Knights of Remnant

by Frogy117

All is safe, all is well. The Shadow Troopers have had three months to fit into the peaceful lifestyle they have with team RWBY. Between classes and hanging out, it seems that nothing will disturb the calm they have reached, but it isn't over. Despite their pain, losses and hardships suffered, their past comes back to haunt them.

10. Chapter 9

-Shadow 3rd Person POV-

Shadow just started spraying. He hadn't fully regained his bearings and wasn't ready to process what was happening. Training is what got him to crawl for his Deece and open fire. He didn't even control his ammunition, just wasting his magazine as a form of suppressive fire. Finally, his vision began to clear and he entered reality. He was on both knees, one handing his Deece. His body hurt all over, specifically the back of his right shoulder and neck. That was probably what he had landed on seconds after he was sent into the air.

Shadow slid his empty magazine out, replacing it with a fresh one as he got onto his feet. He stopped firing, levelling his weapon everywhere. He had figured out what hit him; It was a rocket. The question was who fired it. He scanned the crowd in front of him. He and Jared had opened up on the gangsters, killing around a dozen. They were retreating into the warehouse now, weapons out, returning fire.

"Damn it!" Shadow heard Jared edging up behind him. "It's a trap!"

"I honestly doubt these gangsters were smart enough to set this up!" Shadow remarked as he fired off a few bursts.

"Shadow, move!" Jared yelled.

Shadow felt his comrade tackle him, only to have a wave of heat wash over them. Shadow sprawled over the pavement, getting to his feet as fast as he could. Jared was already up, laying down some suppressive fire. He was also giving orders on comms.

"Where the hell are those rockets coming from?"

-GT 3rd Person POV-

"Shadow, Jared!" GT called over the commlink. "What's going on down there?"

Gunfire had started up, and GT and TJ were already laying down some cover fire, but something was wrong.

"Sniper team, hostile rocket trooper!" Jared's voice came loud and clear. "Unknown location!"

"I don't see him." GT gritted his teeth, fanning his scope everywhere. "TJ?"

"No." TJ replied.

"Team JNPR, get in there!" Shadow barked. "RWBY, we need some support."

"We're going in!" Jaune stated.

"Coming to assist!" Ruby acknowledged.

Another rocket explosion nearly killed Shadow and Jared. This time, GT tried to trace the shot. He cursed himself when he failed to do so.

"Wait, I got him," TJ said. "Back of the warehouse. You can get an eye line through the top right window."

GT lined his scope up. Sure enough, a figure stood in the shadows at the rear of the warehouse. He seemed to be standing on a pile of crates.

"Yeah, I see him," GT zoomed in more. "Looks like he is using a Plex."

"I don't care, take him out!" Jared exclaimed.

"Opening fire." GT announced as he pulled the trigger.

He and TJ fired consecutively, one at a time. The figure ducked as the first few shots flew. Then he popped back up again, this time his silhouette looked as if he were looking straight at GT. A flash of light from his PLX-1 told him why. GT rolled to his feet and dived away from the edge of the roof, the rocket taking the entire section he had been occupying moments ago. He turned to his right, seeing a similar case happen to TJ.

"We're compromised." TJ sounded like he had the air knocked out of him.

"Down the lines?" GT asked.

"Yes, go, go, go!"

GT hooked his Deece to his belt and attached his steel grip to the already set up rappel line. As soon as it was secure, GT leaped off the roof, fast roping down the building.

-Jaune 3rd Person POV-

Pyrrha was the first one to go, bashing through the rear door with her shield Akoúo first, with Miló in rifle mode. She fanned the area as the rest of the group entered. As expected, they caught a lot of gangsters by surprise. Also as expected, Nora was the first to attack. In multiple long swings she swung around her torso, waist and head, she knocked down eleven attackers immediately. Ren went next, spinning into two kicks to take out four more. Jaune actually didn't find him doing much work. He mainly kept his shield up giving callouts to the rest of the group.

"Ren, behind you!" Jaune called out to his teammate.

Ren turned, seeing his attacker with a rifle. He leapt up into a backflip, landing behind the shooter, then launched his knee up to the attacker's jaw as he turned. Shots started coming down at them from the ceiling. Jaune raised his shield, peeking over when he had the chance. The catwalks.

"Nora, up!" Jaune ordered.

Nora rolled out of cover into a crouch, her hammer folding itself into a grenade launcher. As soon as it leveled with her hip, she fired at the catwalks. Pink dust explosions rattled the catwalks, breaking them off their supports and sending them tumbling down. Jaune moved behind a large stack of crates to avoid the debris.

"Jaune, look out!" Pyrrha called.

Jaune turned to three swordsmen, raising his shield to block the first blow. He stepped back, avoiding the second. These men had lots of denim on them, and did not seem to be proper. Their attacks were unpracticed as well, looking like random gangbangers off the street. Good thing Jaune had been training though.

He charged unexpectedly this time, bashing one man in the chest and sending him onto his back. He slashed at the second one, spinning to backhand with his shield, then ended it by slamming the hilt of his blade to the side of his head. By the time Jaune turned to face the third, Pyrrha already had him in a headlock with her spear. She spun around and threw him off, sending him into a pile of crates.

The catwalks created more of a maze than the warehouse was before, some landing diagonally to block off paths and raise walls. It was too easy to separate. The team was stronger together.

"Guys, stay together!" Jaune called out to his team. "Don't get separated-"

Jaune's command was cut off by a hard hit to his jaw. He didn't know what hit him, but it was strong. He fell onto his side, vision blurry, striving to look up. He couldn't see in detail, but he would have bet anything that it was one of those Clone Troopers standing over him. He was huge. Jaune had fought them before, but this guy was noticeably buffer.

"Jaune!" Ren called out as he passed right over Jaune in a jump kick.

The Clone stepped sideways, avoiding Ren. He drew two weapons, seeming to look like some sort of SMGs, lining up on Ren as quickly as possible. Luckily, Ren was fast. Ren dashed forwards and lept up, swinging his right leg right, then left, knocking the SMGs to safety. Strobes of yellow light flared as the Clone tried to aim again, this time, pulling the trigger. Ren pushed the guns up to the ceiling, the SMGs hitting the lights above. Glass came down, along with sparks threatening to light the area on fire. Jaune raised his shield above his head in protection, still keeping an eye on Ren.

From here, he could see the Clone clearly. He had white armor obviously, but had a bulkier version, the helmet having a more simple and sleek T-slit visor. He had some sort of eyepiece over his right eye and blue markings throughout his arms and helmet. He wore a pauldron, similar to Shadow's, but thicker, having some extra armor plating and ammunition pouches over his arms and chest. Around his legs, he wore some sort of… skirt? It was also similar to what Shadow had, except this was longer and had its ends attached to his ankles.

Ren came forward, slashing left and right at the Clone's torso with the blades mounted on his Stormflower SMGs. The Clone took one hit, the blade seeming to only graze his armor, then stepped back. Ren spun into a sidekick but the Clone saw it coming, bringing his forearm to block the kick. He jammed the barrel of his other SMG into Ren's torso, knocking Ren to a crouch, then booted him in the face.

Seeing the opportunity, Jaune attacked, coming forward into a swing. The Clone turned right towards Jaune and knocked the oncoming sword off its intended path. His other weapon lined up on his hip and opened fire. Jaune's torso would have been filled with lasers if Pyrrha hadn't gotten in the way with her shield. The Clone kept up the fire, then turned to Ren, as if he saw Ren through the back of his head.

Ren opened fire from his spot in full auto. Shots came in a wide spread, but the Clone returned fire, only twitching when multiple shots seemed to ricochet off his pauldron and plating. Ren dashed for cover, shots trailing mere inches, or even centimeters behind him. With his attention on Ren, Pyrrha lunged at him, bringing her weapon in its short sword form. Then something landed in front of her, Pyrrha raising her shield to block as she ran into it. It didn't even budge despite Pyrrha's momentum. In fact, Pyrrha bounced back a bit on contract. Pyrrha lowered her shield a little bit, just to see who was there. Jaune saw it. It was another Clone. It looked almost exactly like the other one, having its shoulder out to meet Pyrrha's shield. He looked at his comrade, seeming to communicate telepathically. Then the new Clone booted the shield, sending Pyrrha skidding back towards Jaune. Then he charged, the other Clone focusing on Ren, and now Nora, who had appeared in the fight. Jaune had a really bad feeling about this. He hadn't seen many deadly opponents, and he was certainly looking at them now.

-Yang 3rd Person POV-

"Where is that coming from!" Yang exclaimed after just coming out of a roll.

A blast heated her back. She was certainly glad she moved, looking at the pavement. Rockets were flying everywhere, and Team RWBY was out in the open.

"It's coming from the warehouse!" Blake answered as she leapt back from her spot, leaving behind a rock copy of herself. A rocket impacted right where the copy was, incinerating the rock and leaving a crater in the pavement.

"Where the heck is TJ and GT!" Weiss opened a glyph in front of her, letting a rocket impact on it. "Aren't they supposed to be covering us?"

Weiss opened multiple glyphs, spinning, then swinging her rapier forward. Dust formed around her and the glyphs fired six dust projectiles at the warehouse. Yang knew she couldn't see where the shooter was, but some suppression was better than none. Yang got up and fired her Ember Cecilias again and again, until another rocket forced her to dive right.

"Some rockets went towards the spots the Twins were sniping from," Ruby said. "They might be down right now!"

"Well, we can't keep doing this!" Yang stated, firing three more shots.

"We have to get to Shadow!" Blake said. "They are under fire at the further up ahead!"

Another few salvos rocket blasted in between the group, kicking up smoke, ash and debris. Yang raised her arms to protect her face and shield her eyes from the dust.

"You want to charge at that?" Weiss scolded Blake.

"They need help," Blake shot back. "We just need to get closer!"

"And how do you propose we do that?"

Blake was right. They did need to help Shadow and Jared. Yang could see the duo a little less than two hundred meters ahead in crouched positions, shooting back at hostiles in the warehouse. They seemed to be taking fire from blue lasers. As this was an arms deal, that could have been anyone tonight, but Yang recognized the type of spraying and suppression on the Shadow Troopers all too well. It was the same guys that she and Jared fought on the island; the ones that killed so many Atlesian soldiers and helped the White Fang steal weapons.

"Spread out!" Ruby ordered. "They can't target all of us!"

"They can target one of us." Weiss pointed out.

"Then we'll cover you," A voice came up from behind them.

Yang turned around to see GT and TJ arriving out of a sprint.

"We'll suppress the rocket trooper," GT stated. "Get moving as soon as you can."

"Just get them to fall back," TJ added. "For some reason, we couldn't raise anyone up on the comms."

"We are retreating?" Blake asked.

"There is no point in fighting," GT replied. "Authorities should be arriving soon. There is no way they are missing this."

Another explosion thudded behind them as a rocket overshot the group. GT aimed his Deece in its sniper configuration, firing off two rounds.

"Get going!" TJ barked as he joined his brother."

"Let's go!" Ruby motioned the team. Yang followed as they sprinted to help Shadow and Jared.

-Shadow 3rd Person POV-

"Two tangos coming off our 10 o'clock!" Shadow called out, crouching next to a pile of dead gangsters. He opened fire, letting off longer bursts. The enemies were trying to suppress them.

"Agh," Jared hopped to his right. "At least the son of a bitch with a rocket stopped aiming at us."

Shadow exposed himself a bit just to get a proper shot on the shooters. Blue lasers came almost directly at him, spraying all over his general direction. He felt one shot bounce off his pauldron, throwing his aim off a bit. Another shot deflected off the hood, not without smacking the side of his head first. There was probably a mark, but that was much better than the smoking hole that would have been there if not for the hood. Shadow sprayed back, getting a dozen shots off before another shot scarred the side of his Deece. Sparks flew up into his face and eyes as the metal burned away and the Deece's computer systems fried. Shadow cussed himself out as he dropped to his side, completely under the protection of the corpses.

"Shadow!" Jared cried. "You still in this fight?!"

Shadow rubbed his eyes and cleared his face. His vision was fine, and any damage the sparks did to his face would be negated by his aura. He looked down at his DC-17M, inspecting it with restrained glances. All systems were not responding, and it was not linking up with his HUD. He even tried pulling the trigger a few times, not getting any response.

"Shit, they shot out my Deece!" Shadow grunted, magnetizing his 17M to his back and drawing his DC-17B sidearms. "They certainly know how to fucking suppress!"

"Same guys from the island assault," Jared noted as he slapped a fresh magazine into his Deece and started returning fire. "Watch out, they are popping smoke. They are gonna advance!"

"Like hell they are." Shadow muttered as he primed a thermal grenade. "Grenade out!" He warned as he threw it into the fray.

"I didn't see any shadows in the flash," Jared shook his head, referring to the explosion. "I got nothing on thermal imaging."

All of a sudden, the spraying started again, emerging from the smoke like lightning from thunder clouds. Shadow caught them on motion tracker, but something else caught his eye. Something far off to the left of the compound, a figure stood barely in the open, gleaming in the moonlight. Shadow instantly recognized it as Phase I ARC Trooper armor, bearing the markings of a Captain. Not many troops stuck to the Phase I variant, and with the chilling information he had received about a new player in Atlas, this could only confirm his suspicions. He may have been looking at one of the deadliest targets ever. The figure disappeared into the shadows behind him, slowly and discreetly, almost like he was taunting Shadow. It was at this moment Team RWBY arrived.

"Shadow, Jared! We are here!" Yang announced as she fired a few rounds into the smoke. The rest of Team RWBY started to form up on Jared, then extend to reach over to Shadow as well, but Shadow had different ideas.

"C'mon, we have to retreat!" Blake called out.

"Negative," Shadow replied, "Jared, stay here with the girls and engage the oncoming tangos."

"You want us to do what?" Jared turned to Shadow, his tone in shock.

"Give me some cover fire while you are at it." Shadow added as he got on two feet and prepared to sprint.

"And just where the hell do you think you are going?"

