Sparks.
The sun rises over Atlas Academy while Team LSBL sleeps... Until Ingrid walked in and frowns to see the team still sleeping.
"WAKE UP!" She shouts causing the team to fall out of their beds in surprise.
"What the hell!? The sun is barely up!" Severa complained.
"Oh grow up, I had to wake up much earlier than you when I was still in training. Now get dressed, it's time for your missions" Ingrid said.
Lucina sighs "You heard the lady, let's go".
One of the many early mornings.
Jaune walks into a briefing room with a coffee mug and heads over to where Team RWBY, Team LSBL, the Ace Operatives and his teammates are sitting. He takes a seat and cheerfully prepares to sip his steaming hot coffee, only to notice Marrow staring and wagging his tail.
Jaune frowns and hands the mug to Marrow "Sure, take it".
Marrow drinks the coffee, while Jaune hangs his head.
"Eyes up, Huntsmen. Time to get used to the new normal in Atlas" Clover said.
Sometime later, Ruby and Qrow are riding in a truck that is being driven by an Atlesian Knight-200. Qrow has fallen asleep, so Ruby looks annoyed and elbows him awake.
Clover "Your top priority is Amity Tower. That means protecting supply runs from Grimm and bandits. And protecting the site itself".
Ruby and Weiss drop down from the sky toward a Manticore outside the Schnee Dust Company Mine 2. Weiss severs its tail, and Ruby cuts it in half. Weiss then levitates a group of Beowolves into the air to allow Ruby to more easily kill them, then turns her attention to a group of Sabyrs. Weiss forms a replica of her Arma Gigas' sword out of ice and uses a glyph to swing it, instantly slaying the Sabyrs. With the Grimm in the area killed, Ruby gives a thumbs up to three Mantas as they fly overhead.
Clover "Diverting all construction resources to Amity Tower means there are going to be gaps in Mantle's defenses against Grimm. They'll need help on the perimeter".
Nora follows Ren along the top of Mantle's outer wall, playing with his braid. Ren hears growling below and stops to look, causing Nora to bump into him. The two of them look down at the Sabyrs approaching the wall and draw their weapons.
Inside of the abandoned Dust mine, Yang, Blake and Marrow fight Beowolves.
After they kill a few of the Grimm, Marrow turns to Blake and Yang "Hey, have you two ever thought about branching out a little? You always pair up, but I don't know if your styles really-".
Yang's eyes turn red upon spotting another Beowolf that comes running toward her. She uses the recoil from her weapons to launch herself at it and punches it in the head. She then rapidly attaches several explosives to its abdomen and slides between its legs to get behind it. Blake tosses her sickle to Yang, who stabs it into the Beowolf's chest and fires Ember Celica to launch the Beowolf into the air. Blake tugs on her ribbon to throw the Beowolf toward two more Beowolves closer to the mine entrance, at which point Yang's explosives go off, killing all three.
Marrow watches the whole event and turns back to Blake and Yang, who give him disapproving looks "Really, really good stuff! Yeah, keep it up".
Jaune stands on a crosswalk somewhere in Mantle, holding up a small stop sign, while five small children cross the street "Single file line, you know the drill".
Clover "But there's still plenty to do in Mantle itself".
A group of five young women stand on the sidewalk nearby, watching Jaune and giggling excitedly. Four of them strike poses, grinning at him. One of the four winks, while another holds out her hand, gesturing for him. The fifth looks away shyly. Meanwhile, a blonde woman in a red coat has approached Jaune with a large casserole.
Jaune looks at her awkwardly "Oh, another casserole. That's too kind".
The blonde woman repeatedly attempts to hand the casserole to the reluctant Jaune before forcibly shoving it into his arms, blushing and striking a pose. Meanwhile, a small blonde child in a red coat looks back at her and then sticks their tongue out in disgust and continues walking.
Clover "I think you'll find everyone appreciates having a Huntsman around".
Across the street, Nora watches Jaune "It's totally the haircut".
