Ruby slowly approached towards the Vacuan Huntsmen, as the ships began landing. The sand splashed against everyone's face as the ships got closer. The Vacuan Huntsmen and Huntresses began tending to the wounded while bringing them towards the ships that had landed, making sure no sand splashed on their faces.
But while they surely did their best to help, they clearly weren't very happy about having to help people from Atlas of all places.
Ruby sat in the sand. Her cape and part of her outfit were slightly ripped and covered in dust from all the time they had spent walking in the desert. Her rose buckler on her bandolier was full of scratches and some sand had gotten into her boots
One of the Vacuan Huntsmen approached Ruby after another airship landed just some meters away from her, not close enough to blow a whole dune worth of sand into her face but surely close enough to blow a good amount of it against her
"Are you that girl from the Emergency Broadcast from last week?" said one of the Huntsmen
"Yeah. So you guys got our message" replied Ruby, shaking her head to get some of the sand off her hair
"Yeah...And other stuff too. Do you know if anyone in that group of yours is named Polendina?" said the Huntsman, giving off some really moody vibe to his presence. Obviously an indication of bad news
"Yeah. One of us. Let me get her. PENNY!" said Ruby, screaming to try and get Penny's attention.
Not only was Penny high up in the air, trying to make it easier for the Vacuan Airships to land, but the ear devices they were all using to talk between themselves had ran out of battery
Penny would land right next to them, blowing off some more sand to their faces
"Salutations" she said to the Huntsman, who wiped off some of the sand
"So...Miss Polendina...Is it?" the Huntsman asked again, still as moody as before
"Affirmative" she replies, still untroubled.
The Huntsman hands Penny a pair of broken glasses. Small black frame and made for round-shape lenses. The kind of glasses Pietro would wear
"We found them on the crash site...Is this old lady a relative of yours by any means?" said the Huntsman, showing a portrait of Maria to them. She wasn't looking at usual. Her goggles were shut down and she was connected to a breather in a hospital bed
"Umm...No. I think my father may need these. Do you know if he is okay?" grabbing the glasses, looking around anxiously
"Not...quite. He is dead, Miss Polendina" said the Huntsman with quite the somber tone on their voice
Penny took a bit to process everything. She remembered how she last talked to her dad while falling from Amity Tower and how their last conversation was them discussing about what Penny should do. How she went against her father's desires in order to help Ruby's plan. She fell to her knees, clutching onto the pair of glasses
"Only the old lady survived. She's quite lucky for her age to only have...however many broken bones she must have but...I'm sorry for your loss" said the Huntsman, who then slowly walked away to help some civilians
Penny falls to her knees to cry, gripping onto the pair of glasses. Ruby goes to counsel her, as another ship lands nearby
"Ruby!"
She hears a familiar voice coming from the ship. A marked accent she hasn't heard in the years she has been away from home
"Velvet?"
Team CFVY had been sent along the many Huntsmen teams that the City of Vacuo had dispatched. They sure had seen better days, brandishing some wounds and bandaging.
Velvet then saw Ruby counseling Penny, which made the situation incredibly awkward for both between the shocking news for Penny and the joy of encountering each other after such a long time. Velvet was wearing her usual brown outfit, but had a leather vest on top with some cartridges for her new camera.
Velvet just got off the ship, followed by Coco and Nebula. Coco carried her suitcase strapped to her back, but wasn't brandishing the fancy clothes she used to wear back at Beacon. Only a tank top and her jacket wrapped around her waist sufficed. But the sunglasses were still there
Ruby helped Penny on her feet and led her to a ship, accompanied by Velvet, while Coco and the rest headed towards the rest of the civilians to help them. Penny had entered a sort of suspension mode, the shock of the news proving to be overwhelming to her systems
"Not quite the right moment to meet again, right?" says Velvet
"I guess...But better late than never. How have things been, Velvet?" replied Ruby, while leaving Penny to lay down on a side of the ship, while Yatsuhashi and the Huntsman from before just overlooked from the driver cabin
"It's...a long story. Let's just say your warning paid off as soon as you sent it" said Velvet
"Huh? What do you mean paid off, I thought Salem wasn't going to come here after Ironwood blew her up with that bomb" said Ruby confused by the news again
"Well...It wasn't Salem" said Velvet, in a lower tone, as she looked back at Penny while both of them got back off the ship to try and help other people
"Oh. Velvet" says Yang, walking in, while Blake and Weiss waved at them as they approached from further away. Yang had taken off her winter jacket, which obviously had gotten Velvet to notice her ominous yellow robotic arm
"Yang...Hey" Velvet replied, waving at both her and Blake and Weiss. She felt a bit calmer seeing familiar faces again, which obviously showed
"So...what do you mean it wasn't Salem?" asked Ruby again
"Well, from what professor Theodore told us, it wasn't her. But they did hit us hard. It's better if you see him personally, he may be able to clue you in better than I can. How about you?"
