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The General's personal office was impressive, with a wide window that showed a powerful, commanding view of Atlas below it and, further, the tundra the Kingdom dwelt within. The desk was suitably wide, too, with a high-backed chair made of what looked like solid metal and leather. It was an impressive set-up to say the least, set high on a small platform built into the floor that gave the man a commanding view of the room as well, even when he took his seat with Jorge's armored form looming over a shoulder.

It was also the only seat, leaving the four of them standing in front of the desks rather like children come for a dressing down.

"Well, we have a lot to get through, I imagine." Ironwood sighed as he relaxed in his chair, the fingers of one hand drumming on his desk with a heavy, metallic sound. "So let's start with the obvious, then. From Jorge's accounts, the Covenant were at war with our species when he got here. I'm going to venture a guess and say that changed."

"It did." Thel answered easily and quietly, stepping forward and bowing his head politely, "I and others discovered the deceit of the prophets. A deceit which cost both our people lives in the millions and beyond. Then they betrayed my people and slaughtered the Council. In the wake of such a-"

"The shorter version, please?" Ironwood cut in dismissively, turning a look on the Master Chief at the Arbiter's side. "And preferably from someone I trust at least as far as I could throw them, too."

"Hmph…"

"The Prophets tricked the Covenant, his people, into the war. Lied to them." The Spartan explained simply, turning a look on his long lost brother meaningfully. "When they found out, they turned against the Covenant. Revolted. And came to Earth, to save us."

"To save you…"

"They found Earth, Jorge. The Covenant found it and landed on it." He explained quietly, the words carrying so much more weight than they should have. The Spartan stiffened and his brother went on, "The Arbiter brought a fleet to help us. Without him, Earth and the UNSC would have been destroyed completely. And Truth would have lit the Halo array, and killed everyone in the galaxy."

"So, Reach…"

"Fell." the Demon answered, "Not long after you… Well, came here."

"A fenébe, szóval értelmetlen volt…"

"Nem. Ez oda vezetett, hogy nyertünk." The Demon argued quickly, again speaking a tongue he didn't understand. "Your sacrifice bought time and weakened the Covenant presence on Reach, which led to the way the war ended. It wasn't pointless."

"I see…" Jorge sighed, taking a long, deep breath and then finally nodding grimly, a forced smile stretching across his face. "I suppose I can't do anything about it now. And besides, nem találkoztam volna a virágommal, ha nem jöttem volna el. You understand?"

"I do." His friend nodded, turning to pay him a look, now, before turning back to his lost brother. "I won't report your presence here. And I'll have Roland scrub you from on-ship records, too."

"Thank you." Jorge answered, "I'm not a deserter, te tudod ezt. But…"

"You did your duty. Gave your life." The Demon answered simply, "As far as my reports are concerned, that was the end of you. This is just… the afterlife."

"Es némi túlvilág is az..." The semi-retired, technically dead as far as anyone needed to know, man sighed and turned back to his General. "Apologies, Sir. I got distracted with private matters and derailed the conversation."

"No apologies needed, Jorge. I needed to know if a bunch of spooks were going to show up for one of my best soldiers in any event." Ironwood nodded, obviously distracted by the earlier revelations from the conversation. "The Halo arrays are a weapon's system, I understand. But galaxy threatening…?"

"Discussing the Halos is sadly outside of either of our understandings." Thel offered, turning a questioning look on the Master Chief with his words. When the man nodded, he went on, "Easier, then, to simply procure data from Roland and examine it at a later time. Is it not?"

"Much as I hate to, I agree with you." Ironwood sighed, turning to the young Hunters with them, now, and asking, "Miss Rose, Mister Arc, would you mind filling in the gap between when the Arbiter got to Remnant and now?"

"I mean, I feel like he could do that, too…" Ruby murmured, rubbing one of her arms absently and chewing on a lip. Finally, she met the General's eyes with her own hard little silver orbs, "But I don't think you care what he has to say. Do you?"

"Not really, no." Ironwood answered frankly, steepling his fingers and explaining dryly, like he was commenting on something as plain as the weather. "He's here as a formality right now, and not much else. If it turns out he can be trusted in spite of what he is, what his entire species has done… Then maybe I'll listen to him."

"Well, Atlas is really living up to the hype." Jaune sighed, laughing dryly at his own words, "Everything I'd have expected from it, so far."

