The Hunters: Remnants Mightiest Heroes

by th3g1ng3rn1nja

There was an idea, to bring together a group of remarkable people, so that when we needed them, they could fight the battles, that we never could. That day has come, and it is unlike any other. Remnant needs something more than just the agents of BEACON, they need heroes... Avengers AU follow up to Good in to Great, but can be read separate.

9. Some Friends

Chapter Nine Some Friend…

Far on the outskirts of Vale, deep beneath the surface of the woodland were home to a great cave system. They stretched on for miles at a time and spanned underneath much of the woodland to the south of the kingdom, whereas the Emerald Forest and it equally named prison resided in the north, overlooked by the mountains where B.E.A.C.O.N resided, allowing it to look out over the prison and the kingdom it was home to. All the caves to the south were tunnelled out from creatures all but forgotten by history to most, but not to all. The cave lay derelict and unused for years before they were discovered by a mining group of adventurers and explorers intent of discovering more about those past creatures for research and study. Among that bold group was a respectable doctor by the name of Merlot, he had an unhealthy fascination with the creatures of the past, more so than the rest of his group, to the point where he had begun splicing and compounding material from different animals to create his own monsters, but he didn't stop there as the further down the biology scale he went, he realised he could use the very essence of someone in a more fluid state. Naturally the group was disturbed by the doctors 'pets' and his tests, they raised these concerns with him together when they discovered the caves, thinking it was the perfect time; then Dr Merlot had them all eaten by his experiments and claimed the caves for himself setting up his advanced and secretive laboratories out of sight from the worlds prying 'ethical' eyes. Here he was free to test out his pets and his plants to his heart's content, it was also where he learned of Mr Black, a young man with a terrible genetic structure that was constantly trying to hurt him, a couple of simulations and Merlot had the solution to stopping the decay, but not the pain; although it seemed Black didn't care about that.

Right now it seemed that his caves were being used for the staging area of a far greater plan as right now there was a flamboyant man waving his cane around, making a big show. Merlot would give him this; he certainly knew how to hold a room, but that charisma was dangerous, especially from someone who believed himself to be a god and bound with magical gifts, science was the only thing that was true in this world, magic was just nonsense that he just had no time for and hadn't bothered to try understanding as it was the language of idiots.

Torchwick strutted about the lab, stopping at a few different work benches and inspecting the goods on them for a second before moving on to the next one; every time he looked at a device, blueprint, vial or mixture he seemed to have a look on his face that said 'Interesting, not how I would do it, but interesting'. Little did Dr Merlot know that Roman was actually using magic to find out what these things were as they were so primitive to the stuff that he had been used to back 'home' he wanted to know how the mortal could make do with stuff this basic.

"Listen Bathrobe, you gonna explain your plan some more or leave us in suspense?" Came the angry sneer of Black as he glared, arms crossed, stance displaying all the signs of aggression; it seemed that this young man only had the one tone.

"'bathrobe' come on, even you're not that stupid to not know a trench coat." Emerald chimed in, rolling her eyes heavily as she swung her legs back and forth under the desk she was sat on. It seemed that she was here to make sure that Mercury was put down and in his place.

"Tut tut children, I'm simply inspecting the goods is all, got to know what I'm working with. After all, I might be a betting man, but I don't bet with people I don't know." Roman replied. Dr Merlot was a little bit miffed at that, they had previously talked on many occasions about his creatures and about people that Roman considered to be important to his plans of carnage and death.

"But it is clear to me… we are gonna need more people, so first we are going to-"

---

"-Need to get that one guy that can harden, sound strange saying that but I think he can turn into different material."

Emerald walked through the Atlas military base with Neo at her side; they had two different targets in mind. Neo was going after Cardin Winchester and Emerald was going to find information and a cell code for Cinder Fall, there was a recent transfer between B.E.A.C.O.N and the Atlas military, the believed they could use Cinder as thermal power to heat Atlas building.

They were fortunate enough that nobody was giving the two of them odd looks, even though they were dressed differently to everyone on the base, Emerald illusion tech that she had nabbed from STRQ industries months ago and adapted to suit her needs was proving to be perfect for what they needed right now, they quickly split up when they reached the a cross roads between the dormitories and the route to the command centre.

As Emerald made her way through the command centre doors she looked around at the small group of tech guys, an overweight man and a skinny looking nerd. The guard was the only one of threat, but if Emerald kept out of her eyesight then she wouldn't be a problem, besides she didn't have a gun so she would have to get in close and that wouldn't be a problem. Making her way over to a console she quickly swiped the ID that she had nabbed off of a superior officer that they had passed on the way, and using his credentials she managed to find the cell code for Cinder Fall and also where they were keeping her, the cell itself was very complicated and surrounded by a large volume of water; smart move. Shutting down the computer, Emerald pocketed the ID, thinking of it as a souvenir for the mission and walked out of the command centre without a second glance at the guard.

Meanwhile Neo had a far easier time, as Cardin was attempting to chat up some woman, only for her to try walking away and he grabbed her arm, Neo saw this as a good moment to strike and slammed Cardin's head hard into the wall with her fist, which looked quite funny at the 4 foot 10 woman managing to knock out the 6 foot 5 man in one move, although Neo was super strong. She then hefted Cardin over her shoulder and went back to the crossroads where she had split up with Emerald. Safe to say her mission had gone a lot easier than Emerald, purely because it was a single hit job. Once they met up again Emerald didn't even blink at Neo dragging the large man behind her, and even when Neo opened up a portal and threw Cardin through it, Emerald just shrugged, she had seen some strange things and doubted that was going to be the full extent of the weirdness.

---

"While you two are doing that, Merlot my dear friend, I require a creature of specific, flammable design."

"I am certain that I can cook something up for you."

"Great, this creature needs to be small enough to slip into the Emerald Forest undetected and explode the cell of one Tyrian Carrows; a test subject of my own who was recently incapacitated by that Faunus in the desert. He will find his own way out and then I shall make sure he gets led here to us."

"How can we trust he will be on board with this?" asked Mercury.

"Simple; he's an agent of chaos."

---

"I heard we are getting new orders soon."

"Really? Be great to finally get away from this place."

"Well let's not get our hopes up anytime soon."

The little spider creature that Merlot had engineered crawled on past the two guards quickly on its way deeper into the prison to find the cell that had Tyrian inside of it. As the spider crawls deeper it discovers a plain glass cell with no guards around and the words

DEADLY INMATE: NO ACSESS AURTHORISED.

Printed on the glass in bold red letters, now Merlot knows this type of glass is new from STRQ, meant to be tough enough to survive a missile barrage and only have a light dust on it, so he wouldn't be getting in that way, the walls on the other hand were 2 meters of solid tough Atlas steel. They would be far easier to get through as the Atlas R&D department were always somewhat lacking behind Miss Rose and her admittedly brilliant mind. The spider droid pooped up a dust crystal from its abdomen with a laser focus coming out of its cephalothorax and as the crystal whirled and powered up a red colour, the laser focus drew in several circles creating a small entry point for the spider to crawl through.

Tyrian was against the wall; tail, arms and legs being held in place with strong gravity restraints, but his eyes locked onto the little spider and he grew a big grin and licked his lips in antici-

The laser blasted out and cut through his tail restraint first and then his legs and finished with his arms. Rolling away from the wall Tyrian stretched out and cracked his back in disturbing twists and also put one of his legs around his neck to crack his hip into place. He even used his tail to wrap around his neck and click that several times, especially to Dr Merlots absolute horror as the body should not bend or move that way in any possibility.

Once Tyrian was finished… stretching? He gazed down at the spider to which it turned and scurried back into its little hole and all that could be seen were a few flashes of red and then the lasers cut through the steel wall at all angles, with Tyrian stepping aside and jumping over miss fires with glee, even ducking under a rebound from the glass. Within seconds the spider machine had made a hole large enough for a madman to slip through it, and slip he did and was a free man for all of a millisecond before alarms began to blare.

"WARNING WARNING WARNING: TYRIAN CARROWS HAS LEFT HIS CELL. WARNIGN WARNING WARNING: TYRIAN CARROWS HAS LEFT HIS CELL. W-"

"Hehehe, all the fun and games happen right after someone tells on you." Tyrian muses to himself, just as five guards with guns come around the corner.

"Remember lethal force is authorised."

