Heroes Of The Day

Jace blocked a sword swing as another crash of thunder shook the ground and lightning flashed across the sky. He brought his sword around and sent the Faunus flying into another two that were coming toward him. He smelled the scent of rainfall off in some direction. He had no way of knowing if it would fall over them or not though.

"You can't be scattered like that with the Lance! Get together!" Preacher yelled into his scroll at everyone.

"I got one clip left. I'm going down there." Ruby said and reloaded Crescent Rose.

"I'm about out too." Raine said and shot at a few more Crimson Lance soldiers.

"Damn bastards. They let us waste our ammo on the Grimm before they hit us. Gotta admit it's smart," Preacher mumbled, "I got it covered up here. Still got a good amount o' ammo for myself. Get down there an' help." He told them and they jumped from the roof.

Auron sent ten soldiers into the air with his semblance and met up with Jace. "Well hell, I get to fight some o' these terrorists again," Auron chuckled lowly, "Why the hell ain't the Grimm attackin' them?" He wondered and sliced at another soldier.

"There's no telling. Just focus on fight-" Another crash of thunder cut Jace off from finishing. He started feeling light drops of rain on his skin as he glanced up to the sky.

"And now it's raining… great."

"Just gotta hope it don't get worse." Auron said.

"You remember when I jinxed us in our initiation?" Jace asked the gunslinger.

"Yeah… Then you threw a bit of a fit when-" Auron paused when the rain started to fall heavier, "Son of a bitch!"

"Now you know how I feel."

"We're all gonna have to spend time takin' care of our weapons." Auron sighed.

"This is why I hate the rain!" Ruby said in a wail, "Not you, Raine. Rain-rain!"

"I know what you meant." Raine laughed.

Nora and Ren made it back to Auron and Jace and stood next to each other. Nora sent a soldier flying into a small group and grinned. "So these are some of the guys that attacked Vale?"

"It seems so, Nora." Ren answered her.

"This is gonna be fun. Time to break some legs!"

"Don't get reckless. This can be really bad if you let it." Jace said and blasted a soldier back with a shot from his sword.

"Made that thing just in time didn't ya?" Auron asked and brought up a wall of metal, then kicked it into the soldiers.

"I guess so."

An Alpha Beowulf jumped at them from the side. Jace brought his sword around to shoot it but it was already cut in half by Ruby. Her eyes were glowing silver.

"You know what, I was saved by an Angel," Jace remarked, "I'm not questioning why your eyes are glowing."

"Anyone got any ideas?" Ruby asked the group.

"Just fight." Auron replied simply.

"Great plan…" Raine said through her scroll, sarcasm heavy in her voice as she deftly rolled out of the way of a hammer-wielder and a Boarbatusk. The Lance grunt went wide-eyed as he was bowled over and crushed by the Grimm. Raine turned and sent her sword deep into its eye, ending it before it could start another spin.

Auron huffed and blasted both barrels of his revolver into a diving Beowulf's face. "Hey, it's all I-"

Alyss laughed. "It's really the best plan, right? Just hit them really hard?"

"And I made my sword just for that!" Jace called out cheerfully and blasted half a magazine of the artillery rounds into the Grimm and Lance.

"Hey, you're sittin' easy on the porch while we're out here. Zip it, cat." Auron said to Alyss.

"Ooh, looks like I'm not the only one with claws." Alyss snickered.

"She's our adorable healer," Raine said, "She needs to save her aura in case we all need it while you distract them with your size."

"When the hell did my team turn into a bunch o' jokesters?" Auron asked in a hurt tone.

Jace gave a laugh just behind him. "It just means we care."

"And when did you guys suddenly get all cheery when you're fighting for your lives?" Jaune asked them all.

"Because fuck it!" Jace said with a loud laugh, "I don't think being all serious is gonna do us any better."

"Plus it can keep our spirits up." Raine said.

A load roar broke them from their focus and they looked for the source.

"Never-my-fucking-mind then!" Jace yelled and they dodged out of the way of the Armaddon just in time.

