Yang tore down the dirt road and back through the small town of Patch faster than any of them could have possibly followed, before skidding to a stop at the docks. Fortunately enough for her, the timing had worked out perfectly. The ferry itself was already boarding passengers for the return trip to Vale. Yang joined the small throng, having to hop off her motorcycle and walk it up the gangplank.

Once situated on her own small section of the deck, Yang propped Bumblebee up with its kickstand and left it to grip the ship's railing tightly. She could tell her eyes were still burning with anger, and all thoughts were directed towards how she was going to enact her plan.

'Where can I even go if I want to 'almost die'?'

Junior's wasn't much of an option. Yang had done nothing if not grow stronger since the beginning of the semester, and his goons hadn't really even put up much of a fight then. Aside from that, there were a few seedy underground fighting rings that she knew of, the Grimm, the Whi-...

Rattling off the list of possibilities brought back memories from the night before. Yang pulled out her scroll to double check her messages, going down the list until she'd found those from her Uncle, 'Qrow did give us the address for that White Fang hideout in the Industrial District…'

Yang bit her lip, 'Is that going too far? Qrow said they had mechs there. The… Paladins, or something? I've never seen any before, but he made them sound dangerous. If all he's got to compare them to is those stupid androids then that shouldn't be a problem though.'

On the other hand… 'I am the third strongest in our year, and those White Fang goons didn't seem to be anything special when we fought them on the docks,' Yang grumbled quietly, staring off into the distance at Vale as the ship slowly made its approach, 'If it wasn't dangerous, then my mom wouldn't have any reason to show up, right?'

Yang nodded to herself firmly, done weighing the pros and cons of her only option.

'Time to crash a party.'

"Yang! Come back!" Tai shouted after his daughter, cupping his hands together around his mouth. His cries fell on deaf ears, met only by the steadily dissipating roar of Yang's motorcycle in the distance.

"She's gone, Tai," Qrow stated before sighing in vexation, "Personally, this is what I was always afraid of if we told her."

Tai checked over his shoulder to see that his daughters' team leader was still standing there as well, staring after where Yang had gone, "Hey, Violet. Can you leave me and Qrow alone for a minute?"

Vibrant eyes frowned for a moment before flickering to Qrow and back to Tai, "Sure thing." She heard the sound of Ruby sniffling behind her and turned as well for a moment, "I've uh… got someone else that needs me anyway."

Violet shut the door, though the frame was partially broken and left the door cracked open. Tai stepped in front of it to make sure any view of Qrow would be blocked, "Can you catch up with her?"

Qrow grumbled and rolled his shoulders, "It'll be tough. I swear we shouldn't have let her make so many damn modifications to that bike of hers. Things barely street legal," he grinned slightly and gave Tai a wink, "These old bones still got some juice left in 'em, though."

"Good. Try and keep an eye on her… If I know Yang, and I do, then she's taking that whole 'one' rule and running with it. I'll try and get into contact with Raven in the meantime. This is partially her fault as well."

"Partially?" Qrow scoffed, "I'd say all of it, but… No use pointing fingers now."

In a dark flash, Qrow's body vanished, weapon and all, to be replaced by the black feathered bird that was his namesake. With a brief flap of wings, he took off into the sky, arcing over the treetops in the direction of Patch.

Tai watched him leave for a few more moments, then stepped back inside the cabin. Violet and the other girl, Blake, were each sitting on opposite sides of Ruby, doing their best to comfort her.

Violet in particular glanced up as Tai walked in. Ruby was partially laying across her lap, Violet's hand running back and forth across her back in a soothing motion that had taken Tai ages to perfect.

"Qrow's going after her?"

Tai simply nodded, and Violet nodded in return, going back to the comfort she had been administering to Ruby. A light hum began to emanate from deep within her throat, and even Tai couldn't help but feel relaxed by its gentle tones.

Seeing that Ruby was being cared for well enough, Tai retreated upstairs into his room and pulled out his scroll. He opened up his contacts and hesitated over Yang's number, but ultimately knew that she would ignore any attempts at calling her during her current mood. Tai scrolled down further, to the only contact who's name had been left as 'unlisted'.

