"And you're certain that whatever drew the Taken there, was most likely the Splicers' doing?" Saladin asked as he stood before Barloc, who nodded confidently. Shiro was at Saladin's side, trying to review the HUD and ghost cam footage, only to find nothing of note.

"Something of that size must've taken a year. Long enough for them to have experimented with the leftover neutrinos manipulated by Oryx, mainly as a sub-branch." Barloc quickly re-explained to Saladin, keeping the momentum as Saladin was fully buying the lie. "While it may not have been their primary focus, it could be possible that the Splicers are using it to turn and mutate the Hive, as Oryx did his own. Otherwise, how else have they managed it in the past?"

"It's a viable explanation so far." Shiro-4 said as he got off the datapad. "But what of the fight? Scout reports say Frederick's ship took more damage than it should've been able to, and there was no footage of Summer for a nice duration of the fight."

"Another one of that man's 'miracles' I'd suppose." Barloc waved off the concern. "As for that, they had a tower fall on them. Separation was going to be long regardless for Drei, needing to venture through the destruction site."

Shiro tried to inquire further, but Saladin seemed comfortable with everything so far. He raised a hand, and Shiro went silent. "This isn't good at all… if the Splicers could manipulate the darkness like that; there would be no telling what they would do to the Traveler."

"Precisely. Which is why the Splicer Priest known as Kovik needs to be slain." Barloc confirmed as soon as the words left his mouth. "Now, I understand the severity of the situation, but may we take a week off? If not me and Pyrrha, Summer Rose."

Saladin raised an eyebrow, but Shiro went further. "You do realize that if we give them an inch-"

"We give them the world. But it might not end up being ours." Barloc cut off once again with a smirk, causing Shiro to glare at him while Saladin's eyes widened.

"You don't mean…"

"Aksis has made it public that he's taking the war to Remnant." Barloc announced. "While it could just be a threat meant to cause massive civil unrest and racism towards exos on Remnant; which make up 38% of all stationed guardians, it caused massive distress with Summer due to her family being there. I know the containment is important, but if we can just spare a-"

"Say no more." Saladin cut Barloc off. "Your private investigation of Remnant is allowed. I should've added extra quarantine measures… to think they manipulated it to the point where there could be hidden carriers…"

"Your understanding is truly transcendant, Lord Saladin." Barloc thanked the ancient warrior, as he then left the building without another word, passing by Tyra Karn as he did so. As soon as he walked down the steps and into the courtyard, his face became stoic as a body fell down unto the surface of the courtyard. He scoffed.

"And I thought today's weather channel said there were no foolish guardians trying to jump off the cliff without breaking their legs." He said as he looked up, making sure to dodge whatever bodies fell off the very top of the mountain. There were several whole raid teams of guardians up top, with almost two of them falling down every second unison. Every once in a while, one of the guardians would land on top of another, causing them to face-plant into the ground.

He had to wonder if guardians sometimes understood the importance of whatever they were aiming their guns at... or if they knew what they were supposed to be fighting to begin with. But some things just couldn't be helped.

Barloc walked up to Summer and Pyrrha, the two of whom went to the overwatch cliff in order to keep themselves out of the rain of guardians. Pyrrha was watching the rain with the most bewildered look on her face, while Summer just idly ate chimichanga as she watched Barloc come to them. As soon as his footsteps were heard over the sound of guardians breaking their own legs and skulls, Pyrrha turned to Barloc.

"Why is everyone trying to survive such a high fall?" Pyrrha couldn't help but ask with a dead serious face on her features.

"Practice and idiocy. They'll be at this for a nice hour or so." Barloc idly waved off Pyrrha's concerns, as he looked at Summer. "You've been sanctioned to return to Remnant for a week to check on your family. It was difficult to bring the argument for such a thing together, so you best make this count."

Summer nodded, as she finished a bite from her chimichanga. "Do they know about-"

"That one was easy to waive."

She gave out a sigh of relief while still eating her dish. They then heard heavyfoot falls and turned their heads to Frederick who had just hopped off his ship from having to repair multiple electrical and weapons systems that were damaged.

"I'm not sure how long that will last though. Granted the Speaker would do a lot to hide it knowing him. So you can go back home? That's great." Frederick replied while wiping his gloved hands in a rag.

Summer looked away and nodded. Which then a thought came to her.

But before she could voice such a thought, Barloc had turned to Frederick. "Ah, Frederick. I assume you're also going to help out in assisting Summer with the whole 'sword of the past' thing?"

Summer jumped at how accurate Barloc was to what she was thinking, as Barloc simply kept his gaze on Frederick. "How did you know I was also going to-?"

