Ozpin sat in his office, resting his chin against his thumbs. Ironwood was also in the room, looking through one of the windows. None said anything as they waited for everyone to report. After a couple of minutes passed, Glynda entered the room and both men just looked at her.
"Preparations are ready, everyone is in position, Leonardo has been warned and the Atlas faculty informed. We are ready" she told Ozpin.
The headmaster then took a deep breath before preparing to activate the intercom system. "Here goes nothing," he said as he pressed the button.
'Attention all students: We have received information about trespassers on campus.
'Every student is to head back to his or her dormitory immediately; all who are found breaking this mandatory curfew will face immediate expulsion. You have ten minutes. That is all'.
The voice of Ozpin said all throughout the school.
"That is sure to make them come out," Ironwood said with confidence. "Communications have been set to local. No call can now come in or out unless they are directly connected to the CCT tower".
"Good. Then let us be ready to receive them" Ozpin said, getting up from his chair and walking with Glynda and Ironwood out of his office.
"Are you all ready?" Sub Zero asked his two teammates. While one of their scrolls played a long list of songs to cover their voices.
"It will be a shame leaving all this behind. We had grown fond of the academy and the people" Ermac lamented.
"Smoke should be back any moment now…" Hanzo mentioned as he looked at a clock and then around the room. "Did they really left no surveillance equipment in our room?" he then asked loudly.
"They either didn't want to attract the attention from the other students or knew we were good enough to notice" Sub Zero answered.
It took a moment until they saw thin traces of gray entering the room through the central AC duct which then got together to form a gaseous blob with giant teeth which then began to growl. "Jaakuna kangae kara anata no kokoro o kuria shimasu" Hanzo chanted while holding a fan and slowly blowing wind towards the beast.
The beast immediately subdued and began to take the shape of Smoke who took a deep breath of air and shook his head before talking to the others. "Sorry it took long, had to see all our possible alternatives". He then looked at Sub Zero and his disappointed face. "I KNOW the enenra was already taking over me, that's why I returned. In my defense, I now have a clear understanding of what they are doing, and I knew master Hazashi is more than capable of countering yokai".
Ermac then looked at Hanzo with a raised eyebrow. The ninja, in turn, explained himself. "I was a paranoid child growing up. I wanted to make sure I knew how to counter demons".
Ignoring that conversation, Sub Zero returned to the point at hand. "What did you see?".
"The hall? Impossible to pass through. There are robot guards in groups of three at all times and distributed all the way towards the medical building. My guess is that they also have an alarm system warning who and where someone was taken down".
"That only leaves us the window then" Ermac concluded.
"What about the guards?" Hanzo asked, knowing full well that would be an obvious place for the soldiers to be patrolling.
"The cover of the night will play in our favor. Smoke will also cause a diversion to distract the guards while we go out".
"What kind of distraction?" asked Ermac.
"Something indoors, giving the rest of us enough time to get out before they come back to their posts. Think you can do it before the enenra takes over?" he asked Smoke.
"I saw places where I can hide to recover my strength. You should have enough time to get to the building's garden. What about the others?".
"Communications have ceased for the last two hours. If we have not reached Raiden by nine on our local time, they will come no matter what" Sub Zero told Smoke. He then walked towards the window and looked down towards some guards 'patrolling'; making sure nothing came out of their window would be a better way to put it. "Our real faces are most important right now; no one is to take their medallions off! Clear?" he asked and all three nodded.
Yang yawned as she woke up from her third nap this day. She then looked around and saw all but Weiss and Blake sleeping on random desks. Since it was illegal to hold the students in an interrogation room for more than two hours without doing an actual interrogation, Glynda devised an alternative: whole-day detention. As such, the group of eight was now spending at least twenty-four hours in a classroom with the addition of repeating this the coming days until one of the eight broke or the teachers came back from whatever had happened.
They were not alone, however. There were well over a dozen human guards keeping them under control with who knew how many more outside. They at least were kind enough to bring them food of their choice and they also waited outside the bathrooms; not that there was a lot to do anyway since their scrolls were decommissioned.
Neptune then woke up and looked around until he saw the other girls were also awake. He then stood up and stretched while establishing a conversation with them. "Hi, girls, any new developments?".
"Nothing new and the guards will not speak with us…" Weiss pointed out.
He then looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was almost six. "So… are we going to spend our sentences in the dormitory now or…?" he asked jokingly, but it surprised all who were awake when one of the guards answered.
"Sleeping bags will be supplied. You are going nowhere until you talk" the guard answered.
"Huh. ok… I guess…" Neptune said before noticing Ruby and Jaune were getting up. "Oh, hey guys! Want to play a round of tick-tack-toe".
Although normally cheerful and kind, Ruby was not in the mood for games. Was the situation enough to ground her or were her sugar levels finally depleted? No one knew. "Not now, Neptune" she answered.
"Same here," Jaune said soon after.
"Do you have anything better to do?" Neptune then asked with fake enthusiasm.
Both team leaders looked at each other and sighed in defeat. "Fine… bring the notebook," Jaune said as Neptune reached them with said notebook and pen someone must have left behind.
"Ok, you guys be a team over there, I'll be over here. I will start with an 'x'…" Neptune said while keeping a close eye on the guard closest to them, and once he looked away, Neptune changed their conversation. "Ok, you two are leaders so I need you to come up with a plan. I have-".
Ruby released a low grunt before interrupting him. "Look, Neptune, we can't do anything. No scrolls, no weapons, we are-".
"You didn't let me finish!" he said interrupting her back before checking his surroundings again. "There is a way out, but I need your heads to help me figure out what to do". He then scribbled an 'x' on the paper to keep up the act.
