AN:

A bit of warning: it's gonna get pretty dark at the end of this chapter.

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Chapter 21

Qrow was a very jaded and cynical man. He had seen the ugly side of the world and was forced to live through it almost every time he was sent on a mission from Ozpin. It was understandable that someone like him would resort to alcoholism as a means of coping, which explained his always drunkened state.

The scythe-master feared that if he were ever to stop drinking, then the collective hangovers and repressed memories would soon overwhelm him into a gibbering mess.

Hell, it nearly did happen when the male Branwen finally decided to put down the booze to hunt down the rogue Huntress that the Ozluminati (his nickname for Ozpin's secret circle) believed to be the False Maiden and Summer Rose's killer.

For the first time in years, Qrow was sober and he did not enjoy it in the least but he needed all of his wits clear if he wanted to bring Summer's killer to justice. Anyone who could have killed his former leader was not one to be taken lightly and he wasn't going to let his drunk-addled mind stop him from avenging his comrade.

Then he found out that the supposed False Maiden was actually Summer this whole time after she was accidently killed by her own daughter, Ruby. He felt horror and immense disgust with himself that he tried to kill one of his best friends but that was nothing compared to the guilt that he had for letting his dear niece do his job in his place.

After seeing the White Rose come back to life in a flashy spectacle, everything went downhill from there as he had to fight off an alien invasion with his damaged sword.

Qrow had fought and killed a lot of things in his life, ranging from the various species of Grimm to the most radical of Faunus from the White Fang but aliens were something that he never thought he would have to face in his entire career.

Not only was Summer still alive so to speak (he still had trouble comprehending the whole resurrection thing), she lost her memories and had been fighting aliens for nearly a decade.

After learning shit like that, the black reaper would have gotten shit-faced drunk but there were more important things to do than drown himself in booze like trying to comfort Taiyang when Summer rejected him.

"There, there, Tai," the scythe-master patted his friend on the back as the brawny man quietly wept, "She'll remember you eventually. You just came on to her too strong."

Oh how the tables had turned.

It was usually Taiyang doing the consoling as Qrow would cry over being rejected by another hot chick that he tried to hook up with but now, it was the other way around.

Summer didn't really reject the elder yellow dragon per se but pushing aside his advances and teleporting away could be considered a rejection in anyone's books.

Or at least for Qrow.

And also, Tai kinda stole his flask and was chugging down the contents in such a way that an experience drinker like Qrow would have been impressed if that wasn't his booze that the blonde man was drinking.

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"Yo Jimmy! I'm here for the important thing that you wanted me for," Summer Rose loudly announced as she made her presence known to the other people in the room.

Their reaction to her abrupt appearance was nearly instantaneous as bullets flew towards her. Not at all bothered by this, the Guardian seeminly vanished and left a purple haze where she previously was. The miasma of Void briefly took the general shape of her form before it was dispersed by the many projectiles slicing through it and into the wall behind it.

"You must be so glad to see me, Jimmy," Summer remarked sarcastically as she reappeared next to where the Void miasma formed, having dodged General Ironwood's shots with a Shadestep.

If anyone who was familiar with Blake Belladonna were to see Summer perform a Shadestep, they would have mistaken it for the cat Faunus' semblance. The Shadestep and Belladonna's semblance had major differences but to the outside observer, they would look almost the same.

The Shadestep of the Nightstalker class may not have the same range as her Blink (or semblance as she recently learned it actually was) but it was faster than her teleportation by maybe a split second. It might not mean much to regular cronies but against superior beings like Oryx, it made all the difference.

In spite of his immense size, the Taken King could actually move faster than she could think to teleport thus making it necessary for her to master the Shadestep.

"How did you get in here?" Jimmy firmly demanded as he put his white, ornately designed hand cannon away, "There was no way you could have gotten inside without the security system and guards noticing."

"Your security's pretty good but I've snuck past better," the Guardian smirked cheekily before taking a seat. She wasn't bothered by the man's attempt to shoot her since she was used to getting reactions like that when she snuck up on people, especially when they thought that they were in a secure room alone.

The Atlesian general did indeed have guards and cameras pretty much everywhere but she managed to evade all of them with no problem due to the aid of her Nightstalker abilities. She even told Drei to not disable the cameras to make things more challenging for her.

If she wasn't being too complacent back on that Atlas military outpost, then not even the Atlas Specialist, Winter Schnee would have known of her presence before the female Hunter had already left so Summer resolved to never have the Ghost make sneaking around easier for her if she could already do it on her own.

