Chapter One: A City in the Clouds
For a moment, Pyrrha Nikos dared to believe she'd won. As she flung the cogs lying about them into that dark-haired witch, she'd dared to hope that Cinder Fall had fallen.
Such hope was rudely disabused as the heap of metal was blown apart by a blast of fire. One was thrown right back at her. She raised Akouó, her trusty shield and only weapon now Miló had been snapped asunder. It stopped the cog from hitting her, but the force was still enough to send her flying, smashing her into the wall behind her, and as she slumped to the floor she felt the last flickers of her aura die out.
Part of her thought she was a fool to do this: she'd known she'd likely die when she sent Jaune away, and for what? Another part reminded her this was all her fault: she'd killed Penny and caused the panic that brought the Grimm down upon Vale. She'd feared taking the power, and for what? Her own soul? What was it worth when she'd caused this? For fear of losing Jaune and her friends? Well she'd pushed him away anyway, and should have done it sooner if she could have averted this.
A final part of her reminded her she was in a deadly fight, and had no time for even a moment's thought. She thrust herself up, and saw Cinder conjuring a bow in her hands. She charged forwards, throwing her shield forwards as Cinder loosed: the shield crossed the arrow's path, smacking into it… but by some mystical nonsense the fragments of the arrow split apart and reformed behind Akouó, headed right for her.
She shouldn't have let anything get in the way of her destiny, but it was too late now.
The arrow struck home, piercing through her ankle, sending her sprawling. She tried to pull herself up, aware of the approaching witch, but her heel couldn't bear her and she fell. And as she did she heard Ruby Rose suddenly cry out her name, and then all went white.
-000-
Pyrrha's eyes fluttered open, to find herself once more in the aft cabin of the airship they'd… 'acquired' in Argus. Her emerald eyes met the blue of Jaune Arc's as he sat opposite her, clad in his customary outfit of jeans, hoodie and armour. His foot was extended from where he'd nudged her awake.
"You okay?" he asked gently, with a look of concern on his face. "It didn't seem like you were having a good time."
"I was dreaming," she confirmed, looking up at him, brushing a strand of her own long red hair out of the way.
"Good or bad?"
Any words stuck in her throat, although there was little doubt as to the answer. "I was remembering… that day," she eventually managed to say
That day. Everything had changed on that day. Well, they'd changed a couple of days earlier for her, what with learning of just a few of her teacher's secrets and being asked to take on a terrible burden. But that was the day their comfortable life had unravelled for everybody. The enemies her teachers had feared had been far closer than they realised, and Beacon Academy and the City of Vale had been attacked by Grimm and terrorists alike. That was the day that she'd been tricked into killing Penny Polendina, the girl she hadn't even known was an android being little match for her semblance, Polarity, the power her soul had to move metal according to its will.
That was the day she'd failed. She'd killed an innocent, sparked a panic that drew a horde of Grimm, failed to receive the power she was meant to guard, and then failed to stop the woman who'd stolen it.
"I'm sorry." Jaune cut off her musing.
Her eyes darted towards him, and they must have held some of the venom from her earlier thoughts, for he shrank back. She inwardly cursed. Things had been going better between them since Haven, and Argus had been positively delightful. She wanted things to continue to mend, to heal the rupture she'd inflicted on them.
"Don't be," she reached out to him, taking his hand, not wanting him to withdraw. "Thank you for waking me up."
Pyrrha meant more than from just the nightmare. She only wished she had the courage to say so.
He scoffed lightly. "You hardly need to thank me, Pyrrha. Not for something like that."
I really should be thanking you for more, she thought, but couldn't arrange the words in her mouth as a familiar awkwardness passed between them. He still felt indebted to her, she knew: for training him, for seeing something in him. But then the latter had gotten considerably more complicated when she'd shoved him into a rocket locker and marched off to what they both thought would be her death, and they weren't helped by what passed in the months since on the long road to Mistral. It all made communication between them a little hard, and she'd never felt the greatest ease in that arena before.
And while Jaune might not see it, there was so much she felt she owed him too. Not least being her life, as he'd awoken his own semblance with near-miraculous timing. Through the power of his soul he'd stopped Pyrrha from bleeding out on the floor of Haven Academy after her ill-fated rematch with the Fall Maiden. She'd thanked him for that, of course, she wasn't completely incompetent. But to explain what it meant, what it was helping her to realise… for the time being that was beyond her. So they fell again into this awkward silence, and she hoped beyond hope it wasn't some regression, a sign of some unbridgeable chasm.
"We're approaching Atlas now," Jaune said, heading for safer ground. "Should be there in just a few minutes."
"Why didn't you wake me sooner?" she said, rousing herself and unclipping herself from her seat.
