The Old General

The five member team, apparently called the "Ace-Ops", stared down the bald Faunus in a black suit, who had seemingly just come out of nowhere.

"Where'd this guy come from?" Elm asked.

"Perhaps he's a friend of the other's here," Vine suggested.

"Look sir," Clover said, trying to solve this peacefully, "Please, this…"

"I do not care if this is 'official business'," Shade interjected coolly, "I will give you this once chance to leave, and stay out of our way."

"You're a cocky bastard," Harriet sneered, as she got ready to keep up the fight, as did the rest of the Ace-Ops.

"Yes, he is," Pyrrha said, smiling.

"But he's still gonna kick your asses with one hand tied behind his back," Yang said. The others just smiled, eager to watch the show.

"Well, we'll see about that," Clover said calmly, as he lashed out Kingfisher at Shade. However, to his surprise, it froze in midair in front of Shade. Before Clover could even ponder what this was, Shade flicked his wrist, and the Huntsman found himself tumbling back.

"Let it be said I warned you," Shade said as he brushed his suit off, putting his hands back behind his back as he advanced. Elm acted next, jumping forward to bring down Timber, only for to be suddenly caught in mid air, and unceremoniously thrown to the ground. Harriet then activated her Semblance, and zoomed over to Shade, ready to pound him in the ground with Fast Knuckles. Unfortunately for her, when she brought the fist down, it was caught by the doctor.

"What the hell are you?" she said slowly as she stared into his dark eyes. Shade didn't answer, instead, he responded by telekinetically throwing her. In short order, though, Shade himself was caught in the hands of Vine.

"Got you!" Vine hissed, "Now!" Shade calmly glanced up to see Marrow coming down at him with his saw/boomerang, Fetch.

"Just so you know, you started…" The dog couldn't finish, as Shade effortlessly broke free from Vine's grasp, creating a telekinetic shockwave that knocked both men away. Harriet then tried to attack again, as she activated her Semblance and started circling him. However, as she got ready to land her strike, she noticed something that shouldn't have been possible: Shade's eyes following her. He almost looked…. bored. Jerking his head slightly, Shade knocked Harriet to the ground, with her momentum carrying her all the way into another wall.

"Stay!" Marrow suddenly said, activating his Semblance, which could freeze people in their place, as he pointed at Shade. At first, it looked like they had got him, and the Ace-Ops let themselves take a breath.

"Was that supposed to do something?" Shade asked calmly, as he looked towards the Faunus.

"How…" Marrow didn't finish, as Shade then flicked his finger up, causing the dog to float up, before he flicked his finger back down, causing Marrow to face plant straight into the ground. Elm tried to follow up with another strike from Timber, while Vine came up with a hunk of rubble in each hand. As they brought them down, Shade held up both hands, freezing them in the air, before putting his hands together, causing the two to slam into each other. Dusting his hands off, Shade then looked over the utterly defeated Ace-Ops, as Pietro and Maria stared.

"Those… those were the Ace Operatives," Pietro said shakily, "They're the greatest hunters in Atlas."

"I do not doubt that," Shade said, as he glanced at Pietro briefly, before flicked his wrist, undoing the binds in the teens. It was then that he noticed a hook on a line coming his way, which he easily dodged. Glancing over, he saw Clover making his way over.

"Who are you?" he demanded, panting slightly.

"My name is Dr. Shade," the doctor answered, "I am the teacher to the group you rather unceremoniously bound. Now…" He then held up his hand to deal with Clover as well, as Clover took a battle stance, though he knew it probably wouldn't do any good.

"Wait!" Ruby said, as she got in front of her teacher, "Stop, just for a second!" Shade arched an eyebrow, but didn't protest, as Ruby and Jaune went over to the rest of the Ace-Ops.

"Are you okay?" Jaune asked Vine. That certainly wasn't what Vine had been expecting to hear, as he looked up at the young man he had just been trying to arrest. To his further surprise, Jaune activated his Semblance, enhancing Vine's healing, while Ruby tried to help Harriet up.

