Task at Hand

A man can only take so many mistakes in a lifetime. Ozpin had yet to reach the end of his many lifetimes but he feels the worse kind is the one situation he had failed to rectify.

"We should have seen this coming, maybe he is no more the person I thought."

What resulted in the aftermath of Neo's infiltration and exfiltration was a fire that engulfed the lower section of Beacon's hidden vault.

Now, it lay blackened from the incineration. He had not yet known what directly caused it but he was confident who had the motive to do so. The public would be needed to be informed but what would they say?

Say that somehow the reason why they suspect someone was because magic existed and a shadow war was ongoing between a queen of the Grimm? No, Ozpin couldn't do so.

Glynda was at his side as the wreckage was thoroughly fixed with the help of her semblance telekineses.

"Everyone was at the party, they had an… interesting presence. I doubt we could attribute an absence as evidence for this fire," she said.

"Then the obvious answer was that they had someone else, someone we had not known about. I'm sure of the existence of the old members of Cinder's subordinates under his command but none of them we know have been here."

Ozpin brought out his scroll and named every report he himself had gone through.

"First, signs of documents being sifted through, Second was the presence of someone in my office. Third, no one in the registry for people had been detected but curiously the data on the elevator showed the staff only taking this, as well as someone else."

"Who?" Glynda curiously asked.

"Qrow."

"You think it's possible he did it?" Glynda brought up the theory but she knows personally that she'd dismiss it. "No, he might've been doubtful of you but he wouldn't do something so radical."

"Not completely."

It had shocked her, Ozpin was considering a friend that had been serving him being suspected seemingly without a second thought. "It's Qrow, you know how he acts."

"And he would act within reason, Glynda. It's just he might not be completely innocent as we may think."

"What should we do?"

"I fear that we might need to prepare a box of the Volksreich's banner. I am no oracle but it is indeed true we might not have a choice for our future."

He paused.

"Although, there is always another way."

~

Back in the dorms…

Hanns had a moment of bliss when he saw a bed that he could lie on. It was one of the girls' but he was tired mentally at the time and wouldn't sleep on the ground.

The moment he did though, he was instantly disappointed. Because of how the Moderator made him, he couldn't feel anything at all. Not the softness of an actual bed nor the comfort that it brought.

Still, he slept expecting to be woken up whenever the rest of the team finished with their party. He could always find somewhere else and so he was prepared to leave maybe an hour after he tried sleeping.

"Huh, they're not here."

It was evident that wasn't the case. The sunlight was there but the team wasn't, so he assumed what had happened.

"They overstayed, didn't they? I guess teens will be teens in the end, never thought I'd be acting like the normal one."

Like that one friend you had who watched over the less reasonable of the group, Hanns got up and went directly to where the dance was held.

From the outside, he could already see what the problem was. Dozens of broken windows and the balcony had at least 6 people lying down on the railing. The door was broken, Hanns assumed it was Yang and people were groaning in pain, presumably from something they ate or drank.

As he approached the building, he could see people fixing it. "So it's team CFVY fixing it? That should mean they're the ones who were in charge of the event instead of team RWBY. I assume it's the work of the butterfly effect."

Hanns got to the dance floor and saw the most curious sight. "This is definitely going to the 'send to Neo' folder," he said as he brought out his scroll.

*CLICK!*

He had already taken a photo of the people laying down on the floor. It was of Ruby and Weiss that looked like they'd been dancing for the entire night.

What made it funnier was that Weiss had resolved to handcuff herself to Ruby so that she wouldn't escape while Ruby's heels were duct taped to her foot.

"I guess Weiss had enough and decided to take Ruby hostage. No wonder she looks so happy even when unconscious. Ruby though… she looks more dead than Cinder."

Hanns lifted them both and slung them over his shoulder. He adjusted them so that they wouldn't fall before searching for the next team member.

"Better get them to the dorms. Ah, there's Yang."

Unlike the previous pair Hanns found, Yang was the most normal out of the people that passed out. She was leaning hunched over while sleeping upright on a chair.

"One more to go."

Hanns searched and searched from the top floor to the ground floor. It took minutes for him to find every room but didn't find Blake. He started with the perimeter of the building too, only to find nothing.

"Where is she? She couldn't have gone far judging by the proximity of the other students. Where else have I not checked?"

He walks by a door before backpedaling and seeing the label on top of the doorway.

"Storage?"

