They need to go too." Marrow is pissed, and he has every right to be.

Several of us speak over eachother in agreement.

"That will lead to the SDC..." Winter hangs for a moment. "Is it even worth saving?"

"Nationalise the SDC?" I ask.

"No, that's illegal." Clover explains, and it takes me a moment to remember why.

The King of Mantle took direct control of businesses before the Great War officially as a cultural suppression tactic, but it resulted in massively consolidated power.

"But we could publicly threaten to, to show just how serious we are taking this." James offers.

"Ultimately, this will lead to a team going into the SDC and Schnee manor to look for evidence."

"He'll delete it to cover his tracks." Weiss grins savagely. "But we already have a copy."

I frown as something occurs to me. "Salem may assassinate him, to add chaos." I nod to James as we recall the false flag attacks from the OT. "She may attempt to push the same way as the OT."

"Great, can't just do this the nice way, can we?" Yang growls.

"Grimm attacks will rise, and with the Dust market threatened people will become increasingly more afraid." Thanks for pointing that out Ren.

"The sooner there is a replacement on the market, the better. I'll head to Menagerie tomorrow and properly start production of Whoosh. With or without the Belladonna's approval." I force.

Blake told them about Whoosh, though not it's formula (I will only do that in person), and they were hesitant to get into the weapons race.

"I'm sure the White Fang will be happy to help if they aren't." There are winces around the room, but it has to be done.

The SDC going down is a temporary thing, eventually it, or another Dust company, will start up. When that happens, we don't want Atlas to have control over the Dust and Whoosh markets.

Right, that's a rough plan sorted out. Time to work on some details.

Authors Notes:

I'm going to kill myself. Sometime mid to late December.

If I don't finish this before then, well, sorry.

Please don't message me or comment on this in the reviews.

I'm done.