"Cover me, now!"

-Team RWBY 3rd Person POV-

"Shadow! Shadow, what the fuck!" Blake heard Jared scream at the sprinting away Shadow Trooper. "Shit! Girls, cover him!"

Blake opened fire with Gambol Shroud in its pistol form, trying to target the strobes of blue muzzle flashes in the smoke. She honestly couldn't tell if she was hitting anything, but she was more focused on Shadow sprinting away.

"Blake, look out!" Jared called out.

Blake turned back towards the smoke, staring into the oncoming elbow of a Clone Trooper.

Wham!

"Blake!" Yang cried as she charged the Clone.

She fired two rounds at him, both missing their marks as he moved. His rifle levelled quick though, faster than Yang anticipated. If it wasn't for Jared letting loose on the Clone, she probably would have been filled with laser bolts by now. The Clone took shots like a tank, ricocheting off his armor. By now, Yang reached him, throwing herself into a side flip, kicking his rifle downwards as she landed and smacking him right in the face. She threw another punch and another. Her last one she put her might into it, throwing her entire body weight into it, but he was ready. Moving like a blur, the Clone deflected her fist and grabbed it by the wrist, pulling past him fast and launching his ready fist into Yang's cheek.

Yang felt a crack, and almost blacked out from the blow, feeling it up her jaw. She felt like she almost had her neck snapped. No, she did almost have her neck snap. It would have been the case if Jared wasn't there. He grabbed the Clone around the neck, trying to bring him into a choke hold, but the Clone was fast, jamming his elbow into Jared's ribs and spinning around into three rapid fire punches from lower torso to high. He kicked Jared back.

Yang charged again, spinning into a jump kick. The Clone caught it mid air, slamming his free arm into Yang's thigh and twisting her body, slamming her to the ground face first.

Blake leaped at the Clone, ready to attack once she saw Yang hit the ground and tumble around the cement. Gambol Shroud was in its dual mode; cleaver in her left, katana in her right. She swung both as soon as she was in range, threatening a slash to his throat. The Clone ducked under the slash and came up at Blake's torso, grabbing her around the waist and catching her. He brought her up, down down onto the hard pavement, Blake feeling the ground meet the back of her skull like a freight train. She felt herself turned on her back, arm being straightened and shoved in an awkward position as he pinned her, threatening to break her arm. Then Weiss came in.

Weiss kicked the Clone right off Blake, sending him into a tumble. He quickly got to his feet before Weiss closed the gap, avoiding Weiss's spinning slashes. He came into one of them, Weiss spinning into a kick to force him back. The kick didn't stop him though. He forced his way through Weiss, his fist making contact with her belly. Weiss swore that he was going to somehow penetrate the skin with his bare hands, but only felt the sick and painful knot of her gut. She felt the same hand grab her by the jaw and send her into the ground.

Ruby dashed in to protect Weiss, slamming the Clone away. He dropped his rifle, quickly drawing a smaller carbine blaster and started firing away and Ruby. She dashed left and right, turning into rose petals as every salvo of shots. Then she lunged into a double swing, bringing her Scythe around her body. The Clone leaned back, kicking her forward knee to bend. Ruby fell to a crouch and felt the barrel of his weapon knock her right across her face. She stumbled back, falling on her butt. She was certain that he would have finished her, but then Yang grabbed him, getting her arms under his, and her hands behind his head. She locked the grip, and the Clone dropped his weapon. Ruby got to her feet, hoping to help her.

Whizz!

A shot flew past her and at the Clone, smacking his extra armor plating. It looked like it hurt, but the shot didn't appear to penetrate the plating. Ruby turned to see GT and TJ behind her, levelling their snipers at the Clone for a clean shot. The Clone kept moving, trying to raise the chance of a shot hitting Yang. Blake's weapon in kusarigama form flew around his right knee, wrapping itself around before Blake pulled, bringing the Clone on a knee.

Following a crack of another rifle, someone screamed behind Blake. Blake spun around to face the twins, just in time to see TJ with a smoking hole in his armor. TJ clutched the wound, collapsing to his knees before toppling over. The drop of the body stunned Blake for a few moments.

"Sniper!" GT yelled, tracing the shot.

"Damn it Blake, move!" Blake heard from Jared before he slammed right into her. Blake managed to catch a glimpse of the blue bolt that almost tore through her skull before she hit the ground.

Jared was about to open fire on something behind him, but something grabbed him from behind, yanking him off Blake. It was another Clone, this time having a large shoulder pad of reinforced armor. Blake rolled to her feet and charged him, her face only meeting his fist and sending her sprawling across the pavement.

With the others distracted, Yang accidentally loosened her grip. Her mistake. The Clone yanked down with his right, sending his elbow into Yang's ribs, hard. She felt her lungs rattle from the blow, and it hurt a lot. His arm went low, hooking under Yang's right thigh. Then he leaned back, pulling on Yang's leg and sending her flat on her back. Yang tried to get her leg around the Clone's neck but he was faster, sending his fist into Yang's gut, the impact threatening to crush her stomach. He came up, moving over Yang to get his hands around her neck, but Yang didn't let him. She got her legs around his neck, pulling his hands down and tightening the grip. The Clone did not try to struggle. No matter how hard Yang squeezed and tried to block his airway, he didn't panic. He made sure Yang was holding his hands tightly, even grabbing her forearms as well. Then he got up, and Yang realized what was happening. The Clone got on his knees, then to his feet, lifting Yang as high as he could into the air. Yang squeezed her legs around his neck as tight as she could, trying to make him black out. It was no use, and she felt herself slam headfirst into pavement.

Ruby was closer to TJ when a bolt tore through his back. GT had come to a crouch, fanning the area. Ruby converted Crescent Rose into its sniper rifle mode, joining GT. Another bolt flew and Ruby ducked. She turned and saw Jared tackle Blake out of the way. Her attention was towards GT's line of sight.

"Get TJ clear!" He yelled back to Ruby as he fired a round and charged towards a building.

Ruby stuck near TJ, trying to look past the smoke. She looked to the rooftop of the building GT was charging, seeing a silhouette. She lined her scope up with it, finding another Clone in her crosshairs. A blue muzzle flash came from his rifle, pointed directly at Ruby.

Crack!

The bolt went right into the scope, shattering the glass. Ruby shut her eyes and dropped Crescent Rose to avoid it getting in her eyes. She covered her face in pain, feeling some shards rain upon her face. She focused her aura on healing herself before rejoining the battle.

-GT 3rd Person POV-

All GT was right now was rage. He wasn't even sure TJ was fine. He had better be fine, or else the Clone he was scrambling up the stairs to engage was going to die painfully.

GT burst through the rooftop access door, already lining his deece up with the shooter. The Clone whirled around, firing his DC-15X sniper rifle before GT even blinked. The shot knocked the 17M out of GT's hands, but he didn't stop charging. He weaved right, feeling something slam him in the upper left torso. He activated his semblance, negating the pain. He didn't want to deal with it right now. GT's hand went for his sidearm, drawing it from the holster. The Clone didn't give him the chance to use it, shooting the pistol out of GT's hands. Something hit him again, this time in the lower abdomen. He didn't bother to care about it, reaching back to draw his sword. It was at this moment, GT realized he had just tanked two shots, and was about to take a third as it flew towards his helmet. He tilted his head left to avoid the shot, but it came low, almost hitting him like an uppercut. The shot knocked off his helmet. He quickly turned his head right back to his attacker. GT's aura and energy filled the blade as he drew and swung, the Clone ducking right under it.

The Clone's rifle shifted in his hands as he grabbed the weapon by the barrel and stock, wielding it like a club. He brought it at a downwards slope as GT spun into a stroke. The blade skidded off the rifle, deflected away from its intended target. The Clone then came up, slamming the stock into the side of GT's head. GT didn't even feel his skull crack, slashing back in a counter. Catching the Clone off guard with the refusal to give up ground, GT kicked him back a step, simultaneously coming into a downwards stroke. The Clone had his rifle raised as if he was trying to block, but with GT's energy put into the sword, he cut right through the DC-15X.

The Clone leaped back, dropping the halves of the rifle and drawing dual sidearms. GT had nowhere to hide, just charging. Three shots came immediately, GT blocking them with his sword. The fourth was too quick and late for him to block, but it wasn't meant to hit him. The shot went for the sword hilt, disarming GT once more. Then the Clone let loose again, GT feeling three impacts on his torso. He went right through it, reaching for the beskar dagger sheathed on his shoulder.

Like a raging bull, GT threw himself at the Clone. The Clone stepped to the side, avoiding GT's rampage. GT whirled around, slashing with the dagger. The Clone deflected the blade away, trying to move his sidearms into a weak point. Multiple times as GT traded blows did he push the barrel of a sidearm away from his heart. One shot came up for his throat, GT pushing it away just quick enough for it to graze his chin. GT leaned in for the slash, just only to skid off his armor. He stepped forward, going for a stab. The Clone stepped into, then to the side of the strike, slamming the barrel of one of his sidearms into GT's forehead. GT stepped back to avoid a shot to his lower crotch, then went right back in, slashing left and right. The Clone stepped back accordingly, looking for the opportunity.

GT spun into a left slash, then stepped into a right. He saw the Clone leaning in to take his opportunity. GT was ready. As the Clone's barrel came to meet GT's heart, GT let go of the dagger, grabbing it mid air with his other hand to complete the strike while his now free right hand went for his chest, knocking the barrel under his armpit. The Clone tilted his head away from the strike, driving the blade away with his free hand. GT slashed again, the Clone sidestepping around him to get in his blind side. GT couldn't tell what had happened. All he knew is that after a slash, the Clone got right behind him. A shot discharged and his right knee gave out. GT dropped to a crouch, turning to slash back at his attacker. The Clone simply got the bladed arm in a lock, smacking the dagger out of GT's hands and kicking him over.

GT felt his aura dissipating. He couldn't bend his right knee, and was starting to feel the pain. He still focused on his semblance, forcing himself up and healing himself as much as he could.

-Ruby 3rd Person POV-

"GT needs help!" Ruby said as she rolled out of the way from a rocket.

Weiss was beside her, returning fire to the rocket trooper. The Clone wielding it had definitely gotten closer, but the more they stayed near the other Clones, the less rockets they had to evade.

"I don't know why he went off and left us anyway." Weiss muttered as she ducked away from a spray of blue bolts.

"Weiss, he needs help!"

Weiss spared a moment to look at the building GT had engaged the sniper on, giving it a quick eyeball. She brought herself angled to the building and raised her other hand, as if aiming something. Quickly, her glyphs began to appear going up the side of the building.

"Go, I'll help the others." Weiss stated.

Ruby nodded at her partner and dashed away, using her semblance. She spun into roses, landing on the first glyph, then launched herself up the side of the building. Ruby arched herself into a spin, landing on the ledge of the building, Crescent Rose in its Scythe mode. GT was on all fours, struggling to get up while the Clone stood over him with his sidearms. Ruby didn't know what gave her away, but the Clone turned right towards her, levelling his sidearms.

Ruby dashed right, avoiding the first few shot, then doubled back left, closing on her target. She caught him nearly off guard, bringing in a wide swing. The Clone almost didn't have enough time to leap back. He fired three quick shots, Ruby spinning Crescent Rose to deflect the rounds away. Steadying her pose, she fired Crescent Rose from her hip. The Clone ducked left, then right, returning fire. Ruby brought Crescent Rose around to lunge, only to be sent off balance by the shots impacting on her Scythe. She whirled around, getting back into firing position, yanking the bolt back as fast as she could, sliding a new round into the chamber, then pulling the trigger. All of a sudden, the casing exploded, dust and smoke clouding her vision. The firing mechanism had blown up in her face. Ruby looked down at Crescent Rose to locate the cause, discovering the black, smoking holes in the main chamber. The Clone had disabled the weapon.

It was at this point that GT came up at the Clone, trying to blindside him. The Clone simply turned and kicked him back down. Ruby dashed at him, bringing her Scythe low to high, letting the blade dance and leap around her. The Clone dived around her to avoid the flurry of attacks. Ruby spun, bringing the flat of her blade to meet his head. The Clone's right arm went up, blocking the weapon, the other one slamming the barrel of his sidearm to her cheek. Ruby had managed to step back from most of the attack, lucky enough to have her cheek out of the line of fire when the Clone pulled the trigger. Ruby tried to throw Crescent Rose at him, but he planted his knee in her chest, sending her sliding away.

She was doomed, clutching her gut from the blow, directly in range of the sidearms the Clone levelled at her. It was too late for her to do anything, but not GT. GT sprang at the Clone's gut, driving him back as hard as he could. The Clone jammed one of his sidearms into GT's shoulder, firing a shot. GT didn't falter until the Clone slammed the butts of his weapons as hard as he could into GT's back. He raised his arms again and struck again, just around GT's neck at the pressure points. GT looked as if he was paralyzed for several moments, his face in agonizing pain as he fell to his knees.

"Ruby, now!" He cried.

Now Ruby saw the plan. GT had driven the Clone close to the edge of the roof. All that was left was to finish him off.

Ruby brought Crescent Rose back and ready to swing, bending her knees in preparation, then springing forward. Combined with the power, speed, and momentum of her Semblance, there was no way the Clone could have dodged this. Crescent Rose came around and struck the Clone in the center chest, launching the Clone over the edge.

The Clone fell quickly down the five story building, almost landing on his feet, but ending up flat on his back with a hard crunch on the cement. Ruby looked down at the Clone waiting for him to recover. He didn't move.

"Nice job," GT panted. He had blaster marks all over his armor. "Nice job."

"GT, you're hurt." Ruby said.

"I'm fine," GT waved her off, Ruby noticing some grimace. "We gotta help the others. I'll get TJ, just help out your team."

"Right..." Ruby replied, hesitating to leave him.

"I said I'm fine!" GT declared. "Go, I'll catch up."

Ruby nodded, then sent herself off the building, projecting her aura downwards to prepare for her landing.

