Disclaimer: RWBY Characters, places and terminologies with the exception of the Original Characters, belongs to Rooster Teeth Productions.


"Keep your distance away from him; I will fight while you look for a way to destroy his armor," Diamo told to Velvet while he kept shooting with his sniper rifle at Copper.

"Understood!" Velvet jumped and dodged their opponent's attacks. He was using energy cannon on his gun in his left hand. They were trying to attack him by surrounding him in the center, but his defenses were impenetrable that felt useless no matter what kind of attack they threw at him. Copper used his sword from his right hand to do huge swings at them I anyone tried to get closer to him. His armor still was glowing red by the effects of Silverium making contact with fire, making him temporally untouchable.

Diamo was trying to analyze him from all angles while still avoiding the energy projectiles. Copper was pretty dangerous as he couldn't stop fighting, it was like one of the tanks from Atlas. Velvet leaped to the cult leader by trying to strike some little gaps between the armor plates. She jumped and took the high ground by standing on the platform while shooting with the pistol. The bullets kept bouncing off due to the armor's strong resistance against anything. Copper returned fire to Velvet but she was fast enough to avoid them, he rushed towards the platform and started to destroy the supports to tear down and make the bunny Faunus falls.

"Come here, you pest!" Copper tried to slice Velvet in the air, but Diamo shot to the cult leader's hand to make him drop the sword. Velvet reacted quickly and kicked him on the head to disorient him. She used the knife to cut the belts that were holding on the leg armor. Those fell while revealing he was using some sort of chainmail of the same material.

Copper's movement was pretty slow due to the armor. Leg movement got pretty faster as he lost some armor from the lower part of the body, still not vulnerable enough. He kept shooting and slashing with both weapons. Velvet and Diamo were struggling to take Copper down. "Tag!" Diamo extended his hand to switch places with the bunny Faunus to fight the cult leader at close range. She grabbed his hand and launched Diamo to the air while aiming his spear towards Copper, performing the "Dragoon Jump" technique. Using gravity as his only way to gain enough momentum to pierce the armor with the drill, the sniper was doing a pretty strong grip and got enough height to fall at full speed, enough power for a single impact. Unfortunately, Copper blocked the attack by crossing both sword and gun, doing a counter that used the knee to hit the sniper on the stomach.

"GAAAH!" He suffered a lot of damage as he was wide open and not even able to cover himself from the attack. As Copper grabbed him from the back and tried to launch him to the fire, sending him flying. Velvet reacted and jumped to catch him in the air while landing on the safe ground. Copper aimed at them, easy targets to use the energy cannon. He unleashed a full blast at them, but Velvet took one of Diamo's metal plates from his backpack to block the attack, barely surviving it.

They got on their feet faster and ran in opposite directions. The sniper rushed to the cult leader and attacking with his spear, he pierced the ground to use his weapon as a pole fixed to the ground. That way he could dodge the attacks easier while disorienting him while Velvet saw the chance to attack from the back. She jumped towards him, and she got on top of the opponent while trying to cut some belts that were attaching the helmet. Copper tried to take her off him, as he grabbed her leg and smashed Velvet against the ground. He tried to do a down thrust but the Faunus rolled sideways and kicked his face.

The sniper swung his spear to hit Copper's nape, finally dealing some damage to him but he would start to become more cautious around him. He was getting exhausted from the fight, as he couldn't hold both of them by himself. "Don't think I'm done yet, rascals." He holstered his sword to favor the gun as he did want either of them to get close to him. He started to shoot at them as he was furious and not caring to aim properly. Velvet and Diamo had to take cover around the camp and hiding.

"This is bad; he won't let us get near as long he keeps using that gun." The sniper commented while peaking.

"What are we going to do? If that weapon is made of Silverium, we can't destroy it that easily. "Isn't another way force him to ditch it?" Velvet asked Diamo in a rather loud tone. He had to put some thought as tried to analyze the weapon by looking at it. So far he could tell was the strange light that was peeping between shots. Copper pulled a lever every time he stopped firing it. The sniper noticed it as some sort of cooldown mechanism. "I may have a plan, but it would require to keep him fire it," Diamo explained while feeling unsure about the plan.

"Alright, I will distract him while you try to not let him pull the lever." Velvet left the cover and start rushing towards Copper, as he smirked by shooting at the Faunus. She tried to run in circles to make some time and make him unsuspicious of Diamo's plan. The cult leader kept shooting at Velvet from random direction until the light started beeping. Copper stopped in order to pull the lever, but the sniper shot the lever by breaking it, unable to cool down the weapon.

