Before we start this chapter, I would just like to give you all a late Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year. This chapter has been two weeks in the making, but I wanted to make sure it was the best I could offer to you as a present.

But with that said, I would like to share something with you all. And that something is a picture of some Christmas cookies I made.

With these cookies, I tried out my first attempt at painting a cookie with a paintbrush. Granted, the icing we had did dry up quite a bit, I was able to get these down to the best of my abilities with what supplies we had.

In case any of you are wondering what these cookies are based on, they're all Ghostbusters themed. I mainly made them cause I had seen Ghostbusters: Afterlife and loved the movie. It was true love letter to the fans, a fine passing of the torch film, and proper send off to Harold Ramis. For that matter I also saw Spider-Man No Way Home, and it was absolutely awesome. I know it will take a while, but I definitely want to do Afterlife and No Way Home for my story.

And if any of you have some trouble discerning some of the Ghostbusters cookie characters, here's a list:

• Stay Puft Marshmallow Man
• Slimer
• Terro Dog (Vinz)
• Subway ghost
• Theater Ghost (Ghostbusters 2)
• Bug-eyed Ghost (Real Ghostbusters/Afterlife)
• Killerwatt (Real Ghostbusters)
•Cthulhu (Real Ghostbusters— Yes Cthulhu was is in the Ghostbusters cartoon)
•Muncher (Ghostbusters: Afterlife)

Anyways, I hope you like how these came out. My mom wants to make them into ornaments, since cookies with that much work put into them don't feel right to be eaten.

However, with that out of the way, how was everyone's Christmas/respective religious holiday? How was your New Years for that matter? What all did you get? Feel free to tell me.

Also, several weeks back I revised the first chapter of Ghostbusters, so make sure to go check it out when you have the time.

So after all of that, let's get on with the chapter.

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Roman and Neo had made their way out of the theater, the former still grumbling to himself with a hate-filled expression.

"Mother fu... white-haired prick... I'm gonna light him up with his own Dust in an SDC container."

Neo held a calm look at she reached up to supportively pat her hand on his shoulder.

The duo had soon made it the large food court, where everyone else was currently located in. However, neither Neo or Roman paid any of the others much mind as their attention was focused towards the direction of the bar room.

Just as they were about to reach the area though, a door had appeared from the right of the entrance, sealing the way off.

Roman proceeded to bang on the door with his fist several times before he turned his and spoke in an agitated tone. "Anyone wanna explain why this door shut us out of the bar? And by anyone, I mean Vortech."

"I would advise that you calm yourself Roman, lest you pop a blood vessel." Vortech stated as he entered into the food court. "You're far more susceptible to pain without your aura, you know. But seeing as how we are no longer in the theater, who am I stop you from voicing your aneurism?"

"I really wanna throttle right now, you know that?" Roman replied to Vortech as he walked up to the interdimensional being.

"I guarantee you that would not be the wisest choice for you to make in this situation." Vortech said as he gave Roman a simple, yet daring stare.

As this was going on, everyone else in the food court was watching the scene unfold before them.

"Wow. I didn't think Torchwick could get this angry." Ruby muttered between herself and her teammates. "I mean, not that we personally-personally know him. We just only see him with that kind of suave yet dastardly disposition."

"Well, it was very evident that Torchwick, despite being a criminal, does care for Neo." Weiss observed. "Heaven knows what our own elder sisters or other family members would do if they saw us in a similar situation as to what we saw Neo's demonic counterpart go through. Excluding my father, though. At most he would have been angry at the image it would have on him and the family name of something like that every happened to me."

"I think we got that picture when we saw your demon-dad rape Neo for a split second in the last viewing." Yang said to Weiss before looking back at Vortech and Roman. "So does anyone think they're gonna fight?"

"Mr. Torchwick's blood pressure does seem to nearing its boiling point." Penny analyzed from the criminal's disposition. "A rash confrontation could erupt. Though I do not think I would wish to see such a fight commence."

"My lien's on Vortech." Mercury said with his arms crossed.

"I'm certain everyone's lien would be on Vortech, Mercury." Cinder muttered to him. "Even Neo's."

"Do you mind explaining why you won't let me drown out my anger with liquor?" Roman asked Vortech, his expression still crossed.

"Why, yes. That's what I was going to do before you got all hot and bothered in front of me." Vortech gave his snide reply before turning away from the criminal in order to look at everyone else.

"If I can have everyone's attention, please!" Vortech declared. "We have a new guest with us that I would like for you all to meet. Well, that is for those of you who have yet to meet him?"

"Is it anyone we know?" Ironwood asked with a quizzical look.

"Somewhat. But he's not from Remnant." Vortech said before turning his head to a certain trio. "Actually, Cinder and her... teammates ran into him when I first brought them here. Hmhmhmhm. I'm more than certain they remember him."

The eyes of Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury instantly lit up in recognition of who Vortech was speaking of. The thought had prompted Cinder to narrow her eyes.

Ruby and some of her friends held questioning looks at Vortech, especially when they noticed the angered look Cinder had.

"Did something bad happen between Cinder and whoever this new person is?" Ruby thought to herself.

Soon enough, the sound of a slow moving vehicle came into earshot of everyone. They all turned to see a large, armored, blue truck with a mounted mini-gun esc weapon on the right side of its roof. It continued to drive towards them until it stopped right next to Vortech.

"I would like for you all to meet our new head of security." Vortech introduced to everyone as he turned to the vehicle. "Soundwave, if you would."

Immediately, the blue armored truck transformed before everyone's eyes into the robotic form of none other than the Decepticon, Soundwave.

Everyone had been taken aback at the sight of the Decepticon. While his appearance was somewhat different from the counterpart of him they witnessed in the viewing sessions, his shaping was all too familiar.

"A Decepticon? A freaking Decepticon?!" Yang exclaimed in anger. "That's who you brought here?!"

"Of course. After all, he's one of the best in the multiverse when it comes to communication and security." Vortech explained as he motioned to Soundwave. "Soundwave's been connected to every camera in the vicinity so that he can keep an eye on all of you and report to me when any of you cause some trouble."

"Having a warmongering alien watching our every move doesn't inspire much confidence." Glynda plainly stated as she crossed her arms.

"Yeah. You showed us what those guys can do." Nora said as she frowned before pointing at Soundwave. "Having that guy as head of security is like having a Grimm babysit a bunch of children."

"Especially given that Soundwave in particular is the right-hand of the Decepticon leader." Ironwood said with a firm look. "And given what you have told about him so far, saying he's a risk is putting things lightly."

"Your concerns are recognized, and they are acknowledged." Soundwave stated as he walked forward a bit towards the others, causing some of them to tense up. "However, opposed to the universe you have seen involving my species, the Cybertronian civil war has ended in my universe. The Autobots and Decepticons have entered a peace treaty, with myself as one of the leading representatives."

Many of the audience members looked between themselves, muttering amongst each other. Eventually, Ozpin walked forward, looking at Soundwave before looking over to Vortech.

"Is this true?" He asked.

"Yes. I wouldn't have been able to have this variant of Soundwave here if it wasn't." Vortech replied. "Though it should be noted that, unlike other Decepticons, Soundwave isn't known for blatant lies. He's far more secretive than deceptive."

Vortech then focused his attention at Ozpin as he began to telepathically speak to him. "Something I'm certain you can understand all too well, Ozpin."

Ozpin glanced off to the side before turning back to his colleagues and students. "Hmm. I suppose if Vortech can back up Soundwave's claims, then we will simply have to trust that he is different, or at the very least, evolved from the Decepticons we saw involving Bumblebee."

"Until I actually see otherwise, I'd only trust him as far as I could throw him." Winter stated as she cast Soundwave a critical, wary glance.

"Not that you could actually throw him to begin with." Qrow remarked. "So you might as well say you don't trust him at all."

"And you do?" Winter asked Qrow.

"Well he definitely hasn't tried to kill any of us." Qrow said as he looked over at Soundwave, taking a moment to sip from his flask. "But that doesn't mean I won't be on my guard when he's around."

While many of the audience stood back from Soundwave, Pietro couldn't help but become curious the more he looked at the Decepticon. Against his better judgement, Pietro eventually had his walking chair move towards the giant, transforming blue robot.

Ironwood watched Pietro walk up to Soundwave, a feeling of dread filling his stomach before he muttered to himself. "I hope you remember to be careful, Pietro..."

Penny also had a hint of concern as her father walked over to the Decepticon, yet she stood firm. She trusted in Vortech's words and decided to let her father do as he wanted to in this instance. Though if something were to go awry, she would immediately jump into action.

Once Pietro had gotten to, he adjusted his glasses as he looked up at the Decepticon, with Soundwave looking down on him in return.

"Remarkable... absolutely remarkable." Pietro quietly muttered as he looked over Soundwave's entire frame.

Though while Pietro was analyzing Soundwave, Soundwave was analyzing Pietro. The Decepticon's vision was flooded with databanks and files as he scanned over Pietro and his walking chair.

"You are the human named Pietro Polendina." Soundwave said to the elderly scientist. "One of the leading engineers and scientists in Atlas. I have read your files. Your work is... advanced, for humans."

"Oh... uh, well thank you." Pietro replied with a surprised expression, one that soon turned into an excited smile. "But certainly not close enough to the level of technology I have seen from your world. After all, your entire species are giant, autonomous robots with the unique ability to transform into vehicles. I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but I would just love to see the inner machinations of your species. What makes you all tick must be the work of pure artistry."

"Penny, I... think we lost your dad." Blake said as she raised her brow in confusion towards the mannerisms Pietro showed to Soundwave.

"Oh, father always get like that when it comes to things that grabs his interest." Penny stated with an innocent smile. "He's almost like friend Ruby in that way."

"I don't think Ruby would want to go and talk with a killer, alien robot." Ilia said as she cast Soundwave her own wary look.

"Then you clearly need to spend more time with Ruby." Yang simply said with a blank stare. "She's all about weapons and machines."

"Yeah... I've... kinda, also wanted to go up to Soundwave and ask him all sorts of questions." Ruby admitted with a nervous smile. "I've just been weighing if it's a good idea or not."

"Seriously?" Ilia asked with an incredulous look. She then cast that same look over to Blake, who merely shrugged in response.

"After a week or two with her, you kind of get used to Ruby's antics." Blake said to Ilia.

"You see? None of you have a reason to be afraid of Soundwave." Vortech spoke up as he motioned between Pietro and the rest of the audience. "Well, you have a reason to fear him, you just don't have a reason to fear that he will try and kill the lot of you. If the elderly man-child and accept Soundwave, so can the rest of you. Choosing not to do so will only make things more difficult down the line."

"Wait a minute." Pietro furrowed his brows as he turned to Vortech. "What did you just call me?"

"Oh, come now, Pietro. You know full well that you can be enthusiastic at times." Vortech replied to the scientist in a simple tone.

"Just because of few people here are interested in Soundwave, doesn't mean the rest of us are just as easily swayed into accepting him walking among us." Sienna firmly stated, staring at Vortech while giving a small glance at Soundwave. "Not too many viewings ago, you told us, and showed us that the Decepticons are manipulative killers. And now you're saying that this one is comes from a universe where their war is already over, with all of them entering a peace treaty. Surely you can see how difficult of a pill that is to swallow, since undoubtedly the past of this variant of Soundwave wasn't so different from the course of the Decepticons we saw."

"Hmm. I see that you're talking, but all I'm hearing is inaudible confabulation spouting from your mouth." Vortech replied with an almost bored and unimpressed tone.

"He's a potential threat to everyone here, you megalomaniacal prick!" Sienna growled at Vortech in anger as she stomped over to him.

"Oh, come now, Sienna. Flattery can only get you so far in my graces." Vortech jovially waved her off in a nonchalant manner.

By now, Sienna was a foot away from Vortech as she glared daggers at him. "You are becoming more aggravating than Torchwick."

"I don't know whether I should take that as a compliment, or take it in offense." Roman spoke from the sidelines.

