Chapter Forty Five

On a Roman Holiday

Ruby clutched Crescent Rose tightly to her and nudged the lapels of Roman's coat out of the way as she carefully watched the movements of Lynae, Roman, and Neo. She felt a little useless. The way Roman and Neo moved, like they had never separated, picked right back up where they left off, made them an unstoppable force against Lynae. When Lynae tried to advance on Roman, Neo was there, parasol deflecting the blow and her agile flips outmaneuvering her. When she tried to slice at Neo, Neo splintered into pieces and Roman moved in. Ruby checked her scroll, and while Neo's aura was low from… whatever happened to her before this point, Lynae barely scratched her.

She looked up at Amethyst, still high above on her Bullhead. The manticores were dispatched, but from the blonde's slouched position, she looked absolutely exhausted. Ruby decided to call Amethyst in the hopes that they could come up with the next plan of action as Roman and Neo took care of Lynae.

"Ruby."

"Amethyst, do you know anything about the situation at Beacon?" Ruby asked.

"Pyrrha has a small amount of the Fall Maiden's power and she's fighting against Cinder right now. I'm helping her but I can't keep this up forever, you need to get on this ship now."

All color drained from Ruby's face. She whispered. "Cinder? I-Is Pyrrha okay?"

"For now. But you have to move. We need to get to Beacon!"

Fear struck at Ruby's heart and left her paralyzed. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. Pyrrha was supposed to be okay, and Ruby was supposed to help her! Her fingers trembled and squeezed her scroll and scythe. She felt rage trickle through her system next. This wasn't fair. This wasn't fair!

"Ruby, move!"

Scroll abandoned, she shot off like a rocket. Her silver eyes honed in on Lynae and her vision went from wide to narrow. Lynae just knocked Roman back and stumbled from a kick by Neo, and never did she feel a blood rage roar through her like now.

She didn't register Neo's frantic head shake or Roman's startled Red?! as she zoomed towards Lynae. She hardly felt the piercing pain that Lynae reached out to inflict on her with her semblance. Ruby, with a shout, sliced at Lynae's torso, which the woman knocked back and held with her glove, only for Ruby to yank her weapon free and slam the blunt edge into Lynae's side. Lynae was thrown past Ruby, Neo, and Roman and tumbled along the metal.

"Tag team it, Lyn! "

"For the love of-" Roman seized as Slate, from a distance, sprayed bullets from his assault rifle at him. Ruby raised one hand in Roman's direction as he stumbled away. " Lightning dust."

To her right, Neo's form shattered and she appeared in front of Roman to deflect more of Slate's shots. Her pink aura flickered.

"Neo! I- huh?"

The edge of Ruby's scythe - the part where Lynae grabbed hold of for a moment - pulsed purple. Ruby was pulled forward with a yelp as Lynae's glove glowed the same color purple. Gravity dust worked against her as she was dragged along the ship only to go airborne. Lynae grabbed Crescent Rose and hurled it with Ruby behind her, right in front of Slate. He seized the handle of Crescent Rose with both hands and his fists shifted into hardened rock. Ruby yanked at her weapon but Slate stared back with a mocking smile and a bloody nose.

A crack and whistle from Roman's cane wiped the smile away though, and Ruby ducked down as the explosive round hit Slate square in the chest. She winced back as his fists crumbled and scattered into pebbles, and Slate stared with dumbfounded shock at his arms, now lacking hands and half his triceps. That dumbfounded look turned into pure rage and he surged toward Ruby with a manic scream.

His aura sputtered as the rest of his skin began to solidify into rock as he charged, ready to ram Ruby head on. Ruby scrambled back on unsteady feet, and winced as he closed in to a mere couple inches away from hitting her face-

Only for Ruby to fall to the ground in shock as, within a second, a young nevermore swooped down and snagged the man in its beak. Slate's slowly shifting face went from angered to petrified before Ruby lost sight of him. His screams rang across the skies as the nevermore flew away, dropped him, and multiple other Grimm swarmed around the falling man to… to play with him before feeding.

Ruby felt her stomach flip, and whatever was in it threatened to rocket right back up.

"Slate!" Lynae shouted. "Dammit, kill the girl! Not my ally!"