The gun was getting overcharged by the stuck energy, forcing Copper to throw it at the sniper. When the gun was doing high-pitched noises, it exploded with a pretty large blast radius. Diamo got away from it and stood next to Velvet while looking at the cult leader, upset about how things went.

"Grrrr… There's no forgiveness for you on the new future…" Copper took out his sword by holding with both hands. "…The Savior won't have mercy on you." He was on guard, ready to fight them with all his strength.

"You can keep your forgiveness because we won't have mercy on you either." Velvet was pretty angry with him, something that Diamo didn't expect to see another side of her.

"I suggest you surrender, or we will make sure you don't go out of this alive." Everyone rushed towards each other. Copper did a long horizontal swing that Velvet jumped above of him while Diamo did a dodge roll under him. The Faunus parried the attacks as to how hard to defend with a big sword. She was able to avoid those slow and predictable blows as the sniper attacked the arms. The armor from the arms started to fall off from the cult leader, only leaving the chest as the last piece of armor. With no more weight to slow him down; his sword got separated into two pieces. He was dual-wielding as he was much faster to attack and defend himself from his enemies.

For an old man, he was pretty agile and gave problems in the fight. He slashed from left to right while parrying Kingston's spear attacks and Velvet's shots. The sniper switched Predator's Eye mode back and forth as he was trying to fight Copper with all his skills. Due to the speed of the cult leader, Diamo used his Semblance to avoid the slashed with more frequency, but it started to tire his eyes. Copper had the advantage as he caught Diamo's guard down by doing some cuts to his hands, making him drop his weapon.

"Crap…!" He kneeled in pain as he was unable to fight. Copper took the opportunity to stab him but he was interrupted by Velvet who stood in front of Diamo. She blocked the swords attack with a knife while using the pistol to shoot the cult leader on the chest. Despite not doing damage, she made him step back and have enough space to get Kingston somewhere safe. "Don't do this, you can't do it alone." He told the Faunus out of concern.

"You don't have to worry about me…" She gave the pistol back to Kingston while she grabbed Predator's Eye. "…I will finish that hypocrite off and help you to get your answers." She was determined to stop Copper by herself, no longer afraid. Velvet was facing him, with fire on her eyes as to how much her race had to suffer from that kind of people on her life. No more people to fight for her, she was ready to finally deal with discrimination of Faunus with her own power.

"So you want to face me alone? You have no idea, bunny." Copper was really eager to make her suffer.

"I'm tired of let other people speak for me, it is my turn now to fight for others." She took a stance with the spear pointing at him. "Don't underestimate me." Copper charged towards while she stayed on the same place, waiting for him to do the first strike. She blocked the attacks as he kept doing fast swings his swords, but she learned Copper's pattern. It was easy to predict his movements as she was looking for another way to destroy the chest armor.

Copper was spinning while extending his swords, an orthodox method but good to not get blind-spotted by the Faunus. She did a slide while changing the weapon to sniper rifle by shooting at his hands, making him drop them. She mounted on his shoulders, using the knife to cut the last couple of belts from the chest piece. He was completely vulnerable, unarmed and unprotected. It wasn't enough for Velvet. She threw Diamo's weapon back to him, as she started to land kicks to the cult leader.

He was losing consciousness and getting a lot of bruises on his face. Copper tried to fight back with punches but Velvet dodged like it was nothing, she jumped and stomped his head until it hit the ground. That was brutal for Copper to fight Velvet, as he kept receiving damage from her.

"You... can't escape... destiny…" The cult leader was on his knees, coughing uncontrollably while looking at the Faunus on the eyes.

"It is not you who can dictates who lives or not." Velvet did a roundhouse kick that sent Copper to the front gate of the camp. Out of fear, he started crawling and opening the gate to escape, but he wasn't expecting another surprise.

"Eeeeh, what's up, Doc? Going somewhere?" Ace was on his way, pushing him back inside the camp. Velvet, Diamo, and Ace were cornering him towards the bonfire. Ace aimed at Copper with 'Friend's Luck' in Fire mode. He wouldn't hesitate to burn him if he doesn't cooperate with the group. "Nowhere to hide or someone to help you: Better speak before I make you a human torch."

"What exactly you want from me…?" Copper was getting out of breath.

"About the people you worked for…" Ace was getting his knife close to the cult leader. "You were working for Merlot Industries; tell us anything you know about them."

"Why you care about them?"

"The 'why' do not concern you. Tell us who those guys are!"

"They are gone…"

"What!?" The travelers replied out of annoyance.

