Weiss retreated backwards as Chains swung his chainstaff in an arc that would've connected with her neck if it weren't for Blake's intervention by blocking the strike with her cleaver, the teeth skittering along its edge and sending sparks flying before the two broke off. "Weiss! Ammo clip!" she called back to the heiress, who quickly dug into her pouch and tossed a cartridge of Dust infused rounds towards her teammate. The split second Blake turned to catch it, she felt a blow to the back of her head as Chains surged his fist forward, knocking the Faunus girl onto her stomach as he caught the magazine instead.

"I know what you can do with these. Don't expect to be using them anytime soon." he sneered as he threw them across the street and into a drain grate, unable to be retrieved by anybody anymore. "Now stay down there as I kill you." he chuckled before he raised his staff to plow his weapon straight into Blake's back. The strike never made contact, as a sharp forward strike from Weiss as she entered the fray knocked his stab off target, instead biting into the concrete next to Blake.

"Get up, you dolt!" Weiss ordered as Blake still sat on the sidewalk, fazed by the close shave she just experienced as Weiss parried again to get the lumbering chainsaw specialist off her friend.

"R-right..." Blake nodded as she rolled to her feet, retrieving Gambol Shroud and turning to assist Weiss as both Huntresses took the offensive. With each stab, slash, and parry, they ebbed away at Chains' defenses, however suffering a few of his blows of his own. Weiss was now seeing how he gave both JNPR and Cardin and Dove a run for their money with how skilled he had gotten since her team first encountered him on the train almost a year ago. Despite his stature and lower speed in his attacks than theirs, the White Fang commander had made up for it with his brute strength and apparently high Aura pool. She could feel his hatred radiating off of him in an intensity that almost made her gag. She kept her composure as she took the lead again, using a set of glyphs to try and strike him from all angles once she left her haste glyph. Unfortunately, he remembered that strike well. She did use it on him during her first encounter with him on the train. Reaching up before she could even hit her first glyph, the gargantuan Faunus struck the heiress straight in the chest with a powerful punch that knocked the air out of her lungs in an instant. Blake jumped in as Weiss flopped onto the ground gasping for air, her strikes with both blades of her weapon giving Weiss all the time she needed to recover as she gingerly rose to her feet.

Once she was up, she pulled Myrtenaster's trigger to spin the chamber to activate its fire Dust feature. Pointing the rapier at the behemoth, she let her blade glow brightly with a neon red hue as she surged forward to run him through as Blake kept him in a deadlock with her cleaver and katana. Chains may not have been able to break off from having his weapon locked against Blake's, but he could still turn in a way to redirect Weiss' attack intended for him to her comrade. Weiss gasped as she reeled her arm back just in time to prevent impaling Blake, however the two Huntresses crashed into each other, knocking both of them to the ground and allowing the White Fang commander to disarm Blake as she fell.

"This is almost too easy." he grinned from beneath his mask as he raised his chainstaff and it roared menacingly over the two girls.

"FREEZE!"

His deathblow was interrupted as a blinding spotlight was shone on him from behind Blake and Weiss. Both looked back to see what had incapacitated him, both shielding their eyes with their hands from the light. They could see two armored cars adorned with the Atlesian military's insignia, one of which with an industrial-strength spotlight shone directly onto them, with at least six soldiers training high-powered rifles on the attacker. Once Chains realized who had arrived on the sight to help his attempted victims, he began to back off. The moment one soldier saw him backing off, the firing line opened up, pelting the criminal with powerful shots, the chainstaff spinning rapidly in a circle to shield its wielder from the gunfire as he began to retreat towards a nearby alley.

Weiss and Blake could only look on bewildered at the sudden arrival of the military before somebody running past them and after Chains that very noticeably wasn't a soldier. "Don't let him get away!" she ordered as the soldiers followed her after her.

"Was that Marron?" Blake asked before a blur of red and black tackled her to the ground and a strong grip dragged Weiss to her feet and into a one-armed hug with the strength of an Ursa.

"Wha-Yang? Ruby?" Weiss asked aloud as she looked around, shocked at the sudden arrival of their teammates and chaperoning Huntsman.

"We're so glad you two are alright!" Ruby cried out as Blake pried herself out of her tiny leader's embrace.

"How did you guys find us?" Blake asked.

