Salem was bewildered, Atlas was currently being torn asunder by two opposing forces. On their west their new leader, Adam Taurus, was crusading globally and annexing significant chunks of every continent in a matter of hours.

And on the other, grimm.

Grimm she's never seen and grimm she cannot control. Salem thought all grimm were under her jurisdiction, but it appears she's but a small piece in a larger puzzle.

The grimm appeared from blue portals coming from the coasts of Atlas, some in the sky and others close to the ground. Swarms upon swarms stormed the field, gargantuan grimm the size of mountains crushed buildings underfoot, flying serpents and disturbing worms that burrow underground, before bursting right from under unsuspecting victims, swallowing them whole.

Salem could do nothing but watch, and wonder what kind of play the gods are playing now.

~~~~ To Adam ~~~~

"King Warlock, Atlas is-"

"I know", Adam stops his underling, "It appears Winchester possesses four of the six stones, and has used the space stone to allow the undiscovered grimm of Vormir onto Atlas". Adam rises from his throne, he began to walk towards a terrace, which would give him a view of Menagerie which he ruled now that neither Sienna nor Ghira were there to stop his divine might.

"I do not understand, your grace" says one of his men, looking down in shame.

Adam doesn't look at him, "Do not be ashamed, for I see things that none of you do right now, but here is all you have to know, pump all possible resources into Atlas, and a shred of said resources into a potent military force, which I will bring to me to Vale"

"V-Vale?! Your majesty, we need you in Atlas!" says Adam's trusted advisor, now distressed.

"If I put my effort into Atlas, Winchester will get the time stone, and I'll be down 5 to 1, I can't allow that to happen, I've discovered this stone too late, but fortunately for me I have a plan in mind" Adam explains, still not looking at his men, "I want the best soldiers with me to Vale immediately, time is of the essence".

"Your majesty, before you leave, you mentioned Winchester, what do our foes have to do with the stones?"

"Cardin, Cardin Winchester, he is taking the role of The Mad Titan, he's collecting the infinity stones, out of the six he has four, he's pursuingthe fifth, in the hands of the Schnee heiress. The sixth, is..." Adam looks at his small council.

"Understood, your grace" Bows his advisor, all others bow as well.

"Cardin unleashed the grimm of Vormir into Atlas because the Mind Stone's energy was there when he was retrieving the Soul Stone AT Vormir itself." Adam snarled, "He will fall, like all other human scum".

~~~~ Cardin's Side ~~~~

In a flash Cardin's former classmates/schoolmates (except for Sun, he's from Haven) ambushed him from all sides, Ruby got the closest to him, at breakneck speed she passed by Cardin, cleaving Crescent Rose in an arc, landing a direct hit on Cardin's unarmored chest, creating a shallow but long wound from his right shoulder to slightly below where his heart is. Ren's arrow finds its way into Cardin's left shoulder.

Cardin roars in pain, holding his wound, from there the others rush in.

"Eat this, bigot!" Yang jumped in, performing a superman punch onto Cardin's face with her prosthetic hand. Cardin stumbles, dazed and hurt, only for Jaune to slide by, slashing the back of his left knee with his sword, Cardin falls down onto one knee, Fox jumps over him, slashing his back. Velvet uses Anesidora, her camera, and conjures up some ribbons, Yatsuhashi holds on to said ribbons, and begins to swing Cardin into the air.

Nora jumps from an elevated platform of sorts (I'm terribly sorry for not mentioning this but they're battling in a junkyard), and hammers Cardin into the ground with a thundering strike. Coco then begins to fire, her gun's relentless firing of bullets bury themselves in, or rip straight through, Cardin's body.

And just like that, Cardin was dead.

"That was, way to easy" says Fox.

"No, it couldn't have been that easy" Sun says, holding his gun-chucks tight, he knew something was wrong.

"Looks like the big bad bully was so weak not even celestial stones could save him from our ultimate awesomeness!" Ruby said gleefully, that was it, it was all over.

Suddenly a cold voice, ominous, sounding like someone was watching them from an outside area, looking in, observing, watching.

"Reality is often disappointing"

"W...W-What?!" Weiss looks at the sky, swaying her head, it was Cardin's unmistakable voice.

"Son of a bitch" Jaune says, he walks over to Cardin's corpse. He buries Crocea Mors into his (Cardin's) chest, only for the cadaver to turn into dust, and for Crocea Mors to rust, and shatter. Jaune stumbles backward, "Fuck!"

A thick red line, which appeared as if it was composed of red colored air, proceeded to take form, breaking the sky and the soil with a blood red strip, it began to move, and suddenly what appeared around them was something else. There was no junkyard, only plains, a vast open green meadow, with reddened soil and dust being blown away by the warm breeze.

"But thanks to your father.." Cardin looks down at his gauntlet, admiring the reality stone. "Reality can be whatever I want".

"This gauntlet was made from Schnee privatized ore, this stone, which allowed me to witness my false end, was taken from Schnee hands.." Thanos looks at all of them, each and every person fighting against him, mouths open out of shock, with the exeception of Yang, Nora and Coco, who were growling in anger.

"You have my respects, Schnee" Cardin activates the soul stone, he looks at Jaune, "can't say the same about everyone else".

Suddenly an orange glow came to be, and from it, warriors took form.

Soul Constructs, puppets who take the form and skill of deceased people, straight from the Soul Stone.

Sun watched in horror as an orange Blake appeared, and others following suit, Ghira, Sienna, Ilia, even those not sacrificed for the soul stone appeared.

Ruby couldn't believe her eyes when she saw Roman Torchwick appear from the orange mist.

But Jaune's heart shattered when he saw that Pyrrha was reborn as one of Cardin's pawns.

"In all of my years of tormenting each and every single one of you..." Cardin looks at all of them, before locking eyes with Velvet, "It was never personal".

Then Cardin smirks.

"But I'll tell you know, what I'm about to do, to you stubborn, annoying little self-inserts..."

"I'm going to enjoy it. Very, very much"

And with that Cardin's soul constructed pawns began attacking.

Cardin sits down on a flat stone, and watches the fight ensue.

~~~~ Secret Lab ~~~~

Penny's eyes open.

"There are no strings on me"

Adam smirks.

"Good"