13: Strangely Familiar

Roman Torchwick prided himself on being flexible.

Whether this was a different planet or not didn't really matter that much. Starting from zero was basically the same. They chose easy marks for pickpocketing, quickly racking up a few thousand in strange paper money. Hardly the most lucrative proposition, but if one had the skill, it always worked, and gave them something to work with.

The next step was to get some decent clothes. He still had class, after all, and neither their borrowed, rather homely clothing nor the rags they had arrived in would do it. Roman chose a striped button-down shirt and grey slacks along with a bowler hat- his usual outfit was too thick for the summer heat. Neo chose a pink and white blouse and light brown pants, along with white heels that didn't improve her short stature much.

Feeling much more on track, they sat down at a small restaurant. Dairy Queen, the sign proclaimed. Of course Neo dragged him there. The petite woman had one hell of a sweet tooth, and Roman didn't mind obliging. Grill and chill sounded like the perfect comfort food for the situation.

"Cinder knows more than she lets on," Roman told his partner, waving a chicken strip in the air. "She may be a lunatic, but a lunatic can still be a genius. The question is, does she know we know?"

Neo shrugged.

"You know what? Let her suspect all she wants. Her plan is going nowhere on an alien planet."

Neo looked at him skeptically.

"Do you have a better explanation?"

She shrugged, staring incredulously.

"Watch this." Roman turned around the booth, leaning toward the teenagers on the other side. "Excuse me. I know this is probably really weird, but I have a bit of a bet going on with her. Can you name four Kingdoms?"

"Uh..." one of them replied awkwardly. "Um... England?"

"It's the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Tom," one of the others corrected. "And uh, Saudi Arabia, that's a Kingdom. And I think Sweden's technically a Kingdom- do they have to be real monarchies where the King rules or just like places that think they're kingdoms?"

"It doesn't matter," Roman replied as casually as possible.

"Jordan's both," Tom added. "There's four right there."

"Okay, and what are the four basic types of Dust?"

He shrugged. "Fucked if I know, man."

His friend interrupted, "Wait, do you mean the dust that collects on shelves, or is this some kinda drug? Are you a narc?"

"Forget it. Thank you." Roman turned around, facing his partner. "Everyone knows what the four Kingdoms are, and everyone know about Dust. They didn't even think I was crazy for asking."

She rolled her eyes.

"Yes, apparently, no Dust. Maybe they just call it something else."

Neo crossed her arms.

"Sure, they could have been joking. Tell you what. After this, we can hit up a bookstore. Prove anything you want."

She made an odd motion with her hand.

"What about Cinder? Oh, we'll play her game, while it suits us. Then we'll skedaddle. For real this time. I promise."

She tossed her empty Blizzard cup onto the tray in front of them, an expectant look still on her face.

"And then what? We're adaptable. It doesn't matter where we are. I'm sure we can work something out. Maybe we can finally get rid of that crazy bitch."

"This isn't Atlas."

Braith knew, of course- at least he was pretty sure. But as the de facto leader of the group, he didn't want to mention it. Atlas was dangerous, but at least familiar. If this wasn't Atlas- or any of the Kingdoms, then he had no idea where here was.

He'd thought it was Atlas at first, that they'd somehow ended up back in the Kingdom. Maybe an old industrial area- that would explain the odd lingering smell and the crude traffic lights. It looked fairly normal- everything was in the Common Valic that all Kingdoms now spoke.

But that idea had quickly been dispelled. He couldn't recognize any of the cars, nor even guess at their manufacturers. They didn't look particularly old, just... odd. A few flags were flown or prominently displayed in windows, and he didn't recognize any of them. There were advertisements for various companies he didn't recognize, and when they'd briefly ducked into a convenience store they'd found

What wasn't foreign was how they were treated. Odd looks, hushed whispers, guarded glances and general rudeness. Wherever they were, it was no better than Atlas.

Thus, when one of the ragtag group of faunus had finally piped up, all Braith could manage was a resigned, "No. No, I don't think it is."

"So, it is Vale?" the tallest- and most dim-witted, by Braith's reckoning- member of their group asked.

