A year had passed since her appointment as team leader. As Croceas Mors was laid to rest, Pyrrha had clutched the stolen piece of the blade against her chest. A single fragment of her world was all that remained. The small piece of the blade hung from her neck, nestled in the top of her outfits, sharp edge reminding her of the weight she carried, the weight that he had carried. Convincing JNPR to move on had been a daunting task at first. Many nights she had awoken from her nightmare to see her teammates together, sheltering each other from the storm of emotions that consumed her. She remembered feeling a semblance of relief in seeing Nora sleep somewhat peacefully, her small frame pushed up against Ren's. It wasn't long after Beacon's memorial for the fallen that the pair had spoken their feelings to one another. After the long years of not knowing exactly how the other felt and being scared to find out, they had witnessed what it would be like if they never found out for sure. Surprisingly, it had been Ren to speak his heart first, and even though all he had done was touch Nora's nose and say "Boop", it had been enough. The Valkyrie had understood exactly what he meant by the gesture and had wrapped her arms around his neck. Since that night, Nora's bed had lay abandoned, always opting to share with Ren. The two balanced each other perfectly, Nora pushing Ren to try new things and be spontaneous, Ren showing Nora the value of being at peace and finding contentment in routine. Seeing the two of them find a way to push forward had allowed her to do the same, yet in a different way.

Happy to see something truly good come from the tragedy, Pyrrha had taken it upon herself to be the somewhat questionable good to come from it. It was this inspiration that had led her to where she was now, the starry sky half-covered by the passing clouds. Just after midnight, the air was quiet, the warehouse district almost empty. A couple streetlights shone in the distance, providing just enough light to see the emptiness of the area around them.

Crouched in the shadows of the roof of one of the warehouses, Pyrrha looked through the skylight at the group working beneath her, mostly faunus but it was hard to tell behind their masks. They moved the dust quickly and efficiently, much as ants would pick apart the bodies of their prey. The White Fang had continued their operations immediately after the Breach, almost as if nothing had happened, like the lives they lost that day meant nothing to them. While she could admire their tenacity in that respect, she also knew there had to be a point where those losses began to matter. With Torchwick behind bars, the size and quality of the raids had diminished. And each night, each counter-raid chipped away at the edges of the organization, picking away more and more of their dust and men. Even as the thieves became better armed to deal with the interlopers, there was little they could do to stop the vigilante group whenever they showed up. The White Fang knew it, and the huntresses knew it.

And so Pyrrha waited on the roof, listening to her earpiece, waiting for the others to reach their destinations. She was always the first to be in position, usually followed shortly by Weiss, then Blake, Yang and Ruby. Team RWBY had always had the habit of interfering with the White Fang before the Breach, but had increased their intensity following the event. The reasons varied among team members; Weiss believed that they had failed the city by not stopping the trains before they began their move. Blake was always trying to gather more information on every operation to make sure they hadn't missed anything. Yang believed they had been too weak the first time around and was always making a point to prove their growth. Ruby had blamed herself, saying that if she hadn't been captured, the operation would have been discovered with enough time to rally the administration at Beacon and shut everything down before it had even begun.

As Pyrrha reflected on everyone else's reasons for being here, she didn't know if hers was the most noble or most childish. She was here to dismantle a criminal organization in order to help the people, as she had phrased it to herself. But really, she wanted to take every piece they removed from the White Fang and use it to try to lay her world to rest. Every raid foiled, every blow struck against the terrorists was another fragment added to the blade around her neck. Every person in the White Fang was being held responsible for the death of her leader, and she would only stop once she had collected every little piece that hadn't been properly laid to rest.

"Snow in position."

"Shadow in position."

"Golden position."

Pyrrha allowed herself a little grin at Yang's way of reporting in.

"I know we've done this many times before, but please take this seriously," Ruby said over the headset. "Crimson in position."

There was a slight pause before Pyrrha activated her headset, speaking softly, "Strawberry in position," inwardly wondering how she had ended up with that code name.

"All pieces ready to go, begin the operation," Ruby calmly said.

