Chapter 17: Light of Sol
June 20, 2682; 0330 Hours
Havana Station, Earth Orbit
Thorne strolled casually through the metallic halls of one of Earth's numerous orbital stations. He had a small smile permanently plastered on his face has he carried a large file in his hands. It had taken ONI weeks to dig this old information up from the depths of Remnant's network databases, but he finally had everything he needed. Quite frankly, this was why he joined ONI, this feeling.
The station he was on was an orbital prisoner retention station, designed to ensure the… captivity of very high-risk criminals, and to prevent them from ever being a risk again. ONI had a certain affinity for facilities like these. Thorne didn't necessarily like these stations, but he understood their necessity. Humanity, even during this time of peace, had quite a few enemies.
He stopped in front of a large metallic door, guarded by a pair of ODSTs in black armor. They saluted, seeing his ONI pin, and stepped aside. He gave them a curt nod as he passed, walking into the small hallway that opened up. At the end of the hallway was another door, with a single retinal scanner resting on the frame of the sliding door. Thorne leaned into the retinal scanner, placing his cybernetic eye within the scanning array's range. Once the machine blinked green, a small speaker lit up red, asking Thorne for his voice confirmation. "Agent Thorne, Confirmation Code: Alpha-Romeo-Charlie-Zero-One-Nine."
The door pinged softly, opening and allowing Thorne to step inside. A small grin set across his face has he looked at Mercury's form, sitting in a metallic chair in a dimly lit room. His hands were chained to a metal table. Mercury's sunken, defeated eyes looked up to meet Thorne's vibrant, full-of-life cybernetic ones. Thorne shot Mercury a warm smile as he sat down in a chair across from the young man, laying the tan folder gently on the table.
"What do you want?" Mercury asked, his voice hoarse and sullen.
"Mister Black… interesting cybernetics." Thorne said, seeming to ignore the boy's question. "Things like those rival even the UNSC's cybertech suites… they're only available from Atlas." Thorne gestured to a picture of Mercury's cybernetic legs, which had the metallic coverings stripped off of them. His original robotic legs had been replaced by a very basic pair of robotic prosthetics by UNSC surgeons following Mercury's detaining and processing. "That begs the question… how does the son of a dead assassin afford such advanced prosthetics, especially after his legs get smashed by his burning home?"
Mercury's already pale and sunken expression somehow shows even more emotional distress at Thorne's not-so-thinly-veiled jab. "Fuck you." Mercury said, turning to stare at his restrained hands.
"Oh, you wound me so." Thorne said, chuckling to himself as he flipped through the folder in front of him. "It's not my fault that your father was too weak to protect his frail little boy. Now…" Thorne leaned back against his chair, his hands clasped across his crossed knee. "Tell me where you got the money and connections to get your hands on hardware like that."
"Like I said, go fuck yourself." Mercury responded, still staring at his hands.
Thorne shrugged. "It's really not that big of a deal, in the grand scheme of things. We've already got Emerald… she'll sing soon enough."
"Emerald's here?!" Mercury asked, his voice hopeful.
"Don't get your hopes up on escape." Thorne said, smiling. "Her sentence is far worse than yours. She'll get vented into space once she finally talks; you've got the great fortune of being here for the next lifetime."
"She won't talk." Mercury said, defiantly.
"Don't you worry about your little girlfriend, Mercury." Thorne said, sitting up straight. "She'll talk. Her Semblance sure is interesting too… too bad for her that I was immune to the little tricks she tried on me."
"W-What?" Mercury asked.
"Her little ability only affects standard human perception… lucky for me, I have an AI." Thorne said, a cocky grin on his face. "Whoever hired you, White Fang or otherwise, will be found. How long it takes us depends entirely on you."
"I already told you…" Mercury said, sighing. "The White Fang hired me through an agent!"
Thorne looked at the defeated boy's expression. He knew that Mercury was lying through his teeth, but his time was running a bit short. "Very well…" Thorne said, closing his folder. "I believe that's everything for today. Have a pleasant day, Mister Black." Thorne mocked, standing upright and stepping out of the room.
XXXXX
June 20, 2682; 1140 Hours
UNSC Guardian, Deck 7
Yang awoke from a heavy sleep, momentarily surprised to find herself staring up at the dimly-lit metallic ceiling. Everything that had happened over the past day, everything she had experienced, came flooding back to her in an instant. She found herself drawn back into reality by the rumbling purring of her Faunus girlfriend, who was currently nestled into her neck. Yang made the mistake of stirring a bit too much, accidentally waking the slumbering Faunus. Blake let out a quiet groan as she tried to bury herself deeper into Yang's shoulder.
