Manta airships patrolled the skies around the City of Atlas, keeping in communication with each other over radio. As Maria piloted the group's stolen Manta toward the city, they received radio contact.
"Manta 5-1. Welcome home. Please continue your approach to Atlas docking bay Omega-12. A security team will meet you there. Over." A female Atlas Air Traffic official informed the group.
Ruby and the others aboard Manta 5-1 looked around at the large military air fleet surrounding the kingdom's capital.
"I don't understand. What's happening here?" Ruby asked in confusion.
"I don't know." Qrow answered, also in confusion.
"But we are here. We got the lamp to Atlas, so I guess we land and get some answers." Jaune said.
"I'm not so sure. I've never seen our forces deployed so aggressively before." Weiss replied. "If we land in a stolen ship, there's no way the security team will let us anywhere near Ironwood. They might even take me back to my father."
Blake gained a saddened look, while Ruby and Yang looked at each other, uncertain of what to do.
"So…" Blake began to say.
Luckily, Weiss, having gotten an idea, suddenly looked up.
"Winter!" She exclaimed as she brought out her Scroll.
"Put some distance between us and the fleet." She told Maria.
"You don't have to tell me twice." Maria replied.
As Weiss walked to the back of the ship, Maria steered the ship toward Mantle. As people wandered the streets of Mantle, the group looked over the city through the Manta's windows.
They flew past a giant screen on the side of a skyscraper. James Ironwood's voice came from the screen, catching Ruby and Yang's attention.
"...cannot express our appreciation enough. Many describe these as uncertain times, and while that may be the case for the rest of the world, I can tell you what is certain. The Kingdom of Atlas will remain strong, and it will remain safe. That is my promise." He declared.
Ruby and Yang both looked saddened as they looked at him.
"General Ironwood. He looks…" Yang began to say.
"Tired." Ruby finished.
"James, what have you been doing?" Qrow asked rhetorically in concern.
Four Atlesian Knight-200s were seen walking down a street in Mantle, while civilians around them complained about their presence.
"Ugh, not these again." One civilian complained.
"Why can't they just leave us be?" Another civilian added.
A small drone floated along a sidewalk, while a pair of small children hid in an alley. One of the children picked up a rock and threw it at the drone, which spun around to look, prompting the children to hide against the wall. Weiss sadly stared out of Manta 5-1's window with her Scroll in her palm. Her Scroll was set to call her older sister Winter, who did not answer.
"This isn't right. None of this is right." She said sadly.
Once again, the stolen Manta received contact over the radio.
"Manta 5-1, we've noticed a detour in your route. You are to make your way to docking bay Omega 12 immediately. Do you copy? Over." The Air Traffic officer told them.
"We're kind of running out of time here, kids." Maria said.
"We need to ditch the ship." Yang pointed out.
"Agreed. Get lost in Mantle and buy ourselves some time." Qrow said in agreement.
"I'm telling you, my sister can take us to Ironwood." Weiss insisted.
Blake, who had been staring out of a window, looked over her shoulder and spoke up.
"Uh, Weiss?" She called out.
Weiss walked over to Blake's side and looked out the window with her as a familiar voice played from a giant screen.
"A reminder." The voice of Winter began.
"Huh?" Weiss asked in confusion.
"Failure to cooperate with Atlas military personnel is a punishable offense. If your sector is under lockdown…" Winter announced.
"Winter?" Weiss exclaimed in shock.
"No offense, Weiss. I'm not sure that's a good idea anymore." Qrow pointed out.
Weiss tensed her shoulders and turned to Qrow, fists clenched.
"There's obviously something very wrong." Weiss explained. "If we can just talk to her, then we-
"Look, I'm not even sure we should be talking to Ironwood until we know exactly what's going on with Mantle." Qrow interrupted.
"But-" Weiss tried to argue until Maria intervened.
"Everyone, calm down." Maria sighed. "I know someone who can help with both."
