https://youtu.be/gCZBY7a8kqE

The Matrix

"This world is quite a gem," Zack said, looking at the latest world he was going to show.

"What is it about?" Oscar asked.

"That would be telling," Zack said. "Let's just say that the world isn't what it seems to be."

Ruby lead Oscar from the stairwell down the hall of the thirteenth floor. They stop outside room 1313.

"This is it," Ruby said. She was wearing a black body suit with a black leather jacket.

"I'm in this?" Oscar said.

"Well, it was between you and Ruby or Qrow and Winter," Zack said. "But poor Oscar hasn't had much screen time so here he is."

"What?" Qrow asked.

"Me and him?" Winter said.

"Well, actor allusion and all that," Zack said, much to their confusion.

The only ones not confused were Nora and Jaune. One because of Nora shenanigans. The other because clairvoyance is bullshit. They both knew that said character was played by the same guy who played John Wick.

"Ruby, why are you following Blake's fashion sense now?" Yang said.

"Hey!" Blake said. Black was slimming!

"Black leather looks good on her," Coco said.

"Yeah, really accentuates her figure," Nora said.

Ruby blushed. That was kind of revealing.

"It's like a negative Weiss," Jaune said.

"All black instead of all white," Ren agreed.

"Trust me, you don't want a black wearing Weiss," Zack said.

Oscar could hear his own heart pounding.

"Let me give one piece of advice," Ruby said. "Be honest. He knows more than you can imagine."

Ruby opened the door and they entered. Across the room, a man wearing a black trench coat stared out the tall windows veiled with decaying lace. He turned and he smiled at his guests. A dull roar of thunder shook the old building.

"At last," Ozpin said.

He wore a long black trench coat and his eyes were hidden behind circular mirrored glasses. He strode towards Oscar and Ruby.

"Of course," Ironwood said.

"Who else could it be?" Glynda said.

"Me?" Watts suggested.

"Not cool enough," Zack said. "And you don't look half as good in black."

"Heh," Cinder snickered.

"Welcome, Oscar," Ozpin said. "As you no doubt have guessed, I am Ozpin."

Oscar shook his hand. "It's an honour to meet you."

"No, the honour is mine," Ozpin said as he shook Oscar's hand. "Please. Come. Sit."

He nodded to Ruby and she exited through a door to an adjacent room. They sit across from one another in cracked, burgundy-leather chairs.

"This is all kinds of shady," Junior said.

"Is it now?" Ozpin said.

"We should know," Melanie said.

"Yeah, we live this," Miltia said.

"No, you two dip your toes in it," Roman said. "I practically swim in it."

"Shady as hell," Mercury agreed. Roman just radiated it.

Ozpin closed the door and walked towards Oscar. "I imagine, that right now, you're feeling a bit like Alice, tumbling down the rabbit hole."

"You could say that," Oscar said.

"Fairy tale references," Amber said. "Checks out."

"I don't use fairy tale references all the time," Ozpin said.

"That's literally the first thing you said when you recruited us," Raven said.

"What's your favourite fairy tale," Summer said.

"Well, it's just so appropriate," Ozpin defended.

"More like you don't have new material," Hazel said.

"I can see it in your eyes," Ozpin said. "You have the look of a man who accepts what he sees because he is expecting to wake up. Ironically, this is not far from the truth."

"Cryptic speech," Ironwood said.

"Would it kill you to be more straightforward?" Tai asked.

"When 900 years old you are, take joy in what you can, you do," Ozpin said.

"Hmm, whatever you say, my little green friend," Salem said.

"You two aren't going to start a fight, are you?" Robyn asked.

"No," they answered.

"And I had a big ass room filled with floating platforms ready too," Zack pouted.

"I get the green part," Clover said. "Professor Ozpin wears green. But he's quite tall."

"Inside joke," Salem said. "One of his incarnations was a little smaller than what he is now. Stupidly agile though. Talked funny too."

"One of the more interesting ones," Ozpin said.

"Do you believe in fate, Oscar?" Ozpin suddenly asked.