Sometime in the later hours, a Sabyr runs into an alleyway in Mantle. It stops and turns around to face Yang and Ruby, who are chasing it. The two exchange a look with a smile and then charge into the alley.
Elsewhere Lucina and Lyre are walking around in some tunnels until they heard a growl. They looked up and saw an ice species of the Ursa Major walking towards them. Lucina and Lyre shared a look before nodding. Lyre rushed at the large grimm who tried to swipe her with it's paw. But Lyre leaps over the attack before landing on it's head and began clawing at it, causing the Ursa to rise up on it's hind legs, trying to shake her of. But by doing this, it left it wide open for Lucina to stab it through the head, killing it on the spot.
As the grimm faded away, Lucina and Lyre smiled at each other before high fiving.
Meanwhile, Severa and Bernadetta were dealing with some grimm near the launch sight. Severa cut down several Sabyr's with her sword as Bernadetta was shooting down bird grimm. Bernadetta noticed a Sabyr sneaking up on Severa from behind while she was busy with one in front of her. Bernadetta quickly fried an arrow which killed the approaching grimm just before it was about to pounce on Severa who had just finished of her own grimm.
Severa noticed what almost happened and walked up to her partner. She smiled and offered a fist bump, which Brenadetta happily accepted.
Clover "You're of course free to enjoy your time off as you see fit. Whatever helps you take the edge off".
In a huge training room, Weiss summons her Arma Gigas while Winter watches her. Weiss looks back at her sister with a smile and then looks upset when Winter looks away disapprovingly.
"You might not hear Oz anymore, Oscar, but that doesn't mean we can't try to jog him loose" Ironwood said as he and Oscar enter the training room.
"What did you have in mind?" Oscar asked.
Ironwood turns to Oscar in a battle-ready pose, and Oscar draws his cane and gets into a battle pose. The two then charge each other.
Clover "The Huntsmen around you can be an invaluable resource. If you're willing to pay attention".
In the training room, Jaune slides back after blocking a hit with his shield. He then scales a stack of blocks and begins jumping from stack to stack. Vine Zeki uses an Aura arm to punch one of the stacks just as Jaune lands on it, causing the latter to fall with a scream. Vine catches him with the arm and places him on top of another stack of blocks.
"Have you ever thought about extending your Aura?" Vine asked.
Clover "But make no mistake, school's over. You get to choose what type of Huntsman or Huntress you are".
Ren leaps from a wall of blocks behind Elm Ederne and fires his weapon's blades, wrapping the cables around her right arm. He yanks on the cables, causing her to stumble a little, but she stomps on the floor, using her Semblance to root herself in place. She jerks on the cables, turns and puts her left arm out, causing Ren to slam into it and tumble across the floor.
He pushes himself to his feet and looks at her with a determined expression "Again".
Harriet runs in circles with her Semblance, while Ruby dashes alongside her with her own Semblance, with Weiss using her glyphs to help Ruby. For a while, Harriet is ahead of Ruby, but Ruby catches up and then passes her. Marrow, Elm and Vine watch from nearby.
Another morning comes, and Penny greets Team RWBY in their dorm room at sunrise. Weiss tiredly walks across the room while brushing her teeth with an electric toothbrush. Blake begins heading out of the room but then looks back to see Yang standing in one spot in a sleepy daze, so she grabs Yang's arm and pulls her out of the room.
While this goes on, Ruby excitedly drops down from her bunk and talks to Penny ""Penny, Penny! So yesterday, Weiss and I were like *grunts* and they were like *screams*".
In the briefing room, Jaune walks over to Marrow with two coffee mugs and hands him one. He then sits next to Marrow, and the two clink their mugs together.
"So, what's it gonna be?" Clover asked.
In the training room, Bernadetta fires a arrow but Yang blasts it away with her gauntlet. Yang jumps attempting to stomp down on Bernadetta who quickly moves out of the way just in time to avoid her. Bernadetta quickly fires more arrows at Yang, who hits most of them away with Ember Celica, but one managed to hit her in the side. A smirking Yang rushes towards Bernadetta and tries to hit her with a barrage of punches. Bernadetta dodges most the punches but one catches her off guard and makes her fly backwards into a pillar.