"Manta 5-1, you are to make your-" The Air Traffic officer angrily stated before she was cut off.
"Geez, lady, take a hint!" Maria retorted in an annoyed tone, before she shut off the radio.
After landing the stolen Manta in Mantle, Maria cautiously exited an alley by slowly shuffling along with her cane. When she saw the coast was clear, she picked up her cane and walked normally, and everyone else exited the alley with her. In the distance, a small group of Atlas soldiers ran down a street in the direction that Maria and the others came from.
"It landed over there, let's go!" A soldier stated.
The group began walking through Mantle together. Trucks drove past, and Atlesian Knight-200s stood on various sidewalks. A small child placed a poster of a white-haired woman on a street lamp. There was a hologram board displaying news articles with the following headlines.
"Missing Journalist Found Slain. Election Imminent. Mantle Hometown Hero vs Atlesian Tycoon. Embargo: The Right Call? Pressure and Criticism Continues to Mount on Council. Outer Wall Damaged. Resources Stalled." Pluto said, reading every single news headline aloud.
Nora noticed him reading the articles and called him out on it.
"Uh, what are you doing, Plu-Plu?" She asked.
"...Reading the news headlines? This is the first time I've ever been in Atlas, so I wanna sight see while I'm here." Pluto sheepishly answered.
"You have weird habits, kiddo. You're lucky you're so cute." Nora teasingly replied.
Pluto smiled nervously before his expression turned to a look of confusion.
"Did you just call me Plu-Plu?" He asked.
Nora didn't answer him, so he shrugged it off. The group then walked past a garage with graffiti art reading 'Show Your Teeth'.
"Come on now, hurry! It shouldn't be much of a walk." Maria rushed the group.
"Is this many soldiers normal?" Jaune asked.
"No. At least, I didn't think so." Weiss answered.
At the back of the group, Yang noticed a whirring sound and stops to take a look.
"Huh?" She asked.
There was a small drone hovering to her right. The camera part of the drone lifted up, focused on her. When Yang shrugged it off and resumed walking, the drone followed her. She stopped again and looked at it in surprise and confusion. As she leaned in to take a closer look, the drone took a photograph of her face with a bright flash, which Yang recoiled from. In response, Yang kicked the drone, knocking it out of the air and causing it to tumble into the street, where it was struck by a car.
"Ooh..." Yang winced, cringing at the drone's destruction.
Yang turned to see everyone else in the group staring at her. She awkwardly shifted her posture with a sheepish smile.
"That wasn't supposed to happen, was it?" Pluto asked.
"No... Maybe we should pick up the pace." She suggested as everyone resumed walking.
"You have to remember, the Kingdom had just lost the Great War." Maria pointed out. "The people of Mantle needed a sign of a brighter future, and that sign was Atlas. After all, a home in the clouds is as bright as it gets."
They looked up at the City of Atlas, while the earlier broadcast from Winter played once again nearby. A pair of trucks drove by with miners, covered in black material, sitting in the beds. Posters depicting a white-haired woman were plastered across one of the buildings that the trucks passed, with the text 'PROTECT MANTLE' printed on them.
"We are here for your safety. Thank you for your cooperation." Winter said.
Blake and Nora watched the second truck as it drove by.
"Unless you're the one having to look up at it." Nora muttered, crossing her arms and looking away.
"This whole city, it just seems awful." Blake added.
A drunken voice then called out from nearby.
"Yeah?" Said drunk man asked, as he came stumbling down from a porch. "You don't like it here? There's plenty of space out in the tundra."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to-" Blake sighed and tried to apologize until she was rudely interrupted.
"Atlas is the greatest Kingdom in the world, alright?!" The drunk man snapped.
"Hey!" Ruby snapped, stepping forward to confront him.
Blake stepped forward ahead of Ruby, speaking quietly to her.
"We can't cause a scene." She told her.