It crashed into multiple Lance soldiers and tore into them. It seemed that it wasn't under Cinder's control, if that was even the case. It opened its large mouth and let out a guttural roar as it sent blazing fire from its throat, burning through the Lance and Grimm that surrounded it. They scattered around, bumping into each other and multiple other Grimm catching them on fire as well.

It charged at them again and Auron stunned it with a pillar to its jaw. Nora came in quickly and smashed Magnhild into the side of its head, breaking its horn off and sending it spinning halfway around. It roared and sent a torrent of fire around at everything around it again. Jace ran forward and cut in a downward arc at the Armaddon, closing its mouth and snuffing out its flame. After that, he spun and swung the blade in a pinwheel motion, cutting and pushing the Armaddon back and drawing trenches in the ground from the spins.

On the fifth hit, Jace moved in a bit more and pulled the trigger, blasting the blade down harder and catching the Grimm hard in the face. The heavy strike sliced into its bone and blinded two of its eyes. It charged and blasted Jace back with a powerful headbutt, sending him crashing into a few Beowulves that were focused on Nora. They turned toward Jace, giving the hammer-wielder the chance to send Magnhild crashing into their sides, sending them back toward the Armaddon.

"Fair trade, four-eyes!" Nora yelled at the Armaddon.

Auron came over and helped Jace to his feet. "You good?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I've gotta be worth more than four Beowulves, though." Jace answered and reloaded his weapon.

"Yeah, maybe five." Auron grinned.

"Bite me."

"Later, sweetie." Alyss told him.

Before the Armaddon charged at the group again, three black tipped arrows pierced into the beast's head and front legs, then three light-blue tipped arrows slammed into its backside and froze it in place. The arrows at its front glowed and brought the Armaddon's head and front legs together.

"Thank Oum for Rangers." Jace breathed and moved in with Auron.

"You're welcome!" Raine and Preacher said simultaneously.

Jace grinned as he activated his semblance and stood ready. He brought his sword up and Auron sent a pilar into it to give it more force. Then Jace pulled the trigger and sent off a powerful round, giving his sword even greater power and sending the blade deep into the Armaddon's neck, killing it.

Jace and Auron quickly moved far away from it before its body caught fire and exploded, sending bone and stone in all directions, taking down multiple other Grimm and Crimson Lance soldiers.

"Just in time Raine!" Jace called to his partner.

Raine ran and stood next to them with an arrow sitting on her bowstring. "At least we can take care of those now. Until I run out of arrows, anyway."

"Let us just hope there are no more." Ren said.

"Yeah, I apparently have bad luck with these things showing up…" Jace said dryly, "Not a good thing."

"Yeah, sorry about your damn luck, Jace." Auron grinned.

"Ooh I'm gonna use that one of these days." Jace replied.

A large boar Faunus charged at them with a mace in his hands and brought it down hard toward Ruby. She stepped to the side and let the mace smash into the ground. The man brought it back up to attack again but Ruby was already swinging her scythe at him, striking him numerous times in the torso in a blur of motion as her eyes flared brightly. He fell over unconscious before long and a Beowulf lunged toward her. She quickly turned her focus toward it and sliced its head off with a quick swing of Crescent Rose.

"Hey Nora, you get more power from lightning and electricity right?" Jace asked the hammer-wielder.

"Yeah, why?" She asked back and crushed a Creep's head to the ground.

"Because I got enough of it to give." Jace answered and saw her grin widely.

She nodded and prepared herself. "Do it."

Jace sent a bolt of lightning from his palm and struck her in the torso. She immediately felt a surge of power from the electricity flowing through her as her semblance activated.

"Haha! This feels soooo awesome!" She yelled and charged into the soldiers.

Nora was bashing soldiers and Grimm alike, crushing them with the weight of Magnhild. A Beowulf came up behind her and struck her, but she turned around quickly and grinned wickedly at it. Within a moment, her hammer came down hard onto its head and smashed it to the ground.

By the time she came back to the others, more than thirty soldiers were taken down, along with countless Grimm.

Another roar cut across the field and they could see fire from the opposite side of the soldiers.

