I severely apologize for this, disappearing for nearly 5 whole weeks without an upload. As you can probably guess, engineering is the culprit. My end of semester projects are trying to eat me alive and I had no time to work on this story, as much as I wanted to.
Chapter 65: Mineshafts and Cold Dust
-Mantle City-
It had been three weeks since Cinder and Neo made it to Atlas. Tyrian and his little brother had long since arrived, stirring up all sorts of trouble in the underground.
Neo hadn't been too comfortable with the idea of cooperating with Cinder, but she didn't exactly have a choice. Cinder naturally didn't trust her but neither did she. Such was the life on the other side of the moral spectrum, you never could trust anyone, not even the ones you worked with on a daily basis.
It was a cold, hard life, filled with danger and fear, but it was simultaneously liberating, the feeling of not being held down by laws, without regard for the rules and regulations of normal living, it was what drew Neo in and kept her there, but as time went on, the allure was losing its enticement.
Mantle city nights were never pleasant, much less so since she and the others were forced to stay in a leaky bleak warehouse on a less than savory street. It's broken, boarded-up windows that did little to block out the rain and snow reminded her of her early days, just starting out as a criminal. Life was much harder back then, but at least she didn't have to worry about being stabbed in the back while she slept. For now, they were wide awake, convening around a broken table in the dimly lit warehouse.
"It seems they've arrived at Atlas," Cinder said with a seductively dark tone, the word 'they' playing on her lips like venom dripping from her tongue. Old Cinder's threats and dark tones were nothing more than surface-level bravado, a bland attempt at masquerading herself as a dangerous woman. New Cinder, the one whose face mirrored the pale white of death and the eyes so black that the void itself would hide in fear, reminded Neo of what true darkness was. Even if Cinder was an echo of Salem, the feeling of death lurking behind her gaze made Neo shudder.
The Callows brothers' attitude toward her changed, slightly, but it was there. No longer was she referred to as 'bitch' or 'vile temptress' by them. They recognized her as the right hand of Salem, their queen, and began treating her somewhat like an ally… kind of.
Tyrian began clapping his hands giddily, "Her majesty's plans are finally being realized! This is great news!"
"Brother, do you think if we take their heads, our queen would reward us?" Thorian asked, the same glint of crazy in his eyes shining even in the dimly lit room.
Tyrian let out a delighted squeal, his newly fashioned mechanical tail wagging like a dog, "OH SHE WOULD BE SO PROUD OF US!"
"Quiet you imbeciles!" Cinder commanded her voice echoing with two layers of low and normal pitched voice.
The two brothers simmered down begrudgingly.
"No one is touching them until the stage is set. We need them to get us to the Staff of Creation, and on top of that they also have the Relic of Knowledge," Cinder explained, placing her hands down onto the cracked table and leaning over it.
"I still don't see why we didn't just storm the Academy and steal it. Ironwood is so split with the embargo that he probably wouldn't even see us coming!" Tyrian complained.
"This is why you're the muscle and I'm the brains," Arthur Watts said dryly, "I built Atlas security myself. I know for a fact that we wouldn't stand a chance if we planned an assault let alone breaking in. I need to get into Atlas security mainframe and deal with it myself, I've planted a few bugs that are exploitable but need my physical input. My man on the inside can help with that."
"Your man on the inside? Need I remind you that Jacques Schnee is no less reliable as he is loyal to his family. That man will swing whatever way he needs if the price is right." Thorian hissed. He had a special hatred for the Schnees, well him and most of Mantle, but he despised the SDC. They stood for everything he was against.
"Oh don't worry about that, he wouldn't dare fail us lest he be exposed himself. Besides, I've guaranteed him a spot on the council, if you catch my meaning," Arthur smirked, his mustache snaking upward at the corner of his mouth.
Neo knocked on the table to get their attention, once all eyes were on her she began tapping out on her scroll, 'If Watts is all we need to get into Atlas security, why do we need me? Or even those tiresome brats?'
Cinder smiled sinisterly, "Oh Neo my dear, getting past security is one thing, but getting the relics is another. There's also the matter of the Winter Maiden. I can no longer have the powers of the Maidens due to my body's… disposition… but that power would be a wonderful asset to our cause don't you think?"
Neo's eyes slowly widened, 'You don't mean me, do you? You want me to become the next Winter Maiden? Is that why you brought me with you? Wait how do you even propose we get to the Winter Maiden?!'
"By using you of course. See our enemies are a rather… kind-hearted and lawfully good group. The type to volunteer at preschools for fun, you get what I'm saying?"
Realization began to dawn on Neo's face, 'You want me to use my semblance to disguise myself, earn their trust, and get close enough to them to get steal the relics and the Winter Maiden's powers?'
Cinder began laughing, "You catch on faster than I thought. Can you do it?"
Neo was nervous for a moment, her mind racing. This was her chance, the opportunity she'd been waiting for. If she could befriend Team ASHNRWBY she'd be able to make allies strong enough to help her get revenge on Cinder, on Salem for killing Roman. She was only teaming up with Cinder because she had no choice, it was either death or cooperation, but from what she's learned from Cinder and the others about that team, Nova almost killed Cinder once, and that was some time ago, if there was even the slightest chance they could beat her now, she would take it.
The ice-cream themed girl turned her gaze upward, a wild grin appearing on her face, 'When do I start?'
-Atlas Academy-
Nova sat in the common room of the dorms waiting for his team to ready themselves. They were due to depart in two hours for a joint operation with the Ace-Ops to an abandoned Dust Mine in the Tundra surrounding Mantle. It was their first officially sanctioned mission since they went to Mount Glenn all that time ago, and if Nova was being honest, he was slightly nervous.
The nervousness stemmed not from the worry of failure, no he was sure that his team was ready for almost anything, what he was worried about were the unknowns that were beginning to sprout all around them. Variables in his knowledge that could never be found in the text of any book or any of the experiences they've had.
Grimm were evolving and becoming unpredictable. As far as anyone knew, Grimm were mindless creatures that acted upon instinct and fed on negative emotions, at least that was the old information. That all changed when they found out about Salem and her ability to manipulate the Grimm to her will, still they were nothing but coordinated beasts.
That entire concept was thrown out the window after hearing the story Yang, Hex, and Blake had to share.
-Flashback to the mission briefing-
"The abandoned Dust Mine outside of Mantle, the Grimm have made their home there so no one's been able to enter, but that also means that there are tons of untouched Dust that the science team needs to further the Amity Tower launch. Our recon team has cleared out the majority of the Grimm but the rest have retreated into the mine. Particularly a Geist , and judging by its intelligence we can guess that it must be old... and powerful." Clover said as he pulled up the holographic map of the area, pinpointing their target destination.
"We go in, wipe out the Grimm, and seize the Dust. Any questions?" he asked turning to the teens who simultaneously shook their heads.
Dr. Polendina came riding in on his chair followed by Winter and Elain, broad smiles on the two doctors' faces.
"What's with that look…" Luna narrowed her eyes at her mother.
