Daytime in Argus. At the Atlesian Military Base, various soldiers and guards work on their jobs. Novus and Weiss are walking with Cordovin and Saphron, who is holding Adrian in her arm. They are also escorted by the two Nubuck Guards. Weiss drags a large luggage case behind her. Novus walks next to her, his super shotgun out, making the two guards nervous.
"Ah, I was relieved to hear that you came to your senses, Miss Schnee, you too Miss Amari. Many of us were devastated when we heard you would be attending... Beacon Academy. Knowing that you'll be returning to Atlas just warms my old heart" Cordovin said in a warm tone.
Weiss was pretending to be happy about this "It was... time to get my act together and go back to my roots".
Cordovin just kept on smiling "Oh, I can't wait to see you follow in your sister's footsteps."
Weiss spoke with an unenthusiastic smile on her face "Absolutely...".
"And you, Novus" Cordovin continued, "I had only heard tales of how you helped clean out an Atlesian facility. Your fighting skills are quite impressive, I must say."
Novus nodded in reply, causing Cordo to glance at him questioningly.
"He doesn't talk much anymore." Weiss explained.
"Oh, I see" Cordo said "Well, I'm sending two of my best guards to personally escort you. Make sure General Ironwood hears that part" Cordovin winks and walks away.
"Allow me to assist you with your bag" One Guard said as he hups over to pick up Weiss' luggage "My, what a heavy bag!".
Weiss kept her grip on her luggage "That's alright!".
Guard 1 "Nonsense!".
Guard 2 "Allow me to assist as well!".
"I can take care of it by myself!" Weiss said.
As Cordovin walks away, she overhears Weiss and the Nubuck Guards conversation. She stops in her tracks and gains a suspicious look on her face.
Saphron notices this and whispered to Adrian "Just like we practiced".
Adrian nods at his mother. The baby then lets out a loud wail that can be heard throughout the base. Adrian "cries" as he fusses in his mother's arms.
"Oh no! Look at that, he's just going to miss you so much! You should hurry on out of here!" Saphron said in fake concern.
Guard 1 "A crying child?".
Guard 2 "We must console it!".
The two guards hup over to Adrian as they perform weird poses to amuse him. Cordovin continues walking with an unamused look on her face. While they are distracted, Weiss and Novus quickly get onto the airship with Novus carrying luggage behind him.
"That was close" Weiss said.
Novus nodded in agreement.
Ruby spoke over an earpiece "Is everything okay?".
Maria spoke from inside Weiss' luggage "Call me heavy... It's all muscle! I'll show them a thing or two about heavy!".
Novus then drops the luggage on the floor, earning a grunt from Maria as Weiss answers Ruby "We're on board".
Elsewhere, the others are waiting along the cliff-side between the forest and the ocean.
Ruby speaks "Alright, we'll all watch our scrolls. The second Weiss is out of range of the comm tower, that'll mean she's out of range of the radar too".
Yang spoke over radio "And that's when Blake steps in. We're almost at the drop off".
In another area, Yang is driving Bumblebee with Blake sitting behind her.
Blake has her Scroll out receiving instructions from Terra "Okay, remember: one, the radar box is separate from the rest of the communications equipment. So if you disconnect it properly, it won't take out comms for the rest of the city. Two, this conversation never happened".
"Don't worry, this isn't the first time I've disabled Atlas security" Blake assured.
Terra stares back with an unamused look "Never. Happened".
Yang arrives at the drop off point. Blake steps off the bike and proceeds forward "You sure I shouldn't come with?".
"More intruders means we're more likely to be seen. Besides, stealth isn't exactly your, um..." Blake began but Yang stares back at her with her arms crossed "I mean, you're great! And I'll hurry back".
Yang softens her expression "Go".
Blake smiles back at her before heading off "Heading in on foot. Won't be long".
"Blake, be careful" Julius spoke over the radio.
"Don't worry, babe. I got this" Blake assured.
On the airship, Weiss sits in a passenger seat. She looks down at her scroll and notices her friends' signals slowly going out of range. Upon seeing this, Weiss looks at Novus and nods. Novus nods back before gets up and heads toward the cockpit.
Before the guards could speak, Novus grabbed them both and dragged them out their seats while one shouted "Traitor!".
