Ruby was jumping on her heels, waiting for Mercury to strike. Mercury was just in a fighting stance but, seemed more relaxed than what Ruby would've liked.

He's mocking me!

"Why the hell are you still here, if you were hurt, you lying bastard?!" The unarmed teen huffed out in annoyance as she kept her eyes trained on his smug smirk.

"Fighters, are you ready?" Oobleck's fast pace commentary broke through them.

No, Penny can't fight her!

"Showtime." Mercury announced as he moved forward, blocking Ruby's path with his arm outstretched. Deciding that she had no time for his foolishness, she spun forward, becoming a blur of red and rose petals shooting at Mercury, only for the villain to kick her mid-dash with his boots and knock her a few feet back with a loud, "oof". Ruby growled at Mercury, loathing him very much at the moment. Reaching for her tactical radio to reach anyone who could stop the match between Pyrrha and Penny but, it was then shot out of her hand, shattered into bits and pieces onto the hard, colorless concrete.

Ruby stays still for a moment, not quite getting what happened until her face contorted into a face of pure madness.

"You'll pay for this! For all of this!" She threatened. As soon as she got up to her feet, Mercury threw a kick at her, but was blocked by Ruby's quick reflexes. Still having her arms crossed above her head in a guard from the previous kick, Mercury took advantage of this and got Ruby a face-full of fist.

Though most of the impact was absorbed by her aura, it still hurt like hell. Ruby managed to duck and evade a couple of his attacks by leaping over his leg or going under.

Gritting her teeth, she pulled her arm back a good distance behind her head and let's it go at full force straight into Mercury's nose.

"AH!" Mercury hunched over covering his nose screaming bloody murder.

Spiraling past him, going much faster than her first attempt to get there, Ruby kicked off the wall and landed gracefully on her feet making no sound as if she were a cat. Pumping her arms as she continued to run for the exit, finally turning the corner emerging from the service tunnel, only to see she was too late.

"Penny..." Ruby manages to croak out in between her hyperventilating and sobbing.

Mercury shows up behind the broken cloaked girl, grinning widely at his success in delaying her.

Having heard Mercury's footsteps she snapped her head towards him and brought her hands to his neck faster than she had ever moved.

"YOU DID THIS!" Ruby shrieked at the wide eyed Mercury.

Putting more pressure into her hold she snapped, " Who else is in this with you?"

Mercury, now gasping for air and clawing at her hands making a sad attempt to escape but ultimately getting nowhere.

"Tell me or you will die." Ruby seethed as she loosened her grip enough for him to talk.

"C-Cinder Fall!" Mercury choked. Never has he ever felt this terrified before.

Ruby grinned down upon him and once again tightened her hold this time for good.

"Oops, I lied.." Ruby said with a chilling calm in her voice as she watched with her cold, silver eyes. Watching Mercury's gray frightened eyes turn into lifeless ones.

One last struggle as he clawed one last time at Ruby's hands before he slumped.

"Broadcast, what are you doing? Kill the feed!" Oobleck's voice muted the thud of Mercury's fallen body.

"What?! How is that possible?!"

Okay, duty now, mourn later. Ruby told herself as she went down to the arena.

"This is not a tragedy. This was not an accident. This is what happens when you hand over your trust, your safety, your children, to men who claim to be our guardians, but are, in reality, nothing more than men. Our Academies' Headmasters wield more power than most armies, and one was audacious enough to control both."

Ruby knew that voice. It was the same voice that had praised the green haired bitch on her acting. Ruby had no more to listen to that slut so she tuned her out.

That was till a huge sign in orange that read "CAUTION" filled Ruby's view.

"Alert. Incoming Grimm attack. Threat level: Nine. Please seek shelter in a calm and orderly manner."

Well so much for that instruction.

The crowds began to flee, wild and screaming through the exit tunnels.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please. There is no need for panic." General Ironwood's voice came through the speakers making Ruby feel a bit better, yet it didn't seem to work on the rest. Why? Well as soon as he finished talking, a giant Nevermore appeared on top of the arena's domed force field, giving a series of deafening screeches as it clawed and pecked at the defense with its beak.

"Warning: Safety Barriers Failing."

Wow, I feel reassured, Ruby sassed at the stupidity of the warning announcer.

Looking back down at Pyrrha, you could see the shock on her face from what she had done.

"PYRRHA!" Shouted a blonde boy with urgency as the rest of his sentence fell with the crowds noise. Then came a boy with black and a stripe of magenta, following was a girl with ginger hair. The blonde boy takes off towards Pyrrha but was suddenly thrown back by the force of the Nevermore landing. Pyrrha and of course Penny's piece were also knocked back.

