It was daytime in Argus. At the Atlesian Military Base, various soldiers and guards worked on their jobs, as Weiss was seen walking with Cordovin and Saphron, who was holding Adrian in her arm. They were also escorted by two Nubuck Guards, while Weiss dragged a large luggage case behind her.
"Ah, I was relieved to hear that you came to your senses, Miss Schnee." Cordovin said. "Many of us were devastated when we heard you would be attending... Beacon Academy. Knowing that you'll be returning to Atlas just warms my old heart."
"It was... time to get my act together and go back to my roots." Weiss replied in a pretend tone.
"Oh, I can't wait to see you follow in your sister's footsteps." Cordovin said delightedly, clearly oblivious to what was really happening.
"Absolutely..." Weiss replied with an unenthusiastic smile on her face.
"I'm sending two of my best guards to personally escort you. Make sure General Ironwood hears that part." Cordovin concluded, before she winked and walked away.
"Allow me to assist you with your bag." The first guard said as he walked over to pick up Weiss' luggage. "My, what a heavy bag!
"That's alright!" Weiss replied, keeping her grip on her luggage.
"Nonsense!" The first guard disagreed.
"Allow me to assist as well!" The second guard added.
"I can take care of it by myself!" Weiss insisted.
As Cordovin walked away, she overheard Weiss and the Nubuck Guards conversation. She stopped in her tracks and gained a suspicious look on her face. Saphron noticed this and turned to Adrian.
"Just like we practiced." She whispered to him.
Adrian nodded at his mother, and then upon being given the signal, the baby then let out a loud wail that could be heard throughout the base. Adrian "cried" as he fussed in his mother's arms.
"Oh no! Look at that, he's just going to miss you so much! You should hurry on out of here!" Saphron said, pretending to be concerned.
"A crying child?" The first guard asked.
"We must console it!" The second guard declared.
The two guards quickly went over to Adrian, and they performed weird poses to amuse him. Cordovin continued walking with an unamused look on her face. While they were distracted, Weiss quickly got onto the airship with the luggage behind her.
"That was close." She said.
"Is everything okay?" Ruby asked over the earpiece.
"Call me heavy... It's all muscle! I'll show them a thing or two about heavy!" Maria complained from inside Weiss' luggage.
"We're on board." Weiss answered Ruby.
Elsewhere, Ruby, Jaune, Nora, Pluto, Ren, Oscar and Qrow waited along the cliffside between the forest and the ocean.
"Sooo, what exactly are we doing again?" Pluto asked.
"Alright, we'll all watch our scrolls." Ruby answered. "The second Weiss is out of range of the comm tower, that'll mean she's out of range of the radar too."
"And that's when Blake steps in. We're almost at the drop off." Yang added over the radio.
"Uh, okay. Guess that all checks out." Pluto sheepishly agreed.
"You sure you're up for this, Pluto?" Ren asked him.
"Oh sure, I told you guys before I was on board." Pluto answered.
"Well, you've been saying that, but you've been fidgeting the whole time we've been out here." Nora pointed out.
"No I'm not." Pluto disagreed, even though he currently was fidgeting.
"You're doing it right now!" Nora exclaimed comically.
"Okay, go easy on him, Nora. He's obviously still nervous." Jaune interjected before he turned to Pluto. "But I do have a question. You said you're a huntsman too, right?"
"Yeah...?" Pluto confirmed.
"Do you by any chance have a weapon?" Jaune wondered.
"Actually, I do. It's right here." Pluto answered, as he attempted to get said weapon out. To Team JNR's surprise, said weapon greatly resembled Pyrrha's old weapon, Miló and Akoúo̱.
"Is that what I think it is?!" Ren asked in shock.
"Um...yeah, it's Pyrrha's old weapon." Pluto nervously answered.
"I thought it was destroyed." Jaune replied, as he remembered that Miló was destroyed by Cinder Fall during Pyrrha's fight against her, and that Akoúo̱ was used to modify Jaune's weapon Crocea Mors, along with Pyrrha's circlet.
"Well...it was. But I looked back at some of our old pictures of Pyrrha with her weapon, and I tried very hard to replicate it." Pluto explained. "I think I did a decent job, all things considered. I like to call it Miló and Akoúo Mark II...Or just Miló and Akoúo II, I haven't decided yet."
"You designed it yourself?" Ruby asked in wonder, having also designed her own weapon, and being the weapons nerd that she is, wanted me check it out.
"Uh-huh..." Pluto confirmed sheepishly.
"You even know how how to use that?" Nora questioned.
"No..." Pluto admitted.
"Wait, so you made a weapon and you haven't even trained with it?" Nora pointed out.
