NEW BEGINNINGS
YANG
Our reception to Atlas wasn't exactly best experience ever, but we've made it to Ironwood at least. There were a bit of confusion between the two sides, with us getting captured and the General's motives. The reunion too, wasn't really what we expected, especially between Winter and Weiss, but they both made up. The military even forgave us for stealing an airship. Things got a little crazier once our conversation in the General's office continued on.
"You told them?"
Qrow anxiously asked Ironwood, maybe even a little annoyed, as both Winter and Penny divulged information about the maidens and the relics to us. Yet another twist in our path. Hopefully, a good one.
"Did you really think you were the only one who got to work on a new plan after Beacon? WIth Ozpin gone, I needed my own team of people I could trust. So yes, I told them. The Ace-Ops too."
Ironwood calmly placed his hands behind his back and sighed. He looked at us with eagerness pouring out of his tired eyes, before speaking once more.
"Which is why I'm so glad you're here… with this. Until now, I believed it was impossible to truly turn the tide against Salem. Oz has pushed her back, has kept victory out of her claws, but she will keep returning stronger and stronger… unless we destroy her."
Ironwood explained to us why he was doing the embargo, why he recalled the military, and how he's bringing Amity Arena back up and refurbishing it as a world wide communications to tower to warn Salem- a plan he conducted since Ozpin's apparent death. Only he really isn't gone.
"He's not quite gone."
Uncle Qrow raised his hand and awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, as Ironwood looked at him with confusion.
"Uh... Oscar here is the next Ozpin."
Overjoyed, Ironwood lunged towards Oscar, squeezing him by his shoulders.
"OZ! I'm so glad you're here. I didn't think you-"
He yelled, but before he could finish what he was about to say, Oscar cut him off.
"Not quite... he's kind of, um, gone at the moment."
Ironwood's grip on Oscar loosened as he slowly composed himself, though his confusion about the whole thing was evident still, judging by the look on his face.
"That's not normal, how?"
The General asks.
Yeah, about that. On the way here, Ruby decided by herself what to do in this situation... on whether or not we should tell him about the secrets the lamp told us, that Salem can't be defeated. Not yet at least. Moment of truth, I guess. All eyes were on Ruby as we all anticipated what kind of direction she wanted this whole situation to go.
"We don't know."
Ruby swooped in between the two with a stoic face.
"We we're in a train crash, then all of a sudden... he's gone."
Ironwood closed his eyes in contemplation.
"That's the worst news yet. Did he tell you anything important about the relic before he disappeared?"
But again, Ruby chose to keep the truth away from him.
"Only that the lamp can only answer three questions every century, and that all the questions this era have been asked already."
Something about the way we're doing this seems a bit off, kind of sort of like how Ozpin did us dirty by hiding the truth away from us. So can you really blame us if our entire group is giving each other awkward stares. Still, Ironwood marched on.
"Ozpin told that us too, once a upon a time. Well... at least you're here safe in Atlas, Oscar. Maybe together we can figure out a way to bring Ozpin back."
Ironwood suddenly picks up the relic from his table and handed it out Ruby.
"You're giving it back to me?"
Ruby hooks the relic back to her belt, as she exchange looks of bewilderment with Oscar.
"After what happened with the Ace-Ops, I don't want you to think I'm keeping anything from you, especially something as important as this. For the time being, I think it's safest with the people who brought it here."
It kinda makes me feel bad... that Ironwood is trusting us this much only for us to return his trust with secrets. But I'll admit it's kind of hard to focus on all that when we have another matter we've yet to discuss, something Blake couldn't hold in anymore.
"Where's Ezra?"
She steps forward with a stern look on her face that's demanding an answer. Ironwood looked at Winter, as they both stare at each other, momentarily deciding which one of them will break the news to us. Winter took a deep breath before stepping forward. She raised her chest up high and straightened her back, trying her best to look as professional as possible.
"The fugitive known as Ezrael Snow, AKA OWL, partly responsibile for the Atlas Military Facility explosion three years ago and the Fall of Beacon have been taken into custody."
She was very particular in her choice of words. There were almost no room for us to argue since all those crimes that she said Ezra was involved in was true, but that didn't matter to Blake.
"Let him go."
She demanded once more, but neither Winter nor Ironwood relented.
"He's a wanted criminal, not just here in Atlas, but all over Remnant. Why are you still associating with him?"
Winter leaned forward and asked Weiss, who promptly put her head down before raising it back up with pride in her face.
"Because he's our friend, and we wouldn't be here without him."
Though that answer wasn't good enough for her. Before the two can break into an argument, Qrow stepped in.
"Look, look, look. I know this isn't the most ideal situation, but I can vouch for the kid. Back in Mistral, if he didn't show up, we all would have been dead and the relic would have been with Salem and not us."