The door gets opened and the room he entered was cleaner than he expected, cleaner than the rest of the building in comparison. There it was filled with boxes and shelves with random things thrown in.

"Is that… breathing?"

He heard it getting closer, he had a great sense of hearing which direction a noise came from if he focused. It was a trait he'd gained from Warthunder after turning the volume of the engine up to high.

"Here." Hanns sees a box with ripped-out tape on the side and objects laying out of place for such a clean room. "It's been opened and the things inside it are scattered." He then remembers a common oddity among cats. "There's no way."

The flaps on the cardboard box were opened and Hanns saw what was probably the weirdest sight of them all.

Blake was sleeping inside a box with a smile on her face.

"Yep, it sure does look like it. I know she'd probably do something like this but seeing it in person is so different. Well then, up she goes."

Hanns walked out of the building with all team members collected, one on each shoulder and the last two being held by him directly.

Some would say he wouldn't be used to this but his worry that his team would get sick or worse was more important than being embarrassed carrying everyone in public.

Hanns entered the dorms and lay them all to rest in their respective beds. Weiss and Ruby were still handcuffed so he decided to let them sleep together and worry about getting it off later.

"Haa… there's no knowing when they would wake up. I don't want to force them up if they're tired."

Hanns sat on the unoccupied bed, the one on top of where Ruby and Weiss slept before sitting there in silence.

"Maybe it's just me or something but it's cooler now that I've been here longer, seeing them personally is nice."

Perhaps it was just his humanity breaking through all that gamer tendencies but he felt good knowing that the characters he watched or read about were actually real.

The door suddenly swung open before two people entered, looking more or less the same as the other people who participated in the dance-turned-party.

"Jaune? Pyrrha?"

The two stare at each other before looking at Hanns who then hopped down to the ground. "Oh… I think we mistook this room for ours." Jaune remarked.

"No worries, it's right across theirs so no wonder you eventually got lost. Was it the same for you guys too?"

"Yeah… Nora broke Ren's back even more after she started making him do the worm because quote 'I thought he'd be more flexible with a broken spine."

"I assume Nora took him to the nurses' office in this place?"

"Err… no. Nora went to the cafeteria instead because she thinks pancakes are what you need to heal a broken spine. Oh, and she insisted that a little electrocution might help."

"Hey, I have a question for the man himself." Hanns didn't know it but Jaune was absolutely scared of him just because Jaune had never seen someone taller than him yet so similar.

Hanns approached them with squinted eyes before stopping right in front of them. Jaune wanted to quiver in place but Pyrrha was holding him up.

"Why are you so dense?" Hanns bluntly asked. I mean, what better way to know than asking the fictional character themselves? Hanns for sure wanted to know, he'd been acquainted with online forums after all.

Jaune already had a response. "What?"

"You know? How Pyrrha had googly eyes ever since you'd acknowledge her as a normal person than seeing her for her popularity, how she'd train you despite being busy, and also constantly be with you? Oh and how she's blushing right behind you every time I said something?"

Jaune was surprised before trying to confirm if it was true. "Really-"

*CLANG!*

Jaune's shield from their room suddenly broke open the door to their dorm before slamming straight to Jaune's face and folding him to the floor.

"…Are you sure he's not dead?"

Pyrrha turns him over as he lay down on the floor. "I'm sorry!" she tries pleading.

"I don't think he can hear you, Pyrrha. On a side note, I think he's sleeping soundly thanks to that. Want me to bring him over to your side of the dorm?"

She looked around as if expecting someone else to answer. She'd known Hanns was the real leader of everything happening in the Volksreich, so she was shaken but not afraid.

"I… yes. That would be okay, I'll find a way to explain to Miss Goodwitch how the door got destroyed."

They entered team JNPR's room as Hanns set down Jaune who now had a massive bruise behind his head where his shield impacted.

'I never paid much attention to him in the show but he certainly makes people polarized on how he's treated. Doesn't seem like much of a bad dude, maybe just isn't fit for the times.'

Secluded from the rest of the team and sitting alone with Hanns, Pyrrha had a lot of questions regarding what was happening behind the scenes. It was risky but she felt Hanns would take it without offense.

"Hanns, what are you planning?"

"Take over the world, kill a lot of Grimm, harvest their deaths for the good of the people and totally not for something else, and everything in between."

His voice didn't have a hint of displeasure in explaining. It was more like he'd been expecting it and decided to tell honestly what he expected.