"It's not Vale," the sole woman of the group, a red panda faunus, told him. "My sister is studying in Vale. It's more like Atlas than here."

"So where the hell are we? Vacuo?"

"How would we end up in Vacuo?"

"It doesn't matter," Braith said firmly. "We need to find out where we are. Once we do that, we can figure out what to do. If there's a cell here, we can link up with them and they'll help us out."

"You sure?" the woman asked. "I mean, we did take this job, which isn't exactly a White Fang thing."

"Our brothers and sisters will understand," he insisted with a confidence he didn't really have. He waved his group forward. "Now, come on, let's get moving."

Cinder and her two companions followed a very similar path to Roman and his partner. Their first task was to acquire some of the local currency, which Emerald did easily- once they figured out that cash was paper and only credit cards were plastic. It was a simple matter to walk into a store and come out with new clothes. And after changing in a public washroom, they felt almost human again.

Unlike them, however, Cinder had taken the liberty of visiting a bookstore, emerging with a stack of local literature which she carried under one arm.

"You know something you didn't tell him," Emerald said casually to her boss as they strode down the street.

"What Roman doesn't know can't hurt him," Cinder told her compatriots.

"Which is?"

Cinder smirked. "They're here. All of them."

Her two companions stared at her. "What?"

"Spectral Dust."

"It's that really expensive stuff they wanted us to guard, right?" Mercury suggested.

"Oh, so ignorant," Cinder chided. "Do you know what Spectral Dust does? It's a very rare, very special form of Dust. One that can bend the very rules of reality. One that can even shift things between worlds, or so it has been hypothesized."

"Hypothesized?"

"Just a hypothesis, until now," Cinder answered, opening a magazine and flipping through it. "That's what happened to RWBY. That's what happened to us. We take care of them, reverse the process, and continue with the plan."

"Is that why everyone thinks we're not real?" he asked. Though he often played the part, he wasn't stupid. He could put two and two together. "Maybe they shared their stories, but nobody believed them."

"That is likely..." Cinder replied, slowing her pace and stopping. A smirk crossed her face. "This is even easier than I thought it would be."

"What did you find?" Emerald asked.

Wordlessly, she handed over the magazine, open to an advertisement three pages in. On it were the letters RTX, apparently an event judging by the location and details near the bottom of the page. Adorning it were several blue and red robots- perhaps armoured soldiers or cyborgs- and the four girls they were looking for.

"Looks like we have a party to crash," she announced quietly. "In the meantime, we'll enjoy our time on Earth. I'll admit, it's not how I imagined it."

"Imagined it?" Emerald questioned.

"Do you know the old legend? We speak of a different one now, but humanity did not always rise from Dust. Some believe that we came from another world. A world without Grimm, without Dust, primitive, yet peaceful."

"Seems a bit crude, but not primitive."

Cinder smirked. "Oh, if Atlas is really trying what I think they're trying... they're in for a big surprise. But it doesn't matter. They won't have the chance."

"What about the thief and his pet?" Emerald mentioned.

"There are three of us and two of them. Besides, Roman is a petty criminal who does what he's told, especially when there's money involved. Either he'll believe the story we give him, or he won't care about it anyway."

"And if he thinks he has the upper hand?"

"Let him think he has the upper hand. It'll only make him easier to manipulate," Cinder explained smugly. "Now, we have an operation to plan."

Braith had no idea how long it had been since their last meal, and half of the group wanted to get something to eat. He felt it was a bad idea- unnecessary exposure- but one of them suggested that they might be able to get more information this way and he reluctantly acquiesced.

The convenience store they ended up at was an unfamiliar one, one of the orange, green, and red 7-11 stores that seemed to pervade the city. Wordlessly, the entered through its glass doors, a chime irritatingly counting the five as they entered the building.

To their right was the cashier, a wide assortment of snacks and other sundries laid out in front of her. The left half of the store was lined with coolers containing various drinks. Shelves were stocked with snack foods between them, and drink machines were wedged against a food case in the rear-right corner of the store.