Velvet then leads Yang and Ruby towards a ship, as the Vacuan Huntsmen begin taking off to head back to the city. Blake, Weiss and Nebula joined soon after. Blake had removed the white part of her new zipper suit, while Weiss, wearing a one piece dress, was sweating profusely
"Well...Where should I start? We went all over Remnant since we last met...Literally" said Ruby, widening her eyes as she recalled what she had been doing these last months
"Wait, really? That's awesome" replied Velvet, smiling back at them while helping some more civilians get on the ship, while Coco and Nebula headed away one more time
"Yeah. Found...very strange stuff on the way" said Ruby, continuing. She remembered when she fought that one giant stone grimm in Anima with Jaune, Ren and Nora.
Velvet points towards the Relic Penny has on her back, directly towards the head of the scepter which poked out of Penny's right shoulder
"Well surely not everyone carries golden scepters around. But. Tell me more about it"
Yang intervenes out of nowhere. She handed Weiss an Ice Dust crystal she had found in one of the crates inside the airship
"She went all the way up to Mistral with Jaune's team" she said, clutching her right fist
Ruby continues. Velvet was tempted to ask Yang about her new arm then but preferred to wait for Yang to finish
"Yeah. It was kinda cool. We beat the crap out of some giant monsters"
"How giant?" asked Velvet
"I would say...3-story house giant?" said Ruby, stopping to think for a moment. While she said 3 stories tall, clearly it wasn't right...unless forests are 2 stories in height. She then remembered the other Grimm they had fought at Kuroyuri before getting to Mistral
"Ohh like those mecha things Atlas has in Argus?" said Velvet, curious of what kinds of Grimm Ruby had encountered while she was away
"Not quite. Those are wayyy bigger. Like...way, way bigger" said Ruby, skipping forward to when they fought Cordovin at Argus
"Wait. No way you saw one" said Velvet, not believing much of the tale. She had only heard rumors of Atlas having giant robots, but she didn't really believe much in them. Until Ruby just said that out of the blue
"Yeah...That old lady Cordovin got really crazy with one of those"
"Too bad I didn't get to see it" said Yang in response to that
"So. You toured around Anima, and you, Yang?" asked Velvet again, making use of the intervention Yang made to ask her about her side of the story, hoping to learn about that new robot arm
"Well..." Yang shows off her robot arm
"Yeah, I noticed it..." said Velvet reaching for her camera
Yang flexed her arm to give Velvet a good angle to picture her arm. She quickly snapped a picture
"Awesome! How did you get it, Yang?" said Velvet, while looking at the holographic projection of the arm. It was seemingly very intricate and complex both in architecture and internal systems
"Ironwood...Before he went crazy" said Yang, looking down a bit. Coco and Nebula looked at each other uncomfortable. Crazy probably was an understatement at this point
"Yeah. Who would think he would shut down the CCT network after those caped weirdos attacked" said Velvet out of nowhere
Ruby and Yang looked at each other in confusion
"What do you mean? Didn't that transmission play like...just an hour ago?"
"That...was from yesterday, it was a delayed emergency playback. Ever since, the towers have been fried. At least here, not only was the sandstorm blocking the signal...The towers are also fried. Whatever it was that Ironwood did, Communications in general are disabled, probably all over Remnant, because the damn things aren't working"
Ruby gulps as the ship they are in takes off. Finally no more sand but...If the footage they saw was from yesterday, what happened in the 2 days between then and when they first evacuated Atlas
Yang intervenes
"And...how did you guys find us without signal?"
"Well, its hard to miss how an impending horde of flying Grimm literally ignore a burning city to go to the middle of nowhere...We would have come sooner but, we had trouble..."