"So, what is it!?" Jaune asked impatiently.
"I kept my scroll inside my shoe!" he answered.
"You did!?" Ruby asked with contained excitement.
"You did…?" Jaune asked with some degree of repulse.
"Yes. It's a trick Sun told us when you want to smuggle something, but that is not important. I need you two to figure out to who should I give it to sync it with his or her locker!".
"You want to escape!?" Jaune asked in disbelief.
"We are either going to prison for not cooperating or getting killed by the ninjas by telling their secrets which I don't believe many will think are true anyway. Which will it be then!?".
Ruby was still not sure. She knew there had to be another way out. The ninjas were good people, and she was Ozpin would understand when they showed him that.
"I'm in. what do you say, Rubes?" Jaune said, bringing Ruby back to the conversation.
She was still not on board one hundred percent. But she also wouldn't dare to go against the ninjas behind their backs. "What is our situation?"
"The only place to do anything would be in the bathroom. We need someone who can cover us from fire and is fast enough to arrive" Jaune reasoned. "I'm obviously out, and I don't think Ren or Blake has that much on defense".
"Yang is also out. Her semblance might help her to some extension, but it won't help us. Nora also lacks the defense factor". Ruby told them. "I can cover the distance fast and could take care of the gunners, but I am not sure I'll be enough to cover all".
With only one option left, she was also the perfect candidate. "So… how will we make Weiss get Neptune's scroll?".
"You two sit here. I'll take care of it". Ruby then stood up and went to stand next to her partner.
"Everything ok Ruby?" Weiss asked trying so ridiculously hard to not sound condescending.
"Two against one seems unfair. Care to join us?" Ruby asked with a convincing voice for the guards but fake enough for Weiss to understand she was up to something.
The ninjas stood still, away from the window and looking at the clock. Patiently waiting for it to hit seven o'clock; and once it did, they knew it was time for all to start. Smoke then activated his powers and slowly became a cloud which began to leave the room at a slow pace. It took him a couple of minutes, but he was finally out of the room.
"Remind me again why is he taking so long," asked Hanzo with a little irritation.
Sub Zero was ready to begin the explanation, but Ermac spoke first. "They know about his powers. They will be expecting a visible cloud of smoke to move around. This way will at least make him more untraceable, especially to machines".
Satisfied with that explanation, Hanzo then turned towards Sub Zero. "What now?".
"We wait" the blue ninja answered as he placed one of the room's mirrors at an angle which allowed him to see the ground floor and the handful of robots there. After a few more minutes, footsteps were heard from outside the room and the robot guards in the ground began to move towards the entrance.
"Now!" Sub Zero ordered. He opened the window and both he and Hanzo jumped as Ermac used his powers to slow them down and carefully placed them on the ground before he did the same for himself. They then hid in some bushes and closed the window again. With any luck, the robots should be looking for them for a long time; if not, the second scroll playing looped conversations would help their distraction even more.
They moved around the grounds at a slow pace, making sure that no guards were close or that there was a window of action to move without being noticed. They then finally arrived at the walls of their target building and were able to see the heavy presence of security at the entrance of the dormitories, no doubt waiting for the ninjas in case they used the front door.
They then kept walking until they reached the back of the building just as the guards were getting back to their posts, and just as scheduled a thin layer of very transparent smoke arrived next to them and began to take the human form of Smoke. "Managed to fool them, but they don't think it was a false alarm. Half of them must be on their way here to surround the building".
Sub Zero said nothing and just nodded toward Ermac. On their recognizance missions earlier, Ermac found a faulty window in a storage closet that wasn't fully closed. Smoke then turned into a cloud once again and entered, forced the window open in its entirety, and allowed the other ninjas to get inside.
Once they were all in, Hanzo went through their strategy once again. "We are on the second floor; Raiden should be on the fifth and on the room against the north wall. Smoke?".
"I still have more time before the enenra takes hold," the grey ninja said as he turned into a cloud once more and slowly left the room. On his tour of the floor Smoke was able to see a total of four guards. Two going back and forth the hall, and on two on the base of the stairs to the first floor. He then moved towards the ventilation shaft but was surprised by the fact the connections to the upper floors were welded shut. Once back in the closet, he gave his report. "They expected us here; we can't use those," he said while pointing at the air vents.
"What about ground troops?" Sub Zero asked.
"Four in total. Two on patrol, two looking down the stairs" Smoke answered.
Needless to say, no one liked that. Security on their floor was relaxed but the ventilation was shut? Something was wrong, and Hanzo was the first to state what they were all thinking. "There is something worse than robot soldier on the upper floors".
"And they are waiting for us" Ermac complemented. "Especially since the first alarm was already sounded".
Silence fell upon them, and it lasted until Sub Zero looked at all his collaborators who nodded, thinking the same thing he was. "What kind of movable objects are out there, Smoke?".
"Trash cans, faucets, columns can be destroyed with a good shot to the base" the grey ninja answered.
Sub Zero then looked at Hanzo. "I need you behind the guard at the end of the hall. Can you get there?".
"I would need one look at to where I am heading. That is all".
"As soon as we begin, I want access to this floor gone. Do whatever you must" he then ordered Ermac, who nodded in agreement.
Neptune could not believe the excuse of Weiss' feet getting tired because of the overuse of her heeled boots worked; but now came the stressful part: waiting to see if their plan worked. Now that everyone had been carefully told about the hidden scroll, it was up to Weiss for the operation to succeed.
No one said anything and just sat down acting 'normal'. The guards either didn't seem to be suspicious or just didn't really care about them. but then, Ruby's worries took the best of her and she got between Jaune and Neptune. "It's taking too long. What if the guard caught her!?".
