RWBY: Team CRML

Chapter 56

Team CRML

Shielding their eyes from the sun as they left the mine, Ruby, her team and Team JNR began chatting with the Ace-Ops. As for Chrome and his team, they walked over to a nearby building that had stairs on the side of it. Liam and Nicci sat down as Marek leaned against the railing. As for Chrome, he stood with his arms crossed, the four of them waiting for their airship back to Atlas.

Within seconds, a couple trucks arrive at the mine. Coming out of one of them if General Ironwood.

"Can I get the team leaders over here? There's something I'd like to discuss with you. You too, Qrow." Ironwood asked.

Ruby, Jaune, Chrome and Qrow walked over to Ironwood.

"I need you on the ground, but be subtle. If people see too many Huntsmen milling around, they'll get nervous." Ironwood told Clover. Clover salutes, nods and began to walk away. "And Clover?" Clover stopped and looked back. "Don't take Marrow."

Clover looked over at Marrow, then looked at Ironwood, smiling and chuckling with a nod before walking away. "New problems in Mantle?" Qrow asked.

"More of the same, unfortunately." Ironwood replied with a sigh. 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 a man, while the right side displays a photograph of the same man's 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." Ironwood told them.

"Wait a minute. That's the guy that rode with us after we were arrested." Chrome pointed out.

"He died?" Ruby asked.

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

Ironwood deactivated the hologram screen and put 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."

"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 told him. Ironwood frowned and looked at Jaune, who awkwardly clears his throat and stands at attention. "S-sir."

Ironwood rubbed 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 turned and looked up at Amity Colosseum which was brought in recently. "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."

Ironwood's communicator beeps, and he puts his fingers to it, listening. "What? Already? Here? No, it's fine. Let him land. I'll deal with him myself."

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

Ironwood watched an airship fly by on its way to the landing pad. "No. This one's an Atlas problem." heading over to the landing pad, Teams RWBY and CRML stood at the bottom of the ramp with Team JNR and Qrow standing a bit further back.

Once the doors to the ship opened and the ramp lowered, a man with white hair and moustache stormed out of the ship, yelling. "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 stared at him, arms folded behind his back. "When the Council hears about this, you will never-" he pointed aggressively at Ironwood.

"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 informed the man.

"Didn't require a vote?!" the man repeated, agrily.

"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 informed 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-" the man, Jacques, suddenly stopped as he became distracted, his eyes widening as he stared at a member of Ruby's team.

"You..." Liam followed the man's gaze to see he was staring at Weiss. Immediately, Liam got a gut feeling something was up. The man stormed past Ironwood, glancing at him as he does so. "You roped my missing daughter into these schemes of yours, too?"

"Daughter?" Liam said softly.

Jacques turned back around to look at Ironwood.

"How long has she been back in Atlas? Did Winter know about this?" Weiss' father asked, angrily.

"It was my decision to come here. Just like it was my decision to leave. Or have you forgotten all about that?" Weiss said.

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

"Believe me, I know exactly the kind of man you are." Weiss replied.

"How dare you speak to me that way!? I have half a mind to-" Liam went to step in front of Weiss but she gently placed a hand on his shoulder, stopping him.

"Half a mind to what, Jacques?" Ironwood growled.

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. Seeing this, Liam glared at Jacques. Jacques smirked 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…"

Weiss looks around, noticing that her teammates have come to her side as Liam held her hand, giving her a nod.

"...for personally handing me the noose to hang you." Jacques finished.

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

"You'll regret this." he added before turning to look back at Weiss. "So these are the little friends you threw everything away for?"

Weiss shook her head. "Not friends." Weiss and Liam share a quick glance, the two smiling at one another.

"Family."

Jacques got the hint, turning his gaze to Liam and glaring at him. "Hmm..."

Jacques returns to his airship and begins to take off. Ruby, Blake and Yang look at Weiss with concern, while she exhales and drops her strong and confident facade. The ship flies away, and 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.

"Oh, now you show up, Winter. You just missed father." Weiss said.

"I wouldn't say I missed hi-"

From the sky, Penny comes crashing down, landing on one knee. The force from her landing sends dust into Team RWBYs eyes. Coughing and waving it away, 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 still coughing, her grin and the hologram both fade.