"Now do YOU truly believe you stand a chance?" And then the bullets came and Tyrian leapt into action bouncing of the walls and the bullets left holes trying to track his erratic movements, but were too slow as he lunged and grabbed the head of a guard in-front and twisted it a full 180 degrees

"Twit twho." Tyrian giggled as he then pounced at the next guard ripping his gun from his hands and throwing it at another before plunging his hand into his stomach, and using him as a bullet shield before tossing him aside and Spartan kicking the guard he had thrown the gun at so hard he flew into the wall head first with a sickening crunch. After needing to reload the fourth whipped out a combat knife and slashed as Tyrian, whose tail, quick as a viper stabbed him through the throat, and Tyrian grabbed the knife before it hit the ground and stabbed the last guard in the stomach, he also ripped of the helmet to look into their eyes.

"Y-y-you -gah- won't get far -gah-" she tried to get out as Tyrian lifted her up so she was almost near the ceiling as Tyrian kept squeezing until the life slipped out of her eyes. Then he felt a gush behind him as a portal opened up behind him and the spider motioned for him to jump through as it did so first and Tyrian threw the dead woman to the side and then launched himself through the portal.

---

"After we have the maniac (Someone I am very happy to work with again and I don't say that too often) we will need a bigger gun, and that is where the lovely Miss Fall comes into our plan, and that means you're up steeltoe." Drawled Roman; twirling his cane around and placing his hand on Mercury's shoulder, with a rue grin. His eye was twinkling with unknown mirth and knowledge.

---

Honestly this was all the same as what he had been doing all those years ago; following the target, taking the target out, and adopting his role as the undercover agent to sneak into the facility and then finding the package and getting out. Honestly; the times might change but the methods remained the same, eh could even remember when the Emerald Forest idea had first came forward, in-fact he was in the room at the time dressed as one of the guards, he couldn't remember which council member he was meant to kill, good chance it was someone from the newly formed Atlas, but he didn't care.

Thinking back further he could remember when the Emerald Forest was actually just a little wooded area and not as vast and filled as it was now, it even had its own ecosystem deep in the heart of the Forest; he once hunted a target deep into the Forest, the body was probably still there, albeit it a skeleton or maybe dust now but the point still stands.

Through all of Mercury's musing of the past he had managed to slip into the facility uninterrupted and arrived near where he wanted to be the break room for the staff. Perfect. He dropped the little package that Emerald had put together and kicked it under the door and it started to smoke out the room, and then he made his way over to the camera room for this floor and kicked it down and before the guard could even stand up from his seat his was knocked across the room and was out of it.

That was when he heard the alarms blaring around the facility: "WARNING WARNING WARNING: TYRIAN CARROWS HAS LEFT HIS CELL. WARNIGN-"

Perfect timing...

A few quick types on the keyboard and then he brought up Cinder's cell, a clever design, glass around her built by STRQ and surrounded by water, a perfect defence for a pyromancer and pyromaniac, would fall apart if her temperature exceeded a certain limit. They had almost thought of everything, just not thought of someone wanting to break her out just for the sake of it.

So Mercury drained the water and shut off the extinguishers inside the cell and headed down to where she was being kept to great her.

Inside the cell Cinder was calmly relaxing on her bed, dreaming of incinerating a handsome dark haired man, pummelling a blonde girl and her ginger friend and then melting the amour onto the skin of that stupid little girl and her stupid plan, her back still hu-

…

…

The water had stopped…

It always washed around her cell, but now it was all drained. Ever since she had been moved to her new cell the water had irritated her to no end, washing around the glass, what right did it have to be so peaceful? She didn't tell it to do that but now… it was off. And the camera was down…

She released a little spark hesitantly and nothing happened, no foam covered her, no water rushing in to overwhelm her flames, nothing. Perfect.

She looked out through the glass and there were three guards all stood on the other side of the thick glass, with terror written clearly on their faces, all she could do was smile.

And then light the fuse.

The flames covered her body in an instant and for the first time in however long she felt warm, and then the flames went away from her to the glass walls, ceiling, the floor, everywhere she could make them go, she would burn through this glass, she didn't pass out nor did she ever feel dizzy so that meant that Oxygen was still getting in to her somehow and right now she didn't care how it was the only thing that mattered right now to her was that she could go hotter. Her eyes never left the three – no, four now guards.

But this new comer didn't have fear in his eyes, no. No fear when he smashed the first guards dumb stuck face into the glass leaving a bloody mark on the bottom of his boot. No fear when he disarmed the gun from the other guard and put a bullet through her skull. No fear when the final tried to run and he threw a knife with deadly accuracy to their leg causing them to fall, and certainly no fear when he calmly placed his foot on the other man's throat and squeezed the life out of him. No because this newcomer only ever looked into her eyes for the entire moment, not giving those extras a second thought.

What a curious little man, maybe she wouldn't burn him to ash, the glass however…

No matter what stood in her way it all burned eventually, everything burned.

She calmly walked out of the remnants of her cell and locked eyes with the man, who offered he a nod.

"This way please I imagine the door will open in a moment."

"And why should I come anywhere with you?" Cinder softly questioned, the softness in her voice only offset by the fire in her eyes and the flames still dancing around her.

"A chance at revenge." Said the man, a touch of want, desire in his voice, something left unsaid "It's how he got us."

And then if right on cue a door did open in-front of the man and he walked through it, leaving Cinder Fall with more questions than she had answers and she wanted those answers, and she always got what she wanted.

Flames often hungered for more things to burn after all.

---

"I know Neo I'm a little surprised it all went off without a hitch as well." Muttered Roman to his silent partner, and not the one behind the scenes, although she too was scary.

"So you and your group were the ones that hit the convoy three years back?" asked Cardin to Emerald as they were all stood around the table.

"Huh, that job? I wouldn't call it a hit, Vale forces tried to stop us and we steamrolled them, a bunch of idiots with nail guns, no chance against us."

"HAHAHAHAHA, damn straight Greeny, I like your style."

"Ooooh, the Infamous Mercury Black, a true legend amongst the mercenaries of the world, a murderer without peer, gosh I'm gushing."

"Tyrian, you work for-"

"YESYESYESYES, the doom himself, he always said that you were a worthwhile investment if you wanted a job done quickly."

"I will be honest, hunting faunus traitors was always more fun, they tend to run quicker than humans do, I like the extra work."

"HEHEHE, everything I thought you would be."

A little away from the table Dr Merlot was running a little quick and subtly analysis on Cinder, amazed that such power could be placed in her body. She gave a very large amount of dust similar energy, almost on the same level as a pure crystal, but several leagues stronger, but the foundation was there.

"Scan me one more time and I will incinerate you Doctor, and I don't think you would be able to stich yourself up from that."

"Ah, I am sorry Miss Fall, I do not mean to offend you, Your ability is simply incredible."

"I am aware, I made it for myself after all, dust is not as complicated as people would make it out to be."

"Neither is the human body, augments and changes here and there and then there are monsters."

"Then from on scientist to another; I can respect that."

Roman then moved his way up to the table and tipped his hat to all of the people in the room and then all eyes were on him, as Neo then sat cross legged on the table behind him, Dr Merlots lab was filled with research tables.

"Aww this is so great, all my kids here together and getting along so well."

"We ain't your kids Roman." Snarled Mercury, with Cardin nodding along and the others looking as though they are in agreement, all except Merlot. The good Doctor knew otherwise but he would let Roman talk them through it all.

"Are you not? Don't you all owe me for giving you your powers? Your skills? Your very passions? You are where you are now, in this moment because I pointed you in a certain direction along your paths to get you all right here."

"Please." Scoffed Cinder. "I created my own powers, I gave myself all of it and I got there myself, with nobodies help, least of all yours."

"Most of all mine gorgeous. Magnesium is such a common element in schools, and so perfect for experiments involved in fire, but you would never have known to mix it with a fire crystal in liquid form until that shelf broke and then they 'accidently' mixed together would you?" Cinder looked stunned, her beautiful face shocked, she had never told anyone that information before. "It might have been science to give you the powers, but a certain little bit of magic went into you creating the science, I'm good with trick."

"Coincidence does not equal causation."

"Ah Mr Black, managing to survive so much electricity, enough to even make my dear, dear sister rethink her choices in her early years, but no problem for me, I have grown quite good at moving lightening around in little bits, I simple made it more of a pleasant shock to pass you out enough and then hid your heartbeat for a while, Neo knocked the chemical on you and then tada: the ultimate murderer! (Not as good as dad)"

Mercury's eyes widened comically, he knew he should have died, he just assumed it was the gods sick twisted trick that he didn't and made it out of that place in one piece.

"Mr Winchester was simple, a change in the flu jab to something from a neighbouring Realm, they didn't mind, they change all the time anyway."

"Tyrian you were easy, I bonded your soul with a dead goblins, the other faunus assumed it was science, and wanted to add something so I let them add to your tail a little."

"And Emerald, Emerald, Emerald. So simple, a couple of mythology books left around and you took inspiration from some of my various forms from throughout history, Neo then did a little bit of dream work inside your scientists heads and then you had your massive robots, all lovely and perfect, your hate for the world and the order it is in came easily as it should, much like myself."

