Reunions, Long Awaited - Finale

XxX----XxX----XxX

Official Supporters:

Compulsive Reader, The Impossible Muffin

Adeptus Militaris, Wilger

Commissioner, Gib, Death Daddy, Le Spork

If you want to be on the Supporter list, PM me for details or join our private server for details. Hope you enjoy reading my stories, please leave me a comment to let me know if you did, or where I can improve. Link here, where able to be seen : https://discord.gg/2UZncAm

Second link here, remove ( and ) and it SHOULD work : D(i)scord(.)gg(slash)kfhkfUb

I have a kofi account now, too, under this name for those interested.

Beta(s) :

XxX----XxX----XxX

Goodwitch sat in her borrowed seat, tea long since cooled and untouched on her desk, and pinched the bridge of her nose against the already pounding headache beating against her skull. She gave the group assembled across her desk from her a look, then slowly reached down for her purse and pulled out a pack of headache meds she downed with her drink. Then, just as slowly, she sat it all down and sighed.

"So…" Glynda muttered, meeting Miss Rose's gaze at the center of the group and watching the girl sheepishly duck her head before… The other, much more inexplicable, Miss Rose laid a hand on her shoulder to reassure her. Turning to her, then, Glynda said, "It's really you. Right? Not some… Trick?"

"As far as I know." The woman chuckled quietly, tucking her hood down more tightly around her head and turning the 'good' half of her face to face her more directly. "Shockwave…" She sighed and shook her head, "I don't know what he was thinking, really, but he didn't want a drone."

"And you're sure of that?" Tai asked, worriedly shifting back and forth on his feet behind her, arms crossed and face a mask of… Confused emotions. When Summer turned to him, he smiled and waved a hand over his bicep, "I don't mean… I'm just worried it might have done something you don't know about, Sum."

"But… Why would he?"

"A spy." Goodwitch suggested, shrugging when the group turned back to her. "It's the simplest answer. No?"

"If he did want a spy, or a drone or whatever, then he'd just build one." Qrow grunted from the stool he'd dragged in, sitting beside the older of the two sisters and watching her worriedly. Quietly, he asked, "Kiddo, are you-"

"I don't know." She sighed, shaking her head and flicking Summer and Tai a look and smiling apologetically. "I-I just… It's a lot, you know? And so sudden, right after the battle, and-"

"It's alright to be confused, dear." Summer reassured the woman, reaching for her with her metal hand and then, when Yang flinched away from it, withdrawing slowly. Glynda could see the hurt in her as she did, but the woman just took a breath and went on, ignoring it. "It's a lot for me to process, too. But… We have all the time in the world to get through it."

"Yeah." Qrow grunted, :"Together."

"Together." Tai agreed, turning a much more hard look on Glynda and adding. "No matter what anyone says."

Glynda pursed her lips at the acid in that, but couldn't begrudge the man's words. Instead, she argued, "I just… Don't want to see anyone else hurt, Tai. Not my students or my… Well, my friends."

"Awww." Qrow teased, smirking widely and cocking his head roguishly, "You do care."

"Bite me, Boozer." She shot back on pure instinct, before both her actual students looked up, brows rising in surprised, and she flushed a bit. Clearing her throat, she said, "More importantly, your, um… Team member."

"You mean members?" Yang scoffed, rolling her eyes, "Yeah, we've… Had a chat about that."

"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow, curious now, "And what did you decide?"

"Soundwave and his, um, team might have lied to us…" Ruby started quietly, anxiously drumming her hands on her lap as she talked and, seemingly, built up confidence. "And he knows we're, you know, not happy. But he saved us, too. He didn't have to, and if he hadn't, Penny would have… Taken me."

"To…?"

"She didn't really say…"

"To Salem." Summer answered for the younger Rose, paying her a half-smile, half-grimace before turning as Glynda's eyes widened. "Salem is hunting us for our Silver Eyes. That's why I was attacked and Ruby said Penny had Grimm helping her."

"Y-Yes, I understand that, but…" Glyda trailed off, laying her hands flat on the desk and paying the two students a meaningful look.

"Salem came for me, and tore our family apart." Qrow growled, "We're not fuckin' around with Oz's sectres any more. You don't like it-"

"We'll walk." Tai nodded, "Find another way to prepare for what's coming."

