Chereads / The Evo of Remnant / Chapter 22 - Challengers and Challenges

Chapter 22 - Challengers and Challenges

Getting ready for battle, Team JNPR got in their ready stances and stared at the enemy with fierce determination. They were facing against team BRZN from Vacou

Seeing as who they were facing, Jaune decided to boost his teams confidence by saying "come on guys. We've got this battle in the bag."

Nora agreed with him by saying "Yea. We are going to rock them.... like a hurricane."

Pyrrha threw in her two cents saying "let's give them the best fight this side of remnant has ever seen."

Ren brought down her argument by saying "im pretty sure if they ask who gave them that, it would probably be Rex and his team."

Pyrrha sighed as he knew he was probably right as Port shouted to the audience "3... 2... 1... BEGIN!"

All four members of JNPR charged at them, but only three fighters from BRNZ did the same; the beanie-wearing May Zedong turned around and headed into the trees, cocking her weapon. In the center of the field, Brawnz Ni delivered a knee kick to Pyrrha's  shield that sent her skidding back, right before she blocked the claws on his fists with her xiphos.

She jerked her sword away and made him leap back, just as the sniper jumped up into the branches of the forest with the bladed butt of her sniper rifle. Ren readied his guns to attack Nolan Porfirio, who almost got blindsided by Nora swinging her hammer at him before he ducked and attempted to hit her with his cattle prod. The sniper girl finally took aim from her spot and managed to fire off two rounds near Ren, destroying the rocks behind him.

Jaune managed to block the buzzsaw gloves of Roy Stallion with his own shield before he noticed the bullets flying and saw the glint of the gun in the leaves.

Realizing this with wide eyes, he yelled at his team to "Retreat!"

Ren glanced back at their leader as a shot hits the ground by his feet. The team began running towards the mountains. As they regrouped Pyrrha asked Jaune "What do we do?"

Jaune looked over the edge and began formulating a plan. When he finally had one, he told his team "Spread out! Try to keep moving" and the team heads out.

May gets even higher in the tree and smiled from behind her scope as she saw the fight below. Brawnz and Pyrrha continued to fight each other while Nolan slowly advanced on Ren when he slid into his path. The prod-wielding warrior looked back at the trees and nodded to his hidden ally, who shot at Ren's feet again and made him jump around trying to dodge them. Nolan then hit Ren in his knee and caused him to fall down. Nora saw this and yelled

"Ren."

Scowling, Nora took a swing at Nolan, but he sighed it and stabbed Nora with his weapon but Nora just lifted her head up, showing a smirk on her face. This caused Nolan some concern until he heard Port saying

"Oh-ho! Looks like one of my favorite students, Nora Valkyrie, is charging up to use her Semblance!"

"What?" was all Nolan could say.

Oobleck chimed in saying "Yes, Ms. Valkyrie's Semblance lets her produce, as well as channel, electrical energy straight to her muscles! This allows her to jump explosively into the air, wield her mighty hammer, or in this case, absorb Nolan's attacks and send the young man flying!"

And it was at this moment that Nolan knew....

...he f***ed up.....

Nora looked at him with a confident smile and with one giant swoop, she smashed him with her hammer and it caused to go flying back into some rocks and breaking them.

Jaune looked back at the mountaintop on his team's side as a dark storm cloud appeared over it, crackling with lightning. He looked over at his energized teammate and yelled

"Nora! Get to the mountain!"

Nora saluted and began running up the mountain as Jaune yelled at Ren saying:

"Ren! Try and distract the sniper!"

Ren looked up at the tree as the sniper shot at him but missed his head as he sighed in defeat saying " Sure... Why not."

From Team RRWBY's seats

"Yeah! Go get 'em, Jaune!"

"Well, he's certainly improved" commented Weiss

"Yeah, but he ain't got nothing on Pyrrha!" Said Yang as the team saw Pyrrha taking on both Brawnz and Roy, delivering a kick to one as she deftly dodged and blocked the discs of the other, throwing her javelin to distract the latter while she somersaulted back to use both feet in landing a blow on Brawnz.

As the girls began to cheer, Rex got back after using the restroom before the battle began. He took his seat between Yang and Ruby.

"So what did I miss" he said as he sat down.