"What're you guys doing?" Harriet all but demanded.

"All we want is to talk," Blake said as she stepped up with the others, "We don't mean anyone any harm."

"That guy in the suit just curbstopmed us, and you're telling us you don't mean any harm?" Marrow asked, as he tried to pull himself to his feet.

"Well, you did try and attack us," Weiss said, "We tried to tell you." Clover considered everything that just happened. Shade just completely and utterly defeated all of them on his own. One way or another, this did deserve the general's attention. Perhaps there was a way they could resolve this with words before they continued with force (which they almost assuredly wouldn't win).

"So, what do you want then?" Clover asked.

"We just need to see General Ironwood," Oz said, as he stepped forward, "Please, just take us to him." The Ace-Ops exchanged looks at that.

"You know we do not actually need you to get to Atlas," Shade said plainly, as he held up his hand, apparently fully willing on continuing the duel. That made things pretty clear to the Aces.

"This isn't going to look good on our report," Elm grumbled.

(at Atlas Academy)

It had been a quick ride by airship up to Atlas proper, and to the Academy/HQ. It was certainly more impressive than Beacon or Haven, almost to the point of being garish (at least in the opinion of Weiss, Blake, Ilia, and Shade). This time, the group wasn't shackled, which some of their escort guards didn't look too happy about, but when one of them raised the issue, Shade gave him a very stern look. He didn't talk for the rest of the trip. Once they landed, they were lead into the Academy, and down the hall.

"So, what do we do when we meet him?" Oscar asked.

"We tell him the truth," Oz answered, "James needs to hear it now more than ever." As they were walking, they came to outside Ironwood's office, just as the general was returning form whatever he was doing prior. And he wasn't alone; much to the contrary, one Major Winter Schnee was accompanying him.

"Winter!" Weiss said, moving to the front of the group. The elder Schnee's widened at the sight of her younger sister.

"Weiss," she said softly, "What're you…." She couldn't finish as Weiss suddenly leapt forward and embraced her tightly.

"I missed you so much," she said softly. Winter wasn't sure why she was surprised, but after a moment, she still returned the hug. Sure, this was a breach in protocol, but at this point, with her little sister in her arms, she didn't really care. And apparently, neither did Ironwood, who just smiled at the sight of the students.

"It's good to see you all again," he said, "Please, come in." As the group filed into the office, they were surprised by how Spartan it was. It just considered of some bookshelves, a desk, and that was about it.

"I hope you'll forgive me for sending the Ace-Ops to apprehend you," Ironwood said, "It's just, seeing an unregistered airship raised some red flags."

"Well, can't blame him for that," Jaune muttered.

"We came here so quick because we need to talk to you," Qrow said, stepping forward, "Things have changed, and they've changed a lot."

"Is it about the Relics?" Winter asked.

"Or Salem?" Penny chimed in. That much surprised the whole of the group, especially Oz. This was not light information, and he had generally tried to keep the circle who knew about small. People who did know, also generally got it from him, and directly from him.

"You… told them?" Oscar asked, sensing the questions Oz had.

"The Ace-Ops know as well," Ironwood answered, "With Oz gone, I needed my own circle of trust, and my options were… limited, to say he least." Qrow narrowed his eyes at the mention of that, before taking a breath.

"Well, we'll deal with all that later," he said.

"Well at any ate, you all seemed to have made very quick work of the Aces," Ironwood said, with a smile, "Color me impressed. That was no small feat." The group exchanged looks with each other.

"It… wasn't us," Ruby said.

"It was me," Shade said as he stepped forward, facing down Ironwood. The Atlesians all stared in surprise, all of them remembering Shade in some fashion. Most of them didn't have good ones at that.

"You," Ironwood said, his eyes narrowing.

"What are you doing here?" Winter hissed, advancing on him.

"Winter," Weiss said, getting in between her sister and her teacher, "It's okay, we trust him."