Yang smiled. "Sorry, kitty cat." She said, placing a soft kiss on Blake's cheek. "It's late anyways."
"Is it?" Blake asked, slowly shifting into a sitting position. She glanced at the clock on her Scroll's screen, surprised to find it to be nearly noon. She let out a soft sigh. Suddenly, now that her Scroll was on, about two dozen messages flooded her inbox. She scanned through a few of them, finding them to be from the Team RWBY+I group message. "We need to go meet up with Weiss, Ruby, and Ivan apparently."
"What?" Yang asked,
"Weiss just made my Scroll's inbox explode; apparently she wants to call a team meeting." Blake's point was accented by a series of hard, forceful knocks against their room's door, followed by the sounds of a shouting Weiss.
"Blake! Xiao Long! Team meeting now!"
"Oh god…" Yang said, forcing her face into a pillow.
XXXXX
June 19, 2682; 2330 Hours
UNSC Guardian, Deck 7
Ivan walked through the halls of Guardian, Winter walking a bit closer to him than would generally be acceptable. Winter had a content smile on her face, which was even wider than Ivan's normal grin. "I doubt Weiss would disapprove." Winter continued on her line of thought, shrugging as she spoke.
"I suppose not." Ivan said, laughing. "If she could handle Blake and Yang, I doubt she'd have any issue with this."
"I still have a hard time understanding how the two of them get along…" Winter commented, smiling. "Yang's a bit… of a party girl. That's almost the polar opposite, from what I understand, of what Blake is."
Ivan shrugged. "Opposites attract?"
Ivan made his way towards the two rooms that the members of Team RWBY occupied. Blake and Yang had Room 201, while Weiss and Ruby had 202. Ivan occupied 203, and the rest of Remnant's dignitaries were scattered throughout the deck. He was surprised to find Ruby walking back to her room. She looked over to Ivan and Winter, smiling. "Hi, Ivan. Hi, Winter!" Ruby said, cheerful, even at midnight.
"Hey Ruby." Ivan said. "What're you doing up?"
"Trying to find a snack." Ruby admitted, earning a smile from Ivan. "What're you guys doing up?"
"We were just…" Ivan hesitated for a moment, feeling his face redden a bit. "Spending a little time together."
Ruby scrutinized the SPARTAN for a moment, her mouth opening into a wide smile after a few moments. "Oh… my… god…"
"Ruby…" Ivan began, concern heavy in his tone.
"The two of you are together?!" Ruby asked, amazed. Ivan had to give the girl credit, she could certainly be perceptive. "Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!" She rattled off, almost bouncing in excitement. "I need to tell Weiss!"
"Ruby… maybe you should wait until it's a bit later in the morning?" Winter suggested, a small grin crossing her face. The blush betrayed any semblance of seriousness that her tone was trying to convey.
"How could I keep quiet about this?!" Ruby asked, still practically bouncing. "Have the two of you… you know… kissed?"
Winter and Ivan, in a rare moment of bashfulness, both blushed. "I-er-uhm…" Ivan tried, stammering out a response.
Ruby's silver eyes went wide as a huge smile spread across her face. "Oh my gosh! This is so great! You guys are adorable!"
"Ruby…" Winter began. "Could you do us a favor?" Ruby nodded, still smiling. "Could you wait until the morning to tell Weiss? You've seen how irritable she gets when she's woken up early, and I doubt you want her to be angry at a time like this."
Ruby seemed thoughtful for a moment, finally sighed. "Alright… I guess I can wait."
"Thank you, Ruby." Winter said. "Now you should probably try to get some sleep."
Ruby nodded. "I'll try. Have a good night!" Ruby said, cheerfully.
"You too, Ruby." Ivan said as Ruby stepped into her shared room with Weiss. Ivan half-expected to hear Ruby call out Weiss's name, but it sounded like she would make good on her promise.
Ivan and Winter walked the few steps back towards their nearby rooms, stopping in the hall just outside Ivan's quarters. "So… umm…" Winter began, chuckling nervously as she tried to straighten herself out.
"I uhh… I had a good time." Ivan said, giving an awkward smile. "I'm sorry, I'm really bad at this."
"Have you seen me?" Winter joked, smiling.
"I have." Ivan said, working rather hard to suppress a stupid grin. "And I've never seen someone more beautiful."
Winter simply looked at him with a smile. "Smoooooth." Winter said, lightly shoving the SPARTAN.
Ivan shrugged. "I thought it was pretty tasteful."
Winter simply sighed, shaking her head with a small smile on her face. "I should probably go get some sleep." She said, almost sounding disappointed. "Weiss is going to be banging on someone's door in the morning, we should sleep while we can."
