Chapter 7: The Atlesian Crisis - the Rogue Commander.

"This is serious news, Ozpin," said Ironwood from the holo-screen. "The situation is getting worse in Atlas."

"Indeed General, but not just in Atlas, the citizens of Vale were also influenced by the Red Hand's protest last week," Ozpin replied. "However, from what I heard in the news the UN have decided that the Americans will be in charge of solving this problem."

"How can the Americans solve this problem?" Ironwood cocked a brow.

"Trust me James, they know what they're doing..." Ozpin stated with a calm tone. "A military alliance called NATO will dispatch their special forces to stop the chaos caused by the Red Hand."

"Are you sure Ozpin, a group of mere soldiers to take out the insurgents?" Ironwood seemed incredulous. "I don't think they're ready for the Huntsmen-turned-criminals the Red Hand has in their disposal."

"General, they are aware," the Headmaster of Beacon sighed. "Their militaries are unlike yours, James. They've been fighting in many conflicts for centuries according to their history books. We must wait and see how they could fare against the Red hand."

1 month ago...

"Hear! Hear! Join the Red Hand! A bright new future for the people of Atlas!"

The message from the Red Hand was off into the public, only aimed at human citizens. Their leader sent members and sympathizers to convince the people to join their organization.

"Boss! Boss! We got more recruits!" said one of the members in a bright, cheery tone. "About a thousand of them wanted to join us."

"Hahaha! That's the spirit!" his leader laughed as he patted the man's shoulder. "We will keep going until we can eradicate the Faunus oppression."

Days had passed and their plan worked. The leader of the Red Hand greatly appreciated this result. They had gained over nine thousand members and met with sympathizers to encourage them to rally against their Council.

Present Day.

Around the city, streets were ravaged by the violent riots of the people of Atlas. Cars were burned; stores, restaurants and some apartment buildings were vandalized; and graffiti with racial slurs was sprayed everywhere.

In the main streets, people with red bands baring the insignia of the Red Hand tied on their arms marched through, with signs, black flags, and fists raised into the air. They chanted vulgar slurs towards the lines of the Atlesian military police blocking their way.

"Don't let them get through!" an Atlesian captain yelled while the soldiers readied their batons towards the angry crowd.

When the two sides met, the rioters began to throw rocks and bottles at the military police, who began to stagger. The mob raised their wooden clubs and iron pipes and charged.

The police tried to suppress them, but there were too many. The line broke into chaos.

Suddenly, one rioter threw a bottle filled with red dust. It landed in a fiery explosion, sending guards and some rioters into the air. In the sky, a single Bullhead flew overhead, the VNN news crew with its cameraman catching the scene of sheer brutality.

Kingdom of Vale.

Things had gotten worse in the city. After the latest event broadcasted from Atlas, the citizens of Vale began to march through the streets with black banners with red fist. Glynda Goodwitch stood beside the VPD Riot Police to hold their ground.

"I can't believe this is happening." Glynda frowned at the scene.

In front of them stood a mob of sympathizers. The VPD stood their lines and raised their shields towards the crowd. Behind them stood a building, a US embassy.

She could see the men in dark blue-uniformed men in riot gear, armed with batons, riot shields, and of course, grenade launchers and shotguns. Even armored vehicles came along with large water cannons.

Those were the American San Fransisco Riot Police. Since the Vale authorities needed aid from a large superpower from the nearby eastern coast, the high-ranking officers of VPD had visited the police departments in America.

Once a lot of demonstrations were led, the Vale Police began to recognize its potential and asked for help. And so Governor Grey Davis authorized drill instructors from US Law Enforcement to train the VPD.

"Don't tell me that your men are going to blow the entire crowd into smithereens." Glynda said with a worried expression.

"Don't worry, it's nonlethal," said the captain. "You'd better put on your gas mask."

The SWAT teams aimed their grenade launchers towards the crowd. The captain shouted his orders.

"Alright boys, open fire!"

A salvo of hand grenades were dropped into the crowd of rioters. Some of the VPD were surprised and expected an explosion, but instead, the grenades burst into a thick white and yellow smoke.

The rioters stood dumbfounded as they stopped yelling. They suddenly began to cough and scream, running away while dropping their signs and weapons as the smoke took effect, irritating their eyes and skin. Some of the rioters charged in, but they were pushed back by rubber bullets shot by the American Riot Police.