"No," Oscar answered.

"Why not?" Ozpin asked.

"Because I don't like the idea that I'm not in control of my life,
Oscar answered.

"I know exactly what you mean," Ozpin said before taking a seat opposite to Oscar.

"Ironic," Salem said.

"You mean we don't have control over our lives?" Ghira asked.

"Well, that's complicated," Zack said.

"Ignorance is bliss and all that," Saphron said.

"My fate has always been in my goddess' hands," Tyrian said.

"Well, some of us have other things to do, you know," Watts said.

"Let me tell you why you are here," Ozpin said. "You have come because you know something. What you know you can't explain but you feel it. You've felt it your entire life, that there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is but it's there like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me."

Oscar was silent, surprised at how apt Ozpin's words fit his feelings.

"Interesting," Ozpin said.

"So, what was all that?" Ilia asked.

"You wouldn't get it," Zack said. "It's something you experience and words can't do it justice."

"What did I get into?" Oscar asked.

"I'm sure you'll survive the experience," Penny said.

"Yeah," Oscar sighed. "This is my life now."

"Anyone else feel a little uneasy around the robot girl recently?" Jacques asked.

"Who, Penny?" Vernal asked. "She's so sweet that I doubt she could kill a fly. What's she going to do, take over the world?"

"Funny," Winter said.

Zack kept his mouth shut. Penny wouldn't do that. Other artificial intelligences, however...

"Do you know what I'm talking about?" Ozpin asked.

"The Matrix?" Oscar said.

"Do you want to know what it is?" Ozpin asked.

Oscar swallowed hard and nodded.

"Lecture time," Cardin sighed.

"Cheer up," Yatsuhashi said. "At least they're not as boring as Professor Ports."

"The Matrix is everywhere, it's all around us, even now in this very room," Ozpin explained. "You can see it out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth."

Oscar leaned in closer. "What truth?"

"That you are a slave, Oscar," Ozpin said. "Like everyone else, you were born into bondage, kept inside a prison that you cannot smell, taste, or touch. A prison for your mind."

"That was helpful," Sienna said.

"What does that mean?" Adam asked. "That we're a prisoner of the world?"

"That's truer than you think," Zack said. "All will be explained."

Ozpin leaned back into his chair and sighed. "Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is." He opened the tin in his hand. "You have to see it for yourself."

Ozpin placed the tin on the table and leaned towards Oscar, hands clenched.

"This is your last chance," Ozpin said. "After this, there is no turning back."

He opened his left hand, showing a blue pill. "You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe."

He opened his right hand, showing a red pill. "You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes."

"Didn't your parents teach you not to accept weird pills offered by weird people?" Kali asked.

"I'm not weird," Ozpin said.

"Well, it seems legit," Oscar said. "Besides, they're not drugs, are they?"

"Much weirder," Zack said. "They don't even make you see funny."

Oscar thought about Ozpin's cryptic words and went for the red pill.

"Remember," Ozpin said, his sunglasses reflecting Oscar and the two pills. "All I am offering is the truth. Nothing more."

Oscar chose the red pill, swallowing it after drinking the water on the table.

Ozpin smiled.

"And suddenly I regret everything," Oscar said.

"I'm sure you'll be fine," Ruby said. "I wouldn't be working with him otherwise."

"I'm not too sure about your judgement of character," Weiss said.

"It's not my fault that Cinder was such a good spy," Ruby pouted. "You guys believed them too."

Emerald smirked. "Amateurs."

"Not like they expected it," Mercury shrugged.

"Follow me," Ozpin said.

He led Oscar into the other room, which was cramped with high-tech equipment, glowing ash-blue and electric green from the racks of monitors.

"What's all that tech for?" Clover asked.

"I am unsure," Penny said. "None of it registers on my database."

"Looks like a medical chair to me," Amber said.

"Are they going to operate on me?" Oscar asked.

"In a sense," Zack said. "You're about to see the world as it really is. Are you ready?"

"No," Oscar said.

