June 14th

City Of Vale

Vale

Downtown

8:03 AM

Having made their way into the center of the pavilion in the primary shopping district of the City Of Vale, all four members of Team RWBY found themselves growing anxious as they had found themselves surrounded heavily by many species of grimm, though the ones they recognized first were the Beowolves and Ursai, followed by the King Taijitu that was by far the largest of the creatures. A horrifyingly loud and almost strangled roar escaped the beast while its constituents began their attacks. Spinning Crescent Rose once over her head before planting it in the ground, Ruby started to kick away the grimm as she spun on her High Caliber Sniper Scythe (HCSS). At the same time, she noticed her sister, Yang, forcing herself upwards before attacking several grimm with Ember Celica from her position in the air. Shifting her position to aid her partner in her attack, Blake pulled out a knife and angled herself to throw it so that it would pierce the one of nevermores circling near Yang. Tossing her shot with as much force as she could, Blake relaxed temporarily when she saw it make contact and the beast fell to the ground but this faded when the other two nevermores attacked Yang and sent her crashing towards the ground.

"Yang!" Blake screamed as she ran towards where she was falling in an attempt to catch her though she missed by barely a meter. Continuing her run, she made it to Yang's side as she cursed and began to help her back up to her feet.

At the same time, with her axe, Annetta slashed an oncoming Beowolf (with far too much glee) shortly before Lysithea began to open fire on other grimm that were setting themselves to attack her. Matt was clearly enjoying the chance to punch things, and Devin yelled, eventually, that he was the beast he worshiped. Nearby, Weiss slashed three Beowolves with Myrtenaster before grounding herself and her aura as she summoned a glyph to conjure an ice blade. With Ivy Ironwood and Genevieve Sieben by her side and shooting the grimm that were continuing to plague the city, Yang began to send several cars flying towards the grimm while the King Taijitu poised itself for attack. Having finished slashing yet another grimm, Ruby noticed the Taijitu first and adjusted her grip on Crescent Rose to prepare for attack but stopped when she Nora Valkyrie giving them all a sassy grin and wave while standing on top of Magnhild as she quite literally flew into the city center turned battlefield. Flipping Magnhild out from underneath her feet, Nora slammed her hammer hard onto the head of the beast, killing it while it limply collapsed on the ground and dissipated. Smirking while flipping Magnhild, Nora glanced around before cheering herself on for her stunt.

"Nora Smash!"

Not terribly long after this, Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ren followed her into the battlefield with Pyrrha directing orders. "Let's move!"

"Okay…who's first?" Jaune said, shaking as he began to look around for the grimm though he shook even more when he noticed the large Ursa that was standing behind him at the ready. "Oh...oh… okay, you're first huh? Okay, no. that's fine… Totally fine, done this before, done this before..."

Unable to think of a better solution, Jaune closed his eyes and began to scream wildly while swinging his sword and - hoping that the buttons he was pressing for Dust were doing something to the creature - before it loudly fell and his eyes widened in surprise. Looking at the creature while it faded, Jaune looked back towards Pyrrha, who he found smiling upon noticing his improvement. Leaning into Yang while they causally shot at several more grimm, Ivy raised an eyebrow in surprise at Jaune's movements before screaming as a nevermore unexpectedly made its way towards them. About to shoot, Ivy and the rest of Team IGDG stopped short as a sudden shot pierced the beast straight through the head and it collapsed into the ground. Kicking the head to the side as she climbed over it, Sam slung her weapon back over her shoulder before adjusting her glasses and brushing off her grey skinny jeans, dark brown leather jacket, and tight violet shirt. Pulling her hair out of its tight side bun temporarily, Sam took her hair ties and shifted her dark hair, apart from her wavy side bangs, up into a high, center ponytail before looking at her sister and Yang with a smirk.

"What?" Sam asked them while Lysithea unexpectedly tried to jump up on to her back, causing her to scream. "It's not as if I was going to let that thing kill either of you."