Glynda was shocked. Rioters were a problem that the Four Kingdoms could not handle well. It surprised her to see that Earthen police had not only learned how to deal with rioters, but had also learned how to do so in many brutal, yet nonlethal ways.

After the gas dissipated, and the demoralized Red Hand sympathizers quickly fled from the scene, they took off their gas masks and the captain sighed with relief, though he had a disappointed look.

"Huh, weird, I expected the riot would be longer." He looked curiously at Glynda. "I wonder why the VPD had serious problems. To us, this was child's play."

"We... hadn't tried those kinds of methods before."

"Well that's kinda very disappointing." The captain shook his head. "Now that we're here, we're going to do our best to help you change. What could go wrong?"

Meanwhile, in the Port of Atlesian Military.

"What is the meaning of this?!"

Ironwood and his bodyguards were suddenly surrounded by armed androids and few Atlesian Huntsmen and Huntresses.

A few hours prior, the General had heard classified information from one of his specialists that the commanders were attempting a coup d'etat in order to overthrow the Atlesian Council and the United Nations. Alarmed, he began to mobilize, trying to stop them before everything fell into chaos.

However, the Rogue Commander knew what Ironwood was doing.

"Well, if it isn't James himself," said an amused voice.

James widened his eyes as he looked towards an Atlesian in his mid-30s, with reddish hair and white overalls that almost matched to Ironwood's uniform.

"Roth..." James glared daggers at the Atlesian Commander.

"You thought that you could stop me from doing this?" Roth smiled deviously. "I am not going to let that happen, James."

"So you did this," James snarled. "You, a commander of the Atlesian military, swore an oath to protect Atlas. Why have you sided with an enemy? You've betrayed the people of Atlas!"

There was silence between the two, until it was broken up with a light chuckle as James perked up in disbelief.

"You are foolish, James." Roth looked gleeful. "You and the Councilors are nothing more than fools that can only listens to mighty words from the primitive weaklings of the United Nations."

"You can't do this, Roth." The general gritted his teeth. "You'll bring our Kingdom into war! Atlas will be destroyed!"

"I AM saving Atlas!" Roth spat back. "Those measly Faunus have ruined our society!"

"What?! Is this what you were fighting for? Some unnecessary bloodshed?!"

"More and less." He chuckled and then ordered, "Place him under arrest. We'll handle his trial after this."

"Yes sir," the huntress saluted.

Later on, the androids and Hunters led Ironwood and his bodyguards into a dropship. When the hatch closed and flew off from the port, the Commander waved his hand with a devious expression, seeing himself as the new General of the Atlesian Military.

Yet unknown to him, a single drone flew across the airspace in a surveillance run, photos and video recorded before it flew straight back to a certain aircraft carrier.

North Atlantic Sea, USS George Washington.

"6 hours ago, General Ironwood was placed under arrest by rogue Atlesian military officials," said a CIA agent. "A man named Roth Crest was behind this. His plan seems to be to overthrow the Atlesian Council with his Red Hand allies."

Then the agent placed a photo, showing the face of the Atlesian commander. The picture zoomed out to show Ironwood being handcuffed by Red Hand Huntsmen.

"What about the leader of the Red Hand?" asked a Navy SEAL member.

"Unknown, their leader was too aware of us and his identity remains hidden from the public." The CIA agent pulled out a remote as the projector came to life.

It showed a video of a crowd standing in the parks of Atlas. The leader of the organization came onto the rostrum and gave a speech. The crowd cheered with their fists raised when he stepped down.

"This is from their latest meeting before shit went to hell." He zoomed the video on the main figure, but his face was covered by a black mask with red slits.

"He will be our next target for another objective," the Agent informed.

"But what about those Huntsmen?" one of the SEAL members raised his hand. "From what I heard that those guys had some powers."

"That is correct, this mission is extremely dangerous and you four are the best we have." The Agent nodded. "But the good news is that we've got some reports from our scientists and ballistic gun experts one week ago. They've experimented with the Huntsmen shielding called "Aura." The result shows that gunpowder-based weaponry is more effective due to its sheer velocity and brute force than Pure Dust bullets, since pure Dust round is either a bit above 1000 FPS or lower, and they were incapable to penetrate light materials such as clay pot or a wooden table."

Then one SEAL commented. "Well, that makes our jobs easier."

"But regardless, it's still dangerous that one round can explode against living targets and Grimm upon physical contact can cause crippling injuries or death. Yet, they do have solid steel projectiles as another type of Dust round with Dust used only as propellant, they have same results like normal rounds. Then I recommend you using .30-06 Springfield or the .50 Beowulf rounds that it can whittle them down within a few shots, even a heavier caliber such as the 50. BMG Armor-Piercing or improved versions would do the trick in one hit."