Elain puffed out her chest proudly, "Dr. Polendina and I have a few gifts for you all!"
"Gifts…?" Nora asked hesitantly.
"Firstly, I'd like to apologize for keeping your weapons for so long but, we've studied the footage of your combat prowess from the Vytaal Tournament and made a few upgrades to your weapons, we're sure you'll love them," Pietro said with a warm smile.
"All of them?" Nova asked surprised.
"Well, not entirely, we lacked the power to manipulate that metal alloy yours is made off, and comparing it to the one at the festival, I realized it's a completely different beast, so our lab made some minor quality of life adjustments," he responded, addressing Nova.
The dragon sighed in relief, he worked hard to create the perfect weapon so any major adjustments would've thrown off his balance.
As Clover left and the scientists followed after, the team was left alone.
"Alright let's all go prepare ourselves, see what upgrades were…" Ruby started eagerly but was interrupted by Blake.
"Guys wait," she said halting them.
"What is it?" Oscar asked curiously.
Blake, Yang, and Hex looked at each other nervously before they nodded, "We have something to tell you."
Nora blanched, "Are you guys gonna tell us you're opening the relationship to a three-way?" she looked at Yang with a raised eyebrow. This made the girls turn bright red.
"NO!" they all said simultaneously.
Nova snorted, "Come on guys that can't be. We all know Blake has the hots for-MMPH!" he was silenced by a tendril of shadow coming up from behind him and covering his mouth.
"Pay no mind to him," Blake said with a dangerously sweet smile.
Hex just rubbed her temples, "Jokes aside, this is important."
They all silenced and began paying attention, "While we were at Argus, at the communications tower, do you remember us coming back beaten up?"
They nodded, "Yeah Yang looked like she was about to pass out from blood loss," Weiss pointed out, "What happened?"
"We… encountered Grimm…" Yang stated nervously.
Nitro hummed, "Normal Grimm wouldn't have done that… am I right?"
"Precisely, the Grimm we fought were… intelligent," Blake said worriedly.
"Intelligent? How so?" Nova asked, the shadows having receded.
"The Grimm had abilities like they could summon tiny Nevermore in swarms, and they knew how to fight, they were also bipedal and had… emotion."
"WHAT?!" Everyone exclaimed in surprise.
"I know it sounds crazy but… you know that feeling you get when you look at someone taunting you or angry at you, like you could feel the intent behind their gaze? It was like that…" Yang tried to explain.
"Are you sure you weren't just hallucinating in the moment? Adrenaline can do that sometimes," Ren asked trying to make sure.
Nova shook his head, "No, Yang's not like that, plus for all three of them to say that it means something. Think about it, ever since the Fall of Beacon, we've been encountering stranger Grimm. The Nuckleeave you guys fought, the Sphinx's and Manticores on the train, the big sword guy at the lake, and the Phantom? Even the Leviathan class Grimm at Argus? Sentient Bipedal Nevermores don't sound that far fetched…"
Ruby was silent for a bit before speaking up, "So what?"
Everyone looked at her slightly astonished, "Sis what?" Yang looked at her confused.
"So what if the Grimm are evolving? We just need to do what we always do best, and that's beat the bad guys. Just from now on we need to be ready for anything. Expect the unexpected, toss the text books out the window!" she spoke with confidence.
Nova smiled warmly. She made it sound so easy.
"Ruby's right, keep on your toes now more than ever when you're out in the field. Don't disregard your intuition and trust your instincts even if it isn't logical," Nova said. In truth, he was very worried, but he couldn't show them that. His team needed strong pillars of leadership, and if either he or Ruby faltered, it would lead to disaster.
-End Flashback-
As the dragon leader sat brooding over the information, thinking of all the possible scenarios they could encounter, he did not hear the happy tapping of footsteps approaching from behind.
"Hey tall, sexy and broody, what's got you down?" the chirpy voice of Ruby was heard startling Nova.
"WAH!" he jumped and fell off the couch, he rubbed his head and picked himself up. "Ruby you scared me… WOAH!" he gasped as he saw her.
Standing before him with a sunny smile was Ruby Rose, except there were glaring differences between the Ruby of two hours ago and now.
She wore her standard red hood, which always stayed, but her old clothes had been swapped red dress, with translucent top, that went up to her upper thigh, a white long-sleeved shirt underneath, and a black laced corset around her torso. Strapped around her waist was a brown belt with her rose sigil on it and black gloves and black leggings and boots that went up to her mid-thigh completed the look. The biggest difference of all was her hair.
Her hair was cut shorter, from the soft flowing locks that went to her shoulder, it was now up to her chin and instead of a smooth finish it was spikier and gave off a more wild and untamed look.
Nova felt the heat rising in his face as his heart began hammering against his rib-cage, his eyes wide open and mouth slightly agape.
Ruby blushed and looked down, tugging at her clothes, nervously rocking on her heels before looking back up at him, "How do I look…?"
Nova's brain that had been making dial-up noises suddenly reconnected to reality, "Y-You l-look… beautiful... in… a dangerous way…"
Ruby tilted her head, "Hm?"
"W-Well before you were really cute and very pretty but now it's like… you still have all of that, but you're radiating an aura of… sexy, and extremely hot…" Nova gushed, admiring her.
Ruby turned bright red and began to overheat, "W-Why'd you have to go and say that… no one's called me hot before…"
Nova regained his bravado and moved closer, pulling her toward him, "Well I'm glad I'm the first."
She smiled brightly, "Well how about you? I bet you would look great with a hair cut."
Nova reached up at touched his hair, it had grown to the length that it was around his shoulders now.
"Yeah I guess I could go for a trim…" he stated mildly, then realized what he'd just insinuated. "Oh god, no…"
"Oh god yes!" Ruby took him by the hand and burst out of the room and down the corridor, leaving a trail of petals behind.
An hour and a few loud screams of protest later, Nova was standing back in the common room with a new outfit and haircut.
His hair was now cut to his upper cheek and the usually wavy hair was now spiky around the sides and top, with his bangs, were also spiky with an extra-long piece hanging down the middle (Think Hajime Nagumo from Arifureta but a bit shorter) and strangely enough his orange streaks were still there despite a lot of the hair being cut.
His outfit was also changed. He now wore a white jacket with orange stripes running along the sleeves and on the back of it was his trademark symbol of a dragon curled with a flame. A black undershirt and studded black belt followed by black jeans and combat boots completed the look. His right sleeve had a draped robe-like cloth over it covering up to his hands, lined with fiery orange stitching. (A good comparison is Blade Master from Elsword, look it up for reference)
Standing side by side with Ruby they looked matching with her red, black, and white and his orange, white and black.
At that moment, Marrow of the Ace-Ops had walked into the common room, "Oh good, you're both here. We're wheels up in a few minutes, and here are these…" he extended his arms, each holding a new model Scroll.
Ruby and Nova took them gratefully, a normal person would be excited about such things but to them, these devices were just a means to an end… well… almost…
"Oh my gosh this thing is insane!" Ruby squealed as she checked the specs on hers, "I could run so many new games on this thing…" she was beginning to drool.