"You looked like you needed the sleep. Well, until it turned into a nightmare."
Pyrrha paused. "I suppose I did," she said, being careful to smile to express her gratitude. "Though hopefully we can all get some rest soon."
"We'll see," Jaune said noncommittally.
"We'll have gotten the relic to safety," she pointed out.
"And Salem will still be out there," he pointed out. "We kept it out of her hands at Haven, but she'll still be after it, and the relic here too. We know she's not going to give up. Especially now we know she can't be killed."
And hadn't that been a bitter pill to swallow. It'd been bad enough when, on the road to Mistral, they'd discovered Cinder's attack on Beacon was part of something bigger, that her teachers hadn't revealed much more than a small portion of the truth. Instead, they were on a quixotic quest to save the world from the Queen of the Grimm, Salem, whose servants sought for four magic relics – of creation, destruction, knowledge and choice – that had been left in antiquity by the legendary Brother Gods. About the only thing she and Jaune had agreed upon during that infernal trip was their dim view of the way they'd been kept in the dark, even after they'd begun fighting this enemy.
But then more had been discovered on the journey to Argus. Team RWBY had managed to access the Relic of Knowledge, wanting to know what Ozpin, their former and deceased professor who'd taken up residence in the head of a farm boy, was hiding from them after his secret-keeping had risked their lives again. And what they'd that'd out had shaken them all.
"We made our decision," she said.
"We did," he agreed, nodding firmly. "We're going to keep fighting. But it means we need to get ready for anything she might throw at us. And…" he trailed off, "I just have a feeling…"
"Wakey wakey!" a loud voice cried from the front of the craft. Yang Xiao Long strode into the compartment, a wide smile on the buff blonde's face. "Oh, you're already awake, Pyrrha," she said, and Pyrrha saw Yang's gaze flit back and forth between her and Jaune. From the look in Yang's purple eyes she'd clearly reached some conclusions, but the other shoe – or at least cheerful mockery – had yet to drop. "We're here; I thought you might like a look as we try to work out what we're getting ourselves into this time."
"Lead the way," Pyrrha said, lifting herself from her seat. She began moving forwards, Jaune falling in alongside her.
Yang turned back to the hatch before looking over her shoulder. "How is Nora, by the way?"
"She'll be okay," Pyrrha said. "They're staying at my mother's, and Jaune's sister has promised to look in on them too. If anything, I think Nora's enjoying having Ren as her nurse while she recuperates. And part of me feels better knowing they'll be able to protect our families once Nora's back on her feet."
"Takes a tough gal to take a hit from a giant robot," Yang nodded approvingly, before the smile dropped. "Mind you, if Jaune hadn't been there with his semblance afterwards…"
"Thankfully I was," Jaune said, seemingly eager to cut off the thought. "Still, it feels odd. Team JNPR not being together, I mean."
"Yeah, I'm sure it does," Yang smiled. "You guys never split apart like we did after Beacon. A whole extra year of being together; you guys must be used to being in complete sync!"
Pyrrha and Jaune carefully avoided looking at each other as they followed Yang through the hatch.
"Manta 5-1," the radio crackled as they entered the cockpit, "we've noticed a change in your course. Return to your previous heading towards bay Omega-13 immediately. Do you copy? Over."
"What's going on?" Pyrrha asked. Maria, the eccentric and elderly former huntress Team RWBY had picked up en-route to Argus, was at the controls, apparently neither hindered by her old age nor her artificial eyes. The others – Weiss, Blake, Ruby, Ruby and Yang's uncle Qrow, and the farm boy Oscar – were all looking out the windows onto the city below.
"We don't know what's going on," Qrow replied. "Atlas has what must be it's whole Air Fleet parked around it. So we decided to take a little detour, and this is what we see."
Pyrrha looked out the window, following his gestures, and saw the cityscape just below them. Rather than the shining towers she'd seen in pictures of Atlas, dim lights reflected off grey buildings below, leaving shrouded streets beneath them. This must be Mantle, she realised, the once-capital of the Kingdom, and the city from which Atlas was raised. Not much could be seen of the inhabitants, but she could see giant vid-screens intermittently attached to the taller buildings. On them she caught glimpses of General James Ironwood, clad in the white Atlesian uniform. He looked different from when she'd last met him, as part of Ozpin's inner circle. His face, previously clean-shaven, was now covered with a jet-black beard, while his eyes… his eyes seemed worn.
"We don't have much time, kids," Maria said. "What do we do?"
"We should ditch the ship," offered Yang, "lose ourselves in Mantle."
"Yeah," said Qrow. "I'm not even sure we should be talking to James until we figure out exactly what's going on."
