Ratchet, Glitch, Siren, and I wait outside for whatever this threat is. The earth is still. I can't see anything right now. But soon enough I see a cloud of dust coming our way and take out my weapon.

"Something's headed for us!" I say, unfolding the scythe. Ratchet holds up his rocket launcher, Siren puts her hands on her pistols, and Glitch grips a pair of her nunchucks. The dust cloud gets closer and closer and I see a long, dark braid whipping around in the wind. I'm not afraid to take her. But she gets closer and we begin to see details like facial features.

"Umm... Gayge?" Siren says, confused.

The figure rides up on a motorcycle and stops about thirty feet away from us. It walks closer and I see what my friends are talking about.

I'm standing face to face with myself.

"So," the assassin says. She sounds just like me, too. Tronyx has gone all out this time. "You're going to try and stop me?"

I step forward. "Well, it's that or let you take over our base. So, yeah."

My clone smiles. "Good luck wth that."

She pulls out a black hunk of metal that doesn't look like it would amount to much. But she hits a button and it starts expanding into a double-bladed axe. I guess that's the only way we can tell each other apart until we knock each other's weapons away. But I get the feeling that if she looks like me and talks like me, she can fight like me, too.

We lunge at each other and she sideswipes with her axe, but I use the handle of my scythe like a staff and block it, which gives me room to swipe downward. She blocks it, and I can tell I'm in for the fight of my life.

"Glitch! Go in!" I say. My weapon's too bulky and I won't be able to beat her like this. So Glitch goes in with her nunchucks. They're lighter and more movable than the assassin's axe, and Glitch is making short work of her. We're around the assassin's back, making sure she can't retreat. Suddenly Siren collapses and doesn't get up. I run to her side.

"Siren?" I ask, feeling her pulse. It's normal. I reach up to make sure she's breathing.

And I get smacked backward ten feet.

The assassin looks over at Siren and me. Tronyx speaks through Siren, and I feel chills run down my spine.

"Hello, Rove," Tronyx says. "May I join you?"

"President Tronyx?" The assassin, whose name is evidently Rove, seems surprised. Didn't she see this coming?

Glitch, Ratchet, and I form a line against Rove and Siren. "Okay," I say, "this just got a whole lot harder."

Siren lunges at me with her pistols. I tell Ratchet and Glitch to get out of the way as I take her on hand-to-hand, using my scythe as a shield when I need it. It's tough work; dodging bullets and keeping her from hitting me at the same time isn't easy. But I've got a couple tricks up my sleeve. I unfold the scythe, dig the blade into the ground, and push up on the handle. As Siren comes at me, I kick her square in the chest with both feet. She goes crashing to the ground.

Out of nowhere, while she's fighting Rove, Glitch drops to the ground, screaming and clutching her head. "Glitch!" I yell, running at her to drag her out of the way. But Ratchet comes up behind me and pulls me away from her. As soon as we're out of Rove's sight, Ratchet makes me look at him.

"What are you doing?!" he asks. "Don't you realize that's just what happened to Siren?"

"Tronyx doesn't have control of her. It could be bad!"

"Gayge," Ratchet says, looking into my eyes, "have you forgotten who her father is?"

Oh my god.

"Don't you remember when we saved her? That chip in her head is still there. Steele's probably with Tronyx, planning our deaths. We're on our own."

I come out of my daze and start to think. As soon as I get a decent idea, I bring my metal wrist close to my mouth and press a button. "Sprocket? You there?"

There's a pause. "Gayge? Is everything okay?" Sprocket finally replies.

"Oh, y'know, we just completely forgot that Glitch is Icharus Steele's daughter and that there's a chip in her brain that pretty much makes her a Motor, so... we're about to die, if you wanna come join the fun."

"I'm coming," Sprocket says. "Want me to bring a few friends?"

I contemplate this. "Yeah, that'd be good."

"Okay. Be there soon. Sprocket out."

I turn off my com and lean against the boulder we're hiding behind. "This just got really messy, didn't it?"

Ratchet chuckles. "You're telling me. Still not gonna say goodbye?"

"I'm going to try," I say, smiling at him. "Sprocket better get here soon."

"I hope so, too," Ratchet says. He turns and fires a rocket at the horde of zombie assailants, then ducks back down and waits.

