The elevator reached the ground floor and Qrow nodded to his niece. "You've got this Ya-"
But the drunkard was interrupted as a massive explosion ripped through the city of Vale below. He sprinted out into the corridor and to a window-
His mouth dropped. Two Atlesian warships had just crashed into, and vaporised, a quarter of the city - of the residential district. "... Change of plans..." he muttered. "Glynda, sorry, but I'm going in there. You can play alarm clock with that girl if you want-"
The blonde haired witch frowned at him "Qrow! We have orders from Ozp-"
The drunkard turned and snapped at her "To hell with orders!" and ran towards the landing pads.
Yang looked out at the city below. The sirens still blared. Screams could still be heard. "Please be safe.." she grabbed her scroll and hit the speed dial for her lover.
"BLAKE!" Yang yelled into the scroll "Where are you!? Are you okay!?"
There was silence for a moment.
"We're okay Yang, Weiss and me are in Beacon still - at the festival-" the sound of gunfire and screaming crackled in through the call, muffling Blake's otherwise calm voice.
"WHITE FANG!!!" a strange, distant voice shouted through the phone.
"What's going on!?" the blonde huntress's heart raced. This was crazy! Just a few moments ago she was packing up to leave and now the city was falling apart. "Did that guy say White Fang!?"
Blake frowned. She gritted her teeth. Her heart raced. "Adam... what are you doing?..."
"These grimm couldn't get this far this quickly without help!" Weiss looked around in horror as she spoke. All around her people screaming and running. The gunfire was becoming louder, closer, but there was less of it. As she expected the Vale Defence Force was no match for this many grimm.
The black huntress gripped her scroll tightly "Yang, the White Fang are letting grimm in through the landing pads, Weiss and I are heading there now-"
"I'll meet you there!" Yang started to run "Oh! And watch out for Emerald, Mercury, Cinder and John! They're behind this somehow! A-And Blake...." Yang paused, unsure of how to say what she wanted-
Blake smiled "I know Yang. You too" she hung up and entered the four digit emergency code into her scroll. Moments later a pod launched from the academy and landed in front of her. The door of the metal, cylindrical pod popped off and her weapons were revealed, shining in the moonlight.
"Weiss... it's time we do our jobs."
The heiress nodded and entered her code into her own scroll.
Growls of grimm grew closer.
The sounds of gunfire had almost stopped, replaced with screams.
The grimm had reached the festival.
"Fuck!!" screamed a Fred as he reached the landing pad in the stadium. The pads were packed, people were forcing their way past each other and desperately trying to get on the VTOLs.
When the stadium was designed, no one had even considered having to evacuate it. It had a bunch of fail-safes to keep it flying, and could softly land if needed. But evacuating a 100% full stadium during a grimm attack? Flying over Vale!? No one could have foreseen this.
"This is fucked up..." Carla began to sob "why now!? There hasn't been a grimm attack on Vale in over 100 years! Now we get two in a few weeks!?" she rubbed her pregnant bump. "Oh gods... Fred... what kind of world are we bringing our baby into?"
Fred turned and grabbed her shoulders. He looked her in the eyes and gave her a reassuring smile. "It's going to be okay, I just know it! And one day we can tell our kid all about this, our own exciting adventure-"
Someone pushed past Carla.
"Hey! Watch it asshole!" Fred screamed and held his girlfriend close. "Carla... babe... when this is over, I swear, we'll get married and I'll find a decent paying job and-"
"Shhh" Carla smiled and pressed her finger against his lips. "As long as we're safe and happy, I don't care. I don't want to force you to work in a job you hate. I know fishing doesn't pay well, but you love it... and I love you. So-" she stopped. Her face contorted in pain and she screamed.
"CARLA!"
"N-No! Not now..." she said, with pain an despair in her voice "the baby isn't supposed to come for weeks!"
But their child had other ideas.
Carla had gone into labour.
The nevermore screamed, its primal voice boomed through the stadium and instilled fear in everyone inside.
"WARNING:" the female robotic voice announced "Safety barriers failing. Please evacuate immediately"
Ruby was still on her knees. Still staring out at what remained of her friend. Tears flooded her eyes and blurred her vision-
People begun to run past her-
One knocked her to the ground "GET OUT OF THE WAY KID!"
Ruby laid helplessly, frozen, as waves of people ran past-
A boot hit her chest.
She winced in pain.
A high heel dug into her abdomen.
She screamed.
But the crowd didn't stop.
Ruby closed her eyes and shielded herself as best she could, screaming in pain and fear-
But then it was over. The last of the crowd ran past her and all the screaming seemed to be coming from behind, from deeper in the stadium.
"PYRRHA!!" Jaune's voice echoed through the now mostly empty arena. "Pyrrha! That thing's gonna break in! You've gotta move!!"
Pyrrha didn't move. She stood and stared at the mess of robotic limbs and circuits, the artificial skin and hair, the huntress she had just killed. Whether or not Penny could be considered a life form was irrelevant. Pyrrha had ended her existence, and the guilt was unbearable. "I... I'm no hero..." she thought. "I'm no maiden...".
As if in response to the blonde hunter's screams, the nevermore sped up and pecked at the barrier with renewed determination. It could sense the fear inside the stadium, the panic, the negativity. It was drawn to these feelings, feelings which made humans and faunus taste delicious.
The barrier begun to crack and flicker, turning from a cyan colour to a dull red.
The grimm flew up into the air and prepared to dive. It eyed its first prey, the red haired fighter in the centre of the arena. Her negativity lit her up in the nevermore's eyes-
"Fuck this!" Jaune vaulted over the the edge of the seats in front of him and dropped down to the arena, using his aura to dampen the fall.
His legs ached for a moment, but they weren't broken. Nora and Ren called after him, panic in their voices.
But Jaune didn't listen. He couldn't. "All my life, I've been the damsel in distress... I've been picked on and had to depend on others for so much..." he thought. "But no more... today, I'll be the hero I've always wanted! Today... I'll be the hero she deserves!"
He ran as fast as he could, jumping up onto the slightly elevated arena. His heart pounded in his chest. His struggled to get enough oxygen. "P-Pyrrha! Please... snap out of it!"
