Disclaimer, I do not own RWBY or any of the franchises referenced in this work

Chapter 21: All guns blazing

Inspiration: Gundam Seed

"Hmm, this viewing… ah it ought to be interesting. This one has multiple 'main characters' if that means anything." Blank said as he prepared the next universe for viewing.

"What's it about? Don't tell me there's more end of the world stuff in there." Qrow muttered.

"Uh… about that… if it's any consolation, this one is about averting the worst-case scenario. It's another universe with Gundams although separate from the previous viewing." Blank answered.

"Oh… so are the white fang the bad guys again?" Ruby asked and Blake's ears started drooping instantly.

"Not exactly, complicated is the word to describe the state of this universe. There are plenty of issues contributing to the mess and thanks to the chain of command, it's effectively evil versus evil."

"We're the bad guys!?" Nora burst out in shock.

"To some people yes I'm afraid. This takes place at the end of the first Bloody Valentine War, your people are a third faction in a war of extermination, trying to end the hostilities for good." Blank said.

"Wait… if we're trying to end the war, why are we the bad guys?" Weiss asked, a frown marring her face.

"Because some people want the war to continue until the other side is completely exterminated of course." Cinder replied with an indignant huff.

"Correct." Blank confirmed.

"What would drive people to that extent?" Ren asked.

"Many things, intolerance, greed, and plain old hatred. The lust for revenge is a driving force of conflict in more places than you can imagine. They hurt us, so we hurt them, a never-ending cycle until there's no one left to do the fighting. Naturally, each side believes they'll be the one left standing at the end, regardless of the losses they've already taken."

"Hang on, you mentioned the chain of command being an issue… and what do you mean the first war?" Ironwood looked to the ball of light for clarification.

"The problem with the chain of command is it's rigid, and when all your moderates have been killed in action and the only ones left are fanatics hell bent on genocide, it becomes a problem. Even with the end of the war, enough of those remain in power to spark a new one not too long after the end of this, but that's for another time." Blank said, Ironwood's face fell as he contemplated the words.

"So it's all for nothing then?" Yang threw her arms into the air in frustration.

"No, tragic as a second war is, halting the loss of lives in the interim isn't nothing. Especially if the alternative is the war just continuing without end." Goodwitch replied.

"Indeed. Humanity was on the brink of extinction, averting that isn't nothing. I'll just start it now." Blank said and the lights dimmed, the screen coming on afterwards.

The vast expanse of space played host to two fleets duking it out. Explosions, beams and missiles filled the vacuum as both sides committed everything they had to the battle. The Earth Alliance's lunar fleets had begun their attack on the White Fang stronghold of Boaz, the start of their final push towards Menagerie.

Several Strike Daggers exploded when a sniper nailed them through the cockpits with his beam cannon. The GINN came to a halt as the pilot paused to survey his kill.

"Heh, not with a toy like that." The White Fang pilot smirked, fully convinced in the superiority of their own mobile suits compared with the Alliance's newly developed mobile suit corps.

His gloating was abruptly ended when another Strike Dagger got behind him and shot him in the back, avenging his fallen comrades.

"Moron, save the gloating for when you're back home safe, not in the middle of battle. And don't go tempting fate, it never ends well." Qrow rolled his eyes and drained his bottle of whiskey.

"The fleets look about even in strength, what are the Alliance forces up to? Taking a fortified location is damn near impossible without some kind of advantage." Ironwood mused.

"They're not planning on taking it." Blank answered.

"Come again? If they don't want to take it, why are they attacking?" Torchwick asked.

"They're going to destroy it and everyone inside, aren't they?" Cinder said, thus far it seemed like mostly pointless carnage but it was entertaining if nothing else.

"Indeed. The Earth forces have no need of this base so they plan to steamroll it and move on." Blank confirmed.

"Okay… unless the scale is off, that's a really big rock. How are they going to blow it up?" Torchwick stared at the screen in confusion.

"With a nightmare that should have been left well enough alone."

"Enough bickering, the lunar fleet's attack on Boaz has been expected for some time now, there's no need to panic." Ghira Belladonna said to calm down the rest of the frenzied White Fang leadership.

"Keep all other military units on alert, and give me a report on the situation. God damned humans." He swore as a screen unfolded, displaying tactical data of the battle of Boaz.

"Dad?" Blake's eyes widened in surprise at seeing her father appear on the screen, the first time she'd seen him in ages.

"W-why is he with the Fang?"

"In this world, he never left, for the faunus, he's the main driving force pushing for the extinction of humanity." Blank said.

"Why!? He's always pushed for more peaceful methods!" Blake shouted in denial.

"In your world yes, but in this one, things are different. After the death of his wife during the first strike of the war, he went mad with grief, over time, that grief turned into all-consuming hate." Blank answered, leaving Blake to slump into her seat.

She mumbled her thanks when the rest of her team went over and pulled her into a group hug for comfort.

"But, I must wonder about their strategy." A voice called up from the back and Adam Taurus stepped into the light.

"What is it Taurus?" Ghira looked to the man and frowned, lately all Taurus had been bringing him was bad news.

"I'm sure the Alliance knows Boaz won't go down easily. I can't imagine they'd open fire if they thought there was no chance of succeeding. I'd like to know the reasoning behind their sudden confidence." Taurus said.

"I assume they'd send their mobile suit corps against us, maybe those three new units of theirs. I guess they thought they could beat us with that." Sienna Khan huffed, still firmly convinced in the White Fang's military superiority.

"Let's just hope that's the case." Adam said with a small shrug.

"What the hell are you suggesting Taurus?" Ghira growled out.

"No, no, nothing at all. It's just, they've had those units for a while, so why only attack now? And with the recent developments… Freedom, Justice, Schnee."

"What the hell are you suggesting Taurus, you're not saying those damned humans have that again are you!?" Ghira grinded his teeth in anger at the reminder of those accursed weapons that tore his world apart.

"No, no. I'm just… thinking, that's all." Taurus said.

"Grrr… why does he make me want to punch him in the face?" Nora's fists clenched in anger.

"He feels so… slimy? Bastardy? It's just… wrong." Jaune said.

"Hold up, what was that about the Schnees?" Weiss asked.

"He's referring to you, since you handed over the Freedom Gundam to a known enemy of the Fang. Ah right, the Schnees are all faunus in this universe and your father is actually a good guy in this one."

"I uh… huh, what happened to him then?" Weiss continued.

"Summary execution."

"E-excuse me!?"

"A power play, your actions were taken as high treason on his orders and he was gunned down before he could defend himself. With him gone, the moderates in Menagerie were effectively gutted, leaving no one to oppose ramping up the war efforts." Blank said.

"I… I…" Weiss was at a loss on what to think, she was snapped out of her funk when Winter rested a hand on her shoulder.

"It wasn't you."

"I… thank you sister."

"Oho? They're not doing too badly after all, and I've been hearing nothing but complaints since their first sortie." Watts sat in his chair and twiddled his moustache, grinning as he watched more White Fang ships explode under the assault of his aces.

Raider, Calamity, Forbidden and their pilots, Harriet, Elm and Vine. After a string of losses and failures thanks to those thrice blasted White Fang machines, it was nice to see them succeed at their mission for once.

"Watts… what is that bastard doing here?" Cinder growled out, the Atlessian scientist as insufferable as she remembered him to be.

"And what the hell is he doing commanding my soldiers!?" Ironwood's grip started deforming his armrest in anger once more.

"He's director Watts here, technically a civilian, but functionally the commander in chief for the human forces." Blank said.

"Bullshit! How the hell did that happen!?" Ironwood roared.

"As I said, all the moderates on both sides are effectively gone, either KIA, defected or side-lined completely, there's no one left to oppose him, not when his supporters make up nearly the entire Alliance high command. Oh, and he's also personally responsible for starting the war by ordering the first shot fired."

"DAMN IT!"

"Incoming message from the Doolittle." Penny called out as she transferred the call to the main viewing screen and Cordovin's face appeared.

"Looks like the way is clear. We're sending out the Peacemaker corps now."

"Understood." Watts grinned and reclined in his seat to enjoy the show.

In the captain's seat, Ren grit his teeth and looked away in a mix of disgust and anger.

"There's Penny and Ren! Are… are they the bad guys too!?" Ruby paled before turning to look at the members of JNPR. Nora had wrapped Ren up in a death hug while Jaune and Pyrrha were both besides themselves.

"Unfortunately, they're on the wrong side of this conflict due to events beyond their control." Blank said.

"So what happens to us?" Ren asked, Blank's answering silence did their mood no favours.

The four Agamemnon class carriers at the rear of the formation started launching Moebius units carrying a single large missile each.

Falling into formation as they headed towards Boaz with their payload, the path ahead was already cleared by the Ace Ops. Other White Fang units were tied up fighting in other sectors while the few that noticed them were quickly taken out by the Gundams before they could interrupt the procession.

"Safeties off, trigger activated." One of the Peacemaker pilots called out and his targeting computer beeped when it secured a firing solution that would let the missile penetrate into the base.

"Good. Say your prayers you space abominations, for the preservation of our pure and blue world!" The pilot roared and depressed the trigger, sending the missile on to its final destination. He was followed shortly after by the rest of the Moebius units.

With most of the station's defences in their way already destroyed and the Boaz defence fleet tied up elsewhere, there wasn't anything left to stop them. The asteroid base was engulfed in white light as nuclear fire gutted the station from the inside, destroying everything in its path.

Inside the command centre itself, the place was shuddering under the onslaught of nukes. "What the hell is this heat source… no. It's nuclear!"

"What!?"

The rest of the command staff had a split second to process the man's words before the entire command centre was wiped away in a blinding flash.

"Magnificent, truly magnificent. It's falling so quickly, even the Fang's mighty fortress is no match for the power of our nukes." Watts clapped his hands excitedly as the glare faded, revealing a tiny asteroid field where the base used to be.

"Director Watts, I get that they're our enemies, but don't you feel any remorse at all for using nuclear weapons?" Ren asked.

"What a strange question, I never thought I'd hear that from a soldier. I think I'm a lot more merciful compared to someone who sends out their men to die in an unwinnable battle." Watts replied nonchalantly, as though the decision to use weapons of mass destruction was a decision less difficult to make than what to have for dinner.

Ren grit his teeth and looked away, unable to stand the sight of the man. In his opinion, this entire battle was unnecessary, if it wasn't for men like him, this pointless war wouldn't be happening at all.

"Well, we're done here, next target, their homeland. Once we destroy that and every single faunus is space dust, the war will finally be over." Watts said as he stared at the hourglass space colonies in the distance, already imagining each of them disappearing in a flash. At the start of this war, he blew one of them up with a nuke, it was only fitting he returned to personally finish the job.

"What the hell was that? What kind of weapon could do that much damage!?" Ironwood blinked and rubbed his eyes, unable to believe what he was seeing.

"That was a nuke. One of the most powerful weapons ever developed by mankind, one was used to start the war by blowing up an innocent space colony and everyone in it. The White Fang countered with N-Jammers that prevented nuclear fission, but now the alliance has the N-Jammer Cancellers, so their stockpile of superweapons are available for use against Menagerie again. For numerous reasons, this is one of the weapons I will not be allowing you to get your hands on." Blank said.

