Chp. 22: Atlas Campaign
Atlas Academy, Atlas
Training Room
In the Atlas Academy training room, Weiss held Myrtenaster at the ready as Winter watched her from behind. She was now back wearing her original Volume 4 attire. She steps back, twirls, a stream of blue-white light coming from the tip of her sword. On the close of her twirl, Weiss holds it aloft before striking the tip to the floor. A Summoning glyph appears as it glows brightly and spins fast. As the glyph spins faster, something emerges out of it. A medieval suit of armor with clawed finger tips and pointed protrusions on its helmet, fingers and knees. It is also holding a large sword. It stands at least twice as tall as Weiss. She has successfully summoned an Arma Gigas. Weiss smiles as the Arma Gigas goes down to one knee and bows at her.
"Your summoning is starting to improve," Winter said. "Though your form is a little sloppy."
"I know," Weiss sighed, as the Arma Gigas shatters and disappears.
"Still upset about last night?" Winter asked.
"I've been trying to get it out of my head. It felt good to stand up to Father," Weiss said.
"And by cussing him and our brother out as well?" the elder Schnee asked.
"Although I've never done that before, I felt no regret doing that to Father," Weiss said. "Whitley however, although he's hard to deal with, he is in the same boat as the rest of us, even if he doesn't see it that way."
"You've said what you wanted to say, even if some of it was a bit colorful," Winter said.
"I'm glad I got friends who stick up for me," Weiss said.
"Especially that boy who slammed Father to the floor," Winter said with a smirk.
"Ricky is the type of person that looks out for everyone he cares about," Weiss said.
"I can see that," Winter said. "You've made good friends, Weiss."
Weiss walks up to her sister and hugs her. Winter was caught off guard by this and a moment later returns the hug. They both stopped hugging and looked at each other.
"By the way, where is Ricky?" Weiss asked.
"He's touring around Mantle with Neo," Winter answered. "Why do you ask?"
"Just curious," Weiss said.
"Are you sure about that? I bet you miss him," Winter said with a smirk.
"Winter!" Weiss said with a blush.
"I'm joking," Winter said with a smile.
Mantle, Atlas
Meanwhile down in the city of Mantle, Ricky and Neo are walking in the streets touring the industrial city under the floating city of Atlas. Ricky watches a couple of trucks pass by that were carrying a group of miners covered in black material, sitting in the beds. Ricky sighs as he looks down.
"Poor bastards. I don't know why they chose to put up with that S-O-B of the SDC," he said.
Neo shrugs in response to Ricky's words.
"This infuriates me. I'm glad Weiss chose to leave his hellhole. I would have capped his ass real easy," Ricky said.
Neo drags her thumb across her neck, making a slit throat motion as she pointed up at Atlas.
"No, Neo. We are not offing him. Even if he is a total asswipe," Ricky said. "Besides, if he does plan on doing something illegal, General Ironwood will know and the authorities will deal with him."
Neo rolled her eyes as she shook her head in disappointment.
"I know you're dying for some action, Neo, but maybe we'll find something in this dump somewhere," Ricky said.
"Yeah?" a drunken voice said.
Ricky and Neo turn to see a drunken man with a flask.
"You don't like it here? There's plenty of space out in the tundra," the drunk man said.
Ricky tries to speak, but the drunk man cuts him off.
"Atlas is the greatest Kingdom in the world, alright?!" he shouted.
"Okay... weirdo," Ricky said with a raised eyebrow.
Ricky and Neo walked away as the drunken man walked in the opposite direction, chugging on his flask. Suddenly, the sound of an alarm goes off followed by the sound of people screaming. The street lamps turned red as the screaming drew closer. Ricky and Neo then see a small group of people running from around the corner. A short moment later, they see a couple of AK-200s backing away as they were shooting at something. Suddenly, a Grimm rushes out of the corner and tackles one of the AK-200s and then claws at the other.