Her silver eyes blew wide open. What did Lynae just say? Can she- can she control the Grimm?!

Within seconds, a cacophony of shrieks rang from above her. Ruby felt something snag on the hood of her cape. She was pulled through the air just as a huge griffon speared its beak into the spot Ruby just stood. She craned her head around and brought up her scythe to block Lynae's desperate swipe of her glaive just as she passed by her. Not long after, Ruby slammed into Roman and the grapple of his cane wound all the way back to become a full cane again. As she slammed into him, he wrapped an arm around her to stabilize her.

Never in her life did Ruby think she would call herself slow, but here, she was molasses. She was too slow when a cloud of baby ravagers (Vacuoan Grimm! How?) dove in front of Lynae and forced Roman and Ruby to hit the deck. Roman fired his cane upwards to dispel the group of tiny bats. She was too slow when Lynae swung around and shifted her weapon into its sniper, too slow when Neo rushed forward amidst the chaos, past the flock of griffon's that heeded Lynae's call. Too slow when Neo shattered as Lynae hit her with the butt of her sniper, but at the same time pulled the trigger.

After the initial shatter, Neo appeared on the opposite side of Lynae, where the sniper barrel pointed. Her aura shattered in a pink mist, the shot buried deep in her stomach, and her eyes shifted to white. One gloved hand clutched the wound, and as Lynae smirked and slapped the necklace she tried to place on Ruby before on Neo's neck with a swift movement. Neo jolted and collapsed, but Lynae snaked an arm around her and winked at Roman and Ruby.

"Well, one's better than nothing!" Lynae pointed at Roman and Ruby and summoned more Grimm. "Buy me some time, darlings!"

"Neo!"

Ruby felt her eyes burn and, in a bright flash of white, the Grimm around them disintegrated into nothingness. She grit her teeth and fell to the ground with her hands clutched to her head as Roman skirted around her. The world was muted and silent as her vision flickered in and out. Why did that keep happening? First in Mercury's soul, now… here? But why did it hurt so much when outside of his soul? She forced the thought away. There wasn't time. Neo needed her. Neo needed her to get up!

Ruby struggled to push herself up and blinked in the direction of the combat. Roman had the grapple of his cane hooked to Neo's parasol and pulled with all his might. Lynae tried to fly away, but the sudden loss of the Grimm around her had her struggling against a fighting but weak Neo and an enraged Roman.

"Red, get the hell up!"

Ruby gripped for Crescent Rose and woozily looked down the sights. She grit her teeth and fired at Lynae's wings, which the faunus roared at. With an aggravated yell, she released Neo and flew down and out of sight with not even a glance.

Roman yanked Neo to him and caught her. He cradled her to his chest with a snarl on his face. Ruby stumbled over and ended up running into his side.

"Roman, come on, we have to go before Lynae comes back!"

Ruby tugged at his sleeve, but her silver eyes looked past him then, where Lynae's familiar profile rose up while perched on the back of a Teryx with Slate's body slouched behind her. Her weapon was in glaive form and pointed in the direction of the ship. From underneath the battleship flying Grimm rose carrying numerous grounded Grimm in their talons and beaks, and with a collective screech, the Grimm raced forward, dropped Grimm all around them, and bombarded the battleship in an attempt to destroy it completely.

"Oh Gods, we gotta go, we gotta go!"

She wrapped her arms around him and burst into a flurry of rose petals. They went spiraling backwards just as an Alpha griffon spiked down just where they stood moments before. Her eyes burned and a brief flash of white light blinded them all. Ruby blinked to see the Grimm wincing away, and a second later, the already darkened sky brewed into a full on storm of purple electricity and icy rain. In the distance, she saw Amethyst on her ship, arms out and towards the heavens, blue eyes streaming fire, and with a distant scream, she fell to the floor, brought her hands down with her, and from the skies purple lighting and shards of ice shot down and spiked into the battleship and disintegrated Grimm. Ruby just kept moving, her arms tight around Roman's torso and her eyes peeled and watering.

Distantly, Amethyst roared from the ship, "Jump! Jump, Ruby!"

Ruby looked between Amethyst's ship, their position, and finally, the now exploding battleship thanks to Amethyst's final barrage. Her eyes narrowed.