Ivan nodded. "Good idea."
Winter stood in front of Ivan for a few moments, trying her damnedest not to make eye contact. Without a word, she leaned up and planted a small kiss on Ivan's cheek, causing both of them to redden in the face. "Have a good night, SPARTAN." Winter said, smiling.
"You too, Specialist…" Ivan said, still trying to comprehend exactly what just happened.
Winter smiled as she stepped into her quarters, the door sliding shut behind her. Ivan let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding. He turned around, walking into his quarters. He dropped onto the rather soft bed, staring at the dimly-lit ceiling for a few minutes, eventually drifting off to sleep.
XXXXX
June 20, 2682; 1130 Hours
UNSC Guardian, Deck 7
Ivan jolted awake as a series of hard bangs sounded against his door. He sat upright, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Ivan!" He heard Weiss's rather annoyingly shrill voice call out. Ivan let out a soft sigh, remembering what had happened last night. He quickly grabbed a t-shirt and slacks, throwing them on quickly. "Open this door!" Weiss called out again. "We need to have a team meeting, right now!"
"Give me one second." Ivan said, not really trying to conceal the annoyed tone in his voice. He sighed as he strode over to the door, prompting it to slide open. From behind the door came a very irritated-looking heiress, joined by Ruby. Ruby, much to Ivan's internal amusement, was giving him a very apologetic look as Weiss glared at him. "Do you have any idea how early it is?" Ivan asked, a small grin on his face.
"Team meeting. Now!" Weiss demanded, grabbing Ivan's arm and tugging him along. Ivan simply followed along, knowing full well that the heiress could never actually move him like this. He'd simply prefer not making her any more irritated. Weiss yanked him towards Blake and Yang's shared room, and proceeded to "knock" on their door. "Blake! Xiao Long! Team meeting, now!"
Weiss stood there, brooding as she waited for Blake and Yang to respond. Ivan looked down, seeing that Ruby was giving Ivan an apologetic look. Ivan simply shrugged. Just as Weiss was about to start banging on the door again, it slid open.
Behind the door stood a rather irritated-looking blonde and a very tired-looking Faunus. Yang's hair, while usually in a very unruly state, was even more-so right now. Strands stood up in all directions, giving her a very disheveled look. Blake looked slightly more… presentable, with her hair well under control. Both of them were still in their sleepwear, being a t-shirt and shorts for the blonde, and a black nightgown for the Faunus. "What's going on?" Blake asked, being slightly more composed than the Blonde. "Why were you blowing up my Scroll about Ivan?"
"We need to have a team meeting, immediately." Weiss said. "Ruby, could you get Winter for me?" Weiss asked, almost sweetly.
"Uhh… sure." Ruby said, stepping away, not taking her eyes off the Heiress.
Blake and Yang gave Ivan a questioning look as Weiss led them towards her and Ruby's shared room. Ivan simply gave them a "You'll See" look, earning a shrug from the pair. Weiss stepped into her room, the other three following behind. Ivan was unsurprised to find Weiss's belongings neatly stored away, with Ruby's simply scattered around the room. Ivan took a seat in one of the chairs, relaxing into it, much to the Heiress' irritation.
After a few moments of tense silence from the Heiress, and a slightly smug silence from Ivan, Ruby stepped into the room, with the elder Schnee sister following behind. Blake and Yang shot each other a look of confusion from their place on the small sofa as they watched Ivan and Winter give each other a knowing look, followed by a slight blush from Winter's end.
"Weiss…" Ivan began, sighing.
"Do you all know why we're here right now?" Weiss asked, looking around.
"Not a damn clue." Yang said, still slightly irritated after being woken up. "You mind explaining that to us, Schnee?"
"I told you this would happen." Winter said, looking to Ivan with a smile.
"That you did." Ivan said, laughing.
"This isn't funny!" Weiss said, looking to her sister and the SPARTAN.
"I dunno…" Ivan said, smiling. "You waking all of us up, just to let everyone know that Winter and I are dating is kinda funny."
"Seriously?" Blake deadpanned, looking at Weiss. "That was all this team meeting was for?"
"Why is this even such a big deal anyways?" Yang asked, finally starting to fully wake up.
"It… it's…" Weiss tried. "It's just weird!"
"Your sister happening to find a member of the opposite sex attractive is weird?" Blake asked, her eyebrow raised. "Aren't you like, twenty?" Blake asked, earning a nod from Winter.
"It's with Ivan though…" Weiss muttered under her breath.
"Hey, I can hear you, you know!" Ivan said, his voice only half-serious.