"Rubes there is nothing we can do. We just have to trust-" Jaune tried to reason but was interrupted by the sound of something being destroyed, and in a matter of seconds all eyes were now on the windows as they saw part of the wall on a neighbor building collapse.
The guards began to whisper among themselves until the one in charge looked at the others. "Four of you come with me. The rest wait for-".
"Aaaagh!" a male voice screamed outside.
There were currently five more inside the room and they all went to stand next to the door. The one who seemed to be in command then stood to the right, next to the handle while the other four pointed their guns but before the man could open it, a wind gust slammed it open and pushed all others against the windows but not breaking them. Before the main guard could process what happened, Weiss then rolled into the room and froze his body with Myrtenaster's ice dust.
She then stood still as the guards recovered and pointed their guns at her. "Stand still or we will-".
The man could not finish his sentence as he was tackled to the ground by Ruby and her semblance. Yang and Blake then attacked another, Ren and Nora did the same while Jaune and Neptune distracted theirs. The fights were all stopped when Weiss froze them one by one. "Is everyone ok?" she asked and all nodded while gasping. "Good… now move, move, move!".
With no complaints, everyone got out and followed Weiss with the weapons locker-room as their destination. The rest of the soldiers surrounding the building wasted no time following them and Weiss went to immediately create walls to block their shots and paths. "We have to hurry; my dust reserves are not eternal! What was that sound from before anyway?".
With the security and the stairs of the second floor destroyed, the ninjas made their way to the third floor. Upon entering, however, they saw nothing. A few moments later, they moved out of the way as a dust bullet surrounded by fire went right by them. All four ninjas then pulled out their weapons as they heard footsteps getting closer, eventually revealing professors Oobleck and Port.
"Just received a message from Peach, Peter; she is fine, but they won't be able to reach us," Oobleck said as he hung up his scroll.
"We can handle them!" Port retorted as he pointed his gun at the ninjas again. "Boys, I'll be honest: I like you all, so stand down!" he shouted at them, but they did not move.
All four then ran towards the teachers, Smoke and Ermac went to fight Port while Hanzo and Sub Zero attacked Oobleck. The green-haired teacher immediately threw fire at them, knowing that Sub Zero would block the flames with something made from ice while Hanzo teleported behind him, but just as immediately he knew he was wrong.
Instead, Hanzo absorbed the flames like some sort of fire sponge while Sub Zero threw ice projectiles at him, forcing the teacher to move out of the way at high speed.
Port in the meanwhile proved to be a bigger threat than at first suspected, blocking all of Smoke's trident attacks with the ax blades while also managing to shoot at Ermac, distracting him from using his telekinetic powers. Smoke and Ermac then decided to switch places, so Ermac attacked Port with his own ax, which the teacher, in turn, blocked. "And you were the only one who actually listened to my lectures," Port said with genuine sadness before pushing the red ninja away and slashing with his ax vertically twice, but before he was able to shoot, Ermac did a soul push against the teacher, making him crash against the wall. "How was he able to do that…?" Port wondered as he had to roll out of the way to not be hit by one of Smoke's projectiles.
Oobleck, on the other hand, was now running while evading Sub Zero's ice daggers and Hanzo's spear slashes while the boys seemed to be able to absorb or counteract his fire projectiles.
"He is like Kabal with a flamethrower!" Hanzo commented.
Sub Zero chuckled at that. "Are you aware of the irony in that statement? But that does give me an idea. Fight him".
As Oobleck's next fireball was blocked by Sub Zero's ice blast, he noticed that Hanzo was gone. He then quickly turned around and swung his flamethrower like a mace which was then blocked by Hanzo's swords. "You truly are a great warrior, holding your ground against us both".
One part of Oobleck felt touched by that statement, but another knew full well that was a distraction. He jumped over Hanzo, evading the ice blasts from Sub Zero. He then landed and parried the blades from Hanzo while also evading more ice blasts.
"Now!" Sub Zero yelled and Hanzo rolled away to then get his spear once again and threw it at Oobleck. The teacher ran away but never considered that Sub Zero had purposely missed some of the ice blasts as he then slipped on some of them, crashing on the floor.
Hanzo then threw his spear once more towards Oobleck, but it was taken out of its trajectory when Port's gun-ax hit it before getting stuck on the floor just in front of Oobleck.
Both groups then regrouped on each side with the teachers blocking the stairs up. As they then stopped to consider their strategies, the ninjas looked in the direction of the building where their bathroom was. By all accounts, it was time the others had arrived. "We have a bad feeling about this…" Ermac said.
"Better return to your seat Briggs. No one goes anywhere until this lecture is over!" a small yet heavily athletic dark-skinned woman with dark brown and platinum hair told the bigger man with metal arms. Jax had to give her credit, she had guts.
Then again, he noticed how the room was surrounded by soldiers, and all the Special operatives – who had 'suddenly' returned from their stations all over the world – were looking at him. "Can't a guy go to the bathroom?" he asked innocently and jokingly.
"If you don't mind being escorted" she replied with the same fake playfulness. Defeated, Jax returned to his seat.
"I tried calling all four of them to know what is happening, but their lines are down" Johnny whispered to the others, never looking away from the lecturer out of fear of what the soldiers and operatives could do.
"I don't like that" Kenshi, the blind samurai, whispered to his team.
"All eyes are on us. Be prepared for anything" Sonya told her group as she then noticed some students looking at them with the same watchful eyes of the Operatives.
"Come on, come on! Don't be shy boys and girls! This king of the hill morning exercise won't end until you each have your turn!" a teacher from Haven claimed as he encouraged randomized or normal teams of students to try and, purposely, defeat Liu Kang and his teammates.