"So they're not invulnerable to our weaponry?" spoke a SEAL, who's a second-in-command in his team. "Seriously, I've seen them in our last campaign in Vancouver, where they survived a falling debris from a collapsed building and landed on the ground from a forty-foot-tall drop and never had a single injury."

"But there's a report that a SWAT Policeman had single-handedly killed a criminal Huntsman four days ago," said the other SEAL member. "Killed by a Beneli M1 automatic shotgun in three slamfire shots at close range the use of slug rounds."

"That still doesn't make sense," said a rookie to his nearby teammate.

"You'd think that it'd be unfair for us, but the laws of physics are on our side. They shouldn't underestimate our firepower."

"Alright boys, enough chit-chatting." The SEAL lead stood up as he cocked his Mossberg 500 and strapped it behind his back. "We still have some shit to listen to."

"Ironwood has been imprisoned," the Agent explained. "Therefore, we're sending you to Atlas to secure Ironwood while friendlies from the UK will send their SAS to secure the Atlesian Council who are still under threat from the Red Hand. Your flying carrier will be arriving in approximately thirty-five minutes on the platform, so get ready."

Unknown location.

Raven walked through a field of grass, seeing a vision of grey sky and a gloomy atmosphere. Her deep red eyes scanned the area, looking left, right, and anywhere, not knowing where she was. The last thing she remembered was drifting asleep with her husband after talking about the child that would come in next month. Suddenly, something caught in the corner of her eye. She turned to her left and saw a figure wrapped in a grey cloth. The figure began to turn around, its menacing red pupils striking Raven's. She froze, trying to move but failing. Even her attempt to scream was silenced.

The last thing Raven saw was the cloaked figure dashing towards her at an unrelenting speed.

Raven's eyes opened immediately and she forcefully woke up, feeling exhausted with sweat pouring from her skin. She looked around, finding herself back in her own bedroom. Well, their bedroom, rather. When she heard her husband groan, she looked to her left side of the bed and saw Taiyang waking up with a yawn.

"Hey, what's wrong Raven, can't sleep?" he asked.

"N-Nothing, I just had... a bad dream." Raven sighed while massaging her forehead with her fingers.

"A bad dream eh, maybe you'd better not watch as many horror movies." Then the blonde brawler looked over at the clock and yawned. "Damn, it's one o'clock in the morning. I'm going back to sleep."

Raven began to regain her composure, falling back into bed and cuddling close to Taiyang.

Whatever that dream was, it felt so real and... terrifying.

Atlas Military Prison

Ironwood sat behind the iron door of his cell. Through a small window secured with iron bars, he could see two Atlesian Knights-130. It'd been several hours since he was stabbed in the back by his trusted commander. He was nervous. What would Atlas become if Roth's plans succeeded? His coup would result in a war against an entire world.

His dark thoughts suddenly faded as explosions were heard in the hallways. Gunfire erupted and the prison guards cried in agony and pain as they were shot to death. The androids heard the ruckus outside, tracking the footsteps of unknown assailants. The sounds continued until they were right outside of the iron door at the end of the hall, and then everything went silent. Suddenly, the door was burst open by a mini-explosion that dented the handles.

The androids pointed their arms, which morphed into mini-guns, towards the entrance.

"INTRUDER, IDENTIFY YOURSELF," the android demanded.

As a single head of an unknown assailant peeked out, the androids immediately fired, but missed as the head went back to cover. As they stopped shooting, two persons came out from their covers, holding modified M16 Rifles and grenade launchers. Two grenades popped out at the same time, and the SEALS fell back into cover as the grenades met their target, decimating the androids by blowing huge gaping holes in their disfigured chests thus they fell to the ground.

The SEALs entered the hall and inspected every cell, finding Ironwood at the eighth door.

"General Ironwood?"

Ironwood perked up and looked towards through the small window, seeing a face painted that matched the forests.

"I'm asking again, are you the General of the Atlesian military?" asked the SEAL member. "We're SEALs, American special forces."

"Command, this is Bravo Team-6, we've got the "Paperclip" secured," the other SEAL member reported via radio.

Ironwood widened his eyes in surprise. He never expected that Earthen soldiers could have come this far to find him. The military prison he was in was heavily guarded, with even a few traitorous Huntsmen around, yet they still manage to pass through. He stood up and walked over to the cell's entrance as the SEAL opened up the iron door.