"A warlock always has their ways, Summer." Barloc said nonchalantly, only just recalling what Qrow relayed in regards to the previous team reactions before he and Pyrrha came to assist. "And besides, you are almost literally stuck with your past now. I wouldn't be surprised if you tried to find the location in which you first died."

"That always stuck out to me." Pyrrha said as she looked to Barloc. "How did Summer wind up here, instead of Remnant?"

Barloc merely shrugged. "Perhaps it was a secret organization. Or forces we've yet to comprehend. Regardless, she's here now, and we still have work to do." Barloc watched a guardian land on his crotch, before bouncing off and rolling into the Iron Campfire. Fortunately, there were no screams from that, as the guardian was in too much pain already from the several meters high nutcrack. "You two should make it your priority to check on family, and take time to find Summer's first death. Pyrrha and I should be able to handle the Splicer Priest known as Kovik on our lonesome."

Before Pyrrha could even raise the question, Barloc continued. "Scout reports say that it is a strike activity, but upon examining the layout with a drone, it looks to be little more than a mission, especially considering Pyrrha's abilities. The giant Hive seeder or various metal compartments around should be able to crush Kovik and whatever goons he pulls out of nowhere." Barloc then went to his datapad, opening up photos of the layout of Kovik's Lair and handing it to Pyrrha. "If anyone has any questions or concerns, they may raise them. Otherwise, it'd be best if we get to work as of now."

Pyrrha raised a hand, and Barloc looked to her. "Yes?"

"Why exactly aren't we just being paired up with another guardian, Barloc?" Pyrrha couldn't help but ask. "I mean, what if there's a trap, or the building is rigged with explosives?"

"The splicers would have too many valuables inside his lair even after his death." Barloc swiftly answered. "And the Splicers have been more focused on infecting rather than actually setting up traps at the moment. Probably because they think we've become distracted enough without Summer Rose leading the charge. As for just the two of us handling it, my calculations say we have a 77% chance of dealing with this strike ourselves, without dying. Though it is technically illegal to attempt this without a full team, much less a guardian leader, we both have the necessary combat experience and capabilities to do it as well. Next?"

"Other then i need to return home to get my portable smithing equipment nothing really." Frederick replied he then turned to Summer. "You wanna go looking for your old Sword Summer?"

She smiled while still having food in her mouth after taking the last bite of her Chimichanga.

"Uv Kors I Wunt oo." Summer said while childishly talking with her mouth fill

"*sigh* Summer Swallow before you speak your not a child!" Frederick reprimand her as that of a annoyed brother

"I bet that's what she said last night." Summer said after she gulped down the last of her food, smirking as she did so.

"That's it, when I meet Tai again and Lux Im a choke em." Frederick said while his eyebrow twitches uncontrollably with rage at Summers innocence being gone.

"Well on the contrary, Summer Rose, what, 3 years old now? Pyrrha, let me look at the datapad to see recent events." Pyrrha then handed the datapad to Barloc. "...Yep, 8 years old. Don't you just love it when a guardian starts out as a fully grown adult, but gradually deteriorates to a worse state of mind?"

"Says the several decades old warlock."

"Summer, I will stab you."

"Isn't she 10? No, wait, that's not right I'm 11, came about 2 years prior to her... so that makes her 9." Frederick corrected Barloc. "Either way I'm ready to head to the City when you are Summer. And hopefully Tai and Qrow are ready for transport and are in good health, because I'm ripping his head off his spine for making Summer have an interest in puns."

Barloc looked at the datapad critically. "Blasted, need to perform surgery on my eyes again…"

"Could you not kill my first life's husband Freddie?" Summer replied

"That man and Lux had basically destroyed your innocencem because now your cracking innuendos. I don't like innuendo Summer. Or the puns." Frederick replied defending his decision.

"We're getting off track, people." Barloc interrupted the squabbling. "As much as we despise Tai, exception being Summer of course for their combined immaturity, this is mainly just a convening so we are all in agreement of what we're about to do. Frederick, you can beat Tai up after this war against Aksis."

"Fine…." Frederick grunted in disappointment, as Summer smiled awkwardly at Barloc, half thankful for asking Frederick to not go after him, and slightly miffed Barloc still didn't think much of Tai.

"It is mainly because I hadn't set it up so that every guardian who's experienced Summer's puns gets their dues." Barloc continued. "I'm estimating at least 12.33, repeating of course, percentage of guardians having experienced Summer's nuisances. Payback is best served all at once, so I'm currently identifying them."

