Pomp and Circumstance.

As the sun begins setting over the mountains around the abandoned Dust mine, four trucks drive up the road to the mine entrance, and Amity Colosseum floats toward the mine. Two people are lying with binoculars somewhere in the area, one of whom is wearing a pin that resembles the one on Robyn Hill's scarf. Their binoculars bear the same symbol as the pin. They both gaze up at the colosseum, before the one on the right resumes looking through their binoculars.

Soon after the trucks arrive at the mine entrance, Team RWBY, Team JNPR, Team LSBL Qrow and the Ace Operatives walk outside. Smiling, Marrow looks at Clover and then attempts to put on a more serious demeanor. Ruby, Jaune, Lyre and Nora come together to gaze in dramatic admiration of the Ace-Ops.

Jaune rushes over to Clover's side "You guys were incredible!" He switches to being in front of Clover and begins energetically gesturing as he talks "Oh, the way you took down that Geist without needing to plan your tactics out, you just knew exactly what to do!".

"Well, Ace-Ops are hand-picked to perfectly compliment one another. So we can focus on our assets and leave our liabilities behind" Clover said.

Marrow walks over with a confident smile "Some of us are all asset, zero liability" He poses with a salute and a grin, looking at Jaune. Elm scoffs, catching Marrow's attention. He moves over to her, leaning in to confront her "Wha- Yeah? Think I've got some liabilities, Elm?".

"Your brains, for one" Elm said as she Clover and Harriet laugh, and Marrow groans and pouts. The former three walk away.

"You did ask" Vine walks away.

Nora approaches Elm with wide eyes and a smile. Elm looks at her.

"Hi. Do you need a new best friend? Our pair name can be…" Nora's eyes spark with pink electricity, and she lifts her hammer into the air with both hands "THUNDER THIGHS!".

Harriet watches this with a sigh, and Ruby runs over to her "Perfect complementary teamwork. Oh, yeah, I want to have my friends' backs just like that".

Harriet raised an eyebrow "Friends?".

Elm laughs "This isn't the schoolyard, kid".

Behind Elm, Nora is still posed with her hammer in the air "Thunder Thighs…".

Ren walks over, lifts the currently stiff Nora under his arm, and walks away. Ruby's teammates join her.

"But, I mean, when you go through so much with someone, it kind of changes things, doesn't it?" Yang asked.

"We get along well enough, sure. I count on them to keep me alive. They do the same. But that's the job. We don't confuse the two" Harriet said as she turns and walks away, leaving Team RWBY to look on sadly.

Severa silently scoffed "Typical soldiers...".

"I understand what you think" Edelgard spoke, making Severa jump in surprise.

"Oh, sorry I meant no offence" Severa said, feeling a little embarrassed.

"No, I understand. I can tell you and the others are more than teammates, you are friends. And assuming I am correct, it's your friendship that's kept you together for this long. But things are different here, we can't afford to get to attached or our personal feelings could compromise our mission which could lead to disastrous results. To put it simply, we keep our personal and professional lives separate. This allows us to rest easier on our free time and do our job better when on duty" Edelgard explained, and the teams could sort of understand where she's comming from.

"Speaking of the job…" Clover spoke as further down the way, Ironwood is talking on a communicator. He gives a brief order to a soldier, who walks away "Duty ever beckons. You all hang back a second".

The Ace-Ops walk over to Ironwood. Ruby watches with a sad sigh, then looks away, thinking. She then gets an idea, smiles and hurries over to her teammates.

"What do you guys want to do when we get back to Atlas? Sightseeing? Oh, what should we visit first?" She asked in excitment.

Blake yawns "How about our beds?".

As Blake walks away Severa walks next to her "Want some company?".

Blake blushed but smiled as surprised Severa by wrapping an arm around her hips "Yes, I'd like that".

Ruby pouts "Oh, come on, guys! This is a great time to go exploring! We haven't done that in so long!".