Vortech simply met Sienna's gaze, his neutral expression baring nothing but a raised brow towards the tiger faunus. "If we really want to talk about threats, we can easily change the topic over to you. After all, I was tasked to bring you here, along with several other criminals to view the dimensions with the heroes. The lot of you are considered threats; killers. Yet here you are. Why should I be questioned about bringing in one deterrent for any misshapes that should occur, when the likes of you are quite dangerous yourself?"

"This has nothing to do with how you view me or those criminals. You showed us that Decepticons are vastly dangerous. And I'm more than certain I speak for most everyone here in that having Soundwave around is a little more than worrisome." Sienna replied with narrowed eyes. "Seeing as how you've wrangled us all here, who knows how far from Remnant, I might as well try and make sure nothing disastrous happens along the way that will affect all of us as a whole."

"Yes, but last I checked, things get quite extreme every time you claim to speak for a majority." Vortech retorted back to Sienna with a composed, yet taunting manner.

"Don't test me." Sienna growled as her eyes became slits.

"Mmm." Vortech blandly responded with a hum before turning his attention away from the White Fang leader as he began to speak aloud for everyone to here. "It seems that no matter what words I give, you all will not seem to trust them due to Soundwave's arrival."

After pacing around a bit, Vortech immediately turned to the other audience members, looking at one person in particular. "So tell me, Mr. Arc! What do we do when we're placed in a room with a stranger that no one seems to trust?!"

Jaune was taken aback by Vortech calling out to him as others in the room looked over at Jaune as well. "Uh-uh... m-me?"

"Well, is your father here?" Vortech asked, making it a point to widen his eyes at Jaune's direction.

"Oh, uh... well..." Jaune nervously spoke as he tried to give an answer to Vortech. "We, uh... we try and get to know the stranger and... see if they can be trusted?"

"Precisely!" Vortech declared.

This response allowed for Jaune let out a heavy sigh of relief that he hadn't known was being kept inside of him.

"So! I propose that a select group of you become acquainted with our enigmatic, thorough guest by taking a trip with him to explore Cybertronian history and culture down at the museum section." Vortech stated as he peered over the audience members. "As I've been informed, the any member from the group that traveled with Doctor Oobleck during our last intermission ought to be able to guide you to the location. So, any takers?"

Once more, everyone looked amongst each other, some mumbling as they decided on their next course of action.

"I think I might partake in this little field trip." Pietro said as glanced at Soundwave again. "I welcome any opportunity to learn more of the Cybertronian race."

"Then I shall come along too." Penny cheerfully spoke as she walked up to her father. "As somewhat dark and disturbing as my last trip to that museum section was, I found it to be very informative."

Ruby was currently in inner turmoil as she decided whether or not she go back to the museum area with Soundwave among the group. However, she eventually got to the point where her curiosity and excitable nature got the better of her.

"Ah... screw it." Ruby muttered before running over to the Decepticon and the Polendinas. "I'll go with them!"

"Well I guess since Ruby's going, I'll follow." Yang said, crossing her arms as she gave a distrusting look at Soundwave. "There isn't any way I'm going to just leave her in the company of a Con."

"Acknowledged." Soundwave replied to Yang as she joined the group.

"If my girls are going, then I'll come along too." Tai stated as he walked up to his daughters.

The teachers were muttering amongst each other before Oobleck stepped forth. "Yes. Well, after some careful consideration, I will go on this trip as well. I too am intrigued by Cybertron's history."

"Better count me in too." Port stated as he and Oobleck walked over to the growing group.

Vortech then turned to Sienna as began to speak in a condescending tone. "Why don't you go along with them, Sienna? Ensure the safety of the group as a whole and all."

Sienna narrowed her eyes at Vortech, but conceded as she walked over to Soundwave without a word.

"Any others?" Vortech asked to those that had not joined up with Soundwave.

"My team will come with as well."

Vortech turned to see Cinder walking up to the group, casting Soundwave a single look as she did so.

Emerald held a confused and surprised look towards Cinder's sudden decision. She looked over to Mercury to see how he took to this. All she got in return from the assassin's son was a simple shrug before he followed Cinder in suit. Showing an uncertain expression, Emerald eventually followed Cinder and Mercury.

"Now there's the spirit." Vortech said as Cinder and her crew passed by him. "Will anyone else join?"

Vortech waited for the rest of the audience members to respond, either getting shaking heads or silence as his answer.

"Very well then." Vortech said before he turned to Soundwave, looking up at him. "You know where to go."

Soundwave nodded in response to Vortech. He then looked down at the audience members that had joined him. "If you will all follow me."

As Soundwave began to walk away, those with him began to follow, leaving Vortech behind with everyone else.

"Well that was a neat, little experience I just saw right there." Roman blandly remarked to Vortech, grabbing his attention again. "Now, can you open the bar? I really don't want to be sober at the moment."

Vortech simply rolled his eyes before tapping his staff against the floor. This had caused the door locking away the bar room to slide open.

Seeing the bar open once again, Roman replied to Vortech by tipping his hat off to him. "Thank you very much."

And with that, Roman walked to the bar again with Neo in tow.

After watching the criminal duo retreat into the bar, Vortech was quick to find Ozpin approaching him.

"What do you want, old man?" Vortech asked the headmaster of Beacon.

"Old man? That's definitely one of the most tamed jabs I've heard thrown my way." Ozpin commented.

"Yes. I imagine a certain Grimm queen has referred to you as worse." Vortech said. "So much so, that you could probably sue for slander."

"Verbal insults aren't quite as affective to me as they may once have been." Ozpin said, looking off to the side before meeting Vortech's eyes once more. "I was hoping you and I could go for a walk and talk about certain matters in particular. Some of which involve the aforementioned Grimm queen."

"And how far away would like to have this little discussion of yours?" Vortech asked, glancing behind Ozpin at those that remained in the room.

Ozpin didn't need to turn his head back to know what Vortech was getting at. "Someplace secret. Someplace quiet. Without anyone but ourselves around."

"Outside it is then." Vortech said before pushing his tattered cape back a bit before using his staff to open a portal. "Step right through here, please."

Before Ozpin could walk through the portal with Vortech, Glynda and Ironwood had moved towards them first.

"Where are you going?" Glynda asked, her question directed more so to Ozpin.

"Oh, you know. We're simply going out for some fresh air. Smell the roses a bit." Vortech answered her. "Whatever other cliché there is about going outside."

"There are a few things I wish to talk to Vortech about in private." Ozpin answered Glynda. "Preferably without the company of those that do not everything about what we do."

Glynda and Ironwood looked to each other, both picking up on the meaning of Ozpin's words.

"We understand." Ironwood nodded back with his arms behind his back. "Hopefully Vortech and Soundwave and being truthful, and that we'll still be alive when you get back."

Ozpin gave a soft chuckle in response to his old friend. "I should wish that to be the case. Until then."

And with that, Ozpin walked through the portal.

Vortech looked at Glynda and Ironwood, giving a small, mock-bow. "Adieu."

Vortech then followed Ozpin through the portal, closing it behind him upon entering it.

"So... what do we do now?" Nora spoke up.

"I suppose we just... wait for everyone to be done with their trips." Pyrrha suggested.

"Well, I don't know about you kids, but I'm getting something to eat." Qrow said as he walked towards the food court counter to look at the menu. "I'm starving. I think I could eat an entire quadruple cheeseburger."

"Perhaps if you didn't divulge in alcoholic beverages so much, you wouldn't be so hungry." Winter pointedly said to Qrow as she walked up behind him to look at the menu herself.

"It's not the drinking. I'm just hungry." Qrow said otherwise as he rubbed his hang against his chin, deciding on what to get.

After seeing Qrow and Winter walk up to the food court counter, Ironwood looked to Glynda, motioning his hand towards said counter. "Want to grab a bite to eat? My treat."

"I don't think we actually have to pay for any food here, James." Glynda replied to him. "But that doesn't mean I'm not hungry. Just don't try any moves or cheap tricks that Qrow would use to pick up barmaids."

"Comparing me to Qrow. You are cruel." Ironwood said to Glynda with a small, joking smile as the two walked to join in line with Qrow and Winter.

"It seems the adults are preoccupying themselves." Ren observed before turning back to his team. "Does anyone have any ideas as to what we can do to pass the time?"

"I'd still like to know what this food fight is, that I've heard about." Ilia stated as she looked over to Blake.

"Now that was a fun day." Nora giggled a bit with a nostalgic grin. "You should have seen it. Blake and Pyrrha were battle each other with baguettes. I knocked Yang through the roof with a watermelon as a hammer. Weiss fought with a swordfish. We absolutely wrecked the cafeteria. It was great. And even after all of that, Professor Ozpin bailed us out of trouble with Miss Goodwitch for all the damages. That was perhaps the best day I've ever had, and ever will have at Beacon Academy."

Ilia held an immensely perplexed expression to her face, looking over at Blake and Weiss. "Baguettes? A swordfish?"

Blake awkwardly coughed into her fist while Weiss looked down in embarrassment as she fiddled her fingers together.

"We may have let things... get out of hand a bit." Weiss sheepishly replied. "Somewhat... yeah, there really is no excuse for that whole mess."

"If you want the whole story, you're probably gonna want to sit down." Blake told Ilia. "It's a long and weird one."

"No kidding." Ilia deadpanned before sighing. "Seeing as how we do have time to spare, I might as well hear about this entire story."

"Right. So, where to begin..." Blake said as she, Ilia, and Weiss took a seat at a nearby table with team JNPR joining them. "It all started when Yang and Nora were having a food fight of their own. But it was the smaller kind that kids usually do."

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The trip was quiet for most of the people that chose to follow Soundwave to the museum section. Most of them kept their distance from the Decepticon while those such as Pietro and Penny walked closer with Soundwave.

"I can't believe we're actually walking with a Cybertronian." Ruby whispered to Yang. While Ruby would have been walking closer with Soundwave, her sister and father made sure to keep her in arms reach, away from him. "Granted he's a Decepticon, and I was really hoping that if we ever were to meet a Cybertronian for the first time, it would be someone like Optimus Prime, but I guess beggars can't be choosers. And even though Soundwave's a bad guy, or was with this version of him, he still at least looks cool."

"Don't go trying to make it seem okay that Vortech has a Con to keep an eye on us." Yang said to her sister. "No matter how cool he looks, Soundwave is apart of the aggressive Cybertronian faction that have no problem with killing other creatures and living beings."

"You know, now that I think about it, if you take away the shoulder cannon, Soundwave kind of has a similar shaping to Optimus Prime." Tai voiced his thoughts as he looked over to the Decepticon. "I guess you could say he looks like an evil Optimus Prime."

"Ugh. That's a thought I don't want in my head." Yang said with a disturbed shiver. "Evil Optimus Prime. That sounds like some sick joke."

"Then you would be very displeased with the existence of Nemesis Prime, Yang Xiao Long." Soundwave called back to the blonde brawler as he kept walking.

"Wait, what?" Yang muttered in surprise before raising her voice. "How did you hear what I was saying? We were whispering with each other."

"Accompanied with my ability to produce sound waves around eighty-five decibels, or higher, I have acute sense of hearing." Soundwave explained. "An example as to how powerful my hearing is, I can hear the clamping of a praying mantis's mandibles."

"That's more accurate than even faunus hearing." Oobleck said in astonishment.

"I'm calling bullshit on that." Mercury spoke up. "There isn't any way you can actually hear something so quiet from a thing so small. You'd have to actually be the mantis's size to hear it's mandibles clamp."

"The human referred to as Peter Port is currently going through the process of borborygmus." Soundwave then said.

"Borbor-wha?" Ruby asked in confusion.

"Borborygmus is a scientific term that refers to the sound of a grumbling stomach." Penny explained.

"Oh... I see." Ruby nodded in understanding.

"Soundwave is good at hearing things." Port said with a look of astonishment on his face. "I felt my stomach grumbling, but I didn't even hear it myself."

"I did." Sienna commented with a straight face.

"I think you're gonna have to do better than that if a faunus can hear what it is you're hearing." Mercury crossed his arms as he stared at Soundwave from behind.

"Very well, Mercury Black. If I recall, humans, and by extension to your universe, faunus, have a game in which one tries to guess a number someone else is thinking off." Soundwave said. "Think of a very large number."