"How far are you willing to go? With all these broadcasts of executions planned, all the freedoms being stripped away from the citizens, and all the other hallmarks of an oppressive state, how far would it be until you would be satisfied?"

Her hands were gripped tight, knowing how much someone could suffer under such a regime made her question why team RWBY even had a reason to follow him.

"I understand what it may look like but without even trying, how would we know if this is the true way? You all have a knowledge of history, Grimm had been around for most of humanity and faunuskind's existence. It's time for something else."

It made sense to him but it didn't satisfy the red-headed huntress. "But at the cost of war? History had proven that war isn't a good answer. The Volksreich is a threat to that."

Ironically, despite being the best amongst the class in combat, she'd know how much war can spell disastrous to the world. Hanns especially made it clear that war wouldn't phase him anymore.

If he were to finish the German Tech Tree in under a year, he'd need an army. One that can farm for as much as he needed. The premium vehicles were a problem and so he needed a way to earn a lot.

100,000 SL to 1 GE was a downright scam by the Moderator but he'd known abusive developers. He was with one for the entirety of his gaming life.

"War may be hell but a world with monsters isn't different from that. It's clear a desire for a better world exists, it's just that everyone that lives at the top seems to think it's an acceptable status quo." Hanns justifies.

Hanns was going outside, intending to leave the conversation at that before he turned one last time. "If we get to Vale, you're welcome to leave Beacon and join us. You're the sister team after all. I don't want to tell the girls you're gonna be an enemy. It's fine if you don't but please see some sense in what I'm trying to do. It's all I ask."

As the door closed, well, not exactly closed since most of it got torn apart by Pyrrha's semblance to control metals, she was left to ponder the future and how much it would be to see.

It was a gentle reminder that Hanns had the capability of destroying each kingdom if he unleashed unrestricted warfare. It wasn't a goal but the possibility was always there.

Such was life, a constant fear of complete annihilation to anyone who was enemies of the empire.

~

"I can't believe you would handcuff me, Weiss!"

Weiss huffed in response. "You kept running and there was no other choice but control. If I hadn't duct-taped your heels, you would've thrown them away."

"You're sounding like an obsessive psychopath. Are you sure this won't turn into anything concerning, Weiss?" Yang didn't even try to joke around like calling Weiss a sadist, it was genuinely worrying that Weiss had Ruby dance handcuffed to her.

"Hmph!" Weiss responded by turning away in denial and crossing her arms. "I just wanted a dance." she sulked anyways.

[Half to a Whole: Ascend Ruby into the Fall Maiden (2/2)]

[Rewarded 1,500,000 SL 150,000 RP]

SL = 14,103,729 -> 19,346,289 SL

VEHICLE RP = 502,178 RP -> 945,564 RP

GE = 153 GE

Hanns had a steady flow of SL and RP, using the dust mines and expanding them throughout the unconquered lands of Solitas was a great decision.

'Good thing I managed to snag myself boosters every so often, Revenegance mode just adds even more to my multiplier for earnings. The army is still stuck at my old rates so bosses and larger creatures will have to be killed by us.'

With combinations both using Boosters from his inventory, usually ones under 100% because drop rates from his side weren't in his favor. Grinding was never too impressive but Hanns enjoyed seeing numbers go up.

Maintenance of the army was rising even more but he had enough men killing Grimm all over the continent. From caves, to plains, to the mountains, rivers and even the shores - all were being wiped out of the detested race.

'I think it's time for the site to be looked at closely.'

It would take more months for him to get enough RP and SL to complete the requirements for the next rank of tanks but he was okay with it. He had a plan after all.

Hanns landed as the VAF-121 before seeing Pietro nearby waiting for him, Hanns assumes it has to do with something important this time. He would have a few words too.

"Greetings, Hanns." Pietro extended a hand to wave.

"You girls go on ahead, remember to leave at 12:00. You can get some practice if you want but don't burn down the facilities."

"Hanns, do you really think we would do that?" Ruby mockingly asked. Hanns stared at her, he was a tank so she couldn't see Hanns' disapproving look.

"Yes."

The team left with Ruby ready to start arguing but Yang quickly let her know that they all had a reputation for doing something wrong.

"Pietro, something important now? I have to get to Profundis Lake."

"I know you're going to be busy like you said but listen to this - with some help, Penny is back and she says she wants to see you."

"Really? Is she fine after getting that failsafe removed from her system?"

"I don't know myself. As a father I can't help but worry for my girl, she's been through much during Ironwood's control over the military. I hope you can understand."