Immediately after the announcement, Arslan and her team behind her entered the ring. "Round two, Kang! Winner takes all!" she yelled before they all ran towards their rivals.
"And I thought I hated you beating me," Kung Lao said as he threw his razor hat towards Bolin, managing to break their formation and then using the hat on the ground to teleport behind the man with the excuse of his semblance allowing him to teleport wherever his hat was.
As Kung Lao appeared and delivered multiple punches to the boy's back, Kitana spoke with Liu Kang. "Want to take on the girl again?".
"I fear she is going to hurt herself trying to get to me anyway. Let her have this one". Kitana and Jade nodded in approval before splitting the others and they began to fight one on one. Nonetheless, they knew what they had to do, but trying to break out of the surprise morning exercise in a room full of teachers and armed students was also not a good idea. Their plan was to endure all and, hopefully, not be tired enough to run and help the ninjas.
Among the crowd stood two male students. A small, pale, red-haired teen, and his enormous green-haired, dark-skinned partner; Scarlet and Sage, the only members of team SSSN who remained in Haven. "They are good, aren't they?" Scarlet asked and Sage just grunted in approval. "See anyone you want to team up with?" Scarlet then asked but Sage just rolled his eyes. "Sun ran off to Vale and took Neptune with him, why do you insist on defending him!?", Sage did not feel like answering the question.
Scarlet sighed in defeat, feeling like it would be them who were picked as fillers instead. That bothered him until he noticed that Professor Lionheart's seat with the other teachers was empty almost since the event began. "That's weird…" Scarlet wondered to his companion who just gave a confused grunt. "The headmaster calls for an event that has never been done before and then he is absent during most of it. Isn't it… weird?". Sage looked at the seat and considered for a moment what Scarlet said, but what could the headmaster be doing anyway?
"Let me get this straight: You are telling me a man covered in electricity appeared in Beacon?" The image of Dr. Watts asked the anxious Lionheart in his office who nodded frantically. "And your new 'prodigy' students seem to be part of an organization that wants to infiltrate all academies… but Shade".
"I am telling you what Ozpin told me!" Lionheart responded defensively. "I don't know why they didn't go to Shade, but all of their evidence against LKKJ and the other teams is convincing!".
Watts considered for a moment what their spy was telling them. "What about Seido?".
"Ozpin told me not to trust them! Thankfully, no one has come asking for questions as to why Cinder and the others had my authorizations".
"Did he say anything else?".
"When I asked about it, Ozpin said he had a reliable source. I know nothing beyond that".
Three knocks on Lionheart's door were enough to make the man fall from his chair. "Professor, you have been gone for a long time, is everything ok?" a female voice asked from the other side.
"In a minute! I just remembered I needed to send some forms for the Vytal Festival!" Lionheart answered back.
"Very well professor!" the woman said as footsteps getting further away were heard.
Lionheart's confident face then turned into one of fear again when he resumed his conversation with Watts. "Make sure to find about Ozpin's source… and by the way… he is right. Something is going on in that place. Something, not even Salem herself can explain".
After the brief pause and now convinced that they were alone in this. Sub Zero and Hanzo decided to attack Oobleck and Port, respectively. Nonetheless, both teachers were more than aware of the other left behind; and as expected, Smoke created a cloud that surrounded them. Port and Oobleck then got back-to-back, guarding each other in case any of the ninjas decided to pull a trick as they did in the initiation, and soon enough, both Sub Zero and Hanzo charged at the teachers. They, in turn, just parried their attacks, pushed them to the floor, and pointed their weapons at them.
"That was easy" Port pointed out with pride.
"Perhaps… too easy?" then asked Oobleck, and at that moment, they noticed their mistake by leaving Ermac alone.
The smoke then began to clear, and the gray ninja was now behind his red companion, and he, in turn, was now floating and surrounded by a green aura while his eyes emanated a bright green light. As they were distracted, Hanzo did a leg takedown on Port while Sub Zero froze Oobleck's legs. The yellow ninja then grabbed Sub Zero as he used his teleport to get behind Ermac who had taken debris and some of the robot soldiers to create a wall which he then pushed towards the teachers.
The wall crashed against them but kept moving forward until it hit the wall on the other side of the hall, and after a few seconds, Ermac let the wall fall apart, revealing the unconscious bodies of Oobleck and Port.
"They will leave. Their aura will take care of their wounds" the red ninja said while facing Sub Zero. "We will not take their lives".
"Neither did I want you to" Sub Zero answered as he led the way towards the floor above.
The locker room was thankfully empty. It seemed that whatever was happening in the other building had taken priority for the Atlas soldiers over what was happening to the eight teens who met a small resistance as they made their way towards said room.
Once all but Neptune got their weapons, and once they got to the building's entrance, Jaune began to formulate a plan. "If we are lucky, they will all be distracted with whatever is happening for a few more hours. We should then be able to get to Vale".
As he said that, the girls from RWBY remained behind. "I'm sorry, but why should we follow you?" Weiss asked.
"Seriously Weiss? You are gonna question him now!?" Nora asked with annoyance.
Surprisingly, Yang then intervened. "Sorry Nora, but I'm with Weiss". As she said that, everyone looked at her with shock. "I'm not saying we leave him behind, but… I'm sorry, I'm just not sure if we should be following your orders!".
"Yang, Weiss, are seriously-!" Jaune began to rant but was immediately cut off by Neptune.
"Okay, fine, you won't follow him, so I propose the same plan as his! All in favour!?" Neptune asked as he, Ren, Nora, and Jaune raised their hands. "All against!?". Weiss, Blake, and Yang raised theirs. "four to three, the… wait… who didn't vote?" he then asked and saw Ruby looking through the corner of the building. Once everyone noticed her, they decided to run towards her and see what she was looking at.
