Weiss is holding an invitation to a banquet hall at the Schnee Manor. In their dorm room at Atlas Academy, She is sitting in a circle with Ruby, Oscar, Yang and Blake. She, Ruby and Oscar are sitting in chairs, and Blake and Yang are sitting on Weiss' bed.
"Only my father would turn a hostile takeover into a fluffy PR move" Weiss said in disgust.
"On the news, he said he just wanted to break bread and hash things out. Maybe it won't be so bad? We do want the General to start opening up to these people, right?" Ruby said.
"Yeah, but on his terms. Ironwood's going to be locked in a room at his rival's own dinner party. I know Jacques says he's happy to moderate, but all that really means is he'll be the one controlling the conversation" Oscar pointed out.
"Not hard to imagine how that's gonna play out" Blake said, though her tone made it sound like she had something else on her mind.
"I still can't believe he won. Robyn was supposed to be the people's champion, wasn't she?" Weiss asked before she sighs "There's just too many coincidences".
"You really think your dad might have something to do with Salem?" Yang asked.
Weiss narrowed her eyes "I think my father would do whatever it takes to win".
"And we should do the same" Ruby declared.
Weiss looked at her "Meaning...?".
"Well, no one knows your dad better than you, and out of everyone going tonight, I'd say you're the only one who could snoop around the house and not be questioned. If Jacques Schnee is up to something, I think we should know what it is" Ruby said.
Weiss thinks about it for a moment, then gains a somewhat determined look, a sign she was going to do it. "Knowing how Khione reacted to my father, something tells me she'll want a piece of this as well."
Ruby shrugged. "I guess that wouldn't hurt."
"What about Julius?" Yang asked.
"He said Hayden was going to try and let him open the gateway to Sentinel Prime, but Hector and Roman are coming with us."
"Two masters of sneaking around" Blake mused, "That's good, at least."
Ruby nodded, "Alright, let's get a plan."
…
An Atlas Broadcast News airship hovers in the night sky above the Schnee Manor. Four hover cars drive along the driveway loop and come to a stop in front of the manor. While Team RWBY, Hector, Roman, and Qrow get out of their car, Jaune and Oscar stand nearby, having already exited their car. The Ace Operatives, along with Katrina, exit another of the cars, and Ironwood steps out of the fourth car with Winter. Penny and Khione get out of the other side of Ironwood's car.
"Suppose we should smile for the cameras?" Ironwood asked Winter.
"Sir, with all due respect, you'd have to pay me" Ironwood smiles in amusement from Winter's response, and the two head to the front door of the manor.
Weiss stops and takes a deep breath before following them. Everyone gathers at the door, and Ironwood rings the bell. The double doors open to reveal Whitley. Something that surprised his older sister.
"Good evening, everyone" He said.
"Where's Klein?" Weiss asked.
Whitley responds with a sarcastic smile and somewhat dramatic poses "What an interesting way to say, Hello, dear brother, how have you been?" He crosses his arms and continues to address Weiss with a frown "I'm afraid you won't find him here. He was let go. I can't imagine why" He smirks, and upon realizing what he meant, Weiss gasps and looks guilty "General, exactly how large do you think our dining room table is?".
"I happen to know it's enormous. But most of my guests will be on standby in case the council requests additional eye witnesses. Until then I'm sure they'll be happily celebrating your father's victory" Ironwood said smoothly.
Whitley forces a sarcastic grin with a smug chuckle, then rolls his eyes as he turns to lead them into the foyer. Scattered around the room are small groups of formally dressed guests. Waiters roam the room with trays of wine glasses and hors d'oeuvres. Whitley stops in the middle of the room, turns to Ironwood's group and points to his right.
"For those of you joining us in the dining room, please follow me" He walks in the direction he pointed, crossing his arms behind his back. Ironwood, Winter, Penny and Clover follow.
Clover glances back at the others "Wish us luck".
I mean, they already invited you, didn't they?" Qrow asked.
Clover responds with a slight chuckle. A Faunus waiter approaches Qrow and offers him a tray of wine glasses with his rabbit ears folded back "Care for a drink, sir?".