The drunk man's equally drunk buddy then spoke up.
"The embargo... The embargo's got us in a rough patch. But it'll blow over, you'll see." The drinking buddy stated.
"We try and help the other Kingdoms, and this is what happens? I say let 'em rot!" The drunk man loudly added.
"I apologize. I didn't mean to insult you." Blake replied disingenuously.
The drunk man spat on the ground, glaring at Blake.
"Stupid Faunus like you wouldn't unders-" He was about to fire back until...
He looked down to unscrew his flask and paused when he saw a black glyph beneath his feet. His glasses hovered off his face as his eyes widened in surprise. The glyph flung him into the air, and he fell into a dumpster in the nearby alley, his glasses and flask accompanying him soon after. Yang, Nora, Blake and Ruby stared at the dumpster, then turned to see Weiss pointing Myrtenaster where the man had been standing.
"It was worth it." Weiss retorted, with a shrug and a smile.
"Well, he was being an ass." Pluto agreed.
The group fled while a pair of Atlesian Knight-200s investigated the situation. The man's drinking buddy hurried down from the porch and looked around in thought, before reaching out toward the girls.
"Hey, wait!" He called out, running after them. "You're- That was-"
Unfortunately for the drinking buddy, he tripped and collapsed to the sidewalk. Winter's broadcast was heard playing once again.
"We are here for your safety. Thank you for your cooperation." The voice of Winter said.
The group approached a building with a glowing green plus symbol above its front door. The side door opens, and a Faunus with a prosthetic arm exited, waving cheerfully to the man who spoke to her from the inside.
"And no more heavy-lifting, yah hear?" The man in question, Pietro Polendina told her.
"Ah, it's good to see you again, old friend." Maria said as she approached him.
Pietro was sitting behind a desk, shuffling things around in a drawer. Maria cleared her throat, startling him, and he lifted his head to look at her, shutting the drawer. Maria smiled at him.
"Ah, yes, yes." Pietro said, pushing a stack of papers aside. "Have we met?"
"Well, this is off to a fantastic start." Ren snarked as he entered.
"Cybernetic optical implants." Maria reminded him, pointing to her eyes. "You adjust them. Every ten years or so?"
Pietro stared at her for a few moments before throwing his hands cheerfully into the air.
"Maria!" He cheered.
The robotic chair he was sitting in began walking out from behind the desk.
"Yes, with the cybernetic optical implants! I adjust them every ten years or so." He remembered.
Pietro then offered his hand to her and led her to an examination table.
"Oh wow, has it been that long already?" He laughed.
"Ah, I know. I age like a fine wine. Would've been here sooner if I hadn't run into these jokers." Maria jokingly said. "At the time, I thought they might need my guidance while fighting a little old Sphinx."
"Oh, did they?" Pietro asked.
"No, no. They had much more complicated issues." Maria answered.
"And this is?" Qrow asked, clearing his throat and awaiting an introduction.
"So impatient. I didn't think I'd need to introduce one of Atlas' finest minds." Maria retorted.
"Working in a place like this?" Yang wondered.
The building creaked, and a ceiling tile fell to the floor, causing Pluto to yelp.
"He likes to keep a low profile." Maria explained. "Something I've come to realize none of you know anything about."
"You can call me Pietro." He introduced himself officially.
"Finest heart, too. This pharmacy is just where he volunteers when he's not building the future of Atlas alongside Ironwood, up in the clouds." Maria added.
"Oh, it's stuffy up there. Down here, I get to help the locals and have a little fun." Pietro stated. "I'm currently working on shoes that make you dance. Wanna try 'em on?"
"YES!" Nora screamed excitedly.
"Before we get to that, we were wondering if you could help us." Yang stepped in. "We came to Atlas hoping to talk to General Ironwood, but um…"
"What exactly has been happening here?" Blake asked.