Nova chuckled, "Thank you uh… sorry I'm still learning names"
"Marrow," he responded casually, "I'm sorta in the same boat, but you two are easily identifiable. Speaking of which," he folded his arms and quirked his right eyebrow, "It's so weird that you two are always conveniently in the same place. I guess it's because you're both leaders right? You stick together?"
Ruby and Nova looked at each other, then back at him, then back to each other, and burst out laughing.
Marrow was confused, "Am I missing something?"
Nova silently looked at Ruby with an expression that read 'Should we tell him?'
She just waved her hand dismissively as she pocketed the scroll, 'Nah he'll figure it out,' she seemed to say.
-Meanwhile with Oscar-
The Pine boy sat in the ASHN room, looking tormented in thought. He'd been keeping Luna and Nitro company as they packed their necessities into Hex's patented storage cubes, but sitting in silence had left his mind to wander.
He still hadn't told them about the awakening of his true Aura. The team had agreed that Oscar would stay behind since he wasn't 'combat ready' by the Ace-Ops standards, and despite numerous protests from him and defences from his friends, Ironwood was not willing to take the chance of 'Ozpin's new incarnation' being killed when things were already complicated as they were.
"Ozpin's incarnation huh," Oscar muttered bitterly as he stared at the wall. The thought that people saw him as just that man's meat suit ignited a burning bitterness inside of him, somewhere between rage and disappointment, that despite his efforts, he was still just the boy that would be Ozpin.
"Are you angry about what Ironwood called you?" Luna asked as she walked over and sat on the bed with him.
"You heard that?" he asked surprised, he'd sworn it was barely above the sound of a whisper.
The blue-dragon tapped her ears, "Dragon hearing, sorry."
Oscar sighed, "I should be going with you, out there helping and doing my part. I'm not some fragile ornament that needs to be sheltered and protected. I can fight."
"And I fully agree with that, but at the same time, it's just one mission. Ironwood just doesn't know what you're capable of yet," she said nudging him on the shoulder playfully. "Imagine the look on his face when farmboy Oscar comes out and sucker punches an Ursa right in front of him?"
Oscar was drawn out from his anger and began to laugh, "That'd be a sight to see. Still… what am I even supposed to do while you guys are gone?"
Nitro who was silent for a while spoke up, "Worried about being bored man? If you want, I can hang back with you, we could go vibe in the training room or work out in the gym? Ironwood did say that he only needed a handful of us."
Suddenly an idea sprung into Luna's head, "No way, I should say behind, you know?" she made some strange gestures at Oscar to hint to her teammate that she wanted to be alone with him.
Nitro nodded but then realized something, "Nope, sorry kiddo, you're going to be needed on the field, bosses orders." The term boss referring to Nova.
Luna pouted, "Fuck why?!"
Nitro shrugged, "Something about needing your powers to load volatile dust out of the mines?"
Luna began swearing vehemently, "That piece of…. USING ME AS A GODDAMNED FORKLIFT?! Oh when I get my hands on him…" she began making air-choking gestures, imagining Nova's throat between her hands.
Nitro and Oscar shuddered, "Don't kill your only brother, mini-blue, besides, I always wanted to have someone on one bro time with the new blood," the Zephyr threw a thumb toward Oscar.
Oscar paled, "Why do I feel like this is going to involve a lot of inhuman physical feats?"
"Damn right we are," Nitro said proudly, as he pulled Oscar out of the room.
The dropships sailed across the Solitas tundra until they saw, amidst the ever-increasing expanse of white, was an outcropping of buildings and landing platforms, with the entrance to a mine.
"We're at the drop zone, you are clear for departure," the pilot called as the doors to the ships opened, allowing the teams to see they were a few hundred feet in the air.
Jaune was nervous, "Uh… aren't we gonna land?"
Elm just smiled and slapped him on the back, "Out yah go!"
"WAAAH!" Jaune screamed as he sailed through the air, only to eventually regain his composure and use his shield as a parachute and a landing brace.
Nora and Ren followed right after with Elm and Vine.
In a separate ship, Ruby eagerly jumped out of the ship, petal bursting to the ground in a flurry of red, followed by Weiss on a summoned Lancer, Yang breaking her fall with Ember Celia, and Blake gracefully doing several flips in the air before landing on her arms and legs… just like a cat.
"Impressive landing techniques," Marrow said as he jumped out of the plane, using his boomerang to help him land.
Harriet just rolled her eyes, "I didn't realize this was a competition," she zipped out of the plain and practically blinked onto the ground with her speed.
"I totally won that one," she said proudly as she stuck the landing like a pro.
"Yeah well, I think Schnee's was better," Marrow huffed.
In the last ship, Qrow, Clover, Nova, Luna, and Hex were observing the others.
"The kids have some skill," Clover pointed out as he watched them all drop.
Qrow chuckled lightly, "Yeah they're good, but I'm better."
"Care to put your money where your mouth is old man?" Nova asked folding his arms.
"Watch and learn kid," Qrow said before jumping out of the ship, backflipping twice and using Harbinger as a rotational blade to slow his fall.
Clover hummed in response, sprinting out of the ship and casting his rod such that the hook wrapped around one of the metal posts outside of the mine, allowing him to land easily.
"I thought we were the kids…" Hex said dryly as she followed suit, using Loki and Eres in their glaive form, spinning like a copter to break her fall as well.
Luna just jumped out and used her powers to pull herself to the earth, not caring who saw her. She was particularly moody since she couldn't stay behind with Oscar.
"Last one out I guess," Nova said as he unsheathed Helios, switched to scythe form, and aimed the scythe behind him. He jumped out of the ship and shot fire out of Helios' scythe head, rocketing him to the ground at a steady pace. He controlled the flame output so it looked more like he was shooting fire dust.
"Should you really be using fire dust for a landing?" Marrow asked as Nova landed in a spectacle.
Nova grinned, "Isn't this a dust mine?" it seems his charade was done well enough.
"But…"
"Stop wasting time, we need to clear this place out before the Grimm realize that we're here, though with your entrances I'd say this place has already woken up," Clover said, adopting the leader position.
"Qrow, you and I will take the upper half of the mine if that's good with you," he continued. "Harriet, Marrow, you guys take point with RWBY in the main entrance while Elm and Vine will go with the others around the back…"
Nova stepped up, "That's too many and we're not covering the west exit, Luna, Hex, and I will go through that end."
"But what if…" Marrow started to protest but Clover held up his hand.
"No his highness is right. Ironwood did say to trust your guys' skill, so if you say you can handle it I believe you."
Nova didn't react, he knew when he was being blatantly underestimated, "Come on, we got work to do," he said as he began walking off.
Luna blinked at the stiff tone of her brother, usually, he would react when someone addressed him by formalities.
Marrow snickered, "His highness, pfft, good one captain."
Clover's expression was stern, "I was being serious."