"We'll explain later. We need to go after him!" Yang answered as she cocked her gauntlets and primed them for combat, Ruby handing the other two their weapons as they all ran off to follow Marron and the soldiers. The sound of gunshots down an alley led them down a winding maze between buildings and littered with garbage cans and discarded boxes before finally coming across the group, where they had the terrorist cornered under a fire escape, Marron on point with Aurum Wing's cannon trained on him.

"Nowhere to run now. Give it up, Chad." she threatened, complete disdain in her voice for the individual in front of her.

"I didn't think it'd be you to bring me in, Marron..." he admitted, sounding sincere before a nearly-inaudible 'heh' from the chainstaff wielder. "And I was right." he finished as he produced a small metal cylinder with a pin on the top.

"GRENADE!" one of the soldiers screamed as Chains tossed it at the group of lawmen and started to climb the fire escape, only instead of a deadly explosion, a blinding flash and deafening bang ringing through the alley. Marron could only stand and suffer as all she could see was white and all she could hear was a high-pitched ringing, just as everyone else could. As it slowly returned, she noticed Chains was no longer in front of her, and suddenly heard the loud whine of a turbine directly overhead. Looking up, she saw Chains getting inside a dropship adorned with the White Fang insignia on its underbelly before it rocketed off from its perch at the roof of the building in front of them.

"NO!" Marron snarled as she pointed Aurum Wing to the sky, firing off an explosive round from its mortar launcher with a loud crack. The shot just barely missed the ship as it safely rocketed away and out of the city. "Dammit!" she cursed as she dropped her weapon and punched the brick wall Chains was once standing in front of, her semblance kicking in reflexively to protect herself from hurting her hand, but still leaving a crater in the wall. Team RWBY were still keeping their eyes trained on the dropship as it faded from their sight from over another building.

"What do you suppose brought him here?" Yang asked aloud, wondering the same thing that was on everybody's minds.

"Weiss... He said it was already done." Blake remembered as another convoy of emergency vehicles sped past their alley. The heiress could only imagine one target he could be after in this area. It was already too late to stop it.


The sun was already rising as the team of Huntresses arrived at the scene of the crime caused by Chains, who had left quite the mess for the first responders to clean up. The front of the building looked as if it was recently engulfed in flames, with broken glass littering the sidewalk in front of it and scorch marks across the facade as well as a completely blackened interior. The once proud sign that read the mega-mart's name was twisted and melted from the heat of the blaze, the recognizable Schnee Dust Company logo now nothing but a burnt carcass of metal and frayed wiring. What horrified them the most was the lining of three body bags sat in front of the entrance and in between it and an ambulance backing up to load them for shipment to the morgue.

"Dear Monty in heaven..." Yang mouthed as she looked upon the horrific sight as the commuters outside the police barriers did as they took in the scene on their morning walks to work.

"He did all of this?" Ruby asked, mortified by the damage only one White Fang member could do. She had seen what an army of them did to Vale firsthand; everyone did. This was much different though, and it scared every one of them. Weiss however had the greatest feeling of fear from this sight. She had only heard from Winter or overheard her father's rants over how they would suicide bomb his facilities or execute board members. Seeing it for herself for the first time was a whole new frightful experience to the heiress.

"From what we can gather, yes." an older man's gruff voice answered as the group turned to face an older man with a greying buzzcut and a demeanor similar to General Ironwood's.

"Commissioner Slate." Weiss nodded, her voice shakey from the shock and awe Chains left in his wake.

"Miss Schnee..." Slate hesitantly nodded back. "I was expecting your father to arrive, not you."

"We encountered Chains a few blocks back and tried to bring him down." Blake explained. "He almost killed us if Marron and the rest of our team didn't show up with those soldiers."

Intrigued, Slate glanced over to their supervising Huntress. "Marron? Is that true?" he asked.

"We had him, Slate. He was cornered! We could've stopped it there!" she fumed, still seeming very upset over the fact he got away.

"I know, my dear." he assured her with a hand on her shoulder. "I know how difficult it is to bring an old friend in to face justice all too well." He then turned to face the younger huntresses with a more stern and focused expression. "Miss Schnee, you and your group encountered Chad Aens before, correct?"

"Yes?" Weiss answered, not sure where the commissioner was going with that question as he lead their team to an RV converted into a mobile police command unit for the Atlas City police force. Inside, on one of the counters, investigators were beginning to gather evidence from the scene that they had been gathering, laying out a set of photographs to go over. All of them showed the aftermath of what Chains was capable of. Scorch marks covered the shelves and floors from the firebombs he set off there, as well as the Dust inside that exploded from its exposure to heat. All of them grimaced at the detailed images further at the end of the table of the dead security guards covered in gashes and burns.

