Chp. 14: Unfold
Lecture Hall
Inside a lecture hall, Teams RWBY, JNPR, GRMA, CFDT, OBSA, and JAAR, and several other students were all sitting behind their desks as Roman Torchwick and Neopolitan walked up in front of the front desk.
"Kids, those of you that are new and unfamiliar to this class, I'm your teacher, Professor Torchwick, and this is my lovely T.A., Neopolitan. And to those of you that are familiar, welcome to another fun year of hell," Roman greeted as Neo waved to everyone.
"Roman Torchwick is really our criminal investigations teacher? And Neo is his T.A.?" Watson asked.
"Yep," Ruby answered.
"Awesome," Watson said.
"Yippee for us," Emerald sarcastically cheered as she twirled her finger.
"How did he get to be a teacher and why?" Mercury asked.
"It's a part of his and Neo's probation," Ren answered.
"I see a few of you are talking about yours truly. You guys must totally miss me!" Roman said.
"As if!" Emerald shouted.
"I'm starting to like this guy," Jacket said.
"That doesn't surprise me in the slightest," Jesse said.
"Whatever you say, leader," Jacket said.
"Neo, pass down the papers. Today is gonna be a pop quiz," Roman said.
All the students began to groan and complain.
"Why?!" Ruby asked.
"Because I can," Roman answered, then muttered under his breath. "And I enjoy watching these brats suffer."
Mountain Glenn, Vale
U.H.L. Headquarters
Inside the headquarters of the United Hunters League, Keaton sits behind a desk looking into his computer having a video chat with General Ironwood.
"So how's your promotion to Major and new position of the American Branch of the U.H.L.?" Ironwood asked.
"Exhausting, but still holding out," Keaton answered. "I've heard you were planning to relocate Atlas."
"After going through the events of Volume 8, the Council and I have chosen to relocate the floating city in a different part of Solitas and then bring it down to the ground," Ironwood said.
"What about the military facility underneath? Won't it get crushed? Not to mention the float island itself is uneven once it's placed onto the ground. How will you solve that?" Keaton asked.
"Atlas is planning to place the island onto a stable rocky mountain terrain, and construct support systems to keep the city stable. Will then use the Relic of Creation to bring the city to that location and carefully set it down. Doing this will ensure that Atlas and Mantle will not be destroyed," Ironwood explained.
"That way, nobody can destroy both cities at once," Keaton said.
"Exactly," Ironwood said. "By the way, how is the new prison?"
"Still under construction, but enough of it is built so that we can move our top prisoners there immediately. Two of which will face execution there," Keaton answered.
"Good. The sooner, the better," Ironwood said. "Any sign of the new Fall Maiden yet?"
"Negative. We're having no such luck," Keaton answered.
"Damn," Ironwood cursed.
"So have you seen what's been going on recently?" Keaton asked.
"No. What?" Ironwood asked.
Keaton then clicked on an icon, which then displayed a video of a crowd of people shouting and screaming. Some were holding black banners with Salem's emblem on them, and some were carrying picket signs with messages that read; 'Salem's Our Savior,' 'Righteousness of Salem,' and 'The Holy One.'
"There's a group of people that formed some sort of cult in favor of Salem, seeing her as their 'beloved holy mother of our age.' They called themselves the Order of Salem's Temple," Keaton said. "And they're demanding for her release and the numbers of members in this cult is steadily climbing."
"Is this something we should be concerned about?" Ironwood asked.
"They haven't taken any action yet. All they're doing right now is protesting, demanding for Salem's release, and worshiping her as a goddess," Keaton answered.
"I'd probably keep an eye on them, just in case," Ironwood said.
"We already are. But, a quick heads up, the Order of Salem's Temple's number of new members is growing all over the world, not just in the U.S. And they'll probably grow unpredictable due to this," Keaton said.
"The sooner you fire Salem out of the atmosphere, the better. Maybe they'll stop looking up to her when that happens," Ironwood said.
"I hope so," Keaton said.
Fremont County, Colorado, USA
Route 50
Meanwhile on Route 50 in the state of Colorado, three armored trucks, along with several police cruisers surrounding the trucks drove down the road as each truck held a dangerous prisoner inside.
