Qrow landed on Mountain Glenn with a fluttering of wings before he shifted back into a human. Seamlessly sliding up next to Tai, Qrow ignored the shifting of the two of Jimmy's men, a man with short brown hair in his early thirties holding a horseshoe and a pink eyed girl in her early twenties. The best Jimmy had, but still green by the standards of experienced Huntsmen. Another downside of the Specialist Initiative that Jimmy didn't acknowledge.

You were essentially back to stage one. No veteran Huntsmen to support the fresh meat.

"Names, Weapons and Semblances," Qrow rasped, "Qrow Branwen, Harbinger, great-scythe shotgun, Misfortune."

"Did you not read the files?" The girl said.

"Files can be fabricated," Qrow said, "harder to lie to each other when we're face to face."

"Why would they be fabricated?" The girl asked.

"Just do it," Qrow said.

"Taiyang Xiao-Long," Tai said, "Howl and Roar, trench knives, heat manipulation."

"Clover Ebi," the man said, smiling, "Kingfisher, fishing rod combat hook, good luck."

"Harriet Bree," the girl said with a sigh, "Fast Knuckle, combat exoskeleton, superspeed."

Qrow nodded, drawing Harbinger off his back and walking towards the nearest hole, "Let's get going, eh?"

"Shouldn't we talk strategy?" Harriet asked, but joined him on the edge along with Clover and Tai.

"Simple," Qrow said, "We drop, take out anyone around the landing site and move towards the subway system."

"And what about the informant?" Clover asked, "it would be a pretty cruel thing to do, taking them out after they told us about this."

"We trust them to get-" the noise of something moving in an alleyway to their left drew their attention, followed by a soft swearing, "Tai?"

"On it," Tai said, drawing Howl and Roar and taking off into the alley, followed by a set of thuds, cracks and gurgling. Seconds later, Tai stepped out, blood of the blades and knuckle dusters of Howl and Roar, "They didn't have Aura unlocked. Probably gonna be like that a lot."

Clover nodded, "Right. Lethal force is authorized?"

"Yeah," Qrow said, "Gotta say, you're letting us take charge pretty easily. Wasn't expecting that."

"Well," Clover said, 'I'm used to being in charge, but I figured that if our positions were reversed, and you came into Atlas and just started ordering people around, I'd be pretty insulted. Do you want me to take charge?"

"No," Qrow said, "just commenting on it. Ready for the drop?"

"Yes, sir," Clover said with a nod, Harriet following his lead. The minute Tai was next to them, Qrow span Harbinger and drove it into a rough gap in the ground. Pushing, Qrow sent the piece of concrete careening into the yawning hole, "Weapon out!"

Harriet deployed Fast Knuckle as Clover did the same with Kingfisher. Qrow grinned, at Tai, "Ready?"

"Oh, yeah," Tai said, stretching.

- X Harriet X-

Harriet clutched the edge of the slab of concrete, hands digging in tight as they plummeted. Next to her, Kingfisher dug into the cement, but what was really surprising was Taiyang crouching on the opposite edge, looking unfazed as he slipped his right hand knife into a sheath on his leg. Finally, they plummeted into the cave network below Mountain Glenn, several Faunus looking up and raising guns… and Tai leapt off the slab, sending it spinning, "What the-"

"No better time!" Qrow called falling with his sword right after his friend.

"Right!" Clover let go of the slab, hooking Kingfisher around a metal pole and pressing the red button to reel himself in. Harriet gripping the slab harder, scanning the area and locking onto one of the White Fang members. Fast Knuckle whirled as Harriet threw the slab at him, wincing as the velocity and size of the concrete sent him flying across the room and smashing into the wall in a splatter of blood. Well, he was dea-

What little of Harriet's hair that wasn't gelled stood on end at an ear-piercing, pained scream. She turned to see Tai hooking his bladed hand around a Faunus's arm, hyperflexing it and forcing it to drop the gun while his other hand latched onto the throat. Black, charred skin was visible along in before Tai finished bending the arm with a popping noise that caused a redoubled scream that was cut off with a blade to the heart.

