As the sun began setting over the mountains around the abandoned Dust mine, four trucks drove up the road to the mine entrance, and Amity Colosseum floated toward the mine. Two people were lying with binoculars somewhere in the area, one of whom was wearing a pin that resembled the one on Robyn Hill's scarf. Their binoculars had the same symbol as the pin, as they both gazed up at the colosseum, before the one on the right resumed looking through his binoculars.
Soon after the trucks arrived at the mine entrance, Team RWBY, Team JNPR, Qrow and the Ace Operatives walked outside. Smiling, Marrow looked at Clover and then attempted to put on a more serious demeanor. Ruby, Jaune and Nora came together to gaze in dramatic admiration of the Ace-Ops, while Ren, Pluto, Blake, Weiss and Yang watched the three with wide eyes.
"Aaaah!" Nora screamed in a high pitched voice while Jaune rushed over to Clover's side.
"You guys were incredible!" He said.
He switched to being in front of Clover and began energetically gesturing as he talked.
"Oh, the way you took down that Geist without needing to plan your tactics out, you just knew exactly what to do!" He added.
"Well, Ace-Ops are hand-picked to perfectly compliment one another. So we can focus on our assets and leave our liabilities behind." Clover explained.
Marrow walked over with a confident smile.
"Some of us are all asset, zero liability." He claimed.
He posed with a salute and a grin, looking at Jaune. Elm scoffed at this, catching Marrow's attention. He moved over to her, leaning in to confront her.
"Wha- Yeah? Think I've got some liabilities, Elm?" He questioned.
"Your brains, for one." Elm retorted.
Clover, Elm and Harriet laughed at Marrow, who groaned and pouted, as the former three walked away.
"You did ask." Vine pointed out.
He too walked away, and Nora approached Elm with wide eyes and a smile. Elm looked at her in a confused way.
"Hi. Do you need a new best friend?" She asked, moving closer. "Our pair name can be…"
Nora's eyes sparked with pink electricity, and she lifted her hammer into the air with both hands. She was suddenly standing on an empty plane with a green tinted sky, with Elm standing nearby. Pink lightning struck, while green and pink gradient text appears reading the following.
"THUNDER THIGHS!" She yelled in an over-the-top way, her voice echoing dramatically.
Harriet watched this with a sigh, and Ruby ran over to her.
"Perfect complementary teamwork. Oh, yeah, I want to have my friends' backs just like that." She said.
"Friends?" Harriet asked, raising an eyebrow.
"This isn't the schoolyard, kid." Elm laughed.
Behind Elm, Nora still posed with her hammer in the air.
"Thunder Thighs…" She repeated, this time in a quiet tone.
As she said this, Ren walked over, lifted the currently stiff Nora under his arm, and walked away while carrying Nora like a cardboard cutout. Following this, Pluto walked up to Elm, with a nervous smile on his face.
"That's my friend, Nora..." He awkwardly said.
"You have some weird friends then, kid." Elm replied.
Pluto didn't say anything in response. He just continued to smile nervously at the larger woman before quickly walking away. After this, Ruby's teammates went over to join her while she was talking with Harriet.
"But, I mean, when you go through so much with someone, it kind of changes things, doesn't it?" Yang asked.
"We get along well enough, sure. I count on them to keep me alive. They do the same. But that's the job. We don't confuse the two." Harriet replied.
She turned and walked away, leaving Team RWBY to look on sadly.
"Speaking of the job…" Clover piped in.
Further down the way, Ironwood was seen talking on a communicator. He gave a brief order to a soldier, who walked away.
"Duty ever beckons. You all hang back a second." Clover added, gesturing to Jaune and Qrow.
The Ace-Ops walked over to Ironwood. Ruby watched with a sad sigh, then looked away, thinking. She then thought of an idea, smiled and hurried over to her teammates.
"What do you guys want to do when we get back to Atlas? Sightseeing?" She asked before she gasped. "Oh, what should we visit first?"
"How about our beds?" Blake yawned before she walked away.
