Zachary's POV
"When we get back to Beacon, let me do the talking." Maggie and I were on the way back to school in the Bullhead. We had called it back about 30 minutes ago, and they had just picked us up. The sun was hanging low in the sky and would probably be dark by the time we get back. Maggie turned to look at me.
"What for?" I wringed my hands for a second before I answered.
"The mission we were sent on didn't exactly involve the Milos Mansion, and I'd like to keep that on the down low." She stared at me, but didn't say anything. "I mean, Professor Ozpin obviously wanted me to check out the Mansion today of all days, considering nobody was there. I was going to sneak in anyway, he just gave me a safer opportunity." She continued to stare silently at me until she looked forward and pulled her hair back.
"Fine, whatever." She was silent for the rest of the trip, despite my attempts at trying to start a conversation.
Maggie and I stood side by side as the Elevator took us up to Ozpin's office. Maggie had dropped off all her gear in her room, other than the laptop she had brought along, which she had tucked safely under her arm. The doors dinged open to reveal the lobby area of his office, the doors leading to him on the other side of the room. We walked over to the doors and I ratted quickly on them. Ozpin's voice came from inside the office.
"Come in!" Maggie and I walked in to find Ozpin, as always, sitting behind that large desk. I raised a hand as we walked over.
"Hey, Ozpin. We finished up the mission and came to report." He nodded and looked at me.
"Did you find what you were looking for?" I stared at him, weighing the question in my mind before nodding.
"Yes, we did." After a moments silence, Maggie opened up her Laptop. She stepped forward as she started scrolling around on the mousepad.
"I took the liberty of snapping a couple photos of the Nevermore's corpse." He nodded.
"Yes, The Nevermore. You two were capable of putting it down?" He spoke almost as if he had forgotten the mission we were actually sent to complete. I nodded.
"It was a tough fight, but we took it out." Maggie finally found what she was looking for on the computer and gave it to Ozpin. He scrolled through the photos for a moment before handing the laptop back.
"Very good, both of you. Not many Hunters in Training can claim they have taken down an Adult Nevermore." He lower his head, looking at me over his glasses. "Much less two." He stared at more for a couple seconds before waving his hand to dismiss us. "Thank you for your effort. You may go." Maggie nodded and left the room, but I stayed behind.
"Actually, sir, I was hoping I could get a status report on Team RWBY's current mission. I can't imagine they have returned yet." He nodded, obviously prepared for the question.
"Yes, they are still in Quadrant 5, clearing Grimm with Dr. Oobleck." I raised my eyebrows at that.
"The Hunter they were sent with was Professor Oobleck? Are you assured of their safety? I mean, he doesn't seem like much of the fighting sort." He gave me a tired look.
"Mr. Milos, you should not so easily judge people by the way they are. Team RWBY, and Amber for that matter, are in good hands." I stared at him.
"Are you sure? If you want, I could head down to that Quadrant as back-up to help take out some of the Grimm." He smiled.
"Zachary, I admire your determination to help your Teams, but they simply are in no need of assistance at this time. All I ask of you at this moment is to wait for their return, which will most likely be in a couple of days." I gulped before nodding my head.
"Alright, alright. I'll stop worrying. I'll see you tomorrow." He nodded back with a smile.
"Of course." With that, I left, heading back to my Dorm. When I walked through the door, I felt the exhaustion I must have been carrying for the past hour. I trudged straight to my room, taking off only my shirt, shoes, and watch as I plopped down on the bed. I stared up at the ceiling for a couple of seconds before I closed my eyes and fell asleep.
I opened my eyes to see complete darkness. I sighed and got up.
"Aw shit, this again?" I looked around for a moment, searching for the white light, but scared to find it. Every time I had these dreams, something happened, and that something, on record, wasn't going to be good. I stood there for what felt like an hour, but no light or people came into view. I started getting confused and yelled out.
"Uhh, hello? Anybody going to come out?" The answer came a minute later with the bright light. I came from behind me, so I turned to get a view of the four silhouettes. Now, two of the people were clear for me to see, My Uncle and Sayo. The other two remained shadows. They appeared to be going in order from right to left, so I wasn't surprised when the third person started walking towards me. Just like last time, The person came into better view as they got closer. At first, I could tell that he was a stocky body builder guy. Then, I noticed the buzz cut and the light stubble across his face. I recognized the man by the armor he wore, an old fashioned suit that cover much, but not all of his body. I stared at him as he approached, not scared, nor happy to see him. He stopped a little farther than the other two stopped, about 8 feet away. I stared at the man I killed protecting Pyrrha, and he returned in suit. We watched each other in silence before I couldn't stand it any longer and spoke.
