September 15

Getting ready for battle, Team JNPR got in their ready stances and stared at the enemy with fierce determination. They were facing against team BRZN from Vacou.

Seeing as who they were facing, Jaune decided to boost his teams confidence by saying "come on guys. We've got this battle in the bag."

Nora agreed with him by saying "Yea. We are going to rock them... like a hurricane."

Pyrrha threw in her two cents saying "Let's give them the best fight this side of Remnant has ever seen."

Ren brought down her argument by saying "I'm pretty sure if they ask who gave them that, it would probably be Rex and his team."

Pyrrha sighed as he knew he was probably right as Port shouted to the audience "3... 2... 1... BEGIN!"

All four members of JNPR charged at them, but only three fighters from BRNZ did the same. But the beanie-wearing May Zedong turned around and headed into the trees, cocking her weapon.

In the center of the field, Brawnz Ni delivered a knee kick to Pyrrha's shield that sent her skidding back, right before she blocked the claws on his fists with her sword.

She jerked her sword away and made him leap back, just as the sniper jumped up into the branches of the forest with the bladed butt of her sniper rifle. Ren readied his guns to attack Nolan Porfirio, who almost got blindsided by Nora swinging her hammer at him before he ducked and attempted to hit her with his cattle prod. The sniper girl finally took aim from her spot and managed to fire off two rounds near Ren, destroying the rocks behind him.

Jaune managed to block the buzzsaw gloves of Roy Stallion with his own shield before he noticed the bullets flying and saw the glint of the gun in the leaves.

Realizing this with wide eyes, he yelled at his team to "Retreat!"

Ren glanced back at their leader as a shot hits the ground by his feet. The team began running towards the mountains. As they regrouped Pyrrha asked Jaune "What do we do?"

Jaune looked over the edge and began formulating a plan. When he finally had one, he told his team "Spread out! Try to keep moving" and the team heads out.

May got even higher in the tree and smiled from behind her scope as she saw the fight below. Brawnz and Pyrrha continued to fight each other while Nolan slowly advanced on Ren when he slid into his path.

The prod-wielding warrior looked back at the trees and nodded to his hidden ally, who shot at Ren's feet again and made him jump around trying to dodge them. Nolan then hit Ren in his knee and caused him to fall down.

Nora saw this and yelled "Ren!"

Scowling, Nora took a swing at Nolan, but he moved out of the way and stabbed Nora with his weapon but Nora just lifted her head up, showing a smirk on her face. This caused Nolan some concern until he heard Port saying "Oh-ho! Looks like one of my favorite students, Nora Valkyrie, is charging up to use her Semblance!"

"What?" was all Nolan could say.

Oobleck chimed in saying "Yes, Ms. Valkyrie's Semblance lets her produce, as well as channel, electrical energy straight to her muscles! This allows her to jump explosively into the air, wield her mighty hammer, or in this case, absorb Nolan's attacks and send the young man flying!"

And it was at this moment that Nolan knew...

...he f***ed up...

Nora looked at him with a confident smile and with one giant swoop, she smashed him with her hammer and it caused him to go flying back into some rocks and breaking them.

Jaune looked back at the mountaintop on his team's side as a dark storm cloud appeared over it, crackling with lightning. He looked over at his energized teammate and yelled "Nora! Get to the mountain!"

Nora saluted and began running up the mountain as Jaune yelled at Ren saying "Ren! Try and distract the sniper!"

Ren looked up at the tree as the sniper shot at him but missed his head as he sighed in defeat saying " Sure... Why not."


From Team RRWBY's seats

"Yeah! Go get 'em, Jaune!" cheered Ruby for her fellow leader.

"Well, he's certainly improved" commented Weiss

"Yeah, but he ain't got nothing on Pyrrha!" said Yang as the team saw Pyrrha taking on both Brawnz and Roy, delivering a kick to one as she deftly dodged and blocked the discs of the other, throwing her javelin to distract the latter while she somersaulted back to use both feet in landing a blow on Brawnz.

As the girls began to cheer, Rex got back after using the restroom before the battle began. He took his seat between Yang and Ruby.

"So what did I miss?" he said as he sat down.

"Oh nothing. Just JNPR being awesome" said Yang as he stared at the team again. Rex then stared at the team and as he stared at them, he smiled at how Jaune had seemed to have progressed from their old training time. In the 5 weeks they trained together, Jaune had gotten a lot better. He knew he could if he was only pushed in the right direction. But still, he couldn't beat Rex but he tried his hardest to win.

As he watch the battle, he managed to see Ironwood and Penny walking past the seats and disappearing from the crowd.

Seeing Penny follow Ironwood made him recall what happened after the Grimm Invasion in Vale


Flashback

He remembered how he was sleeping peacefully until something hit him the tip of his nose, leaving a bruise on his nose

"Oww" said Rex as he looked on his blanket and saw that a rock was the culprit of hitting his face but he also saw that there was a note tied to it. He looked back to see the window was open.

