The other four just stared awkwardly between the two Schnees. One seemed genuinely happy to see the other, while the other seemed to care less he was standing in front of her. Deciding to break the tension, one stepped forward to try and break the ice better than how it was beginning as the two butlers by Mister Schnee left his side to assist Nickel. "It's been awhile, Mister Schnee." Marron greeted cheerfully.

"Marron, likewise." the gentleman nodded as he shook her hand. "I'd say last time we spoke face to face was yours and Remy's wedding. How's he been?"

"Good, good. He missed you when he and Winter did business some time ago." the Arc smiled. "Speaking of which, is she around?"

"Somewhere around the estate." he answered before looking over the other Huntresses behind her and his daughter. "But where are my manners? And yours as well, Weiss? You've yet to introduce me to the team under your leadership." he grinned with pride.

Weiss gave him a confused look before deciding to correct him. "Actually, Father, I'm not the team leader."

His features fell slightly at that resolution of his confusion, but whatever smirk was left on his face did not falter. "Ah, my mistake. Which one of you is then?" he asked.

Ruby stepped forward shakily, almost catatonic to be meeting one of the most powerful men in all of Remnant. "Th-that would...um...be me, Mister Schnee. R-Ruby Rose." she responded, giving a small wave. "P-please don't be mad that Weiss didn't get the leader position. She's been great at her support position on Team RWBY and-"

"Please, Miss Rose." Mister Schnee spoke up, shutting her up from her rambling. "I'm not mad at all, not even disappointed Weiss wasn't the leader. It was just a misunderstanding, and I will trust your word in the fact she's been doing her very best." he said with a reassuring tone. "And I trust that you're doing the same as her leader and teammates."

"O-of course, sir." Ruby nodded in relief. "Also, this is my sister, Yang, and our other teammate, Blake."

"It's an honor to meet you, Mister Schnee." Blake lied through her teeth.

"Please, call me Silbern." he smirked. "Now what are we doing out here in the cold? Come inside! Everyone!" he boomed as he lead the Huntresses down the path in between two square frozen lakes on either side. As they walked up to the massive mansion, Ruby cast a glance at Weiss again. She was once again unreadable, like she had honed the ability to shut off all emotion. She secretly was nervous that the heiress was keeping something from her, but something else caught her eye as they started to walk into the rear foyer of the estate. Off to the corner in between the dual staircase in front of an elaborate painting of Atlas City stood someone with familiar orange curls with a bow attached to the back of them. She wore a familiar color scheme of beige, green and black, but in a new style that gave her a more flowing dress with luminous fixtures in the threads that sent a glowing green light down her legs and around her waist. She also wore some sort of binder around her upper arms and chest, and a set of sleeves on her arms that matched her sleeveless blouse and black and green choker. She turned at the sound of others entering the room and surprising them with her appearance just as much as she was surprised at theirs.

"P-Penny?" Yang gasped.

"Oh! Hello, friends!" Penny gasped back in surprise and joy as she rushed forward, hugging Ruby as soon as the two were within arms reach.

"It's so good to see you again!" Ruby smiled as they broke their embrace.

"The feeling's mutual! We'll need to catch up during the dinner party!" the robotic girl smiled.

"I'm sorry, dinner party?" Blake asked.

"Yes. My secretary overlooked my schedule and set a date for my brother and his colleague to come over for dinner the same day our Huntsman testing team was supposed to arrive." Silbern explained. "I was planning on firing her for it, but considering it's my daughter's team, I'll let it slide."

"We would love to attend, but we really should be getting somewhere to lodge during our stay." Marron kindly declined.

"Nonsense! We'd love to have you all stay with us during your mission." All eyes turned to the balcony in between the staircases to another woman. This one was tall, even without the platform shoes she wore. Her snow white hair was pulled into a single bun atop the back of her head, with half her bangs hanging over one of her periwinkle eyes. "Hello, Weiss." Winter greeted as she began to descend the stairs.

"That's Weiss' sister?" Ruby whispered.

"Hubba hubba..." Yang murmured, blushing slightly before a sharp elbow to her side snapped her out of those thoughts as Weiss stepped forward.

