Hoo boy, this got long.

Chapter Forty

Stripped Shadows

Neo rushed outside, scroll-less, umbrella hooked on her elbow, and eyes wilder than the Grimm she slaughtered on the way here.

The dimming sky was sparked with streaks of lightning and fire above them. Amethyst was surrounded in a swirl of lightning, hovering above the encampment with a stern frown. Cinder stood in the center of the clearing, right on top of the bit of turf Neo noticed before, with a smug grin and something clutched behind her back.

"Hello, Amethyst."

"Cinder Fall," Amethyst spat as she lowered herself to the ground with her elbows bent and palms up. Her purple highlights glowed and floated idly just above her shoulders. "Surprised to see me?"

Cinder's grin turned into a full-toothed, diabolical smirk. "Not at all."

All the while, Neo signed only two words over and over. She tried to attack Cinder but her semblance and weak grasp of magic battered Neo back and nearly made her skid into the tent. She waved her parasol frantically as Amethyst readied herself to blast forward in a cloud of fire and lightning. Cinder brandished the device in hand with her thumb poised over a button.

Stop. Stop. Bomb. BOMB.

Amethyst, who started her march toward Cinder, abruptly stopped at the last sign she caught from Neo. Her determined, rageful face faded into a look of dread. Her cold eyes latched onto Cinder as the Fall Maiden waved the device languidly.

"Killing me wouldn't be wise," Cinder said with a twisted smile. "My grip on this detonator is the only thing stopping this entire clearing from going up in flames." She leaned forward, mocking. "Do you want that?"

"So you're threatening to blow yourself up just so I don't tackle your ass to the ground like the weak False Maiden you are?"

Cinder hummed. "I'm not in danger. I believe the good Headmaster has given you explicit orders to protect Neopolitan, correct?" Amethyst's eyes narrowed. "She's much closer to the blast zone than you are."

Dammit. Cinder must still be able to sift through Atlas's systems. She had to make some distance between herself and that metal plate Cinder was standing on. Neo, carefully, casted an illusion over herself and moved toward Amethyst. She flinched as her illusion shattered from a gunshot through the treeline. The White Fang must be surrounding them. She couldn't move.

"I would suggest you stay where you are, Neo," Cinder warned.

"Do you seriously think you're going to win this fight?" Amethyst barked, though Neo guessed Amethyst was trying to reason with Cinder now that she had no other choice. "I've got six years on you. I've trained for the day we'd meet. Do you have any idea what kind of power I have compared to you?"

"You assume that the victory will be here, in this clearing? No." Cinder's thumb shifted to rest on the button. "You're here. And because you're here, I've already won."

Neo grit her teeth. It was a trap, but Neo predicted wrong on what the trap would be. Cinder… Cinder wanted Amethyst away from Beacon. So she couldn't contain the blast. Couldn't minimize the damage in Vale. Couldn't help.

Don't. Don't press it, Neo thought with wide eyes and her hands clutching her parasol. If she moved, Cinder would press it. If she used her semblance, Cinder would press it. If Amethyst tried to use her powers, Cinder would press it. Neo's eyes shifted, slowly, over to Amethyst's. The blonde and purple haired Maiden stared back with grim eyes.

Amethyst sighed, an accepting look on her face. "We'll survive the blast."

Before Neo could sign a very adamant hell no, don't do it, a line of neon purple ran between Neo and Amethyst's hands. Neo gasped as she was pulled off her feet at a fast speed, right towards Amethyst, and behind her she heard the bomb go off. The air was knocked out of her when she slammed into Amethyst, the Maiden curling her arms around Neo and turning so her back faced the explosion, fully shielding Neo, and seconds before Amethyst summoned a cocoon of ice to encompass them, Neo watched as Cinder was flung high into the air, knees bent and hands flat on the metal slab that was pushed up into the air from the bomb that was right beneath her feet.

"Stay calm!" Amethyst said with a stern tone and a coiled hold on her. Neo squirmed to get her hands free, pushed at Amethyst as she could see the fire roar around them through the quickly melting ice. "I'm reinforcing the ice as it melts, stay calm!"

Neo finally wrenched free of the Maiden's vice grip and managed to sign a response.

:That wasn't the only bomb:

"What?!" Amethyst roared as her hands splayed out against the ice around them. Icicles formed around her hands and thickened the ice around them. "Where were the other bombs?"

:Vale and Beacon:

"Bloody 'ell! This is it: Cinder's making her move!" Amethyst took a precious second to pull out her scroll and shove it into Neo's hands. "Once the dust settles, I'll break the ice around us. Jump on my back, I'll fly us to the Bullhead. Text James! Tell him to ready every damn unit he has in Vale. This is war!"

|Earlier|

Ruby thumbed every bullet with care as she slotted them into the extended magazines. She was careful to separate the bullets by dust type, and while she filled the old cartridges with mostly regular, non-dust infused bullets, she decided the extended mags deserved a special test run, and she only had three of them. So, dust ammo it was.