"Well, the Fall of Beacon took a toll on all of us." Pietro coughed. "James was no different. I couldn't tell you exactly what it was he saw there, but it changed him. He's…"
"He's scared." Qrow deduced.
"Paranoid would be the more appropriate term." Pietro corrected him. "You have to understand, it wasn't just the Grimm. Someone completely dismantled Atlas security code, made it their play-thing, and made us look like traitors to some and buffoons to everyone else."
"Do you...know who might've done this?" Pluto asked.
"No, but whoever managed to do that is either a genius or one of our own." Pietro answered. "I fear the answer may be both, and so does the general."
"Maybe Atlas isn't as safe as we thought." Ren guessed.
"After we came all this way, we can't just leave, can we?" Oscar replied.
"How does the council feel about all of this? Or Winter Schnee? Do you know anything about her?" Weiss stepped in.
"Well, the council's so scared, they'll agree to whatever he wants." Pietro told her. "Though, some representatives from Mantle…"
As he was explaining the situation to her, he suddenly recognised Weiss.
"Wait, you're… You're Weiss Schnee!" He realized.
Weiss gasped and stepped back, with her friends looking nervous.
"Wait, what was it that you were trying to say about Mantle?" Yang asked as she stepped forward with her prosphetic arm outstretched.
"You painted it." Pietro noticed as he looked at the prosthetic arm.
"What?" Yang replied as she withdrew her arm, looking very confused.
"Is everything okay?" Ruby asked.
"You're Team RWBY!" Pietro exclaimed.
Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang looked at each other in confusion, unsure what to make of this development.
"You know us?!" Ruby asked.
"Oh, my girl, I do. I most certainly do. And I feel like such a dunce for not recognizing you sooner." Pietro replied. "My daughter's told me so much about you."
"Your… daughter?" Ruby reacted in confusion.
Pietro then turned his attention towards Jaune, Nora, Pluto and Ren.
"And you four must be the famous Team JNPR I've heard so much about!" He surmised.
"Uh, actually, I'm not...a member...of...the team." Pluto awkwardly corrected.
"Well, sorta. He's a huntsman-in-training we've taken under our wing." Jaune explained.
"And he's so CUTE!" Nora squealed as she bear hugged Pluto. Again.
"He's the younger brother of our former teammate, Pyrrha." Ren told him.
"Ah, yes. I heard about what happened to Pyrrha at the Battle of Beacon." Pietro remembered, before turning to Pluto.
By this point, Nora broke her hug on him as the four had solemn expressions as they all remembered Pyrrha.
"I'm sorry about the loss of your sister. What's your name, son?" Pietro asked.
"Um...Pluto?" Pluto nervously answered.
"Well, Pluto, you might not know this, but my daughter knew your sister very well too." Pietro revealed.
"She did? Pyrrha never told me about anything like that." Pluto pointed out. "To be honest, I don't even know who you are. No offense."
"None taken. And to be fair, they didn't know each other personally compared to Team RWBY here. But my daughter did face your sister in the Vital Tournament, if you were aware of that?" Pietro informed
"I never got around to watching that actually. But I heard Pyrrha ripped someone to pieces during the tournament." Pluto mentioned, indirectly referring to a certain match from the tournament where tragedy struck.
"Yes..." Pietro replied sadly before he perked up. "Luckily, that accident has been remedied."
"What do you mean?" Ren asked.
But before Pietro could explain any further, their conversation was interrupted by the sound of an alarm and people screaming. Outside, civilians were running, and the lights from the street lamps turned red.
"Ah, trouble." Jaune said.
The group ran outside to see the commotion.
"Wait!" Pietro called as he reached out to them.
Everyone in the group drawed their weapons. Upon drawing her katana, Blake looked at the broken blade, exhaling sharply before folding the blade down to wield it as a gun.
"I guess the city defenses aren't doing much." Oscar said.
"Somehow, that doesn't surprise me." Nora added, as she glanced over at Ren.