"Is there a reason you're scaring a few teenage girls for life with these photos?" Yang asked.

"Because there's one my detectives took one that concerns us, especially since it may or may not involve your team, Miss Schnee." Slate answered as he gestured to one in the center that Ruby picked from the collection for a better look. It showed a single section of the wall inside, one of the corpses still lying against it, with a warning carved into it.

"GIVE US THE LITTLEST SCHNEE

OR MORE WILL DE THAN JUST THESE THREE"

Weiss was already tense from her ordeal throughout the night, as well as the fact she had finally seen the attacks on her family's company firsthand. Now knowing she was the target of this attack for whatever reason was sending her into a state just short of the usually-composed heiress having a panic attack. "They want me?"

"It would make sense." Marron noted. "The White Fang have attacked the SDC before. Capturing or killing an actual Schnee would deal a huge blow to the company and grant a huge victory to them."

"They've actually came close." Slate remembered. "At least a decade back when I was still doing patrols, I responded to a call where a Faunus unaffiliated with the Fang broke in and nearly took Winter hostage. When we interrogated him, he admitted he planned to turn her over to them for a bounty."

"Wow, she never told me about that." Marron gasped.

"Can we focus on the fact that they now have one out for our Schnee?" Yang spoke up. "They just killed three people to send us a message."

"And one that knows who we are too." Ruby added, before turning to Weiss, who had a mortified look on her face, her gaze not even leaving the photograph. "Weiss? Are you okay?"

The heiress looked up at her leader. "I...don't even know where to begin why I'm not okay." Weiss spoke up.

"This isn't even part of our mission anyway." Blake spoke up. "We need to get to the testing facility anyway."

"B-Blake's right." Weiss nodded quickly, liking the change of pace. "We're already late."

"I'll get some of my men to give you an escort over." Slate nodded, reaching for his radio microphone as he lead them out of the mobile command unit. Already waiting for them was a polished to a shine limousine with two armed security guards parked at the edge of the police blockade. Winter, and a man in a silver colored suit were already marching towards them.

"That won't be necessary, Commissioner. I was headed back there myself." Winter announced as she looked at the damage, wrinkling her nose at the smell of lingering smoke from the minor smolders left inside the burnt building. "What a barbaric attack..."

"How'd you know we were here, Winter?" Ruby asked.

"I didn't, Miss Rose." Winter said in all honesty. "I'm here with our insurance representative to survey the damage. You can direct all information about the attack to him, sir." the elder of the two Schnee sisters gestured as the businessman accompanying her stepped into the vehicle.

"Winter, three people were killed in this..." Weiss started. "How can you just brush it off like this was just a normal loss for the company."

"Weiss, we've had to deal with this before. We've had entire train shipments get stolen from us." Winter countered, taking notice Blake took on a glimpse of a guilty expression at that example. "Trust me when I say it doesn't get easier, no matter what the loss..." she trailed off as she watched the ambulance transporting the bodies drive past them, the limo pulling out slightly to allow it to leave the perimeter. "...but alas, the number one source of Dust can't stop for something like this. Now, come along; Father's getting impatient."

"Actually, Winter, I should stay behind. Ozpin instructed me to contact him if we end up in this mess somehow." Marron explained, taking out her Scroll. With a nod, Winter turned as the rest of RWBY followed Weiss' older sister to the company's car, Ruby taking a look back to confirm this was a smart decision their chaperon was making. "It's fine, Rubes. I'll catch up." With that, the young brunette entered the extended car and the group departed shortly after Winter's guards re-entered the front of the vehicle. Once they were gone, Marron turned back to the Commissioner. "Slate, I'm calling in that favor from the Goliath Stampede." she said, her tone taking on a serious cadence.

"That depends what it is." he replied, folding his arms over his chest.

"I need to speak with somebody at the courthouse today." Marron demanded.

Slate shook his head. "Not possible." he answered quickly, catching Marron's implication. "It's already enough of a zoo down there. The schedule is to bring him there, get through opening statements, then back to solitary with him."

"Then I'll wait at the prison then." the halberdier said coldly as she began to walk away.

"What are you even trying to get through this?" Slate asked.

"You may have jurisdiction here, but this is a Huntsman matter now." Marron continued. "An ex-Huntsman did this as well as numerous other crimes. I need to talk with someone he worked with to get some more intel, and Adam Taurus already gave everything when he defected. Maybe Mercury Black has some answers to what they want here."