When they arrived, they saw the building with its blocked entrance and all the soldiers – both robot and human – surrounding it as a bullhead began to patrol the upper floors.
They all stared in silence until Ruby spoke. "We can't leave," she said, sure of herself.
After processing what the young girl said, Weiss expressed her shock. "Excuse me, but WHAT!?".
Yang then pulled her younger sister to be face to face with her. "Ruby, we are wanted by both Beacon and Atlas; in other words: We are criminals in both Vale and Atlas!".
"And what are we going to do!? Run around and hide? Do that until Seido decides to do something? We can't hide the truth any longer, Kuai Liang and the others are not our enemies, they can help us! I'm sure that they will all understand if we can sit them all down!".
Blake then took over Yang. "Okay, even if that was true, what makes you believe we should do that now!? We can do something to lay low until an opportunity comes along!". As she said that, the sound of breaking windows reached them, and they saw as pieces of rock pushed Ermac off the building, but he was then able to hold on to the edge as a light from the bullhead pointed at him.
'Attention invaders: You are wanted by Atlas military, surrender now or-'.
The voice of a man began to say through a loudspeaker but suddenly stopped. The bullhead then began to shake as a green aura started to surround it and all the soldiers abandoned the ship. The bullhead then began compact itself and Ermac then used his semblance to get on top of the former vehicle to then renter the floor he was pushed from at full speed.
What they had just witnessed was not good. From the looks of it, the ninjas were now at war with Atlas and Beacon; and by extent, that meant the four academies. Ruby, however, decided to run towards the building.
"Ruby, what are you doing!?" Ren yelled as he grabbed her wrist, effectively stopping her.
"You are right, it's dangerous, but if they are gone then so is any chance of defeating Seido and rescuing Pyrrha!". That last statement took the air out of all the members of JNR, making them realize she was right. She then looked at the rest. "I am going, I will not force you; but if you want to leave and hide for as long as you can, then you have my permission. Weiss, you are in charge".
The remaining girls looked at each other. Weiss then sighed. "No, I am not," she said as she then stood next to Ruby. "You are. For better or worse" she told her as she then placed her hand over the younger girl's shoulder.
Ruby then looked at Yang and Blake. Yang also sighed before putting on a smile. "It just wouldn't be the same without you sis. I'm in!".
Blake in turn smiled and nodded; and as everyone then turned to see what Neptune's answer was, they noticed him looking at the horizon.
Confused, Jaune was the first to call for his attention. "Nep! Yo! You alright?".
He did not turn but did answer. "Guys… is it the windy season?".
Now that he mentioned it, there seemed to be a growing wind current getting stronger by the second. "No…" answered a now concerned Weiss.
"Then… could that be causing it?" he said while pointing at something far away in the sky that was getting closer to them. it took it a few seconds until it went over their heads still managing to push them all to the ground and making a deafening booming noise until it crashed on the windows of the fifth floor and pushing away all of Atlas' soldiers, rendering them unconscious in the ground.
"What the… was that… a flying man!?" a stupefied Nora asked loudly what everyone was thinking.
The ninjas had finally made it to their destination. And just as they expected, there were more obstacles in their way; these ones in the form of Ozpin, Glynda, and who they figured out must have been General Ironwood from what the Atlas team mentioned he looked like.
Both groups stood still at opposite ends of the hall, neither making the first move. They remained like that until lights from the surrounding bullheads began to light up the windows. Shortly after, Sub Zero decided to speak. "I assume you all know why we are here. Hand him over".
Neither Ozpin nor Glynda moved, both holding their weapons of choice; only Ironwood did, but it was just to retrieve his guns. "Your allies are being contained as we speak. We know you have faked your identities, played us for fools to infiltrate us. Surrender now, and no one will get hurt!" Ozpin commanded with something in his voice and looks that the ninjas identified as a feeling of betrayal.
"You must understand that your request is impossible for us" Sub Zero responded.
"Very well… just remember that this was your choice…" the headmaster answered as he then held his cane like a sword and both Glynda and Ironwood pointed their weapons at them.
The ninjas also took a fighting stance of their own as they then took their weapons out; but as the bullhead was passing behind them, Ermac noticed something suspicious: The shadows of two birds that then began to fly towards them. "It's a trap!" the voices of the red ninja yelled in unison as he then created a wall with the things he carried from the previous floor. While the rest were not expecting the wall to hold the birds, they surely were not anticipating that a man and a woman carrying swords emerged.
The woman kicked Smoke in the face and effectively made him fall on his back while the man attacked both Hanzo and Sub Zero with a giant sword. Hanzo managed to block and hold the sword in place for a moment before the man turned into a scythe which he then used to break the hold and separate both teens as he then went on to focus on Hanzo who fell on the floor and now had two gun-barrels coming from the sword's guard pointing at him.
Ermac was ready to help his allies, but the things he used his telekinesis on were then stopped by Glynda's own powers, effectively leaving them in a deadlock.
Sub Zero was also ready to help, but stopped and formed an ice shield when he heard Ironwood shooting his guns at him.
"Raven, Qrow, well done" Ozpin complimented. "Will you surrender now?" Ozpin asked the ninjas again.
"Never!" Ermac's voices said in annoyance.
Ozpin did not answer, instead, he just nodded towards Glynda and then… towards something above Ermac.
Indeed, from the roof then fell a white-haired woman wearing a uniform like Ironwood's and wielding two swords which she used to attack Ermac. The ninja, in turn, used his ax to block and deflect her attacks. And when he managed to deliver a vertical slash which she blocked, he remembered Glynda. The woman then rolled away, and he had no time to react as Glynda used his debris to push him and crash against the window before he began to break and fall.
