RWBY: Team CRML

Chapter 55

The previous day

"All right, gather 'round. Our mission today is to secure the launch site for the Amity Communications Tower." Clover, the leader of the Ace-Ops, said. "The designated area is an abandoned Dust mine. Since its closure, the Grimm have moved in. The good news is all that untouched Dust is still down there, too. Science team says they'll need it for the first phase of their launch. Atlas military Huntsmen are already hard at work clearing out the surrounding tundra. But recon has identified a powerful Geist that's managed to evade destruction and take several lives. After we increased our numbers, the Geist was smart enough to retreat into the mine itself, meaning it's old and extremely dangerous. The mine was a labyrinth back in the day. There's all sorts of tunnels and chambers the Geist can move between, so if we're gonna kill this thing, we'll have to split up and corner it. General Ironwood says you've seen your fair share of combat. I trust that man with my life, so tomorrow, I'll be trusting you all, too."

A few minutes later

"Apologies for the mess and for holding onto your weapons for so long." Pietro said as he led the three teams to their gear. "The upgrades you requested were, uh… well, they were more than I anticipated." Pietro told them. "Your new weapons and armor should be as requested, but I also took the liberty of reviewing your combat footage from the Vytal Festival Tournament. There's some additional enhancements I'd like to suggest. Oh, but for now, these should serve you well enough."

Inside the airship, present time

The dust cartridges in Liam's magazine could now be applied to his weapon. Igniting the blade with a red hot fire. Freezing it for a chilling blow. Enhancing the blade with electricity to shock his opponents. And with gravity dust, he could knock his opponents back with a single thrust. As for his prosthetic arm, he could now store explosive rounds and small daggers in it.

As for Nicci: the blade of her axe now had a chain attaching it to the handle. During a swing, she could release the blade and swing it at an enemy that was too far away and afterwards, the chain would retract the blade back to its original position.

As for Marek: the weapon was now double sided and could be split at the middle. As it's in its spear form, the two halves can shrink together for an easy carry. Also, like Nicci's, the blades were also attached by chains.

And for Chrome: he told Pietro about his second lost blade. To make up for that, Pietro managed to make it so a second blade could hide in the hilt. To do so, he had to make the hilt a bit longer to contain the blade. The weapon could be split at the middle, and the whole weapon had a special dust inside of it. Wearing a small ring on each hand, he was now able to call back both halves of his weapon instead of just the blade.

"You know what to do, people!" Clover's voice came from their ear pieces.

Once the door to the ship opened, Chrome, Marek, Nicci and Liam all stood in their new clothes with new hair cuts. Liam's hair was much shorter with his hair spiked a bit, the tips of his hair still red. Chrome had his pushed back and out of his face. Nicci had dyed her hair a dark black with purple streaks. And as for Marek: he no longer hid his face. His hair was cut, being slightly shorter than Chrome's.

Liam still had his mother's white cloak but had it slightly to the side so it covered his left arm, leaving his right exposed. He wore black cargo pants with a pair of matching boots. He also wore a grey jacket over a dark red shirt.

Marek no longer wore a hoodie, now wearing a black and purple leather jacket. He wore a pair of dark blue jeans and black shoes.

Chrome now wore a sky blue shirt under a snow white trench coat with red accents. His jeans were white and he had white boots.

Nicci had her hair tied back in a ponytail and now wore a dark purple puffer jacket with black skinny jeans. She wore knee high boots that had belts to tighten it.

"You guys ready?" Chrome asked his team. Liam replied by stepping out of the airship and falling to the ground below.

Nicci and Chrome shared a quick glance before following his lead and leaping from the ship. Marek was the last one out.

Nearing the ground, Liam changed into his avian form. Nearing the ground, he changed back and rolled to his feet. As for Chrome, he used his semblance, sliding down his glyphs and grabbing a pole sticking out of a building. Following his lead, Nicci was right behind him.

As Chrome grabbed the pole, he reached out with his other hand and Nicci grabbed it. Swinging around the pole, Chrome let go off Nicci. Hitting the ground, she rolled to her feet as Chrome waited to slow down before dropping to the ground.

As for Marek, he used his new upgrades. Parting his spear in two, he swung the blades into the roof of a building. Passing by, the chain went taut, pulling Marek to the side of the building. Placing his feet on the side of the building, he flicked his weapons, getting the blades unstuck and retreat back to their handles. Falling the rest of the way down, Marek landed.

"Everyone good?" Chrome asked.

Liam placed his weapon on his back as Chrome and Nicci sheathed theirs. Marek twirled his weapon, attaching the two halves together before having it shrink down. Placing the weapon on his hip, the team regrouped.