"Red—"

"Hold onto me!"

She weaved them through the snarling Grimm, attracted to her panic and Roman's negativity, and went tumbling off the ship. Ruby forced down her negative emotions as she glared up at the Bullhead that swerved to avoid hungry Grimm. A vortex of wind formed around them and pushed them up high, and in the distance Ruby could see Lynae's Teryx weaving through the great storm to pursue them.

"Amethyst!" Ruby cried. She reached out a palm, and Amethyst reached out hers in kind. A string of purple connected the two, and Ruby, Roman, and Neo were pulled into the Bullhead.

"Boa, get us to Beacon yesterday!" Amethyst barked. Her purple aura flickered along her body. She clutched the wall and raised her revolver to shoot down the nevermore that hurled itself towards the ship. "Gods, I haven't used my magic on this scale for years… "

Ruby ignored her, and instead pushed herself to sit on her knees as Roman braced a hand on the ground as he sat up with Neo still in his arms. His green eye found hers. "Christ, Red. I— uh."

Ruby couldn't hold it in anymore. Tears ran down her face as she sniffled. Roman's already tense stature turned to practically stone.

"I-Is she going to be okay?" Ruby whimpered.

Roman pressed his lips in a firm line and laid Neo down flat on her back. Her breathing was labored and her stomach covered in blood. Roman peeled back her shirt and winced at the damage. "I can't get the damn necklace Lynae slapped on her off, but we need to deal with this gut shot or she'll bleed out."

Without hesitation, Ruby unclipped her cloak and thrust it towards Roman. She waved it in front of his nose when he arched a brow at her. "Use it! I'll be fine, I-I have your jacket! See?" Ruby picked at the white collar for emphasis.

"So you do…" Roman said in a slow, dragged out tone, and with some suspicion reached out to grasp the cloak. She let Roman take her cloak from her fingers, even though it pained her to release it. In the end, she couldn't let sentimentality get in the way of the big picture. Neo was more important in this moment.

A purple scroll appeared in front of her. From the corner, a small golden chain with a purple fleur-de-lis hung from it. Ruby blinked and followed the arm to the determined scowl of Amethyst Grendel. "Am-Amethyst?"

"We don't have time to stall. Welcome aboard the Quietus." She pushed her scroll into Ruby's hands. "Take my scroll. I've got Boa so I don't need it."

"And who are you?" Roman drawled with feigned nonchalance as he hastily treated Neo.

"Amethyst Rai Grendel, Summer Maiden, and now your protector." Amethyst didn't blink an eye.

"Uh. Okay."

The Maiden didn't spare him another glance. "Ruby, listen. About twenty percent of Amber's soul is with Pyrrha, and the rest is with Cinder. I'm able to talk to Pyrrha through some Maiden magic, and she's making a last stand at the top of Beacon Tower. Er. Well. She did, but now she's with Jaune and going crazy with her semblance."

"W-What?!"

Amethyst seized Ruby's shoulders. "We can get there in time, but you need to use your eyes."

"M-My… eyes?"

"Down there, you noticed that white flash? What were you thinking when that happened?"

"Um. 'Why is there a white flash?'" Ruby offered. Amethyst looked unamused. "I mean… before that I was panicking over Neo…"

"What were your exact thoughts when you were panicking?"

Ruby shook her head. "I- um. I wasn't really thinking, I- I just wanted to protect them."

"How sweet of you, Red."

"Zip it." Amethyst waved in his general direction. "You want to protect Pyrrha too, right? Use that. Think that."

"I- um- okay. Okay. But, where's Professor Ozpin?! Wasn't he with-"

Ruby felt the words die in her throat at the look on Amethyst's face. She took notice then of the dried tear tracks, the red-rimmed eyes. Amethyst's lips pulled into a deep frown, and she sniffed. Her face turned to stone as her expression threatened to crumple.

"He's… is he dead?"

Amethyst nodded solemnly. "He called me as he was breathing his last breaths."

Dead… Ozpin was dead. Not long ago he looked into Ruby's eyes with pride and love spilling from his eyes, almost like a father would a daughter. She hugged him, and suddenly she wished so bad she listened to her gut and went with him instead of wishing her wayward thought that she wouldn't see him again was just a bout of pessimism she needed to squash. No wonder Amethyst's eyes looked so empty.

