Chapter 2: Blinding White

Weiss Schnee gazed out her bedroom window at the cityscape of Atlas. Today was the day. The day that she would forsake her ivory tower, the day that she would break out of her gilded cage. She closed the curtains with a flourish, and proceeded to remove the dress she wore, and felt no small satisfaction as she did so.

As soon as she had been able to walk and talk, her father had used her as a political prop, bringing her to every event. teaching her what to parrot to the potential donors, and most humiliating, choosing the clothes she wore. And of course, her status as heiress of the SDC was at risk If she rebelled at all. No more. Weiss thought triumphantly, I am your puppet no longer, father. Clad in only her underwear, Weiss moved to the bathroom, where she found that Klein had been successful in smuggling in the equipment she would need to cut her hair. She didn't particularly want to cut her hair, but she needed to leave behind no trace of her father's control, which meant that her ponytail had to go.

If only her scar could go. Her hand drifted to the scar over her left eye, given to her during a White Fang assassination attempt. If it hadn't been for a passing aspiring Mecha pilot named Marrow, who just happened to be a Faunus, she probably wouldn't have made it. But her father, instead of being relieved that she was safe, berated her, calling her scar ugly and unsightly. The memory galvanized her willpower, and she grabbed the scissors, intent on finishing her task.

It took much less time than she thought it would, it took only a couple snips from the scissors to sever her ponytail, and a few minutes to use the clippers to marshal the remnants into a presentable bob cut. After cleaning herself off with a towel, Weiss returned to her bedroom, and retrieved the other item that Klein had asked to smuggle in, what would be her Atlesian Military uniform, the navy blue epaulets signifying her status as a Mecha pilot, and the single solid pip on her collar declaring her to be a Lieutenant.

She briefly glanced at the door when there was a knock. It wouldn't be her father, Jacques would summon her if he wanted to speak with her. "Enter." Weiss called out.

The door opened to reveal Klein. "General Ironwood is here to see you, Miss Schnee." The aging butler said, "Or should I be calling you Lieutenant Schnee?" The pride in his voice was apparent, as it was the worst kept secret in Schnee Manor that Weiss considered Klein more of a father figure than Jacques.

Weiss smiled, "You don't have to be so formal with me, Klein."

Klein shrugged, "Force of habit. You should move quickly if you don't want your father to attempt to intervene. Do you have everything?"

Weiss nodded, "Yes, I have the schematics for the GLYPH Drive on my Omni-Scroll, I'm not taking anything else. It would just be dead weight."

"Understandable." Klein said, "Your mother asked to see you bef-"

"Is she even sober enough to remember?" Weiss cut in bitterly.

Klein sighed, "in my opinion, no. The General is waiting for you in the foyer."

"I'll be going then." Weiss said, "Thank you for everything, Klein."

She felt no small sorrow at the fact that she most likely would never have the chance to take the SDC back from Jacques. However, she had decided to follow the Schnee family motto, which had last been in use by her grandfather, Nicholas Schnee.

We all have to carve our own path.

Weiss moved through the halls of Schnee Manor as quickly as possible, with any luck, she'd be able to leave with the General before her father knew she was gone, the only problem was that not all of the staff were willing to subvert Jacques Schnee like Klein was.

She heard him before she saw him.

"Just what the hell are you doing here, James!" Jacques Schnee yelled, "You know you're not welcome here!"

Ironwood was unmoved by Jacques's anger. "My apologies, Mr. Schnee, but I learned that you were refusing to let my newest pilot report for duty, so I came to make sure that she is allowed to do what she wants."

"What are you talking about?" Jacques seethed, "You've had Winter as your little trophy for years!"

Ironwood smiled, "She would shoot you for that, you know."

Jacques huffed, "Be that as it may, I will not allow-"

"What you will allow means nothing now, father."

Jacques whirled around to see Weiss in her military uniform, with most of her hair nowhere to be found. "What do you think you're doing, Weiss? And where did you get that uniform?"

Weiss smiled, happy to finally be able to openly defy Jacques. "That's for me to know, and you to wonder about, as for what I think I'm doing, I think I'm carving my own path, just like our family motto says."

"Are you ready, Lieutenant?" Ironwood said.

"Hold on just a moment!" Jacques interjected, "She is going nowhere, I do not allow it!"

Weiss rolled her eyes, "You have no hold on me any longer, father, so what you allow means nothing."

"Weiss, if you think that I will allow you to remain heiress if you do this-" Jacques growled.