A good Hunter never made the same mistake twice.

The Guardian had snuck out of Team JNPR's room while their hyperactive member, Nora Valkyrie was distracted and made her way to the room that was very similar to the one where she told Ozzy and Jimmy her story before the Vex invasion.

Summer expected for Ozpin to be here with them but he was being shown on a video screen instead along with three important looking old farts.

That must be the Council of Vale and they did not look happy to see her, which was something that a lot of important officials back on Earth did.

It was like she never left the Tower.

"Summer Rose," one of the councilmen said with a slightly raised voice as if that was capable of scaring her, "You caused us no end of grief for what you did at the Atlesian military facility. The Atlas Council has been clamoring that you pay recompense for what you stole and-"

"Okay, I'm gonna stop you right there," Summer interjected with a bored expression on her face as she raised her hand to signal for a stop, "I got five things I want to tell you."

"One, I am not apologizing or giving back what I stole," she said with her index finger pointing up before raising another finger, "Two, you can try to imprison me but you'll only be wasting my time since I would just elude capture or escape from whatever prison you throw me in."

"Three, I may be a former resident of Vale but I answer to another higher authority so don't think you can order me around like one of your lapdogs," she raised a third finger before lifting the fourth finger, "Four, we have more important things to worry about than some theft."

"Now, see here-" the councilman bellowed after being so blatantly disrespected but the Guardian had enough of old men who thought that they knew better than everyone.

The Guardian only knew them for a few seconds but she was certain that they were not suited to handle a war. These old men had no idea what it was really like outside of the walls. They never had to put their lives on the line while others fought and died for them.

She might be biased but she believed that the Vanguard back at the Tower were much more capable leaders than these councilmen. Each member had proven themselves on the field of battle countless of times and truly deserved their positions so Summer respected them in her own special way.

"And finally five, I don't need your help to fight the Vex but you definitely need mine," Summer said with a tone of finality.

That was also true.

The White Rose had wiped out entire armies of Vex on her own and had also singlehandedly survived several incursions into their most secured sanctum like the Black Garden and the Vault of Glass.

If she didn't have an entire civilization and a newly rediscovered family to look after, then she could endure the Vex's constant attempts to kill her long enough to either wait for rescue from the Tower or find a way back to the Sol system herself.

She had been through a similar situation back on Oryx's Dreadnaught with her only means of transportation destroyed, no transmat, no back up and a whole lot of things wanting to rip her apart limb from limb. She was able to survive more or less intact.

The Guardian didn't need the four kingdoms of Remnant to help her survive but they needed her for their continued existence if the councilmen only chose to cooperate with her.

Even though she could do what she claimed, the Vale Council did not look convinced so she had Drei show them the full scale of the Vex forces on Remnant. The Ghost projected a map of Remnant and highlighted keypoints where the Vex had already set up a stronghold for each kingdom.

The Guardian finally got around to look through what was on the Mind core and even though it didn't say the exact reason why they were on Remnant, it told her the amount of Vex units deployed as the advance forces.

The Vex had not been on Remnant for long but it was long enough for them to construct several Transfer Gates with Gatelords and Cyclops indubitably there to guard them.

The time manipulating cyborgs were so obsessed with order that they became painfully predictable for someone who was already familiar with them.

The councilmen were rendered silent by the massive amount of troops that the Vex managed to accumulate in such a short amount of time. The only ones that weren't as perturbed were the Guardian, the Headmaster of Beacon and the general of Atlas since they were already aware of what they were facing.

"As you can see, Ms. Rose has valuable intel on our newest enemy, the Vex," Ironwood spoke up, face stoic as ever, "Such as locations of their strongholds and their list of possible targets."

"I suppose you have already taken the time to go through the files concerning Summer Rose's whereabouts for the past years," Ozpin added as he steepled his fingers in front of his face, "Her value as an ally outweighs whatever offenses that she had amassed upon her return to Remnant."

"As if we are to believe something preposterous as the extraterrestial," one of the councilmen scoffed scornfully but his tone had the undertone of doubt within it. But the fact that the old man was trying to find a way to ignore what was wrong slightly pissed off the Guardian.

"You must be going senile if you're trying to deny everything," Summer stated, silver eyes hardening to resemble steel, "Especially when the proof showed up on your doorstep and started murdering the citizens that you're supposed to lead."

