Team SRDS (Stardust)

Chapter 2: Beacon

Beacon Academy, Vale, 11:07:17 hours
The same day

It was a sunny day. A warm yet fresh breeze reclaimed the land of Vale, leaving many feeling overjoyed. The sunshine and soft wind were certainly welcome at Beacon Academy, where future Huntsmen and Huntresses were trained to keep the world of Remnant safe. One tower spiralled above the other buildings, putting a few clouds to shame.

This tower was home to Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy. He was relatively free of work today; one of the few reasons he was looking out of the window to the city of Vale. He took a sip of his coffee and let out a sigh of relaxation; a privilege that was rare to him nowadays. But then again, even the best Huntsmen and Huntresses need some form of rest. He closed his eyes, which were set behind a pair of shades, and felt the brightness of the sun warm his face. His greyish-white hair ruffled softly due to the wind.

Recently, he had called back a team of his students, although they had never actually studied at Beacon. Team SRDS (Stardust) was different. They had been taken in at a VERY young age by General Ironwood. All of them under 'special' circumstances.

And they had after a certain mission gone dark... off the grid. Eventually, everyone forgot, and Ozpin thought they had quit since he had offered them the choice to. Then, there were rumours throughout the kingdom. Random bank heists, numerous White Fang attacks on Kingdom borders, and even small Grimm attacks were all stopped by a mysterious group of four boys. No one seemed to make a connection, but Ozpin kept a close eye. Intuition told him it was them.

Eventually, Team SRDS made contact with General Ironwood about White Fang siphoning resources off of shipping sites and warehouses in Mantle that were abandoned due to lack of security to Grimm attacks, or excessive upkeep. This was their latest target, and Ironwood had informed him that their skills had not diminished, but grown.

Ozpin felt that they deserved to come to Beacon. Partly because he wanted to see that for himself. Partly because he wanted to offer them another chance. He sent out a message to Atlas, which was relayed to SRDS, and the message stated that they were welcome to return to Beacon anytime. They had accepted and stated that they would arrive today, by Bullhead.

The elevator chimed, pulling Ozpin back into reality. He heard the doors slide open smoothly, and the click of heels across the floor was all he could hear in the room, save for the movement of gears above.

"Professor Ozpin, you sent for me?" a deep feminine voice said.

Ozpin turned around, though he already had his suspicions as to who it was. His eyes fell on a straight face, covered by a serious expression. Green eyes were set behind black-rimmed spectacles. The figure had blonde hair, and one of her hands held a riding crop if only to keep the weapon ready.

"Ah, good morning, Glynda. I need you to do me a favour," said Ozpin, a slight smile forming on his face.

"Of course," Glynda Goodwitch replied, "but weren't you free?" she asked. Not that she didn't want to do it; she was genuinely curious as to what Ozpin was up to, but she did a marvellous job of hiding it.

"I must do some research, Glynda. You can only ever have so much information. Our enemies are many and we must be on our guard. We cannot let anything like the incident at the docks happen again, well-intentioned as Team RWBY may have been, and besides... I must see how our young Huntsmen are feeling before I approach them. They may be startled seeing me at this stage, and I do not wish for that to happen," Ozpin responded.

"Young Huntsmen?" Glynda inquired. It was unorthodox to enrol a new Huntsman or Huntress in the middle of the Semester.

"Yes..." Ozpin smiled, then the holograms above his desk activated to show the pictures, video recordings and files of Team SRDS, "I think that you remember them, don't you, Glynda?"