Weiss scoffed, "Father, stop. You're embarrassing yourself. I overheard you talking with your donors about how you never intended to let me have the company." She turned to Ironwood. "Yes, General, I'm ready, my father's impotent grandstanding aside."

At that, Weiss made for the door, and Ironwood followed. As she opened the door, the cool crisp air of the morning hit her. This was it, no turning back now. She stepped over the threshold, taking the next step down the path that she had chosen for herself.

As they got to Ironwood's car, his Omni-Scroll beeped. "This is Ironwood." He said. His eyes darted back and forth as he listened to what the caller had to say, as Weiss looked on worriedly. "I see, Winter. Thank you. Please have my ship start pre-flight checks, I've just collected Weiss, we'll be there momentarily."

"General? What's wrong?" Weiss asked.

"I'm not sure." Ironwood said, "All Captain Calavera would tell Winter was that there is a situation that requires my personal attention, that's too sensitive to discuss over Omni-Scroll."

As they drove towards the military base, Weiss felt a shiver down her spine. This was the beginning of something. Of what, she had no idea.

As she stared out the window of the car, Weiss let her mind wander, and for some reason, just like every time she let her mind wander in recent days, she would daydream about a happy girl with silver eyes.


"Okay, but what's keeping General Ironwood from blowing us out of the sky when he gets here?" Cardin asked, "For all we know, he ordered all of this."

Typically after a mission, JCRY Lance would go to the Gladius's wardroom, Ten Forward, for a drink. However, given the current situation, and the fact that both Director Ozpin and General Ironwood were on the way, Captain Goodwitch had placed them on Yellow Alert, which meant no alcohol. Instead, they were in the hangar, gathered around Crescent Rose, as Ruby had enlisted Jeanne's help in fixing her Rail Gun's alignment.

Yang shook her head, "Nah, that doesn't seem right. Ironwood doesn't strike me as the cloak and dagger type."

"Plus Flynt and Neon were just as confused as we were!" Ruby called out from her position of being waist deep in her Rail Gun's magnetic constrictors, "If they had been sent to make sure everything got cleaned up, wouldn't they have been like Oh, this is totally normal?"

"That's a good point, Ruby." Jaune said, "I actually had to remind Flynt that the facility was effectively a black site."

Normally, Cardin would be incredibly abrasive and brush off Jaune's concerns, but it was situations like this that revealed one of the odd things about their Lance. With three of them having the leadership and tactics scores necessary to lead their own Lances, their strategizing could put most others to shame. "Just because Captain Calavera and FNKI didn't wipe us out doesn't mean General Ironwood won't. We need to be ready. Ruby, do we have any sort of threat assessment on his flagship, or whatever?"

Ruby worked her way out of her Railgun's innards, then answered, "Yeah, after the debriefing, Flynt gave us data on it so we wouldn't be surprised. It's called The Pride of Atlas. Dreadnought. I'll spare you the actual breakdown of its weaponry, and say this, lots of particle cannons, any one of which could give the Gladius a real bad day."

"Preparing for the worst is good and all, but I don't think it'll come to that." Jaune said, "We'll have the Clockwork here as well."

Yang clicked her tongue, "I hate to be the party pooper, but the Clockwork might as well be paper-maché against that thing."

Jaune frowned, if it came to a fight, it would be a one-sided stomp, but that would mean that no one would get answers. "Ironwood probably just wants answers, same as all of us."

Cardin rolled his eyes, "But what's stopping him from wiping us out as soon as he has those answers? You saw firsthand that Atlas has no problem wiping out their own people to protect their secrets."

Jeanne pulled up the primer on Atlesian politics that they had been given by Captain Goodwitch, "You didn't read this, did you?" After a quick giggle after she saw Cardin scowl at her, she continued. "That base was ran by the Atlesian Revitalists, who are a relatively new political party. General Ironwood is one of the heads of the Traditionalist party."

Jaune scratched at his eyebrow, "What's the Revitalist platform, Gearhead?"

Jeanne glowered at her brother, "Well, Bot Jockey, it's really crappy. They basically preach about how Atlas is the best, Faunus should be trodden underfoot, and how Atlas should rule the entire cluster."

Ruby wrinkled her nose, "And people actually vote for them?"

"Unfortunately." Jeanne continued, "They basically keep bringing up what a raw deal Atlas got after the Great War, and don't bother mentioning how it was Traditionalist policies that made Atlas what it is today."

"Who's the top asshole?" Yang asked.