Mercury raised his brow, wondering where Soundwave was going with this, but conceded with a shrug as he thought up of a randomized, large number. "Done."

Soundwave a quiet for a moment before giving out his reply. "You are thinking of the number two-thousand, five-hundred, and sixty-nine."

It was at this moment that Mercury widened his eyes in surprise. "How did you guess that accurately?"

"Hold on. That's actually the number you were thinking of?" Emerald asked her partner.

All she got in response was a nod from Mercury.

"Now try and think of a different number." Soundwave said.

Mercury cast the Decepticon a wary look before giving it another go. "Okay."

Soundwave was quiet once more until he gave his answer. "You are thinking of the number seventy-five million, eight-hundred, and ninety-one."

"Again? Seriously?" Mercury asked as his shock raised ten-fold.

"That's two in a row." Tai said with an impressed whistle.

"Shall we go a third time?" Soundwave asked Mercury, though despite his obviously robotic and monotone voice, it almost sounded as if there a hint of taunting laced in the Decepticon's words.

Mercury narrowed his eyes before closing them, thinking long and hard about what he would place inside his mind before opening his eyes again. "Okay. Try and guess what I'm thinking of now."

There was silence from the Decepticon again as everyone awaited for his answer. However, after a moment longer than before, Soundwave stated his reply.

"You are not thinking of a number this time. You are now thinking about the Beacon combat professor and Deputy Headmistress, Glynda Goodwitch, wearing a black coloration of apparel your species refers to as lingerie. You are thinking of her giving you some variation of a lesson in combat that involves copulation."

"Huh. Well, crap." Mercury simply said as he slumped his shoulders. "I guess everyone here knows that thought now."

"Copulation?" Ruby quietly muttered with a raised brow

"Wow. You were actually thinking that?" Yang asked with a short chuckle. "Probably a good think Miss Goodwitch didn't come with us. I can't even begin to imagine the look she'd give you."

"That was the most creative thing you could think of?" Cinder asked Mercury with a drawl. "The teacher and student sex cliche?"

"I was going for something unexpected." Mercury replied. "Do I look like I can think up poetry?"

"Eh. It's no big deal, kid. Trust me, you're not the only guy at Beacon who's thought of Glynda like that." Tai said as he, Oobleck, and Port shared a chuckle. "Of course, whenever Glynda would find out about those imaginations... things can get ugly."

"Noted." Mercury simply said before speaking to Soundwave again. "Alright tin man, how'd you do it? How were you able to know what I was thinking of?"

"If I focus long enough on a specific target, the range of my hearing can interpret the frequencies of an individual's neural system." Soundwave explained. "In essence , I can hear one's thoughts."

"Astounding! Absolutely astounding!" Pietro said as his excitement grew. "Not only do you have the ability to weaponize sound waves and hear on such an acute level, your hearing also grants your telepathic capabilities."

"Telepathy, huh?" Sienna asked as she glanced over to Soundwave. "I guess Vortech was right about you being proficient in communication."

"My telepathy is limited." Soundwave then added. "I can only hear an individual's thoughts. And while I can hear the thoughts of more than one individual at a time, it can become... excruciating if the scale of the minds I'm attempting to read is far too large."

"Hearing more than one thought at a time." Oobleck mused. "Yes, I can imagine it would be stressful to your own mind."

"In addition, I can only hear someone's thoughts so long as I can sense their emotions." Soundwave further elaborated on the subject. "If a subject is without emotions, hearing their thoughts becomes next to impossible."

"If that's the case, then Lie Ren's semblance might prove as a useful deterrent towards your abilities." Port said to Soundwave. "His semblance allows him to mask his emotions."

"Yes. I have analyzed all of your files." Soundwave nodded. "Though as to the range of effectiveness Lie Ren's semblance would be against my ability would have to be tested."

"You're not gonna strap him to table and dissect him, are you?" Yang asked.

"No." Was the only reply Soundwave gave.

As they all continued to walk, Sienna gave Soundwave a questioning look. It eventually got to the point she decided to speak up. "Why tell us about what you can do?"

"Vortech wants us to cooperate in an orderly fashion. The most prudent way for that to occur would be for me to indulge information about myself unto all of you." Soundwave answered the White Fang High Leader. "From my understanding, most find it as a way to bridge trust."

"Well, that might take a while, tall, dark, and blue." Tai remarked. "We're all still under our first impressions of you and your Decepticon buddies. But you are trying at least, so I'll give you that much."

"I wouldn't expect you to trust me right away. Especially given my past." Soundwave said. "Trust is a fickle thing. Trust too easily, and others will no doubt use you to their own goals."

"Sounds like something Raven would say." Tai thought to himself.

Soon enough, the group arrived where the museum entrance resided as it was instantly recognized by Ruby, Oobleck, Penny, and Soundwave.

"We have arrived." Soundwave said before pulling up a holographic pad in front of his hand. "I shall now bring up the Cybertronian exhibit."

As Soundwave was activating the door to the exhibit, Port took this time to speak with Oobleck in regards to the museum.

"So this is the place you took the children to last time." Port said to his old friend. "How did it go?"

"Well the museum itself has different exhibits for different universes. And each exhibit, given from what we saw last time, has different galleries." Oobleck began to explain. "Last time we were here, we decided to delve into a section of Mando's universe. The particular gallery we visited was about a group named the Sith. Safe to say, the description of the Sith made them seem as Grimm in humanoid form."

"Sounds like quite the subject." Port commented.

"Exhibit acquired." Soundwave then stated. "Activating all galleries."

"All galleries?" Penny questioned in curiosity. "My, my, my. I didn't realize you could look at all of galleries at once. This should certainly be most informative."

"Hopefully it will be better than most museums." Mercury muttered between himself and Emerald. "The usual ones are kind of boring, and the cool ones cost too much."

Soundwave stood watch as the wall in front of him shifted into a tall doorway, one that was two times his size; more than large enough to let him pass through. The door opened to reveal a grandiose, heptagonal shaped hall with intricate panel designing. The ceiling was light with circular, bright blue lights that gave the room a brilliant hue. The floor was smooth with three sections of floor lights lining down the hall. At the end of the hall we're three diverging corridors. One that split off to the North-West, one that split off to the North-East, and one that went straight ahead.

Soundwave was the first to enter the exhibit, with the rest of group quick to follow.

"This is really big for a museum exhibit." Tai regarded with wide eyes as entered into the hall.

"It almost looks like a gothic styling of Atlas architecture." Oobleck observed as he looked around. "Not to mention the corridor is far larger than the last time I was here."

"This must be what it feels like to be Zwei's size." Yang commented.

"I feel smaller than I already am, and I do not like it." Ruby muttered as she stared up at the ceiling of the hall, which seemed four stories above her and the others, sans the resident Cybertronian. "Even if this place does look cool."

Sienna gazed around the area in contained awe before she set her sits ahead, now focusing on the three diverging corridors.

"What is down each of those?" She asked, garnering everyone else to follow her line of sight.

"Those are the corridors that will lead you to different galleries." Soundwave explained as he began to motion his hand out to each corridor. "Choose to go to left, and you will find records of Cybertron's history; it's various ages, architecture, and wars. Continue straight ahead, and you will find hard light holograms depicting Autobots and Decepticons alike, alongside various sub-factions. Go right, and you find records of Cybertron's religions and mythology, alongside hard light holograms depicting mythical and legendary beings of Cybertron's past."

"Your species even has its own religion?" Pietro asked in glee. "Is there no end to your magnificence?"

Soundwave looked down at Pietro, tilting his head slightly at the elderly scientist. "You seem to be an easily intrigued scientist."

"Only when it comes to the unknown." Pietr said with a chuckle. "Like I've already said, you Cybertronians are quite the sight to behold."

Soundwave gave a small hum of acknowledgment before focusing back on the three corridors. "The decision as to which corridor any of you choose to venture through will be on each of your terms. I myself will be traveling down the Cybertronian factions gallery. However, the moment when Vortech calls for the end of the intermission is the moment I shall lead you all back to the theater. Spend your time wisely here."

After that, Soundwave continued to walk straight ahead to his intended destination, leaving everyone else to decide on which corridor each of them should travel to.

"Choices, choices." Port said as he eyed each path.

"Each one sounds like they would be a very sensational experience." Penny said before frowning slightly. "But it is difficult to decide which one to start with."

"Hmm..." Tai hummed with a hand to his chin, raising his eye brow before pointing at each corridor. "Eenie meenie miney mo, catch a Sabyr by it's toe..."

"Really, Dad?" Yang asked her father with a hand on her hip. "That old shtick?"

However, she was quick to find Ruby was doing the same as their father, only doing so in a quieter voice. It had prompted Yang to shake her head as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

____________________________

Back with Ozpin and Vortech, the two had just exited through the portal. Ozpin looked around at the strange, ocean-like plains that surrounded himself, Vortech, and the theater. Speaking of which, the headmaster of Beacon decided to turn around and see how the theater looked like from the outside.

Safely put, the outside of the theater looked like an ornate, alien temple. On each corner of the theater were tall pillars topped with large crests that held floating, red orbs within them. The roof of the theater was lined with spikes, and topped with a second building layer that curved all the way up to a tall, ovular-shaped structure that was split in the middle with a glowing blue circle at its center.

"You're certainly the craftsman." Ozpin remarked in a neutral tone.

"Well I do find myself enthralled with a good work of art. Especially when I'm the one creating it." Vortech said. "But I doubt my architectural skills are what you wished to speak about."

Ozpin turned to look at Vortech, his thoughts weighing heavily on him as he held an almost dour expression. "How much do you know about my past?"

"Everything, really." Vortech said with a hand behind his back as he began to walk. "How you freed Salem from the tower. How you two fell in love. How you died. How those bratty Brothers brought you back. How you started a family with Salem, only for it to go all down hill. I even know things about your past that not even you know of. After all, I made it my life's work to study the multiverse."

"Then you did your research well." Ozpin replied.

It was then that Vortech walked out onto the ocean-like plains. Though where Ozpin half-expected the interdimensional being to fall in, the headmaster of Beacon was quick to find a sold surface had formed under Vortech's feet.

Vortech turned to notice Ozpin's subtle look of surprise before chuckling. "Hehehe. Surprising, isn't it? Given my powers, I can shape the elements around Foundation Prime in whatever way I see fit. It's how I was able to quickly form the theater, and expand it. So long as you stay beside me, you will not fall under the waves."

"I see." Ozpin said as he walked up to Vortech. Without any hesitation, he moved beside Vortech, quickly finding that the solid surface held firm.

Ozpin then looked out to the oceans of Foundation Prime, watching as various objects ranging from shapes, animals, numbers, and various other objects jumped up from the waves before falling back down and dissolving into the ocean.

"Never have I seen such a place like this. Nor could I have ever imagined it." Ozpin said as he looked out to the seemingly endless seas. "It feels as if everything here is going to erupt at any given moment, and yet it is all still stable at the same time."

"That is because Foundation Prime is made up of the chaotic, primordial elements that helped to give life to the multiverse." Vortech explained as he and Ozpin began their walk. "All around us is a sea that desires to take form, but is ready to fall apart should it not be properly managed. It is a place where chaos and order meet in an almost harmonious mode. During my exploration of the multiverse, Foundation Prime was always the prime target of my research. The place that's connected to every universe that has and ever will exist. It is a glorious sight to behold."

Ozpin nodded with a hum as the two of them walked further away from the theater.

"But back to the original topic, why have me bring up your past?" Vortech asked Ozpin. "Surely not just to confirm what you could already surmise from our telepathic conversations."

"Yes... I've been thinking about our last viewing involving Middle-Earth." Ozpin explained. "Particularly, I've been thinking about its version of Salem."

"Ah. I see." Vortech nodded in understanding. "You're thinking about what could have been. If Salem hadn't become the way she had in your universe. A Salem that was a "good guy", in layman's terms."

"I always think about what could have been." Ozpin replied, casting a solemn glance. "And each time, I am reminded that it was my first death as Ozma that led her down her path. A path of cruelty and irrationality."