"Winter, it's...nice to see you again." the younger of the two sisters nodded while the elder descended the stairs. While neither sister seemed overly excited to see one another, Marron was almost overjoyed as she rushed forward, pulling Winter into a hug that nearly bulged her eyes out of her skull.

"And it's REAL nice to see my best friend again!" Marron squealed before breaking off the hug and giving the businesswoman some breathing room once again.

"Oh, please, Marron. We've only been apart from each other a few months." Winter waived it off, as if the halberdier was overreacting.

"Try eleven months! Last time we spoke was at your godson's christening!" Marron rolled her eyes.

"You were pregnant?" Silbern asked, unaware of that information.

"Yeah!" Marron and Ruby said simultaneously, causing an awkward silence as Winter and Silbern both exchanged intrigued glances between the two.

"Well...we'll have to discuss that during dinner." Winter noted, finally breaking the silence as she lead everyone into the dining hall, where two others were already waiting, both dressed in their casual military uniforms.

"Ah, Team RWBY! It's nice to see you again." General James Ironwood smiled as the group entered.

"Likewise, General." Blake nodded.

"Silbern, I didn't expect more guests to be arriving." Commander Niklaus Schnee noted, no offense intended towards the surprise guests.

"Niklaus, they're the team of my daughter and a long-time frien of Winter's. I simply couldn't turn them away." Silbern pointed out. "Besides, look at all this!" He gestured to a dining table the length of a Nevermore's wingspan, covered in a white tablecloth moe vibrant than anyone on RWBY had seen before. Plates and silverware sat in front of numerous seats spanning the perimeter of the table, while in the center sat large portions of savory meats, bowls of salad, pitchers and bottles of the finest drinks in all of Remnant, and chromatic pans filled with different portions of sides to accompany it all. "It's plenty for even more! I'm even considering letting Nickel join us!"

"By all means, then! I'd love for my boy to be our guest as well!"

"Wait, Nickel the flight attendant's your son, Commander?" Yang asked.

"He is." the strategist nodded. "My younger brother here offered him a top notch position in his office as an executive, but he was adamant about actually working for a living other than having his dream career handed to him. A steward on his private aircrafts was as high as he was willing to go. Not ideal, but an admirable way of going about things."

"Yes, well, if you don't mind, I'm quite famished from my exercises earlier, and would like to begin." Winter announced as she took a seat by the head of the table.

"Of course. Please, everyone, be seated so we may begin dinner." Silbern announced as he took a seat at the head of the table with Winter on his right. Next to Winter sat Commander Niklaus, General Ironwood, Penny, and a seat was saved for Nickel next to her as a servant went to fetch him. On Silbern's right sat Marron, then Weiss, Blake, Yang, and finally Ruby. "Now, Marron, you were telling me you're a mother now?"


"Oh! And here he is with his uncle and his team!" Marron gushed, showing off the picture on her Scroll to Silbern and Winter of the day JNPR took care of him while she was out on mission.

"Well, I must say, he's a handsome son of yours, Marron..." Silbern said, trying to hide his regret for asking after a forty minute delving into the Arc girl's life of parenthood, complete with almost a hundred pictures from her phone. Others spent the time making small talk among themselves and actually enjoying the meal the personal chefs of the Schnee family had painstakingly prepared for them. "...but I promised to learn more of Weiss' team's adventures at Beacon Academy so far." he finished, looking towards his youngest with intrigue.

"Silbern, with respect, I thought I told you of their hand in the victory at Vale." Ironwood noted.

"Of course, James. I'm referring to everything before it though." the tycoon clarified before turning back to Weiss and her team. "That is if you ladies don't mind."

"Oh, we don't mind!" Yang smiled as she went into detail explaining their initiation ceremony, each girl adding details how they became partners, then followed up by the night at the docks. Luckily, for Blake's case and the second-year team usually keeping it a secret of Blake being a Faunus, they left that detail out. It then was followed up by investigating the White Fang's activity, their first mission, and of course the breach of Vale in the first attack by the White Fang, which both Winter and Silbern were very interested to hear about. Finally, they went into their explanation of their hand at helping free Vale of Cinder's occupation and thwarting her plan to awaken the Alpha Grimm underneath it that could've ended catastrophically for the whole world. By the end of it all, the group was applauding for them.

