Fate's Hand - One

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Compulsive Reader, The Impossible Muffin

Adeptus Militaris, Wilger

Commissioner, Gib, Death Daddy, Le Spork

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Beta(s) :

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Requested By : Gib

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Jacques Schnee sat behind his desk, staring at several inch tall stack of neatly filed, signed and insignia'ed, paperwork the Council had dispatched him. He rested one chin on his fist while the other sat still on the arm of his chair, holding the pen he'd been using to sign them all. All of the ones in that stack had been simplistic. Rote. His confirmation of supplies dispatched to outposts, stores, even housing sectors. Dust, mainly, but no small amount of materials for repair, maintenance and, in a few scant sectors, supplies.

All normal…

Except for the few pages left, neatly spread out before him…

The door opened and he looked up as Willow stepped through, tired from her own long day but, as ever, worried about him. Smiling gently, she leaned against the door-frame and asked, "What is the matter?"

"Paperwork." He grunted, and not for the first time considered sparing the woman from the drudgery. But she despised that, he knew, so he pushed his chair back and gestured at the remainder. "Come. See for yourself, since I know that's what you'd prefer."

"Ah, so he does learn." She chuckled, smoothing her evening gown out and shutting the door behind her. Stepping around his desk she leaned back, easing into his lap, and smirked as he toyed with her hair. Picking up the papers she leaned into him, letting him hold her as she read, until she turned, brows furrowed, and said, "This is-"

"Military requisitions." He nodded, "Winter is asking for a nearly quadrupled rate of… Well, everything."

"But how are we supposed to meet these demands?" Willow scoffed, standing sharply and turning to him. "Our work-force can't possibly meet it."

"We'll have to expand-"

"Even a forty percent increase wouldn't meet these demands, Jacques!" She cut him off, shaking the papers in the air meaningfully. "We don't even have enough refineries needed for any more manpower!"

"I know…" Jacques frowned, "Not with the hours we run them at, at least."

"You can't mean-"

"Winter suggested a third shift." He nodded, gesturing at the bottom sheet of paper. "For the mines, quarries, mills, and Dust refineries all. Overnight workers. Drawn straight from-"

"The prisons?!" She met his gaze, eyes wide, and shook her head. "We can't- It's wrong! They may be criminals, but they aren't slaves! We can't force them to-"

"I don't want to." He cut her off, frowning and gesturing at the bottom page once more with one hand while he opened a drawer and withdrew his bourbon with the other. Setting it and the two glasses that went with it on the desk, he sighed and explained, "And our daughter knows it. And made it more than clear that if we don't agree to ramp up production, by our means or hers, then… Then she will take the choice from us."

"You can't mean…"

"She'll nationalize the Schnee Dust Corporation, and the Schnee Development Corporation, both." He nodded, pouring them each a glass and reaching for his wife. Stunned, she let him tug her back into his lap and leaned into his hold. Quietly, he went on, "Whatever is happening… She's terrified."

"Whatever is happening?" She repeated, scoffing and taking the glass he'd poured for her. Downing it in one go, she growled around the rich burn he knew it brought, "Jacques, we both see the numbers. See the types of materials she needs. And we both know what those would be needed for…"

"War." Jacques nodded, sighing shakily. He could still remember the return trip, the rubble that was left of what had been a marvel of the world… And the bodies, buried under so much rubble, partially burned by Energon and fire alike.

And, worst of all, the stretches of stone with ash blasted into them by the plasma discharge - people at just the right range incinerated and their remains seared into the ground.

"Surely we can do… Something." Willow murmured, "Anything."

"We can…" Jacques pursed his lips, "It would be dangerous."

"How dangerous?"

"If we were caught, we would hang." Jacques answered, drumming his hand on the outer edge of his wife's hip gently. It was soothing, a reminder that she was there even as he drifted off into his plans - and their potential risks. "Our children, too, most likely. But we could… Slow things. Just enough to take the edge away, maybe even let them solve whatever problems are putting us back on this dreadful path before it goes to war."