"What's so weird about Ivan?" Ruby asked, stifling a giggle.
"He's on our team!" Weiss defended.
"Blake and Yang, last I checked, are on our team." Ivan said.
"Yeah, they're both on our team." Weiss responded.
"Weiss… what's the big deal?" Yang asked, giving the Heiress a strange look. "It's not like Ivan's a bad guy or anything."
"He's not, I just don't know how these two would work!" Weiss said, her voice beginning to recede back into its normal, whiny tone.
"Weiss, do you honestly think that I'd ever do anything… wrong in a situation like this? When have I ever steered you guys wrong?"
"How about the time you lied to us about who you were for almost a year." Weiss deadpanned, glaring at the SPARTAN.
"Still angry about that?" Ivan asked, his face completely stoic. "I already told you, my orders were very clear: Remain as inconspicuous as possible and avoid attention. Couldn't really do that if you guys knew I was a super-soldier from space, not with Ruby's big mouth at least." Ivan said, giving the shorter girl a joking glare. Ruby gave Ivan a small smile, mouthing "sorry".
"That doesn't change the fact that you lied to us." Weiss said, sounding almost betrayed.
"It was either lie, and keep the whole situation under control, or tell you the actual situation and let the entire operation that my superiors had planned crumble to bits." Ivan said, his words hardening. "How would the governments of Remnant have reacted to me? How would anyone have reacted to me? I didn't like keeping that a secret from you guys, you're my team after all, but I had to. Ever since that came out, I've done everything I can to be a hundred percent transparent with you guys. And I'm being one hundred percent transparent right now: I would never do anything to hurt you guys or Winter. Ever."
Weiss simply huffed in response, but eventually crumpled under the combined looks from the SPARTAN and the rest of Team RWBY. What truly got to her was Ruby's almost puppy-dog-eyed stare, that was the real killer. "Okay… you're right." Weiss said. "I'm sorry. That doesn't mean that I like you and Winter being together though."
"Thanks for having a little faith in your sister's decision-making, Weiss." Winter joked, giving her sister a playful side-hug. The younger Schnee simply rolled her eyes.
Yang sighed, which inevitably led to a yawn. "Well… now that that's dealt with, I'm going back to sleep."
"Same…" Blake said, following the blonde out of the room.
"Well…" Ivan said. "As if this day couldn't get any more awkward."
XXXXX
June 21, 2682; 1241 Hours
UNSC Guardian, Deck 5 (Sol System)
The remainder of the trip was very uneventful. Weiss and Ruby simply explored the areas of the ship that were open to them, Blake and Yang spent most of it sleeping, and Winter spent it wondering just how a powerful super-soldier could be so damned awkward.
For being such a successful and downright terrifyingly effective soldier, Ivan was not exactly what Winter would call "experienced" with dealing with the opposite sex outside of military service. If he wasn't flubbing up every sentence he tried to speak in her presence, he was saying the most cringe-worthy things that Winter had ever heard come out of a Colonel's mouth. It was so uncharacteristic of someone of command, especially a soldier like Ivan. Winter found it absolutely adorable, in a funny way.
The remainder of their last day on Guardian was certainly an uneventful one, with the exception of Winter having to explain the shrill yelling on the deck to General Ironwood. She had elected to stretch the truth a bit, simply saying that "it was a matter that Team RWBY needed to resolve." Thankfully, he let it rest at that.
While Team RWBY all sat around a table in a small lounge area on Deck 5, the window just to the right of the table changed from the pitch-black emptiness of Slipspace, revealing a truly breathtaking sight: Earth. The whole ship shuddered slightly as the Slipspace Core sliced a precision hole in Slipspace, allowing Guardian to slip into Real Space.
Ivan watched with an amused smile as, once again, everyone's jaw practically hit the floor. He had seen these reactions before, and that was rather run-of-the-mill for a Remnant native seeing UNSC technology for the first time, but this was them seeing the full force of UNSC tech in service.
The relatively small green planet that Humanity had come to call home for its entire existence took up almost all of the viewport, giving the occupants of the room, which was most of Remnant's dignitaries sans a few from Vacuo, a view of it. The sun's rays were shining down on the Eastern Hemisphere, illuminating Europe, Africa, Western Asia, and most of the Middle East. Ivan felt a hint of nostalgia as he looked down to Humanity's birthplace, seeing the planet that he had once called home. The planet itself isn't what truly amazed the occupants of the deck, however, it was what was orbiting it.
