65

Chapter 65 – Ex Jauneima

"Ready to see who's facing you in the finals?"

Blake turned to her partner, noticing the pinched expression on her face – like she was trying to force a happy expression. "I imagine it will by Pyrrha," Blake replied, "though I'm not willing to write Penny off just yet."

Yang relaxed, visibly sighing in relief as the smile became more natural. She supposed it was only expected, since Yang and her still hadn't sorted out their little tiff. Blake had chosen to ignore it… not explaining why she had come back to the room so late and otherwise ignoring any questions about her suspicions. It seemed to be the right choice.

"Penny will do well!" Ruby cheered, waving her arms and calling the robot's name. Down on the stage, Penny seemed to hear, turning to wave at them. Blake waved back along with her leader, whispering some words of encouragement. Who knew, maybe Penny could read her lips despite the distance.

For the first time in what felt like months, Jaune was not by her side. Even at Mountain Glenn, though she hadn't realised it at first, his comforting presence had been close by. There'd been no gradual process between him being close and his abduction… she had been fine one moment and then dying the next. Now it was different… she could feel an itch, a sense of wrongness, the subtle tug on her aura.

But it was small and easily ignored.

Her finger touched her scroll, tracing its edge as she considered the doctor's number inside and his clear instructions to call if she felt even the slightest discomfort. She could do that now and he would rush to return Jaune to her. But she would not…

It was time for him to gain a body of his own.

"You okay?" Yang asked, leaning a little closer and no doubt noticing Blake's sad smile.

She chuckled, wiping her eyes.

"I'm fine," she said, smiling, "Everything is fine."

/-/

"Your little friend seems to be okay," Doctor Polendina said, leaning over Jaune's teddy bear body with scalpel in hand. "No adverse reactions to the distance so far."

"I guess…" The man continued looking at him until Jaune nodded. Sometimes he was so used to Blake translating for him that he forgot others couldn't hear him. That should change soon though, shouldn't it? It was a thought both exhilarating and frightening. He was so close to having his own body.

It had remained silent and so they'd been happy to conclude the distance between the ship and Amity was a safe one. "One of the problems with your possession," the Doctor said, "Is that you need to leave your current body to inhibit a new one. Normally this is only possible if Blake is close, so unless you're next to one another you are trapped in whatever medium you are inside."

"We figured that out a while ago…"

"That won't be very useful here since you need to be capable of possessing but also leaving this body when needed. If it's damaged, it needs maintenance or just if you want to travel in ghost form, being trapped inside it would be a bad idea. That's what this little baby is for."

He leaned back from Jaune, letting the bear lean forward to look at the new mechanical kit installed into his chest. It looked like the man was a dab hand with a needle too, and his new chest accompaniment was safely secured. It was like a small control panel, but there was a strange stub-like protrusion. He touched it gently.

"This is the best I could come up with," the man admitted, "It will interact with the robotic body via a cavity in the chest which you can climb into. Once inside you plug yourself in and will be able to take control, but you'll also be able to leave and re-enter the bear at any time." The old man turned away, picking something off a shelf and coming closer once more.

"Is that… blood?" It was a small, glass vial filled with red liquid.

"Blood," the man said needlessly, "Or more specifically, a vial of Miss Belladonna's blood – willingly offered, I assure you." The man pushed it into the little contraption on his chest, clicking it into a tiny hole. "Blood does not produce aura, but it does contain trace amounts – likely absorbed as aura suffuses the body. This should allow you to move from your body, albeit for a very limited time and distance. I will warn you, Jaune, as this is no longer a part of Miss Belladonna, this aura is not a renewable resource. You will have perhaps… two, maybe three jumps. If you want to jump over a distance, taking spirit form, then you might only have the one jump."

Doctor Polendina took his teddy hear in two hands, staring into his eyes.

"Be careful with it," he said firmly. "You can replace this with more of her blood but I have no idea what will happen if you are outside of a body when this runs out of aura. You need aura to survive… in the bear you drain it from Blake. In your new body, you'll be draining it from a generator. Do not take the risk and try to connect the stub on this device to whomever you are planning to possess. That should shorten the distance and give you the best chance."

"Got it," he made the bear nod. Two jumps ought to be more than enough since it would let him jump into his body and then out of it and into the bear if he ever needed to. There wasn't any other reason to do so, in all honesty.

And besides, even with this body, he wasn't willing to leave Blake – so none of it really mattered.

Blake will just have to put up with me. I'm not going anywhere.

"Well," the doctor said as the vial of blood was accepted. "That ought to do it. From here we can get you hooked into your new body and give it a test ru-"

"Cut the cameras!" One of the nearby TV screens suddenly yelled, "Get this off the screen!" There were gasps too, screams and cries of shock and anger. Jaune and the doctor's heads shot towards it, the man's hands shaking as he let go of Jaune.

"No…" he whispered.

"Penny!" Jaune cried, pushing himself up.

The entire ship shook, screens flicking off and on again as the elderly man was sent tumbling to the side. Deeper inside the ship, a klaxon began to wail angrily. "No!" the man shouted, on hands and knees and pushing himself towards the screen, "My daughter!"

