"... Then Abigail was expelled and Ironwood mentored me the following three years and my time as a licensed Huntress."

Winter sighed and held the coffee Nora had given her earlier. "I haven't seen, heard or thought of her since. I never thought to follow up on what happened to her."

Nora put a hand on Winter's shoulder attempting to console her. "Hey, come on now. That's not your fault." Nora said comfortingly. "You were doing your duty. Abigail and her team were stealing from the academy just for what? Their own personal fireworks show?"

Winter smiled a little. "I suppose you're right. But reconciliation can wait. We should go back inside and see if we can assist in the investigation. Abigail Towse or no, we have our mission." Winter said before standing up confidently. Herself and Nora made their way back to the precinct but before they approached the front doors slammed open, Jaune and Ren running out.

"We need to get back to the ship now!" Jaune said running past Winter and Nora who wasted no time and followed suit. "We need to get the general and everyone else up to speed."

"Jaune, what's going on?!" Nora shouted after him as they turned the corner.

Jaune ignored her and just continued to run. Only once aboard the ship and in the air did Jaune relax in the slightest. "Winter, can you disconnect the manta from any network?" Jaune asked sitting down in the co-pilot seat.

Winter pulled back on the stick, raising the manta before flicking a few switches. "Done. Only our position is being transmitted to Atlas Control." Winter said adjusting their heading. "We won't be able to initiate auto-pilot without that connection though. I'll need to maintain our course manually while you fill us in." Winter gave Jaune a stern look.

Jaune leaned forward head in his hands. "Tyrian is here in Mantle." Jaune said grimly.

A tense silence followed. "What? How, how do you know this?" Nora asked concerned and afraid. "Did Towse tell you?"

Jaune stood up and displayed the holographic recreation of the blades Towse's people made from the wounds. "These are the blades that killed Forrest and the others." Jaune said not looking at Nora. "The chances of someone else using these exact weapons to take out the general's opposition, no, it's Tyrian. As soon as we touch down I'll message Team RWBY and Qrow, see if they can meet up with us in the general's office."

"And your sure this is the man you saw?" Clover asked, not for the first time. The mugshot of Tyrian smiling at them.

"Yes." Jaune said, aggravated. "During our trek to Mistral, Ruby, Nora, Ren, and myself were engaged by Tyrian. At the time we didn't know about him, Salem, the Relics or any of that. Things weren't looking good. But lucky for us, Qrow wasn't too far behind. We all managed to get out of there, mostly intact. Qrow was injured, poisoned, but we were able to get to Mistral in time. But not before encountering and dealing with a Nuckelavee that had been assaulting the Anima countryside for decades."

Ren closed his eyes at the memories, anger rising but quickly faded as Nora slipped her hand into his.

"Qrow. What can you tell us?" Ironwood said from behind his desk. Harriet and the rest of the Ace Ops standing off to the side, as if waiting for orders and being silent until addressed.

Qrow who had been skulking in the back, letting Jaune and Ruby take point on the discussion, instinctively reached for his flask, but it wasn't there. He sighed and stepped forward. "He's good. Very good. He's on my level to say the least. Semblance seems to be a sort of Aura bypassing. Things got pretty intense, so I can't be certain if he can get through it or burn it at an accelerated rate on contact. Either way, Unless your people are specialized in long form melee, I'd advise retreat and or back up."

Ironwood nodded. "So, Tyrian Callows is here, in Mantle." Ironwood said, beginning to pace. "This is bad, but at the very least we have our culprit. That still doesn't explain the network breaches in Mantle. I think we can assume that Tyrian has an accomplice."

"Until further notice I'm restricting all Amity Tower operations to Encrypted Files, thumb print authorization and device-to-device transfer only." Ironwood said sternly before accessing his scroll. "I will keep an non-networked device here in my office. Any objections or input?"

"I have a suggestion actually." Jaune said stepping forward. "Anyone working on the Amity Project should be informed either with a report on actual paper, or in person that no one should mention the digital vulnerability, so we don't tip our hand. We want them to get confident and to make a mistake."

There was an awkward silence that followed. "That's actually a good idea Jaune." Yang said giving him a thumbs-up.

"That it is." Ironwood said with with an almost imperceptible smile. "I'll confer with Dr. Polendina and perhaps see about setting a trap for our adversary. But in the meantime we still have Tyrian Callows to deal with. Does anyone have anything?"

"What about Robin Hill?" Blake said looking around the room. "She seems entirely devoted to the protection and well being of Mantle. I'm sure it wouldn't be too difficult to convince her of the threat and that with a little assistance Tyrian can be handled."

