Chapter 9: The Looming Shadow(s)

-Spartan Hangar-
-Beacon-

Magnus set down a box full of equipment onto the hangar's balcony, this was his new home away from home. Spacious enough for a huge individual like himself.

"It ain't much, but it's what we got." Hannah spoke

"I'm not picky." Magnus answered "It'll be enough"

Hannah crossed her arms and turned to Xavier, who was inspecting DMR. Jirou was swinging his hardlight sword around, while Damian was reading from his scroll. "So, what's your story?"

"Mm?"

"Yeah, like before you were whisked away here. What were ya doin?" Hannah asked

Magnus pondered for a bit "I was in a Special Operation."

"Ooh, special op?" Hannah whistled "How special?"

"Oni Special."

"Oni?" ¨Jirou poked his head in "Someone say Oni?"

"Yeah, Magnus here was in an Oni op."

Magnus opened a small box from one of the tables, it was bought by Damian from some club he had mentioned, Magnus opened it and saw the contents, a single bottle of Grimalkyn Ale. "I was sent into a promethean location to locate the source of some anomalous energy."

"The White Knight that brought you here?" Jirou spoke "Could that have been the anomalous source?"

"Yes. It 100% was." Magnus answered, he opened the bottle and drank from it "It couldn't have been anything else, I ended up ripping out it's skull before I was taken here."

"If we're talking about what we were doing before we got here, I'll continue. I was in the middle of a full front assault to a Covenant Storm Stronghold with loads and loads of UNSC, last thing I remember was the knight taking down my Pelican and well...ended up here, I swear the thing had pin perfect accuracy, even for me"

Magnus turned to Jirou "You?"

"I was sent to assist a settlement in parts of the outer rim, where UNSC presence is...minimal, there had been Promethean reports and was sent with PMC operatives. I didn't end up reacting quick enough to the knight before it blinded me, I hope they were okay.."

"I'm sure they were." Magnus took another swing of the bottle "You two!"

Xavier and Damian turned towards Magnus "Yeah?"

"What were you two doing before y'all ended up here?"

"Oh, we were with our team, Quantum. We got sent in to a snowy planet to take out a local Insurrectionist group. The bastards had somehow gotten ahold of Promethean tech, we managed to take them out but, that white knight snuck up on us..." Xavier explained

"I'm surprised that the rest of the team wasn't taken too, we coulda used the help." Damian continued

"So that's why Damian calls you sarge..." Hannah spoke to herself

"Yep, he was leader of Quantum" Damian grabbed Xavier and shook him "Now he's just like us." Xavier chuckled to himself

"Any sort of word from Ozpin?" Jirou asked "Since the modified suppressor, we haven't gotten any updates."

"No, no updates yet." Xavier placed his DMR down "But he looks like a guy with connections, we'll get something soon enough."

Magnus took another swing of the Grimalkyn Ale, only to find it empty "Hey, where'd you guys buy this stuff again?"

-Atlas-
-Undisclosed Facility-

Sanith sat a chair, across a table was Rina Balere. The only member of UMBR they had. The Operation that had occurred in Daiyu had gotten the attention of Sanith's bosses, Ironwood specifically due to the Spartan presence. The brutal mangling of The White Fang they'd encountered especially was quite intriguing to the General, such strength and brutal power had only been achievable with an Atlas Paladin, so this was high priority, "So, do you know where they went?"

Rina was silent

"Okay then..." Sanith cleared his throat "What was your objective with the White Fang? Why were you working with them?"

Rina stayed silent

Sanith sighed "Okay let's see..." Sanith flipped through some documents, he stopped and grabbed a picture of one their priority targets. Adam Taurus. "Do you ever have any contact with this man?"

Rina was still silent

"Al-"

"Why did you work for Atlas?" Rina broke her silence

Sanith raised an eyebrow "Excuse me?"

"Atlas is the number one most racist kingdom of Remnant." Rina continued "Why do you work for their military? You could be out there, fighting against this bullshit classist and racist regime with the White Fang!"

Sanith looked at Rina for a second, then slowly set down the documents "You say that, but you're not a Faunus?"

