The helicopter ride was bumpy and cramped, but nobody was complaining. After all, it was much better than remaining back at the arena they'd just escaped thanks to the soldiers' help. And it was lucky that team CRDL had chosen to assist the soldiers who were heading off to defend a possible terrorist target.
"So where are we going?" Yang asked impatiently as she tried to get comfortable with Blake almost sitting on her lap.
The pilot ignored her as he had the past fifty times she'd asked and continued to man the controls.
As the minutes dragged on, the city scape below them slowly changed from residential to skyscrapers that passed by so close it was a wonder that they were still in the air.
They passed the group of buildings and lurched as the helicopter turned sharply to it's new heading: Atlas Military Academy.
"Why are we going there?" Nora asked, distinctly remembering her previous visit hadn't been all too pleasant.
The pilot remained silent as ever as the building slowly came closer.
The small landing pads to the main building were mostly empty, but the helicopter flew by, ignoring them and instead heading to a platform on the side of the tallest tower.
The craft landed as the doors to the cabin hissed open, allowing the two teams to spill out onto the ground. They looked around as the aircraft's engine revved and it took off again. The group turned as the lone door to the building opened. Stepping out of the shadow of the doorway and into the bright mid-morning sun, Ozpin stood sipping his coffee.
"Welcome to Atlas Academy." He said with earnesty as he turned and made his way back into the building. The teams followed him, wondering what exactly had happened while they were trapped in the arena. As if reading their questions out of the air, he continued. "General Ironwood is currently indisposed with a massive terrorist movement within Atlas, and the resulting invasion of grimm. As for my reason for being here, I came across a bit of information that may be useful to you. Naturally I couldn't let you stay shut up in that dusty old arena."
"You knew we were there?" Weiss asked, accusation heavy in her voice.
"I made that discovery relatively recently." Ozpin responded. "I want to express my disappointment with the Atlas administration and I'd hoped you might join me."
The group fell silent as Ozpin led them up flights upon flights of stairs. When they finally reached the top floor, they were wondering the reason he'd taken them to the top of the tallest tower in the place, but knew better than to ask. He never did anything without reason, it seemed. He led them down a corridor, turning twice as they passed several offices.
"I would appreciate it if you remained quiet." Ozpin instructed the group as he reached for the handle to a massive oak door that looked heavier than any other they'd passed.
He paused at the last moment, knocking twice before settling his hand back on the handle. A tired sounding voice answered with a "come in."
Ozpin twisted the handle and opened the door to a disgruntled looking General Ironwood with stacks upon stacks of paper surrounding him on every surface. The desks around the edge of the room were hidden behind stacks that started on the floor and reached alarmingly high towards the vaulted ceiling and his desk wasn't much better with an equal amount making it look like it was twice it's actual size. He turned the dial on a hissing radio, cutting off the voices trading field reports.
"Oh, it's you." He grunted as he looked at a stack of paper and then tossed it into his fireplace that was already full of paper as it burned brightly, sending ash up the stone chimney.
"I believe you told me that you'd have an explanation for the events involving my teams?" Ozpin said in his normal voice, not unkind but definitely disappointed.
"I guess I did." He grunted again looking at a few papers before tossing yet another stack of paper into his fireplace.
A loud sliding noise erupted as a stack that stretched twice Ruby's height toppled over, taking two smaller stacks with it.
"Great!" The general cheered sarcastically as he dropped a stack of paper on his already overflowing desk and moved around it, ignoring the others in the room as he tried to salvage some part of the stack before everything mixed together. "And those were the section four's too."
Ozpin cleared his throat, getting the man's attention. He then swept his hand around to point out their other people in the room.
"If you want revenge, kill me now. That way I won't have to do all this paper work." He said monotonously to Ruby before turning his gaze to Jaune and then turning back to his desk, giving up on the mess of papers as a bad job.
"I did not bring them here for that reason, although I will admit that they do have every right to blame you for this indiscretion." Ozpin stated. "I have brought them here, from what was supposed to be the break before the final round of the tournament to hear your story of why you sanctioned this mass execution."
"That is the question isn't it?." Ironwood grumbled as he sighed. "It starts about a month before Vale is attacked."
He launched into his story, explaining mostly for the benefit of those who hadn't worked at the government, about the political atmosphere surrounding the Atlas and Mystral regions.
"It has been a game of terrorism. Each side sending expendable spies to capture information that might give an edge in a cold war turning hot." He said in summary. "We had already captured countless terrorists, but the small facility we were keeping them in was getting full. Release was not an option for the fanatics that would most likely just go back to attacking us, so we decided on a plan of execution. That is where things get confusing."
