The City of Mantle
The group looked ahead to the city, it looked...intimidating. Up above was The Great City: Atlas, a city so magnificent that it flies above others on a giant floating island. Down below was Mantle, the capital of the former Kingdom of Mantle which was disbanded after The Great War. Dozens upon dozens of attack airships similar to the one Ironwood brought with him to Vale were patrolling the skies. On top of that, there were hundreds more of smaller cruiser vassals, similar to the one they were in now, patrolling around both Atlas and Mantle. There was a scratch and ring of the radio before a female voice came through, "Manta-Five-One: Welcome home." the voice stated, "Please continue your approach to Atlas Docking Bay: Omega-12. A security team will meet you there. Over." With that the radio clicked again and the voice was gone. Back to near dead silence, quiet enough to where the sound of nervous gulps from Ren, Jaune and even Weiss could be heard.
Ruby bit her lip and gripped the shoulder of the passenger seat, which her uncle happened to be sitting in. "I...I don't understand. What's happening?" she looked at her uncle expecting some sort of answer, but Qrow could only sigh.
"I...I don't-GUAACK! COFF! COFF!" Qrow pounded his chest with his left fist and held up his index finger with his right, as he finished coughing and hacking, "Oh, geez..."
"Qrow, buddy, you okay?" Deadpool asked as he suddenly popped up behind the huntsman and began rubbing his shoulders.
Qrow rubbed his throat and coughed some more, "Yeah...I think I got some dirt and dust in my lungs in that last battle."
"Oh yeah, man, you sound weird." Deadpool mentioned as he continued rubbing Qrow's shoulders, "It's...almost as if you have a new voice actor or something."
"What?"
"Deadpool, leave the guy alone." Peter scolded as he forced Deadpool's hands off of Qrow and webbed them to the ceiling. "Okay, let's continue with our mission. We're here, let's get it over with."
Jaune nodded, "Right, we're here, the lamp is in Atlas, so we should probably land and get some answers, right?"
Weiss sighed at the comments, "I don't think you guys have thought this one through too much." her tone was calm, but it was as if she were scolding the two, "The plan may not be as straightforward as we thought. I've NEVER seen our forces deployed so aggressively before. I mean, if we land in a ship, that we stole mind you, then there isn't a chance that security team would let us even get a whiff of Ironwood's cheap cologne, let alone see him. They...they may even take me back to my father."
The group looked around, all of them having similar expressions of worry. Blake scratched her head, realizing someone needed to break the ice, "So...what's-"
"WINTER!" Weiss said in realization as she reached into her pocket and grabbed her scroll. She has pockets in that dress? Oh no, we are NOT doing this right now, piss off. "Maria, put some distance between us and the fleet." she said as she tapped the pilot's chair.
"You don't have to tell me twice." Maria chuckled as she revved the engines and began to fly down to the city of Mantle.
"What is that place?" Peter asked pointing to the city, "Is that Mantle?"
"Yes." Ren replied, "Mantle is the former capital of the former kingdom of the same name. After their loss in The Great War, it was one of their own settlements that took over and became the new kingdom. Atlas was technologically more advanced than the rest of the world, because of that, everyone wanted to make deals with them. Mantle was out, Atlas was in, and a brave new world began from there."
"What's with all the smoke?" Peter asked.
"It's probably smog." Deadpool mentioned, "Or the place is like a Gotham City situation and the crime rate is through the roof."
As they flew closer, Peter was able to get a better look at the city. It looked like any modern city, paved roads, traffic lights, sidewalks, large buildings. Realistically, it was a best-case scenario for his powers. One thing he didn't like was all the large screens on the taller buildings. These weren't like big advertisement screens back home, no, these were screens meant for broadcasting and they currently had a video of Ironwood giving some sort of announcement. "...Many describe this as uncertain times." Ironwood started, "And while that may be the case for the rest of the world, I can tell you what IS certain. The Kingdom of Atlas is strong, and it WILL remain safe. That is my promise." Ironwood made a dramatic change to his wardrobe since Peter last saw him. The most notable thing was the beard the man grew, the gray in his hair looked a little more noticeable, he was wearing a new coat that had navy blue trim where the buttons would be as well as on his cuffs, the small coat under the jacket was fully buttoned and had two belts, one normal one with a large buckle and one that was slung over his left shoulder, they likely held his weapons. Under that was navy blue button down and a red necktie.
"I'm not liking this." Deadpool mentioned, "Like, I know I'm the zaney 'Wahoo-Chimichanga' type of guy. But I'm getting some serious steampunk dystopian future type shit in this place. Like Bioshock Infinite. Which I really don't like, but for different reasons. Ahh...but at least it has my darling Elizabeth in it. Fun fact about Elizabeth from Bioshock: Did you know? Thanks to a fan's undying love for Elizabeth and wanting to make po—MMPH!" Deadpool was quickly silenced when Peter webbed the area of his mask where his mouth would be.
"Inappropriate facts aside, I agree with Wade a little. This whole place is giving me a bad feeling." Peter said as he crossed his arms, "But not a 'Spider Sense' bad feeling just a 'gut' bad feeling. And besides, look at Ironwood, he looks-"
"Tired..." Yang and Ruby said in unison.
"Oh, James." Qrow said with a saddened tone, "Just what the hell have you been doing."