Summer's face fell flat as Barloc chuckled at her reaction. "Barloc! Why would you do that to my pun buddy?!"

"PUN DADDY!?" Frederick shouted so loud that even the splicers all the way in the Cosmodrome could hear it. "THAT'S IT! HE'S DEAD AND I'M DRAWING FIRST BLOOD!"

Though thankfully Pyrrha's Semblance was holding him back from getting on his ship and leaving immediately, while it looked like a comical ranting anime man. Barloc had already doubled, no, tripled over in laughter at how many stones were inside of Frederick's ear for him to have heard that, while Summer sputtered, blushing at how Frederick somehow made a false assumption about her and Tai. They hadn't even went on a date yet for crying out loud! And to top it all off, some of the guardians had heard the outburst, and were now looking at them strangely.

She ended up covering her hood as Pyrrha struggled to keep Frederick in place, a strained expression of amusement and confusion as to why Barloc isn't even trying anything. Eventually though, Barloc gathered his wits, and simply put a hand on Frederick's shoulder. "No you giant dolt, you got stones in your ears? It was buddy, not 'daddy'."

"I DON'T CARE! I will wear that guy's ass for a helmet, and I will feed you to Saladin's wolves if you try to stop me!" Frederick yelled at Barloc in a rather demonic tone with Red eyes popping from his visor to boot. But he did calm down hearing that he misheard what Summer said. It was then they heard one of the wolves whine.

This caused them all to look at a trio of wolves that were getting annoyed with having to throw bodies down a cliff, as they were all coming from the rain of guardians falling down from above. Some of them had blood on their maw from how long they were working on disposing of the extra corpses.

Pyrrha then looked to Summer and tilted her head in confusion. "Is Frederick your long lost adopted brother or father?" She asked. "Because he's giving off that vibe which is cute but also really terrifying…."

"I love foolhardy titans who instantly jump straight ahead like this." Barloc chuckled, recalling the amount of times he's lead titans to their demise in the Crucible, particularly moments where he shotgunned titans using shoulder charge or grenaded them with a sticky grenade. "Such meager intellect…"

"Didn't he almost beat you in a game of-"

"We are not talking about that." Barloc interrupted Summer almost immediately after he heard the word 'game'.

"Anywho…" Frederick said while still pissed beyond words at the mere thought of Tai corrupting Summer with his puns even further, as he hoped to god it wasn't also on her daughters. "Let's go Summer. We have… family to visit. And yes, I won't kill your ex husband."

"We didn't even divorce." Summer pointed out while keeping the hood on and over her face, just to correct Freds statement on "Ex". "It was a widowing."

"But! We have places to go and people to leave on Remnant anyway. Lets go."

Pyrrha was just baffled by the man that was getting on the ship, as Barloc basked in what was equivalent to guardian wholesomeness. He had thoroughly enjoyed that moment.

"Is he… ok? He's not mentally ill is he?"

"You're asking space warriors who had to fight war for decades if they're ok?" Barloc answered in response to her question, before smiling at her. "I'm jesting. Assuming he's taking proper care of the people around him, there isn't much else that is necessary. Guardians value family above all else, and he's doing just that."

"But... the whole death thing towards Tai-"

"That reminds me actually, I really need to figure out a way to get back at him for tainting that Rose girl with puns." Barloc said as he hummed in thought. "Teabags, perhaps? No no no, that's too good for having Summer learn that as a coping mechanism, one that's irritating nonetheless…"

Pyrrha blushed at the idea being raised already. "What's with you guardians and your teabags?!"

"What's with you mortals not understanding of our culture? It isn't that hard to see since most of us live as long as you in our line of duty!"

After a moment of pure silence, both sides collectively went. "Wait… we don't have our own ship."

Pyrrha looked to Barloc.

Barloc looked back at Pyrrha. "What?"

"Did Saladin give us permission to borrow a-"

"Nope."

00000

As Frederick's ship took off, Summer took the time to try and recall where that sword was, of which she did so by sleeping. Surprisingly, not a single dream was coming to her, and all the while she could hear the ship flying through the atmosphere to the gateway down in the Cosmodrome. She couldn't even remember what the sword even looked like, much less if it had any ability to transform or not. She hoped that when she recalled what it was or found it, it wasn't just a basic sword with no gun transformation. She may not know much of her past life, but she always wanted a sword with her guns, as it just made sense at the time to add it… along with axes, bows, maces, chainsaws, other things that are completely normal to add into a mecha-shifting weapon.