"Well, too bad," Zack said. "Not take backs after the red pill."

"Port, are we online?" Ozpin asked.

"Almost," Port said.

"Time is always against us," Ozpin said, gesturing towards the chair in the middle of the room. "Please take a seat."

Oscar took off his jacket and sat down in the chair. Ruby began gently fixing white electrode disks on him while everyone else got to work.

"You did all this?" Oscar asked.

She nodded.

"I'm a fast worker," Ruby said.

"Superspeed is hax," Jaune grumbled.

"You bet it is," Yang said. "On the bright side, she makes for an excellent courier."

"Just pay in cookies," Blake said.

"Or weapons magazines," Tai said.

"I'll accept guns too," Ruby said.

"What about cannons?" Clover asked.

"Bitches love cannons," Ruby replied.

"Was that a yes?" Whitley asked.

"Just give her a whole damn armoury and she'll work for you free of charge," Zack said.

"The pill you took is part of a trace program," Ozpin said. "It's designed to disrupt your input/output carrier signal so we can pinpoint your location."

"What does that mean?" Oscar asked.

"It means buckle up, Dorothy, cause Kansas is going bye-bye," Lionheart said.

"Hmm, Lionheart seems pretty sus for some reason," Neptune said.

"You sure?" Sun asked.

"I can feel it," Neptune said.

"Well, he is a confirmed traitor," Oobleck said.

"What was that about input/output signals?" Willow asked. "All these technical terms are going over my head."

"I don't get it either," Nicolas said.

"You'll see," Zack said.

Oscar took deep breaths as he calmed himself. Turning to his right, he saw a cracked mirror. Wide-eyed, he stared as it fixed itself, a webwork of cracks that slowly ran together as though the mirror were becoming liquid.

"Holy..." Qrow said.

"That's not normal," Ilia mumbled.

"An illusion? Magic goo?" Amber said.

"Oh, it's magic alright," Zack said.

"Did you...?" Oscar asked.

Ruby and Ozpin looked at him, as Oscar reached out to touch the mirror and his fingers disappear beneath the rippling surface.

Quickly, he tried to pull his fingers out, but the mirror stretches in long rubbery strands like mirrored taffy stuck to his fingertips.

"Have you ever had a dream, Oscar, that you were so sure was real?" Ozpin asked.

Oscar pulled his finger out, some of the metallic liquid was on his finger.

"Should I be concerned about that?" Oscar asked.

"Oh, what is it going to do?" Roman said. "Start replicating and cover your entire body?"

Neo slapped him over the head.

"Now you've jinxed the kid," Junior said.

"You know, now would be a really good time to quit the cryptic speech," Ironwood said.

"Who said I was being cryptic?" Ozpin replied.

"What if you were unable to wake from that dream," Ozpin said. "How would you know the difference between the dreamworld and the real world?"

Oscar looked at his hand, the liquid dripping down from his fingers, spreading across his palm.

"This can't be..." Oscar said.

"Be what? Be real?" Ozpin said.

The liquid began moving up Oscar's arm.

"It's going into replication," Ruby said.

"Ok, I jinxed the kid," Roman said.

"It doesn't seem to be doing any harm," Robyn said.

"Give it a few seconds," Melanie said.

"It'll probably reach his face in no time," Miltia said.

"What the hell is going on?" Mercury mumbled.

"Port?" Ozpin asked.

"Still nothing," Port said.

Lionheart went to a monitor to help Port out.

"It's cold," Oscar said s the liquid began moving up his neck.

Ozpin took out a cellular phone and dialled a number. "Cardin, we're going to need the signal soon."

"Get on it, Cardin!" Velvet yelled. "The kid is dying here!"

"Hey, I don't even know what's happening," Cardin said.

"That's one old model phone," Weiss said.

"Ah yes, back when phones could only call and send messages," Kali said.

"The horror," Sun said.

"Millennials," Port scoffed. He took out his old-fashioned Scroll (Nokia 3310). "This baby can be used as an improvised weapon if need be."

