The Kahn Makyr eyed the members of Team JRHD in disgust. "So, these are the four who will bring about the Slayer's return. I was honestly expecting more."
Julius hefts his sword, "Yeah, you're gonna regret saying that."
"I doubt that. You see, I will do whatever it takes to ensure the survival of my kind, and right now, that means I will need to get rid of you and then take the aura of anyone I deem fit. Without the Slayer's presence, I can proceed with no resistance while Salem sends me subjects for extraction as she rules Remnant."
Novus cocks his shotgun. "You'll have to get past us first."
Hector crouched in a pouncing position. "We're not as incompetent as you think we are."
Roman raised his cane and aimed it at Kahn Makyr. "What he said."
Kahn Makyr narrowed her eyes. "And what of you, child of Salem?"
I have an idea Summer said, but I need you to trust me.
Julius closed his eyes and was silent for a few moments as he thought over her plan, but then said. Alright.
Suddenly, Julius opened his eyes and faced Kahn Makyr with a determined expression as his normal eye flashed silver instead of orange; he had Summer had combined auras, and therefore powers.
Julius raised his sword. "I am not a child of Salem. I am a Rose, and trust me when I say this rose has thorns that will take you down."
Hector raised an eyebrow at Julius. "What kinda red meant were you eating?"
Kahn take no notice of Hector's comment and activates her wings, which flare out with a yellow light. "Fine. Come and try your luck, boy."
"JRHD." Julius commanded, "Attack!"
JRHD then charged forward, ready for battle.
…
Back in Atlas, Ironwood walks toward the vault, a determined look on his face.
"General Ironwood" shouted a woman's voice. Ironwood turned to see Spring, Sandra, and Autumn standing at the entrance to the hallway behind him, their helmets equipped.
"We got Ruby's message. Whatever you're doing" Sandra continued, "It stops now."
Ironwood narrowed his eyebrows. "Your plan hasn't worked. It's time I took matters into my own hands. Don't think you can stop me."
Spring started forward. "Why you little…"
Suddenly, Ironwood turns around and shoots Spring, hitting the chink in her shoulder armor and wounding her. Spring cried out in pain as she knelt to the ground, clutching her shoulder.
"Sister!" Autumn shouted as she and Sandra ran over in worry, helping her to her feet.
"Like I said," Ironwood said, "You are not stopping me."
Sandra stared daggers at the general. "You won't get away with this."
"Watch me" Ironwood said as he walked off again. Unknown to him, Autumn, tossed a small device that attached to one of the general's boots.
"He must pay for this" Sandra growled.
"He will." autumn replied, "but he's not worth our time. Let Kaa's brother deal with him."
Sandra nodded in response; if anyone could effectively deal with any traitor, it was Ekaj.
...
Back with Team RWBY, Katrina and the Ace Operatives. They are standing in Ironwood's office. All of them ready to fight just in case something happens.
"Please, think about what you're doing" Weiss said.
"You heard the general. Until this is sorted out, you're under arrest" Harriet said as she brings out her Scroll and hits a button. The blue lights throughout the room turn red, and metal covers the windows.
Yang looks at the windows, then at Harriet "Really?".
Vine steps forward, raising a hand "Please. Don't make this difficult".
Blake steps forward "Don't make us have to get out of here by force".
Yang deploys her weapons, and Blake and Weiss draw theirs. On the other side of the room, Vine activates his Semblance while Harriet and Elm draw their weapons.
Marrow waves his hands "Whoa, whoa, whoa. We're not actually going to slug this out, are we?".
"We're not doing anything. They decide what happens next" Harriet said, keeping her fists ready.
Ruby walks over from Ironwood's desk to stand with her teammates and transforms Crescent Rose into scythe form. Marrow sighs and draws his gun. It was becoming clear that this situation would not be resolved without a fight.
"Kat, rethink what you're doing." Harriet said, "I know you're the more rebellious type, but maybe now is not the time for that."
"Now's the perfect time for that!" Katrina shouted, tears were starting to form in her eyes, "Ironwood's become unhinged and its putting us all in danger. I cannot let this happen. I don't want to fight you, sis," here she draws a pair if daggers from her belt, "but I will if I have to."
"You think you're going to stop us" Harriet scoffs "We're the best Huntsmen in Atlas".
"You were" Ruby replied, "Then you trained us."