Her forehead wrinkled in frustration as she kept trying, only for a major headache to force her back. With a weak groan, she got off of her comfy little spot in the ship to nurse it as Drei came up. "You didn't sleep well this time. Something up?"

"It's about the weapon. I was trying to dream about it to gain access to the memories, but nothing came up." Summer said as she looked around for an ice pack. "I couldn't think about what I was specifically holding my first death. It was just a sword, but I don't recall anything about a gun feature."

"It doesn't have one?" Drei said as he transmatted one into her palm for her. "That's surprising. I thought you would've had one yourself with how much you pushed the issue back then. Perhaps you should ask Ruby?"

She raised an eyebrow at Drei's suggestion. "I don't think Ruby or Yang know where I died… I believe Ozpin said it was never clear where I was except deep in the grimmlands."

"No no, it's for the whole mecha-shift thing." Drei asserted. "Perhaps you wanted to turn the sword into a scout rifle, but you were probably an orphan at the time."

"They probably know more about that, yeah." Summer agreed, as she looked at a datapad while using an ice pack. "I don't know why I never had it though… I'll just contact her."

She decided to get on the scroll with Ruby, and after a few rings, she heard her pick up the scroll with a yawn. "Hey mom." She said in a hushed, kind of tired tone. "What's up? Is that SIVA thing Saladin is having you handle almost over?"

"No, but I am taking a break to check up on you girls. Aksis just recently threatened that he had Penny infected, and was going to use her as a bomb on you."

"What!?" Ruby almost yelled out, before quickly hushing herself. "This Aksis guy has Penny?"

"Supposedly." Summer assured. "Barloc thought it a bluff meant to spread false rumors over in Remnant to cause panic, so we just asked Saladin to let us investigate. I'm coming over with a friend who's also concerned about someone else over there as well."

Ruby sighed in relief on the other line. "Is Pyrrha doing okay? The other guardians said she might be confused about their line of work."

00000

Pyrrha watched as guardians danced over a large pile of chips covered in cheese powder, some even worshipping it while consuming it. At some point, they had run out of cheese, and asked the chef if there was more cheese to eat. They then began chasing the chef around with swords and torches when they found out there was no cheese. Other guardians meanwhile were just climbing the mountain, or just dancing on a very thin pole. Some just straight up danced in the air. There was even a crucible match going on in the background, as Shaxx brokered a deal with Saladin to have that the area behind the Iron Temple be available to fight in. Which meant she got to see the brutality of guardians in full.

It was then Barloc came out with a hot cup of chocolate, staring at the scene before him as he then took a sip. "Just another Tuesday Pyrrha, nothing to see here."

Pyrrha nodded slowly as she watched a guardian get shot with an arrow in the knee. Moments later, everyone else was using a bow, and sticking arrows in the enemy team's knees.

She wondered what happened to the days where long living warriors would just chat and drink tea. Which sounded pretty good right about now, as she then saw guardians dancing in the flames of the Iron Temple as if the heat didn't bother them.

00000

"She's doing well I think." Summer said, not quite certain if Pyrrha was faring well either. "Some of the stuff over here she saw as a bit weird for her, but otherwise she just took it in stride. She really is quite the prodigy where she came from."

"Yeah she is. Top of her class in Mistral too. So you're coming home for a visit? That's so cool!" Ruby couldn't help but giggle a bit in excitement at the prospect.

Summer couldn't help but smile at Ruby being excited at the whole thing, no matter how temporary it was. She almost wished right then and there that she didn't have to continue fighting off the darkness just so she could get to make up for the lost time the two of them ended up having.

"One sec before you head to bed, Ruby? I'm guessing it is pretty late over there."

"Hm? Oh no! No no no, it's not that late mom. Never too late to-" Ruby then yawned. "...Okay, maybe it is a bit late."

She chuckled at Ruby's willingness to stay up for her. "What did my sword look like? Tai or Qrow ever talk about it?"

A long silence befell the other side of the line, as Ruby scratched her head for an answer. "Dad said that it was a basket-hilted sword, broadsword kind of weapon. You couldn't afford any mecha-shifting due to how you lived, so it was pretty much just that. I originally wanted to go for that, but Qrow convinced me on the whole scythe bit."

"Scythes are pretty cool." Summer couldn't help but agree. "Did I ever express a desire in making it a mecha-shifting weapon?"

"You always wanted to add a semi-automatic rifle mode to it before you graduated and ended up needing to go through it all again despite being an amazing huntress who-" Ruby went silent for a moment. "Well, it's why Crescent Rose is a sniper rifle. I felt like I wanted to honor you for bringing me into this world in some way as I followed in your footsteps."