"Oh, please. She screwed up massively at every turn she made after trying to get the Brothers to revive you." Vortech waved off Ozpin's words. "She became the way she was on her own terms. It's not your fault that she failed at her own suicide via Grimm pool. While I have nothing against Salem seeking out her own desires, she was certainly a brat about it."

"Even then... I always felt that I was partially responsible for Salem's fate." Ozpin said, watching as a large, DNA strand shot up from the ocean. "I was always willing to follow her. Always willing to do what she wanted. I never even tried to stop her when she decided that we should take over the position the Brother Gods had on Remnant. Not until it was too late."

"I'd argue out of that entire mess, you were the least responsible. If those Brothers weren't being so narrow-minded, or if Salem had been smarter with her choices, you wouldn't have been cast in the middle of it all." Vortech stated.

"Perhaps." Ozpin allowed himself to think on Vortech's words. "But being able to see Middle-Earth's Salem, a Salem that I had thought was lost forever... it brought me a small amount of comfort. Joy, even."

"Well, Salem's elven counterpart was just raised better than how she was in your universe." Vortech simply said with a shrug. "And she's not the only Salem like that, though most Salems are similar to yours."

"I can only imagine what other ways caused Salem to become a cruel and wicked woman in various other dimensions." Ozpin replied with a shake of his head.

"Of course, there are also Salems that are more neutral in their morality." Vortech then added. "Only swaying a bit to one side if it's in her best interests. There's even a version of Salem where she is a God of the sea who's nature is to flow with the tide; always moving, barely stopping."

"That sounds like it would be an interesting universe to see." Ozpin remarked with a short chortle. Though he soon schooled his features as to went on to another topic in his mind. "But that does bring me to something else. You've brought in those such as Sienna Khan, Roman Torchwick, and Neopolitan. Will you eventually bring in Salem and some of her followers as well?"

"I've already started on the followers part." Vortech thought to himself before replying to Ozpin. "If I'm told to bring her in, that is what I will do. Though I imagine she would put up quite the annoying struggle. I'd still have to figure out a way to properly contain her magic. I still haven't done it for you."

"Really now?" Ozpin raised his brow at Vortech. "When you said you had all of our Aura suppressed, I thought that included what magic I had left in me."

"In order to block magic, I would need to find the right spell." Vortech said. "The more powerful a person's magic is, the stronger spell I would need to counteract it. I haven't done it for you because I would rather make a spell for Salem that would work for both of you, instead of making a second spell for her when the time comes."

"A practical choice." Ozpin nodded to him.

"Though I need to study Salem's abilities in my spare time in order to grasp how powerful I need this spell to be." Vortech added.

"Which I would imagine to be difficult with you showing us these viewings a majority of the time." Ozpin said.

"Correct." Vortech affirmed to the headmaster. "But through certain advances I have been making behind the scenes, I am getting closer to expediting the process."

This had caused Ozpin to stop in his tracks, furrowing his eyes in slight curiosity. "Advancements? What kind of advancements."

Vortech had stopped walking by this point, a low chuckle escaping from himself before he turned to face Ozpin. "Perhaps it is time I show you what I've been working on. Tell me, old man, how would you like to see my in-progress plan of making sure no one on Remnant will notice that you and your fellow guests have suddenly vanished out of sight?"

This had only fueled the curiosity behind Ozpin's inquiry. After a moment, the headmaster of Beacon gave Vortech a nod of approval. "Let's see it then."

"An excellent choice!" Vortech proclaimed as he turned away from Ozpin again. "You'll be sure to get a kick out of it."

Vortech then slammed his staff against the surface he and Ozpin stood on two times. Suddenly, the floor they both stood on started to raise up from the ocean. While Vortech's sights were ahead, Ozpin watched as the floor expanded into a large platform as it rose up. Soon it had become a disk-like structure with the same symbols that could be found within the theater. Once it had been fully formed, it rose from the ocean's surface, slowly flying into the air as Vortech directed south of where the theater lay.

"This is far from the type of walk I had in mind." Ozpin remarked towards the current situation. "Where are we going?"

"An offshore laboratory." Vortech answered. "One I constructed before I brought the first wave of you lot to Foundation Prime. It's time for you to meet the clones."

____________________________

Back at the Cybertronian exhibit, everyone had all to split up into each gallery. Pietro, Oobleck, and Port had entered into the history gallery. Tai, Yang, Ruby, Penny, and Sienna had ventured into the factions gallery. That left Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury going down into the mythology gallery.

With Pietro, Oobleck, and Port, all three men were well underway into exploring Cybertron's history and architecture.

Oobleck had come upon a downscaled, hard-light holographic version of an almost golden city with large, domed buildings encompassed by various towers. The history teacher rubbed his hand on his chin as he looked at what the plague in front of the hologram read.

"Iacon." Oobleck read. He then looked over to see a button need the plaque. Once he pressed it, a computerized voice played through speakers near the hard-light hologram.

"Iacon is an Autobot controlled city-state of Cybertron, and served as the Autobot capital during the Great War."

"Autobot capital?" Oobleck questioned. "Perhaps that was the capital the Autobot Arcee spoke of in the Bumblebee viewing."

"Considered the greatest of the city-states, Iacon was the primary base of the Autobot elders, most notable of whom being Alpha Trion, who spent most of him time overseeing Iacon's Hall of Records."

"Hall of Records?" Oobleck raised his brow in interest.

As Oobleck learned about Iacon, Port was across from him, peering at the hard-light hologram of a different Cybertronian city. This city looked almost desolate with smokey skies, pointed and jagged buildings, and with streets alit with purple lights.

Looking down at the plaque, Port furrowed his eyes as he read the name of the city. "Kaon, eh?"

Port then looked at the button beside the plaque and pressed it, causing the same computerized voice to play through the speakers.

"Kaon was known as a smokey industrial cesspool where the lowest castes of Cybertron slaved away. To distract themselves from their poor livelihood, gladiatorial combat become a commonplace among the city's populace. From the gladiatorial Pits of Kaon, a champion rose in the form of a miner named D-16, soon to rechristen himself as Megatron."

"The Decepticon leader..." Port said in realization. After his initial surprise, Port moved closer to the hologram to hear more about Kaon.

"The moment Megatron created the Decepticons and ignited the flames of the Great War, Kaon would become the primary location of the Decepticons, where Megatron would use its capital, Kolkular, as his base of operations."

While Oobleck and Port learned about the Cybertronian cities, Pietro had found himself drawn to the hologram of a crystalline object that was blue in color.

Intrigued by it, Pietro looked at the plaque that went along with the blue crystal, finding the word "Energon" written upon it. Looking around the plaque, Pietro found two buttons on each side of it. One blue, and one red.

The elderly scientist hummed for a moment before choosing to click the blue button. The result of this was that the hologram of Energon had changed into a pink color. Not only that, but the crystal itself had changed into the shape of a cube. Pietro placed his hand to his chin as he stared at the new image. He then pressed the button again, seeing if it would go back to the blue crystal. But while the image did change back into a crystal, it now had a golden color to it.

"Well this is interesting." Pietro muttered before pressing the button again.

This time the Energon had turned into a different crystalline shape while being the color red. Pressing the blue button for a forth time, the crystal changed in its shaping, but this time the color of it was purple.

"Hmm." Pietro looked at the plague once more, adjusting his glasses to see if there was anything else on it, or if the name on the plaque had changed at all. "Well there doesn't seem to anything else to determine if these different holograms are separate from whatever this Energon substance is. Perhaps these are different versions of Energon, with different purposes? Or that they are different versions from different universes?"

After pressing the button again, the hologram reverted back to it original, blue crystal. After understanding what the blue button did, Pietro then set his attention on the red one, wondering what it did. One he had pressed the red button, the computerized voice was activated through the speakers.

"Energon. Cybertron's primary energy source, the very substance that gives life to the Transformers as a whole."

"Energon is their fuel?" Pietro muttered in curiosity.

"With Energon, a Transformer could live for millions of years to come. Never dying of age. While highly volatile in its purest form, and overpowering to a Transformer in enormous amounts, Energon is harvested and diluted for various deeds varying from fuel, energy, and weaponry. But above all else, Energon is a Transformer's lifeblood. Without the proper intake of Energon, or a proper subsidy of energy, a Transformer will die off from inefficient power."

"It seems Energon is the Dust of the Transformers race. But whereas Remnant only needs Dust for energy, fuel, and our own weaponry, Transformers need it to keep themselves alive." Pietro observed from the information given to him.

However, the elderly scientist began to ponder around the importance and use of Energon is to Transformers, and began to wonder what other applications such a substance could be used for. "I know that Penny lives well enough with the Aura I've given her, but... I always worry what should happen if something terrible were to befall her. There would only be so much Aura that I could give to fix her until I would no longer be able to do so. But this Energon... if implemented to Penny, it wouldn't matter what Aura I had left to fix her. She would be able to sustain herself... even after I take my journey from this life onto the next. If I could understand the basic chemical makeup of Energon... perhaps I could replicate with various combinations of Dust. Perhaps..."

Meanwhile, with Tai, Yang, Ruby, Penny, and Sienna, they were all currently looking about through the hard-light holograms of the Autobots and Decepticons. Each hologram was to scale with their actual sizes as they towered over the group from Remnant.

"Take a look a this guy." Yang said as she motioned over to the hologram of a red Autobot with a face plate, a gun turret at the center of his chest, and with silver treads under his arms and feet.

Tai walked up to the Autobot hologram as he read the name that was on the plaque below it. "Warpath, huh? There's even a quote under it. "A good shot is worth more than a good intention." I guess that explains why he's named Warpath."

Yang looked at the plaque to see it had three buttons beside it. A blue button on the right, and a red and green button on the left. She decided to press the red button, activating the computerized voice from the speakers.

"The Autobot known as Warpath is loud, boisterous, skilled, confident, and devoted to his allies. With his primary alternate mode being that of a tank, Warpath has thick armor plating, alongside various special munitions ranging from cryogenic, acid, thermal, and sonic. However, his favorite type of munitions are the simple explosive shells that cause large explosions. And unlike most combatants, Warpaty is known to shout out noises to mimic his gun firing. Such examples being..."

It was then the computerized voice changed a more rambunctious and wild robotic voice with an excited tone to it.

"KABOOM! POW! KAZOWY! BLAM! BAM! ZING! ZOOM! WANG ZANG ZOOORGG! WOOSH!"

"That is obnoxious." Sienna scowled at the voice as she covered her faunus ears.

"Man, I'd think Nora would love this guy." Yang said with a chuckle. She then decided to see what the green button could do, and pressed it.

Yang and her father watched as the hologram of Warpath transformed into a heavily armored vehicle with treads for wheels as the Autobots head had folded into his chest, with the chest itself becoming the turret head of the vehicle.

"This must be that tank thing the voice was talking about." Yang said with an intrigued look. "It's nothing flashy, but it's a got a nice robust charm to it. Not to mention that it looks powerful. I think I kind of like it."

Yang then decided to press the blue button, to see what it would do. The result was that Warpath changed back into his robot form, but his appearance changed slightly. This time he had become more bulky with his face plate acting like a large, over-biting chin. The turret on the chest was longer and larger, and his Autobot insignia had what looked like diagonal, rectangular wings on each side of it.

"Huh. Neat." Yang muttered before pressing the blue button again.

The appearance of Warpath's robot mode changed again, this time with a stockier look with a more round chest with red lights and large yet short and triangular shaped turret at the center of his chest. The third time Yang pressed the button, Warpath had become far larger with a more camouflage red pattern that covered his panel-like armor. Pressing the button the forth time, Warpath had reverted back to the size Yang had first seen him as, but this time he looked like a combination of his initial look and his third appearance, having the triangular turret again but being more rounded. This design was familiar with how Yang and everyone else hd seen the Transformers in the Bumblebee viewing.

After pressing the button once more, Warpath was reverted back to his initial appearance.

Now knowing what each button did, Yang called out to everyone else to inform them. "If any of you want to know, the green button has them transform. The red button has some robot voice talk about them. And the blue button shows you different versions of them."

"Got it!" Ruby called back to her sister as she looked around.

Soon Ruby had come upon the hologram of Optimus Prime. She shook in glee as she ran up to him with a bright smile on her face. Quickly looking around his plaque, Ruby found the green button and immediately pressed it.

