115 minutes in.

Team RWBY, Ren, George, and Penny discussed amongst themselves in the lobby after assisting with expanding the triage area in the ground floor lobby of Building 1. Blake said, "It was fucking chaos in the Fire Alarm Office when I was there."

Yang asked her, "You took Uncle Qrow's call in, right?"

"Yeah," Blake replied as she looked and saw yet another stream of injured people file out of the triage area. "They're probably gonna be blowing up my phone asking for interviews later once this is all over."

"This is getting worse and worse," Penny said to the gang. "Did you guys hear the most recent reports from up there? They're saying the floors in the impact zone are sagging really bad."

"No shit," Weiss replied. "The heat from the fire is probably weakening the steel so much the trusses are sagging." Realizing that she just implied a potential collapse, which could cause panic, she followed up with, "I mean, I don't think it will cause a collapse, but we shouldn't get complacent."

Ren said to the gang after getting off the phone with Nora, "She's worried sick for all of us. Leona has no idea what's going on, obviously." He then saw a bunch of tired-out firefighters emerge from the elevators. "They must have done a few trips into the impact zone."

"You got that right," Ruby said. "I wonder if I'll go up again."

"Maybe," George replied to Ruby. "There's still people trapped on the upper floors and on the observation deck, apparently. They managed to helicopter like 70 people off the observation deck before the heavy smoke from the fire forced the helicopters to back off."

Then, they all again heard the loud thumping noise of a falling body on the street. "And people are still jumping," Weiss said in disgust. "Jesus..."

"I can only imagine what the scene is like in the Fire Alarm Office right now," Blake said. "It must still be absolute chaos."

"Guys," said a saddened Qrow as he walked over to them. "I got some bad news about Haven and Apamea."

Ruby asked him, "What happened, Uncle Qrow?"

"The entire right wing of the Apamea Central Bank collapsed a few minutes ago while firefighters were still inside," Qrow said with a heavy heart. "The same happened to the dorms at Haven just before then, too. They're estimating about 80 to 100 guys were inside both when it came down." The entire gang looked at him in complete shock as he showed them clips of the events that had just happened on his phone.

Weiss looked at him in shock and said, "You... You can't be serious? There's never been a single incident that has killed more than 50 firefighters in all of Remnant's history. Not even large wildfires have killed that many. Oh my God..."

"If it happened at Haven," Yang said as she realized the true horror of the situation. "Oh my God... I bet half of the firefighters in those dorms were students at that academy... And Sanctum's next door, too, and they got their own student and teacher-based volunteer fire department, too... Jesus Christ, there must have been a lot of kids in there."

140 minutes in.

The Chieftain of Menagerie, Avidor Sarkin, had just gotten off the phone with Delwyn just before delivering a speech in regards to the attacks. He had been told some new intelligence on who was behind the attacks. In front of his residence in its capital, Semzona, he delivered the speech in Fanusian, the native language of the original faunus that resided in Menagerie hundreds of years ago.

Translated, it began, "Good afternoon, my fellow Menagerians. Today, August 23, 2021, terrorists have attacked the Union Square Centre in the City of Vale within the Kingdom of Vale, the Apamea Central Bank Building in the City of Apamea within the Kingdom of Vale, and Haven Academy in the Kingdom of Mistral. These terrible attacks have led to panic, destruction, and great loss. Now, you may ask yourself why I am dedicating this time to a speech in regards to a foreign event. Well, I just finished a conversation with King Delwyn IV of Vale in regards to some new intelligence both our government and Vale's government has uncovered. This intelligence shows, so far, at least, that the origins of this attack are much closer to our home than we think." He then sighed. "My fellow Menagerians, the White Fang is behind this attack. We have intercepted communications between high-ranks within the White Fang that have indicated that members of the White Fang managed to hack into the computer systems of the 5 airplanes involved in the attack and control them from the ground, rendering their pilots and passengers helpless and at the whim of these terrorists."