Grunts from the guards are heard. The airship is seen flying by as the two guards are tied together by a black Schnee glyph as a parachute slows their descent.
"This parachute won't excuse you of your treachery!" The glyph deactivates, causing one of the guards to hang onto the other guard for dear life.
Back on the airship, Weiss walks over to the controls with Maria taking the pilot's seat "And you're sure you can fly this?".
"Missy, I was the Grimm Reaper! What part of best Huntress of her generation don't you understand?" Maria asked.
"Right, but your eyes" Weiss reminded.
Maria chuckles as she notices a small device plugged in the controls. She takes out the device and plugs it into her goggles and her prosthetic eyes grow wider "You were saying?".
"That you said your eyes were in desperate need of repair!" Weiss pointed out.
Maria holds a finger out at Weiss "Bup bup bup".
Weiss "But-".
Maria "Bup!".
Weiss ultimately relents. She puts on her seat-belt as Maria starts to fly around.
Back on the ground, Ruby watches her scroll as Weiss' signal disappears "Alright guys, this is it" She places her fingers on her ear "Blake, you're up" No response "Blake?".
Julius began to get worried.
Yang sits on the ground next to Bumblebee until Ruby contacts her "Yang, what's going on?".
Yang gets up and looks over to the relay tower "I don't know...".
Yang looks to her scroll and sees Weiss' signal coming back on.
Back on the airship a Soldier contacts them "Manta 5-1, this is Argus Base. We see you circled back. What's your status, over".
"Why can they see us?" Weiss asked.
"Somebody dropped the ball. Don't worry, I've worked with Atlas forces before. I know their jargon" Maria picks up the radio and clears her throat "Argus Base, this is Manta 5-1. Feel free to gaff off. Thought we were going to scrub due to FOD, but we're back up and green across the board, over".
Static.
"Manta 5-1, return to base immediately, or you will be treated as hostile, over" The soldier said, making Maria flinch.
"I thought you said you knew their jargon!" Weiss exclaimed.
"Jargon was fine, but our pilots aren't elderly women" The soldier said.
"Huh, well they got me there! Ooh, my mind really is going! Why would you kids let me fly this thing?" Maria asked.
Novus began to get angry at Maria; that woman clearly had no idea what she was doing.
Then Cordovin spoke over radio "Calavera! You and those insolent children are up to something, aren't you?! You thought you could undermine my authority? If you don't return my ship this INSTANT, I will make an example out of you. I will show you the true might of Atlas!".
But Maria just puts some cashews in her mouth and chews in to the microphone "You hear that, Cordo? That's the sound of me not caring!".
As Maria laughs like a maniac, Weiss contacts Ruby while glaring at the older woman "Ruby, we're in trouble. Cordo's onto us, and Maria isn't helping! Why is the radar still up?!".
"We don't know, Blake isn't responding" Ruby answered.
"What do we do?!" Oscar asked.
"Keep the ship in one piece" Yang said, "I'm going after Blake."
"Not without me, you're not!" Julius adeed.
"Maybe we should fly over to help Yang and Blake first?" Nora suggested.
"Damn it! Cordo's gonna scramble her fighters. We've got maybe ninety seconds before they're in the air, and all over Weiss and Maria. This is all my fault..." Qrow said.
"What are you talking about? Your Semblance?" Jaune asked.
"Every choice I've ever made has led me here, and I've dragged you along with me. Oz, myself, the others... We're responsible for the mess the world's in now. I shouldn't have come, shouldn't have let any of you come... What was I thinking?!" Qrow said as he looked about ready to panic.
There was silence until Ruby walked up to him "We're all in this together, and we're all going to do the best we can. That's all anyone can do. And I know it's what you've always aimed for. We would've come whether or not you'd let us, so stop talking like we're your responsibility! We're not! But we could still use Qrow Branwen on our side".
Qrow ponders his niece's words "Hm... How did you grow up so fast?".
"I had good role models" Ruby said and the two share a smile.
Weiss spoke over comms "Guys? She's not sending fighters...".
The group looks over to the Argus base. Suddenly, the mountain at the base retracts, revealing a colossal mech that overlooks the city of Argus.