Roman looked at them all with a level face "Now we are all here for the same reason: too kill those so called super heroes. And this is how we will do it."

---

Ren calmly walked through the manor, he had just finished up a meditation outside in the woods and was hoping that Jaune or Yang would be up for some food, Ruby had been called away as there was a urgent matter to attend to at STRQ Industries that needed her attention, the scientist apparently had been very 'persuasive' was the word that Penny had used to explain to Ren.

"Director Ozpin is calling you Master Ren."

"I will take him in the kitchen Penny, might just be a quick call." And so he headed towards the kitchen away from the stair case, just as Director Ozpin's voice came out over the speakers.

"Agent Ren." A statement, he usually begun with a question of how the other was, must be in a more serious mood than normal.

"Director Ozpin. Is something the matter sir?" Always be polite, especially over the phone. He can remember his dad drilling that into him at a very young age.

"One of your case files is up for review, we noticed something that didn't quite add up and would like you to come to B.E.A.C.O.N. to ask you of further questions."

"Which casefile is it sir?" This had happened once when his description didn't match that of his partners, but that was because his partner at the time had been working for the enemy and also as the rest of the agency had learned very quickly; they didn't have his eye for detail.

"I do not wish to talk about it over this line and would prefer to speak in person." It does make sense, Director Ozpin was always a cautious type about phones, and he much preferred the old ways.

"Very well sir I understand and will be heading off right now."

"Good."

"Call over, would you like me to record the call Master Ren?" He was about to say no, but something felt different, call it a gut feeling if you will. "Yes please Penny, and please let Yang and Jaune know I will be heading to B.E.A.C.O.N."

"Certainly Master Ren." And then he headed off to the bullhead to begin the journey, making sure to bring his bow and arrows as well as his guns, knives, smoke bombs and grapnel gun. He felt like they would be needed for tonight.

CLANG

CLANG

CLANG

SMACK

"Yang you can't throw it to hard otherwise on th-"

"Otherwise on the return it will smack me in the bloody nose."

Jaune thought for a moment and then side nodded his head. "Yes, in a word. It's all about looking at the angles and the space between the object it is hitting."

"Yada yada, okay answer me this; why does it rebound off things?"

"wel-l-l… it jus- what do you mean?" Jaune spluttered and stammered through an answer.

"Well the whole shield is designed to absorb vibration right? Take in kinetic energy and nullify it completely right? Then why does it bounce? Surely it should just hit the wall and then slide down it, or get stuck into the wall. I mean I get when I hit you, you are forced back because it is also about footing and how you are holding the shield high and I am following through and all that but the bouncing is really weird."

"… The edge is lined with a different metal…?"

Jaune weakly shrugged at Yang, who lost her momentum and held her hands up and then smacked herself in the face with her hands.

"What ab-"

"Salutations Best Girl and Fossil. I have news for you both."

"Fossil?"

"Ssssshhhh, Penny is talking."

"Master Ren has left to go to B.E.A.C.O.N. and Ruby has left for STRQ Industries, however she said she will be requiring your help at this specific location Best Girl."

Penny then brought up a map which showed a park quite near to STRQ Industries main building, a little hop for her but still a fly away for Jaune and Yang wasn't about to carry him with her or fly with him if she could be honest.

"Well have fun all by yourself Fossil, be free to strut around the place naked (Penny take pics, we could make a Lien I'm sure) and of course you will miss me greatly I know."

"Sure thing Nora."

"… that's cold Arc, real cold."

"Hehe, Army humour, things were getting to chummy around here."

"OOOOOOOOOHHHHHH, you want the puns Arc? You want them? Penny while Jaune here is working out number 1 record it for me, and number 2 be sure to play my full joke book from back when I was 15 and had just found the greatest gift my dad had ever left me."

Jaune paled, he knew what it was, how could he not, not a single person that Tai came into contact with didn't know what it was. Oh please let him be wrong, please.

"Hey there my sunny little dragon; it's me your dad!" Came Tai's voice over the speakers, the tone Jaune knew far too well.

His joke telling tone…

"Orm help me." Whimpered Jaune to the sky as Yang walked out of the training room smiling to herself, all the way outside of the manor where she squatted down and stretched her legs out from side to side and then launched herself into the sky and over the woods surrounding Ruby's mansion. As she came towards her decent she breathed in and relaxed her legs as the ground came closer, she still cracked the road she had landed on, but it was more of an easy fix that what she used to leave when she started jumping. She once managed to flatten a building by landing on the roof, now when she controlled it the most she did was crack it.

On her fourth jump she had almost made it to the park and it was a couple of miles below her; the mansion was only just outside the city limits, one day she hoped she was strong enough to make it in one big jump, but baby steps for now. She thought back to that fight with Hazel, she had seen red and she hadn't said it to anyone but she knew that Ren and Jaune both saw the look in her eyes, she wanted to kill Hazel, and she could of. She was the most physically strongest person on the planet, nobody would have been able to stop her if she wanted it, she just couldn't do it in-front of Ruby, her little sister would only ever see her as a monster after that and she didn't want that to happen, she needed Ruby to see the good in her, to see she wasn't just a rage machine, but a person.

Speaking of Ruby she was waiting down there for her in the park along with Nora and … Ren? But didn't he go off to Ozzyland?

Breathing in she landed with a little puff of dirt as the other three closed in on her.

"Nora!" Yang cheered out as her good friend wore a complicated look on her face, which was really strange, when had Nora worn anything other than a smile when vegetables or Ren talking to the post lady were involved? "Why didn't you say you were back?"

Ruby stepped forward, she was in her amour with the visor down, why was it down? "Yang we need to talk about Jaune Arc."

"He is not who he says he is." That came from Ren, why were his hands twitching? His foot tapping? He was always so still to betray just how fast he really could be when needed, where did this excess energy come from?

"What you guys talking about? He's Jaune! Yeah he might not get the TV controls, and yes he thinks that all films should be in black and white and his preference of cereal is so stupid and-"

"It's about who he really is, we have good reason to believe he is actually part of the Deathstalkers."

Yang was silent for a second then laughed "HAHAHA, what idiot would come up with that plot? How could he be part of them? He spent the most memorable part of his life against them?"

"That is not the worst part." This came from Nora who was now quite close to her, In fact they all were, since her landing they had gotten closer and closer to her, now there was a little part in the back of Yang's long hair that always told her to not let people this close unless you wanted to hit them or kiss them, but with these three she trusted them so usually the voice was quiet, so why could she feel it all over her hair and in her stomach, there was an unusual heat coming from Nora's glare and Ren was really making her nervous the way she kept twitching like that.

"What is the worst part? The way he has to fold his socks?" Joked Yang, suddenly feeling like all the tenson in the world was on her very shoulders.

"We believe you might be working with him to destroy us."

"WHAT?" she screamed, 'no this could not be happening, not Ruby please not her.' "Guys that is insane, let's just talk to Jaune, come on and if he tries anything then there are four of us-"

"Three, we can't trust you Yang." Said Ruby coldly, and that's when something shattered, but not inside Yang, she heard this audible crack of glass behind her and just as she turned to look Ruby's chest glowed brightly and was pointed at her ready to blast her as she braced herself, but it was only a light. She then felt two strikes to the back of her knees, slices really, and when the light died she saw Ren crouched down and his tongue hanging from his mouth, a wide smile plain on his face for them to see.

'That's not Ren.' This Yang knew for certain. 'These are not my friends.' She had time to think before Nora's flaming fist struck her across the face, sending her to the ground. 'Fire? Nora doesn't use Fire and where is her hammer?' A strong kick to the stomach rolled her over and as she got up she saw that she was facing a portal, leading to the darkest shade of green she has ever seen, and what looked like a lot of monsters.

"What the hell?" she asked nobody in particular.

"Hell is right." She knew that voice, and then she was blasted forward by a powerful explosion of flame, through the portal and into the unknown land, the last thought in her mind clear.

'I'm gonna kick that Fire bitches ass when I get back."

Crimson eyes watched Yang in the distance as she let out a roar and the monsters all charged towards her.

'Entertain me mortal' she thought.

---

Ruby tapped away quickly on the tablet on her way around her top office, 'why did so many projects need her attention right now? They had never needed her to sign off on this many before, the R&D department really was going quite hard with their desgins.'

"Miss Rose, an emergency with the reactor, the readings are getting to high and we can't get close enough to the shut off valve." A female scientist exclaimed over the intercom into her office. The reactor was on the bottom floor, and the elevator was going to be way to slow for her.

