It was a refreshing and typical day for Weiss, it was days after the events of the aptly termed 'Crisis in the Tunnels' unfolded. Next week would be qualifiers for the Vytal Festival, they were confident they could easily get into the competition so they decided to just take it easy.

That was harder than it looked.

"Are you sure this is where she's hiding?" Weiss opened yet another door and peeked inside the damp and as Clorox-smelling as ever janitor's closet. "I swear that dolt keeps leaving us behind just to escape these numbskulls trying to get a squeak out of her."

The tank in the pockets of her combat skirt revved its powerful engine once, indicating its response. Though, Weiss had trouble telling apart rhythmic puffs of exhaust as words.

"Maus, I know you're quiet like Blake but this is your 'master' we're trying to find after she got accosted by some journalists that somehow snuck in here, can you at least tell me where exactly she is around here?"

"…Up," Maus replied.

Weiss tilted her head and scanned the room but didn't see anything amiss. "You know, a little more than a single word would be better. It's troublesome that Ruby could start having the same stealth as Blake just because she doesn't like being that public."

"Words can waste, telling less with the same effort as more is efficient."

"Of course, the unwieldy and impractical German experimental weapon is talking about being efficient-"

"Hey!" Ruby's voice interrupted from above. "He might be all that stuff but he could still function!" She slid away a panel from the roof, breaching the untouched ceiling to enter the room.

"Ruby! Do you have any idea how long I've been looking through random doors on my way here? Why can't you just relax? They're just curious as to how you became a specialist… also approved for that Year 2 mission… and how you designed the tanks."

Ruby's eyes suddenly twitched in trauma. "N-no! Never! Think of it, Weiss… uhh… do you think I of all people can keep my mouth shut on details? Or lie that I made them?"

"That's true."

An awkward pause ensued.

"Weiss… couldn't you at least try to go against what I say like you usually do?"

"No, those other times were when you were acting completely on impulse and recklessness. This time, however, it seems you have finally realized how good you are at keeping quiet or not trying to make it obvious you are lying."

Ruby slumped. "Oh…"

"…Fine, I guess there are times you can keep secrets. It was surprising word hadn't gone out that these tanks are actually magical even though part of the dorms got destroyed."

"Aw… thanks for saying that, Weiss."

"Don't let me regret saying all this. Professor Goodwitch already escorted the miscreants away, you can come back for lunch with the others."

Weiss then took out Maus who was accidentally left to Weiss after Ruby dropped him when people started looking for the hero of Vale. She did like the title but not whatever came with it.

"Hey, Maus. Sorry for leaving you." Ruby apologized to the tank after taking him to her palms.

"…"

"I can tell you're just saying it's fine but it's not. Especially when the others have been taken away for repairs and upgrades. You're the only other tank left, though Ironwood did say he'd at least be returning them just in time for the Vytal Tournament."

Like a flash of lightning, a thought crossed Weiss' head. "Ruby! We forgot about the meeting with Ironwood! Oh my Gods', this is why I shouldn't listen to Yang about taking everything so easy, I didn't even list it down on the to-do section of my notebook!"

"Wait, we had that?" Ruby genuinely didn't know which made Weiss go from panic into a cross between confusion, anger and acceptance.

"How could you forget?! It's in five minutes and we have to find the others!" Weiss reprimanded.

"Uh…"

"Dah! If it weren't for the fact I accepted you as a leader I would've sent you to Ozpin already but even then, you'd find a way to convince him otherwise, let's go!"

"What is this meeting even about-" Ruby couldn't even fathom how fast she got yanked from her wrist as Weiss broke the sound barrier, a feat that surprised and scared Ruby. Were determination and a sense of responsibility what Weiss needed to overcome the laws of physics? Maybe so.

They quickly split up and found Yang and Blake, who were both struggling to keep up with the speed of Ruby and Weiss. After a few minutes of running, they had to stop short of the elevator and catch their breath. Finally, the elevator arrived, and the team entered to meet with Ironwood in Ozpin's office.

To Weiss' horror, they were six minutes late despite their efforts to run as fast as they could. When it finally came to meet Ironwood who set the meeting place in Ozpin's office, the four were tired from running. The doors of the elevator shifted outward, a hiss was heard as Ironwood looked up from his scroll and tried greeting the students who he was expecting to come.

"Welcome-"

*THUD*

Ironwood saw all of them fall to the ground, Ruby and Weiss were the loudest of the others. "I'd say it's a beautiful day but I guess introductions will be saved for next time."

