Prologue: A Relic From The Past

Winter was under the impression the harsh climate many people faced while living in the Kingdom of Atlas was common knowledge to most people living in the world today, meaning a large portion of the continent was nothing more than a frozen wasteland. Or, that's what she wanted to believe as the Atlas Specialist had the pleasure of escorting a man who arrived in the kingdom a few days ago and spoke with general Ironwood about something. She knew it must have been important because the general had asked her to leave the room, letting her know whatever was being discussed in that room, was not for her ears.

It made her suspicious of what was happening, but the young woman knew better than to jump into the rabbit hole, especially if it involved general Ironwood. The man had personally selected her to become his second-in-command, showing just how much trust he had in her skills as an Atlas Specialist, which was the only reason why Winter held back from doing anything stupid.

Although, Winter made sure to keep a close eye on the man and make sure he wasn't trying to do anything to undermine the Kingdom of Atlas in any kind of way. Her responsibility was to defend the kingdom from those who seek to undermine its goals of leading Remnant to a better future, and no one was going to stop them from achieving from their goals. Still, the Atlas Specialist was curious as to the reason why the man wanted to respond to a recent call from a private mining corporation operating in the region, and who said they found something strange.

Their message had reached the authorities less than four days ago, and all of a sudden, this man dressed in a black suit showed up out of nowhere, asking to check whatever was found by the small crew.

'Even general Ironwood seemed irritated following their meeting, guess even he doesn't like whoever this man is,' Winter thought, suspecting the only reason why he agreed was because whoever the man worked for, must have been pretty important.

Suddenly, the two occupants sitting inside the bullhead felt the aircraft begin to shake from the massive snowstorm hitting the area. The pilot spoke up, "Alright! We're approaching the coordinates provided to us from the mining crew! I hope whatever down there is worth all this trouble, you two!"

Winter had to hold back from scoffing at the pilot's words, wanting to reprimand him for acting in such a laid back manner when they were operating in such harsh conditions. General Ironwood would never allow for his troops to operate outside the normal procedures, but it seems like whatever was uncovered is important to the man in black. In the end, she decided it wasn't worth it to say anything and remained quiet on the matter as she the man looking over some file in his hand.

"A file?" the Atlas Specialist scoffed, "I didn't think such outdated forms of documentation were still around."

The man in black looked up and he smiled at her. "I wouldn't say it's outdated, Specialist Schnee. My boss had to go through some serious trouble to find this particular one."

"I hope it was worth all the trouble, sir."

He remained silent after she said those words, preferring to look over the file in his hands rather than say anything back to the Atlas Specialist. Thankfully, Winter was used to such treatment from people as the world hasn't had a positive opinion of Atlas, especially after their decision to pull back their forces from the chaotic regions in Vacuo. The recent string of terrorist attacks from groups like the White Fang and other groups sympathetic to their cause, have been stirring trouble for the Atlas forces being stationed in the area.

The flight didn't last much longer as the two could feel the bullhead beginning to slow down, meaning they were about to land.

"Specialist Schnee, we've reached the landing site! I suggest you and your guest get off!" the pilot said over their communication network.

She raised a hand to her ear, "Affirmative, I want you to return to base. It's getting dark, and I doubt the general wants to deal with a rescue operation in such a hazardous location."

"You don't gotta worry about me, ma'am!" the pilot replied, sounding a bit more cheerful than one might expect. "I'm looking forward to getting out of this cold!"

Winter stood up from the seat, making sure her military-issued winter uniform was properly adjusted and walked to the back of the aircraft. She wanted to reach over and smack the pilot on the head, "I know you're a good pilot, Sam! But don't think I won't pull your recommendation letter!" she yelled back on their comms.

The woman hit a button against the wall, hearing the familiar sound of hydraulics coming to life as the ramp opened up, exposing themselves to the storm hitting them.