"That's…" 'Selfish', she wanted to say, but given what Summer had gone through, and Ruby's own losses, not to mention Tai and Qrow and all they had done for their war… The word felt hollow. False. Instead, she sighed and nodded, "Fine. What have you told them?"

"Everything." Yang muttered, "The Headmaster reincarnates, the Relics, Salem and what she is…"

"What we know," Summer summarised, "they do, too. And both of them have decided to stand and fight."

"And… Shockwave?" Goodwitch asked, anxiety climbing when Summer traded anxious looks with her husband.

"We… Haven't talked to him, since the battle." Tai answered with a small shrug, "Since he… Got us back together."

"He's on Menagerie." Yang added helpfully, if still a bit morosely, at least compared to her usual chipper self. When Goodwitch raised a brow in the obvious question, she explained, "Lazerbeak told me when I asked him. He… Also said that Shockwave uh, informed him that he suspected someone was controlling the Grimm. Because Mistral and Menagerie were both attacked at the same time. And someone broke in at Haven."

"What?" Goodwitch hissed, "When? What did they take?"

"I dunno." Yang shrugged, "That's… Just what he knows, Miss Goodwitch."

"If we tell him…" Tai muttered, thinking out loud, chin resting on his chest as he stared into the floor. "He'll help."

"Why would that monster-"

"Because Soundwave will ask him to." Ruby cut Goodwitch off, pursing her lips as her mother turned to her. "Lazerbeak asked Soundwave for help, to save me, and he didn't even consider it. He just… Did. He and Shockwave are close enough that he was up there with him. So, um, if Lazerbeak asks Soundwave, and Soundwave asks Shockwave…"

"Even if he doesn't help us directly, he'll fight for Menagerie and Mistral." Qrow grumbled, "Even that would be a big damn help, Glyn."

"We should wait and ask-"

"Who knows when he'll make it back here?" Tai snapped hotly, straightening and shaking his head. "No. We have to act on our own. At least… At least for now."

"When he gets back," Summer nodded, "we'll tell him our plans, and see where to go from there. But Mistral and Menagerie deserve to be protected."

"And Vacuo?"

"You go, Qrow." Summer suggested, tutting when he opened his mouth to argue the idea, "You can get there faster than any of us, bird-brain. Unless you want me to hoof it all that way?"

"Frickin'... Fine." He rolled his eyes and stood, pacing towards the door out, onto the balcony and waving as he went. "If there's nothin' else, I'll get on the wind, then."

"Right." Goodwitch sighed, standing and shaking her head, "I need to contact Haven, see if the Relic was stolen. If it was…"

"This'll be a lot more complicated." Yang sighed, "Because of course it will be."

XxX----XxX----XxX

Lazerbeak turned, trailing through the clouds lazily while he waited for the signal. Until he detected sensors on him - which should have been impossible, given his height and form. From below, he ought to have looked like a simple bird. And yet, the sensors tracked him. And, a scant moment later were joined by a weapons' lock alarm. He was just about to take manuevers, and calculate a Space-Bridge opening point, when the lock ended of its own accord.

And then, a few moments later, returned, only to blink out again.

A signal…?

He followed the signal down, to the forests beyond Beacon, and circled around. One form stood out, tall and shining, and he hummed, "Professor Razorwing…"

As he came down to land, perched on a tree tall and powerful enough to support him, the educated Cybertonian turned to him, lowering the long, thin blaster rifle he carried. With a flick, it collapsed down into a disk the size of his palm that he slotted in place, hidden under some of his pseudo-feathers.

"Professor…"

"I know who you are." The Cybetronian rumbled, reaching up to tap a hand on his brow. "I've studied the war, more than anyone else from this planet has. Did you think I wouldn't notice you?"

"If I hadn't," Lazerbeak answered, "I wouldn't have circled so low. Or at all."

"I'm sure." He sighed, frowning deeply, "Why are you here?"

"We do not answer to you, Professor." Lazerbeak countered, cocking his head. "And I trust your research has taught you not to presume my size, or apparent solitude, makes me an easy mark to threaten. No?"

"Wise or not, I will, if you mean to threaten my home."

"Threaten it?" Lazerbeak scoffed, "Professor, my companions fought for it. Or did you not notice?"