"Who sent you?" the general asked.

"Classified, though you'd probably think it was the CIA or you even heard of them? Yeah." the SEAL Team leader responded. "Captain Sharps, I'm the leader of this small team from Navy SEALs, and were here to rescue ya."

"I see," James sighed in relief until he came to a realization. "Roth! We must stop him immediately."

"Have you heard his plans?" Sharps asked.

"Yes." James narrowed his eyebrows. "He took off with a fleet of six ships to commence an attack against the United Nations. He's heading towards New York."

"That seems late." Then the Captain pulls out his radio. "This is Bravo Team-6, the "Red Package" has been uplifted, I repeat, "Red Package" has been uplifted."

United States, Washington D.C, The Pentagon.

"Mr. President, take a look at this," said Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense. "The message has been sent by SEAL Team-6 to USS George Washington. The Atlesians who are part of the Red Hand have sent a fleet of six ships towards New York."

"Why the hell do they want with New York?" President Bush asked. "What have we ever done to that country?"

"According to the intelligence, the Red Hand is compromised of Faunus-hating members," Donald explained. "Since the UN banned racial discrimination against the Faunus, this kind of act may have been planned out as a form of revenge."

"My God, does that mean...They couldn't be that serious, could they?"

"I'm afraid so Mr. President." Donald nervously sighed. "The CIA had also made it in time to warn the UN Headquarters in New York that the threat from the Atlesian borders was extremely imminent and that threat may also endanger the east coast."

"But what about the UN Council, what did they said?" Asks the President.

"They've called the Security Council." Said the Secretary of Defense. "Everything was informed by General Ironwood from Atlas, The Red Hand would be now recognize as a terrorist organization."

"Then there's no other choice then."

"Chances are slim... We must do it to prevent another war."

The President, the Secretary of Defense and other high ranking officers stood silently inside the meeting room, waiting for the decision. It took six minutes until Bush had finally decided.

"We must eliminate the threat as soon as possible." Declared President Bush. "We will use the nuclear armament and prevent the Red Hand from doing it again."

North Atlantic Ocean.

An hour after the President's decision to eliminate the threat, the US Aircraft Carrier, USS George Washington, was chosen to take part in the mission to destroy the Atlesian Red Hand fleet. A single pilot went inside the cockpit of an F/A-18 and checked the system. Suddenly, the crew of the ship brought out a B83 Thermonuclear Warhead and placed it under the multi-role fighter. When they finished, the crew gave the pilot a thumbs up and he responded back. A few seconds later, the fighter jet took off.

On board the Aircraft Carrier stood a CNN news crew. The cameraman lifted his camera, broadcasting worldwide, including to the Four Kingdoms.

Back in the city of Atlas, rioters cheered at the large hologram broadcasting the live news while hovering behind the atlesian police. Their powerful fleet would decimate a puny Earthen ship led by a "dumb" General of the United States.

From the cloudy skies of the Atlantic, a fleet of six airships sailed under the control of the Red Hand's second leader, Roth Crest. He was confident of victory, having been informed by his followers that a single ship from the US Navy would stand up against the most advanced fleet in Remnant's history.

"Absolutely laughable!" Roth laughed. "What kind of idiots are we fighting against? Cavemen?"

"Uhh, sir, the ship sent out one of their aircraft towards us. It's hundreds of feet above us," said one of the crew members.

Roth perked an eyebrow. He walked towards the large overseeing windows and saw a single aircraft right above his ship.

Inside the cockpit of the F/A-18, the pilot looked down to see a clear view of the fleet. He took a deep breath before steering his jet downwards to the fleet. He pressed a button, releasing the warhead from its carrier, before breaking off from its course and heading back to the aircraft carrier.

Meanwhile, Roth and the ships crew members stood dumbfounded, seeing an object falling from the aircraft. To them, it seemed to be just a normal looking bomb. The crew inside the main ship laughed hysterically.

"Pathetic, what can a single bomb can do to us?"

Fifty seconds passed before the nuclear warhead reached its target. Their visions were enveloped in an extremely bright light, and then a strong blastwave shattered the windows of their control room, glass shards penetrated the parts of their bodies and an extreme heat enveloped their skins.

The Hornet Jet flew away from the nuclear range. Behind it, the Atlesian fleet under the Red Hand's control was utterly obliterated by a single bomb.

