After getting some much needed rest, the teams were preparing themselves for their first real mission. But a lot of stuff happened during that time. Team RWBY, JNR and JRHD handed their weapons over to Pietro so he could upgrade them. Julius and Novus spent some extra time with both Pietro and Hayden for some "special modifications".
"All right, gather 'round. Our mission today is to secure the launch site for the Amity Communications Tower" Clover began once everyone was in Ironwood's office "the designated area is an abandoned Dust mine. Since its closure, the Grimm have moved in. The good news is all that untouched Dust is still down there, too. Science team says they'll need it for the first phase of their launch. Atlas military Huntsmen are already hard at work clearing out the surrounding tundra. But recon has identified a powerful Geist that's managed to evade destruction and take several lives. After we increased our numbers, the Geist was smart enough to retreat into the mine itself, meaning it's old and extremely dangerous" Clover withdraws a compact Scroll and presses a button, causing the photograph of Huntsmen battling the Petra Gigas to take up the entirety of each screen "This is our target. The mine was a labyrinth back in the day. There's all sorts of tunnels and chambers the Geist can move between, so if we're gonna kill this thing, we'll have to split up and corner it" Clover continued "General Ironwood says you've seen your fair share of combat. I trust that man with my life, so tomorrow, I'll be trusting you all, too. "
Then he turned to Julius and his team "JRHD, while RWBY and JNR handle the landing facility, Hayden needs you to clear out the passages to the Sentinel temple underneath the landing site. I'm aware some of you have some experience dealing with the creatures that have currently decided to make camp there."
The four groaned in unison; more demons.
"Relax" Clover said, "It shouldn't be anything too bad according to our scanners. Just clear the passages and get to that portal chamber. Winter will accompany you."
Once Team RWBY had got their new gear, they waited for the others. All of them had new looks.
"Well, whatya think"? asked a voice behind them. The four girls turned around to see Roman had gotten a new look himself. With his usual hat, he now wore a white and silver fur jacket with a high standing collar, black gloves with silver plating, black pants, and knee high leather boots. Hector and Julius appeared behind him, both having new looks of their own. Hector still had his pants and boots, but his White Fang combat shirt had been replaced by a leather jacket and gauntlets that were modified to allow him to freely deploy his arm blades. He also had his mask that Adam had broken reforged, and he now wore it to complete his look. Julius wore a new, black, hooded jacket that stopped above his waist and was zipped up. He also got a new mechanical arm and eye, both a little more streamlined than before, but not too different from his last ones.
To top his look off, his new, reforged sword was holstered on his back with its own new look. The hilt retained the skull handguards, but the blade was now more modern looking and angular (DMC fans, think Nero's sword in terms of the blade design).
"Where's Novus?" Yang asked.
"Hayden's still improving his look." Julius replied, "He'll meet us at the mission site."
"You guys look amazing!" Ruby said. Roman tipped his hat in thanks "You and your buddies look pretty badass yourselves."
"Y'know, I'm starting to like you a lot more, Roman" Weiss said, "something I honestly thought I would never say."
Roman chuckled "Well, life is full of surprises, isn't it?"
Julius then looked at Blake "You cut your hair."
Blake blushed "Do you like it?".
Julius pats her on the shoulder "It actually does look pretty good. It's gonna take a while for me to get used to it though."
"Understandable" Blake said with a chuckle. A few moments later, JNR entered with their own new looks.
"Alright, we all here?" Julius asked. Everyone nods.
Julius then cracks his knuckles "Alright then, let's kick some ass."
Team RWBY's Manta soars through a cloud and opens its side door, with Team RWBY standing in the doorway.
Team RWBY look at each other, smiling. Yang chuckles, and Ruby nods. The four leap from the Manta, with Ruby immediately using her Semblance, laughing as she falls. She draws Crescent Rose, changes it to scythe form, stands on it and begins firing, using the recoil to slow her fall. Weiss makes her way downward while leaping back and forth between glyphs, before launching herself toward the mine and summoning her Arma Gigas' arm and sword. She then uses a glyph to send herself onto the sword and slides down the blade.