"So, what do you want to warn me about this time?" The man, of course, did not answer. He only gave me a cold stare. I sighed finally.
"Look, I know you're already dead, and this is all a figment of my imagination, but I gotta say it. I'm sorry." I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. I was going to say more, but when I opened my eyes, the man, the light, everything was gone.
I opened my eyes quickly as I heard a loud noise. I jumped into sitting position, but calmed down when I realized it was only my Scroll. I grumbled as I reached into my pants pocket and pulled out the device. I stopped mumbling when I saw Ruby's face as the caller, Jaune's face in the corner as a group call. I quickly answered, putting it to my ear, only to pull it away as a bunch of loud noises came through, covered by static. The sound only lasted a couple seconds before Ruby's line went dead. I stared at the Scroll for a second until I noticed that Jaune was still in the call as well. I quickly put it to my ear.
"Jaune?" After a second of rumbling on the line, Jaune's voice came through.
"Uhh, yeah?" I was silent for a second, thinking about what to say before I pulled my feet to the floor.
"Meet me outside your dorm, I'll be there in a sec."
"Should I wake up the others?" I thought for a second before responding.
"No, I just need to talk to you." With that, I heard a grumbling of affirmative before the line went dead. I quickly threw on the shirt I had and jogged over to Team JNPR's Dorm. When I got there, Jaune was leaning against the wall in his onesie. I sighed, still unable to believe that Pyrrha had let him keep that, but when he heard me, he looked up. The second he laid eyes on me, he was off the wall.
"What? What's going on?" He shook his head.
"Why are you in your combat gear?" I looked down before punching him in the arm.
"Really? This is happening and you are wondering how I sleep?" He shrugged before his face got serious.
"What do you think it was?" I shook my head.
"I'm not sure, but you heard it. It couldn't have been good." He nodded.
"Yeah, I'm not feeling great about it, but what do you suggest we do?" I stared at him for a second before I looked down.
"I'm not sure. There's no way Ozpin is going to let us get a Bullhead down to Quadrant 5 at-" I looked down at my Scroll. "4:45 in the morning." He nodded, yawning.
"I don't know, but we should get back to bed. Our Departure is in a couple hours, and I don't want to be tired." I nodded. Team JNPR was going out of Valve tomorrow. I had forgotten about that. Suddenly, Jaune's dorm door opened to reveal Pyrrha standing there in her pyjamas, rubbing her eyes.
"Jaune, what are you- Oh, Zach. What's going on?" I looked at Jaune before I shook my head.
"Nothing right now, We'll get to it when you guys are leaving. I'll show you guys off. Goodnight, guys." They nodded their goodbyes and headed back in their room, as I walked back to mine.
Amber's POV
I slowly opened my eyes, but all I could see was the setting of dust from the explosion. I started hearing sirens above, but all I could focus on was trying to get up. Everything hurt as I slowly brought myself up to sitting. I looked around to see Team RWBY not to far off, but when I looked around, all I saw was the eyes of people. A crowd that had gathered to look at the wreckage. I stumbled over to the nearest crowd, and as I exited the dust, there was a collective gasp. I looked at all of them before I raised my voice as loud as I could get it.
"Get out of here now! There's Gri-!" I was cut off by the screech of countless Grimm as they swarmed out of the hole in the ground, instantly aggroed on the huge crowd. I turned to the girls to see them getting up and making their way to a higher platform. I ran over to where they were headed and meeted them there. There were hundreds of them, surrounding the five of us and more chasing down the innocents. We got in a circle and got ready for a fight. I spoke over the growls of the beasts.
"Anybody have a plan?"
"Kill as many of them as we can?" Yang shouted out. I smiled.
"Sounds good to me." With that, we all charged from our cover and attacked the monsters we were facing. I sprung out my wings and lifted an up breeze to catch them and bring me flying up. While mid air, I flipped backwards until I was directly above the group, and with a single flap, I was flying to the ground. I pulled my feet below my body just as I slammed into the ground, my Aura protecting me from damage, but the wreckage and wind blowing the Grimm far back. I sped around, slicing from Grimm to Grimm as they flew back until all of them were dead, their corpses flying into walls and buildings. I looked around at the wreckage for only a second before I continued the fight.
Zachary's POV
"I'm sure they're fine." I walked alongside Team JNPR as they made their way to the Bullheads. I glanced at Pyrrha.
"You think so?" Nora started skipping ahead.
"Probably a butt dial." Ren walked behind her, unmoved by her childish nature.
"Team RWBY has always performed exceptionally well. We should focus on our own mission." Nora sped back happily.
"We're gonna be deputies!" Jaune, unlike the others, was also worried about it.
"I don't know. I just got this feeling like I- I don't know." I put a hand on his shoulder, looking out at Valve below us.
