We'd made it to Atlas.
Whenever the lower city of Mantle came into view, everyone on board our stolen airship to gather at the front.
"Wow," Sera commented. "That place looks like downtown Vale, but like, everywhere." She pointed at Mantle's dark streets. The entire lower city below Atlas's floating chunk of land looked like the shady side of town, except the whole town is shady.
"Manta Five-One, welcome home," a voice filtered through the radio. "Please continue your approach to Atlas docking bay Omega-twelve. A security team will meet you there. Over"
"I don't understand," Ruby said. "What's happening here?"
"I don't know," Qrow said, an uncertain look on his face.
"But we're here," Jaune said. "We got the lamp to Atlas. So, I guess we land and get some answers."
"I don't think so," Sera shook her head.
"Me either," Weiss said. "I've never seen our forces deployed so aggressively before. If we land on a stolen ship, there's no way they'll let us anywhere near Ironwood." Weiss watched Atlas with sad eyes. "They might even take me back to my father."
Team RWBYS looked at each uncertain yet determined eyes. There's no way they were going to let that happen, especially not after all the trouble they'd been through just to get here
"Winter!" Weiss thought aloud with wide eyes. She slipped her scroll out of her pocket and started typing. "Put as much distance between us and the fleet as you can," she told Maria.
"You don't need to tell me twice," the old lady responded.
"Just don't crash again, alright?" Sera deadpanned.
"Hmph," Maria huffed.
The airship flew across the city while Weiss tried to get in touch with her sister. Sera remembered Winter; they'd fought each other in Beacon's courtyard. Several months after, Sera wouldn't mind a rematch with Weiss's older sister.
The amnesiac hand was squeezed, and she looked over to see Yang at her side. Sera smiled and squeezed her hand back, interlacing their fingers tightly. Their shoulders touched lightly, and all worry in Sera's mind faded. Yang had a good way of doing that to her.
Everyone else was looking out at the rundown city with somber expressions. Civilians milled around as if in a daze. A lone Faunus with antlers on his head played a banjo in an alleyway.
"No matter what happens," Sera said in a hushed tone to Yang. "I'm not gonna let anything separate us all again."
"All of us, or me and you?" she smirked.
"I'll let you figure it out," Sera bumped her shoulder. She looked up when she heard General Ironwood's voice but returned her gaze to her team when she realized that it was only a recording on a very large screen. The general's beard had grown in fully since the last time they'd saw him.
"General Ironwood," Pyrrha said from beside Jaune. "He looks…"
"Tired," Ruby finished. "He looks so tired."
"James, what have you been doing?" Qrow asked the screen. Atlesian Knights patrolled the streets with guns while small chrome robots floated around as if they were watching everyone.
"This isn't right," Weiss said. She still couldn't get ahold of her sister. "None of this is right."
"Manta Five-One, we've noticed a detail in your route; you are to make your way to docking bay Omega-twelve immediately. Do you copy? Over." The woman over the speaker said, more urgently this time.
"We're kinda running out of time here, kids!" Maria said from the pilot's seat.
Sera glanced between the city and the ship's controls, and she knew what to do. "We need to ditch the ship. They could be tracking us for all we know."
"Agreed." Qrow stood and grabbed his weapon, Harbinger. "We can leave the ship in Mantle and buy ourselves some time."
Weiss stepped up to the front. "I'm telling you; my sister can take us to Ironwood."
"Uh, Weiss?" Blake said, her eyes looking out the side window of the airship. The ex-heiress cautiously approached the window, and her eyes widened. On the side of a tall building was a gigantic screen with Winter Schnee's face on it. She was spouting the same nonsense that Ironwood was.
"Weiss? I don't think we should see your sister anymore," Sera said, glancing over at the Schnee.
"There's obviously something very wrong. If we could just talk to her—" Weiss said.
"Look," Qrow interrupted. "I'm not even sure we should be talking to Ironwood until we know what's going on with Mantle."
"Everyone, calm down," Maria sighed. "I know someone who can help with both." The speaker piped up again, more urgently than ever, but Maria switched it off irritably. "Jeez, lady! Take a hint."
The airship dipped towards the ground, and they quickly found a spot to land. They exited the ship and hurried down the nearest alleyway as quickly as possible. Maria went onto the street first to make sure the coast was clear, then the rest of them followed. Maria, Qrow, and Pyrrha led in the front while Yang and I covered the back.
"Unbelievable," Sera muttered. "We're huntsmen and huntresses, and we have to sneak around like criminals."
