16: Shattered Delusions

After the major foes were neutralized, the next stage of the operation began.

FBI SWAT teams were the first to enter the building, backed up by teams from the local and state police. Joining up with the Delta contingent, they swept the building for remaining White Fang and found none. What they did find were bodies, some of children, seriously wounded people, and fires barely under control.

Before the all-clear had been given, firefighters and medical teams began to move in under police protection. It was potentially risky, but with so many armed cops around, actually safer than many of the jobs they had been on. Firefighters dragged long hoses inside and began pouring water on the fires. Others searched through wreckage for possible survivors. The medical teams began loading casualties onto stretchers and carrying them out of the building into ambulances and from there toward hospitals. Most of them only knew that there had been a terrorist attack, not what had happened.

Outside, those who had escaped the building were being checked out. Some were uninjured, others could be treated on the spot, and others had to be rushed to hospitals. Police began the tedious task of interviewing them. Some had lost friends and family or left them behind. They were of little use for information and needed support from trained personnel beginning to arrive on the scene.

Emmett Lyons observed the process from his position in the FBI mobile command center. He was technically responsible for the whole operation, but was currently focused on three serious and immediate concerns. The first one was that Cinder had not been obliterated and in fact had escaped somehow. He had helicopters patrolling with thermal optics and men on the ground sweeping, though if they had slipped through a coordinated and targeted attack they'd probably be able to slip through that too.

The second was that there could still be White Fang terrorists in the convention center or with the evacuees. There were sporadic reports that they had killed each other, but he didn't know for sure that they were all dead. They had heavily armed tactical teams, the Army's Delta team, and support from Army gunships and Air National Guard strike fighters should it become necessary. Armed federal agents were screening the crowds, asking people to remove fake faunus features.

The third was the orange-haired thief and his short, mute, and possibly sociopathic partner. For now, they seemed to be cooperating, but he had no way of holding them if they really wanted to leave. He'd called Washington for instructions. The response was short.

"We'll figure something out. For now, make them want to stay."

Easier said than done.

Checking that his pistol was still in its holster- fat lot of good that would do- Lyons made his way toward the colourful duo. They were handcuffed and guarded by heavily armed officers, but he knew and was sure they knew how little that would do if they really wanted to escape. "Mister Torchwick. Miss Politan."

Roman tipped his head slightly. "How do you do, detective..."

"Supervisory Special Agent Emmett Lyons, Federal Bureau of Investigation," he introduced. "Basically, I'm a senior cop. I work with a task force specifically formed to deal with people from your world. As you are no doubt aware, you are not the first to visit our world. We are well aware of your society, your environment, and your abilities."

"Evidently," came the dry reply.

Lyons sat down across from them on a concrete barrier. "Let's get a few things out of the way. In our system, even criminals have certain rights. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do may be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney- a lawyer. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed."

"Believe it or not, the Kingdoms are civilized places with similar things." He smirked. "Suffice it to say I've heard this before."

"I'm not finished," Lyons said firmly. "Criminals have these protections, but things are a bit different when terrorists are involved. Under the USA PATRIOT act, some of these rights are forfeited or limited in cases involving terrorism. If you attempt to escape custody, you will be terminated with extreme prejudice.

"However, with that being said, we may be able to make a deal depending on the circumstances. You may do a few years at Florence instead of life at Guantanamo Bay. I suppose that doesn't mean much to you, but one option is much more preferable to the other."

"We'll be good." Another smirk, which he wasn't sure what to make of.

"I'm glad we understand each other." The agent stood and headed back to the command post.

To say Gavin Lloyd just had the most fucked-up day of his life was an understatement. Aaron and his friends had dragged him down to Texas for this event. He admitted it had been fun up until the point it became a terrorist attack. At first, he didn't realize that anything out of the ordinary was happening- nobody did. Then confusion turned to panic and they were bolting for the doors. He hadn't seen Aaron yet, and though normally irreligious was now praying hard that he made it out. Wryly, he realized that this was what it must have felt like for the people who escaped the twin towers.

There were armed cops- they looked more like soldiers- going around asking questions and checking for cat ears. Attack helicopters circled above, and he was pretty sure they'd already been employed. He hadn't seen anything, but had heard a massive explosion.

And now he was pretty sure that the blonde-haired Yang cosplayer talking to a federal agent was his girlfriend from half a continent away. She did say that she might be here, but why was she talking to a federal cop?

All he managed was, "Huh."