"You really get in the zone when working on your weapon, huh?"

She shook out of her intense concentration to see Mercury across from her as he watched her actions intently. Over his shoulder, she could see Penny to the right of the workshop door. She blinked, noticed Ruby staring at her, and waved happily. Ruby huffed in amusement and focused on Mercury. "Yeah. Weapon maintenance lets me turn my brain off. It's… a nice distraction, especially now."

"Hm. I'm… kind of like that too. I haven't been able to sit down and really think about modifying my legs though." Mercury drummed his fingers on the table. "Mostly just quick repairs."

"Oh. Maybe - uh - maybe when we have some free time, we could… brainstorm together?" Ruby proposed with an awkward smile. "I mean, maybe I could help. With your legs. Once this Cinder business is over with."

A tentative smile edged across Mercury's face. "I'd like that."

Ruby ducked her head as his smile made her insides squirm. It felt like before they started dating, and while a part of her missed the closeness, starting over… it felt right. Suddenly skittish, fumbled with the next bullet and it popped from the magazine. It rolled and hit Mercury's armored forearm. He pinched the shell between his fingers and grabbed one of the extended magazines. "What dust type in this?"

"Um. I was thinking gravity for that one? Though, I wonder how time dilation bullets would work."

As he grabbed for the gravity rounds, a smirk played at his lips. "Thinking of inventing time dilation bullets?"

Ruby shrugged. "Maybe. Though I guess it would need to be some form of dart. Oh, or maybe an explosive bullet that disperses refined, powdery dust that's activated the moment it - uh." She grabbed for the second extended magazine and began to fill it with ice rounds. "Rambling. But yes, I'm thinking about it."

"Hm. You should try it." They shared slight smiles. Mercury tried to peek over his shoulder without looking obvious. He muttered. "She still staring at me?"

Ruby sighed. "Mercury, Penny's here to keep you safe."

"And by extension put me on 'house arrest' aside from when I'm with the proper company?"

"Don't be whiny. You're lucky Ironwood didn't throw you in a jail cell alongside Roman," Ruby said sternly as she handled the ice dust a bit too forcefully. She felt her fingers go numb as some of the dust effects leaked onto her skin. "And besides, Penny's my friend. She genuinely wants you to be safe."

"That's correct!" Penny said from behind him.

Mercury sighed. "I'm just not used to having someone over my shoulder like this."

"Better than Cinder?"

"Well. When you put it that way."

She snorted. "That's what I thought."

They descended into silence for some time. Ruby moved from filling ammo magazines to fitting the new scope onto Crescent Rose. She used Mercury's emblem cloth to wipe down the scope. He made no move to take the cloth back or stop her from using it, so she assumed he was okay with her hanging on to it for now. Midway through fitting the scope in place, Mercury made a sudden, urgent hmm.

"Uh. So Ruby."

Oh dear. That wasn't a good tone. "Yes?"

"About Polendina."

She flicked her eyes up to look at him with her head still dipped toward her work.

"I know she's a robot."

Penny audibly gasped. Ruby's eyes raised to her hairline. "I- wha- how—"

"So, might've seen the metal on her hands right after she stopped that truck. Put two and two together. I know the difference between a prosthetic limb and a synthetic body."

Ruby, with an open mouth and disbelieving eyes, shook her head and looked to Penny again. She looked equally shocked, and her eyes held a vulnerability that hurt Ruby's soul. "Penny…"

Penny lowered her gaze to her clasped hands. "The General won't be happy when he hears that my actions exposed what I am."

"Hey, Penny?" Ruby rushed over to her friend. "Don't think about Ironwood right now. Um. He doesn't have to know! Mercury knows, so what? He won't tell anyone! And besides, you're more than just a robot, you're a person, and he knows that! Right, Mercury?" As she looked back at him, Mercury had a shaky, apologetic smile. Her hopefulness dropped. "Oh no. You didn't."

"Cinder… might know?"

"Oh, Gods." Ruby rushed to her scroll. "Mercury, I love you, but please stop causing so many damn problems."

Mercury, visibly taken aback by Ruby's curse, nodded. "Um. Yeah. Sorry. Really sorry. To you both. Never gonna happen again, I'll be problemless for the rest of my life."

Ruby narrowed her eyes.

"Okay, Gem, I'm being genuine but I'm rambling because you're terrifying when mad."

As much as the comment made her want to laugh, she kept it contained as she waited for her call to connect. Ruby glanced at Penny, who looked equally as terrified but for a different reason.

