"I don't understand. An underwater city? Even if... well, of course I believe you that it's there. So granting that, how are we supposed to get there? The ocean isn't that shallow, we can't just swim down there."

"Sir, you..." Jinn stopped and thought through her words before saying them. She cocked her head to the side. "Ah... the submersibles you have are small, cramped, and... well, privately owned. Getting them down to the city is one thing, but getting the right people down to the city and getting the Relic is a different matter."

"And how deep is this city?" Ironwood asked, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his desk. "Those submersibles, which I might add are single-person vehicles, can only go so deep. If the city is any deeper than what they're rated for, we can't reach the city at all."

"Well, they can certainly go deeper than their ratings would suggest. They should be able to withstand another... two? Three thousand feet? Beyond what they're rated for."

"Sir, can I speak please?"

Ironwood looked past Jinn to see Weiss raising her hand innocently. He gave her a nod. "What do you have to say?"

She took a moment to get her bearings, then started. "Okay... I get you're being... subtle? But I'm having difficulty reading between the lines. Is this conversation supposed to be a 'beating around the bush' kind of thing trying to avoid coming out and saying you have bigger submersibles that can go deeper that previously recorded?"

He stared at her silently for a few moments before coming to a decision on what to say. This was Weiss, and Ruby, after all. If he couldn't trust them, he couldn't trust himself. But he was also well aware that what they were talking about was the kind of thing that would seem to them like maybe it wasn't as big a secret, and talking about it wouldn't be as big a deal. He was wary, and he always wanted to have something up his sleeve, something hidden as a contingency against anyone. Anyone. At this point, there was one person he had no secrets from, save for that. Jinn did not seem to understand that about Ironwood, since she was the only one who knew every existing project or planned project. The only thing hidden from her was a plan inside his head to find a way to keep secrets from her. It was low priority, considering her circumstances, but it was real. Still, he had reasons to make sure he had secrets from everyone else. Shortening the list of secrets he was keeping from Ruby and her team was not something he was in a hurry to do, but so long as a list still existed, so long as he didn't show his full hand, a card or two couldn't hurt.

He decided. He wanted to use the resources he had, the brilliant burgeoning new Huntresses of Team RWBY, and he couldn't very well do that if he didn't tell them what they were going to be used for. "Miss Schnee, what do you know about submersibles?"

She was taken aback, clearly, but did her best to answer. "Not... a lot. I'm not a big fan of the idea of being stuck in a small bubble several thousand feet underwater, so I don't exactly think about it much. That said, I know enough." She started explaining technical specifications. "Most modern submersibles are maybe fifteen feet long, twelve feet tall, and can reach depths of about five thousand feet. Those can only carry one person, and have enough air to get a person down to five thousand feet and stay there for maybe ten minutes before they have to start coming back up. They're not fast, they're not big, and they're not comfortable."

The general nodded, understanding. He agreed, of course. If the small Schnee heiress found them cramped, a man of his physical stature would naturally find them even more so. "What about the more expensive types. The bigger ones, or the ones that can go really deep?"

"Well, there's some that are ridiculously expensive, if you want to go that far. There's some that are about thirty feet long and can go just as deep, other than being big enough to support two people, they're mostly the same, but they also have something like a sixty percent failure rate. Most of the times they go down that deep, something goes wrong and they implode. Or, at least, that's what we think happens. Communication tends to go offline, and that's it. I've heard that at those depths, when a submersible implodes, it's practically instantaneous, so the crew wouldn't ever even notice. Then there's the smaller ones, which are maybe eight feet long, and they're pretty well spherical too. Very small, one person, an air hose is used to keep it full of oxygen down to five thousand feet, but then they detach and go down another two thousand maximum before they have to start coming back up. Usually, they only make it back to about three thousand before one of the bigger ones has to meet them. They dock and bring the pilot of the smaller one onboard. I've also heard that when they do that, rapid decompression has a good chance of killing them."

"You're a submarine nerd."

"Quiet, you."

Ruby snickered.

Ironwood was also rather amused by how much Weiss knew on the subject. Of course there was plenty more, but those were all the big numbers that people funding deep sea exploration, and wide eyed children, liked to hear about. He got a feeling that her knowledge didn't come from being the first of those two types. Her knowledge about the more morbid aspects of the field surprised her, though. Perhaps it was the same sort of fascination that kept people going back to horror movies.

He stood up and stepped out from behind his desk. "Weiss, would you be interested in going on a submarine mission?"

"Wha-" She made that face that people only make when they desperately want to look like they hate an idea they love. A surprised, shocked, dismayed look with a smile pushing as hard as it could on the sides of her face, Weiss protested as much as she felt she could without Ironwood actually rescinding the offer. "After everything I just said, what would make you think I'd want to be on a cramped little vehicle like that for any amount of time? This isn't like the LADs, there's no showers, there's no outside. You can suffocate just from being inside too long, it- It's a total death trap!"

Jinn half-turned and gave a knowing smile to Weiss. "And yet?"