"It's a hell of a thing, isn't it? I can barely believe it myself," a brown-haired young man said from beside him. He was uninjured, but looked and sounded rattled. "I'm Sam."

"Gavin." He added quickly, "Not that Gavin."

Sam laughed. "Sorry, man, you had nobody fooled."

"Yeah... just, this is surreal. Scary, even. I came here with a friend and I haven't seen him. And..." he pointed "I'm not sure, but I think that's my girlfriend."

"Did you get separated, too?"

He shook his head. "No, we were going to meet here. But I'm not sure if she even came."

"Lots of Yang cosplayers, maybe yours was in there too," Sam replied. He shook his head. "I know you want to see her alive and walking, but believe me, that's not your girlfriend."

"How can you tell? You've never even seen her." She certainly looked like Linda. Was it wishful thinking?

"That's not your girlfriend, or anyone you know," he answered cryptically. "It's a long story. Maybe you'll hear it on Sixty Minutes."

"I thought I saw her in there... fighting someone," Gavin said quietly. He wasn't sure if that was real or if he'd imagined it.

"Where's she from?" Sam asked suddenly.

He had to think about that for a moment. "Richmond, I think."

"Virginia or BC?"

"The second one. I'm from Vancouver."

"Holy shit..." Sam breathed. "Wait. Linda Anderson?"

He snapped, "What? How do you know?"

"I lied," Sam said quickly. "That's her. Go up there and make your peace now."

"What?"

"Talk to her. You'll understand why. You might never get another chance."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" He had an inkling, but it seemed more like a sick joke or a fucked-up stress response than a serious implication. But how did this guy know so much?

"Did you ever notice anything odd about her? Tomorrow, she'll be all over the news. Although technically, she already has been."

"Fuck..." The gears were already beginning to turn in his head. Gavin glanced briefly to the left and to the right before slipping under the police barrier and trying to look like he belonged as he strode toward Yang.

A heavily armed officer quickly stopped him. She stood back a few paces, levelling an assault rifle at his head. "Sir, please get back-"

He began backpedaling. "Shit! Fuck! Sorry!"

"It's okay," a familiar voice called. "Put down the gun."

The officer kept her weapon raised. "Do you know this man, Miss Xiao Long?"

"Miss Xiao Long?" Gavin muttered. What the fuck? Was Aaron right all along?

"Yes, I know him," she snapped at the officer. "Can we talk, please?"

Finally, she lowered her gun. "Alright."

Yang turned to her boyfriend. "Gavin? What the fuck are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question," he said. It was cliched and awkward, but he was at a loss for words. He wasn't good with those on a good day, and this certainly wasn't a good day.

"I guess the game is up, then," Yang told him quietly. She sat down on a planter that no longer held a plant, motioning for Gavin to take a seat beside her. "I'm not from Richmond- god, is there a non-cliche way to say this? I am Yang Xiao Long, in the flesh. I'm technically an alien."

"How?"

"How what?"

The questions came out rapidly. "How did you end up on Earth? How did you end up at my school? How did we end up together? How did I not see this earlier?"

"The first one, I don't know," Yang answered honestly. "Maybe Cinder did it, or Torchwick, or Atlas. We showed up about two weeks apart but I don't know if we left-"

"We?" Gavin interrupted. "Do you mean Ruby is-"

"My biological half-sister. Yes."

"Shit. Connor's either going to be elated or devastated," he said quietly.

"I'm sorry." She went back to answering his questions. "As for how we met, the government found out about us, gave us identities, and put us in your school because they didn't know what else to do with us. I still don't have the answer to the third question, and I don't think anybody could see it, or if they did, they didn't believe it."

"Yeah." Silence.

"Hey," Yang said quietly. "It could be worse. I could be a lesbian."

He laughed. "True."

She scratched her head awkwardly. "Well, actually, I still could be. We have different views on sexual orientation."

"Do I want to know?"

She shook her head. "You probably wouldn't understand."

"So we really are different, then," he said, still not sure what to think. "How human are you?"

"Biologically, not too different from you. Stronger and faster, but only a little bit." Yang deliberately understated that, but he didn't know that. "It's the Aura that makes the difference- although according to your scientists, maybe that's not what it is. And before you ask, no, I can't unlock yours. It's not universal like we thought. Terrans just don't have it." Quickly, she added. "But I'm human like you. I have hopes and dreams and feelings and emotions just like you. That makes us the same way more than we're different. No matter what happens, don't forget that."