"Did I leave it open or did they leave it open" he thought as he then took the letter off the rock and read it.

"Come to the court yard" it said.

Rex found it weird that the person would throw a rock into their room but he was also cautious as to who this person was. He decided to investigate as to who the person was. As to not wake his team, he walked through the campus and made his way to the fountain but when he got there, the person he thought he would've seen wasn't there. He looked around but they were gone.

He was about to leave until he heard a familiar voice "Ah, Mr Salazar. Good to see you old friend. How have things been at Beacon?"

Rex turned around and saw Professor Paradox standing behind him. He hadn't changed at all since the last time they spoke but then again it was only a month or so.

"Paradox. What are doing here?" asked Rex in a surprised tone but soon his eyes lit up as he said "Are you here to take me home now."

Hearing this, Paradox's smile turned to a frown as he said "I'm afraid not Rex. There's still many things happening in other dimensions and worlds that need my attention but I had enough time to drop in and see how you're doing."

Hearing this, Rex's excited expression turned to a frown as he said "Great. My only chance of going home and you're useless. Well, if you're not here to take me home, then what are you here for" in a slight angry and annoyed tone.

"Well my boy. I'm here because I have some to give you that can save a life. I wish I could stay long because we have much to talk about but once again, I am short on time" said Paradox as he reached into his lab coat and pulled out a piece of folded paper.

"What is this?" questioned Rex.

Paradox looked down at his watched and made a deep sigh. As he began to turn around he looked back at Rex and answered in a grave voice saying "Something even Ironwood doesn't want to tell you. But also, don't push your luck with that. You've already started a connection with him. Don't ruin it" and he disappeared in a flash of light.

Rex held his arms up to block the bright light. As he disappeared Rex just sighed as he said "Could he be any more cryptic."

Rex then began to head back to his dorm room. When he made it, he sat down on the floor and opened the letter. Out of the letter fell a folded piece of paper. Rex saw this and opened it up carefully as to not wake the others up.

He looked at the paper and it was a sketch...

...of Penny with a weird looking skeletal system.

"Huh, what's this" asked Rex as he looked closely at it but soon realized something.

"She's a robot?" thought Rex as he looked through the papers as he then saw another piece of paper which he figured to be a letter as he then began to read the letter.

"Dear Mr Salazar, I'm sorry that I couldn't stay and chat with you but I'm currently dealing with some issues right now but what you're going to find out can save the lives of Academy but not the place itself. I am afraid you can't tell your friends because your future as well as all of Remnants rests on you. Now, what I have to tell you, as well as show, is this..."


Present

Rex kept thinking about what Paradox was trying to tell him. Paradox gave him some sketches and designs of Penny, but what for? He didn't really seem to care if Penny was a robot. It didn't affect him at all. So why did Paradox show, or rather give him, schematics of Penny?

As Rex still pondered over the letter, he was brought out of his trance as a hand shook his shoulder.

He woke up and found Yang shaking his shoulder as he then asked "What's up?"

"You clearly must be tired because you missed the whole fight. Team JNPR won!" said Yang as Rex looked down in the arena and saw team BRNZ was down for the count.


Crow Bar

At the bar, a gray-haired figure in a tattered red cloak was sitting at the counter with a collection of empty glasses to his side. It was Qrow as he took a swig from another drink as he looked up at the screen above, displaying an image of the victors with the caption "Team JNPR Defeats Team BRNZ!"

The Bartender commented by saying " Huh, those kids weren't half bad!"

The familiar stranger merely gave a "Meh" as he continued to drink.


Amity Arena

After the battle, Oobleck said "Ah, well, Vacuo fans are sure to be hurting after that one, but this next one will have them on the edge of their seats!"

Port continued after Oobleck as a screen showed the next team saying,

"Team NDGO of Shade is certainly a crowd favorite, but these lovely ladies are going against some of the toughest, testosterone-filled teammates we've seen so far! I'm of course talking about... Team SSSN!"

"Sun Wukong and his team are certainly a force to be reckoned with, and although he'll be representing the Mistral Academy of Haven, I'm sure his friends and family back in Vacuo will be cheering him along!" said Oobleck as everyone kept cheering for the teams.

Weiss stood up and cupped her hands as she shouted "Good luck, Neptune!"

All Neptune did was slightly nod in her direction but when he saw the whole team of girls, he turned to them and smirked while saying "Ladies."

Rex was watching the whole thing go down and just snickered at Neptune being so oblivious to Weiss's cheering and gave more attention to them than her. This caused her to grunt in anger and yelled "Break his stupid face, NDGO!"

This broke Rex into a laughing stock. When Weiss heard his laughter, she glared at him which didn't do anything to him cause he was holding his sides while laughing. He gathered up what force he could to speak and said "P-pi- pick a side, women" and just continued his barrel of laughter as Weiss just groaned and sat back down.