"Another Armaddon? Damn…" Auron said and lifted his boot to a soldier's face, knocking him down. He followed that by striking him as hard as he could with his sword and ending him.

"You kids alright down there?" Preacher asked them.

"We-" Raine released her arrow into a Beowulf's chest and sent another toward an Ursa's eye. "We're good for now"

"Damn, they ain't stoppin'!" Auron yelled.

Most of the soldiers seemed distracted with the raging Armaddon that was tearing into their men and ignored the two teams. It took down nearly thirty men so far with its powerful charges, impaling them with its horn and crushing them under its weight.

"Well look at that. They kinda stopped." Jace quipped with a grin.

"Let's get to the house and regroup while they're distracted." Ruby suggested to them all.

They ran toward the house and heard a loud screech in the air. They turned and saw two Nevermore flying toward them.

"Where the hell'd they come from?" Auron asked and took aim. Then all of a sudden, one's head was sliced off. A few seconds later, the other one suffered the same fate.

"How did that happen?" Nora asked and they all looked in the sky, what they saw confused them.

A crow.

"This is gettin' weird now. A crow killed two Nevermore… What?" Auron said in confusion and tilted his head. He couldn't believe he put those words together in a sentence.

They heard another loud screech and looked to see that it came from three Griffons above the house.

"Preacher, look out!" Auron and Raine called to the old man.

"I know!" He called back and fired at them with Bear Tooth, summoning another copy of it to push them back.

Jace took a deep breath and activated his semblance's wings, then prepared to fly.

"You sure you're good enough with that?" Raine asked him.

"As good as I could get. I'm about to find out." Jace replied and took off in the air toward the Griffons.

Jace still felt his aura drain, but it definitely wasn't as fast as before he practiced with his semblance. He got to the Griffons within a few moments of flying and readied his sword. He swung and pulled the trigger, sending the blade straight through the first one's neck.

After his vision was clear of the Grimm's corpse, he saw the same thing happen to another. He stared in confusion at the figure that came from behind it, and he gave a smirk to Jace.

"What the hell!?" Jace yelled at Qrow in disbelief.

They turned their attention to the last Griffon and went to attack it. Qrow kicked off the falling Grimm he killed and launched toward it. Jace flew toward it as well and they both hit it at the same time. Qrow sliced its head off and Jace cut it completely in half.

They both landed on the roof near Preacher and stared at each other, Jace's being confusion and Qrow's being amusement.

"Nice earring." Qrow remarked.

"An' where the hell'd you come from?" Preacher asked Qrow.

"Tell ya later. Let's just take care of this." Qrow said and jumped from the roof. Jace followed and they both landed in front of the porch.

"Uncle Qrow!? What are you doing here!?" Ruby yelled from where the others were arriving.

"Oh y'know. Just watching your backs." Qrow replied with a smirk.

She ran up to him and hugged him tightly. "It's good to see you again."

"It's a good thing you're here. We're all just initiates, and you're a full-fledged Hunter," Raine started and took a breath, "That might be what we need."

"Hey! What the hell am I then?" Preacher asked in mock hurt.

"Old." Auron answered.

"Shut up, Auron." Preacher said with a huff as he returned to shooting at the Grimm and the soldiers.

"Yeah. You kids are in a hell of a mess." Qrow said after a moment.

"You're damn right we are," Auron said and reloaded his weapons, "Now we just need a few Rangers."

"Speakin' o' that," Preacher started and gave a chuckle, "I got a call from Emowyn before whoever the hell he is showed up. They're on their way."

"That's really good to hear." Alyss said and gripped Soul Leaf a bit easier. Jace walked up to her and grace her a quick kiss before the fighting picked up again. She smiled and winked at him.

"Yeah, it is. I saw what the Rangers did back at Vale. We can do this!" Jaune said and rolled his shoulders.

"Well they better get here soon," Qrow said and brought his flask out, "'Cause that Armaddon went down."

Things were slow going from then on. The numbers of the Lance have dwindled drastically thanks to the Armaddon. The Grimm mostly slowed in their assault as well.

At least for the moment.

