Ruby, Weiss, and Sun tensed up as they heard an explosion followed by the revving of a familiar-sounding chainsaw motor. The two Team RWBY members suddenly became more concerned now that they knew Chains was in the frey, and their families were defending themselves from them.

"So you're the Fall sister Winter's been in contact with?" Weiss asked, switching Myrtenaster to its fire Dust cartridge.

"And you're the ones that defeated my disgrace of a little sister, Cinder." Violet responded as she continued to introduce herself with a curtsy. "Violet Fall. I've already defeated your friends. The White Fang have overrun this prison, and subsequently, this base. Lay down your weapons, and I'll let you live."

"And if we don't?" Sun spat back, the grip on his bo staff tightening as the three noticed a slight scowl forming on the Fall sister's face.

"Then, like I said, you'll be eliminated." she answered, as an icy blue glow came over her hands. Sun almost didn't have time to react as a plethora of icicles sharp as a spearhead erupted from the floor around the three of them, the blonde Faunus boy feeling one scrape by his pant leg and leave a rip in his jeans as he jumped backwards. Ruby and Weiss also dodged a slash, Weiss forming a glyph to block a strike from Violet as she tried to vault over one of the icicles around them and attack from above. Ruby countered with a slash from Crescent Rose that in turn missed as the icy infiltrator jumped down from Weiss' glyph and began unleashing a flurry of attacks that kept all three at bay, even with the longer reach their Huntsman weapons had over the saber Violet wielded.

It was during this part of the scuffle Sun decided to take a different approach. Breaking apart his staff, he began firing his gunchucks at Violet, each blast of buckshot coming in rapid succession after another. What he didn't know was Violet was counting on this. As she locked blades with Weiss, she formed a large wave-shaped wall of ice to her back to protect herself from the gunfire, making Sun have to get around to reengage her. Once again, all part of her plan. As Sun tried to run around the wall, the ice wave rolled over him as if it were unfrozen seawater, pinning him to the ground and re-freezing over the Faunus.

"Sun!" Ruby gasped as she tried to turn away to help her comrade out from under the ice he was in. Just as she touched the ground with her hand to try and help him out of the frozen layer of ice he was trapped under, her vision became overtaken by a strange fog. As she waived it away, the ice her hand touched was gone, replaced by polished stone that seemed to have something carved into it. She squinted before making out what the text read through the remaining fog over the stone: "Summer Rose: Thus, I kindly scatter." She was at her mother's grave all of a sudden.

"What the-" she thought aloud before gagging as a chain wrapped tightly around her neck, jerking her backward as she struggled to fight free from it, only to be pulled to a sudden hard landing on the floor of a cave, one she recognized immediately in fear. "Oh no..."

"Oh yes."

She looked up in horror to see a familiar figure in a White Fang uniform, pulling off his mask to reveal someone she hoped never to see again in her life. "This is gonna be fun." Timber smirked wickedly.


"No, NO, NOOOO!" Ruby suddenly shrieked in the outside world, rolling into a fetal position and dropping her scythe as she relived that haunting memory from over a year ago.

"Ruby!" Weiss cried out as she ran over to her team leader, trying to snap her out of the sudden nightmare her team leader found herself in before looking up to the enemy as she failed. "What have you done to her?" Weiss demanded.

"It's more what the past has done to her." Violet answered cryptically. "Out of all the people that have fallen victim to my semblance, this is by far the most...vocal reaction I've gotten out of a target." she noted over Ruby's cries and begging for it to stop.

"You're a telepath." Weiss glared, realizing what this meant. Violet could tap into the minds of anyone she chose and make them live their greatest fears, or in Ruby's case, their worst memories. "Snap her out of it now."

"You don't have any power in this case, Schnee." Violet answered, denying Weiss' demand as her blue eyes began to glow, a fog appearing between them. "As long as I'm present in this battle, you have no way to stop me." she finished before her voice and figure faded into the fog that now completely surrounded Weiss. The duelist even noticed Ruby had stopped making sounds. In fact, Ruby had disappeared entirely as well. Drawing Myrtenaster back, she scanned the vicinity through the thick fog, trying to see anything through it.

As it finally began to clear, Weiss could see a figure standing a few feet in front of her. Walking up to it, she suddenly felt herself bump into a wall-like surface. Backing away, her eyes widened as she took in the sight. It was a mirror, not unlike the large full-length one in her room. The reflection it cast was her main focus. It was Weiss, however a couple years younger, her face unmarred by the scars she wore in the present. She brought a hand to her face to see if this was a trick of some sort, but she startled herself when she felt her flawless alabaster skin near her left eye, just as the mirror was showing her presently.