"What is wrong with him!? How can he speak of genocide so easily!?" Blake yelled in anger.

"Some people are just evil. He doesn't have any tragic backstory to attempt to justify his actions, he's just a monster who can't stand someone else being better than him." Blank said.

"What has that got to do with eradicating an entire race of people!?" Yang growled out, her eyes a burning crimson.

"As you know, faunus do have traits that are superior to humans, be they in the form of extra senses, extra abilities or simply a tougher constitution. In that world, faunus are not naturally occurring, they were born from genetic manipulation to be superior to baseline humans." Blank said.

"Hahehahha! Oh isn't jealousy a wonderful thing? Watts never could stand someone else upstaging him. It must have really pissed him off to know that there's an entire race of people superior to him just by being born." Cinder clapped her hands as she figured it out.

"And everyone else is down for the ride too, aren't they? They hate the faunus because they're better than them, but instead of trying to take power themselves, they just try to kill everyone. Oh sure, most of them are too cowardly to do anything on their own, but then comes Watts, and everyone just falls in line like sheep. It's why he's in charge isn't it?"

"There are other reasons as well, but yes, that is a pretty accurate statement." Blank replied.

"Those damned humans! They dare!?" Ghira stared at the screen as Boaz disappeared from the tactical map and it showed the surviving White Fang forces in full retreat as the Alliance pushed deeper into their territory.

"Set up a defence line, do not allow those nukes anywhere near Menagerie! Taurus!"

"Yes sir!" Adam snapped to attention as Ghira said the words he'd been waiting to hear.

"I'm headed to Jachin Due, we'll counter with the Genesis." Ghira said as he stormed towards the exit.

"Yes sir." Adam replied with a barely suppressed smirk.

"What's his stake in this? Unless I'm reading this wrong, the White Fang has taken a major blow, so why is he smiling?" Winter asked.

"This version of him holds no loyalty to the Fang. He's with them only as a way to advance his own goals." Blank said.

"And those goals are?" Ozpin prompted.

"The total extinction of mankind. Not just humans but faunus too."

"He's a traitor?" Blake whispered in shock.

"Indeed. He's fully convinced humanity is beyond saving and it's best to wipe everything away with the flames of war. He's the one who handed the ability to use nuclear weapons to the Alliance in the first place. Everything he's done, he's done to push mankind onwards along the path to total destruction. In his own twisted worldview, everything that's happening is the inevitable destiny of mankind." Blank said.

"How is it inevitable when he's the one making it possible?" Jaune pointed out.

"That's just how it is to him. He handed out the guns yes, but he didn't make anyone pull the trigger, just gave them the opportunity to do so."

"And if they do start shooting, then he's vindicated by humanity's own darkness. How deplorable." Ozpin muttered and sipped from his mug.

"You're kidding, the Alliance used nukes? What were they thinking!?" Jaune cursed and buried his head in his hands as the reports came through.

"Not surprising, this is after Josh-A after all." Pyrrha shrugged as Jaune slumped further into the captain's seat.

"Josh-A? What's that?" Pyrrha asked, unsure what her counterpart was referring to.

"That was the battle that got you all to defect from the alliance. High command received word about an impending attack on the base and used it and all of you as bait. An unwinnable battle that would have seen White Fang forces crush the defenders through weight of numbers alone, and once the last defence lines have been breached and the bulk of the enemy is in the base itself. The self-destruct system activates, destroying everything in the area indiscriminately."

"How barbaric." Ironwood sneered at the callous disregard for the lives of their own men.

"It was supposed to be an attempt to wipe out any 'troublesome' elements in the army like your crew and galvanise the public to further support the war effort. You all survived because that Pyrrha Nikos found out about the trap and got a warning off in time." Blank said.

"Why us? What did we do?" Jaune asked.

"Your ship the Archangel pulled off repeated impossible victories and blitzed a path through White Fang held territory to reach allied territory. It should have been a great propaganda piece, but there's the issue that you only made it that far because Ruby Rose was piloting one of the prototype Gundams." Blank answered.

"And what's wrong with that!?" Taiyang growled out.

"She's a faunus here. Humanity only wins with a faunus on their side? Faunus actually willing to help humans? That's a PR disaster and unacceptable for the narrative."

"And lemme guess, after that failure to kill em all off, it's a case of they know too much and need to be silenced." Torchwick chimed in.

"Indeed."

"But that bastard…" Pyrrha snarled as she recalled her last encounter with Adam inside the ruined Mendel colony.

"The final door is about to open! I'm the one going to open it! And this world will end, this world of endless ambition will be destroyed." Taurus words still haunted her and she slammed a fist into the side of the chair.

"So this is what he meant. Menagerie won't stay silent after this, and we already know they have N-Jammer cancellers of their own…"

"You think the White Fang will counter with nuclear weapons of their own?" Jaune asked, already dreading the answer.

"Who knows what's going on over there."

"Shiiit… damnit all, with Boaz gone, the lunar fleet now has a direct path to Menagerie. If even one of those missiles hit, any chance for peace dies screaming." Jaune's command terminal pinged, a message from the Kusanagi and Eternal indicating both were ready to launch.

"What exactly is their plan here? They're not planning to fight both armies. are they?" Mercury asked.

"As a matter of fact, they are. Their goal is to prevent even a single nuke from hitting the colonies and buying enough time for remaining Schnee allies in Menagerie to make a push for a ceasefire." Blank answered.

Weiss sighed as she stared at the battle taking place in the distance from the Eternal's bridge. Earth forces had already engaged the main defence fleet and she was under no illusions that they wouldn't use their nukes against the faunus home land.

"We may not make it in time, but even so we have to try." She said as their own pilots started launching.

"Ruby Rose, Freedom, taking off."

"Blake Belladonna, Justice, launching."

"Pyrrha Nikos, Strike, heading out."

"Mercury Black, Buster, here I go."

"Meteor's lift off." Klein said as he triggered the release of the support units for the Freedom and Justice Gundams.

Weiss watched on as the two nuclear powered Gundams docked with the Meteor units and synced up. "We declare our intentions for peace with weapons in hand. The choice we're making may also be evil, but may this give us the power to put an end to the battles that have no end in sight."

"Buster? So I'm piloting a Gundam this time instead of fighting one?" Mercury perked up upon hearing his name come up again.

"An artillery, heavy bombardment unit, and no, since every side has Gundams, you'll still be fighting them." Blank answered.

"Tch, why does he get to pilot one." Emerald complained, annoyed that Mercury got another mech to play with.

"GO DOWN!" Harriet roared as she sent a spiked flail into an enemy mobile suit, crushing it and causing it to explode. Nearby, Calamity and Forbidden were tearing a bloody path through the White Fang defence lines, clearing the way forwards for the Peacemakers.

"Aahrhgh! It's those guys again! Shit!" Emerald swore as she pushed forwards in the Duel Gundam, leaving her unit behind to try and stem the Ace Ops offensive.

Firing a full salvo of missiles, beams and rail gun shots towards the Raider, she cursed when Harriet started spinning the flail around in a circle, using it as a shield to ward off the attack. At the very least it bought time for several of her comrades to retreat from the enemy ace.

"Oh hell yes! I got me a Gundam!" Emerald cheered.

"Yeah, but you're getting your butt kicked Em." Mercury commented.

"Shut up Mercury. No one asked for your opinion." She hissed at him and chucked at handful of popcorn his way.

"What the hell are these guys?" Emerald spat out as she failed to land any kind of deciding blow on the Ace Ops.

A flickering light at the edge of her view screen drew her attention, thumbing the magnification option, she paled when she noticed it was a flight of Moebius units, all carrying giant missiles.

"Fuck! Those are… nuclear missiles…" She trailed off with a horrified whisper. A cursory glance at her tactical map indicated her worst fears, a gap in the defence line had already opened up in this sector thanks to the relentless blitz of the Ace Ops, nothing stood between the Peacemakers and Menagerie now.

"SHOOT DOWN THOSE MISSILES, DON'T LET THEM GET ANY CLOSER TO MENAGERIE!" She yelled on a universal channel, ignoring regulations to call out to every ship and mobile suit in the area. She swore again when incoming reinforcements were promptly destroyed by the Ace Ops.

"You can't do that, it's too pretty to destroy." Vine said as Forbidden curved another plasma beam into the White Fang, destroying their machines before they could threaten the Peacemaker squadrons.

"Come on, come on, come on, we've got to make it in time." Ruby chanted under her breath.

Ruby's targeting computer lit up and beeping filled the Freedom's cockpit as her weapons locked on to the missiles. Once she'd reached full target saturation, she pulled the trigger and fired every weapon she had. A split second later, Blake did the same in the Justice.

A barrage of missiles and beams surged towards the nukes, intercepting them before they could harm the colonies. A shocked silence descended upon the battlefield as the area lit up with the nuclear flares, the White Fang forces in disbelief that they were minutes away from having their homeland extinguished and the Alliance troops unable to comprehend that their sure win strategy had been foiled.

"That's… Justice… Blake?" Emerald stared at the two mobile suits responsible for shooting down the nukes as they sped past.

"Whew… looks like we made it after all." Ruby heaved a sigh of relief.

"Do I know them here?" Emerald asked, not expecting her other self to know Blake.

"You used to be on a team with Mercury and Blake plus one more, the two of them defected though and you were promoted to another unit by virtue of being the only one left." Blank said.

"I… huh… not sure how to feel about that honestly." Emerald admitted.

"So the WMD attack is stopped, we good then?" Blake asked cautiously.

"Of course not. You stopped the alliance so now it's the White Fang's turn to exact retribution… probably with whatever that Genesis thing is." Cinder replied.

"Soldiers of the Earth Alliance, cease your attack immediately." Weiss's voice came through a transmission on a universal frequency, reaching both sides of the battlefield.

"That voice…" A White Fang pilot said.

"Lady Schnee?" Another continued.

"Are you even aware of what it is you're trying to do? Are you trying to restart the nightmare? I ask again, cease your attack at once, soldiers of the Earth Alliance." Weiss continued.

"Huh? Who the hell is this?" Watts frowned and stared at the view screen displaying the three approaching ships, a twinge of frustration going through him as he recognised the Dominion's sister ship in the formation.

"Ah well, it doesn't matter, anyone trying to get in our way is an enemy to be shot down. Time for that accursed ship to lose the title of unsinkable. It's been a thorn in my side for long enough, we'll destroy them all along with those fucking hourglasses."

Inside Jachin Due's command centre, Ghira's brow twitched as he received word from the front lines of Weiss's attempt to end hostilities. "She's doing what? Never mind. Leave them alone, our preparations are already complete, it's too late for her to do anything to stop it now."

Adam smirked as Ghira continued giving orders and Genesis prepared to fire. "Sienna, have our troops clear the firing line, it's time to show those worthless humans our true power."

"Neither side is backing down. This will not end well." Roman muttered.

"Will they seriously not be satisfied until everything is destroyed?" Yang said and shook her head.