The wolf Faunus blinked rapidly, "Wait is he actually…?"
No explanation was given as Clover and Qrow walked off to the upper levels.
Harriet just shook her head in disbelief, "You really need to pay attention when we're given profiles, honestly…"
-With RWBY, Harriet and Marrow-
The team had passed through the main entrance of the mine, passing by fallen debris, broken mine shafts, and equipment. Cases of unused dust were strewn in various places as if they were abandoned in hurry. Bloodstains marked the floor, frozen over and preserved like eternal marks of the tragedy that took place.
"This place is… horrible…" Blake said, shuddering as she held up her weapon, tense and on edge. This place was among one of the various atrocities to be blamed, not on the Grimm, but on the Schnee Dust Company. Unstable mines, faulty equipment, and unsafe working conditions were all clear contributing factors to the state of this place.
Weiss felt the hair on the back of her neck prickle, she turned to see Blake casting a forlorn look at the ground, and instantly she knew, "Hey… for what it's worth, I'm sorry…" Weiss said solemnly.
Blake instantly lifted her gaze and became flustered, "Oh no this isn't your fault… you're not like them…"
"I am a Schnee, the name carries the burden. What my father's done is… inexcusable…" Weiss said bitterly, clenching her fists in anger around the hilt of Myrtenaster.
The team came upon a dead end, where there was supposed to be a passageway, now stood a collapsed wall of rubble.
"Oh great a dead-end, perfect…" Yang said dryly, placing her hands on her hips.
Blake walked up and inspected the wall, "I might be able to squeeze through here. It's hollow on the other side," she said, her Faunus vision giving her the ability to see in through the dark crevice in the rock.
"Alright, head through and see if you can find a way around the rubble, I could break through this but if we make too much noise we'd alert the whole place, and Grimm would be on us faster than we can blink," Harriet instructed, folding her arms.
Blake slipped through the cracks, skirting her way through the gap in the stone until she popped out on the other side. It was almost pitch black save for the illumination of various dust crystals that were wedged in the wall. A mine cart on a track stood in the room, it was piled high with dull rocks.
"What do you see?" Harriet radioed through Blake's earpiece.
The cat Faunus held up Gambol Shroud and steadily made her way through the darkness, "Nothing yet," she calmly answered, her voice sounding a loud echo despite her quiet tone.
As she spoke, she felt something shift in the darkness, a presence lurking just out of her vision, "It's all cl- AAH!" she screamed out as the white mask of a one-eyed spectral Grimm appeared in front of her face, knocking her back. Gunshots were fired off at the Geist but they all phased through its body.
Harriet upon hearing the shots on the other side felt her brow twitch, "So much for subtlety… MOVE OUTTA THE WAY!" she yelled to them as she ran up to the wall at full speed and punched it hard with her plated knuckles, breaking down the barrier of rocks and creating a resounding cacophony.
They saw Blake engaging in combat with the Geist as it zipped through the air, landing on a large blue Dust crystal.
"Geist can't inhabit Dust right…?" Ruby asked nervously.
They didn't need to answer her as instantly the Dust crystal began to vibrate and shake as nearby pieces magnetized like floating limbs toward it, creating a giant crystal golem with a Geist mask, it was around ten feet tall, standing just barely under the limits of the mine shaft roof.
"Oh fuck…"
The creature barrelled into them swinging wildly trying to knock them away, but the team was too nimble, even Harriet was impressed by their reflexes. Not one of them got even close to being scratched despite the close quarters.
Upon seeing their speed, the creature made a move to run, it realized it was outmatched.
"AFTER IT!" Weiss cried as they ran down, the passage, but the creature used its body as momentum to propel it forward. They would've caught up had the Geist not let out a massive screech, thundering through the cavern.
"What was that?!" Marrow yelled as he covered his ears.
Suddenly the ground below them began to rumble, and out of the walls and floors, giant centipede-like Grimm sprouted, their pincer-like maws spinning like drills to break through the surface.
"Fucking Centinels, not these things again…" Ruby said almost annoyed as she remembered their first encounter with them back at the snowy North Coast of Vale.
"Weren't these the things that tore your thermal suit back then?" Weiss asked curiously.
Yang snickered, "I don't know I'd be thanking them. Wasn't it because of them that you got to snuggle in the buff with…"
Ruby turned beet red, "WE WERE NOT NAKED!"
"Shut up and be ready, here they come," Harriet said annoyed at the teens' lack of professionalism.
Three of them lunged at Ruby who made quick work of them, dicing the monsters to pieces as she zipped around them, swinging her scythe like a blender.
Marrow whistled with admiration, "These kids are brutal," he commented, watching Yang punch one so hard that it crashed into three more and explode.
Weiss had frozen her own set solid while Blake had also finished up hers.
Two wrapped themselves around each other and spiraled toward Marrow with the intent of drilling right through him. He just calmly looked at it, snapped his fingers, and said, "Stay."
The creatures instantly froze as if their time had been stopped, after which he casually took his bladed boomerang and cleaved their heads off.
"Cool move, was that your semblance?" Weiss asked him.
He nodded, "Yeap, pretty handy if I do say so myself."
"We can discuss this later, or have you all forgotten the mission? We need to hunt that thing." Harriet said pointing to the empty corridor where the Geist should be. "SHIT! It headed in the direction of Clover, I'll let him know…"
-With Qrow and Clover-
The two adults walked calmly through the blue-frosted mineshafts of the above layers. Qrow was pensive and on edge, glancing back and forth in all directions as if expecting something to pop out at any moment, while Clover was calmly strutting without a care in the world.
They were like polar opposites.
"You're so tense, well I guess you have made it as a huntsman for so long…" Clover said glancing back at his accomplice.
Qrow sighed, "Sorry I… I'm still not used to working with other people. I usually just do things on my own."
"On your own? Surely you must've been with a team…"
"I was… but that was a long time ago…" Qrow muttered.
At that moment Clover received a message from Harriet, he activated his earpiece and heard her voice coming through the network, "Clover! We found the target but it got away. Last seen heading in your- *CRASH*"
The Geist golem had come crashing down the mineshaft, breaking parts of the ceiling with its size as it barrelled toward them.
"Yeah, we found it!" Clover yelled back before closing off the communications.
Qrow was on it in an instant, Harbinger gleaming through the air as it slammed into the hard crystal surface only to bounce off harmlessly, "Shit this thing's tough!"
Clover swung his fishing pole and grappled the creature, trying to restrain it. Just then Qrow noticed a rock lodged in the support beam of the mineshaft above Clover's head.
"WAIT LOOK OUT!" Qrow yelled reaching forward. Clover halted his actions and spun around just in time for the beam to come loose and crash onto the monster, the weight of the ceiling bearing down broke through the floor and sent int spiraling into the depths of the mine.
Clover brushed himself off and whistled, "Thanks for the heads up, any later and I'd be a pancake."
Qrow grimaced, "Don't thank me. My semblance… it brings misfortune. I can't keep it under control sometimes…"
Clover hummed with interest, "Really, well then I guess you're in luck."
