Author's note: Now we're getting to the mine. Yay.
Also, some things will be different than in the show. Just small things, though, nothing major. For the most part.
Trigger warning at the bottom.
On the day Amity Colosseum was scheduled to arrive in Atlas, Team RWBY, Harriet and Marrow landed in front of the mine they were supposed to clear out. Ruby had left the relic with Oscar for safekeeping, and he and Maria would make sure it was safe. Jaune, Ren, Nora, Elm and Vine landed at another location, and Qrow and Clover were also in position. Clover reminded everyone to let them know if they encountered the target, an old and powerful Geist that had already taken out several Atlas military huntsmen. Blake took out her new scroll to check her team's aura levels and saw that Ruby was at ninety-eight percent, Weiss at ninety-six percent, and Yang at ninety-seven percent, while she herself was still at one hundred percent. She collapsed her scroll and looked up, noticing that Yang was staring at her. Yang looked from side to side before realizing that Blake was looking at her.
"Sorry, just not used to the new hairstyle," Yang said.
"Is it… bad?" Blake asked.
"No! No, it's good, great even," Yang answered. Harriet and Marrow watched from some distance.
"Man, I did not sign up to be a babysitter," Marrow said.
"Well, the rest of us have to babysit you all the time," Harriet said and walked away. Marrow huffed, crossed his arms and followed her, but walked somewhere else after a few steps. Ruby crossed her arms and shivered a little.
"It's freezing out here," Ruby said.
"Without protective clothing or an active aura, the cold can kill you in hours," Weiss explained.
"It's not so bad," Sirena said, and the group spotted her sitting on a metal pipe.
"Sirena," Ruby said somewhat cheerfully, walked over to her and asked, "Wait, how did you get here?"
"I walked," Sirena answered, "I'm sure I told you."
"I though you said you wanted to walk around in Atlas," Ruby said.
"The kingdom, yes," Sirena said. She got up from the pipe, noticed a small cut on her hand and activated her aura to heal it.
"How are you not dead?" Harriet asked.
"Because it is my duty to protect people," Sirena answered, "And I can't do that if I allow myself to get hurt or killed."
"Yeah, right," Harriet said sarcastically, "The fire of your righteous fury kept you warm through the coldest place in the world."
"That, and my ancestors adapted to surviving in the deep sea," Sirena said, "It is much colder than this, and my skin perfectly insulates against heat, only letting out excess heat no matter the surrounding temperatures."
"In any case, we should get going now," Harriet said.
"One more thing though," Sirena said and asked, "Are you sure you covered everything important?"
"Yes," Harriet answered, "Mission parameters are clear, the mine is mapped out and the map is up to date, and everyone is on their position. But we need to get going now."
"Are you really sure you're not forgetting anything important?" Sirena asked.
"Yes, I am sure," Harriet answered, getting slightly agitated.
"Well, alright then," Sirena said, "Though, my people do things a little different, and I believe our way could help you as well."
"We'll be fine," Harriet said, fairly annoyed at Sirena. She contacted Clover to let him know that they were ready, and all three teams entered the mine.
~o~
After entering the mine, Ruby and her group found themselves at a dead end caused by a cave-in, and Blake looked around.
"You ok?" Yang asked.
"I just realized where we are," Blake answered, "This mine was closed after an explosion. The one that killed Ilia's parents." Weiss walked up to her.
"I remember that disaster. Or rather, how furious it made my father," Weiss said, "I wish I could take back all those years of pain my family caused the faunus, and my complacency in it."
"It's… it's fine," Blake said, "We can't change the past, but we can build a better future." Marrow walked up to them.
"You know, society is set up for faunus to be at the bottom," Marrow said, "And the humans are willing participants. Most simply don't care, but there are still those that actively abuse us. In any case, Harriet found a crack someone small might fit through. Ideally someone with a knack for seeing in the dark." Marrow looked at Blake.
"Of course," Blake said and walked over to the blockage. Harriet showed her the crack and Blake squeezed through, drawing her katana once she had enough room to do so.
~o~
In the night of the third day before Amity Colosseum was scheduled to arrive in Atlas, Ruby entered her soul core and went over to Sirena's. As she approached the castle, she noticed a new connection from Sirena's soul core, and saw Maria, who seemed understandably confused by everything. They entered the castle and met with Sirena in a room with a round table in the middle, and sat down. The room was simple, with walls made of large dark gray stone bricks, stained glass windows, and banners hanging on the walls. It had a large red rug in the middle, with the table standing on the rug. It was a simple oak wood table, with a single ornate leg in the center. The chairs were also made from oak wood, and somewhat ornate.