"Clearly the people have forgotten that they live in peace thanks to the awesome might of Atlas!" Cordovin spoke over a loud speaker "Consider this a reminder!".
Cordovin charges up the mech's arm cannon, which lets out an electric burst that fires at the ship Weiss and Maria are piloting. The controls go critical as Maria's eyes spin.
"Are you okay?" Weiss asked.
"I am, but she's clearly lost her mind!" Maria said.
"And that was merely a warning shot! All Atlas personnel standby, and watch how your leader maintains order!" Cordovin said, she truly had lost it. Ruby and her group look over to see Weiss and Maria fly in, with Cordovin in her mech following close behind "It's time you asked yourselves, children... Do you truly wish to defy me?".
Suddenly, the back hatch on the ship opened as Novus stood at the back of the ship…the BFG 9000 in hand. He had had quite enough out of Cordo; and it was time to show her true power.
"Hurry back, Weiss. I need you on the ground if we're gonna take this thing down" Ruby said.
Meanwhile, at the comms tower, Blake's scroll is seen on the ground.
Someone steps on the scroll as they run. Blake is running behind cover. She looks next to her, only to discover a motionless body of an Atlas guard. Blake reels back in horror. Blake is forced to take cover again when a gunshot is heard. She looks to the floor below her, with Adam sheathing Wilt into Blush. He has discarded his Grimm mask and now wears a black blindfold to cover his eyes.
"It's nice to finally have time to ourselves. Don't you think?" He asked in a mock tone.
"Leave me alone!" Blake shouted as she fires at Adam, but he blocks and absorbs the bullets with his sword.
"But I've waited so long, for you to be away from them" Adam said.
Blake runs over and uses a cable to zipwire herself down, but Adam cuts the cable with his Semblance, causing Blake to land on the same platform he's on. The two proceed to clash blades, until Blake kicks him back a distance.
"Why did you have to come into my life and ruin everything?!" Adam demanded in anger.
Blake glares at him "You stalked me across Anima! I don't want anything to do with your life!".
Adam proceeds forward and clashes swords with Blake again. Blake leaps up and uses her Semblance to land on the platform above. She looks over the rail and points her pistol down. Suddenly she looks behind and gets hit with hilt of Wilt. Blake swings around and clashes with Adam again. Blake lands on the rail and dodges out of the way of Adam's Semblance, landing on the platform above. Suddenly, Adam reappears and grabs Blake by the throat. He pushes Blake to the edge of the railing, but Blake stomps on his foot and both of them fall over the rail. The two crash through multiple tree branches, breaking their fall back to the ground. The two slowly stand up and face each other.
"Let go of the past, Adam. Do it for yourself" Blake said.
"Just forget it all? Is that what you did to me?! You just threw our memories away?!" Adam asked, getting angrier by the moment.
"Adam!" Blake shouted; she just wasn't getting through to him.
"I let you go once already, Blake. I'm never making that mistake again..." Adam declared.
The two former partners take defensive stances, and prepare for battle against each other... Only this time, there would be no running away.
…
Back with the others, Weiss spoke over the comm "You're joking, right? You want to fight this thing?!".
"We've fought giant monsters before. This is just a tiny old lady... with one very big robot" Ruby said, a little nervous.
"You little spider-roaches thought you could creep your way to Atlas?! Well, let's see how your resolve holds out against the might of the Atlesian Military!" Cordovin prepares to take down the airship with a missile that pops out from a slot on the arm cannon. The missile fires and tracks the airship, but suddenly, it explodes harmlessly just right behind it. Cordovin turns to see Ruby with her Crescent Rose. Ruby lowers her weapon and glares at Cordovin while the others get ready to fight. Cordovin "SO BE IT!".
Cordovin prepares to shoot the missile at Ruby and the others. Weiss and Maria sees Cordovin doing so in shock.
"Dive!" Weiss unbuckles her seatbelt and gets off from her seat while Maria dives for the landing.
As Maria heads to the others, Weiss approaches the airship door with Myrtenaster in her hand. She jumps off and raises her weapon creating a rock wall and protecting the group from Cordovin's ice Dust attack. Novus jumps and lands on top of the rock wall, firing a shot from the BFG. The blast hit the mech's shoulder, damaging it, but not destroying it. However, it did send the mech reeling back a bit and caused Cordivin to look in temporary surprise before returning her attention to the kids on the ground.