"Why's that?"
"Because…" Clover said as he spotted the offending support beam, he hooked the rod around it and dragged down more of the wall creating a safe passage to the depths of the mine, "My semblance is good fortune," he winked before jumping down.
Qrow had to catch his breath for a moment before smiling, "I hope so."
-With ASH-
Luna was pouting heavily as she walked a pace behind her older brother, Nova broke the atmosphere, "Alright I'll bite. What's got your knickers in a twist now little sis?"
The blue-dragon eyed the orange, "Well if someone didn't need a glorified forklift for the mission…"
Nova snorted as a light chuckle escaped his mouth, "That's one way to put yourself, though something tells me that you're mad for another reason…" he turned back and studied her face carefully, "AH! You're pissed because Nitro got to stay back with Oscar and not you!"
Luna instantly turned beet red, "W-W-WHAT?! W-Why would I be jealous of that?"
Hex smirked, "He didn't say jealous…"
"Fuck…" the small girl cursed, "How did you know?"
Nova smiled warmly, "My dear sister, I've practically raised you on my own. I know exactly when my baby sister is crushing on a boy. Besides I was like you once."
"Was?" Hex looked at him dryly.
Nova laughed nervously, "Okay still am but you get the idea…"
Luna nervously poked her fingers together, "You're not going to tell him are you?"
The older sibling just chuckled, and ruffled her hair, " 'Course not, I don't intend to get in the way of you two. Oscar's a good kid, he has a few things that need to be polished up, but he seems like a reliable person. Still, I do need to have a 'chat' with him if things actually do happen between you two…"
Luna blinked rapidly at Nova's words, "Wait, you think something might happen between us? You think I have a chance?"
Hex almost choked on air, "Sweetheart, if anything he's lucky enough that you're the one crushing on him! If you weren't part of this team, you'd be way out of his league."
Sapphire frowned at her words. Was it really so hard to imagine? Nova's previous statement came back to her, "Do you think he has feelings for me? You've spent some time with him…" she pointed out.
If Nova was honest, he spent very little time with Oscar, in fact, the only one who spent real time hanging out with him was Luna herself, but at least he was able to pick up that Oscar was indeed crushing on his sister. "Not my place to say, just don't do anything to blow things out of proportion until the time is right. Timing is everything when it comes to a confession."
Luna turned the colour of Nova's left eye, "C-C-Confession?!" they swore they saw steam coming out of her ears.
Just then the cavern shook heavily, as if an earthquake was happening, "What's going on?!" he radioed Ruby.
"The Grimm got away; it's headed to the lower depths. Where are you guys now?" she asked.
He took a quick glance around the seemingly endless copy and pasted scenery, to see the subtle hint of a downward slope, "On our way to the lower edges, we'll see if we can cut it off if we find it," he radioed back before ending the communication.
He turned back to his team and they all nodded with understanding, breaking off into a break-neck run.
The corridors twisted and wound but were surprisingly linear, as they entered from the narrow corridors into a vast open space. The ceiling was massive, climbing more than fifty feet into the air, various levels and tunnels lined the walls like a hub of activity, with minecarts and dust deposits everywhere.
As they entered the room, RWBY, JNR, Qrow, Clover, and the rest of the Ace-Ops also emerged from their respective tunnels. It seemed that all the entrances were interconnected by this central room.
"Where's the Geist?" Harriet shouted from across the room.
"No idea, we just got here!" Nova called back.
The atmosphere was tense as the team began to search everything, looking for the pile of crystal most likely to be the golem.
The Geist saw an opportunity, while they were distracted. It removed itself from the crystal it was on and attached to a much larger, wider crystal.
The room began to tremble as Dust of all shapes and sizes began to magnetize to a massive chunk of Dust, more than thirty feet high, its arms large pillars of crystal, and on its face was the tiny mask of the Grimm.
"HOLY SHIT!" Marrow yelled out as the titan reared itself, its massive figure imposing upon the team.
Weiss squinted at the creature before a look of surprise took over her features, "Is that what I think it is?!" she pointed at the center of the golem's chest. A large glowing Dust crystal, jagged like a gem outcropping and glowing vibrant as living metal. "Supercharged Quartz?"
"Super-whatnow?" Ruby asked tilting her head.
"That Dust crystal is loaded with enough energy to power all of Atlas for months!"
Clover nodded, "Alright, new objective! Secure that crystal!"
The Ace-Ops sprang into action, Vine's glowing yellow arms stretching out like taffy, wrapping around the creature's massive arms and holding it down. Harriet used her speed to generate momentum before zipping toward its legs and crushing the crystals with the force of her fists.
The racket had drawn in the rest of the sleeping Grimm, as more centipede Grimm came drilling through the ceiling followed by Beowolves approaching from some of the unused tunnels.
Marrow and Clover took to the defence, Marrow's boomerang sailing through the air effortlessly cutting down the centipedes while Clover roped together a few Beowolves and Qrow stabbed them with one blow.
When the coast was clear, Elm jumped off the upper edge where she and JNR had been standing, her fist crashing hard into the Golem's head, knocking it over.
As they were about to smash the mask and retrieve the core, the supercharged dust emitted a radiation wave that shocked Elm, throwing her off. Vine instantly disengaged and the golem's body began to reform. The smashed crystals sealing back together and the damage being repaired.
"Okay… so it's not going to be that easy…" Clover said dryly.
A loud cry echoed from the creature again, this time it was deeper, resonating through the cavern, the walls hummed from the echoing screech. All the Faunus covered their ears and crumpled to the floor in pain, "FUCK WHAT IS THAT?!" Marrow complained as he curled up on the floor, his canine hearing more sensitive than the dragons or the cat.
When the humming stopped, they were able to breathe a sigh of relief, their ears still ringing with white noise.
"Prepare for more incoming Grimm…" Nova said as he shook himself off, drawing Helios in sword form and holding the blade out, ready to strike.
There was a creeping feeling, the moments seemed to slow down as every member of the team could feel a dark, sinister presence, crawling its way toward them with murderous intent.
The Geist's call for help had awoken something in the depths, a creature of pure shadow… or creatures.
The white masks were the first to be seen, coming out of the dark tunnels on the lower floor, they were canine in shape, with three eyes on each side of the head, four long fangs draped down the side of the jaws two each on the upper and lower jaw on both halves of the mouths. Large pointed horns sprouted from the top of their heads.
Three creatures, each larger than an Ursa, thundered out from the black depths. Their bodies were covered in thick black hair, crawling on their apparently six limbs, a thick mane of flowing locks flowed from behind their head.
"Oh these guys don't look that bad…" Nova said wiping the sweat from his brow.
Then they stood up, on their hind legs, revealing their extremely muscular build, broad chests, and their four arms reared up menacingly.
"You just had to say it didn't you…" Luna said with an irritated expression.
"I've never seen this type of Grimm before…" Harriet said looking straight at them.
Clover looked between the now four Grimm and the party, "Students from Beacon, can you handle the big guy if we take out the back up?"