"Ruby, what do you think General Ironwood is going to do to me? I-Is he - is he going to stop me from—"

"He's not going to keep you from doing anything. I promise. Let me handle this," Ruby said firmly. "Quick, tell me: what's in the system about you? What files?"

"I-I'm not sure if I should-"

"Don't give me details. Are there diagnostics? Do you feed information through Atlas's systems? Are you connected at all?"

"Um." Penny thought hard. "I believe my repair report after the incident with the truck should be on file?"

"Okay. That's all I need."

Mercury cocked his head. "What're you planning?"

A sudden protectiveness flamed alive in her gut. "To lie to the General of the Atlesian Military."

She allowed one eyebrow to wing up in amusement as Mercury choked on air. A moment later, the call connected and she was staring back at the General himself.

"Miss Rose, was there something you needed?"

"I wanted to let you know that Cinder is aware that Penny is an android with a soul."

"Cinder knows that Penny is a wha- ahem. Hm." Ironwood schooled his shocked expression. "Excuse me?"

Ruby bounced on her toes. She darted a glance to her audience before she focused on the General again. "The virus Cinder implanted did more damage than you thought. Apparently she got a hold of some repair log of Penny's and put the pieces together. Mercury told me so I could warn you."

"I- alright. Is Penny still with you?"

"Yes." Ruby lifted her eyes to Penny, who stared at her with a slowly growing smile. "She's fine."

"Alright. I'll have my people look into this. Thank you, Miss Rose." The General sounded very tired, albeit grateful.

"Of course. And I won't spread this around, I promise."

Ironwood, through his weary expression, smiled genuinely. "I know you won't, Ruby."

She ended the call with a bright smile, threw out her arms, and said, "Problem sol- ah!"

Ruby squeaked as Penny lifted her in a vice grip. "Thank you so much, Ruby!"

As she tried to wriggle out of the bone-crushing hug, Mercury laughed with a disbelieving grin.

Blake stared intently at her notebook as she paced down the hallway to the gardens. With Weiss and Yang patrolling, and Ruby holed up in the workshop with Mercury, she had time to focus on the intricacies of this crime syndicate. Her eyes darted between names. Cinder, Adam, Torchwick, Emerald, Neo, Mercury. Cinder, the ringleader, and Torchwick the puppet playing the mastermind. Neo, the faithful partner of Torchwick, and Mercury and Emerald? Cinder's right hands?

What was Adam, in the midst of this? What could Cinder have offered?

"He certainly wasted no time after I left," Blake murmured to herself. She abruptly snapped her notebook closed as she heard heels clacking along the floor, and when she raised her eyes, someone she rarely interacted with stood before her. "Um. Tempest?"

"Uh Hi. Sorry, I-I need some help with CRDL." Tempest jutted her head towards the gardens. "They took Velvet's box thing and won't give it back."

Blake groaned. So much for free time. "Wishful thinking to assume they'd act mature in the midst of a crisis. Alright, show me where."

Tempest beckoned her to follow. "Just out here. They're running around the hedges."

They ventured out of the building and into the waning daylight. Blake scanned the gardens with squinted eyes for the troublesome team. Her faunus heritage helped her see as the sun dipped further in the sky, but the light held just a sliver. Tempest stood beside her. "Well? Where are they?"

Tempest, with a finger to her chin and in a tone that Blake couldn't decipher, replied, "Oh. Well look at that. Not here."

The cat faunus scanned the area again. She strode forward with uncertainty, a sudden strange feeling forming in her stomach. She stepped past the fountain, past the half-hedge wall, and scanned the edge of the academy. Where were the robotic troops? She strained to look down to the right, where Amity was. Where was Velvet? Where was…

"What?" Blake muttered. She whirled around. "Tempest, what's going on?"

Her electrifying yellow eyes stared deeply into Blake's. An almost regretful tinge tainted their depths. Around her hand, her aura glowed, and electric yellow orbs floated around her. "If it's any consolation, Blake, I am deeply sorry. I had hoped you would join us again, but he seems to think that will never happen."

Blake's breath hitched in her throat. Tempest… was White Fang? Blake felt her aura weaken as the yellow orbs of light flung themselves forward and circled around her. She coughed, staggered, and barked, "What are you doing?!"

"Weakening your aura. My semblance amplifies the amount of damage a target takes with the next hit. Can't have you full power, now can we?" Tempest looked to her left. "Emerald?"

A gunshot echoed and Blake cried out as the green-tinged bullet hit her in the chest and bounced off her aura. It knocked the air from her lungs and she felt her aura buckle against the force. With a chime, Emerald Sustrai appeared, perched on the fountain with her fingers to her temple. Tempest lowered her hand, and the yellow orbs disappeared. When Blake tried to make eye contact with the mint-haired woman, she turned her eyes down in a look that Blake could only decipher as shame.