They fought easier now that they weren't completely overrun by the beasts. Everything went by even more smoothly with Qrow's arrival. He sliced through the Grimm with efficiency matched only by Ruby with Crescent Rose. It seemed the two were having some sort of competition between each other.

Jace and Auron stood back to back against the soldiers. With every swing he took at those on his side, Jace felt his memories surging in his head of how he and Genesis always fought back to back. He smiled and lifted his hand up to send multiple blasts of fire at the soldiers in front of him. Then he swung his sword, connecting with their guts and sending them all to the ground.

Auron mixed up his assault from his usual style. Instead of having a revolver in his right hand, he had it empty as he punched and threw the soldiers into others. He used his semblance and brought up a wall in front of those who tried to strike at him. He focused more aura into his right hand and arm and struck at the wall with his fist, sending it crashing through everyone on his side. A mace swing from his right prompted him to raise his right arm and extend his shield out. The mace struck the shield hard and Auron let it slide past him. He retracted the shield and stabbed Last Call upward, striking the Faunus in the chest. He fell to the ground as Auron stood ready for more.

Raine sent arrows out accurately and brought down countless Grimm while easily sidestepping those that got close to her. She brought her arrows back and replaced them in her quiver, then drew her sword and knife. She stabbed through an Ursa's head with her knife and sliced straight into the chest of a Beowulf next to her. Every strike she blocked, she had the edge of the sword facing the direction of the attack. The Grimms' arms or paws caught the edge of the blade and they essentially cut their own limbs off, then Raine counterattacked and severed their heads.

Everyone heard an extremely loud crash of thunder that shook the ground and they fought on. "At least the rain hasn't picked up any worse." Alyss remarked through her scroll.

"Oh please no," Jace groaned, "You didn't just say that, did you?"

"Yeah… I probably jinxed us." Alyss replied.

"Yeah, we got that goin' for us until it does, though." Auron said before another crash of thunder sounded above them.

"If only it would stop thundering!" Jace yelled in annoyance, "My ears aren't used to it!"

"Jace! Why would you-" Alyss was cut off by a deafening crash of thunder, causing her ears to flatten out against her skull.

"Fuck it all!" Jace yelled as he regained his senses.

Another thing they heard was something large and mechanical from the direction of the forest.

"Spider Tanks!" Preacher called and took aim at one, "Three of 'em!"

"Dust, what the hell!?" Jace exclaimed and shook his head.

"Raine! Get up high an' launch some volatile arrows at 'em!" Auron called to his teammate.

"On it!" Raine didn't waste any time and went straight toward the apple tree. She jumped up in it quickly and brought out one of her volatile arrows. She judged the range of the closest one and rose her bow to compensate for the drop, then sent it flying. The pilot was so distracted with the Grimm that surrounded it and didn't notice the shining arrow coming for the tank. It struck the core and exploded the tank to bits, killing the Grimm around it in the blast.

Jace saw where the arrow struck and activated his semblance. He flew into the air a little ways and caught sight of the next. He prepared himself and dove straight for it. The pilot noticed him and pointed the tank's twin arm cannons at him and fired. Jace dodged one shell and sliced the other in half, both halves falling and killing a few Grimm in an explosion. He prepared his sword as he grew closer, keeping his focus on the core of it, and boosted himself forward with air dust. When he was mere feet from it, Jace swung the sword and fired off one of the powerful rounds. The sword struck and cleaved through its core, then both halves of the tank fell to the ground.

Jace looked to the other and grinned. "Raine, don't shoot this one!" He called to the apprentice.

"Any reason why?"

"I have an idea." Jace responded and ran toward the last one.

The pilot took notice of him and shot the tank's artillery rifles at him. He blocked them easily with his sword and boosted himself forward with bolt dust through his legs. It charged its shoulder cannons as Jace ran, but they didn't get charged fully when he arrived at it. Jace ducked under its legs and jumped on its back. He grabbed the handle of the hatch and ripped it open, revealing a terrified looking mouse-Faunus. Jace grabbed him and lifted him out of the tank with little effort, then tossed him in the air and cut him down with his sword.

"Who wants a tank?" Jace asked everyone.

Nora's face lightened with excitement at the question. "Me!" She said and ran toward Jace.

