Here we are at Chapter 53. We now have over 700 favorites for this story! Thank you to everyone who has been reading my story! Let's see how Megatron and his allies handle the cold tundra of Solitas, and what lurks within it. I do not own RWBY or Transformers. They belong to their respective owners. Here's chapter 53. Enjoy.

Chapter 53: New Mission

After getting settled in at Atlas Academy, Megatron and his friends are informed that the leaders of their respective groups have been called into a briefing regarding the mission for the Global communications tower. But, before that, they were asked to visit Dr. Pietro. Down in one of the school labs, Pietro has been working on their weapons.

"I've taken the liberty of modifying your weapons to your specifications. I must admit, some of you had some interesting ideas for these. If only some of the students here at Atlas had your imagination," Pietro leads them through the lab.

Seeing the lab reminds Dreadwing about his time here in Atlas when he was recovering, and it reminds him of another fact.

"Wait, I remember now. You were there while I was in recovery," Dreadwing realizes.

"Yes, I was, and I must apologize for not remembering you sooner. My memory isn't what it used to be," Pietro replies.

"I'm afraid I am guilty of the same thing," Dreadwing notes.

"You were rolling in an out of consciousness during your time here. Once you were back on your feet, I wasn't around much. Ironwood certainly kept me busy. Let's just not dwell on it. Besides, I'm sure at least some of you would like to see the upgrades to your weapons now," Pietro notes the looks that Ruby and Yang are showing at their weapons in the lab.

Some of them got the upgrades they wanted, while others simply wanted their weapons tuned or repaired, such as Blake's blade. Megatron wanted no upgrades to his weapons, and plus with his semblance, he really didn't need them. Dreadwing had his cannon gain an alternate mode, allowing it to switch between its normal cannon mode, and a gatling gun mode like the weapon that his brother once used. Soundwave left his weapons unchanged, but Predaking gained new gauntlets on his arms that allow him to generate heat into his claws, making them superheated and even gain flames on them when given enough juice. After getting their weapons taken care of, came the mission briefing.

"Alright, gather around. Our mission today is to secure the launch site for the Amnity communications tower. The designated area is an abandoned Dust mine. Since its closure, the Grimm have moved in. The good news is all that Dust that wasn't excavated is still down there. The science team says they'll need it for the first phase of the launch," Clover explains.

"And what about opposition in the area. Any Grimm we need to be aware of?" Megatron asks.

"Well, we've got Atlas military huntsmen dealing with the Grimm around the surrounding tundra. They're keeping those Grimm from becoming a problem for us. However, the bad news is that there's one Grimm in particular that's becoming a serious problem as of late. We've gotten reports of a powerful Geist that's a managed to survive longer than all the other Grimm and has evaded destruction. It's also responsible for killing some of our people. After we increased our numbers, the Geist was smart enough to retreat deep into the mine itself. This means that it's old, and that means that it'll be much tougher to deal with than the other Grimm in the area. This Geist is our primary target," Clover explains, showing an image of the Geist encased in a large body made of ice and rock.

"What about the mine? Are there any issues there?" Jaune asks.

"Well, the mine itself was a labyrinth back in the day. There's all sorts of tunnels and chambers the Geist can use to move around or hide from us. So, if we're gonna take it out, we're gonna have to split into groups and corner it. Because of the number of you guys, I'll separate my team to be with yours. Qrow and I will be one group, Marrow will be with Megatron and his allies, Harriet will go with Team RWBY, and Elm and Vine will be with Team JNR. Now, General Ironwood said that you've seen your fair share of combat. And given what I've learned about Dreadwing's time here, and that Megatron and the others are from the same village as him, I can trust that you guys are no pushovers. I trust the General with my life, so tomorrow, I'll be trusting you all as well. Alright, go finish getting ready. We'll be heading out shortly," Clover finishes the briefing.

After the meeting, Megatron is taken to the lab with Pietro and Ironwood along with Winter. Apparently, they had something for him.

"I saw your semblance create an arm down in Mantle, but I'm sure that may take up quite a bit of energy to maintain that for too long. Luckily, we have something that can help with that," Ironwood explains.