"Oh nothing. Just JNPR being awesome" said Yang as he stared at the team again. Rex then stared at the team and as he stared at them, he took one glance at Pyrrha and felt his stomach churn a bit. As that happened he closed his eyes and thought back to the grimm invasion of Vale

Flashback

He remembered back to when something hit him in the face.

"Oww" said Rex as he heard a thud. He turned to his side and saw that a rock was the culprit for hitting him in the face but he also saw that there was a note on it. He looked back to see the window was open.

"Did I leave it open or did they leave it open" he thought as he then took the letter off the rock and read it.

"Come to the court yard" it said.

Rex found it weird that the person would throw a rock into their room but he was also cautious as to who this person was. He decided to investigate as to who the person was. As to not wake his team, He walked through the campus and made his way to the fountain but when he got there, the person wasn't there. He looked around but they were gone. He was about to leave until he heard a familiar voice

"Ah, Mr Salazar. Good to see you old friend. How are things going for you at Beacon."

Rex turned around and saw Professor Paradox standing behind him. He hadn't changed at all since the last time they spoke but then again it was only a couple of weeks.

"Paradox. What are doing here" asked Rex in a surprising tone.

"Well my boy. I'm here because I have some information to tell you that can save many lives. I wish I could stay long because we have much to talk about but once again, I am short on time" said Paradox as he reached into his lab coat and pulled out a piece of folded paper.

"What is this" questioned Rex.

Paradox looked down at his watched and made a deep sigh. As he began to turn around he looked back at Rex and answered in a grave voice saying "The only thing that you can do" and he disappeared in a flash of light. Rex held his arms up to block the bright light. As he disappeared Rex just sighed as he said "Could he be any more cryptic."

Rex then began to head back to his dorm room. When he sat down on the floor, he began to read the letter

"Dear Mr Salazar, I'm sorry that I couldn't stay and chat with you but I'm currently dealing with some issues right now but the things I'm going to tell you can save the lives of Academy but not the place itself. I am afraid you can't tell your friends because your future as well as all of Remnants rests on you. Now, what I have to tell you is this..."

Present

As Rex still pondered over the letter, he was brought out of his trance as a hand shook his shoulder. He woke up and found Yang shaking his shoulder. "What's up" he asked.

"You clearly must be tired because you missed the whole fight. Team JNPR won" said Yang as Rex looked down in the arena and saw team BRNZ was down for the count.

Crow Bar

At the bar, a gray-haired figure in a tattered red cloak was sitting at the counter with a collection of empty glasses to his side. He took a swig from another drink as he looked up at the screen above, displaying an image of the victors with the caption "Team JNPR Defeats Team BRNZ!"

The Bartender commented by saying " Huh, those kids weren't half bad!"

The familiar stranger merely gave a "Meh" as he continued to drink.

Amity Arena

After the battle Oobleck said "Ah, well, Vacuo fans are sure to be hurting after that one, but this next one will have them on the edge of their seats!"

Port continued after Oobleck as a screen showed the next team saying

"Team NDGO of Shade is certainly a crowd favorite, but these lovely ladies are going against some of the toughest, testosterone-filled teammates we've seen so far! I'm of course talking about... Team SSSN!"

"Sun Wukong and his team are certainly a force to be reckoned with, and although he'll be representing the Mistral Academy of Haven, I'm sure his friends and family back in Vacuo will be cheering him along!"

Weiss stood up and cupped her hands as she shouted "Good luck, Neptune!"

All Neptune did was slightly nod in her direction but when he saw the whole team of girls, he turned to them and smirked while saying "Ladies."

Rex was watching the whole thing go down and just snickered at Neptune being so oblivious to Weiss's cheering and gave more attention to them than her. This caused her to grunt in anger and yelled "Break his stupid face, NDGO!"

This broke Rex into a laughing stock. When Weiss heard his laughter she glared at him which didn't do anything to him cause he was holding his sides while laughing. He gathered up what force he could to speak and said "pi-pi- pick a side, women" and just continued his barrel of laughter. Weiss just groaned and sat back down.

Rex finally stopped laughing and gazed back down at the arena. As he did, he noticed the NDGO staring at him and he noticed them smiling or smirking as they said "Hi Rex" in a teasing tone.

This caused Yang to grow a tick mark on her forehead and grabbed Rex's arm and held it tight as she yelled "Back off, you floozies. I already called dibs on him. He's mine" which could be heard by anyone that was near the team. Rex gained a blush on his face at Yang's straight forward ness and noticed people were staring at them and just hid his face in his coat as he best he could with Yang still holding onto his arm.