"Shoulda guessed." Jace thought to himself.

"That's your plan!? Giving Nora a tank!?" Jaune asked in disbelief as he and Alyss held back the Grimm that slipped by the others.

"You have anything better?" Jace questioned him.

"I!… No…" Jaune replied.

"It'll be alright Jaune! I'll be real careful!" Nora giggled in excitement.

Jace grabbed the Faunus' rifle from the tank and fired on the soldiers and Grimm for a few moments until Nora reached him.

"You a quick learner?" He asked as she hopped onto the tank.

"Good enough!" She replied excitedly and dropped down in it, tucking Magnhild safely beside her.

"This is gonna help us." Jace said and jumped from the tank.

"Or destroy us…" Jaune groaned.

Nora immediately went for the first trigger she saw, which turned out to be its left arm cannon. The shell blasted from it and flew into the ground near the Grimm and knocked them over with the explosion.

"Ooohhhh… And what do you do?" Nora said and grabbed a larger handle and trigger.

On a small screen, she saw that it controlled the shoulder cannons. They charged quickly from being halfway charged before Jace emptied the tank. She aimed the cannons at the bulk of the Grimm and she let the beam fire. It tore into the mass of beasts and drew a long trench in the ground, and it killed more than fifty Grimm.

Jace flew back to the others and took a knee. He breathed deeply from the toll the wings took on his body. A soldier came at him but Auron grabbed the woman's arm and pulled her off balance. He started to spin around with her, dragging her and slamming her into a few more that came up toward Auron. He released her and threw her toward the Grimm.

"You good?" He asked his leader as he knelt beside of him.

"I need a minute… Damn, those wings take a lot." Jace replied and took another breath.

"Just be careful, Jace," Alyss said through the scroll, "How about you and me in the workshop tomorrow?"

Jace grinned widely at the thought and jumped back to his feet. "And there's my push!"


Another hour of fighting saw everyone loosing steam and taking more damage. Nora still kept at it with the tank, but it had to run out of ammo soon. More Grimm made it past them and charged for the house, but Jaune and Alyss put them down easily. Preacher ran out of rounds for his rifle and went down to the porch. He grabbed Carnage when he arrived and stood ready with Jaune and Alyss.

Jace barely blocked a strike from a bear Faunus and was knocked back by his strength. He fell to a knee and pulled out Ebon, then blasted the rounds into the man's chest. He fell over and Jace stood back up, then was knocked forward by a Beowulf. Auron stepped between the two and blasted his revolvers into its chest.

"Thanks, Auron." Jace said and recovered.

"This just ain't stoppin'. It's slow now, but they won't stop." Auron said and shot at more Grimm.

"I swear to Oum I'm gonna take it slow when I'm with Alyss…" Jace muttered under his breath.

"What was that, dear?" Alyss asked innocently.

"You'll find out sometime, kitten." Jace answered.

A loud roar caused them all to groan. They looked around and saw another Armaddon crashing through the soldiers. Jace shook his head and prepared to go toward it, but a few things caught his eye. He saw two light-blue tipped arrows pierce the Armaddon's hide and freeze it in place, and two black-tipped arrows hit its neck and the ground in front of it. Its head was pulled to the ground and it stuck there.

The next thing he saw was multiple Grimm go down with icy bullets that pierced their chests.

"Oh thank Oum." Jace said and hurried toward the beast.

Another thing caught his eye as he saw a figure in a white overcoat jump in the air with a huge sword. After a few moments of rising through the air, he fell back toward the ground and held his sword high, then it came crashing down into the Armaddon's neck. It didn't go all the way through, but a red-haired figure jumped in high in the air and his feet crashed down onto the blade, pushing it the rest of the way. They quickly retreated and the Armaddon exploded, sending nearby soldiers and Grimm to the ground.

An Ursa came up from behind Ren, ready to strike, but a trident through its skull stopped it in it's tracks.

"I think we got our backup." Jace said to everyone and sighed in relief.

"Ya think?" Auron said. He was staring in a bit of awe as he saw Sun swinging his gunchucks wildly, blasting off rounds in all directions and taking down a large amount of Grimm.