"How do you mean, Mister Arc?"

"Well, we have your soldiers, General, treating everyone however you want them to be, whether that's right or wrong. Which is what Mister Branwen has always said Atlas is like, whenever he talks about it." Jaune started, earning a deep sigh from the old General. Before he could respond, though, Jaune went on flippantly, "Oh and hey, you're even just going ahead and saying that you're judging him for his race, too. Lives up to Blake's opinion of the place."

"And Weiss'..."

"It's a bit more complicated than that." Ironwood argued, "And to be fair, there's plenty to blame him personally for, too."

"Nothing you have authority over." The Master Chief stepped in, explaining when Ironwood raised a brow, "Thel Vadam's crimes were reviewed by a United Nations Space Command tribunal after the war. Due to his service in the Great Schism, and offers of friendship afterwards, he has been exonerated of any legal guilt."

"This isn't the UNSC."

"And that helps your side, somehow?" Ruby asked, snorting a laugh and shaking her head. "If anything, that makes it even less your right to judge him."

"He is a bit outside Atlas jurisdiction." Jaune added hotly, off hand drifting awfully close to his sword pommel absently. "Or is Atlas ignoring the law, now? What next, are you going to fly over to Vale and-"

"That is enough, thank you, my young friends." The Arbiter finally cut in, shaking his head and sighing. It felt good that the three of them would rush to be his shields so quickly, easily, and he could not argue otherwise. But, "We have greater matters to attend to than a single Sangheili. So please, Ruby, just do as he asks."

"Fine, I guess. I just… Okay, yeah, fine." She sighed tiredly, resignedly, "It started just a bit south of Mistral, actually…"

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"Are you sure?" Linda asked quietly as he and Kelly rushed through the Manor's winding hallways, following the pings Roland was using to lead them through to where he detected Blake's Scroll.

"I am." He answered quietly as he rounded a corner, nearly running over an unwary guard as she rushed to deal with something. She ducked to the side and down, dodging him easily and going on her way without comment. "I want you on a vantage point in case there's another explosion."

"Or a Grimm attack." Kelly added, "Fear and anxiety would draw them in."

"Or a Grimm attack." He was still adjusting to that bit, if he was honest. His instincts didn't leap to worrying about giant monsters wandering in when there was an attack. That would need to change… "Roland, what are you doing at the moment?"

"Hanging in low orbit mid-point between Atlas and Menagerie. Closer to Mistral than either, but comms are solid and I can respond to problems pretty fast." The AI answered quickly, managing to sound distracted and bored at the same time. "I'm also probing the system per the Master Chief's orders. Nothing interesting so far, aside from-"

"Compile a report." Frederic cut the AI off, "For now, I want sensor sweeps on the region surrounding menagerie. Looking for Grimm headed towards the city."

"Understood, Spartan." The AI answered cheerily enough to be kind of off putting, given the situation at hand, "I'll divert a sensor drone to the region for more in depth scans and alert you of anything coming your way. I'm also angling the Black Sun to provide fire support in case of an emergency."

"Understood." Fred answered, "Don't fire the MAC unless I order it or there's a Leviathan class. Free fire where appropriate on the plasma battery."

"Copy." The AI grunted as they reached an ornate office door flanked by a pair of heavily armored, for Menagerie at least, Guards. They both met his visored gaze impassively, hands tightening on their weapons, and Roland sighed, "I'll be on station if you need to task the Sun to purpose, Spartan. Until then, best of luck."

"Mhm." He grunted, releasing the sound suppression on his helmet and grunting, "We heard explosions. We're here to assist the Chieftain however he-"

"Get lost, Human." One of the Guards, an older woman with a pair of long fangs poking out over her lips, grunted hotly. "You show up and same day there's a bombing? None of us are idiots."

"You can't actually be accusing us of something right now..." Kelly murmured, obviously surprised. "Where we've been was well known up until the explosion. When would we even have had the time?"

"Whatever you say-"

"That's more than enough of that." Ghira suddenly growled as the door yanked open. The large man looked angry, his hands curled into tight fists and hair practically bristling. Quietly, he growled, "They weren't involved. You know who would do something like this, Alicia. And it isn't a bunch of Human soldiers that came in with my daughter."

"I do, Chieftain." She nodded, standing straighter and staring flatly ahead of herself. "I'm sorry, Chieftain."