Standing up from her seat, she glared piercingly at the Vale Council, successfully cowing them as they visibly recoiled as if burned, "Don't waste my time for something petty like my supposed 'crimes against the four kingdoms'."

"I'll leave you guys a copy of this just in case you old farts decide to take your heads out of your asses and do something beneficial for the people," she added as she walked out of the room and silently ordered Drei to leave them a copy of what they learned from the Mind core, "My number is 6391556613. Call me when you want to talk about something that's actually important."

Summer didn't turn to see the reactions of the Vale Council, General Jimmy or Professor Ozpin as the door slid shut behind her.

00000

With the combined might of Fireteam Nero's remaining members and Cayde-6, they cleared out the last sector in no time.

It had been said before but Cayde was really, really good at his job. Summer Rose was considered to be the fastest Hunter but even she would be hard pressed to match the Hunter Vanguard's methodical efficiency in wiping out hordes of enemies quickly.

The Guardians never thought it was possible but they had successfully eradicated every Taken on the Dreadnaught and caused the Darkness corrupted beings to extinction (as far as they were concerned at least).

But the unsanctioned taskforce still had one problem left.

"So how the hell are we supposed to fix the weapons again?" Lux asked as Fireteam Nero and the Hunter Vanguard stood in Dreadnaught's bridge, which also happened to be Oryx's throne room.

The Warlock never thought she would return here like this. Her fingers subconsciously tightened around Hawkmoon as she remembered Fireteam Nero battling against the Taken King himself.

Oryx was a monster in every sense of the word and he was on a whole other league of his own. His son, Crota was nothing compared to the Taken King in all aspects. Lux Sylphid and Prometheus-23 would have been killed by the Hive god if it wasn't for Summer dealing the final blow.

"That is where I come in," a female echoing voice said behind them as Fireteam Nero spun around to face a woman with their weapons aimed at her.

The woman was dressed in a robe and had a strip of cloth wrapped around her eyes. But three green eyes very similar to a member of the Hive could be seen glowing through the blindfold as black ethereal veins flowed out from under it like tears.

"Eris, glad you could join us," Cayde-6, the only one unsurpised with her sudden arrival, greeted the former Guardian as the Warlock and the Titan lowered their guns.

"Of course, I will not miss the opportunity to repay Guardian Rose for she has done for me," Eris said, striding forward before stopping in front of the Hunter Exo, "And you still owe me a new ship, Cayde."

Eris Morn was the Tower's best expert on all things Hive and it would make sense that Cayde recruited her to their unsanctioned operation. Her aid allowed Summer Rose to disable the Dreadnaught's weapons in the first place.

"Well, what do you think of this old girl?" the horned Exo inquired as gestured around them before taking out a Hunter knife and held it out to her, hilt-first, "It may be second hand and the weapons are busted but if you fix those up, it'll be good as new."

"But before I could replace the necrotic conduits of the weapon systems, a certain ritual must be completed," the former Guardian said as she took the offered knife and walked past the Hunter Vanguard before stopping in front of the large pedestal where Oryx once stood.

"The Hive just love their damn rituals, don't they?" Lux snorted as her helmet dematerialized so she could place a cigarette in her mouth.

"Just what is the significance of this ritual, Ms. Morn," Prometheus asked, watching the woman curiously as the Hive expert began to carve out a series of glyphs on the floor with one of Cayde's knives.

"There is a ritual in place for one to earn control over the Dreadnaught," she explained as she continued to engrave the Hive pentagram.

"Think of it as a failsafe after Oryx kicked the bucket," Cayde simplified it, "He didn't want anyone else taking control over his ship so he left a pretty nasty security to prevent that from happening."

"How nasty are we talking about here?" the Awoken inquired after exhaling a puff of smoke from her mouth.

"Nasty enough to completely wipe out the most elite members of the House of Wolves when they attempted to take over," the Hunter Exo said seriously before shrugging, "But other than that, beats me."

Even though the House of Wolves were no longer as powerful as they were before with Skolas dead, its Fallen members were still a very dangerous threat to anyone that crossed paths with them. The last members being desperate enough to attempt to take the Dreadnaught for their own was no surprise to Fireteam Nero but for them to fail so bad, it did not bode well for the Guardians trying to do the same.

"Fan-fucking-tastic," the Warlock grumbled before taking a deep drag from her cigarette.

"Not how I would say it but you are right nonetheless, Lux," the Exo Titan said as he took out and cocked the 4th Horseman.

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"Was it really wise to smartmouth the leaders of a kingdom?" Drei asked as Summer did some maintenance on the Cloud Errant.

