Setting: Ebony's Airship

Another day has passed and Remus felt incredibly stiff. Being tied up for days was not enjoyable in the slightest as well as the inability to move around. He missed the simple things like being able to stand and walk anytime he wished, to run wild and feel the wind kiss his face, to scratch the annoying itch on his thigh that has been bugging him for over an hour. He wondered if this was the cruel and unusual torture Silver and Violet talked about.

His mind started drifting to other things to keep himself from growing bored. It was the middle of the day, but nothing happened. All he knew was Eboy was taking him and her team someplace to converse with his team. With his and Violet's plan in place, he believed this was the moment he was waiting for, but getting there took longer than he expected. This place had to be near Vacou's northern borders or something.

There was one thing about today Remus found different about the other days; Ebony was nowhere near him. The Charming Vantablack made it no secret she liked being in his personal space and making advances, but she hadn't followed with her usual activities. The only time the two interacted today was when she walked through the common area. He watched and she glanced at him, smiling and waving when their eyes met. Nothing else happened and it made Remus worry. What did she have planned for him?

It was on his mind for a while until he watched someone else approach him. He knew who this was and he was not sure why she came to him. Zinnia walked up to him and took a seat on the couch, positioning herself so she was facing Remus. She was quiet but an inquisitive look occupied her face as if she was thinking of the right thing to say.

Seeing as she wasn't going to say anything yet, Remus asked, "Um… Do you know what Ebony's going to do?"

Her gaze was still on him but she acknowledged his question and said, "I won't tell you." She made sure to use 'won't' instead of 'can't.'

"If Ebony is plotting something, my team won't stand for it. They'll strike back and I'll help."

Zinnia just looked at him. If she was being honest, she didn't care much for VRSZ except her cousin. She understood Violet and her motives, but the rest she saw as subordinates. The other three had to be something if all four of them went to such extremes in Atlas. Having one of them as her prisoner was a good opportunity for some insight.

"Who is Violet to you? All of you go to such lengths for one another because of your bonds, but what words would you use to describe them? I want to hear your answer," Zinnia asked.

He didn't pause or falter from her question and answered, "Violet is one if not the most precious person to me. I love her… a lot. And that feeling is shared between all of us. We've each other's best and worst times. We've been through and done so much together that it's impossible for any of us not to feel connected." He looked at her with sympathy. "We're like family… you get that part, right?"

She took her eyes off of him and looked up, contemplating what he said. She did understand what he meant. She felt that way for her family she's known all her life and for Ebony who has been the closest friend she has ever had. Her family was far from perfect, but they were hers and she lived with them through thick and thin, then Violet's group decimated them. Ebony made her wish come true and Zinnia has seen many sides of the Vantablack she didn't expect. Ebony's highs and lows. She has seen them, understood them, and experienced them with her. She wondered what Ebony saw from her. Whatever it was, it didn't deter the Charming Vantablack from leaving. Zinnia felt it too.

They had a strong bond.

Her gaze back at Remus, the Paragon was glad they had this little interaction. She fully understood VRSZ. It was just like her relationship with Ebony. Now, with Ebony's goal in mind, she wondered what today's confrontation will bring. Does Ebony intend to kill VRSZ or just defeat them so her name was known? Either way, despite who won, she knew both sides were never going to be the same again.

Zinnia rose from her seat and had her eyes on Remus who watched her movements with a questioning expression. She got some clarity from him about many things, but still needed answers about others. "Thank you," she said then left.

In the cockpit, Ebony piloted her airship to their destination. She looked out at the desert landscape as it began to transition to a harsher one filled with stone. They were close. The moment she has been waiting for was close at hand. All her planning was unfolding as she wanted but she couldn't stop the rapid beating of her heart.

"The closer your goal, the more frightened you are you'll lose it, huh?" she smiled at her own thought. It was true. She had no idea if everything would end in her favor. No plan, no matter how executed, was perfect. She learned that the hard way in the kingdom.

Eliminating the most dangerous Grimm to gain recognition as well as give away their location for VRSZ to find them and then she could defeat them, the biggest name in Vacuo. Her plan was going smoothly despite several setbacks, but will it succeed? Team VRSZ was quite unpredictable in their strategies and Ebony found Violet was exceptionally cunning. If she wasn't careful, this could be the fallout of everything she has done.

"Ebony?" Zinnia called out and her sudden appearance took the Vantablack girl by surprise. She was too lost in thought to notice her friend enter the room.

"Yes, what is it?"

