12 The Storm

30 minutes earlier…

Winter Schnee was currently bound for Vale along with the best huntsmen and huntresses turned operatives of their year. The Ace-Ops. They were the best of the best in the military of Atlas.

They had multiple victories and contributions to their name and they were to join with her on the classified mission hence their presence in the same bullhead together.

The bullhead they were in prepared to take off as the other Atlesian airships carried other personnel on board. Ironwood had informed her along with the Ace-Ops of the consciousness of the machine they were going to be bringing in.

Soldiers were also brought in with a large device specially made to contain the unknown machine. They were commissioned by Ironwood at the last second, and Atlas had the engineers work on it overnight.

It was an enlarged magnetic harpoon that could be shot at the target. Ironwood was confident that it could secure the steel-made object as long as it could get it to close range.

The bullheads finally left the ground and took off into the air. Theirs were just behind the other dozen bullheads carrying military apparatus. Particularly, all of the prototype spider droids were being used in this mission.

Ironwood assured her that it was necessary to bring in this much firepower, it was also a good chance to test out the field effectiveness of the prototypes. As the bullhead rode over the oceans separating Atlas and Vale. Clover Ebi, the leader of the Ace-Ops, stood up to address his team.

While Winter was part of the operation, she was independent of the commands of the Ace-Ops. She was a separate acting group working with and not for the Ace-Ops.

"Listen up fellas, while we're on our way over to Vale. I find it necessary to reinform you of our role in this operation, don't want to make yourself too comfortable right?" he chuckled.

"We are to strictly support the harpoon teams on this one, while this may have surprised you all that we have been called upon to do so, Ironwood has specified that he needed a team dedicated to providing support."

"So I'll go over the plan again."

The plan formed by Ironwood was simple, Winter and the Ace-Ops were to distract the machine by using the spider droids as fodder. The harpoon teams needed minutes to set up the device to ensure the machine's capture and it is their job to protect those teams.

They were informed of the regenerative and self-evolving nature of the machine so Ironwood saw it wise to bring out all the stops in this operation while making sure it stayed relatively small scale to not scare the population.

Using a "field exercise" excuse would make Vale and its citizens not aware of the ongoing mission and any droids taken out can be attributed to "accidents".

As Clover Ebi finished debriefing the mission over to his team, the rest of the bullheads finally saw the continent at which Vale resided. They were only a few minutes away from the zone the machine was last seen and observed.

"Specialist Schnee." the Ace-Ops leader saluted.

Winter returned the gesture before the Ace-Ops continued.

"We look forward to working with you."

"As do I, Ace-Ops leader Clover Ebi." she returned the sentiment towards the fellow soldier. Clover lets out a snort at the absurdly long way to address him.

"Just call me Clover, don't need to be formal while we're in the field."

Just as he finished, the pilot from the bullhead announces to the group.

"We are closely approaching the drop zone. Prepare to-"

A large burst of light came from the bullhead in front of them, and the remains of the airship were sent plummeting towards the ground as the spider droid was detached prematurely before it could arrive at the designated point.

"Mayday! Mayda-" the co-pilot screamed out before their bullhead spirals out in the air and turns part of the forest into an inferno.

"We lost all contact with Courier I! Your command Specialist?!" the pilot steering their bullhead asks.

The unexpected and sudden elimination of one of their bullheads at the front shook the entire fleet but Winter stayed calm.

"Tell the entire fleet to deploy early, let the spider droids take the brunt of the damage. Tell the crews to assemble immediately and set up at the point!" She commanded

Another shell comes into contact with the fleet and hits the tail of one of the airships carrying one of the harpoon teams. It was beginning to spiral out of control as they crash-landed on the ground.

The entire fleet radios back as the spider droids get dropped and clear an area for one of the harpoon teams to organize. The Ace-Ops followed Winter Schnee as they descended to the cleared ground and set towards the fallen airship.

The spider droids stood up and formed into their cannon forms before one got its barrel shot through and exploded while the dust it was carrying acted as a secondary explosion and let out an even more devastating explosion soon after the other.

The Ace-Ops and Schnee, which will be referred to as the team, felt the air shake from the massive explosion as they began to move out towards the downed harpoon team to aid them in moving through the forest.

