The Ace Operatives, also known as the Ace-Ops, are major characters from the American animated webseries RWBY. They are a team of elite Huntsmen and Huntresses stationed in Atlas, who work as military enforcers under General James Ironwood. They serve as the tritagonists of Volume 7 and the secondary antagonists of Volume 8.
History
The Ace Operatives each graduated at the top of their respective classes, and were picked to become elite members of Ironwood's squad. Whether they all graduatated at the same time or at various times is unknown.
The team originally consisted of Harriet Bree, Vine Zeki, Elm Ederne, Tortuga, and their leader Clover Ebi. At some point, Tortuga was lost, which created a severe emotional impact on the team, especially Harriet. Tortuga was replaced by Marrow Amin.
The Ace Operatives were tasked with the protection of Atlas and, by extension, the town of Mantle. Following the Battle of Beacon, the Ace Operatives were put on high alert, and Ironwood informed them as to the existence of Salem, the Relics, and the Maidens.
When Team RWBY and their allies came to Atlas, they were at first arrested by the Ace Operatives under suspicions of being terrorists, but are cleared by Ironwood. The Ace Operatives apologize and release them, and Ironwood convinces the two to work together on the Amity project, which will launch Amity Colosseum, now a communication tower, into the sky and allow communication between kingdoms again.
The Ace Operatives and Team RWBY/JNR work together to help Atlas and Mantle while getting supplies to the Amity project. However, they continually face resistance from Robyn Hill, who only wants to help Mantle and is angered that resources are being taken away from Mantle and put towards an unknown Atlas project. On the night of Atlas council elections, the villainous Tyrina Callows and Arthur Watts attack a rally held by Hill, murdering some of her supporters and framing Penny Polendina for the attack. Hill and her Happy Huntresses resort to full vigilantism in response, stealing materials and Dust needed for the Amity project. In an attempt to settle things, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long tell Robyn what is going on.
However, when Watts turns off Mantle's heating grid to allow the city to freeze and the Grimm to invade, the Ace Operative come to fight the Grimm and try and keep the peace. A temporary truce is called between Robyn and Ironwood, and Ironwood finds and fights off Watts while Robyn, Clover, and Qrow Branwen go and capture Tyrian. However, upon finding of a security breach, he is angered by the apparent lack of trust between his group and Team RWBY/JNR. When Salem herself reveals she is going to attack, Ironwood sees no choice but to use the Relic of Creation to raise Atlas into the sky and keep the Relics and Atlas safe from her, though it would mean leaving Mantle behind. When Team RWBY disagrees and announces their intentions to fight back, Ironwood orders the Ace Operatives to arrest them. A fight breaks out, and Team RWBY defeats the Ace Operatives.
When Qrow is among those announced to be a fugative, he and Clover are forced to fight. During the fight, Tyrian escapes and murders Clover with Qrow's weapon, framing him and leaving him and Robyn to be arrested.
The Ace Operatives return to Ironwood to mourn the death of their leader. Ironwood instructs them as to their new duties and places Special Operative Winter Schnee in charge of the team. They try and capture Penny, who has become the new Winter Maiden, and try to have her open the Vault of Creation, but fail, only getting one of her mechanical swords. A despearte Ironwood goes to the captured Watts to have him ifect Penny with a virus, but he puts his own virus on her to force her to open the vault and then kill herself.
The Ace Operatives track down and arrest Yang, Jaune Arc, and Lie Ren. They are istructed to use a bomb to destroy the Monstra Grimm that Salem is residing in, but upon hearing that Oscar Pine has been captured by Salem and held prisoner in the Monstra, decide to let the captives go in the hopes of saving their friend before the bomb is delivered.
The Ace Operatives fight off the rimm until it is time to deploy the bomb. However, as they begin to move it, the Monstra is destroyed by Oscar/Ozpin and the heroic sacrifice of Hazel Rainart to temporarily hold off Salem and allow everyone to escape.
When the Ace Operatives return and inform Ironwood what happened, he is angered and decies that the only solution to make Penny and Team RWBY/JNR comply is to threaten to destroy Mantle. Marrow defects, and is almost shot by Ironwood until Winter saves him, pretending to arrest him while actually getting in touch with her sister Weiss Schnee to set up a rebellion against Ironwood. Marrow meets up with Qrow and Robyn, and together they fight off the remaining three Ace Operatives and try and escape. Winter teams up with RWBY's group to defeat Ironwood and imprison him.
Upon removing the Relic of Creation and using its spirit, Ambrosius, to create magic doorways for the people of Atlas and Mantle to evacuate through, Atlas begins to fall. The Ace Operatives ecape on ships, but Harriet is still planning to bomb Mantle Vine and Elm decide to no longer follow Ironwood, and a fight breaks out between Qrow and Harriet as she attempts to drop the bomb.
Membership
- James Ironwood: The headmaster of Atlas Academy and a general in the Atlas Military, General Ironwood is the top command of the Ace Operatives, though not technically a member of the group.
- Clover Ebi: The jovial but hardwoorking leader of the Ace Operatives since their foundation. His Semblance was Good Fortune. He is killed by Tyrian Callows using Qrow Branwen's sword, framing him for the murder. After his death, he was succeeeded by Winter Schnee.
- Winter Schnee: A stern but dutiful woman who takes over after Clover's death, but later goes on to turn against Ironwood and the other Operatives excluding Marrow and later the other Ace-Ops excluding Harriet, but she later also seems to see the error of her ways. Her Semblance is Glyphs.
- Vine Zeki: A logical and tranquil man who served as the voice of reason in the group. His Semblance was Aura Vines. He sacrificed himself to protect his friends and the people in Mantle after Arthur Watts remotely activated the bomb.
- Harriet Bree: Competitive and brash, but extremely loyal to those who earn her respect, especially her teammates. She has shown strong feelings for the late Tortuga and the late Clover. Her Semblance is Super-Speed.
- Elm Ederne: Kind but gruff and strong, Elm is the muscle of the group and has no problems expressing how she feels about someone. Her Semblance is Roots.
- Marrow Amin: A wolf Faunus and the youngest member of the group, Amin serves as the moral compass of the group, and will abandon a cause if he thinks it is not righteous. His Semblance is Freeze Command.
- Tortuga: A member of the Ace Operatives who had a close relationship with Harriet. They died due to unknown causes.
Trivia
- The Ace-Ops get replaced with the next best operatives should a member of the team fall.
- The team does not have a color name and is comprised of five members; a conscious choice on Ironwood's part to maximize efficiency (allowing a rotating roster) and to keep the group from getting too familiar with each other (so their feelings don't get in the way).
