The class, filled to the brim with talking teenagers, fell to a hush as Glynda Goodwitch walked into the room and glared at them. They waited with baited breath as Glynda adjusted her glasses and cleared her throat.
"Good afternoon, class. I have a special treat for all of you today," she announced, a small smile on her face.
Cardin nudged his teammate. "Bet it's another hellish training course. I can't go through another one of those."
"Because you nearly failed it the last time?" Dove asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Shut the fuck up."
"We have two visitors today- two professional Huntsmen hailing from Atlas." Glynda turned to the open door and the visitors stepped forward. Ruby, Kevin, and Kylie perked up- the first guest was Winter Schnee, Weiss' sister. Her face was stern and her eyes were calculating as she scanned the group of students before her.
The second 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; ornate detailing shaped in the form of wishbones; a broad tail with red lining; and a four-leaf clover pin on the lapel. His belt even had a rabbit's foot keychain hanging off it. The man also wore white pants and covered his hands with brown fingerless gloves.
"Class, give a warm welcome to Winter Schnee and Clover Ebi," Glynda announced. The class gave some lukewarm 'hey's and 'nice to meet you'. "How about you two explain your work?"
"Of course." Winter smiled, stepping forward. "As a member of the Special Operatives Unit, I take my job with the utmost respect. All my assignments are top priority-" She paused, thinking back to a more recent babysitting assignment.
...Maybe not the best choice of words.
"The general expects the best from us, and I shall not disappoint him," Winter finished.
"I'm also in General Ironwood's inner circle," Clover said- the class could tell he was more relaxed and easy going than the strict and formal Winter. "I'm one of the top graduates of Atlas Academy. I lead a group of people similar to me, called the Ace-Ops. We handle the cases kids like you couldn't even dream of handling."
As Clover and Winter went into more detail, Kevin rolled his eyes and quietly scoffed.
"What's wrong?" Ruby asked quietly. They may have been near the back of the room, but it was better to be safe than sorry in Glynda's class. "Bored out of your mind?"
"When is he not?" Kylie playfully ribbed.
"It's not that," Kevin muttered. "I know what this is."
Ruby tilted her head. "Really? What is it?"
"Military recruitment," Kevin explained. "They're overhyping their jobs- these guys are specialists. Enlistees are less likely to be on the field than these guys. While serving in the military will prepare you for a job in any Special Forces program, getting into the field is nigh fucking impossible."
"...now that you mention it, yeah," Ruby noted, rubbing her chin.
"This does seem like the typical high school 'you have no future' kind of thing. Hell, my school back in Bellwood did this same crap. Doesn't the Atlas military have like, 15,000 members?" Kylie asked.
"It's a numbers game, pure and simple," Kevin went on. "The bigger your military is, the more discouraging it is for others to attack you."
"Dude, you're hitting the nail on the head," a voice from behind said.
The three of them turned to see a Hispanic kid around their age- he wore a red jacket with orange bands, a white shirt, black jeans, and goggles over his spiky black hair.
"Military sucks total ass," the boy said. "They tend to target kids in poorer neighborhoods, the kind where there isn't a lot to eat at home and your future job prospects are bleak. They lure you in with cool mission stories and hook you on job security, high pay, three guaranteed meals a day, and warm bed each night. They deliberately omit the emotional and physical trauma, the corruption in the military, the fact that, if you don't stay until you can legally retire, the military will cut you off and leave you destitute..."
"...I'm sorry, who are you?" Kylie asked.
The boy smirked. "Just someone who's looking in."
Glynda loudly cleared her throat. "May I ask what you two are discussing?" Ruby and Kevin panicked as they turned around- Glynda did not look amused, neither did Winter. Clover just laughed it off.
"No need to be so harsh, Glynda. I understand these things aren't for everyone," Clover said. "I see a lot of apathetic faces out there. You have these strangers showing up out of nowhere, here to talk about something you're probably not even remotely interested in. Let's just skip to the fun part."
Winter nodded in agreement. "We want all of you to get out your weapons."
Kevin raised an eyebrow. "What for?"
"Simple." Clover grinned. "You're going to attack us."
"...come again?" Ruby asked flatly.
"We want you to feel the full weight of our experiences firsthand," Winter explained. "A demonstration of what you could be if you meet your full potential."
Kevin smirked as Doppler popped up from his wrist. "Here I am, your weapon...nothing more..."