Ozpin chuckled from the side. "That is true, James. Now, Glynda. Would you kindly pick the girls up from the ground and seat them properly while they recover from trying to run throughout the school at breakneck speeds."

Team RWBY was picked up by their clothes, Glynda used her semblance to carefully pick them up and make them sit around the headmaster's table.

Ironwood stood up and started walking around the table, raring to announce some results. "Miss Rose, do you know why you are here?"

"…No?"

Ironwood already expected this, it was Ruby after all. "To reiterate, we have successfully tested and found a way to make these vehicles of yours appear. Sadly, there is no way to keep using this new method for now since this is a secret unless we use someone who could manipulate sound or somewhere in great isolation, like the ocean… and the subject of this meeting."

Ironwood then looked toward Ozpin who nodded in response. With confirmation, he took out his scroll and placed it on the table, the hard light display making his scroll's screen appear towards the wall away from the table.

Team RWBY couldn't speak when they saw what was on screen, except for one, who was the most vocal of all.

"For now we only have been able to search for one, sadly there's been much-"

"Is that a massive ship?!" Ruby sprang up from her exhausted state and directly climbed up the table and practically glued her eyes to the display, making her fellow teammates try to make her sit down, including Glynda.

However, Ozpin and Ironwood seemed to allow the behaviour, it's not hard to know why. "Yes, from what we have gathered and reported it's displacement quite a large amount of water. After some talk with Atlesian scientists, it was put into our system as a 'Yamato Class super battleship'. We expect more to come but are unsure how to classify them considering the air fleet is quite different to the sea-faring vessels Ruby may call upon."

Ruby didn't reply, gawking at every detail in the slide Ironwood had presented. "71,000 tons! Over 250 meters in length! Oh my God's, the armaments, the thick armour, the guns and the deck size!"

"Heh, deck size- ow!" Yang quipped but was quickly shut by Blake digging her elbow into her ribs. "It's not my fault it sounds like something else! What's so special about-"

"Don't talk it down, Yang! You probably don't even know what a meter or a ton is! It's huge! 250 meters isn't a lot of distance in running but you have to remember that this beautiful work of art is made of steel! Do you not comprehend!?"

Yang shrugged. "You do you, sis, all I know is that if you're impressed then I am impressed."

"That's quite typical for Yang," Blake commented. "Ruby, how is that even possible? Your tanks said you could bring other tanks but this is a ship. It's at a size that it could threaten every village near the shore and could probably do the same for other towns further inland."

"Blake is right, I don't even know how we're going to use Yamato for anything," Weiss added. "I don't think we could use him to fight. Letting out a super battleship in front of an audience and letting it broadside the competition is a death sentence… for everyone involved."

"But-?"

"No, Ruby. Bad! Bad! No using weapons of mass destruction just because they're weapons. I swear I'd have to work harder to keep you from using Maus to 'show the superiority of German engineering.' I understand taking after friends but I think the tanks' nationalism got to you along with their warmongering."

Ruby continued to defend herself. "Hey, I won't severely maim, critically scar or otherwise kill anyone! Just the Grimm."

"Uh huh, then what's with you siccing Maus on those White Fang after the train stopped?"

Ruby freezes, Weiss had caught her on her hypocrisy. "Uh… i-it was a field test! They were consenting to the test, Weiss. Don't worry about them, I still won't intentionally take out others by making my tanks kill!"

"Ahem," Ironwood called them back to attention. "I appreciate the enthusiasm for using your weapons as weapons but I will have to correct something in your conversation."

"...Are we in trouble for it?" Ruby asked nervously.

"No, just a small correction, Yamato is not a 'he' it's a 'she'. It surprised us as well."

"A… she? Yamato is a she? Oh! That makes sense! I've heard sailors and captains calling their ships at the docks a female. I wonder if the way the crews called their vehicles influenced who they are?"

The question raised a lot of curiosity among the members. The tanks said their personalities take after the crew or people around them during their service life, which is why most of them were very patriotic.

Now it even considered gender, would it change based on if a pilot or tank commander decided to call their equipment she? It seemed to be the case after now, Ironwood then started to discuss more on the Yamato and the manner they found her.

Weiss was excited after the mention of her sister. Ruby and Yang did similar when it was their father who had found Yamato. Later, Weiss asked if Winter was going to visit, although Ironwood had sent her to align with some other specialists for a mission.

