Chapter 79

We are now in volume 7 territory, and it's great. I've watched the entire thing, and though there are a few things here and there that were iffy I felt they stepped up this season with much more original characters, character designs, and brought back some returning characters that I was glad to see. This is a good season, and I'm hyped to write it.

'Manta 5-1, welcome home.'

The Kingdom of Atlas loomed in the distance as they approached, with the ships at the ready above their airspace the immaculate sight turned immediately ominous. The radio crackled to life again. 'Please continue your approach to Atlas docking bay Omega-12.' It said. 'A security team will meet you there, over.'

'I don't understand, what's happening here?' Ruby furrowed her brow at the ships. Jaye shook his head, peering at the cruisers above them.

'No clue, but it doesn't look good for us.' He said, and Jaune stepped forward.

'But we are here.' He said. 'We got the lamp to Atlas. So, I guess we land and get some answers.'

'I'm not so sure.' Weiss cut in, leaning against the chairs on either side. 'I've never seen our forces deployed so aggressively before. If we land in a stolen ship, there's no way that security team will let us anywhere near Ironwood. They might even take me back to my father.' The girl's face lit up. 'Winter! Put some distance between us and the fleet.'

'You don't have to tell me twice.' Maria muttered, switching on the controls and turning the ship down and into the city below. The descended into Mantle, the almost tepid Sodom below the splendor of the floating Eden above. What was likely a bustling, lively city in spite of everything was now deserted, like a wasteland. Sprawling streets were filled with contingents of robotic soldiers, marching in file and perfect step, patrolling the streets as the now sparse pedestrians parted to give them way. There were no vehicles, despite the numerous well-endowed roads, and what few there were looked like they hadn't been touched in a long time. There was no life in a lively city, like its life had been sucked out. Ironwood's voice came out over the speakers, the massive holo-banner in the middle of town playing back a looped video of the General.

'Many describe these as uncertain times, and while that may be the case for the rest of the world, I can tell you what is certain.' Holo-Ironwood declared. 'The Kingdom of Atlas will remain strong, and it will remain safe. That is my promise.'

The girls glanced across each other.

'Ironwood.'

'He looks… tired.'

'Pretty empty promise.' Jaye muttered, glancing at the city below. The robots rounded a corner, marching down the street without a second glance at the citizens surrounding them, and a seeker drone shot around in investigations as a child threw a rock at it. 'Robots never accomplish anything; all they bring are more problems. Mark my words on that.'

'I'll have to disagree.' Ruby said, mind flashing back to a certain perky brunette, lain in pieces on the Amity stadium floor. Jaye raised an eyebrow at her.

'And that's where you're wrong.' He said, gesturing at the contingents marching below. 'Those things are mindless, soulless machines. You need a human touch in things like these, no matter how infuriating those humans can be. A robot, a husk, will never be able to do what we can.' He raised his eyes to the girl. 'Penny was more than a robot. Calling her one is an insult to who she was and the life she lived.'

'You got me there.' Ruby said. 'How'd you know what I was thinking?'

'Please. Why else would you defend robots?' Jaye said, and a hand appeared between their faces.

'That, and cuz he was thinking about her too.' Kamina grinned, appearing over the smol girl's shoulder. 'He'll never admit it, but he liked Penny quite a bit.'

'Yeah, a whole lot more than you.' Jaye snorted, kicking the faunus boy in the back. Ruby smiled at the boys, turning to Kamina.

'Wait, Jaye knowing Penny I get, but how do you know about her?' She asked, and Kamina waggled a finger in her face.

'I was a front scout in our missions. I'm an expert at information gathering.' He boasted, and Jaye rolled his eyes.

'Actually, Indigo was the information expert. Kamina was a useless sack of shit.' He said, pushing the fox boy away. 'I talked about Penny a few times when we were catching up to you guys after the Fall. I mean if I talked about you, I had to have mentioned Penny at some point.' He scratched his head sheepishly. 'I'm just surprised he remembered her name.'