Neptune and Sun were just staring in disbelief. Here, they were showing off their muscles and good looks and they were fawning over Rex who was just sitting. "What gives" was all they thought about. When the girls turned their heads back to their opponents, Neptune focused then said

"Alright, girls, try and remember: hands above the waist."

Rex just groaned at the dudes comment.

Sun grabbed Neptune's arm as he apologized saying "Ignore him, for he... Yeah, he's dumb."

While that was going on, they began to choose their battle grounds. NDGO ended up with a sunny desert battle ground while SSSN ended up with a water battleground, which didn't sit to well with Neptune as he just gave a scared look

Ruby stared at Neptune with concern as Rex just groaned in annoyance. Ruby then questioned "Uhh, what's wrong with Neptune?"

Blake groaned as she said "Oh, no."

Yang took notice of the two groaning at this as she asked "What's wrong."

Rex sat up and just gave a annoyed tone in his voice as he said "Neptune's ... afraid of the water. And yet his name is Neptune" as Rex just sighed in disbelief.

Oobleck then yelled "3, 2, 1, BEGIN!"

As soon as the word was said, Neptune zoomed through the enemy team and up the mountain behind them.

"Neptune, what are you doing?!" Shouted Sage.

Neptune gave a hearty laugh as he said "Uh, you know, just gaining the higher ground!"

"On the enemy's side?!" Said Sun.

"They would never expect it!"

Dew turned to her allies and said "He's not wrong."

Nebula then called her team out and said "Open fire!"

Team NDGO went forward into their turf as Team SSSN followed, Sage with his sword raised and Scarlet having ditched his coat. He came upon Octavia Ember emerging out from a nearby arch and tried to slice her with his cutlass. She ducked under the swing and continued sliding away, past the middle of Dew and Sage getting ready to rumble. Sage slashed his sword down, only to get knocked back by Dew's spear. He glanced up in time to see the blonde wave her weapon over the sand to create three small twisters that kicked up dust in Sage's face.

He looked around as they surrounded him, and then gathered into one big funnel and shot Sage outside the boundaries.

Oobleck announced his defeat by saying "And NDGO gains the advantage!"

Octavia slid in front of Sun and Scarlet, who readied themselves to fight her just as she spins her sword around and produced a wave of flame that kicked up dust in their faces. Sun managed to jump out of the cloud just in time to call for help in fighting the redhead.

"Neptune!"

Seeing his leader fall back as Octavia attacked Scarlet again, Neptune leaped down from his position and readied his weapon. Octavia attempts to use another fire attack to blind Neptune, but he simply put on his goggles and fired a bolt as his opponent, who blocks it with her blade right before seeing Sun leap out of nowhere to deliver a neck-snapping kick to her face.

Seeing this Rex couldn't help but smirk and comment saying "and that's why goggles are awesome."

Now furious, a scowling Octavia tried to retaliate by bringing her blade down onto the Faunus. But Sun just pulled out his bo-staff and began hitting several parts of hers. And eventually knocked her out of bounds.

Port then said "Oh! And we're down to 3-on-3!"

Sun looked at Neptune fighting with Gwen Darcy as she circled him with her flying knives and Scarlet attempted to go weapon-to-weapon with Dew. She easily dodged a kick then called upon another sandy cyclone to lift Scarlet up, and he spun round and around  and was launched over to the shipwreck.

He caught the pole and then flipped himself onto the mast ledge as Nebula ran up the mast and formed her bow into a blade to cross swords with her opponent, the both of them trading blows while ducking and missing, then Scarlet was struck by Nebula's hilt and countered with a kick to the head. Nebula circled the mast and deflected another blow then slammed her blade over Scarlet's and forced him to lean back on the post. Luckily, he managed to get his sword back out from the trap and feign a swing at Nebula's feet before knocking into her with his elbow, causing the NDGO leader to fall into the sand below.

From his position, Scarlet saw Gwen continue to throw her knives at Sun, and he smirked before whipping out his pistol and shot the hilt guard as a grappling hook to get her by the ankle.

He then used the cord to lift Gwen into the air while he slowly came down to the ground, only to land directly beneath her as she attempted to protect her modesty while knives start raining down from her dress and fell towards Scarlet. Luckily none hit him.