"Merlot Industries were destroyed on Mountain Glenn years ago" Copper snickered. " You damn fools. You are chasing a ghost from a long lost past. If you thought Atlas Division Group was still around, not anymore. Whoever is in charge now, you are just going in circles as it is impossible to find the remaining scientists, as all of them are dead. You would be lucky if you find any alive after so many years." Copper was mocking the group.

"So what? You may still know something about them, for example: How did you get this Silverium on your hands!?"

"Simple, it was a gift from our Savior." The group was frowning in disbelief.

"Tch, again with that…? You are really a delusional person, you know that?" Diamo commented, much to his disappointment.

"I was a non-believer like you; you may think I got all that before leaving Merlot Industries, but no. I saw the Savior who gave me that power and I'm using it until he returns for The End. You may think he is not real, but he really is: He has eyes full with fire and vengeance, a body which no mortal is allowed to touch him, and a power to destroy Grimm in a matter of seconds without flinching. He is The Savior of Remnant!" He was a lost cause, no longer a sane man.

Ace and Diamo were looking at each other, upset that he won't able to tell anything useful as he thinks his 'savior' will help him. Unbelievable that such a hideous person could exist, and there are worse criminals in this world. There was no law to make him pay for his actions until Ace come up with an idea.

"Hey partner, can you tell me what would be the distance between the camp and that waterfall from the east?" Ace asked Diamo.

"Around…6 or 7 yards, probably. Why asking though?"

"I want to make a bet with you."

"No thanks, you always win every time we bet. It is not a good time anyways…"

"No, no, I think it is a good time. You didn't hear yet what kind of bet I'm proposing yet."

"I'm all ears." Diamo started to pay attention to Ace, interested what he had to say.

"I bet you that this crazy old man can surpass the 7 yards before the Grimm could have even the chance to catch him." That leaves Diamo and Velvet with the eyes wide open, almost a madness to leave Copper by his own luck. Despite that, the sniper grinned with a malicious smile.

"I see… and what is the reward if any of us win?"

"I will come up with something later, but for now, don't you want to test it?" Ace could stop smiling, as he really was enjoying the moment.

"If that's the case, I'm betting you he can't even surpass the 6 yards."

"Hey Velvet, don't you want to bet as well?"

"No, I'll just watch for now. You two can start already…" She refused politely.

"Alrighty then, now those clothes off!" Ace and Diamo grabbed Copper and took off his clothes by changing him with some rags that he kept on the shack. They attached some flares and lights around him in a way he can't take them off. Ace dragged him and threw him outside of the gate, with still some Grimm roaming the area. Those monsters saw the cult leader and started to chase him down. The group was on the second floor of the camp's house to see if he was running away from the Grimm. Diamo used his sniper rifle while Ace and Velvet shared the binoculars to witness how far Copper will reach the waterfall before he stops and got eaten.

"2…3 is getting tired; I think I will win this time," Diamo commented in a joking manner.

"Hold your horses, he catching up speed." Ace saw Copper still running. Despite the dangerous terrain, the cult leader was able to avoid the Beowulves pretty good.

Copper kept running as he jumped between rocks, with despair on his back. His fear attracted more Grimm around the area and their numbers of pursuers won't have time for a break. The sniper stopped smiling as how Copper was getting closer to the waterfall. "5…6…and is over 7 yards already. I won the bet again." Ace commented with a huge smile on his face, as he wanted a laugh at how the powerful leader of a cult was trying to survive on the wildness.

Master Copper: Pathetically Running Away for His Life.

"Well, it looks like we are done with this place; take any archives or important papers from the house while I go back to the armory and take some Silverium for us. We can't let any other person use such a dangerous mineral for any reason." Velvet gave back Ace's knife while he walked downstairs and leaving the house. "When you are done here, go to the closest hill outside of the camp. Wait for me there for the little surprise for you." He yelled from outside to them.

Diamo took some boxes with papers and tried to roll the documents to fit in his backpack. Velvet helped around as well while looking at some photos of some scientists, Copper was in the picture along with other two older people. One got like a robotic eye and arm while the other had a huge beard. They didn't look happy about standing next to each other.

"Did you found something?" Diamo asked as he was almost done the packing.

"Nothing, just a picture." Velvet showed it to the sniper, as he was looking closely about every single person that appeared. Besides Copper, those two scientists on the center of it looked important for some reason.

"I will keep it if you don't mind." Diamo grabbed the picture and saved it in his pocket. They were done with the house and leave the camp to go to the appointed place to wait for Ace. They got too much stuff within them and leave the camp. There weren't any Purifiers around and the Grimm kept focusing on Copper from the distance. The woods felt safe for the moment, as they climbed the hill and waited for Ace to come and give the surprise he promised them.