'Yang don't watch me now' Ruby thought as she charge to the window… and tripped over before she could make it a few steps.

"Ooph." She managed to groan out as she picked herself up. "Penny delete that footage, cue the music and prep the amour; Milk and cookies."

"Code phrase accepted."

And then Ruby leapt from the window and began her free fall. Ruby had never been afraid of heights, in her mind there wasn't really much she was scared of that she then didn't get over almost straight after, even when she was stuck in that hell cave, she got through it all with just her mind and her wits. And a really big suit of armour, something she had improved on over time.

The Iron Reaper amour shot out the window after her and unfolded in the air, opening up to swallow her whole. As the amour wrapped around her, the heads up display lit up a beautiful brilliant silver as did her chest piece once she was all in place. She even felt rejuvenated with the addition of extra Arc energy, and lastly her cape fluttered out behind her in its blood red design, maybe it was impractical but it certainly looked cool.

Thrusters powering up, she controlled her decent down to the ground and then flew off towards the reactor room, smashing through the glass door on the ground floor, it didn't matter too much as she could certainly afford it later on anyway.

Entering the reactor room she noticed that there was some sparks of energy shooting off the reactor, nothing out of the ordinary in that respect, as she and the team had accounted for the extra energy output and made the surrounding area spacious and so that any sparking energy would be conducted and sent to other areas, they actually powered the local hospital with the extra power they put out, and this was only the prototype, soon they would have made a better version to power the whole city, soon Dust energy would be a thing of the past.

No nothing unusual at all; other than the man that was currently standing there getting hit by the energy right in-front of reactor, which was dangerous, very dangerous. It was then that she noticed the heavy blast doors close up behind her and as she looked into the observation deck she saw a silver haired man, he returned her look with a lazy half smile and a one handed salute before pointing to the man in-front of the reactor.

As the Iron Reaper turned back she saw his large body glow brightly and then he thrust out his hands towards her-

"Penny shiel-" she started to say before the pure silver energy blasted her back through the reactor doors, the near full force of her reactors power frazzling her systems and scrambling Penny's communication, she couldn't tell anyone that Ruby was down or in need of any assistance because her systems were being hit with too much energy and had also been hacked beforehand by Emerald.

As Ruby tried to pick herself up, her amour didn't want to move with her; the exoskeleton not complying with her thoughts or movements. That was when a shadow loomed over her face, the man with the silver hair snarled down at her and then lifted his leg, and it was lights out not a couple of seconds after for the Iron Reaper.

Cardin then fell to his knees, panting heavily; there was no way he would be able to take energy of that magnitude again, it was too strong for him, even holding it for a few seconds he could feel his body tearing itself apart. Mercury on the other hand was fine as he picked up the unconscious CEO and tossed her over one shoulder, once Cardin had finally stood up the three then made their way through the portal that Neo had created for them.

---

Alone in the mansion Jaune threw his shield at the targets that the training room kept popping up for him, the only sound going around was his heavy breathing and the CLANG as his shield hit the various objects before rebounding towards him. After asking nicely he had gotten Penny to shut off Tai's Joke Book for The YANG, why the YANG was in all capitals he did not know but the silence coming from everywhere was very nice.

After the next throw he caught the shield and then placed it down before he turned to the punching bag and began to work on his combos and his hits, it was at that moment that the lights all went out, but Jaune kept punching lost in his own flow until he heard a metallic click ring out in-between his hits, just as he turned around he was smacked in the stomach hard with his own shield, hitting the punching bag and swinging underneath it. As he made to stand up a quick figure darted off the wall and flying kicked him across the face, the persons tail then wrapped around his legs holding him in place as his shield connected hard with his chest, flinging him into the wall. Jaune made to stand up but the wall held him still, but it was solid metal, how could it hold him in place? He tried to see through the darkness but a voice just said.

"Nighty night Cap."

Mercury observed the sprawled out form of Captain Arc as he was dragged across the floor hap-hazardly by Cardin Winchester. Together with Tyrian, the three had managed to subdue the famous war hero with very little effort, quick movements from Tyrian upset his balance, Cardin was more than a match for his strength and could hold him in place easy, and Mercury KNEW him, he knew the Captain better than he knew himself at times; and they did say that knowing was half the battle.

As they dragged him along to the main hall, Cardin contemplated lifting him down the stairs, but Mercury suggested just throwing him, he could take a little bit or roughing up every now and then, and seeing it did bring a smile to his face. Got to love the little things in life.

Roman was already in the main hall twirling his stupid cane and smoking a stupid cigar as he stood in-front of an unconscious body of Ruby Rose, tied up to a chair. When Jaune Arc landed in the centre of the hall at the bottom of the long star case he snapped his fingers and another chair came flying out and positioned itself next to Ruby with its own set of chains, Neo then picked him up and popped him in place and made sure he was nice and secure. Once that was done she continued doing her cartwheels around the two and occasionally Cinder as well who was leaning against the wall looking bored, she had really been hoping for a more painful revenge upon Yang, but would settle for whatever they pulled out of the portal.

Emerald then chose to walk back into the room tapping away at her tablet. "Mansion is under my control, took a lot of work, glad we planned this several days in advance. Rose has some serious encryption, I'm still trying to fight her back-ups, the A.I. is tricky, but we will be dark so long as I don't need to turn my attention off of it."

Roman hummed in response and watched as the boys walked down the stairs, Mercury placing Jaune's shield on his back and moving along with Cardin to stand in-front of him. Tyrian decided to sit on the banister right behind Emerald as she was still tapping away.

"It will be nice to finally cave your head in Arc." Snarled Cardin, pounding his fist into his palm.

"Over your dead body Winchester, Arc is mine." Growled Mercury back at him

"Now, now, now boys, let's not forget the larger plan at stake here." Began Roman as he put his hands on their shoulders. "They can't die yet; not until the special guest gets here, and we will need to be focused for her when she turns up won't we?"

"Surely we can just kill these two now, then you can let me burn Yang to ash."

"Ahhh ahh ah, Cinder all in good time. We just need the archer to come back and then I can summon the final piece of the puzzle. Not before and not after, and let us still be cautious about the archer."

The others all glanced between themselves, before Emerald let out a little snigger. "He is hardly worth all the fuss."

"Maybe not, but he is still part of the team, and if he calls for her, then she will arrive." Just then a shadow near the skylight window vanished and jumped off the roof, sprinting towards the surrounding gate before jumping into her covert ship, taking flight towards B.E.A.C.O.N.

---

"I'm sorry Ren I just have no idea what you are talking about." Said Director Ozpin as he sat at his desk, with the ever stoic and serious Goodwitch right beside him.

Ren allowed a brief look of confusion to pass across his features. "Sir are you sure, I remember vividly having this conversation with you over the phone, Penny has it all recorded."

"I am sorry Mr Ren but we have no record of you contacting the Director." Said Goodwitch as she searched through her tablet and then showed it to Ren; all that were there were some communications with some other bases and outposts around the kingdom.

Something was very clearly not right here. "Okay, well thank you anyway for seeing me."

"For one of my favourites, always." Goodwitch glared at the back of Ozpins head and shook her own head, fist clenching. 'He really shouldn't play favourites like that.'

On the elevator down Ren glanced up at the ceiling briefly and allowed for a small smirk to grace his face, turns out his ears were pretty great as well as his eyes; not like he would ever tell them that, best to keep them guessing.

As he reached the lobby he walked back up to the desk where he handed in his many weapons and then waited for them to hand them back over to him. While he was waiting he made sure his back was very firmly kept towards the rest of the lobby, he didn't want them to know that he had already seen them, it would surely be a strike to their very good skills, after all he was certain that neither Goodwitch or Ozpin had been able to spot them as they were outside the window, although they also probably thought that there would not be someone hanging out up at 50 stories.

Ren walked outside the lobby and made his way to Jaune's statue and waited for a few moments, wondering if they would make themselves known or he would have to call out to them. This was always the awkward part of the spying process. After a little internal deliberation he decideds that he has waited enough that they can get into a good enough position so they can be really dramatic about their reveal.

"I figured that the roof top would be a little bit to, well I don't want to say 'Super villian', but if the shoe fits."

The shadows on top of Jaune's statue slowly parted and a figure became a lot more visible to his eyes; perched on top of Jaune's shield, the figure was clad completely in a black suit and with cat ears atop the head of the suit, although Ren was certain that they were actually real, as they seemed to move in tandem with the figures head tilts. They then flipped of gracefully and landed next to him without a sound as her feet hit the ground, she was a little bit shorter than he was as well; the ears adding to her height.

"Most people's eyes tend to miss me when I follow them." Her voice had a husky tint to it, like she wasn't used to talking to many people.