"I told you before, I'm no Pyrrha Nikos. I'm just Pluto. I don't have any weapon experience." Pluto replied.
"I bet I could teach you..." Nora grinned, as she showed off her own weapon, Magnhild.
"Nora, please don't scare him." Ren advised, dissuading his childhood friend from scaring him any further.
"Aww, but he cute little guy needs to learn how to fight the bad guys!" Nora whined. "Besides, why's Jaune gotta be the only one who gets to teach him stuff? We're part of this team too, you know! I'd be a super awesome teacher!"
"Then we'll train him in due time. For now we have to focus on this." Ren added.
He then gave Pluto a look that suggested that he should excuse Nora's violent tendencies. Pluto simply smiled in response, as he was already aware of Nora's energetic mannerisms, no thanks to his late sister.
In another area, Yang was driving Bumblebee with Blake sitting behind her. Blake had her Scroll out receiving instructions from Terra.
"Okay, remember. One; the radar box is separate from the rest of the communications equipment. So if you disconnect it properly, it won't take out comms for the rest of the city. Two; this conversation never happened." Terra instructed.
"Don't worry, this isn't the first time I've disabled Atlas security." Blake assured her.
Terra stared back at her with an unamused look.
"Never. Happened." She reiterated.
Yang arrived at the drop off point soon after, and Blake stepped off the bike to proceed forward.
"You sure I shouldn't come with?" Yang asked.
"More intruders means we're more likely to be seen." Blake answered. "Besides, stealth isn't exactly your, um..."
Yang stared back at Blake with her arms crossed in response to the cat girl's comment.
"I mean, you're great!" Blake added. "And I'll hurry back."
"Go." Yang replied, softening her expression.
Blake smiled back at her before heading off.
"Heading in on foot. Won't be long." She said over the comm.
"Yes! It's all going to plan!" Jaune said excitedly.
He then looked to Ren, Nora and Pluto. Nora and Ren just stared at him with neutral looks, wile Pluto smiled softly at him.
"I mean, uh... roger." Jaune added, clearing his throat.
Ren and Nora exchanged a brief glance while rolling their eyes at their leader. Pluto meanwhile, gave his mentor a salute.
"Aye-aye!" He replied.
Nora and Ren looked over to see Pluto doing this, sharing confused looks.
"Put your hand down." Nora ordered.
"Okay." Pluto replied as he quickly did what he was told.
Meanwhile, Oscar noticed Ruby looking over with concern to Qrow, who was leaning against a tree with an uneasy look on his face.
"Hey, this is gonna work." He told her.
"Yeah." Ruby agreed.
On the airship, Weiss sat in a passenger seat. She looked down at her scroll and noticed her friends' signals slowly going out of range. Upon seeing this, Weiss made her move, as she got up and headed toward the cockpit.
"Miss Schnee! For your own safety, we must request-" The first guard said before...
"What?!" He was interrupted by the second guard, as Weiss could be heard activating a glyph.
"Traitor!" The first guard cursed.
Grunts from the guards were heard. The airship was then seen flying by as the two guards were tied together by a black Schnee glyph as a parachute slowed their descent.
"This parachute won't excuse you of your treachery!" The second guard stated.
The glyph soon deactivated, causing one of the gaurds to hang onto the other guard for dear life.
Back on the airship, Weiss walked over to the controls with Maria taking the pilot's seat.
"And you're sure you can fly this?" Weiss asked.
"Missy, I was the Grimm Reaper! What part of "best Huntress of her generation" don't you understand?" Maria retorted.
"Right, but your eyes." Weiss pointed out.
Maria chuckled as she noticed a small device plugged in the controls. She took out the device and plugged it into her goggles. The text on one of the screens read "TRANSMITTING SENSOR ARRAY DATA" as Maria's prosthetic eyes grew more wide.
"You were saying?" Maria continued.
"That you said your eyes were in desperate need of repair!" Weiss argued.
"Bup bup bup." Maria interrupted, holding up a finger at Weiss.
"But-" Weiss tried to explain.
"Bup!" But Maria was having none of it.
Weiss ultimately relented, and she put on her seatbelt as Maria started to fly around.
Back on the ground, Ruby watched her scroll as Weiss' signal disappeared.
"Alright guys, this is it." Ruby declared, placing her fingers on her ear. "Blake, you're up."
There was no response.
"Blake?" Ruby asked.
Ruby looked back to her friends in worry.
"That's not good, is it...?" Pluto assumed, having a feeling that something happened to Blake.
Yang sat on the ground next to Bumblebee.
"Yang, what's going on?" Ruby asked, wondering what happened to Blake.
Yang got up and looked over to the relay tower.
"I don't know..." Yang answered.
Yang looked to her scroll and saw Weiss' signal coming back on.
