"Alright, boys. We've been on this ship for three whole months, and I'd like to say-"

Wildcat could barely finish his sentence before he was interrupted.

"Three months? It's been, like, two days." Twilight pointed out.

Twilight had decided to call for a meeting in the brief room, where most of the mission planning usually took place. She had let Wildcat begin the briefing after he had been begging for the past 5 minutes.

"It's felt longer, okay?!" He replied, exasperated.

"Not really, Tyler." Russell, one of two new additions to the team, scoffed.

"Yeah, no." Yang agreed.

"I can see where you're coming from, Wildcat, but I have to disagree." Winter said.

Wildcat sat down, staring furiously at the crowd.

"As I was about to say before I was so rudely interrupted, I'm sure that Alex and the 'purple horse' and the 'Super Saiyan God Grim Reaper' have something planned out. Cortana?" Wildcat gestured to the center of the table.

"It's Iris." She replied before arranging various maps, before layering a map of Equestria over a map of Remnant, adding a small ring around where Vytal was located before extending that ring onto the Equestrian map, forming a tunnel between the two worlds.

"The way that our teleporters were designed was that wherever we are, we land relative to that location, in this case, however..." Iris explained before being interrupted.

"There's no way we can get there because if we were to land at the island, we would have to be in Vanhoover, on the other side of the ocean, and furthermore, inland." Vanoss noticed, gesturing to where the Iliad was on the map, still outside of the Equestrian East Coast, and then to the tunnel.

"Not exactly. We could potentially arrive to Vytal, but we would have to sail around the continent, and be at the exact right spot in order to make the jump, but good observation." Iris congratulated.

"How long is it going to take to get from here to the jump point?" Ruby asked.

"Let's see... Keeping in mind we can sail, at best, 60 miles an hour, and around the continent... Carry the seven..." Alex tried figuring out the details in his head.

"Done!" Weiss announced, having written the estimated time of arrival on a piece of loose leaf paper, having done her work on another piece of paper.

"Two weeks?!" Kat gaped.

"Yep, two whole weeks! One to get to the southern end of the continent, five days to get to Vanhoover, and two to park!" Weiss smirked.

"Keep in mind, Weiss. Two weeks. Stuck on a boat. With us." Mako reminded her.

Weiss started to break down in tears.

"I hate this game of emotions we play!" She whined, slumping down in her chair.

"One of us! One of us!" Some of Vanoss's crew started to chant.

"Woooow, that's a bit mean!" Haunting chuckled.

"At least you insisted on the penthouse." Kat tried to cheer her up.

"You even paid me 3,500 Lien just to take it!" Alex added.

"Sleepover!" Ruby cheered, grabbing some blankets from practically nowhere.

"I knew she had a magic satchel!" Delirious shouted.

"What's that mean?" Sirius asked.

"It's when a character can grab anything from nowhere!" Pinkie explained cheerfully.

"Stop breaking the fabric of reality!" Alex's right eye twitched.

"Let me see... Aha!" Yang grabbed a glass filled with some type of beverage, with the slight addition of an umbrella.

"Really? You're doing this crap again! You all know this is filler, right?" Mako sighed, face palming.

Everyone instantly stopped what they were doing and stared at Mako.

"...Yes..." Vanoss stated before the room erupted in chaos again.

A familiar dragonequus suddenly teleported into the room.

"Ah, what a beautiful sight! It brings tears in my eyes." He smiled happily.

"Nah, that's just the bowl of onions." Nora said.

Russell scooted over to Alex, simply sighing and slowly drinking from a bottle of sparkling grape juice.

"How often does this sort of thing happen?" Russell asked.

"Every single time we have a meeting." Alex replied glumly.

"Man, sucks to be you." Russell smirked.

"Shut up, Russ. And get me something besides this sparkling grape juice. None of that diet crap." Alex ordered.

"What's in it for me?" Russell asked.

"Ten bucks. Twenty if you make it quick."

Russell charged out of the room in speeds that rivaled even Rainbow Dash, who had apparently gone Super Saiyan.

"KAAMEEHAAMEE-HAAAAAA!" Rainbow screamed, a beam of iridescent plasma erupted from her front hooves, leaving a massive hole in the roof.

"Nice!" Evan cheered, voicing his approval.