"You ok Bernie? Maybe we should call it quits?" Yang suggested in concern.
"No!" Bernadetta said as she stood up with a determined face "You said you were going to help me get stronger. If you really meant that, then don't hold back. Attack me with everything you have!".
Yang looked surprised but smiled proudly "You got it hunney bee".
She rockets herself forward with her gauntlets as she threw a punch, which Bernadetta quickly dodged as the blow shattered the pillar behind her. Bernadetta fired an arrow which scattered in to multible arrows. Yang dodged them, but was unaware of Bernadetta's trap. She fired an ice arrow just as Yang landed, hitting her foot and freezing it to the floor. Yang was surprised before Bernadetta fired two more ice arrows which froze Yang's arms and successfully jammed her Ember Celica, preventing her from firering herself free.
"Got you!" Bernadetta declared as she prepared a powerful fire arrow and shot it at Yang.
Yang gulped and quickly rose her arms just as the arrow hit her, and developed her in a fiery explosion. Bernadetta watched as the smoke cleared and to her dismay, Yang had used the very ice Bernadetta froze her with to shield herself from the blast.
"Wow, you almost had me there, Bernie. Had I taken that arrow head on I would've been in a pretty bad shape" Yang said, clearly impressed.
"Dang it... I thought for sure my plan would work" Bernadetta said in dissapointment.
"Almost did. Now it's my turn" Yang said before she began glowing and charged at Bernadetta with even greater speed than before.
Bernadetta panicked, there was no way she could dodge her in time... but as Yang reached her, she grabbed Bernadetta in to a bear hug before kissing her right on the lips. Bernadetta blushed bright red as Yang's tongue explored her mouth for a few seconds before she finally let her go.
"Yang! What if someone had seen us!?" Bernadetta asked in embarrassment.
Yang only giggled "Then I hope they enjoyed the show".
Bernadetta pouts "Sometimes I wonder how I've survived dating you for this long".
"Because you are a lot tougher than you think you are. And you've gotten much better recently. I wasn't lying when I said you nearly had me earlier" Yang said.
"Thank you Yang" Bernadetta said with a smile.
Yang smiled back before her smiled turn in to a smirk "Ok time to hit the showers. Please let me personally take you there".
"Huh?! Wait— What are you— No! Not again!" Bernadetta yelled before Yang threw her over her shoulder and began walking away "Aaah! Stop! Put me down!".
A truck drives along a long, straight road in the middle of the tundra. Lucina, Ruby and Penny are sitting in the front seat, while an AK-200 drives.
Ruby stares ahead sleepily "Not that I'm bored, but why can't we just use an airship to take these supplies to Amity?
"The components for Amity Tower's construction are far too heavy. All that weight would require precious Dust we should be saving for the launch itself. And the Grimm that will come after" Penny explained.
"Try to bare it a little longer Ruby. It's for a good cause" Lucina said.
Ruby begins to come closer to nodding off to sleep "It just makes for long... very long... supply runs".
"At least the tundra is scenic" Penny smiles and looks out the window. In the distance, a pair of penguins watch the truck, squawking.
Ruby was unimpressed "Totally".
Ruby begins falling asleep, soon leaning over to Lucina's shoulder. Lucina smiles at her girlfriend, she looked so cute when she was like this.
"Ruby!" Penny suddenly spoke and Ruby is startled awake "I just wanted to say how excited I am to be working with you two in a professional capacity. As friends!".
Ruby laughs "Me too, Penny".
"You do certainly keep us at our toes, Penny" Lucina said.
Penny smiled "Relationships are so interesting and varied!".
"Speaking of friends… Have you been able to make any new ones? Since, you know…?" Ruby asked.
"Now that I'm the official protector of Mantle, I don't really have a team anymore. General Ironwood says I don't have time for friends" Penny answered.
"Oh, uh, how do you feel about that?" Ruby asked.