The blast wave caught the nearby ships off guard, tearing them to pieces before crashing down into the waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

The news crew from the CNN and the crew of USS George Washington stood in silence.

Operation "Package Delivery", Conclusion

Ever since the civil unrest in Atlas had been broken out had soon turned into a "Civil war", from what the Atlesians believed, after hearing that the threat from the borders of Atlas came out with a fleet of six ships sails towards New York to destroy the Headquarters of the UN to attempt a coup, Operation Package Delivery was carried off by the United States Secretary of Defense and the order was executed by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff appointed by the President, the mission was to destroy the fleet with a thermonuclear bomb, reducing the cost of casualties in order to save the East coast, the Operation turned successfull with a deaths of six hundred fifty crewmembers of Roth's entire fleet had been reduced into pieces in the North Atlantic Ocean which is miles away from Newfoundland.

Meanwhile, in the public views, when a single bomb fell towards the Red Hand's controlled Atlesian fleet, the people of Remnant had expected that the Atlesian ships would thrive. Many were worried that the Red Hand would have its first victory, but in the Earthen's view knew what it was, Instead of a victory, a large cloud in a shape of a mushroom took over.

The entire Earthen population began to worry that a war had broken out. However, it wouldn't happen. When the bomb appeared onscreen in the Four Kingdoms, there was complete silence. No one talked, no one laughed, no one even screamed. They sat in silence, extremely horrified by the weapon made by Earthen hands. It was a sign of a warning and proved that Atlas was recognized as Remnant's superpower no longer.

Days after the event, the demoralized sympathizers of the Red Hand began to stand down and were forced to accept the new laws. While the official members of the Red Hand and its leader vanished from the public view immediately after the bomb fell.

Once the Atlesian Council was restored, General Ironwood retook the Atlesian Military and arrested those who both supported the Red Hand and charged them by trials of committed treason against the Kingdom.

In Vale, everything was quiet for a few days and the streets were nearly empty. But not of the immigrants who hailed from North America, who still walked around the city as if it were a normal day. Glynda Goodwitch also walked quietly through the city, but yet was still horrified by the weapon who she saw in the news and that bomb which the Earthens called "Nuclear Bomb," or in a short word called "Nukes" by urban slang, these weapons that were stated to be capable of destroying cities where millions of people lived.

Gladly, the conflict between the two worlds hadn't broken out. Instead, there was a sign of a warning to those who were arrogant enough to underestimate a "primitive" country, so that the mistakes they made shouldn't be made once again.

A month later, California, Saint Francis Memorial Hospital.

...

"Okay, take a deep breath."

...

"Doctor, she's losing blood.

...

"Just hold on, we're almost there."

...

"One, two, three!"

...

Suddenly a baby's cry was heard.

"It's a girl, and a healthy one too!"

"Congratulations, Mrs. Xiao Long!... Mrs. Xiao Long?"

"Uhh, doc, she's losing consciousness."

...

Raven opened her eyes and stood up from her bed. It'd been hours since she gave birth to a healthy daughter, her aura started to heal her immediately while she was just beginning to regain her calm composure, until her Scroll rang with a message.

"What are they doing this time?" Raven wondered while reading the message.

"We've tracked a Maiden." The message stated. "What comes next?"

Raven looked out of an open window, her tribe called for her. Perhaps this is her chance to get that power before she can hunt down the figure that haunted her dreams in endless nights. Whoever this person calling in her mind was, it was waiting for her in an unknown location.

"I'm... sorry..."

Meanwhile, Taiyang, Qrow and Summer along with the doctor were seen walking down the hallways to the room where Raven was. Summer was overly excited that she was holding Raven's daughter, the baby girl was almost too adorable for Summer to hold, like she would die in sudden cuteness. Her features had the look of her mother, yet the eyes and hair color of her father as well.

"We're gonna meet your mommy, little Yang~!" Summer cooed.

"So, how's Raven doc?" Tayiang asked the doctor.

"She lost consciousness due to the blood loss," the doctor informed him. "But the good thing is that she's alright, your wife is in healthy condition."

"Thanks doc."

"Well, now I guess I'm an Uncle then." Qrow let out a frustrated sigh as he crossed his arms.

Once the group arrived at the room, Summer went in first while holding the baby.

"Raven~! Look it's... your... daughter...?"

Summer's cheery mood suddenly faded away as she stood in front of an empty bed with an unfolded bed sheet and an opened window.

"Hey...where's Raven...?"

Chapter 7 ends.

Next Chapter – A New Generation.