Team RWBY

Hunter Base Harmony

Mountain Glenn

"Alright everyone, stand back. Professional at work here, we don't want any injuries in the audience." Yang waved the team back as she cocked her gauntlets.

Ruby cocked her head. "Uhh Yang? Technically aren't we all professionals here? This is literally our assignment right now."

"Sis?"

"Yeah?"

"Hush." Yang dropped into her stance and waved at Weiss. The heiress waved her rapier and a white glyph formed behind Yang. Yang put her right foot onto it, left foot planted firmly on the ground.

She nodded and Weiss waved her rapier once more, launching Yang forwards with immense velocity. Yang pulled her right arm back as she flew at the metal door blocking their way into the Hunter base.

She spun once, twice to add some more momentum to her arm before crashing into the sheet of metal with the force of a couple freight trains. Smoke and dust obscured her with orange flashes of light illuminating her figure.

The sounds of metal hitting metal echoed throughout the facility and were answered by the growls of the Beowolves and Ursi currently standing just out of range of the base's guns. The dissolving corpses of those not smart enough to stay back littered the ground.

Yang leaped out of the smoke and landed in a crouch. "Doctor, you have a clear shot!"

Oobleck grinned and waved his thermos, the utensil extending into a five-foot-long cannon of destruction. Weiss waved her rapier once more, another white glyph forming in front of the mouth of the cannon.

Oobleck aimed the gun at the door and depressed the trigger. Flame started licking the edges of the mouth of the cannon as it charged. The light inside the cannon got brighter and brighter, when Oobleck released the trigger.

A flaming projectile leaped from the cannon with a beam of light on its tail driving it forwards. It crashed into the dented door and ripped a hole straight through the weakened metal, carrying forwards into the interior of the base.

They heard two more crashes and looked at Oobleck accusingly as the green-haired History teacher rubbed the back of his head. "I didn't think Jaune would make it that powerful. First time I charged it after the upgrade. Thankfully nothing of importance is placed near the door!"

Ruby met Weiss's eyes and barely managed to not giggle at her expression. Weiss did not look pleased.

"I declare Mission Break Open the Door to be a success! Mission Investigate the Base has begun!" Ruby proudly announced using the 'team leader voice' that Glynda had taught her. Stand straight and be confident. That's the way Ruby!

She unfurled Crescent Rose and stooped through the jagged hole. Her teammates and Oobleck followed her, their auras protecting them from the jagged metal. They found themselves in what appeared to be a waiting room of some sorts, but it was hard to tell due to the absolutely wrecked interior.

"What happened here?" Blake was the first to break the silence that had fallen over the group as they took in the scene. It was almost completely dark inside the room, the scene lit with only the emergency lights and sparks flying from holes in the wall.

The hole Oobleck's weapon had created wasn't even the most interesting thing. The desk on the far left had been completely decimated, there were blast and scratch marks on the floor and walls, the ripped insides of the two futons were scattered over the piles of rubble.

"Seems like something got in without tripping the alarms, guns, and got past the huge metal barricades, all without any signs of a break-and-enter." Oobleck pushed over a large chunk of the ceiling that had fallen onto a mess of wooden shards, seemingly formerly some sort of cabinet.

"Either that or the attack was from the inside." Blake quietly voiced the alternative that no one wanted to. An attack from inside meant that a Hunter had gone rogue or Grimm now had tunnels that were not known to the Hunter Association.

Weiss moved to pull her scroll out and use the flashlight but Oobleck stayed her hand. "No need to announce our presence any more than we already have."

The five of them formed a circle and slowly moved into the next room. A crooked sign read 'Assignment Details and Reporting'. Hunters on duty would have to report to these bases to receive their exact mission details and pertinent information.

RWBY had not reported to the base as they had been briefed at Beacon. Had they been here, who knows what might have happened to them? Full-fledged hunters had fought and most likely died here.

They continued through a broken doorway to the next room. This room had no emergency lights and while everyone adjusted to the increased darkness, Blake went ahead to scout around. Oobleck went to a camera in the corner to try and salvage some of the footage it recorded before going offline.

Ruby almost leaped into the air as she felt Yang's arm go around her shoulders and spun around to face her sister, embarrassed and angry. "Yang!" She hissed. "Don't scare me like that!"

