Chapter 17

Once Crimson, Ebony and Cerise made it back to their ship their mother had ordered the fleet to make way to Atlas then suggests about seeing their Winter pack who was down at the ships bar when they entered the bar they saw it hasn't changed the grey metal walls the wooden tables and chairs and the metal grey bar that sat in one corner were two people work behind and at the bar they saw 7 people wearing winter camouflage combat gear all drinking away quietly they approached the bar and sat next to a tell lady with deep red hair who looked to them and smiled "hay gang their back!" they smiled at her enthusiastic when she saw them.

"yes we are back" Crimson said taking a glass that was given to her as the group started to cheer out and asking what been happening on their journey.

...

Ruby and the rest of the gang made down into the city of Mantel when the old lady lead them to a building where they met a man who was telling them about Ironwood "and it not just that he started to get more paranoid when that empire turned up with a huge fleet bigger than ours but they left leaving only three for some reason, some folks around here thinks the empire and their empress is planning an invasion".

Everyone gasp at that "but they wouldn't they only want to help!" Jaune said feeling hurt about what he said about what some people think about the empire.

"well some other thinks it be good if they did" he was interrupted by Yang calling out to him holding out her arm catching his eyes which go everyone confused but couldn't do anything when a siren went off making them all rush off outside to see Grimms were in the city.

...

After they had dealt with the Grimms they were stunned to see Penny who they thought was dead when the man explained to them about what they did it made everyone calm down but just then they realised Ebony when they saw Penny looking around them confused "where Ebony?".

This made everyone look at each other worried when it was Ruby who walked up to her "penny he was heartbroken when he saw you were killed he isn't with us right now he is with his mother at the moment" she carefully chose those word to say to her.

"I see" just then siren went of in the distance making her to leave.

Once they couldn't see her and were talking they were suddenly tackled by a group of people and were taken away.

...

Crimson and Ebony were changed into their Winter combat gear and where on the bridge of the ship "mother where are we?" Crimson asked seeing their mother talking some staffs.

"we have arrived at Atlas" they looked out the window and saw the city in the distance and the huge fleet guarding it.

"well we will never get in there now!" Ebony said disappointed at this new situation.

"oh fear not my children our researchers and developers have just finished a project called stealth come follow me" they followed behind their mother.

...

A few min later they came to a hanger seeing all the planes and staffs walking about the area "now do you see anything" they saw her pointing behind her looking they couldn't see anything only the door to the sky.

"um no we don't" Crimson said thinking her mother is crazy.

Watching her pull out a small device and pushing a button just then a serious of different glyph appeared and a shimmering was seen revealing a transport plane sitting right in front of them shocked by this they faced their mother who smiled to them "this is how we are getting in they managed to use a serious of different glyph which in turned made this plane to go in visible to the naked eye".

Smiling to their mother "okay so now what?" Ebony asked still stunned by this.

"well now we get to Atlas and have a word with Ironwood we are bringing the Winter pack with us as protection" she said making them now see the plan.

"okay but who are going to get in to see him" Crimson asked and again they saw their mother smiling.

"well the last time I saw Weiss I secretly place a small portal device on her whichever will fall of her unnoticed which will make a portal for us to get in" now they were impressed by this making them believe they can pull this off.

...

An hour in their flight Cerise was smiling as she couldn't believe it was working they were flying right pass the ships un-seen when she felt the plane landing next to a huge building still not being seen now they had to do was active the portal.

...

Outside Ironwood office the secretary was busy doing some paperwork when suddenly she was startled by a noise looking around she noticed a glyph on the floor slowly walking to it she suddenly jumps back in fear as a portal opened up and a whole bunch of people came rushing out of it she rushed to her desk to try and push the alarm but was tackled to the ground by someone looking up she saw them pointing their guns at her fearing for her life she then noticed a few moving out the way showing a woman clad in golden armour with a wolf helmet "I like to see Ironwood please" she saw the smile on her face.

...

Ruby and the other were taken to Ironwood when he apologised about how they were treated but understood the caution as he was about to explain about something they noticed he stopped and placed a finger to his ear "what is it" they hear him saying and suddenly seeing his eye shot wide open "what really their here" they saw him pushing a few buttons on his desk "it seems our friends the empire has arrived" he showed them from a camera that was on one of the ship and sure enough Ruby and the other saw with fear and some confusion there they could see a huge number of different size of ships belonging to the empire but they were just staying there.

"okay let get Black on tr...!" again he was interrupted "yes secretary what is it?" he said annoyed by this interruption.

Everyone had overheard this conversation "um... sir... you ha...ve some...visitors!" they could hear the fear in the female voice making them worry about this.