Earth's massive Orbital Defense Network had expanded threefold, with well over 1,000 Orbital Defense Platforms resting in geosynchronous orbit with the planet. There were also hundreds of Exo-atmospheric hangars, holding the massive fighter defense for the UEG's Capital. There were well over two dozen orbital tethers reaching out from the surface of the planet, connected to either orbital shipyards or docking stations for civilian spacecraft. The fleet on the other hand… that was a different story.
Resting in plain view was the UNSC's Earth Defense Fleet, or EDF. The EDF was easily one of the largest fleets in the galaxy, numbering in at 600 active capital ships at cruiser weight or higher, with another 1500 ships between corvette and light cruiser weight. The fleet before them completely dwarfed anything that the Remnant natives ever thought possible, the fleet over Remnant was barely one hundredth the size of Earth's, and this fleet was barely one hundredth of the complete UNSC armada. The true pride of the EDF, however, was its flagship. Resting in the middle of the fleet, just over Europe from where Guardian was situated, was a warship stretching 26 kilometers in length, made entirely of Forerunner Alloy. It completely dwarfed every UNSC ship around it, even the Infinity-Classes that were docked with it. It had a forked bow, with a set of coils near the base of the fork. It looked almost like a long tuning fork comprised of armored plates. Emblazoned on the Super-Dreadnought's side, in glorious iridescent white lettering, was Light of Sol.
"What… is that?" Weiss asked, completely awestruck.
"The Light of Sol." Ivan answered, smiling inwardly. "The UEG's pet project for the past two decades. It's an ancient warship we found drifting through dark space that we decided to tug back to Earth. We've been working on getting her to combat-ready status for the past fifteen years, and it's proving a bit harder than we thought. It's planned to be the flagship of the entire UNSC fleet once it's operational again."
"It doesn't work?" Winter asked, not taking her eyes off of the behemoth of war before her.
"Its engines and some of its guns work." Ivan answered. "Its main weapon, shields, sensors, communications, and a few other core systems are still non-functional. We simply don't have anything powerful enough to power the damn thing. It took six Deuterium Fusion Reactors that we'd usually put on something like In Spirit of Fire just to get its engines online again, to give you an idea."
The natives of Remnant continued to stare at the marvel of engineering as Guardian began descending towards the planet, almost excruciatingly slowly. Their destination was quite obvious now, seeing as they were currently on a descent vector towards Australia. Eventually, the densely populated continent's surface came into view.
As they stared down at the surface, Vale seemed like a small rural town in comparison to this planet. The cities that were visible from high-altitude seemed to span for hundreds of kilometers, their large buildings a testament to the level of engineering prowess required to design such a large city. Surprisingly, there was quite a bit of countryside scattered throughout the area, giving the technicolor skyline of the metropolises a contrasting green.
"Welcome to Sydney." Ivan said, smiling.
XXXXX
June 21, 2682; 1310 Hours
Earth, Sydney
Guardian set down in the Sydney Spaceport, located near the center of the large city. The Envoy ship itself locked in its drydock, connecting to the docking port and allowing the passengers off. Weiss, much to her annoyance, practically had to hold her bubbly partner back as they were cleared to step off the ship and onto the planet. The Spaceport was comically similar to an airport, even going so far as to have a few murals on the walls dedicated, presumably, to fallen pilots of past conflicts. Weiss was truly amazed with how far these murals went back, a few of the depicted aircraft being triplanes, biplanes, and a few monoplanes. Ironwood seemed especially interested in these aircraft, giving them a bit more than just a cursory glance. Weiss simply attributed it to an appreciation for military technology.
The terminal they disembarked into was guarded by a pair of SPARTAN IVs in black armor, both of them giving a salute to the passing dignitaries as they made their way towards the end of the long passageway. The captain of the ship seemed to be leading the group, since he obviously knew the procedures better than the newcomers. Yang and Blake looked on rather amusedly as Ruby seemed to dart her attention in every direction. Ivan seemed a bit more occupied explaining something to Winter and Ironwood, but she could never hope to overhear their conversation over the murmuring of the new arrivals.
As the hallway was crossed, the group stepped through a pair of metallic doors and into the main spaceport. It was rather sparse in this area, as it was generally reserved for the arrival of diplomatic vessels from other worlds. Weiss's eyes scanned over the group that seemed to await the arrival of Remnant's travelers. She saw a rather tall man with black hair, eyes so blue they could easily be mistaken for the surface of an ocean, and wearing a suit with a UEG pin on the lapel of his coat. Next to him was a girl with rather long strawberry-blonde hair, similarly blue eyes, and a very excited look on her face. She looked no older than Ruby, and about as equally excitable. As the group stepped through, her smile seemed to grow to touch her ears. Weiss was very easily able to tell that the first man and the young woman were related in some way, as their physical similarities were simply too great to deny the connection.
