A city aflame, air burned an invisible fire, stone, steel melted into hot orange. In the centre of all this, a horned woman burned the hottest, looking down from her throne of destruction, she saw a single man beaten and battered, on one hand, he barely was able to carry a war hammer, and on the other, there was no other hand.
"Everyone has left you to die. To what reason do you side against your own kin?" The woman asked, on her hand, a molten greatsword formed, surrounding it, an aura of distorted, superheated air burned. The woman took a step forward, burning the stone into molten magma, she approached the man, yet, the man did not waver. He quickly attacked, swinging his hammer with all his might, the woman only dodged as the hammer slammed into the ground, creating a shockwave of magma around the two.
"Tch. What a pain." She said as she swung her sword. The world around shuddered as the molten battlefield erupted once more in flames, yet, the man still stood, dodging the swipe, the strike instead melted a building behind him, it collapsing as the man swung once more.
Just outside the battlefield, Yelena stood still, in awe at the unfaltering determination the man had, it reminded her of her father. This was her first time meeting someone that could make her leader stop to fight, no, this was the first time she saw someone unfazed by her leader. Beside her, a pale child in white walked up, with his jaw dropped, the child grit his teeth in frustration as he held onto a cane that he carried.
"How... how is he still fighting her?" The child said in rage, Yelena only nodded as the man once more took a step back, retaliating through a flurry of blows that made the woman step back. As she expertly parried each hammer strike, Yelena only nodded, not wanting to see the end of this one-sided battle...
"So this is the strength of our enemy... She will remember this..." Yelena muttered as a finally swipe shuddered the burning city... bringing the battle to a close.
"Rhodes Island..." The woman said as her greatsword dissipated staring forward to the horizon with her burning gaze, in front of her...
~~~
Yelena remembered the man, the very same man who perished under her leader's blade, the last man to die on their invasion into the moving city of Chernobog. Yet now he stood in front of her, a professor. As minutes passed by with his class moving onwards, she could hear the voices of students converse with the professor, yet...
"Frostnova." The word cut through her body like the molten greatsword of her leader, responding, she lifted her head, lowering the notebook on the table. Beside her, Free stared suspiciously as Ruby raised her hand, correcting the professor.
"Umm... we don't have anyone named Frost.... nova?" Ruby noticed Weiss who turned her head, only to follow her partner and notice Yelena standing up to respond to the man. Under his unkempt beard, the man smiled.
"Actually, it is Yelena. Frostnova is just my..." Yelena struggled to figure out a reason, eventually, however, "...what my father use to call me." She finished.
"Oh, apologies. Yelena, please read the first question found in your lesson 1 guided practice on: Dealings with the grimm in an urban setting to the class." The man corrected himself as Yelena went with the flow as the class continued without anything more happening.
~~~
Class ended as she walked out of the class, the last to leave. Her mind was clearly still racing as to ways she could avoid the man, yet it all was forgotten in vain as the intercoms blared out. It called for Yelena, asking for the woman to meet the professor in his office.
With no way to avoid the call, Yelena sighed as she found her way into Ace's office. Peering in, it looked messy, with piles of beer cans in some places, the walls were covered with maps and pins as Ace could be found sipping a can of beer. Noticing the white bunny, he motioned her to sit in front of him, the two looking at each other awkwardly as the man took a few more sips off his beer...
"I am... sorry for what happened." Yelena abruptly bowed as she recalled the sight of Ace's duel with her leader, she had expected something awful to happen to her, yet... It was met with laughter as the man put his hand on her shoulder.
"Oh it's nothing, with everything that happened in the past, there won't be any trouble if you don't cause any more." Yelena faced Ace, surprised and confused, the man simply took a sip of his beer.
"But... I was once part of Reunion... Tal-our leader killed you!" Yelena said, trying to see if what he said was genuine, Ace only shook his head as he smiled.
"That would have been the case... yet, I've heard everything about you from the headmaster." He said as Yelena raised her brow, confused.
"I was pretty shocked like you when I first found myself in this world, but after a few days, of drinking..." Ace chuckled as he threw the can into a trash bin, "I eventually got my mind through and faked my transcripts into being a professor here. Initially, I thought I would be found and make a run for it, but... for some reason or another, I got in!"
He laughed as Yelena also chuckled. She thought how did the most prestigious academy in all of Vale got tricked, yet, the more she thought about it, she wondered why.
"But... why a professor?" Yelena asked, tilting her head, confused.
"Information. Within this very academy, a gold mine of information is passed throughout the world, it happens at this very moment. I should thank your father for making my plans easier..." Ace said as he proceed to detail out how he was called to Ozpin's office, only to be greeted by Patriot. Ozpin barely had any time as Ace readied himself, only to be stopped by Glynda stopping in between him and her father. He quickly was uncovered, but while he received a stern speech by Glynda, Ozpin allowed his usage to the Cross-continental Transmit Tower, the 'goldmine of information' Ace was talking about.
"Currently, my buddy is cooped up there, being tasked with finding more individuals who likely came from Terra." He finished off as he got up, hearing the school bells, the two both knew it was time for classes to start. Yet, before Yelena could exit Ace's own office, she stopped to ask the man.
"Buddy?"
"Well, there was also another elite operator who perished in Chernobog..." He said as the two parted...
~~~
"Zone IV reporting significant destruction. An entire village was wiped out." A radio blared out as a man covered with a scarf answered back, as two black horns sprouted from the man's hat, his shades illuminating from the reflection of several screens.
"Casualties?"
"None, but some are heavily injured, with bruises hinting of fighting. Some locals have exclaimed a giant red robot fell from the sky." The radio blared out once more as the man recoiled back, pressing a palm on his forehead.
"Looks like we found our first visitors..." He said as he typed down on his scroll 3 names, with the word 'operator' before each one... Gavial, Tomimi, Eunectus...
Under his scarf, he smiles as monitors around him changed like Christmas lights, now focusing on another scenery, a monitor showed a view of a camera, as it tracked 2 women running rampant around the streets of a village, clearly enjoying the fight they were having with the locals, with a smaller girl trailing behind them...
~~~Author's note~~~
While Alcohol in RWBY mainly symbolized Qrow's escapism from the effects of his semblance, alcohol in Arknights seemed to lean more on camaraderie, with Blaze somehow drinking with the Yeti squad members, or how in Vigilo, the Doctor left a can of beer on Ace's shield.