Ruby stood back in anticipation as she watched Optimus Prime lean forward as his legs combined, his arms folded into his chest, and his head hid into his body. Once the hologram was finished transforming, Optimus Prime had become a square, red semi-truck with a blue trailer bed.

"Awesome." Ruby excitedly giggled before pressing the green button again, watching Optimus revert back into robot mode.

Ruby looked back at Optimus's plaque, finding the quote underneath where his name was written.

"Freedom is the right of all sentient beings." Ruby read in a hushed tone. "So cool..."

Ruby then walked away from Optimus to look at what other Cybertronians were in the gallery. She had passed those such as Ironhide, Brawn, Ratchet, Wheeljack, even Bumblebee. However, she soon came upon a Cybertronian she had yet to see, and Autobot to be precise.

This Autobot was red and orange with grey lower legs, exhaust pipes on his legs and arms, and yellow, wing-like fins on his back. The finishing detail was the yellow flame emblem that was placed on his chest where his Autobot emblem resided. Upon the Autobot's plaque, Ruby found what his name was.

"Hot Rod." Ruby read out before looking at the quote underneath. "My actions speak louder than words."

Looking at the green button for Hot Rod, Ruby pressed it. She watched as Hot Rod's hologram jumped and contorted around as his legs folded back, his chest folded up to form the from of car's hood while also forming a blue windshield in the process. His arms merged to the sides of car hood as the exhaust pipes on the arms had confined with the pipes on the legs. Finally the wing-like fins on his back shifted into a car spoiler. By the time it was all done, Hot Rod had transformed into a what looked like a futuristic sports car with flame decals and an engine on the hood.

"Okay, I'm not usually all that into cars and motorcycles, but that's how you ride in style." Ruby commented with an ear to ear grin at the vehicle before her.

"Friend Ruby!" Penny called out.

"Yeah?" Ruby turned to her android friend.

"I believe I have found the sextuple changer Vortech talked about during the last Bumblebee viewing." Penny said as she pointed towards one the many plaques beneath the holograms. "The Decepticon called Sixshot."

"Ooh! Let me see." Ruby said as she tan over to Penny.

Before two girls stood the hologram of a tall and imposing Decepticon with purple and black legs, a teal chest and pauldrons, white arms with black hands, and a white head covered with a white face plate, giving Ruby and Penny a good look at his red eyes. There were wheels on his arms and pauldrons, along with two, white wing-like protrusions that stood up on his back, along with two smaller, black wing-like protrusions jutting out from the sides of his chest.

"Sixshot." Penny off the plaque before reading the quote. "Life is worth living only as long as there are enemies worth destroying..."

At this, both Ruby and Penny frowned, sharing a look with each before looking back at Sixshot's hologram.

"What kind of thinking is that?" Ruby bluntly asked.

"Yes. I have not heard anyone view the gift of life in such a way before." Penny said before shaking her head. "I do not like it."

"Well, let's see what he transforms into." Ruby decided to change the topic as she pressed the green button.

The first things Sixshot had transformed into was a bulky wolf, his arms and legs becoming wolf legs while the wings on his back lowered backwards. On the second go, Sixshot changed from the wolf into some strange looking weapon that looked like a pistol in a way.

"Okay, what the heck kind of gun is that?" Ruby asked, frowning as she raised her brow in confusion. "The handle's too thin, and the barrel looks way too heavy. That doesn't seem very practical."

"Well, my swords act like guns without going a transformation, so I don't mind it's appearance too much." Penny said before had a go at pressing the green button.

The third thing Sixshot transformed into a large, and bulky vehicle with a middle launching turret at the top of its back.

"Hmm..." Penny hummed as she and Ruby stared at the peculiar vehicle.

"I have no idea what kind of vehicle this is meant to be." Ruby said with furrowed brows.

"It looks like that tank thing I saw Warpath transform into." Yang said, walking up between Ruby and Penny. "So you guys are looking at this Sixshot guy?"

"Yeah. Right now, all he's turned into is a wolf, the ugliest pistol I have ever seen and whatever you said his third mode was. A tank." Ruby explained to his older sister.

"What's his robot mode look like?" Yang asked.

"Uh... kind of like a white and teal ninja with wings on his back." Ruby said with a finder to her chin. "A very sharp and robotic ninja."

"Blake's missing out then." Yang remarked. "I wonder what she and everyone else are doing back at the food court?"

"Who knows. Probably eating. Maybe Blake and Ilia are catching up with each other, or Jaune is trying to flirt with Weiss again while simultaneously cracking apart Pyrrha's heart at the same time." Ruby shrugged before pressing the green button for a forth time.

"Why would Jaune crack his partner's heart?" Penny asked with a confused frown. "I thought they were good friends."

"It's metaphorical, Penny." Yang waved her off. "We'll explain it to you later."

____________________________

Back at the food court, the adults had seated themselves at a table after getting their food. To his own words, Qrow had gotten a quadruple cheeseburger with bacon, lettuce, and tomatoes. Winter was calmly taking in spoonfuls of a beef stroganoff soup. Glynda was indulging herself with three grilled lobster tails. That left Ironwood, who delightfully ate from a meat lovers Stromboli.

Of course, while the adults quietly enjoyed their meals, Blake, Weiss, and team JNPR were still telling Ilia about their food fight.

"Wait. Hold on." Ilia said to Blake, raising her hands in a halting manner. "What kind of baguettes does your school give you? From the sound of your fight, the baguettes were far from the softest food choice there. Quite the opposite, actually."

"Yeah... I honestly have no idea as to why those baguettes were so hard." Pyrrha said with a confused look whilst Blake shrugged. "Perhaps the air had dried them faster?"

"Or Beacon cheaped out on bread." Ilia dryly remarked.

As the students continued on with their tale to Ilia, Qrow couldn't help but listen in on their conversation as well, not that there was much talking going on with his colleagues and Winter.

"So what's this about a food fight the kids are going on about?" Qrow asked before taking another bite into his larger burger.

Glynda gave a frustrated sigh, lightly shaking her head before she answered Qrow. "It was at the start of the new semester. Teams RWBY and JNPR had easily gotten into the most destructive food fight I had ever seen in my life. Honestly, Ozpin is too lenient on the students at times."

"How destructive was this food fight?" Winter asked with a steady tone, hoping that her little sister and her team hadn't caused too much damage.

"You could have sworn the cafeteria had been ransacked by hungry Grimm." Glynda remarked before eating some of her grilled lobster tail.

And there it was. The confirmation on Winter's dread.

"I see..." Winter said, giving her own little sigh. "It would seem I am required to have a firm talking to with Weiss at a later date."

"I heard about it from Ozpin." Ironwood said. "If I'm correct, Ruby was the last one standing in the fight."

"Not surprising." Qrow shrugged. "Kids got strong will and determination. Probably more than Summer had."

"Are you saying that you're praising your niece for winning a good fight that caused significant damage the Beacon cafeteria?" Winter asked Qrow with a disapproving look.

"Damage I had to clean up as per usual." Glynda muttered before continuing with her food.

"Well Ruby did win." Qrow replied to Winter. "And by proxy, that meant your little clone of a sister won as well. Aren't you a little happy with that?"

Winter was silent for a moment, staring at Qrow before going back to her soup. "I suppose there is... some merit to that."

Glynda merely rolled her eyes, prompting Ironwood to give a silent chuckle.

____________________________

By now, Ruby, Penny, and Yang had looked through two more of Sixshot's modes. The fourth mode appeared to be an armored truck with a gun on each side of the vehicle. Then the fifth mode seemed to be an aircraft that was triangular shaped with two wings.

"Okay. So three out of five isn't too bad." Ruby said. "The truck and aircraft look decent. I still can't forgive the look of that gun mode, though."

"Well, why don't we see what it says about his history and what not?" Yang suggested as she moved to press the red button.

Once she had done so, the computerized voice played through the speakers, talking about Sixshot.

"Few Decepticons are as feared as Sixshot by Autobots and his own Decepticon comrades. Being the first Transformers to assume six alternate modes, Sixshot has been labeled a Solo Transformer Assault Group, or S.T.A.G for short, but is more widely referred to as a "one robot army". The destructive capabilities of Sixshot are regarded as legendary, with the strength take on a planet's entire civilization. His is gleeful murderousness only matched in ferocity only by the intensity he has in completing his bloody tasks. However, make no mistake, for Sixshot is more than just a weapon to be aimed. He is greatly intelligent with his own twisted sense of honor. He seeks to challenge the greatest warriors around, for as a warrior himself, Sixshot seeks to test his mettle against those he deems worthy. It is Sixshot's belief that as a warrior, he will only meet his end on the battlefield against an opponent more skilled and stronger than himself. But with that said, Sixshot is more inclined to cause trouble to make new enemies and challenges where none existed before."

"Well this guy's a right piece of work." Yang regarded Sixshot as she crossed her arms.

"It sounds as though Sixshot was a powerful Decepticon that wanted to show off and use his strength whenever he could." Penny surmised.

"In terms of abilities, not only did Sixshot boast having six alternate modes, but he could produce five clones of himself, each capable of changing into one of Sixshot's alternate modes. Added to that was Sixshot's armature, which was composed of metals drawn from the core of a black hole, making the Decepticon immensely durable to most attacks. In some variations, Sixshot has the added ability to mask himself as another Transformer, taking on their entire appearance. However, out of all of Sixshot's powers, his greatest lies in his secret seventh transformation, the Flying Wolf. A mode that allows Sixshot to use a combination of all of his powers at once. Though this mode is only ever used when Sixshot finds himself against an opponent whom he deems sting enough to compete on his level."

After hearing the last part, Ruby, Penny, and Yang each shared a look with one another in curiosity. It was then that Ruby took the initiative in pressing the green button again. The result of this was Sixshot's hologram transforming into an aircraft with a wolf for a head, treads on the side, and wings that were up front near the head of the alternate mode.

"Eh." Ruby shrugged. "It's kind of cool looking. But I guess I'd have to see it in action to get a better perspective on it."

As the three girls continued to look at Sixshot, Sienna was quietly wandering through the gallery, walking further away from the others as she observed the Cybertronians that took her interest, looking at their names as she did so.

One she came upon was a broad Decepticon with a stern exterior. He had small wings on the sides of his legs and larger wings on his back, accompanied by what seemed to be sword sheathed there as well. At the center of his chest, Sienna noticed what appeared to be an airship cockpit of sorts. His primary color was navy blue with yellow as his secondary, and bits of grey on his chest, arms, and legs. Lastly, his face was gold in color with a navy blue helmet and horn-like eyebrows above his red eyes. The plaque showed that his name was "Dreadwing".

The next Cybertronian Sienna looked at was a particularly large Autobot. His shoulders were broad, and his feet were large. His chest was golden with small, black screen placed at the center of it, atop his Autobot insignia. His crotch plate was red, and his arms and legs were grey with instances of red, blue, and green. Speaking of his arms, his hands were black with three golden claws on his wrists—two at the top, one at the bottom. I'm his right hand, he wielded a large, red sword that glowed while his left hand wielded a large, double barreled blaster of sorts. The final details Sienna could see was that the Autobot had some sort of wings on his back with what looked like tiny, clawed hands peering over them. Finally, his head was completely black with a faceplate, a blue visor in place of eyes, and a sort of horn-like structure on each side of his head. His name was shown to be "Grimlock".

The next Cybertronian Sienna saw was quite the sight to behold. His color was primarily a metallic, royal blue with instances of black. His entire body frame mechanical and sharp with large, clawed, reptilian like legs spikes near his chest, and large, jagged, draconic wings tipped in ice blue that draped from his back. At the center of his chest was an ice blue orb that shimmered. His head bore yellow eyes as he wore a cyan helmet that had what looked like a large, metallic blue tail hanging from the back of it. But the most striking part of the Transformer's appearance was that his entire left arm was neck and head of a horned dragon,  with the same royal blue coloring, though with instances of teal running down its neck and on its snout, along with having yellow eyes as well.

"I can take a hint as to what this one transforms into." Sienna remarked as she gave the Cybertronian's hologram a wary look. She looked down to see what what the plaque read. "Cryotek. "Always know what your allies and enemies choose to ignore"."