The plan was simple, as always. Yang would bust down a front door or two, drawing the enemy's attention. Blake would support her from the shadows, striking at the enemies too focused on the fiery blond in front to notice the moving darkness behind them. Ruby would slip past the battlefield towards the dust, drawing the attention of the guards that had been left behind to defend the haul while Pyrrha and Weiss efficiently handled any faunus near the cargo. Once the guards were down, they would inspect the stolen goods, confiscating the higher quality pieces and ruining whatever was left. Stealing from thieves had seemed questionable early on in these raids, but over time the group had justified that their actions were allowing the powers of Remnant more time to prepare for the all-out war that was on the horizon. Ozpin had to know about these raids, even if he never said anything to the girls. These was no way the headmaster hadn't noticed the increase in dust and crystals in the school, but he had allowed the raids to continue. In fact, it seemed that he supported the group, their requests for extra supplies for "training purposes" seeming to be filled quicker than the other teams.

When the first explosion sounded throughout the area, Pyrrha pushed such thoughts out of her head. Now was not the time to consider why everyone was here or who knew what. When the second explosion came from the far end of the warehouse, followed by the sound of gunfire, she knew her time was about to come. Creeping closer to the broken skylight, she watched as the ants responded to the invasion. Many of the White Fang departed, heading towards the hallways that guarded the routes to the dust cache. It wasn't long before the sounds of Crescent Rose boomed from beyond the doors, causing the remaining White Fang to stop loading the crates and pick up their weapons instead. Pointed towards the door, they stood no chance against the Spartan that crashed through the skylight, Milo and Akouo in her hands. Landing on one enemy, she pushed off towards the next target. A few managed to get some shots in before being put down by the warrior as she dashed from one masked criminal to the next. Looking around, Pyrrha saw the glyphs that Weiss used as a staircase to enter the room, calmly descending from another skylight. The warehouse they were in was rather large, easily 20,000 square feet overall, shelves stacked high with merchandise. The group's target for tonight hadn't been a small operation, but one that had been allowed to progress for a few weeks, allowing the White Fang to build up their merchandise.

Rummaging through the crates, Weiss inspected the dust and crystals within.

"Nothing special here, clearly going for quantity over quality," she bitterly said as she finished her inspection, stashing some of the crystals and the miniscule bit of rare dust into a messenger bag. "I've already grabbed everything worth taking, it's time to go."

Backing away, Pyrrha was about to push the button on her communicator when she heard a voice.

"Honestly, a bunch of animals. They call this a good haul these days?"

Silence followed, then a short "Yes, I'm aware of how things have been recently. I was arrested, not dead."

Making eye contact, Pyrrha and Weiss hid themselves, slowly creeping through the rows of stolen goods as they moved towards the voice's origin.

Sneaking through the rows, Weiss and Pyrrha located the source of the voice. There, leaning on a cane, stood a man in a white trench coat and bowler hat, looking very displeased at the area around him.

"Honestly," he continued, talking to the air around him, "what is a world-class criminal like myself supposed to do with this lot? These animals provide me nothing but headaches and low quality product, but I feel some fun might be in the works."

"I mean, how often do you get to fight against kids this strong?" he asked, turning towards Pyrrha's hiding place, Melodic Cudgel rising.

Before the first shot rang out, she was already moving.

As the first dust-infused shot landed on her previous hiding spot, she racked her brain for a quick solution to closing the distance between them. Her weapons and style were better suited for close combat, but as another shot sped towards her cover, she was forced to dive away and take cover.

"Oh come on," he taunted, "I just got a new dust chamber in this, I wanna see what it does."

As the next shot rang out, the projectile appeared to be blue and instead of exploding, the area impacted by this shot froze over, spikes of ice sticking out dangerously in the direction the shot was heading.

"Well now, that was neat. I wonder what this one does."

Hearing the dust chamber spin, she saw Weiss's glyph appear underneath her resembling the hands of a clock beginning to spin faster. As the report from Melodic Cudgel rang out, Pyrrha was already moving past it towards its owner. The little ball of electricity passed by her, proximity causing a few static shocks on her arm as she dove past it. She stopped herself in front of the escaped criminal, intent to subdue him and put his back behind bars. But as she readied Milo for an incapacitating blow instead of a lethal one, she remembered that this man had been arrested for more than just theft. His charges included trying to destroy the city of Vale by leading the subterranean Grimm into its midst. By shattering her world. By taking him from her. If nothing else, Roman's attack had succeeded in that regard. At least one person that day had been ruined, future hopes and dreams crushed under the assault of the beasts. However, he hadn't planned to find himself staring down those people. And yet, he looked completely unconcerned as Milo's blade was brought to bear against him, didn't even move his the spear buried itself into his chest, all thoughts of subjugation cast aside. And as Milo pierced Roman's body, Pyrrha watched as the illusion shattered into pieces around her.