"Oh, come on, guys! This is a great time to go exploring! We haven't done that in so long!" Ruby complained.
"Ruby, we just explored a whole continent on foot before flying to this one." Weiss replied before she too walked away.
"Well, yeah, but... it was only the boring parts." Ruby pointed out.
"We almost died." Yang pointed out in return, crossing her arms.
Ruby waved her hands at Yang with an awkward chuckle, and Yang also walked away. Ruby then frowned and sighed sadly.
"Hey. Heads up." Qrow called out.
He pointed his thumb over at Ironwood, who was talking to Clover while the other Ace-Ops walked away.
"Can I get the team leaders over here?" Ironwood requested. "There's something I'd like to discuss with you. You too, Qrow."
Ruby, Jaune and Qrow walked over to Ironwood as asked.
"I need you on the ground, but be subtle. If people see too many Huntsmen milling around, they'll get nervous." He told Clover.
Clover saluted, nodded and began walking away.
"And Clover?" He called to him, who stopped and looked back.
In the background, Marrow was in front of an open airship, talking to a military Huntsman, while miming punching imaginary targets and waving his arms.
"Don't take Marrow." Ironwood added.
Clover looked over at Marrow, then looked at Ironwood, smiling and chuckling with a nod. Marrow recreated his pose from when he froze a pair of Centinels and then turned around and mimed shooting something. Clover headed in Marrow's direction, and Ironwood turned to Qrow, Jaune and Ruby.
"New problems in Mantle?" Qrow asked.
"More of the same, unfortunately." Ironwood answered, sighing.
Ironwood withdrew and deployed his Scroll, using it to generate a hologram screen in the air in front of him. The left side of the screen displayed an Atlas Military Police mugshot of Forest, while the right side displayed a photograph of Forest's corpse in an alleyway somewhere in midtown Mantle.
"Someone in Mantle is taking out public leaders who speak out against Atlas. Specifically, people who speak out against me. It didn't look like a pattern at first. But this is the third murder of its kind in the last week." He explained.
"Wait a minute. That's the guy that rode with us after we were arrested." Jaune noted as he stepped forward.
"He died?" Ruby asked in an upset tone.
"Your opposition in Mantle dropping dead isn't exactly a good look for you, huh?" Qrow assumed.
Ironwood deactivated the hologram screen and put his Scroll away.
"Not really worried about my public image, but it is causing unrest. I think someone's trying to frame me and, by extension, Atlas. And it's working." Ironwood replied.
"Well, if it wasn't for the embargo making everybody so mad, people probably wouldn't be so quick to blame you for everything else." Jaune pointed out.
Ironwood frowned and looked at Jaune, who awkwardly cleared his throat and stood at attention.
"S-Sir." He added.
"No. No, you're right." Ironwood agreed, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his fingers. "Things in Mantle have been... hard to manage lately. I'm not blind to its issues. In fact, that's what I want to talk to you about."
He turned and looks up at Amity Colosseum.
"With the launch of this mobile communications tower and tensions down in Mantle, I think there's a lot of good your teams can do here." He stated.
Ironwood's communicator suddenly beeped, and he put his fingers to it, listening to what the situation was.
"What? Already? Here?" He reacted with surprise. "No, it's fine. Let him land. I'll deal with him myself."
Qrow and Ruby looked each other, and then at Ironwood, curious as to what the deal was.
"More Mantle problems?" Qrow asked.
Ironwood watched an airship fly by on its way to the landing pad.
"No. This one's an Atlas problem." Ironwood answered.
The ship, bearing the Schnee Dust Company logo, descended onto a landing pad, where Ironwood and Team RWBY were already waiting, with Team JNPR and Qrow standing further back. A ramp extended from in front of the ship's double door, which opened to reveal an angry Jacques Schnee, Weiss' father and head of the Schnee Dust Company.
"Who's that guy?" Pluto quietly asked the other four.
"Weiss' father, Jacques Schnee. The C.E.O. of the Schnee Dust Company." Ren answered.
"Also a well-known douchebag." Qrow added.
