Team COAL returned to Shade Academy to report their success to Professor Theodore.
"Oh, I already know what happened," the headmaster of Shade said with a smile on his face when they tried to tell him about the verdict. "It's all over the news. Bernard Beaumont is innocent. I knew he was. He and Gallus Flavius had their disagreements, but he was a good person who would never hurt anyone who didn't have it coming."
"Great," an impatient Colby said. "Now that that's out of the way, you'll lend us your support, right?"
"Not quite," said the professor.
'WHAT?!" Colby asked in outrage, unable to contain his anger any longer. "But we just got your friend acquitted of murder charges and discovered a big conspiracy against the school! If it weren't for us, Bernard would have either been executed or imprisoned for so long that the old narrator would have gotten tired of waiting and they would have had to hire a new one! We've risked our lives for you on two occasions, and it's time for you to hold up your end of the bargain!"
"That's enough out of you, Mr. Castanho!" Theodore snapped back as he stood up. "You think this is about what you do for me? There is an enemy threatening our kingdom, powerful enough to pull the strings of our police department! A true huntsman puts his kingdom first, then his friends, and then himself! Now sit down!"
"Yes sir…" Colby said in defeat.
"I will continue to investigate the conspiracy to frame Beaumont myself for the time being," Theodore said as he sat back down. "Right now, I have a more urgent matter for you to attend to. Have you all noticed that Vacuo is one of the more faunus-friendly kingdoms in Remnant?"
"I have, Professor," Lily said. "I grew up in Mantle and got called anti-faunus slurs by human children all the time. Even in Vale, I would get that treatment once in a blue moon. But no one has said anything like that to me here."
Theodore smiled. "We have a rule here in Vacuo. Anyone who is strong enough to survive is welcome. It doesn't matter whether you're human or faunus, male or female, black or white. If you can survive, you're welcome here." Then his smile faded. "But nowhere is completely removed from hatred. Not even here."
"What do you need us to do?" asked Autumn.
"A famous faunus rights activist by the name of Aruna Fidan is going to be giving a speech at the University of Vacuo this Friday night to promote peace between humans and faunus and to raise money to support faunus rights movements in the less faunus-friendly kingdoms. But our intelligence reports that the Vacuo Human League, or VHL, is planning an attack there. The VHL is Vacuo's largest human supremacist organization, and we think they're going to try to assassinate Fidan. I need you to make sure that doesn't happen. Go to the event and talk to Captain Grayson of the Vacuo Police about what to do. I know we've had some trouble with the police lately, but Captain Grayson is trustworthy. I don't know how many members the VHL will send or what kind of weapons they'll have, so I'm sending Team IRON to provide backup for you."
"Excellent," Ouranos said. "I look forward to working with them again."
"I'm sure they do look forward to working with you too," Theodore said with a chuckle. "Do you have any other questions?"
"No sir," Colby replied.
"Then you are dismissed," said Theodore. "Go make me proud."
Team COAL went down the elevator and met with Team IRON at their dorm.
"We'd be honored to participate in this mission with you," said Irving.
"Really? That's great!" Autumn said.
"We should spend the next few days preparing for the mission," said Lily.
"Of course," replied Irving. "And I think we can start by having a big rematch to find out once and for all which team is better," he said with a wicked smile.
"Bring it on!" Colby said with an evil grin.
"I hope y'all like being pelted with bullets!" said Oakley.
"We like it just as much as you like being shot with arrows," Lily replied. Everyone laughed.
The two teams went to the Sandpit Arena. The place reminded them of the combat arena at Beacon where they would duel other students. They wondered where those other students were now, and what had become of them. They also hoped that the combat professor, Glynda Goodwitch, was okay. Autumn had reported seeing her in the distance fighting alongside General Ironwood in the city, but she only saw the professor and the general for a few seconds. She didn't know if either of them were still alive.
The two teams readied themselves for combat. "Let's do this on the count of three. One..two…"
"Three!" Irving called out.