"You trust him?" Winter said, "How can you trust this man? He appeared out of nowhere, refuses to tell us about himself…"

"The issue is," Ironwood interjected, stepping forward, "In this day and age, we can't trust strangers with information like this. I'm sorry, Doctor, but we have nor eason to have faith in you, even if the children do." There was a period of silence, as all the group suddenly looked at Shade expectantly. Recognizing what this meant, Shade sighed slightly.

"You know," Shade said, "when I first came here, I did not think I would be revealing myself to this many people."

"Reveal yourself?" Penny asked, cocking her head curiously.

"They need to know," was all Jaune said. Shade looked at him for a time, before nodding slightly. He then held up his arms, and with a flash of dark aura, assumed his divine form.

It seemed to take Ironwood, Winter, and Penny a good couple seconds to fully process what was in front of them, and when they did, they had relatively similar reactions. Ironwood and Winter both stumbled back in shock (and a bit of horror), staring wide eyed, unable to believe what was in front of them. Penny on the other hand….

"Salutations!" she then said, as she was one to do when meeting any new person, saying it more in awe than in fear. The god looked up and down the android, but didn't say anything in return.

"What is he?" Winter all but demanded, as she grabbed at her swords. Darkness was silent, as he advanced on Winter, who could only stare at the being that was more than twice her height.

"Look at me, little one," he said, "And tell me." Winter and Ironwood looked carefully at him, trying to figure out just what he was. But then, something, somewhere, in Ironwood's mind clicked.

"You're the God of Darkness," he said, remembering the old religion he was raised on. Darkness turned to the general and just nodded.

"Why… why are you here?" Winter asked.

"A question that is neither relevant, nor your concern. Just know that these children are under my personal guidance and guardianship. The only thing that concerns me, right now, is their wellbeing."

"And if we can't trust our creator," Jaune said, "Then who can we trust?" Ironwood was silent for a second, as he tried to consider all that was going on. All he found himself able to do was sigh, and drag a hand down his face.

"And that… actually isn't it," Qrow then added.

"Oh, what now?" Ironwood asked, sounding more crass and harsh than he should've.

"Turns out, Salem isn't the only problem." That would've been enough, but then they told them all about the Spirits, their origins, and how they still seemed to lurk across Remnant. The group took it all in, as Ironwood leaned back against his desk, rubbing his temples slightly. This new information was throwing his established plan of raising Amity Colosseum and revealing the truth about Salem pretty far off the tracks, but he didn't bring that up yet. It wouldn't have helped anything at this point.

"I miss the days when the biggest thing I had to worry about was Grimm hurting people," Ironwood said, "If Oz were here…"

"Who said he wasn't?" Ironwood froze, as he saw Oscar approach. His eyes widened as he put it all together.

"It's good to see you again, James," Oz said softly, smiling at his old friend.

"Oz?" Ironwood asked, as he fell to one knee to be on his level, "Is it really…" He stopped when wizard put a hand on his shoulder.

"We… have a lot to talk about," Oz said. Ironwood paused, before smiling, and nodding in understanding.

"So these… Spirits," Winter then said, "Do we know anything about them?"

"Only that they created the Faunus out of spite," Ilia said, her voice oozing with bitterness. Blake put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down.

"Well that is a start," Penny piped up, "Perhaps we can go from there and…"

"Actually the situation is even more complex than that," Darkness suddenly interjected, getting everyone's attention. He then stepped forward, holding up his hand, as black flame appeared in it.

"What do you mean?" Pyrrha asked.

"You all know that I created what you call the Grimm, to be a counterbalance to the Spirits my brother created," Darkness explained, "But before it all, much as my Brother created four High Spirits, I created something of my own."

"I don't like where this is going," Ruby said, as she instinctively put her hand on her stomach.

"You should not," Darkness answered grimly, "The things I created, I suppose you could call, the four Arch-Grimm."