Down the road from them, growling was heard, and an Atlesian Knight-200 was thrown against a lamp post.
"Hm?" Jaune wondered.
Another robot was thrown, and three more backed up into view, shooting at Sabyrs, which tackled and destroy them one by one.
"Well, we didn't come this far to fail now!" Ruby declared.
Ruby changed Crescent Rose into scythe form and aimed the sniper barrel toward the Sabyrs, which finished destroying the Atlesian Knight-200s and charged toward her and her friends. Everyone readied their weapons while Pluto cowered behind Nora.
"Stay behind us." Ren told him.
Yang charged forth using recoil from her gauntlet, followed by Ren launching himself forward.
"Hey!" Nora gasped.
Getting an idea, Nora looked at Jaune, who looked startled. She used Magnhild to pole vault toward Jaune, who put up his shield in response, allowing her to land on it. She then kicked off from his shield, launching herself.
After Yang uppercut a Sabyr, Ren landed on another one's back, stabbing his guns' blades into it, and it leapt into the air to knock him off, only for Nora to slam it to the ground with her hammer.
Another Sabyr's corpse soon landed by Pluto's feet, as he stared around in disbelief.
"Holy crap..." He said in shock, before another Sabyr appeared and tried to attack him. "Ahh!"
"Pluto!" Jaune quickly exclaimed as he pulled Pluto out of harms way, then beheaded the Sabyr.
And when a second one leapt at him, he blocked with his shield and stabbed it just above its collarbone.
Qrow sliced two Sabyrs in half, leaned back to dodge a third as it attempted to tackle him. He transformed Harbinger into scythe mode and used it to hook the Grimm as it made another attempt to tackle him. As he finished spinning his scythe, he planted its blade into the ground and punched another Sabyr in the head, then uppercut it into the air.
He then kicked Harbinger upward, caught it, straightened the blade, impaled the Sabyr, and sliced another one that leapt at him from behind the deceased Sabyr's smoke.
Pluto stumbled out of the way of everyone else while they were fighting, tightly clutching Miló and Akoúo for protection, until he indirectly bumped into another Sabyr, who had its back turned. Upon being touched, the Sabyr immediately turned around and tackled Pluto to the ground to try and attack him.
Thankfully, Nora was heard yelling as she charged forward wielding Magnhild while delivering a blood-thirsty battle cry. She then used her hammer to bludgeon the Sabyr, instantly killing it. Following this, she easily helped Pluto back up to his feet.
"Oh man, you're light!" She noticed, although that was probably just the fact Nora was just unnaturally strong.
"Sorry..." Pluto meekly replied.
While Qrow shot at more Sabyrs, another one turned its attention to Oscar. It charged at him, and he leapt into the air and stabbed at its skull with Ozpin's cane. While he watched it die, another one leapt at him from behind, only to be sniped by Ruby, who smiled and nodded to Oscar.
Ruby transformed her rifle back into scythe mode and ran forward. As a Sabyr leapt at her, she did a flip and sliced it in half. She continued running, fired Crescent Rose, and began using her Semblance to speed down the street, before appearing to split into three blurs of red that went around a Sabyr, which split apart with a roar.
The blurs converged and transformed back into Ruby, who stabbed the tip of her scythe into the asphalt, swinging forward on it and landing on the ground.
Pluto continued avoiding the battle, as he walked around trying to avoid conflict, until bumping into another Sabyr, who instantly tried to attack. Thankfully, it was pulled back by Yang, while Pluto yelped and ran away, hiding behind the conveniently placed cardboard box.
Ruby then fired Crescent Rose and let go of it, sending it spinning through a Sabyr and into the air. She leapt onto and kicked off of another Sabyr, spinning and catching her scythe. She fired Crescent Rose to keep up momentum and slammed the blade into the ground, sending out a shockwave that took out two more Sabyrs.