Ruby uses her Semblance to rush past the Ace-Ops, smashing straight through the door, and Harriet angrily chases after her with her own Semblance, Katrina following close behind.. The remaining members of RWBY and Ace-Ops charge forward and attack; Yang fights Elm, Blake fights Marrow, and Weiss fights Vine.
Ruby zooms across the foyer and up the stairs, stopping in front of the elevators. Before she has a chance to do anything, Harriet catches up, rushes around her, and kicks her in the head, knocking her against a pair of elevator doors hard enough to dent them. She then begins walking toward Ruby.
"Come on Harriet! We're playing right into Salem's hands! You know we need to be working together" Ruby pleaded.
"Oh don't give me that crap!" Harriet growled as she brushes her nose with a thumb "I had you kids pegged right from the start".
Harriet zooms forward with her Semblance again, only to get intercepted and punched across the face by Katrina as the speedy cat faunus joined Ruby against Harriet. Meanwhile, Yang and Elm are descending the stairs form Ironwood's office into the foyer. Elm is blocking a rapid flurry of punches with her hammer, and Yang manages to punch her in the face, knocking her the rest of the way down the stairs. Yang then propels herself forward with the recoil from her weapons, ready to punch, but Elm uses her Semblance to stand her ground and then swings her head to headbutt Yang. She then slams her hammer into Yang, sending her flying through a doorway. Vine uses his Semblance to chase Blake, who is swinging around the foyer with Gambol Shroud in kusarigama form.
Blake lands on the floor with a roll and dodges as Vine sends his energy arms toward her. Yang ducks under one of his energy arms and leaves a trail of small bombs as Elm chases her around the room. She detonates the bombs, but Elm is unfazed. Yang continues to run around the room, while Blake resumes swinging around with her kusarigama. Vine finally manages to catch Blake and tosses her to Elm, who catches her while using her Semblance. She holds her hammer's pole against Blake to keep Blake pressed against herself.
Noticing Blake has been captured, Yang stops running and faces Elm and Vine.
"If you come peacefully, we won't hurt you."
"Speak for yourself! They betrayed us!" Elm said in anger.
"You're betraying the people you've sworn to protect!" Blake pointed out.
"It's not worth it, Blake. They're just following orders now" Yang said.
Infuriated, Elm throws Blake against a wall and charges toward Yang with a loud yell. Vine sighs and uses his Semblance on his feet to raise himself up to a ledge, using his semblance to grab debris as Yang continues fighting below.
In Ironwood's office, Weiss uses her glyphs to swiftly move around the room, slashing at Marrow with her rapier, but Marrow keeps blocking with his boomerang. He throws his boomerang at Weiss, and she deflects it, then stabs the tip of her rapier onto the floor, using Ice Dust to create a thin layer of ice in a triangle in front of her. While Marrow tries to keep his footing, Weiss switches Dust types and sends a horizontal arc of fire toward him. He leaps over the fire, singing the tip of his tail as he does so. The ice melts, and a mist forms in the room.
"I know you Schnees are used to getting what you want. But it's time to let this one go!" Marrow said as multiple glyphs appear and begin shooting ice crystals at him, and he blocks them with his boomerang.
"This is my home. And I'm not giving it up without a fight" Weiss aid.
The mist clears, and Marrow sees Weiss standing atop Ironwood's desk. She swings her rapier to the side, striking a pose while her Arma Gigas summon stands up behind her and readies its sword.
Ruby and Katrina zoom across the foyer with her Semblance and stop at the top of the staircase in front of Ironwood's office, with Harriet chasing them. Harriet leaps over the stairs and kicks Ruby in the chest, knocking her into the office, just in time for her to see Marrow throwing his boomerang toward Weiss as Katina zooms past and catches Ruby, helping her get back on her feet. Weiss readies her rapier, but Ruby uses her Semblance to rush to her side and deflect the boomerang with her scythe. Marrow catches the boomerang, and Harriet rushes into the office and stops beside Marrow.
"Marrow! Cut the crap, will you!?" She said.
"I'm trying to arrest her, not kill her, Hare. You're being excessive!" Marrow said as the two duck under the Arma Gigas' sword as it swings toward them.
"It's not excessive if it's necessary" Harriet argued.
"Catch your breath" Katrina told Ruby, "I'll handle this."
Without further explanation, Katrina shot forward, tackling Harriet and sending the two tumbling down the stairs as the two sister grappled with each other. Eventually, Harriet pinned Katrina to the ground.