"I don't like it either," Yang said gently. "But how about you keep that personality of yours in check until we're safe?"
Sera grumbled under her breath and crossed her arms. Yang chuckled, shaking her head at Sera's behavior.
"You're lucky I like your annoying ass," Sera mumbled.
"You're lucky I haven't beat your ass at this point," Yang grinned, her eyes flashing red.
"As if you could, Blondie," Sera said.
"Wanna bet?" she asked, a wicked gleam in her eyes.
Sera laughed. "Maybe later. Now's not the best time."
"Would you two quit flirting for two seconds?" Weiss hissed.
"Oh, no. Never," Yang smirked.
"You gotta lighten up, Ice Queen." Sera wrapped an arm around Yang's shoulders.
"Not the time nor place."
"Suit yourself," Yang shrugged.
"Guys, we're literally being hunted. If we're caught, there's no telling what could happen to us. So, could you two get back into huntress mode until later?" Blake asked. Sera and Yang met each other's eyes, and Sera removed her arm from around her shoulders, then slipped her hand into the blonde's.
"You're right," Yang said. "Sorry."
"Don't be," Qrow said from the front. "Happiness is rarely found in situations like these. Don't let that fire smolder; let it burn."
Sera nodded, then bumped her shoulder into Yang's again.
They crossed another street and walked for several more blocks before they found trouble. Maria was telling them something about Atlas and it floating in the sky when they crossed another street. A truck full of dirty workers passed by, all of them looking miserable.
"This whole city," Blake murmured. "It just all seems awful."
"Yeah?" a voice said. Everyone turned to see a man with a bottle in his hand. "You don't like it here? Well, there's plenty of space out in the tundra." He slurred. Blake tried to apologize, but he kept going. "Atlas is the greatest kingdom in the world!"
Ruby tried to confront him, but Blake stopped her. "We can't cause a scene."
A second guy sitting on a stairwell spoke up. "The embargo—the embargo has got us in a rough spot, but it'll blow over soon. You'll see."
"We try and help the other kingdoms, and this is what happens?" the first guy said. "I say let 'em rot!"
It was Sera's turn to step forward, but Blake put her other arm up to stop her. The Faunus gave her a meaningful look, and Sera backed off. "I'm sorry guys, I didn't mean to insult you," Blake said.
The first guy spat at their feet. "Stupid Faunus like you wouldn't understand—" The man was suddenly blasted into the air and landed inside a dumpster with a heavy thud. A black glyph had appeared at his feet. Sera and the others turned to look at Weiss, who had Myrtenaster raised.
"It was worth it," she shrugged. Immediately, Atlesian Knights came over to investigate, and everyone took off down the street.
"Hey, wait!" the second guy called out. "You're Weiss—" he was suddenly silenced. When the group turned to see why, he was suddenly on the ground, a trashcan lid with a large crater in it on his head. Sera had been running alongside Yang beforehand but was now at Weiss's side.
"What?" she asked when she saw the ex-heiress's incredulous look. "Couldn't have that asshole telling the bots about you, could we?" She saw Weiss suppress a smile and smirked.
. . .
"Here we are," Maria announced as they approached a corner. "Ah, it's good to see you again, old friend!" she greeted as she entered the door of a building. A large man with dark skin and a white beard sat behind a big desk. He sat in a large green contraption that appeared to walk on four metal legs.
"Ah, yes." He smiled kindly and leaned onto his desk. "Have we met?"
"Well this is off to a great start," Ren commented.
"Uh, cybernetic optical implants? You check up on them every ten years or so?" Maria said.
The man looked hard at Maria's face for a few long seconds, then exclaimed, "Maria! Of course, I check up on your eyes every ten years or so. Has it been that long already?"
"Yes, I know; I age like fine wine," Maria joked. "Would've been here sooner if I hadn't run into these jokers."
"Would've been here sooner if your flying skills didn't leave us crashing and burning," Sera muttered. Yang elbowed her.
Qrow cleared his throat. "And this guy is…?"
Maria Calavera sighed heavily. "So impatient. I didn't think I'd need to introduce one of Atlas's finest minds."
"Working in a place like this?" Yang asked. A piece of the ceiling promptly fell and crashed to the floor.
"He likes to keep a low profile, something that none of you know anything about," Maria told them.
"Clearly," Sera mumbled.
"I'm Pietro," the man put a hand on his chest. "This is where I volunteer," he gestured to the workshop."
"When you're not building the future alongside Ironwood up there," Maria told him, pointing upwards.
"Down here, I get to help the locals. I don't like that stuffy Atlas air anyway."