The fleet flies past the smoking remains of Amity Colosseum. It was all a pile of scorched black metal and unused Gravity Dust in the middle of the desert, with a column of smoke coming from it. The fires of the crash clearly are still burning
"Lots of trouble...I'm sorry about what happened" replies Nebula
"Yeah. I don't think Penny will be able to properly handle this" says Ruby, looking over at Penny, just to make sure she's fine. Penny was still resting. Not conscious yet.
"I don't think anyone is able to properly handle this" replies Yang
Ruby then sighs, walking away from the group and towards another window. She remembered how she was cheering at how the Gravity Dust was their key to beating the Grimm Horde headed for them just 20 hours ago. How she was naively celebrating that finally one of her plans worked and no one got hurt, then how said plan turned against them.
She could still see them. The void, lifeless looks of those dead civilians, horrified as their skin and bones got bruised and painfully pierced by the shower of glass she had created to defeat the Grimm. She snaps out of that vision with a gasp.
Then, she sees it. The City of Vacuo. But it didn't look as they expected
Normally, one would expect bustling tents and busy, packed streets, full of all sorts of people going around. But now, it looked more like a fortress.
The improvised walls made of scrap metal and wood around the slums, the houses packed with people that clearly looked tense and scared. The huntsmen patrolling everywhere outside and around the Academy, like if they were expecting a fight. The craters, the bullet holes everywhere.
Whoever attacked, if they weren't Salem, clearly they were aiming to be like her
"Here we are. The last bastion...probably" says Yatsuhashi as they arrive to the perimeter of Shade Academy
Nebula walks up to her, along with Yang, as team RWBY prepared to get off as soon as possible
"You should get your team ready. We will drop you off at the Academy. I've asked professor Theodore to make space to meet you" says Nebula, before heading to tend to Penny
Blake then walks up to Nebula, a bit concerned
"Thank you...Umm"
"Nebula. I'm Nebula Violette. I'm with Velvet and Arslan in team NOVA...well...Team NVA every since we got attacked" says Nebula with some clear grief on her voice
"I'm sorry, Nebula" replies Blake, not really knowing how to respond
"It's fine. You just...meet with the headmaster. Clearly you have important stuff to discuss with him"
Weiss intervenes
"Yeah but...just one thing..."
Blake interrupts her
"Actually. Two"
Nebula stops for a moment
"You first, Belladona"
"Well. How do you know my name?"
"Well, unlike your Atlesian friend, you at least did something for the good of other people back in Haven" says Nebula with more of a bitter tone
"What is that supposed to mean?" says Weiss, a bit miffled at the implication
Nebula and Weiss get face to face
Ruby turns around to separate them
"Not now. This is the last thing we need...Please" she says, her voice lowering almost an octave. She's clearly not in the right mood
Nebula sighs and backs off
"Yes. You're right...Holding a grudge now isn't appropriate. So. Belladona"
"Well. I was asking. Do you know about some guy named Sun Wukong? Blonde faunus, monkey tail, blue eyes..."
"Oh...He...Well, his entire team is at the medical bay. They faced off against the attackers...but...got pummeled badly. At least they are still alive, unlike all the other huntsmen that were with them"
Blake then covers her mouth and looks away, her eyes widened
Weiss then goes up
"Now...We also have...someone else to bring with us. His name is Oscar Pine. We may need him to disclose some additional things to Headmaster Theodore"
"Fine. Hey, Yatsu! Check if anybody has some guy named Oscar Pine so they drop him off at the Academy with us"
Yatsuhashi was driving the vessel along with another Huntsman, hence why he didn't talk much. He only replied once
"He will be sent to the Academy once we drop Ruby off. Give it around 15 minutes after you get there"
"Hey Yatsu!" said Yang
"Yang" Yatsuhashi replied before returning to driving
The doors opened, leaving Team RWBY at the gates, which were heavily guarded. They had been scorched black by a blast. Probably someone breached their way into the academy during that attack everyone has mentioned
"You guys go see professor Theo. We will take your friend to the hospital with us so she can rest. She looks really tired"
Team RWBY got down from the ship. The entrance guards stood firm until Nebula hinted at them to let them through
They entered Shade, or what at least looked like a husk of it. The graves all around the garden grounds and the many tents and repair workers going around everywhere were a clue big enough for them to deduce the scale of the attack
They went through the hallways. Wherever there was a brown blood stain, there was a bullet hole. The blood's color showed not only how long it had been, but its very presence also showcased how it was so massive, that the cleanup wasn't even finished
A classroom in particular was sealed away strangely. The people inside were all standing in one spot as if analyzing something. The smell coming from the room hinted at some fire having occurred inside
Then, the office of the headmaster. Just at the entrance, a giant blood splatter on the floor, and an exposed elevator shaft inside a giant hole in the wall. Clearly the entrance to the Relic's Vault. And the doors to Headmaster Theodore's office, filled with bullet holes
"So...Ruby Rose from Atlas?" said Theodore to greet them from his desk, full with paperwork. He would have his desk clear normally...but considering his sling and the context around them, not only were his injuries tampering with his performance, there was also a lot of work to be done
"Yes. Well, from Vale but yes" she replied
"Well. Either way. Professor..."