Yang merely laughed and squeezed Ruby. "C'mon lil sis, you need to lighten up a little. Whatever happened here, we can't do anything about it. And besides, how much do you want to bet the Hunters are probably just fighting the Grimm elsewhere? I mean…" Yang cut herself off midsentence as Blake backpedaled out of the other room, face paler than usual.

"We should leave. We should not stay here Doctor." Blake pointed back at the room. "Just look inside."

They moved past their shaken teammate and into the room she had just gone into. It didn't take long for the sight to sink in.

An armored man was pinned to the wall by some sort of organic spike. His hands were pinned under his body as he slumped over the three-foot-long spike that was embedded in his abdomen. His sword lay on the ground under him. It was cut in half roughly, the top half lying about five feet from the bottom.

A woman with light clothing lay in a crumpled heap with an empty Dust staff next to her. There was a trail of blood leading to her body from a large, dark red splash. The far wall had a gaping hole in it leading to the next room.

The four girls stared at the scene, unmoving. Then Yang slammed her hands on Ruby's eyes and pulled her back to the room with Oobleck.

Ruby struggled against the blonde's strong arms to no avail, settling for simply angrily whispering to her. "Yang let go of me!"

"No! Ruby, you're too young!" Yang hissed back, now wrestling to restrain her agile, smaller sister.

Ruby managed to get a hand free from Yang's bear hug and was now trying to pry her sister's hands away. "We're huntresses Yang, we're not, hmmpph, don't try to gag me!"

"Break it up! You two are acting like two, juvenile, "Weiss fished for the proper word, but settled for stomping her foot down angrily. "Just let her go Yang, she's our team leader, she can make her own decisions."

Yang stopped struggling and turned to Blake pleadingly, trying to get at least her partner on her side.

"Sorry Yang, but Weiss is right. We can't baby Ruby like that. If she's old enough to train as a huntress, she's old enough to see those kind of things."

The fight went out of Yang and she let go of Ruby. Ruby sprang up and glared at her sister, but then immediately rushed over and hugged her.

"Yang, I know that you want to protect me but I think it's time that I make some more decisions by myself? I mean, Ozpin let me in right? That means he thinks I'm mature enough!" Ruby grinned, trying to cheer the morose brawler up.

Yang just ruffled Ruby's hair and hugger her back. "Ruby, I try to, but it's hard. I keep thinking you're still small, still stealing cookies from the jar above the fridge whenever Dad wasn't looking. Still trying to use Uncle Qrow's scythe without permission. I…I just want you to be safe, alright?"

Ruby helped Yang to her feet. "Yang, as long as our team remains whole, we can't be beat! Isn't that right, Team RWBY?"

Weiss and Blake both cheered quietly with Ruby, and Yang joined in a second later, the fear and terror of the gruesome sight gone from their minds.

Oobleck watched the impromptus team-building exercise with a bittersweet smile on his face. He still remembered his team back at Beacon, how they thought they were invincible together, their fighting skills all that were necessary to survive in the world.

Time and bad luck caused the team to fall apart. The death of their leader and the resulting emotional fallout caused their relationships to sour and the team disbanded, with each of the remaining three going to far corners of the world.

But now was not the time to disillusion the four girls in front of him. Now was the time they needed to be as strong as they could, for Oobleck had a nagging feeling this attack on the base was larger than they thought.

Pyrrha Nikos

Atlas Army Hospital

Pyrrha turned the TV back on. It had become her little ritual while waiting for an update on Jaune. Nora was lying next to her on the couch, sleeping merrily. Ren was sitting on the ground meditating and working on his aura control. Small objects sometimes floated up around him and his mouth twitched upward slightly whenever they did.

Pyrrha however had no such methods to distract herself. She had fallen asleep before Ren and Nora had come to the hospital, but she hadn't been able to fall asleep again. She kept switching channels and turning the TV off after a couple.

"Now you too can have this miraculous new cleaning tool, the GrimmWow for the low, low, price of…" Switch.

"How could you do this to me, Harold? We were supposed to look out for…" Switch.

Pyrrha sighed. Looked like there was nothing good on this stretch of channels again.

"…eyewitness reports have stated these beasts, I quote, 'rose out of the water like those huge monsters Mum always used to tell us about. About gave me a heart-attack. Thankfully me chum here had my back. We managed to escape, but the others round us weren't so lucky. There was a lot of damage done back there.' "

Pyrrha almost continued flipping, thinking it was just another terrible ScieFy channel movie. The last one had a large cyclone made of Beowolves tearing through Mistral. Completely ridiculous.