"Then what was the point in coming here?" Pyrrha said. "We can't put the relic in Atlas's vault without his help. And it's not safe to keep it on the streets of Mantle."
"And we're not going to find out anything wandering the streets," Weiss added. "If we can just talk to Winter–"
The radio blared again as the Air Traffic Controller spoke again in demanding tones. "Manta 5-1, respond immediately or–"
Maria shut off the radio. "We're out of time, kids. But I think I know someone who can help us with both."
-000-
Marrow Amin joined the rest of his squad by the Manta.
"You're late, Marrow." Harriet Bree griped. She glared at him, the effect of her pink eyes seemingly magnified by her distinctive hairstyle of shaved brown hair, topped by platinum blonde spikes
"I had paperwork to do," he shot back, but the explanation made little impression on her glare. Yet any reply was cut off.
"Clover's here," Vine Zeki said softly. He and his partner came to attention, the two a seeming study in contrasts. Both were exceptionally tall, but whereas Vine was spindly and almost unnaturally pale, Elm Ederne was dusky and Amazonian in stature. And while he was always calm and collected, she was brash and loud. Yet despite their differences, the two clearly had a close bond. One Marrow didn't yet have with his new partner.
Harriet and he also leapt to attention, as Clover Ebi reached them. Tall, broad, and strong-looking, with a good head of brown hair, he looked like a recruitment poster, as if the Public Relations department had secretly conspired with Atlas's biologists to produce the ideal he didn't just look the look; each of the Ace Ops looked up to Clover, and Marrow always found himself holding himself a little taller in his presence.
"At ease," he smiled at them. While still military, protocol was relaxed in the Ace Ops. "Glad you could all make it on such a late night and on such short notice, but we've got a job to do."
He pulled out his Scroll, and with a ping sent a datafile to each of their Scrolls. As they pulled their devices out, he continued the briefing
"Tonight, at 1913, an unauthorised ship – 'Manta 5-1', last based in Argus, according to the transponder – made an approach to the city. Upon being directed to the proper landing bay, however, it failed to respond to any hails and changed course, heading towards Mantle instead. As far as we can tell, it set down somewhere in one of the dingier quarters of Mantle."
"Smugglers, sir?" asked Harriet.
The corner of Clover's lip twitched upwards, as his teal eyes twinkled. "We doubt it, smugglers usually try to be more subtle. No, this is different: either they don't know what they're doing… or they do."
Marrow felt a spark down his spine, a mix of trepidation and excitement. This was why the Ace Ops were handling this. This could be it: actual agents of Salem. He'd almost felt overwhelmed when General Ironwood had first briefed them. It had seemed almost crazy. Mankind had always had to fight the Grimm, everyone born on Remnant knew that, but to learn that they had a leader, a queen? One who was smart and clever, who could recruit human and faunus agents, one who'd been conducting a secret war all this time, for centuries even? He'd have scarcely believed it, save for the source.
That, and the fact that it explained so much of the turn the world had taken. First had been the fall of Beacon Academy in Vale, with thousands of deaths caused by Grimm and White Fang terrorists alike. An event in which Atlas's own automated droids had been turned against them, by means unknown. More recently had come the reports of an attack on Haven Academy in Mistral. That had been smaller, by all accounts, and been repulsed. And yet Haven had still been forced to shut its doors for want of staff, something that boded ill for the kingdom of Mistral. For those 'in' on the secret, it didn't take a genius to know that either Atlas Academy or Shade in Vacuo would be next. And that was the real reason Atlas had instituted the embargo on Dust, and the reason it had closed its borders. The General had a plan, but if their enemy were to get one whiff of it…
Sometimes he felt he was in a little over his head, not that he'd admit that around the others. He was the rookie on the Ace Ops. Indeed, of those in the secret, only Penny could be said to be younger, and she was a special case. Yet Marrow was both humbled and proud to be part of this fight, this effort to protect Remnant.
"However," Clover emphasised, "we don't know for sure who they are. So, we're going for a non-lethal takedown."
He knocked on the cases lying around him open with his foot, before plucking an object out with his hand. He tossed it at Marrow. Marrow caught it, seeing a gravity bolas. One solid object in its inactive state, when activated it would consist of two balls connected by strong wires. The wires would wrap around the target, but more importantly, the gravity dust – the same substance that kept the Air Cruisers aloft – in the two balls would suppress their aura, rendering even the most dangerous huntsman helpless. Provided you actually caught them with it.
"Risky…" Harriet muttered.
"It is," Clover conceded, brushing his thumb against the pin of a four-leaf clover he wore. ""We may need a little luck. But if they're not Salem's agents, then we don't want to go all in. And if they are… well, we have some urgent questions. Any other thoughts?"
