Ganeesh (Knight Units) Production
Study and analysis of the blueprints of unit Ganeesh has been going well and underway. The information sent before destruction of the Argus information center has been received. Ensuring the deaths of Atlas soldiers weren't in vain, Atlas is focusing its efforts in the building of these new units for the protection of its kingdom. This includes looking through these new weapons the Ganeesh unit had.
As thanks for the information, Atlas will later on send materials and financial aid towards Argus repairs and replacement of loss equipment. In time we will also check the memory files once the weapons are made and done. Thank you for your time.
It's been at least over a week since the attack on Argus. One week as people began calming down, the events soon were put behind them. A t a first glance, everything seemed to be okay. Life moves on after all, with everyone going about their day as focusing on the past will just prevent people looking towards their future. It also helped that the response to defeating the Grimm that came and the machine led to no deaths, meaning everything is alright overall.
It even got better when Atlas, despite having closed their borders, sent a few ships to Argus to help in repairs for the Argus base while giving a few more robotic troops to the city.
"Thank you for the assistance. As expected, Atlas's might extends both strength and kindness to those in need." While still rather annoying, Cordivon wasn't exactly wrong with her words. Arrogant, but not wrong while the woman who has come to help out rolled her eyes but said nothing.
"Yes, well, with the disappearance of General Ironwood and the unnatural activities occurring as of late, it has been decided Atlas should…help out a little more." The woman then adjusted her tie. She isn't exactly used to these formal clothes, but she needed to present herself more properly to inspire people. As such, she would discard her old outfit unless she's hanging with her friends and allies.
"Ma'am." One of the soldiers under her then walked to her. "We have unloaded some of the parts needed for the walls and replacement gear for the shield generators."
"Excellent." The woman then had the man go. She then looked at Argus's commander and said, "For the time being, I'll need you to guide these soldiers in where to start the repair. We'll be here a while."
"All for Atlas's sake." Cordivon grins while the woman quietly scoffs. Atlas huh. More like the city that took advantage of its predecessor, with this woman, while well-meaning, just as easily part of the system that looks down on others. Still, the woman didn't say anything at all as she scratched her head full of white blonde hair.
"In any case, I also came for…other reasons." The woman then brought out a scroll which then showed a holographic picture of a few people. Familiar people. "Do you know the whereabouts of these individuals?"
"Why yes I do." Cordivon nods.
"Excellent." Robyn Hill, one of the newly elected of Atlas's council, smiles. "Please take me to them."
In about a few days everyone had been ready to go for Vacuo. Go talk to Theodore and see just what was up, while also maybe putting the Relic of Knowledge into Vacuo's own vault. A win-win situation while during the trip, maybe figure out some next moves. Oh sure Atlas will find out some secrets, but it is very unlikely all of Remnant will learn about it. Not every secret is revealed to the world in just one day.
Even so, it was better to move out as soon as possible. Tickets had already been bought, bags were packed and everyone already refurbished their Dust and weapon parts. The best part about saving a city is that you get paid a nice sum from them. Something Qrow may have used to buy himself a few nice drinks, hehehe.
Not that the kids could complain seeing as Jaune got a few comics to read, Nora some parts for her hammer, Blake got some 'spicy' books while Yang got hair products. But hey, a hero deserves some nice stuff for services. Getting a nice sum of money that, while mainly going for their journey, has enough leftover for their own personal stuff.
So when a knock came and Juane went to open it, his sister and her family going out to eat, he and everyone else didn't expect a certain someone to be here.
"Hello there Teams, RWBY, JNR, Oscar and Qrow. Nice to see you." One who had a smile on her face and had a scroll that showed their pictures. But more importantly, an image with Ganeesh in it. "My name is Robyn Hill, and I'd like to talk to you about Salem.
Inside a ship, Oscar and Qrow are sitting down with Robyn Hill. On Oscar's hip is the Relic of Knowledge, which he naturally kept very close on while Qrow was ready for anything. The rest of the kids, in another part of the ship though ready for a quick escape if anything bad happened. Thankfully, as a show of trust, no soldiers or guards are near them while Robyn is by herself in the room with Qrow and Oscar. Smiling.
After a few tense minutes of silence, Qrow decided to just get this over with. "Councilwoman, huh. I guess I should say congrats."
"No need for that." Robyn smiles with a slight smirk. "Besides, I doubt you would thank me sincerely seeing as you don't know me."
