Zachariah sighed. He was seeing damage reports from the distributors, the weapons had been disabled, he couldn't contact the captain, and now ice dust was being funneled into the nerve gas.
"Well, it was gonna happen somehow." He muttered, activating the alarms.
Abandon ship messages began blaring, as security completely disregarded the intruders in favor of saving themselves. It was right outside the entrance to the core that all four members of the team ran into each other.
"I think I can disable the rest of the ship if I can get in there." Crimson stated.
Reed nodded. "The security protocols can only be accessed from in there, all I could do from the bridge was shut off the weapons."
"It's a makeshift bomb." Melanie cut in. "Alabaster's going to crash it into Menagerae and wipe the island off the map."
"There's enough volatile dust going in there to do it." Nina confirmed. "Their original plan was to spread that Faunus nerve agent, but I think I managed to destroy it."
"Good work, all of you." Crimson said. "If Alabaster is really in there, we need to work together to take him down. Keep an ear out for team maneuvers, and watch each other's back. I think he has a harder time with his semblance if he doesn't have something to draw your attention away." With that, Crimson turned to the door. "Let's kick his ass."
Zachariah watched the countdown to impact with a solemn expression. He knew it might come to this, and he was prepared. What he wasn't prepared for was a sudden slash from behind, which he barely dodged. It was immediately followed up by a swing from a katana, which came even closer to striking. At this point, he knew the dust sword would swing at his legs, so he flipped over the attack, drawing his gun to shoot the icy shards that Nina was already firing at him.
"You kids...are remarkably persistent." He flicked his pistol into dagger form. "It's annoying."
"Cold feet!" Crimson shouted.
Zachariah barely dodged the stream of ice attempting to trap his feet, but a water tendril from Violet Cross snagged his leg and slammed him against the ground. He rolled back up to his feet and began firing at them.
"Canopy!" Came the next command.
A roof of ice and wall of water protected the group, holes opening up for only a second as each one would fire through at Zachariah, forcing him to keep moving. He ran up a wall and back-flipped to fire straight down at the ice roof until it shattered.
The group dispersed before Crimson even gave his next command. "Hot potato!"
Three pillars of flame arced towards Zachariah, but as he dodged, an electric bullet whizzed through, stunning him long enough for a grenade to detonate in his face. He was launched across the room, crashing against the far wall. His aura flickered with the hit.
"Your team attacks are puns?" He questioned. "Why don't I give you something to joke about?" He turned his gun to the core and fired.
The initial blast sent him flying again, but this time the team didn't take advantage of it. They had more pressing concerns. A blast of flames shot forth from the core, but Crimson managed to divert it to either side of the team, where it dispersed harmlessly.
"We need to vent the energy out of this thing, before it detonates!" Crimson shouted. "Reed, they were using it as power! Can you channel the energy out in bursts?!"
Reed looked around the room. "Where?!"
Crimson caught another blast of flames, and sent it up into the roof. Then, he used a beam of gravity dust to punch a clean hole.
"Up there!" He pointed.
With a nod, Reed caught a surge of electricity and shot it through. He continued repeating this process as Crimson vented the flames.
"Melanie, can you sense water below us?!" Crimson asked.
She nodded. "We're high up, but just barely!"
"Go to that console! It should function as a master control!" He ordered. "You want to bring us to a full stop, and land in the water!"
She ran over, focusing on her task. The flames and electricity that Reed and Crimson were venting began surging up more quickly.
"Now comes the hard part..." Crimson muttered under his breath. "Nina, you need to freeze the core! Reed and I are going to put everything we have into draining it, but if you can't stabilize it, it'll blow!"
Nina began focusing her semblance, sending as much frost and ice as she could at the core. Her stream of cold was melted before it even made it halfway.
"It's not working!" She shouted.
Reed met her eyes. "Keep trying, I know you can do it! Your semblance is an extension of your soul! You just need to believe!"
They felt the ship shake as it landed in the water. As they steadied, Melanie placed a hand on Nina's shoulder.
"We've got your back, Nina!" She stated in support.
Nina nodded. "And I've got yours!"
Her aura flared up white as she started pouring as much cold as she could into the core. The room became colder and colder...the flames became thinner, eventually dissipating. Soon after, the electricity stopped too. The cold continued to press against the unstable core, and as the temperature began to decrease, Nina's aura began to shift in color. Her white flashed with sparks of yellow, darkening to a silver...and then even darker, as her ice became even colder. Frost began to grow at her feet, her breath turning to mist, and her teammates could feel the cold too. Her aura hit black, and it seemed her semblance couldn't get any colder. The core was overwhelmed, ice sprouting around the crystals, encasing them...there was no more heat...no more danger.
Nina collapsed to her knees, chuckling between bated breaths. "I did it."
Melanie helped her up. "You did."
"We all did." Crimson stepped in.
Reed smiled. "You know, I thought we'd finally be celebrating catching Strikz...but this...saving hundreds of lives...this feels better."
"Yeah..." Crimson grinned. "Yeah, it does."
Melanie gave Crimson a nudge. "I'll let you explain this mess to the grown-ups. I could use a nap."
Nina yawned. "Yeah, me too. I feel like I can actually sleep soundly tonight."
"Alabaster escaped." Crimson observed.
Reed put a hand on Crimson's shoulder. "We'll get him next time. And even if we don't, look at what we did here today. This is what we signed up for...saving people."
Crimson looked up. "Yeah...come on, let's get top-side and find a way to signal for help. They've gotta be looking for us."
A few days later, the team had finally returned to Beacon. They'd been debriefed, and soon after they were informed of what had happened while they were gone. Once they made it to their dorm, they finally had a moment to rest.
"Can you believe we missed a Grimm invasion?" Nina asked.
Reed chuckled. "We assisted in a high-profile arrest and prevented a catastrophic terrorist attack. I'd say our mission was just as important."
"Personally, I'm fine with RWBY getting the spotlight." Melanie stated. "Last thing I want is to be swarmed at lunch by all the people that got boring missions."
Crimson ran a hand through his hair. "I'm still...processing everything...I mean, we did it. We actually...did it..." He looked distant for a moment. "Maybe I'm just tired, but...I thought I'd feel...different."
Melanie gave him a concerned look. "Could be shock or exhaustion...let's just relax and take it easy till the tournament, alright?"
"Yeah...sounds like a plan." Crimson closed his eyes and laid back. "Feels like ages since I just...relaxed..."
