Chp. 35: The U.H.L.
Mountain Glenn, Vale
Daniel Air Force Base
June 1, 2020
In the morning the next day, the Monty Oum has just arrived at Fort Daniel and makes its landing on one of the landing docks next to the airfield. A moment after the airship landed, Keaton and his team, the huntsmen in training, Ilia, Neopolitan, Qrow, and Maria walked off of the airship. Everyone began to walk across the airstrip.
As they all got halfway across, Yang heard some shouting from behind. She stops and turns around and sees a large row of people with Vernal in the front, all dressed in orange jumpsuits and all had handcuffs that were all chained to each other on their wrists, walking off of the battle airship with armed guards watching them exit. Following behind them was a large glass box that was being wheeled by two guards with several more armed guards surrounding it. Inside the box was Raven Branwen, sitting on a chair, strapped to it.
Yang looks on in anger as Raven's box gets wheeled away one direction, while the bandits get escorted off into the opposite direction. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Qrow.
"We'll try and talk to her later if you want," he said.
Yang nods and she and her uncle both speed walked to catch up with the others. A couple minutes later, they all walked up to a hangar.
"Everyone, welcome to Daniel Air Force Base," Keaton said. "Before we get you all checked in, we've got an important announcement. We have some important people coming here tomorrow to make plans for the future and your headmasters will be joining us. So we'll all be waiting until then."
"Speak of the devil, look who's coming," Alex said, pointing up at the sky.
Everyone turned to the sky and saw an Atlesian airship flying overhead. As it landed on a landing pad, Two Bullheads, a Mistralian airship, and two Manta aircrafts flew towards the hangar. The first Manta resembles a manta ray, with a protruding cockpit and a broad pair of wings that blend into the tail. It is a high wing vessel, with the wings above the fuselage, which is itself round and in an oval shape aside from the tail. The turbines are located at the tips of the wings. It is equipped with six missile batteries located in two triangular housings surrounding the plane's nose. Each battery is filled with fourteen missile pods for a grand total of eighty-four missiles per craft.
The second Manta is smaller in design, which is much more compact than its standard model. This airship features more streamlined fin-like wings and a larger oval light-blue glass ceiling that can fold into itself.
All five aircrafts began to land in the airfield close to the hangars.
"All of you wait inside, while we greet the others," Cassandra said.
The students, Neo, Ilia, Qrow, and Maria were all led inside the hangar by a small group of soldiers as Keaton, Alex, Cassandra, and Steel walked over to the airships. Stepping off of the first Bullhead was Professor Ozpin, Oscar, and Professor Glynda Goodwitch, while stepping off of the second was Professor Theodore and Professor Xanthe Rumpole. Walking out of the first Manta was General Ironwood, Winter, and the Ace Operatives, Clover, Marrow, Elm, Vine, and Harriet. Climbing off of the second Manta were the Happy Huntresses, Robyn, Fiona, May, and Joanna. Following Ironwood, Winter, and the Ace Ops out of their Manta were two more people.
The first was Penny Polendina, but her appearance was now different. Her hair was significantly longer and curled inwards at the tips and she wore a black fabric bow under a pink metal bow that had a golden outlined green power symbol. The ahoge remained and was more prominent. Penny wore an olive green German styled dress with a black hem that was striped with emerald green. The abdominal region was black with four golden buttons with matching buckles on her shoulder straps. She also wore an off white blouse with puffy shoulders, frilled flared cuffs and vertical black lining down the front centre. Her collar piece did away with the green accents and was instead finished with a black ribbon, another power button at its center that switched on and off when Penny was inactive or active. Penny had black metal leg pieces that ran up to her thighs, both having a green stripe that ran down the sides, with a large green circle at the top and a small one at the bottom, both outlined with gold and capable of lighting up too. The knee pieces of her legs were heavily defined to look separate from the rest of the leg pieces. She had a trio of jets in the lower rear part of her leg pieces that granted Penny the ability of flight. She also wore a pair of black low heeled metal boots with the tops hidden by the lower part of her leg pieces. In addition she also wore a pair of black lacy cuffed gloves with golden stud detailing on the knuckles. She also retained her silver backpack on her back carrying Floating Array.
The second person next to Penny is an elderly man with dark skin and short, balding white hair. He wears a green cap with oval-shaped glasses. He wears a red vest over a cream shirt with a pink bowtie. His dark mustard pants and leather boots match with his cap and red-brown belt. He sits on a special chair to aid himself with movement. This chair is built to have four moveable legs, and is white and green in color, with yellow accents. This is Atlas' renowned scientist and Penny's father and creator, Doctor Pietro Polendina.