Sienna then looked around to see what faction this Cryotek belonged to, though she hazarded a guess in thinking he was Decepticon due to not only his appearance, but also because of the quote under his name. However, the moment she was able to spot Cryotek's insignia, it looked nothing like a Decepticon's, nor an Autobot's for that matter. While the symbol was purple just like a Decepticon's, it looked like the head of an insect. A wasp, or a mosquito, due to its shaping. The appearance of the newly discovered insignia caused Sienna to become curious.

"Do you belong to some different faction we've yet to learn about?" Sienna muttered as she stared at Cryotek with an analyzing gaze.

"I see you have found one of the sub-factions I spoke of."

Upon hearing his monotonous, and robotic voice, Sienna turned to see Soundwave approaching her. He looked at the tiger faunus for a moment before looking over at Cryotek.

Sienna was a bit hesitant to speak to the blue Decepticon, but eventually gave in as her curiosity of Cryotek stole her. "What is this sub-faction that Cryotek belongs to?"

"He belongs to the Predacons." Soundwave answered her. "During the Great War, there was group of Decepticons known as the Predacon's. A five-bot team led by Razorclaw, who's alternate mode was reminiscent to that of a lion. In universes where the Great War has long passed, and the victors decided, the descendants of the Decepticons christened themselves after the original group of Predacons. Predacons in name, but separate from the function the originals served. In those universes, Predacons inherit Cybertron with the descendants of the Autobots, the Maximals."

"So these... Predacons and Maximals... do they all transform into animals?" Sienna asked. "Their names suggest that is their capability."

"Predacons and Maximals are able to transform into the same things Decepticons and Autobots transform into. However, their scanning perimeters were expanded to include the ability to take on the alternate forms of organic or robotic creatures." Soundwave explained to Sienna. "So yes. They can transform into animals if they choose to."

"Hmm. I may not as enthusiastic as others, but I will say that your kind intrigues me." Sienna said.

"As am I with your kind." Soundwave said to her.

This had prompted Sienna to furrow her eyes slightly as she looked to Soundwave in a quizzical manner. "What do you mean by that?"

"The faunus." Soundwave elaborated as he looked down to her. "You live like humans. Walk like humans. Talk like humans. Share physical traits with humans. Yet faunus and humans are two completely separate species. The key difference being in your genetic makeup. The animalistic traits faunus have regular animals of your world."

"So do we intrigue you because we have animal attributes, or as potential science experiments?" Sienna prodded with crossed arms.

"It would seem both humans and faunus believe alien species always come to them for experimentation." Soundwave remarked. "While I do not deny that understanding faunus biology, and in what ways it could be used, is interesting, what intrigues me about the faunus is how similar their history is to my people. Specifically, the Decepticons."

"Excuse me?" Sienna asked in offended and almost threatening tone. "In what world are the faunus similar to a bunch of cold-blooded killers that sent their planet into a world-wide civil war?"

Soundwave stood in silence for a moment. He stared down at Sienna as she looked up at him, glaring into his visor as she awaited for some form of reply.

A reply she soon got in the form of two words.

"Follow me." Soundwave told her before walking further down the gallery.

Sienna watched Soundwave move some distance away from her. She unwilling to follow for a moment, but soon gave an annoyed grunt before trailing behind the blue Decepticon.

After passing by several more of the Cybertronian holograms, Soundwave stopped to look at one in particular.

Sienna moved her eyes to whoever it was Soundwave was looking at. Yet the moment she did, she widened them a bit at the appearance of the Transformer before her. He was Decepticon, no doubt, given the insignia placed at the center of his chest. However, he was large, tall. His very presence not only displayed, but demanded power. His entire body frame was a gunmetal grey with instances of red and black on his arms, legs, and waist. There were tank treads on his shoulders and legs. His back had what seemed to be a turret of sorts standing upwards on the right side. Upon his right arm rested a large, black cannon  from which an insidious purple glow emitted from the inside the barrel. Lastly, his head was covered with an almost gladiatorial styled helmet, but his face was not hidden from Sienna as the White Fang High Leader could sense the sternness in his features, the rage in his piercing red eyes.

"Behold the previous leader, and found of the Decepticons." Soundwave stated as he raised his arm to the headlight hologram. "Lord Megatron."

"This was who led you and your comrades into your Great War?" Sienna asked as she stared at Megatron's hologram.

"I know what you are thinking. It wasn't always like that." Soundwave told her as he looked to the hologram as well. "In many universes, including my own, Megatron was miner forced into labor the moment he was created. He was treated as nothing more than a tool to those in higher positions, for before the Great War, Cybertron was under an unjust caste system. Soon enough, Megatron had honed his strength and entered into the gladiatorial Pits of Kaon. From there, he became a champion to many others, those who too had suffered under the caste system. Megatron helped up to rise up against our oppressive rulers. Thus began the creation of the Decepticons. We named ourselves as such because our rulers used and deceived us. The Decepticons were a revolution. One that would change Cybertron for the better of our people."

"And then came your war." Sienna scowled.

"Yes... to say mistakes were made would be an embarrassing understatement." Soundwave regarded to Sienna as he looked down at her again. "But surely you must now see our similarities. The faunus were oppressed. We were oppressed. For us, we started the Decepticon revolution. For you, the White Fang came into being. And both the Decepticons and the White Fang became something more destructive than they were originally intended to be."

"I will... admit that if what you say is true, I can see the similarities." Sienna said as she glanced off to the side. "The humans oppressed my people for so long. I joined with Ghira to make a difference, but his peaceful actions were not enough of a statement. Peaceful protest wasn't making change for the faunus fast enough. So when I took over as High Leader, I made sure to send humanity a message they would not, could not ignore. That the faunus would not go down without a fight. That we would take vengeance on those who would do us harm. But where I draw the line in our similarities to the Decepticons is how you ended up. You brought war to your world. That is not my goal."

"And yet, it is something that those within your ranks want." Soundwave retorted to her. "Those that want war with humanity. To become the masters while humans serve underfoot. Something that soon became of the Decepticons."

"The White Fang's goal is to show humanity we won't be pushed around." Sienna angrily stated. "We're not murderous monsters. We're not trying to bring world war."

Soundwave stared at Sienna before turning back to Megatron's hologram, crossing his arms behind his back. "The Decepticons went down our path because Megatron had become corrupted himself. Instead of desiring freedom for us, he desired power. And those of us that were truly loyal to him, those of us who did not wanted power ourselves, followed Megatron's every command. "Peace through tyranny" was what Megatron always told us. We believed him."

It was then that Soundwave glanced back at Sienna, who poked at him in return. "Tell me, Sienna Khan. Is there not one among your ranks that shares a similar story to that of Megatron? One who's rage against humanity is great? One you have influenced, and has influenced many others in the process?"

"I know where you're going with this." Sienna said with a frown. "Adam has experienced some of the worst humanity can do during his time in the SDC mines. He enough reason to hate humans to such an extent. But he isn't so blinded by rage that he would go to such extremes as Megatron did."

"All it takes is a step in the wrong direction to send the young bull faunus down a path much alike Megatron and the Decepticons." Soundwave stated as he began to lower himself to Sienna's level. "And he will take the White Fang with him. You may not think he is capable of such things now, but you should watch his actions with care. Along with any who choose to follow Adam Taurus over you."

Soundwave then rose back up as he began to walk away from Sienna, most likely to look at the holograms of his Decepticon comrades.

As the blue Decepticon moved further down the gallery, Sienna had felt the urge to retort something back at him. How Adam wouldn't go down such an extreme path. How the White Fang wouldn't follow suite if he did so. And yet, the more she thought about what she would retort, the more she began to think as to how true her own words would be. It was undeniable that Adam was dangerous, and cared far less about humanity than other faunus in the White Fang. Sienna also knew just how much those in the White Fang found Adam to be a source of inspiration. How some even lionize him for his actions against humans like Jacques Schnee. It also didn't help how she just learned that Adam was in league with a criminal like Roman Torchwick. A human, no less. Now Sienna saw that there was reasonable cause for suspicion.

For now, the White Fang High Leader simply kept her mouth shut. Sienna gave one more look at the looming hologram of Megatron before turning to the side and muttering.

"Until I can be certain... perhaps I can head some of Soundwave's advice."

While all this was going on, Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald had delved into the mythology gallery. Within the gallery, not only did holograms of mythological Transformers lay, but so too did texts of Cybertronian mysticism and legends.

Cinder was currently listening to a log about a place referred to as the "Dead Universe". A place where one could lose their mind or become corrupted with in both body and soul.

As with Mercury and Emerald, they had gone off in observing some of the Transformers from Cybertron's legends. Particularly, they had entered into a section of the gallery referred to as the "Titans".

"In this area of the gallery, you will find hard-light holograms of Cybertron's Titans. Downscaled for the leisure of properly examining their complete appearances." Came the computerized voice the moment Mercury and Emerald walked into the section. "The Titans are a group of Transformers far larger and far more powerful than most of their kind. They have the transformation abilities to change into large star ships and command centers, with the rare occurrence of a few being able to transform into enormous, animal like forms."

"So basically, robots the size of a city." Mercury commented as he glanced at the ceiling. "That sounds both cool and frightening."

It was then that the assassin's son walked up to one of the Titan holograms. This one had the insignia of an Autobot. He had large arms, larger legs, and a wide chest accompanied by a more narrow waist. His shoulders had large gun turrets placed upon them, currently pointing to the sky. At the center of his chest was a red, circular light below what looked like a small cockpit area with red windows. Speaking of colors, the Titan was primarily white with grey on his shoulders and black hands. His legs were more grey, with parts of them being red. Both sides of his chest were covered in black, with the right side having a vent-like grate on the upper half of it. Finally, his eyes were red as his head was covered with a black helmet that had red, pipe-like antennas on each side. Looking at the name on the plaque, Mercury found the name of the Autobot Titan to be "Metroplex".

Looking past the name, Mercury had found a quote engraved on the plaque.

"Vigilance is the foundation on which victories are built." Mercury read allowed before looking up at Metroplex's hologram. "I can get behind those words."

He then walked closer to the hologram, quick to notice the buttons beside the plaque before shrugging as he pressed the green one.

Mercury watched as the Titan transformed into what he could only assume to be some kind of city fortress. Large, and armed to the teeth. The sight caused Mercury to whistle a bit.

Emerald had seen this as well. The mint-haired girl was currently browsing through the holograms, observantly, trying to see which of the of the transforming behemoths piqued her interest the most. The moment she heard Mercury talking about Metroplex, Emerald couldn't help but look over to see what he was doing next to hologram. Once she watched Metroplex turn into the city fortress, Emerald tucked away in her mind the knowledge of what the green button activated for the holograms.

And thus, she went back on her way, skimming through the appearances and names of the Titans she passed. Fortress Maximus. Scorponok. The Dweller. Iaconus. Each were intimidating to look at, and displayed much power in their own right. But they did not actively warrant Emerald's attention. However, as luck would have it, it would not take much longer for Emerald to find a Titan she found herself drawn to.

She had came upon a Titan that was a dark grey in color with parts of purple, teal, yellow, and grey on its build. It's shape was reminiscent of the famed leviathan Grimm with two, large cannon-like guns mounted upon its back. Stop it's head was a yellow, horn-like structure with a blaster placed right in front of it.

Looking down at the plaque below the hologram, she found the name "Trypticon" engraved upon it. Below the name of the Titan lay the words "Total victory requires total destruction".

"Well aren't you the giant monster." Emerald remarked to Trypticon's hologram with a hand on her hip.

She walked up to the hologram, pressing the green button. Emerald watched as Trypticon's hologram had him transform into what looked like a battle station with a large, dinosaur-like head as its front. Either that, or it was some kind of battle aircraft. Pressing the button again, Emerald found that instead of reverting back to its leviathan robot mode, Trypticon had now transformed into a wide, and towering city fortress, and much like Metroplex, it was heavily armed. After Emerald pressed the green button for a third time, Trypticon reverted back to his monstrous robot mode.

"I see you've made quite the interesting find, Emerald."