Ironwood nodded. "Indeed. I'm not sure how much we can trust her, but she seems exactly like the type Callows would target, though perhaps a little more of risk then what he's been engaging in.." Ironwood said thumbing his chin. "Without endangering civilians she's our best bet it seems. Very well. Miss Belladonna, Miss Xiao Long, I'll leave that to you. Do what you can to to convince Robin Hill of this threat and coordinate with her on how best to apprehend or eliminate Tyrian Callows. Qrow, go with them, just in case. Touch base when a plan or agreement has been settled."

Blake, Yang, and Qrow looked at each other and nodded to Ironwood.

"Meanwhile, Miss Rose, Miss Schnee, you will continue with mission relating to the Amity Project and Grimm incursion in Mantle, when available, Penny will join you." Ironwood said creating a simply holographic chart detailing the teams and their missions. "Mr. Arc, you and your team will continue with seeing that Mantle is taken care of. Continue your investigation into these murders and see what else you can dig up, but do take care to remain off of Callows' radar so to speak, and his accomplice. Winter will continue to act as your fourth, unless otherwise needed elsewhere."

"The Ace Ops will continue with Amity related missions and assist with anything else if need be." Ironwood finished his simple team diagram. In one section was Ruby, Weiss, and Penny, labelled Amity Supplies Protection and Grimm Threats. Then Yang, Blake and Qrow, Robin Hill recruitment/protection. The Ace Ops, Amity advancement/protection. Jaune, Nora, Ren, and Winter Callows Investigation. "That'll be all, everyone's dismiss. Arc, Rose, Winter, and Qrow, a word."

Everyone filed out of Ironwood's office leaving only the five of them. "I've finished my assessments of you and your teams." Ironwood said to Ruby and Jaune. "I've come to the conclusion that, despite your ages, lack of formal training or education, and a plethora is other possible shortcomings, that you're entirely of a skill level and character surpassing that of Atlas graduates." Ironwood said with a smile. "You've given me no reason to second guess licensing you early. I just want to thank you for living up to what I felt you all could be."

Jaune and Ruby shared rather large smiles. "That being said, I have noticed a few discrepancies with leadership styles I'd like to discuss with you two." Ironwood said sitting down. "Miss Rose. You have the intuition and moral foundation of what Huntresses and Huntsmen strive to be. You care for every living soul and have a sense of kindness that would normally be a detriment in our profession. You are ready to dive headfirst into battle for all the right reasons, but you're not always sure what to do once in the fray. This occasionally leads to you requiring your team to pick up the slack."

"Mr. Arc. You have consistently put yourself in harms way to protect others without a thought. You assess a situation and find a productive, if not always prescribed, method of success. When ask to protect you can think of no higher calling. Though you lack a sense of pro-activeness to move forward beyond a singular goal."

"Its for all these reasons that I'm, rearranging the command structures of your teams." Ironwood said before steepling his fingers. "In the coming future, I imagine that we will see combat unimagined. Once Amity is completed, launched, and the world told of the truth, Atlas will become a target. More-so then it already has been. I will be sending the combined forces of your teams to deal with ongoing threats with a lack of oversight. For that reason, I'm making Mr. Arc leader of Beacon Squad."

The silence was palpable. Both Jaune and Ruby simply stared blankly straight ahead.

"There can be no room for question as to who is in command when the enemy is at our door or in our midst. When I ask of you to charge into battle with Salem and her Grimm. I need to know that the best possible leader is leading that charge." Ironwood said before bringing a brief holographic image of all seven of the former Beacon Students, with Jaune listed as Leader and Ruby as Second in Command. "Should the day come when this is needed, Winter you'll be in charge of the Ace Ops with Clover as your second in command."

"James, stop." Qrow said stopping James from describing new teams and structures. "I know what you're doing and just stop." His voice was full of anger, sadness, and defeat. "I don't want to know what you have plan for me."

Ironwood gave a weak smile. "Qrow, you'll be in charge of Atlas Academy and Military. There's no one I'd trust more with that." Ironwood said adjusting the display to show the Ace Ops with Winter in charge and Qrow above them all. "In the event something happens to me, or Atlas falls, these changes go into effect."

A/N: So that took longer then expected... Starting to sound like a broken record. I think with how long these chapters are starting to take, I'm going to move to a bi-weekly release schedule, so every two weeks. But there it is, another chapter. I've been working on a different fic lately, so that's partly the reason why this one kind of took so long. If anyone is a fan of Attack on Titan, expect to see an Attack on Titan fic from me in the future.

As always your likes, comments, and subscriptions fill me with drive. I love hearing from you guys. Let me know what you think of all this.

Later Days!