A roar from behind Jace drew his attention. He turned as brought his blade up to block the attack and was sent backwards from an Alpha Beowulf. He fell out of balance and fell to the wet ground as it crept up to him. As it came at him, a figure jumped in front of it and sliced at its face with his four-foot long katana. He held it with both hands at shoulder level with the blade pointed at the Beowulf as flames lightly flickered from the dark-gray blade.

It was Alex.

He wore his normal outfit but his boots were different. They were dark-brown and both had metal on the backs of them that looked like it could separate from his boots to clamp down on something. Alex dashed forward and sliced at the Beowulf numerous times as it backpedaled away from him. It swiped at him with its claw and he cut its arm off at the elbow. He twisted around and brought his right leg up, then the metal opened up on his boot.

He stuck the hilt of the sword in the metal and it clamped down around it, holding it in place. He sent his blade across with a kick and sliced into its face once more, then he switched attacks. He bent his knee and kicked outward, stabbing into the Beowolf's skin. He started moving his leg like a piston, kicking over and over at the Beowulf and any other Grimm that came close to them. The lesser ones died with stab wounds in their chests and skulls. Alex lept forward off his left foot and kicked upwards with his sword, making the Grimm's head point into the air. Then he switched direction and kicked hard across, slicing the Beowolf's head off. He grabbed his blade from his boot and went to help Jace up.

"Alex! Where did you pull that sword from?" Jace asked as he took Alex's hand.

Alex pulled him to his feet and grinned. "Where'd you pull yours from?" He asked in return.

"I'll tell you later," Jace said and blasted his weapon's rounds at the Grimm, "Why are you here?"

"Connor wanted me to check up on you guys. You've been gone awhile. I caught a ride with the Rangers and SSSN about halfway here." Alex replied and sliced down the Grimm that came from behind Jace.

"Well thanks. I haven't seen a fighting style like yours."

"It took a lot of practice," Alex replied and got a closer look at Jace. Specifically the right side of his head. "Nice earring." He remarked.

"That makes two." Jace said with a grin.

"Aw, my tank's outta ammo…" Nora said and hopped from the machine. She jumped into the air and launched herself back to the others with Magnhild.

"Auron! You look like you've fought through hell!" Erron called to the raven-haired gunslinger as he blasted his rifle's rounds into the Grimm and Lance.

"We have been! Good thing you're here!" Auron called back.

Sun and the others came up to them and stood ready. "Hey guys, miss us?" He asked them all.

"Thanks for showing up, guys." Ruby said when she ran over to them.

"And now it seems they are slowing in their assault!" Ren called through his scroll.

"Well, let's drive 'em back the rest of the way!" Auron called to everyone.


Another hour had passed and the fighting slowed to a grinding speed. The added help of Alex, the fresh team of Huntsmen-in-training, and two Rangers gave them the push they needed to keep the soldiers back.

All the Grimm were killed and the remaining soldiers ran back into the trees. Nora almost chased after them but Ren stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

"Let us rest, Nora." He said to her and she reluctantly agreed.

They all grouped back up and walked toward the house. "I guess we should just get this out of the way," Jace said to everyone and put his hand on Alex's shoulder, "This is Alex. My brother."

"Hold the hell on… what?" Qrow asked and looked between the two.

"That was everyone else's reaction, too. We found out for sure a few months ago on Patch."

"Damn, you're full of surprises." Qrow remarked.

"Nice to meet you, Alex!" Ruby greeted first, "I'm Ruby Rose." Then all the others introduced themselves.

"Whoa… Didn't expect all of you to be friendly like that." Alex remarked and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Trust me, they'll be as friendly to you as they have for me." Jace said and grinned at him. They all continued toward the house to hopefully dry themselves off from the rain as one last crash of thunder seemed to signal the end of the assault, until they heard Alyss.

"Paladin!"

They all turned back around and had their weapons ready. Each person that had a ranged weapon fired their shots at it until they ran out of rounds in their magazines, but it still came at them. Auron started breathing deeply as he bared his teeth at the war machine. He started taking long steps toward it as his mind almost went blank.