The limo ride to the massive complex that housed the Schnee Dust Company world headquarters was met with a deafening silence. Nobody spoke as they drove up to the security gate out front, the only entrance to the gargantuan facility, even for VIP's. There were plenty of exits from employee and visitor parking or for shipping trucks, but the two-lane checkpoint surrounded by a thick metal wall lined with barbed wire atop it encircling the headquarters was the only way inside minus a smaller set of doors on either side for pedestrians to check in. As the limo was allowed to pass, Team RWBY crowded against the window to take in the sight of the towering structure ahead of them. The giant building, covered in reflective glass save for a section on the last ten stories that the company logo was embedded into with chrome, stood tall in the center of many equally-sized, smaller buildings that housed the other parts of its operation from production to research and development. They could see dozens upon dozens of workers and businessmen hustling down the sidewalks on either side of their car on their way to the buildings that housed their work stations and offices for the coming workday.

"Oh, before I forget..." Winter spoke up as she reached into a briefcase next to her, producing three laminated cards attatched to vinyl straps long enough to be worn around one's neck. "I took the liberty of getting you all visitor's passes for your 'mission'. You'll need to be wearing these at all times while inside the headquarters."

Each of RWBY took one and placed them on, Ruby taking a moment to check her reflection in the lamination. "Hey, doesn't Weiss get one?" Yang asked.

"Why would she? She's a Schnee. Everyone in our family has an all access pass." Winter explained as Weiss dug into her own pocket to fish her's out to show her team: a completely white card with the company logo, her name and picture on it. What the rest were the most surprised in was that the picture for this card was taken before Weiss earned her scar. As she replaced it into her pocket, the limo came to a quick halt, the drivers leaving the car first to open their passengers' door and escort them through the crowd of employees and corporate suck-ups wishing both Miss Schnee's a good morning on their way down the footpath and around the heated fountain crafted, once again in the shape of the Schnee family crest, in front of the main building's entrance. Once entering, they came into view of a large set of lines of people gathering behind the circular information desk. In each line that stood in front of a set of x-ray scanners flanked by sharp-dressed security guards stood waiting workers, businessmen and women, and prospective employees readying their resumes or proposals for their meetings and interviews coming up. Only one scanner seemed to be vacant of waiting employees and visitors. The reason why was from a single sign standing in front of the scanner along with its guards that read "VIP Executives Only" in cursive lettering. Being part of her morning routine, Winter strolled up to it, one of the guards giving her a nod and a smile as she passed.

"Morning, Miss Schnee." he greeted as his superior started through the scanner.

"And a good one to you as well, Morrison. Anything to report?" Winter smiled.

"Just a false alarm so far. One of the new guys remembered his weapon, but forgot his pass at home." the head of security noted. "It won't happen again; I fired him on the spot for it."

"Kinda rough for a new guy though, isn't it?" Yang murmured loud enough for Morrison to look over Team RWBY.

"And Little Miss Schnee's here too? Why didn't I hear about this?" the burly guard boomed. "How've you been, Miss?"

"I've been well, Mister Morrison." Weiss said with a forced smile. "It's nice to be back here."

"It's good to see you again too. I heard the monthly Huntsman testing team was arriving today, but I didn't expect you to be part of it." he smiled. "You remember the drill, right?"

With a nod, Weiss stepped past him into the scanner. Morrison's assistant checked the scanner, seeing that the only metal the heiress had on her was nothing that could be considered a weapon, save her actual weapon of course. It sounded off with an electronic chime that meant the individual inside the machine was deemed safe and allowed to pass. Once it rang, Weiss stepped through, Ruby taking her place as the process started again.

"These things are pretty cool." the team leader absentmindedly thought out loud.

"Yep, these are top of the line body scanners, Little Lady." Morrison said, patting the side of the inner wall of the machine. "They can pick up anything from internal things we'd miss like pacemakers or things people may be trying to sneak out at the end of the day. Hell, this thing can even tell is there's a loose animal trying to sneak in."

Blake and Weiss collectively gulped at that statement as Yang went through next. The jig was definitely up at this point. Blake had nowhere to go but forward, and she'd be singled out as a Faunus in one of the least racially sensitive places in history. Keeping her made-up composure as she walked into the scanner to seal her fate, she winced as an alarm sounded.

"Looks like we got some vermin, boys!" Morrison shouted, alerting his guards.

"No, wait! Please!"