"Not to sound rude, but why are we here again?" Ruby asked.
"I'll admit, I'm a bit curious, too," Maria said.
"I have a plan to stop Salem," Sirena answered, "Permanently."
"But… I thought she can't be killed," Ruby said.
"Who said anything about killing her?" Sirena asked and said, "We just need to strip her of her power. Then she will be harmless."
"How do we do that?" Maria asked.
"Niob is already working on something," Sirena answered, "In the meantime, we have to make sure she can't recruit anyone else."
"How?" Ruby asked and said, "I mean, so many people fall for her lies, it's impossible to keep everyone safe from her."
"Lucky for you, I don't care," Sirena said, mimicking Ruby's voice.
"Very funny," Ruby said and asked, "But really, how do we keep the people safe?"
"It's simple," Sirena said with her normal voice, "The New Light protocol."
"What's that?" Ruby asked, and she and Maria leaned in closer. Sirena smiled confidently, then began explaining her plan.
~o~
Qrow and Clover were walking through the frozen tunnels after the Geist escaped them, when Qrow suddenly felt like an evil presence was watching them. Clover's shadow grinned at him and rushed over to a wall. Qrow instinctively shot it, hitting the lights and causing the electricity in the area to go out.
"What was that for?" Clover asked.
"Sorry, I thought I saw something," Qrow answered. He pulled out a signal flare and lit it, covering the area in a red glow.
"At least you came prepared," Clover said and asked, "But why bring a flare to a mission like this?"
"Side-effect of my semblance," Qrow answered, "I have a kind of sixth sense that helps me figure out what can go wrong in any possible situation, and since it likely goes wrong when I'm around, I come prepared."
"Good to know," a deep demonic voice said, and a pair of large red eyes appeared on the wall behind Clover. He turned around and jumped back in shock.
"W- what is that?" Clover asked. The eyes moved along the floor and positioned themselves behind Clover, who looked up and backed away from the wall again, drawing his weapon.
"So rude," the voice said, "It must truly be your luck that you got this far. But it is... a curse. When it runs out, when the world no longer bends... and changes... to accommodate you... and to make you look good, you will be left... with nothing."
"Y- you talk like it can run out," Clover said, trying to sound confident. The voice chuckled.
"Poor, naive, innocent little boy," the voice said, "Everyone's luck runs out... one day."
"Niob, what do you want?" Qrow asked, more annoyed than anything.
"Wait, Niob?" Clover asked, "Niob Bolt?"
"Clover, let me talk to him," Qrow said and asked, "Niob, why are you here?"
"I just came... to warn you," Niob answered, still using his deep demonic voice, "To tell you something very... important."
"And what?" Qrow asked.
"Fear... her," Niob answered.
"Who? Salem?" Qrow asked.
"No," Niob answered, chuckled and said, "The one who knows... what none must know. The one who knows... my semblance. The one I fear." Qrow stepped back in surprise.
"What?" Qrow asked, "Who are you afraid of?"
"She who needs no guidance," Niob answered, "A weapon... powerful beyond belief."
"Who are you talking about?!" Qrow asked. His voice echoed through the tunnels, and the eyes disappeared. The duo heard a low and rumbling laughter for a few seconds, then everything was quiet.
"Are… you alright?" Clover asked and said, "That sure was freaky, but at least it's over."
"Yeah right," Qrow said sarcastically, "It's only just begun. We need to find out who he's afraid of, and then ask her what his semblance is."
"Didn't we just see it in action?" Clover asked.
"Probably not," Qrow answered, "With all the vastly different reports on what his semblance does, it's actually more likely that he has multiple."
"How can a person have multiple semblances?" Clover asked.
"I don't-" Qrow began to answer, but stopped when came to a shocking realization.
"What is it?" Clover asked.
"Grimm fear him," Qrow answered, "He also wears colored contact lenses. I… I need to talk to Sirena. Let's hurry." The duo continued through the tunnels, heading towards the central chamber.
~o~
After Sirena was done explaining her plan, the New Light protocol, both Ruby and Maria took a while to take it all in. They leaned back in their chairs and looked at each other to see how the other thought about it.
"Sounds like a plan," Ruby said and asked, "But… is it legal?"
"It's not illegal," Sirena answered.
