The last thing Ruby saw before Weiss enclosed them all inside of a large ice flower was the train previously loaded with bomb hurtling towards a sealed off wall that lead right into Vale. Then the ice blocked her vision and the train breached the wall.

Ruby was launched forward at the sound of the explosion that could have only been the first car. The ice shattered as she and her three teammates were launched forward into the air. Ruby vaguely remembered slamming into something hard, probably a piece of concrete of foundation that was knocked loose, and ice cutting at her skin. She was lucky her aura was able to hold out against it.

The world finally stopped spinning and her body was stopped getting throwing around like a rag doll in the flurry of flying rock and ice, she opened her eye and took in the scene around her. Weiss, Blake, and Yang, all shaking themselves out of the same dizziness she just experienced as they drew themselves from the rubble.

Ruby grit her teeth and rose to her feet to join them. They were launched into some sort of open square. People were all around them, looking at the destruction they were standing on confused and maybe a little scared. Everything was silent for a moment, then there was a rumble. And then the ground exploded.

Ruby grit her teeth and shook her mind free of whatever thoughts were distracting her because Grimm had just broken into the city and she couldn't get distracted.

The others were already on their feet and were moving backwards as Grimm flooded around the King Taijutsu as it slithered out of the hole. Ruby gripped Crescent Rose a cautiously backed up onto the rectangular white platform that had been part of the square. The other three joined her, each taking up a corner and readying their weapons as the Grimm surrounded them.

Ruby's eye narrowed as the Grimm waited to attack. Not long ago she would have been confused as to why they were waiting, but if recent events were anything to go by, the Grimm were smarter than she gave them credit for. They were waiting for more, waiting to build up their numbers until they could overwhelm her and the others.

Ruby slid back the magazine of her rifle and let a fresh bullet slip into the chamber. She was about to call out to her team mates when suddenly they heard a furious shout coming from above them. The four of them looked up to see a black blur arcing through the sky a moment before it came crashing down on the King Taijutsu's head. As soon as it didn't the creature's head exploded into a rain of black Grimm blood and bone. The black thing that hit it slammed into the ground with a heavy thump that cracked the concrete. At that moment, Ruby recognized it as a person.

The man- no, a teenager from what Ruby could tell, about Yang's age- was dressed mostly in black, which accounted for the blur he had become when he sailed through the air just a moment ago. He wore a black leather vest with five different belts wrapped around his waist and shoulders at different angles. Each belt held throwing knives and little pouches. The only armour he had was a pair of leather pauldrons on each shoulder. Apparently, this guy had a thing for leather. The vest left his arms exposed, showing an incredible amount of muscle, especially for a Hunter.

Aura already augmented a person's strength, so it was incredibly difficult to work hard enough for a Hunter to push their body enough that muscles would form. And this guy was just short of a body builder with the kind of muscle he was packing. Yang's entire fighting style was based on punching and she didn't show one ab or a toned bicep for it. This person clearly didn't have that problem.

His hair was really long for a guy, the thick black hair pulled into a tight ponytail behind his head and dangling below his waist. But even though he had outrageous amounts of muscle for his age and the oddly long hair, it was scars that were his most defining feature. He had three claw marks that stretched from his right eye, down his cheek, and along his neck before stopping at his collar bone. In the centre of his neck where his two clavicles meet was a round, twisted, scar that made Ruby shudder when she looked at it. She didn't have any idea what caused a scar like and she wasn't sure she wanted to.

There were other scars too, along his arms and more on his face. But Ruby didn't get enough time to study those because at that moment the guy let out a growl before jumping forward with a burst of speed. Ruby could barely track him as he had crossed the square and grabbed a Beowulf with his right hand before crushing its head in his grip.

As if roused out of a shock from the Beowulf's death the other Grimm lurched into action, swarming them from all sides. But oddly enough, most seemed to gravitate towards the new comer on the scene.

Ruby pulled the trigger on Crescent Rose and a bullet caused an Ursa's head to explode.

"Come," Ruby urged the others, "Let's help him out."

Ruby leapt forward without waiting for the others, her scythe already in motion.

The great thing about having a large amount of Grimm all bunched up together as they all get in the way of each other when a massive scythe comes barreling towards them.

The scythe cut through about five Beowulfs before it finished its arc at which point Ruby pulled the trigger, the recoil sending her flying to her right, where the pointed pommel of her scythe buried itself in the skull of an Ursa. She planted her boot on its head and kicked off with enough force to send her flipping through the air.

She aimed her landing so that she would slam feet first into one of the subterranean Grimm known as Creep. But she didn't trust her light weight to be enough to kill it, so she slipped her scythe under its neck as she landed, decapitating it as she did so. Then she felt claw rake her back and send her flying forward.

She felt her aura straining to protect her from the attack and the fall. She was very grateful that she was launched away from any gathering of Grimm as she didn't think her aura would hold for long.

She rose off the ground and looked at her attacker, an Alpha Beowulf stalking towards her slowly. Slow enough she could survey the scene as it approached.