Sub Zero was now left watching as Ermac was gone, worse of all was that he was now able to see that Raven, the woman holding smoke with her sword on his throat, was the same one he and Hanzo had fought. They looked at each other with confusion at first having their roles now reversed. Speaking of Hanzo, he was in no better shape at the mercy of the man who Sub Zero immediately identified as the woman's brother in question, Qrow.
"Final warning!" Ozpin told the blue ninja as Ironwood stopped shooting. "Surrender now! You have been bested!".
Sub Zero remained still looking at his allies, the captors, and the broken window. That was until he saw the bullhead outside shaking. "Incorrect, headmaster. How could we be defeated if we are not fighting at our fullest?".
Before Ozpin and his group could process what the other man said, Hanzo did a leg swipe while also surrounding himself with fire which took most of the damage from Qrow's gun and forced him to jump back. While spinning, Hanzo pulled out his chained spear and threw it towards Smoke and Raven.
She was confused and distracted until Smoke turned into a cloud and she was forced to dodge. Hanzo then ran towards her with swords in hand. Qrow was ready to shoot again at Hanzo but was stopped when the smoke cloud reformed, and Smoke roundhouse kicked the sword away from its target. Before Qrow could recover, Smoke threw a smoke bomb which absorbed him and then materialized him on the roof.
Winter then ran to fight Sub Zero, but the blue ninja also noticed Ironwood preparing to shoot at him again. Sub Zero then made the wall from before cover the entirety of the hall to block the bullets before quickly creating an ice-blade to block Winter's attack. As they clashed weapons Winter noticed his eyes switching between her and the window. She managed to turn her head quickly enough to see Ermac over a bullhead, compacting it and then preparing to ram it through the window frame. "Look out!" she managed to scream as Smoke turned into a cloud once again and Hanzo teleported next to Sub Zero, grabbed him, and teleported once again.
As Qrow, Raven, and Winter were left alone, Ermac then decided to push the now trashed vehicle towards them. Qrow then used his weapon's shotgun to create a hole on the wall wide enough for Winter to jump through it, swords first, and land with a roll as she was followed by the twins in bird form.
"Push it back!" Winter then screamed at Glynda. The other woman was confused at first until she felt the building shake and heard a giant piece of metal against the floor. She then managed to see the distorted image of the bullhead through the ice a second before it broke the wall, and she used her semblance to stop it. That should have worked, but she still felt how the thing was being pushed towards them, so she pushed back as well.
The battle of telekinetic powers kept going for almost a minute as the remains of the vehicle kept being compressed even further until it was turned into a ball and allowed both sides to see each other. Glynda and Ermac looked at each other's eyes for a moment before both let go of the scrap ball which almost smashed through the floor.
As silence once again took over, Ozpin spoke while pointing his weapon towards them. "Impressive; but it's still four against six. And now you will-". His threat was stopped when all the remaining windows in the hall were broken by an unbelievably strong wind current. Said current would have slammed them against the wall, but he and all his allies managed to hold themselves by sticking their weapons on the ground except for Glynda who grabbed on to Winter and Ironwood who used his robotic arm to grab onto the floor. They had no time to recover as Ozpin managed to see that the new arrival grabbed what seemed like an empty crossbow which suddenly fired countless bright blue arrows.
Ozpin managed to create a yellow shield around him and his group which blocked the projectiles; and when the man noticed his arrows were doing nothing, he stopped. It was then that Ozpin and Ironwood noticed who said man was.
"Mr. Faher; long time no see…" Ozpin said as the shield disappeared. "Or would you prefer Anemos? Balta, perhaps?" he then asked mockingly.
The man in question did not answer. He just placed the crossbow on his hip once again before grabbing the grip of his sword. Physically, the man fitted the men both Ironwood and Ozpin met; but the man who stood in front of them had nothing but determination in his otherworldly white pupil-less eyes. His clothes were also much different from the giant multicolor shirt and the improvised veteran shirt and cap they knew, instead, they saw the man wearing white sleeveless robes with elegant blue shoulder paths and what seemed to be glowing blue line tattoos on his arms, with armor-like wrist guards and a brown belt.
"Where is he?" the man then asked the ninjas, ignoring what Ozpin Ozpin said entirely but not looking away from his enemies.
"Behind that door" Ermac answered.
"The others?".
"Not here. Communications are dead" answered Smoke.
"Figured as much with the portals not working."
"You go in; we'll hold them," Sub Zero told him.
Both sides went back to a stalemate, watching carefully at who would be the first to draw blood. And then, with just the unsheathing of his sword, Fujin created a gush of wind which forced Ozpin and his allies on the defense once again. Ermac entered a battle of debris against Glynda for a second time, Sub Zero rammed Winter with an ice slide and both Hanzo and Smoke deflected the attacks the Branwens aimed towards Fujin.
Ironwood then began to shoot and run towards his opponent. Fujin on his end deflected each bullet with swings from his sword until they finally were face to face. The wind god, however, was not expecting Ironwood to grab the blade of his sword, much less that he then pushed it away as the general then tried to smack the wind god's face with the handle of his gun.
Fujin's moment of distraction passed when he saw Ozpin in the air and ready to hit him with his cane. The wind god then created an air bomb that pushed him and Ironwood away before Ozpin's attack connected, leaving the sword with the general. Once apart, General Ironwood threw the sword away and Fujin was now able to see the exposed metal under the glove.
Both headmasters were ready to charge once again but noticed the strangeness of the man's movements. They then heard faint swishing sounds from behind and jumped away quickly enough to not get impaled by the now flying sword which was caught by Fujin.