*shatter*
Jaune didn't need to look up. He knew what the sound meant.
The nevermore was coming-
A loud crash sounded in front of him and a powerful shockwave begun to push the hunter back. "An explosion!?" he thought. The dust begun to settle. "No... a grimm....".
The nevermore had landed.
The wave pushed Pyrrha and Jaune back. The blonde hunter managed to stay on his feet and caught Pyrrha as she flew through the air towards him. "I've got you!"
*screech*
The nevermore's scream hurt their ears and seemed to pierce into their brains.
The creature towered above the hunters, its wingspan dominated their view. It crouched slightly and begun to walk towards them, using the claws on its wings to scrape across the ground and generate more fear from its prey.
It got closer, snapping its beak in anticipation-
It couldn't wait.
Pyrrha's aura of depression screamed at the grimm, begging to be eaten.
The nevermore raised its wings and charged along the ground.
It opened its beak-
Every part of Jaune's body screamed at him to run.
Every part, except his head-
He leapt to the side, with Pyrrha held tightly in his grip, and narrowly avoided the grimm as its beak tore into the ground-
Then the grimm screamed again, but this time it was a scream of pain.
Jaune looked over in confusion, then relief as he saw a familiar girl.
Mercury stretched out in the VTOL and smiled. "Well, I don't know about you Em, but I had fun-"
"Don't call me Em..." the thief sighed, annoyed that she had to fly the plane. "Now, Cinder told us to meet her-"
The VTOL shook.
"Um... what was that?" she looked up a the sounds of footsteps on the ceiling.
Mercury sighed. "The butterfly... go on ahead without me, I won't be long" he kicked a door open and leapt down to the city below, firing his weapons to push him up a little and slow his decent to prevent a fatal fall.
As he expected, Anton followed. The butterfly's wings were in immense pain, but he forced himself to fly through it. "MERCURY!!" he roared as he grabbed his scroll and entered his pin. A few moments later his pod landed on a rooftop next to the assassin. It popped open, hitting the silver hunter and pushing him back.
Anton landed with a loud crash and grabbed his scythe. His eyes were filled with rage. "You made Ruby cry... and now you're going to die"
"Great..." Mercury sighed. "A poet..." he turned and fled, leaping onto rooftop after rooftop as he drew the butterfly away from Beacon - and away from Ruby. The assassin managed a slight smile. "This is gonna be too easy."
Ruby stood on the nevermore's head with one of Penny's swords in her hand. The blade was dug deep into the creature's neck-
She saw movement from the edge of her vision and instinctively let go, jumping down to the ground and narrowly avoiding getting ripped in half by the grimm's claws.
The grimm screeched more, anger building in it.
Ruby quickly grabbed another sword from the ground an readied herself, copying Weiss's stance as she held the blade forwards with her right hand and turned her body so she faced it side on.
"R-Ruby..." Pyrrha looked up in disbelief. "She came to help me... even after I just killed... her friend..."
"LEAVE HER ALONE!" the red caped huntress screamed, her eyes narrowing at the monster. She had lost one friend today and she refused to lose any more.
The nevermore screeched once more and leapt up into the air. It was skilled at plucking humans from the sky, not ground combat. The creature circled the arena, while still inside the stadium. Its red eyes scanned the ground, deciding how best to eat its three prey.
It seemed to smile.
It dove, heading straight to the far edge of the arena, then pulled up at the last second and flew just centimetres from the ground as it sped towards its food-
Ruby glared at it and shifted slightly. She reached for her scroll-
Gone.
"CRAP! I didn't pick it back up!" she gritted her teeth. Her hand shook slightly. She was not used to fighting with such a small weapon.
The grimm grew closer. Its eyes lit up-
*crash*
Multiple weapon pods rained from the sky and hit the nevermore, digging deep into its body. The creature screamed and hit the ground, skidding to a stop just barely out of reach of Ruby.
It screamed again, then is head hit the ground.
The weapon pods burst open.
Jaune's sword.
Nora's hammer.
Ren's daggers.
Yatsu's greatsword.
Coco's briefcase.
Scarlet's pistol and cutlass.
Neptune's assault rifle.
Fox's blades.
And many more weapons that Ruby didn't recognise.
Moments later the owners climbed on top the grimm's body and retrieved their equipment.
Others joined too:
Velvet who took this opportunity to take some photos.
Flynt, the swing musician and leader of team FNKI, who was covered in bandages and burns.
His teammate Neon, the orange haired cat faunus skater, her face still heavily bandaged and battered.
Arlsan, the dark skinned warrior monk of team ABRN.
Her teammate Reese, the punk with the purple hoodie and green hair, still hovering on her board.
Sage, the dark skinned, green haired swordsman of team SSSN.
Yatsu slung his sword over his back, his left eye was bandaged, his stance was filled with pain. But he was ready.
Hunters from all four kingdoms, hunters who had fought as enemies, but now stood together as friends.
Their greatest challenge yet was about to begin.
The nevermore's eyes opened. It was alive and it was pissed.
The hunters stumbled as the creature roused. It stared at Ruby and screamed, lightly spraying her with its saliva-
Then it stood up straight and shook.
The hunters moved with purpose. Scarlet and Neptune grabbed onto Ren and threw him up just before they were forced off the creature's back. The green ninja soared up to the back of the nevermore's head and spun his blades, cutting into it.
At the creature's feet, Arslan threw her rope dart. It dug into the monster's chest and did little damage, but dealing damage wasn't Arslan's plan. She swung on her rope and scooped up the green armoured samurai.
Meanwhile Nora sprinted along the creature's shoulders. She jumped up onto the grimm's head, winked at Ren, then jumped again - straight up. This time she spun and brought her hammer down on the nevermore's skull-
The shockwave pushed Ren to the ground. The grimm's armour plate cracked and bled. It screamed in agony.
Sage leapt into the air with his sword at the ready.
Arslan has circled above the creature now. She released Yatsu, letting him fall directly above the creature's head.
Sage and Yatsu nodded to each other mid-fall. They brought their swords down. With the combined length of both greatswords they sliced straight through the nevermore's neck, their blades touching in the centre.
The nevermore let out one final scream before the swords removed its head.