Yang began to laugh but Lily suddenly narrowed her eyes before she, Sam, Annetta, Matt, and Ivy, Devin, Grace, and Genevieve realized what Yang was seeing. Having come out of the police station, Sun and Neptune swaggered onto the scene with their badges in hand, flashing them to everyone who would take notice. Rolling her eyes, Sam sauntered forward while the others watched. They watched them make their way to the center of the pavilion and sweep the badges in a semi-circle while facing opposite directions, Sun and Neptune ignored the fact that there was a fleet of Atlesian military ships slowly coming into view in the distance. Not only did they ignore that, but they barely noticed Goodwitch muttering something while she shot off some of the grimm nearby. Funnily enough, Varna's personal guard – and Sun's sister, as it happened - fighting off several grimm of her own before glaring at her brother when he and Neptune began their 'lecture'.

"Nobody move!" Sun declared loudly though he quaked slightly under his sister's harrowing gaze that only grew darker. "Junior detectives!"

Smirking, Neptune continued proudly. "We have badges so you know it's official!"

"Yeah!" Sun exclaimed, shrinking back as he fully met his sister's eyes before she turned her back and continued to fight.

Also glaring at Sun due to him, as far as Neptune was concerned, not playing it 'cool' enough, Neptune finally waved his hand dismissively before addressing everyone else present.

"Ignore him," He told them. "For he knows not what he says."

Glancing to Ivy, as the familiar sound of airships grew louder as they flew closer, Lysithea sighed as she crossed her arms and scowled at the sky. Sam steadied herself, and several of the dropships began to deploy units of Atlesian Knight 200s. Out of the corner of her eye, Yang began to giggle when she saw Sun and Neptune stare in awe while Sun dropped his badge to the ground. With everyone temporarily distracted by the Atlesian Military, a straggling Ursa began to attack Ruby from behind - expecting to catch her off guard - but is effectively gunned down by the machine gun of one of the drop ships. The AK-200s continued to deploy into the city and started gunning down grimm as they landed while one of the smaller ships landed on the top of one of the buildings and Ruby ran over to Yang and grabbed her by the arm as Elizabeth walked out of the ship and climbed down to the street from the building's fire escape with a gun in hand.

"Elizabeth's here!" Ruby screeched excitedly while grabbing onto her sister's arm tightly. "Ooo… do you think dad and Violet are here too?"

Your dad or mine? Yang thought though she pushed it away, not wanting it to be true though she felt a sinking feeling in her stomach when she saw Tai step off and onto the ground with Violet in his arms and hastily meeting up with his wife who effectively shot a Boarbatusk shortly after it stampeded on two of the Atlesian Knights while, in the same time frame, three other AK-200s opened fire on an Ursa after another one fell from the punch of a knight. "Well, I think they're coming towards us...so…"

Ruby screeched wildly once again. "Dad! Elizabeth! Violet! Hey!"

Shaking her head, Elizabeth smiled at Ruby before she shot another grimm and Violet was far too excited by the happenings, trying to grab a gun from Tai's hand. Further away and out of her line of sight, however, Emmett Schnee impaled two nevermores with his sword before he began to head down the alleyway where he saw an ursa but he stopped short in shock when he saw a woman in a short, strappy red dress with a feather attached to the side and glasses heels. Almost certain of her identity, Emmett waited for her two companions to disappear after some grimm before he, setting his sword to his side, grabbed her by the wrists and pinned her up against the wall and reached for his sword again, holding it under her neck while her amber eyes flared in anger before shifting to genuine fear. Shaking heavily as he met her gaze, Emmett forced himself to not let the feeling of being drowned take him over and instead guarded his other emotions with pure anger, upset, and a faint desire for revenge.

"Well...it really has been a long time since we've met up, hasn't it been Emmett?" Cinder said with a smile. "How's Emmeline...no, wait that's too harsh given the threat I made in our last meeting. How's the little brat or should I say brats? Assuming they're all still alive, of course."

"Of course they're all still alive!" Emmett hissed, trying not to cut her as he reminded himself that the point of having his sword there was to scare and restrain her, not harm her. "And Emmy's just fine."

"Oh...yes…that's too bad…" Clicking her tongue, Cinder narrowed her eyes at her brother. "Of course, I've killed quite a lot of people lately."

"Like Amber?" Emmett suggested, his hands shaking. "The Fall Maiden?"