"We can't risk Whitley and Weiss, though…"

"Weiss is safe." Jacques muttered, grimacing, "In Vale. If we bar her from returning it will be suspicious, but… If there's a falling out-"

"Weiss will decide to stay on her own." Willow nodded, "How do we tell her?"

"We tell Whitley." He grunted as the idea sparked to life, flickering up from an ember into a fire as it took shape, "We tell him what is happening, and we act out a… Display of cruelty. A lack of care. He protests and, in anger, we send him to his sister. To Vale-"

"And out of the Council's reach." Willow nodded, frowning as her fingers tightened on the paperwork, crinkling it ever so slightly. "I'm scared, Jacques…"

"Of the Council?"

"Don't insult me, Jacques." She whispered lowly, flicking him a little look so he knew she didn't mean quite so much of the edge in the words. He smiled and kissed her shoulder and she relaxed and went on, "I'm scared for Weiss, and for Whitley. Weiss may not be very nationalistic, but Whitley…"

"He follows after our eldest." Jacques nodded, "But even he can't be willing to support… This. And we have to try."

"We do…" She nodded, shaking her head and reaching for the bottle of bourbon, pouring herself another cup and murmuring, "Just… Why? Why would Winter go along with this? Is that metal menace so terrifying that she feels like she has to push Mantle into another war now that he's returned?"

"I thought we raised her better…"

"We did." Willow answered, downing her glass again and pouring a third. "Something is happening, Jacques… Something we can't see."

"I know." He leaned up and she saw him and leaned down, pressing their foreheads together intimately. Quietly, he whispered, "Whatever is coming… We will do what we can to help who we can. Just as your father did."

"I love you, Jacques."

"And I you, Willow." He nodded, already turning cogs over in his head as he added, "I'll see you through this. I promise."

"Us." She amended, "You'll see us through this."

He didn't answer, and couldn't… Instead he turned his head and leaned up to kiss her.

He refused to lie to her.

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Lazerbeak, through his drone 'Echo', surveyed the front of the 'club' for a long moment as his companions lead him toward it. Quietly, he asked, "Why is it named after a weapon again?"

"Can't ya just… Look it up? Use the 'net?" The blonde brawler asked, lingering behind the group just a bit to talk with him while Ruby talked to her sword-wielding blonde friend and his cybernetically fascinated companion. He turned his drone's gaze to her and she shrugged and cocked her head, "That's your thing, isn't it? Research?"

"In a manner of speaking." He nodded, "But it is simpler to ask my companions. Is it not?"

"Still have trouble saying the 'F' word, huh?"

"I… Am new to much of this, yes, but I understand friendship, Yang Xiao Long. Companions." Echo shrugged, still surveying the external and internal layout of the club as they approached it. "The word is important to me, and I do not exchange it often, though we are friends."

"Kinda like the L word?"

"I'm sorry…?"

"Love." Yang chuckled, lacing her fingers together behind her head and walking on, staring up at the dimly star-lit sky. What little of it could pervade past the light pollution, at least. "Lotta people out there don't like to say things lie 'Love you' or 'hate you' 'cus they feel like it waters the word down."

"I feel the same." He nodded, "To ones such as myself, my family-"

"Oh, family?"

"I consider them my family, yes." He nodded, turning his gaze on those in front of him, now. Ruby had slowed a bit, flicking worried lows over her shoulder because the two of them had fallen behind, too, distracted by their talk. Smiling for her reassurance, he spoke to Yang, "And as such I do not wish to water these things down. Such would do a disservice to all, in my opinion."

"Mhm." She nodded, "And Juniper?"

"Our sister team…?"

"I mean, not anymore, technically." Yang murmured quietly, "It feels like so long ago, but the battle was only a couple weeks ago. And Ozpin took you off our team."

"For now."

"Confident you can get back on?"

"Yes." He nodded, "I have ways."

"Ozpin knows what you are." He flicked her a look and she shrugged, "I mean, he has to- Or why take you off in the first place, right? But if you go to him, explain everything-"

"He knows enough."