Braith didn't want to admit it, but he was hungry. He grabbed a bottle of "Coca-Cola"- it wasn't his guilty-pleasure Schnee Cola, but any sort of pop was something he limited himself to having as a rare drink.

A stand displaying maps for sale piqued his curiosity. When he looked closer, his blood ran cold. One of them was labelled "the world". Except it was nothing like the world he knew, showing different continents in different places. A lot more states than he knew of and a lot more cities. He quietly examined the next, which showed a large union of states he wasn't familiar with. Either this was a sick joke or their situation was a lot worse than he thought.

No sense panicking everyone, at least not yet. He quietly grabbed one of each map, proceeded to pick a suspicious croissant from the self-serve food case, and lined up behind the rest of his group.

"I hope they take Lien," one of the taller faunus muttered.

"Everyone takes Lien," his comrade, a red panda faunus, replied. She stepped up to the cashier with a bag of chips and a bottle of water in her hands and wordlessly placed it on the counter.

The cashier greeted her with a warm smile, something unexpected from a human but nonetheless pleasant. "You guys here for RTX?"

"Huh?"

She scanned the items, till beeping each time. "Faunus, right?"

"The tail kind of gives it away, doesn't it?" she snapped, probably more snarky than she meant.

"Yeah, it's pretty nice." Was this human hitting on her? "Five seventy-six, please."

The faunus reached into her pockets and pulled out a five lien and a one lien card, tossing them on the counter.

The cashier looked down at the cards, then back up at the faunus. She laughed. "You're kidding, right?"

Braith was beginning to figure out what was happening, but his comrade remained clueless. "About what?"

The cashier picked up one of the lien cards, turning it over in her hand and flicking it. "These are pretty good. But I don't think my boss will be too happy if I take these as payment."

"They're not counterfeit," she insisted. "Scan them if you want."

"Look, man, I really don't want to call the cops on you, but there's cameras watching, and I need this job. You gotta give me real money."

"Are we going to take this from a human?" the faunus behind her snapped, stepping forward threateningly.

"Calm down," Braith urged. They'd all been refused service for garbage reasons before, but it was clear to him this was different. He stepped in front of them. "We don't have any currency on us. I'm sorry. We don't want to cause any trouble."

"What are you doing?" the red panda hissed into his ear. "You're selling us out to a human?"

"I'll explain later," he whispered, barely audible but clear enough to her sensitive ears.

"Wait, don't tell me you don't have any cash," the cashier interrupted. "You know what, fuck it. Let me take a picture with you guys and it's on me."

Braith weighed his options. On one hand, having a record of where they were and when they were there wasn't a good thing for people in his business. On the other hand, if they were really as lost as he thought they might be, did it really matter.

He made his decision. "Line up and smile."

The cashier grinned broadly, leaning over the counter and holding what looked kind of like a Scroll in front of them. A click and a beep eminated from the device, and pocketed the device again.

"Great! Awesome, thanks! Let me just ring all that in." She did as promised, pulling a few slips of paper from her wallet and stuffing them into the till.

Before they even left the store, the whispers started going around. As faunus, most of them could hear each others' words quite clearly. Some of them even knew it.

"Maybe humans aren't all bad."

"Why didn't she take our Lien?"

"What's going on? Why did she want our pictures?"

"What's RTX?"

"Don't you find it weird how she reacted to faunus? Like we're the special ones?"

"This might be more complicated than we thought," Braith told them, holding up the map. Before they could object, he added quickly, "Let's find RTX. Maybe we'll find answers there."

To say Brandon didn't trust his sister's new friends would be an understatement.

It wasn't the first time she'd done something similar, but this time it was different. Usually the people she met were weird, but not bad people. This time, though, he had a bad feeling around them. Everything just seemed wrong, like they were hiding something.

He'd briefly fantasized that they were, in fact, the bad guys from the show who had ended up in real life somehow. It was an entertaining thought, if nothing else.

But who were they, really? Were they really the lost cosplayers Sarah thought they were, or were they more nefarious? Were they scammers or thieves who would rob them blind? Psychopathic murderers that would kill them in their sleep? Drifters? Druggies? Terrorists?