No one had any to give, and with the assignment given, the Ace Ops resumed checking their gear and loading the Manta. Marrow was almost the last on board, just before Clover himself, and strapped himself in on one of the seats along the fuselage.
"Excited?" Elm asked with a grin, seated across from him.
"Huh?"
She pointedly looked to his left. Marrow turned to see his tail – the trait that revealed that not only was he a faunus, but a dog faunus at that – wagging. He sighed and grabbed hold of it, exasperated at the way it betrayed his emotions, but Elm laughed. "Don't worry about, it's okay to be a little excited for some action. Just keep your head."
"That's okay for you to say, you're not the one babysitting," Harriet muttered.
Elm shot him an apologetic glance, before turning a concerned gaze upon Harriet. In truth, Elm gave him nearly as much stick about being a rookie as Harriet did, but it lacked a certain edge. Marrow looked around, to see Clover looking back at him from the rear of the Manta. Clover silently nodded, indicating he'd seen the interaction and would deal with it.
Marrow tried to push the exchange from his thoughts. They had an operation to carry out.
-000-
Maria had set them down in an abandoned lot, and they'd rapidly put some distance between themselves and the stolen craft, avoiding any patrolling soldiers. The streets and exuded grey, in a way that went beyond the visual in this late hour: it was reflected in the faces of the people they passed and in the boarded-up business along the roads. The neighbourhoods were tidy for the most part, with little of the graffiti one could see in the more run-down parts of Vale, but were also visibly wearing out.
And above them, high up in the eastern half of the sky, was Atlas. Many of its lights were hidden from this angle, though some dotted the vast black bulk of the floating island upon which it stood. Long tethers connected the floating city above with the one below, though none descended near their route. They hurried along the streets, avoiding the patrols of Atlesian Knights that stood watch. The last time Jaune had seen them had been when they were hacked during the fall of Beacon, and he had little desire to get close.
"Hurry up! We're almost there!" the old lady, Maria, called out. She seemed to know what she was doing, and no one else had a plan, so they followed along, walking past another holographic board. Jaune glanced at it, noticing various news announcements – something about a dead journalist, the embargo, an upcoming election – before it cut away again for another recorded broadcast from Weiss's sister.
Picking up the pace a little, he drew near to Maria. "Has it always been like this?" he asked.
"This?" Maria replied. "It does seem to have gotten rougher. I suppose the Dust embargo is taking its toll. Though it's always been a bit like this. Mantle was defeated, demoralised after the Great War. They needed something new, something brighter to look up to. And those who could found it in Atlas."
They looked up, towards the city in the sky above them. Another pair of trucks drove past, miners soiled with labour lying in their backs.
"Rough on those left behind," murmured Blake from behind them.
"Come on now, we're just about there!" Maria called out, crossing the street. She approached a building at the corner of a junction, one illuminated with a glowing green cross above its front door. She turned from the front door and approached a side door, giving it a loud knock with the walking stick she never actually seemed to lean upon.
"I'm afraid it's late," a rich voice called out. "Unless that's you, Sandra, and you have a sudden issue with that arm, the clinic's closing up for the night!"
Maria opened the door. "Surely you have some time for an old friend?" she asked, waltzing in. With several glances at each other, the others followed her in.
Inside was a little room in some structural disrepair, with a damaged wall and a severely scuffed wooden floor. In better repair were the bookcases, upon which a variety of files were stored, and a tidy desk, while at the far end of the room sat a neat examination table. A variety of prosthetics dotted the room, while a stocky man was seated behind the desk. He was an older gentleman, with brown skin and balding white hair with a beard. He remained seated as he looked at them.
"Do I know you?" he asked quizzically.
Maria tapped her robotic lenses. "C9 optical implants. You adjust them for me every decade or so?"
He peered at her for a few moments over his glasses, before breaking out into a smile. "Maria! Has it been that long already?" His chair began to move from behind the desk, and it as it came into view it became clear it was some form of mobility chair with robotic legs.
"Oh, I know," Maria laughed. "Time passes more swiftly with every year. And I'd have actually been here sooner, but then I ran into these kids. At first, I thought they just needed some help with some Grimm, but it turns out they had a whole host of issues!"
Qrow coughed. "Lady, who is this?"
"The impatience of the young!" Maria complained. "I really shouldn't have to introduce one of Atlas's finest scientific minds."
"Now Maria, it's no problem," the man chuckled. "I'm Pietro."
"And when he's not down here, he's up in the clouds helping Ironwood as one of Atlas's chief scientists," Maria added.
Yang looked around at the flaking walls and decrepit ceiling. "And why exactly are you down here in a place like this?"