Qrow looks at the wine, his eyes widening slightly "Uh... No, n-no thanks" Qrow waves his hand in rejection and turns to Team RWBY "I think I'll just stick to patrolling the grounds".
Qrow walks away from the group. Marrow frowns and watches the waiter pass by "Words out of my mouth".
Marrow walks away in the same direction as Qrow, and Harriet turns to address The teams "Right, well, don't wander off, don't break anything, and be ready in case the General calls on you. Kat, with me.".
Harriet walks away with Katrina while Vine and Elm go a different way.
"Hors d'oeuvres?" Vine asked.
"Counterpoint, how about we do wander off, consider breaking things, and then all that other stuff" Yang said.
Hector grinned and cracked his knuckles, "Sounds good to me."
"We'll be in touch" Weiss points to her ear, then heads to the staircase, Hector, and Khione behind her..
Weiss stops at the base of the staircase upon seeing Whitley descending the stairs "Dear sister, I was hoping we could use this time to catch up".
"Oh-" Weiss began but Whitley cut her off.
"I have to know, why did you go through so much trouble to leave home, only to come crawling back?" Whitley gestures as he speaks and ends his question with a smug grin. Weiss looks away and sighs, while her friends watch from across the room.
"This might be a problem" Oscar said.
"Not really" Yang said, "Look."
As Whitley continues to talk to Weiss in front of the staircase, Hector turns invisible and continues up the stairs while Khione and Roman slip past behind Whitley, their footsteps soundless. It was taking forever for Weiss, though, and the teams were growing more and more annoyed by the second. They would never get anywhere if this kept going.
"Why won't this kid buzz off?" Yang asked in annoyance.
"We need to do something" Blake said.
"Well, Whitley, I'm sure the company is lucky to have you, but if you'll pardon me-" Weiss tries to walk past Whitley, but he side-steps to continue standing in her way.
"And where exactly is it that you're going?" He asked.
Just then, another voice asked, "Excuse me?"
Weiss and Whitley turned to see Katrina walk up. She shyly waved at Whitley as she continued, "Hi, huge honor by the way. But I'm a bit of a history nut, and I'm just amazed by these suits of armor in the room. Do you think you could explain them to me?"
Whitley smirked, "I've never heard of a Huntress so fascinated by history. Well, lucky for you, you've come to the right person. Please this way." Then, turning to Weiss, "To be continued."
He then led Katrina off to one of the armors, just as Weiss turned to see Katrina look back for a moment and wink at her, implying her real intentions. Weiss takes the opportunity to finally ascend the stairs.
She walks down a hallway, passing by a room that has framed portraits and replicas of Manticore and Beowolf heads decorating the inside wall around the doorway.
One of the portraits is a painting of Jacques and Weiss, from when Weiss was younger and still had her ponytail centered, before she received a scar over her eye. Another portrait depicts a white-haired man in a suit of armor. One portrait depicts Whitley playing piano, and another appears to depict a man in a white suit shaking hands with a man in a dark suit outside a Schnee Dust mine. There is a pair of portraits appearing to depict headshots of Jacques and Willow Schnee in their wedding attire, from a profile view. The other portraits depict the Schnee Manor, a curved pathway between two unknown structures, the City of Atlas, an industrial type building next to a cliff, and a fountain with a statue of a winged figure holding a staff. The final picture however, showed something that has fascinated Weiss ever since she was a child; the same man in a suit of pure white armor from before, but this time it had a flowing fur coat attached to it. A pure white dragon was behind him and he carried a giant broadsword that glowed with a blue light.
Weiss was so busy looking at the picture, she didn't realize Khione was there until she bumped into her, startling them both.
"Oh!" Weiss gasped, "Sorry."
"No worries." Khione replied, returning her attention to the picture.
"Do you…recognize that picture?" Weiss asked.
Khione nodded. "I recognize the one in the picture."
"A Night Sentinel?"