"I feel like I wish I could do both the things I need to do and the things I want to do. Is that normal?" Penny asked.
"That's about as normal as it gets, Penny" Ruby answered.
"We all feel like that sometimes Penny. And sometimes we have no choice but to do what we need to do, rather than what we want to do" Lucina explained. She would much rather spend some alone time with Ruby, but their mission had to come first.
Qrow speaks up from the back of the truck "Everything going alright up there?".
"Just fine, Uncle Qrow!" Ruby gives a thumbs up.
Lucina looks out over the frozen landscape. So far they had not encountered any grimm, but the risk were very high. Lucina was still struggling with the fact her grandmother was behind all this. If their new allies found out she was related to Salem... she'd rather not think about what could happen. Her friends would never let the Atlas army take her, but that would likely get them branded as traitors and get thrown in jail. So Lucina had to keep this a secret at all cost.
"Uh, Uncle Qrow" Ruby suddenly spoke.
Qrow and Clover get up and head to the front of the truck.
"What's going on? Grimm?" Qrow asked.
Clover narrowed his eyes "No. Worse. You three with me. Penny, stay put and keep an eye on our six. We may need an element of surprise".
"Affirmative. I will plan for six possible outcomes" The three look at Penny, who smiles confidently.
Three women are standing in the middle of the road in front of a sheet metal barricade built in front of a small canyon. One of them was Robyn Hill, and standing next to her was a white haired faunus named Fiona and a young woman with long brown hair and a beautiful face.
"Alright ladies, time to show them our teeth" Robyn said.
"Are you sure about this, Robyn? If things goes bad we will branded criminals in a heartbeat" The brown haired woman said.
"Trust me Dorothea, we wouldn't be doing this without a good reason" Robyn assured.
Dorothea sighed "I don't like this plan one bit... But there is no way I'm leaving your side now".
Robyn smiled at her before the truck comes to a stop, and Clover, Lucina, Ruby and Qrow exit.
"Robyn! Well, if it isn't Mantle's home town hero. Is there a reason you're blocking an official military transport?" Clover asked.
"Clover, I'm so glad you're here. Maybe you can help me understand why this truck that's supposed to be taking construction materials to fix Mantle's outer wall, is on its way to the middle of nowhere? Are you lost?" Robyn asked, though her tone made it sound less like a question and more like a demand.
Clover laughs "It's pretty easy to get turned around out here in the tundra, everything looks the same. Thanks for checking up on us though. We'll be on our way now".
Clover starts to walk away and Robyn sighs "I was hoping you'd play it straight with me. What's Ironwood doing with Amity at the old SDC mine?".
Clover stops and turns back to her "Oh, that. Just giving her an annual checkup".
"The next Vytal Festival isn't anytime soon. Only automated drones and a few select Atlas scientists are allowed out here. And Amity's getting invaluable resources we need in Mantle to protect against Grimm. Seems like more than just a check-up" Robyn said.
Clover crossed his arms, slowly dropping his friendly nature "You've been scoping it out".
"We can't fix the wall without the supplies on these trucks. I think Mantle deserves to know what they're being used for. It doesn't have to be difficult. Just tell me" Robyn walks forward and extends her hand with a smile.
"I'm going to have to pass on that" Clover said.
Robyn frowns, then smiles again as she turns her attention to the others she eyed Lucina for a moment before "You look familiar. Tell me, you wouldn't happen to know Chrom would you?".
"Wait, you know my father?" Lucina asked in surprise.
"Father? Ah, you must be Lucina. Chrom wouldn't shut up about you when he visited a few years ago. You look so much like him it's almost scary. Not even his sisters resembles him this much" Robyn said with a genuin friendly smile "Now I understand why he talked so much about you, you really are a beautiful kid".
Lucina knew Chrom traveled a lot, and he did visit Atlas and Mantle a few times "Thank you... I take it you must be the stubborn but warm hearted lady he mentioned. He didn't say much because mom can get violent if she suspects something".