There were Grimm everywhere, unsurprisingly. But while Weiss, Blake, and Yang were all over the place fighting them, an unnatural amount were gravitating toward the stranger that had appeared. So much so that she couldn't even see him anymore, just a wall of black where the Grimm were attempting to swarm him.

She glanced upward and saw Bullheads sailing through the sky towards them, but not nearly fast enough. It would still be a minute or two before whoever it was got here.

Ruby twirled the scythe behind her and got ready to release a burst of speed that would catch the Alpha wolf in the crook of her scythe when suddenly the stranger burst forward out of the swarm of Grimm that had been piling on him.

He darted forward thrust his fist through the Alpha Beowulf, his bare hand piecing all the way through it and out the other side. He then twisted and hurled the Grimm's corpse at the charging mass that were turning to follow him.

A boarbatusk was rolling directly at him, but the stranger made no attempt to dodge the attack, instead, he held out his hand and force it to a stop by grabbing its outer armour so hard his fingers sank into it bone plating. He paused for a few second as he got his grip on the Grimm, just long enough to get a clear look at his face.

The first word that came to Ruby's mind was anger. His face was twisted so badly into an expression of rage that she had thought he was about to explode. And that explained why all the Grimm were so dedicated to attacking him. Compare to the four of them, this stranger was probably a beacon of negative emotion to the Grimm. But it didn't seem to be slowing him down.

The stranger suddenly brought down the Boarbatusk down on an Ursa's head so hard that both exploded into black goo. He followed it up grabbing some Creepers and throwing them back at the Grimm horde chasing him.

And Ursa was running up behind him when Ruby fired her scythe and cut it in half with a measured strike. She landed feet first just a foot or two away from the stranger. He punched another Ursa backwards, pushing the horde about twenty feet with its body. They had a few seconds as the Beowulfs, Creepers, and Boarbatusks crawled over it and head toward them.

"Ruby Rose," Ruby told him, taking up a ready position next to him. He shot a sideways glance at her and she met his eyes with her own glance. His were golden in colour, speckled with white dots.

"Nox," he replied gruffly. "Invictus." Ruby smiled a little as she noticed his eyes moving up and down Crescent Rose, lingering a little longer at the bladed end of the scythe.

The Grimm were getting a little closer now. Ruby spun the scythe and planted the pointed edge in the ground to brace it before she started releasing sniper shots to take out the smaller ones.

"I'm better- at taking- them out- one at a time," Ruby said in between shots. She fired once more then stopped to slip in a new magazine. "They're too close together for me to cut down," Ruby stated, cocking back the slide to auto load a fresh bullet. "Think you can break them up?" She asked the last part with another glance toward Nox. His eye narrowed at the approaching horde and he scowled, at them, not her.

"I line them up?" He asked.

"And I'll knock 'em down." Ruby finished. Nox nodded, then burst forward with enough speed he left cracks in the pavement behind him.

What Ruby had not been expecting was for him to literally run straight through them. Nox charged right into the Beowulfs and Ursa without stopping, totally ignoring the Grimm as if they were sheets of paper in his way.

The Grimm scattered as Nox barreled through the hard enough to send some flying in the air above him, the rest were scrambling to get out of his path. Ruby smirked at the now disorganized group of Grimm. She did a mental check of her bullets and plotted a course through them. Then she was in the air with a blaze of rose petals behind her.

She had done stunts like this before, so much so that certain moves had become second nature and barely registered as she whipped and tore through them. Sometimes using their bodies as platforms, other times simply pointing her sniper scythe at one before using the recoil to get to the next one. Ursa required more thought as they were a little tougher. But not much more, just a little more leverage and a little more of using Crescent Rose's weight to do the work for her and their heads rolled just as easily as a Beowulf.

She cut through the last one just a second after she used her last bullet. She landed in a crouch and spun her scythe around, ejecting the clip, sliding in a new one, ejecting the old bullet, and then draping the weapon around her shoulders all in one fluid motion.

It was then she noticed team JNPR had arrived on the scene as well as teamed CFVY. There was a broken mech near the hole where all the Grimm had come from and Atlesian soldiers were dropping down from the sky. Well, that explained why she had run out of Grimm.

She looked around and saw Nox standing on a pile of Grimm corpses, brutally snapping the neck of a Beowulf so hard its head popped all the way off. As its body dropped to the ground Nox looked around angrily for more, but when he saw there wasn't enough to still care about his expression stopped being one of uncontrollable anger and more of mild annoyance. Ruby assumed the bored scowl to be his resting expression.

"Thank for that," Ruby said cheerfully, storing her scythe away on her back and walking up to Nox with her hand outstretched for a handshake. "That was totally awesome how you ran through the Grimm like that. Is that your semblance?"

Nox looked at her like he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing, but he held out a hand to her cautiously.

"Ruby Rose," Nox said slowly. "I remember you from Qrow's pictures."

Ruby blinked. "You know my Uncle?" She asked, a confused look passing over her face. Nox shrugged at her and turned to look at the rest of team RWBY walking toward them. For some reason, Weiss didn't look too happy.