A moment later the grimm disintegrated, leaving behind a pile of weapon pods and a group of happy hunters.
"Ruby.... I...." Pyrrha's eyes welled with tears. She fell to her knees and looked away, unable to make eye contact with the red caped huntress-
But her eyes caught a glimpse of something between her legs. A fragment of artificial skin... Penny's skin. "I'm so sorry" the red fighter broke into tears.
The hunters fell silent for a moment, sharing the pain and sadness.
"... Me too" Ruby wiped her own tears away "but... it wasn't your fault." Her eyes narrowed. She knew who was to blame for this: Mercury. Emerald. Cinder.
"She's right" Jaune returned to the red fighter's side, his sword sheathed at his waist and holding Pyrrha's shield and spear in his hands.
He stood in front of her. "Whoever was on the microphone, they're the ones that did this-"
Pyrrha stood and wiped the tears from her eyes.
Jaune held out her weapons. "And we have to make sure they don't take anyone else"
The red fighter reached out, hesitating for a moment, before grabbing her spear and shield. Her face contorted to anger, angry with herself for feeling so helpless. "I'm ready".
More primal roars came from above as griffon type grimm descended. These grimm had four legs, long tails and two longer wings. Their armoured plates covered their faces completely, even their beaks.
"Griffons..." Ren sighed.
"Anybody got a plan?" Neptune raised his weapon and tracked the enemies nervously.
"Jaune!" Ruby turned to her friend "I need your scroll..."
He nodded and threw it over.
She quickly logged in to the Beacon network and entered her four digit code, then threw it back.
A few moments later a weapon pod crashed down, the door opened to reveal her scythe - 'Crescent Rose' in its gun mode.
The red caped huntress raced towards it-
A griffon dove to the ground and landed behind the pod, roaring at Ruby-
It jumped on her.
Ruby struggled to break free, but the grimm was too strong. It pecked at her head, forcing her to move her head to dodge as she screamed for help.
"RUBY!" Jaune ran towards her-
But then more came, diving at the hunters as they desperately fired their weapons and slashed at the creatures.
There were too many.
Jaune and Pyrrha ran towards their caped friend, ducking and diving under griffon attacks-
Jaune's heart sank as he saw the griffon's claws pin Ruby's neck in place. She wouldn't be able to dodge now. "RUBY!!!"
*bang*
A loud, sound tore through the battle and the griffon about to eat Ruby flew off, injured.
The other griffons followed their leader and abandoned the attack, but continued to circle their prey above, each waiting for another griffon to make the first move.
"Students..." Professor Peter Port stepped out from the corridor combatants had entered from, his weapon smoking. "I think it would be best for you to leave." Peter wore a very fancy burgundy suit with a red cravat. Golden trimming and buttons added a level of class to his clothes. He was an older man, in his fifties, with a long grey moustache - which had been waxed with extreme care. He had short grey hair that was longer on top than the sides, looking suspiciously like a wig, and long grey eyebrows. His weapon of choice was a blunderbuss, with an axe head on the stock end for close combat. Peter was fairly short and a little stocky and his eyes looked like they were always closed.
Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck stood beside his co-commentator. He was tall, thin and wore a messy, untucked and un-ironed white shirt over his grey trousers. A yellow tie hung very loosely around his neck. He was younger, possibly in his thirties, with spiky green hair and large circular glasses. His weapon of choice, a thermal flask which usually held his coffee, extended to form a club and could shoot fireballs from the flask end.
"Leave!? But we can fight!" Ruby grabbed her scythe and smiled. She had missed it. She hadn't touched her weapon since her injuries during the Mountain Glenn incident. "Did you miss me, Crescent Rose?"
"MISS ROSE!" Oobleck interrupted, then instantly switched to a calm demeanour. He lowered his glasses, revealing two deep blue eyes. "This day will surely go down in Remnant's history." he smiled "I'd prefer it if my students could live to tell about it."
Ruby paused for a moment, then smiled and nodded. She spun her weapon and extended it into its scythe form - which was taller than her.
Jaune lead the way as the hunters ran for the landing pads. They had to get to the city and do their job: kill grimm.
As the hunters left the arena the griffons descended, now far more confident in their victory against two humans.
Peter laughed heartily "One final match, Barty! Place your bets!"
Oobleck smiled. "If this indeed to be our final fight, Peter, then let us make this interesting. The one who kills the least grimm has to buy the other one a drink in the afterlife"
The portly professor smiled "Doctor, I thought you were a man of science!" he paused "... S-So, does that mean there is an afterlife!? Tell me the truth!"
"Well, if I told you, you wouldn't like it..." Oobleck begun to launch fire balls.
Peter laughed and aimed his blunderbuss. "You need to work on your bedside manner, 'doctor'".
"FRED!!" Carla screamed, she was sat on the ground now, her breathing was getting shallow, she was in immense pain.
Her boyfriend didn't know what to do. "PLEASE! Someone help us! She's giving birth!"
No one responded. They were all too busy trying to cram into the limited space on the two transports that were ferrying people down to the evacuation centre below.
Fred screamed in frustration. "... Babe, wait here a sec, I'm going to get help!" he fought every instinct in his body as he left the mother of his child and ran up to the nearest Atlas soldier. "PLEASE! HE-"
The sound of approaching VTOLs interrupted him.
"Look!" a man exclaimed "More transports! We're saved!"
The aircraft turned as they approached the pad. They were smaller, and didn't look like the other transports.
Fred ran for his wife and helped her to her feet. He pushed through the crowds and to the front as the VTOL doors slid open.
"Please, she...." Fred's mouth dropped.
A beowolf was inside the VTOL. It stared directly at him, then pounced and pinned him to the ground.
He heard screams around him as grimm flooded from the VTOLs and ripped into the crowd.
Laser fire sounded out as Atlas soldiers desperately tried to control the situation.
But it was too late.
Fred turned to his side as the beowolf clawed him open and begun to devour his organs.
A tear rolled down his face as creeps bit at Carla's neck and pregnant bump.
He felt her warm blood pool against his skin.
He saw the look of horror... confusion... despair in her eyes, the same feelings he had.
Then there was nothing.
Fred, Carla and their unborn child were dead.