"Hey Ren? I think you should see this." Pyrrha called out to her teammate who silently stood up and came to the couch to see the TV.

"Our partner, Vale News Network, is on site to report. Over to you Lisa."

"Thank you Maria. I am standing here in an airship above the city of Vale, which is currently undergoing what can only be described as an invasion by the creatures of Grimm. An all-out assault on every corner of Vale has occurred simultaneously, breaching the thinly stretched defenses of the city.

Hunter crews have been deployed to critical junctions and are now holding back the attack, yet the Grimm have managed to push past the automated defense systems that had been set up in certain areas. Hunters have been summoned from Atlas, Mistral, and Vale in an effort to quell the biggest Grimm attack in recent history."

"Has Ozpin contacted you about this?" Ren asked.

"No, but we're heading back to Vale after this so it wouldn't be out of the question if we were to be deployed. Whenever Jaune is ready for action we can leave." Pyrrha looked down at her hands.

Ren turned his head and watched her for a second before putting a hand on her shoulder. "Pyrrha, Jaune is strong. He'll pull through. He's suffered aura exhaustion a couple of times and he lived outside kingdom borders for most of his life. It's a matter of when, not if he wakes up. And I think it will be sooner than later."

Pyrrha nodded at Ren's words. Her teammate may not talk much but when he did, his words were comforting.

She smiled and opened her mouth to thank him when she froze, staring. Ren followed her gaze to the doorway, though his reaction was less dramatic than Pyrrha's.

Pyrrha blinked twice before standing up and walking over to a grinning Jaune, who was leaning on the doorframe. She looked him up and down, not trusting her eyes. He had been absolutely comatose and aura-less a few hours ago, yet here he was, the image of health.

"Did you miss me?" His grin morphed into a shit-eating grin as he saw her expression. "Sorry, sorry, I should explain. Well, I really don't have much to explain, all I remember is falling asleep and then waking up to a nurse poking me with a needle. It hurt too."

He rubbed his arm with an exaggerated expression of pain on his face. Pyrrha continued to stare at him, waiting for a better explanation. Jaune waited for a few seconds with a slightly hopeful look in his eyes and then sighed, casting his eyes down at the floor.

"Pyrrha, I'm sorry, I really am, but I have no idea what happened. I don't even know why I'm in the hospital besides 'an aura-related injury'. I was hoping one of you could elaborate."

"YOU…" Pyrrha gathered herself. "You have no idea what happened to you? We were worried sick about you! For all we knew you were dead!"

Jaune's eyes grew wide. "Almost died? What? How? What did the doctors say?"

Pyrrha sighed and put her head in her hands. "Ozpin wanted to get a surprise report on our progress here. I woke you up but you were completely comatose and unresponsive. We called the paramedics immediately. They refused to say anything about your condition but from what I could tell they had no idea what was going on."

She looked up as his hands rested on her shoulders. "Pyrrha, let me be clear. I will never let this team down, you hear me? Doesn't matter what happens I will never let this team come to harm."

She stared up at his blue eyes, and the honesty and resolution within them comforted her. "Thank you Jaune, that…that really helped."

Jaune just smiled. "Alright, so none of us have any idea what happened to me, but I'm fine now. And by the look of things on that TV over there, we need to focus someplace other than my health."

Pyrrha nodded and straightened up. "From what the news says, the outer perimeters of Vale have been breached and occupied quite strongly by the Grimm. Hunters have managed to keep them from pushing in any further than the initial land grab, but reinforcements are slow to come."

"What about Ozpin? Did he say anything about us or any other Beacon teams being sent to help out?"

Ren was the one to speak up. "He hasn't said anything about the situation, but to call him when you wake up. I'm assuming that he will give us our next set of instructions soon. Jaune, are you sure you feel fine? We may not have time to rest anytime soon."

"Our fearless leader will be just peachy I bet!" Nora bounded up, acting as if she hadn't just been fast asleep. She gave Jaune a huge bear hug and laughed. "See? He didn't fall over!"

The four of them laughed and moved to the couch. Ren pulled his scroll out, called Ozpin's number, and set it on the table. The call was soon accepted.

"Hello, Headmaster Ozpin?"

"Team JNPR, the headmaster is currently quite busy and as such has instructed me to assist Hunter teams. Based on the fact you are sitting there I take it you are awake. How are you feeling?" Goodwitch's audio and video feed came up on the screen. The assistant headmistress seemed to be even more stressed out than before. Her hair was messier than any of them had ever seen and there was tiredness buried in her eyes.