Jeanne inclined her head to Yang, "Good question, Yang. The public face of the Revitalists is Jacques Schnee, CEO of the Schnee Dust Company."

Ruby leaned over to look over Jeanne's shoulder, "I don't like him."

Yang raised an eyebrow, usually Ruby liked everyone. Hell, she liked Cardin to an extent! "What makes you say that, Rubes?"

Ruby narrowed her eyes, "Because he seems like the kind of guy to say that you shouldn't be controlling of your kids, then turn around and control every aspect of his kids' lives, and then abuse them when they disobey." There was a beat of silence before Ruby had realized what she had said, "Whoa, where did that come from?"

Jeanne shrugged, "In any case, you might be close to the truth, Ruby. A few years ago, his oldest daughter, Winter, denounced her father and joined the Atlesian military."

Cardin cracked his neck, "This Atlesian soap opera will help us not get vaporized... how?"

Jaune opened his mouth to respond before he was cut off by the intercom. "JCRY Lance to the conference room, JCRY Lance to the conference room."

Yang slapped her knee, "Well, that's our cue, let's roll."


They got to the conference room with time to spare, as neither Director Ozpin or General Ironwood had arrived yet. Flynt, Neon, and Captain Calavera, on the other hand, had arrived. The first thing that Jaune noticed was that Captain Calavera was rather... short. Luckily she took their reactions to her height rather well.

"Don't let my size fool you kids, I used to be quite the bot jockey back in my day, back when we still had the old Mark Threes." She said.

"Oh my gosh, you were a Mark Three pilot?" Ruby asked, the words practically spilling out of her mouth, "You were Mind Link capable? Who was your partner? What did it feel like?"

Glynda planted her face directly in her palm, "Miss Rose, now is not the time."

Ruby awkwardly moved towards her seat, in between Cardin and Yang, "Sorry, Captain."

Neon snickered, "Yeah, don't get her going. Or we'll be here for approximately..."

"Flight Officer Katt! Have you no sense of decorum!" Everyone turned to see that another Atlesian military official had entered the room, equally as short as Maria, with a temper to match. "You are here representing the Atlesian Protectorate, and as such-"

Maria pinched the bridge of her nose, Cordovin, her second in command, was as gung ho as ever, and in all the ways Maria despised. "Put a sock in it, Commander, before you say something to Ms. Katt that I have to put you on report for. Again."

"Oh, she's your me." Cardin quipped.

Maria turned to Cardin as Cordovin left in a huff, "I'm not sure that's a good thing to be proud of, lad."

Before Cardin could respond, one of the guards at the door of the conference room spoke, "Captain, General Ironwood and his party have arrived."

Glynda sighed, of course Ozpin would decide to be fashionably late. "Very well, show them in."

Jaune had never met General Ironwood before, and had no idea what to expect. The psych profile that Captain Goodwitch had appended to the primer at Atlesian politics he had been given indicated that while he was courteous to his allies, and projected an amicable personality, he could be downright bullheaded when it push came to shove, especially when it came to the safety of Atlas, and to a lesser extent, the other Kingdoms of the Remnant Cluster.

This would either go perfectly, or spiral into an unmitigated disaster.

"I'm sorry I'm late. Jacques Schnee saw fit to delay my newest pilot."

Everyone turned to see General Ironwood standing in the doorway, flanked on both sides by white-haired women, who Jaune could only assume were Winter Schnee and... a younger sister maybe? Ironwood wore what seemed to be the standard Atlesian dress uniform, the navy blue dress shirt not only declaring him as a Mecha pilot, but also contrasting the white of the uniform and the white overcoat he wore. In quickdraw holsters on his waist he had twin revolvers. Finally, Jaune noted the four pips connected by a single bar, the rank insignia for General in the Atlesian military.

Maria snapped to attention, and saluted smartly, while Flynt and Neon threw rather lazy salutes, confident in the knowledge that while Ironwood was the head of the Atlas Military, not to mention the head of the Traditionalist party, he was still a Mecha pilot at heart. As such, he had a respect for informal formality, as he put it.

Ironwood turned to Glynda, "I take it that Ozpin is deciding to be fashionably late, as usual?"

"That's unacceptable." The younger woman said, "If the stakes of this meeting are as high as we suspect, then all parties should be punctual. It makes it look like Ozpin, and by extension, Vale have something to hide."

Winter chuckled, "Hardly, Weiss. Ozpin simply has a unique way of doing things. I'm told you get used to it over time."