"I know," Ruby said and asked, "But, if there were laws on this sort of thing, what would they be?"
"Hard to tell," Maria answered, "Generally speaking though, as with all legal questions, it depends."
"I mean, on one hand," Ruby said, "We'd be brainwashing people, and rewriting their personality."
"True," Maria said, "But they would be better at fighting Grimm, and the next generation would be stronger as well."
"Also, they can figure it out themselves," Sirena added, "And if not, then their friends would likely notice something."
"There are just too many variables," Maria said, "We'd need an alternate timeline, or something like that, to get a clearer answer."
"That reminds me," Ruby said, "I need your help with something, Sirena. Just some input, nothing too big. I already have a goal in mind, I'd just need your advice because, well, you're the better strategist."
"I'll see how I can help," Sirena said. Ruby began explaining her plan, and some bonus information, and Sirena and Maria listened intently.
~o~
Team RWBY, Harriet and Marrow had just fought off several Centinel, while Sirena just watched from the sidelines. Harriet walked back to the group after killing the last one, and Ruby walked over to her.
"Your semblance makes you super fast, just like me," Ruby said and added, "Well, almost like me. There's something else going on, I think, but it's close enough."
"Alright then. But, based on your reaction time, I'd say I'm a little bit faster," Harriet said with a wink. A chunk of ice fell on her head, and Sirena sat down.
"Sirena, what's wrong?" Ruby asked.
"Nothing, I just need to check something," Sirena answered, "I'll be back soon." She closed her eyes and retreated into her soul core.
"Does she do that often?" Harriet asked, looking at Ruby. Instead of answering, Ruby just shrugged.
"What do we do now?" Marrow asked.
"We should probably wait," Ruby answered, "Just to be safe."
"Why?" Harriet asked and said, "She didn't contribute anything to the fight earlier."
"Because she didn't need to," Ruby said, "She knew that my team and I could handle this ourselves, so she didn't interfere." Sirena opened her eyes again and stood up.
"Harriet, you have to leave," Sirena said in a serious tone.
"Why? You think I can't handle this mission?" Harriet asked.
"You are in danger," Sirena answered, "I don't care if you like me, but if you go on, terrible things will happen to you."
"Please, I can handle it," Harriet said.
"If you insist," Sirena said, "But I won't protect you."
"I never asked you to," Harriet said and walked further into the cave, followed by the rest of the group. Ruby nervously looked at both Harriet and Marrow, then to Sirena.
~o~
After Ruby finished explaining her plan, Sirena and Maria needed a while to process all this new information. Sirena leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms behind her head.
"It sounds solid," Sirena said.
"Anything you'd like to add?" Ruby asked, desperate for some input from a professional.
"Why would you want to do that?" Maria asked.
"Because he hurt my friend," Ruby answered, "And noone does that and gets away unscathed."
"I can probably help move things along," Sirena said, "A little Emphatic Beacon here, a small Suggestion there, and we're good."
"Anything else?" Ruby asked, "I'm not missing anything, am I?"
"How do you want to make sure he goes to the mines?" Maria asked.
"Don't worry, I've got this," Sirena answered, turned to Ruby and said, "Just make James ask you to let him experience the sorrow I felt when talking about my people. The rest will be up to me."
"Are you sure?" Ruby asked and said, "I mean, it's a lot to take in."
"Just give him a small dosage," Sirena answered, "Half a percent should do the trick just fine. Especially if I reverse his semblance."
"His semblance?" Ruby asked, tilting her head a little.
"You can reverse semblances?" Maria asked.
"Yes, I can," Sirena answered, "It's the only one I can use alongside another one, and only through lots of training. If a semblance has no reverse effect, it just gets deactivated. As for James' semblance, it's the root of all our problems. But once Ruby makes him experience my pain, I'll use one of mine to permanently override it, and then we're safe."
"Wait, hold up," Ruby said in shock, "We never agreed to go that far."
"Ruby, you saw what he did," Sirena said, "If we don't do that, he'll become our enemy in this timeline as well, and I don't need another video to know that we'll all regret it if we let him keep doing whatever he wants."
"I know," Ruby said, "But… I don't feel right making his semblance useless like that. It goes against everything I know about semblances."
"Ruby, listen," Sirena said softly, "I'm on your side. I know it may not look like it all the time, but everything I do is to protect the people of this world. I hate doing that as much as you do, but after what we saw on your scroll, there is no other way."
