Chapter 10

Downtown Vale

Midday

In the bar somewhere in the city of Vale, Solaris was currently drinking a coffee that she had ordered while John, her dance partner at the dance at Beacon academy, was looking at a T.V. showcasing the Vytal festival. As she was drinking her coffee, Solaris couldn't help, but stare at John's body. That muscular body that attracted her to no end, currently being covered well by some native armor.

"Trying to hide yourself from me, John?" Asked Solaris with a mocking hurt tone as she pouted. She then smirked when she saw him look at her. "I'm dying to slice all that off and punish you for not showing me that wonderful body of yours."

"Knock it off." Said John as he went back to watching the match that was currently being shown. It was team JNPR versus team BRNZ, a team of trainees from Vacuo. Both teams were doing well for a bunch of teenagers. At least for this world's standards. "We need to focus on those kids. They're grave danger against forces they can't begin to comprehend."

"True." Said Solaris. "But that doesn't mean that you and I have to do it. You already got some of our best doing that right now."

"Doesn't hurt to have extra eyes on them." Said John as he watched JNPR finish off their opponents. "Impressive."

"For their standards." Reminded Solaris. "You've seen our people perform much better things. That includes our sons." John just ignored this and went on to see team SSSN going up against a team from Vacuo, an all-female team called NDGO. "Don't stare at them for too long. The tournament might cancel because of unexpected deaths of its participants if you do."

"Don't, Solaris." Said John firmly as he looked at his partner. "Never joke on stuff like that."

"Relax." Said Solaris with a wave of her hand. "I'm merely messing with you." She then looked at him with affection. "Besides, I know that you only have eyes for me." She then removed a foot from the confines of her high-heel boot before placing it near John's nether regions, causing him to grunt, which caused her to smirk. "And I'm the only one that can make you react that way." She was about to move her foot when John grabbed it.

"Do it later. You're making a scene." Said John as he tilted his head to a waitress looking at them with a blushing face. Solaris just smirked at the waitress before putting her boot back on.

"Fine, but we'll continue in the bed." Said Solaris before going back to her coffee. "You think that team RWBY is doing alright? Particularly that blond."

"Only half of them are doing okay." Said John before looking around in case anyone was listening in. "The leader, Ruby, is taking it pretty hard, but has since moved on. At least that's what Wolf is telling me. She must have wanted to do well in the tournament."

"Or wanted to make her mother and father proud." Said Solaris with a quiet tone filled with pity, all manner of playfulness gone.

"That's probably it." Said John. "I don't think she's blaming her sister, though. They're too close for that. But I have no doubt that the sister is taking it hard."

"Can't blame her though." Said Solaris. "She used to think she was invincible, based on the reports, and that was shattered when that Mil had sliced her arm off and wounded her so much. Must have hurt her pride."

"Probably did." Said John. "She'll need to see this as a life-lesson or else she'll just be depressed all her life."

"Yeah." Said Solaris quietly. "So, you think she'll ever get back in the field?"

"Believe or not, but that Atlas general, Ironwood, had requested that she'd be given a robotic arm to replace the one that she lost." Said John. Seeing Solaris's shocked look, he continued. "No joke, Zed had overheard Ozpin speaking with Ironwood about it. Apparently, Ozpin begged Ironwood to do so. It was a rather heated debate at the end, but Ironwood eventually gave in."

"Must be a skilled negotiator then, that Ozpin." Said Solaris after finishing her coffee. "Or skilled in the art of deception."

"It's both, I think." Said John. After seeing team SSSN win the match, John then got up. "Time to go." Having already seen, team CFVY's match, they didn't need to see the rest. "Got to check in with the teams out investigating. Wait here while I…" He then pointed to the direction of an alleyway next to the bar.

"Sure. Don't want to ruin your check ins." John just shook his head before leaving, but then Solaris leaned up to him and kissed him on the cheek. "Good luck." Said Solaris as she watched him leave the bar. As she was waiting for John, a grown man had slid himself on John's seat stared at her with lustful eyes.

"Hello beautiful." Said the man as he stared at her bosom, making her sneer in disgust. "How about you and I leave this place for a day around town."

"Tempting offer." Said Solaris as she tapped her fingers on the wooden bar. "But I already have someone showing me around."