"Can't blame you there," Weiss crossed her arms.
"I've been working on a few new projects recently. Shoes that make you dance, an arm that can extend for greater reach, and even a pair of prosthetic legs that will let the wearer run as fast as any car."
"Actually," Yang said, stepping forward. "We were hoping you could help us. Although, arm does sound promising."
Sera smirked and went to Yang's side. "We all came to Atlas hoping to talk to General Ironwood, but judging by those screens…"
"What is wrong with him?" Blake asked.
Pietro coughed hard, clutching his chest. "The Fall of Beacon was hard on all of us."
"You can say that again," Sera said, self-consciously glancing at Yang's arm.
"James was no different," Pietro continued. "I couldn't tell you exactly what he saw there, but it changed him. He's—"
"He's scared," Qrow said.
"Paranoid is more like it," Pietro sniffed. "But try to understand; it wasn't just the Grimm. Someone hacked into Atlas's system, completely blew past their security. Made us look like traitors to some and buffoons to the other. Whoever managed to do that is either a complete genius or one of our own. I fear that it may be both, and so does Ironwood."
"How does the council feel about all this?" Weiss asked.
"We came all this way. We can't just leave, can we?" Oscar asked.
"Well, the council's so scared, they'll agree to anything James wants. But with Mantle…" Pietro put a hand to his forehead, then snapped it away as if he'd thought of something. "Wait a minute… You're Weiss Schnee," he pointed. Weiss gasped and took a step back. Sera didn't really understand why. Sure, they were technically in hiding right now, but Pietro seemed all right.
"Wait, what were you saying about Mantle?" Yang asked. Pietro's eyes stared at her prosthetic arm.
"You painted it," he stated. Then he glanced between Yang, Weiss, Blake and Ruby with sharp eyes. "You—You're team RWBY."
"You know us?" Ruby asked.
"Oh, my girl, I do. And I feel like such a dunce for not recognizing you sooner."
Sera cleared her throat. When Pietro and her team glanced at her, she gave a small smile. "Uh, team RWBYS, actually."
"Right," Ruby said. "This is Sera, our fifth teammate."
"I'm afraid I don't know you, young lady," Pietro looked to her with kind eyes. "When did you join their team?"
"What was it?" Sera glanced at Qrow. "A month before the Vytal Festival?"
"Give or take," he shrugged.
"That explains it. My daughter's told me so much about them, but it seems that she didn't have the opportunity to meet you."
"Your daughter?" Ruby quirked an eyebrow.
Sirens suddenly blared in the streets, drawing their attention. Outside of an open door, people were running down the street with panicked expressions.
"Trouble," Jaune drew his sword and ran for the door, the rest of the huntsmen and huntresses following.
"Wait!" Pietro warned, but it was too late; they were gone. All eleven of them spread out in the street, readying their weapons. Sera drew Crimson Eclipse and smiled at the familiar weight in her hands.
"Guess the city defenses aren't doing much," Oscar noted.
"Somehow, that doesn't surprise me," Nora said. Several Knights were flung across the street, and more were slowly backing away from an unseen threat. They kept firing at it, then a large Grimm pounced one. It was sleek and feline with a pair of long fangs reaching its bottom jaw. A Sabretooth, Sera thought.
When several more showed up from the same direction, Ruby swung Crescent Rose and planted its blade in the concrete. "Well, we came this far. We're not letting anything stop us now."
Yang blasted to the side via Ember Celica and flew towards the Grimm. Then Nora used Pyrrha's shield as a springboard like she did in the Vytal Tournament and launched herself towards the line of charging Grimm.
"When you try to hide from the party, the party finds you," Sera muttered.
"What?" Oscar asked. With a grin, Sera ran to join her friends.
With a single swing of her sword, she cleaved a Grimm in half, then kept running. Yang was punching down as many as she could, but more of the Sabretooths kept pouring down the street. Qrow and Ruby were doing excellent with their scythes, slicing Grimm apart like a blender.
When a group of the Grimm turned to her, Sera leaped into the air and stomped two of their heads with all her might. She swept her sword through the air and vaporized another. When one managed to knock her aside, she jumped towards it and brought her foot down on its head. The Sabre crumpled to the ground, then Sera finished it off with a gunshot from Silver Linings.
Sera heard a yelp, then something hit the ground, and she whipped around to see a dead Sabretooth Grimm just a few feet behind her. Yang winked at her and cocked Ember Celica, an empty shell ejecting from its receiver. Sera nodded gratefully and twirled Silver Linings on her finger before holstering it smoothly.