Rex finally stopped laughing and gazed back down at the arena. As he did, he noticed the NDGO staring at him and he noticed them smiling or smirking as they said "Hi Rex" in a teasing tone.

This caused Yang to grow a tick mark on her forehead and grabbed Rex's arm and held it tight as she yelled "Back off, you floozies. I already called dibs on him. He's mine" which could be heard by anyone that was near the team.

Rex gained a blush on his face at Yang's straight forwardness and noticed people were staring at them and just hid his face in his coat as he best he could with Yang still holding onto his arm.

Neptune and Sun were just staring in disbelief. Here, they were showing off their muscles and good looks and they were fawning over Rex who was just sitting there.

"What gives?!" was all they thought about.

When the girls turned their heads back to their opponents, Neptune focused then said "Alright, girls, try and remember: hands above the waist."

Rex just groaned at the dudes comment.

Sun grabbed Neptune's arm as he apologized saying "Ignore him, for he... Yeah, he's dumb."

While that was going on, they began to choose their battle grounds. NDGO ended up with a sunny desert battle ground while SSSN ended up with a water battleground, which didn't sit to well with Neptune as he just gave a scared look

Ruby stared at Neptune with concern as Rex just groaned in annoyance along with Blake.

Ruby was curious as too why Neptune looked so freaked so she asked "Uhh, what's wrong with Neptune?"

Blake groaned as she said "Oh, no."

Yang took notice of the two groaning at this as she asked "What's wrong."

Rex sat up and just gave a annoyed tone in his voice as he said "Neptune's ... afraid of the water. And yet his name is Neptune" as Rex just sighed in disbelief.

Oobleck then yelled "3, 2, 1, BEGIN!"

As soon as the word was said, Neptune zoomed through the enemy team and up the mountain behind them.

"Neptune, what are you doing?!" shouted Sage.

Neptune gave a hearty laugh as he said "Uh, you know, just gaining the higher ground!"

"On the enemy's side?!" asked Sun.

"They would never expect it!" yelled Neptune as he readied his weapon.

Dew turned to her allies and said "He's not wrong."

Nebula then called her team out and said "Open fire!"

Team NDGO went forward into their turf as Team SSSN followed, Sage with his sword raised and Scarlet having ditched his coat. He came upon Octavia Ember emerging out from a nearby arch and tried to slice her with his cutlass. She ducked under the swing and continued sliding away, past the middle of Dew and Sage getting ready to rumble.

Sage slashed his sword down, only to get knocked back by Dew's spear. He glanced up in time to see the blonde wave her weapon over the sand to create three small twisters that kicked up dust in Sage's face.

He looked around as they surrounded him, and then gathered into one big funnel and shot Sage outside the boundaries.

Oobleck announced his defeat by saying "And NDGO gains the advantage!"

Octavia slid in front of Sun and Scarlet, who readied themselves to fight her just as she spins her sword around and produced a wave of flame that kicked up dust in their faces. Sun managed to jump out of the cloud just in time to call for help in fighting the redhead.

"Neptune!" shouted Sun to his freaked out teammate.

Seeing his leader fall back as Octavia attacked Scarlet again, Neptune leaped down from his position and readied his weapon. Octavia attempted to use another fire attack to blind Neptune, but he simply put on his goggles and fired a bolt as his opponent, who blocked it with her blade right before seeing Sun leap out of nowhere to deliver a neck-snapping kick to her face.

Seeing this Rex couldn't help but smirk and comment saying "And that's why goggles are awesome."

Now furious, a scowling Octavia tried to retaliate by bringing her blade down onto the Faunus. But Sun just pulled out his bo-staff and began hitting several parts of hers. And eventually knocked her out of bounds.

Port then said "Oh! And we're down to 3-on-3!"

Sun looked at Neptune fighting with Gwen Darcy as she circled him with her flying knives and Scarlet attempted to go weapon-to-weapon with Dew. She easily dodged a kick then called upon another sandy cyclone to lift Scarlet up, and he spun round and around and was launched over to the shipwreck.

He caught the pole and then flipped himself onto the mast ledge as Nebula ran up the mast and formed her bow into a blade to cross swords with her opponent, the both of them trading blows while ducking and missing, then Scarlet was struck by Nebula's hilt and countered with a kick to the head.

Nebula circled the mast and deflected another blow then slammed her blade over Scarlet's and forced him to lean back on the post. Luckily, he managed to get his sword back out from the trap and feign a swing at Nebula's feet before knocking into her with his elbow, causing the NDGO leader to fall into the sand below.

From his position, Scarlet saw Gwen continuing to throw her knives at Sun, and he smirked before whipping out his gun and shot the hilt guard as a grappling hook to get her by the ankle.

He then used the cord to lift Gwen into the air while he slowly came down to the ground, only to land directly beneath her as she attempted to protect her modesty while knives start raining down from her dress and fell towards Scarlet. Luckily none hit him.