"But I can show you such a good time." Said the man. "Certainly, much more than that stone-cold ass that you were with." Hearing him refer to John this way, made her flex her fingers in an effort to calm herself. Sighing in annoyance, she just slapped him before dropping a heel on his foot, making him yelp in pain, gripping his foot as he did so.

"Say that about my man again and you'll regret the day you were born." Threatened Solaris as she glared at the man, who just cursed at her before leaving. Soon, John arrived and told her that they needed to go back, which she agreed to earnestly. As they were leaving, John noticed a group of men glaring at them. When he asked what was that about, Solaris just shrugged, saying they can't handle rejection.

Beacon academy

"No." Said Yang firmly as she clenched her bedsheets. Though she had nearly recovered, thanks to her aura and Beacon's medical staff, she still was required to be in bedrest for at least two more days.

"But Yang…" Started Ruby before her sister cut of her.

"Yang, I really think that you should take it." Said Jack as he held a box containing an Atlas cybernetic arm. "This is an opportunity to get right back into the action."

"He's right." Said Weiss as she and Blake looked at Yang in concern. "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Atlas doesn't do this for just anyone. Ironwood had to pull some strings just to get you this."

"We're not asking you to forget your old arm." Said Blake as Jack inspected the arm for any deficiencies. "We're asking you to move on." Yang just sighed to herself.

"Guys." Started Yang as she looked at everyone. "I appreciate what you're trying to do. I really am. But I don't think I can accept this."

"Yang." Started Jack as he gave Blake the box. "We may not be that close, but I really think that you should take it. Just hear me out, please." Seeing that she was, at least, partially curious on what he had to say, he continued. "I can understand the emotional trauma that you're going through. An acquaintance of mine in Atlas academy was similar to you. Confident in his abilities and didn't think that anyone can stop him or his team. I wasn't friends with them, per say, but they did respect my engineering skills. Anyway, they were sent on a routine mission on their 2nd year. Simple scouting mission. Unfortunately, something went awry, and everyone, but him, died on that mission. Intel was way off, and Grimm overwhelmed them. He made it with some treatable wounds, but the trauma of losing his entire team sent him into a depression. I tried to help out, but he just shut me and everyone else, including his family, out. Eventually, he was discharged from the academy and is currently living with his family. Far as I know, he's still in a depression." He saw some sad and shocked looks from team RWBY after he finished. He then sighed before continuing. "I'm telling you this because I'm seeing similar patterns with you Yang. And I don't want that to happen to you, and neither does your family or team. So, please, don't deny our help." Yang just looked at her sheets for a long time before sighing.

"Got to admit, you're pretty okay with speeches." Said Yang as she looked at Jack, who just rubbed his head, saying that it was nothing. "Alright. I'll think about it. Just one question. Is there anything wrong with this arm?" Asked Yang as she looked at the robot arm provided to her.

"Well," Started Jack as he inspected the arm again. "There's nothing really wrong with it, per say. It's just the constant maintenance that you have to do to ensure it's operating at peck efficiency. There's also the added problem of using your semblance with this arm. You could break it if you went all out with punching an opponent with this arm."

"O-kay. Any benefits?" Asked Yang as her sudden optimism went down again.

"Some, but not many." Said Jack. "It is more powerful than your old arm and probably is more light and durable. I could see this working for you. Just have to keep it maintained and that's it."

"Great." Said Yang, hating the idea that she'll have to keep this thing maintained.

"Don't worry, I'll help." Said Ruby. "Jack can also help as well. You can provide tips, right?"

"Oh yeah." Said Jack. "Just need to read the manual and diagrams that came with it in case I do something stupid. This is state of the line tech, after all. When do you want to put it on?"

"After I get out of here." Said Yang as she looked around for the nurses and doctors. "They won't let me do anything aside from bed rest. Least I can still make jokes."

"Must be awful for them, then." Said Weiss, remembering Yang's idiotic puns and jokes.

"They got used to it." Said Yang with a smirk. "After the third day." They then heard a nurse walking to them. "Well, catch you guys later. Don't you guys here for my check up."

"By us, you mean me." Said Jack as he was backing off.

"Smart man." Commented Yang as she smirked. With that, everyone then left the infirmary and were walking down the courtyard.