"I was being serious," he said, standing next to a girl with brown, white and pink hair, "How often do you get to fight against opponents like this?"

At his side, Neo just cocked her head to the side and grinned, the irises of her eyes changing to match her hair. Pushing off again, Pyrrha dashed towards the pair, intent on impaling Roman upon her spear. As she neared her target, a closed parasol deflected her strike, followed by a swift kick to her chest. Despite being pushed back by the blow, the pain hardly registered in Pyrrha's mind. With only the destructor of her life in her sight, she surged back in, feeling the effect of Weiss's haste glyph starting to taper off. As she crashed back towards the duo, she threw Akouo towards Neo, the sharpened edge aiming for the girl's neck. Even in her bloodlust, she knew that unless she got through this lapdog she would never reach her intended target. As the parasol nonchalantly came up to block the disc, Pyrrha used her semblance to turn the shield sideways, effectively bypassing the umbrella. As the image of Neo shattered, Akouo immediately began its return to its owner, preparing to defend against the oncoming counterattack.

As the shield neared its bearer, a parasol crashed down upon it, pinning it to the ground. Despite the small cut on her neck, Neo just cocked her sideways and smiled at Pyrrha. With a change in her eye color, Neo began attacking Pyrrha. Despite her small stature, her kicks ricocheted powerfully off of Pyrrha's gauntlets, continuing to press the Spartan back. Spear met umbrella as the two attacked each other, neither yielding to the other. Every blow was met with a counter-blow, every move like that of a choreographed routine.

The Invincible Girl versus the most deadly silence Remnant had seen in waking history. Pyrrha might not be as physically strong as Yang, but she made up for it with her ability to change her assault on the fly, compensating for every missed strike, preparing a defensive response every time her attacks struck nothing the air where the girl had been moments before. Despite the years of traditional training, Pyrrha was unable to land a solid blow against the smaller girl. As the pair moved up and down the rows, merchandise being knocked from the shelves and littering the ground, neither was able to gain the upper hand.

In the background, Roman faced off against the Schnee princess, each unable to support their partner any longer while facing the other. Even as Weiss pushed against him, years of training fueling her every hit, the criminal had managed to guard against every blow, blocking every lunge with his cane, turning aside deadly strikes with simple movements of his weapon. For a man that preferred to stay out of the fray and let others do his work for him, Roman Torchwick was far from helpless when it came to handling himself up close. Sparks flew as the weapons collided, Myrtenaster changing colors as Weiss cycled the dust in the chamber, switching between types to keep her opponent off guard. Any attempt she had made to use her glyphs had been ended quickly by the shots from Roman's newly-enhanced cane. The new types of ballistics had significantly increased the power behind each shot, and while she was able to respond in time with the opposing type of dust, she had never been able to concentrate enough to use her semblance in any useful way. With distance fighting out of the question, Weiss had been staying on the criminal, too close for him to fire off his dust rounds. As this pair went back and forth, their dance didn't cover ground like the other's did, rather they slowly revolved around a single open area. The edge of the area showed many signs of dust abuse, blackened spots where electricity had struck before dissipating, smalls fires attempting to spread but burning out, shelves bent and torn as the ice had ricocheted from them. Pushing Weiss pack, Roman fired a red dust-infused shot at her before smirking, "You know princess, if I had known you were this good of a dancer, I might have arranged this meeting a lot sooner."

Ignoring the comment, Weiss didn't waste any of the scant time the thief had provided her. As the smoke from the blast cleared, Roman was hardly surprised to see the white glyph in front of his opponent. Even as the glyphs surrounded him in every direction, he seemed unconcerned. As Weiss began bouncing from glyph to glyph, his eyes seemed able to track her movements, dust-infused cane rising to every challenge Myrtenaster brought forth. Using the curved end of his weapon to block a high strike, Roman aimed low as he fired, the dust enchanted projectile aiming towards where Weiss should be next appearing. As the smoke cleared from the fired round, he noticed the globe of ice that surrounded and protected his intended target from the shot. As he prepared his next attack, he began to feel his muscles slow, movements not quite as coordinated as they had been. It felt as if the very air around him had lowered in temperature, the cold slowing his movement and perception of his surroundings. He watched in slow motion as Neo and Pyrrha came crashing through another shelf, landing a few feet away from the pair. As he glanced at the duo and noticed the glyph spanning the length between himself and his subordinate, he knew that the fight was over with. For now.