'This isn't right.' Weiss said, lowering her scroll from her ear. The girls glanced at her, and she turned to the stare out the window. 'None of this is right.'

'Manta 5-1, we've noticed a detour in your route. You are to make your way to docking bay Omega-12 immediately, do you copy? Over.'

'We're running out of time here kids.' Maria said, and the group glanced briefly across each other.

'We need to ditch the ship.' Yang said.

'Agreed.' Qrow nodded. 'Get lost in Mantle and buy ourselves some time.'

'You alright Qrow? You sound… different.' Jaye patted the surly man on the shoulder. 'Anyways, vanishing here is easy. We were invisible in this city; ironically, the insane amounts of security made it even easier for us to go unnoticed.'

'More cameras mean less patrols.' Kamina chirped. 'Hack those cameras, and you've got a free ticket to disappear.'

Weiss appeared from the back. 'I'm telling you; my sister can take us to Ironwood.'

'Uh Weiss?' Blake called, turning the heiress's head to the window. They came face to face with yet another holo-banner, this time with the Schnee family's characteristic white hair and blue eyes plastered over its front.

'A reminder.' Holo-Winter repeated. 'Failure to cooperate with Atlas Military personnel is a punishable offence. If your sector is under lockdown…'

Her voice faded off into the background as they flew past the banner, leaving them with only one set of white hair and blue eyes, mouth agape at her sister as they passed by numerous more banners lining the streets. Qrow turned to the girl.

'No offence Weiss, but I'm not so sure that's a good idea anymore.'

'There's obviously something very wrong.' She stalked towards the man. 'If we can just talk to her, then we-!'

'Look, I'm not even sure we should be talking to Ironwood until we know exactly what's going with Mantle.' The surly man cut her off, making the girl flinch backwards. She balled her hands up, a defiant look on her face, but Maria cut them off.

'Everyone calm down.' She commanded, heaving a sigh. 'I know someone who can help us with both.'

'Manta 5-1 you are to make your way to-!' Maria flipped the switch on the radio, cutting off the lady on the other and with a huff.

'Geez lady, take a hint!'

The party crept slowly out from the side alley, peering around the corners to avoid patrols. A few alleyways behind them, a contingent of soldiers rounded the corner where they'd left the airship, somehow entirely missing them and their brightly colored outfits in their rush to secure the vehicle. The trod through the desolate city, devoid of life, the dim neon lights of establishments around them barely serving to lighten the atmosphere, and Jaye kicked a little pebble of the road back into the cracked section it had likely flown out from.

'Come on now, hurry!' Maria cajoled, not increasing her pace at all despite her words. 'It shouldn't be much of a walk.'

'Is this many soldiers normal?'

'No.' Weiss answered, shaking her head at the sadness spread across the city. 'At least, I didn't think so.'

'It's pretty far off from normal.' Jaye muttered, taking Yang's hand as they paced down the streets. He skulked a little behind the girl, hiding himself from most of the street. 'Sorry, just a precaution.'

Don't worry about it.' Yang said, distracted by movement in the corner of her eye. Beside her a small drone whirred quietly, extending the camera on its body towards the girl. It hovered towards her, and Yang stopped curiously to look at it. A bright light flashed from it, clearly taking some form of an image, and Yang shielded her eyes from the light. Lashing out at the machine, she kicked it out onto the street where it was promptly run over by a speeding van. Jaye made a sound of exasperation, and she apologized meekly.

'You have to remember; the kingdom had just lost the Great War. The people of Mantle needed a sign of a brighter future, and that sign was Atlas.' Maria spoke as she walked, turning a nearby corner into an even more moody intersection. 'After all, a home in the clouds is about as bright as it gets.'

A truck drove by them promptly, clearly shipping off more minimum wage hard laborers to the mines, splattered in oil and dirt, hunched in the back and looking absolutely miserable. Jaye pulled Yang back as a splash of foul liquid sloshed up around the vehicles tyres.