The Grimm is a large predatory cat resembling the now extinct genus of saber-toothed cat, Smilodon. They possess small bone plates on their shoulders and hips, ribs on their sides and spines coming from their backs. Their black skin appears to be somewhat frozen and has white patches, most likely due to the fact that they inhabit the cold tundras of Solitas. They also have bony tails. This Grimm is a Sabyr, or in Solitas, an Ice Sabyr.
Four more Ice Sabyrs came out of the corner and are chasing the running people. A mother carrying a little boy trips and falls on her side. An Ice Sabyr runs up to the mother and child. Ricky pulls out Slasher and shoots at the Grimm, killing it before it got to the mother and child. Ricky and Neo ran up in front of the mother and son.
"Get out of here! Now!" Ricky said.
The mother runs away with her son in her arms. Ricky transforms his shotgun into his machete and rushes at two Ice Sabyrs. He slashes at the first Ice Sabyr then stabs the other in its chest, killing them both. Two more Grimm rushed at Neo and shattered upon impact. The Grimm both looked around until jumps down from above with Hush drawn. She lands and thrusts her parocel into the Grimm. The second Ice Sabyr Rushes at Neo. She opens her parocel blocking its attack. She closes it then slashes at its torso. Several more Ice Sabyrs run out of the corner and charge at Ricky and Neo. Ricky looks down and sees a small rock.
"Time to put my semblance in action," Ricky thought.
He picks up the rock and focuses his aura into it as the rock begins to glow red. He throws it at the oncoming Grimm. The rock flashes a few times before exploding and killing five Grimm. Ricky picks up another rock and throws it into another Grimm's mouth. The Ice Sabyr explodes in front of Ricky as another Ice Sabyr tackles him. He uses his machete to keep the Grimm from biting down on him. Just before Neo could run in to help, a small arrow hits the Grimm in its head, as it then disappears. More arrows shot out of nowhere and struck every Grimm in sight, killing them. Neo came up to Ricky and helped him up. The alarms throughout the city stop and street lamps turned back to their normal color. Three people carrying crossbow staffs came out of hiding and walked up to them. Ricky then realized that they are the Happy Huntresses.
The first is a young woman with short messy swept styled white hair. She has sheep ears as her Faunus trait and olive eyes with a small hoop earring on her left ear and a small bell earring on her right ear. She wears an olive green sleeveless coat with dark brown lapels with the Happy Huntress' Brooch on the left lapel. She sports a green long-sleeved shirt with a white orange trimmed breastplate over it. She wears an orange belt around her waist holding her coat tightly around her waist. She also wears dark brown pants tucked into gray under the knee boots with the tops folded over revealing the white lining. The soles and toes of the boots are a darker gray. She also wears dark fingerless gloves accompanied by white and gray forearm armored pads with the left arm covering up to her upper arm whilst the right only partially covers her forearm. This is the most loyal to the Happy Huntresses, Fiona Thyme.
The second is a tall, tanned woman with masculine features with short dark green partially spiked hair, beige eyes and tattoos on her nose and forehead. She wears a cocoa brown coat with dark brown lapels and white trim and hem detail over a light beige long-sleeved top. She wears artichoke green and white armored pads with emerald green straps on her arms alongside brown gloves. She sports a pair of brown trousers tucked into black boots with emerald green cuffs. She also wears a light gray and pale green breastplate that sports the Happy Huntress' brooch emblem in the center. This is the stoic member of the Happy Huntresses, Joanna Greenleaf.
The third is a fair-skinned woman with medium blue hair, a long butt length ponytail wrapped in white bandage-like fabric, and yellow eyes. She wears a dusty brown coat with a small split in the rear, dark brown lapels with the Happy Huntress' brooch emblem on the right lapel over a gray waistcoat and dark brown top. She also wears dark brown shorts alongside matching forearm length gloves. She wears gray armor padding over her forearms and the backs of her hands. Alongside a pair of gray thigh socks and dark brown thigh-high boots and an orange scarf. This is direct transgender woman, May Marigold.
Ricky and Neo stared at the three women until a voice spoke to them from behind.
"You okay?"