The grimm made quick work of the landing pad and started to head into the stadium. But as they approached the door General Ironwood, with an Atlesian knight flanking him either side, stepped through.
The knights tore through an ursa, their AI deciding to go after the biggest threat first.
Ironwood smiled. He was proud of his machines.
More knights entered, spraying creeps and beowolves with laser fire and melting them easily.
However, the thick skin of an alpha beowolf was too much for their weaponry. The creature soon found itself alone, surrounded by robotic soldiers and half eaten corpses. One by one it tore into the robots and destroyed them, completely unaffected by their lasers.
It searched for fresh meat-
It saw Ironwood.
It smiled.
Ironwood smiled back.
The General and alpha ran at each other-
The alpha was fast. It got on all fours and charged-
But it was big. Big enough for Ironwood to slide under. The General drew his hand canon as he slid and fired at the creature's jaw.
It roared in pain.
Ironwood rolled and got to his feet, then quickly turned and aimed at the angry grimm. He fired repeatedly at the alpha as it charged him, but once again the creature seemed unaffected.
It clawed at him-
He rolled to the side.
It clawed again, this time at Ironwood's right side-
*clang*
The General raised his arm and blocked the attack.
The alpha looked confused.
Ironwood shot an explosive round at its feet, forcing them to slip. He grabbed onto the beowolf's left arm with his right arm - his metal artificial arm, made with the same reinforced alloy as Atlas warship hulls - and slammed it into the ground a few times before pulling its head close to him.
He pointed his hand cannon at the creature's brain stem at point blank range with his left hand-
Then fired.
The grimm disintegrated immediately.
The hunters reached the pad and ran up to Ironwood.
"What happened here!?" Jaune looked at the corpses in horror.
Ironwood sighed. "Grimm are crawling all over the city. The White Fang has invaded Beacon and are unleashing more grimm." he paused, rage building up "And to make matters worse, some..." he searched for a friendly word to use, not wanting to swear in front of all these students "... vagabond has seized my flagship!"
Altas troop transports landed at the pad. They were empty, having already dropped soldiers off at Beacon, and were now doubling up as civilian transports. Some civilians ran through from another pad and hurried into one of the ships.
"Until we regain command of my ship," Ironwood continued "the skies are out of our control... so I'm-" he raised his weapon and aimed past the hunters-
Yatsu dove out of the way, shielding Coco-
Ironwood shot.
The hunters turned and sighed in relief as a creep fell to the ground, dead.
"I'm going to take it back!" the General finished and holstered his gun. He turned and entered a third transport, this one still full of knights.
"What should we do!?" Jaune stepped forwards.
The General stopped. He turned and addressed the hunters as he would address his men. "You have two choices: Defend your kingdom and your school, or save yourselves."
Silence filled the pad as hunters turned to each other.
"And make no mistake, if you chose to fight, some of you will die." Ironwood sighed. These were still students, not his men. His voice became soft and caring "No one will fault you if you leave."
He didn't wait for an answer, he didn't need it. He entered his ship and flew off into the distance.
Jaune broke the silence. "We can take a ship to Beacon. Everyone who wants to fight, come with me!" he headed towards the empty transport.
Pyrrha smiled. Jaune was a natural leader, even if he didn't realise it. She followed him, along with Nora and Ren.
Everyone else, apart from Ruby, slowly but sure split off and chased after him. All were determined to fight.
The red caped huntress looked out at the city. It was burning, in ruins and filled with screams that she could even hear from here.
She rubbed her chest.
Blood seeped through to her hand.
She was in no condition to fight.
"Hmmm... let's see, what does this button do?" Roman rubbed his hands together manically as he eyed the console of Ironwood's flagship. He pressed the button-
A torpedo fired out and raced towards the city below. It tore into an industrial complex and exploded, melting the surrounding area with super heated plasma.
"Oooh! Fun!" the criminal laughed. "How about... this one!" he pressed another and paused, waiting for something cool to happen. "..." he shrugged "Alright... nothing-"
He heard footsteps behind him and turned to see Neo. She was two whole head sizes shorter than him. He looked down at her and smiled as she handed him a scroll. "Oh, ho ho." his eyes widened "Thank you 'first officer'-"
She glared at him.
"O-Okay, I get it" he sighed "Thank you 'Captain'"
Neo smiled, looking adorable.
"Now, 'Captain' Neo, my darling - this one is gonna be fun!" the criminal connected the scroll to the main console and laughed.
The lights in the ship all switched from blue to red. Images of Queen chess pieces filled every screen. Cinder's virus had been uploaded, and with it, the robotic army of Atlas - which all connected to the network broadcast from this ship - were under her control.
Glynda sighed in the streets of Vale below. She raised her whip and blasted another beowolf back. "That stupid Qrow..." she had followed him, leaving Raven asleep, but then lost him in the chaos of the battle.
She now found herself alone, with a small detachment of Atlesian knights, as she moved from street to street killing grimm.
She turned to see a beowolf dangerously close-
She screamed in surprise-
The beowolf burst into dust-
A man's voice chuckled.
Once the dust cleared she could make out a familiar image-
"QROW!" she screamed at him. "You jackass!"
"Geez, how about 'thanks Qrow, for saving my life' or 'sorry, I was too distracted thinking about you'" the drunkard laughed and took a swig of rum. "Well, I guess I'm not your type, huh? You prefer power hungry madmen, or at least you prefer the taste of their co-"
The Atlesian knights interrupted him with a barrage of laser fire at a group of incoming beowolves-
Then they suddenly stopped.
"Huh?... Those grimm are still alive... stupid machines" Qrow snarled.
The knights turned, red lights shone out from under the reinforced glass that covered their optical sensors. They aimed their weapons at the hunters.
"WHAT!?" Glynda looked behind her, checking for grimm.
None.
The drunkard laughed and readied his scythe, still in sword form "Are you that surprised that Ironwood would betray us?"
Blake and Weiss had finally reached Beacon academy's entrance. The landing pads weren't far now. Gunfire echoed out and smoke rose into the sky.
"Sounds bad" Blake sighed.
"Look! Atlesian knights!" Weiss pointed to a squad of robots in their path, with their backs to the girls.
Blake stopped and grabbed Weiss's hand, pulling her to a stop "Something's not right... why aren't they moving?"