"The pharmacy gives me a little space to run this clinic," Pietro said with a wave of his hand. "Lot of people 'round here would struggle to buy prosthetics. I like to give a little back to the community. I didn't get where I am all by myself, after all."
"One of the finest hearts, too," Maria said softly.
"But enough about me," Pietro cut in gently. "How can I help you? You were lucky to catch me."
"We were hoping to speak to General Ironwood," Yang said. "But then we got here, and we…"
"We wondered what was going on." Blake finished.
"I see," Pietro replied. He shut his eyes for a second, before reopening them. "It's been difficult since the fall of Beacon. That took its toll on many of us." For a moment his eyes became detached, looking at something only he could see. "It affected James too. He took the failure very personally. He's been driven since, worried–"
"Scared?" Qrow added.
"Yes, I believe he is. I don't know who exactly he's scared of, but you have to understand, it's not just a matter of Grimm or the White Fang. Someone managed to cut through our security codes as if they were a child's plaything. The Knights, the Paladins – tools James favoured to reduce human casualties – were turned against us and the civilians they were meant to protect. It made us look like either traitors or buffoons, but worse still it means there's an enemy out there who can pass through our strongest defences and use our own tools against us. And whoever's responsible is either a genius, or one of our own, and probably both. After we heard tell of the attack on Haven, it doesn't take a genius to suspect we may be next."
Silence greeted his words for a moment, as they all turned towards each other.
"Maybe Atlas isn't the safest place?" suggested Blake.
"We can hardly go anywhere else," replied Oscar.
Weiss turned back towards Pietro. "What about Winter Schnee? How does she feel about this?"
"James' aide?" Pietro replied. "I can't say I'm a confidant of hers. As far as I can tell–" he paused suddenly, in mid-flow, and peered at Weiss more closely, especially her snow-white hair. "You're Weiss Schnee!" he realised.
Weiss paled, and took a step back.
"Hey, that doesn't matter," Yang said with a wave of her hand. "Now what were you saying?"
Pietro's eyes fixed upon Yang's cybernetic limb. "You painted it!" he exclaimed.
"Er… yeah," Yang said, drawing her outstretched arm back a bit. "You know about my arm?"
"Well of course I do, I made it for you, at the General's request. You're Yang Xiao Long. Which means you," he looked towards Ruby, "must be Ruby Rose!"
"You know who we are?" asked Ruby.
"Why certainly! My daughter told me so much about you! My apologies for not recognising you sooner."
"Your… daughter?" Ruby looked confused, and she wasn't the only one.
"Any idea who he's talking about?" Jaune whispered to Pyrrha.
"I'm afraid not," Pyrrha murmured in response.
The excited scientist continued to speak with Ruby. "She'll be so excited to see you again! I'm sure we can–"
He was cut off as a piercing alarm began blaring though the streets aside. The street lighting switched to red. Faint screams grew louder.
"It's trouble," Jaune said, looking towards the doorway. "We should get out there." They may not have completed their schooling, they may not have licenses, but they were still huntsmen. They had a duty.
They didn't hesitate. He barely heard Pietro call for them to wait as they rushed through the door back outside. The streets now lit by a red glow, enough people were still out that clusters of scared civilians ran past them as they looked around the junction. Their attention was soon caught by the sound of gunfire at the end of one of the streets. Atlesian knights were firing their weapons as they backed into view, yet their shots did little to stop the oncoming rush. In seconds the robots were smashed apart by a wave of black claw, white bone and glowing red eyes.
The distinctive colours of the soulless Creatures of Grimm.
Jaune pulled Crocea Mors from its scabbard, then unfolded the scabbard into its shield form, as his friends likewise drew their weapons. Having torn the androids asunder, the Grimm – giant, cat-like, Sabyrs – turned their way, and with roars, charged towards them.
Ruby gave orders to her team, Yang already darting forwards. Jaune prepared to do the same, before he remembered with a pang that Ren and Nora weren't here. He glanced in Pyrrha's direction, relieved to see she wasn't charging off ahead. She'd changed tack after Haven, although they still really needed to speak about all that. Soon. When they got a chance.
At least now there was no berserker charge. She was calm and focused as she fired Miló into charging horde, much as she'd been at Beacon. She glanced back at him between shots.
"Any instructions?" she asked.
"Up and over," he said. "Then when you need me…"
"Got it," she said, as a smile almost seemed to appear on her lips.
He braced himself, shield held upwards. Turning away from the Grimm, Pyrrha took several steps and leapt, somersaulting to land upon his shield. He shoved forwards as she pushed off again, sending herself over the approaching Sabyrs. Those she flew over became distracted, and turned, snapping at her heels as she passed overhead. Flicking Miló into its javelin mode, she descended, stabbing out as she crashed down into one of the trailing Grimm. Rolling through the smoke of its evaporating remains, she stood, lunging to run Miló through the side of another Sabyr, before kicking one on the other side. Another threw itself at her only to be met with her shield, Akoúo. In one smooth movement, she switched Miló into its short sword form, and brought in round in a slash that gutted the beast.