Colby, Lily, Oakley, and Ray immediately opened fire with their ranged weapons. In an effort to dodge the attacks, everyone quickly ran behind cover. Colby activated his semblance with its new tier, and quickly struck Irving with his lightning form. Irving screamed and fell to the ground, but before Colby could do any further damage, Oakley shot him in the back. Lily responded by shooting at Oakley with a round of arrows. Before the arrows could hit, however, Naseem jumped in the way and deflected them with his sword-staff weapon.
A/N: Naseem's weapon is like Darth Maul's lightsaber but with sword blades.
However, Autumn quickly blasted Naseem back with some soundwaves from her guitar. Ouranos took the chance to attack him while he was down, but Naseem got back up. They swung at each other, with each one parrying the other's attacks.
Ray took the opportunity to sneak up on Autumn from behind and shoot her in the back with his laser form. Lily fired a few arrows at him, knocking him to the ground and allowing Autumn to finish him off by bashing him with her guitar until his aura dropped below 15%. As per standard dueling rules, this meant that he was eliminated.
However, this moment of victory was cut short when Oakley fired a barrage of bullets at Lily faster than she or any of her teammates could react, cutting her aura down to 15% as well. Now it was three against three.
Oakley next turned toward Autumn and opened fire on her, but the dog faunus quickly blew the bullets back at the cowgirl with some sonic waves from her guitar. The bullets pelted Oakley and blew her several feet back. As she struggled to get back up, Autumn rushed up to her and hit her over the head with her guitar, knocking her aura down to 15%. With two opponents down, things were looking up for Team COAL.
That quickly changed when Naseem got a lucky strike on Ouranos, knocking him onto his knees. That brought his aura down to 15%, meaning that there were now only two members left from each team. Autumn attempted to blast Naseem, but the boy jumped out of the way and kept running until he could engage Autumn up close. They each swung their weapons at each other, with neither able to penetrate the other's defenses.
Colby, meanwhile, was locked in a fierce duel with Irving. He was faster and more maneuverable than his opponent, but Irving's golf club was a much longer weapon that made it difficult for him to get close. His tomahawks' gun forms helped, but Irving was very good at deflecting the bullets. However, Irving was growing tired and his golf club was heavier than Colby's axes. He and Colby locked blades one more time.
"Time to find out who's number one!" Irving said defiantly.
"I've vanquished the Beast!" Colby replied. "I won't lose to someone who uses a club from the most boring sport ever!"
"GOLF IS NOT BORING!" Irving bellowed as he swung his club at Colby, using his semblance to pour almost all of his aura into the attack and make it strong enough to split a boulder in half. Colby jumped out of the way, put his axes in gun form, and fired some shots at Irving before the boy could react. The bullets hit their marks, knocking Irving's aura down to below 15%. He was done.
Colby then ran at Naseem from behind and hit him over the head with his tomahawk. Naseem's aura dropped below 15%, winning the match for Team COAL.
"Looks like we're still the best," Colby said with a smug grin.
"You are indeed strong," Naseem said. "You've accomplished more over the past few months than most huntsmen do in their entire lives."
"It's only because of my teammates that I've gotten this far," Colby said. "I did some very stupid things on my way here. Wouldn't have made it if they hadn't been here to talk sense into me."
"We all make mistakes," said Ray. "A true huntsman has the ability to learn from them and do better next time."
"Indeed," said Colby. "And I fully intend to use the experience I gained to make Remnant a better place."
"You already have," Lily said with a smile. With that, the eight students departed the Sandpit Arena.
Friday night, at the University of Vacuo…
Teams COAL and IRON arrived at the University of Vacuo before the crowd got there. The campus was located in the downtown area of the city, and was made up of various large stone buildings. The quad contained a very beautiful and well-maintained lawn complete with palm trees and a nice little pond in the center. It was clearly designed to look like an oasis in the middle of a desert.
The two teams headed into the auditorium and went behind the stage, where they met Captain Grayson as well as Aruna Fidan herself. Grayson was a tall, dark-haired man, and Aruna was a cat faunus with dark red hair and cat ears. The police captain was also holding a can of Popsi.
"You must be the students that Professor Theodore told me about," Grayson said. "I've heard good things about you. Mrs. Fidan, the teams that Theodore sent in have arrived." He took a sip out of the Popsi can.