"So what are we going to do now?" Velvet asked the sniper.

"Well first, we are going to take you back to Samsara. Then maybe go and continue with our trip to help Jack." Diamo said as he was contemplating the shattered moon in the sky.

"So it is over huh? When I checked the map, I noticed that we are not far from Samsara. I think we will arrive there for the morning." Velvet commented while paying attention to the woods. "I guess I will try to find a place to contact my team and maybe hoping to come and get your supplies for your trip." Velvet started to see something climbing the hill, it was Ace.

"Sorry for taking too long, but I was making sure no Silverium was left on the camp, and doing the last touches for the surprise. Hope you get ready to be amazing." Ace gave what appeared a detonator for some explosives. "Do you want to make the honors, Velvet?" He handed over the detonator to the bunny Faunus. She grabbed it and started to count three with her fingers. Diamo started to cover his eyes as it may blind him while Ace covered his mouth to hold his laugh for the moment. Velvet did the same thing by covering her bunny ears as the explosion might be too loud for her. She pressed the button.

*KABOOM*

The camp got engulfed in flames as a fireworks factory exploded. The view was one hell of a show as Forever Fall, and maybe Remnant will be free from the Purifiers for a long time. "Huh, the explosion was bigger than expected." Ace started to make a little victory dance, much to Velvet's confusion.

"Ace… what do you mean by 'bigger than expected'?" Diamo raised an eyebrow.

"I had to improvise, as I was trying to recall how to make explosives."

"Making explosives? I thought Quinn refused to teach you how to make them or even get near them."

"He did, but I had to learn it by reading his book of The Anarchist Cookbook when we were at Atlas Academy." Diamo shook his head.

"The Anarchist Cookbook…? I thought that was banned on several kingdoms and cities around Remnant." Velvet commented about it.

"Wait a minute, 'his book'…? Quinn doesn't like to share his belongings to anyone."

"He doesn't…I took it without his permission as I thought it was a regular cookbook. You would be surprised what kind of explosives you can learn from it." Ace said it as how appropriate was for his laidback attitude.

"Well, I can say it blows your mind, huh?" Diamo's joke made Ace facepalm of how bad it was, Velvet didn't mind on the very at least as she chuckled. "What? You always make jokes all the time…was it a bad time?"

"No it wasn't a bad time, but I just don't like puns, alright?" Ace took out a map while pinpointing the direction they must take. "Anyways, we must go to Samsara before breakfast."

"Sure thing, lead the way," Diamo commented as he and Velvet followed Ace to the road, as they shouldn't have any more obstacles to reach the main city of the area. They kept walking while doing small talks to light the mood and getting their friendship closer. They started to see the lights as the night of autumn was almost over.


The sun finally came out after a rough night, and the group was walking on the civilized streets surrounded by sunlight. Shops and restaurants were opening for business hours. They started to feel hunger as they noticed they didn't eat anything for a whole day. Ace and Diamo looked worried as they didn't have enough Lien to pay a meal. Velvet offered to pay the breakfast as it was all she could do for them at the moment. Kingston tried to be modest and refuse the offer but she insisted, both travelers sat and ordered something good and simple.

"Alright, while we wait for the food, I will go and make contact my team. Excuse me for the moment…" Velvet left the table and went to find some public Scroll, leaving only Ace and his partner to talk among themselves.

"Okay, so…what are we going to say to my bro Jack? We couldn't get good answers as those archives and Silverium may not be good enough evidence to fight those guys." Ace got a worried expression as they failed to accomplish their mission.

"Not so sure, I'm reading some of those documents and most of them don't seem useful. Most names got crossed out or else." Diamo commented while taking out papers from his backpack.

"I mean, at least we got Silverium and destroyed the rest of it, but I hate to go and see my bro with the empty hands."

"I know how you feel it, but we did the must could get from this place. The only thing we can hope for the moment is to go to Mistral and reunite with him, Lucy and Quinn and talk about our next move. We might get some luck if Quinn is able to get clues at Atlas because we are wanted for being an accomplice to that incident." Diamo grabbed his glasses and started to clean them, much to show his frustration. "I can't believe that brute went back there, fully knowing that he may get arrested and ruin this mission." He sighed.

"You don't have to call it a mission, partner. We are no longer Huntsmen in training. And yeah, it may not look like the smartest move on Quinn's part, but we know him very well. He might be crazy but not stupid."

"What do you mean?"

"Look from this angle, he maybe got a good reason to come back but we are sure that won't be easy for him. Also good thing Jack is only wanted in Atlas and Vale, Mistral should be good for now to hide until we get everything to find the culprits."

"I just hope he doesn't make things worse for us."