"I know you told me this before, but I want some clarity. Are we going to kill the members of VRSZ or just defeat them?" Zinnia's face showed concern. It was something she was asking herself ever since she learned of the plan but refused to bring it up, but felt she and Ebony were friends, she felt she could for a straight answer.

Ebony didn't say anything for a few seconds. She sat in the pilot's seat then pressed the button for autopilot. She stood and walked over to her friend with an unreadable face. Zinnia didn't know what she was going to say.

"All I want is to indisputably crush Team VRSZ. That's all. I'm not aiming for their deaths, but if it happens, then it happens and I'll consider it unavoidable," Ebony stated seriously.

"Ok," was all Zinnia said, feeling a weight has been lifted on her chest. She just wanted an answer.

"Does that sit well with you? I hope you remember our talk," Ebony said with a small smile, "If there was ever a time you think I'm taking things too far or if I stray from my original goal-"

"I know. Don't worry. I'll always be by your side." Zinnia smiled and Ebony smiled back.

She was right. They did have a strong bond and understood each other very well.

Setting: Marble Valley

A Deathstalker wailed in pain before its legs gave way. It fell to the ground and turned to black smoke. Standing on a rocky ledge overseeing the monster's death were the members of VRSZ. Silver put his guns away and Violet did the same with her knives. The battle was quick, but something about it was different and all of them could tell. The Grimm in this place were stronger than the regular batch. Territory with Grimm this strong was obviously bad news.

Zelts felt it in the air. This place was dangerous and they needed to be careful. "Why would Ebony choose this place? To fight us. It's obvious and it was the reason we're here to get the jump on her. We might be able to end it today..."

He put those thoughts aside to focus on what needed to be done. He turned to Violet and asked, "Are we close to the rendezvous point?"

"Yes. Just up the hills over there," she pointed to further north where it was stone in its entire layout. "It's where she wants to meet us, but we won't. We're getting the drop on her as soon as she and her group show up."

"Until then, let's find a good camping spot. Remus and Ebon won't be here for another hour," Silver said as he started walking. "Let's get moving."

Time passed and Ebony's airship descended on the location. She finally reached her destination, looking at the harsh badlands from the cockpit.

When she asked about dangerous Grimm, this place was mentioned multiple times. An area so dangerous that no one comes here willingly. It was known by many names, but its official title was Marble Valley, a name given for the dark stones that made up the area as well as the large population of Grimm. However, there was the rumor of fewer Grimm teeming there in recent years. It didn't persuade anyone to go there, but it made Ebony curious. She believed someone or something could've been wiping them out. Marble Valley was the final stop of her Grimm elimination.

With her goal in sight, Ebony placed the airship on autopilot to land and she left to get ready. Trois Reines on her waist and her Champions at her side. She felt ready for the inevitable confrontation. Ebony crossed into the common area where Remus was sitting. Amber eyes filled with determination stared at her. She guessed he either planned to escape or had confidence his team would rescue him. She knew he was wrong.

Out of nowhere, Ebony felt the floor rumble. It was small but still unexpected. Why would this happen on an airship that was in the air? The trembling got stronger as she wondered what happened and her whole ship was shaking. Things were falling and Ebony shifted her weight so she wouldn't fall over. The same couldn't be said for the pictures on the wall, the bottles and food in her fridge, and some of her furniture. Remus was knocked to the side and he laid there as the violent shaking continued.

"What the hell is going on?" Ebony wondered as she fell to one knee to better balance herself.

Rushing through the hallway leading to the common area was the mechanical monstrosity Monochrome. It burst into the room and lowered itself until it was over Ebony, keeping her safe from anything that could fall onto her. Following behind the droid was Brenton and Zinnia. Before Ebony could ask what was going on or what to do next, Brenton spoke first.

"What's going on with this place?! The winds outside are going to blow us out of the sky!"

Learning the source of the trembling sparked an idea in Ebony's mind. She didn't say anything, but her face and eyes showed she was mentally connecting the dots. The Charming Vantablack was many things and one of them was incredibly smart. "Zelts," she murmured in realization. Her words reached everyone's ears.

Remus was shocked. He didn't pick up Zelts created the wind as quickly as she did, but he was amazed she figured it out in seconds. It reminded him that Ebony was a genius. Impressive as it was, he decided to think too much about it. He learned his team was here and making the first move. This was the moment. The plan began and he needed to get out of his restraints.

"Monochrome, eliminate any threats outside!" Ebony commanded and her droid rose from its hunkered position and flew out of the common area and busted through the doors leading outside.