"So, Ruby, you think that Yang will recover from this?" Asked Jack as they walked.

"Oh yeah." Said Ruby with confidence. "She's tough as nails. She'll bounce back from this." Jack just looked at Blake and Weiss, who nodded to show that they were confident as well. Nodding in agreement, he then spoke again.

"Think she'll be fine with a robot arm?" Asked Jack.

"Fine? No way, she'll be more awesome than before!" Exclaimed Ruby with excitement. "A robot arm is so cool." As she rambled on, the remaining three teenagers were conversing with each other.

"She got over the tournament?" Asked Jack as he whispered as Ruby rambled on.

"Oh yeah." Whispered Weiss. "Got depressed for a few hours, but got over it. Rather quickly I might add."

"It's Ruby." Said Blake. "She's just that kind of person." Jack just nodded in agreement and was about to speak when they heard some yelling. Concerned, everyone then ran out to the docks and saw Winter arguing with a man with a giant board sword.

"Oh my god! It's uncle Qrow!" Yelled Ruby with excitement as she ran down, using her semblance. She soon tackled her uncle to the ground as she embraced him, shocking Winter and the older man. As they were walking down, they saw Qrow getting up and rubbing Ruby's head with an affectional smile. Winter, seeing her sister, her team, and Jack, arriving clamed down and settle with glaring at Qrow, who just gave her a smirk, infuriating her.

"Uh…nice to see you, sir." Greeted Jack as he waved his hand at Qrow. The man just scoffed in amusement before waving his hand. In Qrow's eyes, Jack was a pretty decent and respectable boy. Still, it amused Qrow whenever he made fun of Atlas or insulted it and the boy would disagree and try to defend Atlas and its ideals. Sure, he was sort of indoctrinated in the Atlas kingdom's ideals, but he was flexible enough to respect other's opinions and his wish to understand the other kingdom's ideals was something that Qrow can respect. So, he found him to be a bit more tolerable than most from Atlas. Especially that Schnee specialist, who he had a great deal of fun messing around and embarrassing her to her superiors.

"Don't call me sir, kid." Said Qrow. "Makes me feel old." He then let go of his niece and made a slight wink at Winter, whose hand was close to grabbing her sword and stabbing Qrow with it. "Well, this was an interesting reunion and all, but I got to speak with Oz and Ironwood. Got something to say to the both of them. With that, the man left the group and proceeded to the tower, but not before telling his niece that they'll catch up soon.

"So, Winter. You okay?" Asked Jack as he saw her take a deep breath.

"No." Said Winter bluntly. "If you'll excuse me, I have to go and cool off." With that she marched off to her ship.

'Is there something going on with Weiss's scary sister and my uncle, Jack?" Asked Ruby as they watched Winter storm off.

"Uh…yeah. Mostly it's because of how Qrow views Atlas and its ideals, his personality, and how much he deems Winter as an inferior and a tool." Explained Jack. "That and he made her look like a fool some time ago."

"How dare he!" Yelled Weiss, infuriated at the last part. "Does he have manners?"

"Apparently not around people from Atlas. Or at least the hardliners." Said Jack as they looked at the tower.

Later

"You two better have a good explanation cause I'm not in the mood for games." Said Qrow as he glared at Ozpin and Ironwood. One for sending his nieces and several teams of students on a mission investigating a giant machine that wasted a good portion of the city of Vale. The other for having a fleet of warships and troops for "security purposes".

"Qrow, am much as I would love to explain, you also owe us an explanation." Said Ironwood. "You've been out of contact for a couple of months now. And then you suddenly show up. Explain."

"I don't have to explain anything." Said Qrow. "Besides, reception is spotty at best in places where I need to go."

"Qrow, please." Said Ozpin as Glynda and Ironwood stared at Qrow. "I'll explain my actions as well as James, if you explain what you saw out there. Regarding the Grimm and her." Qrow just sighed to himself before speaking.

"She's been recruiting a handful of people. I don't know who exactly, but I have seen people out on jobs for her. She's also been experimenting a bit, creating new Grimm and enhancing old ones, making them stronger." Explained Qrow. "And with the recent attack on Vale, I think that she grew more confident in attacking Beacon. Seen some movement to Vale from some of the bigger Grimm. And speaking of the attack on Vale. Mind explaining what happened."