"I- I know," Ruby said, "Of course I know that. It's just, things have happened. A lot of things. And, I don't know how to process all of this so quickly." They talked about their plans a little longer, then they all returned to their bodies and went to sleep.
~o~
When the three groups met in the central chamber, they looked around to find the Geist. While the others talked about how dangerous the situation was, Ruby tried sensing the Geist like she did with those Teryx when they arrived in Atlas. She felt a powerful dark presence above them and looked up. The Petra Gigas clung to the ceiling, and when it saw the groups, it let go.
"Stay!" Marrow said, focusing his semblance on one of the Grimm's legs. The sudden stop put too much force on its leg, making the Grimm let go of the material to avoid it ripping off. It crashed through a stone arch and reformed its leg with the rubble, then landed in front of Team RWBY. The massive Grimm towered above them, standing in a crouching position. It had two wings made from ice sheets, which covered earth-dust crystals, a tail made of mine carts and scrap metal, and its teeth were air-dust crystals. Its elongated neck held its head, and it had two tongues, one made from flint and one made from various metal scraps.
"It added dust to its body?" Ruby asked, "How are we supposed to defeat it now?"
"I've never seen a Geist make that kind of body before," Harriet said.
"That's because it's a Poltergeist," Weiss said.
"Doesn't matter," Clover said, "Let's go, everyone." Marrow let go of the rocks, Harriet rushed towards the Grimm, Vine wrapped an aura arm around one of its arms and another around a support beam, and Elm held onto one of its legs while anchoring herself to the ground. Harriet got hit by a stray boulder and knocked to the ground.
"I'm fine," Harriet said as she got back up, and Jaune recharged her aura a little. Marrow threw his weapon in its boomerang form to try and cut one of the Grimm's arms off. The Grimm shut its mouth, ground some of the air-dust to powder and used the flint and steel tongues to ignite it. Harriet ran around the Grimm, trying to attack from a blind spot. It shot a compressed burst of air at Marrow's weapon, changing its course. Marrow saw his weapon head towards Harriet and chased after it. He caught it mid-flight, changed it into its rifle form and began shooting the Grimm. Clover tried to wrap his fishing hook around the Grimm's face to pull it out of its body. The Grimm turned its back to him, ground some of the earth-dust on its back and triggered it with its tail.
"Ren," Nora called out and ran towards a lamp. Ren shot at the Grimm and ran around it, slowly positioning himself. When Nora was in position, Ren hit the high voltage cables supplying the lamps. Harriet saw one of the cables get knocked loose and rushed over to save Nora.
"No!" Ruby called out and amplified Harriet's aura when she saw Harriet jump towards Nora. Harriet knocked Nora out of the way and was electrocuted, depleting her aura. She crashed against a rock wall and sat on the ground, looking exhausted and dazed. Clover tried pulling his weapon out of the massive stone on the Grimm's back. It let go of the entire rock, causing it to fly towards Clover. Vine let go of the support beam and swung around to pull the boulder towards the Grimm. The Grimm deflected the boulder with one of its wings, sending it towards Harriet. The boulder landed on her legs, and she screamed in agony.
"Harriet!" Clover called out and ran over to her. He and Vine tried pulling the boulder upwards, while Elm and Marrow tried lifting it off of her.
"Ruby, Nora, go," Sirena said, "I'll handle the dust." She closed her eyes and emitted a wave of energy, and the entire dust in the area, including on the Grimm, lost its glow. Nora grabbed the cable, sucking all the electricity out of it. She walked up to the boulder and grabbed it with one hand. In the blink of an eye, the boulder went flying through the Petra Gigas, forcing the Grimm out of its body. Ruby used her semblance to tackle the Grimm, landing right next to the Ace-Ops with the Poltergeist in hand. Before anyone could react, Ruby unleashed a burst of light, turning the Grimm to stone, though Nora closed her eyes in time. She dropped the petrified Grimm in front of the Ace-Ops and turned to where Sirena was, but only saw her reddish-brown hair disappear into a dark red portal. Yang helped Elm pick up Harriet and the team went to leave the mine again.
"I better make sure we got them all," Weiss said and sent out three Arma Gigas to check the mine for any Grimm they missed. As soon as the summons were out of sight, she secretly used Guardian's Gambit through the Seer in her sleeve to create nine minions to protect the mine. Sensing her weakened aura, Jaune used his semblance to recharge Weiss' a little on the way out.
