Of EVOs and Grimm

By The Good Life Creator 678

Entry Two-The Best Mistake

So, sometimes I like to make believe that I'm somehow brave. Kind of like one of those hero types ripped straight from the panels of a comic book, always standing up for what's right and taking on all of the world's problems head on. I even got all the witty one liners they use memorized. Please don't pay attention to the fact that they all come out as stutters and questions. Every single one somehow leaves all of my foes shaking in their boots. In hysterics.

Even after all of those considerations come crashing down like a glass house with the couple things that I learned earlier tonight. All of which I now take to heart. One of them is that I am nowhere near being the brave hero with the witty one liners that I conjured up in my mind. I am quite possibly the furthest thing from that aspect right now. The second is that I really need to work on my situational awareness because in the span of little more than a couple hours I have had my world rocked by a light fixture, got my flesh suit tenderize by a Glutton of a man with a weirdly prehensile tongue, and got petrified by a girl with silver eyes in an interrogation room.

Seriously, the girl didn't even need to do anything remotely physical to me, I was stuck rooted to the floor and shaking in my boots just by her speaking when I was thrown in. "So, what did you do?"

If it were even possibly, I am fairly certain that my skeleton would have jumped free of its fresh prison and ran straight out the door. Well, probably through it. Instead, I took the logical approach and clung to the wall, my body freezing as I took a look at the owner of the voice. First thing I noticed was a set of silver eyes glistening under the bright lone light in the room. I liked them, they were extremely pretty and suited her. I then took the rest of her in, a petite girl dressed in mostly black an red, short dark hair with crimson highlight framing pale cheeks, a fitting red cloak draped over her shoulders, and a very shocked expression contorted on her face as she looked at my own state of panic.

"Gah! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!" She sounded concerned at my state as my muscles finally registered that it was safe to actually calm down.

I shook my head to try and rid myself of my possibly unfounded fear as I held up my hands in an attempt to try and placate her own shock. "Calm down." My heart was still thudding against my chest, refusing to relax, even if my mind registered that I was in no real danger at the moment. "I'm just a bit on edge, I guess." Now if only my heart could stop going thump, thump.

The legs of the chair next to her scraped against the floor as I took a seat, pulling myself up to the table. Those silver eyes never left me as I got myself into a comfortable position, well, as comfortable as I can be. It kind of made me a bit self-conscious, if I'm be at all honest with you. Okay, a lot self-conscious. "Do I have something on my face?"

"You never answered my question." That was true, with her nearly terrifying me right out of my skin suit, I almost completely forgot her question.

Now I was left wondering how to respond to her inquiry. I mean, how does one explain being thrown around like a ragdoll before almost getting eaten alive? All with your dignity intact? The question I was trying to get myself to answer was how do I respond without totally destroying my pride? "I got into a fist fight in a grocery store." Nailed it. "You?"

The silver eyed girl took a thoughtful expression, her fingers cupping her chin as her mind tried working overtime in the best way possible to explain how she ended up here. "I tried stopping a Dust robbery."

That really didn't answer very much. Then again my answer painted the same kind of vibrant word picture as hers so I guess I didn't have a leg to stand on with that.

There was a bout of awkward silence, my fingers lightly drumming on the table in front of us. "It kills me not to know this but I have all but just forgotten the color of her eyes."

"You're an EVO?" I should have seen that question coming. I am slightly surprised that she didn't call me out on my awkward habit of breaking out into song at some of the weirdest moments. Glad, but still slightly surprised.

"Yeah, I am," I spoke, nodding in agreement.

Eyes scrunched as she looked me over. I felt even more self conscious than when I sat down. "You don't look like one."

That was true, I don't look like one. Most end up looking anything but human after being afflicted by active nanites. Some turn into towering monsters with multiple faces, others into gluttons who want to eat everything. My EVO power was the ability to talk to and control machines and cure EVOs. Still, a pretty girl asked me a couple questions. Leave room for mystery, girls like a man of mystery right? "I'm special." Got it in one.

In that moment, I almost completely forgot about Rebekah and her semblance. Semblance is the physical manifestation of aura, allowing the user to manipulate attributes in the world around them. Some create images, others have parental bonds, Rebekah has intangibility. It's how she saved me multiple times from as far back as I could remember, got me out of the tongue trap, and how she got into the room with us.

"You're a certain kind of special," she spoke as she crawled onto my shoulders, making her presence known. That remark stung a bit.

"Shouldn't you be in a cell?" I questioned as I looked her in the eyes.

"I got bored." Really?

"So you decided that the best use of your time is to find me and scare the poor girl?"

I pointed to the girl in black and red, a shocked expression on her face, her body rigid. It was almost comical. "She can talk?"

"Kinda delayed response there," the raccoon commented dryly as rested on my head.