"Arch-Grimm?" Winter asked. Darkness was quiet for a moment, before the one flame in his hand split into four. They then floated out to the center of the group, as they took ghoulish forms. One was a winged creature (that looked strangely familiar), another looked like a cloud of sorts, the third was a strange multi-limbed thing, and the fourth was something that looked vaguely humanoid

"Four perfect forces of pure destruction, each representing a different aspect: Chaos, Desiccation, Discord, and Ruination," the god explained, "If released, they alone could bring an entire kingdom to its knees."

"How come we've never seen one before?" Ren asked.

"You have, as a matter of fact," Darkness answered, "The beast at Beacon, you called it the 'Wyvern'."

"That was one of them?" Nora asked nervously.

"Indeed, it was the Chaos."

"How long did you know about these things?" Jaune asked.

"When I saw the Chaos in Vale, I had suspected, but was not sure, but then, I found the Ruination in Mistral, and later the Desiccation in Vacuo. That, of course, leaves the Discord."

"And it's here in Atlas," Penny finished for him. Darkness just nodded at that, as all but one of the flames disappeared, the multi-limbed one.

"Where… where is it?" Ironwood asked quickly.

"I found it dormant in the mountains when we first arrived."

"We have to get there!" Ironwood, "We have to slay it…"

"That is not possible," Darkness interrupted, "It is a creature mightier than any you have seen before."

"So what do we do?" Ilia asked.

"All you can do for the time being is continue as you have. It will take a great deal of negative energy to release it from its dormancy, something on par with what happened at Beacon," Darkness said, "But I doubt the release of the Chaos in Vale was an accident; I suspect the spawn of my brother have something in the making." The mortals and the android were silent, as they processed everything they had just been told. It was then that Jaune decided to drop the next bombshell about recent events.

"By the way," he said, "There's something else."

"Oh, what now?" Winter all but groaned.

"Well, you know those dragons that've been popping up lately?"

(in the dorms)

As it turned out, the dragon revelation and been the softest of the bombshells they dropped. Perhaps Ironwood and Winter were so shocked by everything else, it seemed like small stuff. But at any ate, after a more formal introduction to the Ace-Ops, and a rather extensive tour of the Academy dormitories, the teams were settling in after what had proven to be a rather long day.

BRWN was settling into their dorms, though Blake was the only one actually in there at the time, with Ren and Nora doing whatever, and Weiss apparently needing to think about things (Blake had a good idea what). Ilia was bunking with Oscar; she wasn't thrilled by the prospect of bunking with a human, but she couldn't really be choosy here.

Blake was sitting on her bunk, staring at the crown of the Wild Empire, the crown that had once belonged to her ancestors. It had been a symbol of an old time; a time that Blake could never be allowed to return. Running a hand through her hair, her mind was drawn to Neith, to the one who first threw the crown away. Her hair had been shorter…

(in the RYPJ dorm)

Jaune ran his hand through his hair with a sigh as he entered the dorm he was sharing with his team. As he entered the room, he noticed Ruby sitting back on one of the bunks, staring into space, one hand on her stomach.

"Hey Ruby," Jaune said, as he came over.

"Hey Jaune," Ruby answered softly.

"Where're Yang and Pyrrha?"

"Downtown," Ruby answered, sounding rather distant, "Pyrrha said she wanted to do something with her hair." Noticing how she was acting, Jaune came over and sat next to his girlfriend, putting a hand over her's.

"Is everything…"

"I'm fine," Ruby said, as she stepped away.

"Look, we can talk about this if you'd like," the blonde said, knowing what the issue was.

"I… I just need to figure this out for myself first," Ruby answered, only looking back at him briefly, before she stepped out into the hall. Jaune frowned slightly, but he knew better than to try and push her on this matter. He had a feeling he'd get a similar response from Weiss. So with that, he lifted himself up to the bunk he was in, over Ruby's. After doing so, in an attempt to take his mind off things, he again fingered the unruly strands of his hair.

(in the halls)

Ruby knew how she was acting was unfair. What was happening wasn't Jaune's fault, he didn't know that was going to happen when he did what he did. Ruby wasn't sure why she felt the way she did, but she did. And, as it turned out, Weiss was thinking the same thing, as she sat in the dorms common area, staring out the window.