Before she could cut down any more of the Grimm, a large green laser cut down the Sabretooth directly in front of Sera. The huntress blinked and looked at where the laser had come from, but nothing was there. Then several more lasers came from the sky and blasted the Grimm to dust. One by one, they fell. Whenever all the Grimm had died, Sera and the others regrouped at a crossroads. Then something incredible happened.
A lone figure blasted through the sky with what appeared to be rocket propelled boots. Green fire jetted from their feet as they spun as if in a ballet, then slowly floated to the ground. Everyone was mystified as the now apparent orange-haired girl touched down. She had flowing orange hair with soft green eyes. She wore a fancy grey top and short black skirt. Green suspenders rested on her shoulders, and a black and green bow rested on her head.
The funny thing was that Sera recognized her. Her hair was much longer than before, but it was the same girl. Pietro was right; she and Sera hadn't met, because the only time Sera had saw her, she had been ripped to shreds by Pyrrha Nikos in the Vytal Tournament.
"Penny…?" Ruby asked.
Pietro smiled warmly. "Why don't you say hello to your friends?" He asked Penny. When the girl saw who her father was talking about, her face lit up with a broad grin.
"Sal…" she said as she hunkered down. Ruby quirked an eyebrow at her old friend. "U…" Penny got lower to the ground, making Ruby widen her stance in surprise. "TATIONS!" Penny shouted as she took off, using her rocket boots, blasting past everyone in the blink of an eye.
Ruby flailed wildly as she exclaimed in surprise, but it was too late; Penny collided with her full-force, and they went tumbling.
"What just happened?" Sera blinked.
Penny hopped to her feet in an instant while Ruby was still trying to recover. "It is so good to see you all again!"
Pyrrha appeared at Ruby's side, looking absolutely mortified.
"Penny," Ruby said. "I thought you…"
"Died?" Pietro asked. "Well, in a way I guess she did. But her robotics were recovered from Amity Arena, and I was able to rebuild her. It took some time, but, well look!"
"I'm as good as new! Better, even," Penny saluted. "And now, I'm the official protector of Mantle's people!"
"That's my girl," Pietro said warmly. "We're not going to let a little 'ripping to shreds' stop us, are we?"
"Penny," Pyrrha said, and the orange-haired robot girl looked at her curiously. "I am so sorry." The Invincible Girl had tears in her eyes. Everyone knew she was still torn up about what she'd accidentally done to Penny. She still woke up in cold sweat about it.
"Oh, Pyrrha," Penny frowned. "Do not worry, I forgive you. It wasn't your fault that that devil of a woman had me ripped to pieces," she said in an overly cheery tone that was a little creepy.
"But if that hadn't happened, you would've never—"
"Pyrrha," Jaune put a hand on her shoulder. "It's all right." Pyrrha searched his eyes for a moment, then nodded and wiped her eyes.
Penny smiled, then grabbed Ruby's shoulders. "I'm so glad you're here! We have so much to catch up about!" Then more sirens went off a few blocks away. "It seems we will have to wait." Her smile never wavered. She stepped back and saluted as her boots got ready for takeoff. "Let's talk more later, I can't wait to hear about your adventures!" she said as she blasted away.
"I have absolutely no idea what just happened." Sera rested Crimson Eclipse onto her shoulder.
"Welcome to Penny," Yang shrugged.
"Let's get off the street, shall we?" Pietro said as he walked towards his shop in his chair.
"Well that was unexpected," Jaune said.
"Never a dull moment," Ren shrugged.
"But not unwelcome," Qrow added. "Honestly, I was expecting things to go much worse for us."
"Oh well, let's catch up with Pietro before we lose him." Sera sheathed her sword and walked after Pietro and Maria.
They made it about five feet before everyone sensed tension in the air. Team JNPR and Oscar were the first to drop. Boleros wrapped around each of them and caused them to drop.
"What?" Yang turned, but then she, Blake, and Ruby went down next.
Qrow and Sera drew their swords in alarm. Qrow checked their surroundings but saw nothing. Then another bolero came out of nowhere, and the huntsman went down.
Sera whirled around, eyes flying between every nook and cranny in the street.
"On your left!" Yang called. Sera turned and knocked a bolero aside with her sword.
"Behind you!" Ruby warned. Sera jumped straight into the air and turned her body to get a look from every angle. As soon as her feet touched the ground, another bolero wrapped around her ankles and caused her to fall.