Continuing to look down below, the group could see the state the city was in: Atlesian Knights patrolled the streets in packs; drones would patrol as mobile cameras, clearly bothering the citizens enough that a few of them would react by attacking them if they saw the drones. The group even saw a couple kids throw rocks at them, but quickly hide in fear. Weiss looked down below with a frown as she held up her scroll trying to contact her sister, "This isn't right. None of this is right." she complained.
The radio clicked again, and the group heard the lady from before, "Manta-Five-One, we noticed a detour in your route. You are to make your way to Docking Bay Omega-12 IMMEDIATELY. Do you copy? Over." Once again, the radio clicked and the others were left alone, only now with much more urgency.
"We don't exactly have a lot of time here." Maria warned.
"I say we ditch this hunk of junk." Peter chuckled, "I could probably traverse the city faster than this thing, and I'd go undetected."
"I was thinking the same thing." Yang said with a smile as she playfully punched her boyfriend's shoulder.
"Great minds, eh, kids?" Qrow mentioned, "Maria, find a place to land. We'll get lost in Mantle and buy ourselves some time. Deadpool...you should probably stay FAR away from us. No offense, but you kind of stick out, and they'd locate you before us."
"UGH! I'm hurt Qrow!" Deadpool replied in a fake whiney voice, "You know, I thought you and I really had something going on. I thought we had, like, some kind of connection! But I see now, you were only using me for your benefit. Well don't let me hold you back, just go. Go! Leave me and never come back, you had your chance."
Qrow looked at Peter and then to Deadpool and then to Peter again, "Kid, what the fuck is wrong with him?"
"Hey man, don't look at me. I've been questioning that for as long as I've known the guy."
Weiss rolled her eyes and began to walk towards the cockpit, "You guys, hasty as ever. I'm telling you, my sister can take us to Ironwood."
Peter looked to his left, over Blake's shoulder and his eyes widened slightly. He tapped Blake a few times and pointed out the window where the faunus gasped in surprise, "Um...Weiss? Maybe you wanna take a look at this."
Weiss walked to where Blake was, Peter kindly moving out of the way and acting as if he was pulling on the collar of a shirt. Weiss, much like Peter, widened her eyes in surprise. Outside, shortly after the broadcast of Ironwood, was a broadcast of Winter, looking fairly the same to when the kids last saw her. "A reminder." the broadcast started, "Failure to cooperate with Atlas Military personelle is a punishable offense. If you are stuck during lockdown, please ask..."
"Winter?" Weiss asked in disbelief.
"No offense, Weiss, I'm not sure that's such a great idea anymore." Qrow mentioned. Out of instinct the older huntsman reached into his inner coat pocket to grab his flask, then stopped himself. There was nothing in it anyway, but it was the principle of the situation. Probably best to not even mentally go through the motions.
"Obviously something's wrong." Weiss scoffed, "If we-"
"Yeah, something's wrong alright." Peter interrupted, "Ironwood and the Atlas Military have put the whole damn city under forced lockdown, as if it were a war-time situation. If you wanted a more obvious metaphor for fascist control, the guy would have some really ugly facial hair...OH WAIT!"
"Gottem." Deadpool complemented, holding up his foot for a hi-five, which he did not receive.
"Both of you, shut up for twenty seconds." Qrow groaned, "Listen, we don't know if we should even be to Ironwood until we know exactly what's going on with Mantle." he warned, "Your sister is definitely up on that list too, given her 'Special Operative' status."
"Now, everyone, try to calm down." Maria said, sensing that tensions were getting high, "I so happen to know someone that can help with both our problems." the radio popped on, again calling for them to go to the designated docking station, but Maria quickly disconnected the call, "Geez, lady, take a damn hint already." Maria looked around for the best spot to ditch the Manta before seeing a small empty lot, "BINGO." she laughed as she landed (somewhat poorly, really), "Alright, thank you for flying Air Atlas, I know you had a choice in flights, and in this case you really didn't." she laughed with nobody else following suite, she even expected Peter to at least crack a smirk! "Nothing?" she asked, "What, old ladies can't tell jokes? Is that it, hm?"
"No, it's not that." Peter started, "It's just that...you know...Um, Yang? You wanna help me out here?"
The blonde shook her head and crossed her arms into an 'X', "Hell, no. That's on you."
"Wade?"
"Jokes are supposed to be funny." Deadpool replied as he ripped his hands out of their web prison, "And yes, I could have done that the whole time."
Maria clicked her fake eyes and rolled them before clicking her tongue, "Everybody's a damn critic." she mumbled, "C'mon then, stay by me."
"Deadpool, make yourself scarce." Qrow ordered and Deadpool gave a salute before running through random alleyways. "Hmmm..." Qrow scratched his head in confusion, "Doesn't he have like...a teleporter thing?"
Peter looked at Qrow and blinked a few times, "That broke dude."
"Did it?"
"He was with you guys for like a whole month, you didn't know?"
"Guess I just never asked." Qrow and the others followed Maria who took lead, then Qrow, then JNR and RWBYS. Yang stayed in the back to make sure Peter hid his costume underneath his coat and a pair of pants.
They followed Maria who zigzagged between alleyways before reaching an exit that led out to the street. She stopped, holding her hand up to signal the others to do the same. She looked left, right, and left again before nodding and slowly entered the damn near empty sidewalk with the others close behind. Peter looked behind because he heard a group of soldiers running towards the lot where they left the Manta and Yang had to force him to look ahead so he didn't look suspicious or, gods forbid, they recognize his face.