"Oh."

Amethyst stayed silent. The ship around them rocked and shuddered. She growled. "Dammit, Lynae isn't going to give up on us that easily. Call who you need to, I need to help Boa stabilize this thing."

Amethyst began to walk towards the door to the cockpit. Ruby glanced at Roman before she reached out. "W-Wait! What about Neo?"

Amethyst sighed, looked over her shoulder, and braced one hand on the doorframe. "Boa can patch her up. Just keep pressure on the wound, alright?"

Ruby stared down at the scroll in her hands as the guilt built inside of her. Every choice she's made… it's made them a target. Neo, Roman, Mercury. All of them. The only one safe was Emerald, and that's because she went against Ruby. Did she make a difference? Is she fooling herself? Her eyes watered again. She's trying to do so much, but it's not enough.

In a small voice, Ruby said, "Okay."

With a nod, Amethyst went to vanish into the cockpit. But she hesitated, like she was about to tack on something else. "Ozpin gave me permission to do something. If you accept." Ruby raised her eyes, and willed her expression to harden into careful indifference. Amethyst's lips twitched at the effort. "Ruby, will you join Ozpin's inner circle in protecting the world's secrets?"

That's it. Ruby was certain if Amethyst just punched her full force in the gut she would be less winded. She saw Roman's jaw unhinge and hit the floor from the corner of her eye, and his dumbfounded expression was just about what she was feeling right now. Before the city went up in flames, she worried about this. Worried she wouldn't be able to handle it. But… Ozpin thought she could. Ozpin looked her in the eyes and said, with unwavering confidence and resolve back when Ruby was still grasping at the idea of Maidens, that he believed in her.

In you four, I've seen nothing but determination in protecting Vale and eliminating this threat that shakes the era of peace we've managed to uphold.

Ruby closed her eyes. It was a mountain of responsibility. But wasn't this what she strived for? To protect others who couldn't protect themselves?

Do me proud. I have no doubt you will, as you always have.

It wasn't even a decision. Her answer was obvious. She breathed in deep, opened her eyes, and replied, "Yes."

Amethyst appraised her, then nodded. Her eyes didn't leave Ruby's as she spoke, "Boa."

"Yes, my lady?"

"Send this to the scroll I gave Ruby. On my authority, and on the authority of Headmaster Ozpin, I hereby grant Ruby Rose the title of Huntress." Amethyst stated with a slight curve of her lips. Ruby's jaw dropped.

"And would the place of issue and authority be Vale, Beacon Academy?"

"Yes."

"What class license?"

Ruby couldn't breathe. She couldn't breathe.

"Class S."

She choked. Class S?! That was one security level below Uncle Qrow—

"Affirmative. Authentication approved. Congratulations, Huntress Rose."

On Amethyst's- well, Ruby's now, scroll, her license popped up. Her name, her license number, the issue date (which was her birthday, woah), her face, oh God.

"You'll be on Class S as a trial run. It'll give you access to almost all classified information, and travel restrictions are nonexistent unless you wish to travel to the Unknown Region. All information I have is available to you on that scroll." Amethyst paused. "I would suggest waiting until your uncle or I can explain the contents fully to you. And uh, don't spread around the fact I have clearance to do this, 'kay?"

"O-Okay. Th… Thank you." Ruby squeaked.

When she looked up, Amethyst had already disappeared into the cockpit. Her eyes were wide and glimmering and despite the sour and pain of the day, she felt her heart try to beat out of her chest. She was a Huntress. She was a Huntress.

"What the fu- fudge just happened?"

Ruby nearly jumped out of her skin. She whirled around to see Roman, arms crossed and Neo bound in her red cloak, laid across his lap. Her mouth opened and closed as she waved the purple scroll in her hand.

"I'm- I'm a Huntress."

Roman nodded slowly.

"I'm sixteen and I'm a huntress. Oh my- oh my God."

"Well done, Little Red." Roman's reply came out as mocking, but it was diluted with another tone Ruby couldn't quite place. "Now, why don't you ring the boy toy to get an idea of what we're flying into?"