"And you criticize me for calling crazy to my awesome plans."

"Let's be honest, your plans sometimes go beyond expectations." Both travelers laughed about their talk while taking their drinks. After exploring the Forever Fall for a week really helped them to understand better at each other. It was a rare occurrence to finally relax and enjoy a nice meal and talk while goofing around. The food went to the table and Velvet was still busy calling, they must be worried sick about her. They kept talking until Ace started thinking of what happened back at the Purifier's camp.

"Hey, it may not be important, but do you have any idea of what Copper was referring to that 'Savior' of his?" Ace was had a lot of questions wondering around his head.

"To be honest, I couldn't tell you. It is weird for a scientist to be converted or something."

"But he said the Silverium was a gift from him. I think it will be a major problem for us if we don't find who it was."

"I guess that is another question to look for, it will be hard to investigate until we go to talk about it with our leader." Both travelers took another sip as to how upset they were. The only answers they got from Copper's mouth were nothing but preaching a blind faith.

"That aside, what are we going to do with Velvet? We have to take her back to her team and get our supplies. I feel sad as we know we have to part our ways from her."

"That is something we must. We can't let more people get involved in this. I think is for their safety to let them go and doing their job as Huntsmen." Diamo acted as it was more professionalism between him and Velvet.

"I suppose, I don't her to go with us either. Still, I wished we could get more time to talk in peace with Grimm, or a crazy cult going after us without a single break." Ace commented as he knew there was going to be a goodbye after eating their breakfast. Diamo looked at his partner pretty sad, not knowing what could light his mood again. Velvet came back and sat as she finally smelled the food. She looked at the travelers with long faces.

"Is there something wrong, guys?" Velvet asked them.

"Nothing, just starving… So how was your call? Did they answer?" Ace replied.

"Yeah they are fine; you wouldn't imagine how the reaction of my leader Coco after receiving my call was." Velvet said it humorously, as she felt the relief of how good was to hear them again.

"That is good to hear. I suppose we will wait here until they come to Samsara and reunite."

"Actually, I wanted to ask for one last favor."

"What kind of favor?" Ace's eyes got filled with curiosity.

"Well…" She looked at her knees with embarrassment. "I wouldn't mind if you can accompany me to Tint Hills since they are pretty busy to even come here." The travelers looked at each other with surprise.

"We will gladly take you there." Surprisingly, it wasn't Ace who said that but Diamo as he was agreed to help Velvet.

"Seriously? It will take 30 minutes by train and one hour by walking to there."

"Are you sure about it, partner?" Ace was shocked to hear the sniper act that way.

"Yeah, to be honest, I never traveled on the train before, so I wouldn't mind to accompany her for a bit longer," Diamo said it as Ace was thinking that almost out of character for him.

"Thank you so much! I will pay for the tickets too, I promise." Velvet was happy while Ace raised an eyebrow. "Now, let's dig in!" They started to eat their breakfast. It was a pleasant morning as they kept talking funny stories about their respective teams and their misadventures. One of those was Ace trying to sneak around and smuggled some of their favorite drinks from the kitchen to their rooms in the middle of the night. The funny part was he got stuck on the air vents all night as something blocked the exit. Velvet burst into the laugh of how ridiculous was the story.

After done eating, they went to the station to buy tickets and ride the train to travel to Tint Hills. The interior looked nice but it was mostly deserted as not many people take the train to that route. Ace was looking at the windows and admiring the views of Forever Fall while Diamo and Velvet were asleep since they didn't get enough rest from the previous day. The infiltrator smiled at them, of how peaceful those two looked. 'It must be tough to be a Faunus in this world.' Ace was thinking while reflecting on their deceased friend Argent, just by looking at them.

He took out his green bandana from his backpack and wore it on his head, as he almost forgot that he carried it since the beginning. 'Man, I thought I lost this thing for so long.' He felt at home as the bandana was a gift from Jack when they began to attend Atlas Academy in their first year. Ace wished things were like used to be, before start living as fugitives and trying to save the person who calls him as his brother from another mother.

The ride on the train was reaching its destination, Ace started to wake them up as they were getting closer to their stop. They took their backpacks and left the train as they began to walk the road towards Tint Hills. The walk was peaceful as well, as there was no Grimm on the way to bother the group until the end of the road. They weren't much to talk between them since they already were out of topics. 'I wonder how they will feel when they see me again.' After so many obstacles and hardships to get Velvet back, they finally reached Tint Hills safe and sound.

"VELVET!" A lady with a beret and shades run towards the bunny Faunus, with joy on her face along with other two men following her. They hugged Velvet, with tears in their eyes.