They both turn around to see a young woman with tanned skin and violet eyes. Her light-blond hair is tied in a ponytail. She has a beauty mark under her right eye and another one on the left side under her mouth. She wore a black sleeveless coat with gray accents over a red double-breasted sleeveless vest, a brown high neck shirt, and a light gray short-sleeved shirt with one right short sleeve that has a black cuff whilst the other sleeve is longer. She also wears a brown belted waist clincher with matching brown pants tucked into black knee-high boots with dark brown cuffs. Around her neck she wears an olive green scarf with tattered looking tails hanging behind her. She also wears a pair of black archery styled gloves with the index finger missing on both of them. She wields her weapon, a crossbow, on her left arm. The crossbow can expand into a bird wing-like shield. This is the leader of the Happy Huntresses, Robyn Hill.
"Yeah. Thanks," Ricky said.
"No problem, Shotgun," Robyn said.
"Wait, isn't he one of those kids that helped defend Beacon and killed those White Fang soldiers at his initiation?" May asked.
"Wait, you're right. He is one of them. And he's with them. You know the militaries from off of Remnant," Fiona said.
"But what's he doing here?" Joanna asked.
"Just touring around," Ricky answered.
"Where are the rest of your friends?" Robyn asked
"They're all on different missions on the other kingdoms. I am here to look after Weiss since her father told her to come to Atlas, but we'll soon be leaving," Ricky answered.
Robyn rolled her eyes as she sighed.
"I really want to see him lock up," she said.
"We all do. Trust me" Ricky said as Neo nods. Although you should have been at the Schnee Manor last night."
"Why is that?" Robyn asked.
"I… slam Jacques to the floor," Ricky said with a sheepish smile.
There was a small pause before the four Happy Huntresses openly laughed out loud.
""You… you did… what?!" Joanna asked in between laughs.
"That is something I want to see," Fiona said.
"I'm starting to like this kid already," May said.
"General Ironwood has the whole thing on camera. I'm sure he'll let you watch it," Ricky said.
The Happy Huntresses all eventually stopped laughing and looked at Ricky once more.
"Anyway, Just be a little bit more careful next time," Robyn said.
The Happy Huntresses then scattered and ran in different directions. Ricky and Neo then started walking away.
"They all seem nice," Ricky said as Neo nodded.
"Why do I feel like something is about to happen to us?" he asked himself.
Suddenly, a pair of bolases wrapped around Ricky and locked into place with Gravity Dust as he fell to the ground. Before Neo could react, another pair of bolases wrapped around her and fell to the ground too.
"I knew I forgot about something," Ricky said.
Five people came out of hiding and approached Ricky and Neo. The five people revealed themselves to be Clover and the rest of the Ace Operatives following behind him.
The first operative is a young man with long greenish-black hair and blue eyes. He is a Faunus, with a dark gray/light gray canine tail as his trait. He wears an Atlesian Specialist uniform that consists of a white double-breasted coat with silver buttons, dark blue accents, collar, shoulder flaps with matching cuffs that have two silver buttons. The coat's tail splits, allowing his tail to move freely. He has a dark blue belt with a silver buckle around his waist with a dark blue pouch on the right side. He has a red ascot tied around his neck. He wears a red shirt under his coat. He wears dark blue trousers tucked into his black knee-high boots. This is the rookie of the Ace Ops, Marrow Amin.
The second is a tall young muscular woman with medium brown hair in a short ponytail, brown-tan skin, and brown eyes. She wears an Atlesian Specialist uniform that consists of an open white, one-sleeved crop jacket with dark blue accents, shoulder flaps and collar and a dark gray shirt. She has silver vambraces over her forearms She has a red belt around her white pants and goes barefoot save for some martial arts footwraps alongside dark blue calf plates that cover the tops of her feet, the plates have three red straps tied around them. She also has a silver hoop earring on her right ear. This is the hearty muscle of the Ace Ops, Elm Ederne.