By the Maidens…

Tai flipped the knife, tossing it at another Faunus and knocking the gun trained at him off course before he rushed forward, drawing the other knife and rushing forward to run the Faunus through the throat. A layer of heathaze flowed around him, making his exact features hard to see as he kicked the thrown knife into the air and caught it. He followed it up with a roundhouse kick to the side of a third Faunus's neck, burning flesh-

"Harriet!" Clover called, using Kingfisher to throw one Faunus into another, "Don't just stand there!"

"Sorry, Sir!" Harriet said, activating her Semblance and rushing towards the nearest Faunus. A burst of superspeed punches sent him flying back, motionless, "Where do we go?"

"Give me a second," Qrow said, pulling out his Scroll as he casually leveled the gun in his sword at the charging Faunus, double tapping them without missing a beat, "Probably through the north hole, if we went in the way I think we did."

"Right," Clover nodded, "Harriet, go down the tunnel ahead of us, warn us if you see a group of Faunus, alright?"

"Yes, Sir!" Harriet saluted, before taking off down the tunnel… and stopping less than a handful of feet, staring at the whirling guns of a- "Sir!?"

"What?"

"They have a Paladin!" Harriet yelled, turning and dodging the shot fired at her.

"They have a… what do you mean?"

"It's ramshackled," Harriet huffed, "but it's a Paladin."

"They aren't even in development yet," Clover said quietly.

"Sounds like you've got a traitor," Qrow deadpanned, turning to Tai, "Ready, buddy?"

"Always," Tai said.

-X Arthur X-

Arthur Watts sat in a room in his… benefactor's castle, chuckling as he watched the young woman wearing an Atlesian uniform dodge the shots from the Paladin he had hacked. It had been easy, far too easy. They hadn't even bothered replacing the coding he had-

Arthur's jaw jumped as a familiar pair come rushing towards the Paladin, moving his hands. The Paladin followed the motions as the Hard-Light dust in his rings glowed. Two-fourths of one of Ozpin's pet teams, Hazel would owe him one for this.

Pantomiming pulling a trigger with each index finger, Arthur watched them dodge the shots. Cracking his fingers, the engineer grinned.

Looks like Cinder hadn't been as careful as she thought she was...

- X Tai X-

Tai took Qrow's hand with a laugh, feeling his arm give a familiar protest and the black haired man grinned and asked, "Ready?"

"Always!" Tai said.

"Then here!" Qrow wrapped his other hand around the scruff of his shirt, hoisting up and letting go of Tai's arm to grab his belt, beginning to spin, "We! Go!"

Tai flew forward, landing on the Paladin with a crunch and driving Howl into the side to keep himself from being thrown off. Flexing his free hand, he slammed it into the glass, heating it before reversing his Semblance in a flash. A spiderweb of cracks spread across the cockpit as the robot grabbed him and began to squeeze. Before it could do more than mildly inconvenience him, Qrow was on the arm with Harbinger, cutting him free. Above them, the hook of Kingfisher punched through the cracked cockpit before Clover called, "Harriet!"

"Right!" Harriet was next to her commander in a flash, taking Kingfisher and pressing down the button to real herself in. Letting go as the other arm swung towards her, Harriet slid under it before springing up and fists blurring faster than Tai could keep up with, shattering the glass, "Alrigh- there's nobody inside!"

"Autopilot," Qrow said, "Tai!"

"On it!" Tai said, jumping into the cockpit through the broken glass, "keep the other hand off of me!"

"You're not gonna be able to learn how to-"

"I'm not," Tai said, pulling out a Howl and beginning to worm it into a box, "Trust me."

"Alright," Clover said, "Harriet, come help me, we've got more Faunus coming!"

"This is a bad idea," Harriet said, before ducking away.

"How long do you think you need?" Qrow asked.

"Just a minute," Tai said, "Keep it busy."

"Will do," Qrow said, followed by a clanging. Tai forced open the first box, flexing his hand and grabbing the wires within. Ripping them out, Tai blasted a burst of heat into the same area, frying the electronics within. Outside, the broken arm stopped moving.

Tai rolled over, forcing the same spot on the opposite side open and repeating the process. The second arm stopped moving, before Tai gave a sharp whistle. Harbinger speared through the glass in Warscythe form, ripping open the last bit of panelling. Tai pulled out a spike, spinning it in place before forcing it in and kicking out of the cockpit. Hot steam exploded from the Dust, frying the last bits of circuitry before the Paladin collapsed.