Hanns didn't really know Penny as much as he would like to but he did still have some kind of emotion in him to understand trying to follow a daughter's wishes. "If she needs me, then I can get down to Mantle."

"Thank you, I already prepared you something to wear."

"Wait, I'm going to meet her as a human? Wouldn't she not recognize me since she didn't get to see the formation of the state?"

"I would think so too but a small explanation might do some wonders to help her be at ease." Pietro signals for a soldier to come and before long retrieves a bag of clothes.

"Something simple would be okay. I'll wait for you here, we have escorts since they aren't confident I wouldn't be attacked in Mantle. Though, dissent has decreased since your operation in the north."

Hanns was a tank at first but decides to just drive to a secluded spot for him to change. He's lazy enough to not care where he'd be changing, he's just a robot in the end.

Hanns received the bag using Overclock to manipulate his barrel to grab it. "Sure, I'll be quick."

~

As he walked in normal everyday clothes with guards flanking them and Pietro wandering with his legged wheelchair. Hanns could see people taking notice of his eye-catching appearance.

"This place has changed, I recall overseeing this and it looked more like a tribal settlement with the tents and everything. Isn't your clinic more to the 3rd district?"

Pietro laughed, it was understandable considering the change it underwent. "Lives have improved so much, using the army as a workforce and a fighting force was extremely beneficial to the homes you built. None of them will ever feel the frost that creeps in the winter or the feeling of dread knowing the next day could be their last."

"That's… good to know." Hanns didn't exactly show it but he was genuinely happy hearing that even someone like him can be praised. "Everyone had a part in this Pietro, not just me."

"But it wouldn't be possible without the Council losing influence and your policies regarding the people. Unemployment is negligible due to the opening of mines and the children are getting sent to schools. It's no wonder your team admires you."

Hanns' mind froze at the last part. Admiration was one thing he would never get from someone, there was one time a squad mate complimented him for saving him from 5 different tanks but that was it.

"Oh… really?"

"Here we are!" Pietro had stopped at a new location, it was refurbished and the quality was something like the structures in Atlas. "Recently I requested my services be expanded, this is my answer to your question."

With a bell ring and a warmer room, Hanns entered the clinic and looked around. Pietro lead him to the room where Penny was staying.

Almost immediately, Penny recognizes him without him speaking. "Friend? Your outward appearance has changed. Adding profile for friend Hanns."

"Yeah it's me, I'm using this for ease of mobility in tight spaces and as a public figure for everyone in the future. I didn't know I had a wardrobe for all my profiles. Is everything all right?"

"Formulating proper human response, I am, friend Hanns. Father had to reset some of my presets and dialogue options due to the corruption of the failsafe."

"That's good to know. What do you think you're going to do?"

Penny swayed her head. "Whatever the General- I mean you say, friend."

She still had a form of subservience left over so Hanns had to clarify. "Penny, you're your own person now. If you want to do something, then do it. You don't have to serve anyone but yourself."

"Hmm… loading." Almost like an old computer in Hanns' Earth, Penny had humms coming from her body before blinking once. "I would like to know the status of Atlas."

"It's not Atlas anymore Penny, it's the Volksreich."

Something inside her mind clicked before walking to the door. "Added new vocabulary, Volksreich. I would like to know more about this Volksreich, friend. Father, may I ask if I can… get out?"

"Of course, Penny. Make sure to not get in any trouble."

"Sen-sational! Oh, how I always wanted to act like a teenager trying to get permission for some fun times!" She seemingly got back to her usual antics. It seemed to Hanns she was stuck processing everything after waking up which was understandable.

"Looks like she's okay now. If you don't mind, I can make someone watch over her but the Gestapo would already be doing that to everyone so we can let her go free."

"Thanks for giving the time to at least see her. Penny is free to learn like a normal girl, not like before when she had to act as a weapon."

"No worries, Pietro. I'm off to the lake as planned. Oh and tell something personally to Merlot, I've been sending him ideas through telepathy but I feel like he would be the type to misinterpret it. When I say artillery that is AI, don't make anything too similar to tanks since someone out there can easily replicate it if they have our designs. This doesn't mean he should make it complicated, I swear he keeps blowing up stuff in the name of science."

"I'll be sure to let him know."

In another room, Merlot started cackling out of nowhere before slamming his fist into his chest. "HAHAHAHAHA- Hrnk! Why do I suddenly have the compulsion to laugh?" Merlot shrugged, "Oh well, my next experiment should include droids that roll!"