The group walked down the streets, taking a look at everything around them. A lot of posters for tan skinned, white haired woman, news of upcoming elections, news praising the embargo, apparently a journalist went missing, as well as mention of the perimeter wall being damaged. They continued walking, passing by a man playing a banjo on the street as well as some graffiti that read: 'Show Your Teeth' with some kind of sharp toothed box headed character next to it. Can't tell if that's a call to action, or a gang marking. Peter thought. "Come on now," Maria beckoned, "Try to hurry, it won't be much of a walk."
"Is...Is this many soldiers normal?" Jaune asked.
"No." Peter, Weiss and Qrow said in unison, "Jaune, usually ZERO soldiers is normal." Peter said as he cracked his knuckles. Yang looked to her right and saw some sort of drone watching them, she picked up her pace a bit and grabbed Peter's hand, quietly telling him to keep looking straight ahead. Despite her efforts, the drone was persistent. Peter grabbed the scarf Ruby had given him and used it to cover his face as the drone came up and took a picture of Yang's face. "Sorry, buddy, not flash photography." Peter growled as he flicked the drone, breaking its lens and sending it flying into the street where it was run over by a truck, "...Oops."
"We should probably pick up the pace." Yang replied with a slight blush as her and Peter began to walk faster.
"You have to remember," Maria started, "The Kingdom of Mantle had just lost The Great War. The people needed a sign of a brighter future, and that sign was Atlas." as the group continued to walk they noticed a cargo truck hauling what looked to be mine workers, they saw Winter's broadcast playing on repeat, and they passed by at least two stores with 'No Faunus Entry' signs. "After all," Maria continued, "A home in the clouds is about as bright as it gets."
"Some of these people need to be sent up to the clouds based off what I've seen." Peter growled as he saw a couple of people give Blake a dirty look.
"Some of these people are forced to look up at it. That's an awfully dark cloud." Nora remarked as another truck passed with more mine workers.
Blake shook her head in disbelief, "This whole place is just...awful."
"Oh YeAh?!" a voice called out as a drunkard appeared from the stoop of a doorstep. Wearing a light gray jacket and cargo pants, sporting a medium length messy harido, squared glasses and a goatee. "You don't like it here? There's a...ssssplenty fo space out in the tundra." he slurred.
"Alright, calm down man," Peter said as he tried to lead the man back to the doorsteps, but the man swiped the teen's hands away, "Look, just sit back down. We don't want to have an issue. You're drunk, we're skilled and have weapons. It won't go well."
"Atlas is the greatest Kingdom in the World, alright?" he argued. Ruby wanted to do something, but Blake stopped her, reminding her it'd be bad to make a scene. She then squinted eyes at Peter that basically told him to stay out of the issue.
"It...It's just the embargo." another man, likely the first one's friend, said. He was sitting on the stoop where the first man popped out from and was wearing a similar gray jacket to his friend, only with purple lining, "The embargo has us in a tight spot right now...but it'll all blow over."
"We tried to help the other kingdoms, and THIS is what happens?" the first man argued as he took another swig from the flask in his hand, "I say let 'em rot!"
Blake took a deep breath and tried to stay calm. It's a drunk man. she thought, He's not even sure of what he's saying. Just apologize and be on your way. "I'm...SO sorry if I upset you." Blake said almost sarcastically.
The man just looked her up and down and scoffed, taking another swig, "Stupid faunus like you-"
Immediately, without hesitation, both Peter and Yang got ready to punch the man into next week, but there was no need. As if by magic the man was lifted off the ground and thrown against the wall behind him where he fell into a dumpster. Looking down the group saw the faint outline of one of Weiss' glyphs. The former heiress stood behind her friends, Myrtenaster out and a smile across her face. "What a prick, am I right?" as soon as she said something her eyes nearly popped out of her head as she saw several soldiers walk over to assist the man, "Book it." she whisper yelled and the others took off with her to catch up with the others.
Finally with Maria, Qrow and Oscar again, the teens caught their breath. "Good thing you did something, Weiss," Peter said with a slight laugh, "I was gonna totally break that guy's jaw so he wouldn't be able to talk for months.
Maria looked back and saw the group was with her and she gave a bit of a smile, "This way." she said as she nodded her head towards an open door on the building they were all next to. Maria began to walk through the door, the warm light a stark contrast from the bleak outside world of Mantle at the moment. The room itself looked like a mix between a doctor's office, a library and a workshop with Peter noticing a workbench and what looked to be some sort of blueprints off in the corner. "Ahhh, it's been too long old friend." Maria greeted as she walked through. When she and the others entered the building they saw an older black gentleman sitting behind the desk. He had balding gray hair from the looks of it and wore a green cap with oval-shaped glass, a red vest over a cream shirt with a pink bowtie and had dark mustard pants and leather boots to match his cap and red-brown belt. However, despite the group's appearance, the man hadn't seemed to notice them. "Ahem!" Maria cleared her throat to gain the man's attention, startling him a bit.
The man looked at Maria for a few seconds before adjusting his glasses, "AH! Yes, yes...have we met?" he asked.
"Well, that's reassuring." Ren said in a dry tone, causing Peter to stifle a chuckle.
"Ah-heh..." Maria gave a slight smile to the group behind her before giving a thumbs-up that nobody seemed too convinced about, "Cybernetic Optical implants? You adjust them every ten years or so?" she made her point by pointing to one of her fake eyes which kept opening and shutting like a twitch before she flicked it so it could stabilize.