'Unless you're the one having to look up at it.' Nora said, and Jaye nodded in response, brushing a splotch of oil off Yang's leather boots.

'Well said.' He scoffed. 'The wealthy have never cared about the poor; it's the same in every kingdom. They got rich off using the poor, course they wouldn't care what happened to them as long as there's more where they came from.'

'This whole city, it just seems awful.' Blake said, flinching as the sound of glass breaking erupted from a nearby alleyway, and a clearly inebriated man stumbled his way out.

'Yeah?' He sneered; flask clutched in his hand. 'You don't like it here? There's plenty of space out in the tundra.'

Jaye raised an eyebrow at the drunk man, stepping forward to bar his way. Blake raised a hand in a gesture of reconciliation.

'Sorry, I didn't mean to-!' She began, but he cut her off.

'Atlas it the greatest kingdom in the world alright!' He yelled, and Jaye squared up to him immediately, stopping any forward movement of the man. He snarled down at the boy, standing a good head over him, likely only serving to feed his baseless confidence. Ruby stepped forward, intent on saying something, but Blake stopped her with a hand.

'We can't cause a scene.' She whispered, glancing at the boy still squaring up to the drunkard. Jaye took off his jacket, handing it to Yang and flexing conspicuously at the man, who faltered at the realization that he was severely out-muscled here. Another man seated atop a nearby set of steps spoke up.

'The embargo…the embargo's got us in a rough patch.' He slurred, waving his arms at the girls. 'But it'll blow over, you'll see.'

'We try and help the other kingdoms, and this is what happens?' the drunkard continued, clearly empowered by the presence of other equally drunk supporters. 'I say let em rot!'

'I apologize.' Blake said, a little through her teeth. 'I didn't mean to insult you.'

The man glared past the boy in front of him, clearly terrified of looking him and the blonde girl next to him in the eyes, electing instead to stare at the sole weaponless and seemingly more easily targetable faunus girl. He spat loudly across the pavement.

'Stupid faunus like you wouldn't understa-!' He didn't get to finish the sentence before Jaye's fist collided cleanly with his jaw, launching him off his feet. At the same time, the gravity around him began to change, dragging him even higher into the air and promptly dumping him in the dumpster behind him. The group turned their eyes onto the assassin and heiress, and they shrugged in response.

'Totally worth it.' They said, grinning across each other. They scuttled away past the buildings and out of sight, crossing a few streets before they finally ended up in front of a tech clinic on the first floor of a tall building, a giant green cross plastered up as its sign. Maria jerked her head at the door, pacing around the corner slowly.

'It's good to see you again old friend.' She called, staring straight at the patch of white hair peering out from under a nearby desk. The man peered up at her, jolting as if in surprise.

'Oh yes yes!' He said in recognition, adjusting his glasses and pushing aside a veritable stack of papers to address the woman. He stared at her for a long moment. 'Have we met?'

'Well this is off to a fantastic start.' Ren said, and Maria tapped on her metal eye contraption thingies.

'Cybernetic optical implants? You adjust them? Every ten years or so?' She said, and the man peered closer, throwing his hands up in the air in realization.

'MARIA!' He bellowed, pacing around the table. Or well, his chair paced around the table. He was seated on a massive and highly advanced chair with four moving legs that seemed to be responding to his though commands. Jaye wondered to himself if it was an implant or a reader that was controlling them, watching the marvel of technology before him and hoping that the man had made them himself. 'With the cybernetic optical implants! I adjust them every ten years or so.' The man took Maria's hand, guiding her over to what he surmised must be his examination table. 'Oh, wow. Has it been that long already?'

'Oh, I know! I age like a find wine.' Maria laughed, and Jaye scoffed loudly.

'Which means no one wants her because she's pointlessly expensive, and the ones that do want her are just as old and pompous.' He snorted, earning himself a glare from the Grimm Reaper.