"HEY! GET BACK TO WORK ROBOTS!" Weiss screamed-
Blake faceplamed.
The robotic soldiers turned and aimed their weapons at the girls.
Weiss sighed in frustration "Oh my gods! Not us you idiots! Just wait until my father hears ab-"
"GET DOWN!" Clodus screamed. He ran at the soldiers from behind, with both his blades drawn-
The soldiers fired.
Blake pushed Weiss to the ground and shielded the white huntress with her own body while laser blasts hit the ground around them.
Suddenly the shooting stopped and the sound of metal cutting through metal rang out-
Then shooting continued but sounded distance. Clodus's screams of pain suddenly filled the air.
"CLODUS!" Weiss screamed.
Blake instantly leapt to her feet, drew her cleaver and ran to assist the historian.
"This is perfect..." Ironwood smiled as he piloted the transport to his ship. He had two squads of knights with him, more than enough. "Once again Atlas will be the hero. Whatever is left of Vale will be mine."
A whirling mechanical sound came from behind him.
"What?" he turned "Why are you activating now? We're not there yet-" he fell silent. An eerie red glow stared back at him.
*bang*
Ruby remained standing on the landing pad of the stadium. She watched as an explosion sounded out of Ironwood's transport ship and it plummeted to the ground, leaving a trail of fire and smoke in its path.
She narrowed her eyes and looked at the large ship in the distance - Ironwood's flag ship. "Re-take the skies... huh?". She nodded to herself. Injured or not, she was a huntress and she had a duty to protect the people of this kingdom - of this world. Even if it would cost her her life "Got it."
"There's too many!" Weiss screamed as she summoned a hail of ice and launched it at the robots. An entire battalion of knights were now chasing them.
"I KNOW!" Blake screamed. Her clones were able to trick the robots and help divide their attention, but she felt every laser blast that hit her clones and it was taking its toll.
Clodus panted heavily as he sliced through more of them. "We gotta go! NOW!" his aura was completely out, but his injuries were minor. At the moment, at least.
"ARGH! These guys are really starting to piss me off!" Weiss threw down two glyphs, one to give her a speed boost and one to launch her into the robots-
She flew into them with incredible speed and stashed away with her rapier. Luckily, she knew exactly where to hit to deal the most damage - a benefit of Schnee investment in the Atlas military, which had allowed her to see the designs for these knights when she first saw them days ago.
Blake took a moment to catch her breath, but a moment is all she was allowed. White Fang members poured out from the landing pads. "Looks like they ran out of grimm..." she sighed. "BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF THE WHITE FANG! STAND DOWN IMMEDIATELY!"
Several of the terrorists turned to each other and laughed.
"She's that traitor: Blake! GET HER!" the group slit up, half firing at Blake while the other half ran at her with melee weapons. All were eager to bring her corpse to Adam and get the reward.
"WEISS! GO! I'll handle this!" Blake ducked behind cover and drew her katana from its sheath, now holding both her weapons. Bullets ricocheted off the rubble.
She gritted her teeth and ran into the fray.
Weiss nodded and ran, leading the knights away from her teammate. "Be safe..." she whispered.
"CLODUS!" the icy huntress called after the historian "A LITTLE HELP!"
"I'm trying!" he sighed as he struggled to keep up with the heiress, ducking between cover to avoid getting vaporised as he went.
Slowly, but surely, they were able to finish off the remaining knights - thanks to a generous usage of glyphs from Weiss and some lucky dodges from Clodus.
Now that the sound of immediate combat had died down, the pair were able to hear the gunfire and screaming that was eerily close by.
"That's not Blake..." she thought "Clodus, we've got to hurry!" Weiss ran in the direction of the sounds - towards Beacon's main entrance.
The historian panted. "C-Can't I have a quick break...?"
Weiss ignored him.
He sighed. "Fine! I'm coming..." and ran after her.
"There's too many!" Private Wutz shuddered. Grimm on one side, Atlesian knights on the other. He emptied a magazine of bullets into the nearest beowolf, dropping it with the last bullet, and fumbled for a new magazine-
"Shit... I'm out!" panic set in. He fumbled for his pistol-
He dropped it.
"Get your shit together Wutz!" the sergeant screamed at him. "We cannot let them enter the academy!". Their orders had been clear: prevent the enemy from entering the academy at all costs. Ozpin clearly had something in there he was desperate to protect, and the sergeant wasn't about to disappoint him. He dropped to his knee and opened up on the few remaining nearby grimm-
Then felt a burning sensation in his back. He knew what this was, it wasn't a bullet or a grimm.
It was a laser.
He hit the floor, unable to move. "F-Fucking... Atlas... traitors..." his vision begun to blur. Their bullets couldn't even scratch the knight's armour, so he had ordered his men to focus on the grimm and take cover from the robots as best they could, but it had been a long battle and the reinforcements he had hoped for were nowhere in sight. "This is a hunter academy! So where are the hunters!?" he thought as he watched his soldiers - brave men and women, human and faunus - one by one fall to the knights.
Wutz was still on his knees, watching in terror as the knights surrounded him.
They aimed.
The private tried to scream, to run, to do something - anything! But his body refused to move.
He saw the barrel of a laser rifle start to glow and heat. It was aimed right at him-
Then he heard something.
Something strange.
A kind of scraping sound...
"N-Never..." a girls voice struggled to speak. Wutz started to turn in confusion and saw an orange and pink blur rush past him. Two knights hit the ground, their face plates cracked.
"MISS A BEAT!" a man's voice screamed out, then swing music begun to play.
Wutz's heart sank. "Oh gods... don't let this crap be the last thing I hear... please!" but he quickly realised what was happening. "Wait... hunters... HUNTERS!? YES!" he was saved.
Reese raced across the ground, keeping her stance low as she evaded incoming laser fire. "Why are cat faunus always so eager to die!?" she sighed as she chased after the injured Neon. She eyed the griffons landing in the courtyard. "Crap, I guess those old guys didn't make it..."
"Reese!" Arslan moved to engage the griffons.
"Man..." the punk sighed as she sped over to her leader. She hopped up onto a railing and grinded down to the nearest grimm, then leapt up and span - using the blade of her board to cut deep into it-
The griffon screamed.