As soon as the ship's doors began to open, Jacques started talking and made his way down the ramp.
"So let me get this straight, James. In addition to this nonsensical embargo of yours crippling my business, you've also decided you have the authority to commandeer private property?" He asked.
He stopped in front of Ironwood, who calmly stared at him, arms folded behind his back.
"When the Council hears about this, you will never-" He added, as he aggressively pointed at Ironwood before being interrupted.
"Actually, I've already informed them. As this is now the site of a classified military operation, it didn't even require a vote." Ironwood revealed.
"Didn't require a vote?!" Jacques exclaimed.
"You might want to brush up on Council law before you lose this upcoming election, Jacques." Ironwood replied. "Now. I've allowed you to land here once as a courtesy. The next time, it won't be a friendly reception."
Jacques glares at Ironwood over this implied threat.
"Lately, you seem to forget who your friends really are." He claimed. "I'm going to get that Council seat, James, and maybe then, you'll-"
Before he could finish that sentence, Jacques became distracted, his eyes widening when he realized Weiss was also present. The two Schnees stared at each other for a moment.
"You..." Jacques said angrily.
He walked past Ironwood, glancing at him as he does so.
"You roped my missing daughter into these schemes of yours, too?" He questioned before he turned back around to look at Ironwood. "How long has she been back in Atlas? Did Winter know about this?"
Weiss became annoyed by her father's arrogant behavior and stepped forward to confront Jacques.
"It was my decision to come here. Just like it was my decision to leave. Or have you forgotten all about that?" She reminded him.
"If you think I'm one to forget anything, girl, then you've misjudged the man your father is." Jacques replied.
"Believe me, I know exactly the kind of man you are." Weiss retorted.
"How dare you speak to me that way!?" Jacques exclaimed in outrage over his daughter's attitude. "I have half a mind to-"
"Half a mind to what, Jacques?" Ironwood interrupted.
Jacques narrowed his eyes, then adjusted his cuff link, sighing angrily.
"You know... your mother was devastated when you left." He claimed.
Weiss began to look upset upon hearing that.
"Didn't leave her room for days. You know how… she gets... when she's upset." Jacques added.
Jacques acted sad while he speaks, taking a moment to peek at Weiss' reaction, implying that he was lying to emotionally manipulate her. Her eyes glimmered with sadness, and she looked down, frowning. Ruby looked upset at this, while Blake and Yang glared at Jacques, Blake glaring far more intensely than Yang. Jacques smirked at seeing his daughter's reaction as he turned to face Ironwood again.
"I knew one day, you would overextend your reach. I didn't come here to beg for an abandoned mine. I came here to thank you…" He told him.
Weiss looked around, noticing that her teammates had come to her side. Blake held her hand and gave the former heiress a comforting nod.
"...for personally handing me the noose to hang you." Jacques continued.
Blake and Yang glared at Jacques, while Ruby looked at Weiss with a smile.
"You'll regret this." Jacques concluded before he turned to look back at Weiss.
"So these are the little friends you threw everything away for?" He asked.
"Not friends." Weiss answered, shaking her head.
Ruby looked at Weiss, frowning a little, and Weiss looked at Jacques.
"Family." She added.
Ruby smiled wide over hearing this, while Yang smirked in response.
"Hmm..." Jacques grumbled before he returned to his airship and began to take off.
Ruby, Blake and Yang looked at Weiss with concern, while she exhaled and drops her strong and confident facade, as the ship flew away.
After Jacques left, Team JNPR and Qrow watched the whole scene transpire, all with annoyed expressions on their faces.
"You know what, sir? You're right, he is a douchebag." Pluto said to Qrow in regards to Jacques.
Shortly after, a truck arrived on the platform. Once the truck came to a stop, Winter opened the passenger side door and peeked out at the ship.
"Oh, now you show up, Winter. You just missed father." Weiss said with a joking smile.
"I wouldn't say I missed hi-" Winter was about to reply until she was interrupted in the most bizarre way possible.