-Jared 3rd Person POV-

Jared had a hard time remembering what had just been happening. All he could recall is taking a stock of a rifle to forehead. He had felt a crack in his neck in the impact, and was starting to feel it getting sore. After, he had been taking quick blows to the chest, faster than he could have tracked. Currently, he was pinned against the ground, his opponent's forearm against his neck, forcing the airway shut. Jared didn't feel his Deece in his hand, assuming he dropped it during the melee. He couldn't reach back for his katanas, but he could reach the vibroblade. Struggling not to black out, all he could see is the visor of a Phase I Clone helmet, with red markings of a Captain, and an Eyepiece. The Clone seemed to dash completely out of Jared's point of view when he drew the knife. Jared took his gasp of air, rolling to face the Clone, only to see a WESTAR M5 blaster rifle lining up with his face. In desperation, Jared threw the knife, spending barely half a second to aim. The knife struck the Clone in the upper left torso, cutting through the protective pauldron and armor plating like butter. He didn't stop to give the Clone time to inspect the wound, dashing forward and grabbing the barrel of the WESTAR.

For moments the two wrestled, Jared trying to disarm while the Clone tried to fire. Jared knew that in an army of billions, probably wasn't physically the strongest, but this Clone easily overpowered Jared. The only reason Jared had been able to keep both hands wrapped around the stock and barrel was the fact that the Clone had taken one hand off after a minute, and was now rapidly hitting Jared in the side over and over again. Jared felt his ribs shake on each hit, threatening to collapse the entire cage. It was so much repetitive pain that he almost let go. He used the advantage that he had two hands on the blaster. Instead of pulling on the rifle, he pushed it back on the Clone, getting close enough to bash his elbow into the Clone's visor. Using this moment of disarray, Jared yanked the rifle free. This small victory was short lived, as the Clone quickly sent his boot into the back of Jared's knee. Jared let out a grunt of pain, gritting his teeth as he fell to a crouch. He could have sworn he had popped his knee cap at this point. Still, he quickly raised the rifle, only to have it jump out of his hands as a result of a quick kick from the Clone. Jared raised his hands, blocking the first punch, but he wasn't fast enough for the second that went straight down into his jaw. A right cross nearly broke Jared's neck, he being lucky that his body had turned with the blow. Then he was sliding on his back into the concrete.

Jared got up, looking for some payback from the boot to the chest. The Clone had drawn a DC-15S from his belt, taking aim. Now was Jared's chance. He drew his katanas, already concentrating his aura into his blades. Just as the blaster carbine lined up with him, Jared dashed forward and to the right, shot glancing just over his shoulder. He swung at the nearest thing, it being the weapon, slicing the barrel, clean off. The Clone stepped back, startled from the sudden attack. He threw his remaining piece of the carbine at Jared, Jared slicing the remains in half and lunged forward, shifting in a double swing.

The Clone reached for the vibroblade still jabbed into his upper left torso, yanking it out and bringing it up. Jared's first blade was deflected away, the second blocked by the vibroblade. Jared whipped his free blade over his head, spinning into two more strikes. The Clone did his best, blocking two strikes, but the third hit him in the head. Using the disorientation to his advantage, Jared kicked him back. The Clone stumbled back, then fell to a crouch. He had a cut in his helmet near the left corner of his forehead. A trickle of blood rolled down past his visor. Jared estimated his blade had just licked the Clone's skull.

Then the Clone dropped to a crouch, grabbing something off the ground. Jared realized it was the WESTAR, immediately activating his semblance by holding his breath. The first shot came out off the barrel of the WESTAR, moving ever so slowly. Jared dashed around his target, releasing his breath as he slashed at the Clone's back. The Clone arched back in pain, dropping his weapon and coming to all fours. Jared was about to finish him off when all of a sudden, he was tumbling into the pavement. Jared rolled to his feet, seeing another Clone wielding a grenade launcher mounted at the bottom of his rifle, pumping grenades at Jared. Jared held his breath, charging forward, carefully and quickly, he sliced the grenades in half as they sailed at an eighth of their speed through the air. He still didn't cover the ground, having to exhale. Jared almost stumbled when the mid air explosions caught up with his sprint.

Then something grabbed him from behind. The Captain, had Jared around the chest, yanking him off course and sending him to the ground. Jared came up into a swing, the Clone grabbing the arm and popping the blade out of his grip. Jared swung again, the katana going right over the Clone's head. Still low, the Clone launched his fist into Jared's lower side, Jared feeling the punch like a wrecking ball. He coughed as his lung was forced to vent air faster than normal. Dark red fluid splattered the interior of his helmet, leaving an unpleasant taste of copper in his mouth. That's when Jared saw his aura level drain to red.

He didn't even know why he dropped his blade. All Jared knew was that he was being lifted high into the air, then saw the pavement coming fast at him. Jared felt the concrete crack on impact with the ground. Or was it his bones? He didn't know, but the Clone was now over him, one hand holding Jared's head in place, lifting his other hand in a fist.

Pow! Pow! Crack!

Jared felt a small part of his helmet cave into his head, plastoid pressing against the upper left of his skull. He could barely move, let alone fight. Everything ached. He felt pain all over his body, as if he had been thrown around a metal box at high speed for half an hour. And now the Clone wielded the vibroblade, raising it for the kill. Jared couldn't die here. He couldn't, and he had just enough aura not to.

Jared held his breath, despite his lack of breath in the first place, the Clone's killing strike slowing. Then Jared put in all the remaining energy and adrenaline he had left. He punched the Clone as hard as he could in the face, then planted both boots into his gut, and launched his opponent off, exhaling as he did so. The Clone went flying off him, Jared rolling away as soon as he could. Then he moved as far away as he could from the Clone. As far as his adrenaline could carry him. As far as he could...

-Team RWBY 3rd Person POV-

Blake dashed in as fast as she could, her Gambol Shroud trailing behind her. She spun quickly into a swing that only sliced air. The Clone that had ducked under the blow smashed his fist into Blake's cheek not even a second after her strike had finished.

Yang dived in, almost catching the Clone off guard with a roundhouse kick, the Clone blocking it with his forearm. Yang continued her turn into a backhand and two punches, the first attack missing their marks while the last two were shoved out of their trajectory. Yang hopped up into a jump kick, the Clone sidestepping and smashing her leg down. The impact sent Yang forward, right into the Clone where his waiting hand met her throat. Her right arm swung right over his head, allowing him to trap it and lock it over his right shoulder. As she struggled to breathe, she brought her left knee up into his right side, feeling only pain on her part as it didn't even crack the plastoid.

Blake's surprise attack was ruined by the fact the Clone had turned his head. He whirled around and leaped out of the way from the spinning slash. Blake launched herself at the Clone, arching herself right over Yang as he threw her. She turned into a series of lightning fast strikes, dashing around him. He kept dodging her strikes, somehow keeping up with her. Even when she started using semblance, leaving decoys, he still was a footstep ahead of her. He didn't seem to be watching her, having his head tilted down as if he was listening instead.

All of a sudden, in Blake's lunge, the Clone spun towards her, grabbing the bladed arm with his left hand, then bringing his right leg up. Blake felt his heel smash right up her jaw, the Clone still holding on to her arm to maximize his amount of force. Blake hit the ground, feeling a boot press down on her chest. She was surprised when she felt Gambol Shroud ripped from her hand, the Clone grabbing it by the grip and within two seconds, sliding it into its pistol form.

Blake saw Yang fire two rounds from her Ember Cecilia before the Clone fired, one round knocking him in the shoulder, the other glancing off his back as he spun to aim. Yang ducked left, then right to avoid the shots. Blake shoved the Clone's boot off her and brought her cleaver sheath into a swing, feeling it cut through the armor on his lower side with a crunchy slice. The Clone arched up in pain before he spun back to Blake and put all his energy into his boot, launching it like a catapult into Blake's gut. Blake slid across the pavement, letting out a scream she had not expected, followed by cough of blood. Her abdomen felt like it had been smashed by a trash compactor. Feeling her aura dissipate, she rolled over, clutching her stomach in agony.

Yang wrapped her arms around the Clone's neck from behind. The Clone struggled for a moment, then Yang heard a click. Three bangs and impacts on her stomach was enough for her to let go as the Clone fired Gambol Shroud. He whirled to face her, getting ready for the next attack.

Weiss was providing as much cover fire as she can, firing an array of dust at the Clone carrying heavy weaponry. Weiss sent wind into an oncoming missile, sending it off course and into the ground behind her. Weiss opened several glyphs around her, launching energy lances at the Clone. The lances seemed to impact on their target, but Weiss had to make sure. She opened s glyph beneath her, using it to launch herself into a lunge. Surely enough, she closed the distance, sailing through the smoke, Myrtenaster taking point. Then she saw the silhouette.

The Clone was not expecting her, barely getting out of the way, but not unscathed, as her blade skimmed off his rocket launcher. The Clone still dropped it regardless. Weiss came into a spinning strike, the Clone leaping back to avoid it, reaching far back behind him. Weiss was almost not ready to avoid the rotary blaster cannon that he drew, the six barrels revving up to spin as he took aim. Weiss changed her direction of attack, dashing to his flank as he opened up, the steady staccato of the shots a dear reminder of how many lasers she would have in her if she dared slow down.

Ruby arrived just in time, whirling out of her rose petals on the Clone's flank. Her battle cry gave her away, but she was already close enough, Crescent Rose coming around and slamming the Clone in the shoulder. The Clone stumbled back into a spin, almost sending him end over, but he managed to surprisingly regain his footing fairly quick, already taking aim with his cannon. Ruby didn't have enough time to strike him, but she had managed to get just around his flank, lunging her Scythe forward and slamming the six barrels away from her. She spun around to Follow with a high swing, the Clone ducking under it, then coming up with his body mass. He sent his shoulder into Ruby's chest, Ruby almost falling to her back. She had regained her footing just in time to see the Clone come out of his spin and slam the six barrels across her face.

Weiss had heard the loud smack, now having an opening for her attack. The Clone didn't stop turning after he hit Ruby, and Weiss found out why. She leaped, as high as she could, the rotary cannon firing just where she was moments ago. The shots trailed and followed her in the air, Weiss opening a solid glyph beneath her to provide cover against a few stray shots that nearly hit her. Then Ruby was up, hooking her Scythe under the Clone's heels and sending him back first into the ground. Weiss arched herself mid air, then lunged straight down, Myrtenaster aimed at the Clone's chest.

The Clone rolled out of the way, leaving his blaster cannon. Myrtenaster bounced off the pavement, Weiss landing on her feet and maintaining her momentum as she jumped forward, sending her knee into the Clone's gut. The Clone skidded back, drawing a rifle that had been slung to his back. He began spraying, sending Weiss and Ruby into a retreat. Weiss whirled and fired a lance of fire towards him, the Clone diving forward into a roll. As soon as he came into a crouch, he pumped the mechanism below the main barrel, in favour of a second one. Each pump launched a projectile, sailing up, then down into Weiss and Ruby's position. Each projectile ended up being a grenade, explosions blooming all around them. Weiss stabbed Myrtenaster into the ground, an ice wall forming in front of her. Ruby edged closer to Weiss, the two exchanging glances and nods, then preparing their attack.

"Go help Yang and Blake," Weiss said. "I'll handle him."

-Team JNPR 3rd Person POV-

Pyrrha and Jaune engaged one of the Clones in close quarters combat. Despite the quick and carefully practiced strikes Pyrrha was employing, the Clone was fast. Not only fast, he was strong too, and extremely skilled. Jaune had tried to strike as well, only finding himself missing his strikes or having them deflected out of the way. He couldn't even blind side the Clone, as he was always ready for Jaune's attack. Pyrrha knew that this Clone could kill Jaune rather quickly, so she kept his focus on her. She, however, had to be careful that he didn't kill her as well.

Pyrrha slashed left and right, the Clone sidestepping from the strikes. He carried a weapon that was almost like a pistol, but too large to be regarded as one. When the Clone fired at her shield, she heard the metal projectiles rain down. It definitely wasn't lasers like the other Clones. Pyrrha suspected the weapon as some sort of small shotgun, but was powerful, enough to knock her back a bit. She went right back at him, throwing a wide swing. The Clone leaped back, the blade just missing his abdomen. Pyrrha spun around and repeated the attack. The Clone rolled under it this time, spinning to open fire on her. Pyrrha whirled around, raising her shield to block the two shots, then brought her sword up. The Clone did something unexpected though, lunging forward. Pyrrha has moved her shield already, and took an elbow to the gut.

Jaune came in, throwing a strike to protect Pyrrha. The Clone brought his arm up, deflecting the blade off his gauntlet, then punched Jaune square in the face. Jaune stumbled back, only getting the chance to watch the Clone level his weapon. Jaune took the flechettes to the chest. If it wasn't for his armor and aura, he would have had his heart full of lead. Still, the impact sent him on his back, and it felt like a car had hit him.

Pyrrha charged at the Clone, bashing him away with her shield, letting Miló morph from its sword form into its spear form in her other hand. With a quick twitch of her shoulder, she brought her spear into a wide swing. The Clone ducked, then side stepped when Pyrrha attempted to impale him. She stepped forward, spinning into a series of slashes and strikes. The Clone managed to evade all of them, seeming to be reloading the slugs into his shotgun when he got the chance.

Ren and Nora weren't having as much luck as the other two. This Clone with the dual SMGs was nearly impossible to attack within twenty feet of him. Even if one got much closer, he could easily outmatch Ren in hand to hand. Ren had resorted to kick attacks, mainly opening fire with Stormflower to distract. Ren ran up a shelf of crates, barely keeping himself on the edge of the third level as he sprayed down the Clone. The Clone had been firing at an evading Nora as Ren dashed, leaping at the Clone in a spinning kick. The attacks missed, and so did Ren's following slashes. Ren's last slash was a blow to the Clone's head. The Clone simply moved his head out of the way, and got Ren's arm into a lock. Ren felt a knee slam his gut, then brought his arm up to block the next one. Ren leaned forward into a front flip, getting his arm into a comfortable position, then through a high kick. The Clone let go of Ren to duck, then smashed Ren back.