"Why? Why, Emerald?" Blake paced forward as she regained her breath. Tempest dropped into a defensive stance. "We would have helped you!"

Emerald pursed her lips and locked eyes with Blake for a long moment. Another emotion registered. Fear. "You can't help us."

"Then why did Mercury think we could help him?"

"Because he left before Cinder told us who we're working for."

Her stomach dropped to her feet. Cinder… wasn't the leader? Who was then? Who was? And why was Emerald telling her this? Why was Emerald here?

She heard a sudden, horrifying noise. The noise of an all too familiar blade sliding from flesh.

When Blake whirled around, she felt her world drop around her as Brawnz Ni, the leader of BRNZ, fell to the ground, lifeless, and the man she ran away from wiped his blade of blood.

"Hello, my darling." Adam Taurus smiled.

"Jeez, this thing is light."

Ruby watched with an amused smile as Mercury hefted Crescent Rose in it's folded up, sniper form. He looked down the sights toward the wall, but didn't fire. "Yeah. Kind of had to make it light, because of my noodle arms."

"You know, you really should keep up with that." Mercury lowered Crescent Rose. "If you build some muscle and add weight to this? You could deal a lot more damage."

She shrugged. "Maybe one day. I'll have to commit to the hand-to-hand, I guess." Her scroll chimed, and she reached to look at the text as Mercury fiddled more with her weapon. "Oh. Pyrrha's asking about you."

"Yeah? I'm guessing she's taking my defection from Cinder better than most?"

Ruby smiled. "Definitely. And… it helps that she knows about, um, Cinder's status too."

Mercury blinked. "Does she now?"

"Yeah. Ozpin… wants her to be the next one." She nodded slowly as she said this.

"Oh…" Mercury stared at Crescent Rose. After some silence, he unfurled Crescent Rose into its scythe form and held it with an imperfect, unsure grip. "At least he has a plan."

"It's better than nothing," Ruby reluctantly agreed. She typed out a quick message to Pyrrha.

Ruby: {At the workshop with Merc. Come see him for yourself!}

Mercury swung her slowly, both because he was unused to the weapon and he had to be careful with his wound. Ruby assessed his grip on the weapon, chuckled, and stepped forward to settle her hands over his. "Here. Place your right hand here, and your left hand higher up. Place it like- no, other way. There!"

She stepped back, happy with his stance and grip. He tried the same swings again, and his body language was more fluid with the correct grip. "Huh."

"Are you not used to hand-held weapons?" Ruby asked as she hopped up to sit on the workbench.

"Guns I can figure out, for the most part. I've never actually used melee weapons before. Well, my dad tried knife play with me at first, but we switched to kick-based attacks pretty early on."

"Why?"

"I picked it up faster. My mom, before Dad got crazy with the training and even more controlling, she would take me into the city. I saw on a TV through a shop window these guys fighting with, uh, I think Tae-Kuon-Do style? I looked at a few others, and I liked a bunch of different styles. So, Dad started teaching me those. Soon enough, I learned Capoeira and Muay Thai too. Then added my own spin to it." He hummed. "Only time he really gave me something I asked for."

"Hm." Ruby drummed her fingers along her thighs. With an unsure inhale, she wet her lips and started, "Hey, Merc? About Marcus…" From the corner of her eye, Mercury stopped swinging Crescent Rose and turned towards her. "When I entered your soul to heal you, I… I ran into him."

Within moments, Mercury folded up Crescent Rose and rushed over to her. He placed her weapon on the workbench beside her and grabbed her shoulders. "What did he do? Whatever he said Ruby, don't listen to him, he said it to get a rise out of you. He-"

"Mercury, I'm fine." Ruby said with a reassuring smile. "He actually, um. Well, he helped me."

Mercury visibly looked taken aback. He released her shoulders and took a step back. "How?"

"I was in- not water, but it was a body of, um, maybe alcohol? He pulled me out of it, to shore. Right next to the core of your soul." Ruby rubbed at her arm in uncertainty. "He- He told me he didn't like Cinder. He said, because of her, his legacy was rotting. And, um, his death, it-" She had to push out the words as she saw Mercury's expression morph into a rageful scowl. "-it was a final test?"

She watched, warily, as he breathed deep through his nose. His fingers slowly clenched into fists so hard they shook. His jaw clenched. He tested the words on his tongue: "Final test."

Ruby nodded shakily. He walked with deadly silence to the side, and with a sudden, rageful growl, punched a hole into the wall beside the workbench. Ruby raised her hands in a halting motion towards Penny as Penny instinctively brandished her swords from a ways away.