He then sighed and thought to himself, "What if there are more attacks?"

"I strongly condemn this White Fang attack," he continued. "Words cannot accurately describe my anger and sorrow. This is not just an attack on Vale or Mistral or humanity. This is an attack on all of Remnant's people, human and faunus alike. This is yet another reminder that the White Fang does not have the faunus' true best interests at heart. I will do everything in my government's power to hunt down the White Fang further in our homeland so that we can ensure, or at the very least, try to ensure, that this never happens again. Thank you, and God Bless Menagerie."

Unfortunately for him, the attacks would soon hit even closer to home.

Right after the Chieftain's speech ended, 7 men and 3 women pulled up in front of Semzona's Central Terminal, the largest railway station in Menagerie, in an unmarked van. Despite the attacks in Vale and Mistral, it was still jam-packed with travellers going to and coming from trains. The time was 1:25 P.M.

The group waited in the van as one of then communicated over a cellphone to a group of 2 women at a popular restaurant halfway across the city that was often frequented by foreigners and tourists. Once the phone conversation was finished, the man in the van hung up.

The 2 women at the restaurant suddenly got up from their seats as everyone watched the attacks in Vale and Mistral continue to unfold on several T.V. screens in the packed restaurant. They then drew 14-round semi auto pistols from their pocketbooks and quickly opened fire on the patrons and waitstaff.

For about 45 seconds, they emptied their magazines into the people at the restaurant as everyone tried to flee, leaving their drinks and meals on their tables and on the bar. As one young child, a human, tried to jump over a fence separating the outside eating area from the sidewalk, one of the shooters struck the child in the head with a shot from her pistol, instantly killing them. She did so without even flinching, her hate for humanity so strong.

Then, as soon as it started, it was over. They jumped the fence and onto their motorbike, fleeing the scene, leaving behind 7 dead and 10 injured.

Meanwhile, at the city's seaport, 2 men had been driving am explosive-filled motorboat around, waiting for the OK signal from the van. Once they got it through a phone call, the man driving the boat revved up the engine and aimed straight for a Menagerian Navy frigate docked in the seaport. The MNS Kuo Kuana was being refueled in the port, and many of its sailors were still on the ship.

Then, the motorboat crashed into the side of the ship, resulting in a massive explosion that tore a huge hole in the side of the ship and rocked the ship severely. Instantly, both of the men on the boat were killed, along with 23 sailors. As other sailors frantically grabbed fire hoses to try and put out the resulting fire from the explosion, others rushed to the lower decks with stretchers to prepare for the wounded.

At 1:30 P.M., the 10 terrorists in the van jumped out carrying various weapons. One man, armed with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, aimed it at the front doors of the train station and fired once he made sure nobody was behind him due to the backblast, producing an explosion that killed several people and causing many others to flee. Immediately afterwards, the rest of the group opened fire with assault rifles as the RPG man dropped the RPG and grabbed another assault rifle from the van. Once they all emptied their first magazines, they reloaded and stormed into the train station.

A police officer outside ran over and aimed at the group, firing off a single shot before 2 of the women turned around and shot him multiple times, killing him.

Once the gang made their way to the main ticket hall of the train station, they opened fire on more fleeing civilians as well as several police officers that tried to fight back but were outgunned. They all then jumped into a circular ticket/police booth in the center of the large hall, which was empty due to the workers and police officers fleeing it, and hid, grabbing a few dropped guns and ammo as well as some spare guns and ammo from under the desk. They prepared for the not only inevitable, but also imminent, police assault on them, waiting for them to open fire so they could reply in kind. So far, they had managed to rack up a kill count of 34 civilians and 6 police officers.

In another part of the city, the 2 women on the motorbike stopped in front of the Valeanian Embassy, much to the confusion and worry of 3 Valeanian Army soldiers guarding it. One of them asked them, "State your reason for stopping here now!"

