"So… where are we headed, exactly?" Jaune glanced at Cardin as they jogged through the eerily empty streets.
"We've got reports of heavy Atlas activity on the east side of the city. The hunters are patrolling for Atlas' special forces; we just have to take out their main force."
"Oh, is that all? No problem."
"Don't worry. The droids are no match for hunters."
"As long as they remember that, it'll be fine."
Behind them, Lark was worrying over Dove's injuries.
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"I am well enough. My aura is not entirely depleted; I will still be available for combat."
"Dude, you took a laser to the face."
"True. I was only stunned, however. My aura absorbed the majority of the blast."
Lark sighed. "If you say you're good, I believe you. Just be careful, alright?"
"That is my intention."
Gray, who was a few paces ahead of the others, suddenly stopped.
"Uh, guys? I think that's smoke."
"That's coming from Schnee Manor."
"But Atlas hasn't been hitting civilian targets."
Cardin tightened his grip on his mace. "Well, looks like they are now. Lark, you take lookout, but stay hidden. Everyone else, close formation, and eyes sharp."
Lark darted forward, his form subtly shifting colors until he was indistinguishable from the surrounding buildings. The other four waited, Jaune glancing around nervously while the others readied their weapons.
"Hey! Cardin!" Lark was waving franticly from a short way down the street.
"Keep down, idiot!" Cardin hissed.
Lark ducked his head and ran back to the others. "There's fighting all over the Schnee grounds. It looks like Schnee and the smith are with an Atlas commander."
"Rose and Schnee? Are they fighting with Atlas?"
"Yeah, but they're fighting the White Fang."
"Great…"
"Should we help them?"
Cardin glanced at Jaune and sighed. "Fine. We clear out the animals. But if Atlas tries to take advantage, you hit them where it hurts."
"Where would that be, exactly? They're all robots."
"Just get out there and fight anything that tries to kill you."
"Got it."
"Lark, you give us ranged support. The rest of us will hit 'em head-on. If we do get into trouble with Atlas, take out the commander. They'll be the biggest threat."
His team nodded. "All right. Lark, get in position. We'll move on your mark."
Lark leapt forward onto a nearby building, wedging his halberd into the wall, then firing, launching himself into the air. He repeated the action until he reached the top.
Cardin burst from his cover and charged into the battle, his form growing larger as he approached the White Fang. Hearing his cry, the Faunus turned to see Cardin's enlarged form looming over them, his already massive mace now heavier than any one of them. Grinning, Cardin brought it down again, the explosion scattering the group of Faunus.
Behind him, Jaune had scrambled over the debris, his shield raised as he ran forward, deflecting the bullets of the White Fang who had recovered from Cardin's appearance. Behind him, Gray and Dove followed, keeping behind his shield and occasionally firing at the soldiers, while Lark fired over them from the roof.
By now, the hunters had been noticed by the White Fang's commander, who shouted at his personal guard. The large man beside him turned away from Schnee and her allies to meet Cardin head-on, while Torchwick began alternating his shots at the Atlesians with shots at Jaune.
Hashimoto quickly pushed his way to the front lines and leapt at Cardin, his chainsaw raised above his head. Cardin met the saw's blade with his mace's head, activating the dust crystal inside and blasting the saw back and out of the Faunus's hands. Hashimoto stumbled back as Cardin advanced on him, raising his mace to strike again. Hashimoto rolled backwards, grabbing his saw and raising it just in time to block Cardin's swing.
Roman fired again at Jaune, who deflected the blast with his shield and continued advancing forward. Behind him, Dove and Gray were ducked behind his shield, Gray launching blasts of dust at the White Fang while Dove dispatched any that got too close.
A strong force smashed into Jaune's side, sending him flying several feet away. He caught a glimpse of the White Fang commander as he attempted to scramble to his feet. Moments later, another shot from Roman's cane hit the ground next to him, sending him back again. Several more shots landed, barely grazing his aura, but effectively separating him from his teammates.