Ruby laughed briefly, that was certainly true, considering that her and Jaune had gotten away from starting the food fight to end all food fights during their Academy days. Man, that had been-

At least I don't have to pretend to be Father's perfect little puppet anymore.

Ruby shook her head. That had been Weiss's voice. In her head. What the hell was going on? It was probably best to not add to the mountain of questions they had to talk about today.

The guard at the door cleared his throat, "Director Ozpin's shuttle just docked. He'll be here shortly, along with Admiral Arc and Qrow."

Winter pinched the bridge of her nose. "Oh god, no."

Ironwood chuckled, "Do try not to let him pick a fight this time, I might not be able to pay for the damages."

As everyone observed Winter's suffering, Ruby was practically vibrating, Weiss talking in her head not withstanding. Uncle Qrow was here! She hadn't seen him since she graduated from the Academy!

However, Jaune could safely say that he was not having a good time right now. His father had never been supportive of Jaune's dreams of becoming a Mecha pilot, and had shot down any chance of him applying to the Academy... which Jaune had circumvented by being good at video games.

Needless to say, Admiral Julius Arc was not amused. Jaune had expected to get a call from his father any day, telling him to get the hell out of the Academy, but it never came. Not wanting to poke the bear, Jaune never asked why he had been permitted to stay. He had a sinking feeling that he was about to find out why, however.

He heard the guard snap to attention, that could only mean one thing. They were here. True to Jaune's assumption, Director Ozpin entered the conference room, which was quickly becoming rather crowded, flanked by Qrow Branwen, the head of Valean Intelligence, and Admiral Julius Arc.

Jaune and the rest of JCRY Lance snapped to attention, and he let out a silent sigh of relief that Cardin had decided to not throw him under the bus as of yet.

Julius chuckled, "At ease, before you sprain something, Lieutenant."

Jaune couldn't help but laugh, more from relief than his father's joke. This had been Julius's modus operandi when dealing with Jaune for a few years now. In private he would have no shortage of vitriol for Jaune's chosen career path, but in public he had never be anything but impartial, mostly to avoid claims of nepotism, but it was better than nothing.

Glynda quickly called the meeting to order, hoping to get down to business before Qrow opened his mouth. "Now, are there any introductions that need to be made before we begin, or did everyone do their homework?"

Qrow gestures towards Weiss with a jerk of his head, "Yeah, who's the shorter Ice Queen?"

Weiss practically imploded. "I beg your pardon?"

"Not here, Branwen." Winter hissed. "Not now." She glared daggers at Qrow, almost daring him to respond. Qrow waved her off, almost dismissively.

Ozpin sighed, "If there's nothing else, let's get started. I have found that the best thing to do in situations like this, is listen to the tale. Go ahead, Lieutenant Arc."

Jaune nodded, stood up, and began. "At 1000 hours, JCRY Lance was called to a briefing where Captain Goodwitch gave us a mission that deviated from our normal patrol duties. An Atlesian signature was detected on the planet Amity, and our objective was to investigate."

General Ironwood raised his hand, "Did you think that unusual at all?"

Jaune nodded, "Yes sir. No one lives on Amity, as it's basically an icy rock." Ironwood gestured for him to continue, which he did. Jaune went on to describe the engagement with the White Fang, and their retreat upon the arrival of Captain Calavera and the Resolute. He went on to describe their landing on the planet, and how they had discovered Dust in the caves leading to the target. He then went on to describe the bloodbath they had found, all the scientists killed by Revitalist commandos.

The then unveiled the biggest revelations, the existence of Penny, a true AI, and the G3 gas.

"And that concludes my mission report." Jaune said, before sitting back down. Ironwood leaned forward, "I was unaware that the Revitalists had anything resembling a military. That, combined with this chemical weapon of theirs does not bode well."

"Not to mention the fact that they were developing a true artificial intelligence." Winter hissed. Years ago, a group of Atlesian scientists had developed an AI, dubbed MAIDEN. It had been a spectacular failure, within moments it had attempted to kill everyone in the building.

Ruby coughed, "Not developing. Developed, past tense. I think this time, they figured out why MAIDEN failed. It didn't have a personality."

Julius checked his notes. "Right. You said that this Penny AI believes that it's... Dr. Polendina's daughter."

Ruby nodded, "Yes, sir. Plus me and the tech boys confirmed that she has some programming shackles. She can't hurt anyone, her programming won't let her."

Ironwood turned to Flynt, "Lieutenant Coal, does your assessment of the facts parallel Lieutenant Arc's?"