The man squinted and leaned forward before quickly leaning back and throwing her hands in the air, "Maria!" he cheered, "With the Cybernetic Optical implants, I adjust them every ten years or so, you know." As he said this he came out from behind his desk, riding on metallic chair that moved with four robotic legs instead of wheels.
"Hey, I knew a scientist with four extra limbs." Peter mentioned, "Hopefully you aren't trying to like...take over the world or something."
"Ten years," the man said, ignoring Peter, as he led Maria over to a small bed doctors would have in their check-up rooms, "My, has it already been that long?"
"I know!" Maria chuckled, "I age like a fine wine."
"I don't know about FINE wine." Nora mumbled, receiving an elbow from Ren and a chuckle from Peter. "I probably would have been here sooner if I hadn't run into THESE jokers. You know, at the time I thought they might need a little guidance while fighting a little sphynx."
"Oh, but did they?" the man asked, now intrigued.
Maria waved her hand back and forth as she sat on the bed, "No, no...they had MUCH more complicated issues."
"Ahem." Qrow cleared his throat, both to get Maria's attention, but also to try and get that dust out of his lungs, "And this is?" he asked, pointing to the man before looking to the teens, "Were none of you going to ask?"
"Maybe they realized it wasn't necessary for me to introduced one of Atlas' FINEST minds." Maria praised.
"Well obviously we all knew that. Right guys?" Peter said receiving headshakes from the others, "Well...I didn't know either."
Yang looked around the workshop with a cocked eyebrow, "'Finest minds'?" she echoed, "No offense, but, living like this?" she gestured all around to the quaint appearance of the workshop, also pointing out how dirty it was in some places. As if on cue, a board in the ceiling broke off and fell to the ground.
"He likes to keep a low profile," Maria countered, "Something, I've come to realize, none of you know anything about."
Ruby scoffed, "We know all about keeping a low profile." she looked around before pointing to Peter with her thumb a smug smirk on her face, "Never gave away his secret."
"But gave up mine to Jaune and the others almost immediately." Blake mumbled, receiving an elbow from Yang that told her 'Time and place'.
"You can call me, Pietro." the man introduced, giving a slight bow in his chair.
"Finest heart, too." Maria added with a smile, "This pharmacy is just where he volunteers when he's not building the future of Atlas, alongside Ironwood up in the clouds." she praised.
Nora rolled her eyes, "Geez, don't break your arm stroking his-"
"Nora." Jaune interrupted.
"...ego." Nora finished, "C'mon Jaune, get your mind out of the gutter." she grinned.
Pietro gave a hearty laugh and waved, "Oh, it's stuffy up there. Down here I get to help the locals, and have a little fun. I'm uh...currently working on shoes that make you dance. You want to try them on?"
"What, like, it literally makes you dance?" Peter asked.
"YES!" Nora said excitedly, but was quickly pushed away by Yang.
"Ahem, before that...we were wondering if you could help us?" Nora saw Yang was immediately getting to business and she just slumped her shoulders and crossed her arms, saying something about how Yang 'Used to do fun stuff.' "We came to Atlas hoping to talk to General Ironwood...but uh...things haven't been going as planned."
"What's been going on here?" Blake asked.
Pietro sighed and cleared his throat, "The Fall of Beacon happened." he said as he tapped on his chair in slow rhythmic succession, "It took its toll on all of us. James was no different, but it seems its been escalating more and more. I don't know what it is he saw there, but it changed him."
"We know what he saw there." Peter mentioned, "We were there ourselves. Hey, next time, do us a favor and design the Knights so that they only fight in hand-to-hand. I don't like getting shot."
Qrow nudged Peter and shook his head, "James is scared."
Pietro squinted, "Ehhh, paranoid is more appropriate term." he coughed, "It wasn't just the Grimm. As you said, Atlesian Knights were attacking the young huntsman too. Somebody was able to completely dismantle Atlas' security measures. They made it there plaything and made us traitors to many or just outright bafoons to others. Whoever managed to do that was either a genius or one of our own." he sighed. Otto...Peter thought with a sigh, It would have to be, right? He was working with Roman...and from the sounds of it, that Cinder chick was involved with him in some way according to Neo. "I believe the General fears that it may be both, and honestly, so do I. I don't know anyone with a genius intellect like that, unless they've been hiding this entire time. But why appear now? It's as if they showed up out of nowhere."
Yang looked at Peter's worried expression and saw him gulp. She knew that look, he was already blaming himself, he probably thought it was one of his rogues gallery that came with him to Remnant. She reached down and locked her fingers with his and gave him a reassuring smile before nodding. "Whatever the issue, we'll take care of it."
Ren sighed, "It sounds like Atlas...may not be as safe as we thought."
"After we came all this way?" Oscar asked with an upset tone, "We can't just leave, can we?"
"We need answers regardless, kid." Peter mentioned, "If nothing else...where else can we go?" the answer didn't seem to make Oscar feel better.
Weiss stepped forward, trying to be the straight thinking one again, "How does the council feel about this? Or Winter Schnee? Do you know anything about her."
Qrow scoffed, "Give it up, kid."
Pietro shook his head in disappointment, "The Council right now is so scared they are willing to do whatever James wants. Though some representatives from Mantle now..." he stopped his train of thought as he came to a realization as he looked at Weiss, "Wait a minute, you—you're Weiss Schnee!"