Kevin, Kylie, and Ruby said nothing.
"What, no sympathy?"
"You're fishing for compliments in a pool, Doppler," Kevin huffed. "You're gonna catch jackshit."
Cardin gave Kevin a weird look. "Did you just talk to your wrist?"
"And you don't, dickface?" Kevin shot back.
Glynda narrowed her eyes. "Need I remind you, Mr. Levin, that profanity is not permitted during school hours."
Kevin sighed. "Sorry, Miss Goodwitch." Cardin beamed triumphantly- finally, some proper justice!
"Squeaky wheel has to get that grease some time," Kylie scoffed, rolling her eyes.
Winter and Clover walked over to the other side of the training grounds. "I always feel bad about this part," he admitted. "It's like sending a tank to take care of a mugger."
"These kids have to learn the truth sometime," Winter said, brandishing her weapon- a sabre, similar to Weiss's own weapon. "This is how you taught me, isn't it? Praise isn't always the best way to instruct someone."
"Gotta break some spirits to make a lesson stand out," Clover said, pulling out his weapon- a fishing rod. A few kids laughed at it.
Clover decided they'd be the first ones to go down.
The class pulled out their weapons and leered at their opponents. Kevin looked around for that one anti-military kid, he seemed to have a clear opinion, well, everything. So, why wasn't he one of the first people to be on the field?
"Hey, check it out," Kylie said, gesturing to the bleachers. Glynda was sitting with the goggles kid. She had her clipboard and pen ready to take notes, while Goggles laid back and relaxed.
"What the hell?" Kevin sputtered. "What's he doing up there?"
"Eh, screw that guy," Ruby said, reloading her weapon. Kevin took note of her serious expression and exaggerated grip on Crescent Rose.
"Hey, Ruby, you good?" Kylie asked as she literally tuned up her weapon.
"Huh?" She blinked. "Oh, yeah. Just getting in the mood. How could I turn down a chance like this? A chance to go toe to toe with some professionals...and see how far I've still got to go."
Kevin grinned as his arms were coated in crystals. "Now that's something I can get behind. So, how about we have some fun?"
Winter pointed her weapon at the class. "Come at us!"
As one the students charged, ready to show off what they'd learned so far at Beacon. Kevin and Kylie would've joined had Ruby not put an arm out.
"Hold on," she cautioned. "Something's up."
Winter surveyed the wave of students coming at her and plunged her weapon into the ground. A sheet of ice covered the field within seconds, causing students at the front to stumble and fall. Those behind them tripped over their bodies and fell to the ground in heaps.
Goggles chuckled. "Yeesh, that's the easiest trick to fall for. Are you sure you're teaching these kids right-"
Glynda simply pointed her riding crop at him. "Mr. Salazar, I will not hesitate to use my powers to hold your tongue."
Rex turned sheet white. "Sorry."
Clover cast his fishing line up high, having it wrap around one of the students who'd managed to stand up. He swung them around a bit before tossing them at a group of students. The numbers of students were slowly but surely thinning.
Cardin ran up, ready to press his luck against Winter. He prepared to take a good swing at her, but she simply summoned a glyph in front of her-
And a giant, white, furry arm suddenly shot out, grabbing Cardin by the neck. The monster stepped out of the Glyph- it was a very large, white Beowulf. Cardin dropped his weapon as he tried to pry himself from the monster's iron grip.
"What the hell is this-?!" he grunted.
"Proof of my abilities," Winter said calmly. The Beowulf threw Cardin across the field, making him slide on the ice. He tried to stand back up, but Winter swiped her sword diagonally- four glyphs popped up, and something shot out of them. They soared across the field, colliding with the dawdlers who hadn't been picked off by Clover. Dozens of auras shattered within seconds, and Cardin had been hit so much he had ended up crash landing on some of the bleachers.
"That's a high kill streak," Rex commented from the stands. "Is that all of them?"
"No, actually," Glynda said. Her gaze went to Ruby, Kevin, and Kylie, who hadn't moved from where they started.
"Sticking to the back, huh?" Rex mused. "Seems like they're more sensible than their classmates. I'm interested to see where this goes."
Kylie looked over to the bleachers, where Cardin still was. "Alright, he serves as our example of what not to do," she noted.
"He always does," Kevin said casually.
"Alright, I'll take care of Clover. You two take care of Winter," Ruby ordered, changing her weapon to its scythe mode. She jumped up before propelling herself through the air.