Tai sighed as he pressed the call button and waited.

And waited.

And waited…

The call went to voicemail several times over the course of the next five minutes. Tai could feel his blood pressure rising each time, and began to pace back and forth across the room while waiting for the call to connect.

Finally, a small clicking sound notified him that someone had picked up the line. However, it remained silent, and Tai's pacing slowed to a stop while he narrowed his eyes at the device.

"Raven."

After a few moments, the sound of his ex-wife's voice crackled through, the reception terrible from the middle of the wilderness and the screen remaining black.

"Tai."

Already, Tai could feel his blood beginning to boil, but he allowed cooler heads to prevail and kept his tone from having too much of a bite to it, "We need to talk."

"I'm a little busy at the moment."

"This is important."

"It always is with you people…" Raven sighed and Tai could almost hear the way she was likely rolling her eyes and shaking her head.

"Yang's about to do something… ill advised."

"As long as she's around Ozpin, I'd say that's a guarantee. Get to the point, Tai."

Tai grit his teeth together to keep from snapping and clenched his fist tightly, "We had to tell her about you... She found out about your stupid rule. Now she's off doing Gods know what in order to get you to show up."

After a few moments, Raven laughed, "That was rather foolish of you. Yang has always been headstrong. If she wants something, she gets it." She made a small 'hmmm' in her throat, "Perhaps she and I do share a few things in common..."

"The two of you are nothing alike!" Tai's voice rose in ferocity before he could force himself to calm down, otherwise the children below might hear, "Just… This is on you. Go talk to her before she gets herself into trouble that even you can't get her out of."

"But now I'm intrigued… You have no idea how boring it can be out here in the forest. Just small villages and the occasional Grimm to keep me entertained… I might have to let this one play out…"

"Raven…" Tai's veins bulged and his voice lowered threateningly, "If Yang gets hurt because of your arrogance, I'll-!"

Tai was cut off by the sound of a portal opening behind him. He spun quickly, barely registering that the call had abruptly ended as Raven stepped through. She was fully dressed in her battle attire, red and black armor gleaming as if it had been freshly cleaned. One hand rested on the hilt of her weapon, and her crimson eyes pierced into Tai's blue.

"You'll do what?" Raven's words were like ice, entirely devoid of any and all emotion, a clear warning that he should choose his words carefully.

Tai stood his ground, and slipped his own scroll back into his pocket before curling both hands into fists at his sides. He glared, staring at the woman that had given him a daughter who'd made the last seventeen years of his life both the greatest, and most stressful he could have imagined.

The corner of one lip raised in a nasty grin, "If you don't help…" his eyes stared just as fiercely back at her, "then I'll stop being your booty call."

Raven glared at him for a few, tense seconds. Her hand still rested on the hilt of her sword, and her eyes stared straight back into Tai's. After a few moments, her hand fell away, and she instead crossed her arms while turning her head to look towards the wall, "Well, let's not get hasty or anything. Yang does still have her 'one' after all..."

Tai felt the tension ease slightly and grumbled, "However you need to convince yourself…"

Raven's head snapped back in his direction, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Tai shrugged, "You saved Qrow again, didn't you? How many 'ones' has that been so far? I've lost count."

"That's…!" Raven fumed, "That's different. He's a valuable source of information."

"And your brother."

Raven scoffed, "A meaningless connection."

Tai eyed the portal that was still open behind Raven, "But a connection nonetheless. As much as you'd like to tell yourself that you don't need anyone else… we both know that isn't true."

"And yet, who is it that's come crawling for help?" Raven demanded, taking another step closer to Tai with her hand returning to her hilt, "Was it I that called fifteen times?"

Tai snorted, "You counted, huh?"

"That's not the point!" Raven's face had grown flustered, her usual airs of aggression failing when it came to Tai. He had always been the one person to see past her mask, and do so while wearing a devilish grin of his own.

Tai raised his hand to lay it on her shoulder, causing her eyes to narrow even further and her hand to clutch her hilt in a white knuckled grip. Tai opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted as Raven's scroll began to buzz in her pocket.