A few feet away from the young blonde stood a very interesting looking man. He wore a gray uniform of some kind, but it bore little resemblance to the UNSC's standard dress uniform. He had numerous medals across his chest, a few of them looking oddly familiar and in the shape of a very elegant and angled cross. He had light brown hair, a rather impressively-kept mustache, and cleanly kept, side-swept hair. Weiss knew the stance this man had, he was obviously royalty, or close to it. As Weiss continued looking around the room, her gaze stopped on one being, this same being causing her to tense up and her pulse to quicken despite her still-limited exposure to this species. She completely stopped in her tracks, lucky enough to not draw any attention, as the rest of the group stopped as well.
Before her stood a massive alien, standing at well over eight feet tall. It wore ornate runic armor, giving it a very imposing and ancient appearance. Its arched neck formed into a head with four hinged mandibles, each lined with sharpened teeth. It had… terrifyingly perceptive eyes that seemed to scan over every inch of the new arrivals. Its gray, reptilian skin made Weiss' own crawl once its gaze shifted over to her, remembering her close encounter with an alien like this. Weiss recognized this Sangheili as the Arbiter, still wearing the runic armor that she had seen him in all those months ago. Weiss snapped back into reality when she heard the gray-uniformed human with medals on his chest begin speaking up.
"Welcome to Earth." He said, stepping forward, a small smile on his face. "My name is Manfred Engel, President of the United Earth Government." Weiss's posture stiffened as she realized just how important this man was. "It's a pleasure to finally meet all of you, and it's a pleasure to have you in this wonderful city. It's an honor to have our long-lost people returning to their home." The President strode over to the leadership of Remnant's kingdoms, as they had grouped themselves together, and began greeting them personally, answering any questions that they threw at him in the process.
Weiss' attention was grabbed as she heard the young woman standing next to the suited man happily shout out a familiar name. "Ivan!" She said, running over and wrapping the notably taller SPARTAN in a tight hug.
"Oof…" Ivan grunted, feeling the shorter girl wrap her arms around his torso. Ivan quickly smiled, reciprocating the embrace, lifting the girl off the ground in the process. "Hey, kiddo!" Ivan said, happily. "How've you been?"
"Great!" She said, finally letting the SPARTAN go.
Before Ivan could respond further, the suited man made his way over, standing just a few inches shorter than Ivan. He looked at least twenty years older than the SPARTAN, but still had a sense of youth to his step. He had his hands clasped behind his back, a stone-cold expression on his face. "SPARTAN Chesnokov." He said, nodding.
"Senator Chesnokov." Ivan returned the nod, a smile quickly spreading to his face. All of team RWBY looked on in confusion, surprised by the older man's response.
"Goddamn, it's good to see you again, son." He said, pulling Ivan into a bear hug.
Ivan grunted, a smile still on his face. "Good to see you too, dad."
"Care to introduce me to your team?" The older man asked, gesturing to the four huntresses.
Ivan smiled. "Everyone, this is my father, Senator Sergei Chesnokov. Dad, this is Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang." He said, gesturing to each of them in turn. "And this would be my little sister, Sasha."
"It's an honor to meet you all." Sergei said, smiling. "I've heard quite a bit about you from the few Waypoint calls that Ivan was able to make."
"I didn't know your father was a Senator, Ivan." Blake said, looking to the SPARTAN.
"Senator, and Majority Leader." Ivan corrected. "My father's one of the founding members of the Liberty Party in Parliament."
"Which also happens to be the largest party right now." Sergei added, proudly.
Winter was finally able to break away from Ironwood, making her way over towards the huntresses and SPARTAN. "Hey, Winter." Ivan said, smiling. "Meet my Father and sister, Sergei and Sasha."
"A pleasure to meet you." Winter said, respectfully. She shook Sergei's outstretched hand.
"A pleasure to meet you as well, Miss Winter…?"
"Schnee, Weiss' older sister." Winter responded.
"Well, it would appear that the prodigal SPARTAN has returned." A rather deep, booming voice commented from behind the Huntresses. Everyone turned to look at the source of the voice, Weiss tensing up in the process. Before them stood the visage of The Arbiter, his runic armor giving him an ancient and powerful appearance as he towered over most of the Humans before him.
"Arbiter, it's an honor to see you again." Ivan said, bowing his head slightly as he clasped a closed fist over his heard.
"The honor is my own, SPARTAN." The Arbiter said, his mandibles forming a Sangheili equivalent to a grin as he returned the gesture. "From what I've heard, you and this team of young huntresses have been rather busy on Remnant." As the Arbiter spoke, he looked over each of the four huntresses before him. His eyes stopped at Weiss, seeing that she had tensed up, her hand unconsciously hovering over Myrtenaster's grip. The Sangheili cocked his head, looking at the Heiress.
