Chapter 17: The Million Lien Question

-Spartan's Warehouse-

"Wow, your guns are…a little big." Ruby held Damian's Magnum, it was bigger than usual pistols she's carried. "The iron sights are kinda small"

"I don't usually use iron sights. That's what the Smart-Link is for." Damian explained

"Smart-Link? Oh, like it makes a sight on your visor?" Ruby said

Damian leaned his head, then nodded "Yeah, sort of"

Ruby excitedly placed the Magnum down and grabbed her own weapon "You wanna see Cresent Rose?"

Damian smiled "Why not?"

The remaining letters of Team RWBY were just nearby, while Yang once more cleaned for some easy money, Weiss used the opportunity to observe the strange Dust-based weapons the Spartans used. Blake simply followed, as she wanted to see the Crimson clad Spartan's armor.

"That is an odd grip for a gun" Weiss pointed at needler

Xavier chuckled, placing down a wrench. He was in the process of trying outfit the ONI Scout hog with some weaponry "Yeah it is."

Weiss puffed towards Xavier "That Dust isn't one I'm familiar with, which is unexpected as I am the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company and I would know it, if not all, types of Dust and I am certain I haven't see that one in my life-"

"It's not Dust. It's Blamite." Xavier spoke

The heiress raised an eyebrow, she was dumbfounded, not just at the somewhat silly name, but the fact that it wasn't dust? "Excuse me, but what on Remnant is Blamite?"

"It's what the needler uses" Xavier smiled

Weiss scoffed "Well, obviously. But what are its properties? How is it not Dust if it retains most of the physical aspects of Dust?"

Xavier raised an eyebrow "You ask an awful lot of questions for someone who wanted to clean…also aren't you a millionaire?"

"Wh-i..." Weiss sighed, then walked towards her leader, mumbling "Billionaire actually."

Blake looked intently at the Red and Gold Spartan's Helmet. It was intricately fabricated and the gold accents on the Helmet were of a tasteful design, including the streak of gold on the side of the helmet.

This intent staring did not escape Jirou however, opening with "Do you need something?"

"Oh, no I just…" Blake smiled "Your helmet is quite the sight."

"Ah, I thank you for the compliment" Jirou nodded

"Have you heard of the 8 Krigers of Faraxsan?" Blake asked

Jirou's attention was held "No, I don't think I have heard of them"

"Well, it's not surprising. They aren't a very well known part of the Human-Faunus war, but…they were an order of Faunus warriors said to hold weapons greater than that of human or Faunus." Blake explained "Their helmets are very similar to yours, albeit without all the modern technology"

"That is quite interesting…i will have to research more about these Krigers" Jirou chuckled

"I do recommend it, it's an incredible tale"

"So you can blast yourself in the air with your Gauntlets?" Hannah asked

Yang nodded "Yep, was kinda difficult to get used to the first time around"

Hannah was curious "So do you have like specialized shells to send you flying?"

"Nope, same shells and I always make sure of the back blast."

Hannah pondered for a moment, then called out "Hey Magnus?"

Magnus turned his attention away from the sniper rifle he was tinkering "Yeah?"

"Can you do that?" Hannah asked

Magnus raised an eyebrow "Do what?"

"What Yang does, blast herself in the air with shotgun shells?" Hannah continued

Magnus didn't immediately answer, but after a moment he finally spoke "No…does she use specialized shells?"

Hannah shook her head "No"

Magnus put turned back to the sniper rifle "That just seems like a waste of shells."

"You must have some special shells that could send you flying!" Yang said

Magnus chuckled "Not me, but you probably would."

Damian inspected Cresent Rose's activated form "You made this yourself?"

"Well, I had some help from my Uncle Qrow, and my dad! Who's a teacher in Signal academy, the uh, academy I was before this one heh!" Ruby smiled "I think I went a little overboard with it though"

"Definitely looks like it…" Damian aimed down the scope. "What kinda ammo you use? .300 Magnum? 7.62x51mm?"

"I use .50 Cal and .50 bmg!" Ruby cheerful answered

"Oh that's nice i-" Damian stopped, blinking, processing the answer he was just given "Excuse me what?"

".50 cal and .50 bmg!"

"Yeah, I-I heard you but…my lord how." Damian turned his attention to the Scythe portion of Crescent Rose. He held it as if it were a Melee weapon "Do you use the scythe as a impromptu bipod?"

"Yep! I start rapid firing whenever I do that, the blade's strong enough so it doesn't break off." Ruby gently retrieved her weapon, folding it back to its portable form

Damian patted Ruby's back "That's a cool weapon Ruby"

Yang suddenly jumped in between the two "Do you want to try out Ember Celica?! They're cool too! They're shotgun gauntlets!"

Damian chuckled "I'm sorry Yang, but maybe next time on account of my own Gauntlets, which aren't shotguns"

"Oh, s-sure maybe next time!" Yang awkwardly smiled "The Beacon Ball's coming up! I thought it'd be cool if you all could go!"

"Oh, Glynda already told us about it, we'll be there!" Damian ruffled Yang's hair "Hope the drinks are good!"

Yang happily nodded "I made sure it's not spiked this time!"

"Wait what-"

Ruby pushed Yang out, Weiss and Blake following "Thanks for letting us clean and hang out! We need to get going and put thefinaldecorationsgiveusthemoneylaterbye!"

"Alright then...see you later too Ruby" Damian awkwardly waved

"Damn shotgun gauntlets…" Hannah shook her wrists, inspecting her own gauntlets "You know i'd like some shotgun gauntlets-Why hasn't the UNSC made shotgun gauntlets that'd be a hell of a surprise attack against an enemy!"

