He was not one to admit fear, after all, to admit fear was weakness. But now, as the cacophony of screams and blaster fire permeated through the air, the word "fear" seemed so insufficient for the terror he felt in that very moment. The fear he felt we he met Cinder for the first time, the dread when he made acquaintances with Salem's favorite butcher, Tyrian, the sense of abject horror when he met said butcher's "Goddess," they were all similar in a sense... but they all paled in comparison to the terror that chilled him down to the bone as he gripped the table, trembling like a leaf in a storm.

Before the mentioned individuals, Adam could at least stand his ground, have some spine... but against this horrific monstrosity, he, and all his followers were all but powerless to do a thing. It wasn't his first brush with this veritable walking combat-blender, but he could almost guarantee it would be his last if it were coming for him this time.

Just barely two years had passed since his first encounter with one of these... things, back in the secret Atlas White Fang encampment, when the thing came to cut off the Atlas Branch's head. His panic and terror only intensified as he remembered that that eventful night was why the White Fang no longer HAD a Atlas Branch... and if the sounds of the carnage didn't lie to him, it was the same one that butchered his kin back an Atlas.

They weren't even canon fodder before Hoots Troopers. Before those nightmarish demons, those monstrous spawns of hell, the daughters of Lucifer himself, they might as well have not even been there to oppose a Hoots Trooper.

Looking back frantically, not even bothering to put his mask on as he turned to face the lieutenant that slapped open the flaps of his command tent while sprinting at him. he wanted to say something, but before he could even say a thing, the man started to sputter in a mix of panic and abject terror.

"C-Commander! It's no ordinary Hoots Trooper! It's Dia-" he sputtered, before immediately coughing up a cloud of blood and falling back, a knife buried in his throat as he fell and a new, terrifying visage revealing itself before him with it's helmet removed. His heart began pound the hardest it ever had since his first encounter back in Atlas. The girl's hair was long, drawn back, spiky and dyed blonde, a color he knew not to be her natural color, held up just above her forehead by a circlet bearing a green heart in the middle. Sweat began to race up his face as his terror heightened to unheard of levels, the flames behind her only adding to her neigh-demonic appearance.

"D-d-d-d-DIAMOND!" Adam screamed as he stumbled back, just barely catching himself on his table. "S-Stay Back! Stay Back you Hellspawn!"

Reaching for his blade, he slashed at the terrifying woman, only for the blade to instantaneously shatter before even striking her, and a massive gout of blood exploded from his hand holding the blade, horrifically deforming his hand as his arm recoiled backwards.

"Impossible! She didn't even move! She's standing Still!" Adam mentally screamed as the nerves in his hand flooded his brain with signals of pain. In his horrified state, there wasn't a thing he could do to keep from screaming, his bloodcurdling scream echoing through the air as he fell back and through the table.

He quickly scrambled to his feet and pulled a combat knife from a hidden sheathe and raising it to resist the demon, a final futile attempt to try to stall destiny. Instantaneously, like last time, blood exploded from his hand as his hand and fingers were all but shattered and deformed, and the knife plunged in his gut. He sputtered and coughed blood all over the floor just before the Hoots Trooper, before looking up with a pleading look in his eyes.

Before he could say a word, it felt as though a thousand fists had slugged him at once over every inch of his body as it still seemed Diamond hadn't even moved an inch. As the unseen force struck, Adam was sent reeling through the other side of the tent, leaving him in a pool of his own blood, writhing in pain as Diamond approached his fallen form.

He was riddled with indents from invisible fists in his deformed body, as some shards of broken bone punched through some of the wounds. Weakly he turned his head to look back at the monster, more terrifying than any Grimm or any Hunter, his eyes admitting his defeat to the superior warrior. He was too weak to move, too weak to speak. As he looked down upon his broken form, he made note that if she didn't outright kill him here, he'd still be able to recover with his aura enough to walk away in about a day or so, yet gulped as he knew he likely wouldn't be given the chance.

"I am not here to kill you, Taurus, as much as I wish I was." She sneered, before planting her boot firmly on his chest and slowly applying pressure. "I'm just here to remind you of why you fear us. To remind you that no matter where you may run, no matter where you may hide, that you will Never be safe from me, or my sisters."