"Can't offer much." Said Ironwood, seeing no point in keeping Qrow in the dark. "The White Fang, somehow, acquired a massive machine of unspeakable power. It took everything that we threw at it and kept attacking. According to one of the students on an exchange program, the machine was only stopped by a Faunas woman named Xayah. We had interrogated him for information about her, but he said he didn't know much about her, other than that she was a bodyguard for a musician for a ball that we had sometime ago. Security cameras confirmed this upon reviewing them around the academy."

"So, are you saying that a Faunas woman, who was a guard for a singer or something along those lines, managed to take down a giant robot when the combined firepower of an Atlesian fleet, several student teams, and some huntresses/huntsman couldn't?" asked Qrow sarcastically as everyone just starred at him. "Great. The world has gone nuts. So, found any of these other guards or this musician?"

"No, after the dance, we never saw any of them again." Said Glynda. "Professor Ozpin had interrogated some of them students if they seen them leave, but we've come up dry."

"So, we just wait?" Asked Qrow in disgust, but with a resigned tone.

"I'm afraid so." Said Ozpin. "In the meantime, I believe it's time for us to look into our next guardian." Unknown to them, as they were speaking of the next guardian, they were being watched by a nanoscopic droid, who was feeding information back to its leader.

Unknown location

The pillar-like machine was currently observing all the information that it was being given to by it's recon scouts. To say that it was a tad disappointed was an exaggeration. The major sentient races, two mammalian races, were only concentrated into pockets of territory. The rest was uncharted and owned by a collection of black-colored beasts with bone-like armor. Despite holding these territories relatively well, the machine calculated that, if the beasts made a coordinated attack against the territories, then they could win with relative ease and so could its forces. But it had no idea if they had a trick up their sleeve or more. And that data it was acquiring wasn't giving it much to work with. It was then that it received a stream of data from one of it's elite units, asking it for an audience. Surprised, it allowed it and received a transmission from the unit. From a small screen on the upper left of its vision, a single glowing red eye on a head that was narrow and triangle shaped was looking at the machine with an indifference, yet respectful, stance.

"Raven unit one of base eight of galaxy sixty-seven. State why your current status was designated dead." Said the pillar-like-machine.

"Apologies, Internecine." Said the machine, surprising the now known Internecine at it's sentience, meaning that it spent some time developing a personality. "Protocol had stated that a minor force would remain active to keep guard of the facilities in stasis. However, I was woken when the facility I was stationed on had eroded due to time."

"Have you any knowledge on what became of them?" Asked the Internecine, believing the machine's words. It tried to contact the standard force, but was unable to. That meant they either gone rogue or were destroyed.

"Negative." Said the machine. "It's likely they were destroyed due to time or have never been activated in the first place."

"Do you have knowledge about the locals?" Asked the Internecine.

"Indeed." Said the machine. "And I believe that we have a problem. The catalyst has been fragmented into four pieces and the locals have them." Hearing this, made the Internecine stop calculating for a moment before resuming. "They are all currently inside vaults beneath academies that have a large garrison of warriors. Still under training, but enough to warrant caution. I would have attack, but I was only one Raven and I have no idea of their capabilities."

"Understood." Said the Internecine. "We only have at least five percent of our forces. The majority are still stasis, being repaired, or were destroyed. At most, we will only have forty percent of our original garrison."

"That may be more than sufficient." Said the machine. "The current dominant species is a collection of varying species of black-colored creatures called Grimm. I had uncovered and proven that these beasts can be used to our advantage. For some reason, these beasts are attracted to negative emotions of the sentient species, thereby allowing us to use them. I have more data." The machine then sent a large cache of data to the Internecine. After reviewing the data in a short amount of time, it was impressed, beginning to think up of different scenarios and strategies to use these beasts.

"Anything else?" Asked the Internecine.

"Yes." Said the machine. "There is a sub-faction that is trying to acquire the keys, which they along with everyone else that knows of them as relics. For what purpose, I have no knowledge. They were the ones to uncover that machine, sir. I believe that we can strike a temporary alliance with them."