Blake draws her newly-repaired katana, shifts it into sickle form and throws it, hooking it onto one of the metal structures outside the mine entrance. She then uses it to swing from building to building. Yang freefalls, laughing as she does so, before firing at the ground and flipping to land on her feet. She slides across the snow between two minecart tracks and is joined by Ruby, Weiss and Blake when she comes to a stop. Harriet Bree lands nearby with a slight bounce, tucking and rolling. Marrow Amin lands on his boomerang, rides it across the snow and leaps off of it, causing it to fly through the air and then return to him. The boomerang shifts into rifle mode when he catches it.
Team JNR's Manta soars overhead toward the mountain. Inside the ship, Elm and Vine look at JNR and prepare to jump.
"This is my favorite part!" Elm said in excitement.
Vine steps out of the ship, while Elm leaps backwards. Ren hops out, followed by a laughing Nora. Jaune takes a deep breath, gets a small running start and leaps out. He dives for a moment, then deploys his shield while activating its new Hard-Light Dust upgrade. The shield begins acting as a hang glider, with the sudden slow in momentum causing Jaune to yelp. He then drifts over to the cliff, before turning his shield downward and using another Dust upgrade to create an outward burst that cushions his landing. Standing alongside Nora and Ren, Jaune draws his sword.
"Ha ha! Perhaps you kids won't get yourselves killed after all!" Elm enters a tunnel, while Jaune looks disappointed and Nora pouts.
"She meant that as a compliment" Vine said.
Team JRHD's Manta was the last to open it's doors. Julius and Hector looked excitedly over the edge.
"You're not gonna teleport down there, are you?" Hector asked.
"Nah," Julius replied, "Where's the fun in that?"
With a yell of "GERONIMO!" Julius free fell out of the plane, Hector and Roman following close behind, and Winter being the last to jump out. As they fell, Julius fell back-first in a relaxing position before teleporting to the ground and rolling on the ground before coming to a stop. Hector fell towards the glacier wall, deploying his arm blades and stabbing them into the rock to slow his fall as he landed in his feet. Roman flipped his cane around and fired it's grappling hook, catching a metal pole and swinging the rest of the way down, skidding on his feet as he landed. Winter simply used her glyphs to slow her fall, landing safely on her feet.
Once everyone was done, Clover contacted them "This is Alpha squad. LZ's clear. Proceeding on foot. You've all got fancy new Scrolls, so don't forget to use 'em. Keep your eyes and ears open. I want an update if you encounter the target. JRHD, same goes for you. Alpha out".
"Copy that" Julius said, then turned to the others "Wasn't Novus supposed to meet us here?"
As if on cue, the sound of jets could be heard. As Novus rocketed down, his armor now equipped with thrusters on both his boots and backplate. He came in hard, landing superhero-style on the ice.
Everyone else stared in shock as he stood up as grinned under his helmet "Well, whatya think?"
Not much had been done to his armor, but they could see evidence of the thrusters, and a meathook attachment could be seen on his right gauntlet.
"You got JETPACKS!?" Hector demanded.
Novus shrugged "Hayden and Pietro had a lot of cool stuff for me to try out. Most of it new weapons, but these babies are pretty fun once you get the hang of it."
"Well, now that we're all present" Winter said, "Let's move out." Then into the comms "This is Delta, we're all accounted for. Moving out."
"Copy Delta" Clover said on the other end.
Winter tuned to Novus "Lead the way"
Novus nodded and took position at the front.
"Locating the entrance to the Sentinel Temple now" VEGA said in his helmet. Within a few seconds, an icon appeared on his helmet, showing the way in.
"This way" he said, and the other ran into one of the tunnels. The tunnels inside were slightly darker than expected, so they had to switch on the flashlights they were carrying.
"Why is it so dark?" Julius asked.
"Demons" Novus replied, "This kind of thing tends to happen when they are nearby. If we kill them, the area will clear up."
"Oookay then…" Roman said, "So, where are they?"
Suddenly a screeching could be heard in front of them as two Prowlers drop down from the ceiling.
Winter drew her sword "Never thought I would see these things again."
Novus drew his shotgun "You'll get used to it."
"Get em!" Julius shouted as the team rushed forward. The Prowlers reacted with incredible speed, dashing to the sides and climbing up the ceilings.
"Stay together!" Novus ordered, "They're trying to separate us!"
The five bunched together in a defensive circle as they kept their eyes on the creatures moving above them. Seeing an opportunity, Novus told Winter "Wait until they get near each other on the ceiling, then see if you can hold them with a glyph."