The winds were strong, blowing everything around it away, including Monochrome. The unexpected power of the gales sent the machine upward and flipping uncontrollably. Monochrome was able to balance itself and increase the power of its thrusters so it could fly and withstand the violent vortex. The green windstorm consumed everything around the airship and Monochrome could barely see anything beyond the windy barrier and nothing could be heard within it. The droid didn't hear the gunfire.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Monochrome was struck five times. Each foot was hit twice and the fifth shot hit it in the back of the head. The blows pushed it forward and made it turn around. Monochrome turned to see who shot it, but it didn't see the perpetrator. It was too busy falling at an alarming rate until it collided with the ground below. Monochrome was stuck in a small crater and its body glowed with a silver light. It couldn't move an inch.

"And that thing's out of the way for a while." Standing on the airship was the Silver-Tongued Gunslinger himself. "Gravity Bullet and ice dust covering the thrusters. It should buy us some time," he thought as he checked his surroundings. The twister Zelts created was guiding the airship to a large stone pillar. It was going to crash soon. Using Gravity, he ran to the edge of the vehicle and jumped off, gliding away from the airship and through the rough winds. It was a bumpy ride, but he made it.

He landed onto a large boulder where Zelts was holding Heart of Gold as wingblades and watching his spiky-haired friend land beside him. Silver did so with a flip and landed on his feet. "Way to stick the landing," Zelts commented.

"Thanks," Silver responded with a smirk. He looked up to watch the airship and its eventual crash. "Think they'll make it?"

"Of course they will," Zelts answered with certainty.

Inside the airship, Ebony and her group were trying to brace themselves and wait for Monochrome to return, but Zinnia noticed from the common area's window that they were heading straight for a pillar. "We have to get out of here!" she shouted.

Brenton took the initiative and grabbed Ebony by her shoulder, taking hold of her so he could carry her out of there. Zinnia followed suit, but she looked back to secure Remus. He wasn't there anymore. Remus and the chair he was sitting on was gone.

"How did he get out?" Zinnia wondered but looking at the large window showed how much closer they were to crash. There wasn't any time to figure out how he escaped. She needed to get everyone out of here. She ran after Brenton and Ebony.

Whenever Monochrome busted a hole through the airship, Ebony hated it because it meant spending money on repairs. She programmed it to use doors, but urgency or threats always overrode that feature. Damaging her vehicle was one pet peeve she had about her machine, but she didn't think it mattered right now. While Brenton was still carrying her, even though she could walk fine on her own, she aimed her scabbard rifle at a wall and fired two shots from it. The two powerful shots busted through the wall and left a large hole leading to the outside.

"Go!" she instructed Brenton and he did with haste. He leaped out of the airship and began falling from a great height.

The two of them were expecting to be blown away but noticed the windstorm finally ceased. They could see their surroundings, see it was too late to stop the airship from crashing, and see Silver and Zelts standing on a nearby rock, watching them. Ebony saw no sign of Violet and it concerned her.

Neither of them made any plan to break their fall or stop themselves from falling because they knew they didn't have to. Leaping out of the airship hole and diving toward them was Zinnia. She pulled out her whip-sword and swung it at a pillar. The extended blade pierced the stone and as she continued her way to the others. Brenton reached his hand out and so did Zinnia. The two Champions grabbed each other as soon as Zinnia reached them. She swung their bodies to the side with the whip-sword like a pendulum and they landed on the ground safely.

Brenton finally put Ebony down. Secretly, she enjoyed her friend carrying her like a princess but now wasn't the right time. The airship was close to smashing into the pillar and Ebony asked, "Did either of you know what happened to Remus?"

"Didn't look back," Brenton answered.

"He was gone. I don't know how he did it, but he wasn't there anymore," Zinnia admitted.

His freedom made her then she thought about her other passenger. "What about Alexandrite?"

This question took both Champions aback. They had completely forgotten about their other prisoner.

"Um…" Brenton didn't know what to say.

He witnessed Zelts jump down from his vantage point. Deep down, the lizard faunus was relieved the battle would take his mind off Alexandrite's demise. Silver remained on the rock and was combining Fenrir into its sniper form. Zelts at close-range and Silver at long-range. This couldn't have been the whole plan. After all, the mastermind wasn't around. Brenton knew there was more to this and he knew the others thought the same.