"He knows you work for Mister Moonman." Yang scoffed, shaking her head, "Not who you are, not really. And not why you were there. Hell, neither does Juniper. They keep asking why you were kicked off, you know. We keep dodging, but…"

"What do they know?"

"That we went out into the forest, and the big guy showed up to fight." Yang explained simply, "That Penny… Betrayed us. And that we came back without you- And, suddenly, a couple days later you were back. Doesn't take a genius to know something is up. But…"

"They trust you all enough to let it be."

"They trust us." She corrected him, "You're there, too. They know you aren't Human. And Nora especially knew who that was out there."

"Ah." He hummed - the Cyberist would know his partner by even a distant appearance if she were as invested into his people as her body demonstrated. "You think I should-"

"Tell them?" Yang smiled, "Yeah. I do. I think they'd accept you. All of you."

"I see…" He hummed as they reached the club's entrance and their group hesitated while Nora fished out a few pills and popped them into her mouth. She shook her head and then, after a moment, she began to… Glow.

All across her skin, her dull-colored tattoos lit up. In her tanktop and shorts, her arms and legs were left bare, and neon lines began to stitch themselves across the bared skin. Following her bones, at first, lit in a pale white. Before inky black tendrils, like cabling, spiraled around them. And, finally, overlapping Cybertronian words that trailed up the outsides of her arms and legs, all spelling out her name. She turned, beaming a smile towards them, and her eyes glowed a bright green, as if lit from behind. And even her hair lit up, glowing a ruddy orange like a smoldering fire.

Beside her, Nikos shook her head and asked, "Why don't you just get implants?"

"Expeeeensive!" The girl crowed, waving her off with a blur of neon blue fingers. "And 'sides, as much as I want done? I'd spend years in recovery. I'm planning it for after I spend a few years hunting. Get the scratch together to cover, you know?"

In that moment, he reached out through his connection to speak to his family with what Yang had said to him…

As one, they answered, 'We trust your judgement.'

So, he spoke up and said, "I… May know someone who can help."

"Yeah?" Nora snorted, turning to him with eyes that slowly narrowed as he stepped closer and nodded tersely. He could see questions, there, but as always she played it off, tossing her head back and smiling. "What? You know someone can spot me a million or so Lien to get the work done?"

"First of all…" He turned, gaze rolling over Weiss.

"If I could." She snorted, shaking her head and crossing her arms. Smiling thinly, she said, "I'm wealthy. But no one is wealthy enough to just hand out a million Lien on a whim. U-Uh, I mean no offense, Nora."

"None taken." Nora shrugged, turning back to him with that same curious look. "So, who could you possibly know."

"That is a long story." He answered simply, "One I would gladly detail. Perhaps over drinks?"

"Why do I have a feeling I'm gonna need 'em?"

"Oh," Yang scoffed, "trust me. You have no idea."

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Nora lay in her bunk, her ink still glowing faintly after the hours spent out doing a hell of a lot more talking than any of the other things she'd planned on doing. Arms folded under her head, she lay there, staring up at the ceiling while Ren lay curled up against her side, staring up with her. Watching the faint glow dance along the ceiling as Nora's chest rose and fell, what skin she was comfortable showing letting the outline of ribs, servos in her stomach and cabling 'veins' light up the ceiling.

"Nora…"

"Mhm?"

"Are you okay?"

"Just thinking, Rennie." She sighed, pursing her lips. "I suspected it, but…"

"It being Soundwave you saw means it's real." Ren filled in understandingly, "Right?"

"Yeah…" She nodded, "And if Lazerbeak speaks to Shock- To him, and he agrees, then I can- He can-"

"Change you." Ren nodded against her side, "Like you've always dreamed."

"Lazerbeak said not to expect miracles." She chuckled, holding up a hand, fingers splayed out to let her see the neon glow of her own designs. Curling it into a fist, she said, "I can't go all the way, but… I could get closer than most. Faster, stronger, more durable- I'd be unstoppable."

"We've both seen enough dead 'Bots to know you'd be far from that." Ren laughed, rolling onto his back and reaching up to take her hand, untangling her fist and entwining his fingers with hers. "You won't be invincible, Nora."