"Ruby, we just explored a whole continent on foot before flying to this one" Weiss said as she walks away "Come along Lyre, I could really use one of your massages".

"Coming right up, Snow Angel!" Lyre said as she hurries after Weiss.

"Well, yeah, but... it was only the boring parts" Ruby said.

Yang crossed her arms "We almost died".

Ruby waves her hands at Yang with an awkward chuckle, and Yang walks away, simply pulling Bernadetta along, making the smaller girl blush but she did not resist. Ruby then frowns and sighs sadly, only to jump when Lucina put a hand on her shoulder.

"I'll explore with you. After a warm shower" She said with a wink, and Ruby blushed as she remembered the time she ran in on Lucina showering.

"Hey. Heads up" Qrow points his thumb over at Ironwood, who is talking to Clover while the other Ace-Ops walk away.

"Can I get the team leaders over here? There's something I'd like to discuss with you. You too, Qrow" Ironwood said. Lucina, Ruby, Jaune and Qrow walk over to him as he speaks to Clover "I need you on the ground, but be subtle. If people see too many Huntsmen milling around, they'll get nervous".

Clover salutes, nods and begins walking away.

"And Clover?" Ironwood spoke making Clover stop and look back. In the background, Marrow is in front of an open airship, talking to a military Huntsman, while miming punching imaginary targets and waving his arms "Don't take Marrow".

Clover looks over at Marrow, then looks at Ironwood, smiling and chuckling with a nod. Marrow recreates his pose from when he froze a pair of Centinels and then turns around and mimes shooting something. Clover heads in Marrow's direction, and Ironwood turns to Qrow, Lucina, Jaune and Ruby.

"New problems in Mantle?" Qrow asked.

"More of the same, unfortunately" Ironwood withdraws and deploys his Scroll, using it to generate a hologram screen in the air in front of him. The left side of the screen displays an Atlas Military Police mugshot of the man the teams spoke to when they were arrested, while the right side displays a photograph of his corpse in an alleyway somewhere in midtown Mantle "Someone in Mantle is taking out public leaders who speak out against Atlas. Specifically, people who speak out against me. It didn't look like a pattern at first. But this is the third murder of its kind in the last week".

Jaune steps forward "Wait a minute. That's the guy that rode with us after we were arrested".

Ruby looked upset "He died?".

"Your opposition in Mantle dropping dead isn't exactly a good look for you, huh?" Qrow guessed.

Ironwood deactivates the hologram screen and puts his Scroll away "Not really worried about my public image, but it is causing unrest. I think someone's trying to frame me and, by extension, Atlas. And it's working".

"Killing people who speak out against you makes it look like you are trying to silence anyone who disagrees with your current actions... And effective way of making everyone look in the wrong direction while the real killer is free to do whatever they want" Lucina summarized.

"Exactly. Whoever is doing this clearly wants to distract us from something bigger. A dangerously effective strategy" Ironwood said.

"Well, if it wasn't for the embargo making everybody so mad, people probably wouldn't be so quick to blame you for everything else" Jaune pointed out, Ironwood frowns and looks at Jaune, who awkwardly clears his throat and stands at attention "S-sir".

Ironwood rubs the bridge of his nose with his fingers "No. No, you're right. Things in Mantle have been... hard to manage lately. I'm not blind to its issues. In fact, that's what I want to talk to you about" He turns and looks up at Amity Colosseum "With the launch of this mobile communications tower and tensions down in Mantle, I think there's a lot of good your teams can do here" His communicator beeps, and he puts his fingers to it, listening he suddenly looked surprised "What? Already? Here? No, it's fine. Let him land. I'll deal with him myself".

Qrow and Ruby look each other, and then at Ironwood as Qrow spoke "More Mantle problems?".

Ironwood watches an airship fly by on its way to the landing pad "No. This one's an Atlas problem".