The jumpship had taken some superficial damages during the Vex invasion. They were not enough to affect its flight but it would be better to take care of it now than later.

"Probably not," she admitted as she used a belt sander to buff out the scorch marks, "But it's not like it was the first time I've done it."

"You were smartmouthing the Awoken Queen's brother, not the Queen herself," the Ghost felt the need to point out.

"Hey, with that haircut and attitude, Uldren Sov might as well be the queen," she shrugged as she did the finishing touches on the Cloud Errant.

The Guardian didn't exactly start out on the right foot with Uldren Sov of the Awoken when she placed the man in an armlock and nearly broke his arm after he pulled a knife on her on their first meeting.

Summer was mature enough to admit that she was the one at fault so she was quick to apologize for her actions. She had acted very rashly when she saw Fallen step out from behind the throne. Fortunately for Summer, Queen Mara Sov seemed to be more amused by the Guardian manhandling her brother than insulted so the White Rose didn't inadvertently start a war between the Guardians and the Awoken.

As far as first impressions went, it could have been better. It was still a whole lot better than how she met Ruby again. Her daughter freaking impaled her! Summer had wounded Uldren Sov's pride more than his body while Ruby would have been downright traumatized. It would be extremely hard to move past that just yet, considering how it had happened yesterday a few hours before the Vex fiasco.

"I know. You already said that right to his face."

"Yeah, whatever," she said flippantly as she began to review some recent files on the White Fang. With Drei so close to the control center on the ship, it was child's play for him to hack into the Atlesian military's database to access whatever information that they had on the terrorist group.

Remnant didn't have time to deal with a bunch of radicals so Summer thought it would be best to nip it in the bud before they could become a hindrance to the war effort against the Vex.

It would be kind of like eliminating the most violent Fallen Houses for the Guardian but if the White Fang agreed to offer their aid to defend Remnant, then she had no problems with that.

"It looks like they got the supposed mastermind behind the White Fang in custody," she noted with a small frown, "A Roman Torchwick."

The Guardian didn't believe for a second that someone like Roman Torchwick was the true mastermind behind the Breach. His file said that he was a master thief, not a terrorist so why would he risk himself for an attack like that when there was nothing for him to gain except imprisonment?

Seeing that the flamboyant man was on the ship right now, Summer decided to go pay him a visit. She dropped down from the Cloud Errant and was about to go the brig when she froze.

There were reports that said he had been confronted by Ruby Rose on three separate occasions and each time, he had tried to kill her. On the latest one, Roman had come close to killing the young girl before her team and the Huntsman escorting them came to her rescue.

From what Summer read of the thief, Torchwick was a man who held grudges very seriously and would not hesitate to pay them back tenfold. The list of his victims was a testament to that and it looked like he wanted to add the young Rose to that list.

"Uh oh," the Ghost said as he noticed what his Guardian had read to set her off. He didn't think that he would ever see the female Hunter be enraged two days in a row.

Summer Rose was not someone who could be angered easily but the thought of little Ruby being danger was more than enough to drive her off the edge.

Her posture seemingly relaxed as she continued her trek to Roman Torchwick's cell. For those who were not familiar with the Guardian, they would have mistaken her mood to be very calm as if she was in a tranquil state of mind.

But it was the exact opposite.

Her anger was not the typical sort. She did not explode into a raging inferno like most people. No, her rage could be described as cold as the darkness of space. Seeing the normally fun-loving young Guardian become so emotionless was more terrifying than her bursting out into anger.

She effortlessly walked past the guards to the brig unnoticed and proceeded to render the soldiers standing guard to the thief's cell unconscious before they even realized what hit them.

"Drei, passcode now," she ordered evenly.

"Right away, Guardian," he said as he promptly did so.

"Lock the doors. I don't want any interruptions," she said before inputting the passcode on the keypad. The door slid opened, revealing Roman Torchwick sitting in the small cell that was similar to what Summer was in yesterday.

Roman had slanted, dark-green eyes and bright, long, orange hair, with long bangs covering his right eye. Black eyeliner traced his visible left eye and he wore a red-lined white suit with long black pants and black shoes. His accessories included a small gray scarf, and black gloves with buckled sleeves. He was missing his signature bowler hat but Summer couldn't care less.

"Can't a man get some privacy in his own cell for god's sa-" the thief was about to quip but stopped himself as the helmet-cladded Guardian stood imposingly over him, "Who are you supposed to be? Another one of the general's lapdogs?"