The third is a tall man with short shaved gray hair, deathly pale skin and light blue eyes. He has several tattoos, including a third eye tattoo along the center of his forehead and chin. He wears an Atlesian Specialist uniform that consists of a white double-breasted, partially unbuttoned coat with a broad tail, navy blue accents, collar and shoulder flaps. A red sash running diagonally over his left shoulder meeting a second red sash around his waist under a large blue belt, and navy blue fingerless gloves that go up to his brachium. He wears navy blue pants tucked into a pair of navy blue thigh-high boots with steel toe and heel plating, a small pouch on the sides and knee pad detailing. He wears beaded necklaces around his neck and beaded bracelets around his right arm alongside two silver bands, one small, one large on his left forearm. This is the calm and tranquil member of the operatives, Vine Zeki.
The last operative is a dark-skinned young woman with platinum blonde and brown hair shaved on the sides and dark pink eyes. She wears a very short-sleeved Atlesian Specialist uniform that consists of a sleeveless white double-breasted vest with silver buttons and dark blue accents. It has a white and dark blue-collar, a dark blue short-sleeved t-shirt, a red tie and white shorts. She wears dark blue chaps that presumably connect to the tops of her shorts. The chaps expose the inner part of the thighs and the backs of her calves. She also wears blue fingerless gloves and dark gray trainers with black accents and a white stripe accompanied with red socks. She also has white calf pads and dark blue knee pads as well. There are also dark blue straps fastened around the top of her vest. The blond portions of her hair are styled in a way that resembles a rabbit's ears. This is the competitive and quick-witted member of the group, Harriet Bree.
Clover approaches Ricky, twirling his horseshoe on his finger then turns to his team.
"Great work, team," Clover said.
"Let me guess, we're being arrested for unauthorized use of weaponry by unlicensed Huntsmen?" Ricky said.
"Lucky guess," Clover replied. "And for unauthorized use of explosives."
Marrow and Harriet then confiscated Ricky and Neo's weapons as four Atlesian Knight-200s walked up. The AK-200s grab Ricky and Neo and force them into the back of a secure van with their wrists bound.
"Uh, can't we talk this out like civilized people?" Ricky asked.
"You'll be able to talk this out once they get you to Atlas," Clover said. "Let's move out!"
The Ace-Ops split up and leave the area. Ricky looks on as the back doors are slammed shut.
"Well this will be fun to explain to General Ironwood," Ricky said.
Atlas Academy, Atlas
Hallway
A half an hour later, Ricky and Neo were being escorted by two Atlesian soldiers to General Ironwood's office. The doors slid open and they all walked inside. The office is a circular room featuring dark blue metallic walls and windows. The floors of Ironwood's office are shown to depict constellations in the form of golden stars, reflecting Ironwood's love for astronomy. General Ironwood sat behind his desk as Winter and Weiss stood beside him.
"Uh, could you have your men take these off?" Ricky asked, holding up his bound wrists.
General Ironwood motioned to his soldiers as they then began removing the bolases from Neo and Ricky's arms. The bolases fall to the floor, giving off a purple glow and retracting the ropes before emitting a beep noise. The soldiers picked up the bolases and walked out of the office.
"I apologize for what had happened. We were trying to get a hold over only for Miss Schnee to tell us you forgot your Scroll," Ironwood said. "When we got the call that the Ace-Ops arrested you two, I notified my men to drop you off here."
Neo crossed her arms with a raised eyebrow.
"That's alright. They probably didn't know who we were," Ricky said. "So why did you want us here?"
"He wanted to call you here to tell us that we are heading to Vacuo to help the others their investigate the Crown," Weiss said.
"Your stuff is already packed and is already loaded on your airship," Winter said.
"So when do we leave?" Ricky asked.
"Anytime you wish now," Ironwood answered.
"I guess we can go then," Ricky said. "Weiss what say you?"
"Sooner I can leave the better. I rather not have my father try to force me back home," Weiss said.
"Let's see him try again when I'm around," Ricky said with a smile.
Ironwood chuckled before he spoke.