"So? I still know what's righ-"

"The only reason. THE ONLY REASON that you were even allowed to be near White Fang was because of Ulysses." Sanith spoke "You wouldn't even be ALLOWED to be with them had it not been because of Ulysses."

"An-and and, eVEN STILL. EVEN STILL! You say that 'Oh White Fang is better nyeh nyeh!' NO, it is not." Sanith kept going "The White Fang is going to crumble on itself, they'll start tearing each other apart trying to be on top."

"You don't know that!"

"Oh, but it's obvious isn't it? The only humans that could be allowed to be in white fang, would be their bloody punching bags." Sanith kept on his speech "The White Fang chose the worst type of enemy. Me? I'm a survivor. I'm someone who's going to do what they want- no, what they used to want to do. Actually show that they're equal."

"What're you going to do?"

"I'm going to be an Ace Op...then..." Sanith leaned back on his chair "I'll take Ironwood's place."

-Vale-
-Atlas Temporary Outpost-
-Ironwood's quarters-

Ironwood held a scroll; he was in the middle of a call with the council. "Yes, I understand"

The general leaned on his table and wrote down some information given to him "I assure you; he'll be reasonable. We've known each other for a long time, I'll be able to convince him"

'Remember to tell Ozpin!'

"Of course, rest assured. It'll go smoothly." Ironwood repeated "Very well, goodbye."

Ironwood left the call and set his scroll down, he passed his hand through his face and sighed "He's not going to like this."

He was interrupted by the scroll ringing again, this time by one of his lieutenants. He predictably answered it "Yes, Lieutenant?"

Ironwood listened to the woman behind the phone, what she'd said had his entire attention. "They're-they're here? Where?"

"In Beacon? Right now?" Ironwood spoke "Thank you, I'll be on my way."

This was his chance to meet the renowned Spartans, he wasn't going to waste it.

-Vale-
-Beacon Academy-

The Spartans walked alongside Glynda, they were being taken to meet General Ironwood. Ironwood had been waiting for a chance to meet the Super Soldiers in person, rather than hearing of their feats on the news. "He's ecstatic to be meeting you"

"He's General of all those ships above the city, right?" Magnus asked

"Yep, those are his." Hannah answered "Quite the presence don't ya think?"

"Oh, come on, UNSC did this all the time, this ain't new" Damian looked at the display of power

Glynda noticed the use of the word, or acronym "This UNSC...what does it mean?"

"United Nations Space Command, it's the most ruling force all over Earth and her colonies." Xavier explained, he then remembered ONI "There was also ONI. Office of Naval Intelligence."

"Were they also like the UNSC?"

"Well...no, yes, but no. They specialized in more...shadow operations and research, ONI was actually responsible for the creation of the Spartan Program."

"So, they created what you are today?"

Jirou shook his head "No, we are Spartan-IV, the fourth generation of Spartans, made by the UNSC, and ONI, partially. The last three generations were mostly ONI controlled."

"What's the difference between generations?" The group made it to the CCT

"Well, we have the best tech!" Damian spoke "That's...sort of it for us."

Glynda called down the elevator to Ozpin's office "Ironwood will be waiting for us, so let's not waste any time."

The group walked in the Elevator, but saw Magnus standing there. He was too tall to fit normally. "Should I go after or...-"

Magnus sat on the elevator floor, the rest of the group stood around him. They made sure to give him enough space. He was nothing short of a big boi. "Anything I should know about This General?"

"Try not to give too much information about yourselves." Glynda answered "He's always trying to find ways to improve his armies."

Magnus nodded "Noted."

-Ozpin's Office-

Ironwood waited for the Spartans to arrive "You gave them a warehouse?"

Ozpin nodded "Yes, they carry out most of their operations here, and they've done much for Vale and the surrounding regions."

"Acting like a police force?" Ironwood answered

"If it keeps the people safe, then yes. They act like a pseudo-police force"

Ozpin's glass desk pinged, signaling the Spartans and Glynda's arrival. The two awaited for the Elevator doors to open.

Glynda and the Spartans soon came into view, with Magnus leaning down so he wouldn't bump his head on the elevator door. "Greetings Headmaster, General." The teacher spoke

Ironwood immediately took notice of the Spartans, they looked exactly as the reports had told him. "So, these are the Spartans."