~o~
Ilia woke up and looked around. She found herself in the infirmary of the White Fang headquarters, lying in one of the medical beds. Her head was still spinning, and she felt somewhat dizzy. An otter faunus woman came into the room, wearing white shoes and pants, and a white lab coat. Her claws were retracted, but Ilia could still sense them.
"Good, you're awake," the woman said and pulled out a tablet to take some notes.
"What happened?" Ilia asked, "How long was I gone?"
"You were out for about two weeks," the woman answered, "Argent said you got hungry and your instincts took over. Nasty business. Luckily noone got hurt."
"Can you tell me something?" Ilia asked.
"Sure," the woman answered and asked, "What is it?"
"I went to the Mistral-Blackport relay tower," Ilia answered and asked, "How are things looking there?"
"Let's see," the woman said, typed some things into her tablet and answered, "The flora in the area seems abnormally healthy, and Grimm are drawn to a plant growing around the tower. Those monsters get too close, touch the plant, and meet the only fate they deserve. Argent said that the effect is permanent."
"That's good," Ilia said, letting out a sigh of relief.
"Indeed it is," the woman said.
"What about the turrets?" Ilia asked.
"The railroad to Argus is secure," the woman answered, "And other roads are currently being reinforced as well. The primary focus is on securing trade with Menagerie. However, we are lacking in various metals, which is hindering the production of new turrets." Ilia thought for a moment.
"I… might have an idea," Ilia said, "But it's… risky."
"Don't worry, we'll make sure it's safe," the woman said, "You just rest up first, and then we can see how you can help us." Ilia laid back down and dozed off a bit, and woke up some time later. She got dressed and ready, and left the town.
~o~
Argent walked through Kuo Kuana, with Kali and Ghira following him. He looked around the town, gathering a lot of respectful and frightened looks from the locals who knew what he did to White Fang members.
"And you're sure this… Project Alpha will help us?" Ghira asked.
"Of course," Argent answered, "Sirena said that it's perfect, and she's never wrong about tactics and such."
"I don't know," Kali said, "Something about her seems… off."
"Not to mention keeping this from our own daughter," Ghira said.
"I know it's hard," Argent said, "But Sirena told me that, if any of them knew about this, the plan would be ruined. Besides, I plan to tell them once it's safe."
"And you really need our help?" Ghira asked.
"Yes," Argent answered, "I'm a huntsman, but you two are better at organizing things that big. We'll also need Blake's help with it, so my team doesn't have to work alone."
"I thought you guys worked best alone," Kali said.
"Normally, yes," Argent said, "But this is too big. Too public, too. We can handle covert operations just fine, but we've never done anything like this."
"So, where is it supposed to happen?" Ghira asked.
"Here," Argent answered and stopped in front of a construction fence surrounding a large open area by the ocean, just a few minutes away from the town. Kali and Ghira imagined the final result of the plan, and gazed in awe at the currently still imaginary structure.
Trigger: Serious injury. No blood or anything, but people get hurt badly.
Author's note: Yeah, Harriet lost her legs. After V5 ended, I already made plans for something like this to happen. Back then, the idea was to have Ruby talk Sirena into helping Ironwood's men to survive in the deep sea, following the death of that Paladin pilot. Out of 1000 people Ironwood made volunteer for this training, 3 were brave enough to go through with it after Sirena told them how hard it'll be. She'd severely cripple one of them, and Ironwood would give her the dust she wanted if she healed the person. This, of course, would also allow Sirena to prove that her people are better than Ironwood's men.
Then we saw who Ironwood really was, and the idea of him negotiating with people for mutual benefits went right out the window. Also, if you read my Reddit comments, you might think I did this to Harriet specifically because I hate her. I can't deny that claim, but my conscious train of thought was that Harriet, not knowing Nora's semblance and being reckless and impulsive, would be the most likely to have exactly that backfire. I basically want to teach all the Ace-Ops a lesson, and help them be better people, and while Marrow was first, Harriet is the first to get injured before she gets better.
I've also added some flashbacks, where the three silver-eyed warriors come together and discuss their plans going forward. Sirena is the tactician of the group, Maria is the one with the most life experiences, and Ruby is the moral compass of the team. However, Ruby is getting better and better at strategy stuff, so she'll eventually render Sirena obsolete. Mostly. Sirena is also the one who makes those meetings possible, so they'll always need her for something.
Can you guess who Ruby plans to punish for hurting her friend? Tune in next week to find out.