Screeching, the Nevermore lunges towards Pyrrha. Suddenly, the Nevermore was blocked by a red, twirling blur of roses, with the cause of the blur gripping one of Penny's swords and stabbed the giant bird, before jumping back down in front of Pyrrha.

"Miss Rose?" Pyrrha whispered incredulously.

"Leave her alone you fuck-cookie bird!"

The Nevermore rose up and circled around the arena before lunging back down. Ruby tenses back up with her best friend's sword in hand, ready for an attack. Before long one locker comes upon the Nevermore's head then a barrage of rocket lockers come descending on to the Nevermore pinning it down, screeching out in pain before it goes unconscious.

Once the lockers opened up, Ruby saw dozens upon dozens of weapons who belonged to fairly looking average people.

Remembering Pyrrha, she looks back at her with eyes full of sorrow.

Pyrrha kneeled on the ground shaking as she held a piece of cloth of Penny, " Miss Rose I... I'm so sorry." Was all she could say as her eyes continued to well up in tears.

Sighing, Ruby closed her eyes wanting to keep her unshed tears back, " Me too." Then just as she was sad, she was enraged all over again," But it wasn't your fault." She clenched her fist so tight, she felt the warm liquid oozing from her palms.

"She's right," The blonde kid agreed with Ruby as he walked over to Pyrrha with her weapons in hand, " Whoever was on that microphone... they're the ones that did this. And we have to make sure they don't take anyone else." Ruby saw the determination in the boy's eyes as he each word left his mouth.

Fuck, my weapon. Ruby remembered.

"Kid with the tail! I need your scroll!"

The teen with the tail used said tail to toss his scroll to Ruby, who caught it and used it to call Winter.

"Win-"

"WHY DIDN'T YOU ANSWER YOUR RADIO?!" Winter roared into the call.

"It got destroyed."

"ARE YOU WELL?! WHERE ARE YO-"

"WINTER!" Ruby shouted, demanding for silence, something she rarely needed from Winter.

"Yes?" Complied her older sister.

"I need my weapon."

"On my way." With that Winter ended the call. Ruby knew that Winter was tracking her while she was talking so she didn't really need to tell her sister where she was.

Winter had met up with Ruby outside the arena, leaving the professors to deal with the Grimm that were inside.

"Here you go." Winter said as she pulled out Crescent Rose from wherever she kept her things.

"Thank you, Winter." Ruby smiled, although a bit forced.

"I saw wh-" A hand was put in front of Winter's face, interrupting her mid-way through.

"We will discuss my emotional state later."

"Alright."

All was cut short upon hearing a couple of revolver shots. Both Winter and Ruby found the source rather quickly.

"What's the statues, sir?" Ruby stood at attention.

"Grimm are crawling all over the city. The White Fang's invaded Beacon, and to make matters worse, some... vagabond has seized one of my ships. Until we regain command, the skies are out of our control. So I'm... going to take it back." Ironwood finish with a bullet shot to the head of a Creep, which was trying to sneak attack him.

As Ironwood turned for his ship, he stopped when he was asked a question.

"Sir, what of us?" Winter asked.

Ironwood turned and faced the two most exceptional soldiers he has, " You have two choices. Do your duty as a soldier and a huntress like you were trained to be or still are or save yourself." Ironwood then proceeded to climb up on the dropship in front of him.

A few seconds pass before Winter and Ruby share hugs.

"Be careful." Winter warned.

"Same goes to you." Ruby smirked.

Well there goes Winter...Now time fo-

Her thoughts were cut off by the dropship losing altitude, plummeting.

Fuck-biscuits!

Ruby runs to a desolated rocket locker.

"Ah, let's see if I'm doing this correctly." She whispered to herself as she punched in a code. Feeling the rumble, she latched Crescent Rose, and immediately takes into the skies, landing on top of the stolen airship with a thud.

"Oh first try!" Ruby smiled to herself, before flinching back due to a flash of light. "Augh"

Furrowing her brows , Ruby dashes forward and preforming a low swing, with the multi haired color girl somersaulting over it, and ducking the next swing, before doing a backflip to dodge Ruby's third swing. Ruby the twirls Crescent Rose before attempting another low sweep, only for the bitch to backflip away from her consecutive twirls. Once done spinning her weapon, she lodged Crescent Rose on the hull and fires a shot, only for once again to be evaded though with a shattering illusion, revealing Roman as he fires a shot back with his cane, sending Ruby flying several feet, before lodging Crescent Rose to safely grip herself from the surrounding gales, while Torchwick walks up to her in a slowly manner.