"Yep!" Nicci said with a smile.

"As good as I can be." Marek replied as he pushed his hair back out of his eyes.

As for Liam, he had his arms crossed, still rather pissed off from the other day. "You okay, Liam?" Chrome asked.

"Yeah." Liam growled.

"You're still pissed, aren't you?" Nicci asked.

Liam's anger slowly began to boil over. "Something else also happened, didn't it?" Marek asked. "When we were fighting those Sabyrs, you froze."

Chrome and Nicci looked to Liam, wondering what Marek was talking about. "I'll tell you guys later." Liam replied, managing to calm himself down. "Let's just finish our mission."

Walking over to the abandoned dust mine, the four glanced around before heading inside. Entering a side tunnel, the four didn't run into any obstacles. "This is Delta checking in. Our path is clear, permission to proceed." Chrome said into his earpiece.

"Granted." Clover replied.

Looking to his team, the other three nodded. "Alright." Chrome and the others readied their weapons. "Keep your eyes peeled for that Geist."

Entering the tunnel, Chrome was in the front with Marek and Nicci behind him. Liam was at the back, facing the way they came in case anything followed them in.

"I've never fought a Geist before." Nicci said. "I'm kinda excited."

"They're a pain in the ass to deal with." Marek told her. "Real annoying."

Silence fell upon the group for a few seconds. "So, finally lost the hood and bandanna, huh?" Nicci asked.

"Yeah. I figured it best that I just accept who I am and stop trying to hide it." Marek replied. "If anyone asks, I'll just say I'm a Faunus."

"Well, I like it!" Nicci said with a smile. "Looks a lot better than-" a loud cracking sound filled the tunnel as a massive chunk of ice fell from the ceiling. Noticing this, Chrome grabbed Nicci and pulled her out of the way as Marek dove to the ground next to Liam to dodge it. Once the ice hit the ground, and the dust settled, the Geist flew from the ceiling before heading down the tunnel.

"Alpha, this is Delta! We've encountered the target but it's retreating further into the tunnel!" Chrome informed Clover.

"Noted. We're on our way!" Clover said before it went radio silent.

Looking back, Liam and Marek vaulted over the ice. "That was exciting." Nicci said. "You two okay?"

"Yeah." Liam replied as he brushed himself off.

"Never better." Marek said with just a hint of sarcasm.

"C'mon." Chrome said. "We gotta keep going."

"Then lead on, leader." Liam told him as he gestured to the path ahead.

Chrome smirked at his teammate before continuing to follow the path. As the four walked, the ground suddenly began to rumble. "That isn't normal, right?" Nicci asked as she looked at the floor.

Suddenly, a centipede-esque Grimm emerged from the ground. "Centinel!" Marek quickly grabbed his weapon and extended it. Swinging one of the blades at the Grimm, he retracted it, pulling the Grimm towards himself. As it got close, Liam swung his blade right through it as Marek's blade popped free.

"Centinel?" Nicci repeated the name Marek called it.

"Watch the ground! These things love burrowing." Marek told his team.

As the four watched the ground closely, a Centinel suddenly popped out of the ceiling. Noticing this, Chrome immediately used a glyph with fire dust, shooting fire at the Grimm and killing it. "Looks like it isn't just the ground."

"Damn." a Centinel began to emerge from the wall to Marek's left. Immediately, Marek stabbed it in the head and fired off a rifle round into it.

Once it turned to dust, a half dozen more emerged from the floor, walls and ceiling. Charging ahead, Nicci and Chrome teamed up to take down two, with Chrome creating a glyph for Nicci. Using it to jump over the Grimm, Nicci swung her weapon, the blade detatching and slicing clean through one of the Centinels before retracting back to the handle as Nicci landed on her feet.

Chrome took down the second one by throwing one half of his weapon at it. Impaling the Grimm, Chrome then lined up a shot and fired a round at the bottom of the hilt, pushing the weapon the rest of the way through. Using the ring on his left hand, he recalled his weapon, having it slice the Grimm in two on the way back to his grip.

Liam and Marek killed the remaining four, with Marek using his new upgrades to stab a blade through one Grimm each and Liam, igniting his blade with fire dust, dashed to the last two, cutting them clean in half with a single swing of his blade.

With the Grimm turning to dust, the four of them glanced around at their surroundings. "That all of 'em?" Nicci asked.

"Seems like." Marek replied.

Continuing to follow the tunnel, the four of them finally reached the area the Geist had retreated to, only to find it had already been taken down by the Ace-Ops, and Teams RWBY, and JNR.

"Atlas control, this is Clover. Mission accomplished."

End of chapter 55