"And we will rid of them when their usefulness is over." Said the Internecine. Seeing the machine nod, the Internecine approved of the idea. "What do you require?"

"A standard security detail and some incentives for them to consider an alliance with us." Said the machine. "What do we have currently?" The Internecine then sent a detailed list of what is available. "That is more than sufficient."

Later

Cinder was currently reviewing all the data that she had acquired from Ironwood's scroll when a message had suddenly arrived to her. Raising an eyebrow, she opened it and read the message. She was shocked and intrigued with what it said. It said that it was from a third party that wished to make an alliance with her group. In exchange for information and assistance for their operations, they're willing to provide all their assets for their cause. For incentives, the message contained some rather sensitive Atlas prototypes and weapons as well as several shipments of freshly made and completed Atlesian Paladins. It said that it'll provide more if she meets them in the designated time and location. Putting a hand on her chin, she went into thought about this message. Ultimately, she decided to go with it. But not before, messaging her leader about it.

Two days later

Abandoned warehouse

Cinder was currently waiting with Emerald, Neo, and Mercury in an abandoned warehouse as they waited for this contact to arrive. She was currently tapping her fingers in annoyance as she waited for this contact to arrive. How dare they make her wait. She was about to abandon this deal when the doors to the warehouse they were in. To their shock, they saw giant robots, at least eight feet tall, coming inside. All were dark grey in color with some silver for their joints. Most had halberd-like weapons and other were large, bulky machine with chain guns for hands as well as launchers on their shoulders. The leader, at least they presumed him to be, was larger than the other, at least nine feet tall, was radically different from the others. His head, rather than V-shaped for the halberd wielders or dome-shaped for the mini-gun toting ones, was narrow and triangle shaped with a single red optic. Unlike the others, it was entirely gray. It's body-shaped was roughly human shaped, like the others. As they marched, they did so with such precision and stability that could only be found in a machine. Upon getting face to face with Cinder, the machine began to speak.

"I see that you got my message." Said the machine, it's mechanical and heavily synthesized voice sending shivers down everyone's spine. "Are you here to discuss an alliance?" Cinder, quickly composing herself, just placed a hand on her hip.

"I never agreed to such a notion." Said Cinder. "I merely wanted to see what you offer. If you have something of value to offer, then you have an alliance. If you don't." She then erupted flames in her hands. "Then you'll regret contacting me."

"Rest assured, we have much to offer you." Said the machine as it bowed in respect. Seeing that Cinder was waiting for its offer, it continued. "We can provide you a robot army that is immensely superior to whatever trash the kingdom of Atlas is currently making. They'll also far more superior to whatever forces the kingdoms have." Cinder just rose an eyebrow at this, interested.

"That is quite a tall order you're saying." Said Cinder, amused. "Are you sure that these machines of yours can beat a huntress in battle?"

"Not individually for most of our standard troops, I admit." Said the machine. "But our most advanced units can do so. And our standard troops can surprise them with our weaponry and adapt tactics according to the huntress."

"You have proof?" Asked Cinder, still skeptical

"Yes. In order to ensure you're convinced of our capabilities, we sent an advanced team to neutralize a two teams of huntsmen and huntresses. I think you will be pleased." Said the machine before ordering one of the other machines to show a recording to them via his optics. Needless to say, Cinder was impressed what she saw. She saw the huntsmen and huntress teams being killed by these machines, on by ambush and one through a fair fight. Both outcomes came with no casualties from the machines and the huntsmen and huntresses being wiped out. "Now these aren't our grunt models, they're our more elite units, but I assure you that our grunts can hold their own against these huntsmen and huntresses." He then turned toward Cinder. "But are you impressed with our capabilities?" Cinder just hummed to herself as she paced around the room.

"I must admit, your machines did indeed hold their own against the huntsmen and huntresses well." Said Cinder. "But I don't need brute force, I need people who can deceive our foes and do so with discretion. I'm afraid none of that qualifies to any of you."

"That is where you are wrong, miss." Said the machine. "We can acquire information that you can't get. Like this." He then materialized a holographic screen containing Atlas secrets. Secrets that can damage their relations to the public and the other kingdoms. He then showed her more secrets that could do the same as the first, but with the other kingdoms and even the Schnee dust company, despite their hold on the media. "Is this sufficient to you?" Asked the machine before holding out his hand. Cinder just looked at the hand before shaking it.