Weiss pursed her lips, then rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine. Just how big is the submersible you have?"

"Well, first of all, it's not a submersible. Submersibles are... tiny." Ironwood made a gesture with his fingers, illustrating just how small they were. "This is a submarine. It's... not tiny." He was hoping she would get the idea by his lack of description, but he knew it obviously wouldn't do the thing justice to just leave it at that. Turning back to his desk, he lifted the lockdown and headed for the door. "Let's all get rested for the morning. Ruby, bring your team to the hangar after breakfast tomorrow. Jinn, you should be there as well. We're going to take a field trip."

There were a few more people present than expected, but that was to be expected... surprisingly enough. Ruby thought so, anyway. She'd made sure her team was all there and awake, only to find that the Ace Ops were also present, along with Qrow and Raven, Robyn and her Happy Huntresses, and Amaranth. Ruby was quickly approached by her new peer, who looked very excited to get involved in whatever was going on, but before Amaranth could say any sort of greeting, the griping began.

"What are we even doing here? You get one little concession from Ironwood and he thinks he can just order us around?" Joanna Greenleaf moaned in irritation. "Seriously, why did we come to Atlas?"

"Ironwood is always like this. The only people he doesn't expect to follow his orders all the time without question are his wife and Ozpin." Raven explained, knowingly.

"Wait, is the general even married?" Fiona Thyme wondered out loud.

"Ah, you have a point." Raven nodded, agreeing. "And since Ozpin is dead..."

"Wait, what?" Fiona was just confused now. She looked to Robyn for help. "I still don't know if Ironwood is married or not. She didn't answer my question."

Robyn shook her head. "He's not. She's just saying that he expects everyone to follow his orders. And, of course, he doesn't like it when people don't do what he says. Still, I decided we should come here, since he asked relatively nicely, and he's been pretty forthcoming recently. He also implied that there was another secret he'd be telling us, which I'm always up for."

"I need more coffee." Qrow complained. He looked over to see that, yup, his sister was indeed standing right next to him. He slumped over dramatically in the other direction. "Ugh... a lot of coffee."

"Coffee? Whatever happened to alco-"

Ruby cut Raven off. "Stop. No. Don't even say it. He drinks too much coffee, but it's way better than it was before. Just... just let him complain."

"Okay." Raven backed off reluctantly. "Anyway, how long does Ironwood plan to make us wait? Cause I'm not waiting much longer."

"Good. We're setting out immediately." Ironwood walked past them briskly, boarding the airship that was waiting for them. "Come on, everyone. I've got something to show you."

Jinn followed behind him, stopping to give a playful salute to Ruby. "It's good, I promise."

This time, everyone was on the airship and chattering busily as they took off. Ruby watched Jinn carefully, noting that she looked a little green again this time, but not as bad as the first time. The Ace Ops were sitting across from Robyn's Happy Huntresses, and the two teams traded glare for glare. For some reason unknown to Ruby, Pelka had joined the Happy Huntresses almost overnight. Perhaps literally overnight. It wasn't like one more helping hand in Mantle was a bad thing, though. Ruby probably would be down there helping every spare moment herself, if not for having no spare moments to... spare. And then there was Raven... And also there was Amaranth now, which Ruby had to worry about. Ruby was pretty sure the girl was not read in on the Relics or Salem or any of it. She didn't seem to have picked up on any of the interpersonal drama going on at all, completely unaware of who Raven was, or why the Ace Ops and Happy Huntresses were at odds, or any of it. So young and innocent. Ruby remembered when Weiss was like that.

"You just thought something demeaning about me, didn't you?"

Ruby looked over to Weiss, stared at her for a moment. Poor, sweet, naïve Weiss. She shook her head. "Nope. Nothing demeaning at all." She called across Weiss to one of her other teammates. "Hey, Blake, what does 'demeaning' mean?"

"I will cause you to suffer." Weiss whispered in Ruby's ear.

"Uh... never mind! I figured it out."

"Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long, and Amaranth Perpetua." Ironwood reached into a pocket and pulled out his scroll. "I was going to do this with more pomp and circumstance than this, but I've had to scale back my planned celebration more than once. Penny will be seeing to the rest of your teams, but I have the honor of granting the five of you..." He tapped his scroll a few times. "Your Huntsman licenses."

Ruby felt her scroll buzzing in her pocket. She pulled it out and opened it just in time to see her student license change to a fully fledged Huntsman license. "I..." She looked over to her team, who were all taking in their own new licenses. "Sir, I don't know... thank you."

"It is a bit of a disappointment, but it was going to be today. There was cake and everything. Let's hope it's not stale by the time we get back." Ironwood chuckled. "That's assuming Penny and Jaune's team don't eat it all first."