He got up and walked over to a desk against the wall and reached over one stack of paper to pick up another much smaller one.
"I almost never read the countless forms that come through my office, having my secretary stamp them with my signature before sending them on. I had instructed her to send any of a questionable or urgent nature to my desk for my personal inspection. This form here never came to my desk and was stamped by Emerald. How this didn't raise any flags with her is beyond me." He turned the paper over to Ozpin who skimmed down to the meat of the document.
"Authorization for execution via public death-match." Ozpin stated before returning the paper that was placed back on the top of the stack.
"Right. Then there's the six hundred and some forms that are authorizations for arrests. Most of those seem to indicate civilians that can in one way or another be traced to Vale or Mystral. In some cases both." The general split the stack in half as he continued to flip through the files almost like he'd done it one too many times before. "What caught my attention was the one form that managed to make its way to my desk as a request for my top team that is currently on a mission to appear at the North Grimm Stadium. That's when Emerald conveniently quit as I got bombarded with all this when people realized they'd been watching actual executions."
"If you are telling us the truth, then Emerald is the one who would have a more extensive knowledge of this atrocity." Ozpin stated expectantly.
"I already tried. The home address was fake and phone number is non-existent. Hell, I don't even know if it is her real name!" Ironwood shook his head and finally gave up, relaxing back in his chair.
"We both know that there is more than one way to find someone in this world." Ozpin stated grimly.
"What the hell, I'm not going to talk to that thing!" Ironwood spat, a hint of fear masked below his tough exterior.
"No need. I've already been conversing with him." Ozpin stated matter of factly. "And I will assure you that Emerald is the name of your ex-secretary. Just as Neopolitan was the name of the one before. As it turns out, both have come into close contact with several key people. As of today, make it a priority to find Cinder Fall. I sent a list of her supporters to your scroll."
"Well then, are you done? I have a great deal of paper work to deal with." Ironwood grunted with a nod, pulling a pen from his desk and scribbling out a quick name and signature on a form he handed to Ozpin.
"Thank you for your time, General." Ozpin said, his voice tired as he sighed the last word.
The group followed Ozpin out of the room, closing the door behind them.
"Sir, um… what was that about?" Blake asked as he led them to an elevator.
"I wanted you to hear his explanation of the events as well. So that you could tell me what your conclusions are." The elevator dinged open and the group filed in, their thoughts going over the details of the encounter.
"I don't think he was lying." Ren spoke up first. Weiss and Blake nodded in agreement.
"I don't think so either." Ozpin confirmed. "What about his secretary?"
"There's three secretaries that go through his work. The papers get shuffled, and split between the three. There's no way… unless…" Weiss trailed off, looking to Pyrrha for confirmation.
"It wouldn't be easy, but… I guess it is possible." Pyrrha nodded, frowning at her thoughts.
"I'd like to know too guys!" Yang joked in the tense atmosphere.
"The papers are delivered daily to the ground floor. If the same secretary went to fetch them every day, she'd have time to sort the papers so she received the easy ones to deal with or in this case anything she didn't want the General to see." Weiss explained her thought.
Ozpin seemed to take the idea and mull it over for a few seconds as the hum of the elevator continued as the lights indicating their floor continued to drop.
"And the reason Ironwood got a single paper was…. Why would they keep all the papers away from him then let one slip through?" Blake asked.
"That would've been Glynda." Ozpin stated with a slight smile. "She applied to be one of the three secretaries on my recommendation. And I can't say whether I instructed her to know about every piece of paper that entered or left that office."
"So she found something and left it for Ironwood?" Nora asked, barely following the conversation, but not caring much either way.
"The General was going on vacation, so naturally his secretaries were given a day off. Glynda thought it was a good time to go through the work she'd been neglecting, and found that paper in the new work that would have been taken care of the next day." Ozpin explained.
"So it was his secretary. Emerald, right?" Ruby asked to nods from her team.
"Um, mind if I ask what this is all about?" Jaune asked, realizing there was something much bigger going on than he knew about. "Why would we be targets for some random person we've never met before?"
"I suppose your team has gone too far to back out at this point. Fine." Ozpin took a deep breath as the doors to the elevator opened to the ground floor. "Follow me, I'll explain everything over a barbecue."
"Girls!" A bearded man boomed as he answered the door to find his two nieces standing with their teams at the doorstep. "I thought you were supposed to be shipped back to wherever they put you!"