That caused Summer to pause in realization, a revelation of which sent chills into her very soul. She couldn't keep her safe forever even if she wanted to. "I do hope you know what a path you've trudged down upon Ruby. I did die doing it after all."

"And to me too…" Ruby said in guilt for a moment. "B-but everything is ok! My studies are fine, and everything is almost back to normal now! ...Well, as everything could be. The poor janitors have to clean up so many guardian bodies that are often just left around, and the school occasionally smells of burnt flesh, especially on Fridays…"

Summer couldn't help but cringe at how every guardian stationed on Remnant was causing such a ruckus in the public. There were some things she never really thought about until now, like the one time she saw a guardian run on a purple ball all the way up to the Moon. Or the fact that guardians fought over exotics. Not that she could blame them much, since she's always the one getting them first.

She wondered why she never found Necrochasm, though. Out of all the exotics or weapons of sorrow she obtained in her journeys, she never got to find that fabled weapon.

Ruby's voice then chimed through. "So you're going around Remnant to try and look for it?"

"Boltcaster kind of broke." Summer swiftly answered. "The replacement Saladin forged for me was nice, but it's not quite the same not having both range and swordplay anymore."

"Awww, what happened to Boltcaster?" Ruby sounded downcast as her voice came through. "I thought it would be impossible to break."

"We'll talk about that later when we get home. Sleep tight, Ruby!"

There was a little 'aww' as she finished, but her voice came through chipper when Summer ended things. "'Kay! Night mom!"

As the line clicked, Summer couldn't help but say aloud to herself. "Goodnight my little rose…"

00000

After managing to hitch a ride from a friendly guardian, the ex-guardian and Mistral champion came before the Lunar Complex. Rumors had been raised about the possibility of a second ketch by the Splicers being hidden in this very area, as the one closest to the breach in the wall, both by the guardian forces in the area, and the non-spliced fallen scouts who had been venturing around the area to be confirming these rumors. The Vanguard had made it a top priority to track down and destroy the Ketch before it infected the whole solar system with SIVA pods.

"Eramis, any sights on the enemy forces ahead?"

Eramis scoped in with her bow, looking in from behind one of the many broken down ships in the area. "Har Bo bar. Dra don, des dres nas yun yur Rahndel."

Pyrrha looked to Barloc for a translation.

"It means that we're given the all clear." Barloc said as he pressed forth with the crew behind him. "The latter is meant to give praise to Rahndel."

"I really have no clue how you heard that."

"Language is hard unless you're a warlock." Barloc stated as if it was a matter of fact. "But that isn't what we're here for. You have the motes you need for this mission?"

Pyrrha quickly checked her container, which was absolutely overflowing.

"Just about enough to cleanse a stolen a ketch… at least, to your crazy calculations."

00000

Diluation:Sorry for the extra day delay. We wanted to make sure this didn't come out with any formatting errors, and also had to converse over what was the sword of Summer's first life. The notes of Ptabs' didn't specify what type of sword it was(curved, short, long, great, etc.).

Shaelee the Space Marine: Why are you guys skipping the Warmind DLC when its arguably a better DLC then the Eye of Osiris.

Diluation:Because Warmind wouldn't be of much interest to Summer Rose or RWBY later on. We in the game just happened to stumble onto the plot, having no drive or director leading us to the scenario. Sure it has great plot and lore, but the drive just isn't there, especially for the main characters of this fanfic series that we're attempting to do..

It would be better if Warmind became a side-story meant for another character, probably Penny. Penny would gain much out of the DLC, whereas for RWBY and Nero, they just get to kill a giant worm along with Oryx's last son over and over, and talk as they do EP where there's no stakes due to lack of darkness zone. That's pretty much it beyond the new raid lair in terms of villains, threats, and reason for being there.

Meanwhile, when we took a look at CoO, we can see an opportunity to combine it with Season Of Dawn and hit two plots with one arc. There's also more, but we'd need to go to the Red War for that to be talked about.

Guest: Guardian versions of Delta Squad from Republic Commando. Much Respect.

Animeak: Thanks. This is actually their second appearance, but you'll have to look in the side-stories.

Diluation:Some of which are still being edited through. There's also a couple others that I've spotted and are now considering, but otherwise said side-stories might be hampered a bit in quality… I've been trying to edit when I can, but school and this story come first before I can turn much attention to other stories.

Next chapter, we reconvene with team RWBY on Remnant, and Summer's new team undergo the heist of a century:Stealing the Splicers' ketch. Make sure you come around in a couple to see it happen!

~ In memory of Ptabs0101 ~