"What gave it away?" Qrow asked with a grin, "The outfit? The white hair? The logo?"
"Definitely the bad perfume." Peter added, causing Weiss to stamp her foot at him and flare her nostrils.
Yang rolled her eyes, "C'mon people, keep fishing for info," she mumbled, "What is it you were saying about Mantle?"
Pietro was about to answer until he spotted Yang's prosthetic arm and gasped in slight surprise, "You painted it!" Yang recoiled in surprise and the room fell quite, "The prosthetic arm, Weiss Schnee, the red cloak, and a faunus. Yes. I'm sure of it now, you're Team RWBY!"
Ruby looked at her teammates in shock, "You know us?!" she asked as she threw her hands in the air.
"Pfft, doesn't know me, apparently. That's cool, I didn't want to be remembered anyways." Peter mumbled sarcastically.
"Oh, I know you too." Pietro mentioned, "I just...feel like such a dunce for not recognizing all of you sooner. My daughter has told me so much about all of you." he smiled.
"You're daughter?" Ruby asked.
"Was she that Atlas chick that was wearing a blue beret during the festival?" Peter asked, "Uh...not that it would make sense if she were your daughter or anything, I was just thinking it would be a weird coincidence since we didn't really learn a lot about her."
All of a sudden, a loud siren began going off outside and people were screaming and running away in terror. "Sounds like trouble." Jaune said as he was the first take off, followed by the other who were only a few steps behind. Pietro tried calling out to them, but it was no use. The group ran outside, it was dark, and the lights seemed to give off a redder hue, probably to help with the warning siren. They could see the people running away, but they couldn't see any Grimm, only the sounds of their growls. They got their weapons at the ready, but Blake had to settle on her pistol mode, due to Gambul Shroud being broken in her fight against Adam.
"Guess those city defenses aren't doing much." Oscar mentioned, doing his best not to succumb to his nerves as he gripped Ozpin's cane tighter.
"Somehow that doesn't surprise me." Nora added.
"If you guys were paying attention, you'd see there were news reports that the defensive perimeters were broken recently." Peter scolded, "Seriously, situational awareness is a skill you all need to learn. For example, twelve o'clock." he said as he pointed up the street and the group saw several Knights get thrown out onto the street before several came into view, backing up and firing at Grimm that quickly made its way to one of the Knights and began to rip it to shreds with its teeth. "Aaaaand two o'clock." Peter jumped up and performed a somersault kick on a Beowolf that was jumping down from the rooftop of a building, knocking it against the wall where Blake took aim and fired two shots into the creature, destroying it.
"Well, we didn't come this far just to fail!" Ruby yelled out as she spun Crescent Rose and stuck it into the ground for easy stability while she took potshots at the Sabyr Grimm. Though she was able to take out a few, dozens more followed behind them, and when they finished with the Knights as a snack, the Grimm set their sight on the group.
"So, Peter gets the twenty on the left and we get the remainder?" Yang suggested jokingly, "Or, we keep track of how many we take down. Tally up the score at the end. I kinda like the second idea." immediately she used her gauntlets to give her a speed boost and run towards the action with Ren following close behind. Nora, not wanting to trail behind Ren, ran over to Jaune and jumped on his shield, using him as a boost to launch ahead and catch up with the first two.
While Yang, Ren and Nora took on the pack head on, the others sat back and waited for them to arrive. Jaune was able to take care of a few on his own, but the moment more than two attacked him at once Peter was there to come swinging by and knock one away from him towards Blake who shoot the stragglers. Qrow being the more experienced Huntsman was able to run and slash, cutting through each Sabyr with a single slice of Harbinger in its buster sword form, but he would even style switch to his scythe form to take on multiple Grimm at once and would even use his fists if necessary. Oscar, not wanting to be left behind went to take on a Sabyr on his own, and did well, didn't even get hurt...however, "Look out!" Peter yelled as he shot himself down and crushed a Sabyr that was coming up behind Oscar, "Not bad, kid, but remember, 'Mind your surroundings.'" Oscar let out a breath of relief and gave Peter a thumbs-up as the hidden hero held his arm out and fired a webline so he could swing to a large group of Grimm.
"Hey guys, check it out!" Peter called, "I thought of a sick new move. It came to me in a dream...when I thought about replaying Metal Gear Rising." he fired several weblines and was able to nab five or six Sabyr and spun them around, knocking several of them back that came close. Peter then attached the weblines to his feet and began to spin on the ground as if he was breakdancing, slamming the Grimm with every spin and knocking any others back that came too close. Eventually, the Sabyr on his webs disintegrated into nothing. "Eh? Not bad, right? Pretty cool?"
Yang let off several gunshots as she took out four Sabyrs at once, "What was that sweety?" she asked, "I didn't see it, can you do it again?"
Peter slumped his shoulders and groaned, "I can't tell if she's being serious and is patronizing me, or if she's pulling my leg." Peter's Spider Sense went off and he fired a webline at Yang and pulled her towards him, "Look out!" After he grabbed Yang, the Sabyr that was trying to pounce her was instantly shot down by Blake.