The tension between them could have been cut with a knife, and by the way the veins in Raven's forearm bulged, she was nearly ready to do just that. Tai slowly allowed his hand to drop away and, after a moment, Raven backed up as well. She reached into her pocket to pull out her scroll and checked the caller ID, a slight grimace appearing on her face.

With a swift press of a button, the call was accepted and Qrow's voice rushed over the line.

"I need you here. Now!"

Raven raised an eyebrow, voice immediately dropping into a teasing tone, "So deman-"

"No, Raven. We don't have time for your games. Now! Bring Tai if you can!"

Raven grit her teeth, not usually the type to take orders well, especially these days. With a frustrated roll of her eyes, the portal behind her closed, the dull red glow vanishing along with it. Raven unsheathed her weapon and slashed it through the air, a high pitched sound emanating from it as space itself was torn apart.

Raven ended the call and put her scroll away before gesturing with her free hand for Tai to go first. Tai stepped through warily, ushered by the urgency that had been in Qrow's voice.

A low breeze steadily blew over the rooftop that Tai appeared on, his feet stepping out on to reinforced concrete. A brief glance to his surroundings showed him that they were in the Industrial District. Qrow stood by the side of a glass skylight, staring down wide eyed into what sounded like a battle currently taking place.

Raven appeared through the portal next, allowing it to close once more. She looked to Qrow first, then followed his gaze down into the building they stood upon. Raven smirked, "I'll tell you what, the brats got guts."

The distinct sound of Ember Celica caught Tai's ears, and he hurried closer to stare down past the grimy windows into the building below. Gunfire crackled and screams reached their ears as a flurry of yellow blasted its way across the battlefield, dispatching White Fang members with heavy blows and acrobatically avoiding the attacks directed at her in turn.

"We've gotta get in there!" Tai demanded loudly.

Qrow smirked, casting his gaze over to his sister, "Well, Raven? You wanna show off and teach the kid a thing or two for old times' sake?"

Raven let out a brief laugh, "Yang may not be Summer, but… she'll do."

With a spread of her hands, a massive portal stretched into existence across the rooftop.

More than big enough for three hunters on the prowl.

Roman had been having a good day, all things considered, but when the walls shook and the screams of the men in the other room began, he knew that peace was about to come to an end.

'Kids a little late on the whole 'update' shtick. Kind of the whole point of sharing information!' Roman snatched his cane from where it had been propped near his desk and angrily draped it over his shoulder. He strode to the door and wrenched it open, pausing for a moment to listen to the sounds of fighting taking place just down the hall.

With a weary sigh, he continued on to the end and stepped around the corner. His eyes widened, seeing that it was only the blond facing down dozens of armed White Fang members. By their own volition, a few of them were scurrying off to jump into half finished Paladins, the guts of their inner wiring and explosives still exposed to the world.

'Greeeeaaaattt… If Cinder hears about me losing to one of those kids, she'll have my head! If I kill Blondie, then the purple one will end up coming after me…'

Roman was grinding his cane against the floor in frustration when his indecision was swept clear. A bright red glow encompassed the interior of the normally dimly lit building, radiating from the ceiling where an enormous red… something... had opened up.

One of the Paladins whirred to life, the driver's canopy not even attached, leaving the dumb animal controlling it exposed to the world around him. His hands fought with the controls, managing to bring the Paladin to a standing position and aim it towards the blond.

It had only taken a single step before a red blade flashed out from the bowels of the portal, spearing directly through the pilot's chest and nailing him to the seat. The Paladin itself was stalled by the impact. With the pilot no longer in control, its top half became unbalanced, causing it to topple backwards into the scaffolding that had surrounded it. A few faunus screamed from where they'd been hiding, crushed beneath the debris of both mech and metal.

'Yeah, I'm not cleaning that up!'

Roman only stayed long enough to see the three hunters drop from the portal before making his escape.

The sound of metal suddenly snapping open was followed by the roar of Yang's motorcycle as she plowed through a set of heavy doors. Shouts followed in her wake, the White Fang lookouts being completely caught off guard by her appearance and subsequent beeline for their hideout.