"Ah, I'm glad you're here!" Aruna said with a smile. "I'm glad that Shade Academy is so dedicated to the cause of faunus equality. This truly is one of the more faunus-friendly kingdoms."
"Unless you count the Grimm, the criminals, and the scorching heat, all of which are unfriendly to humans and faunus equally," Lily said. "Or the VHL. Theodore sent us here to protect you from them and make sure this event goes off without a hitch."
"Oh, I'm sure you will," said the cat faunus. "Captain Grayson here will tell you everything you need to know."
"Alright, everyone," the captain said before taking another sip of Popsi. "Sorry, I'm a Popsi addict. It's my favorite drink. Anyway, your job here is to keep Mrs. Fidan safe from the VHL or anyone else who may want to hurt her. We need you to perform a security sweep in the auditorium and the areas around it during the speech and keep an eye out for anything suspicious. If you see anything, let me know immediately. Here is my scroll number." He gave each of them his scroll number.
"You can count on us, sir!" Irving said. "No one's getting past us!"
"That's the spirit!" the captain said. "Best of luck to you all." He took another sip of Popsi.
"Alright, let's get to work!" Colby said to everyone. "I'll go with Irving!"
"I'm with Naseem!" said Ouranos.
"I'll be with Oakley," Autumn said.
"And I'll patrol with Ray," Lily said.
A few hours later…
Soon, the guests arrived. There had to be hundreds of people in the crowd, if not thousands. They were humans, faunus, men, women, and children from all walks of life. Theodore was right about Vacuo being one of the more faunus-friendly kingdoms. Of course, not everyone in that crowd supported the cause of faunus equality. Those who did not were human supremacists determined to put the "animals" back in place by killing Aruna and showing the world that faunus were no longer welcome in the Kingdom of Vacuo.
In the hallway…
Colby and Irving were walking down the hallways of the university, looking for anything suspicious. They didn't find anything, so they decided to discuss their hopes for the future and why they wished to be huntsmen.
"Why did you go to Shade, Irving?" Colby asked.
"I did it to carry on my family's legacy," Irving replied. "There have been huntsmen and huntresses in my family for generations, and I wanted to continue it."
"Sounds like we aren't so different," Colby said. "My late father, Corbin Castanho, was a huntsman before he and his teammates were murdered by the traitorous Deegan Garrick. He was that snake faunus my teammates and I fought on the train."
"I'm sorry to hear that," the blond boy replied.
"He'll pay for it in due time," Colby said. "But he wasn't the only huntsman in my family. It all started with my great grandfather, Bruno Castanho, who fought for Vale during the Great War. For almost a decade, he fought the Mistraleans all over eastern Sanus and participated in the battle of Akaibara during the invasion of Anima. He was wounded there, and Vacuo joined the war when he was in the hospital. He also fought during the final battle here in Vacuo under the King of Vale himself."
"Interesting," Irving said. "My great grandparents also fought in the war. They fought for Vacuo and participated in the final battle."
"Yeah. My grandmother was also a huntress. I'm glad we're both carrying on our families' legacies," Colby said. "But are you sure that's your only motive? There's only one golf course in all of Vacuo, and it must cost a lot to play there. It sounds like your family made a lot of money as huntsmen and huntresses. Are you sure you aren't also in it for the money?"
"Well yeah, there is that too," Irving admitted. "But what do you plan to do after you graduate, besides being a full-time huntsman?"
"Well, I'd like to settle down and have my own family, Colby said.
"That's a good goal. Is there any girl you've got your eyes on?"
"As a matter of fact, there is," Colby admitted. "She's the kindest, smartest, most beautiful girl in the whole world, and I hope she likes me too. But I have no idea how to tell her that."
"Just be real with her," Irving said. "Tell her how you feel. The worst she can say is that she doesn't feel the same."
"I suppose you're right, but it's terrifying. "I also need to say it at the right time and place."
"You'll know when to do it," Irving said with a smile. "Just you wait."
Meanwhile, on the second floor…
"Why do you want to be a huntsman, Ouranos?" Naseem asked. "It's a very dangerous job, as I'm sure your journey across the desert taught you."