"Why can't you just listen to me!?" Harriet shouted. Katrina simply hissed like a cat and Harriet raised a fist to strike, but was suddenly knocked back from a sniper shot from Ruby. As Katrina gets back up, she looks over to Ruby who nods. Katrina nods back before hearing an enraged yell from Harriet. Katrina turns back to face her, only to get a power fist driven into her face, sending her back toward the elevators. Katrina attempts to recover, but Harriet was consumed by her rage at Katrina's betrayal; she runs towards Katrina, grabs her by the neck, and proceeds to slam her face into the wall repeatedly, causing the cat faunus's aura to flicker wildly and suddenly break.
Harriet then throws Katrina across the floor. "I gave you a chance, Katrina, and you made your choice. I have to follow orders; no one is going to stop me. Not even you."
Harriet grabs a piece of sharp debris as she walks over to Katrina. Lifting her up by her shirt, Harriet raised the makeshift weapon, only to drop it as a shot from Ruby knocks it out of her hand. Harriet whips around to see Ruby speed up and kick her away.
Ruby turns to Katrina. "Are you okay"
Katrina manages to stand, wiping a bit of blood from her mouth; an intense fire was in her eyes as she clenched her fists, only to open them again as a set of claws sprouted from her fingers. "I'm fine. Let's end this."
Ruby nods as the two face Harriet, who gets back up and prepares to fight them again.
Yang holds onto Gambol Shroud's ribbon, and Blake swings her forward, sending her flying toward Elm, who attempts and fails to block Yang's punch. Yang turns around and rushes toward Elm again, but Elm roots herself with her Semblance and slams the top of her hammer into Yang, knocking her backward. She hears a gunshot behind her and turns and leans just in time to see the kusarigama form of Gambol Shroud flying toward her. She sets her hammer down, grabs the sickle with one hand and the ribbon with the other, and pulls, jerking Blake through the air toward her. She picks her hammer back up, spins it, and slams it into Blake's torso, sending her flying straight up into the air where she is caught by Vine's Semblance. Vine slams Blake into a stone square in the wall, cracking it and causing her Aura to flicker. He proceeds to hold her there.
Yang then fires at Vine, who attempts to block with his free arm, but the bullet bursts into a small explosion, causing him to cry out and loosen his grip on Blake. Blake breaks free and drops down to the floor.
"Time to wrap this up, Vine. They've had their chance. Don't be soft" Elm said.
"Are you telling me? Or yourself?" Vine asked as he uses his Semblance to grab chunks of the broken part of the wall, and Elm looks annoyed. Blake and Yang look at each other and smirk; they both knew what to do next and charge at Elm.
Elm swings her hammer horizontally at them, but Yang ducks down and slides under it, while Blake backflips and then grabs onto the hammer's head, using the momentum to fling herself into the air past Elm. The two run from Elm, and Yang uses her recoil to dodge the stone chunks that Vine throws at her before finally catching one of the chunks. She rapidly attaches several bombs to the chunk and tosses it into the air. Above her, Blake is dangling from the ceiling with Gambol Shroud's ribbon and kicks the stone toward Vine, who knocks it away with his Semblance. He then uses his energy arms to catch Blake as she begins to drop from the ceiling.
Vine pulls Blake over to him and soon finds that, not only is her back covered in the bombs that Yang had attached to the stone, but she is actually a clone. The clone vanishes as the bombs begin beeping, and the blast from the explosion sends Vine into the air. Yang shoots at the floor, using the recoil to send herself up toward Vine. As she passes him, she steals his bolas from the back of his belt. Once she is above him, she throws the bolas down, wrapping it around him. She then uses recoil to send herself spinning down toward him, grabs his legs, spins through the air, and sends him hurtling toward the floor. The impact sends a web of cracks through the floor and breaks his Aura.
Yang lands on the floor, and Blake drops down from a ledge on the wall. Elm then looks down at Vine and then looks at Blake and Yang, surprised. Ruby, Harriet, Katrina, Marrow and Weiss briefly stop their fights to look over at Vine. Ruby, Katrina, and Harriet have moved their fight back to the hall with the elevators.
