From the Halls of Beacon to the Shores of Atlas

Vale, Two Days after the Fall

Vale was devastated. There was no other way to describe it. Between the White Fang, the Grimm and the blast, much of the city was damaged in one way or another. Beacon had ceased to exist in the aftermath of the blast, with only the foundations remaining. It had taken two days to hunt down and eliminate the remaining Grimm prowling through the city, and now the remaining leadership was discussing what was to be done with the ruins of the academy.

"It will take time, but we need to begin rebuilding Beacon. If we…"

"Glynda, we don't even know what destroyed Beacon in the first place!" Ironwood slammed his hand onto the table. "Ozpin gave that Kristiansen far too much leeway." He looked at Qrow. "Where is he?"

Qrow shrugged. "Why should I know?" He took a swig from his flask. "That man is more than capable of taking care of himself. If you want my opinion, he will find us when he needs to."

Ironwood's scroll rang. "Go ahead specialist."

Winter Schnee's voice came from the device. "Sir, Mr. Kristiansen is requesting entry."

The three looked at each other before Qrow shrugged. "Speak of the devil."

"Let him in."

The doors opened and Jäger walked in, fully equipped. Ironwood started on him immediately.

"Where were you? And what have you been doing, you needed to be debriefed." He shook his head. "And more importantly what in the hell did you do to Beacon?"

"In order, I was in Beacon, trying to determine if it is safe for human presence. As for what I did, that is slightly more complicated." He looked around. "How secure is this room?"

"Very," was all Ironwood said.

"Then if this information gets out, it is on your head, for everything is exceptionally secured on my side." Ironwood nodded. "Tell me, what happens when you smash a fire dust crystal?"

Glynda spoke. "Depending on the size of the crystal, there will be an explosion. Also, the more force used in smashing the crystal, the larger the explosion."

Jäger nodded. "Then tell me, what would happen if two crystals of opposite dust types were slammed into each other in a confined space at speeds greater than 340 meters per second?"

Glynda shook her head. "Nothing. The two dusts would cancel each other if they were opposites."

Jäger smirked. "Unless of course there was a force threshold that, once passed, would cause opposite dust types to react with each other. Add in a confined space and the result is a self-sustaining chain reaction that will continue so long as there is fuel for the reaction." He shrugged. "The weapon I used slammed a five-kilogram fire crystal into a five-kilogram ice crystal at roughly 400 meters per second. The resultant explosion produced 670 trillion joules, or 160 kilotons of TNT."

Ironwood looked directly at him. "You will immediately surrender any and all plans of this weapon to me, as well as any more versions of it you may have. That is not a question."

Jäger's face hardened. "You have no authority over me General, and thus you can take that request and stuff it. Besides, if you seized them from me, I would be handing it over to Atlas, and the last thing Atlas needs is a larger military advantage." His eyes narrowed. "And if you think you can keep me here, you are very much mistaken."

"Enough." Everyone turned to look at Glynda. "We have enough problems without you two wanting to fight each other to the death." She looked at Jäger. "Why were you looking to see if Beacon is safe for human inhabitance?"

"Because this style of weapon, where I'm from, produces a large amount of energy in three forms; alpha, beta and gamma. Granted, since I don't have access to most of my equipment here, I have no way of determining if the atomic structure of things is the same here, but for now I am assuming it is. In essence, the detonation produces what we call radiation. Alpha and Beta radiation are not that big of a threat for human beings, as it gets absorbed rather easily. Gamma is the danger. It is literally pure energy that takes several feet of lead to be absorbed and poisons the surrounding area for years to come. Luckily, given the fact that the materials used were different, there doesn't seem to be any radiation, or at least none that my Geiger counter was reading. Now, that doesn't mean that there isn't any radiation there, just that it could be in a form that I can't detect." He shrugged. "The only way we'll find out is if people start experiencing radiation sickness. Nausea, vomiting, headache, diarrhea, fever, unexplained infections or red patches on the skin; those are signs of radiation sickness. If anyone starts showing signs of that, evacuate anyone who is present from Beacon."