At that moment, Nova and Ruby's eyes met simultaneously. A plan formed in their silent communication. The red leader turned back and looked at Clover, "Just keep them off our backs!"
"Ruby, we can hold it, you use your semblance and grab the core, once it's safe we'll let loose." He said firmly.
The red leader turned to her team, "Alright guys, it's time to show them how team ASHNRWBYJNR works, right Jaune?!" she called up at the blonde boy who looked perplexed but threw his fist to the air awkwardly.
Hex wasted no time, chaining together her blades and wrapping them around the right leg of the creature, anchoring Loki to the wall.
Weiss moved in with a swift frost, freezing the left leg solid. Blake used her ribbon to grab Ruby and throw her toward the upper ledge toward Jaune.
As she sailed through the air, Blake summoned her shadows, the tendrils erupting from the floor like the spawn of an eldritch horror, wrapping themselves around the creature's hands and restraining it.
Meanwhile, the Ace-Ops and Qrow had their hands full dealing with the new Grimm.
The beasts lowered onto all six limbs and erupted into a stampede, the ice on the floor cracking with the immense force each step exerted.
To the average huntsman, this would've scared them, but the Ace-Ops were no strangers to dealing with large beasts.
Vine out-stretched his hands creating a rubbery slingshot, Elm used this to launch herself at the middle beast, tackling it into the icy wall behind, Vine following suit.
Marrow used his semblance, "Stop!" he said toward the remaining two. For a brief moment, they paused, giving the team the impression it would be easy, but the effect instantly wore off and their speed resumed.
"WHAT?!" he exclaimed, drawing his boomerang, "This has never happened before…"
Harriet picked up for his lapse by zipping headfirst into the creature and grabbing hold of its horns, using her momentum to try and flip it onto its back but the creature proved to be way too heavy for her.
The remaining beast was hooked by Clover and wrangled toward them.
With its enormous strength, the creature facing Clover reared onto its hind legs again and threw Clover as if he was a rock on a string. Qrow switched Harbinger to its scythe mode and aimed at the monster's head but he forgot to take into account its four arms. He avoided two only to be smashed in the rib cage by the other fists.
On the other end, Harriet was trying to distract it by running around in circles, while Marrow made surprise attacks with his blade. It was working but the creature's muscles were too dense to make any decent damage.
Elm and Vine were the only ones successful, Vine had managed to restrain the creature to the floor while Elm rapidly beat into its abdomen with her hammer.
Ruby had now reached Jaune who raised his shield and let her land on it, while ren had begun shooting the creature as a distraction along with Nova.
The reaper launched off the shield and flew high into the air, "NORA NOW!" Nova yelled, causing the Valkyrie to rear Mjolnir, launch off Jaune's shield toward Ruby and let the red leader land on the flat of the hammer.
"HERE WE GO!" She swung hard, with all her might, propelling Ruby through the air, the reaper then activated her semblance, and instead of a red blur, it was almost too fast to see to the naked eye as Ruby swooped by and grabbed the crystal, landing in a heap on the floor, her aura taking a massive hit from the impact.
Through the dust and smoke, she raised a thumbs up, signaling she was ok.
"I don't know how much longer I can hold!" Blake and Hex said simultaneously.
"No need, Luna? Yang? Let 'er rip!" Nova ordered.
Yang smirked, "You didn't even have to ask!" the brawler launched herself into the air along with the blue dragon. A condensed yellow aura forming around her fists signifying she was using concentrated offensive Aura. The fist collided at the same time as Luna's Galaxia, the result was an explosive display of power that completely obliterated the titan.
The Ace-Ops who had been struggling with their Grimm finally managed to defeat them through resilience and strength, just in time to see the spectacle of power.
"Woah…" Marrow said impressed. "I knew these guys were good but…"
Harried clicked her tongue, "Meh we could do better…"
Elm smiled as she walked up to the group, "That was some powerful fighting! Very impressive for amateurs."
Vine was less happy, "Yes well, they failed to hold back and a great deal of the dust we were supposed to get is now blown to smithereens…"
Elm laughed heartily, "It is all good in the long run no?"
Clover folded his arms, "That was good work, if a little excessive, but the job's not done. We need to pack up whatever's left and get it to the cargo ships."
Nova had bypassed all of them and ran over to where Ruby was sitting in a heap of rubble, clutching tightly to the supercharged crystal. He gently leaned down and helped her up by the hand, "Are you alright?"
She dusted herself off with her free hand, "I've been through worse," she said coughing a little from the smoke.
The fire dragon just chuckled at her expression, the reaper was grinning brightly with a soot-covered face and black marks on her cheeks. He licked his thumb and began to rub away some of the dirt, "That was some intense speed," he commented.
She giddily jumped up and down, "I know right?! The fastest I've ever gone! Do you think we could go even faster with your powers? Like jet boosters?!"
Nova grimaced, "Any faster and you'd be breaching the laws of physics, my love…"
Ruby tried to wave her hand dismissively but she almost dropped the core, Nova quickly reached down to catch it, as he and Ruby grabbed the dust simultaneously.
"Getting a little off-balance there? Want me to carry you?" Nova teased.
Ruby smirked, "Actually…" she then called to Clover, "Hey catch!" she threw the crystal into the group who weren't paying attention.
"Oh shit…" she realized when no one looked her way. Just then Clover was expressing something and raised his right hand only for the crystal to end up in it, nestled safely in his palm. "Well, that was lucky…"
Clover looked over with the rest of the team and nodded, "Thank you, leaders, you guys were really impressive."
"Told you," Qrow said with a smug grin.
Ruby just beamed, "We're just happy to help, right?" she nudged Nova who just smiled back awkwardly.
As they all began loading dust, ruby had successfully climbed onto Nova's back and was now being carried piggyback style, her head nestled on his right shoulder, "This is so much better than walking!"
"You know you're only getting this because you did a good job," Nova joked.
She giggled and kissed him on the cheek, "Oh stop complaining, I think we're both enjoying this~" she said with a suggestive tone as Nova's grip tightened around her legs, causing him to blush furiously.
Off to the side Marrow was observing them, "Huh those two are really close for friends…"
Harriet shot him a look of 'Are you really that dumb?'
"What?"
"Uh… do you not see the clear signs that those two are clearly together?"
"Together? Like Friends or together-together?" he was still confused.
Harriet facepalmed, grabbed his head, and forced him to look at the sickeningly sweet couple, "Look really closely…"
He squinted his eyes at them, "Nope… still don't get it."
Harriet just groaned with exasperation, "That's it! I'm done! You're fucking impossible!"
The team managed to bring their haul out of the mine with the help of Luna's powers, played off as her semblance. ASHNRWBYJNR weren't prepared to explain the Aspects of Remnant to the Ace-Ops, and by the looks of things, Ironwood didn't know enough information to tell them either.
It was strange, no matter how Nova thought about it. Ironwood never asked them about their powers, he assumed the man knew enough considering his relationship to Ozpin and apparently Bortz Obsidian Flareheart, but the man seemed purely focused on the relics and the Maidens.