"My old life wasn't much safer," Ouranos explained. "I grew up in a small mining town in the mountains east of Vale. The tunnels are Grimm-infested, and I saw a lot of people die. I want to help make the miners' jobs easier. Not just their jobs, but those of everyone in Remnant. "And of course, I want to make a little money while I'm at it."
"I can see why," Naseem said. "But don't let money be your motivation. It will corrupt you. Make you forget that a huntsman's primary concern should be for others, not for himself."
"Oh, I haven't forgotten. But why are you training to be a huntsman, Naseem?"
"First and foremost, I fight to bring order and justice to Vacuo," Naseem explained. "As you may have learned on your mission with Tsukiko a few weeks ago, there is a lot of crime in this city. I want to do my part to put a stop to it."
"That's a noble goal," Ouranos said.
"Thanks," Naseem replied. "My parents are police officers, and unfortunately they don't want me to be a huntsman. They think Theodore's some kind of dictator. And yes, Theodore does have a lot of control over this city, but he can't just do whatever he wants. And you saw how the police tried to cover up evidence and frame Bernard Beaumont for a murder he didn't commit. They're in the pockets of the criminals. My parents aren't, but many of the police are. It's a problem that only huntsmen and huntresses can solve."
"We'll help you," Ouranos said. "I promise that my teammates and I will leave Vacuo as a better place than it was when we got here."
On the third floor…
"So, why did you come to Shade, Oakley?" Autumn asked.
"I just wanted to protect my family farm, is all," the cowgirl replied. "Lots of Grimm out in the rural areas of this kingdom. Much bigger than anything you'd see in Vale, and tougher too."
"Oh, I see," Autumn replied.
"What about you?" asked Oakley.
"Well, I was originally from Menagerie. Kuo Kuana to be exact. Despite what some faunus might tell you, it's actually not that bad of a place to live. It's just kinda boring. Anyway, I wanted to escape my life of boredom and do something exciting with my life. My chance came last summer, when this human girl around the same age as me washed ashore in Kuo Kuana. I was there with a friend, and we helped resuscitate her. Then, she told us that she and her parents had been on a cruise from Mistral to Vale when the White Fang attacked her ship. She survived, but her parents didn't. Only a handful of passengers did."
"That's awful," Oakley said sadly. "But I'm glad y'all were able to help that girl. You probably saved her life."
"I'm sure we did," Autumn said smugly. "Anyway, she moved in with my friend. A lot of faunus in Menagerie don't want humans on the island, but the ones who want peace have grown to love her and her friendship with my friend. I, on the other hand, used the whole incident as an excuse to leave Menagerie and become a huntress to show all the humans that not all faunus are like the White Fang." She paused before a smile formed on her lips. "And of course, have fun while doing it. My parents weren't happy about me having such a dangerous job, but I didn't let them bother me."
"Sounds like y'all aren't so different from Mrs. Fidan," she said. "Albeit she ain't a huntress like you. Meaning she can't take a lot of hits 'cause she don't have her aura unlocked."
"Don't worry," Autumn replied. "We won't let anything happen to her."
On the fourth floor…
"I'm glad this kingdom is so friendly to faunus," Lily said happily. "I was originally from Mantle, which is probably the most anti-faunus place in Remnant. We're treated like slaves there and forced to mine dust for the SDC under horrible conditions. Even in Vale, I received a few insults for being a faunus. And then there was this guy back at Beacon who regularly bullied faunus. I didn't let him get to me, but I wasn't his only target. His favorite target was this poor rabbit faunus girl. He loved to pull on her ears." She paused for a moment. "But I haven't seen any of that here in Vacuo."
"I'm sorry you and your fellow faunus were treated that way," Ray replied. "My family and I were originally from Atlas. We moved here to help Vacuo catch up with Atlas and Vale technologically."
"I see," Lily said. "But why'd you decide to be a huntsman?"
"Besides the ever-present threat of Grimm, there's the fact that one of the things we're working on is new weapon technology. But it's not the only thing I'm working on. One of my biggest and most ambitious goals as a scientist is to terraform the deserts of Vacuo. This kingdom used to be a paradise before rampant dust mining turned it into a desert. I want to turn it into a paradise again. One of the other reasons I'm a huntsman is that I intend to use the money from my job as a huntsman to pay for my projects. I'm not getting any funds from Atlas, after all. They wanted us to stay and support their military."