"I'm not gonna hurt her, Polendina!" Mercury bit with anger lining every word. "That piece of- is he ever going to stop haunting me?"

Ruby kept her eyes glued to her lap. "He said it was up to me to save you. And once I did, he would make it his mission to turn you against me."

He seized her hand immediately and slid the other under her chin so she would look him in the eyes. "That's never going to happen. You understand? He's a memory. You- you're all I've got that's good. He's dead. He won't win, I won't let him take anything from me ever again."

Her free hand caressed the side of his face. "I believe you."

"Okay. Okay." Mercury let out a shuddering breath, and all the rage left him. He turned his face into her hand, kissed her palm, and sighed. It made her nerves tingle and spider out from where he kissed. Then, he snorted. "We're not very good at this distance thing."

Ruby giggled, and reclaimed both her hands. "No. Not really."

"I'm, uh. Sorry. I just - he keeps popping up at weird times." Mercury paced back and forth in front of her. "First, it was his voice after the dance. Then, turns out Ozpin knew I was his son. Now, my own consciousness is making him seem like more of a threat than he is."

Ruby squinted, gnawed at her bottom lip. "Um. This might be a weird thing to say."

"Hm?"

"He… didn't feel like a memory?"

Mercury turned fully to her. "What do you mean?"

"I- I don't know, I just. Whenever I see him, I eventually do the - the eye thing. Everything flashes white, and then he's gone." Ruby laced her fingers together. "I don't feel like I'm talking to a memory. I feel like I'm talking to your dad. And - I don't know, you're more experienced with this soul synergy stuff. Why do the white flashes happen?"

"I noticed that, the first time we tried it." Mercury crossed his arms. "I've never heard of it. Dad never mentioned it either, but now that you're mentioning it - didn't he react to it? The first time?"

"Yeah. He was a lot more interested in me than before."

Mercury scrunched his nose up in disgust as he looked off to the side. "Please don't ever say my dad was 'interested' in you ever again. Eugh."

"Come on, I'm being serious." Ruby slid off the workbench and stepped into Mercury's space. "If you've never seen that white flash happen, or even heard of it, why did he react like he did?"

The more Mercury thought of it, the more his face twisted. Ruby felt her scroll ping in her pouch. She distractedly looked at the notification.

Her heart leapt up to clog her throat.

"I… don't know. I don't really want to think abo- Ruby?" Mercury caught sight of her expression. "Ruby, what's wrong?"

"Emerald. She texted me."

Mercury arched a brow, suddenly apprehensive. "What does it say?"

With a deep breath, she lifted a finger to tap on the message. "Let's find out- oh no. Neo was right."

"Huh? About what?"

"There's- there's a bomb!" Ruby holstered Crescent Rose and frantically gestured for him to follow after her. "There's a bomb on the air strip, it's going to detonate soon, come on!"

"And we're running away from it, right?" Mercury questioned as he ran after her. Penny quickly fell into step. Ruby didn't answer. "Ruby?!"

"Come on!"

She tried. She tried so hard to escape, to leap onto one of the archways and alert her friends. But chains wrapped around her ankles and her leap upwards suddenly turned into a hard fall.

Blake yelped as she landed flat on her back on the stone walkway. She heard Emerald's chains rattle as they unravelled from her legs. Adam chuckled with some humor.

"I think you've done enough running, Blake," He said with his sword half drawn.

"Why did you throw your lot in with Cinder?" Blake managed to get out with some strain. She stumbled to her feet, katana and sheath in dual wield.

"Because she promised results." Adam stepped forward. As she stumbled back, she glanced behind her to take note of where Emerald and Tempest were. As Tempest turned back towards the building, they both vanished from existence right before Blake's eyes. "Lein and dust as well. And we seem to be getting good results so far."

"What results?" Blake yelled. "Inciting mass panic on humans and faunus alike? Attempting to murder two people on a national broadcast? Rebranding the White Fang as a bunch of terrorists?!"

"Fear. Fear is the result." Adam stalked toward her and unsheathed his sword. She parried the hit and clashed swords with him. He peered at her from between their blades. "Recruitment has increased to double what it was before! Now we are feared, we're taken seriously!"

"And so have the damn defections! You're trading in your true, devoted followers of a just cause for radical extremists that are using the guise of a civil rights movement to commit unjustified violence! I mean, really, why do you think I left? Fear won't bring the results you truly want!" Blake shouted, just as passionate.

"Oh? And running away like a coward, like you did, will?" Adam accused with a sneer. He leaned even closer. "Linking arms with a Schnee will?"

"Her name is Weiss."