Robyn laughed a little "I guess I am. As much as I would love to talk more, could you tell me why Mantle's being put at risk for Ironwood's pet project?".
"It's not a pet project, we are trying to-" Lucina began before Clover quickly interrupted her.
"That's enough Robyn. As a potential Councilwoman, you should probably focus on the election instead of harassing Huntsmen. Now, it's time to let us pass" He demanded.
"I think you've misjudged the situation. One way or another, these supplies are going to get where they're supposed to go - Mantle" Robyn declared.
"Then I suggest you do that through the proper legal channels as a Councilwoman. If you get elected" Clover said.
Robyn smiles "Now where's the fun in that?".
Clover tenses his hand, and Lucina, Ruby and Qrow put their hands on their weapons. Suddenly, Penny flies out from the back of the truck and lands on top of it, her swords levitating around her.
"Robyn Hill. I would like to politely ask that you call off the Huntresses approaching the rear of the truck" She ordered.
Clover, Qrow, Lucina and Ruby look back at what appears to be absolutely nothing behind the truck.
Robyn laughs "Alright. Joanna, May!".
Two people fade into view behind the truck. Clover gives Roby an 'Are you serious?' look.
Robyn looks up at Penny "The Protector of Mantle, huh?".
"Let us through, please" Penny said.
Everyone remains tense for a moment, ready for a fight. Robyn sighs, and Fiona opens the gate on the barricade. Penny comes down from the truck, and she, Lucina, Ruby, Qrow and Clover start walking to enter the truck.
Clover stops and looks back "Robyn. Good luck at the election".
They enter the truck and drive through the canyon.
"That was a close one" Qrow said.
"You're telling me" Clover agreed.
Robyn's Happy Huntresses gather around her as she watches the truck drive away.
"What now?" Fiona asked.
"I want to know why Amity Colosseum is suddenly so important. Whatever it takes" Robyn said.
"We will do what we can. But please Robyn, don't get yourself arrested when the election is so close" Dorothea said.
"Don't worry Dorothea. I have no intention of spending time in a cell. And once I win the election, I will make sure Mantle gets everything it needs" Robyn said.
"You sure are confidant. Then again, it is part of the reason why we follow you" Dorothea said.
A while later, Severa and Blake were enjoying some alone time... by making out on a bed. They barely had enough alone time anymore, so they tried to make use of every chance they got before they are dragged away on a new assignment.
"Man, we almost never get enough time for this anymore" Severa said.
Blake smiled "I know, but our mission is important".
"Yes, but you are more important. To me at least" Severa said.
Blake rubbed her cheek and they kissed again, with Severa slowly laying Blake down on the bed, her hand already moving inside Blake's pants... But before they could go further, Severa's scroll beeped, making her growl.
"Someone better be dying" Severa said in annoyance as she opened her scroll.
It showed the news, which were about Jacques Schnee who was holding a speech "If I'm elected Councilman, I've made it no secret I will be opposing General Ironwood and his senseless embargo that is crippling all of Atlas. It is my belief that these measures are not only reckless, but criminal. With no shipments allowed to enter or leave leave the kingdom, I know many are suffering. And my family has been weathering the same storm as many of you. Effective immediately, I am forced to shut down all nonessential SDC operations. If elected to office, I will make the changes necessary to fix what Ironwood has broken. I hope you ask yourself before the vote, can you trust anyone else to stop Ironwood? Will Robyn Hill be able to get your jobs back?".
News anchors eagerly hold their microphones up to Jacques, talking over each other and asking questions. He puts his hand up and turns away, and the broadcast ends.
"What is he doing?" Blake asked in shock.
Severa glared at the screen "Well that sure is one way to kill my mood. What the hell is that asshole up to?".
Down in Mantle, the citizens begin shouting angrily.
A man turns and walks away from the TV. He picks up a trash can and throws it at the screen, shattering the glass. The crowd begins shouting even louder. Atlas soldiers become nervous and run away, while citizens tip over a car.
The situation just went from bad to much, much worse.
.
Tell me what you think.