Cinder laughed though she flinched back as far as she could to avoid his blade, knowing that even with her powers as a sorceress and partially a maiden that he could still kill her if he wanted to. "I almost forgot about her too...see, I didn't kill her, Emmett. If I had killed her, I would have taken all of her powers. That man who interrupted...ugh, not only did he smell like pure drugstore alcohol, but he also had a fucking scythe! I mean, apart from that little girl who's clearly trying too hard, who the hell fights with a scythe?"

"Didn't you kill his wife?" Emmett snapped and it was all Cinder could do to not scream. "Ashlynn -"

"That girl with the silver eyes? Summer Rose?" Cinder suggested and the way his face contorted was enough to convince her that that was who he was thinking of. "Well, they weren't married, but yes, I did kill her."

A gunshot rang out in the alleyway, but Emmett steeled himself and forced himself to not relinquish his upper hand even as he looked to the woman who had fired the gunshot. Shaking heavily as she realized who Emmett was restraining, the chair of the Atlesian National Security Council, Elizabeth Morell shifted as slowly as she could towards Cinder and pressed her gun against her head though she had her doubts of being able to pull the trigger.

"Cinder Amelia Fall," She hissed. "Or should I call you by your birth name of Ashlynn Cinder Schnee?"

An irritated sigh escaped her lips as the metal of Elizabeth's gun pressed against her head.

"Hello, Madame Morell," She said, scowling when she saw Cristal run into the alley too, stopping short for a moment in horror.

"Cristal," She said darkly. "What are you doing here? I thought you were a leading prosecutor, not –"

"I could ask you the same question," Cristal replied, crossing her arms. "Yet there's no use. I think we all know why you're here."

Cinder started laughing and turned back to Elizabeth.

"Oh, I almost forgot," The sorceress said with a smirk. "You and I have been in touch recently, haven't we?"

Cristal's gaze snapped to Elizabeth. "What the hell is she talking about?"

"She left a note on the counter in my house telling me that Emmeline and the rest of the Ciel family deserve to die and that I do as well," Elizabeth told him, her voice low and his eyes widened in horror. "Emmett, please don't -"

"What is wrong with you?" Emmett demanded of his sister while she sighed and leaned further against the wall. "The hell -"

"There are many things wrong with me," Cinder said plainly. "But, you see, the current state of the kingdoms is what you get when you trust men and women who claim, like Emmett, to be one of our...guardians when in reality they're nothing more than men and are therefore inherently flawed. The other thing that you two should know is that, unlike the two of you, I've learnt to never look back."

"You'll pay like hell for what you've done," Elizabeth told her, her voice stronger and much fiercer than she had expected. "And the second that you're back in Atlas is the second you'll be back behind bars."

"Yes," Cinder agreed. "But that's only if go back to Atlas which is something that, frankly, I don't have any desire to do. By the way, I couldn't help but notice that gun you're pressing against my forehead. I had no idea you could shoot. So, Elizabeth, when did you learn that skill?"

"Tai taught me about a few years back, for basic self-protection," Elizabeth muttered and Cinder smirked. "I should like to know why that concerns you."

Laughing again as she remembered her fire Dust, Cinder smirked at both of them before blasting it under them. This act was one that allowed her to escape but also brought both of them to the ground shortly before Ozpin himself ran into the alleyway and looked at them both in surprise before catching a glimpse of Cinder from behind as she left. Cristal and Ozpin helped Emmett up while Elizabeth coughed, swore, and leaned against the wall with her gun still in hand. Cristal began murmuring quickly to Ozpin about what happened and that Cinder had tried, based on Elizabeth's grip on her gun and what she had seen, kill her and Emmett. Ozpin suddenly pulled her in and, it was just then, Emmeline ran into the alleyway herself, paling when she saw the faint ash on the ground.

"Was…" Emmeline shared a look with Emmett, and she paled even more. "No."

Elizabeth stood up and started brushing herself off. "It was…that bitch..." She swore under her breath and then shook her head. "I swear, one of these days, I'm actually going to kill her."

"That's probably not the best idea," Emmeline warned her. "For a variety of reasons, but you really don't want to inherit her powers."