Flynt nodded, "Yes, sir."

Captain Calavera spoke next, With that out of the way, what the hell do we do about the Revitalists? Can't we just go public?"

Ironwood shook his head, "No, Captain. They would just deny everything, and claim I made it up. They would also know that we're into them."

Qrow nodded. "You've got a point there. All that needs to be in the official mission report is that JCRY Lance tangled with the White Fang, and they found Dust on Amity."

Ozpin rubbed his chin, "And that we reached out to Atlas to assist us in mining and using it safely."

The implications hit Jaune immediately. Dust meant Particle weaponry, this would be immense. For as long as he could remember, Atlas had held martial superiority due to them and only them having Particle weapons. This would balance the scales, and make it so that when the time came, they could properly stand up to the Revitalists.

Julius tapped the table for attention. "We're going to need some sort of orbital station at Amity to facilitate the mining and refining of Dust and the scientists researching Particle weapons."

"But we also need to be uncovering what the Revitalists are planning next." Winter said, "If they get their way, it will throw the entire cluster into chaos."

A crazy idea started taking shape in Jaune's head. A crazy idea that just might work. He raised his hand, "I think I have an idea on how to do that."

Cardin raised an eyebrow, "This ain't a video game, Arc."

Jaune glared at his lancemate, "I never said it was, Cardin."

"Enough, you two." Glynda hissed. "Jaune, what's your idea?"

Jaune took a breath before continuing, "We form an inter-kingdom task force. Officially, it's objective will be to foster cooperation and unity between the Kingdoms, unofficially, its primary objective will be to uncover what the Revitalists are planning and put a stop to it."

Julius eyed his son, "Hide in plain sight, as it were... interesting."

Ozpin stood, "And with General Ironwood's permission, we have the first five pilots in the task force in this room."

"You mean us." Yang said, "Who's the fifth? Snow Angel?"

Cardin winced as Weiss snapped at the blonde over her comment. "Better make that four, I'm putting in for a transfer."

Julius looked at him, "Reasons?"

"Jaune needs pilots he can depend on for this insanity. That ain't me. Besides, I'm not exactly the biggest fan of Faunus, so it would be a joke to have me on a task force about unity."

The leader of Vale's military nodded, "I'll accept that. You'll stay with JCRY Lance until Amity Station is complete, then be transferred to one of Beacon's Grimm Defense teams."

Ruby raised her hand, "While we're on the topic of requests, General, would it be possible for me to get a Beam Scythe? Is that a thing?"

Ironwood chuckled, "I'll have the scientists I'm sending work one up for you en route to Amity."

Ozpin clapped his hands, "Well, if that's everything, then-"

He was cut off by an alarm going off.

Glynda jumped into action immediately, "Grimm proximity alarm." She quickly called the bridge on her Omni-Scroll for more data, "It's a Nevermore. A big one."

Ironwood turned to Weiss, "Lieutenant, I believe it's time for you to show your new comrades what you can do."

Weiss nodded, "At once, sir."

"Ruby, go with her." Jaune said, "Watch her back, there could be more of them."

Ozpin stood, "I believe we should all head to the bridge. This should be interesting to watch."


"Crescent Rose, Online!"

Ruby rocketed away from the Gladius's Mecha hangar, and angled towards the reported location of the Nevermore. Glancing at her sensor display, she saw a big red blip straight ahead, and a small blue one coming from the Pride of Atlas.

Jeanne blinked into existence in the upper left of Ruby's vision. "Ruby, switch your comm channel to Joint Tac One."

Ruby manipulated the comm controls, located on the haptic interface to her left, and Weiss appeared on another screen. "You don't need to be here," Weiss said, "You won't be able to keep up, anyways."

Ruby grinned, "Don't be so sure, Crescent Rose might surprise you!"

"We'll see." With that, Weiss shot forward, accelerating faster than any Mecha than Ruby had ever seen. She grinned and cranked the throttle, located on the haptic interface on her left hand, to full, and shot after the Atlesian. She wasn't as fast off the line as Weiss, but she seemed to have a higher top speed.

Ruby's suspicions were confirmed as she began to catch up to Weiss. She took the time to flip on her Analyisis Module and get a scan of Weiss's suit. There was something funky going on with her drive, it wasn't the Oobleck Thruster Assembly, that was for sure. Also, it was almost... pretty. It had stylized Angel wings on the back, and shone a glistening white.