"That was close" Oscar said.
"We need to figure out how to stop Cordovin and protect the airship until we do" Ruby said.
"Let's give her more targets to focus on" Jaune said.
"You mean us, don't you?" Nora guessed.
"Look at that thing. It's not designed for small enemies. It's probably meant for giant Grimm that come in from deeper waters. We can turn our size into an advantage. We just have to be smart" Jaune explained.
Hector shouldered his rifles "So, we run around messing with a death machine. Perfect."
"Maria, can you keep the ship out of harm's way?" Ruby asked.
"They can take my driver's license, but I won't let them take this ship!" Maria said with determination.
Ren deadpans "Very reassuring...".
"I'll be more useful if I go with her. From up high, I can try to spot a weakness. And Novus can keep her distracted with his heavy weapons." Oscar said. Novus cocked the BFG in glee.
"Well, he's not the only one who can grab a bird's eye view" Qrow said with a smile.
"You said you needed me on the ground?" Weiss asked Ruby.
"Not exactly" Ruby said with a nervous smile.
As the team strategizes, Cordovin keeps an eye on their location keenly. Suddenly, her eyes widen as the group splits into three: Jaune, Nora, Hector, Novus, and Ren run down the left path along the cliff, Maria flies the airship to the right, and Ruby and Qrow fly straight up into the air using her Semblance and his bird form, respectively. Ruby reforms from her Semblance and fires Crescent Rose, cracking the mech's windshield and causing Cordovin to growl. She fires a volley of missiles to Ruby's location.
Ruby lands on a tree branch and uses her Semblance to dodge the missiles. She eventually reforms and runs and jump along the missiles before free falling down to the ocean. An incoming wave is frozen by Weiss as Ruby slides along it.
Weiss also slides off the frozen wave before using Myrtenaster to freeze small patches of ice for her and Ruby to leap on toward the mech. As Cordovin keeps her attention on them, her mech is suddenly struck by a volley of pink grenades from Nora as she, Jaune, Ren, Novus and Hector run across the cliff.
"And you said it was too early for beach season." Nora teased before hiding behind a rock.
Nora fires off more grenades from Magnhild, but suddenly, a hexagonal shield pattern appears protecting Cordovin's mech, doing no damage to her.
Cordovin laughs "Surely you knew Atlas was the father of hard-light Dust, or do lesser kingdoms simply lack proper education?"
Let's see about that, bitch Novus thought to himself before firing a shot from the BFG at the mech. Seeing the projectile, Cordo raises a shield again, only to look in complete shock as the plasma ball shattered the hexagonal shield and slammed into the mech, causing it to stumble back. Cordo growled in frustration; what in the hell IS that weapon?!
Cordovin charges up her mech's arm cannon again, this time firing rock Dust, forcing Jaune's team to abandon their cover "Cordo just activated shields!".
"I saw that. It looks like Novus has a gun that can punch through it, but we still need to find whatever's generating the shield" Oscar said.
"You know, in video games, the weak spot's usually on the back of the giant boss!" Ruby suggested.
"Ruby, this isn't a game!" Weiss scolded.
"I'm just trying to- LOOK OUT!" Ruby shouts.
Cordovin's mech is seen stomping at a part of the ocean. Unbeknownst to her, Qrow flies around in his avian form "You are ants! You are lower than ants!".
As Qrow flies through the clouds, he transforms back into his human form and takes out Harbinger's scythe form. He propels himself forward and grapples onto the giant mech.
"Ah! What was that?!" Cordovin shouts.
"Until the shield's down, we're gonna have to get up close and personal with this thing" Qrow starts to fire at the scratch he just made. Suddenly, he notices the mech's giant hand start to reach for him. Qrow dodges out of the way, transforming back into his bird form.
"That's easier said than done!" Ren pointed out.
"Weiss and I are on it!" Ruby and Weiss land on a patch of ice on the ocean together.
"Hold on!" Weiss stabs Myrtenaster into the ground, creating an ice attack that knocks Cordovin's mech off balance for a bit. Cordovin lets out a frustrated yell.
As the airship flies by, Oscar realizes something "Wait, that's it. When she... RUBY, MOVE!".