"That seems like something the Watershed Division would make..." Magnus gently cleaned a sniper's barrel "Made two Hydra Variants…"

"Has Obbleck found anything regarding the artifact?" Xavier chimed in

"Aside from its Origins in Mistral by, potentially, Ancient Mistralian civilizations that controlled the Forge…" Jirou answered

The door to the Warhouse opened, showing Obbleck along with Ozpin and Glynda. "Spartans! I may have found a potential way for you to return home!"

Xavier placed down his tools and stood up with a smile "Round up everyone"

The Spartans all stood around a table as Obbleck placed several texts and documents, along with the Artifact, on the table "The markings on the Artifact are Mistralian in nature, but seem to be influenced by whom you call, The Forerunners."

The Artifact was emitting a faint light pulse across its surface "I have searched through various ancient documents and have found a mention of an artifact that matches its exact description, along with other artifacts of similar nature"

Obbleck highlighted a text with drawings on it, showing other three artifacts, they seemingly represented the other three Seasons.

Xavier inspected the ancient texts and drawings "So we found Spring. We need to find the Winter, Fall and Summer artifacts."

"What would happen if we do?" Damian asked, Obbleck was ready with an answer

"That is where your way home may be." Obbleck put a new document at the Spartans attention, it showed a drawing of a large forerunner structure or sort "Rumors of an ancient City, known by many names, but the common term among the old civilizations was The Elysian Spire."

Glynda spoke in "If these texts are to be believed, these could have interplanetary capabilities, contact with other Forerunner cities where the UNSC may be located"

Jirou read the texts, it spoke of things beyond just interplanetary travel and advanced technology. There were mentions of star roads, biological hardlight, a simulated end of the universe, etc. "These texts, they mention things beyond just interplanetary travel"

"Yes, this city may even be where the first people of Remnant were born. How they were born, is still an enigma" Obbleck answered

Ozpin turned to the Spartans "For now we will focus on the interplanetary travel, we have one the relics, I will speak to Ironwood to see if he could assist in perhaps finding the Artifact in Atlas once the Vytal festival ends."

"Any ideas on the whereabouts in Vale?" Magnus asked

"Perhaps the Emerald Forest? There are many rumored ancient locations in it that could hold the Vale Artifact" Glynda mentioned

Ozpin nodded "Perhaps, for now continue as usual. Once the Vytal Festival ends, I will use every resource i have available to assist in the search for the Vale Artifact"

Xavier nodded with a smile on his face "Thank you Ozpin, your help means a lot."

"Your assistance in Vale means the same Spartan" Ozpin nodded back, he took a sip of his coffee "You're making a big difference beyond Vale as well, the Mistral site is one such an example"

-Site 18-

Merlot stared intently at the Artifact. It's markings were identical to everything else in the site, save for the odd symbol at the center. The Doctor had a few hypothesis to what the Artifacts nature was, a data bank, a potential battery that could be able to power Atlas ten times over and still have enough energy to power the rest of the kingdoms.

"A tomb…?" Merlot spoke to himself, a tomb could be on the table of hypothesis. The symbol in the center beared a striking resemblance to the Ancient Mistralian symbol of Peace, commonly used in old tombs of the ancient Mistral temples, but this one seem to be it's precursor.

Merlot walked to the Forerunner console in the room, intently inspecting it "Now, it is the time to press buttons."

Merlot quickly started to touch many of the symbols in the console, the symbols pressed were then shown in a line just above the console. The doctor was suddenly stopped by the console giving a red flash and displaying another symbol presumed to be an error symbol of sort.

Merlot looked back at the artifact and for a brief moment saw the symbols he'd pressed on the side of the artifact. He'd seen a similar set of symbols lined exactly as the ones here, the Soldier who'd been 'Incinerated' on the first expedition here, they had been turned into a data cluster with symbols around them. "Quite intriguing…"

Merlot subtlely looked towards Marrow, who was watching the other scientists in the room. The Doctor walked towards the opposite side of the room, purposefully obstructing himself with the 'Tomb' momentarily.

Marrow turned his attention back to the doctor, who was now typing at a console

Marrow returned to what he was watching. But from behind the 'Tomb', a Merlot clone emerged and quickly left the room. He'd seen a similar set of symbols before, and he knew where to find it.

"What is it?" Sanith asked

"Two Atlasian snipers found it just around back, buried in the snow. But to answer your question, I believe it may have been a Warden of sort." Myra answered "May even had a connection to the hidden rooms we'd found days prior"

Sanith looked in between the frozen plates, seeing a similar interior to the Prometheans "Can we re-activate it?"

"We've tried, but it doesn't seem to accept the same type of energy as the rest of the Prometheans." Myra answered

"Does the Soldier know?" Sanith asked, prompting Myra to lean her head.

"The Soldier? The one we found?"

Sanith nodded "Yes, maybe we could show the body to it? See if it could help us bring it back to life?"

"Hm…that could help." Myra was about to give an order right before she saw Merlot slowly approaching Herman's digital remains "Dr. Merlot?"

The doctor turned to the leading doctor "Ah! Dr. Myra! Don't mind me, I just need this um…this thing!"

"For what purpose? Those are the remains of a fallen operative" Sanith intervened

"Your fallen operator may or may not have been turned into a key part to opening an artifact" Merlot explained "Do you see the symbols flying around your operator here?"

Merlot held the canister closer to Sanith "These may be part of a code of sort, perhaps unique to anyone who ends up like this"

"So, what does this lead to?" Sanith asked

"That's the fun part! I don't know!" Merlot cheerfully smiled "Follow me, let's see what it does!"

A/N:

So…that entrenched event is lookin pretty good!

I have been occupied with Blender as of recent, so go ahead and check some of my stuff! There's plenty of ROTS content there too!

DeviantArt: Stevealio163