"Welcome to the table, mr…" Said Cinder as she starred at the machine.

"Noblesse. Noblesse Oblige." Said the machine as it starred at her. "Now, what will you ask of us to do, considering you already have a plan in motion."

"My my. Have information on us before this alliance." Said Cinder. "Quite a detriment to wanting an alliance with someone."

"My apologies." Said Noblesse Oblige. "We thought that it was necessary in case you tried to do something against us."

"Understandable." Said Cinder. "I would have done the same." Thought Cinder.

"As for what to do, just wait for my instructions." Said Cinder. "I'm sure I can use you and your troops when the time calls for it, which will be soon."

"Understood." Said Noblesse. "We'll wait when you call for us." With that, the machines just left the area. Once they did, Noblesse contacted the Internecine. "Internecine. I have just made an alliance with the sub-fraction. It appears that we are to be held in reserve for now."

"Logical." Said the Internecine. "In the meantime, I have an assignment for you. A huntsmen in training from the training academy called Beacon academy has acquired information from one of our guard-class Mil units. The guard unit had downloaded the data from the bunker that it was stationed with. It's only a matter of time before he and his allies break our deception codes. So, your orders are to eliminate him and take back the data. Discreetly."

"Understood." Said Noblesse with some hesitance. "Anything else?"

"Yes, some top secrets intel from Atlas as well as the headmaster of Beacon academy has revealed some interesting information regarding one other student." Said the Internecine. "Apparently she possesses some silver eyes. Intel regarding this is spotty and we have no knowledge why she seems so important, but based on conversations between the headmaster and some of his allies has indicated that she is extremely important. Orders are to determine her threat level to us and take necessary measure to ensure she doesn't get in the way."

"By that, you mean to eliminate her?" Asked Noblesse.

"If necessary." Said the Internecine as it cut the connection. Noblesse then ran a simulation of all possible outcomes and strategies on what to do with the silver-eyed organic and this one called Jack. In a few seconds, it determined what the few strategies that revolved on not showing their identity to the public were as well as damaging public relations with the government. With that, it turned back to inform to his new allies about his plan. Needless to say, they were impressed.

The next day

Some mall

"Weiss, I don't need new clothes!" Protested Ruby as Weiss was picking out some clothes for Ruby.

"Why are we out here?" Asked Blake as she was drinking a latte while Yang was testing her new arm, amazed in how real it felt. She knew the answer, however, which was that Yang was admitted out of the infirmary. To celebrate, Ruby took everyone out for a celebration. Jack couldn't attend due to a history test, JNPR and SSSN couldn't as well due to the tournament, leaving them to celebrate alone, which was fine with them. Some things are better with just your team alone.

"How's the arm?" Asked Blake as she eyed the impressive piece of Atlas technology. She didn't like Atlas or their policies, but they sure knew their way with tech.

"Getting used to it." Said Yang as she flexed the mechanical fingers. "It kind of feels weird having an arm after the last one got sliced off."

"You'll get back from this. You always do." Said Blake, causing Yang to smile. As the two were having their moment together, Weiss was currently helping Ruby with picking out some new clothes.

"No Ruby, this one suits you more." Said Weiss as she held a red dress with a frilly skirt.

"You sure?" Asked Ruby as she eyed the shirt with cookies pictures all over it.

"Yes." Said Weiss as she took the shirt and gave Ruby the dress, who just shrugged and took it. As Ruby was examining the dress, Weiss was dragging her to the cashier to purchase the dress. After doing so, the two joined Yang and Blake. Upon seating down, Weiss then spoke to Yang.

"The arm is doing well?" Asked Weiss. Yang just gave a thumbs up with her mechanical arm and flexed the fingers to indicate it's working. "Good."

"Going to put that thing into good use, Yang?" Asked Ruby in excitement.

"Yup." Said Yang as she smirked. "Eager to put this baby into good use." As the girls were talking school, training, and some potential missions to partake in, a large explosion had destroyed a store close to them, alerting them to danger. After signaling for their weapon lockers, the four saw an Atlesian paladin coming out of the smoke. A prototype, like the one that they faced before.. The mech then started opening fire on everyone, causing people to flee in terror. Soon the weapon lockers of team RWBY arrived, landing close to them. After getting their weapons, the girls looked at the mech turn to them.