"Unbelievable!" Adam growled, and in a sudden move, he reeled back and kicked her hard in the stomach. Blake fell with a grunt. "You're too ashamed, too afraid to even show your faunus heritage! This-" He reached forward and ripped the bow from her head. Her hand instinctively flew to shield her cat ears. "-shows me that you're just a shell of the freedom fighter you once were! And here I thought you would be the one to fuel the fires of revolution beside me, how naive I was!"

Adam lunged for her, but she ducked away and left a fire-imbued clone behind. It exploded behind her, but it did little to impede Adam. Blindly, she whirled around and parried his blade with her sheath and struck out with her katana. The blade went through him but his image shimmered and suddenly he stood a few meters to her left. She blinked, growled, and darted forward to slice at him again. He vanished, and appeared elsewhere.

"What?!" Blake twirled her sword. "How are you doing that?!"

Instinct told her to whirl around. Adam charged toward her, sword ready to deploy from his sheath. She gasped and hurried to make a clone with gravity dust. She leapt on top of her clone's shoulders a split second before Adam's blade hit the clone. She was launched up while he was propelled backwards.

As she travelled up and her ascent slowed, she narrowed her eyes at the gardens below. Adam's form already vanished yet again. An illusionist. There had to be an illusionist. Did Neo trick them yet again? But - but no, Neo was already off Beacon grounds, and her illusions didn't work like this! Maybe, maybe Emerald? She should have asked Mercury what Emerald's semblance was! She threw Gambol Shroud at the fountain, and pulled herself so she stood atop it. "Show yourself! No more hiding!"

Adam shimmered into existence to the right and below her. "That's rich, coming from you."

Gambol Shroud reverted into its pistol form, and she shot at Adam. He absorbed most of her shots with his blade before he flickered away and appeared in a different spot seconds later. Her breaths quickened as he kept changing position, and with each hit he absorbed his hair glowed a brighter and brighter red.

She grit her teeth. She swung Gambol Shroud around by her ribbon and leapt to the ground. She whirled around in a circle until she latched onto him. Still invisible, but now bound by her weapon, Blake surged forward and knocked Adam to the ground. She straddled him, pulled the ribbon taut so he wouldn't worm free and use his semblance.

Her free hand latched around his throat after she felt around for it. It was oddly boneless against the grip of her hand, but she threw the thought away. She still couldn't see him, but she knew he was there. "You may think I'm a coward, that I betrayed you, but you're the true betrayer! You twisted the message of peace and equality into chaos and domination! I don't want that!"

His head bled into vision. His red hair no longer glowed, but she could feel his glare burn her through his mask. "Then you're still blind to how the world works, my love."

All rational thought left her mind. Blake reverted her weapon to katana form and raised it above her head. Tears welled in her eyes as she wailed in exertion, and plunged her weapon down. She sobbed as she felt the blade pierce flesh. Did she really just stab Adam? Did she really just kill him? "Oh, Gods. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. You gave me no choice, I'm sorry!"

Blake rolled off of him and reclaimed her weapon with a hiccuped sob. She pressed a hand over her mouth, rolled to her knees, and pushed herself to stand. With a long breath and shaking hands, she peeked down at Adam's body.

It wasn't Adam.

It… It was Brawnz. Adam's face morphed into Brawnz's, the illusion dissolved. Blake looked at her bloodied blade. She stabbed a corpse? But why did they trick her to-

"I didn't expect you to cry." Blake lurched around to see Adam scrutinizing her with a cocked head. Emerald stood behind him with her scroll up and a blank, hollow expression on her face. "Still care about me, hm?"

Blake stumbled backward, her mind officially in shambles. Too many questions piled up in her mind and she just couldn't understand what the hell was happening with the entirety of this fight. Was - Was Adam even here right now? No, he had to be, they clashed blades, she felt his boot on her stomach, and his words were so very Adam she doubted someone could recite them with the same effect. But how did she end up wrapping her weapon around - it made her gag to just think it - a corpse?

He must have propped it up. Let her assume it was him. But why? Why?

"What - I don't understand-"

"You get everything?" Adam asked Emerald with thin patience.

Emerald pressed her lips together and nodded. "Yep."

Blake furrowed her brows. She gripped her weapons and brandished them before her. "What are you talking about?"

"You'll see, my love. Soon enough." Adam shifted his attention to just over her shoulder. "What is-"

"Bark, bark!"

Blake yelped as a flying Zwei zoomed over her shoulder, his body radiating gravity dust, and slammed right into Adam's face. The bull faunus grunted with a disbelieving what the hell as the gravity dust pushed him back and straight into Emerald. Zwei bounced off him and into Blake's arms. "Z-Zwei? What-"

"Blake!"

She gasped and turned. "Weiss!"