The ship, bearing the Schnee Dust Company logo, descends onto a landing pad, where Ironwood and Team RWBY are already waiting, with Team JNPR, LSBL and Qrow standing further back. A ramp extends from in front of the ship's double door, which opens to reveal an angry Jacques. As soon as the doors begin to open, he starts talking and makes his way down the ramp.

"So let me get this straight, James. In addition to this nonsensical embargo of yours crippling my business, you've also decided you have the authority to commandeer private property?" He stops in front of Ironwood, who calmly stares at him, arms folded behind his back "When the Council hears about this, you will never-".

"Actually, I've already informed them. As this is now the site of a classified military operation, it didn't even require a vote" Ironwood said calmly.

Jacques stared at him in disbelief "Didn't require a vote?!".

"You might want to brush up on Council law before you lose this upcoming election, Jacques. Now. I've allowed you to land here once as a courtesy. The next time, it won't be a friendly reception" Ironwood said.

Jacques glares at him "Lately, you seem to forget who your friends really are. I'm going to get that Council seat, James, and maybe then, you'll-" He becomes distracted, his eyes widening when he realizes Weiss is present. They stare at each other for a moment "You..." He walks past Ironwood, glancing at him as he does so "You roped my missing daughter into these schemes of yours, too? How long has she been back in Atlas? Did Winter know about this?".

Weiss becomes annoyed and steps forward to Jacques "It was my decision to come here. Just like it was my decision to leave. Or have you forgotten all about that?".

Jacques looks at her "If you think I'm one to forget anything, girl, then you've misjudged the man your father is".

Weiss did not back down as she spoke with attitude "Believe me, I know exactly the kind of man you are".

Jacques glares at her angrily "How dare you speak to me that way!? I have half a mind to-".

"Half a mind to what, Jacques?" Ironwood asked in a tone that made it clear that Jacques better pick his next words carefully.

Jacques narrows his eyes, then adjusts his cuff link, sighing angrily "You know... your mother was devastated when you left. Didn't leave her room for days. You know how… she gets... when she's upset".

Jacques acts sad while he speaks, taking a moment to peek at Weiss' reaction. Her eyes glimmer with sadness, and she looks down, frowning. Ruby looks upset, and Blake and Yang glare at Jacques, Blake glaring far more intensely than Yang. Lyre and her friends were glaring as well, that was just a low blow.

Jacques smirks as he turns to face Ironwood again "I knew one day, you would overextend your reach. I didn't come here to beg for an abandoned mine. I came here to thank you… for personally handing me the noose to hang you".

Blake and Yang glare at Jacques, while Ruby looks at Weiss with a smile.

"You'll regret this" Jacques turns to look back at Weiss "So these are the little friends you threw everything away for?"

Weiss shakes her head "Not friends. Family".

Ruby smiles wide, and Yang smirks... Then Lyre suddenly hugs Weiss from behind while glaring at Jacques.

"And I'm her future wife!" She declared, making Weiss's face turn bright red.

Jacques looked utterly shocked by what she said. He tried to find some words but ended up just returning to his airship and begins to take off. The ship flies away, and Weiss began pulling Lyre's cheeks.

"You dunce! Why did you have to say that!?" She demanded.

"Owowowowowow! Sorry! I was just so mad by what he said!" Lyre said before gently grabbing Weiss' hands "No one disrespects my girlfrined like that. Least of all a jerk like him".

Weiss looks at her for a moment before she sighed "You are so stupid... But, I guess that's one of your charms".

Lyre giggled as a truck arrives on the platform. Once the truck comes to a stop, Winter opens the passenger side door and peeks out at the ship. Ingrid was also with her

Weiss looks at her sister with a joking smile "Oh, now you show up, Winter. You just missed father".

Winter began walking up to her "I wouldn't say I missed hi-".

From the sky, Penny comes crashing down, landing on one knee. The force from her landing sends Team RWBY and Lyre flying with a small scream, while Winter steadies herself against the shockwave. Penny straightens up and throws her hands into the air, the word "CONGRATULATIONS!" appearing above her head as a green hologram, with bright green hologram confetti spawning from it with a party horn sound.

