RWBY: REDACTED

Subject ID: CD-001 'Andrei Pavlov'

Date of Production: -Corrupted-

Mission Parameters: Preserve critical members of Ozpin's inner circle. Including but not limited to:

-Team RWBY

-Team JNPR

-Qrow Branwen

-Ironwood

CD-001 Status: Active

With a swift flash of red, the machine came to life. Its systems booted up as its red eyes scanned about the room it found itself in.

Four figures were quickly identified around it, Ruby Rose immediately noted among them. Beside her stood Blake Belladona and Weiss Schnee, before finally identifying the last figure as Ironwood.

"Will it work?", asked Weiss, her voice was stern, nearly commanding to the man beside her.

Ironwood said nothing as his weathered eyes stared downward, his body showed signs of uncertainty.

"It has to, otherwise, we may as well tear it apart…it would at least be payback for Qrow...and Yang.", Blake muttered, her eyes furrowed tightly, indicative of pure fury.

"…Can you hear us?", Ruby called, her arms were crossed, and her stance was unmoving.

With the machine now prompted, it answered in kind, "Affirmative, Ruby Rose, Leader of Team RWBY.", it buzzed.

"Do you remember what happened?"

"Affirmative, 72 hours ago, this unit had executed Qrow Branwen, member of Team STRQ, 48 hours ago, this unit had been disabled by Team RWBY after terminating the subject identified as Yang Xiao Long."

Ruby's brow twitched at that statement, her fist clenched, trembling. "…What is your mission?"

The machine had taken a second to process its new function, "4 hours ago, my mission objective has been reprogrammed, my new mission is now to preserve the lives of all essential members of Salem's opposing forces, including but not limited to Team RWBY, Team JN-"

"Okay, so your functioning properly now.", Weiss cut in before they were to be subjected to another long statement, she then turned to the other three people in the room, "…Should we be doing this?"

Blake answered, "Why shouldn't we? Win or lose, this future isn't one worth living in…not anymore, for all intents and purposes, Salem may as well have won.", her voice was harsh, a grim sense of hopelessness had lined her words.

Silence filled the room, the dread that had once been pushed back quickly loomed over their shoulders.

With no other stimuli to react to, the machine proceeded to sit itself up right, glancing at itself.

Its own body that had once been covered in a layer of flesh and blood was now torn into ribbons, barely holding itself together. A reminder of his battle with RWBY.

All that had remained of it was its own robotic endoskeleton, made from the toughest alloys one could buy, courtesy of the late Arthur Watts.

"Notice: Yang Xiao Long and Qrow Branwen are confirmed dead, objective partially compromised.", it echoed.

"…For this future, but you're going to change that…", Ruby replied, her cold composure returning to meet the android.

"Error: This unit fails to comprehend your meaning."

"Don't ask, just listen.", Weiss scolded, before turning to Ironwood, whom nodded.

"CD-001, you are to be transported into the past, where Salem had yet to have made her move, you will inject yourself into human society and carry out your objectives by any means necessary, understood?", Ironwood paused.

The machined blinked in confirmation.

"All right, then let's get your disguise ready, we can't have you compromised immediately after being sent through.", Ironwood then beckoned for the machine to follow him into the next room.

The machine understood, dragging itself off the table and onto its own feet, following the general into the next room, leaving the remaining member of Team RWBY to contemplate their own thoughts.

"…Ruby, if this thing doesn't work…", Blake dared not to finish that line of thought, luckily, she didn't have too, for Ruby understood.

"It must, there has to be a better ending than…this, where we lose almost everything and everyone we loved, It can't be the only way all this ends…there has to…", Ruby answered, her voice echoed her most desperate hopes.

The others dared not to speak anymore of this, they've already had enough heartbreak for this week, speaking of it would do little to help now.

"001, report, what is your new identity?", Winter prompted.

"Andrei Pavlov, Atlesian citizen.", 'Andrei', answered.

With a silent nod, she then moved on, "Here are the papers and identifications for your new identity, they should match up with your story.", she spoke as she passed the said items into the hands of the machine, which were now covered in flesh.

'Andrei' had a rather basic look, for someone who towered over seven feet tall. He had the beginnings of a beard and his scalp was clean shaven. His skin was fair and had a fair muscle tone for his build.