In the lab, Pietro had been working on a prosthetic arm for Megatron, so he would be able to save more energy with his semblance. Megatron had his own input for the exact design of the arm, and when Pietro was finished, he had created an arm that looked like his armor from when Unicron changed his body. Megatron laid on a metal slab as Pietro was about to begin the surgical process.

"Alright, I'll go ahead and put you to sleep now, so you won't feel anything until it's done," Pietro says.

"No, I wish to bear witness as you attach my new appendage," Megatron stops him, shocking all who hear him.

"You want to what now?!" Pietro is taken aback.

"You heard me. Do it, but without putting me in stasis," Megatron remains steadfast.

Pietro looks to Ironwood and Winter. Winter has no idea what to say, but Ironwood eventually nods. Pietro sighs and begins the process. Machine arms come in and begin the surgical work on Megatron's left stump, and despite the intense pain, he manages to keep himself from screaming as he clenches his other fist, grist his teeth, and actually watches the process occur. To everyone else in the room, Megatron was either one of the toughest human beings they've ever met... or the most insane. Despite that, the process itself goes off without a hitch.

A little later, the gang are given new gear to help them deal with the cold of Solitas. Predaking's outfit remains mostly unchanged. Due to the properties of his aura and his semblance, he can handle the cold more easily than the rest of the group. However, Blake didn't want to take any chances with him, so he had him wear some pieces of leather armor under his clothes to help maintain his body heat, while also not hurting is range of motion. In one room, Dreadwing had some armor laid out before him. The armor was built with leather insides as well as layered segments in the armor with heating control. The color and overall design were basically the same as his normal armor, but this would suit him nicely for the cold. Dreadwing has his armor scan the new one, and then shifted and changed until it matched the new version. Luckily, his weapons and gear fit snuggly without any issues. For Soundwave and Laserbeak, Laserbeak had two small section on his upper armor that gave him a pair of small tentacles like Soundwave's. His armor and other weapons were relatively the same, but he did have a few red stripes painted along some of his armor to give it a new look. Soundwave thought the red might have been on account of Ruby's influence. As for Soundwave, he had a completely new set of armor on him this time. The armor had shades of purple and silver along with strands of red, and was slightly bulkier than his old armor, but didn't inhibit his speed or mobility (basically his new design from Transformers RID 2015, but not quite as bulky and without the cannon on the right shoulder). His arm blades were upgraded where they could fold up and be wielded like a normal pair of blades, giving Soundwave a knew range of close combat techniques. He also has a new visor now that covers pretty much his whole face, but when not in combat, it can fold inwards to where it only covers his eyes and upper face, similar to his old visor.

"Oh, you look so cool, Soundwave!" Soundwave turns around to see Ruby in her new attire for the cold. "Your weapons are even cooler now, and your new armor looks like something out of a sci-fi novel! It's awesome!" she cheers as she enters the room. "So, what do you think?" she twirls around, her new cloak flowing behind her.

Soundwave gives her a once over and gives her a thumbs up as his reply.

"You look adequate," Laserbeak replies.

Ruby smiles bashfully, "Aw, thanks guys," Ruby then notices Soundwave's new visor. "A new visor, huh. But, it covers your whole face this time," she stares at it. Soundwave inclines his head in confusion. "Hey Soundwave, has Megatron and your old friends from back in your world seen what you look like behind that visor?" Soundwave is a little confused by the sudden question, but he eventually nods without showing his confusion. "Do you think that maybe... maybe I could see your face?" Ruby leans in a little closer. Soundwave glances at Laserbeak, who gestures with a flick of its beak for him to humor her. Soundwave eventually reaches up and hits a mechanism on the sides of his visor. Ruby waits with baited breath as the visor folds a bit and then separates from his face, allowing Soundwave to remove it. Ruby is stunned by what she sees. She was expecting something scary or grotesque, like a mangled face with a lot of scars, but what she finds is a slightly pale, normal face in front of her. Well, mostly. There is a scar or two on his face, but nothing major. His eyes are red like Megatron's, but they seem to almost shine, like they're glowing almost. "So, that's what you look like,"

Ruby unconsciously reaches up and rests her hands on Soundwave's cheeks, mesmerized by his eyes, and feels the slight roughness of his skin, obviously a sign of all the battles he's been in from the past.