His luck doesn't hold when Dew leaped near Sun, causing Sun to knock down two coconuts and throw them at her but she deflected them and they both hit Scarlet in his head and...uh...his other head while dropping his Aura levels into elimination.

Sun just grunted in frustration and he weirdly said "Nuts!"

Rex just groaned at his comment and wanted to slap the silly out of him for making that convenient remark.

Realizing the situation they were in Sun called his remaking teammate and said "Uh, Neptune?! Could use some help, buddy!"

Neptune gained a worried expression as he said "Uh, you know, uh, it would probably be better if you came over here! Yeah, I can guard this... sector! We're in lockdown mode!"

Rex just kept getting disappointed at Neptune. He was his goggle buddy and he was just making a fool of himself. Truly shameful.

Sun was infuriated at his response and yelled "What are you talking about? There's nothing to lock down!"

"Lockdown! Right! You got it!" said Neptune as he stayed in his spot, acting like that was what Sun had said.

This was getting old as Sun kept dodging the girls attacks and yelled "Dude, I know you're afraid of water, but you gotta..." yelled sun as Dew was shot by a blue bullet.

"There! I helped! Are you happy now!? Also, I am not afraid of water, and I have no idea what you are talking about!" said Neptune as he tried to defend himself.

Dew managed to get back up as Nebula and Gwen join their comrade, lifting their weapons and ready to fight once more.

Sun then shouted "NEPTUNE!"

Neptune sighed as he said "Okay, fine! Just get out of the water!" Sun did so and Neptune slowly moved to the water and threw his electric trident into the water, shocking the girls and winning the battle.

"And with that, Team SSSN moves on to the doubles round! You know what I call that victory?" Said Port.

"Shocking?" Said Oobleck as a joke.

"Electrifying" thought Rex, getting in on the pun wars.

"No, well earned. What you said is stupid" said Port in annoyance.

Rex chuckled as he thought "I know Yang would've gotten a kick out of that."


Crow Bar

Back at the Crow Bar, the Bartender said "Now that was a match!"

Qrow just kept his gaze at his drink and said "Heh, that was a mess!"

Bartender sighed as he said "Come on man, you didn't like them, the Vale kids, or any of the rounds before that? The only one you were wide awake through was that Team RRWBY show down. Though I suppose anyone would be awake for a battle like that. What fight are you here for?" questioned the bartender.

As he said that, an aircraft with elegant ribbons was flying from its wings behind the drunk man as he pointed at it and said "That one".

The man then finished his drink as he turned around and said "Happy Vytal Festival!" and walked away.

Amity Arena

Ruby leaned back in her seat. "Aw, that was so close!"

Rex just sat there and said "I was disappointed."

"Looks like the dorks made it to the next round!" Said Yang.

Blake and Rex looked down in the arena where Sun and Neptune were dancing like fools. "Emphasis on "dork" They both said.

Oobleck then yelled over the sound system saying "That concludes the matches for today. Please leave the Coliseum IN A CALM AND ORDERLY FASHION!"

"Come on, let's go congratulate 'em" said Yang as she and the others began to get up.

They started to head out just as the same ribbon-adorned craft passed over the Colosseum, causing Weiss to stop in her tracks and Ruby to bounce into her.

Ruby looked up in her direction and said "Uh, what are you viewing?"

Weiss kept looking up at the ship as she knew who would be in it. She then said "She's here!"

Rex heard her comment and said "Who's here?"


Short timeskip

Weiss, Rex, and Ruby were running up the main avenue towards the docking bays.

Ruby was panting and yelled at Weiss saying "Weiss! What is the big deal!? Who is it? Who is she!?"

"Yea. It's not nice to just say "She's here and just start running this way. Some information might be helpful" snarked Rex.

Weiss finally stopped at the end of the road as she spotted "Winter."

"No, I'm pretty sure it's fall" said Rex as he was curious why she was mentioning the seasons.

Weiss glared at him and yelled "No, you dolt. Winter, my sister."

"Oh" said Rex and Ruby.

They looked ahead of them and saw a woman with white hair and blue eyes like Weiss and wore a supposed military outfit walking out of a ship.

"Wait... Your sister?" said Ruby surprised.

Weiss cupped her hands and yelled "Winter!" as the three then ran up to the elder Schnee as she turned to see them

"Winter! I'm so happy to see you! Oh...Your presence honors us" said Weiss as she bowed.

Winter approached them and looked around saying "Beacon... It's been a long time. The air feels... different."

"I mean it is fall, so, eh, it's probably colder" said Ruby until Weiss punched her in the shoulder.

"So, what are you doing here?" asked Weiss.

Winter gave a stern look as she also gave her sister a stern "Classified."

"Oh, right. Well, how long are you staying?" asked Weiss.

"Classified" was all Winter said again in a stern voice.

"Talkative one, isn't she" said Rex in a sarcastic way, which made Weiss turn to him and said "She is a very busy woman. She has her duties as a Specialist" in a defensive tone.