His luck doesn't hold when Dew leaped near Sun, causing Sun to knock down two coconuts and throw them at her but she deflected them and they both hit Scarlet in his head and....uh.......his other head while dropping his Aura levels into elimination.

Sun just grunted in frustration and he weirdly said "Nuts!"

Rex just groaned at his comment and wanted to slap the silly out of him for making that convenient remark.

Realizing the situation they were in Sun called his remaking teammate and said "Uh, Neptune? Could use some help, buddy!"

Neptune gained a worried expression as he said "Uh, you know, uh, it would probably be better if you came over here! Yeah, I can guard this... sector! We're in lockdown mode!"

Rex just kept getting disappointed at Neptune. He was his goggle buddy and he was just making a fool of himself. Truly shameful.

Sun was infuriated at his response and yelled "What are you talking about? There's nothing to lock down!"

"Lockdown! Right! You got it!" as Neptune liked around himself.

This was getting old as Sun kept dodging the girls attacks and yelled "Dude, I know you're afraid of water, but you gotta..." yelled sun as Dew was shot by a blue bullet.

"There! I helped! Are you happy now!? Also, I am not afraid of water, and I have no idea what you are talking about!" Said Neptune as he tried to defend himself.

Dew managed to get back up as Nebula and Gwen join their comrade, lifting their weapons and ready to fight once more.

Sun then shouted "NEPTUNE!"

Neptune sighed as he said "Okay, fine! Just get out of the water!" Sun did so and Neptune slowly moved to the water and threw his electric trident into the water, shocking the girls and winning the battle.

"And with that, Team SSSN moves on to the doubles round! You know what I call that victory?" Said port.

"Shocking?" Said oobleck as a joke.

"Electrifying" thought Rex.

"No, well earned. What you said is stupid."

"I know Yang would've gotten a kick out of that" thought Rex.

Back at the Crow Bar, the Bartender said "Now that was a match!"

The drunk man then said "Heh, that was a mess!"

Bartender sighed as he said "Come on man, you didn't like them, the Vale kids, or any of the rounds before that? The only one you were wide awake through was that Team RRWBY show down. Though I suppose anyone would be awake for a battle like that. What fight are you here for?" Questioned the bartender.

As he said that, an aircraft with elegant ribbons was flying from its wings behind the drunk man as he pointed at it and said "That one". The man then finished his drink as he turned around and said "Happy Vytal Festival!" And walked away.

Amity Arena

Ruby leaned back in her seat. "Aw, that was so close!

Rex just sat there and said "I was disappointed."

"Looks like the dorks made it to the next round!" Said Yang.

Blake and Rex looked down in the arena where Sun and Neptune were dancing like fools. "Emphasis on "dork"." They both said.

Oobleck then yelled over the sound system saying "That concludes the matches for today. Please leave the Coliseum IN A CALM AND ORDERLY FASHION!"

"Come on, let's go congratulate 'em." Said Yang as she and the others began to get up.

They started to head out just as the same ribbon-adorned craft passed over the Colosseum, causing Weiss to stop in her tracks and Ruby to bounce into her.

Ruby looked up in her direction and said "Uh, what are you viewing?"

Weiss kept looking up at the ship as she knew who would be in it. She then said "She's here!"

Rex heard her comment and said "who's here."

Short timeskip

Weiss, Rex, and Ruby were running up the main avenue towards the docking bays.

Ruby was panting and yelled at Weiss saying "Weiss! What is the big deal!? Who is it? Who is she!?"

"Yea. It's not nice to just say "she's here and just start running this way. Some information might be helpful" snarked Rex.

Weiss finally stopped at the end of the road as she spotted "Winter."

"No, I'm pretty sure it's fall" said Rex.

Weiss glared at him and yelled "no, you dolt. Winter, my sister."

"Oh" said Rex and Ruby.

They looked ahead of them and saw a woman with white hair and blue eyes like Weiss and wore a supposed military outfit walking out of a ship

"Wait... Your sister?" Said Ruby surprised.

Weiss cupped her hands and yelled "Winter!" as the three then ran up to the elder Schnee as she turned to see them

"Winter! I'm so happy to see you! Oh...Your presence honors us" said Weiss as she bowed.

Winter approached them and looked around saying "Beacon... It's been a long time. The air feels... different."

"I mean it is fall, so, eh, it's probably colder" said Ruby until Weiss punched her in the shoulder.