Nora advanced, trying to aim Magnhild in its grenade launcher form. Ren was way too close for a good shot, so she morphed it into its war hammer mode, bringing it around her waist and ready to strike. The Clone dodged the first swing, then ducked under the next. Nora brought her hammer up, then down, the Clone leaping back to avoid the blow. He sprayed down at Nora, hosing her position with yellow bolts. Nora dashed at an angle, keeping her head low as shots trailed behind her. Magnhild came around into a wide swing, the Clone sidestepping around the blow to get on her flank. Nora felt a boot meet her side, sending her into a short stumble.

Ren jumped in, blades from Stormflower skidding off the Clone's pauldron. He spun around for another slash, then a high kick. The Clone stepped back from the slashes, ducking under the high kick and attaching his SMGs to his thighs, keeping his hands free. When Ren threw another kick, the Clone caught it, throwing the leg back at him. Ren landed flat on his back, and probably would have been killed if Nora had not attempted a lunge.

The Clone dodged it, turning to his side to avoid the hammer. He whirled around, reaching back and pulling out a rifle that Tested had. Tested had said it was a laser shotgun, and Ren found out why. The rifle fired an eight round spray that nearly killed Nora. Luckily, she had taken cover behind a shelf.

Ren launched himself back onto his feet, the Clone whirling just in time to face him. The barrel went for Ren's torso, Ren blocking it and forcing it to the ground. Ren leaned back from the elbow and moved his foot to avoid the shot the Clone fired at the ground. Ren spun left and sidestepped to avoid the kick and knocked the levelling rifle up, launching his left leg into the Clone's side. The Clone visibly reacted in pain, but Ren heard no scream. He only felt a knee to the gut, and the whack of a rifle stock to the face.

Nora saw Ren go down from the melee. It was at this time, she decided another charge, keeping her hammer low for a low to high strike. As soon as she got within ten feet of the Clone, he turned around, levelling his rifle at something to the side of Nora. When he fired, she realized what he was shooting at. A dust ammunition crate had been stacked there, along with several others in a row. It only took one blast to ignite the rest, blowing the whole dozen. The wave of explosion sent Nora flying, she didn't know where, but all she knew is that her head hurt, and she was sitting in another crate across the walkway.

Ren was almost on his feet when an explosion blew off one of the shelf levels behind the Clone. He had gotten up just in time to see fire and ash engulf Nora and send her across and into another shelf. Ren struck in anger at the attack on his friend, spinning into whirlwind attack. The Clone leaped back, startled, but not before Ren sliced the barrel of his rifle clean off. Ren came down then launched his knee towards the Clone's face. The Clone's forearm came up, blocking the knee, but it didn't block the following mid air kick to the gut. Ren spun around into two slashes, the Clone dodging the first one, but the second one was blocked. Ren was surprised to hear one of Stormflower's blades clash with another. He looked and saw the Clone's hand, armed with a wrist mounted vibroblade. The other Clone's gauntlet ejected a similar blade, sending down into Ren's right thigh. Ren felt the sharp pain enter his leg, and it got worse when he figured out the hard way that the blade had a barbed end, hooking into Ren's flesh securely as the Clone pulled Ren's leg off balance, sending him sprawling on his back. Ren was about to counter, but couldn't take it when the Clone violently ripped the blade out of Ren's thigh. Ren screamed, in too much pain to try and figure out what was going on. When he finally came to his senses, he found the Clone with his arms securing Ren's leg in an awkward position. It was too late to react.

Crack!

Nora heard the crack of bone from here, as she saw the Clone break one of Ren's legs. She got herself onto her feet, putting all of her aura and strength into her hammer. The Clone raised his blade for a killing blow. Now was the time to strike.

"Hey!" Nora shouted as she charged, putting everything into the one lunge that closed the distance in a single step.

The Clone's head jerked right towards her, and his body was already shifting, but by then Nora was already in striking distance. Her hammer came wide, slamming the Clone at the upper right chest. If the Clone had just been a little faster, the blow would have either grazed him or sent him spinning into the ground. Instead, it sent him catapulting into a shelf, Nora watching it collapse on the Clone.

Pyrrha leaped into a backflip to get away from her opponent. The Clone had fired his last slug within the weapon, striking the ground where Pyrrha stood moments ago. Pyrrha knew he had to reload now. She took advantage of this, morphing Miló into its rifle mode and levelling it with her target. The Clone had holstered his shotgun to his thigh and had drawn a blaster carbine, opening fire right away. Pyrrha activated his semblance polarity, manipulating her shield to roll over her left arm, the small opening making room for the rifle barrel. After the first two blue bolts impacted, she returned fire. The Clone dashed to her right, strafing as he returned fire, trying to get around the shield. He was at the same time attempting to reload his shotgun, the loading bay parted back with the barrel tucked between his arm and chest, his free hand sliding slugs into place.

Still suppressing the Clone as he ran, Pyrrha tried something. The weapon the Clone had was made of metal, perfect for her use, but the trick was to concentrate and make sure she wasn't outflanked. She reached out with her semblance, feeling the metal on the Clone's barrel. Then she yanked it.

The Clone stumbled forwards, as if the carbine wanted to leap out of hands, him barely keeping a grip on it. Pyrrha dashed at him, Miló into its sword mode, swiping at neck level. The Clone jammed his heel into the ground, narrowly stopping himself from losing his throat. His shotgun had dropped in the sudden action, and the Clone turned into lightning speed. Pyrrha had just come out of two strikes, the Clone evading and getting just under the shield. Pyrrha felt the elbow crisply knock her in the jaw. Pyrrha spun around for a shield bash, only to have it stop hard against the Clone's shoulder like hitting a brick wall. She ducked down to avoid the blaster shot, then pushed the Clone back to disorient him more as she whirled for a backhand. Unexpectedly, her blade only met the levelling barrel, knocking the weapon from her face before it fired. She kept her spin, swinging her shield for his face. The Clone grabbed it with his hand, leaning in and bashing her in the face with his elbow.

Jaune attacked, striking the barrel of the weapon down before the Clone finished off Pyrrha. Jaune struck again, just skimming off the Clone's chestplate. The next swing came close, and the Clone panicked, throwing himself into Jaune. Jaune fell to his butt, and was nearly executed, but raised his shield just in time. With a low swing, the Clone fell back, firing three more shots, Jaune keeping his shield raised as he got up. The Clone threw himself into Jaune's shield this time, but Jaune was ready and eager this time, letting the Clone push past him, then bringing his blade down. The Clone saw his error very quickly, and only took a small gash to his right forearm, the blade cutting through the white armor. He had dropped his weapon in response. Jaune's victory, however, was short lived. The Clone smacked Jaune across the face, hard, Jaune nearly toppling over. Desperately, he swung again, the Clone this time sidestepping away and cross-lining him in the throat. Jaune landed back first into the ground. He felt a boot meet his neck and his airway cave in for a split second, but it was enough to make him choke.

Pyrrha got up, seeing the Clone about to finish off Jaune with a stomp to the neck. Not being close enough to strike, she threw her shield like a frisbee, moving at high speed through the air. She was genuinely surprised to see the Clone whirl around and catch it, absorbing the impact into his chest. Miló morphed into its spear mode and Pyrrha charged. The Clone cranked back and threw the shield right back at Pyrrha. Pyrrha didn't stop her charge, leaping into a midair spin right over the shield, landing on her feet and into a strike. The Clone raised his gauntlet, letting the spear smash right into it, then grabbing hold of it. Pyrrha tried to maneuver and knock him off guard, but the Clone was stronger than her. For some reason though, he was distracted by something behind her. At this moment she had heard an explosion, a scream, then something crashing into a bunch of crates.

Ren. Nora.

Pyrrha forced him back, yet she realized she had regained his attention. She nearly blacked out when he head butted her, then pushed the spear back into her. Pyrrha stumbled back, unable to strike for two seconds, giving the Clone plenty of time to dive right behind her and under a wide swing. She whirled around the crouched Clone, his back faced towards her. She had him, and there was no way he was blocking this strike, as she hefted the spear like a javelin, ready to send it into his back with the combined power of the built in rifle recoil. Just as she was about to throw, the Clone turned halfway, and with a slide and click, Pyrrha realized what he was doing. The Clone's shotgun levelled with his hip, firing before the spear left her hand.

All at once, she felt her aura dissipate, and multiple flechettes tear through her leather top, entering her abdomen. The force of the blast knocked her back. For all her effort, the spear missed it's target, passing over the Clone's shoulder by a foot. Pyrrha fell to her back, just feeling her hand touch the warm blood that was beginning to ooze out. And she laid there.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune screamed as he saw her fall.

The Clone raised his shotgun, firing off two slugs at him. Jaune raised his shield, falling back when the Clone also retrieved his blaster carbine, laying down suppressive fire. Nora tried to come up the flank, but the Clone saw her first, firing back to keep her from pushing up. Jaune looked past Nora, about to give Ren orders, but saw him edging up against the shelf they took cover behind, limping with absolute pain in his face. He looked as if he was gonna collapse at any moment.

Jaune was lucky though. The Clone wasn't trying to engage. He was retreating. Jaune looked past the Clone and saw why. The other Clone was coming out of a shelf level, pushing through destroyed crates, clutching his arm and chest. He was hunched over, looking as if he could barely walk. The Clone Jaune had been fighting kept up the suppressive fire, edging closer to his comrade. Finally, he put free his arm around his comrade and helped him out of the warehouse, one handing the blaster carbine.

Finally, he was out of sight.

"Nora, Ren, are you guys okay?" Jaune called out.

"I'm fine, but Ren is hurt." Nora replied.

"Ren?"

"I think my leg is broken," Ren winced, slowly sliding into a sitting position. "I can't walk."

"Nora, we are clear for now," Jaune stated as he made his way to Pyrrha. "Get Ren clear and then help me with Pyrrha. She's bleeding out."

"Should I call for help?" Nora asked.

"Yes," Jaune replied. "Find Ruby, Shadow, or anyone."

Nora nodded, then proceeded to help Ren.

Jaune looked down at Pyrrha. She was a little dazed out, staring at the ceiling like her senses were dulled. Jaune put his hand over the wound, applying pressure to stop the bleeding.

"Stay awake, Pyrrha," Jaune told her. "Stay awake."

-Shadow 3rd Person POV-

Shadow kicked the door into the next warehouse. He had trailed his target here, more secluded from the action. He rolled off to the side of the doorway, watching his motion tracker. After poking his head in quickly, he was satisfied nobody was ready to shoot him through the door. Shadow winked his night vision filter on, making sure the safeties on his dual sidearms were off before breaching the doorway. He kept himself low, blasters trained forward as he scanned the room. His HUD ran tactical information of the area, noting spots of cover to utilize.

The room was dark, with only the moonlight coming through the doorway behind him providing him the necessary light to use the night vision. He wasn't going to find his target like this. There were too many places to hide, and this guy was lethal. Still, it really bothered Shadow that his opponent could possibly be more stealthy than Shadow, especially with the fact that this guy was wearing white plastoid armor. If anything, he should have been able to spot any shimmer of white by now. By now, he was in the middle of the room by the time he heard-

"Hello, Shadow."

Thud!

Shadow whirled around as the door shut behind him. Then everything went green. Bright green. It was too much for his eyes to handle, but he burdened his eyes to see who was at the door. There he saw his opponent aiming a rifle at him. Shadow dived away, edging himself behind a pillar, hearing the sound of a blaster rifle. He closed his eyes and winked off the night vision, letting his vision recover. Still, he heard the pounding of the rifle. Shadow wanted to identify it as something else, but he knew it was a DC-15A. The sound was more stuttered, as if the weapon had been tampered with. When a shot penetrated the pillar and just missed his lower abdomen, he realized it was definitely more powerful.

"Pleasure to meet you!" The voice spoke again. It was his opponent. The voice of a Clone Trooper was always recognizable to him.

"Then I'm glad that I'm still that important to the Grand Army of the Republic then!" Shadow shouted back.

Shadow blind fired behind the pillar, emptying his sidearms to suppress his target. As soon as the shots stopped coming at him, he moved, running past an array of crates and shelves. The firing started again trailing very close behind, and in front of him. Wood, cardboard, and paper confettied and splintered everywhere as the shots punched through Shadow's cover. By then, Shadow had reloaded his weapons and started returning fire, consecutively firing one shot after the other, trying to get the flank on his target. One shot came very close, skimming across his pauldron, knocking off his bandolier and spare ammunition clips for his sidearms. Luckily, he had two more left. He clicked the release on the empty magazines and tossed the fresh ones in the air, throwing the butt of his weapons at them. The magazines lined up just right and slid into their compartments, loading the pistols.

Last mags. Make them count.

Shadow skidded to a halt behind a tall metal shelf. The shelf itself was completely open, and Shadow used the stacked crates and boxes on it as cover and concealment. Wood and cardboard flew everywhere, but Shadow looked through the shelf at at his target, who was now falling back with Shadow's unexpected steady shots. It was enough to push him to take cover behind a pillar for a few moments. Shadow controlled his last dozen rounds though, only shooting when his opponent poked his head out. And he did to open fire, but he wasn't shooting at Shadow. Shots flew left and right of Shadow, taking out the shelf supports. Then Shadow realized what he was doing.

Oh crap.

Shadow raised his arms and tucked his head in as the shelf fell on him. One level managed to trap his leg, but the crates and boxes that fell on him felt worse, as they threatened to bury him. He lost one of his sidearms in the debris, feeling bruises all over his body. He shook and threw off any crates or boxes that landing on him, then tried to lift the shelf off to free his leg. As soon as he got himself upright to lift, shots started flying at him again. His opponent moved on him, rifle raised. Shadow eyed his motion tracker waiting for him to get closer. All Shadow could do at this point was suppress. Suddenly he exposed himself, squaring off a shot directly to the center of his opponent's chest. He pulled the trigger, watching his opponent drop to belly to avoid the round. Now was his chance.