"That's just how it is sometimes." Ozpin replied, thinking back to all the monsters in human skin he ever encountered in his past lives. Salem was the biggest threat, but hardly the only one.

"Priority one message, retreat from zone… Genesis!?" Emerald read the message from headquarters and her eyes widened to the size of saucers.

"Oh shit, Blake! Get out of there now! Genesis is about to fire!" Emerald fired off a warning to her old comrade before following the lead of the other White Fang members and hastily retreated from the battlefield.

"The White Fang is retreating? I… wait, what the hell is that?" Jaune stared as a massive object faded into view behind another one of the White Fang asteroid bases.

"Mirage Colloid cloaking, and Phase Shift armour? You're kidding, the amount energy needed to cover something that size." Jaune did the mental math and paled instantly, whatever it was, that thing was bad news.

Ghira glared at the human fleets in the distance. "This will teach you bastards. May this shot be the light that marks the beginning of a new world for faunus. Fire!"

A beam of crimson light shot from the barrel of Genesis, striking the conical mirror block in front of it and bouncing back onto the array, charging it up. At full charge, the massive cannon fired.

The beam of destruction lanced outwards towards the Alliance fleets, obliterating everything in its path. Mobile suits, battleships, everything was consumed by the giant laser and erased.

Ren stared at the devastation the Dominion was fortunate enough to be spared open mouthed for several seconds before barking out orders. "Hard to port! We're retreating from this area! Send out the signal flares, all surviving ships, retreat immediately!"

"Holy shit." Ironwood said, unable to find a better term to describe what they just saw.

"That, is a big fucking gun." Mercury added, just as stunned as the general.

"How's anyone supposed to beat that!? All those lives snuffed out in an instant." Goodwitch said in a horrified tone.

"Is there any way to defend against that monstrosity?" Roman asked.

"No. If it fires, everything in its path is dead. The beam cannot be deflected, it cannot be intercepted, it cannot be blocked. The only options are to dodge out of the way before it fires, but given the size of the beam, that's not easy to do if you don't see it coming." Blank said.

"W-well, what about staying out of its range?" Jaune asked.

"That was sixty percent of its power, there is no staying out of its range. At maximum, it will hit the planet and wipe out nearly all life on it." Silence greeted Blank's words.

Ghira smiled as the reports started flooding in. Thus far it looked like the enemy forces were down to half strength after Genesis's first shot. And the surviving half were too busy dealing with their wounded to continue their nuclear assault.

"Truly an amazing display of power Chairman Belladonna." Adam greeted with his usual half smile.

"Of course, there's no point in fighting a war if you're not going to win it right?" Ghira replied.

"What next?" Adam asked.

"Now we wait for the mirror block to be replaced. Then we shoot again, if those humans continue to resist after their lunar base is wiped out, we'll fire one more time and that'll be the end of it." Ghira shrugged, no matter what the humans chose to do, as long as Genesis remained operational, the faunus had already won.

Rising to his feet to address the staff in the command centre and fully aware that his speech would be broadcasted to the rest of the White Fang forces, Ghira began to speak.

"Courageous soldiers of the White Fang, we can no longer allow the use of violence by these arrogant human scum. They fired nuclear missiles at Menagerie, this is no longer a war. It's genocide! We can no longer forgive these human bastards for thinking nothing of these atrocities. A new future, the light to a new world is with us! This will be historical moment, marking the beginning of a promising new world for the new mankind, us!" He ended the speech and was met with thunderous applause from the assembled soldiers.

"Damnit all, what kind of a future can you possibly build on a mountain of corpses?" Blake cursed in frustration.

"Heh, you'd be surprised honestly. History is written by the victor, to people like that, it honestly doesn't matter whose bodies they're climbing over, just as long as they reach the top." Torchwick chimed in.

Blake hissed at him in response before scratching at her head in anger. It sucked seeing her father go down the same path Adam did.

"Gah! This is all your fault! Letting the war drag on this long!" Watts was screaming into the phone as the Alliance high command on the other end tried to pacify the director.

"Captain, message from the Churchill, they're requesting support, their medical bay got hit and they have casualties on board." Ren nodded in acknowledgement and cursed their situation.

"Got it, inform them support is on the way."

"Oi! Don't be an idiot, they want backup? Why the hell does this ship have to provide it!?" Watts got off the call and started shouting immediately.

"Director Watts, we have to-" Ren began but the incensed director cut him off.

"What we need to do is have every surviving ship continue the offensive at once! Right now, what we need to focus on is resupply and maintenance until our forces can get back out there!" He roared in anger.

"Sir, that's insane! You know what kind of damage we've sustained. We can't continue to attack!" Ren got out of his seat and protested.

"Reinforcements will be here from lunar HQ soon. How the hell can you even speak of retreat right now!? You're the one who doesn't understand the situation! We cannot afford to leave that thing out there!" Watts pointed to Genesis hanging behind Jachin Due in the distance.

"The hell do they mean humans and their barbaric nuclear warheads!? They can destroy Earth from that distance!" Watts fell back into his chair and pulled up the schematics for the superweapon Adam had indirectly handed over to them. He'd overlooked it earlier in his eagerness to get the nukes online and he was sorely regretting that decision now.

"That unbelievable weapon of theirs is even more barbarous! And we have no idea when they'll decide to point that thing at Earth! It'll be too late to act after they've fired it! It's all you military types' fault, you're the ones who gave those monsters enough time to build that thing!" Watts shot Ren an irate glare before returning his attention to the superweapon in the distance.

"Reckless as it is, that thing needs to be destroyed no matter the cost. That and Menagerie, before they fire at Earth!"

Ren cursed internally before returning to the captain's seat. As much as he detested it, the director had a point. They had to destroy Genesis or die trying, there was no other option left to them, any chance for peace had passed the instant the first nukes were fired at Boaz.

"They're not even going to try to sue for peace?" Pyrrha shook her head in disbelief.

"The time for that is over, neither side will accept any kind of resolution other than outright victory at this point." Ironwood said in resignation.

"Why? Why can't they even try?" Ruby asked.

"Because both sides have what is essentially a kill switch for the other party, and they've both already proven willing to use it. How can you have peace when you're constantly wondering when the other side is going to push the button?" Qrow answered.

"Indeed, those weapons were always meant to be deterrents, mutually assured destruction. Problem with that is when someone actually willing to use them comes along. Either because they're insane or because they think they can get around the mutual part with a quick and clean kill before anyone can react." Blank said.

On the Eternal's bridge, all of them were gathered to discuss the latest developments in the war, the mood was grim and falling fast as Dr Polendina explained his analysis of the Genesis.

"It's basically a giant gamma ray laser. If it's fired at Earth, the energy would burn the surface to a crisp, wiping out almost all life on the surface." The doctor explained before the feed cut out, leaving them to stew.

"Do you think they'll fire it? At Earth?" Jaune asked in a small voice.

"I don't know. Such weapons were always meant to be deterrents, not used for real. But now that both sides have fired… I don't know anymore." Klein sighed out in response.

"At this point, I can't see either side hesitating to use them anymore. Haah… the first time I shot someone in battle, I shivered. But then someone told me I'd get used to it… eventually, I did."

"So you're saying it's the same then, with those nuclear weapons?" Jaune asked.

"Isn't it? The guns are bigger now, but the principle remains the same, kill them before they kill you. People adapt, eventually they get used to killing one another like it's nothing." Klein answered.

"Is it the weapons that give rise to wars? Or is it the darkness inside the hearts of humanity?" Weiss questioned.

"It doesn't matter. Whether it's missiles or that light, we can't let them shoot at each other with them. Earth or Menagerie, if either gets hit, it'll be too late to do anything." Ruby said, her wolf ears twitching.

"Yeah." Blake agreed after a moment of silence, speaking for the rest of them.

"How hopelessly optimistic, if they want to kill one another, they'll do so, with or without their superweapons." Cinder spoke up, rolling her eyes at the naivety on display.

"So what? Let them kill one another then?" Ren glared at her.

"Why not? It's what they want, why not give it to them?" Cinder shrugged nonchalantly.

"Innocent people will die, people who never wanted anything to do with the war, that's enough reason to try and stop them." Jaune argued.

"Hmmph! No one's innocent, complicit in their silence. If they won't speak up when others are burning the world down around them, they can burn with it." Cinder replied.

Alarms blared throughout the Eternal as sensors picked up the Earth Alliance's forces beginning to move towards Menagerie again. The pilots sat in their mobile suits, getting ready to launch at a moment's notice, while the ships got underway, steaming towards the frontline.

Pyrrha sat inside the Strike, performing last minute tune ups before a beeping on her monitor indicated there was someone outside the cockpit. Chuckling lightly, she pulled off her helmet and hit the hatch release.

"Thought I wasn't going to make it in time." Jaune gave a small smile as Pyrrha exited the mobile suit to meet him.

"What are you talking about silly? Don't worry about it, I'll be back soon. With victory in hand of course." Pyrrha said to reassure the captain.

"I'll hold you to that." Jaune said and pulled her in for a kiss that the ace pilot gladly returned.

"Uh oh." Blake muttered under her breath.

"Something wrong?" Ruby looked over curiously.

"Nothing, just a bad feeling." Blake left out the fact that her death flag senses were tingling again.

Ghira smiled as the mirror block replacement was complete. "Target coordinates, lunar surface, Ptolemaios crater, Earth Alliance lunar HQ."

"Adam, where are the human's reinforcements now?"

"In the firing line sir." Adam replied.

"Excellent. We've won then." Ghira's brow twitched when several reports of Alliance forces breaching through the White Fang defence lines through sheer weight of numbers alone reached him.

"We're almost there, just hold them a while longer."

"In that case, shall I go as well?" Adam offered.

"Yes. Taurus, I won't forgive any more of your blunders at this stage. The least you can do for failing to destroy the Eternal would be to stop them from attacking Menagerie with it." Ghira said and Adam turned back to look at the man.

"Even if that means killing Blake?" The bull faunus queried, Ghira's eyes widened considerably before he looked away.

"Even then."

"Father of the year right there people." Torchwick clapped sarcastically.

"Shut up Torchwick!" Blake snarled at the ex-criminal.

"Hey, just saying." Roman held up his hands in surrender.

"Heh, at least he feels bad somewhat. There are plenty of worse fathers out there, trust me on that." Mercury said.

"He's completely consumed by revenge, it's tragic." Summer whispered sadly.

Adam waved the technicians off as he entered his new suit. As the thing booted up, he could barely supress his glee, after so much planning and manipulating, things were finally approaching the final act. This new machine… a more apt one for the conductor of the end did not exist.

"Adam Taurus, Providence, launching."

As the Gundam shot out of the airlock, he heard Ghira give the command to fire the Genesis and bore witness to the superweapon activating. As the beam surged towards the moon, he started laughing maniacally, with this it was too late for anyone to stop the end.

The humans would not relent and commit everything they had, eventually, they'd break through somewhere and the nukes would hit Menagerie and Genesis would fire a third and final time. Mankind's death kneel had already sounded.