'Would've been here sooner if I hadn't run into these jokers.' Maria continued, keeping her glare on the assassin. 'At the time I thought they might need my guidance while fighting a little old sphinx.'

'Bitch you didn't even show up until AFTER that fight!' Jaye swore, earning himself another glare from the old lady.

'Well did they?' The old man asked, and Jaye shook his head.

'No, no.' Maria hopped up onto the mechanical examination chair. 'They had much more complicated issues.'

Qrow cleared his throat loudly at the pair, waving a hand at the man sitting in the world's most advanced quadrupedal chair. 'And this is?'

'Ugh, so impatient.' Maria waved a hand carelessly at the group. Jaye opened his mouth to say something, earning himself an elbow from the all the girls around him simultaneously. 'I didn't think I'd need to introduce one of Atlas's finest minds.'

'Working in a place like this?' Yang asked, and quite literally on queue a wooden panel dropped out of the ceiling and landed obtrusively on the floor.

'He likes to keep a low profile. Something I've come to realize none of you know anything about.' She said, and Jaye raised an eyebrow.

'Lady my team and I went two months in this city without anyone realizing we were there, and the only reason they did was because we announced it by attacking the Ace Ops.' He scoffed, earning himself yet another bout of simultaneous elbowing from the girls around him. 'What? It's true.'

The man in the quadrupedal chair raised a curious eyebrow at the boy, and he pointedly turned away from all the accusatory and inquisitive glares in his direction.

'You can call me Pietro.' The man introduced himself, and Maria leaned over to him.

'Finest heart too! This pharmacy is just where he volunteers when he's not building the future of Atlas alongside Ironwood up in the clouds.'

'One of the chief engineers in the Atlas continent.' Kamina explained, earning several surprised glances from the group. 'What? I told you I'm an information specialist.'

'Bull.' Jaye snorted. 'We studied him as a precaution, since he designed most of the security equipment you see around Atlas. Most of the stuff being used by their military, as well as the weapons of their elite forces, were all made, maintained and innovated by this man right here.'

'Well Mister Ryder, seems you've done your homework.' Maria raised an eyebrow at the boy. 'Though the specific details of his military work are kept under tighter wraps than most else, so it's a little surprising for you to know about them.'

'Read it in the papers.' Jaye said, folding his arms across his chest. 'What's so surprising about that?'

'I just said it's kept under wraps. Were you even listening to anything I said?'

'Not really no.'

'Anyways!' Kamina cut in, spreading his arms between the snarky old lady and easily irritable smol boy. 'Nice to meet you Pietro. What's it been like up on the big ol floating pizza dish?'

'Oh, it's stuffy up there.' Pietro said, waving a hand at the fox boy. 'Down here I get to help the locals and have a little fun. I'm currently working on shoes that make you dance!' He laughed, doing the boogie in his chair. 'You wanna try them on?'

'YES!' Nora poofed into existence on the screen, searching desperately for the shoes that would make all her dreams come true. Yang pushed ahead of the girl.

'Before all of that…' Yang said, turning the group's attention back to the reason they came. 'We were wondering if you could help us? We came to Atlas hoping to talk to General Ironwood, but um…'

'What exactly has been happening here?' Blake asked, stepping forwards from the girls.

Pietro coughed harshly, thumping his chest to clear his air cavities. 'Well the Fall of Beacon took its toll on all of us. James was no different. I couldn't tell you exactly what it was he saw in there, but it changed him.'

'He always seemed a little high strung to me though.' Jaye muttered, earning him simultaneous elbows from the girls for the third time that night, and resolved himself to not speaking ever again.

'He's scared.' Qrow grumbled, taking his hands off his hips. Pietro put a finger to his chin.