Walking off of the Mistral airship was a middle aged woman with pink eyes and black hair that was tied into a bun with a pair of chopsticks through it. She wore a knee-high white robe with wide sleeves with a pink under shirt underneath. The robe has pink flower patterns all over it. She wears a pair of green pants and a pair of brown sandals.
As everyone walked out of the airships, Keaton and his team walked up to the arrivals as Ozpin, Ironwood, Robyn, Theodore, and the Mistralian woman approached the team of soldiers.
"Ozpin. Glad you all could make it," Keaton said as he and Ozpin shook hands.
"Hello, Captain," Ozpin said.
"General Ironwood. Robyn. Good to see you guys again," Steel said.
"Likewise," Ironwood replied.
"So this is your military base, huh? Definitely bigger than any base Atlas has to offer," Robyn said.
"Glad you could make it, Theodore," Cassandra said.
"Good to be here," Theodore said.
"So I'm guessing you're the new headmistress of Haven Academy?" Alex asked the Mistralian woman.
"Yes. I am Professor Pauline Bellerose. It's a pleasure to meet you," the woman known as Bellerose introduced as she shook Alex's hand.
"I take it that Ozpin already told you everything?" Keaton asked.
"Yes. It is all quite alarming. Especially that Lionheart chose to serve Salem just to save his own skin," Bellerose said.
"And look where that got him," Robyn said.
"The students are all in the hangar waiting," Steel said.
"Good. We can check on them,"Ironwood said.
"This would give me a chance to get to know the Haven selected students," Bellerose said.
"You guys go on ahead. We'll meet you inside," Keaton said.
The academies' headmasters all walked away and into the hangar as Glynda, Oscar, and Rumpole walked past Keaton and his team, catching up with the headmasters. Winter approached up to Keaton and both stared at each other for a moment.
"Captain Gordon," Winter spoke.
"Schnee," Keaton replied with a nod.
Winter walks away and into the hangar as the Ace-Ops, Happy Huntresses, And Penny and Pietro approached.
"Clover. I see you and the others came," Keaton said, putting his hand on the operative leader.
"Just here under orders. But still good to see you all here," Clover said.
"And Robyn, nice of you to show up here too," Keaton said.
"I'm just because I heard that your nation's leader was arriving, Soldier Boy," Robyn said.
"We figured that would be the reason you'd come here," Alex said.
"We're just concerned with what this guy plans to do when he arrives," Joanna said.
"Don't worry. The president has no intention to seek any conflict," Cassandra said.
"With that aside, I am just dying to see the technological marvels that your world has created," Pietro said.
"Hey, old timer. How are you and your daughter hangin'?" Steel asked.
"We are doing great. My father made me better than new now!" Penny said.
"It took me some time to have my little girl upgraded, but it was worth the effort," Pietro said.
"Glad to see you're doing okay, Penny" Keaton said.
"Shouldn't we join the others?" Vine asked.
"Yeah, we should. Everyone is waiting for us," Alex said.
Keaton and his unit, the Ace-Ops, the Happy Huntresses, and the Polendinas all walked to the hangar. They walked inside and saw the students, teachers, and several U.S. soldiers all talking amongst themselves. Next to the crowd was a stage platform with a podium and microphone center atop it.
"Y'all wait with the others while we get things ready," Cassandra said.
As Keaton, Steel, Cassandra, and Alex walked off, while the Ace-Ops, the Happy Huntresses, and Pietro discussed on what to do while they wait, Penny looks around the hangar and sees Ruby talking with her team, along with JNPR, GRMA, CFDT, Qrow, and Maria.
"Ruby!" Penny called.
Ruby turns to see Penny as everyone around her did the same.
"Penny!" Ruby called back with a wave.
Penny leaps and activates her jets, rocketing forward and tackling Ruby, who flails her hands around in front of her and screams, eyes wide. Upon crashing to the ground, Ruby groans in pain. Ricky, Kelly, and Rebecca snickered at this event as Penny pops back up onto her feet, while Ruby slowly rises with her hand on her head.
"It is such a pleasure to see you all again!" Penny exclaimed.
"Hey, Penny. I see that you father has been working on you," Allen said.
"I'm better than new now," Penny said.
"Darling," Pietro called.
Everyone turned and saw Penny's father, the Ace-Ops, and the Happy Huntresses approaching them. Qrow froze upon seeing Clover as the second group approached.
"Oh, Shotgun's here too," Robyn said, looking at Ricky.
"Hey, Robyn," Ricky said with a wave.
"It's good to see you again, old friend," Maria said, approaching Pietro.
"Yes, yes. Have we met?" Pietro asked.
"Cybernetic optical implants. You adjust them. Every ten years or so?" Maria said, pointing to her eyes.
Pietro stares at her for a few moments before throwing his hands cheerfully into the air.