"well tell them I am busy" they heard him saying back not even noticing the fear.

"well about... that they... seem like... they won't... except that" again they hear the fear in her voice and they noticed Ironwood finally noticed the fear in her voice watching as he pulled up the security camera everyone gasped in fear in the office where they saw his secretary being held by gun point by a bunch of troops from the wolfs empire and in the middle they saw Cerise, Ebony and Crimson all there.

"Ironwood we need to talk about what you have been doing" they hear Cerise saying with an almost demanding voice to him making everyone to look to him.

They could see he was confused as they were "I thought you were meant to be friendly" they turned to see Cerise nodding.

"yes I am but when I start to hear and see people being hurt by other who places an embargo on them and closing their borders then it make me question them and sometimes you have to do bad things to get the answers you need" they heard making them think about that when suddenly Winter slams her hand on the desk.

"how did you get in here without us knowing aunty!" she demanded with anger and making everyone except for Weiss to gasp in shock

They saw Cerise didn't look shock by this "so you know about me being your aunty?" they all looked to Winter.

"yes but don't try to avoid the question!" again they hear the demand in her voice.

"that I am sorry but I can't tell you for it is the empire state secret" they look to Ironwood who look angry but knew he couldn't do anything.

Just then Ruby spoken up "please everyone stop this fighting Cerise would you really harm her?" she asked catching everyone attention on her.

They hear her sigh "no but I have to know what he is doing" they couldn't disagree with that.

"Ironwood you said you needed as much help as possible" Ruby asked him seeing him nodding in defeat "then please put this bickering to one side and start helping each other!" she said with begging eyes.

They saw him sigh in defeat "yes you right okay you may come in!" he said as they saw them placing their guns away and made their way in the room where everyone was saying their hellos Jaune and Crimson rushed to each other hugging and kissing but everyone stopped silent when they saw Ebony and Penny had just noticed each other Ebony was scared thinking this was some kind of cruel joke that he was seeing "but you died!" he said shocked.

Penny slowly walked up to him "yes but my dad build me back up" she said while slowly approaching him with a hand held out to him.

Fear was running in his mind thinking this wasn't real slowly he taken her hand gasp when his hand didn't go through her looking up at her he smiled as tears came running down him quickly he embraced her in a hug "I missed you!".

He felt her hugging him back "I too!" they were allowed to stay like that for awhile.

Cerise smile at her son reunion when she turned to face Ironwood "so care to tell me why you have closed the borders here?" they all went silent when Cerise asked that question to her.

As he explained his reasons they saw Cerise was listening to every single word when she noticed he had finished she nodded her head "okay I get it but if I see something I don't like then you will find yourself on a very thing line with me" she said with strict voice to him making him gulp in fear.

"I understand now I was about explain about a plan I had" he said walking in the middle of the room as a table of some sort pop up from the floor and he began to explain his plan.

When Cerise was finished listening to the plan she then heard about Ozpin being alive and was inside the little boy which didn't shock her nor the fact that she heard Ruby telling Ironwood nothing about what had happened after the train crash she knew about the lamp and the vision they were in from her two children who had told her about everything that had happened.

They watched as Ironwood gave the lamp back to Ruby they talked about upgrading their equipment as Winter then went on about Atlas providing the best equipment which made a few troopers in the winter pack to roll their eyes at that statement Cerise just kept quiet about it as she didn't want to boost her empire's pride on their technology.

When everyone was happy about the plan Cerise looked to her children and the pack "you lot leave me and Ironwood alone I need to have a word with him" she said seeing them saluting to her and walking off with the others.

Once they were alone she turned to face Ironwood with a smile on her "you know people will noticed something is up" she said to him.

"yes I know but if I can find another way I would use that but I need the troops to help with securing the location where the thing is going to be placed" she nods in understand thinking to herself when suddenly she got an idea.

"what if I use my troops that way people won't notice something is up" she said seeing him thinking.

"would you be willing to do that?" she nods to him "okay I will take your offer thank you" they both then shaken their hand to seal the deal.

...

Crimson and Ebony along with the winter pack were making their way down the stair when they saw their friends talking to a bunch of Atlas people when they noticed they saw them "so you the Wolf Empire" they saw a tall dark brown hair male walking up to them "I guess this make us team mates" they hear him saying unsure about this.

Crimson smiled at this and shaken her head "not even close to being team mate yet" she said seeing them shock "yes on the same side but it doesn't make you our pack mates you have to earn that spot just like they did" she pointed to the group.

"okay how do we earn that?" they saw a tall thin male with white skin asking.

"well there is a number of ways" she then faced her team mates "should I tell then the fastest way?"

"oh yes do so!" they heard one of them screaming out.