When it finally came to a stop, the two occupants began walking down the ramp until they felt the transition from metal to snow underneath their feet. They began to notice equipment associated with mining from generators, heavy machinery, supplies, and even sleeping units that resembled shipping containers than actual places to sleep. Once they were far enough from the bullhead, Winter spoke into her comms, "Sam, we're clear of the bullhead. You have permission to return to base, and I better not hear about you going missing or I'm gonna find you and kill you myself, do you understand?"

"Crystal clear, Winter! I'll see you in the morning!" the pilot said, which would be the last thing she hears before the communication between them turned into nothing more than static due to the storm hitting the mining site.

The two watched the bullhead quickly fade out of view, knowing the storm was going to make visibility quite difficult, even with specialized equipment to assist pilots. The man in black spoke up, doing his best to hide his amusement. "I see you're quite familiar with our pilot, Specialist Schnee."

Winter glared at the man, "Don't we have something to find, sir."

'No wonder the director warned me about Specialist Schnee. The woman can't even take a joke,' the man thought, trying to make the situation a little less tense. It wasn't his fault they had gotten word about a civilian group finding something vital in the middle of a frozen wasteland in the farthest ends of Atlas.

The two remained quiet as they trudged through the snow, noticing the many workers around them and how they seemed more concerned with their jobs than them. Soon, Winter saw a man approaching them and quickly deduced it was the leader of the mining site.

"You guys the agents Atlas said they were sending up here?" he asked them.

Winter answered his question, "Yes, I'm Specialist Schnee and this man is..." she paused, wondering what to call him until he said something.

"Just call me Coulson," he said, revealing his name to the presumed leader of the mining crew. "I work for a more international group. Now, how long have you been on-site for?"

The man began explaining the situation, "We've been here for a few days, and I can tell ya I ain't never seen something like this before in my life."

"How come nobody called it in earlier?" Coulson questioned.

"It's really not all that surprising!" the leader replied, turning towards the direction of the object in the distance. "The landscape tends to change pretty often around here! It's almost required for anyone working in this region to use electronic markers or something."

Winter decided to ask what exactly did this mining crew stumble upon, considering they contacted the Atlas military for assistance instead of normal emergency responders who were trained to deal with such matters. "Do you know what your crew found down there?"

The man shook his head, "I was hoping you guys might know about it! My team doesn't have the equipment to pull it out of the ground!"

Coulson looked ahead, hoping to catch a glimpse of whatever was out there. He looked at the leader, "Got any idea when your guys can start craning it out of there?" he inquired, earning a scoff from the man.

"You guys do realize we're just a civilian outfit...we don't have the kind of money for a crane needed to pull it up," the man then pointed out to something massive off in the distance.

For a brief moment, the storm began to calm down and allow for them to see more than a few feet in front of their eyes. Almost immediately, Winter's eyes widened in shock at the object in the distance, and quickly realized it was an enormous wing sticking out of the ground. An entire bullhead seemed small in comparison to what she was looking at right now.

She looked at the man named Coulson for answers but was surprised to see he was just as caught off guard by the discovery of the object as her. It seems like even he didn't expect to find something like this in the middle of Atlas.

The military officer looked at the leader, "Do you have anything capable of cutting through the frame of the aircraft?"

"Yeah, we got some dust-infused mining lasers," he answered, sounding unsure of where Winter was going with this idea. "But I don't know if they can cut through it."

Winter had a feeling the man was going to hesitate at the idea of helping them after saying her last name, "General Ironwood will be more than happy to compensate your company for assisting us, I can promise you that."

"Usually, I wouldn't trust a Schnee's word..." the man said, sounding bitter towards the idea of helping someone with the last name as the blasted company who's made their lives a living nightmare. He then sighed, "Yet, I hear you ain't exactly on solid footing with your father anyway. Fine, I'll get my guys to start cutting through the exterior."

As Winter watched the mining laser being set up, she noticed Coulson staring at the wing and partly exposed plane with intrigue as well as something else. Looking at the plane, Winter doubted it was made by Atlas as they never bothered to make aircraft on such a massive scale, preferring to build an airship like the ones in their fleet. Even the idea of it belonging to another kingdom was out of the picture as they've never had reports of Vale, Vacuo, or Mistral attempting such a thing.