After Weiss sliced through a Sabyr, four more came running toward her from another street. She summoned four black glyphs, using them to levitate the Grimm. As they flailed helplessly in the air, Ren leapt from Sabyr to Sabyr, cutting each of them in half.
Meanwhile, another Sabyr attempted to run up behind Yang while she finished one off, only to be shot by Blake, who smiled and nodded to Yang.
Suddenly, another Sabyr leapt into the air behind Blake, who gasped and turned to face it. Before she could fight back, Yang returned the favor by blasting the Grimm with Ember Celica, who smiled right back at her teammate.
Meanwhile, Pluto continued hiding behind the box, until another Sabyr noticed his presence. It quickly smacked the box away, causing Pluto to scream in comical terror, until the Sabyr tackled him to the ground. Pluto tried to defend himself with Akoúo and was struggling to do so. But before anything bad could happen, a green laser fired from the sky, cutting the Grimm in half, startling Pluto in the process.
"Ahh! W-What...?!" He exclaimed in shock, clearly not expecting that, before standing back up.
More lasers shot from above, striking down the remaining Grimm. The alarms throughout the city stopped, and the street lamps changed back to their normal color. Everyone watched as a figure with long hair flew into view, with green jets coming from her feet. She twirled in the air and slowly descended. Pietro and Maria walked outside to join the group, while Ruby stared at the girl before gasping and gaining a look of recognition.
"Penny!" Ruby said in shock, revealing this girl to be none other than a resurrected Penny Polendina.
"Darling, why don't you say hello to your friends?" Pietro told his daughter.
Penny turned to look in the direction her father's voice came from. Upon seeing Ruby, she gasped and her eyes shone with joy. Ruby smiled and put her weapon away. Penny leaned forward a little.
"Sal…"
"Huh?" Ruby asked in confusion.
Penny lowered to one knee as a high-pitched charging noise is heard.
"U..."
"Uh…?"
Penny began gleefully sprinting toward Ruby at high speed.
"Tations!" She happily cheered.
Penny leapt forward and activated her jets, happily rocketing forward and tackling Ruby, who flailed her hands around in front of her and screams, eyes wide. Upon crashing to the ground, Ruby groaned in pain. Everyone else put their weapons away and approached the pair. Penny popped back up onto her feet, while Ruby slowly rose with her hand on her head.
"It is such a pleasure to see you all again!" Penny beamed.
"Penny, I… I-I thought you…" Ruby tearfully said.
"Died?" Pietro intervened, riding his chair over to Penny's side. "I guess, in a manner of speaking, she did. But we were able to recover her core from Amity Arena once it had made its way back to Atlas. It took me some time, but…"
"I'm as good as new! Better, even! And now I'm the official protector of the city!" Penny announced.
"That's my girl. We're not going to let a little ripping to shreds stop us, are we?" Pietro laughed, then coughed.
"No sir!" Penny agreed, before knocking on her head with a clanking sound.
"This is…" Weiss said in astonishment.
"Strangely wholesome." Blake finished.
"Sounds like Penny to me." Yang explained.
Penny then excitedly grabbed Ruby's shoulders.
"We have so many things to catch up about. I cannot wait!" She said in an enthusiastic manner.
Just as Penny finished her sentence with a grin, the city's alarms began blaring again.
"It seems we will have to wait." Penny added, without changing her demeanor.
Penny bounced backward and gave a salute to the group. As she charged her jets and then rocketed off into the sky, she continued speaking quickly to Ruby even as she took off.
"Let's talk more later! I can't wait to hear about all of your adventures and tell you how I have been and I am just very excited about the whole experience!" She stated.
And just like that, Penny was gone.
"Um... Thanks for saving me, flying girl who I've never met!" Pluto quietly called out. Penny most likely didn't hear him.
"I can't tell if I completely understand what's going on or have, like, a million questions." Nora said.
"And thankfully, I have about a thousand answers. But let's get out of this weather first." Pietro replied as he went on his way back to the pharmacy.