Jaune's attention shifted. Several Sabyrs had slipped past Pyrrha and the others. One leapt towards him; with a swing he carved through its neck, beheading it. A second clawed at him, but he bashed it with his shield and then stabbed out. Like the others – like all Grimm – the corpse dissipated in a cloud of black vapour.
His immediate surroundings clear, Jaune looked back towards Pyrrha and the others, noting another wave of Sabyrs closing in and surrounding them. Pyrrha cut left and right, lashing out with Miló, before twisting out of the way and impaling another. As another Sabyr came between them, she caught Jaune's eye. He readied himself.
Pyrrha's semblance couldn't directly affect Grimm. It allowed her to move metal by will alone, a deadly power when fighting other people, but the Grimm used no weapons. Yet it had its uses even against Grimm. She could summon her own weapons back to her hand after using them as projectiles. She could manipulate a metal-filled environment. And she could do this, as Jaune felt a tug on his own armour. With a sudden jolt, he was pulled through the air towards them. He braced himself behind his shield.
Jaune smashed into the Sabyr from behind shield first. At the same time, Pyrrha smacked it with her own shield, crushing the beast between the two shields. A final stab from Miló, and the creature shuddered and stilled, before dissolving into fumes.
Without pausing Jaune moved to guard Pyrrha's back. Flipping round, she struck out again to finish off another of the Grimm, as Jaune took a moment to assess the situation. They'd nearly finished the horde, Team RWBY and Qrow cutting their own swathe through the monsters. Blake seemed to be having some difficulty however, as a few stragglers threw themselves at her.
Her weapon's broken, he remembered in alarm. "Pyrrha!" he called, nodding towards Blake when she glanced at him. She began moving, dashing forward, before a blinding green beam of light struck down from above. In moments, the Sabyrs attacking Blake were carved apart by the laser. Several seconds later, the beam lit the night again, cutting the remaining Sabyrs apart.
The group looked up, to see someone flying above them, seeming propelled by jets of green fire from its feet. They continued to stare, as alarm stopped and the streetlights returned to their normal hue, to see the figure silhouetted by the broken moon, appearing as a distinctly feminine form. She descended, green jets burning, as she landed in the street facing away from them.
He heard Pyrrha gasp. Heard Ruby exclaim "Penny?!"
How could this be?
"Darling!" Pietro called out, his chair scuttling forward, having emerged from the pharmacy. "Why don't you say hello to your friends?"
The figure turned, and Jaune could see how much she resembled the Penny they knew. She looked at them with bright green eyes, on a pale freckled face, framed by curly orange hair. The hair was longer than he remembered, and he didn't remember her being able to fly, but otherwise she was the very image of the Penny they knew. All doubt was removed when she gasped as her eyes alighted on Ruby.
Somehow this was indeed Penny Polendina. The android girl with a soul. Ruby's friend… and the girl Pyrrha had been tricked into killing.
"SA-LU-TATIONS!" the robot girl exclaimed, propelling herself forward towards Ruby. She collided with her, bringing her into a tight hug, and swung her round as she found her own footing. Ruby looked at her with shock for a moment, before she laughed and hugged her back.
"How is this possible?" Pyrrha murmured quietly.
"I don't know," Jaune admitted, drawing closer, placing a hand on her shoulder. He could feel the tension within her. But this was good, right? It had to be good.
Penny let go of Ruby, letting Ruby breathe a little. "It is sensational to see you!"
"Penny," Ruby looked at her friend with a tear in her eye. "I… I thought you had died!"
"And in a way, she had," Pietro replied, his tone tinged with sorrow. He looked at Penny with tender eyes. "But we were able to recovery her core from Amity Arena, and with a little time and… well, more, I was able to patch her up as good as new."
"Better than new!" Penny said cheerfully. "And I've been named the official protector of Mantle!"
"That's my girl," Pietro said, a smile coming to his lips. "Never letting anything slow you down."
"It is a great pleasure to see you all again!" Penny said, looking around at the others. And the moment Jaune had dreaded came, as Penny caught sight of Pyrrha.
He didn't realise an android could go pale.
Penny looked at Pyrrha for a second, as Pyrrha herself averted her eyes. Jaune squeezed her shoulder in a comforting gesture.
"Pyrrha Nikos," Penny said eventually, almost haltingly.
"Hello Penny," Pyrrha looked up for a moment, before her face dropped again. "I'm sorry!"