"Terraforming Vacuo is a big and ambitious goal," Lily said. "You do realize that the odds of that happening in the next century are one in a million? And that's with some generous rounding?"
"I do," he said. "But if we all gave up on our dreams just because they were unlikely to come true, no one would accomplish anything worthwhile."
"That's true," Lily replied. "My teammates and I could have stayed in Vale, which I'm sure would have been a safer thing to do than trekking across the desert. But we chose to do the right thing, and we beat the odds by making it here."
"All too true," said Ray. "But why do you want to be a huntress, Lily?"
"To keep everyone safe from the Grimm, I guess. Aside from that, I also wanted to get out of poverty. I grew up in Mantle, you know. Life isn't good there. I guess I could have gone to Atlas Academy and become part of that kingdom's military, but I didn't like the way that kingdom was run. Atlas is the most anti-faunus kingdom out of the four, and the SDC treat the faunus like dirt and their human workers only slightly better. General Ironwood has two seats in the council, but he does nothing to help the situation. He's either too afraid of the backlash he might get, or he's in the SDC's pocket. Or both. Either way, I didn't want to fight for Atlas. So I decided to go to Beacon instead."
"I can see why," said Ray. But perhaps Ironwood needs the SDC's support to keep the military going. They have to get their dust from somewhere."
"I suppose," Lily said. "But the Atlesian military is the SDC's number one customer. I'm sure they could have worked something out."
"Maybe so," said Ray.
"Ironwood isn't like this Aruna lady, though. She's very brave, going from kingdom to kingdom to raise support for faunus equality like this."
"True," Ray said. "She genuinely doesn't seem to have any animosity toward humanity over their mistreatment of faunus in the past. Did you know that her husband is a human?"
"Doesn't surprise me," Lily said. She paused and sighed before deciding to let out something that had been on her chest for a while. "I've got my eyes on a human boy," Lily said. "He's very brave and selfless. Sure, he's stubborn and thickheaded, but I can tell he cares about everyone around him."
"Really?" asked Ray.
"Yeah. I just don't know how to say it to him."
"Well, I'm not very good at dating, so I can't give you that good of advice. But I'm sure you'll get him when the time is right."
"Thanks," said Lily.
A few minutes later, Captain Grayson came from around the corner. "You two are doing a fine job," he said. "Aruna is going to start speaking soon. My boys and I will take it from here."
Looking at him, Lily could tell something was off. "What drink do you have there?" she asked as she pointed at the can in his hand.
"Oh, this? It's Loca-Cola! My favorite drink!"
"You're not Captain Grayson!" Lily said accusingly. "His favorite drink is Popsi, not Loca-Cola!"
"You've got a lot of brains for a faunus, girl," the man said with a smug grin. "Too bad I have to blow them out!" He pulled out a pistol to shoot Lily, who leapt at him before he could fire his gun. She grabbed the arm with the gun in it with her left arm, and punched him in the chest with her right arm, knocking him to the floor.
Lily stood over the impostor and pointed her knife at him threateningly. "I know you're with the VHL," she said. "Where are your other agents? You need to tell me. Now."
"Y-you're too late," the man said with a twisted smile. "We've got snipers on this floor who will be taking aim at Fidan any moment now. You can't save her. I'm only telling you this because I'm certain she's going to die."
"AARGH!" Lily shouted angrily as she punched the man in the face as hard as she could, knocking him out. Then, she pulled out her scroll. "Colby! Irving!" she shouted. "We've been compromised! The VHL have infiltrated the university and they've got snipers up here! You've got to get Aruna to safety!"
"Roger, roger!" Colby shouted as he and Irving rushed toward the auditorium where Aruna was speaking.
"And that is why I urge you, citizens of Vacuo, to lend us your aid in securing the natural rights of every faunus in every kingdom of Remnant. You have all served as a great example in faunus equality, and now it's time to spread your efforts beyond this kingdom…"
Meanwhile, on the fourth floor, two VHL snipers were taking aim. Lily and Ray rushed as fast as they could, but wouldn't arrive before the gunners put their fingers on the triggers.