"Hey Weiss," Ruby greeted, as the girl in white looked up.

"Hey," Weiss answered softly, as she looked back out the window.

"Did you tell Winter about…. you know?" Ruby asked as she sat across from her.

"No," Weiss answered, shaking her head, "If I told her I had gotten magically pregnant with a boyfriend who I share with another girl, after everything else that she's had to find out, I think she would've suffered a complete mental breakdown." Ruby couldn't help but chuckle at that slightly, but it quickly faded.

"What're we going to do about… this?" Ruby asked, pointing to her stomach. Weiss put her hand on her own stomach.

"I don't know," she answered softly, "I just don't know." This was normally the time Darkness would appear and offer them some words of advice, but for once, he didn't say anything.

"So…," Ruby said slowly, "Want to help me think of names?" She made it as a mood lightener, but Weiss didn't look amused.

"I need some sleep," she said as she rose to her feet, "I have a feeling tomorrow's going to be a busy day." Ruby took a breath as she watched her friend leave before she looked out the window over the city. Suddenly, a shot of pain went through Ruby's head, as she grabbed it and winced. However, when the pain subsided, she touched her face, and felt scales….

(in Mantle)

"Gods above, I hate Atlas."

"I can't imagine why. I think this place can be quite fun."

"I agree, especially with the job she gave us."

"Enough of that," Watts said as he strolled down the road. As he was walking, the street light along the road suddenly turned green from red. This almost caused two cars to crash into each other.

"Remember, we have a task at hand," Watts continued, as he polished off one of his rings, "We have to make preparations."

(elsewhere in Mantle)

"Tyrian, are you position?"

"Oh yes," Tyrian answered as he strolled down the road, his tail wrapped around his waist like a belt while he wore a dark brown coat, "I've been looking forward to this."

(somewhere else in Mantle)

"Cheshire?" Dashing across the roofs of Mantle was Cheshire, wearing a dark purple stealth suit, and her pink tied back into a bun.

"Ready, and getting impatient," she said, as she perched atop a chimney, her cat tail flicking, "When can I go after someone?"

(again, elsewhere in Mantle)

"Simmer down," Crane said, "We all have rolls to play." He was riding a black motorcycle with red highlights down the road, with a hood ornament that resembled a horse's head.

"My point exactly," Watts said, "Keep your wits about you while you're here. I don't want to have to deal with the consequences of any of you being apprehended."

"Oh, it won't be a problem for me," Cheshire hissed.

"We need a place where we can regroup if we run into… obstacles," Crane said.

"We do that, we run a greater risk of being discovered," Watts said.

"And at any rate," Tyrian added, "I can deal with any 'obstacles'. I may have already dealt with one already."

"Be ready, all of you," Watts said, "Mantle may be easy prey, but I'd rather not carry the burden of this whole endeavor."

"Oh my dear doctor," Cheshire said, "I'm not going to let you have all the fun." As he was listening, Crane came to a stop by a large display screen. It showed a tall woman with light-blonde hair, tanned skin, and violet eyes; Crane knew that face quite well. The face of one Robyn Hill. He tightened his grip on the handlebars of his motorcycle.

"And I think I know where to start," he hissed.

Note: Let me say that I'm one of the few in the world who doesn't hate Jaune's new haircut.

This chapter was a bit harder than one might think, because it mainly dealt with completely redoing the discussion with Ironwood with the new information and knowledge. With Oz here, I think things will go a lot better than they did in canon. Of course, there are an extra two baddies working for Salem.

To briefly touch on the Arch-Grimm, I came up with them almost immediately after I did the Spirits. With the idea that the Grimm are the God of Darkness' answer to the God of Light's Spirits, I think you can say the Arch-Grimm are that to the High Spirits. They've been building for a while, but this is the first time they've been fully identified. Again, this was planned from the beginning, I just couldn't find a natural way to bring them up until now.

And, the Ace-Ops just got utterly thrashed by Shade. That was fun to write.

Be sure to review.