"Okay, kids, I know you're in love, but maybe try to pay attention in battle." Blake teased with a smug look that made her face look like a cat face. Peter and Yang just stared at Blake with deadpanned expressions causing the faunus to lose her smug expression and sigh, "There's one right behind me, isn't there?" the other two teens, in turn, gained smug expressions before Blake turned around and readied her pistol as the Sabyr jumped to slice at her, but the Grimm was instead sliced in half by a green laser that came seemingly from out of nowhere, destroying the creature instantly. The teens stood dumbfounded at the event, unsure of how to react. "Well..." Blake started, finally breaking the trio's brief silence, "That was convenient."
Soon, more lasers began to rain from the sky, slicing and vaporizing the Grimm in the streets, causing the group to stop and just watch in astonishment. Eventually, the Grimm are taken care of and the red lights of the city warning system reverted back to normal. The group wasn't sure what to think, but they found the source of the lasers, a humanoid silhouette with green highlights on its legs giving off a slight glow which was only made more powerful by the silhouette's propulsor boots which reminded Peter of Tony in a way. The being did a couple of flips in the air before slowly descending and coming into better view, causing Ruby and some of the others to gasp. "My, my. Look who decided to visit." Pietro chuckled as he came out when the sirens stopped.
The figure landed with a smile, giving a slight bow, revealing to the others that it was Penny, perfectly fine and...in one piece compared to the last time they saw her albeit with longer hair; she was also sporting a slightly new outfit including long hair now and a pink bow on the back of her head, the rest of the outfit looked fairly similar to the last time they all met. "Penny." Ruby said with a smile, her eyes beginning to water making her wipe her face.
"Darling," Pietro called out, "Say 'hi' to your friends."
Instantly, Penny gained the biggest smile on her face as she saw Ruby and the other. "Sal-U-TATIONS!" she yelled out, charging at what felt like mach speed and tackling Ruby to the ground with a hug. Ruby groaned in pain while Penny stood up, hands on her hip, large smile ever present, "It is wonderful to see you all again. Even the criminal!"
Peter looked around and shrugged, "Strange, Deadpool's not here. She must mean Blake then."
"I think she meant you." Qrow mentioned, not picking up on Peter's obvious sarcasm.
After getting to her feet and rolling her shoulders a few times, Ruby was finally able to return to her senses, "Penny, how are you here? I saw what happened during the Fall...I...I thought that you-"
"Died?" Pietro interrupted, "I guess in a manner of speaking, she did. But we were able to recover her core from Amity Arena, once it made its way back to Atlas." he explained. Hindsight is 20/20, should have stayed in Amity Arena, would have bypassed on the crap it took to get to this point. Peter thought. Pietro scratched his head, "It took some time, but-"
"I'm good as new!" Penny said excitedly while giving a salute, "Better even! And now I'm the official protector of this city!"
"That's my girl!" Pietro complimented while patting Penny on the shoulder, "We're not going to allow a little 'ripping to shreds' stop us, are we?"
"No sir! I'm com-bat ready and sturdy to boot." she emphasized her point by knocking on her head a few times, each knock making a loud 'clank' sound.
"Well...this is wholesome." Blake smirked.
"Definitely the Penny we know, weird quirkiness and all." Yang added.
Peter nodded in intrigue, "Robot resembling a human becomes the savior of a semi-futuristic world, said robot has several (two) iterations, robot shoots blasts from its body. Penny is Mega Man."
"We still don't get your references, Peter." Ren pointed out.
"I'm so excited to hear about all your adventures and everything that's happened in the months since we last saw each other!" Penny gushed as she gave Ruby a hug, "Let us start as soon as possible, I can't wait any longer." suddenly, in the distance, another siren went off and Penny just stared at Ruby, her smile still not leaving her face, "It seems we'll have to wait a little longer." her boots began to glow again as the rockets activated and she slowly rised into the air, "Welp, be sure to talk more later, I can't wait to hear about all your adventuresI'mveryexcitedtohearaboutyourcoolexperiences!" she talked faster as she flew off and became near unintelligible as she quickly flew off to her next destination.
"Well...Now I'm just more confused than before." Nora mentioned, "Like, she has long hair now. How did she grow hair? She's a robot, right? Did she simulate hair growth? Does she have a set of wigs that she chooses from? Why does her bow have a power button? Does it shut her down...or turn her on. Pfft." Nora couldn't help but laugh at her inappropriate joke, "Comedy genius, watch out Peter, I'm gunning for the position of funniest person here. Not like it'd be that hard with your B-tier jokes."
"What the hell? Friendly fire." Peter whined.
"Don't worry, I have plenty of answers." Pietro reassured as his chair began walking him back to the small clinic, "But let's get out of this weather and away from the danger."
"Well...an unexpected surprise." Jaune said, still processing the events that just happened.
"But a welcome one." Ren added, "Not too often we get some good surprises."
Qrow had to smile and nod in agreement, "Honestly, I always expect the worst. Things went pretty well this time around." Peter, upon hearing this, stopped dead in his tracks as he and the others started their walk back to the pharmacy and turned to stare at Qrow dead in his eyes. "What?" Qrow asked, "What's with the dirty look? What could I have done to piss you off?"
"Oh, I know you DID NOT just say something like that." Peter groaned as his Spider Sense went off and he rubbed his temples, "Every time...every SINGLE time. Look out!" Peter jumped up and avoided a set of bolas that were thrown at him. However, despite his warning, the others were not so lucky, "Oh, come on guys, MIND YOUR SURROUNDINGS REMEBER?"