"Neo, sweetheart, I would highly suggest guarding right about now," he said, voice free of concern as the temperature started to change, "You wouldn't want to catch a cold, would you?"

As Neo looked to her boss, she realized what was happening in the air and on the ground around her. As the cold closed in on her body, her only reaction was to pout that the fun was over.

Pyrrha leapt out of the glyph moments before the attack went off, using her semblance to accelerate her departure from the area. She had seen Weiss use this glyph only a few times before and she knew better than to be caught in it. As the area above the glyph snapped into a frozen state, Pyrrha searched for the ice sphere that Weiss used to protect herself, knowing the immense drain the Flash Freeze imposed upon the huntress. Spotting the orb next to a frozen Roman, Pyrrha dashed over as a semi-conscious Weiss dissolved the sphere and stumbled to the ground. The Ice Queen Specialty (as Yang called it) was able to temporarily freeze an entire area of the battlefield, but creating and maintaining the frozen space put an immense burden on the user and was only deployed as a last resort. Pulling the Schnee onto her back, Pyrrha began looking for an exit. From the commotion in the hallways, the rest of RWBY had broken off their assault, expecting the pair to have long since finished their task. Pyrrha scanned the room, eyes resting on a door near the back. Pushing through it, she found herself in a corridor that ran the length of back of the building, exit sign glowing red at the other end.

"Of course it'd be down there," Pyrrha muttered to herself, closing the door behind her. The corridor's lights flickered into existence as the motion sensors picked up the pair's entrance. Not all of the lights came on however, lending the pathway an eerie, half-shadowed appearance. The path was an emergency exit, the walls on either side being flat panels with no other doors all the way down.

Trudging forward with the burden on her back, she listened to the noise behind her. The Flash Freeze wouldn't last long against criminal duo's auras, but it should last long enough for them to make it to the door and outside. She activated her earpiece and spoke, "Strawberry and Snow moving towards the rear exit to the building. Snow is down, need backup."

Radio silence was all that responded as she pushed towards the exit. The noise behind her started to calm down and she knew that it wouldn't be long before the White Fang was racing down the corridor after her. As she reached the door, she turned the handle and pushed, only to be met with resistance as it didn't open. Setting Weiss down against the wall, Pyrrha turned the handle and slammed her shoulder into it, but the door refused to budge. Upon inspecting the door, she noticed that it had been locked electromagnetically, and even with her own use of magnetic fields she wouldn't be able to get the bars between the door and the frame to budge. Still, she had to try, the effects of the Flash Freeze surely having worn off by now. Turning the handle, she tried pulling at the metal inside while pushing into the door. Continuing its stubborn resistance, she radioed again as she strained against the door.

"Anyone that can hear me, Strawberry and Snow need extraction. Rear of building," she grunted as she pushed again, "Door won't budge."

As she finished her message, she heard the click of a door echo down the hallway.

'No no no,' she thought, turning towards the sound. At the other end of the corridor, she spotted a single figure silhouetted in the entranceway. One with a parasol over their shoulder.

"Need extraction, now!" she yelled into her headset, panic beginning to set in as high heels echoed off the wall.

Like a cat with a mouse, Neo stalked down the corridor, emphasizing each step, grinning as her prey reacted to the sound of her drawing closer. Almost silently, Neo drew the hidden blade from the umbrella's shaft, slowly, deliberately as she passed thorugh the light and dark of the hallway. The grin disappeared when a click resounded through the corridor, one that hadn't come from her heels.

Pyrrha was instantly in motion, grabbing Weiss's limp form around the waist and hauling her over her shoulder. The heiress wouldn't be pleased about it later, but now was not the time to worry about that. Turning the handle as she slammed her shoulder into it, Pyrrha burst through the now unlocked door into the night. As she slammed it shut, another click was heard as something crashed into the other side.