Cordovin fires a volley of missiles at Ruby and Weiss, creating a large plume of water. From it, Weiss and Ruby emerge unharmed as they ride Weiss' Queen Lancer summon. Ruby leaps off and uses Cresecent Rose to propel herself onto Cordovin's mech, embedding the scythe's blade into it. Maria cheers Ruby on. The force of Ruby's strike knocks the mech back into the cliff-side, the tremors being felt by the citizens in Argus. Cordovin lets out an enraged scream.
Jaune, Ren and Nora proceed forward. Ren and Hector leaps onto the mech's arm and runs along it, while also using their bladed to hang on. Jaune uses the twohanded form of Crocea Mors to slash at the mech's hip joint, while Nora uses the hammer form of Magnhild to smash at the arm cannon. Cordovin manages to stand the mech back up, causing Ruby to be lowered down into her view on the windshield. Ruby hangs on to Crescent Rose as she nervously smiles and waves at Cordovin.
"Get off of me!" Cordovin tries to grab Ruby with the mech's left hand, forcing Ruby to let go as she uses her Semblance to fly downward. Luckily, Weiss flies by on her Queen Lancer summon and catches Ruby.
"What if I hadn't caught you?" Weiss demanded.
"I knew you would" Ruby said as she grins widely.
Weiss just groans. As they fly around the mech, Ren and Hector lower themselves down along the mech's back. They notice a panel with a humming machine sound coming from it.
"I got this" Hector said, using the blade at the end of his tail to pry it open. Qrow then appears next to them.
" What'd ya find?" Qrow asks as the three of them look at the panel he just opened. They see a whirring machine with the label "AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY, SHIELD GENERATOR" written on top of it "Well, alright then".
The three draw their weapons and shoot at the machinery, disabling the mech's shields.
Cordovin watches her screen as the shields are reduced to zero "No, no, no, no!".
Cordovin then feels a tremor as Nora fires a volley of grenades at her "You get back here with my man!"
Novus switched to his rocket launcher and begins firing volleys of missiles, not wanting to use up all the BFG's ammo.
As Nora continues firing at Cordovin, Weiss and Ruby fly by to Ren and Qrow "Jump on!".
The two men do so. Nora continues to fire until she runs out of ammo. Suddenly, Jaune notices Cordovin lifting up the mech's arm. He runs over to Nora.
"I've had enough of you ingrates!" Cordovin slams the mech's arm into both Jaune and Nora, knocking them back and breaking their Auras. The two struggle to get back up.
Suddenly, Weiss gasps as Cordovin fires the mech cannon at her group at point blank range, destroying the Queen Lancer summon and knocking herself, Ren, Qrow and Ruby back over to the cliff. Ruby uses her Semblance to fly back over to the cliff, but falls short. Ruby embeds the blade of Crescent Rose into the cliffside and holds on for dear life.
From the airship, Oscar notices everyone is in trouble and runs over to Maria "We gotta do something!".
Maria flicks some switches on the controls and flies back over to the mech. Just as Cordovin is about to fire her arm cannon at Ruby, Maria flies by and fires a missile. Suddenly, the mech grabs the missile with its hand, causing Cordovin to turn the mech around to Maria's direction "Calavera...".
Everyone watches helplessly as Cordovin fires the missile toward the airship's direction. The missile explodes in front of the airship, causing it to rattle...
…
Back in the forest, Blake and Adam continue to fight each other intensely. Their blades clang loudly as they clash back and forth. As their blades lock, Blake hears a distant explosion from behind her. Blake's distraction causes her to dodge quickly from Adam's attack. She then uses the kusarigama form of Gambol Shroud to grapple and swing from tree to tree.
Adam gives chase "Can you do anything besides run?!".
Adam then jumps onto a tree trunk and leaps off of it as he continues to pursue Blake, who continues leaping from branch to branch. Adam then fires Wilt and it crashes into Blake's kusarigama just as she was about to grapple onto another tree. Due to her loss of momentum, Adam manages to catch up and slash at her, but he merely just slashes Blake's trench coat off. Blake then kicks off Adam, knocking him back. As Blake lands back on the ground, she fires at Adam, who blocks some of her shots but some manage to still hit him. The two then leap out of the forest and find themselves on a natural stone bridge in front of a waterfall.