Gavin nodded, pausing to try to process the information before asking the burning question. "Where does this leave us?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I don't know how real this ever was, I don't know how this changes things. I don't know if we're even compatible species or whatever. I don't know what's going to happen to me, where I'm gonna go. But I promise I'll try to keep in contact. If you're okay with this?"

He was silent for a moment, then stood up. "I don't know. It's pretty sudden and pretty fucked up. See you around, Yang."

"Who was that, sis?" Ruby asked. She sat on the hood of a police cruiser, legs swinging.

The blonde brawler sighed, sitting down between her sister and her partner. "Gavin."

"What's he doing here?" Blake asked.

"Apparently Aaron dragged him down here," Yang answered. "I guess the crazy fucker was right after all. I hope he made it out."

"So, are you two still..."

She shrugged. "Complicated doesn't even begin to describe how things are."

"I can't believe this happened," Ruby said quietly. Her legs stopped swinging. "The police won't talk about how bad it is. That must mean it's pretty bad. We were supposed to stop these things."

"Life isn't always a fairytale," Blake reminded her. "It could have been a lot worse."

"Hey, we did pretty good for huntresses-in-training who have been off their game for a year," Yang said as cheerfully as possible.

Ruby reminded her, "I think the attack helicopters did most of the work."

"Yeah, probably," she admitted. "But we were amazing bait."

There was an awkward silence, each of the girls lost in their own thoughts. A million questions swirled in their minds, about what had happened and what would happen next. They were tired, a bit traumatized, and very confused. More questions were asked than answers given by the police. In fact, they didn't have any answers either. Some of the authorities working didn't even know that the attackers had been from another world.

"I just don't understand why," Weiss finally mentioned.

"Why?" Blake echoed.

"Why would they come here in the first place? Why would they attack here? How did they get here? If Cinder was the one in charge, how did she get Torchwick and the Fang to cooperate? How the hell did this happen?"

"Well, we could ask them," Yang jerked her head toward Roman and Neo. "I'll grab a towel and some water-"

"Yang!"

"What? I was just kidding." None of them were quite sure if that was true. She changed the topic. "Hey, has anyone seen Jaune?"

"I think they're still talking to the feds," Blake told her. "This is going to change the world, you know."

"Yeah. But what's gonna happen?" Ruby asked quietly, to herself as much as her team.

None of them had an answer for that.

Siena awoke to the feeling of being picked up from the cold, wet floor. Perhaps awoke was the wrong word- she was conscious, but only just. She became vaguely aware that she was now moving, and a bright burst of light signalled that she was now outside.

She also heard voices murmuring, which she couldn't quite make out. If she had, she'd realize that the paramedics had no idea who or what she was. In the rush to evacuate the injured, they had not been briefed, and in fact believed that the attack had been the work of Islamic State.

Their job was to preserve life. They loaded the stretcher into the back of an ambulance, climbed in, and took off toward a local hospital. They were focused on the heavy bleeding and collapsed lung caused by several Dust-enhanced bullets to the chest, not on the ears twitching slightly atop their patient's head.

The faunus realized that the ambulance had started moving before blacking out.

"So, guess who I just talked to?" Sam asked his friends. They stood in a corner of the closed-off area, nervously checking their phones for updates. Or rather, pretending to. They were all too lost in thought to focus on the words on the screens in front of them.

"Ruby?" Cliff asked, not looking up from his phone.

Ben shrugged. "The feds?"

"Uh... Cinder?" Jen suggested.

He shook his head. "I talked to Yang's boyfriend. Well, I think he was Yang's boyfriend."

"Yang had a boyfriend?" Ben asked.

Sam nodded. "Yeah, what was his name? Gavin. Boy, that's confusing."

"Does that really surprise you?" Cliff interjected. "I mean, she was hot on Remnant. It's not like she's less hot here."

"So, what did he want?" Isaac asked.

"He was confused. I actually didn't know who he was until he told me he was from Vancouver. He said he thought he saw his girlfriend talking to the cops and I told him he was crazy. Turns out, maybe not."

"Their world just got turned upside down," Jen said. "What would it be like learning that you were dating an alien?" She paused. "I guess we're not so different. They'll figure it out."

"Yeah..." Isaac muttered. "Where does this leave us?"

"Us?"

"We've been in this from the start," Cliff pointed out. "I mean, this all completely fucked up, but it's more like, well, this is a bad thing and it happened than holy shit the world just changed."

"People died." Ben reminded him.