Blake quickly darted her eyes to the scanner next to her as another woman with a beret on was pulled out of line. As she was jerked awkwardly by another one as she was pulled in front of Morrison, her hat fell to the linoleum floor, revealing a pair of extra ears sprouting from her head that resembled that of a mouse's. "You don't understand! This is my last option; I have a family and kids to feed!" she begged as two guards pulled her towards a set of doors off to the side labeled 'Security Only'.

"Then try applying some place in Little Menagerie where you cretins belong!" the guard escorting her snapped as he lead her inside, Blake quickly leaving the scanner before the other security crew team members flagged her as well. She was lucky it still had its window that confirmed Yang's passage, the other guard not noticing she hadn't been scanned yet and thinking it automatically went off and confirmed her for him. Weiss gave her a nod while everyone kept their eyes on the Faunus being dragged away until the doors she was pulled into closed behind her.

"Where are they taking her?" Yang asked, slightly concerned.

"Any Faunus trying to sneak in gets held in our office 'til the police pick them up and drop them back off into Little Menagerie." Morrison boasted as he turned back to the other stations. "Okay, people. Sorry about the scene there! Let's get back to it." he apologized to the crowd as business went back to usual for the security checkpoint teams and the people looking to enter. "Sorry about the excitement, ladies."

"Your men handled that well, Morrison. No need for an apology when you have something you can't control from happening." Winter reasoned. "You keep up the good work, now." she finished as she turned away, the head of security nodding as he turned back to watch his employees continue their work to keep the company safe from intruders and the 'unwanted'. Blake took one long look back at them in disgust before continuing onward with her group towards the end of the hallway. On either side of them were sets of ground level offices and the company cafeteria, but at the end were three tall glass pillars that housed the elevators. Out of the center one stepped Silbern Schnee himself as he walked up to them with a man his age with neck-length red hair and a lab jacket.

"Ladies, I heard about the incident at our new store downtown. Is everyone alright?" he asked, some frustration in his voice.

"We're all okay, Mister Schnee." Ruby nodded. "Marron's staying behind to speak with the police about Chad Aens involvement in the crime."

Silbern turned to his eldest daughter, foregoing his anger that his new store was ruined by terrorists to the fact his daughter's former comrade was behind it. "Winter, if I had known..." he said in genuine sincerity before she cut him off.

"Father, I burned the bridge with him a long time ago when he left being a Huntsman behind." Winter snapped. "I don't care who it is. He's just another criminal now who attacked our company."

"If you say so." Silbern hesitated as he turned to Team RWBY. "Weiss, you remember Doctor Rojas, right?"

"Why wouldn't I?" she asked before turning to her team. "Everyone, this is Doctor Sangre Rojas, my dad's top scientist for our Research and Development department. "

"It's a privilege to meet you, Team RWBY." he said with a bit of excitement in his voice. "We've got quite alot to go through today, so shall we begin?"

"I dunno. That show in the lobby kinda ruined the mood." Yang shrugged, her level of eagerness much lower than the scientist before her.

"I can understand your thought on the matter of Faunus, Mister Schnee, but I have to admit, it seems a bit extreme." Blake added.

"Vale has its standards between races and Atlas has its own, Miss Belladonna." the company head reasoned. "I would control it if I could, but at the time, nothing can be done."

"It's not too late to try." Blake argued.

"Miss Belladonna, we can argue this once again, or we can continue to our R and D's testing station for the assignment you were hired for." Silbern ordered, starting to get annoyed.

Blake was still fuming, but complied as Ruby and Weiss gave her a knowing glance. "Blake, we'll talk about it later, please." Ruby nodded.

"Yeah, we got some training dummies to take our anger out on!" Yang smirked, cracking her knuckles as the group gathered into the elevator and began to ascend into the company headquarters.


And it's finally done!

I'm sorry for the huge delay everybody. Real life and college have been getting in the way of my work, as well as a few glitches to my work that wouldn't save the last few parts of the chapter...twice. Seriously, Fanfiction, what the hell?

Anyway, I really wanted to get this out before Volume 3 started, but like I said, things happened. It's been great so far; Teams BRNZ and NDGO are awesome! I can't wait to see what the others can do like Qrow, Winter, and this Team FNKI they teased back at RTX that we haven't seen or heard from yet! As an apology for the long wait, I'll be getting to work on a one-shot that I want out before episode 3 premiers this coming Saturday. Until then, I'll see you lads and lasses next time!