Winter nodded as they kept watch on the demons as they continued up the walls. Just then, they started to pass each other, seeing that their tactic wasn't working, only to be caught by a black glyph from Winter.
"Got em!" Winter shouted.
"Roman, care to do the honors?" Julius asked.
Roman twirled his cane and pointed it upwards at the demons "Gladly."
Roman then fired an explosive shot blasting the demons to the ground and severely burning them, though not killing them.
Julius immediately drew his sword, teleported over, and beheaded the first one, while Winter shot forward and impaled the second one through the face. As the two Prowlers fell dead, the darkness began to fade away, showing the icy walls and the light shining through them.
"Nice" Novus said.
"Let's pick up the pace!" Julius then commanded "Lead on, Novus."
The continued on further down the tunnels.
Meanwhile, Team RWBY, JNR, and the Ace Ops had pursued the Geist and now all met us in a large chamber.
Vine spoke over communicator as the other teams arrived "Everyone use caution. This room is highly active with Dust energy. Triggering it could ruin the launch site".
"And vaporize us. How is that always second with you?" Marrow said, clearly annoyed.
Nora looked around "I thought the target was supposed to be in here".
A low rumbling noise from above causes everyone to look up. The Petra Gigas is clinging to a chunk of ice on the ceiling. It turns to look down at everyone, showing purple Dust crystals embedded in its body. It jumps down from the ceiling, crashing through a stone arch on its way to the ground in front of Team RWBY.
"It added Dust to its body? How are we supposed to-" Ruby was cut off when Harriet speeds past her, and Marrow follows suit. Elm jumps down from the cliff and runs toward the Petra Gigas, as well.
"Elm!" Vine reaches out with his Semblance, wrapping an Aura arm around one of the Petra Gigas' legs. With his other Aura arm, he reaches behind him, grabs onto a support beam and pulls. Elm runs over to the leg, stomps to root herself in place with her Semblance and grabs onto the leg.
"Vine!" Elm calls out as Vine lets go, leaps off the cliff and uses his Semblance to swing onto a minecart bridge. He then uses his Semblance to grab onto one of the Petra Gigas' arms and pull.
"Marrow!" Vine called out and Marrow throws his boomerang at the exposed Geist arm between pieces of ice and rubble, severing it. A Dust crystal flies out from the released rubble, and Marrow's eyes widen.
The crystal falls toward the ground, and Marrow catches his boomerang "Harriet!".
Harriet charges her Semblance and then speeds after the crystal, maneuvering around falling rocks. She runs up a rock, jumps off the side of a raised walkway and catches the crystal in mid-air, landing on another walkway. Teams JNR and RWBY watch the Ace-Ops in amazement as they continue fighting. Marrow cuts off the Geist's other arm, sending another Dust crystal flying through the air.
The crystal is caught by Clover, who just arrived with Qrow. He chuckles as he speaks "What would you guys do without me?".
He tosses the crystal to Qrow, who looks at him with an eyebrow raised. Clover salutes to Qrow and jumps backward off the cliff. Harriet speeds around the Petra Gigas' feet, while Vine swings himself around and punches the Petra Gigas in the chest. Harriet speeds to the middle of the room, whistles and waves at the Petra Gigas, then speeds away when it tries to hit her. Elm takes this opportunity to slam her hammer onto the rock composing part of the Petra Gigas' arm. The rock becomes stuck, and as the Petra Gigas struggles to pull it up, Marrow severs its arm once again.
Clover lands on the ground, deploys his fishing rod, and runs over to the Petra Gigas. He jumps off its leg, launching himself into the air. He bumps his clover pin with his thumb, swings his pole and pulls on the fishing line, directing it to wrap around the Geist's mask and hook onto it. Team RWBY's eyes widen in amazement, and Clover pulls, forcing the Geist out of the ice block. Harriet runs into position and uses her Semblance to launch straight up into the air, punching the Geist with her power gauntlets, killing it. As purple Dust crystals begin raining down, the Ace-Ops catch them. One crystal is sent flying through the air on the other side of the chamber.