"That was two minutes," Qrow said.

Oh that…

-X Arthur X-

"...Bastard!" Arthur snapped, pounding his fist against the chair, before standing. Well, at least he could amuse himself by… "Lady Salem, we need to have a talk about Cinder."

-X Qrow X-

Qrow watched the subway from his perch, the three other members of the impromptu team next to him. Stretchin, Qrow nodded, "Ready?"

"Yep," Tai said, the other two nodding. Qrow cracked a small smile, before jumping onto the back of the train with a loud thud. Several people looked up, going for guns before Qrow kicked off into the center of them, Harbinger swinging-

-and clashing with a chainsword in a burst of sparks and kickback. The man wearing a full face mask growled, pressing a hand to his ear, "Perry, get the train mov-"

Qrow wasted no time headbutting him, shattering the mask into his face and smashing him throat first into the ground. Flicking Harbinger, he placed both barrels against the side of the Faunus's head and looked up, "if that train moves an inch, his skull's gonna be a red paste."

"I'm willing to take that bet," the man spat, "START IT!"

The train started to move, and Qrow wasted no time pulling the trigger twice. The man's aura flashed and he chuckled as he held out a hand, suddenly pulling away from Qrow and catching his sword, "Weren't expecting-"

"Tai! Take the other two and go! I'll catch up," Qrow ordered and Tai dropped onto the back of the train with a nod, Clover and Harriet joining him a minute later, "just you and me, big guy?"

"Are you blind?" The man said, gesturing to the other men, "I've got twenty men."

"Oh good," Qrow said, unfolding Harbinger into scythe configuration, "I always like some chaff to whet the blade first."

"Scary," the leader said.

"I know I am," Qrow laughed. Locking his eyes on the Faunus farthest from him, and conveniently next to the lights, and transforming, Qrow flew forward at top speed towards them and transformed back, Harbinger biting into their throat as he kicked their knees out and decapitated them. Their head fell from the building they were standing on as the lights went off, plunging the cavern into darkness, "and I know you don't think I am. We'll see who's right in the next ten minutes."

-X Tai X-

Tai kicked open the third door, flowing to the side as guns went off before someone hissed, "stop wasting ammo!"

Just like that, the bullets from the former dining car turned bar stopped. Tai cracked a smile, before nodding to Harriet. The young woman ran in, a series of thuds echoing from inside the car before she called out, "There's someone with Aura!"

Tai and Clover stepped in, staring down the girl wearing a horned mask and aiming a pointed blade at Harriet's head, Aura glowing around the fist embedded in her gut. Around the car, every other Faunus was collapsed. Finally, the girl spoke, "You're the team Blake sent?"

"Yeah," Tai said, and the girl nodded.

"Then we should make this realistic," the girl pulled the trigger, sending Harriet flying back in an explosion of lightning Dust. The blade launched forward as a whip, slicing through the metal of the car, aiming for Tai's neck. He caught it, electricity sparking along his hand.

"It's gonna take more than that," Tai said before pulling the whip, and the girl, towards him, burying his knee in her gut. Bile splattered out of her mouth, then Tai kicked her over the bar. She staggered back up, missing her weapon, and charged forward with a series of telegraphed punches. She had little to no hand-to-hand training.

Tai caught her arm, hyperflexing it before lifting her mask amd meeting her grey eyes. She was the same age as Yang, "I'm sorry."

And then he delivered a punch between the eyes, dropping the girl like a rock. Or she would, if he hadn't caught her and lowered her, pulling out a set of zip ties to bind her, "She'll go into protective custody when we get to Vale."

"Yeah," Clover nodded, before looking into the next car, "One enemy, girl, early twenties with an umbrella."

"I'll deal with them," Tai said, drawing Howl and letting heat shimmer along his other hand, "You two keep going."

"Right," Clover said as Tai threw open the door and moved for the woman. She dodged the first punch with a smug grin, one that flickered off her face as Tai hooked a foot around her leg and pulled it out from under her. Turning a fall into a roll, she stood back up, a spike deploying from her umbrella as she picked up the bowler hat she had been wearing.