"I know. It's still fucked up." He paused. "Like if some ISIS supporters shot up a mall or something. But not out of this world, you know?"

"World's about to change, Cliff," Isaac reminded him.

"Yeah. I just wonder what it's gonna be like for us."

The media had been covering the event before the attack and coverage quickly grew from a local channel and a few YouTube journalists to national and then an international headline. Such was the speed of information that CNN was showing the event as breaking news while the terrorists were still rampaging and BBC was spreading it around the world almost as soon as it was resolved.

Word of the attack spread like wildfire. It was the era of social media and instant messaging, where news services were the ones who had to play catch up. Information flew in small snippets first before it was aggregated into larger chunks that gave a clearer view of the overall picture.

The first reports to leave the convention centre were confused. Messages flew through the tangled webs of social media, short comments wondering if there was a show starting or if something was going wrong. These quickly gave way to much more tense ones of people realizing this was an attack and telling their friends to get out. Some still didn't realize what was going on, unknowingly risking their lives to take video or submit long posts. In this confusion, threads appeared on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Tumblr, and forums and sites across the web.

A few YouTube video bloggers were covering the event, and some managed to capture parts of the attack as they happened. One didn't realize that it wasn't a show and ended up getting shot, his screams of pain streamed live to thousands around the world along with a creepy view from the dropped camera.

The only official coverage was a small local station, running a segment on the event. The reporter was relatively green and also thought the odd gunshots were the beginning of a show. Her cameraman was much more experienced, having covered events in Sarajevo in the 1990s, and immediately realized what was unfolding. Unlike Sarajevo, this time he told the reporter and they beat a hasty retreat, content to cover the event from the safety of the rapidly arriving police cordon.

News vans from larger stations and their affiliates arrived shortly after. The police kept them back, but one intrepid cameraman managed to catch a glimpse of what looked like a military special forces team entering the building. Networks mixed relatively boring footage of police with more impactful shots of survivors leaving the building. They rushed to the Internet to pull down footage and hurriedly brought in experts to provide commentary.

Even as the injured were being rushed to hospital, networks around the world began interrupting their regular programming to spread the breaking news. The dramatic footage of Apache gunships obliterating what appeared to be three people made headlines across the world.

It was read on public computers in Delhi, watched in front of TV sets in Toronto, streamed to phones in Tokyo. Children got out of bed. Workers paused and shut down production. Classrooms went silent, switching from instruction to live coverage. Though they told it in different languages and with different spin, every news network in the world told the same story.

A terrorist attack in a major US city was breaking news. A terrorist attack in a major US city that might have more to it than meets the eye was something more.

"It's all over the news, Mister President. The internet too. Calling it the worst attack since 9/11 even though we haven't released any numbers yet. They're asking how we responded so fast, why we responded so quickly. They're guessing who did it- ISIS and al-Qaeda are at the top of the list. Wondering why here and why now. There's even some serious speculation that fiction has somehow become reality." The National Security Advisor paused to inhale. "The world is waiting, sir."

He didn't answer.

"Mister President?" she prompted gently.

"I knew I might be deciding the fate of the world when I became President," the man admitted quietly. "Leader of the free world bullshit. Then I realized it was just silly, something for the movies. Then I realized it wasn't, and how goddamn terrifying that can be. Just never imagined this would be how it would happen." He paused, shaking his head. "Sorry, Susan. This is big and I don't know if I know how to deal with it."

"I don't think anyone can, sir," the National Security Advisor told him. "But the moment we found out about our visitors we knew that the world might never be the same. I just wish the great reveal wasn't like this."

"Me too, Susan. Time to face the music." He checked his collar one last time before leaving the Oval Office, walking the short distance to the press room and wishing it was longer.

The President of the United States was the very picture of composed as he stepped out toward the lectern emblazoned with the Presidential seal. He looked down at his notes as much for dramatic effect as out of necessity- before turning to face the camera straight on.

"My fellow Americans. A terrorist attack was carried out on our soil this morning. In fact, this has been the worst attack on US soil since September 11. But this attack was not like September 11, or any attack before that. It was carried out by persons not of this world..."

Believe it or not, I've put off watching the latest episode to finish this chapter. Maybe not such a great idea, but it did help with motivation. But I did finish this chapter ahead of schedule.

5th Dimension: Basically, Earth is all about unleashing as much firepower as possible when it comes to dealing with anything from Remnant. Because we don't have anyone who can fight like a huntress, we fight unfair, striking from afar. The downside is, of course, the potential for collateral damage and the material cost of bringing in that kind of firepower.