_______

Sprocket turned off his com and immediately turned to the throng of people waiting for orders. "Eclipse, Crescent, come with me. The rest of you, make your way to the bunkers and stay calm!" Once someone began taking charge, Sprocket grabbed a small metal wristband and jammed it onto his left wrist. Eclipse and Crescent followed him out, sporting various weapons.

"Two of the assailants are friendlies," Sprocket barked as he walked. "You're not to harm them. The furthest you're to go is knocking them unconscious. The third is a clone of a rebel. One has a scythe, the other has an axe. Take down the one with the axe. Any damage you can do is good enough for me." He turned forward, talking to himself. "They're gonna pay for taking Siren."

As they exited the compound the first thing Sprocket heard was an explosion. Well, now we know where Ratchet is, he thought, shaking his head.

"That way?" Crescent asked.

"Yup." Sprocket nodded and looked in the direction of the explosion. "Let's take 'em down."

_______

I sit behind the rock, wiping blood from a cut on my cheek. I'm completely helpless as Ratchet continually fires rockets towards Rove, Siren, and Glitch. "You're not gonna hurt them, are you?" I ask.

Ratchet ducks behind the rock again. "Don't worry," he says. "The missiles I'm using are the same ones I use in training."

"Oh," I smirk, "like the ones you used when I beat you."

"Very funny, Gayge. But the way I see it, now isn't the time to worry about stuff that doesn't have to do with you not dying."

Me? "But what about you?"

Ratchet smiles at me. "Don't worry about me."

"Get 'em!" I hear a shout from in front of the rock and look up. Sprocket, Eclipse, and Crescent are rushing to our aid. Sprocket presses a button and a compartment in his metal spine opens to reveal two wicked-looking katanas. Eclipse draws a double-bladed sword and takes a knee. The blade splits apart, revealing a string and an arrow; her sword is also a crossbow. And Crescent takes a string of shells and loads them into her gauntlet gloves.

Can I just admit that this is awesome?

I get up and join their line, unfolding my scythe. Ratchet stumbles over beside me. I smile and give the opposing side the most intimidating stare I can. Glitch, Siren, and Rove stare at us. Suddenly Rove takes off running as Siren and Glitch collapse. I run over to Siren, waiting for her to wake up. Her eyes flutter open and I smile. She notices the cut on my cheek.

"I tried to kill you again, didn't I?" she says.

I laugh. "You'll have to try a lot harder than that."

Glitch sits up. "Whoa.. what just happened?"

Sprocket helps her up. "We should talk inside."

_____

Rove sat in the middle of nowhere, a kingdom of desolation surrounding her. Judging by that last fight, she didn't know if she wanted to keep doing this. Being ordered around like a dog certainly wasn't fun, anyway. Suddenly there was a beeping in her ear. The President wasn't going to be happy with how this had turned out. She pressed the button to start talking.

"Rove."

"I understand that this little episode did not go as planned," the President mused. "This does not bode well for the future of our country."

"Yes, sir," Rove replied obediently.

"The last clone I used was captured and trained by the rebels," said the President. "I congratulate you for avoiding this, but your flight from the battlefield surely doesn't speak of what you can do. Which is why I've elected to give you a more defensive approach."

Rove was confused. "Defensive, sir?"

She suddenly saw a figure in the distance. "Mr. Steele is sending you an escort for your journey back to base," Tronyx said curtly. "He is smarter than any of the Motors and is programmed for complete faith in our fine country. You and he will lead a Motor invasion of the rebel base in a mission to wipe them all out."

The figure was drawing very close. It stopped in front of Rove and held out a hand to help her up. Rove looked at it; it was tall, sleek-looking, and obviously designed to kill.

The President came back over the com in her ear. "Rove, I would like to introduce you to Sudo."

A/N: Hi guys! I'm way up past 200 views! Thanks to everyone for reading and voting and stuff. I didn't get any questions last chapter, so if you guys want to know something please don't hesitate to ask. In case you were wondering, Sudo will be in the anime, and he'll be voiced by the one and only Peter Newman! Also, news flash about the crew! Music will be by my good friends Dayton Peluso and Haruko Kurosawa! Haruko's also going to do costume design. And in addition to playing Ratchet, Jared "Laski" Burk is going to do character design! So, yeah, that's about it for anime updates. Also for any RWBY fans reading this (I call them Huntsmen and Huntresses), if you haven't checked out my fanfiction F. Y. R. E. yet, please do it! (By the way, Vol. 2 Episode 3. Penny. I totally called it.) And... I guess that's it! Theatre girl out!