Ruby nodded numbly in reply.

Mercury growled, and with clenched fists, faced his next opponent while he tried desperately to ignore the huge freaking Wyvern that decided to show itself moments before. "Weiss, I'm not asking you, I'm telling you. Get up."

"I'm not leaving until I know where Ruby is!" Weiss barked back. The front of her dress was covered with the green fluid from Penny's body. Atlas soldiers took the time to carefully hook Penny up to a myriad of machines and move her onto one of the evacuation ships, but left behind a mess. "Try her again!"

He glanced down at his scroll helplessly. After a few attempts at calling Ruby, the Paladins and Knights fell to the ground in a crumpled mess. He assumed that was a good thing, that Ruby managed to disable the ship, but still, he hadn't heard anything… "She's not answering, Ice! What do you expect me to-" His scroll rang then, and he hurried to open it. He scowled as an unknown number glared back at him, and with a hostile snarl, he accepted the video call. "Who the hell is- Ruby?!"

Ruby's tired, red-rimmed eyes stared back at him. Alive. Thank the Gods.

Weiss stumbled to her feet and sidled up to Mercury to see as well. "Ruby! Where are you?!"

"Are you alright?" Mercury rushed out as another Bullhead lifted off.

"I- I'm okay, I'm on my way back with Roman. As for Neo…" Ruby bit her lip. "She's alive, but she's injured."

Mercury felt his stomach drop to his feet. Neo. She had to be okay. She had to.

"Lynae was insistent on trying to capture Neo, but I think we managed to lose her. That aside, I…I need to know what's happening at Beacon." Ruby's voice was strong and steady.

But then he realized he would have to break the news to her.

"Whatever you did worked, all the robotic forces are down for the count. Right now we're all on the air strip. A couple of teams have been evacuated, but there's a lot still fighting. Yang and Blake are already sent off."

"Is Penny okay?"

Mercury closed his eyes. "...No."

There was a long pause. He peeked an eye open to see Ruby rubbing a hand down her face. "How bad?"

He glanced at Weiss. Her eyes were firmly planted to stare at her lap. "She… might make it."

Mercury watched as Ruby's face started to crumple. She resisted, and while her eyes glistened, she let out a shuddered breath and continued with a croaky tone. " Is everyone else alive? "

He shared a long look with Weiss. "So far… four are confirmed dead. We haven't heard from Pyrrha or Jaune." Mercury pressed his lips together as he eyed the few remaining ships. "Right now we're evacuating, but I'm-"

" We. " Weiss interrupted pointedly. Mercury scowled.

"...are staying back along with Sun and Neptune until everyone else is out. We're the only ones with some aura left at this point."

Ruby was silent for a long moment. "I'm on my way back. What about the tower?"

Mercury squinted his eyes up at the tower, as did Weiss. Weiss shook her head and answered for him, "It doesn't look like anyone is-"

As if on queue, a demonic screech rang across the city. Mercury and Weiss hunched down and covered their ears. Before Mercury could even glance around to find the source, his eyes caught sight of the Wyvern. His eyes widened at what was on its back.

"Is that Pyrrha?!"

Beside him, Weiss nearly choked on air. It was. Her spear was buried in its hide and she wiggled it around in a desperate attempt to steer the beast. The Wyvern beat its massive wings, flew forward, and smashed into Beacon Tower.

His jaw hit the ground.

"A Grimm just- just smashed into the tower with Pyrrha on it! " Weiss shrieked.

Mercury, unbelievably, heard Ruby swear under her breath, and she yelled, " Hang on, I'll- I'll do something! But you all need to evacuate!"

"Not without you," Weiss bit back. "We're covered here. Whatever you do, Ruby… be careful."

" ...I promise." Ruby sounded so certain, Mercury almost believed her.

"Ruby? I…" Mercury felt it on the tip of his tongue, hanging there. He didn't know if he'd see her soon, again, ever. He didn't know if he'd live through this. He didn't know if she would. But then he thought of the tattered state of Ruby's team, the many injured and some dead students, the weary yet rigid resolve of the Atlas soldiers that corralled worn out students onto dropships. Resolve filled his bones. "Keep moving, no matter what, okay? Wherever you go, I'll find you. I will find you. I promise."