"I have to admit, Weiss, your team's adventures certainly put mine and Marron's to shame, and you've only been at Beacon a year so far!" Winter exclaimed. "Not only stopping one terror plot, but two in one year?"

"It was just part of the duty we were given." Weiss shrugged. "We had to protect Vale. Who knows what the White Fang would do with power like that?"

"It certainly makes my blood boil imagining those barbaric Faunus with that sort of asset." Silbern nodded, a touch of venom in his words that made Blake squint.

"Not exactly every Faunus is as bad as the White Fang, you know, Mister Schnee." Blake spoke up. "Some of out friends who we liberated the kingdom with are Faunus."

"And I don't doubt that they helped immensely with the plan to free it, but you must admit, Miss Belladonna, those White Fang bastards are a menace to society." Silbern countered, his voice nor his demeanor changed, but Weiss could see the fire in his eyes at the thought of that debate beginning.

"I agree with that, but they find it the only way they can earn respect with the way people treat them." Blake replied.

Silbern stood silent for a moment before his eyes rested on someone else on the table. "Miss Rose."

"Um, yes?" Ruby asked, surprised at his sudden calling on her in the middle of her taking a sip of her glass of milk.

"You said you've recently become a mother as well. Ironwood informed me on a mission you went on before the occupation was where...it began?" he paused, trying to find the right words. Both Blake and Ruby's features fell, the stoic knowing that her leader's answer would cost her the discussion and the reaper having to remember that day.

"Y-yes. During a scouting mission, I was captured and assaulted by a White Fang officer..." Ruby answered shakily. She didn't even need to explain how, regardless of the polite company or not. Nobody even dared to ask more about it, while a few judged between Silbern and Blake who had won the discussion. Yang was doing her best to keep her anger for the head of the household to even make that remark. Everyone they knew was well aware how hard it was for her sister to talk about it. "But despite it, I kept the baby, and he's doing well under my care."

"It must be hard though." Nickel remarked. "Being so young and already a mother? And not to mention the fact you're still in training."

"We've been able to balance it so far." Ruby countered.

"Enough, please." Silbern spoke up as he stood up from the table. "I must apologize, Miss Rose. I know it must be difficult for you to talk about, and of course, have to remember, and I'm sorry for using it as leverage in this discussion." His eyes fell upon Blake after that, Weiss looking down as she was torn to decide who to support in it. "However, if you don't mind, I would like to excuse us all from this to go over your assignment."

"Of course, sir." Marron nodded as everyone stood up from their seats. As they did, a buzzing in Commander Schnee's pocket brought his attention to a Scroll, whose message content brought his undivided attention.

"I'd love to stay to chat with you afterwards, brother, but James and I must be off." he apologized as the two leaders and Penny began to depart.

"An update in the manhunt for Aens?" Yang asked with interest

"I'm afraid that I can't answer that for security reasons, miss." the commander shook his head. "Good evening, all." he nodded as he left, James and Penny behind him and his son calling his farewell as he departed from the room.

"Wait! Penny!" Ruby called, stopping the android girl before she left. "Will we still be able to hang out again before we leave?" she asked.

"Oh, um...I don't believe so, Ruby." Penny said sadly. "I work for General Ironwood almost full time now, so I'll be busy these next few days." She felt a pang of empathy as Ruby's expression turned downcast. "But, I''ll text you when I'm not!"

A slight smile returned to Ruby's face at that option. "I'll take that over nothing." she smiled as her friend returned it.

"Penny, we're leaving!" Ironwood called, prompting the cybernetic girl to hastily catch up with the two gentlemen. As she left, Silbern and Winter motioned for the Huntresses to follow them. They left the dining hall from a different door than they entered from while a pair of butlers began to clean up the table from everyone's meals. They were lead through a corner hall with plenty of priceless pieces of artwork adorning the walls and displayed on quartz pedistals before stopping in front of a large white wooden door. Upon opening it, Silbern lead the six women inside to his private study. It was a large home office, with a set of comfortable looking lounge chairs in between a faux-Ursa skin rug and in front of a large Arcadian-wood desk with the Schnee family crest carved into it. All of it sat with bookshelves and family portraits on either side of it, a large window taking up the entire wall behind the desk and offering a bleak look at the towering mountains of Mantle in the distance behind it and over the large stone walls that separated the estate from the outside world. He took a seat behind it with Winter at his side while Ruby and Weiss sat in front of him on the chairs, Blake, Yang and Marron standing behind them.