"What the hell is going on!?" Jaune roared, tumbling off the desk and slamming into the metal floor, forcing himself up and rushing over to one of the screens. Up close, the image didn't change. Penny, the kind robot and his friend – cut into so many pieces with Pyrrha standing shocked above the wreckage. "Why!?" he yelled. "Why do that to her!?"

The ship shook again.

"What's going on here?" The doctor yelled, rushing over to a control panel and shouting into it.

"Grimm!" A soldier of some kind yelled, "They're attacking the Colosseum! They're attacking us!"

"Damn it," the intercoms went dead as the old man turned to Jaune. "Something's gone wrong," he said, "Grimm attacking, my daughter… we need to get you hooked up now!"

"Doctor Polendina," someone yelled in a panic, voice coming over the systems, "We've lost contact with the Paladin units and mechanized guards! They're… they're going out of control!"

"What!?"

"They're attacking our own people!"

The old man turned to the screens, Jaune doing the same as they watched Atlesian soldiers beset upon by their own support, white, humanoid robots gunning them down. The larger mechs, the Paladins, were doing the same – turning on their creators.

"Impossible," he growled, rushing forward to hit a few buttons on his computer. A screen flashed, showing an image of a chess piece.

"What is it?" Jaune yelled, pointing at the image to emphasize his point.

"A virus…" the old man gasped, pressing the intercom once more, "Contact the bridge. Tell them to shut them down!"

"We've lost all contact with the bridge. They're not responding!"

"Then I'll do it from here," Polendina sighed, staggering over to some controls and flinching when the ship shook once more. His hands moved across them in a blur, intricate code flashing across the screen as he worked. Jaune kept his eyes glued on the TV screens, watching the combat below. Blake was out there… they all were.

Would they be okay?

The door behind them hissed as it opened, a figure in Atlesian uniform standing there. "No distractions," the doctor yelled, "I can shut the droids down… perhaps even reprogram them right here!"

The small figure tilted its head, teeth flashing. Jaune's eyes widened. "DOCTOR, MOVE!" He screamed, throwing himself against the man's leg.

It was all for nothing.

Doctor Polendina looked down at him. Unable to hear his warning and wondering what he was doing. Those eyes looked up a second later, widening in shock before the elderly man gasped and fell back, transfixed through his chest by a thin blade.

Sharp eyes, pink and brown smiled down on him as the doctor's back struck the computer screen, shattering it and coating the internals with blood.

"Doctor Polendina!" Jaune screamed, throwing himself at the girl.

Her blade flicked, catching him on the edge as she pinned him to the wall. The old man's blood mixed with his fur, doing no damage but letting the doctor slump to the floor, dead. They'd killed him… just like that. Just like the robots were doing down below.

"You monster," Jaune seethed. The girl didn't hear him. In fact, she tilted her head, regarding him with a wary expression before she jerked at the sound of a scroll beeping.

"Neo," a masculine voice called through it, "Is the old man dealt with? Cinder will have our heads if he's able to stop this."

The girl panned the scroll around, showing the slumped and bleeding form of the man who had tried so hard to help them.

"Good. Get back up here. Might as well have a good view to watch the festivities."

The call ended, the girl stashing the scroll away as she looked back at him, transfixed on her blade. "I'll kill you," Jaune whispered, glaring as is stubby arms struggled with the slick metal. "I swear… you won't get away with this. We won't let you."

First Penny… then the doctor… and now the people of Vale; his friends at Beacon.

He would never forgive them.

The girl clicked her fingers, smiling cruelly down at him as she approached a nearby window. Her eyes were the last thing he saw before the night took him. Falling through the air and out of the airship.

/-/

The ship shook. Breath bubbled from cracked lips, along with blood and spittle as wiring crackled and gunfire echoed down metal corridors. One hand reached forward, clutching at steel rivets and dragging the body behind it.

Outside it was possible to hear the robots moving up and down the ship, guns blaring on their own people… pilots, soldiers, defenceless members of staff…

It wasn't meant to be like that.

They weren't created for that purpose.

A blood hand pushed up, slamming down on a control panel as a tired and broken body was pulled up. Metal footsteps echoed behind him. "Insanity," the dying man rasped, "Is only that… when you are proven wrong…"

They called him insane when he claimed he could create aura.

He proved them wrong.

They called him insane when he tried to create a robot capable of human emotion.

He proved them wrong.

The door behind him opened once more, red light blaring in as several shots pierced his back, slamming him into the controls. His own creations… how ironic. How fitting. Two stepped into the room, white heads turning to inspect the interior. They detected movement, turning once more as his fingers slammed down on the controls.

Gunfire echoed, cutting him down and leaving the doctor to fall back, crashing to the floor in a puddle of his own blood.

His eyes flickered towards the tube… the six foot, blonde body stood within it.

You can't bring people back from the dead.

Heh… he wasn't insane.

Because before his vision faded… he saw those blue eyes open.