Emerald immediately turned around to see Cinder looking at Trypticon along with her, with Mercury not too far behind.

"That guy looks like he came straight from a Mistral kaiju movie." Mercury commented.

"Well, for a monster, he certainly has a good line of thinking." Cinder said as she looked down at the quote below Trypticon's name. "To overcome any challenge before us requires the challenge's total annihilation. Something all three of us should know well."

"Of course." Emerald nodded to Cinder. "You can't get rid of a problem by opting for the temporary solution."

"Hey, Em, I think you're nose is turning brown." Mercury said as he pointed to Emerald's face. "Well, browner than usual."

Emerald promptly slapped Mercury's hand away as she sent him a glare of annoyance.

"Try not to cause too much of a ruckus, the both of you." Cinder chided her two minions as she walked further down the gallery. "We may not be in the same gallery as the others, but we can't be too careful. Any of them could venture in here with us at any given moment. The same with Soundwave. We have to watch what we say, lest any of our potential enemies find us out."

"Yes, Cinder." Emerald nodded to the raven-haired woman once more.

Mercury simply crossed his arms as he gave a grunt in return.

"With that said, however, we should probably go further down the gallery." Cinder suggested. "It will be less likely for anyone to hear us, save Soundwave and Sienna Khan."

"Well if that's the case, I wonder what we're gonna find back there." Mercury said as he and Emerald followed Cinder. "I didn't even think robots could have myths and legends to begin with. Now I'm seeing that they have stuff about robots ten times bigger than how huge the regular ones are. Heck, back near the front, I think I saw something about a Hate Plague. Whatever that is."

"We'll only know by looking." Cinder idly replied to him.

As the three of them made their way out of the Titans section, though not without peering at some of the more larger Transformers as they went, the devious group soon came upon a new section of the gallery. And just like when Mercury and Emerald walked into the Titan's section, the same computerized voices spoke to them.

"I'm this section, you will discover and learn about the greatest and most revered warriors of Cybertron's past. The Thirteen. The original Primes."

"Like that Optimus guy?" Mercury muttered.

Cinder simply hummed in slight intrigue as the computerized voice kept going.

"Created by the primordial god of order and creation, Primus, the thirteen original Primes were designed to be leaders and defenders to Cybertron's future civilizations. Each built with a different purpose, the Primes helped to shape the earliest points of Cybertron's cultrure."

"Of course the giant alien robots also have a god." Mercury remarked.

"At least his a creative name for a god." Emerald said before shaking her eyes. "I mean, seriously, the Brothers? I'm not that much of a religious person, but that's the only name given to the more recognized of Remnant's religions. Not to mention they're the only ones with names. Any other god people believe in is only named by their purpose."

As Emerald had gone on her little tirade, Cinder had walked up to one of the new holograms.

This hologram in particular depicted a Cybertronian that screamed warrior, conqueror, and death. The color of his body was mixed between charred black and a faded purple, along with instances of bronze. His body frame appeared to be immensely strong with broad shoulders, a stern standing. Not to mention that his body also had vent decals carved into his upper chest and his fauld. His head was almost similar to that of Optimus Primes's, minus the fins on the side that he had. Another difference was that the faceplate on this Transformer was grated, invoking a more knightly look. Finally, the final, and more noticeable detail, was that the hologram depicted flames burning off of his entire body, flames that matched the anger and darkness that lay behind this Transformer's burning eyes.

Looking down at the plaque beneath the hologram, Cinder mused the Cybertronian's name as she read it aloud.

"Megatronus Prime... The Fallen."

____________________________

As of now, Ozpin was following behind Vortech as the two walked through a dimly lit corridor, the only light being the one that animated from the latter's staff.

"So this is your secret laboratory?" Ozpin asked Vortech.

When Vortech and Ozpin had gotten to the location in question, it appeared as nothing more than a large, black, box-like building with the same symbols that could be found on anything Vortech had created.

"I know it's nothing too fancy on the outside, but you will soon find all sorts of experiments further inside." Vortech replied to the headmaster.

Soon enough, Vortech led Ozpin to a door at the end of the corridor. After Vortech placed his hand on the door's center, the symbols on the door glowed before it slide open.

Once they had gotten through, Ozpin widened his eyes as to what he saw. All around the room were beakers, chemicals, and other various objects. Some of Vortech's minions could be seen working in the room, conducting certain experiments ranging from portal operations, transfiguration, elemental control, and weaponry.

Speaking of weapons, located on the right side of the room were any and all of the weapons everyone from Remnant had. Ruby's Crescent Rose, Yang's Ember Celica, Weiss's Myrtenaster, Blake's Gambol Shroud, Jaune's sword and shield, Nora's Magnhild, Pyrrha's Miló and Akoúō, Ren's Stormflower, Glynda's Disciplinarian, Port's Blowhard, Oobleck's Antiquity's Roast, and Ozpin's own Long Memory. Ozpin noticed there were other weapons there as well, ranging from what looked like Roman's cane, a parasol, a chain whip with a dagger at the end of it, and what looked to be a blade with a gun handle and trigger at its grip.

But what had caught Ozpin's eye the most was the sight of a clear canister with an orange aura inside of it, an aura that Ozpin recognized.

"Hold on... is that...?" Ozpin questioned, pointing to the canister as he walked up to it.

But before he could get closer to the canister, one of Vortech's minions promptly took and proceeded to hurry off with it into a back room behind the laboratory.

"You weren't meant to see that." Vortech stated to Ozpin, scowling at his minions, whispering harshly at them. "I thought I told you all to hide that canister before we arrived!"

"I recognize the aura that was in there." Ozpin said. "Especially since it isn't being hidden by the Aura of another's. That's the aura of a Maiden. The Fall Maiden."

"I have a brilliant idea. Why don't we change the subject." Vortech said to Ozpin, less as a question and more so in an affirmative tone.

However, Ozpin would not drop it so easily. "There's only one of two people you could have gotten that from. And unless you have Amber hidden somewhere in here as well, you got that half of the Maiden powers from Amber's attacker."

Vortech responded with an irritated sigh, his shoulder slumped a bit as he craned his head at Ozpin. "Listen here, Ozpin, I am not obligated to tell you where I got your leftover magic from. So either drop the topic, or I can take you back to the theater right now."

The two men then had an intense staring contest, both with their eyes narrowed. From the perspective of another, it looked at if Ozpin and Vortech were about to draw out guns on each other.

They continued like this for several more seconds before Ozpin closed his eyes and sighed through his nose.

"Fine." He said, but not without given Vortech a firm look. "But know that I'm not done with you on this."

"Well at least we can come to some understanding." Vortech said as he straightened himself up.

Vortech then walked over to some sort of machine that was connected to a large, circular pad. Ozpin raised his brow in curiosity as to what Vortech was about to do. But it was then that Ozpin looked on in shock as Vortech jammed his hand right into his own abdomen and tore out a chunk of his own being. Throughout the whole process, Vortech barely even flinched, instead giving a small chuckle as his body began regenerate from the missing piece.

Vortech turned back to Ozpin, holding the piece of himself in his hand. "Bet you didn't think I do this, now could you?"

"What madness is this?" Ozpin asked with his eyes agape.

"A stroke of brilliance." Vortech replied as he tossed the chunk of himself onto the circular pad.

After doing so, Vortech walked over to an advanced computer, activating it as he began to input coding. Peering over Vortech, Ozpin could see what looked to an image of himself forming on the computer screen. It was then that Ozpin saw the piece of Vortech hover into the air above the circular pad as glowing rings ran up and down with a low hum that only grew louder.

Now drawn to the spectacle, Ozpin watched as the piece of Vortech stretched and expanded. Soon the piece had taken a form very much similar to one of Vortech's minions. But that was far from the end of it. The minion started to grow clothes, clothes that Ozpin instantly recognized. Then, the minion started to form hair, eyes, skin, and all sorts of other facial features. By the time the process was done, Ozpin was staring at a near perfect, if not entirely perfect replica of himself.

"Hehehahaha!" Vortech laughed in a maniacal manner. "Ozpin, meet your doppelgänger."

"Greetings." The doppelgänger "Ozpin" said to the real one as he stepped off from the pad, holding out his hand to the headmaster of Beacon.

Amidst his befuddlement to the situation he was now faced with, Ozpin numbly shook his doppelgänger's hand.

"I... I don't believe it." Ozpin uttered. "It's like looking into a mirror without glass. As is I'm touching my own reflection."

"Oh he's more than just a reflection." Vortech gave a chuckled as he walked up to the two Ozpin's. "I've given him all of your memories from everything I have seen from your universe and it's off-shoots. How you act. How you talk. All of it implemented into your doppelgänger. Go on. Ask him something only you would know."

By now, Ozpin had stopped shaking his doppelgänger's hand. He glanced at Vortech before looking at the clone.

"Why did I initially rescue Salem from her tower?" Ozpin asked.

"Certainly not for the promise of her love." "Ozpin" replied. "You did so not because it was the "right thing" to do, but because you were looking for adventure, and you saw Salem's cry for help as an exemplary challenge."

Ozpin stared at his doppelgänger for a moment before nodding his head. "You are correct."

"You see? He's the perfect duplicate to make sure no one knows you're away during your time here." Vortech said as he walked up to Ozpin. "In fact, that's what I've done for almost everyone here. At least those who needed doppelgängers right away. The teachers. Your student teams. The General and his top Specialist. Sienna Khan. I haven't created one for you yet because you are not as prominent in roaming around Beacon as your cohorts. And when you do, not many know it. Besides... making so many duplicates at once can be a bit stressful for me. As powerful as I am, I'm not as strong as I used to be."

"With how you tore a literal chunk out of yourself, I couldn't tell." Ozpin remarked.

"I did say only for when I make lots of them in one go." Vortech reminded before turning to Ozpin's doppelgänger. He then opened up a portal, pointing his staff at it as he spoke to "Ozpin". "Of you go, now."

"Ozpin" nodded before turning to Ozpin and nodding to him. "Don't worry. You're school will be in good care. So long, for now."

And with that, "Ozpin" walked through the portal, prompting to close behind per his departure.

Though upon watching his doppelgänger walk through the portal, Ozpin started to think to himself. He then turned to Vortech with an inquisitive expression.

"Earlier you said you close to finding a way to study Salem." Ozpin said. "Do you intend to create doppelgängers for any of her followers?"

"Hmm. Yes and no. But I don't intend to use doppelgängers of her followers to spy on her." Vortech answered with a wave of his hand. "Even for as perfect my doppelgängers for all of you are, I cannot properly mimic your Auras onto them. Something Salem would be able to sense. However, if I were to be able to make a perfect doppelgänger for a Grimm... then I can get somewhere."

""If" meaning that you have not been able to so?" Ozpin asked.

"Yes... let's just say recreating the raw darkness and negativity that comprise a Grimm is quite a difficult task to manage." Vortech said with annoyed sigh. "But if I can mix the right amount of chaos into my fragments, I should be able to disguise my doppelgänger Grimm so Salem wouldn't be able to sniff them out. Thus allowing ample opportunities to study the precise degrees of her magic."

Ozpin gave a hum, nodding his head as he mused the prospect. "If done right, it could be the perfect plan."

"Of course it will be the perfect plan." Vortech stated in a cocky manner. "I made it after all. Now then, I think this intermission has gone on long enough. Let's say you and me get back to the theater so we round everyone up and continue with our next viewing."

Vortech then opened up a portal for him and Ozpin to exit into. But before both of them did, Ozpin furrowed his brows in confusion.

"Hold on, if we're going back to the theater via portal, why'd didn't you do that when bringing me here?" He asked Vortech.

"Because it wouldn't build up the proper suspense." Vortech replied as of it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Seriously, old man, you should learn a thing or two about dramaticism."

Ozpin simply gave Vortech a deadpan stare in return before they both walked through the portal, leaving the laboratory.

____________________________

Back with the group in the factions gallery, Tai had found himself staring at a particular Autobot hologram that he had felt a sense of deja vu from.