'Paranoid would be the more appropriate term. You have to understand; it wasn't just the Grimm.' Pietro said, shaking his head at the wooden ground underneath and waving a hand across the computer sitting on his table. 'Someone completely dismantled Atlas security code. Made it their play thing! Made us look like traitors to some and buffoons to everyone else. Whoever managed to do that is either a genius, or one of our own. I fear the answer may be both, and so does the General.' He took his cap off briefly, scratching his balding head. 'And it's not the first time it happened. About two years ago a team of assassins went completely unnoticed in the city for heaven only knows how long, with no proof whatsoever that they existed. Until now the only proof we have that they were here was their run in with our special forces, and the eyewitness descriptions of those that survived. Aside from those?' The man shrugged his slumped shoulders. 'They were as good as ghosts.'

'Maybe Atlas isn't as safe as we thought.' Ren muttered, and Oscar shook his head at the somewhat dirty wooden floor.

'After we came all this way, we can't just leave can we?' The small boy asked, and the group caught the smug smiles on Jaye and Kamina's faces. They nudged the boys, and the two cackled almost in unison.

'Told you we were good.' Kamina grinned, and the two old people gave them suspicious looks, seemingly caught on to who they were.

'Ghosts they said.' Jaye grinned. 'Another title for us.'

'How does the council feel about all this?' Weiss asked, interrupting the boys' gloating. 'Or Winter Schnee? Do you know anything about her?'

'Well the Council's so scared they'll agree to whatever he wants. Though some representatives from Mantle…' The man trailed off, pushing up his glasses as he peered a little closer at the girl. 'Wait, you're Weiss Schnee!'

'Wait, what was it you were trying to say about Mantle?' Yang said, reaching out her hand to the man. Pietro turned his attention to the girl, or more specifically, her robotic arm.

'You painted it!' He said, clearly putting a few pieces together in his head, and Ruby waved a hand at him.

'Is everything okay?' She asked, and Pietro put his hands down on his lap.

'You're Team RRWBY.' He pieced, and the girls glanced across each other.

'YOU KNOW US!' Ruby yelled, flailing her arms at the old man, and Pietro nodded in response.

'Oh, my girl I do. I most certainly do.' He laid a hand over his heart. 'And I feel like such a dunce for not recognizing you sooner! My daughter told me so much about you!'

'Your daughter?' Ruby didn't get to finish the though before the deafening blaring of an alarm erupted across the store. Outside the door the sound of people screaming and running was obvious, and the group immediately turned their attention to the chaos outside.

'Trouble!' Jaune declared, leading the charge out the door. Pietro stretched out a hand to stop them, but the would-be huntsmen and huntresses charged out without a second thought. They piled into the middle of the street, drawing their weapons as the red light of the alarm spread across and darkened the street. Jaye wondered why on earth they didn't light the bloody place better when an emergency happened but drew his swords anyway. He tossed his Wakizashi to the now bladeless Blake, who snatched it out of the air with a word of thanks.

'I guess the city defenses aren't doing much.' Oscar said, glancing around the area with his cane raised at the ready. Nora rolled her eyes.

'Somehow that doesn't surprise me.' She said, crouching a little lower as an ominous growling erupted from before them, still out of sight from the street. A destroyed robot shot across the street, crashing into the wall and crumpling in tatters to the ground. Jaye raised an eyebrow at the wrecked combat device.

'Told you robots were useless.' He said, returning his katana to its sheath and stepping into a quickdraw stance. He kneeled down close to the ground, hand hovering over the blade handle, letting out a slow breath as he readied himself for the fight ahead. Turning the corner, a pack of Sabyre Grimm tore through a battalion of robots, turning their fanged gazes slowly onto the group of fighters poised in the middle of the street. They picked up speed as they approached, and Jaye let loose a war cry. Snatching the blade out of the sheath, he spun in a complicated kata, slashing with his blades in the air and sending out waves of lightning that shredded through the pack. He continued to spin as they came, cutting them down as they approached, before the entire pack finally collapsed to the ground, bursting into ash as they crumbled out of existence. He returned his sword to its sheath once more, stepping back into a stance. 'That's why you need a human touch. Told you robots were useless.'