Originally, the mining laser was built to pierce anything a mining crew could find in the ground but all of them were surprised to learn whatever the plane was made from, was apparently tougher just about anything the laser was built to handle. Instead of five to ten minutes, the time quickly passed and just as the crew as well as the two agents were about to give up, they soon heard the laser stop cutting through the plane's exterior.

It meant one thing; it finally cut through the material.

Coulson, Winter, and a few of the mining crew stood around the hole created by the mining laser. The man in black leaned over, staring into the hole and noticing it was filled to the brim with ice from water entering the aircraft's interior. He then instructed them to get rope, saying he wanted to take a closer inside and see if there was anything more to it.

The only two to enter were Winter and Coulson as the rest of the crew said they were content with finding the damn thing, preferring to go back to their normal jobs. Once they reached the floor of the aircraft, Winter started looking around and took notice of the space inside the aircraft. A part of her started to wonder who built this aircraft as it hardly resembled any known designs, even possessing technology a company like Rose Industries would love to get their bloodied hands on.

"Specialist Schnee, let's check the cockpit," Coulson said, shining his flashlight in the direction of a door. Or, what remained of said door.

Winter followed close behind the man, keeping a hand on her weapon should the need for it arise. She wanted to make sure she was prepared for whatever may lie on the other side, hoping there weren't any Grimm taking refuge inside any parts of the ship. Upon entering the cockpit, she saw much of the same as it was covered in ice but noticed a few things out of the ordinary.

At the top of the ceiling, there was a hole of some kind burned into it. The young woman pointed her flashlight at the burn mark, narrowing her eyes in suspicion of what may have happened inside this cockpit. She then heard something akin to a gasp from Coulson.

"What's wrong?" she asked him.

There was no response as the man remained as still as a statue, staring at a block of ice. She raised an eyebrow at his behavior before walking over to him, wondering what caused the man to react in such a manner. Just as she stood next to him, Winter quickly came to the same conclusion as Coulson as she stared at something...or, rather...someone.

"I-Impossible, it can't be h-him," she heard him mutter.

Winter stared at the block of ice in disbelief, "H-How?"

She watched Coulson place a hand against his ear, "Base, I need a line to director Fury," he calmly said over the radio. There was someone replying on the other end, which earned a very fast response from the man.

"I don't care what time it is," Coulson said to the person, still in disbelief of who he was staring at. "This one's waited long enough."

Winter Schnee and Phillip Coulson had seen quite a lot of things in their lives but only the latter knew the truth behind what lay inside the block of ice. If one could look carefully, they could see a shield in red, blue, and white with a white star in the center of it.

I know what you guys are thinking...why am I creating such a story? Well, you can blame the wonderful individuals behind stories The Amazing Jaune Arc and The Invincible Whitley Schnee as they certainly helped inspire the creation of this universe.

A few things are going to be answered right off the bat;

1. The way I'm going to handle having so many stories is pretty simple. I'll start with this story and finish it before moving onto the next one I have planned out. Each character will have their individuals stories while the Avenger-level stuff is going to be placed in a separate story all on their own. So it makes easier if you wanna read the big stuff.

2. In terms of who is playing who in this universe, you're just gonna have to wait as I already have a pretty good number of characters laid out. As for any changes to the lore of RWBY, I'm going to be honest, I'll do my best to retain some stuff but if I need to make changes to help make it easier to write these stories then I'm gonna do it.

3. As for the individual stories themselves, I'm going have to take some liberties to keep the RWBY characters somewhat close to their canon personalities but I have to warn you that some are going to need a minute. Besides their personalities, I will make a few changes to their origin stories to help fit into the RWBY world.

4. One last thing, I'm still gonna use certain MCU characters because, honestly, I looked through the list of RWBY characters as I haven't seen the series in a while but the roster was looking weak to use outside the ones I plan on using. You may disagree with me on that fact but I can't imagine anyone else taking the roles of the characters many of us like from the MCU, so yeah.

Other than that, I hope I can live up to the lofty goals I set for myself by creating this universe.