Genesis's beam tore through the vacuum of space, blasting through the reinforcements from the moon and subsequently impacting the base itself. The humans caught in the blast barely had time to scream before they popped like balloons as Genesis obliterated the entire base and everyone in it.

"Oh god what the hell was that!?" Taiyang bit back a curse at the sight of people popping like blood filled balloons.

"Disgusting is what it is." Qrow said and offered Taiyang a bottle, his brother in law accepted it and started chugging immediately.

"The beam boiled the blood and other liquids inside their bodies, causing them to expand and pop. Messy way to go." Blank said.

'Ya don't say.' Neo rolled her eyes and held up her scroll to display her words.

"Message from the reinforcement fleets, over half of them have been destroyed by that shot." The report was met with several horrified gasps inside the Dominion's bridge.

"What!? Was that part of their plan?" Ren muttered and cursed the White Fang for having such an absurdly powerful weapon.

Watts grabbed the phone and hailed Cordovin's ship, as soon as the admiral came on, he started barking orders. "What are you waiting for!? Send out the Peacemakers now! Target Menagerie directly! We'll destroy every one of those annoying hourglasses at once! Bring the Ace Ops back now and have them escort the nukes!"

"Director Watts! That's not going to remove the threat to Earth! Our focus has to be destroying that weapon!" Ren protested.

"Gimme a break! Do you have to be so annoying all the time!?" Watts yelled and pulled out his sidearm, aiming it directly at Ren's head.

"What are you doing director, pointing that thing at me? Are you trying to take over the ship?" Ren asked calmly, not allowing the stress to get to him.

"Trying? I've been in charge from the beginning! Your job is to follow my orders! Yet you keep questioning me!" Watts roared and kept his gun trained on Ren.

"Message from the Doolittle, Peacemaker squads are ready to launch." A nervous member of the bridge crew reported trying to diffuse the situation.

"Then have them set off! Have Raider, Calamity and Forbidden fall back to escort them at once!"

"Y-yes sir!"

"That thing will no longer be a threat if we end this war by destroying Menagerie. Simply put, all faunus are a threat to humanity, and our mission here is to exterminate them all." Watts spat out.

"Naïve, that's assuming the White Fang won't just pull the trigger anyways out of revenge." Ironwood growled and itched to just punch Watts in the face for personally screwing the entire situation to hell.

"People believe what they want to believe." Ozpin sighed.

"He always was too full of himself, nothing but an insect in the end." Cinder shrugged, waiting for the inevitable squashing.

"The lunar base is completely gone. The Alliance cannot continue after that, damnit Ren, retreat already!" Jaune murmured as the Archangel shuddered under enemy fire.

"Target Laurasia class, Gottfried fire!" Jaune ordered and the Archangel's main guns fired, four beams piercing through the enemy battleship and sending it up in flames.

"Captain! The Dominion and four Agamemnon class carriers are on the move!" Jaune blinked and brought up the map, staring at the arrows indicating the ships in question and mentally calculating their projected route.

"That must be the nuclear unit… you're kidding, even with that thing there, they're still headed for Menagerie!?" Jaune slammed a fist on the arm rest and sent a transmission to the Eternal and the Kusanagi.

"Klein, the Archangel will go after the Dominion and those nukes. Eternal and Kusanagi push on to Genesis, we'll rendezvous with you later."

"Oh… is this… is this the part where we fight?" Jaune asked quietly.

"Sadly so." Blank said.

Ren said nothing and simply closed his eyes with a sigh, Nora grabbed onto his arm and tightened her grip.

"But that's-" Ren's protests were interrupted once more by the director.

"Minimise losses and maximise enemy casualties. That's how wars are fought! So do your god damned job and follow orders!"

Ren cursed internally as he recalled the last conversation he had with Jaune before his transfer to the Dominion. And their dissenting opinions on military regulations then.

"The military must be strictly regulated. It should consist of soldiers who promptly follow the orders of their superiors, and a commander with the full picture who can make the appropriate decisions. Otherwise battles cannot be won no matter how many troops or ships you have." He had said then. And those words were now back to haunt him in force.

Jaune's only response was to smile back and reaffirm his faith in him. "I'm sure you'll make an excellent captain one day."

"Archangel approaching, distance nine thousand." One of the bridge crew reported as the stare off between Watts and Ren continued.

"Now that you understand what I'm saying, get back to work. Today we sink that ship of traitors once and for all." Watts continued, a mad smile peeking through his moustache.

Ren grit his teeth and returned to his seat, turning his focus back to the battle. 'Some captain I turned out to be.'

"Heh, so he's just another tin soldier too eh?" Qrow grimaced and shifted in his seat.

"Uncle Qrow! You can't say that!" Ruby scolded but Qrow just shook his head.

"Maybe it's the gun, maybe it's his loyalty, the point is he knows his orders are wrong, and he's still carrying them out anyway."

"Soldiers follow orders." Ironwood said, slightly ill at having to vocalise those words in this context.

"Yeah? And I'm sure if you were a private and a general ordered you to shoot a bunch of babies you'd do it in a heartbeat because 'just following orders' right?" Qrow sighed and started chugging from his bottle.

"That's different, some orders are blatantly illegal." Ironwood said.

"Yeah? Sure about that? Instead of attacking the superweapon, they're gonna blow up civilians in their own homes. Sure, I guess if you can't see the babies you're killing, it doesn't matter right? Just push a button, just give the order, hell it's Mount Glenn all over again." Torchwick commented snidely.

Emerald frowned as her deployment orders came in, as expected the Alliance were launching nukes again and she was to intercept them before they could threaten the motherland. "They're coming, Sustrai squadron, scatter. Do not allow a single one of those missiles through!"

"Yes Ma'am!" Came the replies of her squad. Emerald growled as several familiar signatures appeared on radar.

"Those three again." She gunned the Duel's thrusters and shot forwards to engage the Ace Ops, her men would deal with the missiles while she kept the enemy aces occupied.

"Go me." Emerald cheered for herself quietly, ignoring the heavy atmosphere elsewhere.

"How can you people do something like this with no remorse?" Ruby questioned angrily as the Freedom sped towards the Peacemakers.

Locking onto as many missiles as she could, she unloaded the Meteor's entire arsenal to shoot down the nukes and Blake did the same in the Justice. Countless nuclear flares erupted as the nukes exploded, bathing everything in its cursed brilliance.

Emerald heave a small sigh of relief upon spotting the explosions and the Freedom and Justice engaging the Peacemakers. With them dealing with the main threat, she could focus more on the Ace Ops.

Dodging and returning fire as best she could, the three on one fight was one of the hardest she'd ever encountered. Their machines being more advanced models than her Duel did not help matters.

"Gah!" Emerald grunted as her machine took a hit from behind when Raider managed to get by her defences.

"That's it! DIE!" Harriet laughed as she started charging the Raider's plasma cannon, intending to wipe the Duel away in one hit. She never got the chance when the Raider's back exploded from taking a hit, cancelling her attack.

"What?" Emerald looked about for her saviour and noticed the Buster hanging off nearby.

"Mercury?"

"Heh, looks like someone needs saving huh? Go Mercury instead." Mercury poked Emerald in the side and was rewarded with a swat to the head.

"Don't you have somewhere else to be annoying?" Emerald growled out, annoyed that her counterpart had to be saved by Mercury of all people.

"Ready Gottfrieds and Valiants, target, Earth forces Agamemnon class at the front." Jaune gave the order as the Alliance fleet came within range of the Archangel's main guns. They were too late to stop the initial wave of Peacemakers from launching, but by sinking the Agamemnons, they would ensure the Peacemakers wouldn't be able to resupply again.

"Captain, the Dominion is moving to intercept us!" Jaune frowned at the report and stared at the viewscreen. The other Archangel class shifting in position to block the Agamemnons from being fired upon.

"FIRE!" Jaune and Ren gave the order at the same time.

Emerald lasers flashed across the void and landed mirroring blows on their targets. The Archangel class ships rumbled from the damage inflicted as both of them lost one of their gun turrets.

"Ren… damnit all! Keep firing! We can't let them launch those nukes again." Jaune commanded, a bitter pang shot through his heart at having to shoot at his friend.

On board the Dominion, Ren was just as enthused as Jaune was about having to fight, a brittle smile plastered itself across his face as he stared at the smoking Archangel still shooting back. "Heh, sorry, but I can't allow them to fire that weapon again. If this is the only way to do it, so be it."

"Missiles incoming! Shit we can't evade in time!" The Archangel's helmsmen cried as the ship rumbled from the hits.

"Damage report!" Jaune shouted and grit his teeth when he found out Valiant number two had been destroyed by a lucky missile the CIWS had failed to shoot down.

"Return fire!" The Archangel's sole remaining Gottfried fired, the emerald beams striking the dominions own and destroying it instantly.

Ren grunted as a series of explosions ran through the Dominion from the direct hit. A quick survey indicated engine output was down to seventy percent after several key systems had been damaged by the strike. Watts was leaning against the back wall, mad laughter occasionally leaving the panicking director.

'Can we end this? Yes… this will all end if we can destroy Menagerie completely.' Ren thought to himself, before another memory of his last meeting with Jaune popped up.

"A lot has come between us, but I'm grateful for your help. Whatever your new post, I'm sure you'll do just as well there."

Ren flinched and clenched his fist. 'If that was true why do I feel like this!?'

"Friends fighting friends… it's cruel." Summer shook her head in sadness.

"And neither of them is backing down… this will end in tears." Taiyang said grimly.

Klein frowned as the White Fang ships continued obstructing their progress towards Genesis. Picking up the phone, he sent a transmission through to the captain of the Kusanagi, Hazel. "We're breaking through their right flank, Kusanagi!"

"Got it, ready Lohengrin, target enemy Nazcar class. Fire at will!" Hazel ordered and the Kusanagi's positron cannon fired, the red beam punching through the enemy ship's armour and piercing all the way through to the other side, sinking it instantly.

Hazel's triumphant grin was wiped away quickly when several blue dots vanished from his tactical map. The Astrays they represented blown away by enemy Strike Daggers.

"Damnit, we can't keep losing men like this. Our escort is thinning as it is." Hazel growled as he watched the Strike Rouge exact vengeance for the fallen.

"And please try to stay safe princess." The giant of a man groaned as Yang continued fighting against the Alliance forces trying to escort the Peacemaker units past her sector.

"Princess!? I'm a princess!? Aww yes!" Yang cheered.

"You were adopted into the ruling family of a nation so yes." Blank said.

"Adopted? Then… what happened to… umm us?" Taiyang asked.

"You were the one who adopted her actually. That version of Ruby and Yang wound up adopted by different people due to… extenuating circumstances regarding their biological father in that world." Blank replied.

"And who was that?" Summer asked.

"Merlot. A man dedicated enough to science to use his own daughter for his experiments in an attempt to create the ultimate faunus. And that was after being responsible for the creation of that world's Adam Taurus as well."

Insanely high levels of killing intent started leaking from the family as they processed Blank's words and what it implied.

"Ahem, before you all get too angry, I will mention that fortunately for all involved, the project succeeded and Ruby became far stronger than would have been possible otherwise and there were no adverse side effects for her. Also, he wounded up assassinated a little while later so no more experiments from him." Blank explained further.