~

Ruby's palms were on the brink of greatness. Her mind was filled with the intention of winning, she pulled herself back as her scythe rang out a shot behind her.

Launching into the air with her legs on the staff of her weapon, she shot another one as she approached aiming for Weiss.

"Fireball!"

The aim was supposed to be a fake, a way to make Weiss dodge instead of block. It should've been enough for her newly founded maiden powers to act and spread out.

Weiss rolled her eyes amongst the fight and blocked with her own wall of ice that she produced with grace and dignity, a far difference from Ruby's childlike interpretations of an attack, or so she thought to herself.

Ruby's attack was blocked, surprised by the correct response, she swings downward with her scythe and twisted to swing to the left but another sheet of ice gets constructed right in front.

She slams into the wall Weiss created before sliding down with her cape blocking her face as she stood up with a child-like tantrum.

"Why doesn't that work?!" Ruby frustratingly cries out.

Weiss sheathed her blade before helping Ruby up from slamming face-first into the ice. "Stop screaming out what you're going to do. Try having more technique than swinging your arms haphazardly."

"But it's cool!"

Hanns walks in his human form and calls to the girls. "You guys comfortable with your powers yet? It isn't much time but you should have a decent grasp on how to activate them."

"No, not really finessed as I would have hoped," Weiss responded. "Unlike Ruby here who does more damage to herself and wastes energy trying to do weird hand signs for attacks."

"But you dance while we fight! It's no better!"

"At least I have grace."

"That doesn't make sense! As a team leader on the ground, I demand you to make sense!"

"Girls," Hanns interrupts. "If you really want to improve then do it in your own manner. Weiss, you can try doing gracefully but don't force it on Ruby. Ruby, you can try doing things how you want but make sure it's reasonable within combat."

They both nodded and accepted Hanns' reasoning but they had a hint of sourness to the way they fought with magic. "How would you do it Hanns?" They asked in succession.

"Well…" Hanns recalled stuff. "The basics are always good aside from instantly trying things like fireballs. Try control first, like having candles lit in a certain pattern only or having to create consistently sized ice."

Maidens weren't restricted to a singular element but each may have their preferences. The basics were always a good start, magic was something different and so the examples gave them ideas.

"That could work…" they both said out loud.

"Anyways, we need to go. Ruby? How is progress going for the defenses?"

Ruby snaps away from her thoughts before saying bad news. "Some are set up but we can't get closer to the other sides of the lake, they have a roadblock."

"What roadblock?"

~

Later…

"Oh, that kind of roadblock."

He traveled to the site in question and was hit with the reality that he was going to get in trouble the moment Solitas Rex awakened. The lake had been surrounded by raising cliffsides or met the ground at an even level.

Placements were already constructed, anti-tank guns that Hanns planned to pummel whatever was there. At first, he proposed to Ruby to create a gun large enough to just outright kill anything in one shot but then logistics came and said a big gun is not worth it in deep snow and couldn't be built in such a small time frame.

"Is the ice thick enough for tanks to go on it?"

"I don't think we have ice that can be that thick, Hanns. Especially when trying to drive a tank on ice is impossible."

"That's true..." Disappointed at the answer, Hanns confirmed Weiss' assessment. "Even if I could use Overclock to make my tracks grip the ice, I'd weigh double and that wouldn't be practical."

They walked with Hanns across the ice while still in human form, he had suspected not being able to drive on ice would be the case but was hopeful nonetheless.

"Uhhh... I think we should get off." Hanns notices gleaming crimson pairs of light under all the ice while he pondered.

What was in front was the ice blanketing the lake but it was clearer than Hanns had expected below were the signs of a massive creature swimming without noticing their presence yet.

Red eyes meant it was Grimm, swimming meant it was an aquatic type but the way anatomy was within the Grimm made it obvious it wasn't just a fish.

Also, it was 50 meters in height, Hanns judged. Not only that but another pair of eyes seemingly caught his attention.

"We should probably not stand here when two Grimm the size of entire buildings are underneath." He looked back to see the team already sliding away. "Great, they ran away after I said that…"

He looked up to the sky and saw the darkening clouds, it was another storm as well which meant flying was going to be hard.

"Moderator, forgive me for my language but what the fuck?"

The red eyes swam around without care but Hanns knew he needed to kill them, or else he'd risk having to fight the Solitas Rex and both of the massive Grimm.

"Let's hope that magic can actually do something."