"Emmeline!" Ozpin snapped sharply, not wanting him to reveal that. "Don't you dare -"

"What the hell are you talking about, Oz?" Elizabeth demanded, her tiredness beginning to take her over. "I mean -"

"Her powers as a sorceress," Cristal said, though she knew that wasn't the whole truth. "Because… we don't know what happens to a sorceress's powers if she dies unnaturally."

Emmett scoffed but went along with the story anyways. "And the power transfer would probably be too much for your body to handle."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes as they walked out of the alleyway and back into the main city where she found herself staring in shock as Zwei practically flew out of the opening to the tunnels with Bartholomew Oobleck piloting a noticeably damaged Atlesian Paladin-290. Her shock increased more when yet another airship arrived although this time it was from Beacon Academy and dropped Team CFVY and Peter Port in the center of the pavilion. Not to her surprise, having spent enough time dealing with the girl's mother, Allison Adel, Elizabeth watched as Coco spanked one of her teammates before strutting towards a Beowolf and loudly speaking to it while lowering her designer sunglasses.

"You just destroyed my favorite clothing store," Coco informed the massive grimm before spitting and swatting away the creature's right hand. "Prepare to die."

Watching her fight, Emmeline sighed. "Should I be concerned that an Adel just spoke to a grimm as if it would understand language or should I be concerned by the fact that she seems to be –"

"As spoiled as her mother?" Cristal suggested, reaching up to adjust her glasses but let out a short scream as a grimm charged at her. Ozpin quickly snapped it down with his cane, and then pulled her in protectively. "Dear God…"

"Well, with regard to the Adel girl," Elizabeth said after a moment, taking a step back and smirking at Emmeline. "If you think she's bad, then you clearly haven't met her mother. The woman seems to think the best way to get what she wants is to yell at the council to remove restrictions placed on her company while simultaneously smoking a cigarette and calling everybody 'darling'."

Cristal rubbed her arm, feeling cold all of the sudden despite the summer warmth.

"I have more than once wanted to cause her pain in various places, but she's currently not bothering the council since she's mortified about something to do a recent sex tape," Cristal said after a moment. "I really don't think she wants me to refer to her as 'Nine To Five's CEO And Company Whore.' To be fair, though, that video did in fact suggest that she works some form of a nine to five."

Emmeline rolled her eyes. "You mean a nine pm to five am, six hundred lien a pop."

"Oh god no!" Emmett exclaimed, still laughing. "Honey, that's horrible and disgusting!"

Another moment passed in silence and then the chaos returned. Sighing as he focused his semblance, Emmett easily took out the multiple creeps that were charging at him and on the periphery of his vision, he could see his daughters take down a nevermore with Annetta. At the opening to the tunnel, he noticed Oobleck climbing out of the Atlesian Paladin 290 and regrouping with Port before they began to fire at the last few grimm in the area that were approaching them. Using her crop to knock back several creeps before they could even touch her, Glynda irritably repaired the damage to the buildings before finally closing the opening to the tunnel with her semblance of telekinesis.

"She was here, Cinder," Emmett told her and she sighed, pushing up her glasses before crossing her arms with her crop still tightly curled under her hand. "I'm serious -"

"I know," Glynda told him, her cape fluttering behind her as a result of the breeze. "She and I had a little bit of a...an incident."

Ozpin looked at her in confusion and surprise. "What the hell does that mean?"

"It means that those buildings I just fixed," Glynda said, motioning to them with her crop. "Weren't damaged because of the grimm attack but were damaged because Cinder and I fought. I almost had her, but she managed to get away. I don't even know how, but it was almost like she was there but then she wasn't. The curious part was that when attack didn't reach her, it did reach an illusionary wall, something that reminded me of Neo."

"I hate that kid," Emmett muttered, remembering how she had been a first year during their last at Atlas Academy. "I know she can't speak and all, but did her parents name her Neopolitan because they knew how she would look or were they drunk or higher than hell when the decided to name their kid that? Unless she didn't have parents and got stuck with a really mean nickname that she shortened Neo because it sounds better?"