It swiped-
But Arlsan's rope dart pierced its hand and dragged it back. "GET HIM!"
The punk circled around to build up speed, then darted straight for the monster. She leapt off her board and flung it at the grimm-
*stab*
The griffon hit the ground with a hoverboard embedded in its skull, but it was still alive. The punk hopped up, standing on its back and flicked her wrists, transforming her board into two pistols.
She smiled, then emptied her magazines into the creatures head as it roared in pain. A few moments later it stopped. Reese kept firing for a bit after that, until the griffon finally disintegrated.
Neon glided through clusters of knights, using lightning dust with her glowstick nun-chucks with devastating effect. Each hit sent a jolt of electricity through a knight, frying its components and either dropping it instantly or doing enough damage to prevent it from attacking.
Flynt wasn't far behind. His quartet blasted out music - with powerful soundwaves - and slammed knights into grimm, pushing them away from the academy's main entrance.
Nora slammed her hammer down on a griffon, crushing its skull with a single blow. "YAY!! Ren, this is so much fun!"
The ninja sighed. "Fun isn't the word I would use..."-
He saw a group of knights marching around the corner and aiming at his her-
"NORA! GET DOWN!" he raised his pistols, paused for an instant to let Nora dive, then sprayed the knights, staggering them.
The orange haired crazy girl hit the ground and switched her hammer to its grenade launcher form, then fired her heart tipped grenades at the stunned robots, tearing them apart.
"Come on you beast!" Yatsu stood alone against a griffon. Thankfully not many had made it here, but this battle was even more hectic than in the arena. Laser blasts tore through the air, missing their targets, but generating a lot of heat. The hunters had to stay alert. One wrong move, or even a moment's distraction could result in death. "Is this what being a hunter is truly like?... And I thought we only had to worry about grimm..." he sighed.
The griffon lunged forwards-
The samurai calmly stepped back and slashed downwards, slicing through the creature's mouth.
*stomp*
Reese turned to see a Paladin mech slowly walk into the courtyard. "These are manned, right? So... if these robots are just malfunctioning, then this guy must be here to help!".
Paladin mechs were huge, easily three times an average hunter's height. They were very heavily armoured, with the usual brilliant white colour armour over black reinforced carbon-fibre, which gave them decent manoeuvrability too. They were hunched over and carried heavy duty railguns, perfect for ripping through heavily armoured ursa or beowolf alphas - and extremely good at tearing holes in humans - if the humans stood still for long enough-
The mech's back opened up and missiles begun to fire out, heading straight for each hunter-
"LOOK OUT!" Reese shouted, her eyes widening in horror "so Atlas is attacking us! Why!?" but there was little she could to stop them. She darted for the mech, loading ice dust into her board as she headed for one of its legs-
Neon skated up alongside her, switching her nun-chunks to ice mode.
Both huntresses darted under the hulking mech's legs, narrowly dodging its arms as it tried to hit them-
Reese's board hit a foot.
Neon's weapons hit another.
As the girls went through the legs and came out the other side they heard ice crystals forming behind them.
They smiled.
The mech wouldn't be moving any time soon, but it was still a problem.
Then Reese saw a familiar face - a girl from team RWBY "SCHNEE!" she screamed "THE MISSILES!"
Weiss propelled herself forwards with a glyph and slid under the mech, then launched a barrage of ice shards, each aiming for a missile-
Every missile was pierced and detonated mid-air. The heiress smiled. "Perfect, as always-"
"OH GODS NO!!!" Kelly desperately pulled at the controls inside her Paladin, but it was no use. The AI, designed to assist with aiming and movement, had taken over. She watched helplessly as it marched into the courtyard. She screamed as she recognised a mech frozen in place in the distance, with ice shards pinning each leg to the ground. "Len!!!" she screamed, but it was no use. A hunter with dual katanas sliced through the arms, then a white huntress pierced the mech with a giant shard of ice.
She saw blood drip from the cockpit and down the ice. She wept. "This... this can't be happening..." she shook in fear.
Then she saw her mech's arms rise. It threw the depleted rail-gun down, sprinted towards a pair of hunters and launched a powerful punch at a green ninja-
"NO!!!" she screamed-
An orange haired huntress pushed the ninja aside, and took the full force of the blow. Her face contorted in pain and a loud cracking sound echoed through the courtyard.
"NORA!!" the ninja ran to the girl's side and shook in horror as blood pooled around her. He tentatively reached out and stroked her head, tears streaming from his eyes.
She didn't move.
"I... there was so much I wanted to tell you... so.... please, wake up Nora!"
She didn't move.
"I... I love you!"
Silence answered him.
"NINJA!!" Kelly screamed "RUN!!! I CAN'T CONTROL IT!"
He couldn't hear her, or the sound of the other metal fist racing towards him. His world had gone numb. He felt empty-
*crunch*
His body flew against the academy, cracked the wall, then limply fell to the ground and left a large splatter of blood.
He stopped moving too.
"Yatsu!" Coco screamed "Deal with these fuckers! Velvet, Schnee, come with me!" the fashionista ran towards an emptier section of the courtyard, not wanting to fight so close to grimm and knights.
Velvet followed closely behind, her heart pounding. For once in her life she didn't want to take photos. She didn't want to remember this horror!
Neptune followed too, firing at the mech as he ran. He shots glanced off the armour, but attracted its attention.
"Clodus!" Weiss lead her lover towards Coco. This mech was no ordinary Paladin, she didn't recognise its design, which could only mean one thing - it was a brand new prototype. Her mind raced as she glanced the armoured giant up and down, searching for a weakness. She found none.
"Okay..." Emerald stretched as she slowly walked. "Cinder said to meet her in front of the academ-" she stopped and sighed. "... great... hunters everywhere... and no sign of the boss-"
Her eyes met Weiss's.
The heiress glared.
"Well... fuck..." Emerald darted back behind the wall. She heard Weiss's piercing voice scream something out.
The thief smiled "... well, if I kill her, at least those fucks in team RWBY won't be so god-damn happy all the time!". She drew her weapons.