Tai cracked his neck, then charged the girl with a punch.

- ? -

Experiment Number 37. Attempted resonance between Subject X and Xehanort to remove memory blocks.

11:00: Mark Experiment Start.

11:02: Signs of discomfort from Xehanort, no reaction from Subject X.

11:05: extreme discomfort from Xehanort, no-

11:06 Extreme discomfort from both subjects, sound dampening activated.

11:15: Discomfort continues, uncontrollable energy emissions from Xehanort in the form of black lightning. Suggested stopping the experiment, denied by Xehanort himself. Heart resonance at a 3:1 ratio.

11:20: Heart Resonance at 2:1 ratio. Energy emissions grown worse, scarring the table. Subject X has also begun to emit energy in the form of golden flames. Suggestion by myself and Braig to terminate the resonance denied by both Xehanort and Evan. Complaint logged

11:25: Resonance at a 1:1 ratio, emissions from both Xehanort and Subject X have reached zenith. Bonds holding Subject X in place have been broken, spasms growing worse as flames converge around right hand. Suggestion-

11: 26: a strange sword has appeared in Subject X's hand. Silver bladed, with a lion head and fleur-de-lis on blade, revolver at blade's base, wing along the hilt.

11: 26.5: Braig has activated the emergency termination of the resonance. Something strange in his eye. Fear?

11:57: Blade has been placed under quarantine through barrier spells, wind magic from Dilan and space magic from Braig. Experiments to be run on it on a later date.

12: 00 Mark official end of Experiment 37. Intended result: failure.

-Ienzo

-X Neo X-

Neopolitan, in her own unbiased opinion, had been having an absolutely atrocious few months. It had started well, with Roman suddenly deciding to go on a string of high profile Dust robberies, which had been fun on the few she joined him for. Then…. Then things tilted towards the negative so fast she hadn't even had time to blink.

One of those heists had gone wrong, resulting in Roman being captured and crippled by some brown haired brat and placed under guard in the Mountain Glenn Memorial Hospital. Before Neo had time to put together a plan to free him, he had been murdered, murdered. She knew that the guards were surely incompetent, had been preparing to rely on that, but she hadn't expected someone to beat her to the punch like that.

They were number two on her hitlist, and the only reason they weren't higher was because she didn't know who did it. Oh, but when she found out.

Then she had been approached by a black haired woman who had offered her freedom to do whatever she wanted to the bitch who hospitalized Roman in the first place, in return for helping her with her plan. Blow a hole in Vale, (through Mountain Glenn Memorial Park at that!) and let in the Grimm. Easy.

Except now she was fighting a Huntsman after the animals were too useless to stop four people. For fuck's sake, how incompetent could you be!?

Neo gave a growl, or at least what counted as one from her, as the man's fist impacted Hush. Her Aura flashed around the umbrella, keeping it from breaking. Oh, and that was another thing, she was stuck on a damn train were her Semblance was borderline useless. Thanks, Cinder.

The man's knife came down over Hush, trying to yank it from Neo's hand and, when that failed, forcing the umbrella down so he could send a right hook at her face. Neo dodged it, a hiss of hot air barely missing her.

Fuck it, sword time.

Drawing the blade from Hush, Neo stabbed for the man, who dodged around the attack. Stabbing again, Neo created a copy of herself with Overactive Imagination at the same time. The blades swung for the man, and he blocked the clone's by flattening his knife against his arm. Neo grinned as the clone exploded into glass, Hush digging into his shoulder as his Aura flashed.

"That was dumb of you," the man said, before surging forward in the blink of an eye, driving Hush into his arm and grabbing Neo by the throat with the other hand before sweeping her legs out from under her with one foot. Smashing her into the side of the train, he dragged Neo forward until she let go of Hush and threw her against the far wall with a pained crash. The man drew Hush from his arm, letting his Aura cover the wound, "Stay down, you've lost."

Oh, they'd see about that…

Neo activated Overactive Imagination behind her back, throwing four daggers at the man before vanishing and rushing for Hush. The daggers shattered in a sweeping of his own knife and Neo barely dodged the kick he send her way, grabbing Hush and backflipping backwards.

"I guess," the man said, settling into a stance, "we're doing this the hard way."