"Clean up on aisle... Everywhere." Alex told Iris.

"Sure." She replied.

Alex sat in wait for his soda. He knew, at this rate, it would be at least another hour before they finally got their act together, and 36 to board up the roof. It would take the full two week trip to completely repair it, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in Equestrian and Remnant taxes.

"Little miscalculation there..." Rainbow backed up before flying out of the room.

----

"V? Where's the undersuit? The mechanical parts?" Alex asked from across the storage room.

"The exoskeleton should be in the back left corner, the plating's in the cardboard boxes to the right." Vinyl explained whilst setting up the tools Alex would need to put the suit together, including a ratchet, a good amount of bolts, and work in progress weapon that Alex himself named 'Blitzklinge', translating to 'lightning blade'.

"Thanks, I'll work on the suit, you set up some targets." Alex ordered as he dragged the exosuit to the workbench, going back to grab the finished armor plating.

Heaving the boxes towards the work bench, he ripped open the tape with his finger, opening it and admiring the hard work.

The metal, unlike the bronze-gold coloring of his other armors, this armor was dark grey, almost black in color, that is, save the paint job, adorned with slightly brighter purple lightning bolts scattered throughout the armor, and that one decoration around the visor. An electric blue line, right where Alex's own scar was.

Carefully inserting the pieces into their proper places, he continued to tighten the bolts, still feeling a twinge of pain in his right arm from yesterday. He respected Yang and all, but dislocating his arm and putting it back in wrong was uncalled for. Thank god he had his enhanced aura, or he'd be out of commission until they got to Vytal.

That gave him an idea.

"Vinyl, can I borrow one of the targets?" Alex asked.

"Knock yourself out, it's 5 feet up to your left." Vinyl replied, placing more steel targets.

He knew how to make lightning balls and fire electricity from his fingertips, but was there more he could do?

Squeezing his pointer and middle fingers together, he steadily let a thin but powerful ball of lightning form in between the two, after giving them some space.

He could thank Delirious for this move. And Dragonball Z.

"SPECIAL BEAM CANNON!" Alex roared, swinging his right arm in the direction of the target.

Like a rail gun, the lightning zipped through the air incredibly fast, before hitting it's target, a loud crack emanating from where he hit.

"Woah! Bullseye!" Vinyl cheered, removing the metal plate, the lightning hit directly in the middle, leaving a black scorch mark in the plate.

"Sweet. I'm gonna have to wait until I have another training session. And I should start watching more anime... And Spider-Man." Alex noted.

"It's not enough that you have twice the potential of the other huntsmen, but you have to rub it in by repeating moves you see on TV?" Vinyl joked.

"Hey, I'm one of those types of people whose jokes need footnotes. Deal with it." He smirked as he returned to his work.

"And all I need is to show you another one of my albums." Vinyl retorted.

"Touché." Alex replied as he screwed in another bolt, this one placed the purple-hued visor onto the helmet.

"So. Be honest. You've seen some crazy shit these past few months, right?" Vinyl asked.

"F**king A right." Alex scoffed, as if Vinyl couldn't pick a more obvious question.

"I gotta ask, I know Rainbow told me she saw you hallucinating on the mountain before the party, and Yang told me that you weren't able to sleep when you were first at Beacon, but..." Vinyl hesitated.

"You're wondering how I can possibly keep a straight face throughout the bullshit, aren't you?" Alex stated.

"Well, yeah." Vinyl shrugged.

Alex sighed heavily.

"I don't think about it. It's as simple as that. On mission, I don't collapse on the ground sobbing because my mind is all 'you might die, keep your head in the battle'. I don't get all... morose until I get some alone time... And I think..." Alex explained in terms Vinyl was likely to understand.

"So... You still ha-"

"-Have nightmares and hallucinations? Yes. And there are times when I wonder if what I'm seeing is real, or if it's just another memory. Cursed to replay over and over again in my mind like some sick video. Hell, I'm not even sure if I'm even alive, and this is just some...post death dream." He sighed.

"Ouch. I can't say I know how you feel, but..." Vinyl said in a more sorrowful tone.

"Don't trouble yourself thinking about it. It's not your fault I'm a nut." Alex assured.

"No, no, that's not what I was saying." Vinyl waved both hooves in defense.

