"It is not a crime to fail to see the truth. To reject the truth after you have seen it is a crime irredeemable." - Imperial Science Department, Physics Branch motto
James Ironwood's office, Atlas Academy, 11:22 pm local time
"So let me get this straight," Ironwood said to the man sitting across his desk. "You've been observing us from space, behind our moon and visited us for over a year?"
"Technically we were in the moon's debris field," the man said. "But yes, we have been watching your planet along with your civilizations for over a year in your time, eleven months in ours."
"Wait, your time? So you're not from Remnant?"
The man chuckled at that.
"Oh, you truly are blissfully ignorant of your situation. You live on your tiny island of ignorance, surrounded by the beautiful, endless sea of stars. Yet, you do not even bother to launch the most basic of communication satellites or even build any telescopes."
"You do realize that you sound like a lunatic right?" Winter Schnee spoke up. She was standing near one of the walls of Ironwood's office, keeping an eye on the man's white-armoured guards. They were standing beside and behind him, nearly motionless. She could feel the cold that the pair were releasing. One had a sabre that looked like her weapon and one had a massive scythe that bore a striking resemblance to Ruby Rose's scythe. The man noticed Winter looking at his guards.
"Relax Ms. Schnee," the man stated. "They won't dare attack you unless you give them a reason or if I command them to."
The man then turned to Ironwood.
"If you want, I could take the both of you up to where we were watching you for over a year?"
Ironwood and Winter looked at each other in disbelief at the man's offer, but seeing how absurd the day was already, they decided to accept.
Outskirts of Vale, 12:11 am local time
Four members of the Punitive Corps were wandering the outskirts of Vale, looking for survivors to assist or monsters to kill. All of them knew what happened yesterday based on reports from their superiors, and Vale still had an infestation of these monsters. They are attracted to negative emotions but the Technocracy's scientists hypothesize that the brainwaves of an individual attract these monsters who might be innately psionic. As such, they all had emotional emulators installed in their armour and had them set to emulate positive emotions at a strength that would override their normal brainwaves.
They had walked for four hours now and were nowhere near being tired, killing Beowolves and the odd Ursa now and then. The monsters hit hard if one lets them get close, but are all but defenceless when you use actual tactics and range—another hour passed before coming across a burning village and getting charged by two Beowolves which were easily dispatched. They then saw a girl in a cloak with a giant scythe on a roof engaging a gorilla-like creature and seemingly in trouble.
"HEY MISS!" A member yelled out to her as two other members engaged the Nevermores. "OVER HERE! RUN OVER HERE!"
The girl seemingly heard them because she turned her head to the group and proceeded to run over, the gorilla monster running behind her. The team then fired at the creature and took it down, but not before it sent one member through a burning building.
"Are you okay miss?" A team member asked.
"I'm fine," the girl said.
"I'm fine too, thanks for asking." The team member who got sent through the building breathlessly said.
"So, what brings you here to this firey heap of a village?"
"I was just walking to clear my head when I heard screams coming from here. I followed the noise, and here I am."
"Cool, so what's your name?"
"Ruby, Ruby Rose. What about you?"
"Daniel, pleased to meet you."
"Where did you come from Daniel? And where did you get your gear from?"
Daniel sharply drew his breath. "It's a long story, Ruby. First, let's get out of here before any more monsters show up and I'll tell you as we walk."
The five then turned and left, the glow of the fires reflecting off of the Corps members' armour.
Xiao Long residence, Patch Island, 7:55 am local time
Yang Xiao Long was sitting on a tree stump in the yard of her family home, gazing at something in the distance. It had been months since Beacon fell to the Grimm, but it still felt like yesterday. She lost her arm during the attack and each time her stump touches her side, she's reminded of the fact. Not seeing much point sitting outside, she moves inside the house and switches on the television to a news broadcast.
"...with no end in sight. Try as they might, the local Huntsmen and Huntresses can't seem to get a hold of the situation at Beacon Academy." A reporter said, the ruins of Beacon Academy in the background. "More concerningly was the presence of tall, unknown figures clad in very advanced armour and weaponry suddenly appearing and helping to combat the Grimm and White Fang."