They'd gone out for the day, but he was pretty sure they'd be back. Quietly, Brandon went downstairs. He'd already installed a certain app on his old phone, and it took him only a minute to find a good place to hide the device.

"Looks like a convention," Braith noted, observing the building from his vantage point on a nearby roof. "Big place. Looks like it'll hold thousands of people. But it's not open yet."

"What kind of convention?" the red panda faunus, Siena, asked from beside him.

Braith handed her his binoculars. "You tell me."

"Looks like animated characters," Siena observed, focusing on a large banner plastered on the side of the building. "Robots or guys in armour, a bunch of random characters that I don't recognize. Something about roosters and teeth- don't roosters have beaks?"

"Maybe that's the joke. Comedy festival?"

"Some joke," Siena muttered. "Braith, where the hell are we? I didn't say anything, but I saw those maps in your hand. And everything else seems to be off, too. Even the air. This place just feels wrong."

"I don't know," he admitted. "It might not be Remnant at all."

She put down the binoculars. "What? How is that possible?"

"I don't know that either. Something really strange was going on in that facility." He paused. "Anything tying this place to what we know?"

She picked up the binoculars again. "RWBY. Yeah, that's them. Remember those huntresses- students- that went missing in Vale?"

He nodded. "Uh-huh. It was on the news a few months back. You're seeing them."

"Hey, you saw the girls from Vale?" one of their group called from behind them.

"Maybe!" Siena called. She turned to Braith. "Drawings of them. What would be doing here?"

"Well, it's either a memorial, satire, or tasteless."

"Not that." Siena put down the binoculars again. "How would they know about that if this is another world? Just from that, it can't-"

"I can explain that," a sultry voice interrupted.

They turned to the source of the voice, a woman with brilliant amber eyes and deep black hair. Her stride was confident and intimidating. Braith recognized her as one of the hired guns that he didn't trust.

So did his partner. "I recognize you! You were at the base!"

"That's correct," she replied.

"Why are you here?" Braith asked.

The answer was dry, matter-of-fact. "It turns out they were experimenting with some technology capable of travelling to other dimensions. When the base exploded, it transported us here."

He took a moment to mull that over. It sounded like something way over his head, but it made more sense than most of what had happened so far. "But why are you here?"

"Because we have the same goal," she answered simply. "To return to Remnant."

"How do we know you're not lying?" Siena snapped.

Against his better judgement, Braith told them. "Because this isn't Remnant."

At that point, one of Braith's other comrades stepped forward and interrupted. "What? Braith, what do you mean this isn't Remnant?"

"It's not Remnant. Think about it. Everything is off. The flags are wrong, the cars are wrong, the brands are wrong, even the smells are wrong! And look!" He pulled out one of the maps he'd purchased. "Look at the world."

"Maybe we're just in a really backwards Kingdom nobody discovered yet?" he suggested.

"I think Braith might be right, Jay," Siena said softly.

"In the end, does it matter?" the strange woman asked. "Believe me or don't, but I know what they were doing. They were trying to build a portal to Earth."

"Like dirt?"

"Like the old legend," Braith corrected. It wasn't a common one, not like the Four Maidens, but he knew it. It was one of his grandfather's favourite tales. And he admitted that he hadn't even thought of it. "A peaceful world, without all the horrible things in the world. Without the Grimm."

"Not exactly what we expected, I'll admit," the woman added. "But legends rarely live up to their promise."

"So what do you want?" Siena asked. She knew the woman wasn't approaching them for nothing. There was always a catch.

"I know how to get back to Remnant, and I can bring you too if you help me," she replied. Leading them was easy. "All I ask is for you help in a few days."

"What's the catch?"

"That you have to work for a human," the woman answered. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a stack of crumpled notes. "This is the money they use here. Stay hidden and meet me here again at sunup tomorrow and the day after."

Braith didn't trust her. He could tell that Siena trusted her less. But the rest of his group seemed ambivalent to positive, and he didn't have any better ideas.

"We're being played," Siena muttered. "She's lying to us."

Braith had no time to object, though, for the woman had already left. Reluctantly, he told his companions, "We'll do as she says. But watch out. I still have a bad feeling about this."