Knowing these two would be a problem and with not much time left, Fujin looked at Hanzo who was blocking Raven's blade with both of his swords. The other man looked at Fujin as well, and when their eyes met, Fujin looked towards the headmasters once again.
Hanzo understood the message and did a swipe-kick which Raven easily jumped. He then rolled under her so that they were opposite to where they were and managed to get some distance between them as well. Raven decided that she had enough and went on to activate her maiden powers, but Hanzo seemed to turn into a fireball first and jumped as if to ram her. Raven moved away from him with ease but noticed as the fireball took human form again and Hanzo was now holding his spear, ready to launch it.
Ozpin and Ironwood, on their end, were ready to charge once again, but before they clashed with Fujin Ironwood felt as the spear got stuck on his back and made him stop, but Raven managed to cut the chain before the boy could pull Ironwood towards him, but the damage was already done and Fujin was able to block the hits from Ozpin's cane without the general's interference. Both men then entered a fencing duel, holding their weapons with one hand and blocking the tips and slashes coming from their respective adversary.
Their duel would have gone for longer had it not been for Ironwood jumping in the air and preparing a powerful punch. Fujin then created a quick gush of wind that propelled him up and away from the general's strike. Ozpin and Ironwood looked up to figure out where their opponent would land; to their shock, he was just running around in the air with his crossbow in hand and then shooting at them. Ironwood's metal prosthetic and Ozpin's yellow shields were enough to block the incoming arrows, but they didn't notice Fujin's real strategy until it was too late: the wind god was making a tornado.
As soon as the strong winds began to affect their respective fights, the ninjas abandoned them entirely and ran next to Sub Zero who created a dome around them. the wind current eventually grew so strong that the others were having trouble moving. Glynda then pulled the person closest to her – Winter - and then jumped with the other woman through the broken window while creating a platform with loose rocks for them to land in. Raven and Qrow did that as well on a window further away and then turned into birds to watch the situation from above. In the end, only Ozpin and Ironwood remained, and the tornado was now cutting their air supply.
Fujin then landed on the floor and spun once with his sword in hand, creating a powerful wind wall that pushed both headmasters to the wall behind them with just Ironwood having enough time to cover himself before both were buried into the rock.
Fujin quickly looked back and saw Sub Zero's blockade began to break from the inside. "Go! We will take care of the others if they come back!" he heard Ermac's voices say. With two-final diagonal slashes, the final blockade was gone and allowed Fujin to enter the room and find Raiden.
Eventually, the other four members of Beacon and Atlas' staff returned and resumed their fights, but no one noticed as Ironwood got out the wall.
Thankfully, the room was of modest size and there were only three occupants: a blond boy, a red-head, and a bed hidden behind curtains. "Thank the Elder Gods we are not too late" Fujin sighed in relief as he retrieved a sphere-shaped canteen no bigger than his hand. Fujin removed the curtains and opened the container; but before he could grab Raiden and pour the object's content in his mouth, he stopped and looked at the other with panic. 'This… this is not… it cannot be!' he thought.
Fujin let the body fall in the pillow once again, and with a shaking hand grabbed the hair before pulling it. To his horror, all the hair came off. "No… NO!" Fujin screamed in defeat.
'Chack-chack' Fujin heard from behind him, soon after followed by a bang. Within a second the canteen was broken, and the bright blue neon-colored content fell on the floor before quickly evaporating. "Do you really think we would have kept him here knowing your friends were coming?" he heard Ironwood's voice say. "I don't know what you were trying to do with… that, but you are not walking out of here after all the spying you-".
"That was it…" Fujin said in defeat and interrupting Ironwood. "The only jinsei in this world…" he kept saying as he then began to turn around; and when he was finally looking at Ironwood, Fujin's face showed nothing but rage. Before Ironwood could shoot another bullet, Fujin pushed the air between them and the current rammed against Ironwood with enough force as to send the man flying back.
Unknown to Fujin, however, was that in his rampage, the attack had also pushed Ermac, Hanzo, and even Raven. Once outside of the room, Fujin kept walking towards Ironwood, but before the others could even stand, Fujin created another wall of wind, pushing away all of them. Once only Fujin and Ironwood were left in the middle of the hall and just as the general's allies were ready to go and help him, Fujin created another tornado, stronger than the last one.
As the vacuum began to take away the air out of Ironwood's lungs, Fujin then pointed his crossbow towards his head.
On their way to the medical building, the ensuing battle was not lost to the huntsmen in training. From the flying man, the apparent explosion and all else were more than notable. And once next to the building's door, they then realized why Atlas troops were just surrounding it as giant boulders blocked the entrance.
"Great… now what!?" Nora yelled in annoyance.
They all then looked up and saw as a second wave of apparent explosion happened. "Anyone knows how to get up?" Neptune asked all others.
Weiss then took out her rapier. "Leve it to me, I just-".
"You there!" they heard a soldier say. Before he could do anything, however, Nora shot a missile at him.
Before the others could scold her, however, she defended herself with annoyance in her voice. "We are already wanted anyway. Better to take one person up there while the others keep these boys busy!" she told them before charging towards the other soldiers.
Taking the lead, Ruby addressed the others. "I'm going in. Who is with me?".
Only Neptune raised his hand. "Might as well; I don't have Tri-hard with me".
"Good; everyone else: Move!" she ordered. As they all ran, Weiss created a column of glyphs, and when Ruby and Neptune jumped in and got propelled up, a final wave of air pushed them away. But before they could fall, Ruby grabbed Neptune and used her semblance to enter through one of the broken windows. That itself turned to be a mistake as they then got caught in a tornado.