"Surprise!" She looks around with a giant grin as the hologram flickers. When she notices Team RWBY on the ground, her grin and the hologram both fade "Uh, did we not start yet?".

Winter puts her fingertips to her forehead in exasperation. Ironwood stares with a wide-eyed grimace, while faint groaning can be heard from Ruby.

Winter sighs "Apparently, we haven't".

"Penny... you really need to work on your timing" Ingrid said.

Nearby, Lucina, Jaune and Nora laugh, while Ruby stands up with a look of confusion.

"Start what?" She asked.


After the sun finishes setting, RWBY, LSBL, JNPR, Qrow, Winter, Penny, Ingrid and Ironwood gather in the center of Amity Colosseum's arena. The teams stand lined up, with Ironwood, Winter, Ingrid and Penny standing across from them and Qrow standing off to the side. The arena lights are on and pointing at the center of the stage where everyone is standing.

"It goes without saying that this arena holds a significance to all of us. It's only fitting that we should be able to reconvene here. Now. When the world needs to be brought together more than ever. The road you traveled from our first meeting hasn't been easy" While he talks, Ironwood begins walking along in front of the teams. Penny, who is holding a tablet-sized Scroll, excitedly bounces up and down next to Winter, who places a hand on Penny's shoulder to hold her still "You fought for your school and your friends at Beacon. You fought for the world and the innocent at Haven Academy and beyond. You faced down terrors people can't even fathom. That's not the behavior of students. It's the behavior… of Huntsmen and Huntresses".

He looks over at Penny, who happily begins humming and walking past the teams, stopping in front of each person to tap on her Scroll. With each tap, her Scroll emits a beep and someone else's Scroll buzzes. Ren's Scroll is the first to buzz, and he removes it from his pocket and opens it, checking the screen. The screen blinks, and the license suddenly changes.

"Wait... what is this?" Ren asked

Everyone else checks their Scrolls as Penny continues tapping hers.

Winter smiled "You are being granted your Huntsman licenses, today".

Penny finishes using her Scroll to grant everyone their licenses and walks away with a big grin. Her Scroll displays the Atlas Huntsman License Registry.

"I know this is coming a little ahead of schedule, but Brothers know you deserve it. I only regret that I couldn't do something a little more ceremonious for the occasion" Ironwood said.

Ruby stares in awe at her license "I- We… we're honored, General Ironwood. But you really don't have to do th-".

"Please. With the threat of Salem still out there and tensions rising in our Kingdom, I certainly could use more trustworthy fighters by my side" As Ironwood walks away from them, Team RWBY look at each other. Yang and Weiss' faint smiles fade, and Blake's cat ears droo "I should be so lucky to have all of you".

He stops for a moment, then looks at Team RWBY and smiles.

"It's okay. It's a big moment. And what better way than to celebrate here? When this tower is ready and communications are back up and running, we'll tell the world about Salem and face down whatever comes at us after that, together" Ironwood said as the teams stand in silence. Ironwood seemed a little confused by their lack of exitment but didn't mention it "That's… just about all the pomp I have in me. If you'll excuse me, I have to get back to running this operation. Um… Well, then. Enjoy the cake".

Ironwood walks away, with Winter and Ingrid following. Penny pops up with a hand raised in the air "Your speech outros are improving, sir!".

The teams look at their licenses.

"After everything we've been through, I almost forgot this is what I wanted in the first place" Yang said

"When Beacon fell, I didn't think this would even be possible" Blake added.

"It almost feels trivial now" Weiss admitted.

"Not sure if I even deserve it" Bernadetta said.

"Geez, guys, lighten up a little. Enjoy yourselves for a change. You've earned it" Qrow said.

"Finally! Someone said it. Let's kill some cake, huh?" Nora moves forward, throwing a fist in the air "Because I can eat two slices before Ren even eats one. Who says I can't? Who says it, huh!?".