Ruby was silent on the other end. He heard a light sniffle: she was trying to hide her tears. "I'll be waiting."

The line went dead. Mercury felt his lip quiver as the destruction before him spanned out and tunneled in. Water edged at the corner of his eyes, but he blinked them away. These were his friends, clinging to life, trying to fight on. He lowered his scroll.

With odd synchronicity, Weiss and Mercury stood. They nodded to each other, walked forward, and joined Sun and Neptune as they held the line. Weiss brandished her rapier. Mercury dropped into a defensive stance.

Resolve filled his bones and strengthened his soul. He wouldn't let another hair be disturbed on his friends' heads.

Blake hovered around Yang with a fierce glare and her weapons gripped tight in her hands. They made it to the Vale checkpoint, barely. If Coco hadn't tagged along as an escort, she was certain the sudden influx of non-native flying-type Grimm would have forced the ship to crash.

Citizens flowed in and out of ships in hordes of panic. Atlas soldiers posted on nearby buildings were constantly firing off rounds at approaching Grimm, and portable turrets fired powerful green beams at the larger Grimm after a short charge for each hit.

She felt her ears pin down at the amount of side glares she received from the populace. Some of the citizens hurled themselves at her, and it was only thanks to a few soldiers guarding the medical area and the fierce stances of Sage and Coco, who still had a fair bit of aura left, they didn't reach her. Even then, the soldiers around them looked at her in distrust, and she spied some special operatives whispering among themselves. The citizens shouted, whispered, sneered, and all of it made her soul shrivel more. Murderer. They think you're a murderer.

Belladonna, White Fang, Faunus. In one fell swoop, she was tarnished with all three. No longer was she Blake Belladonna, the human huntress with a cute bow and the dual wield fighting style. No longer was she a criminal hidden in plain view. Now she was a criminal unveiled for all the wrong reasons. Framed. And what was she going to say? She hallucinated that Brawnz Ni was somebody else? That he was dead before her blade pierced flesh? It didn't matter. She still intended to plunge Gambol Shroud into a man's chest, even if the man was Adam Taurus. What would the people of Menagerie say? What would Mom and Dad say? Did they see the broadcast?

...did they already disown her, if they hadn't yet?

Her cat ears shot up straight as Yang's hand weakly snagged her elbow. Her stump was rebandaged and treated by one of the field doctors and Blake periodically forced her to eat and drink to get rid of her pallor. Her lilac eyes were more lucid than before, when Mercury talked her down, but she still had a noticeably cloudy gaze.

"Any… any word?"

Blake checked her scroll. All the students that stayed behind still had aura left, but… Weiss worried her. Her summon took a lot out of her, and out of all of RWBY, she had the weakest aura. Neptune was going the strongest, with only a third of his aura depleted. "They're still alive."

"Good, good… Ruby?"

Her finger slid along the statuses and settled on Ruby. Her breath hitched. Signal lost.

Yang looked pitifully hopeful in the corner of her eye. Blake tried to push down her panic. Why would the signal be lost? She refused to believe Ruby was anything but alive. Besides, she would have received an alert that Ruby's aura broke! Unless… unless she lost her scroll? After all… signal lost didn't mean her vitals flatlined.

Blake held her tongue and lied through her teeth. "Still going strong."

The tension in Yang's shoulders slackened and a relieved sigh deflated her torso. A grateful, dizzy smile was directed at her. Blake wanted to crawl into the nearest shadow she could find. She didn't deserve Yang's sunshine, not now. Not when she was the reason Yang was down an arm, not when she fibbed about her own sister. But… she didn't know what else to do. If Yang knew Ruby's condition was unknown, she didn't know what she would do.

She couldn't protect Ruby, not here. But she could protect Yang.

"Miss Belladonna?"

Blake whirled around and brandished her weapons as she placed herself in front of Yang. She met the soft green eyes of a male Atlas special operative with a rabbit's foot hanging from his belt and a clover pin on his chest.

She backed away and lowered her weapons. She narrowed her eyes. "What."

The man sighed and reached behind him. He brandished a pair of gravity bolas. "I'm sorry, but based on the video footage, I have to place you under arrest."