"So, what are you doing here?" Said Weiss

Winter gave a stern "Classified."

"Oh, right. Well, how long are you staying?" Asked Weiss.

"Classified" was all Winter said again in a stern voice.

"Talkative one, isn't she" said Rex in a sarcastic way, which made Weiss turn to him and said "she is a very busy woman. She has her duties as a Specialist" in a defensive tone.

"But yet she can't say hello to her sister. Kinda of sending me mixed messages her, Weiss" said in his sarcastic way.

Weiss just groaned at his rebuttal while Ruby liked around in the silence and awkwardness and said "Well... this is nice... I think."

Weiss ignored Rex and turned around to face winter in an excited tone saying "You're going to love it here! I know you travel a lot, but so much of Beacon is different from Atlas!" Then whispered "Vale, too. The government and school are completely separate! Can you believe it!? I-"

Winter stopped Weiss's talking as she said "I'm more than familiar with how this kingdom handles its... bureaucracy. That is not why I came. Nor did I come here to watch my own blood fail so miserably in battle. But it appears that I have no choice in the matter."

"But, we won!" Said Weiss trying to defend herself

"Only a novice would refer to that as a victory. I counted at least three strikes missed" said Winter.

"Rude behavior, snarky, uptight, authoritative behavior too. She really is your sister" said Rex in his mocking way. This caused Weiss to grow and tick mark on her forehead and glared at him. Upon hearing his words, Winter gazed at Rex and a glimmer of interest was in her eyes. She began walking forward towards him and stopped right in front of him and gave him a look of judgment.

"I suppose this is the boy you talked in your letters. The boy with..... abnormal abilities."

"You guys can control fire, ice, magnets, electricity, and gravity. How are mine any different from yours" thought Rex as he didn't want to say anything and either make a scene or arose suspicion. Instead, he said.

"Yep that's me. Rex Salazar. Hero. Overall cool kid. Pleasure to meet ya" as he held out his hand for a shake but Winter just gazed at him. She then said

"I saw your battle in the arena. I will admit that those are some impressive abilities you have, Mr. Salazar. Almost like your a one man army" with a hint of curiosity in her voice but so low, no one heard it. She then turned around to Weiss and said in a more happy tone

"How have you been?"

Weiss suddenly perked up and said "Oh, splendid! Thank you for asking. I'm actually in the very top ranking of our sparring class! And the rest of my studies are going wonderfully, too! I'm-"

Winter then yelled saying "Silence, you boob! I don't recall asking about your ranking, I'm asking how you've been. Are you eating properly? Have you taken up any hobbies? Are you making new friends?"

Weiss then gathered her thoughts at her sisters words and "Well, there's Ruby. And, I suppose, there's Rex."

"Wow. Love you too teammate" deadpanned Rex.

Winter chuckled at Rex's words and said "I see. So this is the leader you wrote of. How appropriately... underwhelming."

Ruby just slightly chuckled and said "Uh... Thank you!"

"Greetings, Ruby Rose. I wish to thank you for taking an interest in my sister" said Winter in an approved manner.

Ruby became flabbergasted and said "Oh! Uh, yes, of course.  The honor is in my... court!"

Rex just chuckled as he said "smooth words there, Red."

Ruby then flung her arms up and down in a frustrated manner saying "well I've never met with royalty before so I'm new to this" as Rex just laughed at her response.

Winter didn't change her expression as she said "I have business with the General and your Headmaster. But, seeing as I'm early, why don't you take me to your quarters?"

"Really?" asked both Rex and Weiss.

Winter nodded her head as she said "Yes. I wish to inspect them and make sure that they are up to my personal standards. That and to make sure that this boy isn't, you know,.... one of those boys."

"Wow. Not even three minutes into meeting you and already I don't like you" complained Rex as he hated people thinking he was one of those boys. "And I have a name. It's Rex. Try drilling it into your head so you don't forget" said Rex.

"Shall we be off" said Weiss as she wanted to move in front the topic.

Weiss and winter followed by a couple of robots began walking down the main road to Beacon, leaving rex with Ruby.

"First impressions. Not off to a good start" said Rex as he saw them walking away.

"So she might be a bit rude..."

"A bit. She's practically the future version of Weiss. It's no surprise that they're related" said rex in a joking matter.