Shadow readjusted his aim to the ceiling, carefully placing each shot to each light bulb, not caring about the falling glass. Once the room entered complete darkness, Shadow ignited his kyber crystal wrist blades, slicing the shelf level in half. Then he disappeared. Shadow didn't activate his night vision, as his opponent activated a tactical floodlight built into his rifle.

"What a waste of ammo." His opponent scoffed as he immediately traced Shadow's position.

Shadow charged straight at him, ducking left to avoid the shot. He grabbed the barrel of the rifle, shoving it down and away from his face, then threw a punch. His opponent leaned back to avoid the blow, but by then Shadow had yanked the rifle out of his hands. Shadow swung it around back at his opponent like a baton, but missed the attack, having the weapon knocked out of his hands. Shadow sprang at him, driving his opponent to the ground. His opponent didn't allow Shadow the victory for long, putting one of Shadow's arms into a lock, and swinging him off. Shadow rolled to his feet, spinning into a roundhouse punch, but his opponent was ready, deflecting the blow away, then the next. He landed a solid hit to Shadow's gut, then stepped away from Shadow's counter, only to jam his lower palm as hard as he could up the left side of Shadow's jaw.

Shadow's teeth came together in the worse way possible. He felt the impact all the way up his skull. He almost blacked out right there, stumbling over himself. He kept focusing, forcing himself not to fall asleep. He looked up at his opponent that was slowly approaching. Then he had an idea. Shadow pulled his vibroblade dagger from his belt, throwing it at his opponent's rifle on the ground, directly hitting the attached floodlight.

The room once more entered darkness. Shadow's night vision flickered on as he dashed away, keeping an eye on his opponent.

"Oh, the shadows," His opponent chuckled. "Why am I even surprised?"

Shadow moved as quietly as humanly possible. No matter what he learned in training, this was one thing he would never forget. Stealth. He was a Shadow Trooper. This was his specialty. Still, he moved with the utmost care, flanking around his opponent, preparing to strike with his wrist blades. Finally, he was directly behind his target, and now began to slowly creep up.

"There is one thing you should know about me, Shadow," His opponent taunted the thin air in front of him.

Shadow allowed himself a small internal laugh that his target had no idea what was coming. Then he planted his feet, coming down, then springing forwards, igniting the kyber crystal blades just a step from his target. But something happened. His target turned right at him before Shadow dashed. He caught the blade in mid strike, crushing the mechanism. Shadow winced as he felt a crack in his wrist with it. He struck again with his left blade this time, but his opponent caught this one as well, breaking the weapon as well. Then his hand went for Shadow's throat.

"-I don't need eyes to see you."

Shadow felt his breathing canal collapse, grabbing his jaw in response. He felt a hard impact to his chest, then was sent backwards into the ground.

"The shadows betray you, because they know they cannot beat me, just like you."

Shadow got up, drawing his last weapon; his Dark Sword.

"Ah, I was wondering when we would get down to blades," His opponent seemed pleased.

Shadow saw him reach down as his belt and pull out a metal hilt. Shadow had seen a weapon like that so many times throughout the Clone Wars. It was the last thing that Shadow needed to confirm who this was, and he wished it wasn't. His opponent, Bane was his name, ignited the lightsaber, revealing the bright black blade. Shadow called upon his semblance, igniting his Dark Sword in black flames. The room began to glow with the blades providing illumination.

"Interesting blade," Bane noted. "Do you think it can match my prized weapon?"

Shadow didn't respond, gripping the sword in a two handed stance. Bane raised his lightsaber, the whirring hum filling the air. Shadow charged before Bane changed his stance, striking as fast and as hard as he could, but the black beam moved to the exact spot required to block, the blades making contact in a sparky flare. Shadow whirled for another strike, only to have it blocked once more.

"It appears your blade is a match for mine," Bane remarked. "Now we test the user."

Shadow concentrated his energy and fire into his blade, forcing himself into every smash and swing. Despite his anger, he focused himself, striking unpredictably and quickly. Regardless of his efforts, Bane parried and blocked every one, the black blade dancing around him. No matter how hard he tried, his strike was a failure. Bane's blade moved as if it were sentient, destined to win the night against Shadow. And now it was going to take that win.

Bane pressed his offensive, his strikes nimble and short. He was fast, faster than Shadow. The only reason Shadow had not taken a hit already was because of his aura. Predicting a blow was extremely difficult, and aura was typically not used for that, but Shadow used it's radar like properties as best he could.

It had only been seconds, yet Bane's unstoppable attacks made it seem like minutes. Blades of fire and light dances around each other as the two opponent's clashed and struck. Shadow began to wonder if he would make it through this one alive...

-Ranger 3rd Person POV-

Ranger's fight was interrupted by the unexpected escape by the Shadow Trooper and a group of fleeing gangsters. Ranger didn't waste any time engaging, diving away from the trailing shots and grabbing his WESTAR off the ground. He spun around, turning to aim, but found his vision impaired, firing anyway in the general direction of his targets. He ducked down, trying to adjust his vision. The deep cut above his left eye was the problem, oozing blood down his left eye, threatening to drown and paint the left side of his face. Ranger felt a shot skim off his shoulder plate, shutting his left eye and taking aim. Switching to the three round burst setting, Ranger quickly placed his crosshairs on one head after the other, immediately switching targets as soon as he saw his opponent's head jerk back. Within seconds, the group was down, smoke trailing from the area their faces used to be.

Ranger felt the cut starting to swell. He was gonna start getting dizzy from blood loss, but his adrenaline could burn through it for now. He turned towards his comrades, Viper and A-64, who were taking the girls head on. The ARCs were in a bit of a prolonged fight, but Ranger knew he would be the one to finish it sooner. He popped the stock back on his rifle, then extended the barrel, lining his scope on the one causing the most trouble. It was certainly the one in white. He flicked his setting to single fire and steadied himself on target. So much dust and debris had been kicking up from the battle that he had to switch to his thermal setting on his eyepiece. Ranger began to trace the girl in white, his crosshairs managing to follow her despite her quick movements. Just as he was about to pull the trigger, he was interrupted on the commlink.

"Alpha 43 to Alpha 87," The ARC spoke. "Ranger, sir, are you there?"

"Go ahead, Spade," Ranger lowered his rifle, crouching down to oversee the battle safely. "What is it?"

"Ripper is injured," Spade stated. "He got hit pretty bad. I can't raise Red on the comms either."

"Get Ripper to the safe zone and locate Red," Ranger ordered. "I'll finish up with the others and we will meet you at the RV point-"

"There's more to the situation than that, Captain," Spade cut him off. "I intercepted a transmission. Local authorities have learned of our conflict and have made the Atlesian Military aware. A Capital ship is already enroute to enforce."

"Fierfek!" Ranger cussed under his breath. He had hoped to end this tonight, but they didn't have the gear to fight off an aerial assault.

"Abort mission," He declared with disappointment. "Get Ripper to the evac point. We'll find Red and RV with you there."

"Copy that, sir." Spade replied, and the link died.

-A-64 3rd Person POV-

One thing about being an Alpha ARC was instant respect throughout the Grand Army. That led to the perks of taking anything you wanted from the armory, even the things that weren't in the armory. As such, A-64 was quite adaptable in all weapons, including the odd sidearm in his hands.

A-64 brought the butt down onto the blond girl's head. She blocked his knee and knocked the pistol away from her face as he took aim. A-64 moved his head left as she came in close, throwing a punch at his face. The gun mounted on her gauntlet discharged right next to where his ear was, and would have deafened him if it wasn't for the sound dampeners in his helmet. A-64 smashed his left fist down into the arm and whipped her across the face with the pistol.

Catching a shimmer in his peripheral vision, A-64 sidestepped to the left, then back, avoiding an oncoming blade. He whirled around to face the user. It was the black haired girl, the owner of the pistol he was using. A-64 gripped the pistol by the end of the long attached ribbon, swinging it like a kusarigama at her. The pistol flew, smacking her right in the face. 64 yanked back on the pistol, pulling it back towards him. He grabbed the pistol out of the air, just in time to duck under the blond girl's jump kick. She spun back towards him in an exaggerated movement, telling A-64 what was the next move. He rolled out of the way as her fist blasted itself into the pavement where he soon moments ago, the concrete cracking on impact. He recovered into a crouch, levelling the pistol before she could even realize he had moved.

Click.

Damn.

A-64 had not even seen these girls reload their weapons yet, and coincidentally, he ran out of ammo. There was no way to tell anyway. Regardless, he brought his arms up, blocking the oncoming kick, then stepped back up onto his feet. He gripped the ribbon, swinging the pistol around over his head, the blond girl ducking under it. She wasn't ready when the next revolution came low and smacked her knee, sending her off balance. A-64 twirled around into a hard sidekick, smashing her away.

Then the red one came around. A-64 caught her in his peripheral vision, throwing the pistol at her like a throwing knife. The girl ducked under and sped towards him at an incredible speed. A-64 couldn't even see her, only seeing a red object trailing rose petals. He barely dodged her first swing of her Scythe. A-64 whirled around to face her as she spun into a series of strokes, her Scythe spinning around her with absolute precision. He didn't lose his cool though, backing up, leaping or evading the quick swings, searching for his opening. He found it in the diagonal stroke, stepping forward and angling himself to avoid the blade. He gripped her Scythe arm with his left hand, pulling her close for a solid punch to the jaw. A-64 booted her away, grabbing the Scythe and disarming her within the same fluid motion.

He threw the weapon away, sidestepping and catching the surprise kick of the girl in black, locking her leg between his left arm and his side and gripping with his right arm around her waist. A-64 spun and threw her face first into the concrete three meters away. Then the blond girl came around almost landing a right cross to his face has he not leaned back to the right. He grabbed her fist with his left hand, reeling her close as he leaned in and smashed his elbow into her gut, then not even half a second later, reeling back and forcing his elbow into her face. The blond girl stunned, A-64 pulled on her arm, throwing her over his shoulder and flipping her to the ground.

A-64 leaned back as her boot went for his face, reacting by grabbing it and lifting her up, throwing her up just long enough for him to spin into a side kick, smacking into her mid air and sending her tumbling away.

"Alpha 87 to Alpha 64," A-64 froze for a second as he heard a voice over the commlink. "Respond."

"Alpha 64 copy," A-64 replied.

"64, enemy reinforcements incoming," Ranger spoke. "Units are aerial."

"How long?"

"Not long." Ranger replied. "We're aborting mission. Get to the evac point. Red was also in your area but I can't reach him."

A-64 frowned for a split second behind his helmet. Red was supposed to be on a rooftop, picking off threats or laying down suppressive fire. It occurred to him that Red has stopped firing at this point.

A-64 leaned back as the massive red Scythe passed over him. The girl in red twirled it around her body for another swing. The ARC almost pressed his attack when he heard footsteps behind him getting louder. A-64 leaped back and whirled around, deflecting the oncoming fist of the blond girl, bringing his right arm under her's, then behind her head. He brought himself behind her, wrapping his left arm around her neck and securing the death grip by grabbing his right wrist. The girl in red held her attack as A-64 kept her choking comrade in her line of attack. Something caught his eye in the background. He craned his head higher, still tightly holding the struggling blond, using his eyepiece to have a better look. The tactical information that flowed over his HUD confirmed his finding. ARC Trooper Red lay on the ground in front of the building he had been perched on, flat on his back with his arms flailed, non-responsive.

"A-64, do you copy?" Ranger requested an answer once again over the comms."

"Acknowledged, sir," A-64 replied. "Just found Alpha 48. Meet you at the RV point."

A-64 ran a quick plan through his head in seconds, it involving his fallen DC-15A rifle just several meters behind the girl in red. If he got to that, then escape would be imminent.

"Alpha 39, Viper, I'm gonna need some cover for the retreat." A-64 contacted his nearby comrade over the commlink.

"Got my hands a little full from this kid here," Viper replied. "But I've got grenades to spare."

"Give me that cover in five-"

A-64 released his left arm, keeping the blond girl secured with his right as he did a half turn around, bringing his forearm at an angle to deflect the blade of the girl in black, side kicking her away.

"Four-"

A-64 kicked the back of the blond girl's knee, putting her to a crouch. His left fist came across the back of her head like a bludgeon, then he kicked her into the ground.

"Three-"

A-64 dived forward and under the Scythe swing of the girl in red, rolling into a crouch, landing right in front of his rifle.

"Two-"

A-64 whirled as he picked up the rifle, knocking the oncoming Scythe off its intended killing blow with his barrel. A-64 leaped forward and slammed the barrel into the face of the girl in red, sending her stumbling into the ground.

"One-"

A-64 whirled around for a split second shot at the girl in white who had been engaging Viper. The shot flew clean, but despite it aimed at her heart, had just flew at the precise time of her spin to knock her weapon out of her hands. Either way, she was off Viper's back.

"Now!" A-64 declared as he dove forward and away from his previous three opponents.

Surely enough, three booms resounded behind him. A-64 whirled to see his success. A second later and the three girls would have been on his back. Now they sat stunned on the pavement, recovering from the grenades that had prevented their attack. A-64 laid down suppressive fire, forcing the girls away. Surely enough, they stumbled back as they recovered, evading a few shots, then dashing into a retreat.

A-64 wasted no time in engaging them. He saw that Viper didn't as well. He ran towards his fallen comrade Red, grabbing him by the arm and throwing the ARC Sniper over his shoulder, then sprinting for the Rendezvous points, turning to fire a couple shots to ensure he wasn't being followed. Hip firing from one hand was not the best way to confirm a kill at this range, but he had to get his comrade to safety. Red felt limp over A-64's shoulder, but it didn't matter. As long as they made it to the RV point, they were home free.