"I hate to get to business straight after a filling meal such as that, but it can't be postponed." he started. "As you know, a few years ago, I started a program with the Huntsman Association to open my testing facility to second-party defenders of humanity. Most of my company's products go to use in the field for both the Huntsman and the military. It's only fair that both get the opportunity to test them before we place them on the market." he explained.

"Oh, kinda like how we fought that Paladin that Torchwick somehow got his hands on before the Breach." Yang remembered.

"Those models were stolen from a train shipping them to a testing facility by the White Fang." Winter explained, her father's eye twitching from the memory of how angry he was that shipment was robbed from him.

"Either way, you'll know what you're in for then." he said, stopping Winter from going into more detail. "The products we have lined up for you will be remotely piloted or have training droids controlling them. They shouldn't be life-threatening if anyone's worried, but we're still going to need you to sign these for legal reasons." He reached into a drawer on his desk and pulled out a set of five identical waiver forms and a pen for them to sign with.

"Waivers?" Ruby asked, reading one over.

"Like my father said, for legal reasons. By signing them, you'll be acknowledging that our company is not liable for any injuries or worse you experience on the testing floor of our facility, nor that you will be allowed to discuss any classified material you come across during the tests to the outside world in public or private." Winter explained as each member of the team took turns signing the documents, Silbern pausing to stop Weiss as she was about to be the final one to sign her waiver.

"No need, Weiss. As a Schnee, you have no obligation to sign this. You're part of the company too after all." Silbern smiled, putting the blank waiver back into the drawer it came from before handing the four signed ones to his eldest.

"Of course. What was I thinking?" Weiss chuckled sheepishly.

"You weren't obviously." Winter murmured, earning a glare from her younger sister.

"Winter." Silbern scolded, before returning to the matter at hand. "Make sure those get sent over to the legal department's file room at headquarters."

"Yes, Father." Winter complied as she took the waivers and marched out of the room, Nickel already waiting outside.

"Nickel? Is there something you need?" Silbern asked from his desk.

"Nothing, Uncle. I'm just informing you that the Bullhead is refueled and restocked for its next outing." Nickel reported. "The pilots took care of it as you invited me to join you all."

"Very good. You may retire for the evening then." Silbern nodded as Nickel left.

"Speaking of retiring, where can we rest, Mister S?" Marron asked nonchalantly.

"Oh, right! I almost forgot that you accepted the offer to stay here." Silbern exclaimed. "Weiss, the guest rooms in the east wing should be prepared by now. Show your team to them."

"Of course. Good night, Father." she smiled as she went around the desk to peck him on the cheek. "It's good to be home."

"As it is to have you here, my little Snowflake." Silbern smiled back before the two heard somebody struggling to keep her snickering to herself. "Is something amusing, Miss Xiao Long?"

"N-Nothing!" Yang replied curtly, holding her breath.

"Okay, well, it was nice spending time with you, but we're all tired, so good night!" Weiss spoke quickly as she ushered everyone out and shut the door just in time for the floodgates to release, confusing the businessman by what he heard on the other side of the door.

"BAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Little Snowflake? Really?"

"Just shut up and follow me, dolt!"

"I think it's a nice nickname for you."

"Nobody asked you, Ruby!"


And that's another one down! New design for Penny comes from Madgamer2k7, and the look for Silbern Schnee from how DashingIceCream envisions him. Credit for both those appearances goes to them and I claim no ownership to it.

Penny = art/The-Verdant-539498118

Silbern Schnee= post/126304867437/he-did-not-sign-up-for-this

I'm fans of both those artists, and Dash has actually done some commission work for me and my OC team, STRM, in the past, so give them both a look if you haven't seen their work. It's all fantastic.

OK, back on topic. Seems that Weiss' family isn't as bad as she has been making it sound. Odd, isn't it? Things have been kinda lax so far, so these next coming chapters will be a little more exciting. Until then, I'll see you lads and lasses next time!