As Adam and Emerald scrambled to their feet, Blake ran with Zwei in her arms towards Weiss's voice. She could spy her in the distance, a gravity glyph shrinking before her eyes. A scroll was clutched in Weiss's hand as she spoke into it urgently. "Yang, Emerald is here, and some man in a mask!"

One of her cat ears twitched as she sensed the near-silent sound of Adam's semblance lighting up his hair, mask, and sword in a sickly red tinge from behind her.

"Get down, Weiss!"

Without question, Weiss hit the ground. Blake followed seconds after. Moonslice arched over their heads with heated ripples. Blake, as she released Zwei so he could trot alongside her, ran to Weiss, dragged her to her feet, and as she turned back to see Adam sprinting toward her again, flashed an ice clone into existence at the last second. He grunted as his sword was stuck in the ice. Emerald, now recovered and with her scroll tucked away, unleashed a volley of bullets towards them. Blake dragged Weiss along, dodged Emerald's assault, and kept one eye on their six as Adam leisurely, leisurely, broke free of the ice and strolled after them.

"Why isn't Yang with you?!"

"Because I'm faster and heard explosions, but-"

Blake barreled over Weiss's response. "Right. Yang, if you can hear me, do not go to the gardens!"

"What? Blake, what the hell is going on-"

Weiss gasped out, "Blake, who is-"

"He killed, I-! Brawnz is dead, Adam killed him! That was Adam Taurus!" Blake screamed back. "Now just run! RUN!"

Ruby burst through the doors to Beacon's courtyard with Mercury and Penny close behind. Pyrrha and Jaune recoiled as Ruby frantically ran past them, and she ignored their calls of worry. Scroll in hand, she dialed Ozpin's number with frenzied breaths.

"Professor Ozpin! I just got a text from Emerald-"

"Where are you? What did Emerald say?" Ozpin said with urgency.

"It- It-" Ruby choked on air as she stumbled toward the air strip. Mercury plucked the scroll from her hand as Penny guarded them with vigilant eyes.

"Ozpin, it's Mercury," He said as he kept one hand on Ruby's shoulder to ensure she wouldn't charge into danger (or in this case, a freaking bomb) and also in the hopes to calm her down. "We need to get everyone off the air strip and comb it for explosives. Cinder's resorting to bombing, and it's been planted already. Emerald wrote she didn't know where it was, just somewhere on the air strip."

"There's a bomb?!" Jaune exclaimed. Pyrrha and Jaune must have followed after them.

"Here? We need to clear this area then!" Behind her, Pyrrha strode forward and cupped her hands around her mouth. "Everyone! Retreat back towards Beacon! A bomb is somewhere on the air strip! What are you waiting for, go!"

Ruby couldn't hear Ozpin's responses, tuned out the burst of panic that rang around her at Pyrrha's yelled order. A few wayward students ran past as Atlas soldiers and Knights marched past. One soldier tried to grab onto Ruby's shoulder, but she barely felt it before Mercury knocked the soldier away and glared him down with the scroll still to his ear. This was bad. So bad. They were supposed to regroup, heal, and defeat Cinder, but Cinder moved her pieces faster than they could and now the clock was ticking.

The airstrip was bustling. Amity was just nearby, soldiers were everywhere, how were they going to evacuate all of these people? The airstrip was the evacuation site! If it was taken out, so many people would be stranded, unable to make it back to Vale!

"We need to find where it is!" Ruby announced as she desperately tried to calm herself. "Okay, how do we do that? How do we find it? Think, think. Oh! Penny? Can you find it? Like, scan for it?"

"I can try. Do we have any idea what this would be made of?"

Ruby shook her head, lost. Mercury huffed, turned with Ruby's scroll still to his ear still, and guessed, "Probably a mix of fire and earth dust. It's what she used for Glenn. Cinder had boxes on top of boxes of the stuff thanks to Torchwick."

"Do you have any idea what the outer casing would be made of?" Pyrrha asked as she turned around. "If I know the type of metal, I might be able to sense it without messing with the magnetic fields and accidentally setting it off."

Jaune seized Pyrrha's shoulder. "Pyrrha, that's too dangerous. You're still recovering!"

"And those bombs don't react well to tampering," Mercury cut in. "Good idea, Pyr, but too risky. Penny, you got it?"

"Fire, earth. I shall scan the area." Penny's eyes lit up a brighter, more vibrant green with just a blink. She looked over the entirety of the strip with narrowed eyes and swords that swirled around her idly. She then looked directly down. "It's right beneath our feet."

Jaune blinked. "How did she do that? Wait, right beneath our-"

"Okay, let's step off of the explosive device, quickly." Mercury blurted as he latched his hands around Ruby and Penny's wrists and hauled them back several meters. He shoved the scroll into Ruby's hand moments before he did so, and Pyrrha dragged Jaune along to follow after them. "Okay. So we found it. Now what?"