"Nora, nobody is arguing with you about this" Ren said making Nora frown at him.

A short while later, all of the teens except Ruby gather around a cake. Ruby instead sits nearby in the bleachers. Penny uses six of her swords to cut the cake into even slices. Lyre, Weiss and Ren stand together, eating their personal slices, and Nora moves over to them with a stack of six slices. Lyr, Ren and Weiss stare in surprise as Nora eats an entire slice in one bite.

Yang shows off her prosthetic arm to Penny, who looks at it in awe. Yang then offers to shake Penny's hand with the prosthetic arm, a sneaky grin on her face. Penny happily takes her hand, only for the arm to detach, causing Penny to gasp in surprise. Yang and Nora laugh, and after a moment, Penny laughs, too.

Bernadetta stands alone, eating her cake in calm silence, but she accidently got some cake on her nose. Before she could wipe it of, Yang swiftly moves up beside her, putting her arm around her and holding up her Scroll with the camera function on. Bernadetta blushed in embarrassment as she whined at the chuckling Yang.

Severa stood on the side, having a feeling she wouldn't get any cake with how Nora was swallowing it all. But then a spoon with some cake on it appeared near her face. Severa blinked and looked at Blake who was smiling at her and offering to feed her. Severa tried to resist... but gave in and opened her mouth, allowing Blake to feed her. Severa blushed and Blake giggled.

Ruby watches everyone for a bit before she heard a voice "Hey".

She looked and saw Lucina walk up with two plates of cake in her hands. She offered one to Ruby.

"I managed to rescue a slice for you before Nora could eat it" Lucina said.

"Thank you, Lucina" Ruby said as she accepted the cake and Lucina sat down next to her.

"Sure has been an interesting day, hasn't it?" Lucina asked.

"It's… definitely a lot to take in" Ruby said.

Lucina looks at her "Ok spill it. What's bothering you? Is it the fact we still haven't told Ironwood the whole truth".

Ruby sighed, knowing her girlfriend could see right through her "I'm trying to do what I think is best, but I really can't tell if what's best is what's right, or if I'm no different from Oz".

"I will admit, keeping the whole truth from Ironwood feels... wrong. Especially given how open and helpful he's been. But it doesn't take a genius to see that Ironwood is under a lot of pressure right now, and there is no telling how he would react if we told him everything" Lucina said before looking down "And I'd rather not imagine how he would react to me being related to Salem".

"Lucina..." Ruby said softly.

"Salem is my grandmother, that's a fact I can never ignore. All I can do is make sure I don't end up like her" Lucina said.

"Hey, you are nothing like her, Lucina. You are you, nobody else" Ruby said.

Lucina smiled at her "I know. Thank you Ruby... And even though Salem can't die, I believe we can still stop her. We just need to figure out how, together".

"Together..." Ruby repeated with a smile "I love you, Lucina".

"I love you too, Ruby. Now, are you gonna eat your cake?" Lucina asked.

"Yes!" Ruby said as she began wolfing down her cake, earning a chuckle from Lucina.

"Hey, Ruby! Come check this out!" Yang calls out as she points behind herself with her thumb. Ruby zooms over to the group, who are staring at something.

"Oh my gosh, is that a mission board? It's an app now!?" She zooms over to the mission board, pointing at different missions "Can we ride a Megoliath? Stop an underground crime ring? Do I get to go…" She turns away, puts on her hood, and turns back to Penny, doing a dramatic expression "...undercover?"

Ruby flares her cloak out, knocking the hood off her head, and begins shaking Penny up and down "Maaaybeee!".

Marrow's voice comes from nearby, and Ruby stops shaking Penny "Hey, do you guys smell that?" He walks in with Elm and Vine, dramatically sniffing the air "Smells like… fresh meat".

Vine sniffs "That's odd. I don't smell meat".

Ren sniffs as well "Neither do I".