"Maria! Yes, with the cybernetic optical implants! I adjust them every ten years or so," he said, then turned his head to the four teams. "And you all must be Team RWBY. And JNPR, GRMA, and CFDT. My daughter has told me a lot about you."
"I'm sure she has," Britney said.
"It's nice to see you all," Clover said.
"Same here. Hopefully we can be on better terms unlike at the end of Volume 7," Allen said.
"We don't want to end up fighting all you children," Vine said.
"So I heard you guys fought alongside my brother and his team. How'd it go?" Jacob asked.
"To be honest, it started off very rough," Marrow said.
"It actually got physical at one point," Robyn added.
"Physical?" Weiss asked.
"It was... scary to say the least," Fiona said.
"We'd all agreed to never talk about it again. And to be fair, Keaton's anger was justified against Mohawk," Robyn said, gesturing to Harriet.
"But over time we ended up getting used to each other and working well with each other," Clover said.
"We were glad it worked out for you all in the end," Pyrrha said.
"So we're gonna be working together," Kendra asked.
"If things work out okay after the plans are made with your nation's leader," Joanna answered.
"This is going to be awesome, right uncle Qrow?" Ruby asked.
Ruby got no response. She turns her head to face her uncle, but finds that Qrow is gone.
"Where'd he go?" Yang asked.
"Girls!" a new voice called.
Ruby and Yang turned to see who was calling them. They both see Taiyang Xiao Long wave at them and Zwei who barked.
"Dad!" Ruby and Yang exclaimed as they ran up to their father
Taiyang and his two daughters embraced each other into a hug as Zwei hoped around them happily barking.. A moment later the three stopped hugging.
"What are you doing here?" Yang asked.
"Just wanted to check on my girls," Tai said.
"Hey, Zwei!" Ruby exclaimed as she picked up the corgi and held him in her arm as he proceeded to lick her face.
"So you two didn't tell me you new friends were aliens," Tai said.
"We weren't sure what to tell you," Yang said.
"Especially that we all know about Salem," Ruby added.
"I'm just really worried about you two. I don't want to lose you both like your mother to her," Tai said.
"Dad, try not to worry. We have friends to look after us," Ruby said. "Besides, mom would have still stood up to Salem despite how impossible it may seem to beat her, just as much as the people from Earth are."
"I know. But I'm still gonna be checking up on you two once in a while," Tai said. "Besides, I want to see what your new friends are like."
"Dad!" Ruby wined.
"And dad... they have mom in custody," Yang said.
"Yeah.., I've heard," Taiyang said. "But we'll deal with that later. Right now I want to know what's gonna happen next."
Suddenly, the sound of a microphone being readied goes off. Everyone turned to the stage and saw Keaton at the podium with Ozpin, Ironwood, Bellerose, and Theodore standing on the left side of him and Alex, who held a blue cloth in his hands, Cassandra, and Steel on his right.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm Captain Keaton Gordon. And as you are all aware, you are all brought here together to be a part of a bridge to unite Remnant and Earth," Keaton explained.
A hologram displays the planets, Earth and Remnant. However Remnant was a lot smaller compared to Earth. The Remnans all looked in wonder at Earth, while Teams CFDT and GRMA we're surprised by the size comparison between the two planets.
"Remnant looks like it's as small as the dwarf planet, Pluto. If not smaller," Allen said.
"What do you know? Remnant is a small world after all," Kelly said.
"Please don't say that. It reminds me of a song I really hate," Robert said.
"The SDC has discovered a new type of Dust that can transport matter in between both our worlds. The Atlas military has confiscated all of that Dust and locked it up to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands," Keaton explained. "Nobody, not even the SDC knows about the Dust's properties and Earth, but for us. For now, this information is classified to the public."
Everyone murmured amongst themselves as Keaton then continued.
"Tomorrow, our nation's leader will be coming to discuss plans to create relations between both worlds. The headmasters and our government's higher-ups have created an organization that will serve to protect both Earth and Remnant and serve as a bridge between both worlds, which you have all agreed to be a part of. Which is why I present to you, the U.H.L. The United Hunters League."
The hologram of Earth and Remnant disappears and Alex and Steel stepped forward. They unfolded the cloth that Alex held and held it out in display, revealing a blue flag with a logo of a large V with two bars on top. Across from it was the anagram, U.H.L. Keaton then continued to speak.
"Until arrangements are settled, I want you all to watch these videos. They are relevant to what we're all going to face that is upon Remnant. This will take all day and night to watch. We will provide refreshments as you watch."
As soon as he finished, Keaton and his team and the headmasters walked off the stage. A large screen then rolled down from the ceiling as a projector began to display RWBY Volume 1 onto the screen.
Author's Note: I've done some research and discovered that Remnant is actually slightly smaller than Pluto.