"Yes. I saw what you did to Jacques from the hidden cameras. It took me a while to stop laughing."
"Indeed. Even I find what you did to him amusing," Winter said with a smile.
"Your transport is at Landing Dock 2. Good luck out there," Ironwood said.
"Be careful, sister," Winter said, putting a hand on Weiss' shoulder.
"I'll be fine," Weiss said.
Ricky, Weiss, and Neo walked out of Ironwood's office and out into the hall. Out in the hall they see the Ace-Ops. They see the three Huntsmen in training and approach them.
"I'd like to sincerely apologize for the miscommunication down in Mantle. We didn't intend to-" Clover gets cut off as Elm pushes her way past Clover and Marrow and begins frantically shaking Ricky's hand, accidentally flailing him about in the air.
"I feel so bad, honestly! If we had known who you were, we'd be laughing over a hot meal right now and-" Elm drops Ricky on the floor.
"That's alright. You didn't know," Ricky said as he got up.
"We just wanted to say we're sorry," Clover said. "How 'bout we escort you three out?"
"Sure," Ricky said as Neo shrugged.
"Okay," Weiss said.
They all then started to walk down the hall.
"So I heard you guys worked with Captain Gordan and his team. How'd it go" Ricky asked.
"It took time to figure out how they worked, but all in all we worked well together," Clover said.
"We all learned to work together pretty okay. Not that I'm happy about it," Marrow said.
He crosses his arms and soon realizes that his tail is wagging. He reaches back and grabs it, much to Ricky, Neo, Harriet's amusement.
"It was disappointing that none of them had their aura unlocked. I wanted to see what they can do if they did," Harriet said.
"Not everything is a competition, Hare," Vine said.
"But what they lack in aura they make up for in skill and experience," Elm said.
"It sounds like you all got along just fine," Weiss said.
"We did. They even helped us defend Mantle from a horde of Grimm that Doctor Merlot mutated," Clover said.
"Their way of fighting differs from our way of fighting," Vine said.
"Well Earth's militaries do have a lot of experience in armed conflicts," Ricky said.
"We have heard the same thing from them and we wish to know of some of their conflicts," Marrow said.
"What were they like anyway?" Elm asked.
"Despite not having any Grimm, Earth's conflicts make Remnant's conflicts look like child's play believe it or not," Weiss said.
"I'm sure it's not that bad," Harriet said.
"When you look up Earth's history, you're gonna wish you hadn't said that," Ricky said. "By the way, how did you guys take it, watching the web show, RWBY?"
"We were... surprised to say the least," Clover said. "Especially when we all watched Volume 7"
"You mean the fact that you were killed off at the end?" Ricky asked.
"Yeah," Clover said with unease.
"What about Robyn? How did she take it?" Weiss asked.
"Right after watching Volume 7, she tried to kill General Ironwood," Clover said, rubbing the back of his head.
"Sounds about right knowing her already," Ricky said.
"It took us a while to calm her down, and after we did so, she agreed to comply with Captain Gordon," Harriet said.
"She still questions her trust in the General time and time again," Vine said.
"And is currently trying to win public support to get a seat in the counsel while at the same time keeping a lookout for Watts and Callows," Elm said. "And with those Canadian Huntsmen out hiding in Atlas and Mantle, those two will have a difficult time hiding."
"Speaking of looking out, is the security and access to Mantle updated?" Weiss asked.
"Just finished that a couple weeks ago," Marrow answered.
"Good. That way, Watts can't cause trouble," Ricky said.
They all walked outside the door and made their way to a cargo airship. It has a bulky hull, with two large wings that have two intakes on each wing and three smaller winglets are placed over the top of the aircraft. There are three large engines on the back of it.
Weiss, Neo, and Ricky all started to board the airship. They turn to face the Ace-Ops once more.
"Good luck, kids. You'll need it," Clover said.
"Same to you, Mr. Good-Luck-Charm," Ricky said with a smirk.
The hatch door closes and soon the cargo airship takes off as the Ace-Ops watch it fly away.