"I didn't get paid nearly enough to be able to afford missing." Ren responded, face completely neutral, still silently sizing her up. Jaune said they helped him in the graveyard, but why did she now come to him and not Jaune again?

"Yes I am familiar, one of the best marksmen in the whole of Remnant."

Ren wouldn't lie and say he wasn't proud of that accomplishment. "I am sure you also have a pseudonym; perhaps Black Cat?"

"No."

"Catwoman?"

"Certainly not."

"Black Panther?"

"Now that one is tempting; although I would have gone with Puma, and why are they all cat ones?"

"Because I fail to see an elephant trunk sprouting from your persons." Responded Ren with as much respect for her image as a faunus he could muster. Just as the Black Puma was about to retort, there was a brilliant rainbow flash behind Ren and then that's when Nora walked out of the light show, yawning as she did and looking like she had just woken up, her hair all messy and sticking up at odd ends. That all disappeared when she saw Ren.

"REN! Oh I am so glad I can see you again, it has been so looooooooooooong, I have so much to tell you. Who is this? Where is Yang? Can we have pancakes now? My mum wants to come and visit sometime soon, she hasn't been here for about 500 years, said that was more than enough time for you all to make plenty of statues of her. Wonder how she would feel about this one of Jaune?"

"Hello Nora." Sighed Ren back, a small smile on his face, he did miss her energy. In return she skipped up to him and poked him on the nose.

"Hehe, BOOP."

Ren's smile got a little larger now, you could almost see it if you paid close enough attention to him. "I missed you as well and am sure Yang would love to tell you many stories of our teams exports together, but for now."

Ren turned back to the unknown figure. "This is Nora, she is a goddess. Nora meet-"

"Blake or Black Puma, I kinda like that."

"Nora meet Blake."

"Nora has met Blake and Blake is now a good friend of Nora's, well done Nora and well done Blake, and a well d-"

"Nora, you're getting side tracked."

"Sorry Ren."

Blake observed the two, such an odd pairing, one so colourful and one so plain. However opposites did attract as the saying goes. "I came here to warn you Ren, and you as well Nora. Your team has been taken beaten and taken hostage by some of your enemies; the man Captain Arc and I fought in the graveyard, Emerald, that Fire Witch Cinder, Lieutenant Cardin Winchester, a man named Tyrian and two others I have not seen before, although one is able to make portals and the other really likes smoking.

"I wanted to come and warn you Ren. I was really looking for Captain Arc, he owes me one and I wanted his help with something."

"You help us, then you can have all of our help. But how have they got Jaune and Yang tied up? Yang alone would be too strong for any restraints." Asked Ren.

"The portal girl managed to send her away, I don't know where too, and Jaune and Ruby are both out cold, Ruby looks like her amour has been overloaded, but I can fix her if I get close enough to her."

"What about her heart? The magnet still works right?"

"All still good, they don't want to kill them just yet."

Nora was silent for a moment and then shook her head slowly and looked up to the sky muttering something in a different language. "I think I know now why my mum woke me up, she wanted me to be here for this."

"They are only waiting for you Ren; then they talked about summoning you Nora."

"So they don't know about you?" Blake shook her head. "Then the advantage is on our side, it might be a trap, but they won't expect me to burst through the doors ready for them with you two and an army of B.E.A.C.O.N. agents to back us up."

"No." Begun Nora, Blake and Ren gave her and odd look but remained silent; one out of curiosity, the other knew to trust in her judgement. "If we do this we do this the three of us."

Blake looked to Ren, who gave an encouraging nod, the glint in his eye told him to trust them both. "Okay, I'll play along."

"Good because I got a plan, it's kinda crazy a little bit out there and above all; dramatic."

…

…

…

"Nora."

"Yes Ren?"

"We are going to need to hear the plan."

"Oh."

---

SMACK

Jaune flies across the room and slams into the marble pillar, cracking it slightly from the force that he hit it and also groaning at the hit he took from Tyrian, crazy as he was he had a mean right hook. He then pushed himself up off the floor, he didn't know what they had wrapped his hands around with but he couldn't slip out or break the bonds.

Blood dripped down over his left eye and out of the corner of his right eye he saw another punch coming and managed to duck out of the way of Cardin's fist, he didn't get far before the little woman kicked him in the back of the leg bringing him down to his knees. She then swung her umbrella across his face, sending him back to the floor and skidding to stop in-front of Mercury. Jaune then tried to pick himself up but Mercury kicked him around the face, rolling him on his back, trying to catch his breath, and he even still tries to sit himself up, but the little woman kicked his chest forcing him back down.

Roman tilted his head back muttering 'Mortals' under his breath as he took another puff of his cigar, and that was when he noticed it had started to rain on the skylight, nothing heavy or loud just a spot of bad weather in this already dark night, maybe the extras would like to throw him around outside and get him even more muddy and beaten, they could drown this Arc man in the pond, Mercury and Cardin could both hold him under and then that is both of their problems sorted out.

Taking a deep breath Jaune rolled himself over and got onto his elbows and his knees before Mercury, as Cardin was about to throw him across the room, but Tyrian held him back as the little woman cartwheeled behind Mercury to watch what was going to happen a lot clearer. Jaune forced himself up so he was on his knees, panting heavily, bleeding from a cut above the left eye, busted lip that looked like it was already healing, bruises on his arms, that were starting to fade slightly, but in spite of all that, there was that unyielding spirit in his eyes.

"Enjoying yourself Arc?"

Taking a deep breath, Jaune smiled and let out a little chuckle. "I can do this all day."

Mercury laughed a little and turned to Neo and shook his head. "Such a hero! Do you ever get tired of this? Of always having to be the good guy? Look where it got you! All of your friends are dead, nobody teaches about you in school anymore and the whole world would rather forget the war ever happened. You are nothing anymore Arc, you live in a dream land."

Jaune caught his breath back with him and then went to one knee, and then finally stood up straight, he was taller than Mercury, taller than Tyrian and the little woman. Taller than Cinder and Emerald and the smoking man, he truly struck an intimidating figure even beaten, bound and bleeding.

"That's good; dreams save us, they give us hope and lift us up. So no Black, I don't feel tired. My old friends might be dead but what they left behind is a legacy, one that I need to uphold now I am here, and gives me a chance. It gives you a chance as well Mercury."

"To do what? Join you?"

"No, to be better, help someone."

"You are a fool Arc, a stupid moron locked in a fairyland."

Jaune sighed, maybe you couldn't get through to everyone right, but you couldn't stop trying too. And Jaune knew he had to try to help Mercury as best as he could, even though he would much rather spend his time kicking him around or beating him like a piñata.

"Well at least it is relaxing here." Mercury then exploded forward and kicked at his stomach, now Jaune wasn't caught off guard by the strike, he saw it all coming and was ready to react to them straight away, but something about the bonds around his hands had slowed him down. He found himself hitting his back against the wall and then Tyrian grabbing him and throwing him across the room landing at Ruby's feet. Who had managed to wake up and was watching Jaune get beaten and tossed around for a while now, but only had enough energy to just watch his blurry form fly at her feet.

Ruby felt terrible, her reactor in her chest had been affected just like her amour, but her amour had just locked down and without Penny online or her helmet functioning properly couldn't power it up to help her break free. Her chest reactor had also been hit with the full force of Cardin's attack as well and the two different energies had not gone well together, she had tested and tested her own 'extra' heart to make sure that the energy would never be harmful to her body, but the reactor beneath STRQ had no such test conducted as it was only to see if it could power the building and maybe a few surrounding the skyscraper. As such the extra was causing a very slow heart failure and unless her amour could purge the chest reactor of that energy, she was eventually gonna go night night very soon, and all without her milk and cookies.

Fortunately at this particular moment a somewhat daring rescue was being executed by three of the bravest people she would ever come to know, and some of her bestest friends in the whole worlds. The Black Puma had taken the long distraction of the brawlers beating down on Captain Arc and managed to sneak into the main hall above where Ruby was tied and Jaune was currently sprawled, before the little multi-coloured woman grabbed his ankle and spun him around, across the floor and into the opposite wall. Which did look like it hurt for the war hero, but worked out perfectly for Nora's plan.

Ren kicked down the front doors with and arrow already nocked in his bow pointing at Roman, thanks to Blake's description and Nora's knowledge he knew who was the more troublesome in this place.

"Honey, I'm home." He muttered under his breath, he already regretted this plan and everything about it, but it was their best chance they had.

"Ah the archer, the final guest has arrived to the tea party." Ren loosed the arrow at Roman who didn't more a centimetre as Neo managed to snatch it out of the air before it hit him. "Thank you Neo."