"What was that about creating Adam Taurus anyways?" Winter asked to change the subject.

"Truth is a little complicated, but suffice to say, he's a clone and grew up with a front row seat to the darkness lurking in the human soul. Thanks to imperfections in the cloning process, he's also living on a time limit and his greatest desire is to see mankind drive itself to extinction before his own demise." Blank said.

Nuclear flares erupted again as Ruby caught up to the missiles and shot them down with a full burst from her weapons. She winced as several cannon rounds narrowly missed her, Harriet once more swinging round in the Raider to protect the Peacemakers.

"Blake!" She yelled into her mike as the Raider wouldn't stop its harassment.

"Got it, you go after the missiles, I'll handle this one." Blake replied and engaged her Meteor's beam sabers, the giant laser blades leaving a pink trail in their wake as she tried to cut down the enemy.

On board the Doolittle, Cordovin glared at the battle in the distance, her mood souring with every report of the Peacemaker numbers dwindling. With the Freedom and Justice constantly running interference, it wouldn't matter if the Peacemakers got to pick up a new set of nukes from their Agamemnons, they'd just be shot down again.

"All ships, focus your fire on those two machines, I want them shot down!"

The Ace Ops were happy to obliged as they renewed their offensive against the two Gundams that had humiliated them repeatedly ever since their first encounter.

"What the hell is with you people!? What are you fighting so desperately for!?" Harriet roared into her comms as Blake continued trying to cut her down.

"Us!? I'm the one who should be asking that! What the hell are you even fighting for!?" Blake yelled back as she fired a salvo of missiles at the Raider, only to have it shoot them all down with a mix of cannon fire and crimson plasma beams.

"Heh! How should I know!? It's kill or be killed!" Harriet laughed back as her machine evaded another beam saber swing and retaliated with her rocket flail.

"Of course, I have no intention of losing here. So die already!"

"Eh, not dying is a pretty excellent motivator." Roman shrugged, it was why he ended up working for Cinder after all. He'd take whichever option didn't lead to him being cooked alive like the last idiot stupid to oppose her without a plan.

Yang grinned when her shots connected with several nuclear missiles, sending them up in a brilliant flare. "Heh, not bad for a rookie hu- crap!"

In her excitement she failed to notice Vine lining up a shot on her with his Forbidden Gundam. As the scarlet beam of light surged towards her, her view was suddenly obstructed by the back of the Duel when it blocked the shot for her.

Emerald said nothing as she returned fire on the Forbidden, her beam rifle shots forcing Vine to hide behind his shield or be destroyed.

While he was busy blocking Emerald's attacks, Mercury linked the Buster's two main guns together into super shotgun mode and fired on the Forbidden. The solid rounds going through Vine's beam deflector shield and forcing them open from the impact.

Not wasting the opportunity, Emerald discarded her rifle and drew her beam saber, dashing in close for a melee kill to avoid any more of that annoying blocking.

"Heh." Vine chuckled and the Forbidden snapped up, the damaged shields a feint to hide the charging chest cannon. Firing it at point blank range, the attack was more than powerful enough to break through the Duel's obsolete shield and scrap the mobile suit behind it.

He was rewarded with a giant explosion and grinned when he thought his opponent was down for the count. That smirk was wiped away when the Duel burst through the smoke two sabers in hand, it's external armour completely gone, having sacrificed them to block the hit.

"HYAAAH!" Emerald roared as she reached the Forbidden, one saber came up and neatly lopped off the Forbidden's arms, taking it's scythe with it. The other came up shortly after and stabbed straight through Vine's cockpit, vaporising the pilot within.

As the Duel pulled back, the Forbidden sparked in place for a few moments before exploding, destroying the machine completely.

"Yep, it's official, I'm awesome." Emerald preened as her other self cemented their badassery on screen.

"Yeah well you only got that chance because I helped." Mercury said and rolled his eyes.

"Shut up and just gimme this." Emerald shoved a palm in his face and pushed him away, not wanting his ugly mug to despoil her moment of triumph.

"Saved by those two? Ugh… that feels so wrong somehow." Yang shook her head, disappointed that her counterpart had needed saving, and by Cinder's goons of all people.

"The multiverse is a large place, they aren't always bad guys you know." Blank said.

"I know, I know, it's just… weird, that's all."

Several Strike daggers were in the midst of retreating from their opponent when they were promptly blown to pieces. Adam's Providence emerged from the shadow of an asteroid as his dragoons returned to dock with the mobile suit.

"Heheheh… hahahahah! AHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAH!" Demented laughter filled the Providence's cockpit as Taurus continued watching the biggest battle of the war play out before him. Soon, just a little bit more and Genesis would fire, victory was his.

"Huh?" Taurus's intuition acted up and he forced the Providence to dodge to the side, several beam rifle shots flashed past where he was just in.

"Taurus!" Pyrrha roared as she fired on the Providence in the strike. Her eyes widened when she saw the Providence release its dragoons, the remote weapons moving rapidly to surround her for an omni directional attack.

"You're kidding, he can use that!?" The ace pilot was instantly reminded of her old Moebius Zero and its gun barrels, only there were a hell of a lot more than four drones this time and they weren't limited by wires.

Dodging as best she could, she put the Strike into a mad dash in one direction to break the encirclement. Gritting her teeth in anger as the dragoons returned to the Providence again, she yelled into the mic. "Is this what you were hoping for!?"

"It's not me!" Taurus yelled back and launched the dragoons again, the white trails left by the weapons a nightmarish sight to behold.

"This is what humanity dreamed of! What they prayed for! What they wrought!"

"Shit!" Pyrrha cursed when her mobile suit was too slow to turn and a lucky shot from one of the dragoons destroyed her beam rifle, robbing her of her one proper ranged weapon.

"To be stronger than others! To go further than others, to reach higher than anyone else!" Adam continued his tirade, pissing Pyrrha off even further.

"Eh! Don't joke with me!" Drawing the Strike's beam saber, she closed the distance and engaged in a saber duel with Adam.

"People compete, they get jealous and that leads to hate, and they end up eating away at one another!"

"All of this is a result of your twisted logic! I won't let you make things any worse!" Pyrrha yelled as Adam dodged away from her beam saber yet again, the Providence a far more manoeuvrable mobile suit than her own Strike.

"You're too late Nikos. I am the result of this twisted world, that's how I know!" Adam grinned and took in the glorious sight of humans and faunus slaughtering one another en masse all around him.

"I know that humanity will be wiped away, destroyed by the darkness they brought on themselves!" Adam launched the dragoons again, surround Pyrrha in a complete kill box this time.

As they fired, the Strike shuddered under the repeated hits parts of it being blown off, it's lower mobility severely hampering it's ability to dodge. Pyrrha screamed as her cockpit started filling with smoke, several explosions going off as the damage reverberated through her machine.

"…He certainly has a way with words, I'll give him that." Ironwood admitted.

"He always had the effect, it's one of the reasons he rose through the ranks of the White Fang aside from his combat skills." Blake said, recalling how Adam's impassioned speeches had managed to dredge up support for the White Fang in the past.

"Pity he couldn't find a better use for it." Ozpin muttered.

Ruby slashed at the Calamity Gundam, forcing Elm to back away. That put her right into the path of Blake's beam saber coming from behind. She barely had time to scream before her machine was bisected and destroyed.

Mercury evaded machine gun fire from his target before firing on the Agamemnon with his super shotgun, the spread shot punching through the damaged carrier and causing severe damage to its structural integrity. The explosions ripping through the ship finished it off as the stress tore the ship to pieces.

"Damnit, shoot them! Shoot them! Don't let them destroy our nukes!" Cordovin roared at her bridge crew before gasping in shock when the Duel flew by and came to a stop in front of the Doolittle's bridge, rifle pointed directly at them.

She got out of her seat and stared disbelievingly at her executioner before Emerald pulled the trigger. The rifle's underslung grenade launcher firing and breaching the bridge before exploding, wiping out the Peacemaker command team instantly. Several more well-placed shots sent the rest of the ship up in flames.

Weiss sighed heavily as the battle continued raging, showing no signs of calming down. "We probably could live without fighting. Yet so many of us choose to do so… for what? To protect something? What? Ourselves? The future? If we must kill to protect that, then what kind of a future would that even be?"

She watched on as Ruby swung the Meteor's beam saber down, bisecting the last Agamemnon carriers supplying the Peacemakers and destroying it.

"There's no future for the slain. And what about those whose hands are stained with blood? Is there even happiness to be found at the end of this blood-stained road? Truly?" Weiss sighed again as a transmission from the Archangel came through.

"Machines that need resupply return now. The alliance nuclear unit is finished, we'll handle the Dominion. The rest of you head to Genesis now, we're running out of time." Jaune said.

"I don't know, a world where I've killed all my enemies sounds like a happy one to me." Cinder shrugged, not seeing what all the fuss was about.

"Ummhmm. Then I'm sure you don't mind if we return the favour and kill you for our own happiness, right?" Ren shot back.

"You can try. You will fail." Cinder replied.

"We'll see, we'll see." Ren muttered.

"Engine propulsion down seventy percent, we're stuck until maintenance can get the damage under control." Jaune frowned at report from engineering, his evasive options weren't good. And to be honest, he'd much prefer if the Gundams stuck around to provide support against the Dominion, but alas, they had more important jobs to do.

His heart skipped a beat when the last piece of news he wanted to hear came from the CIC. "The Strike is returning, it's heavily damaged! Incoming transmission."

"Eh?" Jaune whispered as he put the transmission through and Pyrrha's face occupied one of the screens.

"Kuh, it's Taurus's new machine. I'll get him next time." Pyrrha reported and Jaune waved it off.

"You can report it later. Return immediately! Someone get ground teams to prepare for an emergency landing, medical teams on standby in the hangar. Hurry!"

"Heh, thanks cap." Pyrrha tried to offer a reassuring smile even through the pain.

"Whew, looks like Pyrrha made it back safely after all." Ruby sighed and relaxed into her seat, only to freeze when she felt the glares from Yang and Qrow drilling into her.

"Oh my god Rubes! Why would you say that!? I'm so sorry about this cereal girl." Yang buried her face in her hands and groaned.

"RUBY! What have I said about jinxing things!" Qrow yelled.

"Bu- I didn't mean… oh noes." Ruby sputtered incoherently before turning back to watch in horrified silence.

Watts managed to refrain from screaming at the top of his lungs as his prized nukes went down with the Agamemnons, and with them all hope of destroying Menagerie.

"Their fault, it's all that accursed ship's fault!" He glared hatefully at the Archangel. A mad gleam entered his eyes when he noticed the damaged Strike returning to the ship.

"That machine… this is our chance! They're trying to retrieve it, they can't dodge like this. Ready the Lohengrin, blow them all to hell! Hurry and sink that damned ship!"

"No! Stop it! Archangel! Get out of there now!" Penny broke under the strain of having to face her former friends and refused to be accessory to their murders. Trying to get a message across to tell her friends to evade, she was thwarted when Watts reached over and pulled her away from the console.

