News Flash

Robots had made a good source of SL and RP, perhaps them being mechanical added more value to them. He had succeeded in driving away Ironwood's task force and just wanted to relax for a moment.

He looked at the sky to see the position of the sun.

'Huh, it's only noon. Atlas took a lot out on me. Speaking of which.'

The MOD RP he got from the fight could upgrade and modify his tank to the max. The cost was particularly concerning for Hanns. SL was going to be more important as time went on. He shivered as he remembers the times his tanks beyond 6.0 battle rating cost tens of thousand of SL just to repair each game.

SL = 338,206 - 23,800 → 314,406 SL

'These small modifications are going to drain my resources after a while.'

Once again, bright light emanated from himself as he felt parts of his body change. New shells were added as options and his overall mobility improved. He could now repair during battle which he was nervous about during his fight with Atlas.

Hanns opened the ground tech tree for Germany and found the SPAA's he wanted to buy. He took a look at their stats and slightly frowned at what was displayed.

'It's a bit slower at firing than I wanted it to be than what I have.'

He was considering just using the Flakpanzer I despite getting a 'better' upgrade. He would keep using his current SPAA for now up until he could get it to rank III. He clicked on the tanks and confirmed his purchases.

SL = 314,406 - 44,300 → 270,106 SL

VEHICLE RP = 49,368 - 16,900 → 32,468 RP

'Damn, just a bit short on RP. I should be able to get more if I travel further north past Forever Fall.'

The journey would be long; he would need to spend the majority of the day just driving to find more grimm. He needed to find a better source of grimm since his base of operations on the hill near Vale was constantly being watched. It was far too, he could get inside Vale itself to gain access to dust but that's for later, he thought. But because he killed all the surrounding grimm in Forever Fall, he needed to travel further away just to find stuff to farm which was getting problematic considering that Vale was going to be empty of grimm eventually.

'After I unlock rank III's I should be able to get the Tiger H1 after today.'

He prepares mentally for the boring ride over as he distances himself further and further away from the city of Vale and its walls.

In Beacon Academy…

"And finally, Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long," Ozpin announces.

"The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this forward, you will work together as team RWBY… led by Ruby Rose." A visibly irritated Weiss confused Ruby and a proud Yang reacted to the revelation.

After their initiation ended on an interesting note, with Ruby decapitating a giant nevermore, Blake had been silent the whole time. Seeing new people, discounting the tank she met, was certainly a bit daunting. Last night they tried talking to her but she couldn't be bothered to be engrossed in pointless chatter, though she did hold a higher opinion on Ruby after her hero talk. As for the other people on her team, she was indifferent to Yang, she seemed nice enough. Weiss though, don't even get her started.

'I wonder how the machine I met was doing?'

Blake had already tuned out the rest of the day of school, which was filled with Yang pestering Ruby about being the leader while Weiss grumped all the way over to their dorms. It was as clear as the scar on her face that she held disdain for the headmaster's choice of leader. As if she expected to be one.

'Typical Schnee.' She snarked in her mind.

As they walked towards their dorms ready to sleep in for the night, chatter came from the various students scattered around the school. At first, Blake couldn't care enough to listen but one word got her attention. Atlas.

"Have you seen the news lately?" a boy asked his friend.

"No? Why? Did something happen? White Fang maybe?" the friend replied.

'Why do these people think it's going to be the White Fang for every problem that shows up in the news?' narrowing her eyes at the comment. Sure they were terrorists, but not everything has to be about them, right?

"No, no dude. Gunfire was heard from beyond the walls! Lisa Lavender went in herself to get the big scoop and her crew filmed dozens of ruined droids! Not only that, the biggest piece of info was the fact that a small army of Atlesian soldiers was dead!" the boy waved his arms as he talked.

'Gunfire? Atlas? Dead? I have a feeling that the machine must have done it. It seemed nice enough to me so what Atlas did must have had it coming for them.'

It seemed like the conversation had also been kept close to attention by her teammates as when they went to their dorms, Weiss, Yang, and Ruby immediately took out their scrolls to look at the news.

The headlines were on full display for team RWBY to look at.

'Atlesian fleet destroyed! Remains found on the outskirts of Vale!'

'Atlas: Accident or Attacked?'

'General Ironwood responds to "training exercise went wrong"'

'Atlesian incompetence caught in 4k!'

The stories were still rolling in, Blake even had to bring up her scroll to look at the photos of the droid.

"Aren't these spider droids?!" Weiss screams out.

"They were supposed to be in a testing facility. Why would they be in Vale?" she continues. Sensing the opportune moment Yang suddenly blurts out.

"Dontcha mean, why iron-would they be in Vale? Eh eh?" Ruby palms her face in response.

"Yaaaang! Now's not really the time for your lame puns, this is actually serious!"