"In a way. His people were one of those who lived under Novik when the Blessing happened. When Salem put the barrier over Sentinel Prime, he and his people successfully evacuated, though they didn't exactly go into hiding. Rather, they formed different warrior clans, called Champions, each one guarding one of the remaining four kingdoms. If I recognized your glyphs correctly, your family is descended from the Champions of Atlas. Which is why I'm so disgusted with your father; he stains that very honor."
Weiss felt a surge of both shock and pride; a warrior ancestry.
"We should continue on" Khione said after a few moments, "I'd be happy to explain more, but I'm not sure how much time we have left."
Weiss recomposed herself. "Of course. Follow me." And they continued on down the hallway.
"Psst!" hissed a voice next to her, and she starts with a small yelp as Hector materializes next to her.
"Don't do that!" Weiss whispered, "You're gonna give someone a heart attack!"
Hector shrugged, "Can't help it."
Khione shook her head in amusement as Roman walked up to join the rest of them. "All clear up ahead."
Weiss nodded. "Follow me."
They eventually reached the door to Jacques's study. Weiss placed her hand on the doorknob and turned to the others. "You ready?"
Khione nodded while Roman chuckled in anticipation. "Let's go find some dirt on Mr. High and Mighty 'Statche."
…
In Hayden's Atlas lab, Julius sits on an examination table as Spring examines his arm.
Her expression is one of worry. "I've never seen anything like this before."
"None of us have" Sandra agreed. "What is it?"
Julius sighed. "To be honest, I'm not quite sure myself. I do have a pretty good idea though."
"Which is?" Sandra asked.
"Salem must've magically altered me or something so that the more magic I use, the more I become like her."
"So that's why you panicked and let go" Autumn concluded, "You were afraid that you would fully become like…her."
Julius nodded. "The last thing I want is to be like her."
The maiden sisters nodded in understanding, but looked at each other in worry; how would they get the gateway open now?
"Khione might now what to do" Autumn suggested, "She is the eldest, after all. We should wait until she gets back."
"I don't understand" Julius said, "If you're the Maidens, can't you just use your combined power to open it, or open the vaults and use the relics?"
"Kaa's prophecy was that you would do it." Sandra explained, "So it can't be us."
"As for our powers" Spring added as she rubbed the back of her head, "Well, we kinda gave them away."
"You what?" Julius demanded.
Sandra explained "When the barrier was placed up, we decided to give a portion of our power to those we deemed to be worthy protectors; only they can open the vaults."
"So far, the successors of that power were good of heart, so we didn't need to worry" Autumn continued, "That is…until Cinder."
"Well" Julius replied, "you guys need to think of something fast. We're running out of options, and fast."
The sisters all knew he was right; but what were they to do?
…
Thunder rumbles, and rain pours down on the streets of Mantle. Watts is standing on a roof in front of a billboard advertising Atlas Academy. He is holding his umbrella in his right hand and his Scroll in his left. He holds up his Scroll and taps a folder with the Atlas emblem on it, which brings up three windows. The first window is labeled "ATLAS_SECURITY_ ", and the other two are labeled "MANTLE_HEATING_ ". The third window shows a map of Mantle with the sections colored red. He taps a couple times on his Scroll, and it begins making a processing noise. A large portion of the Mantle map loses its red color. Across Mantle, heating units begin powering down.
Soon, the orange glow disappears from the sky, and the rain stops. Watts tosses his umbrella off the roof as snowflakes begin drifting down. On the porch steps below, The Drunk Man and his Drinking Buddy are sitting together. Civilians holding umbrellas are walking by, and a Faunus is sitting on the sidewalk, playing guitar. A small child inside the house runs to the window and looks at where the umbrella fell. He then looks around at the snow.
"Hey mom, it's snowing!" The child runs off to get his mother. The snowfall grows heavier, and wind begins to blow.
Hayden watches from his lab while Novus and Elena stands next to him, looking very worried.
"What's happening?" she asked.
"I don't know" Hayden replied, "But I'm sure we can figure it out."
"That might not be our only problem" Novus said, noticing something, "Look."
Hayden turned to see a golden-yellow glow in the distance, and he recognized it all too well.
The Kahn Makyr.
Let me know what you think so far.