Ruby looked over to her partner, seeing her tensed stance. She stepped a bit closer to the Heiress, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. Weiss seemed to relax at this, but she still felt her pulse quicken as the Arbiter looked at her. "Are you well, Miss Schnee?" The Arbiter asked.
"I-I'm fine." Weiss said, attempting to put some force behind her words.
"Your tone and stance betray you." The Arbiter said. His words seemed more calm and reserved than the Heiress expected. "Still troubled by your encounter?"
"It's nothing." Weiss said, earning a glance from Ivan.
"Ah… Of course. I have spent enough time around Humans to know when you are attempting civility and politeness." The Arbiter commented. Weiss remained calm on the exterior, but the Arbiter's words were certainly bringing up some memories that she had tried her best to forget. "I am regretful that your first encounter with one my kind went in such a way. I do not expect your opinion or distrust of my kind to change overnight, it certainly did not once the Great War came to a close. I simply hope that you come to realize that you encountered a single Sangheili, not a representative of our species."
The Arbiter turned to Sergei, looking to change the subject to something a bit more agreeable. "Mister Chesnokov, I trust that you will be joining us for the talks tomorrow morning?"
"Indeed I will." Sergei responded, nodding. "We still have to set up the voting system for Remnant's kingdoms, so we've got one hell of a debate ahead of us."
"And I need to attempt to forge better relations after the incident with Covenant Storm." The Arbiter said, sighing. "Even after a century of conflict, we have yet to stamp them out. Those damned Brutes keep harboring their forces. And the Council refuses to let me act." The Arbiter sighed, shaking his head. "Enough out of me, you didn't come here to listen to the ramblings of an old warrior." He turned to the huntresses, giving them all a respectful bow. "A pleasure to see all of you again. I hope we can have the privilege of talking more in the future." With that, the Arbiter turned and made his way over towards the President.
As the Arbiter left, Weiss almost visibly relaxed. Ruby placed a comforting hand on Weiss' shoulder again. Weiss almost leaned into the gesture, remembering that Ruby was also the one who helped her against that Field Marshall. Weiss turned to Ruby, giving her a small smile, which the younger girl returned.
Sergei cleared his throat, getting everyone's attention again. "Do you all have a place to stay while you're in Sydney?"
"Didn't the UEG provide hotel suites for us?" Yang asked, looking around. She was silently grateful that the Arbiter had left and that Ivan's father had changed the subject, it certainly helped ease the tension.
Sergei scoffed. "That was an empty promise. Sydney is the capital of Earth, every suite is reserved for months. Even if you managed to find one, it's not even close to being comfortable. Stay with us."
"What do you mean?" Weiss asked, looking towards Sergei.
"You've all fought and bled alongside my son, saved his life, and were surprisingly understanding when he finally showed who he really was. As far as I'm concerned, that makes you all as close to family as you can get without actually being family."
"We wouldn't want to impose." Blake said.
"Nonsense." Sergei said, shaking his head. "We have more than enough space in our home to accommodate you. It's certainly better than a hotel."
"Only if you're absolutely sure." Weiss said.
"I'm rarely not." Sergei responded with a smile.
"Winter?" Ivan asked. "The offer stands with you too."
"I'm afraid that I'm still stuck with Ironwood." Winter responded, shrugging. "I'll see if I can't get away, though." Winter gave Ivan a small smile as she spoke.
"I look forward to it." Ivan said, returning the smile.
"Well, let me finish up here and we can be off." Sergei said. "Ivan, you and your team can ride with Sasha, since her car can actually handle more than three people."
"Do you drive my car?" Ivan asked, giving his father an incredulous look.
"Only when I'm running late." Sergei responded with a smile.
XXXXX
June 21, 2682; 1350 Hours
Sydney, Earth
Ivan climbed out of the passenger's seat of his younger sister's car. It was pretty clear that this car wasn't designed to accommodate genetically altered super soldiers, since his head scraped the ceiling, even with the seat as low as he could get it. Team RWBY spent the entire ride looking out the window, marveling at the city around them. There were buildings both old and new, a prime example of old being the Opera House, standing proudly on the edge of the city by the coast. Sasha had driven by it on Ivan's suggestion.
The ride took about twenty minutes, eventually coming into a surprisingly suburban area on the outskirts of Sydney. The green countryside of Australia gave way to small villages on the bank of a canal, The Chesnokov household being their stopping point. The small town it occupied was rather small, only having a population of about 20,000. The house they had stopped at was a rather comfortable-looking two story structure made in a very post-modern design. It had white walls on the outside, was very angular, and had a few mid-sized windows on the walls.