"Strawberry!"

Pyrrha turned towards the voice, green eyes meeting amber. Blake was in the shadows by the door, scroll out with a program on the screen used for cracking security networks. Pyrrha had never asked where Blake got it or why she had it, but right now she was thankful that the girl had such a thing.

"Where are the others? We need to go. Now," Pyrrha commanded.

"We split up to cover more of the building's exits in case you came out somewhere you didn't expect to. Rendezvous point is this way, I'll call them over."

Beginning to struggle under the girl's weight as the adrenaline wore off, Pyrrha took off with Blake, the pair trio moving as quickly and quietly as they could, slight moans emanating from Weiss's slumped form. They arrived at their destination shortly, an alleyway just off the main street to the warehouse district. Setting Weiss down against the wall, Pyrrha slid down it herself until she was seated next to the white-haired girl. As she recalled the events of the night, a gust of wind brought a whirlwind of petals into the alley. Looking up, she recognized the black and red combat skirt and cape of Ruby Rose.

"What happened to you guys? Normally you're in and out and done before we even get halfway through our thing but tonight it seemed like you took forever and we were beginning to get worried so we split up and oh my gosh is Weiss hurt what happened Pyrrha talk to me," Ruby rattled off, talking at a speed that matched her entrance to the alley.

"We're fine, for now, but we need to get Yang and get out, sooner rather than later. I'll explain in detail when we get back to Beacon, but the short version is Torchwick showed up and it went downhill from there."

Blake's eyes narrowed at the name. "He's supposed to be locked up."

"Yes, I'm aware, but he's not. Weiss fought him and-"

Pyrrha was interrupted by the blonde that crashed into the ground next to her, seeming to have jumped down from the roof above them. "There's no one up top, but there's a rowdy crowdy coming this way. You guys must have really picked up something good," Yang said, looking expectantly at Pyrrha. When she noticed the unconscious Weiss, her demeanor changed, "What happened to her?"

Pyrrha sighed, "Long story. Torchwick, fighting, White Fang, we need to go. Now."

"Torchwick? Isn't he locked up?" Yang asked.

"Yes! Well, no, not anymore. Weiss fought him, we had to Flash Freeze and get out, and that 'rowdy crowdy' as you put it is coming to finish what we ran away from. Can we please leave now?"

Yang bent down to scoop up the heiress as Ruby extended her hand to the Spartan. In the distance, they could hear the noise coming from the White Fang as they closed in on their position. "Yes, let's go," Ruby commanded. Despite being the youngest, she had been team leader for over a year now and now spoke more sure of herself when giving orders.

Yang shifted Weiss comfortably on her back as Pyrrha stood and the group sped off towards the safety of Beacon. Behind them, the sound of the mob faded away, the dim lights and haggard streets of the warehouse district melting into the more residential areas. The streets were better maintained here, and it wasn't long before the spire of Beacon was in sight. The girls continued speeding towards home, not slowing down until they had crossed onto the grounds. Even in the city, there was a chance that the White Fang would strike at them, but on these grounds they were safe. The group headed towards the dormitories, entering into team RWBY's room as quickly as they could. Yang placed the still unconscious Weiss onto a bed as Pyrrha collapsed on another, adrenaline finally wearing off and exhaustion overcoming her. Her aura was certainly low at this point, but not as depleted as Weiss's.

After Weiss had been put under her covers, Ruby, Blake and Yang approached Pyrrha.

"So what happened?" Yang asked.

Pyrrha began retelling the events of the night, having practiced this report during the trip back to the school. Giving every detail she could, she noticed Yang's temper flare a bit when she mentioned the umbrella henchwoman. Ending her tale with her escape through the door, Pyrrha looked at Blake.

"By the way, thanks for getting that door open," she said, "If you hadn't gotten through the security on it, Weiss and I probably wouldn't be here right now."

Instead of accepting the thanks, Blake looked at Pyrrha. "I didn't get the door open. I thought that was you."

Now it was Pyrrha's turn to be confused. If Blake hadn't saved them, who had?

A/N: Well that came out longer than anticipated. Hopefully next chapter will be up next Friday, but seeing as I'll probably re-write the whole thing like I did this one, it might be delayed a while.