She didn't have long to marvel in this as out of her peripheral vision, she caught the tip of a massive blade being driven towards her. Rolling to the side, she almost couldn't dodge the massive bastard sword that had smashed through the mirror she stood in front of. Looking back to her attacker, Weiss noticed that the fog had now fully cleared. She now stood in the familiar hall her father made her practice her skills in before she attended Beacon, and wielding the sword was the Giant Armor that scarred her those couple years ago. As it retracted the sword to face her, a voice echoed throughout the enormous hall.

"Sloppy."

Her father, Silbern Schnee, was now standing in the cracked mirror, scowling at her as she ducked under another swipe of the Armor's sword, trying for a stab at the possessed suit of armor before its free hand grabbed her, throwing her across the room. She winced as she rebounded off the floor, the wind being slammed out of her as she rolled to a stop, coughing and gasping for air.

"Inadequate."

The mirror now stood behind her against the wall as she stood back up. In fact, it still stood at the other end of the hall, and twelve more times around the room in a circle Weiss and the Armor stood inside. Ignoring the voice and the shattered reflections of her father, Weiss growled as she dashed forward at the Armor again, parrying two countering blows and going for a stab at the helmet's viewing area, only to be swatted aside by the flat side of its blade and back to the floor. She watched as her Aura visibly fluctuated with a white glow, before disappearing completely.

"Failure." Silbern spoke again, disappointment thick in his voice as Weiss staggered to her feet, the Armor standing a few meters away as it readied a heavy strike to finish her. "You disappoint me, Weiss. You can't even beat this creature? How do you expect to survive out in the real world? In an uncontrolled battle? You'll never make it out there, now give up."

"Never!" Weiss screamed as she dashed towards the Armor, channeling what was left of her Aura into this next strike.

"You'll only get yourself more hurt." Silbern seethed as the Armor began to heave its sword upward.

"SHUT UP!" was Weiss' shrieking retort as she struck the chestplate, only in disappointment to see it did little damage as the Armor dragged its blade downward across Weiss' face. Crying out in pain, Weiss faceplanted against the floor, Myrtenaster, scattering out of reach in between two of the mirrors around her. As her vision returned, she could see her reflection in the polished tile flooring, a dripping of blood quickly coating it. Her scars now adorned her face; both old and new and freely flowing dark red fluid from them.

Heavy footsteps echoed in her head as the Armor stepped forward, readying its sword to finish its opponent. "This is why you failed. This is why I've disowned you!" Silbern roared now as the reflections glared her down in anger. "You've never listened to me! You've disobeyed everything I've ordered of you. Face it, Weiss. You will never live up to my potential, and for that, you'll be a failure all your miserable life!" he yelled as the Armor's blade began to drive down towards its target, unmoving on the floor and still looking down at it.

"...You're right." Weiss answered quietly.

The blade never made contact with the white-haired girl on the floor, Instead, above Weiss, a large white glyph glowed like an angel's halo, spinning rapidly as a bright blue, ethereal blade that matched that of the Armor towering over her blocked its finishing blow.

"You're absolutely right about one of those things." Weiss answered quietly as she began to stand. "I will never live up to your potential, Father. I've lived my life how I see fit, only for you to continuously put me down."

The sword appearing from the glyph began pushing the Armor in front of her backwards, an arm and shoulder now poking out from it.

"You say I'm a failure, but to me, to my friends, to my true family, I'm not."

The Armor now dropped to one knee, its determination buckling as a bright blue reflection of itself stepped out of the Glyph, slowly overpowering the creature as it pressed downward and Weiss stood upright, her scars still present but no longer bleeding.

"And as long as I stand and fight for them, I never will fail them!" Weiss shouted, her Armor suddenly raising its sword again, catching the Armor off balance before the massive blue blade cut across it horizontally, throwing it backwards and through the wall of the hall they stood in, each mirror shattering into shards as the Armor crashed through the wall and a blinding light filled the room.


"WHAT ON REMNANT?" Violet could only shriek in shock as she looked up to the glowing suit of armor that towered over her, the origin point coming from the glyph Weiss now stood in front of. She blinked as her vision returned, noticing how she now stood with Myrtenaster pointed at Violet, a giant version of the Armor she defeated those years ago standing over her with its blade pointed at the Fall sister.

"What the- Weiss?"

She looked down to see Ruby had awoken, now out of her trance. The ice around Sun was also receding as the monkey Faunus broke free from the frozen sheet he was trapped under.

"Woah, what the hell is that?" Sun asked as he fully unfroze.

With a smirk, Weiss answered, looking at a now infuriated Violet. "Her downfall."