Adam charged again, this time at Gray. The blade whipped forward, leaving a gash in Gray's side. Dove quickly leapt forward to defend his teammate, firing several shots at Adam and forcing him away from Gray. The two stood facing each other, each unwilling to make the first move. Before either of them could, however, several shots pinged off of Adam's aura. Dove surged forward, taking advantage of the distraction, and causing Adam to barely stumble out of the way, only to be met with a blast of rocks from Gray's sword.
Jaune finally managed to steady himself as the barrage of shots stopped abruptly. He looked up to see the Atlesian commander, blades spinning around her as she ran at Torchwick, Ruby at her side. He returned his attention to his teammates as Adam stumbled toward him, turning to run. Adam managed to barely deflect the blow, but Jaune's blade still made a small cut across the Faunus's face.
Gray stumbled forward next to Jaune, launching a plume of flame after the Faunus.
"You two stay back! I'm going to help Cardin."
Dove nodded, moving to support Gray. "I will tend to him. Go."
Jaune charged over to where Cardin was still fighting Hashimoto. Several other White Fang had joined the fight, getting in under Cardin's reach and forcing him to fight defensively. Jaune ran headlong into one of them, bashing the faunus aside with his shield and striking at another. The White Fang were forced back as Jaune moved to Cardin's side, raising his shield defensively as the Captain resumed his assault, driving away the last of the Faunus.
Cardin nodded briefly at Jaune in acknowledgement before turning back to Hashimoto, swinging his mace at the faunus's head. As Hashimoto stumbled back to stand even with Adam and Torchwick, Torchwick stepped up to address the hunters, clapping his hands together. "Alright. You've all been wonderful hosts, but I think it's time for us to leave."
"Like hell you're leaving."
"Well, if hell's what you insist on…" Torchwick smiled broadly and spread his arms. Five bullheads rose from the skyline, speeding toward the battle. "Hell is what you get!"
Jaune ducked as those around him fired up at the oncoming ships. From the corner of his eye, he saw the Atlesian general fire a huge beam of light at them, slicing one of the ships in half. Jaune raised his shield as the bullheads began returning fire, protecting himself and Cardin from the storm of bullets while Dove and Gray scrambled for cover. Two of the ships landed a short distance away, loading on the remaining White Fang, as well as Torchwick. As the ships lifted off, one of the circling ships' engines was suddenly encased in ice, causing the ship to spiral down, crashing to the ground. Cardin was immediately upon it, smashing in the cockpit with his mace. The three remaining ships took to the sky again, and, dodging away from another of the general's beams, flew off over the city.
The hunters stood, watching the spot where the bullheads had disappeared over the skyline. After a moment, Cardin swore loudly, smashing his mace into the ground at his feet.
"We should have had them."
"Hey, we drove them off and they didn't do too much damage, right?"
Cardin whirled to face Jaune, stepping closer and looming over him. "We should have had them! They had their back against the wall! How the hell did they even get air support in here? VCFY should have seen that! Some damn team should have seen that! And now, they're off and we're never going to find out where the-"
"Excuse me."
Cardin turned to see the Atlesian general addressing him, her hands held politely behind her back. At her shoulder was a dark-skinned woman in a blue beret.
"I am General Polendina. On behalf of the City of Atlas, I wish to offer the city of Vale a cease-fire."
The hunter regarded her for a moment before glancing back at the bullhead she had cut in half. "Captain Cardin Winchester," he said, turning back to her. "And on behalf of the City of Vale, I accept."
Jaune glanced at Gray, who had walked over to him, supported by Dove.
"So… uh… did we win?"
His teammate looked over at the still-smoldering Schnee Manor. "Let's call it a draw."
"Yeah." A large chunk fell off of the manor's roof, landing with a thud next to the foundation. "A draw sounds good."
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Returning to the interior of her manor, Weiss left General Polendina and Captain Winchester in charge of security on the grounds. Between them they seemed… reasonably competent, at least. She now sat in her sitting room, listening to an adjutant list off the damages to her home. She sighed internally as she counted up the damage done; she doubted insurance would cover this. After several minutes, the adjutant finally seemed to be done. Weiss looked up, her expression neutral.
"Is that all?"
"Yes, though the full assessment is still underway." Of course it was.