-Yang 3rd Person POV-

Yang stumbled out of her sprint, slipping and falling to her side. Her aura had been dissipated at this point. Shots were still loosely flying around her, but it was nothing to worry about. The Clones were retreating. She couldn't figure out why though. The explosions had rattled them around, and it would have been easy to kill at least one of them, but all she could see through the smoke and debris was a shadow of a retreating armored figure. She looked around for her teammates, catching Blake on all fours. The two exchanged glances, Blake giving her a look that she was okay.

"Ruby!" Yang coughed as she sat up calling her sister. "Ruby!"

"I'm over here!" Ruby called back as she approached, folding Crescent Rose to its portable mode. Weiss was right behind her.

"They are leaving." Weiss noted as she helped Blake up. "I don't know why. We didn't exactly have them on the run."

"I'll tell you why," GT said, announcing his arrival. "Atlesian Airship is arriving. Someone heard the noise we were making."

"Where is TJ?" Ruby asked.

"He's with Jared," GT replied. "I got them secured at a building across."

"How is Jared?" Yang as she got to her feet.

"Definitely wounded, but he'll live."

Yang sighed in relief. They had been separated during the battle, and she had not seen them since.

"Any word from anyone else?" Blake asked.

"No," GT shook his head. "I don't know why comms are still down. I can't even get a scroll signal."

"Not even Shadow?"

"I thought he was with you guys."

"He ran off," Blake stated. "I don't know where."

"There might have been more Clones than the ones we encountered," GT thought. "I haven't heard from Team JNPR either."

"They should be in the warehouse." Yang stated.

"Yet the shooting has stopped and they still haven't come out…" GT shook his head. "Yang, Blake, go look for them. Weiss, head to the building I was positioned on at the start of the mission. Check on Jared and TJ. Ruby and I will find Shadow."

"Maybe I should go with you." Blake suggested.

"We'll find him, Blake," GT assured her. "Just stick with your partner."

"C'mon Blake," Yang pulled on her partner's arm. "Let's see if Jaune and them are alright."

-Bane 3rd Person POV-

Bane was genuinely surprised with Shadow's ability with the blade, but was even more fascinated that his sword was capable of countering a weapon such as a lightsaber. Black flames lanced and splashed from Shadow's blade as the two swords danced around, giving eerie shadows throughout the room. Regardless, this was Bane's fight. The force was with him, guiding every strike, predicting every attack, and maneuvering his body like a ballerina. For the elegant and emphasized strikes Bane employed, he was deceptively fast, his black beam never in a place it shouldn't be. It gave Bane some sort of sensation of amusement, watching Shadow trying to hard to land a single blow, when Bane was slightly toying with him.

Bane sidestepped from a downwards stroke, whirling to block another swing and continuing his spin into a low swing. Shadow jumped over it, swinging at Bane's head, his blade only meeting Bane's. Bane stepped back, then around Shadow, striking high to low three times consecutively, Shadow barely having any time to bring his blade to bear. Then Bane got in close, bringing his lightsaber up, threatening to separate Shadow's jaw from the rest of his skull. Shadow leaped back, Bane hearing a slight gasp as the beam tickled his chin.

But Bane had now had his fun, and it was time to end this.

Bane lunged forward, Shadow barely dodging the blow. Bane continued his movement, spinning into a high strike, then a low. Shadow ducked under the high then blocked the low, Bane sliding his blade around the Flaming sword and lunging once more. With a hiss, the beam tapped Shadow's left shoulder, melting right through the armor and pauldron. The Shadow Trooper winced, his facial expression noticeable behind his hood, brightened by the fire and light. He stepped back, striking to cover his retreat. Bane merely held his ground, deflecting the blade away, then whirling around into a spin. Bane struck across high to low, leaning in for two more quick strikes to the abdomen.

The Shadow Trooper avoided the first swing, blocking the second, but the third grazed his right hip, once again melting the armor around it.

Bane had him off balance now, throwing himself into a smash, knocking Shadow back onto a defensive stance. Bane spun the other way, getting his left heel under Shadow's, and hooking the leg up. Shadow had began to stumble back, but not before Bane finished his spin, landing a deep slash into Shadow's left side, cutting all the way to the center of his abdominals. The SBH Commander let out a cry of pain as he whirled onto his back, the cut still hot as coals and searing the flesh.

Bane strode towards him slowly, letting his opponent get on his knees, back facing him. It was most definitely reckless to give Shadow this much time to recover, but the force protected Bane, and he was expecting an attack. Like destiny, Shadow whirled in a vain attempt to spill Bane's guts, but Bane slashed first, getting a clean blow right across the chest and under the pauldron. The pain caused Shadow to miss the blow, the SBH trooper dropping his sword from the pain.

Then Bane used his favourite attack, summoning the darkness, the hate, the rage against his opponent for the deaths of his friends, channeling it into a single attack. Bane lunged his free hand forward, electricity and lightning jumping from his fingers straight to Shadow. The lightning zapped the SBH Commander, letting him release cries of pain as he weakened, toppling to his side. The pain didn't stop for him and Bane did not let up on his attack, Shadow screaming and twitching in agony on the ground. Bane planned to kill him like this, shutting off his lightsaber and hooking it to his belt. Any minute now, he would start cooking, and he would die painfully.

"Alpha 87 to X-21, come in," Ranger's voice interrupted on the commlink. "Bane, respond."

Irritated with the interruption, Bane hesitated ceasing his attack for a few moments, then dropped his hand, activating the commlink.

"X-21 responding," Bane replied with gritted teeth. "What is it Captain?"

"Military force approaching to restore order," Ranger explained. "Capital Ship is coming."

No. Not right now...

"ETA?" Bane asked reluctantly.

"Forty seconds till they are directly on top of the main warehouse, so that leaves us twenty seconds before they deploy."

"Actions?"

"We're pulling," Ranger stated firmly. "Get to the RV point, now."

"Sir," Bane argued. "We can't. Not right now."

"We don't have the armaments to take on a Capital ship, and we have two men down. We aren't fighting this."

"But Sir."

"That's a direct order, X-21," Ranger growled over the commlink. "Get to the RV point in thirty seconds or we leave without you."

Bane felt betrayed. A rage filled his chest. His arm began to spark. Fierfek! Time had saved his opponents. His target lay at his feet, at his mercy, and now his victory was to be ripped from him. But Bane figured he could spare a few seconds, grabbing the hilt of his lightsaber once more.

-Shadow 3rd Person POV-

Shadow thought he had felt the most pain he ever would already. Boy was he wrong. As he lay on the cold floor, his injuries began to burn again. The stab in his shoulder, the cut on his hip, the gash along his side, and the slash across his chest burned. It was like experiencing the pain of a laser bolt, except a longer result. But none of that compared to the electricity that surged from Bane's arm. Shadow hadn't been shocked before by electricity, and a constant and powerful surge still left him tingling. He felt paralyzed, not being able to move. In reality he was exhausted from the constant pain, but the reason made no difference. He couldn't move, and his opponent stood over him.

But the pain had stopped. Shadow had no idea why Bane had stopped electrocuting him. Shadow opened his eyes, sparing a look at his opponent. Bane's head was tilted a little bit away from Shadow, as if he was talking to someone on the commlink. It made sense. The other Clones must have been on his team. He was thankful for the interruption though. He tried to summon his aura to strengthen himself, but it was depleted. He was stuck there. Shadow struggled to get up, but a boot stopped him, planting itself in the center of Shadow's chest. Pinned down, Shadow heard the threatening ignition of the lightsaber once again. Bane brought the blade up for the killing blow.

All Shadow could do is look at this point. He was to tired to even scream. After so long, this was the way he would go. He closed his eyes. Sorry Blake.

Shadow heard an unexpected sound after the lightsaber whirr. It sounded like a ricochet. Shadow opened his eyes, seeing Bane blocking blue bolts flying towards him. It was unmistakably a Deece. Another sound followed, with shots coming at a different angle. Shadow rolled over halfway, catching a glimpse of his rescuers. GT took a vantage point behind a crate, spraying down at Bane while Ruby came at an angle, firing as well with Crescent Rose in its high caliber sniper mode. Shadow expected Bane to engage and kill the two, but the loud echoing rumble of a large aerial vehicle told Shadow why Bane was retreating. The Atlesian Military had arrived.

Shadow put every last piece of energy into getting himself almost upright. Bane was moving at lightning speed, the black lightsaber leaving waves in its wake as it travelled around Bane in arcs. Shadow decided to make the task of blocking lasers and bullets more difficult, lunging his leg out at Bane. Bane took the kick in the knee, putting him off balance, allowing one of GT's rounds to skim his helmet. Bane jumped back, hooking his lightsaber to his belt. He brought his arms closer to him, as if he was charging something. No. He was charging something. Shadow tried to scream "Down!", but by then, Bane's hands were spread out, and Shadow, along with GT and Ruby were flying across the room.

Shadow slammed into a wall, landing on his side, right next to one of his DC-17 hand blasters. Shadow weakly picked it up, aiming it at were Bane had been moments ago. He was gone now.

"Shadow!" GT called out, coming right next to him. "Shadow! Are you still with us?"

Shadow opened his mouth, but only found himself nodding. GT kept checking his back, as if expecting Bane to still be there.

"Shit!" Shadow heard GT mutter as he inspected Shadow's wounds.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Ruby asked, somewhere out of Shadow's line of sight.

"We've gotta get him out of here."

GT turned once more, cursing to himself as he levelled his rifle around the room.

"Ruby, cover us," He ordered in frustration. "We're leaving."

Shadow felt GT wring his fingers down Shadow's neck, grabbing him by the rim of his chestplate, pulling him into a sitting position. A sharp pain filled all of Shadow's wounds from the sudden movement, and kept burning as GT began to drag him out the building. Ruby was in front of him from his point of view, backing up as Shadow was dragged out, her sniper levelled at her hip, making sure their back was clear. Shadow didn't know if he was dreaming or not, but before everything faded to black, he swear he could have seen Bane once more in the shadows, glaring at him, sending a mental message. The message was simple.

This isn't over.

-Mack 3rd Person POV-

Walking around in full armor wasn't something out of the ordinary at the Arca Company Barracks, but walking around with full armor and gear was a different story. Strolling Commandos, Shadow Troopers, and ARCs didn't seem to take notice though. Well, the ARCs did, but they didn't try to ask any questions. He was a General. Why should they? There were always secrets kept.

But Mack was in a rush. He kept his pace as closely relative to normal as he could, but he didn't slow down for anything. Just mere minutes after their last conversation, the Supreme Commander ordered the prisoner transfer of the 501st Sergeant. The Arca Barracks wasn't meant to be a station to hold prisoners anyway, but Mack had been confined to base. He wasn't even allowed to be back here. He kept a countdown time of when the Sergeant would be transferred on his HUD. He had very little time to do this. Actually, he couldn't really figure out what he was doing, or really, why he was doing it. He could only see one footstep ahead of him for this.

"Sir?" A hardened Concord Dawn accent almost startled him.

Mack looked up to see the ARC Captain he had just run into. Alpha 26, Maze, was an assistant and tactical advisor to the Brigade Director. The Alpha ARC had his helmet to his side, looking at Mack with a raised eyebrow.

"Captain Maze," Mack nodded. "As you were."

"Yes, sir," Maze replied unsurely. "I wasn't expecting to see you back here. You are supposed to be at GAR Headquarters, are you not?"

"Last minute change in orders," Mack tried to play it off. "Atomos has a rapid deployment in six hours."

"I didn't get that memo." Maze didn't seem to be entirely convinced, but as a General, there wasn't a reason not to believe him. "Anyways, I'm off to the briefing room. Delta squad wants a search and rescue mission to Kashyyyk."

Mack remembered. He'd been here at his desk organizing Shadow Trooper teams for the assault on Utapau when the news of Delta 07 being left behind had come in. Commandos were more tightly knitted than Shadow Troopers. They took the loss of a squadmate to heart. It was like losing part of your body for them.

"I'll let you go then." Mack nodded and shifted to the side to get around him.

He managed five paces before he heard a discouraging "General Mack…"

Damn, Mack thought, he knows. He knows I'm not supposed to be here. Mack decided what to do. He could shoot Maze right now. He had been practiced in drawing his sidearm and clicking the stun setting on in a fluid motion, but despite Maze having a desk job with virtually no combat during the Clone Wars, he was still an Alpha ARC. So Mack just turned, slowly, his eyes behind his visor locking with the Captain's.

"We lost contact with three of your teams," Maze stated.

Mack felt a wave of relief. He didn't know. But he shouldn't have felt relief. Three teams?

"Which ones?" Mack asked.

"Winters and Slow were on a deep reconnaissance in the Outer Rim," Maze started. "We lost contact with them eight rotations ago somewhere on Tatooinne. Too early to decide on them, but Christo's and Miller's five man teams have been confirmed KIA and Mesawin's trio are missing on Mandalore."

"What's been happening?"

"Not sure what happened with the duo on the dustball planet, but Christo's group went down on board the RAS Emperor. All hands lost when they got ambushed by two rogue Separatist Destroyers on the way back to Coruscant. Miller's group got their cover blown behind enemy lines in the lower levels towards the heart of Insurrection territory right here on Triple Zero. Hard Contact and no way of extraction. As for Mesa, they were under deep cover for a risk assessment on Mandalore's status as a result of the coup between clan Vizla and the Night Owls. If they are alive, we can send an ARC to make sure they stay that way, but if they need extraction, the only way we get boots on the ground is by taking the planet back."

Mack was shocked. For the past few days he had been worried about Shadow with this new evidence that suggests he and his group might be innocent when he could have just potentially have lost fifteen Shadow Troopers. SBH was meant to be the larger division made to fill in the dwindling numbers of ARCs and specifically Republic Commandos. If they kept losing numbers like this, they would be the ones who were dwindling. It was hard to find good potential these days.

No. These men, he could do nothing about. Shadow, he could, and he would.

"Thank you for notifying me," Mack acknowledged. "Carry on, Captain."