Damn it…! She cursed to herself as she dropped her sword to untie the bolero. Before she could get it off, several figures in white uniforms dropped from the surrounding rooftops. They surrounded the huntsmen and huntresses, cocky smirks on their faces.
One of them approached Sera and looked down on her. The woman had tan skin and an odd hairstyle that's light-colored in the front. Her pink eyes glanced over Sera with a strange light in them.
"You put up quite a fight, white hair," she said.
"Hey, pal!" Qrow grunted. "I'm a registered huntsman! Just helped save everyone?" Then the uniformed people started picking up their weapons. One of them tried to grab the Relic but pulled his hand back when a bullet hit the ground near the Relic. He and the others turned to see Sera aiming Silver Linings at him.
"Keep your hand away from that," she warned.
"Still fighting even when you're captured," the man chuckled.
Sera took a deep breath, then she suddenly wasn't there. The bolero that was wrapped around her ankles sat in a heap.
"What the-?" the man exclaimed.
"Uh, beside you, sir," another said. His head turned to the right to see the white-haired huntress holding her revolver to his temple. She smirked and pressed it against his head. "Not bad," the man chuckled.
"Thanks," Sera said. "Now let my friends go."
"Girl, you're outnumbered, and I doubt that gun of yours will get past my aura."
"Wanna bet?" she pulled the hammer back.
"Sera," Qrow said, and she looked down at him. "Don't; it's not worth the trouble."
"I can take these guys," Sera frowned and turned her attention back to the man on the business end of Silver Linings.
"If these guys are who I think they are, I doubt that."
"Well, she might have like a twenty-five percent chance of winning," Weiss said.
"They have her sword," Qrow replied.
"Five percent chance."
"Listen to your friends, purple eyes," the man smirked. Sera glared at him for another ten seconds before lowering her gun. When she did, one of the uniformed women took Silver Linings out of her grip and put her in handcuffs.
"Load them onto the next transport ship," the uniformed man said as he picked up the Relic.
"What is the meaning of this?" Pietro asked. "What are the Ace Ops even doing down here?"
"Ace Ops?" Ruby asked.
"Sounds like some sort of Atlesian task force," Sera muttered.
"Spot on, love," the tan girl said from behind her. "Shame we had to meet like this," she said in a quieter voice. Sera shivered in response and glanced back at her.
"Sorry, I don't flirt with people who ambush my friends and I."
"Doctor, good to see you," the man said. "We got a report of an unauthorized ship making an unauthorized landing with non-licensed huntsmen making use of unauthorized weapons."
"If we could just talk this out?" Pietro asked.
"They'll be able to talk this out once we get up to Atlas," he replied. "Let's move out!"
He and the other Ace Ops leaped to the buildings, leaving them. The tan-skinned one winked at Sera before taking off, earning an annoyed groan from Yang. Sera gave her an uncomfortable look, trying to show her that she didn't like the way the Ace Op talked to her.
"Hated that," Sera mumbled an stretched her wrists inside the cuffs. "What now?"
"I say we bust outta here!" Nora said.
"Don't. It'll just cause more trouble," Qrow pointed with his head towards the Atlesian Knights coming their way.
Minutes later, they were being shoved into a transport ship, everyone in cuffs. Sera rolled her eyes as she leaned against the wall behind her. Fortunately, she was put in the seat between Yang and Pyrrha.
"Now, this—this is much closer to what I was expecting," Qrow said.
Sera glanced over at the Atlesian soldiers guarding them. "I still have, ahem, Yang's bracelet," she said quietly.
"Like I said before, it's not worth the trouble," Qrow said.
"This is messed up," Jaune commented.
"Welcome to Atlas," Weiss said with fake enthusiasm.
Sera looked over to Yang. She was staring ahead with red eyes and a clenched jaw. "You okay?" she whispered.
"Fine," Yang said stiffly.
"You mad at that woman?"
Yang didn't respond.
"Hey, I didn't like that, either. Don't be mad at me about it, please?" Sera whispered and bumped her shoulder into the blonde's. Yang's expression softened, and her eyes returned to lilac.
"I'm gonna punch her lights out if I see her again," she whispered.
Sera smirked and put her head on Yang's shoulder as best as she could. Their friends paid no mind except for one or two of them smiling lightly at them, which Sera appreciated. She and Yang had really just started out being "a thing," but their friends had just silently accepted it, aside from Qrow and Taiyang giving them their blessing.
There were several things Sera wanted to tell her, but she'd have to wait until they were alone, or at least right in front of everyone. If they were ever alone again.
Can this be over already?
The ship took off, heading up towards Atlas.