While they got flung around, Ruby and Neptune managed to see the ninjas and the other faculty members. Neptune grabbed Ruby and held her close as he took most of the hits as they crashed against the walls, floor, and roof until they finally got pulled inside the tornado. Neptune seemed to be knocked out, but Ruby managed to look up and saw a kneeling Ironwood and the flying man from before pointing a crossbow at the general. "Please… stop what you are…" Ruby tried to tell the man but immediately felt as the air began to leave her body.
Fujin was shocked by the girl's sudden appearance, but the faint screams from the ninjas outside caught his attention. "Fujin, stop! Stop!" he heard and did so immediately.
Once the tornado faded away, it was now Qrow who ran forward, ignoring the ninjas and Fujin. "Ruby! For the love of… come on kid, don't you die on me!". After a few slaps, Ruby seemed to have regained full awareness. Her eyes then looked at the ninjas who, even though were wearing masks, were showing relief in their eyes.
The moment of calm ended, however, when Ozpin and his group had their weapons drawn towards the ninjas. Even Fujin who was distracted by Ruby's display was surprised when he turned and saw Ironwood pointing one of his guns at his forehead. He then went to pull out his sword until another cocking noise stopped him.
"Don't!" Ironwood ordered as his second gun rested just over Fujin's hand.
"STOOOOOOP!" Ruby yelled and then sprinted out of Qrow's arms to push both Fujin and Ironwood away from each other. That display made everyone stop and look at her.
"Young lady, you better have a good explanation as to why-!" Ironwood began to demand with pure rage but stopped when she answered immediately.
"They are not the enemy! None of us are the enemy! Seido Ind- Whoever Seido are, they are who we all should be fighting against!".
The silence that followed felt eternal; no one knowing exactly what to do next. It wasn't until Ozpin's footsteps echoed that everyone looked at someone other than Ruby. he then stood in front of the girl, looking at her with cold determination and expecting nothing but the truth. "Explain" he ordered.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before answering. "We began to spy on Seido once we discovered they dealt with criminals; but… what we discovered was… more than we could have ever imagined. Pyrrha and Sun… even Cardin… what happened to them is because of Seido. When things got out of control, we asked for the help of Sub- Kuai Liang and his team. The reason Cardin and Sun are back and fighting to live is because of them!".
"And WHO are they?" Ozpin then asked. Ruby looked at the ninjas, expecting her answer just as much as Ozpin was.
Ruby, however, closed her eyes and then hung her head. "I'm sorry, but I promised not to tell" she admitted in defeat.
"What the girl says is true!" Fujin then said, surprising all present. "We truly mean no harm to you or your school". Facing a difficult choice, but knowing their best bet right now was the window of diplomacy that just opened, Fujin faced the ninjas and nodded before taking his weapons and throwing them on the floor. Surprise was present on Smoke and Ermac, but all the ninjas did as he did and dropped their weapons while Kuai Lian raised his hands. Fujin then faced Ozpin again before continuing. "Seido's actions are our responsibility in some way. We meant to take care of them without causing your… you, much trouble".
Before anyone could say anything else, explosions were heard on the ground. "The others!" Ruby yelled with worry. "My team and Jaune's are down there!" she then screamed in Ironwood's direction.
The general in turn looked at his allies who stored away their weapons. Then at Ozpin who let his cane fall on the ground. He turned to look at Winter one last time and she nodded in approval. With one final sigh, Ironwood let his guns fall on the ground before getting his scroll. "Attention all Atlas personnel stand down! I repeat, stand down. Retreat to the checkpoints". Immediately after, the gunfire stopped.
Neptune then grunted, and that made Sub Zero and Glynda run towards him. They turned his body so that he was now laying on his back as Glynda went to check on him. "Some wounds on his body, his breathing is stabilizing, his aura will take care of it eventually," she said.
Fujin then knelt next to her. "If you would allow me…" he said as he extended his hands and allowed white winds to cover the boy.
Before Glynda could push him away, Sub Zero stopped her. "It's okay," he told her, and soon enough, the damage on Neptune's body was gone and the boy woke up soon after.
"Young man, are you alright!?" Glynda asked with concern.
"I… I am!" Neptune said surprised, remembering his brutal entrance. "Ahh! That headache was not there before though".
"I can take care of your physical injuries; the rest is up to you," Fujin told Neptune.
"I do believe… apologies are in order" Ozpin's voice said. Fujin then stood up and looked back at Ozpin and Ironwood who stood in front of him. "I am sorry. We were only protecting our school".
"Likewise," Fujin said while bowing.
Both Ozpin and Fujin then looked at General Ironwood who in turn responded with all but kindness. "I accept our truce and peace intentions. I still have more questions".
"And I will do my best to answer them, but right now I need you to take me to Raiden".
"Who?" the headmasters asked in unison.
"The man we trying to rescue," Smoke said from afar.
"There doesn't seem to be any destruction from him yet. I might still be able to help him, even without jinsei".
"The what?" Ironwood asked.
"Jinsei. The blue liquid you spilled!?" Fujin answered with a hint of hostility.
"… Right… sorry about that" the general answered with honest regret.
Ozpin ignored their exchange as he looked at Ruby and Neptune who were distracted talking to Qrow, Glynda, and Kuai Liang. "I will take you to him, but only you! There are things that I do not want many of you knowing".
Fujin seemed confused by that statement, but Ironwood was concerned. "Oz, are you really going to take him there?".
"We are not taking anyone else, and you know the state he is in. I don't want to risk his life by disconnecting him, James! Although I fail to see how-" Ozpin said as an alarm went off in his scroll.
"Headmaster, what is it!?" Glynda asked.
"The security cameras. Something destroyed them!".
"Is Raiden in that room!?"
Neither of the men said anything, but the look on their eyes was telling enough.
"Take me to him right now!" Fujin ordered as everyone then jumped out of the window.