Mack finally reached the holding cells. It wasn't hard to relieve the two Covert Operations Troopers guarding the entrance. All he needed to do was flash his rank insignia to their HUDs and they let him pass. Just as expected, the Sergeant sat there. He wasn't tied down anymore though. He only wore one set of restraints, being cuffed around a metal bar that had been mounted in the center of the table. It was time to talk. Really talk.

"Hello once again, Tested, was it?" Mack greeted.

"Yes, sir," Tested looked rather uneasy. "Are you back for more questions?"

"Plenty," Mack nodded as he took a seat, helmet still on. "But for now I can start with one."

"I've literally told you everything at this point." Tested sighed, mainly in exhaustion. "I understand my words aren't good enough, but give my word as a soldier that I'm telling the truth."

Mack turned back slightly to his right, as if he was looking at the wall for no reason, but behind his visor, he side-eyed the camera in the corner on his rear high right. Damn. If CC-088 didn't know I was here, he does now. He had to be quick.

"Funny thing is, I believe you, Sergeant," Mack exhaled. "But I want others to believe you too. Do you know if there is any evidence anywhere that can confirm your story or at least reopen an investigation?"

"I would say Shash's helmet logs, but obviously they were tampered with as he really did falsify evidence. I can't think of anything accessible."

"Forget about accessible or inaccessible," Mack pressed for an answer. "Anything that you can think of."

"What good is inaccessible proof gonna do for us?" Tested asked. "We can't get to it."

"Just answer the question quickly."

Tested raised his eyebrow in confusion, taken aback by the snap. "What is the rush?" He asked.

Mack took a quick peek over his shoulder then glanced up at the prisoner transfer countdown on his HUD. He had just over a minute.

"You are being transported to a more secure location that I do not know of," Mack's words came out in rapid fire. "Your story doesn't sound so crazy, but nobody is interested in hearing it. If you don't give anything, Shadow and his group will be dead within a few weeks if they aren't already."

The Sergeant's eyes widened as he leaned in, suddenly giving his full attention. "What do you mean?"

"Classified information," Mack made sure to add to elevate the seriousness of his tone. "The Supreme Commander has issued a wet team of Alpha Class ARC Troopers accompanied with a force using Clone."

"Force using? -"

"No time to explain," Mack eyed the clock countdown as he spoke. "All you need to know is that the team is full of some pretty highly respected and heroic names in the Special Operations Brigade. These guys are some of the Republic's deadliest and are way above the paygrade of Shadow and his team."

"Why would the Supreme Commander issue-"

"He's pissed about Felwinter's group, but what matters is that if I could get any sort of solid evidence heavy enough to weigh into reopening the investigation on the Remnant incident, I can get CC-088 to call off the wet team." Mack placed his palms on the table and leaned forward more. "Give me something so I can save them."

The Sergeant looked down, frantically trying to remember. There were only seconds left before the transfer crew came. Mack would let them do their job, but if Tested gave one thing that could work as evidence…

Then, like a hiss of defiance to Mack's attempts, the door slid open. Blast! Mack checked the timer. The clones were seventeen seconds early.

"General Mack?" One of the Clones seemed rather startled. It was hard to tell. His voice was stern and hard as iron. "I don't think you are supposed to be here right now.

Mack didn't turn his head. The Sergeant looked up at the Clones, slightly in fright, but Mack kept himself fixated on him. Tested as a result, continued thinking of any sort of evidence that was needed. Mack didn't need to turn his head to figure out what was a bit frightening about these Troopers. He knew they were Covert Operations Clones; the dirty hands of the late Chancellor Palpatine. It was a surprise to see these Clones come under the command of CC-088 rather than just have the unit disbanded and either cross trained to be Commandos or filed into the Shadow Black Hole Division.

"Sir?" The Covert Operations Trooper seemed rather unhappy with Mack being non responsive. "Would you please step aside and return to the GAR Headquarters? We've been ordered to move the witness."

Prisoner you mean, don't you, Mack thought to himself, remaining fixated on the Sergeant, prisoner or corpse?

"General, respectively, leave the room." Mack heard once more.

That's when Tested answered.

"We might have some data stored from the computers used by the Nova Squad," He muttered. "We also likely have helmet logs and lots of incriminating information when Designer cracked their database. We might also have Designer's logs."

Designer! Mack gleamed behind his helmet. Bingo. That completely decided his next move. It would completely design the next chain of dangerous events that would occur.

"General Mack?" The Covert Ops Clone got impatient. "We will remove you by for-"

The Clone never got to finish the statement, because he had placed his hand on Mack's shoulder. Not even half a second of standing there, Mack launched his arm back and around him, grabbing him from the back of the head and slamming him face down into the desk. A loud gong was resonated as his helmet met the metal table. The Clone dropped to the floor unconscious, but not before Mack spun around, performing his quickdraw. With a shriek and blue flash of a stun bolt, the Trooper's partner went limp.

And that was it. Mack had very little choice. He had to succeed, or suffer the same fate awaited for Shadow. Until he completed his mission, he was essentially a traitor of the Republic. Mack flicked the stun setting off and aimed at the security camera…

Then pulled the trigger...

-Shadow 3rd Person POV-

Shadow missed class that day. He and Jared both did, along with Ren. Aside from GT, who had come to check on the latter, the others had gone along as a regular day. The only class that GT went to was combat class. Everyone else promised to gather notes and the assigned readings from the class, and while it was unprofessional to skip, something told Shadow that Ozpin would have passed some sort of note down to the Professors.

When it came down to injuries, it was obvious to understand their absence. Despite the group being insisted on going to the hospital by Atlesian Medics last night, they Shadow and GT figured they could live without it. So they stayed in team TJGT's dorm, Shadow using Tested's bed as it was currently vacated.

Ren looked the best though. Other than a nasty stab, his leg was the worst story. With medicine provided by the hospital and the correct usage of Bacta, he'd be back on his feet in no time, maybe even by the end of the week, but likely Monday. When the others returned, Nora would go look after him.

"Fifteen thousand two-hundred eighty seven, fifteen thousand two-hundred eighty eight, fifteen thousand two-hundred eighty nine," Jared was counting, propped into a sitting position by his pillow in his bed.

"Ten," Shadow sighed in annoyance. "There, you are done."

"Hey, shut the fuck up," Jared growled. "I'm trying to concentrate."

Shadow rolled his eyes, trying to turn to his side and roll his pillow over his head.

"Fifteen-thousand two-hundred ninety, fifteen thousand two-hundred ninety one, fifteen thousand two-hundred ninety two," Jared continued.

"Can you let me get some rest?" Shadow groaned. "It's literally been hours."

"Well I'm trying not to lose my mind here, thank you very much you asshat." Jared shot back. "I'd rather not lose count because of you."

"You could have literally just talked to me for the past four hours," Shadow stated. "I could live with that compared to listening to you count like a Cadet in flash training."

"Hey, fuck you," Jared raised himself more, turning and prodding his finger at Shadow from his bed. "I didn't want to disturb your sleep by talking to you, you ungrateful piece of shit. Next time you get a concussion, I'm throwing you off your bed and playing loud edgy music next to you. I'll be sure to leave your vibroblade in your hands to start cutting."

It was very easy for Shadow to forget that Jared had a concussion. He did have some nasty bruises over his body, but what topped the bill was the crack in his skull, blanketed with the deep cut made by a plastoid fragment that lodged itself in when a Clone punched the section of the helmet inwards. He had a Bacta patch over the wound. It really looked worse than it actually was, but a cracked skull would definitely fix it.

"If you two are done arguing," GT interrupted as he entered the room. "The rest of the gang should be back soon. Shadow, are you good?"

Shadow's injuries, all in all, were the worse. Along with having some nasty bruises, one large one on his right thigh from being pinned by a shelf, he had a minor fracture on his right wrist, and multiple lightsaber wounds. The fact that blows by a lightsaber seared the flesh, sealed wounds, and prevented bleeding was the only upside. The downside was the damage. It was like having slashes of third degree burns cutting deep into your body. The slash across the leg and the cut on his hip wasn't much of a problem. It was the deep gash on his left side cutting from his lower left back all the way to his left pectoral, and the slash across his chest. Those would be some scars that wouldn't fade. It burned every time Shadow moved and was freezing cold every time he didn't. Aura didn't do anything for him. The black blade passed through for the cut without trouble. It was something Shadow probably wouldn't forget for the rest of his life.

"I'm the best I can be right now," Shadow said reluctantly. "Some more Bacta would help kill the pain."

"Alright," GT nodded. "I can give you a dose right now, but I'll need to head to the hideout for more tonight."

"Make sure you aren't followed," Shadow warned. "Specifically by them."

"We're back!" Ruby announced the arrival of everyone else. Jared squirmed at the loud shout, glaring at her.

"Oh, sorry," Ruby said more quietly. "We're back."

All together, it was Team RWBY, TJ, Pyrrha and Jaune who had just arrived. Yang obviously went for Jared, sitting beside him on his bed. He gave her a wink as the two exchanged smiles. Shadow felt Blake's hand against his face. He responded by gripping it, looking up at her in comfort.

"Don't worry about notes guys," TJ broke the silence as he shook his binder in his hand. "I've made sure my handwriting was neat."

"So how are we all feeling?" Jaune asked.

"Like shit," Jared shrugged. "Shadow looks like he's in deeper shit."

"Thanks, Jared." Shadow sighed.

"Ren should be fine," GT reassured Jaune. "Nora should be with him now. How are you Pyrrha?"

"Your medicine has been very helpful," Pyrrha gestured to her belly. "I feel fine."

"I had to pull five flechettes from your abdomen, the other seven being through and through" GT stated. "Normally people aren't fine from that."

"Aura is a great healing factor," Pyrrha pointed out. "Even if I'm not the best right now, I will be tomorrow."

"Speaking of through and through…" Jared nodded at TJ.

"Missed the important stuff," TJ waved him off. "If the shot had been an inch left, I would have been paralyzed, but other than that, it's a textbook injury."

"GT, you fixed my helmet right?" Jared asked.

"Yeah, easy fix," GT shrugged. "Also fixed Crescent Rose, Ruby. Left it in your locker."

"Can't wait to hold it again…" Ruby muttered to herself in excitement.

"Moving on," Weiss changed the subject. "Are we going to discuss what happened last night?"

"Yeah," Jaune agreed. "Something didn't go right. It was a trap."

"Those Clones," Blake added. "They were waiting for us. They knew we were coming."

"I don't remember any of the Clones from the island looking like that," Yang raised an eyebrow. "Not to mention fighting like that."

"Their armor looked different." Ruby said. "Was that some sort of special armor?"

"Not really," TJ shook his head. "The armor that those Clones wore was a predecessor to what we were equipped with right now. During the Clone War, the Republic issued a stronger variant of our plastoid armor carrying a multitude of upgrades called Phase II. As Shadow Troopers, we are equipped with the Phase II SBH variant, equipped more for stealth operations." TJ took a breath, his face in slight confusion as he continued. "That armor that those Clones wore, was Phase I."

"What type of upgrades does your Phase II armor have?" Blake asked.

"Lighter, stronger, and easier to modify and equip with specific gear," Jared answered. "Every aspect of the Phase II armor was an improvement from the Phase I."

"Wait, stronger?" Ruby asked. "TJ shot one of them, and the shot didn't even penetrate. But when TJ got shot, the laser went right through him."

"Those weren't regular Clones," Jared explained. "The armor they wore was a modified or enhanced variant of Phase I armor, typically issued to ARC Troopers. The amount of extra armor plating they had and the amount of gear and skill they employed, I'd say that fits the bill as well."

"ARC Troopers, like Shash's squad?" Ruby asked.

"Worse," TJ stated. "Shash was an ARC, but his squad was recruited."

"This group was tough," GT shook his head. "Tactical efficiency all over the place. Combat skill like no other."

"They were fast," Yang scoffed. "So fast, and strong. Each punch felt like an earthquake, and this is coming from me."

"Alpha ARCs," Jared stated. "Only ones I can imagine in the GAR still allowed to hang on to the old stuff."

"Is that a special ARC?" Ruby asked.

"It's an original ARC," Shadow explained as he struggled to sit up. Blake tried to encourage him to stay put but he waved her off, getting upright and sliding his legs over the edge on his right to face the group. "The original one hundred ARCs were designated Alpha Class. They were the successful attempt at enhancing the standard perfected Clone template. To make the perfect human, more than perfect."

"That sounds very perfected…" Jaune said nervously.

"Smarter, faster, and stronger than a human can be," Shadow stated. "Not to mention trained by one of the greatest warriors in the galaxy. That is an Alpha ARC."

"But how did they get here?" GT asked. "We would have seen them at the island assault if they were with the Republic attack force."

"And Shadow destroyed the artifact Crystal." Jared added. "There shouldn't be any way to travel here."

"I think we are missing something important," Blake said. "Jared said these are the same ARCs that attacked the weapons cache on the island. Why were they helping the White Fang?"

"Picking up where Shash left off?" GT shrugged.

"Well, there has been a string of chaos in Atlas recently, specifically with the Atlesian Military," Weiss hesitated before continuing. "Members of the Schnee Dust Company have also been assassinated by your Republic Deeces."

"This isn't a survivor group." Jared stated. "They had a purpose. They had a reason to be there last night."

"You aren't suggesting they were there for us, right?" Blake asked.

"How could they have known we would be there?" Yang added.

"Maybe… we were the target…" Shadow spoke, slowly thinking to himself. "We are their objective."

"What makes you think that?" Jared turned to Shadow.

"Covert Operations, assassination mission," Shadow laid out a situation. "Stealth insertion into unknown territory. Little to no Intel. What's your first move?"

"Recon, locate target, surveillance," Jared responded like a computer, then he froze, looking more wide eyed at Shadow as he realized the explanation.

"What if we were being watched?" Jaune said it out in black and white.

"No," Jared shook his head in disbelief. "Us? Us? No way. We were trained for this shit."

"Tested did go missing in Atlas." Ruby said. "And it isn't a coincidence they were there last night."

"We're being hunted." Shadow said grimly.