The Autobot in question was mostly red in color. His legs were grey and black, each with a speaker on them. His chest was yellow with a slanted glass window on left side of it while also having an eject, volume, and play buttons beneath, leading Tai to think the Autobot's chest was similar to the style of a cassette compartment on an old boom box. Lastly, the Autobot had a visible grey face while wearing a red helmet, roped in silver-white and having two tiny antenna-like protrusions that jutted out a bit from the helmet. Tai had found the plaque beneath Autobot's hologram with the name "Blaster" on it, accompanied by the words "When the music is rockin', I'm rollin'."

After taking in the overall appearance of the Autobot, it then hit Tai as to why he found the appearance, or at least the shaping, of Blaster as familiar.

"Hey, Soundwave!" Tai called out to the blue Decepticon. "This guy over here kind of has the same body type as you. Are you two brothers or something?"

Soundwave had been currently looking at a hologram of a Decepticon Seeker named "Thundercracker" when Tai had called over to him. Though the moment Soundwave saw which Autobot the blond man was referring to, the Decepticon inwardly frowned, despite outwardly showing a different expression.

"No." Soundwave stated in a deeper tone than he had usual spoken in whilst making his way over to Tai and the hologram of Blaster. "He was my Autobot counterpart. Sharing in most of my capabilities, including weaponizing sound waves. In lack of a better description, we were rivals with that had nothing but enmity for one another."

"It sounds like I brought up some unpleasant memories." Tai said with a wince.

Soundwave merely stared at the hologram of Blaster. To Tai, it looked like the Decepticon's red visor was becoming far more vibrant than it once was, as if expressing anger in a way. After some further silence, Soundwave spoke to Tai again. "It is all in the past now. There is no use on dwelling over it."

The Decepticon communications chief proceeded to walk away from the hologram of his rival. But just as he did so, Soundwave had received a transmission from Vortech over his comms.

"It's time to bring them all back." Vortech said to him.

"Acknowledged." Soundwave nodded.

It was then that Soundwave activated the overhead speakers through his connection with the theater. With it, he sent his voice out to each group in their respective galleries.

"Notice: We will now be taking our leave towards the food court. Everyone meet up outside of the museum, and follow me."

As he said this, Yang and Penny had been looking at an Autobot named "Jetfire", with Sienna observing a Predacon named Waspinator, while Ruby was just about to look at Grimlock.

"Aw, man." Ruby poured as she slumped her shoulders. She glanced back at Grimlock as the others started to walk towards the exit of the gallery. "Maybe next time."

When Oobleck, Port, and Pietro, all three had been listening on a lecture about Cybertronian phenomenon referred to as the "Rust Plague", and how deadly it was to the Transformer race when Soundwave had sent out his notification.

"Time for our departure, it would seem." Oobleck said as he started to walk to the exit with Port.

"Just at the knick of time too. That Rust Plague sounded like the stuff of nightmares." Pietro said with a shudder. "Imagining a living, metallic being going through something like that... imagining Penny going through something like that. I swear, I cause my own worry for her most times."

Finally, with the trio on the mythology gallery, they were still observing the Primes section when Soundwave made his announcement.

Cinder had been currently looking at a Prime that was mostly white, grey, and black in color. He looked far more in shape to that of Optimus, but the fin-like attachments on the side of his head were larger, and he had actual wings. The name of this particular Transformer was known as "Nova Prime".

Glancing up at the intercoms where Soundwave's voice had spoken through, Cinder had begun to walk towards exit.

"Come along, Emerald, Mercury." Cinder calmly waved for her subordinates to follow. "Best not to keep everyone else waiting."

Emerald and Mercury, who both had been looking at two Primes named Liege Maximo and Vector Prime, respectively, were quick to heed Cinder's words as the three of them made their way out of the gallery.

____________________________

By now, Ozpin and Vortech had returned to those left at the food court. Ironwood, who had been done with his food, as were the others at his table, walked up to Ozpin.

"How was your walk?" Ironwood asked his old friend.

Ozpin glanced over at Vortech for a moment, thinking as to what words to use before looking back at the Atlesian General. "It was... informative."

"Anything we should know?" Ironwood asked Ozpin in a hushed tone.

"Later." Ozpin told him. "Im still registering everything I learned about from Vortech."

Ironwood had given his own glance at Vortech before nodding to Ozpin. "Very well."

Over by the students and Ilia, a few of them had looked over to Ozpin when he had returned, and when he and Ironwood started to have a conversation.

"What do you think they're talking about?" Jaune asked in curiosity.

"I... think I heard Professor Ozpin say he learned something from Vortech to General Ironwood." Blake said with her bow raised high. "From the sound of things, it was something big."

"Faunus hearing." Nora remarked. "Always come in handy with quiet conversations."

Soon enough, the sound of metal footsteps could be heard closing in towards the food court, causing everyone to turn and see Soundwave arriving with the group that had left with him.

"Good! You're all back." Vortech stated to Soundwave's group. "Have any of you bonded with our new head of security?"

"Well, he told us some stuff about himself." Tai said. "On an overall scale, I don't think we got too personal with him, but I wouldn't say it would seem like Soundwave would actively try and kill us right off the bay."

"Close enough." Vortech replied with a small shrug. "Now, if you'll all excuse me, I need to fetch Roman and Neo."

As Vortech made his way towards the bar, Yang, Ruby, and Penny made their way over to the students.

"So what's you guys do when we were gone?" Yang asked as she wrapped her arms around Blake's and Weiss's shoulders, something which mildly irritated them.

"We had a long conversation with Ilia about our food fight at the start of the new semester." Ren answered Yang. "There was a lot of confusion in between certain parts, but we eventually got to the end of it."

"Fun." Yang commented as Blake and Weiss struggled out of the blonde brawler's arms.

"How was your trip?" Pyrrha then asked Yang. "Since it involved Cybertron, I'm certain it was quite the experience."

"You guys should have seen it. We saw all sorts of new Cybertronians we didn't see before." Ruby said with an excited expression. "They were all so cool!"

"I learned a bunch more of their awesome names." Yang said with a smirk. "Warpath, Powerglide, Sideswipe, Smokescreen, Road Rage."

"One of my favorites from the factions gallery was the Autobot named Cosmos." Penny said with a cheerful smile. "He was a very cute transformer."

"We even saw that Sixshot guy Vortech talked about." Ruby added, though not without frowning quickly afterwards. "He was, uh... he did not sound like the friendliest person out there. That and two of his alt-modes were just plain weird."

"Still crossed about that gun mode, hug?" Yang asked her little sister, her hand on her hip.

"You have no idea." Ruby responded with a deadpan.

The next thing anyone knew was Vortech exited the bar with Neo at his side, the latter walking out backwards. The reason for this was that they were both dragging Roman out from the bar by his collar, as the criminal mastermind still didn't seem to be in a good mood.

"You're really take me away from the bar when I haven't gotten drunk enough yet?" Roman asked Vortech with an angry look.

"Oh, quit whining." Vortech retorted in annoyance. "Next time choose a stronger beverage."

As everyone observed the scene, Qrow looked at it with a knowing look.

"I've been there before." Qrow pointed at Roman with a solemn nod. "Though most of the time it's because I'm too drunk."

"Yeah. I know. I'm one the people that's had to drag you out before." Tai stated to his old teammate with a dull look, his arms crossed.

Once Vortech and Neo had dragged Roman far enough, they both let go of their grips on Roman, allowing him fall back into the floor with a small grunt. As Neo then started to try and help her boss up, Vortech cleared his throat before speaking to everyone again.

"Do any of you need to get any refreshments or snacks before we go in?" Vortech asked in an almost polite manner before switching to a more rushing tone. "If so, you'd better do it now. I don't have all day."

So as those among the audience members started to get snacks and drinks, Soundwave saw it as his cue to leave.

But just as he was in his way, Sienna called out to him, prompting Soundwave to halt in his tracks.

"You're not going join us in the viewing?" Sienna asked him.

Soundwave turned to look down at Sienna as he gave his response. "I will be able to view you all from the security room. Besides, the viewing room is not large enough to properly fit me for the time being. But, as you humans and faunus say, enjoy the show."

"I think how well everyone likes these alternate universes is subjective." Sienna replied, looking back at her fellow audience members for a moment. "But we'll see how well I take to whatever universe is shown next."

With that small conversation you it if the way, Sienna walked towards the counter of the food court, waiting in line to get to get a drink. As she did so, Soundwave stared at her and the others, a thought lingering his mind.

"May your paths be better than they were determined." He thought to himself before continuing to walk off. "May they be far better ours."

____________________________

Later on, everyone had taken their usual seats once more. Some of the students had buckets of popcorn while mostly everyone had a drink of some sort. However the viewing didn't start right when everyone took their seats, as Vortech had went to get something beforehand.

Most of the audience passed the time by talking with each other, though it was mostly those who had gone with Soundwave to the Cybertronian exhibit.

"They have a Rust Plague?" Ironwood asked Pietro with a surprised, disturbed look.

"Mhmm." Pietro nodded with a grim frown. "We saw a recording of what happens to Cybertronian's when they they're affected. Granted, it all varies based on the level of contact, but it's all the same. They rust and break down. I can hardly fathom such a gruesome end."

"I know I definitely wouldn't want to be infected by it." Ironwood frowned as he rubbed his shoulder. After all, he was a cyborg, so not only would the Rust Plague affect his cybernetic enhancements, but it would be the worst case of tetanus out there.

"Yes, but you should have seen their architecture." Oobleck added with a raised finger. "They had some very beautiful buildings. One that stands out to me was Crystal City. It was truly a masterpiece in its appearance."

"So what did you guys find?" Ruby asked as she looked back at Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury.

"The mythology gallery was quite the intriguing experience." Cinder replied to Ruby. "Apparently there are Transformers far more larger than regular ones that can transform into cities."

"Say wha...?" Ruby asked, gobsmacked with her jaw agape.

"Those have got to be some huge Transformers." Yang remarked with wide eyes.

"I couldn't begin to imagine the devastation a Transformer of that size could bring." Weiss said with a wary look. "It would truly be an almost unnatural sight for people of our size to see."

"Of course, there was also the Primes section of the gallery." Cinder than added.

"Primes? Like Optimus Prime?" Jaune asked.

"Yes... Apparently he wasn't the only one to hold that monicker. From what we learned, Primes are recognized as leaders for Cybertron, and tend to be the most coveted in some areas." Cinder replied, crossing her legs. "From what I recall, there was Megatronus Prime, Prima, Micronus Prime, Alpha Trion, Liege Maximo, Solus Prime, Alchemist Prime, Onyx Prime, Vector Prime, Amalgamous Prime, Quintus Prime, Nexus Prime, and then one named Nova Prime—who bore a resemblance to Optimus in a way. There were a few others, but we didn't get to see them as Soundwave had called us back."

"Megatronus?" Yang thought to herself, furrowing her eyes. "Like Megatron?"

Suddenly, the right side door swung open to reveal Vortech carrying a familiar spinning chart in his hand.

"Honey, I'm home!" Vortech called out as he moved to his thrown.

"Oh, hey! You brought back the wheel of dimensions." Nora pointed out.

"Yes. Yes. With Ghostbusters done for now, it's time for us to peer into another one of the previewed universes." Vortech said, sitting down before spinning the wheel of the chart. "Wheel of dimensions. Spin, spin, spin. Which of these universes is going to win?"

"What's with the rhyming?" Emerald asked with a raised brow.

"Hush!" Vortech called out to her, though his eyes glued to the spinning chart.

Everyone was then quiet as they too watched the wheel spin. Eventually, the spinning started to slow down, soon stopping in the universe categorized as "Jurassic Park". The sight had caused sparkles to grow inside Ruby's eyes as an ever eager smile graced her lips.

Vortech gave a small chuckle as he set the wheel off to the side, using his staff to activate the viewing screen. "Well then. It's time to show you all a universe sixty-five million years in the making."

End chapter_

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Author's notes:

So here's the second Intermission chapter. Much longer than the first intermission and with more information in it. Most of the cast got to take a look into Cybertronian history while I build things up with Soundwave being added to the story.

As always, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. We'll be having a winners chapter for voting 12 soon so keep an eye out if you want to see who won.

Now, with all that said, I will see you all in the next chapter.

Till another time, Rule Breakers.