Throughout it all, Ironwood and Winter stayed silent.
"I know how bad this kid's rap sheet is. Ozpin had me keeping tabs on OWL at one point, and the things he's done is just..."
Qrow's face soured, electing to drop the topic altogether.
"J-just forget it. Right now, you said it yourself, we need all the help we can get and he's one of them, James."
Ironwood sighed and nodded.
"Alright, but he's going to have to earn our trust. One false move and we'll have to... kill him."
Sounds a bit excessive.
"Kill?"
I ask, but Ironwood never faltered on his stance.
"Considering his previous stance on where this battle used to be and with all the information he's holding onto right now, kill doesn't really seem too much, don't you think? It's unfortunate that we'd have to resolve to it, and I hope we don't. I sincerely believe that he's the changed man that you claimed him to be, but you have to understand what's at stake here."
I beg to differ, but at least this conversation is slowly moving forward.
"Okay."
Blake sassily responded.
"But where is he?"
Meanwhile, in a jail cell in Atlas...
EZRA
Sweet, solitary confinement. I guess being one of the Remnant's most wanted has its perks. At least I don't have to share a jail cell with someone who hasn't had a shower in days... like me. I take it back, this blows. Although I will admit, a part of me was expecting to be locked in a cell with Forest. At least then, I can figure out what's happening with the Nest here.
"I wonder..."
As I wavered deep in to my thoughts, my cell door swung open and in came two Atleasian officers. They promptly put hand cuffs on me and escorted me to their interrogation room, and it was at this moment that I realized something peculiar about one of the guards. The female guard's hair is blue... if she is of Atleasian decent, then she's a Marigold- one of the wealthiest family in Atlas.
Before I can finish my train of thought, we arrived at the interrogation room with the two guards splitting up, officer Marigold heading in with me while the other moved into a different room. It wasn't something that I haven't been through before, being in an interrogation room I mean, I know how this goes by now. The officer in front of me asked the standard questions over and over again, like 'why are you here,' 'what are you doing in Atlas,' and 'who are you working for' kind of stuff for thirty minutes straight, a tactic to get you to slip up, but there's nothing to slip up about if you're only telling the truth... which is what I'm doing.
"Sorry if this is a bit tedious to you, I needed all that time for semblance to be really effective."
Out of nowhere, officer Marigold grinned at me.
"I was wondering why a Marigold was working for the Military... I mean, with all that money, you're right up there with the Schnees."
Officer Marigold crossed her legs and rested her chin on her hand while she chuckled.
"But I'm not with the military. I'm with the-"
"Nest."
I cut her off. She gently nodded her head and peaked at the camera behind us.
"We should be good now, my semblance lets me create a barrier around a small area that allows me to create an illusion of what have transpired within the area roughly up to thirty minutes ago."
That sounds...
"Useful."
But Marigold only snarked back.
"Not really, I have to be there for my semblance to work, so it's not like I can pick a random area and look into the past. The barrier itself has no mass to it, so I can't really defend myself. It's good if I forgot where I placed my keys, but not much else. If you ask me, May's semblance is way more practical... but that's neither here nor there. It won't be long before the guards catch on that the same questions are being asked over and over, even if it is just a routine interrogation, so we better wrap this up quick."
She waved her hand at me, urging me to ask this time around. Which is honestly a lot more practical.
"Where's Hathaway? If you can reach me, then she could have as well. What is the Nest doing up here?"
Marigold looked up for a second to think about her answer, then tilted her head down and looked me straight in the eye.
"You know better. Hathaway doesn't really like meddling with field work like that. She's old and hasn't really established herself as a citizen similar to Vale, not much connections between herself and the community. People will notice an old lady sitting down on her porch immediately in Atlas... or in Mantle. After what happened to Beacon, she's taken a more covert approach to all of our operations."
Doesn't make sense... and I feel like she's leaving out crucial information here.
"So, you obviously knew I was here before my group even arrived, otherwise, Forest would have never been in that containment ship. If grandmother really wanted things to be covert, why recklessly seek us like that?"
It wasn't hard to figure out based on what Marigold is saying that the Nest has, one: infiltrated Atlas security, and two: that they were the ones that snitched us out to the Ace Ops.
"Because you're outsiders, still pure, unbiased, and unaffected by the filth of Atlas politics. I bet you could tell right away the moment you entered the air space that something was off with the Kingdom right? It's because of the embargo and the rules Ironwood's been setting. After Beacon fell, it really makes sense to do all the things Ironwood's been doing but..."
It's too much...
"Too much power for one man."
Marigold nodded.