Ignoring the rambling of the group, Blake returns to her open thoughts. She looked through the photos that could be found in the articles and spotted a peculiar imprint on the ground.

Unlike before, Hanns' tracks would leave nothing on the ground for people to follow or discover his existence. Thanks to the dirt and leaves constantly shifting in the wind, his earlier tanks were lighter weight but now that he'd upgraded to a much heavier tank it could be seen on the ground if you look closely enough. Tank treads are left near the scenes of destroyed spider droids.

'What have you gotten yourself into?'

It hasn't even been a day in her new place in Beacon and already she was involved with someone that destroyed part of the Atlesian fleet. Though she was a bit happy that Atlas had lost to the machine she met.

Blake let out a small chuckle as she thought of her conversing with a machine. Maybe she'd get the chance to speak to it again, although it was going to be hard to talk to something that doesn't even have a mouth.

Weiss notices the small chuckle Blake let out and stomps over to her general direction and confronts her.

"And what is so funny to you?" Weiss snapped. Lives were involved in the horrid 'accident' that befallen the Atlesian military.

"Nothing, it's just that I finally know what to expect with Atlesians." Blake put down her scroll and returned to the new side-story of her favorite book series. No, it wasn't smut, it is a genuinely good book with a great "plot".

Meanwhile, Weiss just stared at the uncaring nature of Blake before realizing the comment Blake mentioned. Her face contorted to confusion then transitioned into fury.

"What is that supposed to mean?!"

In Atlas…

The general stood at the window once more, gazing at the distant frigid wastelands of Atlas. The operation had failed, spectacularly at that too. Half dead and more injured, it seems like it wasn't enough for their cannon fodder for them to secure the machine.

"We will re-do the operation," he states.

Behind him across his table were the Ace-Ops and Winter standing at attention before Marrow, the newest of the Ace-Ops, steps forward.

"Sir, If I may, you told us this thing keeps evolving. We have already brought out what we can to capture the thing. How many more droids and men will it take to bring it down?"

"Are you questioning the General's orders, Marrow?" Harriet grabs his shoulders in an interrogatory way. Seeing the situation, one of the other members of the Ace-Ops pulls them apart with his semblance.

"Now, now." the man says. Vine was the more reserved of the Ace-Ops and tried resolving his team's apparent confrontation with each other.

"Don't be so aggressive. We are all curious about what our next step is, agreed?" The rest of the team showed slight approval of the statement. Even Harriet started to calm down after her confrontation with Marrow.

Winter suddenly joins in to weigh in on her concerns. "What is your next plan, general?".

She had seen firsthand how the machine worked. It could take down spider droid after spider droid and their blasts didn't even seem to affect it. She even had a bout with the machine before safely escaping the area.

Winter recalled the machine's conversation with her. It was tough, Winter would rather not pursue it through force if possible. Lives were going to be spent more and more if it evolves.

Ironwood turned around and addressed the Ace-Ops and Winter's inquiries.

"The media has been hounding us for information about this development. I need to calm them down somehow. We will eventually try again but next time, I will bring down the entire might of Atlas."

He chalked this failure up to not being serious in capturing the machine. If he had 20 more spider droids, no, 100 more spider droids he could have a chance at taking the machine back to Atlas. It was for the safety of Remnant he justified.

"For now, you will return to your previous duties as instructed. Dismissed."

As the Ace-Ops and Winter file out of the room. The general was left in his thoughts on how to talk to Ozpin on this. He failed but he certainly wouldn't give up. He pondered on the issue while he sat alone in his office, the air getting colder as he did so.

In an unknown location…

A scruffy old man was choking on his flask as he read the news that popped up in his scroll's news feed. It was the image of a certain Atlesian general bowing in respect to the dead and the "military" accident that happened.

Qrow knew that this whole thing started because Ironwood couldn't get his machine boner to go down. This led to him apparently losing an entirety of his spider droid prototypes on the ground, mangled and destroyed. While he led an entire team of soldiers to their deaths. The public would be kept from the true reason but Qrow, Glynda, and Ozpin knew what true purpose he was doing in Vale.

"Bwahaha!"

'Jimmy has done it yet again! We told him it was a bad idea and looked at what happened. I needed that Jimmy, thanks for waking me up for today.'

He picked up his weapon and got up from the tree he was leaning against. He took in another swig from his flask and continued on his way. He had been searching for clues relating to those who attacked Amber earlier this month.

He was getting a bit preoccupied with killing grimm along the way but he could handle the day and nights with no human contact. He stumbled on towns but went straight to the bar to get info. It was how he did his job for the past years of his life.

This time though was different, Qrow genuinely sobered up from the shocking and hilarious news of Ironwood getting his ass whooped by that machine he stumbled across while in Forever Fall.

'I can't wait to tell him "I told you so" in person.'