"Ren? Please tell me you didn't come alone." Croaked out Jaune as he sat up against the wall and looked at his calm friend. Ren returned his look with a level one, giving nothing away what-so-ever, to which Jaune gave a grin. "Good luck guys."

Cardin choose that moment to charge at Ren in his stone form, just as Mercury threw Jaune's shield at him. Ren slid under the shield and managed to catch one of the straps, just about gripping on to it. Turns out this Mercury guy was as strong as Jaune. Ren then turned with the force and threw the shield at Cardins feet, knocking him off balance and sending him tumbling to the ground. He then spins around and on one knee nocks two more arrows and shoots at Emerald and Cinder who lazily makes a wall of fire in-front of them to incinerate them, rolling her eyes at the act of defiance from the archer.

Tyrian chooses that moment to leap at Ren from one of the pillars, both of his blades pointed at his heart. Ren just manages to dive out of the way, ending up in the middle of the hall right on top of the STRQ symbol on the floor and underneath the majority of the massive sky light. As he dived out of the way he left behind a little 'sticky stick', a device of Ruby's creation. After it received impact it ejected a large amount of foam which hardened up around the target making it completely stationary, it was strong enough to withstand Yang's punches for a couple of minutes, so he was confident that Tyrian would be immobile for a while.

Roman sighs, something that he was doing quite regularly he came to realise. "Neo… just do your thing."

Ren shot of three arrows in quick succession towards the little woman, who simply smacked them aside with her umbrella. The fourth arrow was launched and she caught it in between her fingers, but by now she was right on top of him and used the arrow and umbrella as a deadly combo like batons and wacked him around several times with both of them. She then struck with a high kick to his chin sending him on his back. Cinder even walks over to give him a piece of her mind as well, because the arrows that Neo dodged she had to burn, and she wanted to save the flames for Yang.

Ren then back rolled to his feet and threw a knife at Cinder, which melted before it touched her skin and she kept walking towards him. Raising an eyebrow at the show of power Ren almost got caught by one of Mercury's kicks to his back but was punched around the face by him, Cinder then picked him up by the throat and slammed him into the ground, not too hard as she knew he was still just a frail human. Ren felt the wind knocked out of him as the three surrounded his prone form, Cardin had even picked himself up and joined in the group; perfect.

Ren slowly and shakily drew an arrow from his quiver, knocked it in his bow and pulled it back slowly, making sure to show how much pain this was causing him. The four all just watched him with amusement as he struggled and aimed his arrow at Cardin's eye, who hardened up to stone as Ren released the arrow and it pinged off his head and up out of sight, while Ren dropped his arms and let go of his bow.

"Did you really think you stood a chance against us? You're the weakest one, we had actually forgot about you." Taunted Cinder

"Your a pathetic fight." Sneered Cardin banging his now meat fists together, now Ren was irritated, he could handle the insults but bad grammar was not something he could stand for.

"Wrong, its 'You're'." He muttered to the villains. "The fight hasn't started yet… I'm just stalling."

That was when Blake pounced off the ceiling and double drop kicks Cinder's head into the ground with a loud crack, then spinning around on her hands she performs a rising split kick on to Mercury and Cardin's chins, honestly Ren is amazed by that the most out of everything he has seen these last few days, the display of flexibility and power are truly awe inspiring. The Neo woman quickly flips over Ren so she is behind him and moves to stab him with are sharp umbrella point, but he fires one of his guns at the floor rebounding the custom made bullet that she has to dodge.

Blake then jumps over to Emerald and forces her away from where Ruby is sat and tied up, while Ren runs and slide across the floor to be next to Jaune. Roman twirls his cane around a few times.

"The mortals just keep getting weirder." He mutters before stomping out his cigar on the floor. "Well hello kitty cat, nice to meet you. Looks like you made a friend Mr arrow man, good for you!"

Cinder pulled her angry face out of a little hole Blake had made for her in the marble, Cardin struggled to get up, not being used to hit so hard when out of a substance form and as such everyone now knew he had a glass jaw. Cinder walked over to where Tyrian was still trapped in the foam and placed her hand on it, heating up the foam to melt him out, letting her anger fuel her fire.

Blake very quickly placed a little device on her chest to reboot her amour and remove any harmful energy, bless the wonders of this miracle metal and the beautiful scientific mind of her mother and father. Ruby took in a deep breath as her vision cleared and she was able to move her body slightly, now she just needed a kick start and she would be good as gold, or in her case silver.

While Ren had slide across the floor he managed to grab Jaune's fallen shield and move it over to him as well as using a knife to start cutting through the bindings around his wrist. While Ren and Blake made sure that the other two were ready for a fight, the next stage of their plan was going exceedingly well; Cardin, Cinder, Mercury, Neo and Tyrian were all in the very centre of the large hallway, right under the skylight. Ren presses a button on his bow and the arrow that had rebounded and stuck to the skylight exploded, letting the heavy rain and howling wind in. Roman looks over curiously at Ren, 'Does this mortal think to use this as an escape route?'

That's when the lightning flashes across the sky and then Roman realises what is happening, unfortunately not quick enough.

"Lovely weather, don't you think?" Asks Ren as Neo very quickly leaps towards Roman as she know what follows lightening.

The Thunder.

And follow it does, Nora had been waiting above the manor ever since she saw Ren enter through the main doors, the moment the skylight had blasted open she had started to twirl her hammer to build up power and momentum and then she blasted herself down towards the opening, recognising the fire woman Cinder from before, she knew that she could take a hit, so she hit her hard.

BOOOM

The resulting shockwave and static electricity blasted sent Cardin and Mercury flying into opposite walls where they made Cardin and Mercury shaped holes. Cinder found herself face down in a much larger crater, and in a lot more pain than when that infuriating cat girl had drop kicked her into one a minute prior. Tyrian took a lot of the bolts of electricity, purely because the foam was super conductive and was shocked into an unconscious mess, luckily for them. Nora had also been informed by Blake that Ruby would require a kick-start for her amour to reboot properly so she had sent a substantial arc towards her, and it worked like a shot of adrenaline, her eyes flew wide open and she broke out of the bond like they were nothing her helmet extending over her head and lighting up with very high numbers.

"Salutations Ruby, the manor has no power but I can function in your amour for the time being and due to the extreme power levels I won't even be a fraction of a drain on your systems."

"Good to have you back Penny."

Nora hovered off the floor and glided over to Ruby and Blake who then followed the wall with her to Ren and Jaune; she then ripped the restraints off of Jaune as they were magically bonded around his wrists and the knife wasn't doing much.

"Who's ready to boop these guys?" asks Nora to a very enthusiastic crowd.

"Hey there big sis!" Calls out Roman a cheery grin on his face. "How have you been? Bloodthirsty and violent as usual?"

"I fight my fights on the battlefield, something I've been coming to realise you don't."

"Ooooh so true dear sister of mine, so true! But you know what? It's a lot more fun my way, fun and games, I mean you can't honestly say you care for these mortals, they're so … … Neo help me out here what am I looking for?"

"…"

"FRAGILE! That's it, thanks Neo, you always know what to say."

"Roman enough, they are people just like you and I, they live and they die."

"Give or take about 7 thousand years, their life time is a blink in the eye of us, in the eye of gods."

"Gods serve pe-"

"Gods are worshiped, big sister, and these pathetic animals should worship me with every fibre of their being."

"No that's not what mum and dad taught us."

"Just what they did before we came along, right?" Roman raises his eyebrow at Nora's shocked expression, 'guess she doesn't know.' "Well anyway your back earlier than expected."

"Wrong you're." muttered Ren and Nora together.

"And I was having fun with your mortals, so run along and eat your body weight in whatever stupid food stuff you have fallen in love with this week."

"Pancakes."

"Great; kill them."

Mercury lunges forward towards Jaune with a flying axe kick that he blocks with his shield and pushes him back in to a back handspring where Blake pounces on him and rolls before kicking him up in the air for Jaune to dive at and tackle back to the ground, making sure that Mercury lands first. 'Of all the training sessions I had to choose this time to not be in my amour.' As they landed and tumbled a little bit Mercury tried pushing away and kicking but that damn shield blocked him again and he was punched in the face and then bashed in the stomach before a back spinning kick to the cheek flung him across the room out of the front doors and down the steps onto the driveway.

Cardin charged back through the hole in the wall completely covered in steel, but didn't get very close to Ren as Ruby blasted him with her eyes and then speed past him, grabbing his ankle and flinging him up and out of the skylight. Shooting him with a missile and lighting up the sky with explosions as he was juggled about in the air by the Iron Reapers silver repulse blasts and then hit with missile's as well, Ruby managing to take her amour to 200 miles an hour when she flying kicked him at some moments because of Nora's extra energy.