"But yet she can't say hello to her sister? Kinda of sending me mixed messages about why you're excited to see her, Weiss" said in his sarcastic way.

Weiss just groaned at his rebuttal while Ruby liked around in the silence and awkwardness and said "Well... this is nice... I think."

Weiss ignored Rex and turned around to face winter in an excited tone saying "You're going to love it here! I know you travel a lot, but so much of Beacon is different from Atlas!" as she then whispered "Vale, too. The government and school are completely separate! Can you believe it!? I-"

Winter stopped Weiss's talking as she said "I'm more than familiar with how this kingdom handles its... bureaucracy. That is not why I came. Nor did I come here to watch my own blood fail so miserably in battle? But it appears that I have no choice in the matter."

"But, we won!" said Weiss trying to defend herself

"Only a novice would refer to that as a victory. I counted at least three strikes missed" said Winter, bluntly.

"Rude behavior, snarky, uptight, authoritative behavior too. She really is your sister" said Rex in his mocking way. This caused Weiss to grow and tick mark on her forehead and glared at him.

Upon hearing his words, Winter gazed at Rex and a glimmer of interest was in her eyes. She began walking forward towards him and stopped right in front of him and gave him a look of judgment.

"Well, I must say that this was one encounter was curious about. After your news debut, I always wanted to me the boy with strange powers that seemed to be on my sister's team" said Winter with slight intrigue in her voice.

"You guys can control fire, ice, magnets, electricity, and gravity. How are mine any different from yours" thought Rex as he didn't want to say anything and either make a scene or arose suspicion.

Instead, he said "Yep that's me. Rex Salazar. Hero. Overall, cool kid with a face chiseled from the heavens. Pleasure to meet ya" as he held out his hand for a shake but Winter just gazed at him.

She then said "I saw your battle in the arena on screen. I will admit that those are some impressive abilities you have, Mr. Salazar. Almost like your a one man army" with a hint of curiosity in her voice but so low, no one caught it.

She then turned around to Weiss and said in a more happy tone "How have you been?"

Weiss suddenly perked up and said "Oh, splendid! Thank you for asking. I'm actually in the very top ranking of our sparring class! And the rest of my studies are going wonderfully, too! I'm-"

Winter then yelled saying "Silence, you boob! I don't recall asking about your ranking, I'm asking how you've been. Are you eating properly? Have you taken up any hobbies? Are you making new friends?"

Weiss then gathered her thoughts at her sisters words and "Well, there's Ruby. And, I suppose, there's Rex."

"Wow. Love you too teammate" said Rex in a deadpanned voice.

Winter chuckled at Rex's words and said "I see. So this is the leader you wrote of. How appropriately... underwhelming."

Ruby just slightly chuckled and said "Uh... Thank you!"

"Greetings, Ruby Rose. I wish to thank you for taking an interest in my sister" said Winter in an approved manner.

Ruby became flabbergasted and said "Oh! Uh, yes, of course. The honor is in my... court!"

Rex just chuckled as he said "Smooth words there, Red."

Ruby then flung her arms up and down in a frustrated manner saying "Well I've never met with royalty before so I'm new to this" as Rex just laughed at her response.

Winter didn't change her expression as she said "I have business with the General and your Headmaster. But, seeing as I'm early, why don't you take me to your quarters?"

"Really?" asked both Rex and Weiss.

Winter nodded her head as she said "Yes. I wish to inspect them and make sure that they are up to my personal standards. That and to make sure that this boy isn't, you know,... one of those boys."

"Wow. Not even three minutes into meeting you and already I don't like you" complained Rex as he hated people thinking he was one of those boys.

"And I have a name. It's Rex. Try drilling it into your head so you don't forget" said Rex in annoyance, to which Winter just ignored him.

"Shall we be off?" asked Weiss as she wanted to move in front the topic.

Weiss and Winter followed by a couple of robots began walking down the main road to Beacon, leaving Rex with Ruby.

"First impressions. Not off to a good start" said Rex as he saw them walking away.

"So she might be a bit rude..." said Ruby, trying to make Winter seem not all that bad.

"A bit. She's practically the future version of Weiss. It's no surprise that they're related" said Rex in a joking matter.

Ruby knew that he was right and said "Ok yes, she might be a bit hasty and rude but maybe she's just..." then the both of them heard some noises coming from Weiss directions.

They looked at each other with curiosity in their eyes and began running over to the noise. Upon getting closer, they heard clanking sounds like sword fighting. They saw a crowd moving in close to one of the areas in the courtyard. They couldn't see what was going so they pushed their way through the crowd and saw Weiss at the end.

They came up behind her and Ruby said "What's going on?!"

"Yea, what's with the fireworks, Ice queen?" asked Rex as he knew Weiss hated that name.

Weiss grunted at his words but said "Some crazy guy just started attacking my sister!"

Ruby gasped and said "Oh no! Who would do such a thing..." then she turned and saw Winters opponent and yelled "That is my uncle!"