She turned, lifted her foot off his chest and beginning to walk away, before snapping on her helmet and pausing. "This is not Mercy. I'm but following Orders." Diamond sneered one last time, before immediately disappearing.

As Adam lost consciousness, his breathing finally started to calm, level out as he refocused his aura onto healing his grisly injuries. He was left, however, with one last thing for nightmare fuel, as the demon's sneering laughter echoed through the dark, penetrating his very being and chilling him to the core...

Several days had passed following Jaune's battle with the Ursa, though that was on none of their minds as they sauntered down the streets towards the docks. Their plan was rather simple, really. They'd go to the docks, scope out the competition, and go home.

A relatively basic plan, though the idle chatter between their blonde and raven-haired teammates had successfully served to annoy them to a notable extent. Ruby herself had just opted to tune them out while paying attention to her map. Vale wasn't a familiar city, not like Atlas, so she really would prefer to not get lost, if it were all the same to her other teammates.

Weiss likewise had tried, but failed, to tune them out like Ruby had, eventually getting roped into the conversation despite her desire to do just the opposite. It was something about her the White Fang, that much she knew. Likewise, she knew that Blake was a Faunas, but she had no idea why exactly she seemed so adamant about defending the actions of terrorists.

"They're just misguided!" Blake said, though that much only made Weiss groan in irritation.

"Being misguided is no excuse for terrorism. Murder, theft, arson, among a list of other crimes can't be justified by simply saying 'we were misguided.' If that were the case, I'm sure Ruby would have shot you during the training sim for breaking formation and disobeying orders, and justified it as being 'misguided.'" Weiss stated monotonously, raising her rapier and checking over the blade for any imperfections that need amending. Blake of course sneered at that, and sent a glare over toward the mentioned girl, who of course either didn't notice or didn't care.

Ruby and Weiss were both in their armor, something that had successfully served to ward off any curious bystanders by sheer intimidation. Though Weiss had only brought Myrtenaster for this excursion, Ruby had of course brought all her blasters, including a small prototype she'd been working on.

She wouldn't admit it, but she felt a little embarrassed that she was the only one without a completely unique weapon in the entire academy. She had her twin XA-25s, her XA-22S, her additional tactical equipment, and her armor but none of her equipment was unique like Weiss's Myrtenaster, Yang's Ember Celica, hell, even Blake's Gambol Shroud, even if she didn't particularly like the girl.

To be perfectly honest, she wasn't too terribly fond of Faunas in the first place. It actually wouldn't be a stretch to say she hated them, truth be told. She wouldn't say she knew any faunas beside Blake, but her interaction with them thus far was almost exclusively in the form of shooting at each other when sent to guard an SDC shipment. In that sense all she really had to say about them in combat, or if you were to ask Weiss, more specifically the White Fang, was that they were sloppy, disorganized, reckless, fanatical and foolish.

"Hmm… what's that I smell?" Ruby mused all out of a sudden, finally looking up from her map at the area around them.

"That would be a bakery, Rubes." Weiss answered, patting Ruby on the shoulder. "Wanna stop in?"

"The hell you think? Of course I wanna stop in!" Ruby cheered lightly, before looking back to the map. "Ah, just up ahead, lets go!" She broke out into a jog, with Weiss trailing just behind and the other two just behind her.

They all halted just short of the shop as Ruby had taken a look to her right down the street and took note of a crime scene. Almost instantly, it seemed Ruby had lost her interest in the bakery, and started off towards the scene. Blake specifically took some small notice of that, and watched a bit more closely as they all approached the scene.

There was police tape surrounding a shop's front, the lights darkened out and the window smashed to pieces. Two officers stood in front, though upon hearing their boots against the ground immediately did an about face to greet them. To say they were stunned speechless would be an understatement, as upon noticing the armor she and Weiss were wearing, one dropped his mug of coffee and the other's jaw practically dropped to the floor.

"Holy- Mate, those are Hoots Troopers!" One said excitedly, though the other, looking a bit older, perhaps having been on the job for awhile just straightened up his uniform.

"Officers, report what happened here immediately." Weiss ordered, with the senior taking a step forward and standing at attention.

"Dust robbery, Ma'am. No money taken, just dust. Think it might be the White Fang."