Okay, here comes the panic. The only reasonable response to Rebekah and all of her raccoon anthropomorphic glory. "That is so…" Now everyone was going to know that a bored raccoon got out and decided to wreak havoc on an unsuspecting police station. "Cool!" What?

"What?" That was not the response I was expecting but it beats the alternative of utter mayhem at Rebekah's impromptu escape from her holding cell.

"It's like a comic book with a hero and sidekick!"

"I think he takes offense to being called a sidekick." How can someone barely over a foot and a half have such a massive ego?

"I think she was talking about you." She took a bite at my pointed finger, missing it by a hair as I remembered very quickly that she had a tendency to become extremely violent. "Really? Biting?"

I wish I could explain the next few minutes in better clarity but for the life of me I can't bring myself to do it. One second I was arguing with the trigger happy raccoon, the next I was face to face with a set of peach colored eyes looking me over, fingers cupping my face as she tilted my head side to side as she further inspected me.

I felt violated in all of three seconds as my head was forced to tilt upwards. "Hmmm, strong jawline."

Heat rose to my cheeks as the statement hit home. Strong jawline? Was it a compliment? The tone in her voice made it sound more analytical but the blood never left my cheeks. "Wh-"

I was cut off from trying to figure out who she was as slim thermometer found its way under my tongue, hands forcing me to shut my trap. "Save that thought." Well, with my tongue now tied in knots, I had no choice but try and figure out who the intrusive woman was. Olive toned skin, white lab coat, peach hair that matched her eyes, and an curious gaze looking my body in the most analytical way possible.

This was it, that was it. They sent a peach to cart me off to some lab and rip me apart molecule by molecule. Wait, that made no sense, why would they put me in a room with a girl? Was she like me? Was she going to cart both of us off to some strange lab?

Laughter filled the room as Rebekah all but fell off my shoulders. "You look like a guinea pig!" she croaked out between giggles of glee. She was having too much fun with this.

"Well, aren't you the interesting specimen," the woman with peach colored hair spoke, her eyes moving towards the trash panda that liked to ride on my back.

"You stay away from me!" The familiar sound of plasma crackling filled the room as Rebekah's cannon sparked to life. When did she break into the evidence locker? Was she trying to add more to our wrap sheet?

The peach's eyes lit up at the sight of the thing, a wide smile plastered on her face. "Is that a Lightning Dust cannon!?" She was not in slightest bit of terror at the prospect of getting vaporized into a pile of ash. I would have been petrified if I didn't know Rebekah.

Electricity died as Rebekah's head tilted, tail swishing in confusion at her question. "No, it generates a plasma discharge from electrostatic friction caused by the magnetic prongs. It is powered by Dust though." We tried using Lightning Dust before and it failed spectacularly. Fun fact, it doesn't exactly direction well, fried the original one and shocked the hell out of her so we went with electric plasma.

"That is so awesome!" the girl next to me exclaimed as she tried to make a grab for the cannon. Rebekah shifted, clutching the thing to her chest like a precious child. "You have to let me see it! It could revolutionize how I fight!" She was way too excited about it. I could almost see her fighting with lightning arching off into space. A sheepish grin fell on her face, blood rushing to her cheeks as she sunk back in her chair, embarrassment washing over her frame.

"Sorry, I'm a bit of a nerd when it comes to weapons." While it is a bit unconventional, she should not be embarrassed, it makes her unique. Though she already looked the part, still, my statement stands.

The thermometer pulled out of my mouth, allowing me to speak. "Who are you?" I really wanted to know if I was going to end up on a lab table and who was going to put me there.

"Oh, I never introduced myself, did I?" She spoke as if she should be ashamed but feeling none of it. "I always get excited when I get to meet new test subjects. I'm Professor Thumbelina Peach, head of Dust studies and EVO studies at Beacon."

Wait what? Let's go back to how she decided to address me? "Test subject?"

"Well, yeah." She took a step back towards the door, listening for something on the other side. She seemed pleased for some reason or another as she moved back to the table in front of me. "Your abilities are not the best kept secret in the world. My goal is to figure out how it works and the repercussions it has on you. Now, whether you're patient or test subject is entirely up to you."

Wait a second, what did she mean by that statement? I had a choice? On the lessor of two evils?

Before I could even attempt to even try and figure out what the hell Professor Peach meant the door swung open violently as a blonde woman walked in, her heels clacking against the tiles. Short hair, pale skin, put together appearance with a white top and black skirt, an air that told us that she was here to ground us to the next afterlife, everyone in the room sank in their chairs immediately in response, we'll everyone but Professor Peach. "You three are the most irresponsible children ever!"

I sank further into my chair as her green eyes passed over us. I could feel Rebekah try to hide behind my head in fear. A finger pointed right at the girl I just met. "You, young lady, put yourself and everyone in the vicinity in grave peril by getting involved with armed robbers."