Dozens of White Fang spun to face her, in the midst of working on the large Paladins situated around the interior. With only an immediate glance, Yang could tell that many of them likely weren't operational, their wiring and insides exposed to the world while they were being worked on. It was a good thing, too. They were much larger than she had anticipated.

Seeing a group of White Fang dropping blowtorches and wrenches to instead reach for weapons nearby, Yang steered Bumblebee in their direction and leaped off, coming up in a roll to see her precious motorcycle slam into the group. Those hit yelled in pain while others flung themselves to the side, distracted for the moment while Yang got her bearings.

The industrial building consisted of mostly empty space around the center of the floor, the space used for ferrying equipment and dust to the mechs that needed it. The outside edge was lined with pillars, one mech set between each pair. Many were still half covered with tarps, all of them with makeshift scaffolding surrounding them along with faunus that had been busy working. At the far end of the room sat a stage of sorts, moreso a raised platform with an open archway leading further in.

Yang only had a moment to take all this in before the first gunshots were fired off in her direction. Her aura flared beneath the barrage and she quickly jumped into action, blasting across the intervening space to one of the other groups that had begun to open fire. Their eyes widened as their bullets pinged off her aura, her eyes alight with a primal rage that wasn't quite directed at them.

'You wanted danger, Mother. Well here it is!'

Yang fell upon the small group and turned into a flurry of fists and shotgun blasts, using her all to redirect barrels and swords alike while decimating her foes with heavy blows to anywhere she could. The gunfire from across the room stopped, the other White Fang members unwilling to fire upon their own while the blond bombshell was within their midst.

Yang dispatched two by slamming their heads together, then ducked low to avoid the barrel pointed at her from behind. The faunus paled as the shot went off over Yang's head, then was immediately floored when the blond swept his legs out from under him. Yang grabbed him by the front of his uniform and angled herself towards the next closest group, front flipping with all her strength to hurl the White Fang member at his compatriots.

The shouted warnings were too slow, and several of them went down beneath the weight of their friend. Yang aimed her gauntlets behind herself and fired them off, flying back into the fray the moment they were caught off guard in the tangle of limbs.

More shouts, more gunshots, and a very loud whirring sound announced the arrival of more White Fang and one of the Paladins being brought to life. Yang ducked behind a concrete pillar the moment before another barrage of bullets pelted the air where she'd just been standing, the wall behind taking the brunt of it, the surface shattered by a spray of dust infused ammunition.

Yang peeked out the opposite side, and saw the Paladin stand up straight. The cockpit remained open, an angry faunus grasping at the controls to aim it in her direction. While many of the internal workings were exposed, Yang could see much of it had already been filled with explosives.

'I'll have to take out the-'

The ceiling erupted in a dark red light, a massive portal reminiscent of the one Qrow had appeared from before now blanketing the entire ceiling. Yang's eyes widened, and she caught only a flickering of motion before a red blade flashed through the air in the direction of the Paladin. The blade aimed true, stabbing through the faunus's chest and causing the mech to fall back, its controls pulled the wrong direction by the dying faunus inside. It crashed into the scaffolding that had housed it before, a great plume of dust blown into the air along with the screams of White Fang members that had been caught in it as well.

Three shapes appeared from the portal, descending rapidly as they fell and landed in the center of the room. All eyes swivelled from the downed mech, to the three hunters now standing in the center. Yang's eyes widened. Raven, she had been expecting. Qrow was a surprise, but….

"Dad!?" Yang shouted it out in utter bafflement, seeing her blond haired and scraggly chinned father standing with his arms raised and eyes narrowed.

Those eyes turned to her for a moment, and relaxed with a smile, "Hey, sweetheart. Once we're done here we'll talk, alright? Just give us a minute."

Hearing that the hunters weren't there to assist them, one of the White Fang members loudly shouted, "Open fire!"

Dozens of barrels jerked in their direction to do just that.