"Look, I know I can be a little off sometimes. That's just the way it is. If anyone has all this crap happening around them, who wouldn't?" Alex thought.

"So, all in all?" Vinyl wondered.

"... Ever read 'The Killing Joke'?" Alex asked.

"Is that another one of Evan's movies?" Vinyl inquired.

"It's a comic book." He replied evenly.

"Oh, right." Vinyl laughed a bit.

"In it, the main villain, Joker, goes into this... Monologue... About how all it takes is one bad day to drive people mad... Not that I'm agreeing with a villain or anything, but..." Alex elaborated.

"Sounds a bit dark for Equestria.." Vinyl figured.

"Yeah, well, if all it takes is one bad day to drive the sanest man alive into madness... Think about it... I've had more than one." Alex groaned, as if he felt like the conversation should end.

"I see your point... Sorry for asking." Vinyl smiled sheepishly and comfortingly.

"Don't be. Talking about it actually helps." Alex assured as he put the finishing touches on the armor.

"The...armor done yet?" Vinyl asked, still feeling awkward about having Alex open up to her like this.

"Should be." Alex replied.

"Well, try it on!" Vinyl encouraged.

Watching the armor attach itself onto Alex was amazing. Clicking onto him as the gears and springs wired and attached together, by the end of the 15 second suit-up time, Alex looked more like Iron Mare than anything else.

"You've outdone yourself, V!" Alex laughed, examining the armor thoroughly.

"I have to, I'm an electronic music artist, it's in the job description!" Vinyl replied.

"I'm serious! This fits on like a glove!" Alex cheered again.

"Don't trouble yourself, I know I'm great!" Vinyl smirked.

"Here, I'll test out the cannons on this thing, good work setting up those targets." Alex nodded, walking over to the center of the makeshift range.

"Don't blow yourself up!" Vinyl joked.

Alex hardened, examining each target. Each at one, three, seven, ten, and twelve, all ready for the lightning!

"FUS RO DAH!" Alex yelled as he fired the first bolt, violet zipping across his field of vision and onto the target, watching as the target itself shattered and melted.

"GALICK GUN!" The second bounced off three and landed on seven, melting them both.

"KAPOOYAH!" Alex shouted, destroying the tenth in seconds.

12 waved slightly in the rocking ship, Alex slammed both gauntlets together, generating a spark.

"I'M A FIRIN' MAH LASER!!" He fired both repulsors at once, sending two violet beams towards the target, which melted and sparked, leaving a metallic puddle on the ground after about 10 seconds.

"Ponyfeathers, I'm a genius!" Vinyl gaped.

"WOOOO! That was the greatest thing I've ever seen in my entire life! And I watched Star Wars VII!" Alex cheered, disassembling his armor.

"Not bad, Alex." Someone said from behind them.

A familiar blonde huntress had walked into the room, admiring the work he did on those steel plates.

"Hey, Yang!" Vinyl greeted.

"How much did you see?" Alex asked.

"All of it. All the time. I have my ways." She smiled.

"So, Alex just tested the suit.. And.." Vinyl hyperventilated with excitement.

"I know! Hey, do you think you can give Ember Celica an upgrade?" Yang playfully elbowed Vinyl on the shoulder.

"Why? Did Twi really implement Ray Gun tech into Crescent Rose?" Alex asked.

"Yep! She just tested it with her and I was wondering what you guys were up to!" Yang replied.

"Holy hell. We are ready!" Vinyl gaped.

"Yeah. The ship's A-Team is OP as shit!" Alex chuckled a bit.

"Yep, and I also know about your little 'Special Beam Cannon'." Yang teased.

"Aw."

"It's fine! Russell wanted to ask you if you wanted to come with us on a training session with Sirius." Yang said.

"Just them and us?" Alex asked.

"I got Ruby too!" She replied.

"Sweet. I'm in," Alex smirked.

"Cool! Glad you want to hang. See you around!" She waved.

"Right. Bye, Yang!" Alex smiled.

As she walked out the door, Vinyl turned to him.

"Are you 100% sure your relationship with her is platonic?" Vinyl asked, smirking.

"f**k off." Alex groaned.

Author's Notes:

RWBY Volume Three starts today, so I figured I may as well post a chapter before watching, enjoy!

-The Destoyer