Marrow groans "You know what? Nevermind".

"Let me get this straight. You've only been official for an hour now and you're already looking for Huntsman work?" Elm asked.

Weiss holds up a finger "To be fair, we've been official for a whole… Fifty-seven minutes".

"I'd like to remind you all that the real mission here is ensuring the successful launch of the communications tower" Vine said.

"True, but we can also keep training and improving by helping where we can" Ren said.

Elm let's out a happy sigh and does a fist pump "The enthusiasm of youths!".

"Well, it's hard to argue with that. Okay, let me show you how it works" Marrow walks over to the mission board, scrolls up on it and selects an Escort mission "Ooh, here's an important one. Who wants to volunteer?".

He turns to look, and RWBY, LSBL and JNPR all raise their hands.

"We need someone to escort children to pre-primary school down in Mantle. There's not actually any danger, but the parents fret, and that attracts Grimm" Marrow said. Everyone but Jaune drops their hands down "Perfect! Thanks… Juan… Jwan… Jim?".

"Close enough, I guess" Jaune said with an awkward chuckle "Wow, my first Huntsman mission".

Elm slides over and knocks Marrow aside with her palm, causing him to scream "Next!",

She quickly swipes down on the mission board, causing the missions to scroll by rapidly. She slaps one of the missions, bringing up a Search and Destroy mission with an image depicting a rotating 3D model of a Sabyr.

"A massive Sabyr is loose in the Mantle sewers! We need two brave warriors to flush it out!" She explained.

Everyone but Jaune raises their hands, gasping excitedly, and Jaune looks around, bewildered "Wha- But- Why didn't I get a choice for that one?".

His friends begin laughing at him.


With tomorrow's missions set, everyone were making sure to get enough rest before their first official huntsman missions. Weiss was currently taking a shower in the shower stalls near the training room. After a few minutes she sighed, turned of the shower and grabbed her towel. She began drying herself of before wrapping the towel around her and she walked out of the shower booth... And suddenly she spotted Lyre who was blushing.

"S-Sorry. I just came to ask if you still wanted a massage" Lyre said, hoping Weiss wouldn't kill her.

Weiss looked at her for several scary seconds before she sighed "Yes".

Later, Weiss, still wearing her towel, sat on a bench, while Lyre was massaging her shoulders. Lyre had really nice hands, and could possibly have been a professional masseur if she wanted to.

"How did you get so good at this?" Weiss asked.

"Don't know, I'm just good at working out knots I guess... And you have knots of rocks" Lyre said.

"Yeah, things has been very tense lately... You know, it was brave of you to reveal that we were dating to my father. Stupid, but brave" Weiss said.

Lyre stopped massaging her "I only said it out of impulse... I was so scared he would do something bad... It's no secret that your family has a bad history with Faunus... I hope being with me doesn't hurt you in some way".

Weiss suddenly stood up and turned around "Don't think like that! I chose to be with you, knowing full well the risks that could come with it. I don't care what others might say, I love you Lyre!".

Lyre was touched by her words... but she couldn't bring herself to look at her.

"What's wrong? Look at me when I confess my feelings to you!" Weiss ordered.

"I-I would but... Weiss... look down" Lyre said, sounding flustered.

Weiss blinks before looking down... and noticed her towel had come of when she stood up. Weiss' face grew redder than a fresh tomato, how did she not notice it earlier?

Lyre gulped "You know, you have a nice body... despite your small chest".

"You dummy!" Weiss shouts as she ended up slapping Lyre hard enough to send her flying across the room and knock her out cold.

Weiss sighed, she did that out of reflex due thanks to being very embarrassed... But she guess this was bound to happen sooner or later. She only hopes that next time is less awkward... and maybe Lyre would let Weiss have a look at her too... Weiss blushed again, yeah that will have to wait. For now, she needs to make sure Lyre is alive and do something about the mark she left on her cheek.

.

This was a long one. Tell me what you think.