"Pyrrha Nikos, I want you to know I hold no hard feelings for acts done in error or under perception-altering semblances." The robot girl paused, clearly still a little nervous. "Though please be careful with your semblance."
"I will," Pyrrha said quickly. "I'm… I'm glad to see you're okay."
Penny turned back to Ruby, and Jaune breathed a sigh of relief. He pushed past any awkwardness and pulled Pyrrha into a hug. Perhaps this will do some good. He hoped so, although he was sure seeing Penny again dredged up some feelings. At least the girl herself seemed to have taken it well, all things considered. He looked over at the others.
"We have so much to catch up on," Penny said, grabbing Ruby's shoulders once more. "I cannot wait!"
A faint alarm began sounding, in a more distant part of the city.
"We will have to wait," Penny announced, her expression not changing a whit. She took several steps back, and with a gout of green flame began to launch herself in the air. "We will have to talk later! I want to hear about all your adventures and find out how you've been and I'm really looking forward to it…" she said in parting, continuing to speak even as she flew into the sky, until her rush of words faded away. Ruby continued to track her flight with a teary but happy look in her silver eyes.
Pietro spoke up, a fond smile on his face. "Well, now we've got the reunion out of the way, perhaps we can venture back inside. We'll see about addressing your other questions."
His chair began walking back the way it came. The others followed, but Jaune and Pyrrha remained where they were for a moment.
"You okay?" he asked her softly.
"I'm… I'm glad for Penny. And for Ruby," she said after a moment.
"So am I," he said. "And for you."
She glanced at him. They began walking along after the others, trailing a little.
"It's okay to have some complicated feelings about this," he gently said. "But I'm also glad that there's one less thing for you to beat yourself up about." This was sensitive territory, he realised. Things were better since Haven, yet they'd still not really talked about what went on before. And he wanted to get there eventually. They needed to get there eventually.
She looked at him intently, and then her gaze softened.
"It hardly excuses what I did," she replied.
"Pyrrha, it wasn't your fault. You know Emerald tricked you." And our teachers didn't do you any favours, he thought with a flash of anger. "And now Penny's back. And not even she blames you."
"I'm not used to failing… and that was one of my biggest."
"And some failures can be fixed," he offered.
"But some can't. Even if Penny's okay, the panic unleashed that day…"
"Was part of Cinder's plan, one Professor Ozpin played into with the stress they put upon you."
Pyrrha turned her emerald eyes away for a moment, before looking back.
"Thank you," she said. "I'm not sure I can completely believe you yet but thank you for trying."
His lips tugged upwards. Progress, he thought. He briefly wondered whether to press on, although realised he wasn't even sure where to begin. "Come on, let's catch up with others," he said, picking a safer route. Only to be surprised as several cords suddenly appeared from nowhere, wrapping themselves around his body. His limbs abruptly bound, he yelped as he tipped over.
-000-
It was good throw, Marrow thought, his gravity bolas taking the tall blond down. Harriet's took down the redhead, the two evidently distracted by their conversation.
At their cry, the others turned, yet were struck themselves, bolases wrapping around them and knocking them off their feet as the rest of the Ace-Ops acted. Seeing their targets down, Marrow and Harriet dropped out of cover, making their way over. He moved to secure the trailing pair's weapons.
"Easy now," he said, removing the scabbard from the blond, trying to keep them calm. Harriet simply rolled her eyes as she divested the redhead of her weapons.
"This is beyond embarrassing," the redhead said to her fellow captive.
"I think they got all of us," the blond offered.
"That's not the point, Jaune," the redhead huffed.
"Just cooperate, and this will go easier," Marrow offered, though the exchange puzzled him. It seemed so innocent, hardly the sort of thing one would expect servants of the enemy of all life to say. They both looked young, too, academy age. The redhead also looked familiar, although for the life of him Marrow had no idea why. Were these really enemy agents?
"Good work, everyone," Clover called out. "We've got a transport on-route for the prisoners, ETA 5 minutes."
"Look pal, I'm a licensed huntsman!" one prisoner, older than the teens around him, growled in complaint. Clover ignored him, as he ensured their remaining weapons were gathered.
"Please, we were just trying to help!" said another of the prisoners. That one seemed younger still, possibly not even an adult. She'd dropped something, and Marrow noticed Clover kneel down to pick it up. It didn't look like a weapon, more like some antique lamp. Clover appeared to look at it thoughtfully, weighing it in his hands.
"What is going on here?!" The Ace Ops turned to see another figure approaching them, an older man in a walking chair, an old lady just behind him. Did they need to arrest them too?