"How dare you!? What the hell is wrong with you bitch!?" Watts roared and backhanded Penny across the face, sending her tumbling back in the zero-gravity environment.

Drawing his sidearm, Watts tried firing on Penny only to have Ren tackle him and push the gun away, causing a misfire and the bullets to ricochet around the bridge, drawing screams of terror from the other crew members.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!?" Ren roared at him as he pushed Watts arm down, keeping the gun away from anyone.

"You have my thanks for that Mr Lie." Ironwood nodded at Ren for saving Penny.

"Um, you're welcome I think." Ren replied.

"Bastard! Get your hands off of me!" Watts yelled and continued struggling with the captain before reaching out with his other hand to strangle Ren.

"Geh! All hands, abandon ship! That's an order!" Ren roared as he kicked off the ground, pulling them both away from the exit and allowing the bridge crew to file out of the area.

"LIE REN!" Watts intensified his attempts to choke the life out of Ren before looking to the mutinying crew.

"You bastards! Come back! Garhhah!" His attempt to raise his pistol and shoot them for desertion was once again thwarted by Ren.

"Hurry! Head to the Archangel!" Ren gave Penny a small smile as he urged the girl to run. There was no need for her to go down with the doomed ship.

"You bastard! What have you done!?" Watts roared as the doors shut behind Penny.

"As the captain, I have to ahhg!" Ren screamed as a gunshot went off, the bullet piercing through his side and staining his pristine white uniform scarlet.

Watts shoved the wounded captain away and shot him one last glare before making for the door himself. "You bitch! I hope you realise what's coming to you for your treachery."

"Ergh!" Ren grunted in pain as he pulled himself towards the captain's chair and hit the emergency override, causing metal shutters to spring up in front of the door and sealing them both inside the bridge.

"You're a monster who deserves to die here with me!"

"What? How dare you!" Watts raised his pistol and fired again, this time the bullet struck Ren on his shoulder, sending him stumbling back in pain.

"Ren? I don't think I want to keep watching this." Nora said quietly before hugging Ren and burying her face in his shirt, refusing to look up again until it was over.

The taciturn boy said nothing, simply stroking her hair gently to calm her down.

"Sir, lifeboats are leaving the Dominion!"

"What? What's going on, the Dominion shouldn't be that badly damaged to require abandonment. Never mind, has the Strike been retrieved yet?" Jaune asked.

"Not yet Captain, it'll arrive in just a bit more."

"Heh, guess I'm not gonna make it too huh?" Pyrrha laughed self-deprecatingly as even she managed to notice the signs of her own impending doom.

"Tch, ah well, let no one say Yang Xiao Long isn't generous." Yang got up from Jaune's lap before picking up the champion to her great surprise and planting her back down on her recently vacated seat.

"Hugs, now. Go on Jaune, do your thing." Yang gently shooed Jaune and her fellow blonde complied, wrapping Pyrrha up in a big hug.

"This is no time for jokes! Open the damned door!" Watts roared as Ren gave him a pained smile but refused to budge. He growled and fired his pistol again, shooting Ren in the leg this time.

"Ahhrhghg!" Ren screamed as agony shot through him from the new wound.

"Fuck! I'm not dying in a place like this! I will win, I always win!" Watts muttered to himself as he giggled madly. Dashing over to the weapons console, he grinned as he noticed its previous occupant had been kind enough to begin the targeting and activation process for the Lohengrin.

"Watts… what the hell are you doing!?" Ren managed to get out but was powerless to do anything but watch as Watts continued keying in commands to finish the process.

"That's right… I always win!" Watts giggled as the process completed and he hit the enter key, firing the Lohengrin towards the still stricken Archangel.

Jaune's eyes widened when he saw the Dominion fire on them. "Evade!"

"Can't, we won't make it in time!" The helmsman reported as he did his best to try and move the ship to no avail. The engines were still barely operational and they didn't have a chance of dodging.

The glare of the incoming positron blast was cut off when the damaged Strike manoeuvred into position, blocking the hit with its shield. The Lohengrin blast failed to penetrate the shield as sparked flew, damaging the Archangel's paintjob but doing no serious damage.

Jaune could only watch on in horror as one last transmission came through from the Strike. "Hehhehe… I always knew I could make the impossible possible."

As the beam began to diminish, the already severe damage to the Strike was exacerbated and the end of the attack coincided with the Gundam's detonation and the transmission cutting to static.

Jaune shook his head in denial as tears started leaking into zero gee. He buried his face in his hands to try and block out the sight. "ahah… aaahhh… PYRRHAAAAAAA!"

Watts glance at the screen in disbelief. The Archangel was still intact even after the smoke cleared. "No… this cannot be… this cannot be happening!"

"You lose Watts." Ren grinned at the doomed director, glad at least that for all his mistakes, he would at least succeed in escorting the man responsible for the war to the gates of hell himself.

"You bastard!" Watts picked up Ren by his lapels and threw him across the bridge again, causing the fatally wounded Captain to grunt in pain again. Drawing his pistol and pointing it at Ren, pure rage had consumed him.

"The Dominion is still approaching!" Those words managed to snap Jaune out of his grief momentarily as he glared at the enemy battleship.

"Ready the Lohengrin." Jaune said tersely. Dominion would sink for this.

"I have had it with you!" Watts yelled as he shot Ren through his good shoulder again and his gun clicked empty.

Ren screwed his eyes shut in pain and roared one last time. "FIRE! JAUNE ARC!"

Watts heard the alarm start to blare and turned around. His face fell as he saw the beam approaching the bridge. "AAAAHHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Ren smiled as his vision faded completely. The Archangel's shot hit a split second later, blowing away the entire bridge and sending the Dominion up in flames.

Jaune managed to hold it together long enough to see the Dominion explode before breaking down again. "B-but you said… you were coming back…"

"Damn you Watts. Damn you to hell." Ironwood's fingers twitched, his heavily deformed armrest no longer a viable stress ball.

"So we're both dead. Jaune's the sole survivor out of the three of us then?" Ren asked while continuing to stroke Nora's hair.

"Not quite, only your counterpart perishes in this battle." Blank replied.

"What? Umm, not be a wet blanket or anything, but that looked pretty definitive for Pyrrha." Weiss pointed out.

"True, but this is honestly nothing new for that particular machine. This is the second time it's saved the life of its pilot from certain death, the first happened when Ruby was piloting it and she survived an enemy self-destruct that effectively scrapped the Strike too." Blank said.

"Ahh… that's a relief then… it is a good thing, right?" Blake hedged.

"In a manner of speaking. That Pyrrha Nikos ends up amnesiac and kinda brainwashed into fighting for the Earth Alliance again during the second war." Blank said.

"Oh." Jaune's one word summed it up.

"She does regain her memories though, thanks to pulling a repeat performance of blocking another positron cannon blast. That time she has a better machine and so this doesn't happen again."

"That's good? I think?" Pyrrha offered unsurely.

"Ah Watts, what a disappointment you are. I gave you the keys to victory and you squandered it all." Adam shook his head upon noticing the wreckage of the Dominion and the still largely intact Archangel. No matter, that ship had been just as much of a thorn in his side as it had been to the late director, time to end things.

"Mobile suit incoming! It doesn't match any known signatures!" Jaune snapped out of his funk at the report but could only stare blankly at the screens before him. But there was still enough left in him to send a message to the Buster and the Duel informing them of the potential threat.

"One of ours? I don't recognise the model." Emerald muttered as she noticed the incoming Providence bearing a White Fang signature.

"Fuck, now of all times!? Damnit all!" Mercury swore and started firing on the Providence, trying to keep it away from the Archangel. His shot managed to keep Adam from sniping the Archangel's bridge and he was promptly rewarded with the dragoons launching.

"What the hell is that?" Mercury pushed the Buster into full reverse to get away from whatever that attack was. His radar beeped as the Freedom was approaching, Ruby providing fire support from long range.

It wasn't enough.

The providence simply dodged away from Ruby's attacks and opened fire with his dragoons. The bit weapons firing on both mobile suits at the same time. The speedier Freedom managed to dodge the shots, the Buster on the other hand didn't have a prayer.

"What!? Aahrhrhg!" Mercury grit his teeth as the beams struck his buster, blowing through the Phase Shift armour and heavily damaging his unit. There wasn't anything he could do except sit in the cockpit as things exploded around him.

"That attack is bullshit. What's the counter to that?" Mercury complained.

"Not get shot, duh." Emerald couldn't resist the opportunity to rib him back.

"Like hell that's the strategy."

"It is actually." Blank said.

"Come again?" Emerald looked to Blank in confusion, not expecting him to confirm her words.

"Those remote weapons are usually instant win conditions in the various Gundam universes. Too small and too fast to hit compared to a standard mobile suit yet still packing enough punch to be lethal. Thus far, strategies to deal with them usually fall into one of three things. Run like hell, a mad charge to try and kill the user before they kill you, or jam them. You could try shooting them down, but naturally, that's easier said then done." Blank said.

"Hmm… interesting concept… Penny's weapons are already a similar existence. If we could fit beam projectors on all of them… interesting." Ironwood mused and wrote his thoughts down in a note book, more things for Atlas R&D to work on when he returned.

"Not you again. You're a pest Ruby Rose." Adam snarled as the Freedom continued dodging his dragoons.

"Tch." Adam pulled his dragoons back from delivering the coup de grace to Mercury when Ruby unloaded a salvo of missiles in his direction. The Dragoons arranged themselves around the Providence and fired, creating a beam netting that the missiles exploded harmlessly against.

Bursting through the smoke, Taurus fired his beam rifle, striking one of the Meteor's arm cannons and forcing Ruby to abandon it or be caught in the explosion.

"Why you!" Ruby ignited the meteor's beam saber and attempted to cut down the Providence. But Adam's mobility allowed him to dodge and get the second hit in. A pink beam cut down and bisected the second arm cannon, leaving Ruby with only the booster attached.

She was forced to retreat again when Adam sent all the dragoons after her and added to their fire with his own beam rifle and machine guns. "You're something that cannot be allowed to exist!"

"What!?" Ruby jerked the control stick to the left to evade another barrage of attacks. Retaliating with missiles, they were once again shot down by the dragoons or destroyed by a swing from the Providence's beam saber.

"He's completely overpowered." Jaune spat out in frustration.

"No kidding. Come on, kick his ass Rubes!" Yang cheered her sister on.

"Ugh! Controls aren't responding! Move damn you! Move!" Mercury continued trying to work the controls but the Buster was completely non-responsive now. The alarm wouldn't stop blaring and sparks continued to rain from the damaged machinery inside the cockpit.

Emerald arrived in the Duel to try and stabilise the Buster or evacuate Mercury if it came to it. Before she could do anything however, her machine shuddered as several cannon bullets pinged off it, the Raider having returned to try and take them all down.

"Kuh!" Emerald bit back a curse when her rifle was destroyed by a lucky hit, leaving her with only the Duel's head vulcans that simply didn't pack enough punch.