"Hey!" Coco flipped the switch and her suitcase transformed into a minigun. She opened up, spraying the mech with bullets as she searched for a weakness - for anything that her bullets could damage-
The mech casually walked towards the hunters. Red lights shone out from the cockpit. It was getting close-
"Um..." Neptune looked behind him - they were backing into a corner "this is bad!"
The fashionista sighed and stopped firing. She pushed her sunglasses up, making sure they were firmly in place. "Well, I guess now's a better time than any... Velvet!" she turned to the bunny and nodded.
The photographer's eyes lit up. "Really!?"
"Just make 'em count" Coco smiled.
Velvet stepped forwards.
This was her moment. The day she had waited for all semester.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Weiss yelled as she ran past "SHE'S GOING TO DIE!"
Coco crossed her arms and smiled. "She's got this."... a flicker of doubt crossed her mind "...right?"
The bunny stood before the mech and glared at it, then stretched out her right arm. She activated her semblance and a blue light shone from her camera. The light projected Ruby's scythe into Velvet's hand - a blue wire-frame projection of the scythe. "Man... I really liked that photo too..." Velvet sighed. Her semblance allowed her to summon weapons from photos taken by her dust camera, at the cost of the photos - which were deleted in the process.
A second mech, another prototype, raced towards the bunny with its rail-gun aimed.
Kelly's mouth dropped. "No... please..." she knew who was in that mech. Her sister.
The bunny hopped out of the way of the blast as the rail-gun's shot tore into the ground. Kelly frantically searched for the huntress-
Her mouth dropped. Velvet almost seemed to hover in mid-air for a moment, with the projected scythe held behind her back-
Then, an instant later, she slammed down and sliced deep into the new mech, slicing the rail-gun holding arm clean off.
"SIS!!!" Kelly wept uncontrollably. "DAMN IT!!" she kicked and flailed as she tried, and failed, to escape the mechanical tomb.
The other mech slammed its fist down towards Velvet-
The scythe disappeared. The weapons created by her semblance wouldn't last long, especially against armour as thick as this. But, with another flash of blue light, a projection of Weiss's rapier appeared in Velvet's hand and she blocked the punch with it, then immediately followed with a counter attack, stabbing at the cockpit with incredible speed-
Kelly saw blood spray from the mech. "NO!!!! PLEASE!!! STOP!!"
"You..." Weiss aimed her rapier at the green thief, leaving the bunny to face the mechs alone.
"Yep, me..." Emerald readied her weapons and immediately opened fire as she ran backwards.
The white huntress hopped back around the corner, and created a glyph in safety, then launched herself over the wall and down at her opponent, with her blade aimed-
Emerald dove to the side, feeling the shockwaves as the heiress crashed into where she had just stood. The thief had little time to think as a pale haired hunter flanked her and sliced with two katanas-
*clang*
The thief just barely blocked the blades with her own, then dove to the side to avoid getting skewered by Weiss. "Wow, two against one, what heroes you are..." she spat at the ground.
"Em... why... I... I don't understand!" the heiress screamed.
Rage built up in the thief's eyes. "DON'T FUCKING CALL ME 'EM'!!! With all the death and destruction in this world, with all the suffering... you think its fair that you bitches get to have so much fun? That you're allowed to be happy!?"
Weiss fell silent.
"We're going to make the world a better place, a fairer place, where everyone is equal! No rich, no poor. Just people!" Emerald lowered her stance and hesitated for a moment. The idea of using her semblance on two people at once filled her with dread-
But luckily for her, she wouldn't be fighting two opponents for long.
Velvet rolled away from the mech's follow up punch and projected Yang's gauntlets on her arms. She punched the air repeatedly, sending projections of fireballs at the mech-
They did nothing.
The mech swung again, forcing velvet to drop to the floor to evade. With another flick of her wrists the gauntlets vanished and Blake's swords formed.
The bunny bolted forwards, narrowly evading another slam, and activated the gun mode of the katana. She threw it between the metal armoured plates, lodging it in place, then swung around the mech on a ribbon projection, wrapping around it three times before launching herself at the cockpit-
*slam*
The projected cleaver hit the reinforced glass-
*shatter*
But then vanished, leaving only a slight mark in the glass.
The bunny panted-
She saw movement-
She leapt back and smiled to herself as the mech's own hand slammed into its face. The sound of glass cracking brought hope back to the battle and with another flick of her wrist Velvet summoned Nerisa's spear.
She waited a moment for the mech's hand to move away, then threw the spear like a javelin. It dug deep into the cockpit and tore through the skull of the pilot-
But the mech didn't even slow. It rushed towards the bunny and reached out-
Velvet hopped onto the fist, then launched herself into the air using a projection of Mercury's boots. Once she was high enough she switched to a projection of Nora's hammer and brought it down with all the strength she could muster-
*crack*
The armour of the mech begun to tear and shatter, just barely revealing a red glowing object. With one more photo, Velvet projected both of Clodus's katanas and dug them into the cracks-
The glowing light flickered, then died. The mech sank forwards and slammed into the ground.
"Oh yeah" the bunny beamed. She had done it, she had used her semblance to defeat a tough enemy. Pride filled her and she allowed herself a moment to rest-
"VELVET!!" Coco screamed.
Velvet turned-
She felt something hard and heavy hit her face.
Pain filled her as her face caved in and bone fragments tore through her eyes.Then her world went dark.
The sounds of Coco screaming, crying and shooting slowly faded. Until Velvet could only hear the sound of her own ragged breathing. Shock, confusion and fear were her last thoughts as she felt something heavy press against her chest-
Then she felt nothing at all.
Velvet was dead.
"NO!!!" tears streamed from the fashionista's face. Velvet was her friend. She looked up to Coco - the leader of team CFVY. "I..." she emptied her magazine into the mech and wailed "This is all my fault! Velvet... I'm so sorry! I'm the worst leader!" her hand continued to pull on the trigger after the last bullet fired, leaving only a clicking sound to come out. The usually calm and collected girl fell to her knees and looked up at the hulking mech as it slowly walked towards her.
"Is this... what being a hunter is really like?" her sunglasses dropped off her face and shattered on the ground below. Her dark brown eyes looked up at certain doom, then glanced down to the mangled corpse of the bunny.
Coco Adel accepted her death.