Ruby knew that he was right and said "Ok yes, she might be a bit hasty and rude but maybe she's just..." then the both of them heard some noises coming from Weiss directions. They looked at each other with curiosity in their eyes and began running over to the noise. Upon getting closer, they heard clanking sounds like sword fighting. They saw a crowd moving in close to one of the areas in the courtyard. They couldn't see what was going so they pushed their way through the crowd and saw Weiss at the end. They came up behind her and Ruby said

" What's going on?!"

"Yea, what's with the fireworks, Ice queen" joked Rex as he knew Weiss hated that name.

Weiss grunted at his words but said "Some crazy guy just started attacking my sister!"

Ruby gasped and said "Oh no! Who would do such a thing..." then she turned and saw Winters opponent and yelled "That is my uncle!"

"What?!" said both Rex and Weiss

Ruby then yelled at her uncle saying "Kick her butt, Uncle Qrow!"

Weiss stumbled with her words and decided to shout her own encouragement "Teach him respect, Winter!"

All Rex did was roll his eyes and then felt someone tap him on the shoulders and then he disappeared from the crowd.

Qrow had dodged Winter's strikes left and right and after he kicked her back with his blade, Winter readied herself to charge at him as did Qrow. Feeling ready, she charged at him at full speed and Qrow did the same. They were losing distance between them as they got closer...and closer...... and BAAMMMM.

They both ended up hitting a clear, blue wall that came out of know and they both fell down from the impact. They both looked up and them and Ruby and Weiss were surprised. There stood rex with shields on both of his arms that he named "the block party"

Rex then looked at the two and shouted "Thats enough, you too." Then he deactivated his shields. "Aren't you two on the same side. Why are you fighting."

Winter gained her composure after getting up and said "How dare you stop this fight. It has nothing to do with you."

Rex gained a smirk on his face and said "oh it wasn't me, sister. Truth be told, I was having fun watching your fight but someone told me to stop this silly charade."

Qrow finally got up off his feet and asked "And who exactly was that, Hotshot"

Then everyone heard a booming "SCHNEE!"

Winter looked behind her to see General Ironwood standing behind her, with Penny behind him.

Winter quickly lowered her blades as she addressed Ironwood at about face "General Ironwood, sir!"

Ironwood approached Winter with Penny by his side saying "What in the world do you think you're doing? You were about to destroy the courtyard. You're lucky that that boy was able to stop you in time or things could turned out badly for us and the students here. Did you even think about the safety of the people.

Winter tried to defend herself by pointing at Qrow saying "He started the altercation, sir!"

Qrow had his hands behind his head in a relaxed stance saying "That's actually not true. She attacked first."

Ironwood then glared at Winter saying "Is that right?"

Winter tried to defend herself but she knew that Qrow was right and looked down in shame. Ironwood then pointed Qrow saying "What are you doing here?"

Qrow replied in rebuttal saying "I could be asking you the same thing."

Ironwood tried to defend himself but he was stopped by Opzin behind him saying

"Now, now, everyone. There is a sanctioned fight happening just around the corner at the Colosseum, that I can assure you has better seats... and popcorn."

Goodwitch added to the conversation by saying "Break it up, everyone! We will take care of this mess.

Ironwood then said "Let's go." But then turned around saying "Mr Salazar." That caught Rex's attention as he looked at Ironwood saying "Yea."

"Thank you for stopping this battle. Lord knows what it might've done to the people or the courtyard."

Rex replied by saying "Sure thing. Always happy to help, man" as Ironwood turned around and left with Winter. He saw Penny waving hello to them so he waved hello back. He then saw Ruby running up to Qrow yelling "Uncle Qrow!!!" as she hanged on Qrow's outstretched arm "Hi. It's so good to see you! Did you miss me? Did you miss me!? as she smiled with anticipation.

Qrow replied with a simply "Nope" but in a teasing way as he smirked at her.

Rex then walked over to his teammates and said "Alright, Red. Get off the old man."

This caused Qrow to turn around and glare at Rex saying "Who are you calling old" as ruby still hung onto his arm.

Rex smirked and said "I said you are old. Did you not hear me cause your hearing is getting old, old man."

Qrow bent his head down and let out an annoyed sigh but then just looked back at Rex saying "You're funny, kid. I see why Ruby talks so much about you. And about those 'freaky' powers of yours, metal boy" as he grew a teasing smirk.

This caused Rex to grow a tick mark and said as he cracked his knuckles "would you want me to use them to give you more back pain, old man."