"NO!" Colby shouted as he and Irving rushed onto stage just as the snipers fired. They dove in front of Aruna with their weapons drawn, deflecting the bullets and causing them to hit the wall without hitting anyone. The crowd, however, began to panic and made for the exits as quickly as they could. A few men and women in the crowd, however, stood up and opened fire on the two boys with their machine guns. These men and women had disguised themselves as police officers to infiltrate the building. The boys kept deflecting the bullets with their weapons. As all of this was happening, Aruna ran backstage.
Lily and Ray approached the two snipers, who then turned their attention toward the two huntsmen and opened fire. The two huntsmen ducked behind some nearby seats, then opened fire with their own weapons. They hit the snipers, who then fell off the balcony to their apparent deaths. Then they jumped down to the first floor, digging their knives into the walls to slow their falls. Ray had a knife on him just as Lily did. Once they reached the ground, they joined in the battle.
Ouranos, Naseem, Autumn, and Oakley arrived shortly after through the auditorium's entrance. They engaged the VHL agents from behind. The thugs opened fire and fought as hard as they could, but sooner or later they were all either dead or unconscious. With that, the students rushed backstage to meet with Aruna.
"Are you okay?" Colby asked.
"I'm fine," the woman replied. "For now, at least. We need to get out of here!"
"No, kidding. Me, Lily, Naseem, and Oakley will escort you out of here. Ouranos, Autumn, Irving, Ray, you all evacuate the other guests while we do that."
"Will do, Colby!" Irving said. With that, they ran off to help evacuate the building.
Colby's group then retreated further backstage and toward the rear exit. When they went around the corner, they saw a trail of blood leading toward a closed closet. They opened the closet, and were horrified to see the dead body of the real Captain Grayson lying on the ground. There were multiple knife wounds in his chest, and a gag in his mouth so that he didn't make too much noise during his final struggles. There was a Popsi can on the ground next to him.
"So this is what became of Captain Grayson," Lily said sadly. "He died for faunus equality. Right under our noses too…"
"You're darned right," said Oakley. "But we don't have to let anyone else die!"
"You're right, we don't," Colby replied. "We gotta keep moving!"
They pressed on through the maze-like corridors behind the stage, and all the while they heard the sounds of gunshots from the auditorium. A few VHL members dressed in all black with the letters "VHL" over the left breasts of their shirts emerged from around the corners in the hallways to open fire on the group. Colby and Oakley led the way, and dealt with these threats as best they could with their weapons' gun forms. Aruna picked up one of their guns so that she would have something to defend herself with. Before long, they reached the exit. However, when they stepped out, they saw that they weren't out of the woods yet. The campus's security forces engaged in firefights with VHL members.
"They've surrounded the school!" Colby shouted. "In that case, we'll have to fight our way out!" The huntsmen and huntresses rushed through the maze of buildings with VHL thugs rushing at them from behind the corners. They used their weapons, melee forms to deflect the bullets, then moved in to attack them up close. The thugs, lacking the weapons and skills of a huntsman or huntress and not even having their auras unlocked, were no match up close. Before long, the group came upon the quad.
"Alright, guys!" Colby shouted. "We just need to get across the quad! After that, the exit is just around the corner!"
But as they stepped onto the quad, they encountered four thugs led by a bald man who appeared to be the VHL's leader.
"I'm surprised you all made it this far, but no matter. I'll deal with you myself."
"Who are you?" Lily asked as she pointed her bow at him.
"I am Duncan Goban, leader of the Vacuo Human League," the man explained. "And I want to thank you for bringing that filthy creature here so I can have the pleasure of killing it. And you, of course. He drew his weapon, a big, two-handed sword. "Now die, please!"
Naseem rushed forward and engaged Duncan in combat. He swung his weapon at the VHL leader, who then blocked it with his sword. Colby went in to help him, but was stopped by one of the other men. This one held a spear, which put Colby at a disadvantage because the boy's weapons were a lot shorter.
The other two men were holding guns. They opened fire on Lily and Oakley, who ducked behind some bushes for cover. The two men kept firing at them, and Oakley drew her guns and fired back. She was a much better shot than him and hit her target, but her bullets didn't seem to cause any immediate injury.