"I was somewhat busy at the time." Razorwing grunted, crossing his large arms and frowning more deeply. "Defending the Academy from a Cybertronian mercenary, in case you were unaware."

"We were not."

"Of course not." Razorwing scoffed, "You claim you defended Beacon. But why?"

For a long moment, Lazerbeak did not respond. Instead, he leaned into his link to the others, listening to their own inputs and suggestions. As ever, it only took a few moments for Soundwave to speak their consensus, "Honesty - enough to convince."

"We had… Companions here." Lazerbeak answered shortly, simply. When Razorwing's eyes only narrowed in doubt and question, he went on, "Students here, who we claim a certain… Connection to."

"Ruby and Yang."

"We don't have a-"

"Of all the teams, only one is lacking a member at the moment. Missing, not dead." Razorwing cut him off, smiling thinly. "Many suffered casualties, some even died… But only one is missing a member. And you claim a connection to someone here. Moreover, those two have been called into a very special, very private, meeting with the Deputy Headmistress. And came with several others, one of whom is their father, and a woman… With cybernetics."

For another moment, Lazerbeak was quiet, as were his companions. Until he and Soundwave both muttered the same words…

"Troublesome perceptiveness, Professor."

"Indeed." He smirked, "Perceptiveness is key when studying history, my dear apparent student. Older than me or not, I'm glad to offer you this lesson."

"Hmph." He cocked his head the other way, "I suppose that I may as well admit to that, then. You are right, and it serves my interests as well as any other answer."

"That is why I should trust you." Razorwing grunted, "Right?"

"You should trust our self interest, if not us in direct." Lazerbeak answered coolly, "For any doubts you have towards us personally, you know that Soundwave, and thus Shockwave, has some manner of investment at play here. You also know his capability for destruction, and so should know that if that were his aim-"

"He would simply come here." Razorwing nodded understandingly, "That does not mean you don't mean to subvert us."

"No," he answered honestly, "it does not."

For a long while, the two sat in quiet after that, simply… Weighing each other. Finally, though, Razorwing sighed and turned away. As he left, he called back, "I expect that paper on my desk by the morning!"

"Excuse me…?"

"You heard me." The professor grunted, "There's more or less half a dozen of you, now, so I don't expect any excuses!"

Lazerbeak watched him vanish in the trees and sat, blinking, for a long and confused moment. Then, finally, he sighed and lifted off, arcing back up into the sky. As he went, he asked which of his companions was going to do the bloody assignment.

Amused, Shockwave answered, "It was your turn, Lazerbeak."

"Damn it all…"

XxX----XxX----XxX

Pietro sat behind his desk and stared at it, flicking looks between the thin cloth cover Penny had gotten him and the downtrodden girl before he said, "I-I understand, but Mantle isn't-"

"Ready or not, doesn't matter." The large man answered simply, crossing his arms over his broad chest and frowning deeply as he turned to stare at Penny's bowed head. "The first plan failed. And now, Shockwave is back in play."

"T-That's hardly Penny's-"

"Fault doesn't matter, either." Hazel cut in, grunting as his bandaged arm stiffened and he forced himself to relax and lower in. "She failed, he's here, our Queen needs him dealt with. See it dealt with."

"I-I will." He nodded, cowed, "I-I promise. I just… Don't think Mantle can manage what we're being asked."

"You have one month to prepare." Hazel answered simply, turning and leaving with neither another word or a backward look.

Finally, as the door shut, Penny murmured, "I'm sorry, Father…"

"Don't be, dear, don't be." Pietro smiled, leaning back into his mechanized walker and piloting it around his desk, through the far wider spaces to either side of it he had to leave empty to make space for his mobile unit. Pacing past her to a high table tucked into the corner between a pair of long book-shelves, he settled it down and waved her over. As she came, he went on, "I'm just happy you made it home. You should know that."

"B-But because of me-"

"Because of Salem." He cut her off quietly, flicking a worried look around him. The Grimm Queen had never cared what he had to say, of course, but who was to say that wouldn't change? Regardless, he said, "You came home, and that was always your first duty, far as I'm concerned. What comes next isn't your fault. We just…"

"Have to get through it?"