The two then clash again, with Blake evading Adam's attacks with her own Semblance. Blake manages to catch Adam's sword with her own cleaver/sheath, leaving Adam to defend himself with Blush. Eventually, Adam catches Blake's wrist and blocks her katana with Blush.
"I wouldn't have to be doing this if you just behaved!" Suddenly, Adam grabs his sword and flings away Blake's cleaver, before knocking her in the side of her head with the hilt of Wilt. Blake gets knocked back several feet "But you're selfish!" He knocks Blake back again "You're a coward!" He again knocks Blake back a few feet.
"You're delusional...!" Blake shot back.
Adam then points his sword at Blake's abdominal scar that he gave her before. Adam then uses his Semblance, which causes Blake's katana blade to break in half. The broken weapon clatters a few feet away from Blake.
Adam then stops to remove the blindfold from his eyes "People hurt me long before we met... All sorts of people in all sorts of ways..." Blake looks away sadly upon hearing this "... But no one hurt me quite like you..." Blake looks back up to Adam as she sees his own eyes: his right eye a healthy blue eye, his left eye scarred permanently with a brand labeled SDC "You didn't leave scars, you just left me alone" As Adam continues talking, Blake hears a certain motorcycle drawing close "So... tell me, Blake... how does it feel to be alone?".
Blake doesn't pay attention to what Adam says as she hears the noise get closer. Suddenly, Adam raises his sword and lets out a loud yell in fury as he stabs Blake in the abdomen.
Suddenly, her form disappears; another Semblance clone. Adam then looks behind him as Blake picks up her cleaver "I'm not alone".
Suddenly, from above the waterfall, Yang drives off the cliff and hurls her motorcycle, which crashes into Adam, knocking him down, before falling off into the river below. Yang lands a few feet away from Blake as she stares down Adam.
"You..." Adam said before Yang fires a shot him, which he blocks. Yang then activates the shotgun in her prosthetic arm.
"Yang!" Suddenly, Blake falls to her knee as she holds her stomach in pain.
"It's okay. Catch your breath for a second. I can hold him off" Yang said.
"She's right, Blake. It's okay, we have... unfinished business" Adam said, remembering well how he took Yang's arm. And now he wanted to take her life.
The two combatants stare each other down. Adam makes the first move, delivering a series of quick slashes and Semblance arcs that knock Yang back a short distance. Eventually, Yang starts to strike back, managing to land some hits on Adam that he wasn't able to block.
Yang knocks Adam back a good distance before firing at him. He blocks and absorbs the shots with his sword. Adam then quickly runs in circles around Yang before letting out another Semblance attack that causes Yang to slide back a short distance.
"His Semblance is like yours! He absorbs energy through his sword, stores it up and then sends it back when he's ready" Blake explained.
"He gets to dish out damage without having to feel it?" Yang asked before she sighs "That's just cheating...".
The two proceed to trade blows again. Yang lands a series of punches and kicks on Adam, but he manages to send her back when she punches his sword. Yang gets knocked back next to Blake and the two share a glance with each other. Adam notices this and lets out an angered growl. He readies his Semblance once again.
"YANG!" Blake screams.
With a loud yell, Adam lets out a devastating attack with his Semblance... only for another figure to drop in front of Yang and block the attack. As the smoke cleared, Blake, Yang and Adam looked to see Julius standing there, a glyph with the symbol of a rose on it conjured in front of him. Julius dissipates the glyph and looks to Adam, a deadly fire in his eyes.
"Leave…them…alone." he growled. Yang, Blake, and Adam looked in shock at what they had seen, but only the two girls realized Julius had used his magic to conjure the shield glyph. Julius looks at the girls "You two okay?"
Yang nods while Blake smiles "I am now that you're here."
Julius smiles back, which doesn't go unnoticed by Adam, who glares at Julius.
"So" he said, "You're the one who Blake's decided to run to. A human."
Julius whipped out a combat knife from his belt "Got a problem with that?"
Adam merely readied his sword "No; it only means I get to kill you right in front of her."
As the two girls watched, Adam and Julius prepared to face off in what was sure to be a deadly battle.
Let me know what you think so far!