"What?!" said both Rex and Weiss as Rex looked outward and managed to catch a glimpse of Qrow and said "Oh great, the drunk swordsman is back" as he sighed at seeing him fight Winter.

Ruby then yelled at her uncle saying "Kick her butt, Uncle Qrow!"

Weiss stumbled with her words and decided to shout her own encouragement "Teach him respect, Winter!"

All Rex did was roll his eyes and then felt someone tap him on the shoulders and then he disappeared from the crowd.

Qrow had dodged Winter's strikes left and right and after he kicked her back with his blade, Winter readied herself to charge at him as did Qrow. Feeling ready, she charged at him at full speed and Qrow did the same. They were losing distance between them as they got closer...and closer... and BAAMMMM.

They both ended up hitting a clear, blue wall that came out of know and they both fell down from the impact. They both looked up and them and Ruby and Weiss were surprised. There stood Rex with shields on both of his arms, which were the block party.

Rex then looked at the two and shouted "Thats enough, you two!" as the two adults backed away from Rex.

Then Rex deactivated his shields and said "Aren't you two on the same side? Why are you fighting?"

Winter gained her composure after getting up and said "How dare you stop this fight! It has nothing to do with you!"

Rex gained a smirk on his face and said "Oh it wasn't me, sister. Truth be told, I was having fun watching your fight but someone told me to stop this silly charade."

Qrow finally got up off his feet and asked "And who exactly was that, Hotshot?"

Then everyone heard a booming "SCHNEE!"

Winter looked behind her to see General Ironwood standing behind her, with Penny behind him.

Winter quickly lowered her blades as she addressed Ironwood at about face "General Ironwood, sir!"

Ironwood approached Winter with Penny by his side saying "What in the world do you think you're doing? You were about to destroy the courtyard. You're lucky that I had Rex here stop you two in time or things could turned out badly for us and the students here. Did you even think about the safety of the people?" scolded Ironwood to Winter.

Winter tried to defend herself by pointing at Qrow saying "He started the altercation, sir!"

Qrow had his hands behind his head in a relaxed stance saying "That's actually not true. She attacked first."

Ironwood then glared at Winter saying "Is that right?"

Winter tried to defend herself but she knew that Qrow was right and looked down in shame. Ironwood then pointed Qrow saying "What are you doing here?"

Qrow replied in rebuttal saying "I could be asking you the same thing."

Ironwood tried to defend himself but he was stopped by Opzin behind him saying "Now, now, everyone. There is a sanctioned fight happening just around the corner at the Colosseum, that I can assure you has better seats... and popcorn."

Goodwitch added to the conversation by saying "Break it up, everyone! We will take care of this mess" as she began ushering everyone aways.

Ironwood then said "Let's go" to Winter, to which she obliged but then turned around saying "Mr Salazar" which caught Rex's attention as he looked at Ironwood saying "Yea?"

"Thank you for stopping this battle. Lord knows what it might've done to the people or the courtyard" said Ironwood, thanking Rex for intervening.

Rex replied by saying "Sure thing. Always happy to help, man" as Ironwood turned around and left with Winter.

He saw Penny waving hello to them so he waved hello back. He then saw Ruby running up to Qrow yelling "Uncle Qrow!" as she hanged on Qrow's outstretched arm.

Ruby then swung her legs in the air as she said "Hi. It's so good to see you! Did you miss me? Did you miss me!? as she smiled with anticipation.

Qrow replied with a simply "Nope" but in a teasing way as he smirked at her while messing up her hair.

Rex then walked over to his teammates and said "Alright, Red. Get off the old man."

This caused Qrow to turn around and glare at Rex saying "Who are you calling old?!" as Ruby still hung onto his arm.

Rex smirked and said "I said you are old. Did you not hear me cause your hearing is getting old, old man?"

Qrow glared at Rex for the comment but knew that he didn't want to deal with them and let out an annoyed sigh but then just looked back at Rex saying "You're lucky you're on my nieces team or else I'd cut you down to her height" as he grew a teasing smirk.

This caused Ruby to grow a tick mark and said as she hopped down from his arm as she then said "I may be height impaired but I can fight" as she shouted at the sky in pride.

Qrow then just chuckled at her and looked and Ruby saying "Sheesh, you're getting as feisty as Yang, kid. But I don't know why you keep him around" as Qrow rubbed Ruby's hair then they heard Ozpin saying "Qrow. A word, please."

Qrow whispered to Ruby, discreetly saying "I think I'm in trouble."

"You did start a fight and nearly hurt bystanders" commented Rex.

Qrow sighed and said "Yea, that's true. Catch ya later, kiddos" as he walked off to join the others.

Ozpin then turned his attention to Rex saying "Thank you, Mr. Salazar for putting an end to their fight. Though if something like that happens again, could you find a way that doesn't harm them."

Rex just put his hands behind his head and said "I make no promises" as Ozpin just sighed and began walking towards his office.