"Harriet!" Clover shouts
Harriet uses her Semblance to speed across the room, but she has to maneuver around the falling ice and rocks. The crystal comes close to hitting the ground, and with Harriet mere feet away. Suddenly, a red blur flies past, taking the crystal with it. Surprised, Harriet tumbles and stops. Ruby deactivates her Semblance and falls to the ground in a sitting position, hugging the large crystal tight. She opens her eyes and laughs. Harriet walks over and pulls her to her feet.
"Thought you said your Semblance was like mine" Harriet said.
Ruby looked confused "It… is?".
"I've seen other speed Semblances before; like from my sister, obviously, but that was different. I think there's more going on than you think" Harriet said.
"Wait until she sees what she can do with her eyes" Yang whispered and Blake laughs.
Elm lifted Ruby on to her shoulder as they all began celebrating a little.
"I'll check in on the others" Clover said as he turned on his coms "Delta, this is Alpha. Mission Successful on our end, but what's your status, over?"
There were a few moments of silence before Julius's voice came over the other end "Clover?"
"Julius" Clover said, "Are you alright?"
"For now" Julius replied, sounding nervous "But we're in a bit of a situation."
Down in the lower levels, JRHD and Winter stood at the entrance to the main chamber of the temple, where the portal could be seen at the far end, though they weren't alone. Shambling around the entire room were dozens of zombiemen.
"What the hell are those?" Winter gasped.
"Zombiemen. Possessed." Novus replied with a shrug, "Nothing too bad, they're practically cannon fodder."
Little did they know that Watts and Pierce were watching them from a hidden camera.
Watts chuckled "Cannon fodder he says."
"Shall we change that?" Pierce asked.
Watts grinned "Send in two of our spiders. Let's see how he handles them."
Pierce hit a few buttons on her console.
Suddenly, JRHD and Winter heard a robotic screech as two larger shapes crawled down the walls and dropped in the middle of the room. Upon closer look, they looked like large brains with faces that were mounted on robotic arachnid legs and had a plasma gun on top: Arachnotrons.
Novus looked more nervous now "Ok, now those I actually DON'T know about."
Suddenly, the two Arachnotrons spotted the tea and let out an angered screech, firing their guns in unison.
"Scatter!" Julius shouted as the team all ducked out of the way. At this point, the possessed noticed them as well and began surging forward. Novus whipped out his chaingun and began mowing them down, only to be forced to duck behind a rock as the Arachnotrons fired again.
"Get gotta take out those guns!" Nous shouted.
"On it!" Hector shouted, activating his Semblance and turning invisible. He then dashed forward, slicing any zombieman he passed too close by. Meanwhile Winter and Roman peekd out from their cover, and Roman began firing from his cane as Winter put up a glyph shield t protect them. Julius whipped out both his revolvers and began firing from around his cover. As guessed, the zombiemen fell pretty easily, but the Arachnotrons were still making it hard for them.
Suddenly, one of the Arachnotrons began screeching in pain and surprise as an invisible force began hacking away at its cannon, causing it to fly off. Before it could react, Hector stabbed one of his blades into its brain head, killing it. The second Arachnotron turned to look when the portal suddenly flared to life, surprising everyone.
The Arachnotron watched the portal intently for a few moments just as a blue beam of magic flew out of it, striking the demon and freezing it solid. Then, a figure jumped out of the portal and stabbed an orange sword into the creatures face, causing it to shatter into multiple icy pieces. The remaining zombiemen turned to look as well before being incinerated by a wave of fire that came from a second figure that stepped through the portal. Two others then followed, all four were revealed to be young women wearing Sentinel armor, each one glowing a different color.
Julius, Hector, Winter, and Roman were wary and approached slowly.
"Um, who are you?" Julius asked. Novus, however, simply walked up to them "Never thought I would see you four here."
The blue one turned and saluted "Novus Sureya. It's a pleasure seeing you again."
Julius teleported in between the two "Woah, woah, woah. Am I missing something here?"
"So this is the one in charge of the team?" asked the orange one, "Interesting."
"He's actually kinda cute" said the green maiden.
"Spring" chided the yellow one, "not the time."
"Wait, you four are Night Sentinels?" Winter asked.
The blue maiden nodded "Indeed. We are the Four Maidens. Servants of the Slayer and keepers of the Maiden power."
JRHD and Winter looked at each other in shock; there was a lot of explaining in store for them back in Atlas.
…
Meanwhile, Watts simply looked at the screen in frustration.
"Well" he said, "This is certainly an interesting development."