The rest of the ride was full of congratulations from the others on board. The Ace Ops and Happy Huntresses put aside their glare contest to offer hearty cheers and celebration for the new Huntresses, no longer in training. Even Raven gave Yang some kind of acknowledging nod, which Ruby was pretty sure was a big deal. Now the only people on the airship who weren't fully licensed Huntsman and Huntresses were Jinn and Pelka, who Ruby knew were both some kind of epic warriors of an ancient time. They didn't really need it, and Ironwood probably didn't think they needed it, though he might as well give them licenses to make things easier for them. She decided she wanted to mention that to him, just in case it had slipped his mind.

The airship landed, and the ramp opened. Immediately, they were all struck with the cold salty air of the ocean. They were at the ocean, and that meant they were at the beach. Ruby got up and rushed down the ramp, only to see that the beach, which was quite nearby, was all large rocks and ice. And walruses. The air was filled with the sounds of walruses. They certainly had a smell she had not experienced before. They looked so silly and goofy and blobby, she wanted to just go grab one and hug it. That was probably a bad idea, since she was pretty sure they were something like twelve feet long and as tall as her. She'd easily take on a Grimm that size and weight, but an animal made of blubber and tusks? She wasn't suicidal.

"Oh, wow! Walruses!" Yang was just as excited as Ruby to see the big animals. She turned to her sister, shouting in excitement. "Ruby, Ruby, look! They're so fat!"

"You've never seen Walruses before?" Joanna stopped beside them, amused at how easily they were entertained. "Where did you grow up?"

"Uh, Patch?" Ruby answered, a little embarrassed. "There aren't walruses there. Just mice. And snakes. And less mice."

Weiss walked past, grabbing Ruby's hood and dragging her away. "Come on, you child. We can visit the zoo when we get back."

Ruby threw her hands in the air triumphantly. "It's a date!"

They were on a landing pad, with railings overlooking the shore below. Off the landing pad was an entrance into a military facility. Ironwood led them all through the front door and past a checkpoint, where the soldiers saluted and stepped aside quickly. The facility didn't look very big from what they could see, with just the landing pad, the small building with the checkpoint, and a big square room at the back. It wasn't until they were all loaded into the big room, which was rather crowded with all of them there, that Ruby realized they were standing in an elevator. She gasped in excitement as they started moving down, and rushed over to the far end where she could see out over the water. It was just rocky watery shoreline as far as she could see, but something felt more than that.

Others started gravitating towards the wall, enjoying the view for what it was, or wondering and waiting to see what they were going down to. The Ace Ops hung back, aware of where they were and what they were about to see, and Qrow stayed back with Jinn as well, flanking Ironwood on either side. Everyone else had their eyes glued to the window. Then they went into the ground, and the window only showed them metal and running lights. Some of them muttered quietly, others looked back at Ironwood questioningly, and Ruby was about to ask what was going on when suddenly, without warning, the window revealed a new sight. A cavern beneath the rocky shore, open to the sea in the bottom. An air pocket, huge, filled with Atlas personnel and equipment, all centered on one point of interest. The single biggest submarine Ruby, or any of them, had ever seen.

Ironwood finally stepped forward, along with the rest of those who had hung back, standing at the window and looking down at the ship with pride. "Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Nautilus. She is six hundred feet in length, with a crew of one hundred and fifty and enough food, water, and air for them to live comfortably, submerged, for two months. At top speed, she can reach twenty knots sailing on the surface, but underwater she can speed along at over thirty. State of the art Atlas military technology used for every single piece, I'm sure I don't have to remind you that the technical specs are, by nature, top secret."

"That's... quite something." Qrow was in awe. He saw the file when he was running Atlas, and got update reports from the facility. He'd gotten reports like that from dozens of projects, though, and responded to them with a mass text reply 'good job'. He briefly read about it, realized it was a submarine, and moved on. Seeing it now, though, his mistake became clear. "You've really outdone yourself this time, James."

"Wait... submerged?" Amaranth looked to the general in shock. "That thing is... a submersible?"

Clover answered for the general. "Submersibles are small craft that support one or two people. The Nautilus has two submersibles onboard. She's a submarine."

Ruby noticed Weiss had her face pressed up against the window, her breath fogging up the glass. "Weiss, you're geeking out."

Weiss stopped, pulled herself back, straightened her clothes, and then approached the window again, more respectfully. "I am not. I just... lost my balance. That's all."

Beside her, Blake narrowed her eyes at something on the side of the ship. "Zero... four?"

"What?" Weiss jumped forward and pressed her face up against the glass again. "Four? This is the fourth of its class?" She looked to Ironwood, pleading for an answer.

He nodded. "That's correct. There are four of them now, with at least three more under construction, each harbored in a facility much like this one."

"'At least' three more?" Qrow arched a curious eyebrow.

"Well, I don't see any reason to tell anyone exactly how many we have. But we have enough." Ironwood said reassuringly.

Robyn grimaced. "Enough for what?" She nudged Joanna next to her and pointed down to something on the dock. "Those are torpedoes. This is a warship." She leaned back from the window and eyed Ironwood suspiciously. "What do you need an underwater warship for?"