"I know how you're feeling, man." Pyrrha turned to us.
"Guys, I-" She was cut off by sirens coming from the city. We all looked down there in confusion until the sirens started playing at Beacon as well. I looked around in confusion, but was stopped by Jaune speaking to his Teammates.
"We're changing our mission, everybody on board." He turned to me. "Zach, you with us?" I stared at him for half a second, weighing the question before I shook my head.
"No, go ahead of me. I'm gonna go get Maggie and we'll meet you there." He nodded.
"Got it." I started sprinting to the Dorms as he climbed up on the Bullhead, quickly departing for the city. Since it was the crack of dawn, there were no other students walking around the campus, so I had a smooth run to the Dorms. When I made it to the Dorms, I started up the stairs, taking them three at a time until I made it to Maggies floor. I jogged over to her door and ratted on it quickly.
"Maggie! Get up!" The words barely came out of my mouth before the door flung open, her barging out of it and past me. I ran to catch up with her. She appeared to have all her gear on already, including the full body armor, the helmet not covering her face. "What's happening?!" We ran down the stairs and out to the Bullheads again with her answer.
"There's a breach in the center of Vale, thousands of Grimm in the city."
"What?!" She nodded.
"That's what I said when I saw the police report. A huge crater appeared in the town square and Grimm just started pouring out of it." SHe risked glancing sideways at me as we ran. "There were 5 teens in the middle of the explosion. Four girls, one guy." I frowned at the ground as I sprinted, stopping as we made it to the port. I turned to her.
"Let's go." We quickly found the closest Bullhead and got inside. I went straight to the cockpit to find the pilot looking out to the city.
"We need a ride to the city. Now!" She looked up at me before nodding her head.
"Got it, go get strapped in." Luckily, she understood the urgency of the request and took off right at that moment, speeding straight to the city. I stumbled into the back, finding a seat next to Maggie as she was already buckled up. I sat down next to her and held my seat, not bothering to put on the seat belt. I turned to her, yelling over the sound of the engine.
"Are you ready to fight?!" She yelled back.
"Wouldn't already be suited up if I wasn't!" I nodded in whatever way I could.
"Good! We need to find Team RW-" The Pilot's voice came through the speakers.
"We are on route to city square. Only be a minute left before drop off."Maggie quickly unbuckled, obviously not expecting such a quick ride. I started over my sentence.
"We need to find Team RWBY! JNPR is already there for backup!" She yelled in response.
"Alright! Just be prepared for anything!" Suddenly, just after her thought, the back of the bullhead opened up, the ground a blur below us. The Pilot spoke again.
"Get ready to jump out, and activate your Auras before the drop off. Don't want any premature injuries!" With that, the two of us got up from our seats and crawled over to the opening back. We both hung onto the railing as the Bullhead started to slow down, until it came to a low hover right over the square. There was absolute chaos, Both my Teams(Plus Amber) fighting against the flow of the attacking Grimm. We both jumped out. As I fell, I unleashed Blood and Glory from my Watch and as I rolled onto the ground, the Gauntlets were ready as I boosted them into a large Beowulf, sending it flying, but I didn't stop there. I jumped around the battlefield, attacking as many of the Monsters as I could before I found myself back to back with Yang, he firing shot after shot into the Grimm surrounding us, My throwing as much fire as I could. I yelled over the sound of the fight.
"Are you guys all okay?!" She glanced back at me, her eyes blood red.
"Yeah, we're all alive!" The Grimm around us started thinning out, only a couple more to kill. The two of us attacked with our melee, dispatching them with ease. I walked over to her as she snapped the neck of a large Grimm Dinosaur. I put a hand on her upraised arm, ready to punch the Grimm again and spun her around. She looked at me with surprise, ready to kill if I were any enemy. The rage dissipated from her eyes when I kissed her, going limpin my arms. When I pulled away, we separated, but only a couple inches.
"I asked if you were okay, not alive." She smirked at me.
"We're all okay. Exhausted, but okay." I smiled back as I heard incoming Bullheads. I looked up, seeing tons of planes flying overhead, as well as an enormous space craft. We all stared at the huge transport vessels for a moment before they started dropping Robot soldiers all over the wargrounds. I looked around to see them firing rifles at the Grimm, but barely doing anything to the huge forces. Then I saw something different from the rest. The large ship had let loose a single drop pod, letting it fall to the square until it slammed into the ground, destroying the tiling underneath. Yang and I stared at it for a second before the pod opened up, the front folding backwards to show a teen sitting inside. A big guy, pretty strong looking. He had a buzz cut and was wearing a tank top and combat pants, but it was armored up with pieces of modern armor, kind of like Jaune's. His right arm bristled with muscle, but his left arm had light bandaging covering the entire arm, all the way down his hand. On his back was a long cloak that covered his arms a bit, but not enough to hide much of his body from the front. In his bandaged hand was a large one sided sword, but the pummel was longer than usual, pointing at the end like a spear. The guy stepped out of the pod, cracking his neck before he surveyed the battlefield. He hadn't been out there for ten seconds before the corpse of an Ursa went flying at him. He turned to look at it with anger in his eye for a millisecond before his sword was brought up and sliced through the Ursa, completely cutting it in two, sending both sides flying behind him. The three of us looked at the source to see Maggie storming over to him. I jogged over to her, yelling over my shoulder at Yang.
