In every adventure, every conflict, there is a climax. That defining moment when everyone's goals are dancing on the head of a pin and only one side is going to get what they want, that day. You can plan for months, even years, and still risk losing everything at the climax, because there are just too many variables flying through the air for anyone to predict it all. On days like those, the best you can do is remember your priorities and be prepared to walk away before you do something you'll regret for the rest of your life.
One such day came on the tail end of the Vytal Festival. There were three matches to go before the final fight in the tournament and Amity Coliseum was abuzz with anticipation for the next bout. Everyone was glued to their seats, waiting for the randomization to commence. Well, almost everyone.
"Ugh, this sucks!" groaned the frustratingly incarcerated teenager in the stadium's emergency holding area. Yang Xiao Long would, unfortunately, be missing the final round due to being framed up for assault on another contestant. The silver haired jackass had attacked her, she knew he did. Unfortunately for her, the cameras and the thousands of eye witnesses said different. When she explained what happened to her team (after the confiscation of her weapons and personal effects, of course) they, at least, seemed to agree with her. Well, Blake and Weiss seemed skeptical at first, but Ruby never once doubted that something was going on. Thanks for having my back, little sister, Yang thought to herself as she lounged on the generously provided bed, staring at the ceiling with the false hope of something interesting making itself apparent. Her dad had always warned her lock-up wouldn't be a fun place to end up in, but she was really hoping for the other kind of un-fun. The kind that involved alpha-male numbskulls who thought she was easy prey. Instead, this was just boring and, unfortunately, she was under strict "leader-face" orders to wait until everything was sorted out.
While the team agreed on Yang being put under some kind of illusion, there was some debate as to who and why. Weiss was under the impression this was petty unsportsmanship through the aid of one of Mercury's teammates, in order to ensure whoever defeated them wouldn't advance to victory. Blake, on the other hand, thought it might be the work of the White Fang, recognizing them as threats to any future plans and ruining RWBY's credibility in advance. Ruby didn't seem to have an opinion, though Yang imagined she was withdrawing any comments for a more personal reason. After all, Emerald and Ruby had become fast friends since the beginning of the quarter. It would be difficult for her to accept any sort of misconduct coming from someone who'd been so nice to her. Yang didn't call any attention to it, though. No need to worry her baby sister more than she already was.
After a while, the blonde's mind drifted to the status of the finals. Last Yang had heard, Penny had made it into the semifinals, while Pyrrha and Sun were supposed to be squaring off for the last quarterfinal. She felt bad for the monkey boy. He was good and he had a lot of tricks up his perpetually open shirt, but being paired against the great champion Pyrrha Nikos was pretty much a guaranteed loss. Aw well, he'd managed to get farther than her, at least. The thought left a bitter expression on Yang's face as she considered how poorly she'd handled the situation. Even if Mercury had really attacked her, her response was excessive and she knew it. His aura was gone and, with it, most of his ability to do harm. She had enough aura to absorb another kick without permanent injury, and even if she didn't all she needed to do was block before the security forces stepped in. Instead, she did what she always had. Let her temper control her. Half of her felt like she belonged here. What would happen if she lost control again? Who would she hurt? Even worse, what if it went past hurt? She needed to learn to better rein in her emotions, but she wasn't sure who to talk to about that. Ruby fought because it was her art, less about restraining the beast and more teaching it how to paint something beautiful. Weiss may have been all form, but her temper was nearly as exploitable as Yang's was. And Blake? Her fury was righteous, never pointed at the wrong target because she didn't attack without the conviction for justice or survival. Maybe one of the teachers could help, once she was released. Goodwitch got ticked off a lot, but she always kept her composure. Of course, that was only if she wasn't expelled from Beacon. If this went to trial, Weiss had better get her a good lawyer.
That pleasantly optimistic line of thought was cut short as Yang suddenly felt the entire room shake. That was odd. Getting up from her bed to try and get a peek outside the bars of her cell, the boxer didn't see anything at first. Figuring it must have been some brief error in the stadium's stabilization, she turned to walk back to her resting place. Two steps later and the sound of gunfire and panicked screaming graced her ears. Rushing back to the bars, she caught a glimpse of a White Fang grunt, passing by the door.
"Oh shit," Yang exclaimed as the realization dawned on her. That was apparently unwise as the very same grunt did a double-take and peered into the room. Grinning, he stepped in, leveling his rifle menacingly at the young girl.