Neptune fired until his gun burnt his hands then screamed in desperation. "LEAVE HER ALONE!!!! PLEASE!!!"
The mech swatted the blue haired huntsman away effortlessly, not stopping its advance towards Coco.
It towered above the fashionista and raised its arm.
Weiss froze. The screams and cries from behind couldn't be ignored any longer, but she couldn't let Emerald escape-
"Weiss, go" Clodus smiled "I've got this bitch." he stepped forwards and slashed, forcing Emerald to duck, then slashed low with one sword and high with another-
Emerald stayed low, opting to block the attack-
*clang*
Clodus smiled and brought the high sword down towards her head-
*clang*
His swords hit each other as the thief leapt back and panted.
Weiss turned and ran, vaulting over the wall with a glyph as she raced towards the mechanical monster.
Its arm quickly descended, straight towards a shaking Coco. The icy huntress hesitated for an instant as she saw the remains of Velvet and realised the situation, but her training quickly kicked in-
*clang*
A very loud metal clang rang out as Weiss's rapier blocked the attack-
The blade begun to crack.
The clang sounded more dull.
The fist pressed harder-
Weiss's legs begun to buckle.
"N-No!" the heiress struggled to speak "I am Weiss Schnee-"
More cracks appeared on her rapier.
"I will NOT let this be the end of me!" she screamed at the top of her lungs and braced the blade with all her might. Her wounds begun to reopen, staining her dress with her own blood-
A glyph started to form behind her, but this was no ordinary glyph. As Weiss's blood dripped onto the ground the glyph grew and flickered. She screamed in agony as pain filled her, and closed her eyes-
*CLANG*
Then, suddenly, Weiss didn't feel any more pressure on her blade. She tentatively opened her eyes, panting-
Standing in front of her was an ice summon shaped like her sister - Winter.
"I..." realisation begun to sunk in "I did it... I summoned something!" she beamed in relief as the icy Winter parried the fist away with a flick of her blade, then raced towards the mech and sliced at it rapidly.
Paladin mechs, including these prototypes, were build to withstand grimm attacks, small arms fire and moderate explosives. Not a concentrated ice dust blade.
The armour was shredded, mech limbs removed, then finally the icy Winter reached in the cockpit and pulled at the pilot-
Kelly screamed, her arms and legs still strapped in place-
*rip*
Suddenly Kelly found herself being flung to the ground, in immense pain.
She tried to stand, but she couldn't feel her legs.
She tried to crawl, but she couldn't feel her arms.
She looked up and screamed as Weiss stood over her. "WAIT! I COULDN'T CONTRO-"
*stab*
Weiss's blade pierced the pilots brain at the same time the icy Winter stabbed the AI core of the Paladin.
Both the pilot and her mech slumped over, dead.
Coco crawled over to Velvet's remains and wailed. "VELVET!!!" she hugged the barely recognisable lump of flesh and sank her head into it.
The heiress sighed in relief. The sound of distant battle had died down, the hunters had all but won. "It's over...".
Her gaze reached Coco and Velvet. "But... at what cost?"
The icy Winter slowly faded.
Weiss managed a smile. She had managed to summon, and while she still had a long way to go, she had made excellent progress. With this new power, she would make sure that no one else di-
"CLODUS!" the heiress slapped herself and ran back to her lover, holding her bleeding wound with one hand and her cracked blade in the other.
The historian closed his eyes and smiled. "Illusions..." he knew the twenty Emeralds surrounding him were illusions, the only question was whether or not the real one was still here. He strained his ears-
He heard a footstep and stepped forwards, slashing at it-
Emerald screamed.
Clodus opened his eyes and smiled. The thief grabbed at her stomach. He had cut her deeply. "Look, Em, I don't want to kill you. Please just stop this and surrender, we can talk this through!"
She glared at him and slowly backed away.
"You want peace, right? You want a world with equality? Well you can't get that by killing people!-" the historian roared.
"Actually" Emerald smiled "killing is the only way".
Clodus saw her rush at him and instinctively slashed in a counter attack-
His blade passed through air.
"Another illusion!?" he turned to see another Emerald right next to him, her daggers about to penetrate him. "Is this one real!?"
Weiss turned the corner to see Emerald standing over a wounded Clodus.
Her lover's blood pooled, his skin was pale. His coughed and sprayed the thief with his blood. "F-Fuck you..."
"NO!" Weiss rushed forwards, using another glyph-
Her body screamed at her in pain. Her wound ripped open fully, leaving a thick trail of blood behind her.
Her vision begun to blur-
But she reached her target.
"DON'T FUCKING TOUCH HIM!" she stabbed, her blade piercing Emerald's skull and killing her instantly.
The icy huntress fell to her knees, with the corpse of her victim lying before her.
"T-Too easy..." She panted "I-I'm not losing any more friends..." she looked towards Clodus and smiled-
He vanished.
"W-What...?"
She caught a glimpse of pale hair below her.
Her eyes slowly looked down.
She screamed.
Clodus's corpse laid on the ground in front of her, with her rapier sticking out his skull.
The icy huntress froze in shock. She didn't know what Emerald's semblance was. She didn't know the 'Emerald' she killed was an illusion. She didn't know that the illusion stood in the exact place Clodus stood.
She didn't notice the real Emerald limp away. She didn't notice the cheers as the hunters finished off the last of the knights and grimm. She didn't notice Neptune as he ran up to check on her.
But she did notice Clodus's dead eyes. The look of confusion that they showed.
"I... he's... d-de...." Weiss wailed, her cries of distraught and despair echoed through the academy grounds. She pulled her blade free and shook her lover gently.
"C-Clodus..." she cried "this isn't funny! WAKE UP!!"
He didn't move.
"CLODUS!!! P-Please... don't leave me..."
He didn't move.
"I... I can't go on without you..."
He didn't move.
"I LOVE YOU!!"
Regret filled her. "Why didn't I say that more...?... I love you Clodus! So please... g-get up..."
"Mirror... tell me something..." she sang softly, stroking his hair "Tell me who's the loneliest of all..."
With the death of Clodus, something inside Weiss broke. The 'mirror' had shattered.
"I'm..." tears flooded from her eyes "... the loneliest of all..."