"To be honest, I was actually expecting something freaky behind that mask, but really... I think this look suits you," Ruby is still too enraptured in feeling up Soundwave's face.

However, Soundwave makes no move to stop her Ruby continues to slowly feel every inch of his face, but then Soundwave rests his right hand on one of hers, spooking her a bit. Soundwave glances at the hand he caught before placing it back on his face. Ruby starts blushing at the contact, and even more so when she finally realizes how close she is to his face. Soundwave eventually lets her go and she takes a quick step back from his personal bubble.

"Um, well, uh, sorry about that! I-I-I-I-I got a little... carried away, I suppose. You're not mad are you?" Ruby asks, but Soundwave remains stoic and simply shakes his head. "Oh, okay. Um... do you... always show your face to your allies?" Ruby asks.

Soundwave simply shakes his head again, "...Ruby Rose... Superior..." he says with his own voice.

Ruby sees that he only shows his face to those he truly trusts, which must be very few people. But, if he showed his face to her, it means he trusts her a great deal. And his compliment, while nothing new and stoic as always, it makes Ruby blush but smile anyway.

"Thanks Soundwave. That means a lot," Ruby says, but then the atmosphere gets weird again. "Um, so, we'd better get going. We have a mission to complete after all," she goes to leave, but then stops and zips back with her semblance to give a quick kiss on Soundwave's exposed cheek before zipping out of the room again.

Had she stayed behind, she might've noticed the tiniest hint of red on Soundwave's cheeks before they quickly fade and he puts his mask back on. Soundwave glances back at Laserbeak, who saw the whole spectacle. Soundwave walks ahead, while Laserbeak shows something of a smirk behind his armored beak before flying to take his place on his shoulder as they go to meet with the others. In another room, Megatron flexes his prosthetic arm around, remembering the time when he had his arm sliced off in order to attach the arm of a former prime in order to use the Forge of Solus Prime. This arm surprisingly, feels light, yet strong, and it moves just like a real arm. Then again, Megatron had seen Yang use her own prosthetic arm, so he can't be too surprised since it was made by the same people. It kind of feels natural in a way. Megatron also had his look changed for the new environment. His armor had been replaced with the armor he had when Unicron changed his body, though he does retain his old arm cannon and arm blade. It covers his shoulders, arms, legs, his upper body, and around his waist. For the clothes underneath, he switched the trench coat he had before for a silver jacket with a black fur edging and collar. Under the jacket is a dark purple shirt, and the pants are the same as before, but silver in color. Megatron checked one function in his new arm and arm blade just slightly shorter than his normal one popped out. A little something in case he needed to surprise his enemies. After checking to make sure everything is set, Megatron is about to leave when he hears the door behind him open up.

"A little intimidating, don't you think?" he looks back to see Yang in her new outfit, and her prosthetic arm repaired and upgraded now.

"It fulfills a purpose. Makes people less inclined to test my patience... assuming that's before they don't find my blade through their chest," Megatron replies.

Yang raises an eyebrow, "If you say so, but try to keep the killing limited to the Grimm for now, okay big guy," Yang walks in and strikes a pose. "So, what do you think?"

"Think about what?" Megatron asks, confused.

Yang hunches over and rolls her eyes, "I mean, what do you think about my new look?" she clarifies.

Megatron looks her up and down, "Adequate," he replies, though Yang sighs as she was hoping for a better reaction.

However, her focus turns to his new arm, "So, they gave you a new arm too," she takes a closer look at it. "Was it true that you had them put this on without putting you to sleep first? And that you went through the whole, painful process without ever screaming?"

"Indeed... It's not the first time. I did the same thing back during the war," Megatron rotates his arm around. "Though, I feel that this arm won't pose a problem for now,"

Yang hesitates a moment, "Can... Can I see it?" she asks.