"We don't have a sixth sense to danger like you do, dolt!" Weiss growled as she and the others struggled to break free from the tough wire the bolas were made of. The bolas were some sort of capture weapon that not only wrapped around the target, but they locked their heavy ends together, acting almost like a lock or hand cuffs.
Several figures stepped into view, all wearing some sort of Atlas Military gear. Qrow could tell just by looking at them, "Ugh...Special Operatives." he groaned.
There were five operatives in total: The first was a man with short brown hair and teal-green eyes. He wore a sleeveless Atlesian Specialist uniform that consisted of a white sleeveless double breasted coat with red and blue accents with ornate detailing shaped to the form of wishbones, broad tail with red lining and a four-leaf clover pin on the lapel, a belt that had a rabbit's foot keychain hanging off it, as well as white pants and covered his hands with brown fingerless gloves, and he had blue calf high boots with four dark blue straps and silver steel toe plating.
The next is a tall young muscular woman with medium brown hair in a short ponytail, brown-tan skin, and brown eyes. She wore an Atlesian Specialist uniform that consisted of an open white, one-sleeved crop jacket with dark blue accents, shoulder flaps and collar and a dark gray armor shirt. She also has silver vambraces over her forearms, it was unclear if they were decoration or if they had a purpose.
The third was a tall man with short shaved gray hair, deathly pale skin and light blue eyes. He had several tattoos, including a third eye tattoo along the center of his forehead and chin. He wore an Atlesian Specialist uniform that consisted of a white double-breasted, partially unbuttoned coat with a broad tail, navy blue accents, collar and shoulder flaps, a red sash running diagonally over his left shoulder meeting a second red sash around his waist under a large blue belt, and navy-blue fingerless gloves that go up to his brachium. He also wore navy blue pants tucked into a pair of navy-blue thigh-high boots with steel toe and heel plating, a small pouch on the sides and kneepad detailing. He also had beaded necklaces around his neck and beaded bracelets around his right arm alongside two silver bands, one small, one large on his left forearm.
The fourth member was a young, dark-skinned man who wore an Atlesian Specialist uniform that consists of a white double-breasted coat with silver buttons, dark blue accents, collar, shoulder flaps with matching cuffs that have two silver buttons. He has a dark blue belt with a silver buckle around his waist with a dark blue pouch on the right side. He has a red ascot tied around his neck, and wore a red shirt under his coat. He also wore dark blue trousers tucked into his black knee-high boots. Peter couldn't be sure, but he was certain he saw a dog tail on the man too.
FInally, there was a dark-skinned young woman with platinum blonde and brown hair that was shaved at the sides. She wore a very short-sleeved Atlesian Specialist uniform that consisted of a sleeveless white double-breasted vest with silver buttons and dark blue accents. It has a white and dark blue collar, a dark blue short-sleeved t-shirt, a red tie and white shorts. She wore dark blue chaps that presumably connected to the tops of her shorts. The chaps expose the inner part of the thighs and the backs of her calves. She was also wearing blue fingerless gloves and dark gray trainers with black accents and a white stripe accompanied with red socks. She also has white calf pads and dark blue knee pads as well. There are also dark blue straps fastened around the top of her vest. The blonde portions of her hair are styled in a way that resembles a rabbit's ears.
"Not bad, team." The first man commented, presumably the leader, "But it seems we missed one." he and the other four looked up to Peter who was sticking to the side of the wall after he avoided the bolas. "Alright, who missed? Harriet? Marrow?" the dark-skinned girl with the partially shaved head and the dark-skinned man both stiffened up, "Which of you had the kid?"
"Hey, you know I'm, like, 19 right? I'm not exactly a kid." Peter called down.
"Hey pal, I'm a licensed Huntsman." Qrow grunted, "I just helped save everybody? And these kids are with me. Yes...even THAT one."
The leader looked at Qrow and grinned, "Grab their stuff." he said as he picked up Qrow's weapon, "Get them on the next transport. Harriet, Marrow, one of you clean up the mess."
"Hey, clownshow." Peter called as he jumped down, "Don't think I'll let you take my friends so easily. If you hurt them, I can assure you the only transport will be the one taking you to a hospital." Harriet, the girl, crouched down and Peter saw an aura form around her before she took off towards him at near blinding speeds. Spider Sense. Peter flipped to his left, narrowly avoiding getting shoulder rammed by the woman, "OH! Your semblance makes you a speedster. And your hair isn't ugly, it's done up to look like rabbit ears! Man, not bad there, Cinderace. Very clever use of motif. Gold star." he joked, giving a thumbs-up, "Still though, not nearly fast enough. Hope you have enough force to actually hurt me, otherwise you may end up breaking your legs."
"Peter, don't." Qrow called as the large lady lifted him to his feet.
"What?" Peter chuckled, "C'mon, quit messing around. I'll beat the snot out of these guys and get you out, easy peasy."
"Peter." Qrow said sternly, his expression as serious as Peter had ever seen it, "I know you and I haven't been getting along until recently, I know I've been an ass, and I definitely know you don't like listening to me. But this once...just listen to me and stand down. Please."
Peter stared dumbfounded at the older Huntsman, even letting out a laugh, "You're crazy. You really don't want me to do anything?" he looked at Qrow who kept the same expression and Peter could only bite his lip and chuckle, "Cuff 'im, boys." Peter replied in a 1950s radio accent as he held both his hands up in front of Harriet. The Special Operative cocked an eyebrow, unsure if Peter was being genuine. Hesitantly she whistled to Marrow who tossed her a pair of handcuffs which she caught and placed around Peter's wrists. "Not too tight, now. My arms are bigger than they look." Peter began regretting his decision almost immediately when he saw the leader pick up the lamp. Dammit, Qrow. You better know what you're talking about.