"We've gone drinking together," Nox answered. "Which makes that one Yang." He said with a nodded towards her. Then his eye narrowed. "And Blake Belladonna, former White Fang."

"Wait, how did you know that?" Ruby questioned.

"I've had some disagreements with the White Fang," Nox said dismissively. Then his eye moved to her last teammate as he said, "Which makes her-"

"Nox Invictus!" Weiss yelled at him angrily, shocking everyone as she proceeded walk right up to him and lean in really close to his face before pointing an accusatory finger at him. "What makes you think you can show up in my presence after what you did?"

"You think I want to be in your presence?" Nox asked with a touch of annoyance. He placed a hand on her head and pushed her back a few steps. Not violently, but just enough to get her out of his personal space.

"I was doing my best to never see you or your sister ever again," Nox continued. "Hell, I put a freakin ocean between myself and your family and it still wasn't enough. If anything I thought you might tracking me down."

"Hrmph," Weiss let out indignantly. "As if any Schnee would want to find you."

"Well, your sister would," Nox added dryly. "If for nothing else but to gut me and string me up like a fish."

"Uh, guys?" Ruby interrupted them, her eyebrows drawing together as she got more and more confused by what was going on. "What exactly is between you two?"

Weiss and Nox glared at each other for a few moments and something of an understanding seemed to pass through them. And understanding that neither of them were going to talk about it.

"I've had… a disagreement with the Schnee family." Nox said bitterly.

"If that's what you want to call it," Weiss muttered pointedly with a roll of her eyes. Nox glared back at her.

"Unless there is something else you want to call it," Nox shot back at her. It looked like the two of them were about to go at it again when rubble start flying through the air and buildings started pulling together, signalling the arrival of Professor Goodwitch. Nox suddenly took a step back and glanced around guardly.

"Look," Nox said quickly. "It was nice meeting you and whatever, but I've got to go. Police don't particularly like me, among others." Before any of them could get a word in edgewise Nox darted towards the breach the train had come from and ducked down into the hole, disappearing from sight a few seconds before Glynda brought all the cracked concrete and pavement back together and sealed it again. Cutting them off from going after him.

The four of them shuffled into the elevator silently, Ruby reaching out and pressing the button for Ozpin's office. Ruby looked back at her team mates and gave them an apprehensive look before turning and looking forward at the door.

"So…" Yang began idly. "Anyone got an idea why Ozpin's calling us to his office?"

"Maybe because of whole train incident yesterday?" Blake suggested passively.

"Mmm, I don't think so," Yang said doubtfully. "They already questioned us on that. I was thinking maybe that guy Ruby met yesterday?" Yang's eyebrows shot up suggestively, but no one called her out on it.

"He did leave in a hurry," Blake admitted.

"Let's not forget it was because he didn't like cops," Weiss added bitterly. The other three paused for a moment and looked around at her. "What?" She asked defensively.

"Well…" Ruby began and immediately trailed off.

"The way you two were going at it yesterday…" Yang began.

"It seemed like you two might know each other." Blake finished. Weiss crossed her arms and looked away from them in an attempt to hide her expression.

"He's no one worth mentioning," Weiss stated definitively.

"I don't know Weiss," Ruby said slowly. "He knew things." Yang shot her sister a curious look and asked,

"What kind of things?"

Ruby shrugged. "Well, he said Uncle Qrow showed him pictures of me and you, and he said he shared a drink with him. But Nox didn't look old enough to drink."

"Never stopped me." Yang committed with a grin.

"Yang!" Ruby protested.

"What other thing did he know?" Blake asked with a raised eyebrow. Ruby glanced at her and suddenly looked uncomfortable.

"Well, he knew you were in the White Fang." She mumbled as much as she could while still getting heard. Blake sucked in a breath.

"How?" She asked quickly.

"I don't know," Ruby answered with a defeated shrug. "All he said was that he had 'disagreements' with the White Fang." The four of them paused for a moment and thought that over.

"Which you know," Yang began, "Was also what he said to Weiss about her family." All eyes went back to Weiss who looked a little off balance at the attention.

"H-Hey," Weiss stammered quickly. They noted a little colour rising to her cheek. "Nox Invictus isn't worth anyone's time of day."

"That sounds a lot like something you would say about someone you don't like because they are," Ruby said somewhat innocently. Somewhat.

Weiss looked like she was about to defend her position when the doors of the elevator opened up to reveal Ozpin office. Complete with Ozpin in his chair, Glynda standing just behind him, and an old man smoking a cigar.

"Team RWBY." Ozpin said with a slight smile playing on his lips. "Do come in."

Ruby lead them forward nervously, approaching Ozpin's desk. She subconsciously smoothed over her combat skirt and presented herself with a nervous rock onto her toes then back on her heels.

"Professor Ozpin," Ruby said politely. "What is this about?" In response, the old man standing next to the headmaster's desk turned his head to look at Ozpin, who nodded at him. The man took a drag from his cigar before taking it out of his mouth and releasing a puff of smoke.

"My name is Eolas Invictus," the man said. "And I would like you to hunt down my nephew."