"Mercury, gimme that! There's no way I'm losing to this guy!" Emerald yelled and ripped the Buster's main gun away from the damaged suit, once it synced up to her systems, she noticed it had one shot left. It would have to be enough.

"Ahahahahhah!" Harriet laughed madly as she started charging the Raider's plasma cannon for one final attack as Emerald did the same.

Firing at the same time, the red and yellow beams crossed, the Duel's shoulder armour melted off when the plasma scored a hit on it. As Emerald's suit ran out of power and turned grey when the Phase Shift deactivated, the Raider shot past her, continuing for a few moments more before exploding. The Ace Ops were finally finished.

"What a shame." Ironwood sighed as he watched the last of the alternate versions of his men go down fighting.

"If only they weren't under the command of Watts." Winter commiserated.

"Heh, I just save your life Merc, anything to add?" Emerald teased and Mercury rolled his eyes.

"I'm not sure that counts, you lost your weapon and I gave you mine."

"Technically I took it from your wrecked machine."

"If people hear of you, they'll want to be you!" Adam continued speaking as he harassed Ruby with the dragoons. Evading the counter attack with ease, he didn't let up on the offensive.

"Because they want to be like you!"

"That kind of thing! Lies!" Ruby growled as she drew her mobile suits beam sabers and used them to deflect incoming fire, unable to use her shield while still docked to the meteor.

"It's reality! And that's why your existence cannot be permitted."

"I… even so I… my strengths aren't the only thing that make me who I am!" Ruby yelled back.

"Huh! And who the hell is going to believe that after they see what you can do? You think they'll understand? They won't understand! No one will!" Adam yelled as he rained lasers down on Ruby, forcing the Freedom to dodge towards him and opening it up to a melee strike that cut off a section of the Meteor's boosters.

Ruby winced from the impact before catching sight of one of the lifeboats from the Dominion. Zooming in on the window revealed her old friend Penny seated there. "Penny?"

Ejecting from the doomed Meteor support unit as the dragoons riddled it with holes and blew it to hell. She noticed the Providence taking aim at the life boat, Adam clearly having noticed it as well and aiming to destroy it.

Ruby heaved a sigh of relief when she just managed to block the shot with the Freedom's shield at the last second.

That smile faded into a horrified expression when Adam refused to relent. Firing on the lifeboat with one of the dragoons instead. The beam piercing straight through the small craft and destroying it instantly, killing everyone aboard and due to the proximity, granting Ruby a front row seat to her friend's death.

His target destroyed and the Freedom engulfed in the blast. Adam smiled before jetting away to spread chaos elsewhere.

"That bastard!" Ironwood roared as Adam murdered Penny in front of all of them.

"Why? Why would he do that?" Ruby asked in a small voice.

"You mean aside from the part where he wants all of humanity dead?" Cinder chuckled snidely, getting a portion of the audience to glare at her again.

"He did it because he could, and to hurt you. You care too much, so by having you fail to save them when you were so close, there aren't many more ways to strike at you directly to be honest aside from going after the people around you." Blank said.

Ghira sat in the command centre continuing to monitor the battle data trickling in. He heaved a small sigh of relief when sensors could detect no more nuclear missiles approaching Menagerie. 'So their nuclear unit got taken out huh? Excellent. Now just to sink that damned Eternal.'

He glared at Weiss's ship, the Eternal and the Kusanagi were still firing on the Genesis with everything they had, trying to break through the Phase Shift armour and start damaging the weapon enough to take it offline.

"It's just two ships, hurry and sink them!" His words received a round of unsure whispering as the other White Fang members weren't sure about firing on their own.

"Mirror block replacement should be complete, next target, Atlantic Federation headquarters of North America." His orders were met with even more hesitation.

"Chairman?" One of his aides asked unsurely, trying to dissuade his leader from his course of actions.

"The alliance is already crushed, they can't continue this battle, we've already won. There's no need to fire the Genesis on Earth."

"It's because we've won that we must fire! So those bastard humans cannot threaten Menagerie ever again. Hurry and input the targets, fire as soon as Genesis is ready, burn that miserable planet to ashes." Ghira waved aside the man's concerns.

"Sir!? But our forces are still in the way! They won't be able to clear the firing arc in time with the Alliance's forces locked in combat with them. And what about our men on the planet itself? Carpentaria base, Gibraltar, the African corps?" The aide continued protesting.

"They are soldiers doing what they must to win this war for the faunus. I'm sure they've already resolved themselves." Ghira said callously.

"But chairman! We can't-" Ghira released a long-suffering sigh and stood up, spinning around with pistol in hand, he planted two shots into the aide's torso, fatally wounding the faunus.

"Hurry and input those coordinates, the sooner Genesis fires, the sooner we win." Turning away from the man, he repeated his order to fire. There was even more unsure mumbling now but he was pleased the other command staff did as he bid.

"Aiming Genesis, target Earth, Atlantic Federation capital, Washington."

"He just shot his own for a reasonable protest? And he's planning on killing more of his men just to wipe out humanity? Dear god, he's just like Watts now." Ironwood said, and Blake's ears started drooping upon hearing it.

"We're running out of time, the Genesis is too heavily armoured to destroy like this. We'll break into Jachin itself to destroy the controls and stop it that way. I'm leaving the Meteor here, it's out of missiles and low on fuel." Blake said as she noted the mirror block's movements slowing down, indicating it was almost in position.

"It'll be fine, trust us." Yang said as well to reassure a worried Weiss.

"Stay safe." The Schnee said as Hazel detailed two of the last Astrays to join the Justice and the Strike Rouge as escorts to their destination.

"Mobile suit approaching! Unknown signature!" Those words got Weiss's eyes to widen in surprise.

"What!? Shit, whose unit is it?" Klein asked.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Weiss muttered as she noted the blue glow in the distance headed straight for them.

"It's such a shame. You know, I really did enjoy listening to your songs. But the world is nowhere near as kind as that!" Adam laughed as he launched the dragoons and started firing wildly, aiming to sink the Kusanagi and Eternal before they could mess up his plans any further.

"Shit what the hell is that!? Hard to port! Evade!" Klein roared as the beams started raining down around them. He braced as the ship shuddered from multiple explosions, glaring at the Providence when the last of their mobile suit cover was exterminated in the blink of an eye.

"Ah damnit, we picked the worse possible time to leave!" Yang complained, wishing their counterparts had stuck around for a bit more to deal with Taurus before rushing off to Genesis.

"Relax, things work out." Blank said.

"They do? Looking pretty screwed to me." Roman shrugged.

Several beam rifle shots lanced towards the Providence, and the Gundam halted its attack on the ships to deal with the newcomer. Adam shook his head in exasperation as the Freedom returned to challenge him.

"Not you, not you of all people!" Ruby exchanged fire with the Providence, forcing Taurus to fall back in the direction of the Genesis and away from the ships.

"Heh! You can shout all you want but it's already too late!" Taurus replied and continued shooting with his beam rifle and beam machine gun mounted on his shield, uncaring that a few of his dragoons had already been shot down by the still improving Ruby.

"EEHH!" Ruby roared as she shot down a few more dragoons, pushing the Freedom's performance to the absolute limit.

"Whew, I made it in time. Yeah! Go me! For Penny!" Ruby cheered as her counterpart slowly forced Adam back.

"Calm down Ruby, you're getting popcorn all over the place." Taiyang chided as his daughter refused to stop bouncing in place and throwing punches in the air.

"Stop it! Stop fighting already! This has gone on long enough!" Blake roared into an open channel, as their progress towards Jachin was met with spirited defence from the White Fang lines.

"Will you people only be satisfied when everything's been destroyed!?" The Justice fired its beam cannons, blowing away several White Fang mobile suits that refused to budge from their path.

"But the fired the first shot!"

"My younger brother was on Boaz!"

"Shit." Blake cursed as the replies flooded in, all of them clamouring for vengeance against humanity for what they did in the war.

Turning off the channel to avoid listening to any more, she had the Justice blow open a section of the base that had been weakened in an earlier Alliance assault and dashed into the opening. The Strike Rouge and the Astrays followed behind shortly after.

"So much hate." Goodwitch muttered and shook her head.

"Destroying the weapon alone won't solve anything if that hatred isn't dispelled." Ozpin said.

"Indeed. The post war governments did their best to try to put the world back together again and tried to sweep everything under the rug since all sides were guilty of war crimes and attempted genocide with superweapons. That led to resentment and hate festering in the background until things went red hot again in the second war." Blank said.

The Providence and Freedom clashed repeatedly, their beam sabers meeting again and again in a shower of sparks. Adam grinned as the clock continued ticking towards the end. "This is humanity's destiny! We knew where this path led and still we walked it!"

"What are you talking about!?" Ruby roared back.

"Hahaha! People have faith in justice and hide from things they don't understand. They don't learn, they don't bother to ask, just blindly pushing ahead. And THIS is what lies at the end of that road! There's no longer any way to stop it!"

The two Gundams separated in a flash as Adam recalled the dragoons for another wave of attacks. "And then mankind will be extinct, just as they should be!"

"Like I'll let that happen!" Ruby screamed.

"Your logic is twisted!"

"Well that's how people think Ruby." Adam replied with a smirk.

"No! You're wrong! People… people are nothing like that!" Ruby unfolded the Freedom's wing mounted plasma cannon and the hip mounted railguns, firing them at the same time and piercing through two dragoons, destroying them.

"Ha! How aren't they like that!? Where's your proof!? This is a world where people live with eyes and souls full of hate! Where fingers have no purpose other than to pull triggers!" Adam roared as he landed a hit on the Freedom's right leg, blowing it off.

"What do you believe and why do you even believe it!?"

"You grew up never learning anything else, you never even tried!" Ruby yelled back as she slammed her beam saber down on the Providence's shield again.

"Of course I wouldn't know anything else, in the first place, people only know and care about themselves!" Taurus replied with a laugh.

As Ruby was forced back by the dragoons, she couldn't help but recall her past experiences. Loathe as she was to admit it, the madman did make a certain amount of sense.

"What kind of sense could he possibly be making!? He's just a mad man trying to destroy the entire world!" Winter protested.

"Maybe, but he's not entirely wrong. You're a Schnee, remind me again how your father reached the top of the business world again?" Torchwick pointed out and Winter fell silent.

"Whatever his faults, Jacques Schnee is just one man, he's hardly evidence to judge all of humanity by you know." Ozpin shook his head.

"Oh yeah, if it were just him that' be true I guess. But all you need to do is head to Atlas, I'm not sure if you can walk five minutes in any direction without finding someone who believes their station in life is preordained and the people of Mantle or the faunus who get stepped on in the process are beneath notice." Torchwick fired back again.

"Hell, let's not even go that far alright, even in progressive Vale alone, there's still enough resentment amongst the faunus that it was so easy for the White Fang to gain a foothold. I don't like the man, but I will admit he has a point." Torchwick finished and the theatre was silent.

"Do you still wish to suffer? Telling yourself someday… eventually… how long have you been fighting with your thoughts clouded by such poison!?" Adam said before bursting into laughter.

"Ahahhaha! It doesn't matter anymore. No matter what happens now, I've already won."