From the sky, Penny suddenly came crashing down, landing on one knee. The force from her landing sent Team RWBY flying with a small scream, while Winter steadied herself against the shockwave. Penny straightened up and threw her hands into the air, the word "CONGRATULATIONS!" appearing above her head as a green hologram, with bright green hologram confetti spawning from it with a party horn sound.
"Surprise!" She cheered happily.
Penny looked around with a giant grin as the hologram flickered. When she noticed Team RWBY on the ground, her grin and the hologram both faded.
"Uh, did we not start yet?" She asked.
Winter put her fingertips to her forehead in exasperation., while Ironwood stared with a wide-eyed grimace, while faint groaning could be heard from Ruby.
"Apparently, we haven't." Winter answered, sighing.
Nearby, Jaune and Nora laughed at Penny's display, while Pluto, Ren and Qrow watched in disbelief. Ruby then stood up with a look of confusion.
"Start what?" Ruby asked.
After the sun finished setting, RWBY, JNPR, Qrow, Winter, Penny and Ironwood all gathered in the center of Amity Colosseum's arena.
"Teams RWBY and JNPR, please step forward." Ironwood requested.
Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang all stood together lined up, as did Jaune, Nora and Ren.
"...You too, Mr. Nikos." Ironwood added.
"Oh!" Pluto quickly yelped as he hurriedly rushed towards the other members of Team JNPR, standing between Nora and Ren.
With RWBY and JNPR now all stood lined up, and with Ironwood, Winter and Penny standing across from them and Qrow standing off to the side, the ceremony officially began. The arena lights were on and pointed at the center of the stage where everyone was standing.
"It goes without saying that this arena holds a significance to all of us. It's only fitting that we should be able to reconvene here. Now, when the world needs to be brought together more than ever. The road you traveled from our first meeting hasn't been easy." Ironwood began.
While he talked, Ironwood began walking along in front of RWBY and JNPR, with Pluto looking very nervous. Penny, who was holding a tablet-sized Scroll, excitedly bounced up and down next to Winter, who placed a hand on Penny's shoulder to hold her still.
"You fought for your school and your friends at Beacon. You fought for the world and the innocent at Haven Academy and beyond." Ironwood added before looking directly at Pluto. "You're fighting for your sister, who also fought for her school and her friends at Beacon."
"I'm so scared right now..." Pluto meekly said in a small voice.
"You faced down terrors people can't even fathom. That's not the behavior of students. It's the behavior… of Huntsmen and Huntresses." Ironwood continued.
He looked over at Penny, who happily began humming and walking past JNPR and RWBY, stopping in front of each person to tap on her Scroll. With each tap, her Scroll emitted a beep and someone else's Scroll buzzed. Ren's Scroll was the first to buzz, and he removed it from his pocket and opened it, checking the screen. It displayed his student license, which displayed a photograph of him in his new outfit with his emblem in the top left corner and a barcode below the photo. The Vale symbol was in the background behind the license information. The license said:
STUDENT LICENSE BEACON
Name: Ren, Lie
LN: 63700 - 16778 - 13563
Place of Issue: Vale
Authority: Beacon Academy
Restrictions: Class C
The screen blinked, and the license suddenly changed. The Kingdom of Atlas symbol was now in the background behind the information. The new license said:
HUNTSMAN LICENSE Atlas
Name: Ren, Lie
LN: 63700 - 16778 - 13563
Place of Issue: Atlas
Authority: Atlas Academy
Restrictions: Class C
"Wait... what is this?" Ren asked.
Everyone else checked their Scrolls as Penny continued tapping hers.
"You are being granted your Huntsman licenses, today." Winter revealed.
Penny finished using her Scroll to grant everyone their licenses and walked away with a big grin. Her Scroll displayed the Atlas Huntsman License Registry.
"I know this is coming a little ahead of schedule, but Brothers know you deserve it. I only regret that I couldn't do something a little more ceremonious for the occasion." Ironwood said.
Ruby stared in awe at her license as did Pluto.