"Uh, did we not start yet?" Penny asked.

Winter puts her fingertips to her forehead in exasperation. "Apparently, we haven't."

Nearby, Jaune and Nora laugh, while Ruby stands with a look of confusion. "Start what?" she asked.

Hours later

After the sun set, RWBY, JNR, CRML Qrow, Winter, Penny and Ironwood gather in the center of Amity Colosseum's arena. RWBY and JNPR stand lined up, with Ironwood, Winter and Penny standing across from them and Qrow standing off to the side. Chrome, Nicci and Marek were also with them, talking. As for Liam, he sat in the bleachers, his thoughts on what happened when they were fighting the Sabyrs. Ever since that flash back to Beacon, he couldn't get the thought out of his head.

'Why now? Why here? Why is he having these flashes now?' these were all questions he was asking himself.

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." Ironwood said. "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 JNPR and RWB and the three members of team CRML, 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. It displays his student license, which displays a photograph of him in his new outfit with his emblem in the top left corner and a barcode below the photo. The Vale symbol is in the background behind the license information. As Liam's scrolled buzzed, he took it out and glanced at it. Seeing his Huntsman license, he looked to Ironwood to see Ironwood just nod at him. "Wait... what is this?" Ruby asked.

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

"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.

"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." Ironwood said, cutting Ruby off.

Ironwood began to walk away.

"I should be so lucky to have all of you. 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. That's… just about all the pomp I have in me." he awkwardly adjusts his tie. "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 following. As Winter passed Chrome, she glanced at him. "Once this celebration is over, meet me at Atlas Academy." she told him before leaving.

Penny pops up with a hand raised in the air. "Your speech outros are improving, sir!"

"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." Chrome added.

"It almost feels trivial now."

"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 told her.

As everyone began getting some cake, Ruby walked into the bleachers. Weiss noticed this and immediately looked over to Liam who had been by himself this entire time. Stopping at the beginning of the bleachers, Weiss looked up at Liam. "Hey."

Startled, Liam leaned back as he looked down. Seeing Weiss, he relaxed. "Oh, hey, Weiss."

"What's up? You aren't usually like this." Weiss said as she used a glyph to lift herself onto the bleachers next to Liam. Sitting down beside him, she placed a hand over his. "Talk to me."

Sighing, Liam nodded. "Down in Mantle, while we were fighting the Sabyrs, for a split second, I was back on Beacon Tower." Liam told her. "I saw Cinder, and Pyrrha, and...Mist and I just... I froze. Being back on that Tower, it felt real. I felt everything like it was actually happening again. That one second felt like a million and... I hate this feeling." Liam placed his head in his hands as he leaned forward. "Pyrrha... I could've done more to save her."

"You can't think like that." Weiss told him. "Her death isn't on you."

"I'd like to believe that... But it isn't true." Liam said. "I know I could've done something!" he leaned back, staring up at the ceiling of the arena. "I know I could've done things differently to save her. Her blood is on my hands. And I'm going to make sure Cinder and Mist pay for what they did. Not just to Pyrrha, but to Vernal as well."

"Liam..." Weiss said softly. Looking into his eyes, she could see how much pain he was actually in. How much he blamed himself for what happened to Pyrrha. She could see just how much he was actually hiding for the sake of the others. Gently placing a hand on his cheek, she made Liam look her in the eye. "Pyrrha's death is not on you." she told him. "From what you told me, you tried your best to save her. You sacrificed your arm and almost your life to help her. But you were stopped by Mist. If anyone is to blame, it's her and Cinder. Not you."

"That won't stop the way I feel." Liam replied. "But thank you, Weiss. Talking to you always helps." he suddenly shook his head, the pain in his eyes disappearing as his mask went back on. The mask he used to hide all of that. The mask only Weiss was able to temporarily remove. "Sorry, this whole time we talked about me. H-how are you doing, Weiss?"

Staring at him, Weiss was filled with a sadness. She didn't like seeing someone she care so deeply for be in so much pain. "Liam-"

"A massive Sabyr is loose in the Mantle sewers! We need two brave warriors to flush it out!" Elm said, loudly as she placed a hand on the mission board by the exit.

End of chapter 56