One rooftop over, Cinder joined up with her own companions. Emerald asked, "What was that about?"

The mysterious woman replied simply, "A distraction is always useful. I'm sure Roman will appreciate the gesture."

"Well, that was a strange day," Roman Torchwick remarked, leaning back on the couch he'd spent the previous night on. He turned to Cinder, "So, have you figured out your brilliant plan yet?"

She smirked- the same arrogant smirk Roman would wipe off her face in a heartbeat if it wasn't suicide. "That was never in question. In fact, it turns out this may be a boon to us after all."

"You think we're still on Remnant, don't you?" There was no answer. "Despite everything being completely different. Hello? No Grimm, no Aura, no Dust. Look around."

"That's rich coming from someone whose theory is that we're not real," Mercury pointed out.

"Reality is relative, my green-haired friend," Roman snapped back.

"Roman." A flame appeared in her hands. "What are your options? Either we work together or you end up with nowhere to go. I have a way out of this. Do you?"

"I always have a way out," he insisted.

Staring at him. "You have a way out of a world that does not exist?"

"Do you?"

"You're wrong about this world, but I do have a way back."

"Great." He rolled his eyes. "So, let me ask again. What's your brilliant plan this time?"

Emerald answered, "They're here."

"They?"

"The students I thought we got rid of in Vale," Cinder explained. "They will be here tomorrow. Once they're gone, we will be able to return to Vale and continue the plan."

"Wait, wait," Roman objected. "Why do you need to get rid of them?"

"You of all people should know what happens to people who've seen too much. Speaking of which..."

Neo smirked.

Roman glared at his partner. "No."

"You know what has to be done," Cinder reminded him. "Tomorrow, the witnesses will be gone. Then we can continue. You can go back to your criminal ways. Or perhaps there will be a place for you in the new world."

She's fucking nuts, Roman mouthed to his partner. He received a tiny nod in reply.

President of the United States was possibly the most stressful job on the planet, and certainly one of the busiest. He woke up with a briefing on what was going on in the world, followed by a day packed with meetings and decisions, some more important than others. All with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Somehow, he was supposed to maintain a healthy marriage and raise two kids, too.

At this hour, he should have been preparing for bed, but instead was occupied discussing the future of the nation's schools with the Secretary of Education. "As I've said, it's not a bad idea. I just don't think Congress-"

"Mister President, there's an urgent call for you," his secretary interrupted, poking her head in the door.

He sighed. "How important?"

Her answer was grave. "Gemstone/Ruin sir."

The President immediately stood. "I'm sorry, Arne, but this is going to have to wait."

"I understand, sir," the Secretary answered. This wasn't the first time that something more important had cut a meeting short, and he was sure it wouldn't be the last. "Have a good night."

Once the Secretary had left, the President picked up his phone. He recognized the voice as one of the generals involved with Gemstone, though he couldn't recall which one. "Mister President. We have a possible intrusion event in the southern United States."

"How certain and where?"

There was a pause, with audible chatter as the general consulted his scientists. "Maybe fifty-fifty. The neutrino event could have been stellar neutrinos or an unrelated experiment. The scientists are still trying to figure it out. As for the location, sir, probably Texas, but possibly as far out as Wichita or Monterrey."

"Do you think it could be Cinder Fall?"

"That's a very distinct possibility, sir. Additionally, we believe that if they are here, they may intend to target a convention in Austin that we are currently observing. This convention prominently features RWBY and it is possible they may not make the distinction between fiction and reality."

"Jesus, you're talking about a potential terrorist attack."

"Yes, sir."

The President made his decision. "Declare Orange Ruin. Position whatever assets you need to, but keep it quiet."

"Posse Comitatus?"

"Do what you need to do. This is a potential foreign attack. If this does go south, we'll deal with the aftermath later."

"Yes, sir." The line clicked off.

The President rubbed his eyes tiredly. There would be no sleep tonight.