"okay the fastest way is to swear total loyalty to our empress my mother" she said seeing them looking down at that.

But before anything else could be said they all heard Cerise walking up behind them "come children you will see your lover's later" they hear their mother saying nodding to her they said their goodbyes and left for the rest of the night.

...

Days later and it was time to make the plan into action Cerise listened to the young boy explaining the location of the place when he looked to her "your empress would you like to explain your part in the mission?" she nodded to him.

Walking forward she showed a holographic video of her ships nearing the mine "my scouts have detected air Grimms and little ground Grimms now my ships will keep the air Grimms busy allowing you all to get in I will deploy Winter pack and Alpha pack to guard the main entrance while you all get in to kill that thing" just then they saw her face changing to a more serious look "but make no mistake if my ships shields fall below 45% I am pulling them back meaning you would lose that distraction and once you engage that Grimm it will bring more Grimms to it protection so Ruby" she face the small girl "kill it quickly" she saw her nodding.

"okay you all will be using the empire planes as not to attract unwanted attention from local people we have made a cover up story saying he have provided the empire a place to stay the now and they would have a lot of air traffic there" the boy said making everyone nod.

...

A few hours went by and Cerise was on her ship she had brought ten of them with her while leaving the other's outside the boarders they were nearing the mine when they noticed their radars picked up the Grimms heading to them "good now get guns ready and fighter planes out there tell the team their clear to get in now" she said watching the crew rushing around to do the orders.

...

Everyone was on an empire transport plane heading to the mine when they heard they had the go ahead Ruby was on a plane with Crimson and her Winter pack while Crimson brother was on the other one with Alpha pack Ruby and her friends looked out the window and could see the ten ships and fighters battling away in the distance "Air pack, this is scouting pack 5 the area is green be advice we have a few ground Grimms" they all heard over the radio.

"okay we are going in" Crimson said as they all felt the plane moving forward.

"SHIT! Air pack you have six air Grimms moving to you!" they all looked at each other with worry when hearing that they watched one of the air crew running to the back of the plane and pushing a button making a door at the back to open up and a stationary gun popping up.

Everyone look at the back and could see the Grimms in the air two latched onto Ebony plane "their on us get them off us!" they hear shouting over the radio as the gunner open fire but didn't do much as a Grimm latched onto their plane using it claw it grabbed onto the gunner throwing him out of the plane everyone went for their weapons when they heard a rocket shooting off hitting into the Grimm making it lose it grip and off into the distance they all watched in horror as Ebony plane engine was suddenly engulfed by fire.

"shit we losing... power... we.. going... down...!" they all watched as the plane dropped dramatically hitting the ground hard.

"pilot can we still land!?" Crimson shouted to the front.

"negative it too hot only option is to jump" they hear him shouting making the Winter pack smile as they all rushed to the doors on the side opening them up "okay on my mark" tthy waited seeing the mine entrance was coming up "now" they all jumped out one by one.

...

When they landed they all saw the plane still being chased "okay we got these guys you all keep on track" they heard the pilot saying just before he flew off leading the Grimms away.

"commander should we go to the crash site?" they heard someone in the Winter pack shouting out.

"no my brother will be fine we still need to keep on track you lot get in that mine and kill that thing!" Ruby heard Crimson shouting to one of the ACE ops who all rushed to the entrance leaving Crimson and her squad behind.

Crimson looked at the direction where her brothers plane had crash seeing a lot of Grimms rushing to their location "okay Winter pack get ready to fight!" Crimson said determined to keep them away from Ruby and her friends.

...

"transport plane 125... transport plane 12... co...in... ca.. yo... anyone..." Ebony was just coming round from being knocked out after his plane had just crashed as he could hear the radio, slowly looking around the place he saw it in a mess slowly getting up he suddenly felt pain in his left arm looking to it he sigh at what he saw Sparks coming out of a huge gash "well mother isn't going to like this!" he thought to himself.

He looked around seeing the rest of Alpha pack was just coming around all groaning in pain "are we okay?" he asked seeing them slowly nodding some had cuts others holding their arms slowly he made his way to the front "pilot ar...!" he stopped when he saw both of them not moving, not even breathing "may the mighty she-wolf guide you to the promise land" he said taking their dog tags and followed the others out of the plane.

As soon as they got out looking around they could hear gunfire in the direction they were meant to go in "sir what way now?" a male soldier asked holding one of his team mates up.

Looking around he face the pack "we go were my sister is" he said seeing them nodding as they made their way towards the fight.

...

Cerise was watching the battle going to plan except for her son plane to be taken down by the Grimms but her drone had shown he was alive along with Alpha pack "send our new Walker tank along with Sienna Khan pack to give them extra support" she said to a crew member who got onto a radio.

