"Yang, we kinda can't be focusing on this right now." Marron spoke up in hopes of defusing the situation unfolding in the aftermath of that rush of Grimm the group had just fought through. Now, instead of following them down in hopes of stopping that massive Grimm before it reaches the city, Team RWBY had surrounded Mercury, Yang still grabbing him by the collar of the rags that were once a prison undershirt, torn and bloodied with both his and others' life essence spattered or dotted from his fight in the cell blocks with the White Fang earlier.

"Well, I am." Yang growled, her eyes still locked with those of the metal-legged convict in her grasp. "If this is some part of your plan to get back at us for beating you and your boss senseless, it ends here."

"I'm telling you to stand down because that isn't the case!" Marron shouted, earning a confused look from the other three members of Team RWBY, as well as some uninformed looks of bewilderment from the other two Beacon teams.

"What are you getting at?" Blake asked.

"After Chains' sighting in Atlas, when I split off from you four as you went to the SDC, I had some words with him." the Arc sister explained with a sigh. "He's just as clueless as we all were to this."

"There. Y'see, Blondie?" Mercury snapped. "I've got no stake in this anymore, so do me a favor and let me the fuck go!"

Yang's eyes narrowed again as she pulled him closer. "Talk like that to me or my friends again, and you're mince meat." she threatened in a low voice as she shoved him back, letting him go as he backed away a couple steps. With a sigh, her eyes reverted back to their purple color, but the hints of a glare on her face were still present.

"So what do we do with him?" Sun asked, sharing the brawler's distrust of the convict as he scanned the others around him.

"We've already been delayed long enough with this recovery effort and that Grimm attack." Ironwood thought aloud. "We'll have to bring him along. A few of my men have been injured, and I'll need to leave a platoon or two to deal with the wounded. He's coming with us."

"You can't be serious." Blake thought aloud, not as enthusiastic as the rest of the group was about Mercury Black, Cinder's personal hitman, working alongside them, and that wasn't much at all.

"Well, we don't have a prison to keep him in anymore." Qrow quipped. "'Sides, kid's got some fight in him. We'll need all the help we can get stopping that thing and all those Grimm."

"And what's in it for me if I do help you save Atlas?" Mercury asked. Fighting on the same side as the team who locked him up in the first place was as pleasing to him as getting his teeth pulled out.

"Consider having a year shaven off your sentence for good behavior." Winter suggested, earning a thoughtful nod from both Generals.

"A year off the three life sentences I'm expecting. How generous!" Mercury sarcastically clapped in false intrigue before a hard shove from Yang shut him up.

"Zip it, and let's get moving." Yang growled as they headed for one of the trucks Ironwood's men were loading into.

"Right, let's mount up!" Noel ordered. "We don't have long to stop that thing before it reaches Atlas City! That's priority one from here on out. Understood?"

"YES, MA'AM!" The few dozen soldiers responded, most following suit as they filed into the trucks.

"Units 3-2, and 3-6, stay behind to deal with the wounded! Rejoin us when we give the all clear!" Ironwood ordered to two platoons, who complied as the general stepped into a truck with Qrow, Teams SSSN and STRM. Team RWBY, Marron, Penny, Winter and Noel followed Yang and Mercury into another, and the convoy began to move off in chase of the stampeding Grimm.

None noticed a pile of rubble start to shake and give way as the hulk underneath it unearthed himself, crawling out of the heap and shaking off the remains of his shattered mask with a cough. Chains surveyed the area. As ten or so military trucks started to disappear down the icy road leading back to the city, he noticed a few were left behind as some soldiers dealt with their own wounded or injured prisoners. Others were huffing as they lugged bodies of those they either couldn't save or those who were killed in the destruction of the prison in rows. He took a mental note that a good portion of the bodies were those of his men; men that Violet had promised would be rewarded for their actions here today. They were no better than those slaves Cinder had hypnotized back in Vale: disposable in her eyes. A burning feeling of betrayal grew in intensity in his chest. He glanced from the soldiers busy with their work, too busy to notice nobody had eyes on the unattended truck left for them by the edge of the debris field. He knew what he had to do, pulling his chainstaff out of the rubble and sauntering towards the vehicle.


The frozen tundra rumbled as the legion of Grimm stampeded towards the city walls with reckless abandon. While the sheer number of these beasts was enough to shake the ground for at least a kilometer around them, each step from the towering Ursa was an earthquake; its footsteps leaving crater-sized footprints into the iced-over ground and rock. Even higher above the stories-tall Grimm, clouds of Nevermore and Griffons flew in haphazard formations as they followed the legion from the sky. Altogether, the wall of black less than a mile from the range of the city wall defenses was enough to unnerve any man standing on the wall, manning any gun turret that wasn't already automated or occupied by an Atlesian Knight military drone. Artillery cannons, minigun turrets, and even anti air missile systems were primed and ready for the oncoming storm. Between the soldiers on the wall, only one question was asked, the answer unknown with the mass of monsters at their doorstep and a Grimm threat alert never reached before until today: "Would it be enough?"