Raven smirked and planted her sword in the ground. The portal above winked out of existence, reappearing as a bubble that surrounded the three of them in all directions. Dust infused ammunition flashed through the air, different colored streaks that penetrated the portal, only to come out the other side in wild sprays. Yang ducked back behind her pillar and the faunus hit the deck, many getting caught completely off guard by the rounds their own members had fired. Dozens dropped like flies, their auras shredded in mere moments.

"Stop! Stop!" the one that had initially shouted for them to open fire followed up in a panic, then drew the sword off his hip with a snarl, "No more guns! Let's cut 'em down to size!"

Guns clattered to the ground and swords were drawn. After a moment of silence, the bubble dissipated to reveal a still grinning Raven. The three hunters sized up their quarry, and with a nod between them, fell upon the gathered White Fang in a blur of blades and fists.

Yang stared in awe, watching from her place on the sidelines, realizing exactly how much cohesion was possible with a team of true hunters. Portals flashed in and out of existence around each of the three members, the ones nearest understanding immediately what it was they were supposed to do. The group flickered around the battlefield, appearing and disappearing at any given time to assist others or dodge attacks. Raven herself used them both to defend, counterattack, and disperse enemies by knocking them through into the waiting jaws of either Tai or Qrow.

Tai used only his fists to fight, projecting aura with each blow that greatly increased the impact it achieved. Faunus were blown away by his attacks, crumpling against walls and mechs alike from only a single strike. Qrow fought with his greatsword, wielding it with an inhuman strength and speed that didn't match his physique.

Yang's eyes remained on Raven, who fought with an unmatched level of skill and speed. She was a red and black blur across the battlefield, both physically agile and through the use of her semblance. Her eyes tracked all around her, responding to openings and gaps in other's defenses the instant they appeared, and capitalizing on them without mercy.

Within a mere minute, the dozens of amassed White Fang members had been reduced to an unconscious gathering of bodies strewn around the battlefield in a haphazard configuration, and the three hunters appeared no worse for wear. The last portal was dismissed, its red glow vanishing and returning the interior to a mostly dim light. Several faunus groaned from their places on the ground, aura shattered and many bones likely broken in the sudden fray.

'...Wow…' Yang's mind struggled to wrap her head around what she had just seen. Qrow had bragged many times about how team STRQ had been the best to ever come out of Beacon, but this was the first time she'd ever truly believed it. 'They're… they're amazing…'

Qrow eyed their surroundings for a moment before pulling out his scroll and typing out a message. He hit send and repocketed it, speaking loud enough for the others to hear, "I gave Jimmy a heads up. He should get here with some of his tin cans to clean up," he glanced in Yang's direction, "I'll stick around in the meantime and make sure no one tries anything. I think some of you have some talking to do?"

Raven followed his eyes over to Yang, the first time she had even bothered to look her in the eyes. Raven's features remained guarded, and she looked to Tai for a moment before slicing open another portal, "I only have one other that I can go to."

Tai seemed to understand, and nodded his head in acceptance before turning back to Yang with a weary smile, "Well, Yang… Here's your chance…"

Yang's eyes stared at the portal, watching as Raven gestured with an open hand towards it. The rippling surface beckoned to her, and she slowly stumbled out of cover to cross the distance to it. Yang stopped in front of it, and turned her eyes to stare into Raven's own. Her mother looked back, expression unreadable.

The reason why Yang had made her decision returned, the disappearance of her other mother becoming a burning desire for answers in her mind. The way the three had fought together only further solidified the betrayal in Yang's eyes, driving home how terrible Raven must be.

'They were all so close…' Seeing them fight had only made her think of more questions.

Yang glared into Raven's eyes, 'You'd better have answers.'

She stepped through the portal... and was gone.

I've been pretty drained of energy the last week or so. Was taking an energy / fat burning supplement to help lose weight and upped my dosage too high for a month straight. Once I ran out my body just… demanded lots and lots of sleep on top of spiralling into depression.

Making a recovery. The next Black Lotus chapter should come out tomorrow, and RE: Generation after that.

Thanks to everyone that sent me messages over the last couple weeks, and as always, thanks for reading.

Sybaen