Meanwhile, back at the base, Cordovin watched her men working the terminals. A beep was soon heard, getting their attention.
"Ma'am, we've got something on radar." A soldier informed her.
"And who would be foolish enough to enter our airspace unannounced?" Cordovin asked.
"Apparently... us, ma'am." The soldier answered.
Back on the airship with Weiss and Maria, they were confronted by another soldier.
"Manta 5-1, this is Argus Base. We see you circled back. What's your status, over." The soldier asked.
"Why can they see us?" Weiss asked.
"Somebody dropped the ball. Don't worry, I've worked with Atlas forces before. I know their jargon." Maria assured her, before she picked up the radio, clearing her throat.
"Argus Base, this is Manta 5-1. Feel free to gaff off. Thought we were going to scrub due to FOD, but we're back up and green across the board, over." She said.
There was static after this, until the soldier responded.
"Manta 5-1, return to base immediately, or you will be treated as hostile, over.
"I thought you said you knew their jargon!" Weiss exclaimed.
"Jargon was fine, but our pilots aren't elderly women." The soldier replied.
"Huh, well they got me there! Ooh, my mind really is going! Why would you kids let me fly this thing?" Maria added.
"Calavera! You and those insolent children are up to something, aren't you?!" Cordovin exclaimed over the radio.
Back at the base, Cordovin continued her rant.
"You thought you could undermine my authority? If you don't return my ship this INSTANT, I will make an example out of you. I will show you the true might of Atlas!" She threatened.
Over the radio, a crunching sound was heard.
"You hear that, Cordo?" Maria asked sarcastically, as Cordovin's expression slowly turned enraged.
Back on the airship, Maria munched on cashews with her mouth open.
"That's the sound of me not caring!" She laughed maniacally.
"Ruby, we're in trouble." Weiss informed her teammate. "Cordo's onto us, and Maria isn't helping!"
Back on the ground, the others were seen checking in on Weiss.
"Why is the radar still up?!" Weiss asked.
"We don't know, Blake isn't responding." Ruby answered.
"What do we do?!" Oscar panicked.
"Keep the ship in one piece." Yang replied.
Yang then began revving her motorcycle, and quickly zoomed over to the radar tower. Little did she and the others know that the reason why Blake wasn't responding because she was being ambushed by her former White Fang partner, Adam Taurus.
"Maybe we should fly over to help Yang and Blake first?" Nora suggested.
"Damn it! Cordo's gonna scramble her fighters. We've got maybe ninety seconds before they're in the air, and all over Weiss and Maria. This is all my fault..." Qrow lamented.
"What are you talking about? Your Semblance?" Jaune asked.
"Every choice I've ever made has led me here, and I've dragged you along with me." Qrow explained. "Oz, myself, the others... We're responsible for the mess the world's in now. I shouldn't have come, shouldn't have let any of you come... What was I thinking?!
There was a silence after Qrow's despaired rant, until Ruby spoke up.
"We're all in this together, and we're all going to do the best we can. That's all anyone can do." She told him. "And I know it's what you've always aimed for. We would've come whether or not you'd let us, so stop talking like we're your responsibility! We're not! But we could still use Qrow Branwen on our side."
Qrow pondered his niece's words before he spoke again.
"Hm... How did you grow up so fast?" He asked.
"I had good role models." Ruby answered, as the two shared a smile together.
"Guys? She's not sending fighters..." Weiss said over the comm.
The group looked over to the Argus base. Suddenly, the mountain at the base retracted, revealing a colossal mech that overlooked the city of Argus.
"What the frick is that?!" Pluto exclaimed in shock.
"It's a giant mech!" Ren answered.
"Clearly the people have forgotten that they live in peace thanks to the awesome might of Atlas!" Cordovin stated.
"Is Cordovin... piloting that?" Weiss wondered.
"Consider this a reminder!" Cordovin declared.
She then charged up the mech's arm cannon, which let out an electric burst that fired at the ship Weiss and Maria are piloting. The controls went critical as Maria's eyes spun.
"Are you okay?" Weiss asked.
"I am, but she's clearly lost her mind!" Maria answered.
"And that was merely a warning shot! All Atlas personnel standby, and watch how your leader maintains order!" Cordovin declared.
Ruby and her group looked over to see Weiss and Maria fly in, with Cordovin in her mech following close behind.
"It's time you asked yourselves, children... Do you truly wish to defy me?" Cordovin asked.
"Hurry back, Weiss. I need you on the ground if we're gonna take this thing down." Ruby ordered her teammate.
The group were ready to engage Cordovin in a fight. Pluto meanwhile, cowered behind Nora. It seemed like he wasn't exactly anticipating things to turn out like this.