The only thing he was missing was the clothing, although an oversight on Winter's expense, it was one that was easy to rectify.

He was immediately fitted with a basic graying T-shirt and a pair of pants.

"…Alright, the preparations are nearly done, we just need to get you armed and ready for the mission, help yourself to the equipment in the backroom and meet me in the center-most part of the complex, we'll get you started there.", said Winter. "…And do so in moderation, we only have so many armaments in stock.", she added.

"I still think we should send him back a bit further, give him some time to plant some roots and preparations for the future, to be ready for her.", Weiss argued.

"There's little point in sending him any further back at that point, besides if we send him too far back, then we risk him doing something small yet large enough to alter the path of the timeline severely, our goal is to ensure that we actually win this fight, not make another one. 20 years is enough and that is final.", Ironwood argued back in response, making it known there was no more room for discussion.

With that said, Andrei had finally entered the room with all the equipment he would deem necessary for his new mission. Making an effort make sure that most of his equipment would be appropriate for that time period. "I am now combat ready.", he stated.

He was covered head to toe in protective plates, far more than an average soldier, a considerably heavier variant of the Atlesian military uniform.

His helmet had no opening at the mouth and his voice was transmitted entirely through the radio. The pauldrons were twice the size and his legs left nearly no exposed points, aside from the joints.

The room then turned to the android as he stood there, his armory had included the standard rifle and pistol, a set of grenades slung from his belt, and a pack to hold any ammunition he desired.

"Stand by for further orders...", Ironwood ordered curtly, before he then turned his attention back to RWBY. "As I said, there is little time for discussion, the longer we take to discuss this matter, the less time we have before Salem catches on to our last resort."

"Professor Brown, is it ready?", Ironwood asked as he turned to a man that operated a console, he was considerably aging, his hair was gray and skin had wear and tear.

"Yes, General. We're ready to send it through.", the elder replied.

"Then let's do it.", Ironwood continued, his eyes turned to the android, which acknowledged his gaze before stepping onto a platform, which barely seemed to be holding together, especially for his weight.

"Professor, send him-"

"Wait.", Ruby interrupted, stepping on the platform toward the android.

Everyone paused, Ironwood was slightly annoyed at the delay, but it was of little consequence at this point.

"Android, I want to add an additional mission parameter.", she commanded.

"Affirmative, state your-"

"Your additional objective is to seek out allies for us against Salem, our numbers will not be enough. Gain their trust and enlist their services, by all means. Blackmail, threats, or etcetera.", the command surprised the room, but no one protested. She wasn't wrong, at this time, they were now reduced to a small force, a small fraction of what they were.

"…Command accepted."

With that Ruby turned around and made it off the platform, nodding toward Ironwood and Brown.

"…Do it Professor.", Ironwood ordered.

Brown nodded and started to operate the machine.

It came to life quickly, the center panel lit up as a surge of power surrounded the android that stood within it, his visor beeped in alert as it detected danger, but it was ignored as the android held firm, he did not have much time before his vision was then filled with an overwhelming white and his systems surged out into overload.

In less than a moment after the initial surge of his systems. He felt himself falling, immediately after his feet had been planted on what he had once considered solid ground, he felt himself falling.

He felt no solid object to grab onto as his arms reached out blindly as his optics were still rebooting, leaving his body to free fall from whatever heights he had been launched from.

'Warning, falling likely to cause severe system damage.'

A good long moment had passed as he heard the wind blasting past his ears before he felt himself slam into a soft but ice-cold surface. There was no harm done to his body, but he felt the surface he landed upon to be of wet texture, if the substance that cover his armor was any indication.

'Snow.', was all the machine could guess before its optics booted back up to life, finding itself in the middle of a raging blizzard.

"Scanning…Scanning, location unidentified, more information required."

"Suggestion, find nearest points of civilization and gather intel."

The android then started to prop itself up onto its feet, "Scanning, confirmed, life signs detected southward, moving toward location.", with that in mind, Andrei made his way through the forest as snow mercilessly assaulted his already cold body.

Hey everyone that is currently reading this.

Just want to say thank you for taking the time to read this story that I happened to think up late at night.

So, to start off, this is my first story to post on this website, so please take it easy on me, I'll learn in time.

In the meanwhile, if you could spare the effort to, tell me if there is anything that I should refine or add on to make this story better.

Night, and thank you for your time!