The five of them looked at the Strider towering above them, as it looks down at them, too. It lets out a howling sound, before it tries to impale one of them with its long leg. Alas, they had all moved out of the way, and are starting to run in the direction from which they came from. Yang and Ruby had tried shooting the pursuing Strider, but all of the bullets simply bounced off its shell. They had eventually stopped, due to supressing fire from what appear to be ships similar to Dropships in looks, but vastly different, with a horizontal rotor taking up the majority of the backside of the body, a turret doubling for an eye once more, and a strange hole in its underbelly.

"Gunship! Follow me!"

Blake yelled out, as the others complied and ran towards Blake, who was running deeper and deeper into the forest. Both the Gunship and the Strider kept following them, with the Gunship showing the Strider where to go, as to not lose them. Blake kept a keen eye on the Gunship, watching how it fires. She counted 20 rounds per interval, with each break lasting 4 seconds, to allow the turret to charge up for the next firing interval. This will come in useful for when they are forced to fight one. Whilst running, Blake had explained to Ruby and Yang about the intervals of firing, as they nodded to it. And again, the Gunship stopped firing.

"Now!"

Yang started holding Ruby's arm, as Blake used her weapon, Gambol Shroud, to spin Yang, who was propelling herself faster and faster with Amber Celica, her shotgun gauntlets, until she let go of Ruby. Ruby then quickly turned into a spinning red cape, with rose petals forming out of it, before appearing on top of the Gunship. Taking out Crescent Rose, she made some swift movements with it before jabbing it into the Gunship. The magnificent scythe penetrating the armour the Gunship had, made it howl in agony, as it moved swiftly, yet violently in the air, to shake off the girl that hurt it. Yet Ruby was vigilant, and with a well-timed strike once more, the Gunship howled even more, this time sounding distorted.

"I think its working!"

"Keep at it, miss Rose, and you might bring it down! We will distract the Strider for now!"

Nodding to Port's words, she timed the movements of the Gunship once more, and when it was favourable, she went on the attack once more. But this time she went for one of the sacks on its side. The howl of agony was heavily distorted and almost ear piercing. Back on the ground, Oobleck, Port, Blake and Yang were moving left, right, forward and backward from the Strider, which couldn't keep up with them due to its size and the environment its fighting in.

Ruby, who was preparing for yet another, and hopefully final strike, noticed that the armour changed colour, into various shades of blue, yellow and white. Deciding that this was bad, she jumped off, and landed onto a tree, just in time: the Gunship started exploding as a beam of concentrated energy had hit it. Eventually, it crashed infront of the Strider, almost knocking it off balance, as the five of them decided that sticking around any longer will be suicide, especially after what that beam had done to the Gunship. Taking the Strider's confusion into their advantage, they disappeared into the forest before any more reinforcements could arrive. But just as they were about to relax, they heard some... sounds. And they saw some movement from the Citadel, which is visible almost anywhere in City 12.

"Dear lord, I haven't seen the Citadel that lit up ever. This may be due to our little expedition here. The timing would certainly make it a likely possibility, given how we were photographed. Ladies, it appears that while wearing these clothes, we are public enemies of the Combine. I do pray that in our jumpsuits, we are still regular civilians."

Winter Schnee was caught off-guard by this sudden alarm from the Citadel, as she views her monitor to see what exactly is happening. She doesn't get to see a whole lot, save for the few photographs a City Scanner took, and parts of the Citadel moving. Quickly, her screen is replaced by a dark chess figure once more.

"Administrator Schnee, exercise extreme caution. Site Upsilon has been compromised. The Emerald Forest is now under total lockdown. Any noncitizen behaviour that further compromises the goals of the Universal Union will be met with Autonomous Judgement and temporary removal of administratorial privileges. Dismissed."

Winter is beyond furious. This... virus! It's threatening her, yet it holds power if it was able to prevent its deletion, and if it activated the Citadel alarm system. Winter was pacing around her office, beyond angry at this virus. She eventually calms down, sits on the chair, and decides to contact the only man she can trust...

Taiyang and Summer were cleaning up the house when they heard the extremely loud Citadel alarm, echoing all the way to their own home. They can't see the Citadel, but they can hear it all too well. Their confusion suddenly turns into worry: the girls are still out there. But their worries are only slightly eased by the fact that they are being accompanied by two professional Huntsmen of old.

The castle looms above the spawning grounds, as the Grimm mistress watches her children spawn out of pools of bubbling ooze. A certain Grimm monstrosity approaches her. A primarily spherical body with some tentacles presumably keeping it afloat in the air.

"Do you have something to say, child?"

"Yes, your grace. The situation here is... interesting, to say."

"Explain."

"The Citadel had put itself on highest alert, and a Judgement Waiver was just proclaimed. I believe this is the perfect time to set our plan into motion."

"Not yet. I wish to see how this situation develops further before making our move. Until then, continue with your mission. Get people who will follow you onto your side, and then locate Fall. Then, we can consider making a move."

"As your wish. Expect to hear from me in the following days again, your grace."