Finishing up the meeting, Ironwood discussed another portion. "Moving on, we are currently undergoing research on the ship. Sorry for doing so without your permission but it's a very important task. You see… it's running out of fuel."

Ruby and Weiss shared a look at the mention of fuel.

Ironwood continued. "Despite the amount of research put into this 'fossil fuel' we still don't have enough to satisfy the massive amounts Yamato needs but it's offset by it being able to shrink. Despite this, fuel consumption remains the same, meaning it's unproductive. We could carry it around but that would mean we need to ask you since it was very hesitant to do it without your physical appearance."

"Oh, and we're meeting her today? Right now?"

Ozpin cut off Ironwood and decided to reply in place of the general. "No, we plan on making you focus on the festival and the competition. There's no need to rush research when you girls haven't gone a month without a massive event or battle. As much as Ironwood wants to try looking through the engineering of Yamato, you girls shouldn't need to get involved in it and add yet another source of stress to an already busy calendar for Huntsman and Huntresses. Besides, we'll let you take her home… after we deal with something else."

""Something else?"" Everyone echoed.

Ozpin couldn't keep his smile from widening. "We're dealing with another matter and you will all be introduced to someone special. It's going to be sort of like a private tutor for you all - to learn the ways of subterfuge, how a criminal thinks and learning the ins and outs of organizations meant to undermine the Kingdom we live in and the rest of the world, this teacher of yours has plenty experience in dealing with crime."

"Can we get him high on coffee again because he's being very mysterious?" Yang tried to talk but was shut down once again by the feline faunus. "Blake, will you stop elbowing me?"

Blake playfully rolled her eyes. "I will but you don't know how to stop. Anyways, Headmaster, if this is true why not teach the whole class? I don't doubt this new teacher would be beneficial to everyone. We know there are as many inside threats from the outside."

Ozpin took a long sip from his cup of coffee, making everyone groan at how repetitive the dramatic coffee sipping was. "JNPR will be joining you along with some of your friends from the other academies until the end of the Vytal Festival. As for why we can't make it public, let's just say that this teacher of yours won't likely be received with open arms, as well as how we got them to agree to teach you."

Team RWBY looked at each other, someone that unorthodox an introduction was certainly eyebrow-raising but they could handle it. "Uhm… is that all?" Ruby asked.

Ironwood looked at his watch and acknowledged the clock. "Ah, it seems the time has gone too long. Miss Schnee, you will remain here. It's about SRCCO, the coal and oil company, it seems your father has taken notice of an upstart. We'll be talking about the details."

Weiss looked surprised but also smiled, her father wasn't one to pay attention to his daughters. So hearing about Jacques Schnee taking interest in a company Weiss secretly made behind his back was like a malicious joy for her.

Weiss had a smirk that could rival a serial killer's. "Oh? So my father has taken interest in me for once. What's he going to do now? Bar SRCCO from profiting? Copying its technology? Corporate takeover?" Weiss asked, Ironwood didn't say anything but give a small nudge of his head. "Haha! That's quite predictable of him."

"Do you really hate your father that much?" Yang asked.

"Of course! That detestable waste of space has dragged down the Schnee name to the mud and broken my family apart. If I can't directly challenge him or wait until he gets somehow booted off the board, I'll fight him where it hurts… business!"

"Chill out, Weiss." The group groaned but for the first time in her life, Yang was taking Weiss so seriously that her mind had forgotten that she had accidentally made a pun.

"What?"

Weiss pointed out the obvious. "Seriously? You're going to make a pun? This is hardly the correct time to do so."

Yang realized it and confirmed her joke despite unintentionally making one. "Umm yeah! …Okay. So about your dad, do you think he'll come here as soon as you enter the later stages of the competition? This is a world event and he'd… like… see you, right?"

Weiss scoffed harshly. "That deadbeat might as well walk around telling the world how great I am, and especially how great he is for 'teaching' me to be like this. He'll find a reason to either drag me back to Atlas or play up his 'achievements'."

As Weiss ranted about her father, Yang couldn't stop but thought about the similarities between them but who had it worse? She still had a loving mother despite the lack of a genetic one but Weiss sounded like she'd never even felt any kind.

"Weiss… if that's the case…." Yang paused, pushing her own feelings to support her friend. "Let's show his ass what is so good about our resident Ice Princess." She ignored the frightened look of Ruby and put her fist out toward Weiss.

"Swear!" Ruby yelled.