He assumed it was probably due to the humans knowing little of what the Fragments of Remnant actually do, or how they fit into the puzzle of the world. Ironwood was fixated on Ozpin and his effect on the world, his primary enemy was Salem. The problem with Onyx seemed to just fly over his head.
The mention of his name led Nova down another spiral of thoughts. What was Onyx doing now? What were his plans? The White Fang had become unusually quiet ever since their fall at Haven, and with Adam, Ilya and Bell raising hell across Mistral to eradicate them, one would expect to see at least some evidence of retaliation from the commander, but there was nothing.
It was as if the man had completely abandoned them and gone dark. His lack of presence might've been calming had Nova not known him the way he did. If that person went quiet, it meant something was brewing beneath the surface of their problems, something nightmarish and terrible, and with the threat of evolving Grimm and unstable relationships between Atlas and Mantle and the rest of the kingdoms… he wasn't sure how they could handle it all…
Ruby seemed to sense his distressing thoughts and nuzzled his cheek, whispering, "Hey… we'll get through this…"
"I hope so…" he muttered, leaning back against her.
They were outside now, waiting for the ships to arrive for transport, the large hoard of crystals being dragged behind them by the tiny dragon.
"Want any help with that?" Marrow asked Luna hesitantly.
The girl shot him an amused look, "Sure! Here you can carry this…" she chirped happily, picking up a large dust crystal from the pile that seemed to make up the vast majority of its volume. It was twice the size of her body and she dropped it in Marrow's waiting arms.
"OOF!" he yelled out as the incredible weight threw him off balance and sunk him face-first into the snow.
"Are you alright?" Elm asked walking over and hoisting the crystal.
Marrow just raised his arm from the deep snow crater, "I'm… okay…" he wheezed.
"You guys seem like really good friends," Ruby said, getting off from Nova's back and using his right arm as a support.
Elm laughed at looked at her, "Friends? This isn't the schoolyard kid."
Ruby's face was crest-fallen, "Huh? But… when you go through so much together…"
"Surely life and death would make you closer comrades?" Yang asked stepping up.
Harriet turned back to them, "We get along well enough, I trust them to watch my back and keep me alive, but at the end of the day it's all a job. Personal life and jobs don't mix."
Ruby's dejected look broke Nova's heart a little, and he felt he needed to step up when she was too nice of a person to tell them off, "Yeah well, when you spend your entire day, every day, sharing the same space as someone, saving their lives and having them save yours, eating and living together for years, you become more than just teammates," the other members of his team came up behind him, each smiling warmly, "You tend to form bonds stronger than steel."
The Ace-Ops had all collectively stopped and stared at the group backing Nova and Ruby, but only for a split second before continuing on as if they didn't pay heed. Harriet shrugged, "Well if that's how you view it, but we prefer to keep things professional." She said that last word with a bit of spite and a hint of jealousy. The one thought burning in the back of the Ace-Ops' mind in that moment was that 'They really do look like a family' and 'I want what they have'.
The cargo ships descended with Ironwood stepping out of a bullhead, the bags under his eyes were alleviated and he had regained some of his colour.
"I see you're all successful… and in one piece! No hiccups I hope?" He asked Clover and Qrow.
Clover saluted while Qrow just stuck his hands in his pockets and smiled, "Nah, those Ace-Ops of yours are good enough to handle brand new Grimm with ease."
The leader of the Ace-Ops dropped his salute and turned to Qrow with a grin, "Don't sell yourselves short. Those kids of yours were incredible and talented to boot. If they weren't so juvenile I'd have thought them to be experienced Huntsmen."
Ironwood smile faltered, "New Grimm?"
Qrow nodded, "Some four-armed, muscle beasts. Never seen 'em before, but we can only assume we know where they came from and what their appearance means…"
Ironwood's expression was the definition displeased, "Salem…"
Nova left Ruby to hang with her sister while he approached Ironwood, glancing back and forth between him and Clover, "James, may I speak with you, privately?"
Clover, Qrow and Ironwood all looked startled but the General coughed into his fist, "Uh… sure? What is so sensitive that it can't be said here?"
Nova realized what Ironwood was trying to do. He was challenging Nova by deliberately saying that he was hiding something.
The dragon leader just held a sly smile, 'This guy…' he thought. "No nothing crazy just, it's a… personal request… from me and Ruby… if you catch my meaning."
Clover blinked rapidly, slowly grasping the situation, "Ah, of course, I wouldn't want to step onto personal affairs… it's none of my business…" he walked away.
Once he was out of earshot Nova turned back to the general.
"Mr. Flareheart, while I would consider any personal requests…"
"This isn't actually about that."
"Then what is this about, really," James asked.
"I need to know," Nova glared at him, "Do the Ace-Ops know about the Aspects of Remnant?"
Ironwood inhaled sharply, hesitating a moment, "I… have not said anything… with the world being caught up with Salem and the Grimm…"
"What do they know about Onyx and the White Fang? Are you even concerned about them? What about the Fragments of Remnant?"
"Now's not really the place or time to…"
"Answer me, James," Nova said with a stern, commanding voice that somehow managed to shake the experienced General to his core.
"I have… not made any plans regarding the Fragments. There is so little known about them, we don't know where the remaining ones are, or how your kind ties into the equation. I have made arrangements concerning that Onyx, as he is one of Salem's subordinates and quite dangerous, naturally, I have taken him into account but... the Aspects are… almost unrelated to the relics and Salem." Ironwood explained.
Qrow's eyes went wide, "James you can't be serious...! Ozpin explained it to us, he said that the Aspects were the key to the balance between the natural world and ours… we…"
Nova let a bit of heat radiate over his forearm so in proximity to Qorw, the older man could feel the burning and understand when to shut up. Qrow held his tongue quickly. He almost told Ironwood about what they learnt from Jinn.
Before Ironwood could ask what Qrow was about to say, he got a call on his earpiece, "What…?! Right now?" there was a pause before he sighed, "Let him land."
Less than a minute later, a large luxury airship with the SDC symbol pained in brazen crests along its side and door landed on the platform in front of them.
The sounds of angry shouting could be heard long before the platform door had landed, "First you cripple my business with that bloody embargo of yours!" Jacques Schnee had come barging out of the ship, his face almost red with fury, "Now you think you can just walk out onto private property and do as you please?! Just wait 'til the council hears about this!"
"The council already knows, and since this place is now the site of a classified military operation… there was no need to call a vote."
"What?!"
"You should brush up on your council laws before you lose the next election, Jacques," Ironwood stated with a hint of cockiness in his voice, a bravado the team hadn't seen since Beacon, traces of the old Ironwood.
Jacques' eyes fell on Weiss who was glaring daggers into him from behind Ironwood. She was standing with her team.
"YOU! How long has she been back in Atlas? You've been keeping her from me? How dare you…!"