"I'll inform you of the details at a later time." Ozpin said, stepping around the corner. "Right now, we are in need of shelter and sustenance."
"Right!" Qrow boomed with a wave as he turned back into the house. "Barbecue'll be on in about an hour. Until then make yourselves at home!"
"Thanks Uncle!" Ruby called after him as she led the way into the small house.
The place was indeed small compared to the houses in Vale, but compared to the apartments and small bunk rooms most of them had been in for the last few months, it was massive. The main floor had a lone bedroom beside a living room and a kitchen. The backyard was large enough that they all ended up relaxing in chairs while they watched Qrow patiently tend the meat he'd placed on the grill.
"Right. Well, it's that time again, I'll leave the grilling to Yang." Qrow said, tossing his chef's smock to his neice. "And don't worry. She's a prodigy with the barbecue."
"Thanks!" Yang laughed going to tend the meat so as to live up to her uncle's praise.
Qrow disappeared into the house, heading to the cellar where he'd leave unnoticed from the outer entrance at the side of the house.
He was soon walking down the alley between two warehouses. He'd been following the interesting prospect of an ally for many months and knew from Ozpin showing up with his nieces and their friends that this was the start of the man's endgame.
"Big surprise seeing you again!" Roman called as he walked down the alley in the opposite direction. "You know it's getting a little creepy though. Stalkerish wouldn't be pushing the board."
"I think it's time you made a decision." Qrow stated. "A war's starting and you don't wanna be on the wrong side."
"So you say, but all I know for sure is some chick is pulling my strings and forcing me to dance like some marionette." Roman said. "For all I know, you're testing my loyalty."
"No way to prove I'm not." Qrow nodded. He understood Roman's concerns a little too well from his time spent as an undercover police officer in his younger days. "It may be all the same to you, but I suggest you change puppeteers. We could use your skill set, though I daresay we'll get by without it."
He handed a small white envelope to Roman and gave a wave of his hand indicating he should open it. Roman unfolded the top and pulled out a small strip of paper.
"Read and remember." Qrow waited for Roman to look back up, then took the paper and set it ablaze with some dust. "Consider my offer. If you accept or are interested in specifics, go to that address tomorrow at noon. Hope to see ya there."
Roman nodded and continued walking past Qrow. I wonder if he'll come. Qrow thought as he continued to walk into the next street and back to his house.
He arrived to a comical sight of Yang flipping burgers across the yard onto plates with buns that had been laid out.
She spun the two spatula's and put them on the barbecue's bench. "Food's done!"
"Looking sharp!" Qrow laughed, making Yang jump as she spun to find her uncle right behind her.
"Holy son-of-a-" She spat before she realized who it was. "Don't do that!"
Qrow laughed at her startled reaction. "Sorry about that. Now let's eat before the meat gets too cold."
Everyone picked up a plate from the table and resumed their seats. After everyone except Nora ate their fill of the food that Qrow kept coming by adding the rest of the meat to the barbecue, Ozpin cut into the quiet conversations that were going on between most partners about what to do now that they'd escaped death more narrowly than ever before.
"Since you are all now well fed, I'd like you to follow me." He said, leading them back into the house to the trap door that led to the cellar.
Everyone climbed down the ladder and found themselves squeezed into a small room with shelves of food. Qrow climbed down behind them and squeezed his way through the group and passed Ozpin to where he seemed to have stockpiled several hundred pounds of potatoes.
"Are we having baked potatoes too?" Nora asked, realizing if everyone took a few back up, she'd have lots to eat.
"Maybe later." Qrow answered as he reached behind the bag. A quiet beep sounded as the single bulb went out above them. Then several rows of light popped into existence that seemed to come from behind the wood of the ceiling as the shelves folded in on themselves, opening to a large room that looked more like a military command center than the cellar it had replaced. "Welcome to the Crow's Nest."
The whole group was amazed at how well hidden the bunker was. As the team spread out to explore the thousands of gadgets, Weiss nudged Ruby.
"A bit ironic that the Crow's Nest is underground, isn't it?" She asked in a hushed voice. Unfortunately, Qrow heard her.
"I suppose that would be true if we were underground." Qrow replied with a smile. He pressed a button on a nearby keyboard and all the monitors changed to a view that seemed to be fifty feet above the roof of his house. Even the floor had gone transparent and appeared as if they were floating above his house.
"Okay, that's awesome." Jaune breathed as he estimated the amount of programming it had taken to get that single function to work. He watched a man with a briefcase walk down the street. The man looked both ways at a cross street and continued on. "How did you get real-time accuracy with the object tracking?"