Glynda raised an eyebrow with a smirk. "I'm not quite sure, but it almost amuses me that she and Roman ended up together. Remember when they were at the Academy and they got along well and that was part of why you had thought, before he asked you out, that they were a couple?"

"Not that it matters," Emmett said, returning her smirk. "Since Emmy and I got married and he ended up with her anyways. Which, by the way, neither of which I would have expected to happen at the time."

Emmeline laughed. "Emmett, sometimes –"

"I'm your husband," Emmett reminded her, kissing her softly for a second despite everything around them. "Forever."

June 14th

City Of Vale

Vale

Downtown

9:33 AM

Despite still being fully dressed for a meeting with the Valerian Council that was temporarily postponed, Elizabeth Morell ran to the site where Roman Torchwick was being arrested and Ronnie Ciel was already there. Nodding to one of the guards, she stopped in front of the criminal before he could be taken onto the ship. While dismissing the two kids that had escorted him to the Atlesian airship, one with green hair and the other with dark grey, Elizabeth crossed her arms as an Atlesian Knight approached in order to guard her and the president after handing her the mob boss' cane. Examining it for a moment, Elizabeth took note of the grappling hook function as well as the fact that the end of it could clearly be used as a gun before she shoved it back to the Atlesian Knight and ordered for it to be taken and locked as evidence before she turned back to the man and narrowed her eyes before waiting for him to speak. Not to very much surprise, when he did he was predominately sarcastic.

"Oh, I can't believe that you've caught me, you've really taught me the error of my ways."

"Restrain him," Ronnie ordered an Atlesian Knight, who grabbed Roman sharply by the arm, much to his annoyance.

"He...hey! Watch the hat!"

"I will be...holding on to this," Elizabeth informed him as she swiftly took his hat off of his head and handed it to the Atlesian Knight that had already taken his cane. "And you and I will also be having a serious...discussion."

"What about?" Roman asked her with a smirk. "Because this whole thing seems to be turning out just as well as the divorce…"

Ronnie rolled his eyes. "Since when are you married to anyone?"

"Since several years ago, Mister President!" Roman declared grandly. "Her name is Neopolitan, though you probably know her as -"

"Neo," Elizabeth finished for him irritably. "Yes, I am aware of her. Assuming my memory isn't failing me, weren't the two of you rather close while at Atlas Academy? It was your last year and her first, was it not?"

Roman laughed maniacally. "You remember that?"

Elizabeth visibly tensed and narrowed her gaze at him while retaining her haughty posture. "Might I remind you that I did in fact deal with the aftermath of the mess that your...boss created? Tell me, was I or was I not -"

"Oh come on," Roman asked her with a smirk and to his surprise she nodded curtly. "Shortly after all the bullshit, weren't you made the chair of the Atlesian National Security Council?"

A beat passed in which Elizabeth did not respond. When she did, it was short. "Yes."

Roman shook his head and laughed. "You really have the shittiest luck in the world, except for in that you married Taiyang Xiao Long and had a daughter with him."

Elizabeth looked at him in shock. "How…"

"Ah, see," Roman told her with a wink. "I keep up with the Atlesian RINSE and, of course, Atlas News and both of them were all over you on that topic."

"Yes," Elizabeth replied as smoothly as possible through her shock. "I am fully aware of that."

"Now, where o' where are you taking me?" Roman asked as she sidestepped him and the Atlesian Knights grabbed him the wrists to take him away on her orders. "Och!" Turning around as their grip tightened, Roman snapped. "Give me my fucking hat and cane, you non sentient pieces of -"

"Take him away," Ronnie ordered the Knights before addressing Roman one last time. "And General Ironwood and General Ciel will be speaking with you later. I assure you that I'll make it very clear to them that you have so far refused to cooperate with the authorities, not that your history makes that much of a surprise."