Inside the walls, the population of Atlas City were in a panic as every man, woman, and child that wasn't stationed in defensive positions for either the police or the military were ushered into underground shelters, disused because of how effective the perimeter defenses usually were, but still kept in case of definite severe threats. Even the Faunus in Little Menagerie were being corralled into the nearest shelter, to the disgust of some citizens as they were sectioned off with guards to a tight squeeze of a corner in the concrete and steel safe haven. However, as the guns on the wall opened up and began firing into the legion of Grimm, the deafening noise of hundreds of guns firing at once echoing throughout the metropolis, only half of the civilian population was secured inside the shelters. Panic set in even more as those still out on the streets went into a frenzy and tried to seek shelter wherever they could, rushing for shelters, basements of buildings, even ripping up manhole covers and descending into the sewer systems.

Not many were lucky enough to find proper shelter in time. They watched as the clouds of Grimm began to descent upon the walls. Nevermore and Griffons swooped down to try and attack the defenses as Beowolves, Ursai, and Goliaths threw themselves at the wall and gates like crashing waves against a dam from the outside. The worry grew worse as the sounds of guns started to battle with, then were drowned out by the roars and screeches of Grimm. Panic started to turn to hysteria as people fought for refuge in shelters, some trying to pull others out of bunkers full to the front doorway to take their spots. Military police fought to keep what little peace remained as all-out brawls began forming at the bunker entrances.

And then, quite possibly the loudest, most animalistic roar anyone in Atlas had ever heard silenced the metropolis.

Anyone who was still out on the streets or not on the walls facing the horde turned in horror towards the gate. The Nevermore and Griffons that could have so easily flown over the wall now sat still on the edges, eyeing those that were still out on the streets as the blood of the wall guards they had slaughtered dripped from their beaks and talons. They were waiting for a signal, from whatever that deafening roar came from, to attack. That came from what sounded like a massive explosion as one of the doors to the main gate received a dent the size of a house pounded into it. This was followed by another similar sound with a near identical dent in the wall. Like a cannonball through a ship's hull, a giant black fist pierced through the door, then reached further in as it grabbed the edge of the gate's frame, tearing it off in one motion as the now compromised door, the same that once held back over fifty Goliaths only a couple years ago, fell with a thunderous crash against the ground, crushing a couple buildings near the gateway in the process. The Alpha held back, allowing the smaller Grimm massing outside to invade first in waves, a mass of writhing, snarling, black beasts from who knows what Hell rushing in, slaughtering whatever defenses the military police had set up in the instance that any Grimm actually made it inside. However, they weren't prepared for this magnitude of an attack, and Slate's defensive plans went up in smoke as the first line of defense was torn through immediately after making contact. As they did, the Nevermore and Griffons perched on the walls began swooping down, picking off anyone still out on the streets and carrying them off into the sky screaming and kicking.

"Okay...not the best way to be greeted after an overnight flight." one man sighed as he dropped his carry-on luggage, starting to unzip it as a few Beowolves and an Ursai rounded the corner towards the airport at the southern edge of the city. A few military policemen began to open fire on them, but the bone-like armor protected the Ursai, and only a few Beowolves were able to dodge the laser bolts being fired off.

One noticed they were disregarding their shots, and instead continued onward past them towards a single red-haired man fumbling around with his baggage of all things. "Hey! Watch out!" the policeman called out, unaware of what exactly that man was doing. Their answer came as they watched him pull a massive, anti-tank rifle from his duffel bag. With a crack of the rifle, a Beowolf's head was replaced with a gaping hole as it crumpled in mid-sprint. Another fell from a shot to the chest tearing straight through its body before the rest could get within lunging distance of the Huntsman. Throwing the butt of his rifle outward at the enemy, it converted into an axe blade, slicing through the necks of three unlucky Beowolves in one swing. Another cut down, and the Beowolf pack was defeated. In the respite, the police began slowly walking towards the Hunter as he shook the Grimm blood off his blade. "A Huntsman...Glad you're here, sir."

"It's Irons. Remmington Irons." The Huntsman replied, ignoring the awestruck faces of the law enforcement officials in front of him that just realized their saving grace came in the form of Irons Armory Industries' CEO. Maybe they weren't enlisted in the time his Beacon team had saved the city from the Goliah stampede, but that thought was the least important now. "Now, what the hell's going on here?"

"All we know is there's a giant Grimm that knocked down the gates like they were nothing!" one policeman spoke up. "We got put at Grimm Threat Level 11, and then the attack started!"

"Well, let's end it, shall we?" Remmington asked, hefting his rifle as the newly-formed group turned their eyes to another group of Grimm coming towards the airport. With a howl and the stomping of clawed feet on pavement, the second wave descended on them, the fate of this happenstance defensive stand unknown to either side.