"I was hoping I'd run into you," the faunus sneered, "The entire Fang wants you and your friends dead. Guess I hit the jackpot."
Now, getting shot is never fun. Even when wearing armor, the impact stings like a katana hornet. Yang didn't have armor. Yang just had full aura, which meant little for a civilian, but a lot for a huntress that can survive being punched through a cement pillar. Staggering a little, the blonde brawler took a firm grip of the bars. When she looked up to glare at the extremist before her, her eyes were a scathing red.
"Bad move, buddy."
Three distinct sounds were heard. First, the reinforcements of the cell door straining under the pressure of Yang's enhanced strength. Second, the high register of Yang's rage filled scream. Third, the even higher register of the White Fang soldier's panic filled scream. One flying cell door later and Yang Xiao Long strode out of her imprisonment once again a free woman.
What Yang saw as she traversed her way through the inner portions of the stadium would haunt her for a very long time. Bodies were strewn about, some White Fang, some Atlas Security, and some civilian. The White Fang were pushing through, somehow managing to smash the Atlesian troops without much trouble. Yang noticed an Atlesian knight open fire on the men they were supposed to be supporting. Clearly, something was very wrong.
The boxer caught her first break when she heard the telltale hum of a Schnee glyph. Following it, she found two of her teammates, Weiss and Blake, cleaning up a few drones down a corridor. "Yang, oh thank god!" Blake exclaimed when she noticed her friend approaching. Finishing the final knight off with a decapitating swipe, she turned to give Yang a tight hug.
After returning the embrace for a few moments, the two separated. "What's going on?" Yang inquired, still eyeing both of them for any sign of injury.
"The White Fang decided to enact their big plan in the middle of the finals," Weiss explained as she check the Dust levels of Myrtenaster. "Apparently they had some kind of virus infecting the Atlas defense systems all this time. They've got all three thousand knights aiding their assault and the fleet is all floating dead in the air."
"What about Ruby?! Is she okay?!"
"She was safe, the last time we saw her," Blake assured. She hesitated with her next set of words, as though confused by the topic herself, "She… started acting kind of weird when the fighting broke out. She mentioned something about the control center and sped off. Apparently JNPR and Penny are already down there," she handed Yang a pair of gold bracelets she had been keeping on her hip, "She told us to get you out and meet her there."
Glad to have her two best friends back, Yang reattached Ember Celica to her wrists and enjoyed the familiar weight they had, "All right, let's get going."
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On their way to the control center, the three were stopped by the sight of a very broken Team JNPR. Jaune and Nora were both bruised and bloodied, though their status was minor compared to the unconscious forms in their arms. Ren looked like his ears were bleeding, whereas Pyrrha had a sort of burn mark where her neck met the base of her skull. The two conscious members of the team looked more shaken than the girls had ever seen them.
"What happened?!" Weiss exclaimed as she looked over the battered forms of her closest friends.
Nora didn't seem all that capable of speech, instead just tightening her grip on Ren a little more. Jaune, however, cleared his throat and began in a shaky voice, "That Atlas girl, Penny. She's working for the Fang. Said she couldn't let us pass her, under the orders of someone called Queen. She was tougher than anything I've ever seen. We fought for a while, then Pyrrha found a way to immobilize her. Ren was charging up to take her out in one shot, but all the sudden Ruby showed up and…" his breath caught in his throat as he looked down at Pyrrha, before shaking his head a few times, "No… No, it had to have been and accident. She told us to retreat and get these two some medical treatment. Last I saw she'd used her semblance to pass right by Penny."
Yang's eyes widened as she considered what she'd just heard. Ruby was now between a brainwashed screwball girl who could rip airships out of the sky and the apparent mastermind of this whole plot. Those were lethal odds. "We need to get through there, now!" she cried as she took off past her friends.
"All right, you get them to the medics. We'll take care of the rest," Blake spoke calmly as she and Weiss started moving again, as well.
Once they'd caught up to Yang, the three found themselves entering a wide open room. Before they could take a step forward, a sword embedded itself in front of each of their feet. Standing directly in front of their goal was a tiny, orange haired girl wearing what looked like overalls. "I'm afraid I can't let you do that," Penny's voice sounded more serious than any of them thought was possible for such a strange and energetic girl. "I'm under orders to keep any intruders from making their way into this room."
"Penny, stop this! This isn't you talking, it's whoever's controlling you!" Blake shouted as she pulled Gambol Shroud off her back.