"It's the same robot that we faced before, girls." Said Ruby before pointing her weapon at the mech. "Let's turn it into scrap like the last one." The others nodded their heads before getting into position. "Ice flower followed up with Bumble bee!" Following the orders, Blake threw out her ribbon, which Yang then caught before running around in circles with Blake helping her out in gaining speed and momentum. Ruby, meanwhile, was firing her weapon at the mech, the rounds being encased in ice dust. The rounds hit the mech in the leg joints, freezing it in place. Despite this, the paladin fired some missiles at the four, forcing them to dodge. Still attempting their move, Blake and Yang traveled together as they dodge the missiles. Once the barrage was over, the two charged at the paladin, which fired energy blasts at them after running out of missiles. As they drew closer, the two went further apart from each other. After getting within jumping distance of the paladin, the duo hacked or punched the paladin in the cockpit, creating slight dents or scratches in the armor. Not done yet, the duo wrapped the ribbon around the paladin's legs. After getting a respectable distance away, the two pulled with all their strength, causing the paladin to trip. Seeing it was down, Yang got on top of the mech and started slamming her fists into the cockpit. As the armor was about to give away, the mech had gotten up and ran backwards to slam Yang into a column. However, remembering what happened last time, Yang jumped out quickly enough to avoid being slammed into a column. The paladin, after knocking down a column and smashing into a store, just starred down the four girls and aimed it's energy cannons at them.

"Hmm." Said Ruby as she starred at the paladin. "Oh! I got it! Yang, follow me!" With that the two sisters charged at the paladin, dodging energy blasts. Upon getting close enough, Ruby zipped her way past the paladin and, using the resulting momentum, slashed an arm off. While it was distracted with this, Yang slammed a fist into a leg, forcing it to trip again. As it was getting up, Weiss and Blake raced down to it. Once the mech got up, it turned to see Weiss and Blake coming at it with their weapons at the ready. Upon seeing them jump and seconds before their weapons landed, the cockpit opened, smoke erupting form the cockpit. Before they could react, their weapons went through the cockpit and landed on something soft. A few seconds later, the smoke subsided to reveal a White Fang soldier in the cockpit, head and chest pierced by the weapons of Blake and Weiss. As the two women were in shock at what they had just done, the mech fell to the ground, forcing them to jump off. The mech had felled to the side, revealing the body to the world. As people were getting out of their hiding spots and looking at what happened, Blake and Weiss were recovering with what they had done.

"What happened?" Asked Ruby. She then gasped when she saw the blood on their weapons. Yang just widened her eyes when she saw the body in the mech.

"I-it was an accident." Said Blake as she saw people in shock at what the huntresses in training had done, not knowing what really happened.

"He just opened the cockpit when we were attacking and then…" Weiss just stopped and sighed to herself. This was going to be a PR disaster, both to her family and to Beacon academy. To make matters worse, they heard a young boy yell out.

"Bro!" Yelled a young faunas boy as he rushed toward the mech. Upon seeing the dead body, he began to cry. Hearing the boy cry, made Blake and Weiss wince in regret. As people were feeling for the boy, the huntresses just looked at each other, wondering what to do.

Later

"Did the plan please you?" Asked Noblesse as the he and his new 'friend' Cinder Fall were looking at the news. The news reporters were discussing the attack of the mall by the White Fang as well as condemning the huntresses in training for killing the pilot, whose brother was on the scene. As people were giving their comments on the matter, some for the huntresses and others against, Cinder made her own comments.

"Not as much as I would like, but sufficient." Said Cinder with a smile. "And we could always damage the public's trust more on the government later, anyway." She then turned to Noblesse. "Good work, Noblesse. You certainly do more than the idiots I have to work with. Perhaps, you're worth it after all."

"Thank you." Said Noblesse. "I assure you we won't fail in our missions together."

"That remains to be seen." Said Cinder as she went back to watching the news. "It's marvelous how far the White Fang are willing to go to hurt the kingdoms."

"I take it the young child was a White Fang member too?" Asked Noblesse.