Ruby looked down at her scroll. "Professor?"

"I'm on my way. I will stop it from hurting anyone, I assure you."

"You know how to disarm a bomb, Oz?" Mercury asked with immense skepticism.

Ruby could hear the humorless smile that edged at the Headmaster's mouth through the scroll. "Not in the sense you are referring to, Mister Black."

"Why is there a bomb?" Pyrrha questioned urgently. "How do you know there's a bomb? Mercury, did- did you plant it before you joined us?"

"This wasn't me." Mercury glared at the spot where Penny indicated the bomb was buried. "This must've been done recently, maybe during my match against Yang? There was no plan to bomb Beacon, no plan to bomb anything beyond the train cars back at the Breach."

"Was that Miss Nikos?"

Wordlessly, Ruby passed the scroll to Pyrrha. She put it on speaker for all to hear. "Yes, Professor. It's me."

"It has to happen now, Pyrrha. I'm sorry. I'm nearly there, and once this bomb threat is gone, we need to head to the Vault."

Pyrrha's complexion turned a ghostly white. In a small, fearful voice, she replied, "Yes, Professor."

A cold weight settled in Ruby's gut. It was all too fast, too fast for her to keep up and process. Pyrrha was going to become the Fall Maiden today. Whatever Cinder was planning, it was happening now. "Pyrrha…"

"I'm fine." Pyrrha cut Ruby off with a detached reply, but her eyes told a different story. "Jaune, I think it best we summon our weapons."

Jaune shook his head with a scowl. He had to shout over the crowd of people filtering around the group. "Can someone explain this all to me? There's a bomb sitting right over there, under the pavement, Cinder's doing something, and what is Ozpin talking about?! What do you have to do? What Vault?"

"Jaune, I-" Pyrrha's voice hitched. Her eyes began to glisten with tears. "I'll explain it all after, I promise."

"But-"

Jaune's reply was cut short as they all heard a distinct beep. There was a moment where they all stood suspended, eyes wide and unable to move, disbelieving of what they just heard. Mercury was the first to break free of the shock.

He pushed Ruby behind him as he backed away. Jaune and Pyrrha stood, shocked, in front of them, while Penny moved away as Mercury did, keeping him in front of her. "Back, get back! Don't just stand there!" He groaned. "Oh, for the love of-"

The blast was sudden and a shock of heat washed over them all. Her ears rang and she heard, distantly, people screaming in terror. Ruby was flung back from the force before Penny caught her and spiked her swords into the ground to keep them both in place. Penny braced one hand on Mercury's back to stop him from skidding backwards as well. Pyrrha and Jaune skidded back multiple meters, far behind them. And Mercury…

He anchored his heels to the pavement. Silver smoke ebbed off his shoulders and trailed all the way to his fingertips as his arms extended out, towards the explosion. Her breath caught in her throat as his semblance activated, and the plume of fire and debris rocketing towards them slowed to a crawl.

"Mercury?"

"Ruby." Mercury growled through gritted teeth as he strained against the pure magnitude of the force working against his semblance. "Go. Get. Ozpin."

"O-Okay! Just hang on!" After detangling herself from Penny, Ruby turned towards Beacon and ran, ran with all her heart as rose petals swirled around her.

I don't think we've seen the last of Adam...

Dragon Lord Draco: Glad you enjoyed, and it was basically just Cinder being her mocking, annoying self. Any warning Neo signed wouldn't have mattered because, well. Everything was already set. Neo just didn't want to be blown up lol.

Astray-Tech: Thanks! Glad you enjoyed :)

The Baz: Breaks are pretty common, at least from my experience. It's a good way to reflect on your relationship without the pressure of romantic gestures. I think of it as a step back in a relationship, but in a good way.

Antex-The Legendary Zoroark: Lol, Weiss-Wich is an adorable and hilarious word for it. And thanks! Handling the Fall was always a scary task in my mind (so many characters, ahh), but in looking at what I have down...I think I'll be able to keep it interesting :)

Benji the Monocat: Lmao, "Secret Squirrel Shit" gives me Perry the Platypus vibes.

The Night Whisperer: I don't think anyone can be as crazy about weapons as Ruby! Ruby's inner weapon geek won't fade away like it seemed to in the show (before I stopped watching, idk how she is now). But yeah, Mercury might not go all geeky with it but he definitely has an interest in weapons.

thedrugedghoul: I plead the fifth.

Servos New Head: Really? Off the top of my head I can only think of Ruby, Emerald, and an OC as gem names for characters.

Next chapter: Malware. Lonessa out.