Walking off of the platform while the ship closed and Roman was taken by the Knights to a holding cell, Elizabeth sighed irritably and reattached her gun to her side before treading her fingers through her tangled dark hair. Watching the ship take off, she kept her gaze on it before it disappeared into the clouds that were starting to come in, signifying a rainstorm later in the day. She was mildly annoyed that it was so warm, which meant no snow. Snow was something that reminded her of home in Atlas during the winter months, never mind the fact that it was June, and it also gave her hope as it reminded her of how elated she had been every time that snow fell as a child. Elizabeth's heels clicked against the ground as she saw the teams running about in relief that it was over and Glynda tightly embracing James before he left to prepare to interrogate their former teammate later and also to prepare for the late meeting with the council that she was supposed to video call into.

Emmett Schnee was with Sam and Lily, though after giving his eldest a hug, they all started to head back towards Beacon with Emmeline. Aligning with her expectations was the fact that, as soon as they knew the attention had no longer been on them because of their operation of heavy and markedly stolen Atlesian machinery, Oobleck had wrapped his arms tightly around Port's neck and kissed him passionately while Port's strong arms secured the lanky doctor in his arms. Yet Ivy Ironwood seemed to have disappeared in the chaos. The rest of them all seemed calm, and it was almost unnerving to Elizabeth how quickly things had managed to calm down. Perhaps it was reflective of how things were in Atlas. Nothing was ever calmed or restrained this quickly. It was not the immediate response that concerned her. It was the circumstances of grimm being led into the city. It was all too perfect and convenient, something, as the chair of the Atlesian National Security Council would not know until much later, that the younger Ironwood-Goodwitch was about to realize.

"Long time no see, Ironwood."

Ivy whipped around, her hair flying out around her wispily. In the darkened alley way, with only a faint breeze easing the summer heat that seemed to cling to everything, stood someone she hadn't seen since she had been fourteen. It had been the summer before she and her twin had started the eighth grade, and their father had been stationed in Menagerie for the year. Her sister hadn't made any friends, nor had she tried, and she and Jake had spent most of their time in the apartment, either reading or watching TV or whatever. Ivy had gotten cooped up after a few weeks, and she'd hated it. She started going out, the social butterfly she always had been, and she had met a lot of interesting people, enough to have recognized Blake Belladonna when she saw her again for the first time in years when the girl started at Beacon. This was not Blake, though; this was someone more dangerous and, for her, far more seductive.

"Adam," Ivy said, her heart pounding in her chest. "What are you doing here?"

"Handling a few things," He replied.

Ivy scowled. "Murder, I presume?"

Adam smirked. "Not necessarily."

She let out a short, dry laugh. "Is that so?"

He stared at her for a moment and then delicately pulled off his mask. Ivy gasped in horror upon seeing the branded mark over a blind eye and she took a step back, her stomach sinking.

"SDC?" She said, her throat suddenly hoarse. "As in…Schnee Dust Company?"

Adam nodded shortly. "I know you're aware of their…overstepping. And I know you hate it."

"What they do is wrong," Ivy replied, crossing her arms. "But I know you've killed people for your own gain too. Don't act all high and mighty. You ain't the person I knew back then, you know."

Adam stepped towards her and Ivy did not step back.

"Neither are you," He finally said, reaching out and cupping her cheek. "You've grown."

"Adam, stop it," Ivy said, although she did nothing, hating herself liking the sensation of his warm hand against her cheek. "You're –"

"Let me kiss you, just once," He said, his rough voice surprisingly gentle. "You might be human, you might be the daughter of people I think irrelevant yet plugged in…but you're as close to us as you can be. You could change the world, Ivory, so why are you throwing away your shot?"

Ivy swallowed hard. "I can't…there's…"

She paused upon him pressing his lips against hers, and she, for all her mind was screaming at her, kissed him back, not objecting when she felt her back pressing against the wall in the alleyway and their bodies melted together as one. It was a sensation unlike any other she had ever known, and it was that, she would one day realize, haunt her for the rest of her life. Now, she did not care. They were at odds, but she was too optimistic. Her sister would go ballistic if she knew, her parents would be disappointed, and her brother would be disgusted but she didn't care. She didn't know how to say no to this. Her mind may have been screaming that it was wrong, that she shouldn't but she couldn't consider that when his mouth and body were on hers. All she could say in those moments that they were about to start stealing for each other was yes and she was sure she could change him.

She hated knowing that he never would, not even for her, and that everything she had would never be enough.