"Mhm." The larger Faunus growled, turning to the two of them and sighing tiredly. "Come in, Spartans, please."

Inside, the room was wide and only partially built, thick cloth tarps covering two of the walls. Fred could see through them into the rooms beside the office they were in, where guards were standing and keeping watch for anyone that might try and get in. The office itself was wide, open and mostly bare, tools and rolls of carpet shoved off to one side to make space for the Chieftain to work in as best he could.

"Where are Blake and Yang?" Frederic asked when he didn't see them in the room.

"Yang and Blake are at the bomb site, looking for survivors." Ghira answered, "Khali is with them, too.

"The bomb site." Kelly quoted, "As in, only one?"

"Mhm. I have a map that'll let me show you more easily, but there was only one. Khali doesn't even think the second explosion was meant to happen, and I'm inclined to agree." The man explained, striding over to the desk he'd slapped together out of a low shelf and some two-by-fours. A map of the settlement was laid across it, held down at the edges by hammers and waste wood, and Ghira pointed to a spot on the map to explain, "The first explosion was at a store known to sell Mistrali imports."

"And that caused the second explosion how?" Frederic asked, explaining the obvious automatically, "Something on-site wouldn't have exploded far away."

"The store sat on a major power distribution node." Ghira explained, tapping the spot on the map again and then sweeping his finger in a circle around the block it had been built on. "Managed power to this whole block, in and out. When the power node blew, it cascaded back to a transformer a street down. That was the second explosion."

"You know that for sure?"

"One of my electricians already confirmed it." Ghira nodded, turning a meaningful glance on the armored Spartan woman and adding, "As did the three others I asked, just to be sure. And safe."

"Clever cat…"

"What about the bombers?" Frederic asked, ignoring Linda's quiet compliment as much for them being unable to hear it as the probable racism they'd accuse her of. "Do we know who staged the attack? Why? Where they are now?"

"I have people working on all those questions right now, Spartans." Ghira answered quietly, anxiously, as he leaned over the map and eyed it warily. As if he expected the map itself to do something. Or, Frederic suspected, because he was looking for any potential future attack sites. "We just... Need to wait on word from them for now."

"The way you talked to your guard made it sound like you already knew who'd done this." Kelly pointed out dryly, "Do you not?"

"I… Have an idea." the great man admitted with a long, weary sigh. "I'm just waiting on confirmation, before I order anyone to-"

"Sir, I'm, uh, back." A young woman's voice said, pushing through the plastic barrier between this room and another.

"Ah, Ilia. Please, come in, I was hoping you'd get back quickly." Ghira smiled, waving the young woman forward as her skin shifted from a pale white to a more sunkissed brown. Her eyes flicked to their visors and Ghira laughed jovially, "Don't worry about them, they're friends of Blake's."

"Okay then…" She murmured and then sighed, "So the huge, heavily armored and armed Humans are Blake's friends. Why am I not surprised?"

"She does seem to have a type in that regard, yes." Ghira huffed, actually managing to laugh a bit even now, in this situation. Which… Fred didn't know what to feel about, really, but the man was moving on before even he could think about it. "Well, Ilia, what did you find out?"

"I checked all of the old bases I could think of that were big enough they could set up for something like this." Ilia explained quickly, walking over to the map and tapping her finger on just over a dozen buildings scattered throughout the city. "All of 'em were as empty as when you and the Guard swept through 'em, my Chieftain."

"Ghira." He corrected gravelly, earning a shrug and rolling his eyes at it. An old argument, then, and one it looked like the larger Faunus didn't feel like pursuing. "But that's good, then. If their bases are all vacant, then they couldn't be responsible for this."

"That's what i thought, but something felt… off." Ilia answered, tapping a few more, smaller buildings and explaining, "So I checked a bunch of old bolt-holes we didn't clear out back then."

"Why didn't you?" Frederic asked.

Anyone there would have bolted when the sweeps started, and taken anything important." Kelly answered for them, "Larger bases store more stuff, so it would be harder. Bolt-holes, though, are small. Probably only a couple people there, and personal stuff. Easier to clear out and hide."

"And the larger bases had more supplies Menagerie could put to better use." Ghira nodded, "But yes. That. Ilia?"

"Most of 'em had seen use." She answered quietly, "And a lot of it. It looks like people pushed in as much as they could. A few weren't like that. Instead, people had been working there."