As if on cue, a second horde of Grimm rounded the corner at top speed, charging for the group standing in the middle of the road. With more movement in the corners of their eyes, it was clear that they were surrounded. Without a moment's hesitation, they sprung into action, wiping out the Grimm as they came seeking prey. Blake shot through a Grimm poised to pounce on her blonde partner, waving away the girl's thanks. She flinched a snarl erupted from beside her, another Sabyre erupting out of the darkness at her. She raised the wakizashi in hand, preparing to skewer it, and blinked in surprise as the Grimm vaporized before her eyes. Several bright green beams shot from the sky, vaporizing the packs as they charged. The alarm went off with a hiss, and the red glow lifted from the town as a figure hurtles through the sky. Feet propelled with glowing green energy, she spun up into the silhouette of the moon, but Jaye recognized the aura in a moment. His grip tightened on his sword, narrowing his eyes at the figure as she descended to the floor. Her long, orange blonde hair crested down around her shoulders as she landed, and her face was unmistakable, even in the moonlight. Ruby's eyes widened at the girl.

'Penny!' She gasped, Crescent Rose nearly falling from her hands. Pietro paced up behind them with a silent hiss of his quadrupedal chair.

'Darling, why don't you say hello to your friends?' He said, and the android girl turned her eyes toward the group. She finally spotted starry-eyed Ruby, a massive smile breaking across her face.

'SA-!' Penny began, lowering herself into a crouch. Ruby made a face of confusion, slowly turning into realization as the robot girl prepared to sprint. 'LU-!'

'Oh shit.' Jaye said, grabbing Oscar next to him and yanking him out of the way of the incoming train wreck that was about to happen.

'TATIONS-!' Penny yelled, launching herself at top speed at the smol girl. Ruby screamed in unrestrained terror as the android hurtled towards her, hands outstretched to seize the flailing girl. The girls crashed into each other with a resounding crash, ending only in the dying groan of the young huntress in training. Penny shot to her feet in a manner only an android could manage.

'It is such a pleasure to see you all again!' She chirped, bouncing up on her toes as the tackled girl gathered herself off the ground. Ruby shook the stars out of her eyes, finally taking in the presence of the android girl.

'Penny I-! I thought you-!' She choked, and Pietro laughed from his spot on the quadrupedal wheelchair.

'Died?' Pietro cut in, scratching his beard with a finger. 'I guess in a manner of speaking she did. But we were able to recover her core from Amity Arena once it had made its way back to Atlas. It took me some time but-.'

'I'm as good as new!' Penny saluted the group cheerfully, clearly unperturbed by her apparent death and resurrection, and Jaye finally took his hand off his sword. 'Better even! And now I'm the official protector of the city!'

'That's my girl!' Pietro pumped his fist at his daughter. 'We're not going to let a little ripping to shreds stop us, are we?'

'No sir!' Penny replied cheerfully, taking the morbid joke clearly without the slightest idea of the implications it had. Jaye raised an eyebrow at the girl, retrieving his sword from Blake.

'A fine creed to live by!' Kamina flashed them his signature shite-eating grin. 'We never let that stop us either, right Jaye?'

'Well not for longer than a couple of months I suppose.' The boy shrugged, giving up and joining in the morbid joke competition. Blake, Weiss and Yang glanced across each other.

'This is…'

'Strangely wholesome.'

'Sounds like Penny to me.'

'All except those two.' Artemis snorted, throwing a pebble at the two boys. 'You lot should have stayed ripped to shreds.'

'Well he kind of is.' Apollo said, returning the finger Jaye so readily gestured at him. 'You seen his scars? Dude must be the worst fighter ever, always getting his ass whooped.'

'You know half of these are from saving your life.' The raven-haired boy snorted. 'I want a refund.'

'Too late. Break it you buy it.'

'You broke it, you pay for it.'

'You ain't got a receipt, so no dice.' The twins snorted at the two boys. 'Take it up with the company.'