"Correct. That's why this coming election, the Nest are vying for Robyn Hill to succeed, take a seat away from Ironwood, but that's not really the issue here..."
Then what is?
"We've caught wind of something brewing here in Atlas, and it's coming from the top. Whether or not it's Ironwood, we don't know, but for sure, we know that it's within the military. Listen, no matter how great a Kingdom is, rats still live in their sewage systems, and as you know..."
I cut her off.
"Rats know everything... all that gunk gotta go somewhere."
Again she nodded.
"Precisely, and all those 'gunks' are a treasure trove of information. Only problem is, rats are being hunted down, strategically. Otherwise, people like Jacques Schnee and Amoncio Glass wouldn't be alive right now. It's really messing with the people of Mantle."
I see...
"The people of Mantle huh? You mean the Nest's business."
I scoff at her, but she was unfazed.
"The people are the business."
That much is true.
Who did they take out? Informants? Gangs?"
I ask.
"Yup, and the big leaguers as well... I'm talking about organized organized crime like mafias. Dead, but only the ones who don't have any connections at all with the military. You can't take out a big crime group like that without, well- an army."
Cool, Atlas is just as bad as the other Kingdoms, yeah I knew that... but...
"So, what do you want from me exactly?"
All of a sudden, the barrier around us began to flicker.
"Ugh, don't have much time. I'll cut it short for you then, a mission from Hathaway: 'I don't know what you're up to with your friends from Beacon, but those friends of yours have connections in high places. Places that us rats can't reach, but an owl can. Figure out what Ironwood wants with the underground.' Is all she left me."
Ah, typical, we haven't seen each other in months, and the first thing she asks of me when we haven't even seen each other yet, just in the same general area, is a mission.
"That's not much to go by but..."
I admit I have my doubts. I left that life behind me, and of course, grandmother doesn't know that just yet. I'd reject the offer if it wasn't for the fact that we're kind of banking on Ironwood to take care of the relic. If he's dirty, then there's no way we give the relic to him... or in this case, take it back from him.
"I'll do it."
With a big ol' smile, Marigold nodded and squarely placed her hands on the table as she deactivated her semblance.
"That's all the questions I have, special operative."
She gracefully stood up and made her way out the interrogation, swiftly trading places with a surprising guest: Winter Schnee.
"Ms. Schnee."
I greeted her, much to her annoyance.
"OWL. Let's go, you're free."
And with that, Winter whisked me away from the dark and poorly lit interrogation room.
A couple days later...
The team and the general back briefed me on what we needed to do to get Amity up running, and have instructed RWBY and JNPR to work along side the Ace Ops to secure the Amity launch site. I've been couped up with Dr. Polendina the past couple days, helping him with the modification with my suit.
"I've reinforced the armor, layering it with the finest Atleasian steel, strategically shredding of the excess metal around the joints for maximum range of motion and flexibility. I've also given it a bit of a new paint job. Out with the gray and black, and in with the white and bright blue color scheme... but don't worry, your stealth capabilities won't suffer. You see, this paint in particular loses its color when not exposed to any sort of light, the darker the area, the darker the color becomes."
I followed Dr. Polendina around his lab as he explained to me the mechanics of the new OWL armor I'm wearing. Watching him enthusiastically walk around like this is somehow very soothing.
"Oh, and I took the liberty of fixing your helmet up again, along with the modifications you requested with your sword and shield. I have to admit, jamming in those magnet mods on the shield and gauntlets were kind of tricky, but we've managed to pull it off."
I gently wrap my gauntlets around my arm and smiled back at him.
"Thank Doc."
He happily tips his hat and looked behind me, urging me to look back as well.
"Blake?"
Blake quickly ran up to me and gave me a hug. It's been a couple of days since we last seen each other. After the interrogation, Winter and Ironwood personally did another set interview and crossed referenced them with my team's story of what transpired in Mistral. It was extremely tedious, but I managed to convince them at least that I was instrumental in retrieving the lamp.
"How have you been?"
I ask as I ran my fingers over her hair.
"Tired. Worried. Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"
I kiss her gently on the forehead, as Dr. Polendina sneakily walked away.
"No, they treated me really well... I'm assuming that's because of you guys?"
Blake smiled and nodded.
"I'm glad you're okay. Say..."
"Yeah?"
She pulled back while still wrapping her hands around my waist.
"I heard you were a barber?"
She chuckled, as she skeptically raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah... I was undercover as a barber once, why?"
Blake looked down on her hair and contemplated for a second, before looking at me straight in the eye.
"Can you cut it for me? Like right around the chin?"
I quickly pulled up a chair and grabbed a pair of scissors and a set of combs from one of the doctor's supply boxes and urged her to sit down. I gently wrap a blanket around her neck as she sat down, letting it drape over her entire body. I placed my hand on her shoulders, massaging them for a bit before leaning down and asked.