"But you know us." Oscar spoke up, also wanting to get this moving on. While everyone hadn't exactly beend ragged here by Robyn and walked with her to the ship willingly, naturally, none of them weren't trusting Robyn either. Still, the fact that she hasn't done anything to warrant suspicion at least made them all decide to hear her out.
So, as Oscar figured, best to start talking. "You looked through his memories."
Ganesh. They must have finally done it. Much sooner than they expected to boot. "We did." Robyn nodded. "For the most part, we easily extracted his blueprints and other stuff from his mind."
"Oh joy. Atlas having new weapons." Qrow muttered.
"I won't deny that." Robyn admitted to Qrow's surprise. Rather used to Atlasians being all prideful people and thinking they weren't in the wrong. "And while I can't admit all those weapons will be put to good use, at the very least most will be aimed at the Grimm." Better them than humans. "Anyway, we eventually got to the memories."
"But how?" Oscar asked. "We assumed it would take a while to decrypt them?"
"If done here in Argus, it would." Not a wrong conclusion to believe in. "But you kinda forgot what Atlas is, didn't you?"
"Tch." Qrow took a swig of his flask. "Most advanced kingdom in Remnant. Yeah that makes sense." Atlas is home to countless geniuses, programmers and so much more. Anywhere else, it would take forever to decrypt and translate all of Ganeesh's memories. But in Atlas, it didn't even take a week since the best programmers were put to work and dealt with it without even trying.
"Yep." Robyn chuckled. "For all of Atlas's many, many flaws, I won't deny they do good work with their computer skills." Robyn then looked more serious. "But moving on, yes, we did overview Ganeesh's memories. Some of it was corrupt, with how he 'died' being rather befuddled with us only getting a about a month or so of his memory since the download had been interrupted by something."
Salem. Ruby mentioned how Salem (I mean, had to be her) doing something to Ganeesh after destroying the room. Guess she must have ensured the download couldn't get everything. Just not enough either.
"But yes, we managed to receive and translate Ganeesh's memories and discovered many things." Robyn then eyed the Relic of Knowledge, where Oscar simply grabbed it. "Which understandably means, the Relics, their current locations, along with all of you."
"Just that?" Qrow then questioned. Feeling a bit suspicious about why Robyn isn't mentioning Salem at all. Something Robyn is quick to answer.
"Just letting you know, yes, we do know about Salem." Those who learned about her kept to secrecy. Easy since most lacked the context of understanding who Salem even is. "But who she is, what she is, we actually don't know anything. The memories only showed us Ganeesh entering what appeared to be a castle in the Darklands somehow and her name, but nothing more than that."
That's very…odd. So then that meant Ganeesh really did have no connections to Salem. Guess it also helped that Atlas only got a part of that stupid toaster's memory and not everything. Still, the fact they knew about the Relics is still something big. As such, Qroe got straight to the point.
"What is it you're after?"
For a full minute, Robyn is silent. Contemplating as she would give them her answer. Doing nothing at all. Then, she spoke up. Saying, "Look, you have all the reasons to distrust me. You don't know me, and I as hell don't know you. But what I can say is that I just want the best for my people, Mantle."
"Not Atlas?" Oscar asked in confusion with Robyn frowning.
"I'm not gonna say I want Atlas gone. Much as I dislike the kingdom, it does offer many things that have benefited Remnant. But I consider Mantle my home, not Atlas." A home that was now thankfully improving. While Robyn couldn't say she was happy Ironwood ended up missing alongside those with him, like Penny, his disappearance also gave her a unique opportunity. With Ironwood gone, that left two spots open for the Council, which she and unfortunately Jaquess, ended up getting. Still, her new influence is helping improve Mantle a lot.
"Alright, can't say I blame you for not liking the elites up there." Qrow could see where Robyn's feelings lied. "But what does this have to do with us?"
"Easy. I want to help." Robyn spoke with honesty. "Even though Ganeesh's memories didn't tell us everything, just knowing some person who can command the Grimm is already something to be wary of." Qrow and Oscar looked at one another. It didn't seem Robyn was lying at all. Plus, having someone who can help them out in their current situation would be a major boom.
Not to mention, Robyn had even more to say.
"I should also mention we discovered this." Robyn put down her scroll which then showed a video of Ganeesh's memories. Forwarding it, the video then got to a certain memory of Ganeesh apparently entering a castle in a land full of Grimm.
"Salem's home." Oscar heard Ozpin tell him, which made him grow a bit nervous seeing the landscape that appeared to be a scene from hell. Qrow himself narrowing his own eyes, knowing full well that this was Salem's turf where Ganeesh must have somehow entered it. His memories showing him going around the castle where there were some Grimm and…dead bodies.