I know this chapter is both heavily compressed and delivered late. Blame real life factors; the end of semester rush is brutal. That, and this chapter was just hard to write. A mixture of lack of ideas, trying to fit everything in and make it flow, and general writer's block. I still think it's a bit disjointed, and I'm not happy with it in general, but this is as good as it's going to get.

Tatopatato: Perhaps a poor choice of words on my part. Wait and see...

knight7572: There are no plans to mention this in Convergence, except perhaps in passing.

The Zombineer: We'll see what happens. But it's not looking good, is it?

KuletXCore: They know about RWBY, but haven't been read in on much of anything past the end of Emergence. In particular, they have not been informed about the Washington crisis, though some may have their suspicions.

New Universe Returns: We'll see who shows up during and after Convergence. I should add that Winter was written as a major character in Those You Leave Behind long before her canon design was revealed, so she may not be what you expect.

Guest: From Wikipedia: Poe's law is an Internet adage which states that, without a clear indicator of the author's intent, parodies of extreme views will be mistaken by some readers for sincere expressions of the parodied views. Though not explicitly stated in the Wikipedia definition, it's generally accepted that the inverse is also true.

Fallout24: Fortunately, they ended up in Austin, which is apparently very liberal by Texas standards. Hypothetically speaking, the actions of those few could shape Terran-Faunus relations for years to come.

THETOUCH: Within the context of Emergence, that's not strictly true, and it's a lot more complicated than that. In the latest episode of RWBY, Ozpin speaks of the truth behind legends. That rings doubly true for Emergence, and there have been small hints dropped throughout the fic.

Guest: All the speculation about Yang having a hybrid child stems from miscommunication and misinterpretation. There is a hybrid, but Yang has nothing to do with it.

Guest: It's a way of explaining why Emergence doesn't get it quite right. I'm not going to say that Remnans will be depicted as stronger or weaker than the show, because to be honest RWBY is quite inconsistent and the power levels are all over the place. Summer, on the other hand, became more dark and cynical after becoming Rosalind, but she always tended toward that end, even though I'm pretty sure this will soon be contradicted by canon. I just like snarky!Summer too much.

ElfCollaborator: It's possible that she will make an appearance, but she won't be a major character, at least not yet.

Guest: It's deliberately left ambiguous and I have no stated opinion on the matter.

Psyga315: Glad to hear you liked it! Lately, I've been getting a lot of discussion, but very little feedback about the chapters themselves. Which is both a good thing and a bad thing to be honest.

Mr Bubbles: Once on Canadian soil, Weiss is effectively out of reach for Russia. That's not to say that they couldn't pull off an operation against her, but the consequences would be disastrous and they would not risk it. Yang just kind of goes for things. She's not sure if she'll ever make it back to Remnant, and doesn't particularly care- she's going to enjoy Earth while she's here, for better or for worse. Ruby, on the other hand, kind of just fell into it. And who said they'd have to go back and give it up? Remember, at this point, they are divided in opinion on whether they will find a way back or not.

Luhar1997: Knock-out gas doesn't work the way it does in fiction. It's far from instant, and can cause collateral damage in the form of poisoning other people who breathe it in. Holding Remnans is something they've considered but likely don't have a satisfactory solution for. I wanted to write more reactions, but lack of time got in the way. It's something that may be explored toward the end of Convergence and in Emergence Second Interquel.

I have a theory that the Kingdoms never had violent revolutions as we did, never evolved more complex forms of government, and indeed may never have developed strong nationalism. The lack of standing armies irks me, though. Many seem to take this as fact, but the actual wording in the WoR is ambiguous. My position is that Atlas has a much larger army and may be the only Kingdom with conscription, but all Kingdoms have some form of military. As for allowing the Atlesian army in, the stationing of NATO troops in Poland or American ships in Japan are better examples. They're getting support from their (militarily stronger) allies.

Xman321: Neo is hard to write. Depicting a mute in a non-visual medium is something I've never had to deal with before.

WOLF1992: This seems like something BlindingPhoenix on Spacebattles would do a good job of pulling off, but he seems to be rather busy these days and obviously I can't speak for him.

I'm not going to promise anything for the Christmas break, but I'm going to try to get one more chapter out by the end of the year.