"What is the meaning of this!" Pietro yelled out as he and his chair came walking back when he realized the group was taking too long to return to the pharmacy, "What are the Ace Ops even doing down here in Mantle?"
"Ace Ops?" Ruby asked as she struggled in the wire.
"Doctor, good to see you." the leader replied, completely ignoring Ruby, "Well, you see, we received reports of an unauthorized ship making an unauthorized landing, followed by an unauthorized use of weapons by unlicensed huntsman. Also reports of a fugitive from the law, but we grabbed him already."
Maria nervously cleared her throat and adjusted her collar before leaving so she wasn't caught as well. Pietro sighed and tried pleading with the Ace Ops leader, "Look, i-if we could just talk this out, I'm sure that-"
"And I assure you, we'll talk this out once we get them up to Atlas. Now let's move out!" with that the Ace Ops left, and their prisoners were escorted via several Atlesian Knights and the larger woman to a transport car.
The group was loaded into the cramped back of the car gray transport ship, where they saw Deadpool and another man already sitting, "Yo." Deadpool said as he waved both his handcuffed hands.
"Sup." Peter replied with a head flick, "How'd they get you?"
"Eh, turns out hiding out in a bar in a suit as recognizable as mine, with a huge bounty on my head, is NOT as safe as I thought it would be." he scoffed, "What happened to honor among thieves? I never killed anyone (from Atlas)." he adjusted himself before looking at the group and chuckling, noticing only Maria somehow didn't get captured, "So...uh...how'd you guys get captured? I mean, I have an excuse, they got the drop on me. But you guys were on high alert, hell, Peter literally senses danger."
"I don't want to talk about it." Peter groaned.
"What, did your girlfriend talk you out of kicking their asses? 'Oh Peter, don't hurt them! You're a hero not a criminal.' Heheheh." Deadpool used his best 'girlie' sounding voice, causing Peter to chuckle, but shake his head all the same. "Oh? Was it Blake?"
"No."
"Ruby?"
"No."
"Jaune, Oscar, Weiss, fuuuuu—er...acking Nora?" Peter still shook his head. "God dammit, was it Qrow?" no response, "QROW? You listened to Qrow?! The hell is wrong with you?"
Weiss scoffed in offense, "Why was I so low?"
"You didn't say anything." Blake mentioned.
"Neither did you!"
Blake held up her cuffed hands in defense, "Oh, I know, I'm not saying I should have been that high. I was hoping Peter would beat the shit out of them."
"Because one of them was a dog faunus?" Nora asked with a chuckle.
"That's gotta be racist." Yang mumbled.
The group jumped when they heard a knock on the metal grate in front of them where the pilot and his co-pilot sat, "Shut up back there!" the co-pilot yelled out.
Qrow groaned and slammed his head against the wall behind him while Nora began to chew at her handcuffs to try and remove them, "Now this...this is what I expected when we got here."
Jaune shook his head in disappointment, not just at how they were treated, but how quickly they were all taken down. "Hey, Wade, what's the over-under on you freaky girlfriend pretending to be the pilot?" he asked hoping to change the subject.
"What did you call Neo?" Wade asked in a hostile tone, "Neo MY NEO? You talking a lot of mad shit for someone withing strangling distance!" Jaune yelped in surprise, "I can't believe you all would diss my girl like that, and for what? To make yourselves feel better for getting caught?"
Ren blinked a few times in astonishment, "Wade, what the actual hell are you talking about?"
"Well, I've had it!" Deadpool continued, "I'm so angry right now that I'm...I'M..." he took a deep breath through his nose before reaching in his pocket and pulling out a pair of square rimmed glasses and placing them over his mask, "What's with these homies dissing my girl? Why are they tryna front?~" he sang, causing Peter to burst out into laughter.
"HEY! I said shut up!" the co-pilot yelled again.
Deadpool looked at the co-pilot and then to Peter, "What did we eeever do to these guys, that made 'em so vio-lent~"
"Woo-hoo! And you know I'm yours~" Peter added, singing along.
"Woo-hoo! And you know you're miiine~" Deadpool continued before the duet sang together, "Woo-hoo! And that's for all of tiiiiime (that's for all of time)~" Deadpool then pointed to Peter to start off the chorus.
"Ooh wee ooh, I look just like Buddy Holly~" Peter then pointed to Deadpool.
"Oh oh, and I'm Mary Tyler Moore~" the two then finished together, "I don't care what they say about us anyway, I don't care about that!~"
Nora stopped biting at her hand cuffs and looked at the two with an amused grin, "Yang, sorry girl, but your boyfriend is in love with a man." she chuckled.
Yang only shrugged, "Honestly, I'm just surprised it isn't Jaune."
To be continued...
A/N: Here were are folks, we are so fucking back. I'm not looking forward to these volumes necessarily, so I will break the cardinal sin of Miguel O'Hera...Break Canon. And it'll be pretty obvious when it happens. What ramifications will occur? Who knows. Okay, we are back, time to get back in the swing of things for this fic, and watch the language more. Had to stop myself a few different times from going TOO far. Alright, see you next time.