"I have absolutely no idea who that child was. Is she important somehow?" Maria asked as she followed him.
"So... Anyone wanna tell me who that was?" Pluto asked.
"That was Penny Polendina." Ruby explained. "She's an old friend from back when we were in Beacon."
"Is she the one who Pyrrha fought in the Vital Tournament...?" Pluto wondered, now having a bad feeling.
"Yeah..." Ruby answered, a bit sad upon remembering the incident.
"Oh... So she must be that guy's daughter then! Do you reckon she knows about what happened to Pyrrha?" Pluto asked, as Penny "died" before Pyrrha did.
"I'm not sure. Maybe you can introduce yourself next time we see her." Ruby suggested.
"I wouldn't mind, she seems nice." Pluto agreed before regrouping with the rest of Team JNPR.
"You alright, Plu-Plu?! Did those mean little Grimm give you a boo-boo?!" Nora asked, acting like a concerned mother.
"Come on Nora, you don't need to treat me like a little kid. I'm not that young, I'm only 15." Pluto replied.
"But you're so tiny and cute with your cute little glasses and being so easily scared of stuff! You're like a little brother to me even though pretty much all of you are taller than me!" Nora whined.
"I'm fine, Nora, honest! I probably wouldn't have been if it wasn't for that Penny girl." Pluto reassured her.
"Well, it's good that you're okay, Pluto. Still though, that was unexpected." Jaune commented, referring to Penny's return.
"Never a dull moment." Ren added.
"But I wouldn't say unwelcome. I was honestly expecting things to go a lot rougher." Qrow replied.
The group began following Maria and Pietro. However, as they walked, Ren sensed something behind them. Before anyone could react, several bolases wrapped around Pluto, Nora, Oscar, Jaune and Ren, the spheres at the ends of the ropes locking into place with Gravity Dust. Blake turned to look back at the commotion, just in time for all of Team RWBY to be caught as well. As Ruby landed, the Relic of Knowledge came unhooked from her belt and clattered to the ground. Qrow drew his sword and looked for their unseen enemy, before being captured himself. Five uniform-clad people came out of hiding and surrounded the group.
"Good work, team." The head of the group, Clover Ebi said to his troops.
"Hey! What's going on?!" Oscar exclaimed.
"Hey, pal! I'm a licensed Huntsman! Just helped save everyone?" Qrow pointed out.
Clover looked down at Qrow, twirling a horseshoe on his finger. He put the horseshoe away and picked up Qrow's weapon. The other uniformed operatives begin gathering everyone else's weapons, while Atlesian Knight-200s approached, and the operatives handed the confiscated weapons to the robots. Clover then approached Ruby, picked up the Relic, and looked at it.
"Hm. Let's get them loaded into the next transport." Clover decided.
"Please! We were just trying to help!" Ruby pleaded.
"What is the meaning of this?" Pietro demanded, coughing again. "What are the Ace-Ops even doing down here in Mantle?"
"Ace-Ops?" Ruby asked.
"Doctor, good to see you." Clover replied to Pietro before answering his question. "Well, we heard a report of an unauthorized ship making an unauthorized landing, followed by an unauthorized use of weapons by unlicensed Huntsmen."
While this was all happening, Maria turned and walked away.
"If we could just talk this out-" Pietro tried to reason with the group.
"They'll be able to talk this out once they get to Atlas." Clover stated, tossing the Relec from one hand to another. "Let's move out!"
The Ace-Ops split up and left the area. Team RWBY, Team JNPR, Oscar and Qrow were then forced into the back of a secure van with their wrists bounded. As this was happening, Pluto screamed.
"AHHHHH! WHAT THE FRICK IS GOING ON!?" He panicked.
"Now, this… This is much closer to what I was expecting." Qrow muttered, ignoring Pluto's screams.
The back doors of the van were slammed shut, effectively drowning the boy's screams out.