The man didn't know how wrong he was but Summer didn't bother to correct him.

"Tell me everything you know about the White Fang and your employer," she demanded impassively, "Or else."

"Or else what?" Roman challenged audaciously with his arms spread wide open mockingly, "You'll send me to bed without supper."

The Guardian's hand lashed out and grabbed the taller man by the throat before lifting him up with one hand.

"Or else you're gonna have a bad time," she replied as her silver eyes began to glow menacingly behind the visor of her helmet.

"Really? 'Gonna have a bad time'?" the thief managed to say despite being held by his throat, "Is that really the best you can come up with?"

"No, this is," Summer said, lifting her free hand as it burst into flames as hot as the sun. Roman widened his green eyes in horror at what she was planning to do.

"W-wait! Maybe we can talk about thi-" he tried to weasel himself out of this situation but it was already too late for him as she placed her blazing hand firmly on the side of his face, forever burning the imprint of her hand on his cheek.

Roman Torchwick's screams of agony echoed across the hallways as the smell of burnt flesh filled the air. The rest of the captured White Fang trembled in dread at what the woman was doing to the thief, as they feared that they might be next.

The imprisoned Faunus was regretting every single choice that led them to joining the White Fang. What was the point of fighting for what you believed in when the enemy had something like that thing on their beck and call?

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AN:

Summer may be OoC at that last part but Roman Torchwick had attempted to kill her daughter, Ruby several times now. As the Vex had already figured out, that's a very bad idea.

Don't worry, he'll still live…hopefully.

Also, don't bother trying to call the number that Summer gave to Ozpin, Ironwood and the Vale Council. It's not a real number (as far as I know).

To lighten the mood, here is the next section of the list.

Omake:

41. As much as we appreciate your newfound admiration for the Traveler, we ask that you would refrain from raising your arms and shouting "PRAISE THE LIGHT!" in the courtyard. You're beginning to scare the new Guardians.

42. No, you cannot install a prototype software of a salvaged Warmind into your Ghost to improve his "math skills". We don't care if your Ghost, Drei was the one that suggested it.

43. Vanguard Ikora Rey- You need to learn to stop being so serious and be more creative in your approach on how to deal with your problems.

44. You are prohibited from tampering with the missives without authorization from the Vanguard. If you do it again, you will be forced to sit still and silently next to Cryptarch Master Rahool for no less than 48 hours.

(#41-44 are from Sanity07.)

45. Having your Ghost play the song, "Can't Touch This" while your Fireteammate, Guardian Prometheus-23 uses his Hammer of Sol was only funny the first time. Stop it.

(#45 is from Sgt. Nolisten)

46. We know that Osiris is most likely a sociopath by now and we no longer have control over his actions but it should be stated that you should not break the chest he offers to the Guardians into pieces and start a scavenger hunt.

47. No, we don't care that you left the weapons inside the chest alone. It's still not wise to provoke a homocidal former Guardian.

48. Oh, one of his disciples actually gave you permission for you to do that. Nevermind then.

(#46-48 are from TehUnoman)

49. Even though they are robots, it doesn't mean all Exos know how to do the robot dance properly.

50. We know you have only recently obtained your Nightstalker abilities but please refrain from sneaking up on everyone while you're still in the Tower. Guardians tend to have a loose trigger finger when they are taken by surprise. You should know this by now.

51. Yes, it was quite impressive that you managed to scale the side of the Tower with minimal equipment but please desist from doing so again.

52. We know you had permission from Lord Saladin to borrow that axe but please remember to return it after you're done with it.

53. Please refrain from using your Sparrow indoors.

54. You may be an excellent singer but your musical talents does not seem to extend to any instrument.

55. It is not appropriate to base jump off of the Traveler even though you had a parachute with you.

56. Please inform the Vanguard beforehand if you plan on bringing the Fallen Variks of the House of Judgment to tour the City.

57. We all know that you are an exemplary cook but there is no need to upstage every renowned chef in the City.

58. We do not want to hear the cries of "IT'S ALIVE! IT'S ALIVE!" coming from your quarters again. The subsequent cries of "Wait, it's not supposed to be alive. AAAH, KILL IT WITH FIRE!" also does not help your case.

59. Number 58 also applies to "AAAH, FIRE MAKES IT WORSE!"

60. We do not wish to know what kind of abomination that you have created or how you managed to create it in the first place but dispose of it and its remains immediately.