"What!?" Ruby glared at the Providence and destroyed several more dragoons

"Jachin will self-destruct, and when it does, the nuclear detonation will cause Genesis to fire! It's already aimed at Earth, it doesn't matter where it hits now!"

Inside the base itself, Blake and Yang had already breached the wing of the base where the command centre was located. Fighting through the corridors, Blake gave thanks resistance was largely absent since no one expected an assault inside the base at this juncture.

'Father… please stop this madness.' Blake thought as she hurled another grenade to flush out several White Fang soldiers hiding behind a wall. Sadly, her prayers would not be answered.

"Damnit all, why would you even suggest not firing it. Our enemies are still out there." Ghira growled and took over one of the consoles, using his chairman override to initiate the self-destruct early and fire the Genesis.

"Damn… you." The aide he shot earlier managed to retain consciousness long enough to draw his own gun and shoot the chairman in the chest before expiring.

It was at this point that Blake and Yang made it into the command centre. The cat faunus's eyes widened as she noticed her father's mortally wounded form floating in place. "No…"

Lowering their rifles as they made their way in, they ignored the evacuating command staff fleeing the self-destruct.

Grabbing hold of Ghira, Blake gently lowered him to the ground, the man coughed before turning to face his daughter. "Fire… Genesis… make the world… ours…"

Ghira coughed one last time before going limp in Blake's arms. "No… father! FATHER!"

Blake punched the ground in anger and fought back the tears. Resting Ghira on the ground, she held back a sob as she made her way to a nearby console, trying to stop the Genesis so all this wouldn't have been for nothing.

Her eyes narrowed when the timer appeared and starting counting down, followed by the warning to evacuate the base immediately. "What… no… they set up the self-destruct to trigger Genesis. Shit! It's locked by the chairman's pass, I can't disable it!"

Blake slammed her palm down on the keyboard and looked back towards her father's body. "Damnit all, doing this won't bring anyone back!"

"So what do we do now?" Yang asked.

"Leave this place and try to shut it down from outside." Blake grimaced and began making her way towards the exit, the place wouldn't remain standing for long and staying inside the base was a death sentence.

"Dad…" Blake mumbled under her breath.

"So they've been locked out, shit, what other options do they have?" Qrow chugged from his flask and leaned in for a better look.

"Blow it up from the inside maybe?" Jaune offered.

"That thing is huge, do they even have anything that can do it?" Ren asked.

"If only they had a few nukes to use on that thing!" Nora scratched her head in frustration, making a mess out of her hair that Ren started patting down immediately.

"There's nothing that can stop it now!" Adam taunted his opponent.

"Earth will burn, and the ensuing tears and screams will trigger a new wave of battles! Ahahahah! Even without the Alliance's nukes, Menagerie will tear itself apart once they realise their own people murdered every single faunus still on the surface!"

"That can't be!" Ruby denied, refusing to accept it as inevitable. As she continued fighting against the Providence, she noticed the Justice and Strike Rouge passing by after escaping Jachin Due.

"Blake! Genesis is about to fire!" Ruby called out, hoping her friend would have a way to stop it.

"I know… I got it." Blake said and changed course, flying the Justice towards Genesis itself instead of returning to the rendezvous with the ships.

"What are you planning?" Yang asked.

"I'll have the Justice self-destruct inside the Genesis's core, the nuclear reactor on board should be just as powerful as one of the Alliance's nukes. Go, return to the Kusanagi." Blake said.

"Eh? Then what about you?" Yang asked, receiving silence as an answer. She growled and immediately shot of in pursuit of her wayward friend.

"You gotta be kidding me, senseless sacrifices aren't going to solve anything!"

"I'm not planning on coming back from that am I?" Blake asked.

"No. As you can tell, that version of you isn't in the best of places right now, with having her father die in her arms." Blank said.

"So suicide by self-destruct in an attempt to atone? Sins of the father huh." Torchwick muttered.

"In effect." Blank confirmed.

"This is a day of revelation for humanity!" Adam laughed as he fired on the Freedom, scoring several hits and sending Ruby tumbling back.

"GAH! I won't allow it!" Ruby righted her mobile suit and retaliated with a beam rifle shot that blew off the Providence's shield arm.

"Who do you suppose has allowed things to reach this conclusion huh!? Humanity did this! And I am the result!" Adam roared as Ruby blew apart another dragoon, leaving him with precious few left.

"Heh! You're also another one of their creations!" The Providence's beam rifle fired and struck true, destroying the Freedom's arm and sending its rifle spiralling into the void.

"Even so!" Ruby refused to give in, having her Gundam draw both beam sabers in its remaining hand and forming a makeshift double bladed one.

"THERE'S A WORLD I WANT TO PROTECT!" Pushing the Freedom's thrusters to the maximum, she shot towards Adam in a frontal assault. Closing the gap, she hacked off his gun arm and continued pursuit as the Providence tried to back away, using its remaining dragoons to try and ward Ruby off.

"AAAHAHHHHH!" Ruby yelled as she ignored the damage the Freedom was sustaining to reach the Providence. Pushing forwards even after the Gundam's head was blown to pieces and the rest of its body sustained several hits.

Finally reaching Adam, Ruby rammed the beam saber straight through the Providence's cockpit, just narrowly missing the bull faunus inside but causing the cockpit to crush inwards and trap him there.

Ruby gasped as she noticed the Genesis starting to fire, abandoning Adam to his fate, she shot away from the path of the laser as the gamma ray beam enveloped the Providence and vaporised it completely.

"Well, well, would you look at that, killed by his own trump card." Roman clapped sarcastically as Adam met his end, he looked over to Neo when she tugged on his sleeve with scroll at the ready.

"Hmm… I don't know Neo, not sure that qualifies as roast beef. Not sure there's anything left to be called beef at all."

"Okay… morbid humour aside, the Genesis still fired, what happens now?" Summer asked.

"I could be mistaken but that weapon appears to require a secondary charge, as long as it's destroyed before the beam can be reflected onto the dish and reach full charge, there's still hope for them." Ironwood said.

"Blake! Slow down!" Yang shouted as she tried keeping pace with the Justice inside the twisting maintenance tunnels of the Genesis.

"Go back, we're out of time!" Blake replied tersely.

"I'm not leaving you here to die alone!"

"No time, only one of us needs to die here! Go back and stop following me!"

"Like hell I'll accept that! Gah! Blake!" Yang's forward progress came to a halt when Blake detached the Justice's backpack and used it to impede the Strike Rouge.

Blake pushed aside her guilt to continue onwards until she reached the core. By the time she reached, it was already glowing brightly as the Genesis reflector neared full charge. "Please be enough to stop this madness."

Keying the numbers to initiate a full reactor meltdown, she was interrupted from pressing the final key when Yang's voice intruded on her again. "Stop running away! Killing yourself here won't fix anything!"

"This is my penance, I should have done something earlier, to stop my father from ever reaching this stage" Blake shot back.

"And dying will make everything right? If you regret your mistakes, then live damnit! Live and do better to atone, not run away to kill yourself!"

Blake sighed and conceded the point. Entering the final codes needed to begin the meltdown, she opened the hatch and jumped out of the Justice, kicking towards the Strike Rouge instead. Yang opened her own cockpit and allowed Blake to enter before kicking the Strike Rouge into gear and shooting for the exit before the Justice could explode.

"Haah… I really have to run away less." Blake pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed heavily.

"You could stand to stop blaming yourself for things that really aren't your fault." Blank said.

"I'll keep it in mind." Blake acknowledged.

As the Genesis was seconds away from full charge, the Justice exploded. The nuclear detonation inside the core destabilised it and caused a chain reaction that saw the accumulated power feed back into the system, destroying it from within and causing the entire superweapon to crumble, cancelling the shot that would have ended life on the Earth.

"It's gone… they did it… they actually did it." Klein said as he sunk back into his seat.

There was a burst of static as a transmission from Menagerie came through on all channels. "To all White Fang and Alliance troops in the area. We request that you all stand down at once, the Menagerie provisional supreme council is making preparations to begin truce talks. I repeat, we are preparing for truce talks, we request that all armed forces in the area cease hostilities at once."

"It's done then?" Jaune asked as he received a message from the Eternal indicating they'd picked up the Strike rouge on the way back with the Freedom in tow, all pilots accounted for.

"It's finally finished." He sighed as exhaustion took him and he closed his eyes.

"And that's that." Blank said as the screen faded to black and the lights came on.

"Somewhat happy ending and all but damnit if knowing it's going to lead to another war down the line ain't a kick in the nuts." Qrow said.

"Do things get better after the second war at least?" Pyrrha asked.

"It does. The second war saw the elimination of nearly everyone interested in seeing the continuation of the war for profit or other reasons. The world was on the road to recovery before the war broke out again, and it continued to heal after it was done. People on both sides were sick and tired of fighting and eventually, they did manage to hash out a lasting peace. Tensions will always exist, but nothing that would lead to a tragedy on this scale ever again." Blank said.

"That's good then. It wasn't all for nothing." Ozpin said and wondered if he'd ever see such a day arrive on Remnant. There was still a long way to go yet.

"Well, that's it for the viewing so feel free to go freshen yourselves up, the next one will start soon." Blank said and his audience filed out.


Author's notes: I can't believe it actually, it took me 22 chapters to have a story that features Blake as more than a cameo. Even Perry got time in the spotlight before her, it's just… wow. I just have no idea who to cast her as most of the time and the two or three universes where I have her in a role just hasn't come up yet. For this chapter I really wanted to cast Jaune as Rau Le Creuset, but Adam just fits that role to a T. Heh, having discount Char play one of the best Char clones ever worked out better than I thought. Second choice would have been Jaune as Mu, but that leaves the issue of who to place as Murrue. Pyrrha could fit the role, but when you think about it, they fit better as captain and ace pilot instead, based on their canonical strengths. Jaune is a commander and Pyrrha is the ace. The only regret I have for this chapter is that words cannot convey the ridiculous awesomeness of the voice acting. If you haven't watched the Japanese dub before, you ought to, it's just that awesome especially in the last few episodes barring one particular scene.


Cast list:

Jaune Arc as Murrue Ramius

Lie Ren as Natarle Badgiruel

Pyrrha Nikos as Mu La Flaga

Ruby Rose as Kira Yamato

Yang Xiao Long as Cagalli Yula Athha

Blake Belladonna as Athrun Zala

Weiss Schnee as Lacus Clyne

Adam Taurus as Rau Le Creuset

Ghira Belladonna as Patrick Zala

Sienna Khan as Ezalia Joule

Mercury Black as Dearka Elsman

Emerald Sustrai as Yzak Joule

Klein Sieben as Andrew Waltfeld

Hazel Rainart as Ledonir Kisaka

Arthur Watts as Muruta Azrael

Penny Polendina as Flay Allster

Pietro Polendina as Erica Simmons

Merlot as Dr. Ulen Hibiki

Taiyang Xiao Long as Uzumi Nara Atha

Harriet Bree as Clotho Bauer

Vine Zeki as Shani Andras

Elm Ederne as Orga Sabnak

Caroline Cordovin as William Sutherland