"I..." Ruby tried to say, as she glanced at her friends. "We… we're honored, General Ironwood. But you really don't have to do th-"
"Please. With the threat of Salem still out there and tensions rising in our Kingdom, I certainly could use more trustworthy fighters by my side." Ironwood replied.
As Ironwood walked away from them, Team RWBY looked at each other. Yang and Weiss' faint smiles faded, and Blake's cat ears dropped.
"I should be so lucky to have all of you." Ironwood added.
He stopped for a moment, then looked at Team RWBY and smiled.
"It's okay. It's a big moment." He reassured them before he began walking again. "And what better way than to celebrate here? When this tower is ready and communications are back up and running, we'll tell the world about Salem and face down whatever comes at us after that, together."
RWBY and JNPR stand in silence as Ironwood sighed.
"That's… just about all the pomp I have in me." He added, as he awkwardly adjusted his tie. "If you'll excuse me, I have to get back to running this operation. Um… Well, then. Enjoy the cake."
Ironwood then walked away, with Winter following. Penny popped up with a hand raised in the air.
"Your speech outros are improving, sir!" She said in an encouraging tone.
RWBY and JNPR looked at their licenses, with Pluto still staring in disbelief.
"After everything we've been through, I almost forgot this is what I wanted in the first place." Yang said.
"When Beacon fell, I didn't think this would even be possible." Blake added.
"It almost feels trivial now." Weiss replied.
"Geez, guys, lighten up a little. Enjoy yourselves for a change. You've earned it." Qrow piped in.
"Finally! Someone said it. Let's kill some cake, huh?" Nora agreed, as she moved forward, throwing a fist in the air. "Because I can eat two slices before Ren even eats one. Who says I can't? Who says it, huh!?"
"Nora, nobody is arguing with you about this." Ren pointed out.
A short while later, all of the new huntsman/huntresses except Ruby gathered around a cake, while Ruby instead sat nearby in the bleachers. Penny used six of her swords to cut the cake into even slices.
Weiss and Ren stood together, eating their personal slices, and Nora moved over to them with a stack of six slices. Ren and Weiss stared in surprise as Nora ate an entire slice in one bite.
Yang showed off her prosthetic arm to Penny, who looked at it in awe. Yang then offered to shake Penny's hand with the prosthetic arm, a sneaky grin on her face. Penny happily took her hand, only for the arm to detach, causing Penny to gasp in surprise. Yang and Nora laughed at this gag, and after a moment, Penny laughed too.
Blake stood alone, eating her cake in calm silence. Suddenly, Yang swiftly moved up beside Blake, putting her arm around her and holding up her Scroll with the camera function on. Blake looked at Yang with wide eyes and a confused smile, and when the Scroll's camera began rapidly clicking, she turned her head and grinned at it with a small, awkward laugh.
Ruby watched as Yang continued to take selfies with Blake, while Nora talked with Penny, and Jaune talked with Weiss, Pluto and Ren, with Pluto still in shock.
"Big day for you, huh, kiddo?" Qrow asked, as he walked over and sat next to Ruby.
"It's… definitely a lot to take in." Ruby answered.
"Which part? The finally getting to Atlas part, getting your license part, or the not quite disclosing everything to Ironwood part? Or… all of the above?" Qrow wondered.
"All of the above." Ruby laughed softly. "I'm trying to do what I think is best, but I really can't tell if what's best is what's right, or if I'm no different from Oz."
"Ruby, Oz only trusted himself with the whole truth. You're trusting others, but you're making sure they prove themselves first. I think that's a pretty big difference." Qrow pointed out.
"I hope so." Ruby agreed as she withdrew her Scroll and looked at her license. "This says I'm a Huntress now. But I don't feel like I know much more than I did at Beacon."
Qrow laughed a little over this.
"That feeling never goes away. Your mom, Summer, would be proud of you." He told his niece.
She smiled at him, but that smile soon faded as she thought to herself.
"Her… last mission. Was that another Oz secret?" She questioned.