Back inside Cinder growled as she pushed rubble off of her, she was not expecting that hammer girl to show up and hit her that hard so she was really feeling that blow as she struggled to get up. Roman smirked slightly at Nora.

"That leaves four of us to three of you big sis, and are you going to be able to hold off Cinder before she burns your friends?"

"Nope." Nora then spins her hammer around gathering up lightening and then sends it out in a little arc towards a wall and then with the knowledge of where Yang was sent she manages to open up a portal and then steps through Yang, her workout outfit had been clean before she went in to the portal back when she was in the park, but now it was covered in black blood, her hair, while on fire was messy, she was holding a massive tooth which was covered in blood and her eyes were burning crimson. Behind her in the portal was a legion of dead and mutilated Grimm, one was currently charging towards the portal hoping to catch her un-aware, but she grabbed it by the throat when it lunged for her and shoved the tooth through its body and threw them deep into the darkness before fully coming out of the portal.

Yang saw that she was now with Ren and Nora, stood facing three other people and then saw Cinder push the last piece of rubble off of her body, she stood up ready to burn the lightening girls friends but her face was met with a fist as Yang punched her, but before she was flung away Yang grabbed her arm and swung her over her much like Nora does with her hammer to smash her into the ground and then she kicked Cinder's prone form hard enough to knock her out of the front two door of the mansion and take the doors of the hinges. Yang then roars and follows her tackling her deep into the woods, running her through a couple of trees and then along the ground before smashing her through a boulder that she had once smashed Pyrrha's head against, the dents were still there actually, but with Cinder she just smashed her through the entire thing.

"Do you know where you sent me?!" Yang yelled. "I AM NOT AN ANIMAL, YOU WILL NOT CAGE ME!"

Cinder struggled up and ignited her eyes. "I guess I will burn you then." And then they charge each other, fist colliding in a blast of scorching heat, sending out a flame shockwave. They held out the fist lock glaring into each other's eyes with burning rage, before they drew back their other fist and then punched again only to have their fists meet again, creating another flame supernova around the two. This punch forced them apart, and then Cinder released a beam of concentrated heat towards Yang, but she jumped over it and dive bombed with a strong right cross to her face, taking her into the ground. As Yang rolled away from the hit she reached out and grabbed a fallen tree from her battle with Pyrrha and then swung it hard into Cinder's stomach and as she was knocked to the floor she then hammered it down onto her as much as she could.

Cinder had her arms up to block it and then she burst in to flames and burnt through the tree and flew upwards, she made it up to the tree line before she felt hands wrap around her ankles and she was yanked back down and slammed into the dirt. Yang then crawled on top of Cinder and started to punch her face, she got in three strong hits until Cinder got an arm free and grabbed her swinging arm, pulled Yang in and head butted her, thus freeing her other arm to wrap around her throat and toss her off of her.

Back outside of the mansion Jaune held his shield above his head to stop another kick from Mercury, this time Jaune was quick enough to kick at the back of Mercury's other leg, and even though it was state of the art prosthetic, it still bent at the hinge joint and Mercury was forced to retreat. So Jaune attacked with a left front kick, to which Mercury diverted with his right leg and he just about managed to raise his hands to block the right cross, but that left his stomach vulnerable to Juane's quick shield hook, and as Mercury had experience with, the sides of the shield really hurt when they got the soft parts. Stumbling back Jaune stepped sideways across with his left leg and then raised the right and shot out a powerful right side kick to Mercury's chest, and then once his foot touched the ground and before Mercury could go anywhere with the wind knocked out of him, Jaune brought his shield across and used it like a bat and swung it at his face, so while the kick provided Mercury with the flight, the smack sent him twirling like a blade on a bullhead down the drive.

As Jaune delivered that last hit to Mercury, there was a bright flash of fire as Yang landed on her feet in an impact circle perfectly formed around her in cracks, Cinder then shot like a cannonball out of the trees and they locked hands in a battle of strength, the edge given to Cinder because of her furious momentum and Yang had left little trenches where her feet were digging into the ground. Jumping into a spin Jaune launched his shield at Cinder's side knocking off her momentum enough for Yang to gain the upper hand and slam Cinder back into the ground and stomp on her chest. Cinder didn't take to kindly to this and was also running on fumes, the hits from before and being smashed hard by the lightening girl without being ready for it was hard for her and then going against a very angry Yang, who seemed to be feeding off her flames and her rage, she was getting desperate.

Cinder blasted out in a circle of flames and launched a fire ball at the blond man that the others were all kicking about earlier, he might have talked a tough game about honour and being good but he looked like a coward, someone she would enjoy watching burn, what she didn't expect was for the shield he was holding to cut through the fire ball and smack her around the face, Yang then caught the rebounded shield and using a lot of strength torpedoed it towards Cinder so hard that she was smashed into the wall and still the shield rebounded back this time towards Jaune who fastened it back onto his arm, Yang then jumped at the dazed Cinder and turned her around to kick towards Jaune, who used a move that bullies had been using on him for years before hand, he ducked low and hit her legs with the shield sending her toppling over him, what she was even more unprepared for was a powerful Yang to land double footed with a hard stomp on her. Cinder tried one last time to raise her head but Yang punched hard and knocked her out, the flames around the both dying out, leaving the heavy breathing of Yang and Jaune to enter the air.

"So, did I pass the shield throwing class?" Breathed out Yang.

"I think for other lessons we should also make sure you have the perfect stimulus, it seems to elevate your learning." Wheezed Jaune, he might be a super solider, but even he needs oxygen and it did get hard to breathe with two people burning up the air around you.

"Thanks Captain."

Mercury took that moment to charge in and leap at them with murderous intent clear in his eyes, Yang just sighed and pulled her fist back.

---

Back inside the mansion, the moment that Yang had removed Cinder from the premises, albeit will extreme force and power, everyone remained in their stand-off positions.

Emerald eyed up Ren, both looking forward to that rematch, Emerald had her guns levelled at his chest while he had an arrow nocked ready to go right between her eyes. Nora was fine with that match up, she needed to focus her attention on Romans faithful executioner and enchantress; Neo. She was loyal to a fault and would do anything for Roman, fortunately Nora had battled with her and against her numerous times, so she knew how she would fight, doesn't mean it would be pretty though. That just left Roman to face off with Blake, she was fast, very fast so she stood a good chance if she could jump around his illusions and not get distracted, he was a master at manipulation, but even worse he was great at one-on-one combat; if he knew the enemy was coming at him he was near unbeatable on his strong defence, but with three-on-one and her being one of the three? He didn't stand a chance; he had never managed to beat her in a straight up fight.

Blake stuck first with a dash across to Roman with claws out, to which he brought up his cane quickly to deflect her off and past him, Blake barely wasted a second as she pivoted on her feet and dived again at Romans back. Once again the cane was there to deflect her and she was back where she started, only this time she pounced back at him with both claws and he had to raise the cane to block her aerial attack. Roman had a solid defence, she just needed to go faster, so using the cane she went over the top facing his back and tried to double kick him with her powerful legs; they managed to floor Cinder so surely they could floor Roman. The Trickster didn't even seem to extend that much effort when he slid to the side and swung his cane around at her head, but two could play at the dodging game as she crouched and swiped at his feet, if she kept low she could upset his stance and then he wouldn't be able to move out of her way. They both then had to leap away from each other as a bolt of lightning stuck the ground where they had been a moment a go.

The moment that Blake had shot off from her spot Ren had released his arrow and was nocking another one while Emerald was unloading her clips as fast as she could pull the triggers, both running sideways away from the fight and making their paths as difficult to follow as possible for the others aim.

Unfortunately a stray lightning bolt hit the ground near both of them and they were flung sliding across the floor towards each other, upon opening their eyes they saw they were face to face. Emerald brought up her guns but Ren did nothing to stop her.

CLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLICK

"I think you should learn how to count." Emerald was empty, but Ren didn't have an arrow nocked so she still had a chance as she flipped and rolled on top of him, straddling him and punched him around the face. From their previous fight she knew he could move with agility that matched hers and that distance was his ally far more than it was hers, but her she stood a chance if she got in his face.

So after three punches across the archers face Emerald was feeling pretty satisfied with herself, hopefully she could get in a few more hits, but she felt Ren's legs reach up and wrap around her neck and then slam her head down onto the floor. Ren felt really happy that move worked, he didn't think it would work on Emerald because he was kind of short, but it went really well.

Ren rolled back and onto his feet drawing and arrow, however Emerald was not having any of that and launched herself at Ren with a flying knee. He just managed to use his forearms to absorb the blow, but the force still sent them toppling over each other as they went, only this time Ren managed to end up on top of Emerald with his fist raised.

"You wouldn't hit a woman would you?"