Marrow turns to look back at Weiss, and his eyes widen upon seeing the Arma Gigas summon preparing to swing its sword down at him. He moves out of the way, and Weiss creates glyphs over the bookshelves along one wall, with ice spikes sprouting from the centers of the glyphs. As Marrow lands on his feet, she creates another glyph, which blows him toward the ice spikes, and he barely manages to avoid hitting any of them. He then leaps out of the way as the Arma Gigas swings its sword down, shattering the ice spikes he was surrounded by less than a second ago.
The Arma Gigas continues to swing its sword through the ice spikes as Marrow makes his way across them. He throws his boomerang, sending it curving through the air toward Weiss, who deflects it with her rapier.
He catches it, then snaps his fingers and points at her "Stay!" Weiss is forced to freeze in places, but her Arma Gigas still rushes toward him, smashing through the ice spikes. Marrow leaps from the ice spike he was standing on, landing on the floor. The Arma Gigas moves in front of him and raises its sword, and he snaps his fingers and points at it just as it begins swinging the sword down at him "Stay!".
The sword stops just above his head, and he takes a moment to catch his breath, only for Weiss creates four glyphs and channels Fire Dust through them to send four fireballs through the air. The fireballs converge and slam into Marrow, knocking him to the floor and breaking his Aura.
Harriet uses her Semblance to repeatedly rush around the room, up and down walls, passing Ruby and attacking her each time. Finally, she stops behind Ruby, leaps into the air, and punches her in the back of the head, knocking her down with enough force to crack the floor. She stands over Ruby with her feet to either side of her and pins Ruby's arms to her back.
She grabs her bolas, and Katrina appears behind, grabbing Harriet by the neck and clawing at her face, severely damaging her aura. Harriet punches her away just as Ruby kicks her to the wall again.
Yang, who is holding onto the kusarigama form of Gambol Shroud, swings Blake overhead toward Elm, who has rooted herself in place with her Semblance. Elm pushes the pole of her hammer at Blake, who uses it to bounce herself up into the air over Elm and swings her kusarigama at her. Elm turns and swings her hammer at Blake as she drops down, only for Blake to create a clone to take the hit and propel herself into the air. While Elm continues to attack Blake, who shoots at her, Yang fires explosive bullets at the floor all over the room, creating deep cracks.
Blake then uses her kusarigama to swing away from Elm, who turns to face Yang and roots herself in place again. However,Yang fires at the floor, cracking it and causing Elm's semblance to only make two pieces get stuck to her feet. Yang shoots herself forward as Elm switches her weapon to rocket launcher mode, but Yang activates her Semblance at the last second and punches the ground, sending Elm flying in the air.
High above them, Blake kicks off from the sky light to send herself toward Elm, and Yang uses recoil to propel herself upward with her Semblance active. As the two pass Elm in mid-air, Yang punches her and Blake slashes her with her katana. Elm screams as her Aura shimmers, and her Aura finally breaks when she slams in to the floor in a very painful position. Blake and Yang land on the floor behind her, and Yang deactivates her Semblance.
Ruby shoots at Harriet who continues to speed around the room. Harriet then leaps forward, wraps her legs around Ruby's neck, spins around and slams Ruby onto the floor. She and Ruby get up, and Ruby dodges as Harriet flips through the air toward her. Ruby backs away while Harriet speeds toward her and then uses her Semblance to flee as Harriet attempts to kick her. Harriet stops and pants, and Ruby readies her scythe. Harriet charges her Semblance and screams, her eyes flashing yellow. She makes a mad dash toward Ruby, only for Katrina to run by and extend her leg, tripping Harriet, and then, with an angered yell, driving her hands across Harriet's back, breaking her aura and leaving four massive gashes on her back from the claws.
Harriet falls over as her aura breaks. Ruby, Katrina, and Weiss watch as Harriet stands up, panting with her eyes heavily dilated. Her eyes roll back, and she collapses, unconscious.
Soon afterward, Ruby drops Harriet onto the floor in the foyer "We have to stop Ironwood. If he can't access the Relic, he can't move Atlas".
"We just have to get to the Winter Maiden" Weiss said while she is dragging an unconscious and bound Marrow across the floor, and Blake and Yang are carrying an unconscious Elm with her arms over their shoulders.
"Blake, Katrina, and I will look for the others" Yang said.
Ruby looked concerned "But our Scrolls don't-".
One of the elevators makes a ping noise, and Ruby gasps and turns to look, her eyes widening. Pietro, Maria, and Richardson come rushing out of one of the elevators. Maria has her Scroll in her hand, with the Wanted notice on the screen. They stop and look at Team RWBY, who are staring at them, frozen in very guilty poses. Weiss drops Marrow's feet.