Oh, there was no doubt about that.

-X Bane X-

Bane let an incredulous laugh out as he gripped Eviscerator tighter, eyes following the man as he jumped down, "We're Faunus, you idiot! Night vision is part of… the…"

Bane's eyes widened as a familiar stick-like device flew from the human's right hand. Oh, fuck him running-

The flashbang went off, sending several Faunus staggering back clutching two sets of bleeding ears as Bane's slitted eyes screamed in protest. That, that fucking-!

Bane was forced to stand there blinking away the white from his vision and only barely just threw up Eviscerator before the man rushed him from the side, decapitated Faunus laying around the area. Bane's Men… "Wow, can't believe I forgot Faunus had night vision. How stupid am I-?"

"Shut up!" Bane roared, swinging for the man, who dodged the attack. His sword slashed forward, carving into Bane's side before he could respond, his Aura flashing around the blow, "You think you're better than me because you're a human!?"

"No, I know I'm better than you because I've got a working moral compass," the man deadpanned, "how many people were gonna die if this went off without a hitch, which, by the way, it isn't. Unless you've got ten trained Huntsmen-equivalents on that train, it's over."

"They asked for it," Bane growled, swinging Eviscerator up. The man dodged it again, pressing his shotgun to Bane's gut and pulling the trigger. Bane flew back, crashing against the wall, "Then just- they just stand there as we're treated like sh-"

"And how many lynchings would be on your hands when people turned against Faunus after this?" The man asked, voice icy as he reloaded his gun, "Oh, I know. None, that would be our fault too. The White Fang hasn't helped Faunus since Ghira Belladonna left."

"He was weak! He didn't want to force you to-" Bane coughed.

"To what?" the man said, "actually, don't say it. I don't care. You're done, it's over."

"Fuck," Bane staggered up, holding the wound over his stomach and spitting blood into the man's face, swinging Eviscerator wide, "Yo-"

Then the shotgun went off, and Bain's head smashed against the stone. Blood rolled down his neck as he slid down, watching the man walk by him and pressing a hand to his ear, beginning to talk, then…

...Nothing.

-X Tai X-

Tai breathed in, training with Old Zell coming to the forefront. The girl wanted to play with illusions? Tai would make things different for her.

Golden light began to shroud Tai's fists, feat and Howl and Roar, cresting off each blade so they looked like a miniature scythe. Tai breathed out as adrenaline rushed through him.

Once, Uncle Zell had named his version of this technique. Tai had been pretty sure it was sarcastically named, but from his fights against Grimm and bandits, it wasn't wrong.

Now Tai had to hope his version would win the day in the same way. Shifting, Tai rushed towards the woman as she raised her parasol. Tai hooked both blades around it, pulling it out of her hands before launching a roundhouse kick at her head. She dodged under it, drawing the sword from her parasol and stabbing for Tai. Spinning in place, Tai sent a crescent of energy flying at the woman, who shattered into glass, leaving Tai seconds to dodge away from the stab aimed at his skull, the short woman balanced on a set of crates.

Tai swung his leg up in a massive axe kick, smashing the new clone to pieces before the sword found his side. Tai didn't even flinch, just smashing through the clone and taking the next attack to the chest… and driving his fists into either side of the woman, catching the real her with his right fist and sending her smashing into the roof. As she dropped, Tai drove a kick into her gut and sent her flying. The train ground to a halt suddenly, and Tai saw the woman work her jaw and then charge him.

Yeah, and he was the King of Vale. Tai casually stabbed the clone, watching it shatter without flinching and stayed on guard a moment longer. When nothing happened other than Clover stepping back into the room, Tai breathed a sigh of relief.

They were gonna need to send a team to clear out any Grimm that had got in, to plug up any holes formed… but a crisis had been averted. Now they just needed to find a member who knew why they were doing this and get the information from him.

-X AN x-

So yeah, crisis averted. I know some people were expecting the Breach, but honestly there were so many factors against the White Fang (a team of trained Huntsmen with varying amounts of experience between twenty and six years, Roman being gone, it happening nearly a month earlier) that I actually toyed with having Tyrian there to shake things up.

Thoughts, questions and opinions? Good? Bad? Meh?