Clover grinned. "Finally, someone who's thinking." He cast his line again- it wrapped around a steel beam and he jumped into the air, the line pulling him up.
Winter turned her attention to Kylie and Kevin, one of which was making a mad dash towards her. Winter decided to close the distance, disappearing and reappearing in front of him. Winter swung her weapon around just as Kevin raised his arms to block.
The blow from the attack caused Kevin to slide back and gain some distance. Kevin held out his hands and shot shards from his palms. Winter deflected a few with her sword, and Kevin decided to change it up-
The crystal shards suddenly burst into flames. Her eyes wide, Winter quickly summoned a glyph in front of her. The flames hit the glyph and came out the other side as a nice breeze that helped Winter cool off.
Kylie slid in from behind, using the ice to her advantage, and striking Winter with her axe. The attack was strong enough to throw Winter off of her rhythm.
Kevin stopped the attack, his weaponry changing again- two thorny plant tendrils appeared in his hands, and he whipped them around, sending up chunks of ice into the air that sliced through Winter's aura. She couldn't defend herself against all of them- they were too quick, too unruly to tame, and the ice clouded her vision-
But even with all that, Kevin was full of openings. This hyper offensive technique had no way to guard his person. Winter endured the pain as Kevin's attack slowed, his arms tired. As soon as the attack ceased, she struck- a second rapier, shorter than the first, popped out of her main weapon. She charged through the icd cloud, shredding the vines into pieces-
And released a powerful, icy thrust of both her rapiers, encasing Kevin in ice. She then turned to Kylie and brushed aside some hair.
"Miss Dombrowski," she stated, returning the second rapier to the main one. "Just because you're Weiss' friend doesn't mean I will go easy on you."
Kylie smirked as she pulled True Rebel's violin strings out of the tail piece, creating a pseudo axe whip. "Naturally."
Winter and Weiss shared a similar fighting style, right? Kylie just had to predict Winter's moves that she presumably taught Weiss. Easy.
...wrong.
A line of Glyphs created a path that led Winter right to Kylie- she sped on over and immediately started stabbing. Kylie tried to block the strikes with her axe, but it wasn't much of a shield. The shield role was delegated to the violin case.
Kylie took some deep breaths. She just had to time this right. Kylie felt a stab coming right for her chest-
And Kylie turned her body into pure gas, letting the blade pass right through her.
She swung her weapon around and bashed Winter's torso, sending her skidding back on the ice.
Winter smirked. "You and your brother certainly have that 'underhanded' tactic down."
"It works better for me. People assume I'm the nice one." Kylie grinned as she threw her axe in a sideways parabolic arc. The weapon swung around Winter's person and easily ensnared her. Kylie gripped onto the wire and pulled back, tightening her victim's binds. She quickly pulled out her pistol and fired some plant Dust bullets that struck Winter, causing vine-like tendrils to wrap around her.
"Cute," Winter noted as she pointed her weapon near Kylie's feet. A glyph formed, and a massive white Beowulf popped out, catching Kylie off guard. She fell back, releasing her grip on True Rebel's wires and giving Winter a chance to free herself. Kylie shot at the Beowulf's chest, causing it to dissipate.
Winter stabbed her sword into the ground, causing massive spikes of ice to shoot out. Kylie moved to the side and created more gas to blindside her opponent- and so she could try another sneak attack. Winter's blade stayed close to her person, as she could hear Kylie awkwardly stumble around- that ice was still challenging for her to maneuver.
Winter rolled her eyes. "Best not to waste any more time." She created a dome-like glyph around herself, and an omni directional scattershot of tiny Nevermore shot out, not only clearing the gas, but also striking Kylie down. Each Nevermore hit with the force and recoil of a bullet, and Kylie was sent flying back into a wall, her aura completely broken.
"So many...pretty little birdies..." Kylie said, dazed and confused.
Ruby, meanwhile, barely had time to recover. Clover was a lot quicker in the air than he was on the ground, and he swung around and swiped at Ruby with graceful ease. Ruby phased through all of his attacks, but her aura was running on low. And while aerial attacks were her forte, Ruby still couldn't land an attack when she didn't have the proper footing to launch it.
Ruby quickly clung to a wall to catch her breath. Clover retracted his weapon as he fell to the ground. Ruby gasped, wondering if this was a part of his technique- and thankfully, it was. He landed perfectly on the ground, right on his feet.