The sound of the airship crashing into the pillars was heard by everyone like thunder filling the sky. It was the only thing that could be heard and Ebony's eyes widened in realization. She changed Trois Reines from sword to spear and twirled it above her and the Champions' heads. She deflected multiple knives that rained from above and watched them litter the ground around her. A large dust cloud picked up a few feet in front of Zelts and Ebony could see who it was.

"I guess negotiations broke down before they started, huh?" she said with a smirk. In a swirl of tulip petals, Violet and Remus appeared in front of Zelts. He was no longer tied up or had the aura cuffs on. He was free. "Crashing our ship was just one big distraction to get Remus. Not only did you free him, but you also had the time to grab his sword. You never cease to amaze me, Vi."

Violet remained silent. She didn't respond to a thing Ebony said to her. While she was ignoring Ebony, her eyes were filled with serious determination. She reached for more Enigmas in her bag.

The silence got to Ebony but she kept her grin. "Not even going to talk to me… That's fine. I mean we all know why we're here, so let's get right to it." She and the other Champions got into their fighting stance.

The first to make a move was Violet. She threw four knives at the Champions and Zelts followed up by swinging one of his wingblades to create a small wave of wind that caught up to the flying knives. The wind helped propel the knives further and increase their travel speed. Brenton moved to counter but Silver shot at his feet, pausing his momentum and making the others conscious of the sniper.

Zinnia activated her semblance and cloaked her weapon in her aura. She shot it out and the whip extended out to hit Silver. While she did this, Ebony shot at the knives coming their way. She made four shots to counter the four knives. She was able to stop three with the gunshots hitting and breaking the knives apart, but the fourth knife avoided her shot and was coming straight for her. Undeterred, Ebony swatted it away with her spear. The Enigma went flying to her side, but it didn't go far. In a cloud of blue smoke, Remus teleported by her side and grabbed the knife in his left hand.

The Blue Flicker threw the knife at Brenton and twisted his body around to strike Ebony with Delta in his right hand. The knife collided with Brenton's Oathburner and it exploded in flames when it made contact. The King of Flames wasn't expecting that maneuver, but he kept his ground and was only pushed back three feet. Ebony brought up her spear with one hand and crossed blades with her opponent. Her other hand had her scabbed rifle and it was under Remus and aimed at his torso. She was about to fire until he teleported away, covering her entire area in blue smoke.

The whip-sword continued its way to Silver with its incredible reach. Zinnia wasn't distracted by the battle around her as she guided her blade to its target, but something did get in her way. Zelts created a small tornado beneath his feet to send himself flying upward, directly in the path between Silver and the blade. He quickly combined his wingblades to make his shield and took the attack head-on. The force of the blade imbued with Armaments pushed Zelts away but he was successful in protecting his teammate. Silver took this opportunity to fire a shot at Zinnia, but she spun the hilt of her weapon, moving the extended blade with and changing it from a straight path to a swirling vortex of steel. His shot hit part of the segmented blade and Zinnia quickly retracted it. The gunman clicked his teeth over his failed attempt.

Neither side showed having an advantage over the other yet and that worried Silver. It was only a matter of time before Monochrome recovered. They needed to take at least one of them down before then. Too caught up in his thoughts, he was too late to notice the shadow he cast was a little too big.

A thundering sound was heard from above. It wasn't the airship that had already crashed and fell to the ground. The noise came from the boulder Silver was perched on. Everyone glanced up to see it was covered in ice and Silver was ungracefully falling to the ground. On closer inspection, they realized it wasn't ice. They were crystals.

Silver landed on the ground near Zelts who asked his friend what happened. Before he could get an answer, a figure jumped from the boulder and the crystals broke apart. The person landed on the ground in the blue smoke as it was dispersing. Standing before Ebony was an unexpected guest, Alexandrite.

This unknown element left Violet speechless. She had no idea Alexandrite was here or among Ebony's ranks. This threw her plan out the window. It-s four-on-four and will eventually be four-on-five once Gravity Bullet stops working on Monochrome.

"You're okay…" was the first thing Ebony said to the Bedazzled Behemoth.

Alexandrite looked at the shorter woman then turned to VRSZ. "I take it you guys are fighting them now… and they woke me from my nap?"

How could someone sleep through an airship crashing? Ebony put the question away and replied with a confirming nod.

"Good. I need to stretch out a bit and this will keep me entertained." She grabbed her massive polearm and red crystals were forming on her limbs. Ebony sighed, grateful she was on their side.

Despite the arrival of the dazzling gem that was Alexandrite, the battle was looking bleak for Team VRSZ.

In the distance, in a small crater, a mechanical hand rose.