Qrow then just chuckled at him and looked and ruby saying "I like this kid. He's got spunk. Spunk is good. I see why you keep him" as Qrow rubbed Ruby's hair then they heard Ozpin saying "Qrow. A word, please."

Qrow whispered to Ruby, discreetly saying "I think I'm in trouble."

"You did start a fight and nearly hurt bystanders' commented Rex.

Qrow sighed and said "Yea, that's true. Catch ya later, kid" as he walked off to join the others. Ozpin then turned his attention to Rex saying "Thank you, Mr. Salazar for putting an end to their fight. Though if something like that happens again, could you find a way that doesn't harm them."

Rex just put his hands behind his head and said "I make no promises." Ozpin just sighed and began walking towards his office.

Weiss walked up beside Ruby with her arms crossed saying "And suddenly, your recklessness makes sense.'

Ruby nudged Weiss' shoulder saying "You're just mad because he whooped butt."

"That was a draw, at best!"

"Oh please. If this was a real battle, I'd have been their butts ten times over" said Rex.

"No you wouldn't. My sister has had plenty of training. She would stop you in a heart beat. There's no way she'd be beaten by you."

"Yea and my uncle Qrow is way too awesome to be stopped" said Ruby.

Rex then faced them saying "Are you both just saying that because you believe it or you know its true that I would win." Weiss just grunted at his actions and walked away but Ruby stayed to try and think of a way to defend her uncle. Rex just chuckled at Ruby and Weiss and saw Mercury walking away from the area and caused him to glare at him.

Ozpin's Office

Winter was pacing back and forth in Ozpin's office while Ironwood sat on his desk. Then they heard the elevator ding and saw Glynda, Oz, and a smirking Qrow walking towards them. Winter then yelled at Qrow saying " What were you thinking!?" as she faced them.

"If you were one of my men, I would have you shot!" said Ironwood

Qrow pulled out his flask said "If I was one of your men, I'd shoot myself." (A/N:Savage)

"While I wouldn't condone his behavior, retaliating like you did certainly didn't help the situation" said Glynda.

Winter tried to defend herself by saying "He was drunk!"

Goodwitch replied "He's always drunk!" as the four turn to Qrow to see him drinking from his flask. His eyes widen when he noticed them staring, and he held the flask out to the side, looking at it awkwardly before grimacing

Ozpin sat at his table saying "Qrow, why are you here?"

"You've been out of contact for weeks! You can't just go dark like that in the field!" said Ironwood.

Qrow put his flask away saying "I'm not one of your special operatives, Jimmy!"

Winter yelled back saying "General."

"Whatever. You sent me to get intel on our enemy, and I'm telling you, our enemy is here."

Ironwood leaned against Ozpin's desk saying "We know."

Qrow started exasperating by saying "Oh! Oh, you know! Well, thank goodness I'm out there risking my life to keep you all informed. You know, Communication's a two-way street, pal. You see this?" as he pulled out his Scroll and pointed to it saying "That's the SEND button."

"They had reason to assume you'd been compromised" said Winter.

"And I have reason to assume you don't need to be here. Seriously, who invited her?" as he pointed at her.

Ironwood was silent for a moment before saying "Schnee, we'll discuss this incident back at my ship." Winter tried to convince him but she knew he couldn't disobey orders and left for the elevator but not until Qrow gave her a wink which she just groaned at.

"Go on" gestured Ironwood.

Qrow continued by saying "Your little infiltrator isn't just another pawn. They're the one responsible for Autumn's condition" as he took a drink from his flask once more.

Goodwitch gasped at the intel and said "What?"

Qrow added to his words by saying "Despite what the world thinks, we're not just teachers, or Generals, or Headmasters. The people in this room, The leaders of the other two academies, we're the ones that keep the world safe from the evils no one even knows about! It's why we meet behind closed doors, why we work in the shadows. So you tell me, James, when you brought your army to Vale, did you think you were being discreet, or did you just not give a damn!?"

Ironwood stared down at Qrow as he placed his Scroll on Ozpin's desk saying "Discreet wasn't working" as a hologram of Vale, Beacon Academy, the Amity Colosseum and Ironwood's fleet of Atlesian Airships, which he gestured to "I'm here because this is what was necessary.

"You're here because Ozpin wanted you here! He made you a part of this inner circle and opened your eyes to the real fight that's in front of us!" said Qrow

"And I am grateful" said Ironwood.