JThorpe5: It's more complicated than that, because there are few if any facilities in the world that could hold such a dangerous criminal. Guantanamo Bay was mentioned, but it's actually a terrible choice. A supermax prison like ADX Florence would be better, but getting them into the cells wouldn't be easy. They have to make them want to cooperate until a suitable solution can be found. Going old-school with an island prison might actually be the best plan.

linkthetoaoftime: I'm glad I'm still managing to keep that feel- I hesitate to call it realism, exactly, but making it feel real is still one of my main goals. At this point, the immediate threat is gone, but the world will never be the same again.

5 Coloured Walker: I hesitate to reference any hard calcs when it comes to RWBY. It's not exactly consistent. With that being said, Emergence/Convergence does tend toward lower end estimates.

The Layman: I think that might change in the near future, and they've certainly implied it. Emergence is definitely darker and edgier than the show, at least up until the last few episodes. The RT people were intended to be Barb and Gavin, but I deliberately left it somewhat ambiguous.

Blumenkampf: They definitely weren't in the best shape when they were hit, that's for sure.

ItzABlueWulf: I really want to avoid placing awesome, but impractical weapons on a pedestal rather than showing rather mundane ones (that are actually fairly impressive) used properly. If that makes any sense. I don't really watch anime, so I haven't seen that, sorry.

praetorianprefect: I was actually thinking of the AAC Honey Badger in .300 BLK, but the .50 Beowulf does fit the description as well.

Firehawk242: It may be bringing a gun to a knife fight, but only if the knives are actually laser swords that can chop clean through concrete and are ten feet long, yet light as a feather. And are also guns.

Smithrooks: They're dead. It may be anticlimactic, but to be honest, having them somehow survive and enact revenge or something is just as cliche, and something I'm personally tired of seeing.

Ahardie: To be honest, though it could be worse I did kind of hobble myself when it comes to pacing by deciding on a fairly strict and specific format for Convergence. I could do better with more flexibility and this isn't something I'm going to do again.

Harbinger: It's entirely plausible that the United States would take the fight to the White Fang in that case. While they manage to avoid Remnan authorities fairly well, I'm not sure if they'd be able to adapt to our completely different tactics. Think aerial recon and ELINT, followed by either drone strikes or airstrikes.

Fallout24: Basically this. Cinder may be a mid-level mook in Emergence, but she's still pretty powerful. Roman walks out, sees a crater, realizes that he won't leave this alive, and gives it up. Of course, it's not the first time he's been arrested, and he's probably escaped from jail before, so it's less giving up and more choosing another option.

Guest: Honestly, I'm not sure how I want to deal with the Maiden stuff in Emergence. I think that because she stole them and only partially, they wouldn't transfer. But this won't really be a plot point until Emergence Next.

Guest: 1. Battleship, Stargate, Tom Clancy novels, and too many others to list. 2. I thought it was a neat concept that wasn't done enough. At that point, I didn't expect to write more than a few chapters. 3. I've read quite a few of them. Some are far better than others.

Iron-ninja: They're dead.

MalaysianPatriot: Frankly, you've stopped raising legitimate points, or any actual points at all. Your "insightful comments" have degraded to nothing more than ad hominem attacks and pure spam. Feel free to make the most inane commentary you feel like, but don't cross the line into spam.

Luhar1997: I'd like to do more of the extras, but I just don't have time to write much anymore. Cinder was not Roman's employer in Emergence, though she was his point of contact. Taking the main source of intelligence off the table was a deliberate choice. Though we're still fighting it and arguably now more than ever, "War on Terror" has fallen out of favour as a term, especially outside of the United States.

SoaringEagle13: Cinder was never the main villain in Emergence/Convergence, something which I now have mixed feelings about. I feel that the direction I took worked, but robbed me of potentially interesting plot arcs in the future. In fairness to myself, I made these decisions while Volume 2 was still airing, and back then Cinder wasn't the compelling villain she is today.

MERICAFOREVER: Trying to fight Remnans on their terms is an exercise in futility. Maybe we could engineer soldiers that could go toe-to-toe with Remnant's best, but it's not necessary or even a good idea. Security operations are more concerning, but in an actual war, we would fight on our terms, not theirs. Yes, one hunter could wreck a tank company in favourable terrain. But how much can they do when we own the skies and are strategically bombing their cities?

This chapter will be followed by a set of four shorter interlude chapters, then the final act of Convergence.