Yang leaned forward at that. The video switched to footage from a nearby security camera showing a tall, black figure with red stripes attacking the Grimm, dancing around them and dispatching them with ease.
"It is not known where these figures originated from nor how they combated the Grimm with such efficiency. None of the four kingdoms have taken responsibility, even Menagerie has denied affiliation with these individuals. Rumours abound, claiming everything from advanced Atlas robots and a secret Atlas spec-ops group to a new type of rouge Grimm or even extraterrestrials, but Atlesian representatives have urged the population to not spread baseless rumours and accusations as confusion can make an already bad event into a catastrophic one."
Yang switched channels.
"...sightings of mysterious figures have been reported near both the Forever Fall forest and Emerald Forest..."
"...mysterious figures were seen assisting the injured and construction workers in Vale city center..."
"...odd lights have been reported at night with startling frequency..."
"...gunfire late at night have unnerved residents of a small village..."
"...odd figures speaking 'gibberish' were spotted in a farmer's field..."
"...Beacon student Pyrrah Nikos reports being saved by a 'figure covered with black armour with red stripes and wearing a black cape with a weird red symbol...'"
Yang switched the TV off. It seemed like the entirety of Remnant was going mad. Before she could do anything else, however, her dad, Taiyang, entered the room, holding three boxes and carrying two bags under his arms.
"I'm home!" He said.
Yang sat up on the couch.
"Hey Dad," she said.
"Guess what came in today!"
"What?"
"I can't wait for you to try this."
He placed a box which had the Atlas symbol on a table and opened it. It had a prosthetic mechanical arm inside.
"Brand new, state-of-the-art Atlas tech. You know, I thought I was gonna have to pull some strings and call in a few favours, but you earned this one all on your own, kiddo."
Before Yang or her dad could do anything else, three heavy, slow and rhythmic knocks sounded on the door.
"Dad, who's that?"
"I don't know, but stay here."
Taiyang then moved to the door while Yang peeked from behind a wall. The door opened to two tall, armour-clad figures, the sight of which caused Taiyang to jump back slightly in surprise.
"Taiyang Xiao Long?" One of the figures asked.
"...yes? What do you want?"
"We wish to speak to your daughter about the Vale incident." The other figure said.
"Why?"
"That's classified sir, all you need to know is that our work is important for the continued existence of Remnant."
Yang then stepped out from behind the wall.
"You're the one that was on the news," she said.
All three turned to look at her. The helmet of one of the figures seemingly dissolved into its skin, revealing the face of a woman who had a scar across her cheek.
"Indeed I was," the woman spoke while extending her left hand. "My name's Angelica, and I saw you fighting alongside another student. You fought well, it's an honour to finally meet."
Observation Post/Embassy ANT-001 hanger bay, 384,400 km above Antaria IV, Antaria IVa debris field
James Ironwood and Winter Schnee were wandering around the large room with the craft they were riding on in the very center, scanning the room with curiosity. They had just finished a fifteen-minute trip that had more rumbling than they were comfortable with and had just arrived with their host telling the two to wait here while he finished some other business. The thing that they noticed the most was how ornate and smooth everything was, having the appearance of Mistral but more futuristic. During their wait, two more crafts landed beside the one that they arrived on. One offloaded soldiers with large rifles that ran in twin parallel lines and the other was just waiting there for something, but before they could ponder more on it, a man called them.
"General Ironwood, Miss Schnee," the man said. "You are clear to enter the bridge. It is to your right and at the end of the hall."
The pair walked down the hall, passing scientists, staffers with notepads and the occasional guard standing on duty or moving past them. When they reached the door, it slid open with a slight hiss and revealed a room that had the far wall completely made of glass, facing the planet below. The man and woman they were talking to at Atlas Academy were standing in front of a table-sized console that displayed Remnant in a holographic sphere. He noticed the door opening and looked up to see the pair slowly entering the room, obviously taken aback by the advanced technology.
"Ah, finally!" The man said with enthusiasm. "I have so much to show you two!"
"So this is where you've been watching us?" Ironwood asked.
"Me and my staff, yes. Allow me to finally introduce myself. Johnathan Liu, at your service."
"Why did you have us wait in the hanger bay for so long?"