"How dangerous is it?"

Jäger looked at Qrow. "Exceptionally. Mainly because it isn't something that you can see. And it can, at least on my world, affect people on levels so small they can barely be detected. Children born of parents with radiation exposure can develop illnesses that they had shouldn't have been able to contract, physical deformities, things like that. It's not something to fuck around with."

The three Guardians had identical looks of horror on their faces. He shrugged. "This is why, if you remember, I said that I would leave the genie in the bottle. Well, now everyone knows about the bottle, but it is still closed. I'm keeping it that way."

Glynda shook her head. "Moving forward, we have to decide what we are going to do. Beacon will have to be completely rebuilt, if it can be rebuilt at all."

"I've been recalled to Atlas, along with my fleet," Ironwood flatly stated. "Winter is currently making the arrangements."

Jäger reached into his pocket and pulled out a scroll. "I have a full design schematic here that I need produced. I will provide all the ammunition for the weapon systems, but I need the craft built. If you can produce it, I will make my way to Atlas as soon as it is ready."

Ironwood looked slightly skeptical, but nodded nonetheless.

"Tai is taking Ruby and Yang back to Patch to recover, and from what I've heard, Arc, Lie and Valkyrie will be going with him…" Qrow was interrupted by the doors slamming open. Jäger immediately drew his pistol and was aiming right at the head of a distinguished looking gentleman dressed impeccably in a white suit.

"James, I am taking my daughter home immediately, and that is final."

"I'm sorry sir, he wouldn't allow me to explain you were in a meeting," Winter apologized

"Jacques. You cannot just barge into a meeting."

"I'll do what is best for my family whenever I feel like it Ironwood. Now, my daughter is coming home with me and none of you will prevent it."

"If that is what you feel is best, then that is your right."

Jäger holstered his pistol. "And with your posturing done, if you would be so kind as to leave, sir." He gestured towards the door.

"Do you have any idea who I am? I'm Jacques Schnee, and…"

"Frankly, I don't give a damn. You interrupted a sensitive meeting simply to fulfill your own need for grandstanding, and are wasting our time." He turned to Ironwood. "Has Nikos been evacuated to Atlas yet?"

"Given the state of her injuries, she has remained aboard my remaining ship, in the medical bay. Once the fleet leaves tomorrow, she will be coming with us."

Before Jäger could continue, the doors burst open again, this time admitting Weiss.

"Professor Goodwitch, Blake has disappeared!"

Jacques turned. "Ahh. Daughter. Well, that saves me the trouble of having to find you. Gather your things, you will be returning to Atlas with me."

At the same time, Jäger held up his scroll. "Actually, she hasn't disappeared, she is currently aboard a transport bound for Menagerie. I managed to tag her with a tracker in the aftermath of the battle."

Jacques glared at his daughter. "You're worried about a faunus? Im certain you realize how badly that could damage the image of our company."

"She's my teammate," was Weiss' defiant reply.

"Oh even better. Leave aside the fact that you've decided to become a huntress, you are on a team with a faunus. And I thought you couldn't disappoint me further." He shook his head. "Get to the airship. That is final." Weiss hung her head but left silently.

"Now, where was I…" Jacques turned his head to the other four to find the barrel of Jäger's .45 an inch from his face.

"You know, I was willing to suspend judgement on you for the time being. I thought you were just an overworked executive which resulted in being a poor father. Instead, you're an asshole, with no understanding of how a father ought to act. Well, I for one have heard enough of you. Remove yourself from the building before I do it for you. Forcibly."

"How dare you…"

The hammer on Jäger's gun clicked back. Jacques Schnee closed his mouth and left without another word.

"Now that that unpleasantness has been dealt with, we need to come up with a plan. Do we have any intel on where Cinder was from?"