"Oh hello Ms. Goodwitch! I'm doing fine thank you."

"Glad to hear that Jaune. Now I know why you called but the headmaster told me you four were to remain at the base until further notice. This attack outclasses anything the four of you were trained for and the headmaster does not desire to put any of the students into unnecessary danger.

The simple words froze the four of them. Staying out of the fight? Especially while Vale was slowly losing the fight? No chance.

They tried to hide their emotions but Goodwitch had decades of experience reading students. "Children, rest assured that we will not leave you out of the fight. We certainly do not think that you four are not talented. We shall call you in once the situation is better in our control."

No one spoke for a few moments.

Jaune leaned forwards at stared at the screen. "So what shall we be doing while we're sitting here far away from anywhere we can help?" His tone was neutral.

Goodwitch stared right back. "You shall be staying at a place where you will be safe, which can not be said for many of the people in Vale right now. You are in training right now, let the professionals handle the fighting. Letting your pride dictate your actions is the worst mistake a Hunter can make. Stay in Atlas until it is safe." The room was quiet. "Any more questions?"

None came forth. Nora looked at the floor, her exuberance damped down majorly. Ren seemed serene but his muscles were tense and his fists slightly balled. Pyrrha and Jaune just stared at Goodwitch before looking at each other, confirming what the other was thinking. There was no way we're staying here.

"As you wish Ms. Goodwitch. To recap, our assignment is to continue as it has been and train, is that right?"

"That is correct Jaune. I expect regular reports to continue. This attack is simply one of many that have happened over the years and we have held them off just fine every other time. Keep your focus on training and everything will be back to normal before you know it. Until later, Team JNPR." The call ended.

"So…what now? We're going to Vale right?" Nora's excitement made an effort at coming back. "We're going to bash some Grimm brains in! I'll break their legs too!"

Jaune just smiled. "Nora, we can't just disobey a direct order like that, we would get kicked out of Beacon. But what we can do is find some trouble here and then get pulled out back to Vale. And based on the things the nurses were muttering about, there is about to be trouble here soon."

Heads whirled to his direction. "Trouble? What kind?" Ren spoke up, showing some uncharacteristic excitement.

Jaune clasped his hands and leaned in. "Have you guys heard of the Prometheans?"

Team RWBY

"So on a scale of 1 to 10, how much are we regretting coming here? I'm at a solid 11."

The five of them were standing in a large, dark, musty room. The stench was something awful, like months old garbage sizzling in the sun with a marinade of leaky sewer pipes. It made their eyes water just being there and their noses felt like they were going to drop off any second.

"What happened here?" Ruby's voice got even higher as she attempted to speak without breathing.

Weiss was just thankful there wasn't enough light for the others to see the colors she was sure her face was turning. It was nothing like she had ever smelled, but then again she hadn't exactly experienced many of the rougher sides of life.

"It seems to be getting stronger over here." Oobleck seemed to mind the smell the least but his expression was still pained. The four made their way to the large door on the other side of the room that was blocked off by chunks of the ceiling that had fallen in front of it.

The took turns heaving the debris away, creating several smaller piles to the side. The door was slightly bent and was stuck in its frame.

"Can't we just blast it open?" As always, Yang was the one to suggest the explosive option.

"No, we don't know what's on the other side. Can't risk blowing it wide. Weiss, do you have spare Flame Dust?" Oobleck's enthusiasm had returned.

"I do. Shall I use some Wind as well to give us some relief from this wretched smell? It's nauseating." Weiss tried to be proper, but it was hard to do when your voice sounded like a cartoon character's.

"As you see fit."

Weiss readied her rapier, holding it across her body. She aimed the tip at the right hand hinge of the door and spun the Dust cylinders. Flame Dust slotted into place in the blade while a Wind slotted into place in the handle.

She opened the gates that held her aura and felt it flow into the crystals and activate the energy within. She kept some of the aura from being used in the crystal and used it shape the tongue of flame leaping from her rapier into a needle. The Wind crystal spewed air out of channels in the hilt and caused some blessed fresh wind to flow in the room. The smell diluted slightly but appreciably.

The flame cut through the metal like a hot knife through butter. The door sagged as one hinge was cleaved in two, which made cutting the next hinge even easier. Yang and Oobleck grabbed the door and pulled it out of the doorway and tossed it onto a nearby pile.