Theodore then interrupts Ruby
"Just go with Theodore. Please..."
"Well. Theodore" says Yang
"We have some questions..."
"If it is about Salem, I think either Jimmy or whoever Oz's new host is right now should have clued you in"
"Not quite. It's about the other people. Those weird guys attacking Mistral" says Ruby
Theodore then changes to a somber expression
"They aren't just weird guys we will be talking about here, Ruby. Who we are talking about...is something that I wish stayed a legend that Ozpin swore to me was fake...But coming from him, it shouldn't surprise me" he said, then continued
"Those...people. Are the Commonwealth of Maelstrom. A full kingdom full of assassins and bandits that all hold a grudge against Remnant"
"Hold a grudge...why?"
"Simple. Because we kept them in the shadows. Tell me, is Genus inhabited?"
"Umm. No. It's literally a wasteland, nothing can survive there" said Yang
"That...is what I believed until a week ago"
Someone knocks on the door behind them. It's Oscar...and other 2 huntsmen that quickly turn around and go away
"Umm. Is he..."
"Yes, he is the new Ozpin"
"Oh great. So..."
Oscar interrupts
"Ozpin is...busy. He wasn't prepared to give this explanation all out of sudden. Well, he never even expected to have to make it..."
Oscar then gets interrupted, Ozpin taking control
"Ah...Theodore" says Oscar, now in a tone more appropriate that resembled Ozpin
"Old man Ozpin...Didn't expect to see you again"
"Well, you are. And hopefully you will keep on doing so. If you want to stand a chance against them"
Ruby intervenes
"What do you mean, professor Ozpin? Who are these people?"
Ozpin clears his throat then begins explaining
"The Commonwealth of Maelstrom is...a particular kingdom. They were raised on a difficult land and as such became an entirely different nation with a very different idea of morals than the one we have. Last I remember it...They were being erased from history"
Ruby backs off, while Ozpin continues
"They were the ones who started the Great War in hopes of gaining political advantages by selling weapons to all sides. Once we found out...Everyone agreed to condemn them to a special type of penance"
Theodore sighs then follows up
"The Memoriam Penalty"
Ozpin continues
"Every name. Every face. Every trace, every link. Everything...and everyone in Maelstrom was to be erased from the memory of the world...and with that I hoped, they would eventually disappear because of the heavy Grimm presence there"
Ruby stands back, her eyes widened like everybody else's
"But apparently...They didn't...and now they're all seeking revenge against the kingdoms that shunned them and forced them into a life of misery"
Yang walks up to Ozpin then punches him. With the robotic arm
"What is wrong with you..."
Weiss holds her back, while Theodore catches Ozpin
"All the innocent men...women and children...and you thought it was best to leave them to die?!" says Yang
"Hey. Back off, alright?" says Theodore
"Although she isn't wrong, old man…" he then continues. Clearly Theodore still held a grudge against Ozpin over something
"It wasn't a thing I did. As I said...All the kingdoms agreed to it. Vacuo. Mistral. Mantle. Vale...We all agreed that it was best if Maelstrom vanished, so that no one would be baited into feeding their thirst for war and destruction again"
Ozpin lets Oscar take control again, which then leads Oscar to sprint out of the office in shock
"Ah..." said Ruby, sighing
"Well...For now, all you will need to know is that these people...aren't like any Huntsman or Huntress you know. You are trained to fight. But they...are trained to kill. They fight with no mercy, no hesitation and any opening they see in you will be the last mistake you will make. You will need to rest...If you want to help in the fight against them. Come see me next week after you have recovered. Any classroom that is empty, you can use it as your dormitory. Market's still open if you need to buy anything" says Theodore, before putting his head into his hands
Team RWBY then walks out of the office in shock, not really knowing how to properly process what they just got told in the 15 minutes that they spent in that office