"Yes, I am Sergeant Xavier Francis." The sergeant introduced

"Damian Corral"

Jirou removed his helmet "Jirou Katsuo"

Hannah smiled "Hannah Angeles"

Magnus stared at the General, who was waiting for him to introduce himself "Magnus."

Ironwood raised an eyebrow at the taller Spartan, he was definitely not normal compared to the rest, he gave a looming shadow upon most of the office, and his helmet was hauntingly blank. "Just Magnus?"

"That's all you need to know."

The General nodded "Very well. I'm sure that you've heard of me and my...well, armies above Vale"

"Yes, very much so." Xavier walked to the window "Quite the display of power you got going on."

"The Vytal festival is soon arriving, so giving any potential threat a show of what they'd be up against is surely detracting them to not attack." Ironwood proudly spoke of his ships

"Or they could use that to know where to strike." Jirou spoke

"Pardon?"

"Unless you've got some invisible ships around, you've practically shown everything you have to the enemy." Jirou spoke "That could be a potential disadvantage."

"I assure you that even if they know what we have, they'll be unable to stop us" Ironwood answered "I had actually called you here on an offer."

"An offer?" Ozpin was intrigued "What kind of offer?"

"Allow me to explain" Ironwood cleared his throat. "As you know, they White Fang and Grimm threat is slowly rising. The White Fang's raids have become more and more aggressive and more common amongst the lands."

Ironwood continued his speech "The Grimm Presence is becoming more and more known, more spread and we're discovering new types of Grimm variants."

"Of course, The huntsmen academies have been well aware of the Grimm and White Fang threat." Glynda answered "What does this have to do with the Spartans?"

"Are you sure Huntsmen academies are enough to take out this threat?" Ironwood placed his scroll on the table "Or the other militaries?"

Ironwood turned to the Spartans "My offer is that you could join the Althesian army and with your advanced technology and somewhat different tactics. We could ensure peace on Remnant."

Magnus stared at the group, they seemed to ponder on the offer, but he knew none of them were going to take it. For one reason. "If the Altas army is so great...then why do you need us? Are your ships and advanced technology not enough to defeat the threat?"

"What? Of course, but we ensure peace not through a bloody attrition" Ironwood answered

"So, what I'm getting is, you just want not only to defeat the enemy but also..." Magnus took off his helmet, showing his face, full of a man who'd stared death in the eye and spit on it "You want to show the rest of Remnant what you're capable of."

"I assure you-"

"I've seen this type of thing before...with our own eyes, they done the same thing." Magnus continued "They managed it."

"With all due respect James...this does seem like a show of power more than a show of security." Ozpin suggested "I know you wish to show Vale that they are protected, I also wish to show it but..."

Ozpin continued "This is too much, way, way too much display. Any potential enemies could take advantage as Jirou spoke"

"What would you suggest?" Ironwood turned to the headmaster

"I do not know, I don't have your years of War tactics...but what I do know is that doing this can only lead to more unrest." Ozpin answered "Find a way to not show your strength to Vale, but to have them feel powerful."

Ironwood took the headmaster's words into his mind. Atlas was only as strong as the rest of the countries let it, so maybe. He should find a way to make the people of Vale feel powerful, as Ozpin said. "Very well...i'll take it into consideration."

Ironwood turned back to the Spartans "But, my offer still stands...would you wish to Join Atlas' armies? I will not pressure you no longer should you decline."

The Spartans all looked at each other, Damian was the first to speak. "Yeah sorry, but...No, sir."

-Beacon-
-Outside the Spartan's Warehouse-

Weiss leaned out the bushes, the coast was clear. Their infiltration to enter the warehouse was away. "Let's go!"

RWBY quickly ran to the door of the warehouse, it looked like some of lever mechanism was in place. Ruby swiftly opened it and lead everyone inside. "We're in! We're in!"

"Heck yeah!" Yang jumped in celebration "Now what."

Weiss stretched her arms and snapped her fingers "Now, we investigate."

A/N:

Battlefront 2 deserves more content.

You can't change my mind