Weiss shut off the stream of aura to the Flame Crystal but kept the stream of air going as a new wave of nausea inducing smell washed over them. The stench was thick and almost tangible, leaving behind an oily, greasy, dirty feeling.

The yawning maw of the doorway was almost pitch black, an oily rolling blackness rather than the featureless darkness that shadows and made of.

Oobleck activated and tossed a flare in. Nothing. The darkness swallowed the crackling red light whole and sent nothing out. The girls looked at Oobleck in slight alarm. Was this some sort of new Grimm nest?

"Stay back girls. I've never seen one of these." Oobleck's voice was unusually soft. "Only heard rumors."

"Rumors? What kind of rumors Doctor?" Ruby could tell that whatever this was had Oobleck on edge and worried. And anything that worried Oobleck just on sight was something that RWBY had to worry about too.

"Not good. Most definitely not good. We need to leave now and get a distress call out immediately. Ruby and Weiss, go to th…" Oobleck stopped talking at the sight of a man shambling out of the doorway.

He was young-ish looking, about Oobleck's age and around the same height. His hair was combed neatly with a partition. He was clean shaved, which showed off his strong chin. His mouth was curled upwards as a hint of a smile which didn't quite reach his eyes.

His thin-frame glasses rested lightly on his long, straight nose. He stood straight in his grey three-piece suit with a tie that matched perfectly. Everything about him was immaculate from the shine on his shoes to his posture to the fitting on his suit.

He hummed an unfamiliar tune as he sauntered out of the doorway, casual as could be. He stopped ten feet in front of the five of them and tilted his head, an expression of faux surprise on his face.

"Barty? Is that you? My word you don't look a day older. Have you been adding Dust to your coffee again? I told you it's bad for you!" His voice was soft and had an oddly soothing texture to it.

The girls looked back and forth between Oobleck and the stranger. Oobleck's mouth was clamped shut and his hands were balled fists. They had never seen him this angry before, not even when CRDL were caught spying on the girl's locker room. That had been quite a week at Beacon.

"I saw you die. I saw you get ripped apart by the Grimm. I saw the man I knew die and you are not that man." Oobleck's voice was dangerously quiet, a low rumble.

"That is true, the man you knew unfortunately had a very severe, fatal case of death. But I am resourceful, I make do with what I can get my hands on. I couldn't pass up a very nice specimen such as this." The man swept his hands over himself. "Now this body is mine and that man you once knew exists no more. Isn't that something?"

The girls gaped at the man's words with mute horror. Weiss put a hand to her face to stifle her gasp. What was going on? What was the man talking about? Was it true? How could it be true?

Oobleck brought his weapon to his side, holding it by the handle pointing the end at the ground. His gaze was steady and locked onto the man's eyes. "I don't believe you."

The man smiled. "It doesn't matter what you believe me or not, my friend. All that matters is what I have been tasked to do."

"What? Kill us? Yeah, good luck with that. You never were near the strongest."

"Kill you? No no no, we're friends remember?" The man smiled honestly and disarmingly. "All I want to do is take your free will and use you for our own ends. Hopefully you guys are free." The man twisted his hand and flicked it forwards towards Blake.

Oobleck swung his weapon in front of Blake and an explosion rippled across the metal. She leaped backwards and her clone flickered under the heat of the explosion. RWBY sprang into action as Oobleck smacked another invisible explosive orb thrown at them.

Ruby was about to call their first attack when Oobleck yelled. "No! You four run! Get out and get to safety." He smacked another orb. The man simply stood there, looking bored, hands curling around the invisible orbs he threw. "I know his attacks; I can hold him off. Tell Ozpin 'The Deep Rises.' GO!"

With the final yell, Oobleck threw himself at the man, swinging his weapon in a wide flaming arc. The man caught it with one hand and punched Oobleck with his other hand. Oobleck simply twisted and threw the man to the side of the room opposite to RWBY.

"Ruby! We need to go now." Blake was at the door gesturing them over. Ruby took one last look at Oobleck who just barely missed the man with a powerful strike. Blake was right, there was nothing left to do but to do what Oobleck had told them to do.

They turned and ran as the room filled with the sounds of fire and fury.


Obligatory AN: What'd you think of the chapter? Anything I can fix? Anything you especially liked? Please review and PM me with this stuff, I love to get them and it helps me write better. Thanks for reading!