"It's hooked up to a weather system on the roof that doubles as a radar. Everything is mapped with sonic echoes and infrared reflections, but that means color's are a bit degraded. I had a hell of a time setting up the color scheme to differentiate from grass and a ghillie suit." Qrow explained as he pointed out a small black box on the roof of his house far below.
"Now that we've been acquainted with our temporary base of operations, let's get down to business." Ozpin said, pressing the button to turn off the projection.
Over the next few minutes, Ozpin explained to JNPR the same way he'd explained to RWBY back at Beacon about how there was an old force that was once again growing in power along with updated details such as how the existence of Hollow Crystals had been confirmed by Ruby and Weiss detonating it and glassing a ten mile radius on the outskirts of Atlas territory. He then went into more detail about how Ironwood's secretary Emerald was certainly working for the same person as Torchwick, which didn't help much considering they still didn't know anything more about the leader.
"What about those grimm?" Ruby asked suddenly when it seemed Ozpin was ready to move on without saying much about the Grimm Sphere project.
"My information has not changed in that area." Ozpin stated. "Unless you have something to add?"
"This might take a while to explain." Weiss sighed, looking from Pyrrha to Jaune to Ruby and back to Ozpin. "There's a lot that happened right before we destroyed that massive nest."
Weiss launched into her explanation of the events that started in Atlas with Pyrrha and Jaune taking over occasionally as she explained how they found out Ruby's outpost had been getting supplies, but not getting all of them. Weiss kept talking as the hour dragged on, explaining how they'd found out about the White Fang having a hidden facility beside a grimm nest and how her and Ruby had found the small black crystal and taken it. Ruby explained how the grimm seemed to go crazy and escape. They skipped over their final fight to the part where they watched millions of grimm all head towards Atlas and decided to take the chance on whatever the small black crystal could do to damage the black army.
"And then you know the rest." Ruby said as she finally collapsed backwards in her chair, letting out a long sigh.
"Shit. And I thought my job was tough!" Yang whistled, looking at her sister with a new sense of respect burning in her eyes.
"That is interesting news." Ozpin nodded, thinking. "I suppose it's safe to assume that the device the crystal was powering was controlling the nest."
"But not always. There were a few grimm that wandered out every now and then." Ren interjected, remembering the comical sight of the baby beowolf chasing his commanding officer around a field.
"I believe that might have been a testing ground for an earlier version of the technology." Ozpin said. "The device used during the Beacon tournament was definitely portable, though it might have been smaller as well."
"Regardless. That's all we know for now." Qrow said, getting to his feet. "Sleeping bags are in the closet upstairs if you want them."
He left as Ozpin took a seat at a nearby computer and plugged his scroll in.
"Oh, yes. I have programmed replacement scrolls for each of you. They're in the drawer over there." He pointed to a drawer next to Pyrrha. "I left them unlocked so Jaune can add his own software should he choose."
"Cool." Jaune said, taking his scroll and booting it to find a nice little programming suite as one of the applications.
"Enjoy tomorrow and take the day off. We'll start on phase two the next day." Ozpin said unplugging his scroll and walking up the steps to the side entrance of the cellar.
"What do you want to do?" Ruby asked Weiss with a slight smile.
"I think I want to visit Winter." Weiss said honestly. For whatever reason, she couldn't help but want to see her adopted sister again.
"Sound's fun. We'll come too." Blake said, making Yang slightly frown as her grand plan suddenly fell apart.
"Fine, but we do have the whole day. How long can visiting a four year old take?" Yang said hopefully, planning the rest of the day out in her head.
"Long enough that we are not making it to a bar." Blake said aggressively, folding her arms before turning away and leaving back to the main floor.
"Well that's no fun." Yang frowned slightly at her girlfriend's attitude.
"After this is over, we're sending you to an AA meeting." Weiss sighed as Ruby nodded in agreement.
"Screw you too princess." Yang smiled evilly as she followed Blake up to the main room where they'd be sleeping.
"You guys go on ahead, I'm going to put some stuff on our scrolls." Jaune said with a wave as he took all eight scrolls and plugged them into the same computer.
"I'll keep you company." Pyrrha announced as Ren followed a yawning Nora up the stairs behind Weiss and Ruby.
"It'll be a while." Jaune warned as he loaded up the programming interface and started sending lines of code scrolling across the screen.
"That's fine." Pyrrha said sitting down beside him. "These chairs are nice."