"The hell." Qrow said while Oscar gagged a little seeing dismembered people here and there.
"J-just what happened to them?" And who were they?
"They must have worked for Salem." Ozpin secretly answered. "Even Salem needs more than a few people to help her out."
"Yeah. But then why are they dead?" Oscar rebutted while getting no answer. One thing was certain though, that something must have occurred for Salem to let all these people to die. But just what was that?
Eventually, the video zoomed forward to reveal some kind of contraption. A broken one from the looks of it, having wrecked parts and everything.
"Okay." Qrow shrugged. "What are you showing us? Other than Salem's home and dead bodies all over."
"That machine." Robyn then went to explain herself. "Thankfully, it seems that Ganeesh saw some notes and while he only flipped through it, our scientists back home managed to go through the memories and observe the notes properly. What you saw is a portal."
"A what now?" Oscar asked aloud.
"A portal." Robyn repeated herself. "That thing is-was-a portal. One that apparently was used."
"Used. By who-oh shit." A portal in Salem's home, people dead because Salem let them die, or probably because she was gone and the Grimm then struck because of that. "She used it."
"From the looks of it, yeah." Robyn nodded. "Though obviously it failed, or something along those lines."
"Considering it's blown up, I would definitely agree with the failure part." Oscar looked at the paused video and the wrecked machine. "But then, where did she go?" Overall, if Oscar is figuring this out right, Salem, or maybe someone under her, has made a portal device and though it clearly blew up, did it blow up during or after the usage of the machine? Considering Ironwood is gone, chances are it blew up afterwards and she must have ended up in Solitas maybe.
Qrow thought very much the same.
"You seem smart, and you clearly had time to ask yourself questions and figuring things out." Qrow leaned back on his chair while crossing his arms. "You think Salem is in Solitas."
"There was a date that stated the portal was used a while back. Then some time after, Ironwood goes missing. Chances are this Salem person is near Atlas." Oscar then realized something with Robyn's words.
"Then…doesn't that mean she's vulnerable?"
"Why'd you say that kid?" Qrow asked, a bit interested. So Oscar gave his reasoning on his guess.
"I mean, think about it." Oscar pointed at the video. "Salem must have created this portal for obviously bad reasons, but it blew up. Starnding her in Solitas where she has no base at all with only wild Grimm around. Granted, she must have used that chance to lure Ironwood away and nabbed him, but otherwise, can she leave the continent easily to go back home?"
"Very unlikely." Ozpin answered with Qrow quick to reply as well.
"It'd take time for her to actually get all the way back to her base…a base just full of stuff we could now take." Qrow then chuckled.
"Exactly." Robyn smiled. "This could be a chance to strike at her home and blow, maybe take, her stuff away. And maybe even do more if we can." To be honest, Robyn was very surprised to learn through some tin can's memories of this considerably dangerous woman who lived among Remnant. Pondering if she should actually even bother doing something. Yet her duty as a Huntress reminded her why she fought.
"I like the way you're thinking." Qrow laughed. "And maybe," His eyes then settled onto the Relic of Knowledge. "Maybe you can also help us out with a little something we got."
"Of course." Robyn nodded. "So long as you also help out, since if Salem really is in Solitas like we all believe, best we prepare for her in case she decides to attack Atlas." Especially since thanks to being part of the Council, Robyn discovered what Ironwood had been up to. Particularly, investigating what was an actual portal. Salem had a portal machine. Meaning she must have done something to Ironwood all right.
"Alright then." Qrow stood up with Oscar following suit. The veteran Huntsmen then sticks his hand out toward Robyn. "Let's see how we can work together."
"Agreed." Robyn grabbed his hand and sheked it.
"Atlas, here we come." Oscar smiled with Ozpin doing the same as well. Time to take a trip to the floating city of Solitas.
Oh my. It seems misunderstandings are just happening all over the place. But without the proper context and full knowledge, it's only natural for everyone in this room to believe Salem made a portal to Atlas, did something to Ironwood, but then ended up stranded in Solitas since the portal machine is busted.
However, on the brighter side it seems thoughts on trouble occurring if Atlas knows about the Relics isn't as terrible as the heroes assumed. Heck, now they have an ally, a powerful one who ended up as a newly elected Council woman! Oh yeah.
Granted, there will be trouble eventually as the group goes to Atlas and some Atlas troops bring back a certain broken portal machine, a certain Schnee who has also been elected comes in. Until Next Time.