"Little Red, Little Red, you are just determined to be the hero of vale, aren'tcha?" Roman mocked.

"What are you fucking doing, Roman?! Without these ships the Grimm will destroy everything!" Ruby voiced over the howling wind.

"That's the plan!" Roman says as he aims at Ruby, just to get his weapon swatted aside right before he shot, causing him to get off-balance, before the short girl returned and leapt over her, sending a nice kick to Ruby's left cheek, and using the momentum to flip her over and send Ruby tumbling on her back. The ice cream girl then follows up with a roundhouse to the face, and a tear horse kick to nearly send Ruby off the hull of the airship.

"But why?! What the hell do you win?!"

"You're asking the wrong questions, Red! It's not what I have to gain, it's that I can't afford to lose!" Roman explains as if it were the most obvious thing on Remnant.

As Ruby charged, Ice cream lady vaulted over Roman for a powerful kick. Ruby then leapt up, snatched Crescent Rose, and slipped under, flipping Ruby once more with the hook of the ice cream girl's parasol. As Ruby spins midair, the pint-sized powerhouse finished with a roundhouse to the abdomen, Roman slammed the barrel of the cane to the ground and fired it, causing the cane to ricochet and hit Ruby, before catching it and firing the weapons once more over his shoulder. The blast was strong enough to send Ruby to the edge, the only thing that kept her from falling was her weapon's blade that was embedded.

"Blah, blah, blah, blaaaah." Was all Ruby heard. The only thing interesting was the sword-point that was at her throat.

As Roman continued to monologue, Ruby kicked away a Nevermore, and noticed the button on the multi haired bitch's parasol. Which caused her to smirk mentally.

"You know the old saying, "If you can't beat 'em-"

Heh, stupid.

Suddenly, Ruby reached for the parasol, causing it to open and sending the sidekick to fly off the airship, leaving her with a frightened gasp as she was silently left at the clutches of the Grimm roaming the skies and the raging winds.

"NEO!"

Oh, so that was her name...huh fitting.

"I don't care what you say!" Ruby cried. She changed at a Roman at top speed with the use of her semblance, Roman gripped his cane with both hands, left hand holding the shaft, as he quickly catches the projectile with the hook end and hurled it at Ruby, knocking her away, before smacking her with the sturdy end of the cane, ramming the weapon into her stomach, and firing another shot, send her tumbling onto her back once more.

"You have balls, Red. But this is just how things work!" Roman said, whacking Ruby with the butt of his cane.

"Business is just business!" Roman lands another blow, this time on Ruby's legs.

"Business doesn't give a shit about what you want!" He continued.

Ruby then kicked him in the knee, making him to lose balance as he prepared a downward strike.

"Fine, wanna be a damn brat?! Then play the part and die like every other person who did!" He growled as he proceeded to smack Ruby with the end of his cane making a sickening loud crack noise.

He broke my damn nose! Ruby screamed internally, hunching over and withering in pain.

"As for me, I'll do what I do best: lie, steal, cheat, and SURVIVE!"

Just as the last word left the thief's mouth, an Alpha Griffon appeared out of thin air and swallowed Roman whole. The roar that the Griffon let out pushed Ruby back a few feet, before the two charged at each other. Ruby prevailed when she kicked the beast on the head, sending it through the hull and causing it to crash.

Grabbing Crescent Rose, she leapt off the already falling airship, and descended using the kick back in her sniper rifle. Before she knew it, she had landed safely on the rooftops of Vale.

"Get away from her!"

Oh no.

Ruby heard her sister scream in anger. Her legs were already running at the source. Finding Yang, with Adam, a highly wanted criminal and Blake.

Seeing Adam sheathing his sword while smiling, made Ruby's blood boil, but all that disappeared as soon as her sister had screamed, making her aura flare, and leapt at Adam while drawing her fist back.

Oh fuck no, not Yang.

Twirling into her usual blur of red and roses she went towards Yang, faster then she ever thought she could move.

Pushing Yang out the way, she felt the detachment of her arm. As Ruby flies through the air, she began to lose consciousness, with her glowing red Aura splattering out from her wound. Ruby fell onto her side with a nice thud and lays there, completely still.

Shit, Winter will be so pissed, was Ruby's final thoughts as she fell into unconscious.