Megatron offers her his arm, and Yang slowly holds it in her hands while it's still attached to his body. Yang inspects every inch of it, similar to how he once done with her arm. Eventually, her fingers curl in between his, their hands connected together. The two remain silent as their eyes dwell on their mechanical hands together. The position reminds Megatron of something.

"Yang... about before, when we were on the airship fighting the Leviathan, what was that before? You said we would discuss it when we were alone. Given that we are indeed alone right now, and that we have a mission shortly, it may be best to talk about this now," Megatron notes.

A blush quickly appears on Yang's cheeks. She had almost forgot about that when she kissed Megatron during that battle. At the time, she wasn't thinking about it. Hell, she wasn't thinking about anything. She just did it. Honestly, she wasn't prepared to talk about it right now, but if they didn't settle it now, Megatron may continue to pester her about it, or they may never get another chance to really talk about it for a while. Things are about to get busy for them after all.

"Did... Didn't your people back from where you're from ever do something like that?" Yang asks.

"I do not believe so. Then again, I've always been fighting from one battle to the next, so I never had the time to dwell on such things," Megatron says.

"Well... Here on Remnant, when two people kiss... kiss on the lips, I mean... it's usually because they really l-l-li... like someone... Like someone a lot actually," Yang's blush gets deeper with each word that comes out of her mouth.

"Yang, I'm afraid I still don't understand," Megatron replies.

Yang groans and gets right in his face, "How do you feel about me Megatron? Tell me!"

"Yang, I-,"

"Tell me!" Yang yells.

Seeing that Yang's not gonna let this one go, Megatron sighs and gathers his thoughts as he looks her in the eye.

"When we first met, I thought you were weak, pitiful even. These emotions that I feel, the idea of being a human; I thought it was a weakness... You proved me wrong. You helped me learn many things: about family, about humanity... and about myself. Originally, I came here to this world to help you in order to seek redemption; for my own reasons. Over time, I realize that began to change. I began to see what Optimus Prime saw in humans, and in the virtue of his way of leadership. But most of all, I began to help you, not for my own benefit, but for you. I am here, by your side, not because of some mission; not anymore. I am here by your side... because I want to be by your side. I still do not quite understand these feelings that exist within me, but if there's one thing I do know, it's that I'd take on an army single-handedly if it meant protecting you," Megatron says.

His words touch Yang's heart. It was a weird way of expressing himself, but it was sweet all the same. Yang leans up and kisses Megatron on the cheek since she was still a little too nervous to kiss him on the lips again.

"Thanks, Megatron. We'll talk more about that sort of thing down the road. But... thanks," Yang says, leaving Megatron speechless. "Uh, come on. I'm sure the others are waiting for us. Let's go," Yang then walks out of the room, with Megatron soon following behind her.

…

Meanwhile, down in Mantle, Arthur Watts walks into an old abandoned building with dim lights on.

"I trust the accommodations are to your liking. Unfortunately, Mantle isn't known for great technology or lodgings. That would be Atlas," Watts notes.

In one corner of the room sits a one-eyed figure in armor and a prosthetic arm working on a few computers.

"The accommodations are sufficient, given the fact that we cannot enter Atlas at this time due to the energy shields blocking our access. Their security systems are well-kept, but the ones down here in Mantle are poorly managed. I find that to be imbecile to leave the defenses down here so thoroughly inadequate," Shockwave notes.

"Those up in Atlas don't care about the people of Mantle, and Ironwood is one of them. So, of course, they wouldn't upgrade their systems here. I was also the one who designed them, so it's quite simple to take control of them as I see fit," Watts replies, bringing out a few scrolls of his.

"No matter. This only makes things easier for us. Is Tyrian completing his own mission?" Shockwave asks.

"He should be working as we speak. Which is why we must make sure he is able to do his job... without anyone noticing," Watts replies.

"It shall not pose a problem," Shockwave says as they type away, gaining control of Mantle's systems.

And that's the chapter. Megatron and his allies get ready for their first mission in Atlas. However, Salem's forces are also making their moves down in Mantle. Will Megatron figure them out in time? Until then, please Read and Review.