He would not let the Crimson Lance hurt Preacher, Jace, Alyss, or his mother any more. He would not let them hurt any more of his friends. He would not let this Paladin destroy everything his father had built for his family. He would see the pilot burn in hell for trying.

"Auron! What the fuck are you doin'!?" Preacher called after the enraged teen that took off toward the Paladin.

"Auron! Wait!" Jace called as well, but Auron didn't listen.

He broke out into a full sprint after the machine. When he got within fifty feet, he sent his aura to the ground and sent himself flying into the air high above it. The pilot saw Auron coming and prepared to swing at him with the machine's fist.

"Oum damn it! There ain't no way he can block that!" Preacher yelled in worry. He tried to take off running, but his prosthetic wasn't used to that type of movement and buckled under him, leaving him on the wet ground. Erron and Emowyn kneeled by his side as they watched helplessly as Auron sailed into danger.

Auron flew toward the Paladin with Last Call held behind him, ready to slice forward as his right hand was in front of him. The Paladin swung its huge, metal fist at Auron and he swung his blade forward with a near-primal, gravelly yell. If things were normal, the fist would've knocked Auron flying away with multiple broken bones by bringing his aura down past it's limit and possibly killing him. But it was a different outcome than what everyone expected. Especially Preacher, Erron, and Emowyn.

As the fist made contact with Auron, he vanished into black smoke.

When Auron's body reformed behind the Paladin, he stood in confusion at what happened, then he turned around and saw the war machine was still facing away from him. He would have to find out what happened later. He stepped forward and unleashed a barrage of recoil-powered strikes into the Paladin's exposed hydraulic tubes, severing them in one of its legs. It fell to one knee as it lost power in that leg.

As Auron moved around it, there was a raven-haired person standing in front of it. She wore a white overcoat over a tight-black crop top that fully showed her stomach with multiple straps over her chest as well, black pants covering her legs and black, thigh-high boots covering that. She stood defiantly in front of it as she drew her blade.

"Where the hell'd you spring from?" Auron asked in disbelief.

He didn't get an answer as the Paladin swung its fist at the person but she left behind an explosive afterimage. It exploded and stunned the Paladin, then Blake threw Gambol Shroud and it wrapped around its arm. She ran around quickly using her afterimages to boost herself forward and wrapped its arms tight against its body as Auron stood by in shock.

Then someone came from the sky. She wore her outfit of a cream-colored top and black skirt, black sleeves connected by a strap across her collarbone, long and black stockings, and brown knee-high boots. Her long, golden hair was held back in a ponytail.

She came dawn hard with an explosive punch to the cockpit of the Paladin, causing a massive dent in the plating. Then she started punching over and over in blinding strikes until it crashed apart and exposed the pilot. Yang picked him up and tossed him in the air, then Auron sent himself flying towards him with his semblance. He sliced the man's gut and sent him flying. He landed on the ground next to Yang and took a deep breath as he stuck his fist out. The two fist bumped and grinned at each other.

Everyone walked toward them and stopped a few feet away. Jace and the other two of his team smiled at the arrivals and Jace took a deep breath. "It's good seeing you being yourself again, Yang." He remarked.

"It feels good too, I can tell ya that much," Yang replied and glanced at his ear, then she noticed Alyss', "Nice earrings."

"That makes three that's said that." Jace said with a grin.

The others looked in shock at Yang's arm. The last time they saw her, she only had one.

"Yang? B-Blake?" Ruby said in disbelief.

Yang turned around and grinned at them.

"Sup."

XxXxX

AN: Did someone hear glass shattering? Because they came in like Stone Cold and opened a can of whoop-ass on that Paladin. They're the heroes of the day.

I hope I did well in writing Alex's fighting style. I'm a huge fan of the game it's inspired by. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.

It was never my plan for Auron to one-shot a Paladin or take it on by himself. That's why it didn't happen that way. I believe some explaining is in order next chapter concerning a decent amount of information.

Was it a good idea to give Nora a tank? Oh yes. Yes it was.

See you next chapter, and have a nice day!