From outside the gates, any Grimm still outside the walls were solely focused on the attack their brethren were carrying out on the city of Atlas. They didn't care for the roaring engines of three armored trucks, barreling towards the city from the same route out of the mountain range the Alpha Grimm had came from. They didn't sense the collective dread as the young Huntsmen and Huntresses, the grizzled veterans and generals, and the lone convicted criminal, staring out at the sea of black slowly surrounding the walls, over the overpowering fear and anguish of those inside the city walls.

"We're...too late." Neptune sighed, staring out at the legion of monsters in the distance from a window on the truck his team was on along with Qrow and STRM.

"This makes that breach in Vale Torchwick made look like nothing..." Blake noted, trying to maintain a neutral tone even after the events of the past day.

"Great, I get out of prison just to get ripped apart by Grimm." Mercury quipped depressingly, once more being shut up by a punch from Yang.

"We can do this...can't we?" Ruby asked, doubt thick in her voice for someone who had dealt the finishing blow to another Alpha Grimm only months ago. Even someone who had suffered as much as she had, and returned to her usual bubbly self, was looking upon the Grimm with much less determination than the scarred heiress standing beside her had seen before. She couldn't blame her. Torchwick's Breach of Vale and Cinder's occupancy of the kingdom mere months later were trifles compared to the thousands of monsters with a full-fledged Alpha at their command.

Even still, after all the hardship Weiss had experienced within the walls at the hands of her father, after all the bad memories she had of the northern kingdom, the sight of Atlas under siege saddened her. At the end of the day, it was her hometown, and she'd be damned if it would fall today after all she had done. "We can." Weiss finally answered Ruby's open ended question with the most confidence out of anyone in the three trucks heading for the city. Without waiting for a reply, she found her way to the back door of the truck, her mother and Winter sitting on either side of it. A single meeting of her eyes with her sister's signaled what she had in mind, and the Atlesian specialist silently agreed with a nod as the younger sister threw open the door and prepared to climb to the top of the truck.

"Weiss, what are you doing?" Yang called over the howling wind as the door was thrown open.

"Opening up our path." she simply answered as she climbed to the top, Winter already waiting for her with her saber drawn. Weiss joined her as Myrtenaster was drawn from its holster. The two sisters channeled their auras through the blades, focusing on those they had defeated in the past. As the two glyphs began floating in front of their truck, the Grimm furthest back out of the thousands still outside the walls turned to the sound of engines coming closer from behind them. They saw nothing else as they were run through by twelve, bone white Goliaths, followed by the Knight controlled by Weiss. Both sisters barred their teeth, struggling to keep their control over the creatures they had summoned as they charged and slashed through the Beowolves and Ursai surrounding them.

As other Grimm started to catch on, they started falling in behind the trucks, following along the path carved out by the Schnee sisters. This was remedied as the door to the rear truck burst open, surprising the lead Beowolf as Rocco fired off a Dust mortar blast from Cadillac Custom's case. The explosion deterred the crowd following them a bit as it engulfed at least a dozen creatures of Grimm. "That should give us some breathing room." the upperclassman commented.

"Not as much as you think, kid." Qrow pointed out, looking up to the sky as a few Nevermore began descending on the trucks. What surprised Qrow and those in his trucks was how each one unceremoniously crashed to the ground, each one falling to the sound of a shot fired off from a rifle. The gruff Huntsman looked up to see his own nieces, now on top of their truck with weapons aimed at the sky and ground, Ruby shooting down any aviary Grimm that got close while Yang fired off shotgun blasts at the land-based ones following from behind.

"There's still too many of them!" Yang called out as her gauntlets ran dry. Before she could reload them, a shout from Ruby drew everyone's attention.

"INCOMING!"

All eyes turned to the Alpha Grimm, which had turned its gaze from the gate to the three trucks barreling towards it. It raised a massive claw, ready to bring it down on the convoy. "Evasive maneuvers, now!" Noel ordered the truck driver, but it was too little too late as sweeping arc of the monster's arm was dragged across the ground with no regard for the smaller Grimm in its path.

"Come on, punch it!" Sun yelled at the driver of the second truck.

"I'm going as fast as I can, kid!" the soldier replied.

"Brace yourselves!" Ironwood ordered as the claw met the trucks, knocking them off their beaten path in a whirlwind of force and scraped-up frozen rock. Winter thought quickly, activating a glyph that kept her and Weiss from being flung away from the truck's roof as theirs was tossed airborne. They watched as one of the three trucks was flung into a wall, exploding on impact, while theirs and the other vehicle that contained the rest of their comrades tried to regain control as the claw came back from behind.

"Hold on, Weiss!" Winter warned. Before Weiss could look back to see what her sister was warning her about before the trucks were struck again, and everything went white.


Hey, everybody.

So sorry for the delay with this chapter. I've been working alot lately on things both for future stories, new characters, and real life plans which includes my third consecutive trip to Austin for RTX in a row. Either way, I'd like to try and finish this story before RTX starts, as the end to this fic is long overdue. Since I'm done with college, I should have much more time to work on it before my life completely gets absorbed as Destiny 2's next expansion drops in September (Uldren's gonna pay for what he did to my homie, Cayde.). Again, sorry for the delay, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you lads and lasses next time.