The room went silent.

"You think they are connected to Rezla," Ruby asked. "Or that guy that those gangsters were talking about in Atlas? Bane?"

Shadow froze in fear for a few moments. The name sent a chill down his spine. For the split second, he remembered what Bane had done to him last night. What was worse was how easy it was for him. What if it wasn't only him last night? What if it had been the others? What if it had been Blake?

"I don't know Ruby," The words child themselves out of Shadow's throat, the lies scraping vocal chords. "Maybe, maybe not."

Shadow noticed Jared looking at him from the corner of his eye. GT and TJ seemed to be doing the same, but they didn't seem as interested as Jared.

"So what's our next move?" Jaune asked.

"Lay low." Shadow replied. "Nora said she injured one of them and Ruby pushed another off a building. I don't think we should expect another encounter any time soon."

"You don't think they will sneak into the school?" Blake raised an eyebrow.

"We'd be dead already if they did."

"Atlas patrols have been quite noticeable these days." TJ nodded. "Might be the reason they haven't tried to murder us in our sleep."

"Hold up, we are merely standing our ground? They probably took Tested," GT smashed his fist into his palm. "I'd expect us to be more prepared for a fight rather than sitting around."

"Oh come on," Jared said smugly. "You wouldn't go back into battle without your team carry would you?"

GT let off a small scoff as he waved him off.

"Yeah," Yang chuckled. "I'm here, so let's go."

"No," Shadow said firmly. "We lay low. Regain our strength. We can press our offense again when we are ready."

"Are we really just gonna wait for them to do more damage?" GT raised both his eyebrows.

"Yes."

The room went silent again. One would have been able to feel the deep emotion in the room. The girls were more confused, the twins shocked. Shadow was hoping no one would guess his emotion. But Jared, once again stared at Shadow,almost frustrated, but more agitated.

"Yeah…" He nodded. "You guys can get some rest for now. GT, you still have that Bacta to go get. Jaune and Pyrrha, you guys can go check on Ren."

"You sure you don't need us?" Blake asked.

"Trust me," Jared winked at her. "We don't die easy."

"C'mon girls," Ruby waved her team out. "Let's go check on Zwei."

Slowly, everyone began to file out of the room, GT noticeably stopping to turn and look at Shadow in disbelief for a few moments until his brother pulled him along. Shadow shifted the rest of his body back onto the bed, taking slow and exaggerated movements to avoid pain as he made sure his pillow was set. As he turned back to lie down, he saw Jared, still staring at him, waiting for Shadow to notice.

"Something to say, Jared?" Shadow started, then turned to face him.

"You were either cut by a very, very hot sword, or those were lightsaber wounds, Shadow," Jared stated. "And even GT saw that look."

"It was a lightsaber," Shadow replied. "Surprised you figured that out."

"Shadow, when are you gonna tell us what we are dealing with?" Jared jumped to his question.

Shadow looked Jared right in the eyes. He couldn't say anything. No. He didn't want to say anything. Shadow broke off the stare and lay down as comfortably as he can.

"Just get some rest." Shadow ended the conversation. "We are gonna need it."

-Bane 3rd Person POV-

"How are his vitals?"

Bane and A-64 had just come into their makeshift medical center, returning from their perimeter security sweep. Their quick evac from last night didn't leave any trail to where they were squatted. Cameras were put down, so their getaway van was not traceable. There was doubt that the Atlesian Military would figure out that they had escaped in a van. Two tables had been set up with two ARCs in their place. It was Red and Ripper on each table. Spade had been looking after them. Both were injured, but Bane was more concerned about Red, who was still unconscious.

"His heartbeat has slowed a little more than normal," Spade replied to Bane's question. "Most of the damage was internal. He's pretty lucky, lucky enough that he's gonna be fine."

Bane looked down at the ARC Sniper. Spade had completely removed his armor, stripping Red's black body glove down to his waist. He didn't really look too injured, other than a fat, purple bruise just off the center of his chest, probably what had sent him overboard. His eyes were closed, as if he were sleeping, but his face was in a stiff serious expression, almost in a frown. Bane noticed an IV fluid set up, a tube running from a water bottle into his arm.

"Where'd you get the IV?" A-64 asked as he removed his helmet.

"Took a few bottles of water and some sugar from the corner store down the street," Spade replied. "Fluid is a bit crude, but it should suffice."

"Any permanent damage?" Bane asked, putting his helmet to his side.

"Nothing that time and Bacta won't heal," Spade answered. "Not expecting him to be on his feet tomorrow though. Give him a week before he is at minimum combat proficiency. It would be better if we had access to a Bacta tank."

"And him?" Bane nodded at Ripper on the other table.

Ripper lay almost in a similar fashion, except he had some padding set up under him, specifically supporting his upper right back and chest. He remained awake, turning to look at Bane.

"Ripper doesn't have anything life threatening," Spade replied. "Serious bruising on his upper right chest, a broken collarbone, and a few busted ribs. He might be good to move in about five days, but if he does, he'll be in tremendous amounts of pain."

"Still am," Ripper called from his table, voice sounding slightly strained. "More Bacta and pain killers would help."

"I take it he's out of the fight." Bane inquired.

"Red fell on his back," Spade explained. "Extra armor plating broke some of the fall, along with the impact being spread throughout his body. Ripper though, got hit with almost the same amount of force, except it was concentrated on the area of bruising. If that hit was towards anything important, he might have died. No. He's not getting back in the fight anytime soon."

"I actually recall you in a similar position a week or so ago, Spade," Ripper pointed out. "Look who is up in combat so soon?"

"Stand down Ripper," Ranger called from a corner of the room. "Put your strength into rest and healing rather than talking. You can join us when you are at least halfway recovered."

Ranger had been at the corner of the room next to a small desk. He had been doing something with his helmet in his hands. Bane noticed the Bacta patch above his right eye. He also knew that there was another two gashes across his back, stitched up by A-64. This had ruined his record of having no battle scars. Bane looked closer at Ranger, setting that he had been sealing the incision in his helmet with putty.

"Can't live with a hole in your bucket Ranger?" Bane asked.

"Never know when you need to seal your suit." Ranger replied.

"So how is everyone doing?" Viper asked as he entered, standing in the doorway.

"We're comfortable for the most part." Ripper answered in grimace.

"Weapons check?" Ranger requested his report right away. He had asked Viper to do an inventory checklist.

"Honestly, pretty spent, sir," Viper began. "We only packed what we needed for what was supposed to be one, maybe three encounters at most. We lost a few Deeces, but it's the ammunition we should be worried about."

"List it."

"All in all, thirty percent capacity compared to what we started off with when we moved here," Viper continued. "Only three rockets for the PLX-1, six launchable grenades,seven mags for the sidearms, four for the WESTAR M-5, three for the DC carbine and rifles, a smoke grenade, two flash bangs, and five thermal detonators. We also have about five more charge packs for the Z-6, but I didn't get the chance to recover that in our escape."

"All that ordinance…" Ranger clicked his tongue in disappointment as he placed his helmet down to his left. "Did we get any confirmed kills last night?"

Bane twitched slightly, almost unnoticeable. No kills. Nowhere closer to completing their mission.

"Red knocked one down," A-64 said. "Shot the one they call TJ through the back. Saved me from a kill shot."

"Was it a confirmed kill?"

"Negative," A-64 shook his head. "Target dragged off. Got too preoccupied to see any sort of visual confirmation."

"The Major got away from me as well," Ranger brought his hand to his chin. "We were briefed that they had powers, but it's an entirely different story on the battlefield. I hurt the guy bad. One moment he lay at my feet for the killing blow, the next moment he sent me off into the pavement, vanishing like a ghost." Ranger turned to Spade. "Anything on your end?"

"We didn't actually engage any of the Shadow Troopers," Spade shook his head. "Ripper and I fought a group of these Huntsmen-in-training. Injured two of them. Could have killed the rest, but I didn't know how severe A-66's injuries were."

"Bitch with the hammer blindsided me," Ripper said defensively. "Superhuman strength."

"At least you are back in one piece," Ranger waved him off. "Bane? You engaged the leader, Shadow. Anything?"

"No, sir," Bane replied, doing his best to restrain his anger. His target was seconds from death, yet in those seconds, Ranger's call for a retreat had denied him that opportunity. He wasn't just angry. He was furious. He couldn't hate Ranger, but he was certainly mad. Still, there was nothing he could do, so he chose his words carefully. "Had I stayed longer to finish my battle, Atlas forces would have arrived and compromised the safety of the rest of the team."

"Right…" Ranger nodded in acknowledgement.

"What's our next move?" A-64 asked.

"We did a number on their team, but they did a number on us," Ranger replied. "With the Atlas Military on us, we lay low for now. Recon only. Familiarize yourselves with the streets and the area."

"How long are we just gonna sit around?" Viper asked as well.

"We aren't just sitting around," Ranger stated firmly. "Viper, see if you can broker anything with our so-called friend to get some ordinance. A-64, look into what you discovered about our surviving troopers. Ripper, I want you back in Atlas as soon as you are cleared for combat."

"Isn't the fight here, sir?" Ripper tried to cock his head without causing too much pain to himself.

"We need to make sure our way back to the portal is secure," Ranger answered. "With more recon and Intel, we will most likely engage our targets again, and we will be out of here quick."

"What makes you think they aren't gonna lay low?" A-64 kept his usual stern expression.

"The Deeces," Bane picked up on it. "They managed to recover some weaponry, but they were there for Rezla last night."

"Precisely," Ranger raked his hand through his hair, then brought them to his waist. "They will be cautious and ready. We've lost the element of surprise, but we should all be more familiar with their fighting style. Now we crush the Dar'manda."

"I'll get to work on the data comb." A-64 jumped right onto his task.

Viper moved as well, following his comrade. The way these ARCs moved was quick. They wanted the job complete. Bane though, was furious. He didn't value speed in this mission. He wanted it slow. He wanted to take his time. He wanted the heretics who killed his friends to suffer, and he was gonna make it painful. He promised.

-Blake 3rd Person POV-

Back at Team RWBY's dorm, things had been pretty normal. Well, normal for everyone except for Blake.

Blake had been with her teammates playing the board game World of Remnant. It was something Ruby had brought from home, and the four had found themselves playing every now and then. The four girls were set up on the floor, Yang sitting criss crossed, Ruby lying on her belly, Weiss sitting with her legs to the side, and Blake sat with her legs folded up to her chest, holding them in position with her arms. Like normally, she played as Vale. Yang played typically played Mistral, and Ruby and Weiss interchangeably mixed between Atlas and Vacuo. Today she was Atlas, but she was losing. Yang, sneaky and competitive as she is, was winning once again.

"So Yang," Weiss said with a threatening tone. "How would you feel if I had found a way to sneak completely around your army and attack your walls directly?"

"I'd say you are bluffing." Yang crossed her arms with a cool stare as she took a quick eye down at the board.

"Then you are going to feel very ignorant on my next turn." Weiss lifted her chin up and to the right with mischief on her face.

"Bring it on, Ice queen!" Yang brought her fist in a challenging response.

"Who knows Yang," Ruby dangled her legs up in the air with a satisfied grin. "Someone other than Tested might actually beat you this time."

Blake hadn't been entirely focused on the game. Bringing up Tested just made it worse. She didn't know how Ruby had just brought that up right now without any sort of remorse. Weiss hadn't even flinched. They still had no idea what had happened to him. She couldn't even forget that they had almost died last night. Sure, they had been through rough times before, whether it was a mission or field trip fighting Grimm, stopping Roman Torchwick, or dealing with Shash and his Nova Squad, but it had been worse that night. Every single one of them had been seconds or inches from death.

She couldn't even forget the injuries. Out of the four girls, Blake just had a bruise on her chest that Aura would heal in no time and Yang's wrist felt like she either popped it out and in or tore a lot of muscle. The guys though… TJ almost got shot through the spine or heart, GT had multiple blaster wounds over his entire body, Jared had terrible bruising and a concussion with a crack in his skull, and Shadow's nerves were still in slight shock, along with having multiple deep third degree burns, along with some minor cuts and bruises. Those four could have died more than ten times over, and they were lucky to still be alive. On the other hand, Ren had a broken leg.

"Blake?" Yang caught her attention. "You gonna go or what?"

"Oh, sorry." Blake spread her cards to look at what she could do.

"You are always the first one to be distracted." Weiss scoffed.

"What's up, Blake?" Yang leaned on her arm as she rested her elbow on her knee. She certainly made sure to fold up her cards and keep them behind her to oppose any curious eyes.

"It's nothing." Blake narrowed her eyes on her cards. She could still detect the other three girls staring at her.

"Just tell us what's wrong," Weiss rolled her eyes. "It saves us from going through the whole anti-social process for you."

"Something's obviously bothering you Blake," Ruby added. "We are all friends. We are here to help."

Blake sighed. "It's just that something is going on."

"You're still thinking about the raid last night?" Ruby shifted her body more upright.

"It's not just the raid," Blake shook her head. She released her legs and straightened them out off to the side. "Tested, the island, Torchwick, the White Fang; everything. We all know these events over the past week or so are not random."

"Something is always going down, huh?" Yang rolled her eyes.

"It's just that something could have happened to us last night."

"Well, that's not exactly anything new." Weiss shrugged.

"But last night was different," Blake pointed out. "It was just like fighting Shash again."

"That happened three months ago." Weiss said.

"And we beat them," Ruby pulled her legs in and got herself on her knees. "We just basically saved the world. It's not like you go a level higher than that."

"You know," Blake sighed. "If Atlas patrols hadn't spotted us last night and came to help, some of us might have died." The teammates exchanged glances.

"As long as we are together," Ruby finally said. "I don't think anything can stop us."

"Yeah!" Yang raised her fist in the air. "We've been through some rough encounters before and we have always come out on top."

Blake couldn't help but mirror the smiles on their faces, but she did so for seconds.

"I just think…" Blake glanced off out the window to look at the gleaming broken moon in the night sky. "I think that something's coming."