"Very well." Weiss stood and strode through the door. The adjutant quickly followed.
"Where are you going, Ma'am?"
"The infirmary. You didn't list it in the damage report, correct?"
"I was only listing the extent of known damage. The infirmary wasn't undamaged."
"What do you mean?"
"While most of the attack was focused elsewhere, there was word of a small force that came through there."
"What happened?"
"We're not sure, Miss Schnee. There were three officers there at the time, but we lost contact with them."
"Then we should go see what happened, shouldn't we?"
"Of course, Miss Schnee."
The man didn't interrupt her as she made her way to the back of the manor down several hallways to a moderately-sized antechamber. There were obvious signs of battle here; the walls were strewn with bullet holes, a portion of the ceiling had collapsed, and three White Fang soldiers were dead on the floor. Weiss stepped carefully over a fallen beam in front of the infirmary door, which was hanging off its hinges.
"Hold it there!"
A man in an SDC uniform stepped through the doorway, a pistol drawn and pointed at Weiss. As soon as he saw who he was threatening, he quickly holstered his pistol. "My apologies, ma'am. The radio's down, so we didn't know who might be coming."
Weiss held up a hand to silence him. "I am aware. The White Fang have withdrawn. What happened here?"
"We were in here when the White Fang came through. There were about a dozen of them. It was just me and two other officers inside. We barred the door, but it was only a matter of time before they broke through. We set up the beds as barricades and waited."
"And the patient?"
"We had her back with the doctors, behind a barricade. She wasn't happy about it, though. So, the door burst open, and we fired. Almost immediately, though, the beds started lifting up, and everything just threw itself through the door. We turned around and she was collapsed against the wall, white as a sheet, with the doctors holding her up. I don't think she got all of them, but the rest ran. Never seen anything like that before."
"Is she alright?"
"The doctors say so. I think she strained herself a bit, but she's in one piece.
"I need to see her."
"Of course!" The officer stood to the side. "We salvaged one of the beds. She's resting, but awake."
Weiss pushed past him into the room, ignoring all the occupants and moving straight for the single remaining bed. Seeing her coming the doctor beside it moved out of the way, allowing her to see the bed's occupant.
At the sight of her open eyes, Weiss sank slowly into the chair next to the bed.
"Pyrrha."
The woman in the bed smiled at her weakly. "Hello, Weiss."
"You were supposed to be resting."
"Sorry." She didn't sound sorry. Weiss examined her. Though she was no doctor, she could see that Pyrrha was, indeed, a little pale.
"I burst the stitches," Pyrrha explained, noticing Weiss's concern. "It shouldn't be too bad, though. Just a couple more days."
"Just? You were recovering, Pyrrha. Who knows what kind of complications-"
Pyrrha placed a finger on Weiss's lips, stunning her into silence. "I'll be fine, Weiss." She removed the finger and shifted uncomfortably. "The doctors here are amazing, right? And I really just need rest."
"Regardless. I don't want you out of this bed until both the doctor and I have told you you're good, alright?"
Pyrrha laughed. "Alright, Weiss. But that means you have to come back safe. I'd rather not spend the rest of my life in this bed."
"What do you mean?"
"You're going after them, aren't you? The White Fang."
Weiss avoided Pyrrha's gaze.
"I know you, Weiss. You won't let something like this go unanswered. Just be careful. We haven't heard from Ren and Nora yet, so you don't know what you're dealing with. And I won't be there to help you."
"I'll have allies. The hunters. And it seems Atlas may be joining us as well."
"Good. But still, promise me you'll be careful, alright?"
"I will as soon as you promise me the same thing."
"I'm your bodyguard. I'm always careful."
Weiss sighed, and the pair lapsed into silence, Pyrrha resting contentedly while Weiss considered, not looking directly at her.
"Still, I'm glad no one else was hurt. And the equipment can be replaced."
"That is true."
Weiss slipped her hand onto the bed and clasped Pyrrha's hand.
"I'm proud of you."
Pyrrha smiled and squeezed her hand. "I'm proud of you, too."
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A/N: Many thanks to the wonderfully literate Menolith for betaing my horribly garbled word-spew.