"These guys have auras!" she shouted. Meanwhile, Lily was engaged in a shootout with one of the other men who kept shooting her arrows out of the air.
Aruna hid behind a bench and watched all of this go down. The students fought the VHL members for a while, but after a while they became exhausted. In particular, Colby was struggling against his opponent. He fought hard, but his opponent hit him with the shaft of his spear and knocked him over. The man then raised his spear and prepared to run Colby through.
Aruna couldn't sit by and watch any longer. She rose from her cover, drew the gun that she picked up from one of the fallen terrorists, and aimed at the spearman. The cat faunus then fired the gun and shot the man in the chest. This knocked him to the ground and allowed Colby to bring his aura down with his tomahawks before finally knocking the man unconscious with a hard punch.
Once he was able, he got up and threw one of his tomahawks at the gunman who was shooting at Lily from behind, knocking him out. Once he was down, Lily drew her bow and fired an ice arrow at the other gunman, freezing him in place. Then, Oakley lowered his aura with a round of gunshots before knocking him out with a series of punches.
Now Duncan was the only one left standing. Colby rushed in to engage him while he had his blade locked with Naseem's. Duncan jumped back to avoid being hit by a horizontal strike from Colby's tomahawk. They were pushing him back toward the pond in the middle of the quad. Finally, Colby kicked him into the pond.
"You...stupid...faunus...lovers…" the VHL leader said as he climbed out of the pond. Before he could rise too far out, Naseem grabbed him and flipped him over onto his back before delivering a knockout punch.
"Good work, everybody!" Lily shouted.
"Aruna, you saved me," Colby said. "You have my thanks."
"I wasn't about to let that extremist kill one of my friends," the cat faunus said. "Now let's get out of here before more VHL members show up!"
The group ran across the quad and toward the exit, marked by an overpass with a couple of buildings nearby. But as they approached the overpass, a pair of VHL snipers emerged from their cover and opened fire. The group scattered and took cover behind a pair of cars parked on the road.
"Lily, can you get a shot on those two snipers?" Colby asked his teammate.
"Negative!" the fox faunus replied. "They're too far away!"
"Dang it! What are we going to do?!"
As if to answer Colby's question, a figure jumped down from one of the buildings near the overpass, apparently protected by aura as it landed. It engaged the snipers in close-quarters combat and knocked them out with a staff-like weapon.
"Who's that?!" Lily asked. The group ran over toward the overpass to see who the figure was. As they approached, they saw that the figure was a girl their age with long blonde hair that she wore in two pigtails.
"Tsukiko?!" Colby asked in shock. "What the hell are you doing here?! How did you get here?!"
"Well, Professor Theodore told me there were reports of gunshots in the university and sent me to help out."
"But how did you get here so fast?!"
"That's not important right now! The police are on their way. Get Mrs. Fidan to them."
"How the heck did she get here?" Lily asked herself. "She beat the police here, and there don't appear to be any vehicles nearby that Theodore may have sent her in. There's definitely something weird going on here..."
They kept going, and before long the police arrived. "We're here to get Mrs. Fidan to safety," one of the officers said. "And secure the university of course. I'll give her a ride back to the station."
"Thanks, officer," Aruna said as she got in. "And thank you, young huntsmen and huntresses. Without your help, I would be dead right now."
"And I would be dead without yours," Colby said. "Take care, now."
The officer drove off, and Irving, Ray, Autumn, and Ouranos arrived leading a group of civilians from a different route. Then, together, the students rushed back onto campus with the officers to deal with the remaining VHL members. With their skills and their backup, the students quickly overwhelmed the remaining thugs and forced them to surrender. After that, Colby received a message from Theodore on his scroll.
"My sources tell me that Mrs. Fidan has safely arrived at the police station," the professor said. "Well done, guys. And girls. Come on back."
"Alright everyone, let's head back," said Colby.
"I just wish I knew what was up with Tsukiko," Lily said in a slightly frustrated tone. "Do you have any idea what's going on with her?" she asked Irving.
"No idea," Irving said. "The Headmaster says she's special, but he never told us why." The eight students all headed back to Shade.