"Exactly, dear." He said as she settled onto her seat. When he reached for her, she took his hand and held it, relaxing a bit. Quietly, he asked, "You are alright, aren't you, sweetheart?"

"I-I am operating at-"

"I'm not talking about systems parameters and operational limits." Pietro cut her off, squeezing her hand gently. Comfortingly. "I'm asking if you are okay. My daughter, not Salem's… Combat drone."

"I…" Penny flicked him a look, and gods, but it felt like his heart was about to break just for seeing it. His other hand, curled in his hand where she couldn't see, curled into a fist at seeing it. Finally, she sighed and relaxed a bit, wrapping her other hand around his and rubbing little patents into the back of it. A way for her processors to work through simple programming routes, he knew - to destress. While she did that, she said, "I am as alright as I may be, Father. I finally… I had friends, and even a girlfriend, and now… Now I have to fight them. A-And even if we win, I have to hurt my- Ruby."

"I know, dear." He sighed, "Salem… Made sure I was informed."

"I don't think I can do that…" She said, "I don't think I can- Can just hurt her, Father. It's not right, and how can I even hope for her to… To care about me, after?"

"You're a good person, Penny." He smiled, genuinely unsure of how to answer, now. Eventually, he was forced to settle on, "You'll do what's right. Always. It's who you are, Penny."

"I want to do the right thing, for…" She sighed, withdrawing from him and turning to look over at his desk. And, past it, at the window that looked out and down on Mantle's streets below. "For everyone. But I don't know-"

She flinched at a knock on his door, and he sighed, leaning back and raising his voice, "Come in, General."

General Winter Schnee was an… Oddity, among her family, stepping in dressed in the fitted grey trousers and black officer's jacket of Mantle's elite officers. Like many of them, she wore a saber on her hip and carried a simple, flat-topped hat with a brass insignia of crossed rifles on the front of it. Unlike most, she also carried a heavy, older style revolver on her right hip, and wore the golden laurels on her shoulders that marked her out as his chief of military affairs, along with the crossed rifles on her shoulders. At least, regarding the infantry - though the Schnee sway, and Mantle's modern military theory, meant that the leader of the infantry more or less just lead the military, now.

"You summoned me, Sir?"

"I did." He sighed, "You… Read the brief?"

"I did." She pursed her lips, "Is she… Is this really necessary?"

"Evidently." He murmured, "We have a month to prepare. I… Am not a military man."

"You may leave the planning to me, Sir." She answered quietly, "Just… Do we have a target?"

"Vacuo first." He answered after a long moment spent thinking the matter through, "She wants… Well, she wants things each has. And wants us to attack everyone, b-but I am hopeful that if we can simply remove Vacuo quickly-"

"She may forgive your ignoring her will in favor of enjoying the success." General Schnee nodded, frowning even more deeply, "So long as we do not need to take and hold the desert, Vacuo should fall easily enough to a surgical strike backed by overwhelming force in the heart of the city. I will begin drawing battle plans and dispatching assets for reconnaissance immediately, if you order it."

"I…" He hesitated, grimaced, and wanted nothing more than to refuse. Instead, he nodded and said, "Do it, General."

"Yes, Sir." She saluted and turned, hesitating before she left and asking, quietly and with her back turned. "Before Vale, may I…"

"Send for your sister?" He smiled, "Of course. I can't guarantee she will come, from what you have said of her, but… I would never order you against family, General. Family is everything."

"It is, Sir." She nodded, and left without another word.

Pietro sighed and nodded, easing back in his seat and opening a little compartment on his seat's arm. Inside were his medicines, which he took with a little grimace, taking the bottle of water Penny offered him and smiling his thanks. As they got to work he turned, marching his machine back to his desk, and sighed wearily.

"Alright," he said, "now then- Your idea for turret designs bore fruit, Penny."

"It wasn't mine." Penny muttered as she stood, "It was Ruby's…"

"Ah." He sighed, "W-Well…"

"If you don't mind, I think I will go perform maintenance, Father." She said, turning for the door. "I am sorry."

"Don't be." He smiled, "And let me know if-" The door closed before he could finish, and he sighed yet again, "-you need help with your spinal rotors."

Turning, he looked out on his city with a frown. And, not for the first time, wondered what he could ever do to get out of this… Mess.

XxX----XxX----XxX