Weiss was surprised, of all people, to be fired up on rebelling against her father, it was Yang. She didn't know much about the reasons why but the fire in Yang's eye clearly told a story similar to hers.

Putting her fist forward as well and bumping her fist with Yang, Weiss declared her sort-of promise. "I wouldn't put it that way but fine… let's… show his ass what a Schnee should be and let him see me for who I am, it's time I show him more than being his little puppet."

Ruby was even more shocked at Weiss blatantly saying the A-word. "S-swear!"

Blake added, standing up along with the others as she put her fist out as well. "I'm not one to deny being a part of a friend's journey to being free from her past - count me in showing his ass how Weiss operates."

Ruby was triple distraught. "S-s-swear?!" She was even more confused.

Ozpin enjoyed the sight but had to keep the meeting short "Girls, I understand your enthusiasm. Believe me, James would like to also proverbially 'kick Jacques' ass' but we have overstayed the time allotted."

Ruby could finally rest that she wouldn't have to keep hearing swears. "That's right! Uh… but you haven't even told us who will be teaching us. We'd like to know before we get into the competition."

"…You'll find that you're all already very acquainted with this person. Perhaps long enough to be… considered friends… or enemies."


Among the cheers of jubilation and happiness around town, a group of three is lying in wait in a rented motel. They had long since been embittered by their continuous loss. With all their eggs laying inside a metaphorical basket, they had repeatedly stayed behind in the hopes of not blowing their cover even when they have repeatedly reported failure after failure.

"Are you taking me for a fool, Emerald?"

The dark-skinned girl almost quivered but her resolve to tell the truth came out. "N-no, ma'am. It's true, the tanks are not just machines controlled by Artificial Intelligence or have people driving them. I think they are sentient beings that can somehow go invisible."

It was ludicrous to even suggest, there was an experimental invisibility technology from Atlas but not one so perfect to hide something as big as a tank.

"Then how do you explain students not running into it or leaving behind tracks everywhere they go? I doubt their size could hold itself on the floors if that's the case."

"There's nothing else to say, ma'am. They can appear everywhere, Ruby and her friends talk to each other as if they had another set of people nearby. Important was how the train got stopped and how you met that tank. We know for a fact that they were called tanks but we don't know how they can travel around. I talked to that Cardin boy and we know that they existed long before you got attacked."

Emerald had her own investigation on the manner these tanks are able to exist. She didn't want to risk angering Cinder in fear of getting blasted by an inferno. Long after Cinder had suffered a battle against one, she'd been hard at work figuring out exactly how the tanks operate.

That was harder than she'd initially thought, whenever she came close to them, they called her out and started a conversation with her, making whatever conversation about the tanks go south.

Emerald couldn't even speak to the students for information because they either don't pay attention or they don't know much other than what she already knew.

Cinder bit her nail, a trait she'd recently picked up from all the failures she'd endured. "This is troublesome, we don't know how that brat keeps beating us, she even beat Adam! He's supposed to be the best among the Vale branch of the White Fang. He couldn't beat four kids even when his life depended on it?"

Mercury cut in. "To be fair, four girls are still better at fighting than an animal who can't listen-"

"Mercury, you will hold your tongue on this matter. I recall your lack of success in getting closer to the brat. Even when I asked Emerald to help you, not only have you flunked being attractive to any women, but you also have failed in succeeding on a mission. If you were a little bit more talented to get close enough, we would have prepared countermeasures to her tanks."

"But-"

"Do I hear complaints?"

Mercury tried justifying his failure, what she was asking for was impossible considering Ruby was constantly being dragged away from Mercury by her tanks or Emerald getting swarmed by Ruby's friends.

"Because of all your failures, we'll have to move on from this plan. We will continue the tournament with no suspicious activity and leave as soon as possible. We could potentially still plan that Pyrrha girl's actions but that would be too little too late. Vale has more cheers and smiles than ever, with the brat intervening, it's even harder to make any kind of negative emotion."

Mercury and Emerald looked to the ground in shame but Mercury mustered enough self-respect to speak his mind, unlike Emerald who kept her head down.

"No kidding, with all the successes, there's a high chance everyone in Vale thinks they're safe and it's with good reason. The virus we have hasn't even been planted yet and they're not lightening security any time soon."

Mercury's comments seemed to further deepen Cinder's frown. "Our only hope is if she sends them to help. I am ashamed I have to even ask, there's no point hiding we need to get my power at least, or else my venture into Vale would have been for nothing."