Her eyes stayed locked on the bolos, her body numb. This was it. Her pledge to become a huntress slipped away, her desire to walk forward with a clean future as she left behind her sullied past, all of it was water running through her fingers. If she were locked up… Adam was still free, and he threatened- no, promised , he would destroy all she loved. Adam would go through with it. She couldn't stop it if she was in a cell.

"Are you serious?" Coco sauntered up with her weapon in briefcase form on her hip. "Blake is your priority when you've got a citywide evacuation happening?"

"And who exactly is taking anything said by Cinder Fall in a broadcast just after bombing Vale seriously?" Sage added with a dark tone as he hefted his sword to lay across his shoulders.

The man pinched his nose before he held out his scroll for first Blake, then Coco and Sage to see. A Atlas-issued huntsman license was displayed. "Special Operative Clover Ebi, leader of the AceOps. Look, Miss Belladonna, I'm not saying this is going to be a permanent thing. But look around you: citizens are panicked at the sight of you, and they're bringing more Grimm towards us with that negativity." The man pocketed his scroll. "General Ironwood thought it best to bring you to Atlas for your own protection."

"Atlas?!" Scarlet squawked from behind Sage.

Blake brought back up her weapons. "You can arrest me, but I'm not going to Atlas."

Coco huffed. "Damn straight, you're not."

Clover's eyes darted to Coco, Sage, and Scarlet behind him. "Are you interfering with a Military Officer's duty?"

With a defiant huff, Coco tipped down her sunglasses so he could see her coco colored eyes. She gave a smile with all teeth. " Damn straight. "

Blake felt Yang snag her elbow again. She jumped to catch her as Yang slipped off the cot, but her blonde partner managed to stay on her own two feet without much assistance. With clearly enunciated, whispered words, Yang broke through her delirium and said with a tremor in her voice, "Find our idiots, and bring our team home. "

"Y-Yang, I-"

In the sloppiest form Blake ever saw, Yang threw herself in the direction of Clover Ebi and socked him right in the jaw with a left hook as he was turning away from the defiant Coco. He stumbled and caught Yang at the same time as she, too, dipped forward as she lost her balance. Scarlet, on no aura, flung himself at two of the Atlas soldiers who turned at the commotion, and Coco cackled before she whipped her briefcase around to crack another helmeted soldier across the head.

"Blake, come on! " Sage barked a deep bellow before he took her by the elbow and carted her through the sudden chaos and, despite the strain of her injury, hopped over the barricades. Blake used Gambol Shroud to pull them onto a rooftop. Her mind went blank as the three letter RUN screamed through her head, and oh Brothers, is that Clover guy going to arrest Yang now for assaulting an officer?

Sage pushed her forward suddenly, and she stumbled but caught herself. She heard a loud thud behind her, and turned to see Sage tied in those gravity bolos and Clover, with a bruise forming along his jaw, clambering up after them.

"Don't worry about me, go! Find Ruby! Bring them all home! " Sage encouraged, and with tears in her eyes and a grateful smile, Blake turned and ran.

She pushed through the guilt of leaving her allies behind to take the fall. She pushed through the worry she felt for Yang, for all of them, and hoped when Yang was more lucid and less prone to delirious punches, she would keep faith in her.

Blake stored her worries away for another day. She had a caped leader to track down.

FF glitched out for me yesterday. Fun times. But we're in the home stretch!

Next chapter will be Mercury's side of the finale. The chapter after will be Ruby's.

The Night Whisperer: One thing I'll always like about Jaune is his dedication to protect his friends!

Dragon Lord Draco: We'll see in- well, not the next chapter, but the chapter after that chapter, what happens to Pyrrha!

Shadowstorm-Vash: Adam is definitely... something. He's going to have a bit more prominence on the baddie side though, so he's not going to go away for a while.

Servos New Head: Lol you're not hallucinating, an interaction between Jaune and Pyrrha occurred where Jaune stated if no one asked her to the dance, he would wear a dress. No one asked her, so he wore a dress to make her feel better.

Car ride: Ah, saw that on AO3? I think it would too, but I don't think I'll implement it in this story. Maybe a what if? scenario later down the line though!

Next chapter: Boot, Meet Throat (II)

Lonessa out.