...

Crimson and her Winter pack has been fighting a few Grimms now for a while she was worried for her brother and Jaune they were given a break before the next lot came up to them "Ruby how are thing at your end?" she asked over the radio.

"we found the thing we are chasing it deeper into the mines!" she could hear her breathing fast due to her running.

"okay just try to kill it quickly" she said before she heard an engine noise that was heading to them.

"we are trying just do your job" she heard one of the ACE ops saying to her before she cuts the line off.

...

Ebony and the rest of Alpha pack was nearing his sister location when they all stopped hearing engine noises coming from the sky looking up they saw two planes one is their transport plane the other was their vehicle transport plane but it wasn't carrying their tanks it had a box looking thing they watched it heading to Crimson location "come on we're nearly there" Ebony said making them all walk on.

...

Crimson saw two planes the transport plane was the first to land and 6 of their troops came out one of them came up to her "commander Crimson?" she nodded to her "I am Sienna Khan captain of this pack you mother thought you might need extra support she also sent in a new Walker tank" she saw her pointing to the other plane who had dropped off a metal box once it make it to the ground four long legs came out of it making it rise up a little off the ground and a turret from their normal tank came out of the top as well as two heavy machine guns came out of it side.

Impressed by this new thing she smiled to Sienna Khan who nodded back and rushed to form a defensive line when suddenly she noticed a few other people coming up over a little embankment she gasped as it was her brother and Alpha pack quickly she and a few other rushed to their aid "brother!" she said worried for him when she noticed a huge gash with sparks coming out of it in his left arm.

"I am fine we all have a few cuts" she hears him saying as they all got them to sit down next to some crates that were all over the place.

"just wait until mum sees this" she said to him when someone shouted out about more Grimms were on their way "stay here don't move I'll be back" she said to him before rushing off to fight the Grimms that were heading to them.

...

When she arrived at the line of defence she saw not many Grimms were rushing to them when she saw that new tank twin heavy guns opening fire she was really impressed by it fire rate the bullets were tearing into the Grimms like they were paper "wow amazing!" she said surprised by it.

"Crimson the grimm is down!" she hears Ruby screaming over the radio making her look towards her mother ship and indeed saw the Grimms all running away.

"all units this is holy empress ship all Grimms are on the run stand down" they all heard over the radio just as more transport plane both empire and Atlas came landing down and fresh troops came running out while medical staff rushed to the wounded Crimson saw Ruby and the other walking out of the mine entrance she smiled when she saw Jaune and rushed to hug him.

Ebony was being being tended to by some tech guys when he saw his mother coming up to him "how is my son?!" he hears the worry in her voice.

"nothing to serious your empress" he saw the tech man saying to his mother who had calmed down and nodded to him.

...

Cerise was busy making sure her injured troops were being taken care off when one of her crew on her ship told her about a ship requested to land it ID belong to the Shnee family her happy mood had just changed to a more annoyed mood when hearing that looking up she could make out the white ship with the Shnee emblem on it side.

Walking next to Weiss she watched as the man walked down arguing to Ironwood about this whole thing when she noticed he saw Weiss and started to shout at her the Winter pack suddenly stepped up to him with their guns aimed at him "sir you shall not talk to the niece of our empress like that" one of them shouts out to him making him look worried and confused by this.

"troops step down!" she said calmly to them as she saw them bringing their weapons down and stepping back a little she watched Weiss closely seeing her shocked when her mother was mentioned she noticed Weiss team walking up to her and giving her support.

She then watch the man leaving and an Atlas truck pulling up and Winter came out before she or anything could be said Penny came flying in with a banner making everyone jump in surprised.

Once they all calmed down Cerise noticed Penny was Worried about something "what wrong!?" she asked her.

"Where is Ebony?" she looked down at that.

"he was in an accident" she saw Penny was about to jump at some conclusion but she managed to stop her there "he is fine" she moved out the way showing her son still being tended to by a few tech guy's she smiled as Penny rushed off to him giving him a hug and a kiss.

She smiled watching the scene when she noticed Weiss was next to her "thank you for sending them to protect me!" she hear her saying making her confused by this.

"my dear one what do you mean!" she asked confused still.

"the troops I presumed you told them to get in the middle...didn't you!?" she hears the confession in her voice now.

Chuckling to herself as she now understood her confusion "oh my dear one I never ordered them to do that since you have agreed to be apart of this family the empire and the army now knows you are a royal family member of the empire which in turns means you are to be protected at all costs they did that on their own with out me telling them to do that" she saw her now understanding this and walked off to meet her friends while she went to check up on her troops.