Another shell whistled through the air and struck a spider droid before its upper part got severed in half and exploded in a blaze. The team immediately went into action and located the first harpoon team and directed them to where they should set up.

Several spider droids were now engaging the tank. The droids were firing dust-powered energy blasts towards the tank only for it to seemingly do nothing. The blasts only left black burn marks on the front part of the tank while Hanns himself were destroying spider droid after spider droid while driving away making sure to not stay in one spot.

The droids that were supposed to be tough enough to resist higher caliber weapons were being destroyed so easily. The cannons they had kept firing but were only met with the spider droid's destruction soon after they fired.

Another shell penetrates a nearby spider droid as the 1st harpoon team finally gets into position. The team tries to cross along the forest only for them to directly come across the steel behemoth staring them down while it is moving through the trees.

"Contact!"

Hanns fired an HE round at the group. They only had a few seconds to react as the shell traveled through the air.

Winter Immediately formed a glyph to run on and narrowly avoid the blast. Vine took hold of Elm and Marrow with his extendable arms as Harriet used her super-speed to tackle Vine away, carrying the others in the process while Clover just ran towards the direction of the tank.

After the HE detonates, Clover's semblance activates and the shrapnel the HE sent was going in all directions except for where Clover was. The explosion itself lifts the earth below it and makes it erupt into the air as it leaves a crater in the ground.

The team recovers from Harriet's tackle, Marrow immediately stood up and looked at where the shell came from.

"Stay!" His semblance would hopefully keep the machine steady while the others gathered the harpoons. Unfortunately for him, Hanns had already sped away while he fired the HE round towards the Ace-Ops.

The team reorganizes and calls in for the second harpoon team that's supposed to hold the turret of the tank.

"Come in Shackle II, Come in Shackle II. What is your position?!"

Hanns at this point had already taken down all of the spider droids, unbeknownst to the team. He was in the process of taking down stragglers that were around the forest including the soldiers that fell out during his second round impacting their airship's tail.

'These people are planning something.' Hanns thought.

He was not going to take a chance, no matter how strong he is there will still be something that could go wrong. The soldier from earlier yelling something in the forest away from him was proof of that. He had to have a special semblance if he were yelling that out loud, perhaps a condition it required him to do.

Hanns hadn't finished RWBY, he was busy farming in warthunder before getting whisked away in Remnant so he didn't know of the Ace-Ops. He didn't reach the later volumes, it didn't help that he could barely remember anything after volume 3. He was confident that he could prevent those events by just outright killing everything in sight near Vale.

He came across a group of soldiers trying to get some equipment that looked like an oversized harpoon gun with a gray field surrounding it. Not taking any chances of them firing the thing at him and finding out what it did he just chose the HE shell hesitantly waited but fired it at the center of the soldiers eventually.

The shot was fast, it didn't let the soldiers scream as an explosion consumed their bodies. As limbs were flying and the harpoon-like weapon exploded the soldiers still left barely alive but bleeding profusely tried to fire back in vain.

"No, stay away!" one of the soldiers desperately fired their rifle at the tank.

'I hope it was worth following Ironwood.'

One of the soldiers still breathing places his hand towards his ear and radios in one final statement to the Ace-Ops, Winter, and the remainder of the Atlesian forces.

"Rrrr..etreat…" he uttered.

Upon hearing of the call, the team decided to abandon the mission and planned to return to their ships that still could fly away. They hastened their retreat and brought along the first harpoon team that still lived.

'The machine is too strong! It evolved way too quickly for us to match its power!' Winter thought. Her calm demeanor was now waning in the face of destruction from the machine.

As they reached the bullheads still standing, the Ace-Ops quickly aided the crew still left unto bullheads. Winter announced to the group on her radio.

"I'll distract the machine, get to the air and retreat out of here!"

They could try and escape right now but if they did, they were going to be at the mercy of the tank still being able to fire at them in the sky. Someone had to keep its attention long enough until the bullheads could reach a higher altitude.

She formed glyphs on the ground trying desperately to find the machine before coming face to face with the thing that annihilated the task force meant to catch it.

She made a time dilation glyph beneath her as she prepared to fight the machine. Hanns meanwhile stared at the white-haired woman seemingly staying behind to fight him.