"Any particular reason why you wanna cut it?"
Blake looked down with a smile, then when she lifts it back up to look at herself in the mirror in front of us, her smile faded away...
"It's a start of something new... after Adam I mean... I want to move on from the me that was, to the me I'm trying to figure out."
I- what does she mean by that?
"Right here? Chin length?
She nodded, patiently waiting for me as I worked to cut as accurately and neatly as I can.
"Blake, something you wanna tell me?"
She fell silent for a second, as I finished up her haircut.
"I- I'm just trying to put things into perspective. All this time, I've been leaning on somebody... my parents, Adam, Yang... you. Never in my life have I ever done something and saw through it by myself. I'm trying to find who I really am, without any support from anybody, and I don't know if I'm doing that when you're around. With you."
What?
"Blake what do you mean? Are you...?"
Blake quickly dismissed the idea before it can even form in my head, sort of.
"NO! Absolutely not... maybe, I don't know, Ezra."
Before we hash it all out, Yang popped in with a big smile on her face.
"YO! It's go time, Ace Ops waiting on- is this a bad time?"
But just before I can say anything, Blake stood up and smiled.
"No, everything's alright! Just peachy. Let's go, Ezra, wouldn't want to be late on our first mission."
Blake quickly stormed off, running past Yang who was dazed and confused.
"You said something off to her or...?"
Was all she could ask, to which I could do nothing but shrug my shoulders in response... still, something about the things she said had me worried. Something about it feels really distant. Unfortunately, there was no time for me to really think about it, as we were all getting ready to go to the launch site for Amity arena. The teams were seperated into two: RWBY and JNPR- I went with JNPR.
All the while, I couldn't think of anything other than what Blake had just said, and it took Jaune yanking my shoulder to bring me back to my senses.
"Everything alright?"
Jaune asks.
"Y-yeah..."
I lied as I don my new OWL mask on.
"I will be."
I look to my side, only to see Jaune, Ren, and Nora smiling back, and projecting a warm feeling of belonginess that I've only ever felt with Team RWBY before. Sometimes I forget whenever my past crawls back and haunts me that whenever I don this mask, I feel like the old me is coming out, because deep down, I still feel like I don't deserve this new life I've been given.
New... RWBEY, huh? Funny I did tell Ruby back in Beacon that that acronym would never work out. For me to fit into JNPR was another surprise. Maybe in order for me to truly move on, I'd have to accept the fact that my time with Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang have ended, and I'm no longer part of their team. Jaune and them- they're my new family now.
"Jaune..."
I whispered.
"Yeah?"
I pull on his arm, along with Ren and Nora's and forced them into a hug.
"Thank you."
Surprised, the three of them looked at each other before returning my hug as tightly as they could.
"We know."
WEISS
I'll admit, going through these grimm infested tunnel was not something I would have seen myself doing when I was younger, yet here I am, marching along without a care in the world. At least my friends are here with me... well, except for Ezra and Jaune.
Jaune? Jaune? Why did he suddenly pop into my head?
"Weiss..."
I mean Ezra I can understand, as annoying as he is, he's still my friend. He did save us...
"Weiss..."
But not like Jaune, he saved me, saved me.
"Weeeiiiiss..."
I literally owe my life to him, and have I done enough to show my gratitude to him?
"Weiss...!"
Hmmm... I don't think I have, but- okay, again, why am I thinking about Jaune now?
"WEISS!"
All of a sudden, Ruby popped out of nowhere in front of me.
"GYAAAAH! RUBY! Stop yelling we're in a cave!"
I can still hear echoes ringing through my head, especially Yang's laughter. She placed her hands on her hips as she slowed her laughter down into a chuckle.
"We've been calling out to you this entire time."
Have they really?
"Got something in your mind?"
Blake asks.
"Well... not really, I mean it's just-"
Yang cut me off.
"Jaune?"
H-how?
"OOOOH, she's blushing! Right on the money."
Yang teases, while Blake chuckled in the opposite corner.
"W-what! Ugh, no!"
Even Ruby hopped in to tease me.
"You can stop lying, it's pretty obvious."
No! No! NO!
"It is so not!"
I argued, but Blake chimed in.
"Yeah it has been, you talk about Jaune every other sentence lately..."
Yang shrugged her shoulders while her and Blake looked at each other.
"He did have a big ol' crush on you back in Beacon, maybe he still do-"
I cut her off.
"It's not like that! Jaune saved my life, and I was just thinking I haven't thanked him properly... I swear. It's not-"
Like that... or, maybe it is.
...
A/N: Slowing down chapter releases to every two weeks till I finish up the drafts till the end of Volume 9