"I know." She hummed, wrapping her other arm around him and sighing. "I just… I want to protect people."

"You don't need to change to do that…"

"I know you don't want me to do it." She smiled, turning to press a daring kiss against his temple. He stiffened and then turned, looking up at her, and she smiled sheepishly. "If you ask me not to, then-"

"I won't do that." He cut in, sitting up and turning to meet her gaze. "If it's what you want, I'll support you. I just… Don't want to lose you because you thought you needed metal and armor to do what you already can."

"Ren…"

"Just think first, okay?" He asked, "It's your body, but… Think, okay?"

"Okay." She nodded, "I will. Now get over here, I want more cuddles."

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Pyrrha groaned, laying on her stomach while Jaune knelt on the small of her back with one knee resting on one of her spinal plates, easing it into popping gently, right above her waist segments. Right where the worst of her tension always had a habit of building up. Sighing when it finally came undone, she said, "Gods, Jaune, where did you learn this?"

"Seven. Sisters." He sighed, leaning off her and letting her sit up and straighten her shirt. The roof was quiet around them and he turned, looking off of it at the distant city of Vale. After a moment, he asked, "So… What do you think?"

"That it's about time we be told the whole truth…"

"Pyr, come on…"

"I'm being very serious, Jaune." She chuckled and shrugged, turning and scooting over to the edge to let her metal legs hang over it comfortably. "I'm Mistrali, we… Have complicated feelings about Shockwave. But I, for one, never hated him. I pitied him. I could sense so much pain in the message he sent out, when I was old enough to understand it."

"Yeah…"

"And after what he did for Ruby's mother, I…" She sighed, "I don't know, I just…"

"Want to offer the benefit of the doubt?"

"Mhm."

"Fair." Jaune nodded, joining her and taking a long breath. "Well, I… Weiss is willing to leave it. And if she is, and you are, then… I don't have a lot of ground to stand on. Do I?"

"Comfort is comfort." She shrugged, "Do not feel as though logic pressures your feelings."

"I don't." He assured her, sighing and shrugging gently, "I just… I meant that I don't have any real reason to argue. And if you are willing to give him a benefit of the doubt, then I am too. Like I said, no reason not to, between you and Weiss, and I trust your judgement enough, so… I'll let it go, too."

"I appreciate your trust, Jaune."

"Mhm." He nodded and smiled, "Gonna watch him, though."

"He's a forty food robot." Pyrrha smiled, "What are you going to do? Stab his toes?"

"I'll take left pinky toe, you take right?"

"You're absurd." Pyrrha laughed at him, and he laughed, too.

Looking out on the forest, she couldn't help but muse… There was so much going on in the world. But right now, in this moment? She didn't feel any of it. None of the fear, and loathing, and anxieties she'd grown up with. Nothing she'd expected to feel coming to Vale with her body so… Repaired, as it was. No, all she felt was…

Peace.

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Soundwave went over the meticulously assembled data-streams, analytics and, most tellingly, satellite imaging collected as their moon had drifted around Remnant and collated the data. Then he ran it through a basic referential analysis for the tenth time, verifying what each of the first nine had concluded. Together, it all detailed massive movements in and around Mantle and its border seas. Mass military recruitment, a dozen new training sites scattered across the tundra, keels for airships and the wet navy being laid throughout the land…

"War." He rumbled, "But what kind?"

It was feasible Mantle only meant to strike out and retake their previous holdings - Argus, for instance - and reestablish itself. Foolish, perhaps, but understandable politically. Once upon a time, Atlas' military had been the greatest the world had ever seen. And yet…

The numbers didn't add up properly…

"Deploy to the northern continent." He commanded, his partners already moving to answer his request. "Investigation is required."

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Trollzor :

I mean, they are at sea…?

Lea Rosenwulf :

*points accusingly at Gib*

Atomic R4y :

I mean, given what happened when he tried to do his Ore plan, we KNOW it's SOMEWHAT been broken. He just needed some more… Nudges than he got. And so, in steps Ghira… And out steps Ghira, lmao.