Ruby scratched her chin at that, before looking back towards Weiss. She simply nodded, being all that was needed for their silent conversation, before dipping under the police line.

"I'll investigate the scene. Do not interfere." Ruby ordered to the officers, and dropped her rangefinder down to scan the scene for anything in particular. She quickly noted the sloppy way the burglars had carried themselves, being that upon scanning the ground she found a very clear trail of footprints leading out through the window.

"Hmph, amateur. There's a trail of footsteps leading out and down that alleyway." Ruby pointed out, getting both officers' attention once more. "Get some proper equipment down here immediately and track the criminals. If they're White Fang, I am ordering you as your technical superior, shoot to kill on sight. No quarter."

"But Ma'am-"

"Did I stutter?" She cut him off before he could protest, making the man back down and give her an affirmative salute. Blake however, was practically seething at hearing that, though didn't dare make a move towards the clone, knowing full and well just how dangerous she was. However, that hardly meant she wouldn't give her a piece of her mind.

"How can you be so callous? The White Fang are people too, you know!" She questioned, though only got a laugh out of Ruby.

"I'm sorry, have we met? Ruby Rose, trained Hoots Trooper and professional assassin by extent, a pleasure to meet you, kitty cat!" Ruby mocked, before pushing past the cat, though stopped for a moment to look around a bit more, finally settling her gaze on her sister. "I'm not interested in baked goods now, perhaps later... lets get to the docks."

Almost on que, they heard some ruckus going on from said docks, and rushed over to be greeted with a rather peculiar scene. There was a faunas, unmistakably a monkey faunas, using his tail to keep himself held up-side down on a lamppost. As if to further the stereotype of his sub-species, he was even munching on a banana. Pointing over at him, Ruby yelled at him, successfully catching his attention, though upon noticing her armor they could easily see the boy's complexion turn several shades paler.

"Hey look, team! A degenerate in the flesh!" Her remarks elicited a few dark chuckles from Weiss, a sigh from Yang, and another glare from Blake.

He gulped loudly, before throwing himself up on the post. "Oh God, Hoots Troopers?!. No one said anything about there being Hoots Troopers in Vale, I'm outta here!" He muttered, before taking off into a sprint as he landed on the wooden planks of the dock.

"Well, Weiss, Ruby, you wanted to scope out the competition, and there he goes." Yang commented sarcastically, with the two mentioned girls breaking out into a sprint to catch up. Ruby herself was more rapidly closing the distance with him, though even after being beside the girl most her life, her speed still managed to baffle Weiss in the most absolute, something her semblance only amplified, at least when in combat. As for Yang and Blake, Ruby's speed was completely inhuman, and so were so many other physical feats she'd shown to be capable of, so much so that it actually terrified the latter girl.

He looked back to see Ruby closing the distance faster than he could even think, terrifying him to the core as she inched closer and closer. With a loud gulp, he threw himself around a corner, deftly spinning around some oblivious ginger as he came around, and continued to run.

Though as for Ruby, that oblivious ginger was all that was needed to halt her advance, as immediately upon recognizing her she knew if they collided, neither of them would be standing afterwards. She just barely managed to stop herself before she would've taken them both to the ground, though a quick glance past her revealed to them all the Faunas they were so chasing escaping through scaling one of the buildings and vanishing out of sight across the rooftops.

"Argh, damnation! Penny, I didn't know you were in Vale?" She stated, rolling her shoulders a few times and cracking her neck.

"Well I'll be damned. Penny, what are you doing here?" She looked back to see it was Weiss, nodding in agreement with the statement.

"Uhh... you know her?" Yang inquired, with the pair of sisters not taking the time to answer how.

"Ruby, Weiss! It's SO Good to see you two here!" The girl, so named Penny, answered. "I'm competing in the tournament!"

"YOU'RE competing? That's certainly unexpected... so is your presence here at all, come to think of it. You know anything about that monkey-tailed degenerate that got just escaped us?" Ruby voiced, gaining an incredulous look from the girl.

"They were running from YOU? They must have had a heck of a head-start! What did they do?"

"Nothing worth noting, certainly nothing I'd skin his worthless hide for, but we do suspect that he'll be in the tournament. We were trying to scout out the competition, and that rapscallion appeared on our radar, he took off running as soon as he spotted our armor, though."