"Hm. There were a lot of those back in our day. But this one was a Summer secret." Qrow explained. "When she didn't come back, Ozpin seemed just as in the dark as myself and your father. Still, who knows what he may have hidden from us over the years."
"What do you think she would've done if she learned the truth about Salem? That she can't be destroyed." Ruby asked.
"Pressed on, I think. Like you. She was always the best of us." Qrow answered, before he pulled Ruby over to rest her head against his shoulder, smiling. "Bit of a brat, though. But hey, I like brats."
Ruby playfully elbowed him in the ribs and laughed. Meanwhile, Pluto continued looking at his license in awe, while he ate a slice of cake.
"Pluto, are you feeling okay?" Ren asked, a hint of concern in his voice.
"Uh, yeah. W-What do you mean?" Pluto replied.
"You've been staring at your license this whole time." Jaune pointed out. "We're happy for you, and I know that it's a lot to take in, but you seem like you're struggling to properly process this."
"N-No, guys, I'm fine, r-really." Pluto blushed, sounding embarrassed. "D-Do you mind if I step outside for a bit?"
"Uh, sure thing, Pluto." Jaune accepted.
Pluto meekly smiled at him and then walked away. Jaune, Ren and Weiss all looked concerned, as did Nora, who approached the group after Pluto left.
"What's up with Plu-Plu?" Nora wondered.
"I don't know..." Weiss answered.
Outside, Pluto approached the balcony and took a look at the night sky, exhaling as he looked up. He then took out his Scroll to look at his license once more. Tears welled up in his eyes as he looked at it before he looked back at the sky once more.
"We made it, Pyrrha..." He quietly told his deceased older sister.
He then began sniffling, possibly on the verge of breaking down in a crying fit, until he was unexpectedly visited by someone who wanted to check in on him.
"Are you okay, potential new friend?" The concerned voice of Penny asked as the android approached him, causing him to turn around.
"Y-Yeah... W-Why wouldn't I be?" Pluto nervously replied.
"Because I noticed you observing your scroll upon receiving your huntsman license." Penny answered. "And upon you coming out here, I could sense you was in emotional distress. You was crying."
Pluto's lip began quivering after Penny pointed this out.
"What is the matter, Pluto?" She asked curiously.
"I-I don't know..." Pluto meekly answered. "I-I'm happy and excited that I'm an officially licensed huntsman. But at the same time...I feel like I don't deserve this. I never went to Beacon, I didn't become a huntsman until after it was destroyed, and I still haven't received any training. I shouldn't have this. This should be Pyrrha's license, not mine."
Before he could even begin crying, Penny then proceeded to comfort Pluto by gently putting a hand on his shoulder.
"It is okay if you feel like you are unworthy of being a huntsman." She told him. "But your sister was a brilliant warrior, wasn't she?"
"Yeah..." Pluto agreed, calming down somewhat. "I mean, she was the best student that ever came out of Sanctum."
"Exactly! Pyrrha Nikos was such a strong warrior! She was truly a worthy opponent to engage in battle with, even though I was indirectly destroyed by her!" Penny replied cheerfully.
Pluto looked slightly put-off over Penny's oddly happy demeanor but nonetheless let her keep talking.
"The point is, your sister was not blamed for my destruction. And I still hold no ill will towards her. you have been given this license because General Ironwood sees great potential in you to be a warrior just like your sister before you." She explained. "I believe her teammates also see great potential in you as well, yes?"
"Yeah..." Pluto answered. "But what if I'm not good enough to be on the same level as Pyrrha?"
"It is no issue if you are good or bad at being a huntsman, Pluto." Penny reassured him. "The important thing is that you are trying to do the right thing. I do believe that is exactly what Pyrrha would have wanted from you."
With this, Pluto smiled softly at the adorable android, now with a much chipper attitude.
"Thanks, Penny. I needed this." He said in a grateful tone. "You're a good friend to have."
With that sentence, Penny gasped in surprise.
"What did you just say?" She asked in shock.
Pluto soon froze, feeling an unusual sense of dread in the air.
"U-Umm... Are you okay?"