"No. They were part of the contingent from Mistral, so that's the extent of it. Which we already knew, as it was in your dossier."

"Well then, it looks like I am going hunting. Ironwood, let me know when the schematic is complete."

"Speaking of, would I be allowed to use it in the Atlesian military?"

"By Atlas standards, it is an obsolete, inferior design, so I see no reason why you would. I am using it because it is a design I am familiar with and have experience piloting. Saves me the trouble of having to learn a new airframe." He glanced down at his scroll. "In any case, I'm going to my warehouse before shipping out. Qrow, do you need a ride to Patch"

"That would be appreciated."

Jäger turned to leave, but stopped and turned back. "I just had a thought. And it will seem exceptionally callous to some of you, even for my standards."

Qrow, Goodwitch, and Ironwood all glanced at each other. "Go ahead James." Goodwitch looked between him and Ironwood. "That's going to be confusing. You're now Kristiansen so as to preserve my own sanity."

He smirked, but then sobered up. "Thanks to my emergency broadcast, everyone knows Nikos was severely injured. And that kind of injury is hard to recover from, even with aura. And because the transfer started but wasn't completed, she carries a portion, no matter how small, of the Fall Maiden's power within her. What if, in order to spread disinformation, we informed Teams JNPR and RWBY that she died during the surgery?"

Glynda exploded. "Are you mad? Ignoring the fact that we would be doing this without her permission, what of her team?"

Ironwood held up his hand. "No, he has a point. Because she carries a portion of the former Fall Maiden's aura within her, it means that this Cinder doesn't have her full powers. If we feed false information that Nikos died, Cinder will be operating on the assumption she has full control. At the same time, she will be operating at a lower level than if she was in full possession of the Fall Maiden's powers."

Jäger nodded appreciatively. "Look, I recognize that it is not the most moral of decisions. Welcome to wartime leadership, where every option is immoral, and you have to pick between bad and worse. I've made extremely immoral decisions in my time, and I have no doubt the General is the same. What matters here is that we have an advantage that we can use. And if we can, we should."

Glynda crossed her arms. "I will have no part in this. Do what you will, but I will not support it."

"But you won't undermine it?" Taking her silence as acceptance, Jäger turned to Ironwood. I'll take care of it. I'll inform RWBY and JNPR of the death in a week or so, once Ms. Rose has awoken."

"And when will Ms. Nikos rejoin her team? I cannot keep her in Atlas indefinitely, something will eventually leak."

"Put her through the Atlesian Specialist training, and treat her no different than any other recruit, regardless of her status as a champion or Maiden. Once that's complete we can go from there, but she will most likely be rejoining us in Mistral." Jäger looked a Qrow. "Anything to add?"

He took a swig from his flask. "Make sure that when they go to reunite she and her team are aware of the fact that she had no power in the matter. That it was a decision that was made for her, not by her. That ought to save them some problems." He let out a wry grin. "Might make more for us, but we can deal with it." He looked around the room. "If there's nothing else, I'd like to be on my way." Glynda, Ironwood, and Jäger all shook their heads.

A/N: Apologies for the lateness of this chapter folks, it appears my best was not enough due to multiple factors. So, I decided to publish a shorter chapter in an effort to get you all something. Unfortunately it is going to be a while before a new chapter is published. Here's why. After rereading through all of the chapters, I found myself immensely dissatisfied with what I view as continuity errors, as well as the way I was presenting Jäger as a character. In essence, what I have in my head was not what was being published. So, in an effort to correct these errors, I will be systematically going through the story and rewriting it in its entirety. The general path of the story will remain the same, but particular interactions will be changing. I'm also going to be reevaluating the particular point of view of the story, particularly if it will focus on Jäger in particular or on teams RWBY and JNPR. More to that point, there are going to be more interactions between RWBY, JNPR, and Jäger. So, keep an eye out as I will hopefully be redoing chapter 1 and possibly 2 before the end of the week.

Regards,

Alpah