'We have so many things to catch up about! I cannot wait!' Penny said, seizing the smol girl by the shoulders and shaking her in excitement. In the distance alarms went off at the top of their lungs once more, and the smile stayed plastered to the android girl's face. 'It seems we will have to wait!'

Penny backed up from the girl, snapping her hand to her forehead in a parting salute. 'Let's talk more later I can't wait to hear all about your adventures I'm very excited for the whole experience!'

The girl shot off into the sky, a trail of smoke rising up from the spot where she had taken off from, her voice trailing off as she continued to talk on her way up. They watched her go with what can only be described as a cross between confusion and bemusement plastered across their faces. Jaye raised an eyebrow at the now very distant android girl.

'She does know we can't hear her anymore, right?' He asked, and no one could really give him a definite answer. Nora placed her hands on her hips.

'I can't tell if I completely understand what's going on, or have like, a million questions!' She said, and Pietro chuckled as he made his way back to the store.

'And thankfully, I have about a thousand answers.' He said. 'But let's get out of this weather first.'

'I have absolutely no idea who that child was!' Maria said, following after the man as he passed her, clearly out of the loop. 'Is she important somehow?'

'Not really no, just your old friend's daughter.' Jaye said, rolling his eyes at the old woman and wondering if she'd been paying attention or not. 'Really now, just his daughter. No one but an inconsequential stranger to everyone here.'

'That was unexpected.' Jaune said, shrugging gently, and Ren nodded in agreement.

'Never a dull moment.'

'But I wouldn't say unwelcome.' Qrow said, the hint of a smile breaking across his face. 'I was honestly expecting things to go a lot rougher.'

The group paced forwards across the street, barely noticing the sounds coming from behind them. Two of them noticed though, the boys' eyes glancing behind them to the alleyways where no one was apparently there. Kamina's ears flickered in understanding, and he nodded almost imperceptibly to Jaye.

In barely the blink of an eye, several binding devices hurtled out of nowhere at the group, instantaneously incapacitating the remaining members of Team JNPR and the small ex-farmhand. The girls were entrapped barely a second after, and Qrow drew his blade as he hunted for the source of the attack. Blindsiding him, he grunted as a device wrapped itself around his arms and torso, knocking him to the ground and sending his blade skittering out of his hand. Jaye and Kamina lashed out with their weapons, severing the ropes before they entangled them, stepping in front of the twins with weapons drawn. Kamina growled at the group approaching them, appearing slowly from around them as they stood at the ready.

'Good work team.' One man said, grabbing Ruby from off the ground as he stared at the four left. Jaye narrowed his eyes at the man, swearing as he held the girl up.

'Hey pal! I'm a licensed Huntsman! Just helped save everyone?' Qrow grunted against his restraints. The man spun a horseshoe in around his finger, putting it away behind his back and gesturing at the four still standing. His eyes widened in recognition, and he pulled his weapon off his back. A long fishing rod extended from his hand, and he brandished it at the assassins.

'At the ready!' He said, and the five other members readied their weapons at the four. 'Take no chances, not especially with them.'

'Yes sir.' A familiar voice rang out from behind him, and Kamina glanced around at the girl. Unfurling her trademark shield, Alexius brandished it at the fox boy. 'Miss me?'

'See-us!' He laughed running towards the girl. The members immediately started forwards to intercept him, and he teleported back to the twins as Alexius swiped her shield at him. 'Its so good to SEE YOU. Get it?'

'Silence criminal scum!' Alexius hissed at the boy, planting her shield into the ground. 'Now drop your weapons.'

'Or what?' Jaye scoffed, brandishing his swords at the woman, turning back to the fishing rod man as he took a step forward. 'What are you going to do, hmm?'

'Well I've got this girl in custody so; you'd best give up before I hurt her.' He threatened, pulling the girl a little roughly towards himself. 'Drop em.'

'Holding hostages Clover? Thought you were above that.' The boy scoffed, leveling his blades with the man. The fishing rod man, Clover, raised his weapon.