"Did you just state that I am your... friend?" Penny repeated.
Despite the innocence of the question, the way that Penny said it caused Pluto to feel a sense of unease. Despite this, he still gave an answer.
"W-Well...We're mutual friends with the others, and you did just cheer me up and try to motivate me, so...I'd say yeah, we're pretty much friends." He answered.
Pluto then realised his grave mistake when Penny's mouth curved into a grin three times the size of what was natural.
"Uh...w-what's going on?" Pluto asked nervously.
The only answer that he got was an indication that he should have protected his spine.
In less than half a second, Penny ensnared the rookie huntsman into an impossibly tight hug that defied physics, causing Pluto to scream out in a comically high pitched voice.
"Yay! A new friend! I made another friend today!" Penny cheered out in joy.
Her jubilation would have been infectious had it not been for the hug that was quickly breaking all of poor Pluto's bones. She was also spinning the smaller boy around, which only added dizziness to his pain.
Once she let go of the crushing hug, Pluto collapsed onto the ground with a loud thud.
"First Nora, now this..." He said in a pained voice.
"This day has been truly wonderful!" Penny declared before she looked down at Pluto. "Oh, oh, oh, oh, what should we do first as friends? Go grab a bite as they say? See a movie? Play pranks on other people?"
"Um... M-Maybe another time." Pluto meekly replied as he got back up to his feet. "Let's just head back inside. Sound good?"
Penny thought it through for a second before reaching her verdict.
"...Yes!" She agreed.
With that, Pluto and an overly joyful Penny headed back inside to regroup with the others.
Back inside, Ruby continued sitting with Qrow until she was called over by Yang.
"Hey, Ruby! Come check this out!" She said as she pointed behind herself with her thumb.
Ruby then headed over towards the rest of her team as well as Team JNR, who were staring at something.
"Oh my gosh, is that a mission board? It's an app now!?" Ruby gasped.
She zoomed over to the mission board, pointing at different missions.
"Can we ride a Megoliath? Stop an underground crime ring?" She asked excitedly. "Do I get to go…"
She turned away, put on her hood, and turned back to Penny, who just approached the group along with Pluto, doing a dramatic expression.
"...undercover?" Ruby asked in a fake accent, then flared her cloak out, knocking the hood off her head, and began shaking Penny up and down.
"Maaaybeee!" Penny answered as she was being shook.
Pluto then stood beside his teammates/mentors in Team JNPR, watching the scene unfold.
"Hey, guys." He greeted.
"There you are! Where'd you run off to?" Jaune asked.
"You had us worried sick! Never scare your momma like that again!" Nora dramatically yelled.
"Nora, you're not my mom." Pluto jokingly retorted.
"Oh really? You just say that when I CRUSH you when we eventually get to sparring! Momma's gonna break your legs!" Nora threatened, also in a semi-joking way, but still scaring Pluto a bit.
"Don't be intimidated by Nora, Pluto. Just tell us what's on your mind." Ren interjected, curious as to where Pluto ran off to.
"I needed some fresh air, so I headed outside for a bit. And I had a chat with Penny while I was out there too. She gave me a pep talk, then snapped my spine in half because we're now friends." Pluto answered Jaune's question.
"Aww, but I'm supposed to break your ribs!" Nora whined and pouted.
There was a brief silence before a conversation started up again.
"So... We're official huntsmen now." Pluto noted.
"Yeah..." Jaune agreed.
"Does this mean I'm officially a part of the team now?" Pluto asked, his tone a mixture of hopefulness and curiosity.
With that question, Jaune, Nora and Ren all looked each other, then back at Pluto.
"You've still got a lot to learn, but you proved that you have what it takes during that mission before. You may not have been from Beacon, and we may not know you for that long, but we knew your sister, and we loved her like a family. You earned that license, Pluto. Just like how you've earned the right to join our little family." Jaune answered, before he shook Pluto's hand. "Welcome to Team JNPR!"