Johnathan pursed his lips. "State affairs, general. I'm sure you'd understand."
"Wait, 'state affairs?'" Winter asked in confusion. "So there's more of you out there?"
"Yes, Ms. Schnee, that is partially the reason I wanted to bring you two up here. I couldn't trust anyone else on your planet to keep a secret for very long."
Johnathan then tappeded a few buttons and a holoprojection of Remnant with the four kingdoms appeared above the console.
"This is Remnant, as you can see here and out the window behind me, with all four kingdoms indicated with their respective colours."
He tapped some more buttons.
"This is your local solar system, with your sun in the middle."
He tapped yet another button.
"And this is the entire galaxy or the Milky Way as we call it."
A red outline appeared across a quarter of the image and a flashing dot appeared as well.
"Wait, wait, wait, is this depicting-" Winter began.
"-your solar system within the empire I represent, yes."
The pair were dumbfounded by this revelation. The fact that there was this empire of immense technological advancement that was just watching them akin to a scientist watching samples through a microscope was beyond consideration.
"What does your empire want from us?" Ironwood asked. "It seems like you already have what you want and more."
"Good question general. We recently came across a substance that only exists on your planet." Johnathan held up a vial of Dust. "I believe you call it 'Dust,' correct?"
"Yes, but Dust loses its properties when outside of Remnant's atmosphere. Wouldn't it be useless to you?"
"Nice observation Ms. Schnee. You would think so, but by mixing Dust with another substance we call volatile motes, we found that it not only maintains its properties, but it enhances the properties of the motes."
"So you want to invade us," Winter said grimly.
Johnathan looked offended. "Of course not, although if you were another alien race, we would have no qualms about invading and we wouldn't be having this conversation."
"That's comforting..." Winter said.
"What we want is a mutually beneficial business deal that can give us a steady supply of dust and we will supply you with anything that can help you. Ms. Schnee, I know that your family's corporation holds the monopoly on the planet's supply of Dust, so representatives of the empire I represent will be meeting with your family at their residence sometime soon."
"I... cannot speak on behalf of my family but you can certainly try."
"Good. That's it from me and our meeting. The guard behind you will escort you both back to the hanger bay. Also, keep this secret yeah?"
The pair didn't say anything as they turned and were led back to the hanger bay.
Information Data Logs
Project Metamorphosis: Project Metamorphosis was the integration of transforming weaponry taken from scans of Huntsman and Huntswoman weapons on Remnant and creating novel variations to ultimately mass produce for certain branches of the armed forces. It is currently in its third phase out of four total phases, and select prototypes have already been distributed to some members of the specialist branch of the Punitive Corps, more specifically the Elemental Legion. There are currently four prototype models being produced for service, and they are;
MW-234 "Harvester" Battle Scythe: The Harvester is the first iteration of Project Metamorphosis and the most effective one by far. A nanite-infused monomolecular scythe, it is slightly larger than the scythe wielded by the huntswoman Ruby Rose and is far lighter, allowing for greater mobility across the battlefield. Depending on the element the user wields, it will also either burn the enemy, bring the target surface to absolute zero, corrode their flesh or send a devastating electrical discharge through the target. Its gun form fires a shot with enough force to core a tank.
MW-235 "Fencer" Tactical Saber: The Fencer is the second iteration of Project Metamorphosis and it's a more... elegant version of the Harvester, with its design based on Winter Schnee's weapon. It is nanite-enhanced as well as possesses a monomolecular blade capable of slicing through metal like it was flesh and possesses the attributes of the Harvester, its gun form causes the blade to shoot out a fireball, an icicle capable of penetrating anything, a globule of corrosive acid or an electric strike with the same intensity as a lightning bolt.
MW-236 "Violator" Assault Sledgehammer: The third iteration of Project Metamorphosis is arguably the most brutal. A large, rocket-powered sledgehammer that has the properties of the previous iterations and launches explosive rounds of either fire, cryogenic, corrosive or electricity.
MW-237 "Sunlight" Heavy Katana: The fourth iteration of Project Metamorphosis, its an evolution of the old Earth katana that is monomolecular and has all the properties of the previous iterations. Its gun form is still under development but it's still a very devastating weapon in the right hands.