Weiss walked up beside Ruby with her arms crossed saying "And suddenly, your recklessness makes sense."

Ruby nudged Weiss' shoulder saying "You're just mad because he whooped butt."

"That was a draw, at best!" replied Weiss, trying to defend her sister.

"Oh please. If this was a real battle, I'd have been their butts ten times over" said Rex.

"No you wouldn't. My sister has had plenty of training. She would stop you in a heart beat. There's no way she'd be beaten by you" said Weiss, still defending her sister.

"Yea and my uncle Qrow is way too awesome to be stopped" said Ruby.

Rex then faced them saying "Are you both just saying that because you believe it, or you know its true that I would win?" Weiss just grunted at his actions and walked away but Ruby stayed to try and think of a way to defend her uncle. Rex just chuckled at Ruby and Weiss and saw Mercury walking away from the area and caused him to glare at him.


Ozpin's Office

Winter was pacing back and forth in Ozpin's office while Ironwood sat on his desk. Then they heard the elevator ding and saw Glynda, Oz, and a smirking Qrow walking towards them. Winter then yelled at Qrow saying " What were you thinking!?" as she faced them.

"If you were one of my men, I would have you shot!" said Ironwood as he clenched his fist.

Qrow pulled out his flask said "If I was one of your men, I'd shoot myself." (A/N:Savage)

"While I wouldn't condone his behavior, retaliating like you did certainly didn't help the situation" said Glynda in annoyance.

Winter tried to defend herself by saying "He was drunk!"

Goodwitch replied "He's always drunk!" as the four turn to Qrow to see him drinking from his flask. His eyes widen when he noticed them staring, and he held the flask out to the side, looking at it awkwardly before shrugging his shoulders.

Ozpin sat at his table saying "Qrow, why are you here?"

"You've been out of contact for weeks! You can't just go dark like that in the field!" said Ironwood in frustration.

Qrow put his flask away saying "I'm not one of your special operatives, Jimmy!"

Winter yelled back saying "General!"

"Whatever. You sent me to get intel on our enemy, and I'm telling you, our enemy is here" said Qrow in his carefree attitude.

Ironwood leaned against Ozpin's desk saying "We know."

Qrow started exasperating by saying "Oh! Oh, you know! Well, thank goodness I'm out there risking my life to keep you all informed. You know, Communication's a two-way street, pal. You see this?" as he pulled out his Scroll and pointed to it saying "That's the SEND button."

"They had reason to assume you'd been compromised" said Winter.

"And I have reason to assume you don't need to be here. Seriously, who invited her?" as he pointed at her.

Ironwood was silent for a moment before saying "Schnee, we'll discuss this incident back at my ship." Winter tried to convince him but she knew he couldn't disobey orders and left for the elevator but not until Qrow gave her a wink which she just groaned at.

"Go on" gestured Ironwood.

Qrow continued by saying "Your little infiltrator isn't just another pawn. They're the one responsible for Autumn's condition" as he took a drink from his flask once more.

Goodwitch gasped at the intel and said "What?"

Qrow added to his words by saying "Despite what the world thinks, we're not just teachers, or Generals, or Headmasters. The people in this room, The leaders of the other two academies, we're the ones that keep the world safe from the evils no one even knows about! It's why we meet behind closed doors, why we work in the shadows. So you tell me, James, when you brought your army to Vale, did you think you were being discreet, or did you just not give a damn!?"

Ironwood stared down at Qrow as he placed his Scroll on Ozpin's desk saying "Discreet wasn't working" as a hologram of Vale, Beacon Academy, the Amity Colosseum and Ironwood's fleet of Atlesian Airships, which he gestured to "I'm here because this is what was necessary.

"You're here because Ozpin wanted you here! He made you a part of this inner circle and opened your eyes to the real fight that's in front of us!" said Qrow

"And I am grateful" said Ironwood.

Qrow groaned and said "Oh, well, you've got a real funny way of showing it. And speaking of funny, what exactly were you planning to do with that boy that's a part of my niece's team, bub."

"Well he hasn't told me everything about himself, but I've been trying to form a connection or partnership at least with him but I still simply wish to have the boy join our military and assist us in this..." said Ironwood until he saw Qrow laughing his butt off.

When Qrow finally stopped, he looked at him with a glare saying "Yea, join your little parade. Then you would deceive him, knock him out and cut him apart to see what makes him tick. Is that about the jist of it?"

Ironwood slammed his hand on the table saying "I would never do something so drastic, so cruel and vile to a boy! Especially when he has room to grow into a great warrior or a soldier."

Qrow just chuckled at his words saying "But you've been thinking about it. Don't get me wrong, I've seen what he's capable of, but I know that you would like to have that power for your own army or your own self. I know that I'm right on the money with this one" as Qrow hiccuped from drinking too much.