"Oh!" Pietro said.
"This is the part where they ask us to help" Maria said.
Just then, RWBY heard stifled sobs as Katrina fell to her hands and knees, crying. Ruby knelt down and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, what's wrong?" she asked.
Katrina managed an answer through sobs. "I…I didn't want any of this. But she…*sniff* she…"
Ruby understood what she was getting at and sighed. "I know this is hard for you, but Harriet made her choice, and right now there's not much you can do about it."
"All you can do right now" Blake said, "is decide to do what you feel like is the right thing."
Katrina sniffled a bit more, then looked up and smiled at the team.
…
Jaune, Nora and Ren are looking into a dorm room that has broken AK-200s on the floor and black marks on the walls.
"Oscar must be around here" Nora said as she hurries off, calling out for Oscar "Oscar! Oscar?" Oscar walks out from around a corner in one of the nearby hallways, and Nora notices him "Oscar! You're here!".
Nora excitedly runs over to Oscar, who looks at her with a friendly smile. Suddenly, Oscar's voice comes from down the hall that he had just come from "No!".
Nora gasps and looks in the direction of the voice in confusion, while Oscar looks down the hall in annoyance. Another Oscar rounds a corner from down that hallway, charges forward and punches the first Oscar in the face. A pink, glass-like Aura passes over the first Oscar, revealing him to actually be Neopolitan in disguise. Neo goes flying down the hall and rights herself in mid-air, landing on her feet. The Relic of Knowledge bounces on the floor next to the real Oscar, with a clanging sound. Jaune and Ren hurry over, and they, along with Nora, draw their weapons, and Oscar picks up the Lamp.
Neo looked at Oscar and gave a gesture with her arms as if to say, What the hell, dude?!
Oscar cringed. "Sorry. Just a little tense, that's all."
"Neopolitan?" Nora said.
"You know her?" Oscar asked.
"She was at Haven. She helped us, remember." Jaune answered.
Oscar holds the Lamp close, and Neo nods at him, then gestures for the others to follow her.
…
In Fria's room, Winter, Khione, and Penny have gotten Fria into one of the pods of the Aura transfer machine. Penny is using a Scroll.
"I hope it will be painless for her" Winter said.
"You said your personal feelings do not matter" Penny reminded.
"They won't change my actions. What I'm committed to. The power of the Winter Maiden and the Relic must be kept from our enemies. Even if it means she dies" Winter walks over to the pod, and she and Penny look at Fria "But yes Penny, we must still acknowledge our personal feelings, wrestle with them. It ensures us that we're on the right path. It's what makes us human".
"I think… I think I understand" Penny said.
"It's not always easy, making decisions like this" Khione added, "I should know. But I would rather see my power in the hands of someone I could trust than with someone like Cinder."
They hear the sound of an explosion, and the room shakes.
"What was that?" Winter wondered.
There is another explosion, and the room shakes once again, rattling Fria's teacups. There is a third explosion, and an alarm starts going off. Although she is unconscious, Fria moves her head a little.
Winter hurries out into the now darkened hallway. Red lights that run along the ceiling are flickering on and off, there are broken AK-200s on the floor and the walls have black marks on them. At the end of the hall stands Cinder, who smirks and shoots a fireball at Winter. Winter's eyes widen, and she rushes back to Fria's room, dodging the fireball. She uses a hologram panel with a number pad on it to shut the door and draws her sword, but the door is blasted out of the wall immediately after. The explosion knocks Winter and Penny to the floor, and Cinder walks into the room through the large hole in the wall with a fireball in her palm.
"Hmm. Both of Ironwood's puppets. Lucky me" Cinder said, "And one of my older sisters. Khione, was it?"
Winter and Penny get up, and Winter points her sword at Cinder "Cinder".
Khione readies her own sword, igniting the white energy blade. "We are NOT sisters, you abomination."
"You were responsible for Beacon. For what happened to me" Penny realized.
"It was unfortunately temporary. Now step aside or there won't be anything left to salvage this time" Cinder said as she aims the fireball at Penny What do you think of that?".
"I think…" Penny clenches her fists and narrows her eyes. Her swords emerge from her back and hover behind her as she uses her jets to float into the air "It gives me personal feelings".
Let me know what you think so far!