"I'm impressed." Weiss said, "I had no idea that a Valean Mecha could keep up with me. The target is dead ahead. Any tactical suggestions?"

Ruby rolled her shoulders and primed her Railgun. "We shoot it until it dies." The Grimm had entered visual range, for what passed for visual range of a pitch black creature of darkness in space. No one was sure where Grimm came from, all that was known was that there were a lot of them, they were big, and they really hated humanity. If it wasn't for Crescent Rose's sensors, she would've ran right into the damn thing. She took a shot to get its attention, then wheeled around and let her momentum begin to carry her backwards. She took two more shots, one at each wing, before Weiss entered her field of fire.

This was another reason Grimm were so mysterious. How could a giant bird fly through space by flapping its wings? It didn't matter though, if they killed it here it would never be able to menace anyone else. Weiss ignited her Beam Saber, causing ice-blue fire to erupt from the handle. The Nevermore flapped its wings at Weiss's Mecha, causing a spray of razor feathers to go hurtling toward her.

Ruby started to call a warning, "Weiss, watch-"

Activate GLYPH Field.

Ruby blinked, had she just heard Weiss's thoughts again? Jeanne's voice cut in as Ruby saw an energy field the same color as Weiss's Beam Sword materialize around her Mecha. "Ruby, we're getting some weird brainwave readings from both of you, is everything alright?"

"Yeah, we're good." Ruby said, "About to finish up."

The energy field dissipated, and Weiss sprang forward, her Beam Saber cleaving through one of the Nevermore's wings. Ruby dived, and fired her Railgun one last time, scoring a headshot from below. Her sensors indicated that the Grimm had begun to dissolve. "Nice work, Weiss, what was-"

"Do you really find it necessary to say pew pew every time you use your weapon? Weiss spat, anger coloring her words.

Ruby froze, she hadn't done that since the Academy, sure she still thought it, but...

Oh.

"Weiss, I only think that when I fire my baby. You were hearing my thoughts, just like I heard yours earlier."

Weiss shook her head, "No, that's impossible. Let's get back to your ship, I'm sure a through examination will show that you're wrong."

Ruby sighed, she desperately wished that more Atlesians were like Flynt and Neon.

She would be disappointed.


Commander Caroline Cordovin of the Atlesian Protectorate had never been more happy to leave a meeting. The chaos of the Grimm attack had given her every opportunity to find an unattended comm terminal on the Gladius. After making sure that she would go undisturbed, she took the comm spike out her boot and shoved it into the input port. This handy device would brute force its way past any security protocols to give her access to the ship's communication system.

Cordovin sneered, Calavera was an idiot. She had no intention of sitting there and listening to those bleeding heart animal lovers dither about and try to stop the change that was coming. That Winchester boy though... there was potential there. If he was promised to be given leave to enact whatever revenge he wanted to have over Faunus, it was possible that he would turn, to the winning side.

Of course he's going to turn. No one has been able to resist Cinder yet.

She uploaded a file, and sent it to Cardin's personal account, using the comm spike to force it in his Important mailbox, the contents of which would send him down the right path. The path of power.

"Idiots." Cordovin muttered, "While they deliberate and chase Grimm, we gather the pieces and players that will usher in a new age for all of the Remnant Cluster."

She sent another message, to High Command, detailing how the mission to acquire Dr. Polendina's creation had gone sideways. It was still in reach, but would require waiting much longer. The services of Agent W would also be required...

Without further ado, she wiped the evidence of her tampering from the ship's computer, and finally left for the Resolute.


"What the hell?"

Cardin had just returned to his quarters after the days events, and found a message on his terminal from... no one. Unknown Sender, it said. That was weird, considering he had messages from unknown senders set to auto delete. He knew he should probably report it, but he was just too tired to give a damn.

He tapped on it, and a video began to play. The screen showed a raven haired woman with golden eyes, and... hot damn, she was smoking! Alright, you've got my attention.

"Hello, my name is Cinder Fall. If you are watching this video, you have been chosen for something greater than yourself. To bring order to the Remnant Cluster. To rid us of the Faunus once and for all. And all you have to do, is say yes.

Cardin didn't even hesitate.


A/N Holy hell, it's been a hot minute, hasn't it?

Big hiatus, I know. My bad. I didn't feel comfortable writing more without at least 12 percent of a plan in place, and working on that plan took a while.

Most of time may have been rewatching various Gundam shows for research. I regret nothing.

I'll try to get the next chapter out in a timely manner, especially since things will start happening. Get ready, this is going to be a wild ride.