'Usually we would be, but we take no chances after what happened the last time with you. I could never forget the team that took out five of my members in five minutes.' He glanced across the twins. 'Though I notice… you're somewhat short on your usual members. Any reason for that?'

'None of your business.'

'Considering you're all wanted criminals in the entire continent, it really is my business. They lurking around here somewhere?' Clover narrowed his eyes at the boy. 'We'll deal with them later though; no matter how good you are, you can't possibly take all six of us at once. Your swords. Now.'

'What makes you think I care what happens to her?'

'Well if you didn't you would've already started the fight. You haven't, so she must mean something to you.' A gruff woman snorted, narrowed her eyes at the boy. 'New girlfriend perhaps? What happened to the old one? You kill her?'

'Harriet! Nice to see you too.' Kamina said, stepping up to the girl, Harriet, the smile fading from his face as quickly as he moved. 'Now you're going to take that back before I tear your throat out.'

'Like to see you try.' A muscular woman stepped forward, hefting the massive hammer she held in her hands. 'Puny fox.'

'I think you got to see that up close the last time Elm. I don't remember that going so well for you though.' Jaye laughed, eyes darting between the members of the Ace Ops. 'All the same faces. Guess you all did in fact, survive.'

'Of course, we did!' A dog boy said enthusiastically, his tail wagging in apparent excitement for their supposed arrest. 'We're the best of the best you know.'

'Oh, I'm sure you were, Marrow.' Kamina said, lowering himself into a stance. 'That is, until we showed up.'

'Forgetting something?' Clover stepped forward, shaking the girl a little rougher this time, and Jaye laughed out loud, his bark of amusement reverberating through the deserted streets.

'Come on now Clove, you didn't really think we'd buy that did you?' The assassin grinned, spinning his sword in hand. 'You're the good guy here; your hands are just as tied as theirs are.'

With barely a blink, a circle of ice erupted around the four. A flash of orange shot out from the top, distracting some of the members, and the muscular woman, Elm, growled heavily. She lunged for the ice wall, slamming her hammer into it and shattering it into pieces. She gasped in shock as it crumbled, revealing an empty street, and the Ace Ops turned immediately to the rooftops, hunting for them as they escaped. The dog boy, Marrow, pointed at the rooftop opposite him. 'There!'

Far across from them, four shadowed figures could be seen traversing the rooftops, occasionally punctuated with a brief flash of Orange, and Clover made a sound of irritation.

'Should've known it wouldn't be that easy.' He sighed, gesturing at Harriet, who nodded briefly to him and took off down the street faster then they could blink. Another man followed after her, extending large tendrils of energy to traverse the rooftops as he trialed behind. 'Vine you go with her. Do not engage, just track them! We don't stand a chance unless we're all together!'

The two disappearing down the road, Clover, clearly the leader, turned his attention back to the group still lying face down on the road before them. He gestured at the battalion of robots nearby who had retrieved the party's belongings, and he snatched up the lamp from its spot on the floor, tossing it languidly between his hands.

'Let's get them loaded into the next transport.' He said, and the robot beeped its acknowledgement and stamped off. Pietro and Maria finally came up behind the group.

'What is the meaning of this?' Pietro yelled, coughing from the exertion. 'What are the Ace Ops even doing down here in Mantle?'

'Doctor, good to see you!' Clover greeted. 'Well, we heard a report of an unauthorized ship making an unauthorized landing, followed by an unauthorized use of weapons by non-licensed Huntsmen.'

'If we could just talk this out-!'

'They'll be able to talk this out once we get up to Atlas.' Clover cut off the old man, gesturing to the rest of his team. 'Let's move out!'

They scattered out around the city, presumably to hunt down Jaye, Kamina and the twins. Qrow grunted as they shoved him into the back of a transport, seated neatly in a row amongst the rest of his party. He sighed heavily, turning his eyes to the floor.

'Now this. This is much closer to what I was expecting.' He said, glaring at the soldiers outside as the heavy metal doors slammed shut.

End of chapter 79