A cold tundra-like backdrop welcomed the two military-grade armored vans that drove through the countryside of Atlas. It was a dreary view, not much to see but a frozen plane with Atlas City's silhouette in the rear view mirrors.

One of the guards in the front seats of the carrier let out a long sigh, finally prompting a response from his superior driving the van. "You got a problem, Gibson?" he asked, annoyance in his voice.

"Hmm? What? I dunno what you're talking about, Sarge." he shrugged.

"Don't give me that. You've done nothing but piss and moan about being bored since we left deployment in Vale!" the superior remarked, not taking his eyes off the road ahead and the second transport in front of them.

"Well yeah, I am! We traded hanging around Vale for shuttling prisoners around a frozen hell!" Gibson complained.

"You wouldn't be saying that if you realized who it was we're transporting." Sarge countered. "These two in this convoy had direct contact with Cinder Fall. The one in ours even was her hitman for a bit."

That comment on the man seemed to perk Gibson up. "No foolin'?" he asked, only for a slot on the back wall between them to open slightly, revealing two dark-colored eyes glaring through from the back.

"Your boss is telling the truth, Gibby." Mercury cooed from the holding area he was shackled in. "If you want, I can getcha an autograph."

"Hey, sit back down back there! The only signing you're in for is when your new cellmate slashes his name into your ass when he makes you his bitch." Sarge snapped as he slammed the viewing slot back closed.

"Hah! Good one, Sarge!" Gibson chuckled before the view outside changed slightly, yet enough for him to notice as he checked the rearview mirror on his side. Nothing but a sudden blizzard brought on clouding their vision down to the immediate vicinity of their truck. "Hey, do you see the other truck?"

The older soldier looked into his rear view, not even seeing the headlights of the other truck. "Huh, where'd this storm come from?" he muttered to himself as he picked up the dashboard radio. "Blancford, Tibur, report. You guys still behind us?"

The other end took a moment to respond, static being the only thing the two concerned soldiers heard at first before a feminine voice answered. "We're still behind you, sir. This storm's just really thick is all; we can barely see you."

Sarge gave a small sigh of relief as he answered. "Copy, Tibur. Just stay on the route. Should be coming up on the prison shortly." With that said, the truck continued trudging through the snowstorm. The one behind it, however still stood still in the center of the road, both its drivers dead from bright blue icicles shoved through their throats. Blancford was slumped forward in his seat, Tibur with her hands still clutching the wheel as her punctured neck let blood flow freely. A pristine manicured hand slowly shut the deceased's eyes for her as she took a key card off her person and walked back around to the back of the truck, snow and broken windshield glass crunching beneath her foot. Upon reaching the back, she slid the card through a slot just above the door latch, a click letting her know the door could be opened.

The hulk of a man inside could only be described as intimidating. His short black hair and piercing green eyes glared down at the new arrival that suddenly stopped his vehicle and killed the soldiers responsible for his transportation to a new prison facility. He didn't even shiver as the below-zero temperatures gusted into his compartment.

She stepped into the light of the single fixture above them on the truck ceiling. Pulling her hood down, the man was treated to a familiar sight. Straight black hair that reached her shoulders cascaded down from her head as two sapphire orbs fixated their gaze on him. "Chad Aens, I presume?" she asked.

"It's Chains." he huffed. "Who the hell are you?"

"Come now. That's no way to greet a new friend." she mused in a familiar manner.

"You're no friend of mine." he growled.

"But Winter is, correct?" she asked, a look of intrigue glinting in Chains' eyes for a moment. "She informed me I can pick you up here. I hope you enjoyed your three months of rest, because the White Fang's work with the Falls isn't done yet." she said with a wicked grin.

Dust2dust17 presents...

RWBY: Broken Home

A Dust2dust17 production

Inspired by the characters and world created by Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth Animation Studios

"Bzzt! Captain! We need to pull up! The hangar isn't open yet!" a high pitched voice screamed as the plane flew closer to the still closed doors.

"Oh dear goodness, no!" the captain exclaimed. "If only someone knew the voice code to open the doors and say... 'Aah!'"

Finally, the hangar bay doors opened, allowing the plane to enter at the last possible second. "Works every time." Ruby smiled as she held the bottle up to Thorn's mouth, her month-old son suckling greedily on the milk within. It took some doing, but the reaper finally got him to start drinking after halfway into the second year's lunch hour. Next to her at their cafeteria table, Yang sat as she chowed down on a thick slice of roast beef and mashed potatoes, her eyes watching her nephew feed with loving interest. Across from them sat their other two teammates, Blake's nose in a book as she picked at her grilled salmon. The fourth member however, Weiss Schnee, seemed more preoccupied with something on her Scroll than either lunch or spending quality time with her teammates. Luckily, her leader was able to pick up on it. "Something wrong, Weiss?" Ruby asked as Thorn spat out the bottle, indicating he was full and ready to be burped.

"Huh? Oh, my apologies." Weiss answered, extending her Scroll's screen for the rest of her team to see. On it portrayed the international news channel with the current story focused on a sudden crisis in Atlas. "This just happened to get my attention when researching something for Professor Oobleck's class."

"What's going on up north?" Yang asked.

"Be quiet, and it'll tell you." Weiss snapped as she turned up the volume, the informative yet monotone voice of anchorwoman, Lisa Lavender, reaching their ears.

"If you're just joining us, our top story this hour is the sudden disappearance of White Fang figurehead, Chad Aens, during his transport to a maximum security prison north of Atlas City. The terrorist was heavily involved in the inner circle of Cinder Fall, the mastermind of the attack on Vale nearly a year ago. Aens' transport was found a mile south of the correctional facility he would be held in during his trial in his home kingdom, his escort killed and Aens nowhere to be found."