Weiss looked like she was about to blow a gasket, "It was my decision not to contact you, to join up with Ironwood, just like it was my decision to leave!"
Jacques' face scrunched up in anger, "HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO ME THAT WAY! I will remember this! I never forget, unlike you who seems to have forgotten what type of man your father is!"
Weiss huffed and turned her head, "I know exactly the type of person you are. The type of person you are is exactly why Winter and I left!"
Jacques looked unbelievably furious and he began glaring at the teens, "AND YOU! So you're the reason my daughter abandoned me?! These friends of yours are nothing but worthless…!"
All members of ASHNRWBYJNR who were present joined up behind her, Nova and Ruby roped an arm around Weiss' shoulders while Luna held her at her waist. Weiss' heart swelled with pride and her heart burst with warmth. "Not friends. Family." She said wrapping her arms around Ruby and Nova.
Jacques felt the bitterness rise in his throat, laying heavily on his tongue like rotten food. He could tell in his daughter's eyes that she wanted nothing to do with him or the Schnee family ever again. Then something caught his eyes, the distinct look of the people before him, "Wait a minute… I know you…"
Ruby grimaced and Nova smirked, "Well you should… considering… you know what? I'll let you figure that out on your own, Jacques." The dragon leader deliberately held the tone which wasn't usually like him, just to anger the Schnee.
Jacques knew he was being looked down on and grew extremely angry, which was surprising, "WHY YOU LITTLE!"
"Jacques, know your restraint. This doesn't look good on you if the head of the SDC loses his cool here…" Ironwood threatened.
The man took a deep breath and huffed, "You will regret this James…" and walked back to his ship taking off.
-Back at Atlas-
Oscar and Nitro were in Atlas Academy's state of the art training room. The two boys were currently simulating holograms of various Grimm while Nitro trained Oscar on the nuances of dealing with the various types.
"Have you unlocked your semblance yet?" Nitro asked Oscar as he watched the young boy grab hold of a simulated Beowolf by the mane and toss it like a rock using his momentum and aura to amplify his strength. It was a tactic taught by Nova and Yang while they trained at Mistral, but he could never truly grasp the power until he had unlocked his own true aura, not piggy-backing off of Ozpin's.
Oscar wiped the sweat from his brow, he'd forgone the standard green coat he always wore for just cargo shorts and being shirtless otherwise. According to Nitro 'enhanced' the training experience.
"Not yet, though... I haven't told the others yet but I've at least learned to use my aura properly," he said clenching his fists, glowing neon green light washed over them as he did.
Nitro whistled, "I've noticed you using it the way Yang taught us, focusing the energy on one particular action at a time.
"It was a bit hard before but... sometimes it's do or die..." he replied, remembering the kidnapping incident at Argus.
The red-head nodded, "Nova told me about that... gotta say I'm impressed you had the guts to do it kid. It takes a lot of courage and will to do what you did."
"Can we not talk about that right now?"
Nitro hummed, "Well there was something I wanted to talk about..."
Oscar felt a chill go down his spine, "I'm afraid to ask..."
"Luna Saphire Flareheart. My honorary little sister and the very real sibling of the scariest man on our team. Out of all the people you could've fallen in love with, it had to be her? Can't say I'm surprised though. If you weren't so short, I'd have fallen for you to," Nitro said teasingly as ne jabbed Oscar in the abs, which were coming in full swing surprisingly.
Oscar turned bright red, "H-H-How...?!"
"Kid, it's not that hard to see it. It's almost as painfully obvious as when Nova and Ruby were realizing they had feelings for each other. Of course everyone else knew except for them so... obliviousness seems to be following you..." he said the last part very softly so Oscar didn't clearly hear.
"What was that last part?"
"Nothing!" he quickly piped up, "Would you like advice? I might not know how the female mind works, nor do I care to, but I do know how she works."
The younger boy fumbled, "Y-You don't have to..."
"You're right. I mean you seem to be doing a great job on your own," Nitro pointed out, remembering the Berry Festival.
Oscar shrugged, "I want things to happen naturally, I don't wanna rush anything."
The Zephyr boy nodded, "Understandable. Just, be sure not to wait too long. In our line of work, you never know what could happen."
Oscar's face grew grim and Nitro instantly regretted his words, "Not that I expect anything to happen just... one day you might not get the chance to say how you really feel."
"T-Thanks... I'll keep that in mind..." Oscar said mumbling.
Their talk was interrupted when the loud sound of "HELLLLOOOOO!" bellowed from across the training room.
In the direction of the sound were Ragnar and Krome approaching from the other end of the area, they were wearing their junior Ace-Ops uniforms, Ragnar had a couple of water bottles and towels, most likely they were here to train as well.
Now that they weren't in a formal scenario, Krome could see just how much Nitro had changed since the last time they saw each other. Sure he looked roughly the same but, their was an air about him that exuded maturity as if he was a changed person, a rugged, survivalist time of aura that was just begging him to explore more. They were playful flirts before but he doubted anything serious could've happed, back then at least. Now... he wasn't so sure he wanted just to be playful flirts.
Krome was never the shy type, so he did what he always did, and that was express himself, "Hey speedy, you look good~" 'Shit was that the best I can do?' he thought.
Nitro smiled warmly as if greeting a comrade in arms, a year ago he might've fallen prey to Krome's flirting but he had more things weighing on his mind other than love right now, " 'Sup birdman, what brings you two to the court," he asked as if it wasn't already obvious.
"Daily workouts, gotta stay in shape even during our off time," Ragnar said shrugging.
"The Ace-Ops don't let you guys go out on missions?" Oscar asked curiously. He was pretty sure they would've at least been a backup team.
The macaw Faunus waved his right and dismissively, "Nah, according to them, we're not ready for field practice yet, at least until they can get us to synergize with them."
Nitro was confused, "Wait but they let our team go so why not you guys?"
"You gotta understand it from their view. Your guys' team can operate on their own. If the two of us go out on the field, we can't synergize as just a duo, not enough arms to go around. We need to sync with their tactics or else we might disrupt the flow of combat" Ragnar explained, calculating as always.
"I still think they're underestimating you. I don't know much about them, but back at Beacon you guys were amazing, and if you've grown stronger from then, there's no way you'd get in their way," Nitro said looking at them with admiration.
Krome felt the heat rising in his cheeks from his words. The speedster's eyes had held pure admiration and confidence that Krome was sure he believed them capable of anything. That's just the type of man that Nitro was... and Krome was beginning to regret openly flirting like that in the beginning. Now it would make it even harder for him to get Nitro to like him.
Ragnar saw the look in his partner's eyes and sighed. Krome was a flirt, but when someone threw genuine words at him, his stature would crumble like a poorly baked cookie. He wasn't about to get involved in that, what his partner did was his business, even if they were like brothers and looked out for each other... they were practically adults and needed to start living their own way.
Not much got done, I know but it's all I could get out with my tight schedule. The time I was writing this I feel guilty because I wasn't working on my projects. I won't be active again until after the 21st of December so I'll fade away into the shadows until then.