"...how?" Ruby gasped. Clover, showboating a bit, took a bow.
"You're good, kid," he complimented, just as Ruby landed on the ground. "I haven't had a workout like that in a while."
Ruby didn't respond. She jumped up in the air, spinning around as she aimed right at Clover. He swung his line around and stepped to the side. The line tangled with the Crescent Rose, and Ruby lost her grip on her weapon. Soaring across the room, she landed on a wall and then jumped down.
Clover held the Crescent Rose, eyeing it appraisingly. "Always did like scythes. What's this thing made out of?"
"Uh, carbon," Ruby said, arching an eyebrow. "It doesn't hit as hard, but it doesn't affect my Semblance too much either."
"Impressive," Clover complimented, setting it to the side. "Shame you gotta go through me to get it."
Ruby grinned, a glint in her eyes. "Try me." Her cloak covering her completely, she charged at Clover at her fastest speed yet. Clover blinked, and Ruby spear kicked him in the chest- she was heavier than she looked and was running at race car speeds, which made any strike feel like getting hit with iron. Ruby jumped off of his chest, ready to grab her weapon-
But she suddenly crashed to the floor, unable to use her speed. Ruby groaned, her chin hurting from the impact- at least she had some ice on hand to help with any bruising.
Clover groaned as he stood back up. "Surprised you aren't using a leg based weapon- that hurt," he chuckled. Ruby tried to get back up. "I wouldn't do that, kid- might wanna look at your legs."
Ruby looked behind her to see a strange contraption wrapped around her ankles. They resembled some kind of bolas.
"Anti aura weapons," Clover explained. "Standard Specialist tech. Very hard to break through."
Ruby shifted her ankles against the bolas and paused. "Titanium wire? Niiiiice."
"Oh, yeah, comes in handy," Clover commented as he unlocked it. "I think that's a good workout for all of us...plus, I think that kid needs to be defrosted."
Clover motioned over to Kevin, who was still stuck in ice.
"I'll get the chisel," Ruby sighed, grabbing her weapon.
Kevin shivered, clutching onto the makeshift blanket (aka Ruby's cloak). "Why didn't you free me from the ice?!" Kevin snapped, shaking his wrist violently.
"THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR TELLING ME I'M USELESS!" Doppler screamed. Kylie was still trying to recover from her dizzy spell, so she just squished Doppler's tiny head to shut him up.
Ruby groaned- her legs were killing her, and she still had an aching chin. She quickly pressed some ice to the swelling.
A hand offered her a bottle of water. "Good hustle out there." Ruby looked up to see the Goggles smiling down at her.
"Thanks," she mumbled, taking the bottle. He walked on over and offered Kevin one, but the boy just frowned.
"I'm gonna need something warmer than this," Kevin pointed out, handing the water bottle to Kylie.
"Ah, thanks. I'll save this for later," Kylie said, still glaring at Doppler.
Goggles grinned. "Ah, hold on." He walked over to a nearby coffee vending machine. He grabbed a cup and sifted around for something in his pockets. He huffed. "Great, out of change...oh well."
What happened next was weird, even by Zeta and RWBY standards- the boy placed his hand on the machine, and strange blue lines appeared on his hands, which immediately slid to the vending machine. The machine hummed quietly, and coffee quickly ran down into the cup. Ruby, Kylie, and Kevin shared a bewildered look as Goggles handed Kevin the coffee.
"You guys gave them a run for their money. I like that," he said sincerely.
"So, why weren't you out there earlier?" Kevin said, wrapping his hands around the warm cup.
"Me?" The boy pointed to himself. "I'd get in trouble for attacking a superior officer."
"Wait, wha-?" Ruby asked, but she wouldn't get an answer.
"Rex! We're taking off! Come on!" Clover called out, and the boy perked up.
"Ah, shit- well, whatever. Nice meeting you guys! Best of luck!" Rex said, running off.
"...who the fuck was that kid?" Kylie asked as soon as Rex was out of earshot.
"That was weird," Doppler said. "Now, uh, no hard feelings, right?"
Kevin glared down at him. "Ruby. Hold him down."
"Huh?"
"You're gonna get fucking water boarded, you silver piece of shit-" Kylie yelled as she pulled out her water bottle. Ruby clasped her hands around Doppler, and he screamed-