"Well, that isn't good." Blake muttered before being shushed again by the heiress as Lavender continued the report.

"One of the other members of Cinder Fall's inner circle, Mercury Black, was scheduled to arrive at the same time as Aens and appeared on time at the prison checkpoint. General Schnee is prompting a nationwide search for this fugitive, as he has been described as 'dangerous and animalistic'. Any signs of Aens are to be reported to-"

The report cut out as a call from the main office of Beacon Academy, Professor Goodwitch's name on the header. The remainder of RWBY felt their Scrolls go off as well. On each of them read the same message: "Team RWBY, please report to Professor Ozpin's office as soon as possible."

"Watcha guys reading?"

The second year team nearly jumped out of their skins as Nora suddenly busted in on their conversation, the rest of JNPR not far behind as they arrived at the table with trays piled high with their own food from the kitchen staff ranging from a vegetarian stir fry for Ren to a Sloppy Joe and fries for team leader Jaune. "We're sorry we're late." Pyrrha apologized as she took a seat next to Yang. "Nora was beginning to have an existential crisis when she found out they stopped serving breakfast and couldn't get pancakes."

"Thanks for reminding me." Nora moped as she slumped into a seat between Ren and Weiss, a simple peanut-butter sandwich on her plate. "Anyway, I repeat, whatcha guys reading?"

"Goodwitch is calling us up to Ozpin's office, sounds serious." Ruby announced as she sat Thorn on the table. "Do you guys mind? It shouldn't be long, and our parents are back at Patch for the day."

"No problem!" Pyrrha cheerily said as she tickled the baby Faunus' feet, illiciting a giggle from the boy.

"You guys go ahead. We'll keep an eye on him." Jaune nodded as Ruby quickly pecked her son on the forehead before leading her group off to Ozpin's tower.

"It still doesn't seem like much of our concern. James and the military have to have a handle on things." the platinum blonde commented, looking at her tablet to track how much longer it would take the second-year team to arrive.

"You know with this news he sent over that it isn't exactly the case, Glynda." Ozpin leveled. "It'll pain me to break it to her, but this is the only way we can get our answers."

Glynda was about to reply before the creaking of mahogany doors drew her attention to team RWBY's entrance. Ozpin, instead, kept his gaze out the window behind his desk into Vale. The renovations from the damage Cinder and the White Fang had wrought earlier still hadn't completed, yet life was nearly back to normal in the main settlement of the kingdom.

"Team RWBY reporting for duty!" Ruby saluted as her team fell in line in front of the clockwork flooring that made up the center of the office.

"You can come closer, girls. Have a seat." Ozpin gestured as he swiveled his office chair to face them. Four armchairs sat in front of the desk facing him. Each took a seat, the headmaster taking a swig from his coffee mug before continuing on to his reason for calling them here. "I must apologize for disturbing your lunch hour, but I assume you've heard of the current events in Atlas." he explained.

"We we're just watching the news about it. Why?" Yang asked.

"Are you going to send us in to try and help with the manhunt?" Blake asked.

"As much as we know you'd love to help, the military should have it handled." Goodwitch spoke up.

"No, the reason we gathered you here is because General Ironwood has intercepted a message that may have helped them find a link to where he may be hiding out, as well as something that can tie back to the attacks on Vale." Ozpin began to lecture. "We figured you should be here mainly for Weiss' sake."

All eyes turned to a confused heiress in their company. "Why me?" she asked.

"The message they intercepted details someone contacting a facility in Atlas City's industrial districts not too long after it was determined the transport holding 'Chains' was missing." Glynda answered. A tap of her finger on her tablet developed a map on the holographic screen on Ozpin's desk of the district. Weiss was looking into the map, a bright yellow dot indicating where they detected and intercepted the message. Her heart sank as she recognized the location.

"As I said, this also links to how they were able to hack into the systems so easily on Ironwood's flagship." Ozpin explained. "It turns out there was no need for hacking. Mercury Black was able to simply enter a password and upload a virus that overtook all combat systems in Ironwood's control."

"What was the password?" Ruby asked.

"After some technicians did some backlogging, it was determined to be a code used only by certain individuals that developed the computer cores that control Atlas' battleships: the ones who developed it." Glynda explained.

Blake's eyes shifted uncomfortably between her heiress friend and the desk in front of them. "Wait, I remember reading about this for a test Oobleck had us take last year. It was developed fairly recently, wasn't it?" the raven-haired ninja asked.

"Precisely, Miss Belladonna. Here is the password." Ozpin nodded, tapping his own tablet to show the password on screen for them. If there was ever any doubt that it wasn't the company Weiss was hoping it wouldn't be, it was gone. Simultaneously, the rest of her team now understood why they were called in as a team. The screen read a simple four letter and number code: SDC1.

"Miss Schnee, it's entirely possible someone in your family has been assisting Cinder from the sidelines."

Hey, everybody! Hope you like the sequel to Stolen Innocence so far. We had alot to take in this time around: What does this girl want with Chains when she could've got Mercury too? Who in the Schnee family has been helping the Falls? What exactly is the plan this time around now that Cinder is...on ice?

...Yeah, that pun was terrible, sorry. Anyway, the answer is something you're going to have to wait and see for. Reminder, this is the sequel to my previous hit, "RWBY: Stolen Innocence", so if you haven't read that first, this first chapter must've confused the hell out of you. Actually, this first chapter probably confused all my returning watchers as well. Either way, I'll see you lads and lasses next time!