Ruby and Yang obviously seemed to enjoy the ride, since they got to experience the highways at full speed in a rather fast UEG-made sedan. Weiss was surprising, she certainly seemed to enjoy the ride, even asking Sasha about her car. Blake didn't enjoy the "100 kilometers per hour is slow" part of the ride, however. Ivan gave his sister a smile as she stepped out of her car. "Taking some driving tips from me, huh?" He asked.
"Yep!" Sasha happily responded.
"I'm proud of you." Ivan said, laughing. "Still can't believe that Dad drives my car around, though."
"What's so special about your car?" Weiss asked. Ivan was truly surprised to learn that Weiss was interested in cars.
"Sasha's car has about six hundred horsepower… mine has around 1400 and has a 1:1 horsepower to weight ratio."
Weiss nearly choked on the air she was breathing. "What?! How?!"
"Hydrogen fuel cell engines and some really stupid modifications on my part." Ivan responded, grinning.
"So that's how your dad beat us?" Yang asked, gesturing to the black BMW sitting on the side of the yard.
"Pretty much." Ivan responded, walking towards the front door. He opened the door, allowing the others in first. As they stepped inside, a rather large canine made his way over towards the door, immediately running up to the newcomers, looking for attention. He was a German Shepard with brown and black fur, and a very happy expression on his face.
"Aww…" Ruby said, kneeling down and petting the dog, who responded by happily licking her face. "He's so cute!"
The dog, upon seeing Ivan, immediately bolted over to him and jumped up on him. Thanks to Ivan's height, he was able to avoid most of the dog's slobbery affection, but that didn't stop him. Ivan happily scratched his dog's head. "Good to see you too, buddy."
Blake practically climbed up Yang's side, earning a laugh from Ivan and Yang alike. "Blake, get down." Yang said, still smiling.
"Nope." Blake responded, clinging to her girlfriend's side.
"You don't like dogs?" Sasha asked, unaware of what was actually beneath the onyx-haired girl's bow.
"Not really." Blake responded.
"He wouldn't hurt a fly." Ivan responded, letting the shepherd go. "Alright, I'll show you guys to the guest rooms." Ivan said, leading the four huntresses upstairs. Blake finally let go of Yang once the German Shepard meandered back towards the living room, hopping up on the couch and laying down.
Ivan showed Ruby and Weiss to one of the two guest rooms, which was rather Spartan in its design. It had a bed, a flattened screen against the wall, a pair of nightstands, a lamp on each nightstand, and a rather sizable closet. Weiss and Ruby excused themselves to unpack their things. Blake and Yang's provided room was quite literally identical to the other guest room, with the exception of the floor being hardwood as opposed to carpet.
Once everyone had made their way into their respective rooms, Ivan walked down the small hallway and through his own door. His old room looked exactly as he remembered it, just cleaner than usual. He had a rather plain-looking bed with white sheets, a desk off in the corner with a computer terminal atop it, a bookshelf containing various novels and trinkets, a single screen mounted on the wall across from his bed, and a closet containing all of his old clothes. Ivan haphazardly tossed his bag onto the bed and set to work on removing his dress uniform, replacing it with a t-shirt and a pair of jeans.
Ivan stepped back into the hallway after he finished folding up his uniform. He found that the rest of Team RWBY had chosen to change into far more casual attire as well. Yang wore a pair of shorts and a yellow t-shirt, while Blake wore a simple pair of black jeans and a similarly black t-shirt. Weiss' definition of casual was far different from that of the rest of her team, as she was wearing a dress similar to her usual outfit, but lacking the more ornate lace hem, it was simply a flowing blue dress. Ruby wore a pair of jeans, a red t-shirt, and her normal hood. "And here I was thinking you guys would stick out like sore thumbs here on Earth." Ivan joked. "Anything in particular you guys want to do? We've basically got two weeks of vacation time to burn."
"I kinda wanted to just look around the city." Blake responded, shrugging.
"She's lying." Yang responded, elbowing Blake softly. "She wanted to go look for a bookstore." Blake simply rolled her eyes, not denying the blonde's claim.
"I was looking to see some of the historical sites." Weiss responded.
"Plenty of those." Ivan responded, smiling. "I'll be happy to take you guys to look around the city tomorrow."
"Don't you have a psych evaluation?" Weiss asked.
"That's next week." Ivan responded, shrugging. "In the meantime, I have video games downstairs, and we have some friendships to destroy."