With a roar, Violet used the last of her Aura to set forth a tsunami of snow and ice to bowl over the three Huntsman and Huntresses and the Armor Weiss had summoned. "Now!" Weiss ordered her familiar to strike, the Armor bringing its blade down through the massive wave, cutting through and dispelling it before the blade beam it cast continued on to Violet, striking her and pushing her into the console in front of the Alpha Grimm's prison. Her Aura flickered and broke, a large shallow gash across her chest and stomach now bleeding freely as everything she used her Aura abilities to create and cause dispelled. Blake, Yang, and Neptune snapped out of their trances in confusion in the vent room. Sage and Scarlet shivered as the ice they were trapped inside suddenly broke off of them. The wall that separated Qrow, Marron, Winter, and Noel during their fight with Chains melted away, revealing the five had ceased their fight to take in the view of the main room, and find Weiss and her Armor standing over a defeated Violet Fall.

"She did it." Marron noted in awe as the Armor began to disappear at Weiss' command.

"Well done, little sister." Winter nodded as she and Noel looked on in pride.

"Why you little-" Chains growled as he stepped forward to try and save Violet, only for the blade of Qrow poised at his throat to cut him off.

"Not so fast, big guy." Qrow demanded, keeping watch on the White Fang luitenant as the rest of the younger Huntsmen and Huntresses gathered around the main terminal.

"Man, what happened in here?" Yang asked, looking around.

"How long were we out?" Neptune asked.

"Not important right now." Ruby answered. "We're all okay." she smiled before turning her attention to Violet with a leer. "And she's beaten.

"Surrender." Weiss ordered, Myrtenaster pointed at the wounded Violet.

"I will not yield to you, Schnee..." Violet sneered as she vaulted over the console as Weiss stabbed at the floor she once stood on. Looking up, Violet now stood on a platform immediately in front of the energy shield the Alpha Grimm was encased in, a stiletto of permafrost poised at her heart. "There's more than one way I can accomplish what I needed to do here today." she finished.

"Don't try it, Fall!" Noel ordered from behind them as she, Winter, and Marron ran up from behind the others. "You have no idea what kind of evil you'll unleash on Atlas!"

"Oh...how wrong you are." Violet shook her head. "You are the ones who have no idea what you've unleashed here today."

"No! Don't!" Ruby tried to shout out, but it was too late. With a grunt, the stiletto pierced through Violet's chest by her own hand. With a cough of blood and a staggering step backward, the Fall fell backwards into the energy shield, absorbed into the incomplete body of the massive abomination inside. The red eyes and markings began to glow from red to blue, and the head started to look up towards the thirteen individuals left in the room.

"Everyone! Evacuate the building now!" Winter ordered as everyone, even Chains, ran for the exit, the cave shaking as the energy field surrounding the Grimm began to falter.


Out in the prison, STRM began to come to as emergency alarms and a loud rumble started to echo througout the facility.

"What's going on?" Turk asked nobody in particular as White Fang members ran past them in fear.

"Whatever it is, we better leave too." Mei agreed as the four upperclassmen began to head for the exit.


"Well...That's not good." Mercury thought to himself as he began to saunter out of the maximum security section, leaving a mess of bodies and writhing wounded White Fang members and fellow prisoners in his wake.


On a cliff overlooking the prison facility, October watched the cliffside it was built into crumble and shake with his eyes narrowing more so by the second.

"That's...not part of the plan, is it, Daddy?" Viridia asked, pulling her cloak down as she looked towards the prison as well.

"...We need to leave now." October ordered, turning back to the Griffon waiting behind them and walking towards it.

"What about Violet?" Viridia asked.

"She has failed us. I specifically told her not to resort to the contingency plan." October responded.

"What contingency?" Viridia asked again.

"...Becoming one with it." October responded, not noticing Viridia's eyes widening as she realized what her father meant. "Now come. We need to return to Mistral."


In front of the prison, General Ironwood had a strike team already poised to retake the prison when he received word that it had fallen under the White Fang's attack. Multiple armored truck, mechs, and gunships hovered in position as he and Penny watched from the command post, only for the sudden shaking of the ground and mountains around them to put everyone on edge.

"General, this isn't a natural earthquaking event." Penny noted. "Scans are showing the epicenter coming from a cavern behind the prison under the mountain."

"I'm aware, Penny." Ironwood responded, knowing what that meant. "All forces, fall back!"

The order never was given in time as the shaking suddenly intensified, a smoky black claw driving out of the wall of the prison, followed by another before the facility crumbled in a cloud of rubble and smoke. Out from it walked the largest Ursa ever seen by any living soul on that strike team, its eyes glowing blue along with the markings that adorned the bone plating across its back, arms, and legs. With a deafening roar that could be heard all across the tundra, a sense of dread filled everyone as Grimm began to appear, answering the call of the behemoth. As Penny looked up at the beast in horror, Ironwood pulled his Scroll to his face.

"This is General Ironwood! All forces retreat to Atlas City. We have a Code Black Grimm threat on our hands; I repeat, Code Black!"