"Doctor Polendina, it's good to see you again," Clover replied with a nod. Evidently not. "An unauthorised, possibly stolen, ship made an unauthorised landing in Mantle. We've cause to believe the individuals here are linked to that, especially with their unauthorised use of weapons."
"If we could just talk this over, I'm sure we can straighten things out."
"They'll have that opportunity once we're back in Atlas, but you know we need to investigate all security breaches. Though if you've any further information to offer, I'm sure the General would appreciate hearing it."
"I'll do that," the doctor replied, sounding disgruntled, before withdrawing.
It wasn't long before the transport arrived. After making sure the prisoners and their weapons were safely stowed and sent on their way to Atlas Academy, the team were soon on their own Manta heading back aloft. As they sat in silence, Marrow thought over the encounter.
"I'm not sure they were agents of Salem," he eventually said.
"No kidding," said Harriet. "Sure, they were armed, but they were a bunch of kids."
"Old enough to be huntsmen-in-training," Vine replied. "The infiltrators at Beacon can't have been much older. And one definitely seemed like a seasoned huntsman."
"And another looked like he was twelve!" Harriet said. "Fourteen tops. No way he was old enough to even be an academy student."
"What do you think, sir?" Elm asked Clover, who'd remained seated silently, lost in thought as he stared at the lamp in his hand.
"Hmmm?" he said, before looking up. "Oh, I think Marrow and Harriet are onto something."
"Why?"
"Harriet, hold this for me, will you?" he asked, passing the lamp towards her. She took it, and to her shock it shrank.
"What the hell?!" she exclaimed.
"Now pass it to Elm," Clover asked.
She did, and the team looked with surprise as it grew. Clover held his hand out, and Elm returned it. Once more the object seemed to shift in size, though not quite as much.
"I noticed it when I picked it up," Clover said. "It adjusts its size to whoever's carrying it."
"That's a neat little party trick," said Elm. "Does it do anything else?"
"You've all been briefed," Clover said. "Our enemy is after the four relics. One of which – the one in Haven – takes the form of a lamp…"
The eyes of the team returned to the lamp more warily.
Clover pulled out his Scroll, picking out a contact and waiting until it connected.
"Winter, Clover here. Tell the General I've picked up a bottle of his favourite whiskey..."
Author Note:
Welcome to take two of A Semblance of a Team. As I've described in several places, I wasn't happy with the pacing of the story, particularly for the earliest parts. While it is always going to be more expansive and less focused than either Fallen Maiden or What Are You?, my preferences are definitely in a more focused direction, and I felt A Semblance of a Team could be given additional momentum in that regard. Some passages will show little change, but much of where there has been is intended to improve the pacing (thus this first chapter amalgamates two in the original, and is shorter by about 1,400 words).
Another related change is to the initial AU here: as first written, it was a a slightly more complicated arrangement in which Pyrrha spoke about the Maidens to Jaune earlier, placing her in a different mindset and meaning she never actually went to fight Cinder on that occasion. I'm not entirely sure why I went with that. I don't know if I was influenced by having done Fallen Maiden, which obviously changed quite a bit at the fall too. Fallen Maiden needed it though, since the premise absolutely required Pyrrha to have half the maiden powers, and I didn't see her letting Jaune die for her unless she was unable to stop it. Moreover, the initial divergence was actually quite simple: Cinder was just that bit slower in following Ozpin and co to the transfer machine, allowing the transfer to take place, and everything else followed on from that and occurred 'on-screen'. What I originally had for A Semblance of a Team was *off-screen*, and much of it was *backstory*. And the story was already a bit more complicated by picking up in V7 and having four central characters. Having a more complicated backstory happen off-screen, all to set up another bit of backstory (Pyrrha's mindset for her fight against Cinder at Haven, something alluded to but not depicted in the original) seemed increasingly unnecessary, especially since it was being communicated in dribs and drabs.
Hence the simpler divergence here: if Cinder was a little too late in Fallen Maiden, here Ruby got to Beacon tower that little bit quicker, saving Pyrrha. That change affects a few things, though it's not an insurmountable issue for that backstory fight. Moreover, it makes setting up the backstory tension between Jaune and Pyrrha on the trip to Haven even easier: at stake isn't just Pyrrha's reactions to events at Beacon, but also Jaune's reactions to the whole "kiss me, then throw me in a rocket locket while running off to die" scenario which now actually happened.
Another slight change is the cause of the (necessary) absence of Nora and Ren. I hadn't got around to giving the full-story last time, but here it's again simpler: Nora got wounded during the fight against the giant mech (one could easily argue that, due to Pyrrha being alive, Jaune was in a slightly different place, and so just didn't get there right in time to take the blow like he did in show), meaning she and Ren end up staying in Argus for the time being.