"They started it!" she retorted. Her hands slapped down on the table as she stood up from her chair. I admire her now, I would not have had the courage to stand up to the blonde woman like that.

That confidence got shot down in a hurry as the woman glared at her. "What if it turned into a hostage situation? Or if more Dust got involved? You really believe that they have a care in the world about your life?"

She looked defeated as the thought crossed her mind. I felt bad for her at the moment. The thought of life being extinguished like that is demoralizing. I wasn't given the opportunity to dwell on the subject for too long because her gaze shifted to me.

I was like a deer caught in headlights as she glared daggers at Rebekah and I. "And you two, do you have any idea how dangerous EVOs like the one in that grocery store are? Do you even know how much collateral damage you caused in your little fight? What was your line of thinking?"

"I just wanted to do the right thing." My voice was meek as I sank further into my chair. Maybe I could disappear. Sink far enough into the chair and just disappear from reality till this woman just walked away.

Her finger went to Rebekah as the raccoon tried hiding. "And you, did you really feel it appropriate to bite an officer?"

"He got fresh with me." I still don't understand that one. Why would anyone in their right mind get fresh with her?

"Take it easy on them, Glynda, they're just children," the mad scientist piped in. "I'm sure they learned their lesson." How could she be so calm with a woman who just had an air that demanded total obedience.

"What are you doing here, Thumbelina?" The amount of venom made it known that the good doctor was not welcomed at the moment. Peach just pointed right at me as if that made all the sense in the world.

I think that the woman now known as Glynda just accepted the answer, having known Professor Peach for sometime now because she decided it was now a good time to redirect her ire right back at us, the reason why she was in the police station in the first place. "Regardless, if it were up to me, all three of you would be sent home with a pat on the back." The young girl looked elated at the comment. I was not so optimistic. "And a slap on the wrist." There it was. Even though I expected the backhanded compliment, it didn't lessen the blow that it delivered. If it had rings, I would be tasting metal. "However, there is someone else that would like to meet the three of you."

I swear it was choreographed because the moment she moved a man with messy grey hair and a suit of leisure walked in carrying a trey of cookies, a weird egg with squares jutting out of it, and a large scroll, a small smile on his lips. Apparently I was out of the loop on who he was because the hooded girl next to me looked a little to star struck. Before I could ask, the man began addressing us.

"Ruby Rose," he spoke, placing the cookies in front of her. That is a really fitting name fore her. "You have silver eyes." His attention shifted to me as he placed the oddly shaped egg device before me. "And Jaune Arc. Would you do me a favor and speak to this please?"

Okay, I was at a loss. Did he mean speak words to this thing? Was there a microphone to pick up my voice? My fingers poked and prodded at the thing before a realization came over me. It was screaming at me. Not in words, that would be crazy, but I could hear it, ever passing current that it held. Ones and zeros passed through my mind as I gripped both ends of it.

I can't explain how did this. It's just something I can do. I talked back to it, willed it to do what I want. Squares started to retracting and expanding at my command, spinning as I concentrated on it. "So, you can speak in binary," he spoke as I placed the egg down on the table before me. Glynda held a critical look on her face, the girl with silver eyes looked at me with wonder, and the mad doctor looked at me with excitement that put me in a constant state of panic that shook me to the bone.

Fingers tapped on the surface of the scroll as he pulled up a video of Ruby swinging a impressively large scythe around, smacking into a few suited men before vaulting herself up a skyscraper. I can safely say that I am now terrified of the little heart attack. No wonder my heart never calmed down. It wasn't what happened earlier, it was out of the potential fear of this cute girl with deadly acrobatic skills!

"So, do you care to explain how you are able to do that?" He questioned, gesturing towards the scroll.

She fidgeted a bit as the words got caught in her throat. "Signal Academy." What Signal is, I still have no clue.

His eyebrow rose at the statement. I could see a bit of mirth twinkle in the eyes hidden behind glasses. "You're telling me that they taught you how to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?"

Her face told me like she got her hand caught in a cookie jar. "One teacher in particular?"

"I see." His fingers tapped on the scroll again, the video of the grocery store debacle lighting the screen. "And you," he spoke towards me, the scene on his scroll shifting to my blunder. It kind of killed my pride, seeing the footage of me being a ragdoll with giant metal fists and saved by a raccoon. My lie of getting into a fist fight was finally on full display. The screen froze as I cured Big Mouth, his skin transition from purple to olive tone. "How are you capable of these feats?"

Okay, part of me wanted to lie to the man, to tell him that it was part of my semblance. I don't think that would get me very far though, if what Professor Peach could be believed. "I'm an EVO that can talk to machines and will them to do what I want." My voice was not even close to confident.