"Making a bomb?"

"Bombs." Ilia corrected, "I found a pair hard at work on one. Handled it, and your guards have the bomb now. They won't tell me anything but they had a message on them. With an address on it."

"Where?" Ghira asked, "Is it a target?"

"Here." Ilia answered, tapping a huge warehouse on the docks and grinning thinly. "And no. The two I caught were supposed to head there after planting the bomb. So…"

"It's their base." Frederic murmured, checking the map quickly just to verify that they hadn't landed the Pelican too close to it. It was a couple hundred yards away, but… Just to be safe, "Linda, move position. Get into the pelican and set up a watch on a building. Coordinates incoming."

"Confirmed, tracking." The woman reported, voice crackling out of his ear piece with a flick of a setting, and for the Chieftain's benefit. "ETA, fifteen minutes if I move at full speed."

"Do it." He answered, turning to the Chieftain and asking, quietly, "What's your plan for dealing with the White Fang, Belladonna?"

"I have a few Hunters I can have here in a few hours." He answered, "Combine them with a Guard compliment, what I don't need to hold a perimeter at least, myself, Blake and Ilia, we should be able to run the warehouse tomorrow morning."

"They could slip away by then." Kelly said, "Fred…"

"Chieftain, Blue Team is already here and prepared to assist."

"There could be a hundred Faunus there." Ilia said, surprised and disbelieving, "You can't really think that two- Three Human soldiers can handle that all by yourselves."

"Not at all." He could hear the smile in Kelly's voice as she said it. "We'll need some of you to hold a perimeter, to make sure no one runs."

"Spartan teams are highly trained for counter-insurgency assault operations." Frederic cut in, facing Ghira fully. Silent and contemplative, the Faunus turned to him, eyes narrow but ears open for what he had to say. "We've trained our entire lives for operations exactly like this, Chieftain. We came here to offer an Alliance with menagerie, so let us prove that on day one."

"You're certain your team can handle it?"

"I am." He answered, adding a belated, "Sir."

"...Fine." The man sighed, turning to Ilia when she guffawed. "Send orders to prepare for a morning raid with the dawn, and for a perimeter to be established right now. Blue Team, what do you need for your preemptive assault?"

"The perimeter and rules of engagement." He answered, smirking, "And maybe a promise that you'll honor our alliance."

"Fight how you like." Ghira answered with a shrug, waving a hand at the map meaningfully, "But I don't want a massacre. Humans massacring Faunus on Menagerie? I can't tolerate that."

"We'll take prisoners." He nodded, "If they surrender, or if we can arrest them safely."

"Good. Gods, this day just needs to end already…" But the old Faunus still smiled, offering him a hand and nodding when Frederic shook it. "After today, though, you can count on Menagerie's support in getting you home, Spartans. As long as you respect and honor us, we'll do whatever we can."

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Steelrain66 :

Spartans CAN be sterilized as an accident, yes, but this is relatively rare. More often it is simply a lowered libido and a too busy schedule.

Rook435 :

That's the feel I've been going for, yeah. A great, big, weird as fuck family vibe.

Althyrios :

Oh, I know he was. *sips tea quietly*

Simply Christian :

I figured that the Spartans at least speak some of a whole host of languages. Spanish, French, German, hungarian, etc. It only makes sense to me, since they would have been drawn from numerous planets across UNSC space. Also, tactically it would be helpful, since opponents might not speak every language and if comms were compromised they could simply use a different language to add security.

And eh, Qrow hates jackboots bein' rough to his friends. Can't blame him.

Razmire :

Actually, no, Coco didn't get it from her mom. XD

Potterheads 2016 :

Glad you enjoyed it, lol.

Khajiit of Lordran :

I am glad this one enjoyed the story so much. XD

Joel (Guest) :

Just glad you liked it, lol. I aim to please as best I can.

Noneofit :

Ironwood has some clear and obvious personal issues but no, him being sus of Arby isn't one, in my opinion. It's been a long time since Jorge knew the Chief, even before the Fall of Reach. Also, Ironwood is not the type to trust others. HE must be convinced because HE believes that HE is the arbiter of what is good, bad, true or false. That's how he's been since V2.

Gamma Chief (Guest) :

I'm genuinely moved by your words, friend-o. I hope things get better for you, and I hope the story remains one you enjoy. I'm at a loss for anything else to say.