"Help your Team. I need to see what this is about." She nodded and ran over to help Blake dispatch a group of Beowolves. I got in front of Maggie, her helmet just pulling back to show her full head. Her face was full of anger.
"Maggie, he's here with the Military. We're fighting the Grimm, remember?" She stopped to glare at me before I heard a gruff voice from the guy that had come out of the pod.
"Maggie? Magenta Everdale?" I turned to look at him, but he was beside me, looking down at her. His face was unreadable. The two of them stared at each other for a moment, until the guys finally spoke. "I see you made your way to Beacon." She barked at him.
"I see you're still a dog of the military." I saw hurt go across his eyes before his face hardened again. He probably would have responded had a Deathstalker not attacked the three of us. We all jumped back as it snapped at us with it's claws. I got ready to jump forward, but Maggie and the guy were faster than I could have been, slicing and beating the Giant Scorpion in unison as they quickly took it down. With a final attack, the soldier guy, jumped high in the air, swinging his sword over his head until he brought down the pummel through it's head. It shrieked for half a second before it went limp, dead. He pulled his sword out with little difficulty and walked over to Maggie. They were out of earshot from me at this point, but I could see them having a tense talk before they turned and joined the fight once again, but at separate areas. I stared at the two of them separately for a second before I shrugged.
"Huh." With that, I ran off to join Amber as he fought off a large King Taijuti.
The fight was finally over, all the Huntsmen and Huntresses that had fought had gathered with their Teams to celebrate the battle. From what I heard, there was only a few casualties, with more civilians injured. I walked over to my friends, all gathered together and talking happily amongst themselves. The soldier that had joined the battle in the middle of the fight was standing beside the Bullhead that Torchwick was being loaded into, watching in silence as he was brought into custody. I walked over to the others, and stood beside Maggie, who had put her armor into backpack form. I whispered to her.
"Hey, can I talk to you for a sec." She studied my face for a second, but nodded.
"Sure." The two of us walked a little away from the others to talk. I turned to her when we were far enough away.
"So you mind, telling me about your friend?" I jerked my head at the soldier behind me. She stared at me, a light glare in her eyes. She snarled the answer.
"Steel is his name. 6, 2. A very skilled fighter, and a huge asshole."
"Is that really what you think of me?" Once again, the Soldier had snuck up on me. He walked over to us, talking to Maggie. "An asshole for what I chose." She spit in his face.
"Yeah! You are an asshole! You betrayed us to run off to be a good little soldier boy for Ironwood!" The guy, Steel, calmly wiped the spit off his face and flicked it to the ground. He stared at her coldly.
"Mags, I'm sorry. I really am, but there's nothing I can do now." She glared at him, lowering her voice.
"You wanna know what happened to our friends, our Teammates? Rackley left the school, went back home. Kelley, oh you don't want to know about Kelley. She was so torn up about your, what did you call it, "Departure" that she just shut down. They had to send her home because she was unable to fight anymore. You ruined two peoples dreams, just because you wanted to follow yours! Do you really have that right?! Do you?!" I stepped in between them. Steel's poker face had been failing once again, regret flashing across his face from her accusations.
"Maggie, that's enough." She turned on me.
"Oh, no. You don't get to be a part of this! You don't even know what's happening, so, so…. Back off!" With that she was so angry and distraught that she just couldn't get out words until finally, she pulled her armor over her body, put her helmet on, and ran off to Oum knows where. I stared at her as she ran off, not bothering to follow. I turned back to Steel to see him frozen, staring at where she had been. I spoke quietly.
"What, exactly, did you do to her?" He looked at me, and for a moment, I thought he was actually going to tell me, but before he could say anything, his Scroll went off in his pocket. He straightened up and answered the call.
"Sir." I could hear mumbling from the other side until he spoke again. "Yes, sir." With that he hung up the phone and looked at me. "Another time, perhaps, but for now, I need to report back." He turned to leave, but stopped and turned his head to the side, just to see me.
"I'll see you around." He then jogged over to the bullhead and left. I stared at it for a second before I returned to the others.