""Yes ma'am-""

"Excuse me?" A man's words were felt through the door. "You have a… delivery?" The voice sounded unsure, even for a supposed delivery.

"Delivery? This is a motel." Mercury whispered to the others as they eyed the door suspiciously. The voice then started talking to the side, as if another person was present.

"Wait a minute, why would they even remotely let us in when they know they didn't order pizza?" There was a sudden pause and an audible facepalm on the other side of the door. "…I can't believe you lied to me like that! That's expected but also expected of you, oh well! The jigs up Cinder!"

*BOOM!*

The door gets blasted to bits as Cinder blasts a molten pillar to block the shrapnel, her dress glowing with the dust imbued inside the tailored outlines.

Three people walk in - one with white hair reaches inside first. She stood up straight and declared her actions. "Cinder Fall, you are hereby under arrest by the Atlesian Military for criminal activity and scheming against Vale. Your legal rights are intact… but if you will not comply, we will brutalize you."

Another figure had completely caught them off-guard. "Sheesh, Ice Queen, I know this is supposed to be a sort of secret operation but wouldn't you want to tone it down?"

A shorter girl nodded along, her heterochromatic eyes slyly staring back at the trio.

""Roman Torchwick?!""

Cinder sends a blast of high intense heat but was blocked by a glyph that resisted the attack. The flames were long and strong but the glyph held the defence as both Winter and Cinder ceased their attacks.

"Woah! What a warm welcome, I am honoured to be on the receiving end of searing heat." Torchwick notices the scowls on Mercury and Emerald. "Ah, and I see the kiddies are still as insufferable as ever, well don't be too mad at daddy, you know I had to get some milk after working with Cinder."

"Why are you with them!?" Cinder asked, her palms bursting to flame as Winter and Torchwick resumed a battle stance.

"Psh… you know how I operate, Cinder. That deal the headmaster made is much more valuable now that I realize how much of an advantage they have. Forget trying to run from the law when you can both become the law and a criminal. Crazy right? This is why Ozzie is a much better boss than you."

"You… dealt with the headmaster?!"

"Why are you so mad? It's quite simple, being a criminal is now part of the economy, Cinder - Ozpin understood that and decided to cut in a good offer, even if it was at the business end of a gun while we 'negotiated'. I'm just making it better for myself while you run around trying to kill Red. But you can't, not when she has her personal guard of magic machines."

Cinder couldn't fathom what she was feeling, a conflict came to her as she heard a single word. An existence that was so mythical that she thought she'd be the only one to truly understand its meaning. "…Magic?"

"Oh, you're surprised I know about it? Don't be, my employer sought to be transparent. I have no idea what that man was thinking when he offered me this deal but the look on Big G's face was enough of a reason to tell me that wasn't planned."

"Do you have any clue as to what would happen if she knew of this? We will make your pain unbearable as soon as she discovers you have betrayed me!"

"I know. Which is why I chose him over you. I saw first-hand what Red's tanks could do, it's not going to be the end of it. There will be more, if I were to tell you they have control over both time and space, would you believe me?"

Cinder paused and saw the crazed smirk on Torchwick's face, a face of total dominance in the conversation. How he ended up being convinced to work for her enemy was unimaginable.

Unless…

"…Then it's true?"

"Bingo~ I knew Cindy would somehow make sense of it despite your brain deteriorating from all the stress. How's the little pup by the way? Last I heard he was hauled off to Atlas with no chance of escaping! Sadly, as much as I'd like to continue this reunion. I believe Ice Queen has much fewer words for you all."

The specialist winced and twitched her eyes, working with a pardoned criminal was one thing but working with an annoying one on top of that was more infuriating, but Winter pushed through.

"Come freely or we'll have to exercise force." She demanded, pointing her sabre at Cinder.

Cinder didn't let up her determination. "Never."

Winter steeled her gaze. "Then you will come in shackled with chains or zipped up in a body bag, do not blame me for whichever fate you will happen upon."


Meanwhile…

"You sure this is the place?" A deep voice uttered under a hood.

"Don't know but I can hear a battle. Looks like the Queen's little failure has finally met her sorry end. I have no reason to help Cinder but if the Mistress desires her pitiful life, then I will follow."

The hooded figure sighs. "Her failures are shameful but she still has her uses as the one vessel for the maidens' powers. Don't stir up everyone in this town, Callows. You know we are here to kill only one person."

Tyrian's crazed look changes to a sour angry look at his associate's words. "I don't need you to remind me, Hazel."