"On the contrary, Blake. No one can speak through me," Penny's eyes flashed for a moment before a trio of swords converged on her torso, deflecting the simultaneous ranged attacks which came from each girl. "That would make me a puppet. And after today, I am no one's puppet."
"Ugh, I don't have time for this!" Yang growled as she cocked her weapons, "Cover me!" was all she shouted before jetting forward with a shot boost. Before the levitating swords could reach their target, their flight paths were disrupted by the rapid shots from Gambol's gun form. Unable to ready another attack in time, Penny instead turned back to face her other remaining opponents.
"Give it up, Penny. We've got you outnumbered," Weiss ordered as a clockwork glyph formed under her feet.
"That's true. There are two of you. However," all Penny's swords moved to circle her slowly, "You only have three blades. I have ten."
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When Yang entered the control center of Amity, she dreaded what she might find. Was Ruby winning the fight or losing? Had she held on long enough for her sister to show up and help or was she already unconscious? Or worse? She didn't even want to put that worse into words lest it come true. Still, when she finally made it to where all the action was supposed to be, in no way was she expecting to see the business end of Crescent Rose's gun form while Ruby typed away at a console with her free hand.
"Sis, what are you-"
"My sister Yang used to sleep with a stuffed beowolf until she was thirteen. What was its name?" the hooded girl asked coldly, not bothering to turn and face her visitor. Whatever she was doing with the computer, it commanded the majority of her attention.
"What are you talking about?" the blonde asked, clearly very confused by her baby sister's alarmingly serious behavior.
"Answer the question or I shoot," Ruby demanded simply, finger brushing the trigger for good measure, "What was the beowolf's name?"
"Okay, okay. Jeez," Yang responded with minor annoyance, "His name was Smokey and he was an ursa… and I stopped sleeping with him when I was nine!"
"No you didn't," the younger girl quipped as she holstered her gun. With her second hand free, she doubled her focus on the console before her, "Sorry. I had to make sure you weren't just that umbrella girl in disguise."
Before continuing the conversation, Yang surveyed the rest of the room. Three bodies lay strewn across the floor. Two of them were burned to the point of being unrecognizable. The third was that of a woman. She had hair like black ash and her skin was fair in the places it wasn't stained with her own blood. "Is that…"
"Cinder Fall," Ruby responded as she kept typing. "Leader of Emerald and Mercury's team, go figure. Mastermind behind Roman's Dust robbery spree, the White Fang's increased aggression, and the virus that was formerly commanding all the Atlesian knights to attack the stadium."
"Formerly?"
"Her scroll was what she used to command them. Once I dealt with her, I took it and ordered all the drones to capture the White Fang forces and put them in a few airships."
"Wait, why send them to the airships? Shouldn't we keep them in the arena?"
"They, and everybody else, need to evacuate."
Well, that sure was news to Yang. "Why?"
Ruby let out a sigh, shoulders slumping a bit as she did. Yang knew the kind of stress that made her do that, which worried her all the more. "Because, she overclocked the biome generator and I can't stop what's coming next."
"And what's that?" the brawler asked tentatively. There was something different about Ruby. She was sharper, more focused. Usually, the only time she got to this level of serious was during a close fight or making a major weapon upgrade.
"The stadium is going to create a tornado meant to kill everyone still in the stands and send it to damage one of the walls keeping the Grimm out of Vale. With most of the experienced fighters stuck up here, the city will be ready for slaughter. That said, if I can manage to move Amity outside the kingdom and alter the targeting for something less important in the twenty minutes it's going to take to charge up, we can keep casualties to a minimum."
Wow. That was some plan. Yang was surprised her sister could think up something like that so quickly. She paused a second, "Ruby, how do you know all this? Did Cinder tell you before she…?"
Ruby sighed again and Yang caught the look of guilt in her eyes, "No, she didn't."
"Then, how did you figure it all out so fast? Blake mentioned you went straight here after the fighting broke out."
The red reaper refused to look her sister in the eye. Instead, continuing to focus on the set of coordinates she was typing in.
"Ruby… did you… know about this?"
Another sigh, like she was trying to bleed the stress from her body, "Yes."
"For how long?"
"…"
"Ruby! I said for how long?"
The younger sister was shaking at this point, but she kept on typing. "Since before we got into Beacon."
The confession hit Yang harder than the bullets she'd stomached early. "H-how… Why... What do you...?"
"I-I didn't tell anyone because… because I planned on taking it, instead."