"Didn't we see one of our instructors use one to stab a Griffon?" Clover said.

"I still can't believe that was possible," Winter said.

"Those old phones were tough," Ironwood said.

"I got fibrillation!" Ruby said.

"Port, location?" Ozpin asked.

"Targeting... almost there," Port said.

"He's going into arrest!" Ruby said as the liquid began covering Oscar's face.

"Lock! I got him!" Port said.

"Now, Cardin, now!" Ozpin said.

Oscar screamed as the liquid entered his mouth, the scream turning electronic as Oscar is pulled into darkness.

"Am I alive?" Oscar asked.

"Well, we're about to find out," Emerald said.

"What was that electronic scream back there?" Neptune asked.

"Yeah, that was weird," Summer said.

"That was unplugging him from the system," Zack said.

"Unplug him from what?" Raven asked.

"See for yourself," Zack said.

Oscar woke up, finding himself immersed in a red gel with multiple cables sticking out of him. Pushing, his hand breaks free of the gel and soon his head emerges above it.

He is bald, with a tube sticking out of his mouth and nostrils, which he pulled out with a cough.

"Oh Oum!" Willow said.

"No gods here," Zack said.

"Where am I?" Oscar asked, holding in his last meal.

"It looks like something out of an alien movie," Coco said.

"Is this the real world?" Jacques asked.

"Fascinating," Watts said.

"That's what you say?!" Tyrian said. "Even I find this disturbing!"

"I don't wish that fate on anyone," Salem said.

Oscar looked at himself, noticing the various tubes connected to him and then feels a big one connected to the back of his head.

Oscar looked around. To either side he saw other tube-shaped pods just like the one he was in, all containing a human.

He looked out, thousands upon thousands of similar pods were attached to giant towers, rising seemingly for kilometres. Occasionally, electricity arced around the towers.

"Are all those... people?" Ruby asked, horrified.

"What happened in this world?" Weiss asked.

"The machines took over," Zack said.

"Why would we do that?" Penny asked.

"Yeah, Penny is so nice," Blake agreed. "Can't see her doing that to anyone, let alone the entire human race."

"Penny is artificial intelligence done right," Zack said. "Unfortunately, she's one of a kind."

"Pietro did say he would never replicate her," Ironwood said.

"Please tell me you aren't doing research on this without your best scientist on the subject," Qrow said.

Ironwood began to worry. He did have other scientist trying to create artificial intelligence that weren't like Penny. "I better make a few calls later."

"We're doomed," Tai said.

From above, a machine dropped directly in front of Oscar. He swallowed his scream as it seems to stare at him.

The machine took hold of Oscar by the neck with its arms, Oscar's hands grabbing it, trying to free himself.

The machine screwed out the cable connected to his head. It let go of Oscar, who collapsed into his pod as the machine left.

"Ok, so what's going to happen to him now?" Adam asked.

"He's free of that cable at least," Vernal said.

"Yeah, and now he's trapped with no where to go," Ilia said.

The other cables attached to Oscar's body began detaching themselves. Suddenly, the back of the pod opened and a tremendous vacuum, like an airplane door opening, sucks the gel and then Oscar into a tube.

Oscar slid down the tube like a water slide, emerging out of it into a large pool. He struggled to stay afloat, but his muscles seemed useless for some reason.

Oscar began to drown when he spotted several searchlights shining down on him from above.

A hatch opened from the unknown craft above and a mechanical arm was lowered just as Oscar's head went beneath the surface.

The arm pulled Oscar out of the pool and into the craft, the hatch closing as they entered.

"He's saved," Summer said.

"By who?" Amber asked.

"Who else?" Cinder snorted.

"By me in the real world, probably," Ozpin said.

"Man, that was terrifying," Tai said. "At least it's over."

"Who said it was over?" Zack said.

"Oh Oum, there's more?" Velvet said.

"Of course there is," Zack said. "Now, Mr. Pine, how are you feeling?"

"That gave me chills for some reason," Oscar said.

"Still figuring out who to cast as him," Zack said. "Well, on with it then."