Ren smirked for a second, and later on he would feel a little ashamed at the joy he took in the little glint of fear in her eyes, but right now turnabout was fair play in his book.

Nora watched out of the corner of her eyes as she saw Blake tense up and then pounce at Roman and at the same time she threw her hammer at Neo who delicately flipped over the top of it and slashed with her umbrella down as Nora got in close, grabbed her arm and threw her over her and reached with her other hand for her hammer to return to her, but Neo didn't even blink as she twisted around and landed on her feet. She did make a shocked face as Nora swung her hammer where her head was a millisecond ago.

Nora and Neo both knew that one single hit from the Goddess of Thunder would almost certainly put the Executioner out of commission for good; even a glancing blow would end up rocking her world. Whereas Neo didn't have the strength nor the power to truly hurt Nora, she had the skill and the speed no doubt, but it wouldn't stop the raging storm that was Nora for long. Speaking of storm, Nora charged up herself very quickly and leapt up to smack down upon her. Neo cartwheeled to the side and the lightning strike blasted out all over the room separating the fighters.

Neo choose that moment to get in close and hit her knee, with a side kick, jab her in the face with the handle of her umbrella and then use the hook to wrap around her throat and pull her to the ground, this then turned into a battle of strength as Nora gripped Neo's arm and tossed her with very little effort into a wall. The impact would have sent her through it, yet she had opened her umbrella mid-flight and slowed herself down so she simply tapped on the wall and bounced off gracefully.

"You spent the better part of 50 years doing that move on most of the warriors in the arena, not hard to pick up on things if you watch long enough." Said Nora as the two squared off again.

Neo took the first step, which was cut short as she had to catch an arrow in mid-air and then shoot Ren a look that all three of them managed to read perfectly, bringing the arrow up to her eye while doing so.

"Yeah, I know you can catch them." Ren said smugly as the arrow released a strong concussive blast, blowing her hair back, however it was not strong enough to blow her back; that was a job for Nora as she managed to get in a sucker punch which connected beautifully on her cheek and that's when she shattered into shards of glass on the floor.

Ren looked on really surprised and shocked, he didn't think that Nora had the ability to do something that. "Is she dead?"

"Naaahhh, this is just something that she does when she gets hit, pretty cool isn't it? Buuuuttttttt she always ends up-" Nora threw her hammer right to Romans left side as Blake ducked under a swing from his cane just as Neo shattered into existence and then promptly got hit in the stomach by Nora's hammer knocking her against a pillar with the hammer holding her in place. "-Right next to Roman; specifically on his left. He is her anchor in all the Realms outside of our home, Roman doesn't need one as his magic is strong enough and I got sent here by the Gatekeeper and I have you!" Nora finished with excitement.

Ren was very confused, what part could he play in extreme magical forces. "What part do I have in extrem-"

"I SURE WISH SOME PEOPLE MIGHT COME HELP ME INSTEAD OF JUST STANDING THERE AND TALKING!" Yelled a very distressed Blake as she was pouncing around Roman with astonishing speed trying to land a single hit, unfortunately she was ultimately getting deflected and countered at every strike.

Nora stiffened up and shot over and kicked at Roman from a different direction forcing him to sidestep and then smack away an arrow, on the other hand he really should have blocked the claws that then slashed across his back, it probably, no it certainly would have stopped Nora from then picking him up and choke slamming him hard into the ground, he probably would still have his hat on his head at the very least; always got to look your best, especially at your worst moments.

And always make sure that you can get away from the problem that you caused quickly enough so that others have to solve it for you. That particular part he had learnt on his own and so far he would say it has worked out for him very well over the years.

Turning himself into a serpent he slipped out of Nora's grasp quickly and then back into himself he quickly stabbed her in the arm with a knife and then moved over to Neo.

"I hate it when you do that Roman; you know I-"

"-You love snakes; yes, yes, yes, I know that, still funny though. Now I am going to ask that you release Neo here or we will be forced to travel with your Hammer, and you know how long it took you to get it back last time." Roman taunted her, to which Nora relented and held out her hand for the weapon with shot back to her, her eyes crackling with fury.

"Well dear sister I leave you with these people as your trophies, I have no need for them right now, they worked just fine to show that you need to spend more time looking after your mortal friends."

Ren then stepped up and squared right off with this supposed God. "Except that these 'mere mortals' managed to outsmart you, out fight you and do so without any serious injury, and it turns out your pawns are the ones knocked out."

Roman and Neo regarded him for a moment. "Huh, well you got me there. What do you know Neo; they can learn!"

"…"

"Anyway, till next time big sis." And then in a shatter of glass they disappeared. Yang and Jaune then walked through where the main doors were before, with Yang dragging Cinder and Mercury by their legs, not really caring if they hit their heads on the steps.

"Yang I told you to watch their heads."

"And I told you not to do anything that could get yourself hurt, and you still got a cracked rib when they were all beating you up while you were defenceless."

"You just said it yourself; I was DEFENCELESS! What could I have been doing except stalling for time?"

"I dunno."

"Exactly, and my rib is almost healed up anyway."

"Actually Jaune, Penny's scans tell me that along with the cracked rib you also have managed to damage you wrist, knees and an ankle." Came the voice of the Iron Reaper as she then hovered down towards them as she landed with a heavy clunk and her helmet opened up, to show her innocent smile and bright silver eyes with energy and joy.

"So what did I miss?"

Ren decided to answer that with a question of his own. "What did you do with Cardin?" Ruby had the good sense to then look a little bit bashful as she averted her eyes and began to stammer and stutter out an answer.

"Ruby." Said Jaune in his stern leader voice. "What did you do with him."

"Well here is the thing Jaune…"

She got a blank stare from the Captain.

"OKAY I LOST HIM OVER THE MOUNTAINS ARE YOU HAPPY!?"

"RUBY! I can't believe this." Began Jaune, he thought that after Ren, Ruby was the most sensible person on this team, able to make good decisions because of her extreme intelligence. "I am-"

Yang cut him off. "It's okay Jaune I got this." Good a talking to from big sister will set her straight.

"You managed to take him to the mountain that's awesome! How much power did Nora give you? And how hard did you hit Cardin? Last I saw he was in his steel form so you blasts must have been super strong, we need to look at the energy output that you can put out, you might be able to rival the force of Nora and me if you get amped up like that again."

At the mention of that Nora perked up and bounced next to her cheering her on and praising her efforts of power asking if she could hit her with another attack. Jaune upon hearing this just sighed, as per usual he was out numbered, so he turned to Ren and the cat themed woman.

"We never got the chance to talk properly, Jaune Arc."

"Blake Belladonna."

"Thank you for your help, both here and before. We couldn't have done this without you."

"Speaking of help Jaune; Blake has a request for us on part of saving our lives." Jaune smiled at Ren and then placed his hand on Blake's shoulder.

"Whatever you need, we will do our best to help you." It was at this moment where Ruby, Yang and Nora had turned back and come to stand at Jaune and Ren's sides opposite Blake and after a little look at each other Ruby held out her hand with a pure smile on her face as the group was all in agreement.

"Welcome to The Hunters."

Blake didn't need to think, she just took the hand.

---

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH." Screamed Cardin, as he plummeted towards the peak of a snowy mountain top. He collided with it and taking a few feet of rock off with the force of his fall. He then ended up crashing onto a ledge as he rolled himself over on to his back, not leaving his steel form otherwise he would probably freeze to death.

"I have been FALLING. For THIRTY MINUTES." He yelled out, he didn't get up. There was no way he could he was in so much pain.

That's when a bright Iliac circle opened up, followed with a warm breeze that made his metal form shiver, which was strange because he never felt anything in his steel form. Two figures walked through, the first was an older looking woman with a shaved head, and the second was a shorter woman with bright white hair. They were a bit of a distance away from him so he probably blended in with the snow around him, however he could hear snippets of the conversation."

"Humanity never really knows what they have until…"

"Did you bring me up here to fre…"

"That depend on how determined you…"

"Wait! Wait! how…"

"Come on. Come on!"

A few second past and then there was a circle of bright white and a warm breeze again came over him once again, and just before he passed out from the pain (He had taken several hundred blasts from that armoured girl at full power) he heard one last thing.

"Good job W…"

---

The last part might be a bit to on the nose, but I doubt most have you have made it this far to read my story, I've read back over it and while I like the idea I'm not so certain that I'm doing a good job with it, but if you start something you got to finish it, although sometimes you do need to learn when to walk away but since I have the rest of it all planned out, I should finish it. I'm rabbling and speaking nonsense, the hardest parts to work together are Pyrrha's part to be honest. And we haven't even gotten to that section, next up is a fight against A-

You sly dogs you got me monologuing.