His eyebrow rose in a questioning manner. "I see. I just find it odd that a cute little girl would get involved with a school for warriors. It is also rather intriguing that a teen with a raccoon would run around all of Remnant curing EVOs while being actively hunted. Either of you care to explain?"

"Well, I want to be a huntress," Ruby explained. That somehow makes a lot of sense. The video of her beating the armed suits showed that she was more than in her element when fighting.

"And you?" His fingers pointed at me as if I was going to give an explanation.

"I just want to do the right thing. I have the power to help so I do what I can."

"So you want to slay monsters," he gestured to Ruby who nodded with earnest. "And you just want to do the right thing. Do either of you know who I am?"

I had no clue on who the man was, just an inkling that this man was somehow very important. None of that mattered though, Ruby filled me in on the man. "You're Professor Ozpin, the headmaster at Beacon." I now had a new set of questions. Why was the headmaster of a hunter academy interested in us?

He smiled simply at us as he waved his hand. "Hello."

Hello? Hello? That's it? How about why you're here or why are interested in a girl who attempted to stop a Dust robbery and a blundering idiot who cured an EVO?

"I'm sure you both have many questions on why I'm here, so let me ask you both a question. How would you two like the opportunity to gain the tools needed to obtain your dreams?"

"YES!" Ruby was way too excited, her voice was loud and boisterous as a large smile plastered itself on her face.

I was cautious, remembering a quote from Thumbelina. Did she know that I was going to be offered an opportunity by the headmaster of Beacon? "Just a quick question, what if I were to say no?"

"Well, your abilities make you very valuable. I'm sure you can figure out the result of your denial of my offer." Explain nothing and everything all at the same time. I love those kind of remarks. However, I knew full well of what he meant. Deny the possibility of having freedoms at the cost of being huntsman and I would be hunted by everyone if I even made it out of Vale. Good thing I actually wanted to be one or this would have been very awkward.

So I put on my best smile and replied, "I've always dreamed of being a huntsman."

"What do you mean by always. You only remember the last year and a half." Thank you, Rebekah. That always needed to be addressed. She was wrong though. I only remember the last eighteen months, three days, and forty five minutes but who's counting?

I shrugged my shoulders in a veiled attempt to prove that her remark didn't get to me. "What can I say, I dream fast."

What followed was drawn out explanations of my amnesia. I'm not going to lie to you, it sucks sometimes. I wish I remembered more, if I had siblings, if my parents loved me, if I had friends, all of it. The only thing I could recall is my name and the furthest memory I have is Rebekah waking me up and guiding me to safety. No family dinners, no games, no happy memories, just a wise cracking raccoon and mixed feelings. I have long since accepted it and I am getting over it.

The professors and silver eyed girl just looked sad when I explained it. I just told them that I'm alright and that I'll be fine. I'm not sure if it worked but after that we were let go and I was placed in the Mad Doctor's care. Apparently she lives at the edge of Vale and I will be residing with her till school starts in two weeks. Rebekah thinks that I am going to get us killed but if she really thought so then she would have left.

I think that I made the best worst mistake possible tonight, and I'm more than okay with it.

Out of Leather Bounds

"You're making a mistake," Glynda spoke out, running her hands through her hair. "That girl has no foresight on the situation and that boy is going to get himself killed."

"Both of them did show initiative in a situation most would have ran from, Glynda," Thumbelina responded. "The girl, Ruby is quite skilled with her scythe and the boy, Jaune shows great promise."

"Ruby almost got herself and the owner killed and Jaune showed very little talent in a combat situation."

Ozpin cleared his throat, garnishing both of their attention. "I believe the best place for both of them is at Beacon. As Thumbelina had stated, both have shown promise and initiative. Do I need to remind you of who we are facing?"

Glynda narrowed her eyes. "No, but we need to consider if we are placing them in harms way."

"Unfortunately, I don't think we have much of a choice in that. The winds are shifting and the event only exasperated situation. The queen is starting to make bold movements and we need to be ready, even if it means forcing children to grow faster than they need to."

A/N-Questions, comments, concerns, please voice all of them. I am going to be honest here and say that I am not exactly looking forward to initiation with this because I am still unsure of how I am going to do it. Am I going to keep things the same in the cannon and diverge from there or am I going to throw a wrench in and totally change things up. Questions, questions. I really don't know at the moment.

I did make a grave oversight, I made Pyrrha pretty much God. Seriously, nanites are effected by magnets on a horrible level and she has the ability to rip them out of any organic. Scary thoughts.

A lot of characters from Generator Rex and Ben 10 will make an appearance, mostly villains. I am trying to figure out a way to put Doctor Paradox in but I am at a loss on that.

Lir123-I'm glad that you like it and I hope this qualifies as more to you.

34ptl-Yup, an complicated mess of conflicts. EVOs can definetly put everyone through the wringer. Magic would remain to be seen on them.