'So she is still following around Ironwood? I feel a bit bad for her but I need to show Atlas why following that man around will eventually lead to a wrong decision being executed.'

Hanns only felt slight remorse for the faceless grunts he had been killing, it was just another man behind a gun and a mask. No feelings were shown to those who he didn't know personally. He still felt bad but they did sign up for this line of work, he thought.

Hanns felt Winter was different, not knowing who that person Hanns was fighting made it so much easier to take their lives without regret. Though, Hanns took into consideration what Winter had, a little sister, a father who she detests, and a genuine concern for her nation.

Hanns didn't know it, but behind every gun was a person. He unintentionally proves this statement by trying to spare Winter her death precisely because he personally knew Winter through the show.

As for the soldiers, Hanns didn't care. Why would he? If their deaths can save Atlas from being under the rule of Ironwood in the future then all for it. Hanns didn't think of their lives too much because he didn't know enough about them behind their profession being soldiers.

Despite feeling bad for Winter, Hanns didn't show mercy on the soldiers that gave their lives away. Though if he didn't cause death to Atlas, then Ironwood wouldn't be blamed as much for the failure but if he could just show them that Ironwood wasn't always the right person to follow then Atlas can still be saved.

He only hoped that it wouldn't derail canon too much. Hanns then started to talk in a crispy voice.

"Why?" the machine echoed.

'It can talk?!' Winter sounded in her mind, still keeping her face unmoving despite the shock.

"I did not wrong Atlas in any way yet you soldiers seem so brazen to attack me despite me clearing out grimm you humans have fought for your entire existence."

Hanns pauses.

"So answer me, why? Why do you follow your orders."

"It's for the sake of Atlas and her people," Winter immediately replied.

Hanns scoffs at the statement.

"Look around you! Aren't these the soldiers part of Atlas? Were these lives not taken into consideration for the people that you were meant to save?"

Winter twitched.

'Was Ironwood like that? No, maybe a few dead can still outweigh the lives saved by completing our mission. It's all for Atlas.'

"No reply? Well, maybe action will make you talk."

Hanns fired an HE round at Winter knowing fully that she could just form a glyph to protect her.

Winter did as he expected and blocked the HE shell with a glyph she formed. She felt her arms feel the pressure of blocking the HE shell. She took note of how the one attack took away an eighth of her aura reserves.

'I'll just have to keep dodging until I know that the bullheads can escape.' she catches her breath after getting a sizable distance away.

She tried attacking with her nevermore summons, trying to strike the machine but it just ignored the damage as if it were nothing. Hanns knew what she was trying to do, so he just aimed his cannon towards the bullheads in the distance.

Winter immediately reacted by dashing towards it and using ice dust to freeze it in place. Hanns smirked inwards as he knew his bait worked as he let out machine gun fire at the wide-open Schnee.

Winter felt every bullet impact her body as she was sent flying before stopping herself mid-air with a glyph and making her way on top of Hanns. She began to plant her rapier on the top of Hanns and made use of her dust to try and freeze it in place again.

Feeling the cooler temperature, Hanns drove forwards while spinning his turret to get her off. She managed to stay on by canceling her dust and creating a glyph to make her stick on Hanns.

She took a look at the bullheads flying away and saw them get away at a higher altitude. Confident she created enough time for the surviving task force to retreat she leaped off and ran straightaway into the forest.

She couldn't head to the city of Vale because of Ironwood's promise to Ozpin to not let Vale get involved. So she had to just keep running with her glyphs.

Hanns sighed and estimated on the top of his head how far he had to fire. Constantly grinding in Forever Fall made it so he could practically guess the distance if he recognized the area for long enough.

He aimed at Winter who was trying to zig-zag to avoid getting shot. He felt the shell leave his barrel as it made its way to Winter's position. Winter heard the cannon shoot and immediately formed a manticore summon with her glyph and rode on it, narrowly dodging the shell Hanns fired.

Hanns was impressed with Winter, she had been a good enough fighter to recognize his weakness to height and took the risk of leaping on his roof.

[Mission Accomplished]

SL = 152,206 → 338,206 SL

VEHICLE RP = 6,673 → 49,368 RP

'Urgh...'