Ironwood sighed as he knew what Qrow was like and said "Yes it has crossed my mind but he is still a boy and I don't want to do something so cruel to a student of Beacon. He's trusted us with his secrets but I'm trying to earn his trust. He's a powerful boy and he could be great asset in these trying times."

"Oh so it's because of his powers. So you're hung on the idea of figuring them out, huh" chuckled Qrow as he finished his last drop of alcohol.

Ironwood replied angrily at Qrow saying "You know that is not what I meant. And I'm certain that my ships and men are good enough. All the people of Vale need someone to protect them; someone who would act. When they look to the sky and see my fleet, they feel safe, and our enemies will feel our strength."

Qrow started laughing at him saying " You... You think they're scared of your little ships? I've been out there and I've seen the things she's made, and let me tell you - they are fear."

Ozpin stood up saying "And fear will bring the Grimm. A guardian is a symbol of comfort. But an army is a symbol of conflict. There's an energy in the air now, a question in the back of everyone's minds... If this is the size of our defenses, then what is it we're expecting to fight?"

"Yea, well if I had to take a guess, what that kid said the arena might be something close to a guardian in your eyes but being so also has repercussions" said Qrow as he put his flask away.

"What are you talking about?" asked Ironwood.

"Out there, I've met some people that don't exactly seem to be happy with Rex. Some people see him as a threat to the world. After seeing the news cast, and what he did during the Vale invasion, people have been afraid that he could turn his back on the world and destroy it. So I wouldn't say having him around here isn't all that smart either" said Qrow, surprising the teachers.

"Now Qrow, you're taking that a little bit too far. I know that he has made some enemies but I wouldn't go on believing that he would create an entire wave of negativity. I've seen people here being excited to see him fight but I've also met some Faunus students that admire him for his bravery in battling the White Fang but also battling the giant Grimm in Vale a while ago so there may be hatred on the outside of Vale but it can't be here" said Ozpin as he leaned forward on his desk.

"That may be true but he could also bring that outside hatred here" said Qrow.

"What are you meaning by that?" asked Glynda.

"I'm saying that whoever he's made enemies with, they could easily attack the arena or try and cause a ruckus. No doubt our little attackers have no doubt met him or have seen what he can do so its only a matter of time before they try and attack him and try to steal his powers. Which is why I'm not sure that your "Armies" are good enough to stop them, Jimmy" said Qrow, which made Ironwood glared at him.

He made a deep sigh as he began walking forward, picking up his Scroll just as it flashed with the image of a Black Queen. "So then, what would you suggest we do?"

Ozpin sighed as he said "I suggest we find our guardian."

"I thought you already did. Thought "Metal boy" was the prime choice" said Qrow confusingly.

Oz sighed as he stayed seated saying "While Mr. Salazar does have amazing abilities and he would be our best choice for a guardian, I'm still not sure if we can."

"Why exactly?" asked Qrow.

Ozpin sighed as he then said "You remember when you showed up at my office to talk about how your sister had paid you a visit and you asked about Rex?"

Qrow leaned back in his seat as he said "Yea. And, from what you've told me, I gotta say that is one far fetched story but I guess it does add up some things about the boy."

"Right, well he's been given a lot of information that we've begged him not to talk about to anyone and if we add on asking him about possibly figuring out if he can inherit Amber's powers, I fear it might cause an overload for the boy. He's only told us 4, well more me an Glynda, about who he is and has told us, and vice versa, not to tell anyone about Salem because he understands that threat that she is. So I've given up the idea of having him inherit her Powers, seeing as how I couldn't figure a way for it to work. But it still would be in our best interests to let him know about this. Granted, he might not like it, but he deserves to know. So he may not be our choice for a host but maybe he could be the guardian of whoever we choose next" said Ozpin as he began looking through some photos of his students.


Cinder's dorm room

Mercury was sitting in a chair, reporting the fight he saw earlier, while Cinder walked back and forth, interrogating him with Emerald resting on a bed nearby.

"And you're sure it was him?" asked Cinder.

Mercury replied by saying "Bad hair, used a scythe, and smelled like my dad after a long day. It was him."

"And you said Rex was the one that stopped the fight" asked Cinder.

"Yep just stood their with those shields of his and knocked them down without even flinching" said Mercury.

"What do we do?" asked Emerald.

"Nothing. We stay the course. They have no idea who we are, so we have no reason to worry. Besides, the last of the heavy lifting is being taken care of thanks to our clever little friend. Speaking of which... it appears we have a new access point."

"Anywhere good?"asked Emerald.

"You could say that. Go to your rooms. I'll prepare everything for tomorrow. And if anything new about Rex shows up, notify me immediately" said Cinder as she looked through her scroll.

Emerald and Mercury nodded until Emerald turned back and asked Cinder "But what if Rex gets to her before we do."

Cinder simply smiled as she lifted her head and said "if he does, we'll do what we were meant to do" said Cinder as she smirked at her scroll. Then the two left the room. As they left Cinder continued by saying

"We will kill him in cold blood and take those abilities of his away from him"