Ren smiled at Pluto, in happiness over formally being inducted into Team JNPR. Unfortunately for him, a now rejuvenated and VERY excited Nora screamed in joy and instantly tackle hugged Pluto to the ground, not giving him a chance to recover after Penny did the same a few minutes prior.
"How many times is that now?" Ren asked Jaune, referring to the amount of times Nora had bear hugged Pluto by this point.
"I'd say about twenty." Jaune guessed.
"GAH! Why is it always the redheads?!" Pluto cried out in comical anguish
Marrow's voice then came from nearby. Upon hearing him, Ruby stopped shaking Penny and Nora stopped crushing Pluto.
"Hey, do you guys smell that?" He asked.
He walked in with Elm and Vine, dramatically sniffing the air.
"Smells like… fresh meat." He said.
"That's odd. I don't smell meat." Vine sniffed.
"Neither do I." Ren added.
'You know what? Never mind." Marrow groaned.
"Let me get this straight. You've only been official for an hour now and you're already looking for Huntsman work?" Elm asked.
"To be fair, we've been official for a whole…" Weiss interjected, holding up a finger before she withdrew her Scroll and checked the time, which said 8:42, making her disappointed. "Fifty-seven minutes."
Nora playfully rolled her eyes at Weiss over this grammatical error.
"I'd like to remind you all that the real mission here is ensuring the successful launch of the communications tower." Vine reminded everyone.
"True, but we can also keep training and improving by helping where we can." Ren suggested.
"The enthusiasm of youths!" Elm sighed happily while doing a fist pump.
"Well, it's hard to argue with that. Okay, let me show you how it works." Marrow offered as he walked over to the mission board, scrolled up on it and selected an Escort mission. "Ooh, here's an important one. Who wants to volunteer?"
He turned to look, and Team RWBY and Team JNPR all raised their hands, mutually agreeing to the task.
"We need someone to escort children to pre-primary school down in Mantle." Marrow revealed. "There's not actually any danger, but the parents fret, and that attracts Grimm."
Everyone but Jaune dropped their hands down.
"Perfect! Thanks…" Marrow said before his expression became uncertain. "Juan… Jwan… Jim?"
"Close enough, I guess." Jaune replied with an awkward chuckle. "Wow, my first Huntsman mission."
"Hehe... He called you Jim..." Pluto snickered.
"Shut up..." Jaune retorted in an equally amused tone.
Elm slid over and knocked Marrow aside with her palm, causing him to scream.
"Next!" She declared as she quickly swiped down on the mission board, causing the missions to scroll by rapidly. She slapped one of the missions, bringing up a Search and Destroy mission with an image depicting a rotating 3D model of a Sabyr.
"A massive Sabyr is loose in the Mantle sewers! We need two brave warriors to flush it out!" She revealed.
Everyone but Jaune raised their hands, gasping excitedly, and Jaune looked around, bewildered.
"Wha- But- Why didn't I get a choice for that one?" He asked, prompting his friends to begin laughing at him.
In the Schnee Manor, Jacques sat alone in his dimly lit office, drinking from a glass with a spherical ice cube in it. The door opened partway, revealing his son Whitley, who nervously informed his father that he had a visitor. Annoyed, Jacques complained that he didn't want to be disturbed and asked his son why he let them in.
But Whitley revealed that he didn't. Instead, the visitor in question let himself in, who was soon revealed to be Watts, who grabbed the door and pulled it the rest of the way open, walking into the room as Whitley moved out of his way. Watts complimented Whitley, calling him a spitting image of Jacques.
Jacques in turn, was shocked to see Watts, as for all he knew, he was dead. He took a second to gather himself, then commanded Whitley to leave them and shut the door, who complied. Jacques turned his attention back to Watts, who pointed out that he was supposed to be dead, but Watts revealed that he simply faked his death quite some time ago. He then pointed out that Jacques had a problem with Ironwood.
Jacques explained that Ironwood was costing him more money every day with his embargo, and that he would fire every employee in Mantle if he wasn't trying to get their votes for his bid to run for Council. Watts then sat in the chair next to Jacques' and offered to help him out with his problem.