"Indeed." Said Cinder. "Goes to show how much value a child soldier can be if used correctly." Noblesse just stayed silent as he watched the news, which eventually went over to alarming news of Grimm marching to the city of Vale in large numbers, going through any defenses that were set up to stop them. "Just one more push and everything will fall into place. Prepare what droids you have." She said this with one of her eyes glowing, a flame appearing over it. "Tell them to kill anyone that wants to stop us." Noblesse just bowed before leaving. As he was walking, he couldn't help but feel a bit unease with the whole thing.

Meanwhile

White Fang base

"You heard about what happened earlier today?" Asked a White Fang grunt as he and his partner were out on patrol.

"Yeah." Said grunt number two. "That should convince more Faunas to join our cause."

"Yeah." Said the first grunt. "Someone get that kid and his brother a medal. They're true believers to our cause." The other grunt was about to agree when they were both grabbed from behind by some invisible beings. Before they could react, they're necks were snapped and their bodies were dragged away. The same was happening all over the base. Patrols had their necks snapped, throats slit, or even shot with some energy weapon, turning them into dust. As the last of the White Fang troops were being taken out, a man in dark green and black armor was walking to the commander's scroll, taking it from his corpse. After taking it, he tossed it to a man with dark armor, a staff in hand, and a weird metal appendage on his left shoulder. His orange glowing eyes just scoffed at the scroll before he went to work in cracking it's defenses. As he was doing so, the other man just walked around the base, bring his hand to the side of his helmet.

"Report." Said the man.

"Nothing from any of the officer's scrolls, sir." Said a deep voice.

"And the anomalies that our ships picked up aren't getting us anything." Said a female voice. "I'm sorry to report, sir, but I think the catalyst is on this planet, sir. May have been moved off planet, which may be the reason we see some wrecked starships here."

"Just keep searching." Said the man before cutting the transmission. After doing so, he heard some high-heels click as Solaris was walking to him, wearing the outfit she wore during the ball. Her usual attire.

"Didn't think that you're one to help others while there's a mission to do." Said Solaris as she eyed her gloved hand. "You changed, John."

"Our goal is clear, Solaris." Said John as he looked around. "That doesn't mean that we can't help those that need it while on it."

"You've been hanging out with Strayed too long." Said Solaris with a smile. "Anyway, got anything?"

"No, nothing to incriminating." Said John. "All I know is that their ally had requested a brother and his sibling to be a sacrificial lamb. That's it. Not enough to defend Beacon academy." Solaris was about to speak when John's comm link beeped to life.

"What is it?" Asked John, answering the call.

"Sir, we have a situation!" Said someone on the other side.

"What is it?" Asked John, getting serious.

"You're not going to like it." Said the unknown individual.

Few minutes ago

Beacon academy

Jack was currently drinking a glass of water as he tried to think up of reasons why Xayah didn't want him to reveal the information on his scroll. Maybe it was to take it for herself later, but she could have done that many times before. Maybe she wanted to delay him or something. Or she was telling the truth and that the information contained in his scroll was dangerous. He was about to go and watch the tournament in the coliseum when he was suddenly grabbed from behind and slammed into a wall. As he recovered from the sudden attack, something began to appear slowly to him. To his shock, it was the same machine that he, team RWBY, SSSN, CFVY, JNPR, professor Oobleck, and Port had fought against. With it were several others and a taller and larger model with a triangle-shaped head. The bigger model just aimed a weapon at Jack before firing. The blast of energy hit him, but, rather than killing him, it knocked him unconscious. Soon a black and purple portal had appeared out of nowhere in Jack's room. Just as the droids were about to walk through with Jack, a barrage of feathers had pierced the windows, scoring hits in vitals spots in some droids. As the self-repairs protocols kicked in, the leader, Noblesse Oblige, had scanned outside and detected a humanoid going for cover. Just as he was about to aim his weapon, his targeting systems went awry along with everyone else. Realizing this humanoid had some advanced technology, Noblesse pushed his troops through the portal. Just as he was about to get in, another barrage of feathers hit him, all proving useless against his strong shields. After getting through, the portal closed around Noblesse just when Xayah had appeared.

"God Damnit!" Yelled Xayah before contacting the ship. "Get a QRF team ready now! We got a major situation and get me chief now!"