"Why do you keep calling him that?!." Blake finally snapped, seizing everyone's attention, and though she knew Ruby was glaring at her, she didn't dare back down, not this time. "Stop calling him a degenerate, or a rapscallion! He's a person!"

"Awww, did I hurt your precious little feelings by calling him what he is?" Ruby mocked in return, stepping forward slightly and making equally mocking gestures with her hands. "Should I cease calling the lampposts and trash cans by their names too?"

"Stop it!"

"I just love your double-standards, I ever told you that, Blake? HE broke the law, give him some time, if he's NOT in the tournament, he'll probably sign on with the Fang, given he's not already initiated."

Blake growled and they could all see a vein start to bulge on her forehead. "Ugh, you ignorant little brat!"

"Believe me, Kitty, I could think of much worse things to call you by. Though I am curious, my responses to your statements are making you look like your blood vessels are about to burst. Why are you so upset by my views towards the White Fang and the Faunas that follow it?"

"YOU are a judgmental little girl!" Blake stated, with Weiss and Yang in the background just looking mildly uncomfortable.

"Immediately reverting to insults on me, eh Belladonna? Not that I expected much more from you, or your kind in general, but do please go on! Maybe you've finally figured out how to make a half-decent point?" Ruby mocked once more, eliciting even intenser growling from Blake. "Hm hm. Best check yourself, Belladonna. Don't wanna go make your kind look even more like animals in front of so many people, now, do we?"

"The fact alone that you sort that faunas boy with the terrorist group based completely on his species makes you just as much if not more a scoundrel as you believe him to be!"

"Well, I see we're at least on the same page then about them being terrorists!" Ruby laughed, making Blake stutter slightly.

"That's not what I meant and you know it!"

Blake had been continuing to argue against Ruby as they'd all returned from the city to their dorms, though the argument from any outside perspective looked rather one-sided. Certainly Blake was getting furious with Ruby, though much the opposite could be said about the offender. Ruby in fact could even have been said to be having fun with the heated conversation, much to the further frustration of the belligerent faunas.

"Y'know, I really don't see why this is so much of a problem." Ruby said idly while playing with a butterfly knife she'd picked up in town.

"That 'is' the problem!" Blake yelled right back, making Ruby groan.

"Alright, first and foremost, keep your damned voice down, Belladonna. There's people trying to sleep in adjacent rooms right now, and if we all get in trouble for keeping them up, I'll have your head. And secondly, all craps and giggles aside, you realize you're defending an organization that hates and wants to eradicate humanity, don't you? I mean hell, I can sympathize sometimes to be perfectly honest... But the faunas of the White Fang are... well, given opposing viewpoints, I wouldn't say 'pure evil', and considering some rather specific information... that is classified, just so you know. The White Fang are pure evil, based on the context, and most certainly so from my viewpoint." She rebuked, though this only made Blake angrier.

"There's no such thing as 'pure evil!' Why do you think they hate humanity so much?!. It's because of people like Cardin, like YOU, that force the White Fang to take such drastic measures!"

"Oh? People like me you say? Do continue."

"You're discriminatory!"

"Oooooh, so THAT'S your point behind all this? Well, could have said that outright, would've saved us both several hours worth of breath. But, y'see, like anyone's hate of anyone or anything, my hatred isn't unfounded." Ruby began, straightening out her knife and throwing it into the dresser, the blade sticking in upright. "I've reason enough to believe that the murder of my mom was in fact done by one of your degenerate kind. Her death would've had me executed at Astra City if not for the Schnee family, who have by extension become my family. To top it all off, the White Fang are in open war with the family I've been adopted into, the family I've come to care deeply for. I've had close friends disappear and seen board members executed just because they knew us."

Ruby then slid off her bed, closing the distance with Blake, who'd thus far been struck silent with a small look of guilt crossing her face. "And then on top off all that, there's you... a faunas who hated me for existing from the very first moment we met. Heh. Fitting, since I can't say the feeling wasn't mutual from the start for everything your kind has forced me to be put through. Because of your kind, I was nearly executed, my mother, the most important person in my entire life, was murdered in cold blood. Because of your kind, I knew shame with her death, and I felt guilt for every death I couldn't stop at your kinds' hands."