Qrow groaned and said "Oh, well, you've got a real funny way of showing it. And speaking of funny, what exactly were you planning to do with that boy that's a part of my niece's team, bub."

"Well I simply want to have the boy join our military and assist us in this...." said Ironwood until he saw Qrow laughing his butt off. When Qrow finally stopped, he looked at him with a glare saying "yea join your little parade. Then you would deceive him, knock him out and cut him apart to see what makes him tick. Is that about the jist of it."

Ironwood slammed his hand on the table saying " I would never do something so drastic, so cruel and vile to a boy. Especially when he has room to grow into a warrior or a soldier."

Qrow just chuckled at his words saying "But you've been thinking about it. Don't get me wrong, I've seen what he's capable of, but I know that you would like to have that power for your own personal benefits or your own self. I know that I'm right on the money with this one" as Qrow hiccuped from drinking too much.

Ironwood sighed as he knew what Qrow was like and said "Yes it has crossed my mind but he is still a boy and I don't want to do something so cruel to a student of Beacon..."

"Oh so it's because he's at Beacon. So if he was at Atlas of Vacuo, you would cut him up" chuckled Qrow as he finished his last drop of alcohol.

Ironwood replied angrily at Qrow saying "You know that is not what I meant. And I'm certain that my ships and men are good enough. All the people of Vale need someone to protect them; someone who would act. When they look to the sky and see my fleet, they feel safe, and our enemies will feel our strength.

Qrow started laughing at him saying " You... You think they're scared of your little ships? I've been out there and I've seen the things she's made, and let me tell you - they are fear."

Ozpin stood up saying "And fear will bring the Grimm. A guardian is a symbol of comfort. But an army is a symbol of conflict. There's an energy in the air now, a question in the back of everyone's minds... If this is the size of our defenses, then what is it we're expecting to fight?"

Ironwood glared at them before sighing and walking forward, picking up his Scroll just as it flashed with the image of a Black Queen. "So then, what would you suggest we do?"

Ozpin sighed as he said "I suggest we find our guardian."

"I thought you already did. Thought metal boy was the prime choice" said Qrow confusingly.

Oz sighed as he stayed seated saying "While Mr. Salazar does have amazing abilities and he would be our best choice for a guardian, there's something about him that still worries me." Glynda perked her head up as she knew what he was talking about but Ironwood and Qrow were left out of the loop so Qrow decided to ask "what exactly worries you about him. Afraid he's our enemy."

"No, nothing like that. But there's something that he's hiding."

Qrow raised his eyebrow as Ironwood just listened as he asked "What do you think he's hiding and what makes you think that."

Ozpin then tapped his desk panel and began pulling up photos and videos of Rex and his battles then pulled up the video of the first day he met him. They heard him say that he has no memories of how he ended up in the Emerald forest and saw him become a part of team RWBY. The video stopped and Qrow was confused and asked "If you're trying to tell us something, some more details might be nice, Doc."

"He said he had no memory of how he got into the forest but yet he seemed to remember his powers and their apparent functions. It makes me wonder. Does he really not remember or is there something else going on behind the scene" finished Ozpin as more videos of Rex fighting began to play.

Cinder's dorm room

Mercury was sitting in a chair, reporting the fight he saw earlier, while Cinder walked back and forth, interrogating him with Emerald resting on a bed nearby.

"And you're sure it was him."

Mercury replied by saying "Bad hair, used a scythe, and smelled like my dad after a long day. It was him."

"And you said Rex was the one that stopped the fight."

"Yep just stood their with those shields of his and knocked them down without even flinching."

"What do we do?" asked Emerald.

"Nothing. We stay the course. They have no idea who we are, so we have no reason to worry. Besides, the last of the heavy lifting is being taken care of thanks to our clever little friend. Speaking of which... it appears we have a new access point."

"Anywhere good?"asked Emerald.

"You could say that. Go to your rooms. I'll prepare everything for tomorrow. And if anything new about Rex shows up, notify me immediately.

Emerald and Mercury nodded until Emerald turned back and asked Cinder "But what if Rex gets to her before we do."

Cinder simply smiled as she lifted her head and said "if he does, we'll do what we were meant to do" said Cinder as she smirked at her scroll. Then the two left the room. As they left Cinder continued by saying

"We will kill him in cold blood and take those abilities of his"