"So do you mind telling me why we can't just leave these prisoners inside ADX Florence?" the driver asked.
"The U.H.L. has a special prison being built and they want us to transport these nutcases to that prison. They said their new cells are built to suppress and counter their abilities. This may be a good thing because one of them always tries to attack the prison guards, and two of them are always trying to escape," the passenger explained.
The driver then noticed something up ahead.
"Hey. What's that up ahead?" he asked.
The driver and the passenger saw three cars blocking the road.
"This might be a problem," the passenger spoke.
Suddenly, a rocket struck a police cruiser as it exploded upon impact. The driver and the passenger looked to the side and saw two trucks driving from off the road and up towards the convoy. A truck from the other side suddenly slams into the first armored truck as it tips and falls to its side. The rest of the convoy were then forced to a complete stop. More cars and trucks drove up from off the road and surrounded the convoy. Men armed with guns stepped out of their vehicles and began to open fire on the police. A few police officers only had enough time to step out of their cars before being shot and killed by their attackers.
As the remainder of police officers opened fire on their attackers, a figure carrying an AR-15 flew down from the sky and shot at the last of the officers dead. The figure lands onto the ground revealing himself to be Yuma.
Three of the shooters ran up to the first armored truck that was on its side. They opened the back doors and inside was Doctor Arthur Watts, wearing an orange jumpsuit and handcuffed to a railing. He rubbed his head in pain as one of the gunmen stepped inside the truck with a pair of bolt cutters. The gunner snaps the handcuff around Watts's hand freeing him. The disgraced scientist looks up at his saviors.
"Might I ask who you people are?" Watts asked.
"The Order of Salem's Temple, Doctor. Or the O.S.T. for short," one of the gunners answered.
Watts gets up to his feet and steps out of the truck. He looked to the other two armored trucks and saw Adam Taurus, and Tyrian Callows who were both wearing the same prison uniforms as Watts stepping out of them as the O.S.T. gunmen had free them too.
"Look what we've found in one of the cop cars," a new voice called.
Watts turned to see Gillian Asturias, Carmine Esclados, and Umber Gorgoneion walking up to him, each carrying a bag. Gill opens her bag to reveal Watts's revolver and clothes. Adam and Tyrian approached Watts and the three remaining members of The Crown as Yuma also approached the group.
"Order of Salem's Temple?" Tyrian asked with a slight cackle. "If I were to guess, you three are here to free us and form this group to follow the will of our goddess?"
"Actually, they found us. And when they told us that they were planning to free you, we chose to join," Carmine answered.
"I've managed to assemble all of the White Fang at your mistress' castle, though it was difficult due to where we are now," Yuma said.
"And what about Salem?" Adam asked.
"An asset of hers that the O.S.T. has run into is taking care of that. We'll meet up with her at her castle," Gill answered.
Harrison, Arkansas
Inside an abandoned home, Victor Gordon was sitting on a worn out chair as six other men stood around the living room.
"I can't believe this. To think that they'd kick me out of the movement. And for what? Trying to show the world we're the true dominant race?!" he said to himself.
"Well, you did make a deal with a woman who was allied with people of other races and also unintentionally helped bring another world here," one of the men said.
"Not to mention the movement is now a big target to everyone after we aided Salem in the attacks. I mean, our fellow men can't even leave their homes without being harassed by everyone around us," another one of the men added.
"They did not understand the sacrifices I had made. And siding with that pale-faced bitch was admittingly a mistake on my part. A mistake I intend to not make again," Victor said.
"So what do we do now?" another man asked.
"Yeah, the feds are out looking for you, our brothers of the Aryan Brotherhood aren't gonna help us since that kicked us out, and there's only a handful of us," another man added.
"For now, we continue to stay off the grid. And when the time comes, maybe we can find some people to actually help us," Victor answered.
"And the movement?" the last man asked.
"Forget them. They're nothing but spineless cowards and traitors to our cause," Victor answered.
He pulled something out of his pocket as it was revealed to be a picture of himself, alongside Rachel, Keaton, and Jacob. He stared into the photo for a moment before speaking once more.
"And when the time comes, Jacob, your ass is mine."