"So yes. Yes I am discriminatory, and nothing will change my mind about how degenerates like you should burn on a cross! Your kind and your precious so-called 'White Fang' are nothing but cowards, liars, thieves, and murderers!" Ruby snapped towards Blake, who, having finally had enough, stood back up as quickly as she could to meet Ruby at eye-level.

"Well Maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!" She roared, though immediately realizing her mistake, ducked low to avoid a punch and immediately sprinted out of the room, a dozen knives not even missing by a hair as she ran down the corridor...

After what must've been ten minutes of sprinting harder than she ever had in her life, Blake looked back to see the hallways behind her were occupied by... nothing? She could've sworn that Ruby or Weiss or any of the Hoots Troopers would be after her... then again, if it were Diamond, she'd already be dead.

After tentatively gazing around for a few minutes, she finally sighed and tried to relax her breathing... before eventually breaking down and sobbing.

How could anyone be so cruel? And Ruby... of all people, she expected Weiss to be the one with such viewpoints, but Ruby? She didn't even share blood with them... but likewise, she supposed that to a clone, that much was probably the least relevant thing, and she knew that family wasn't restricted to those who share your blood.

For once, though, Blake tried to put herself in Ruby's shoes, tried to think about what SHE must've been through to survive to this point, what things she must've seen and done to become so... Ruby, she really didn't have any other words that could use to accurately describe her. In that moment, she finally looked up with a slight twinge of sympathy for the red-haired butcher. After all, almost all wrongs done to her both wrong and new have been from Faunas, something like that must've warped her perception on the Faunas.

That must be it! She must hate Faunas because her only experiences with them were so negative! And honestly, with just how severe those grievances were, could she truly blame Ruby for how she thought? Ultimately, Ruby's hatred of her kind was just a byproduct of the White Fang's more violent actions, which was as much as she may have hated to admit, completely understandable.

She sighed, and slumped back, shutting her eyes hard and finally actually leveling out her breathing. It was also in that moment that she was acutely aware one of the Hoots Troopers were standing just behind her, with arms crossed as she glared down on her...

"I assume you know everything, then?" Blake asked, the realization of the possible finality of her life dawning on her. The Hoots Trooper didn't say a word, merely nodding as she continued to glare. Blake sighed, then cast her gaze to the floor weakly. "I suppose this is the end then, isn't it?" Once again, she was met by silence. "Well... make it quick I guess... I'm too tired to continue running, and fighting one of you would be pointless."

"No." The Hoots Trooper finally said, stepping around her. Blake's shock made itself evident in an instant, as she whipped her head back up, and looked on at the trooper as she passed. It was Domino, and she didn't spare Blake another glance as she passed wordlessly.

"N-no? Y-you mean... you're not going to... kill me?"

"And what point would that serve? Killing you for a mistake you're already working to make amends for? Get up, dust yourself off, and keep fighting!" Domino ordered, before kicking Blake in the forehead and knocking her down. "Now that you've been woken up out of your stupor, there's someone waiting by the statue in the front of the school for you. I'm sure with his help, you'll find a way to make amends with your leader before it's too late." She droned, before continuing down the hallway, totally silent.

For a moment, Blake just stared after her wordlessly, before sighing a last time, rising to her feet, and following the Trooper's orders. With a new, grim determination now set upon her she sprinted down to the courtyard, finally met with a familiar face once again...

Ruby reluctantly gave a small apology to JNPR for impaling their door with several knives, and immediately shut and locked the door. Of friggin course there was a White Fang degenerate on their team, and of course the details of such were JUST NOW being forwarded to her by Ozpin. It honestly infuriated her just how often he seemed so keen on keeping other people in the dark on information like that.

She didn't care if she was ex White Fang or not, she was one of them at one point, and unless she proved herself worthy of redemption soon, Ruby swore that she'd see justice done herself, with her own two blasters.

"No Matter," she growled whilst clenching her bare fist so hard as to draw blood, "come what may, tomorrows actions will either save or damn her worthless life!"

A/N: For anyone that's wondering, each named clone excluding Ruby generally speaks a different language, current list follows:

Diamond - Finnish
Gaz - Russian
Domino - German
Burner - French
Boil - Dutch