"This is it," the lead woman replied before she drew her reloaded pistol and gunned down all 3 soldiers with precision before they had a chance to react in kind. She then said, "Glory to faunuskind!" Then, the other woman threw a homemade sarin gas grenade over the embassy walls and through a window as the leader also did so. They then got off the motorbike as both grenades exploded, exposing the embassy staff inside to the deadly chemical agent.

After opening the gates, they charged into the embassy through its front doors as its staff tried to flee. When 2 more soldiers spotted them within the building, both women grabbed something underneath their shirts and pulled. Right after, explosive vests underneath their shirts exploded, killing both soldiers and several embassy staff that were trying to flee, including Vale's ambassador to Menagerie. Both of the vests also had sarin in them as well, further exposing the people in the embassy to the agent. In this attack, the 2 women managed to rack up a kill count of 17 civilians and 7 soldiers, mostly through the release of the sarin and due to the explosions.

The time was now 1:42 P.M. It had been 190 minutes since the attack had begun.

In Vale, firefighters on the ground were just beginning to hear of the ensuing attacks in Menagerie, worrying them further. Team RWBY, Ren, Penny, and George continued to discuss the attacks further when they were not assisting the Command Post in the lobby of Building 1. Weiss had a radio up to her ear, and could hear Winter, who had just entered the impact zone to do more firefighting for the 4th time that day, communicating with the staging area on the 99th Floor Sky Lobby. Winter said, "You got the relief crew ready for us, right?"

The staging officer replied, "All ready, Captain."

"Good," Winter replied. "I got..." Suddenly, even though her mic was still on, Winter got quiet as Weiss heard a rumbling on the radio. Then, Winter frantically said, "OH GOD! OH MY GOD, NO-" Then, she went quiet as Weiss heard the rumbling again above her. Everyone in the lobby immediately looked up as well in confusion. Then, their looks turned to that of shock.

Ruby immediately realized what was going on and bolted towards the exit, shouting at the top of her lungs, "RUN! THE BUILDING'S FALLING!" Everyone on the ground floor immediately panicked and rushed for the exits. The gang got split up by the chaos, with Yang and George running off together, holding each other's' right hands to stay together, Weiss, Blake, and Ren running off alone, and Ruby and Penny running towards Qrow. Screams could be heard from all around as people tried to flee the ensuing collapse.

As Ruby, Qrow, and Penny ran out onto the packed street and then into Building 2's lobby to reach the stairs, Building 1 came down at the seams. The section above the impact zone crushed the floors below it, causing a chain reaction of floors pancaking on top of each other. The sound of the collapse was comparable to that of a loud explosion, and dust from above began to fall onto the streets below.

Qrow, Penny, and Ruby were halfway up the stairs in Building 2's lobby to the second floor when Building 1's debris struck the ground, sending a massive cloud of dust into Building 2's lobby and smashing all of its windows. Many people on the ground floor of Building 2 were struck by flying debris as Qrow narrowly dodged a piece of flying metal. Once the three of them reached the second floor, located 25 feet above the ground floor, they all collapsed to it in exhaustion.

Ruby said to Penny, "What... What the fuck just happened?" Everyone was now caked in thick dust.

Penny replied to her, "It collapsed. It actually collapsed. I can't believe it..." Tears streamed from Penny's eyes as the full scale of what just happened hit her. "Everyone I know is dead... Damn it, they're all dead..."

Ruby told her, "Penny, no... That's not true... I'm sure Team RWBY all made it out in time... Penny, please, stop crying..." Ruby herself began to cry as well. "I'm sure Weiss, Blake, Yang, George, Ren, and my dad are all okay... I... I hope they are..." She then hugged Penny as they wept together.

Qrow said to himself, "Oh... Oh my God..." He then wiped his face to try and get the dust off, to no avail, before coughing. "What's happening right now? Really, why did this have to happen to us?"

In the situation room, Delwyn stared at the T.V. screens in utter shock, not saying a word. Many of his advisors on the Royal Cabinet did the same. Even the newscasters on T.V. were in shock, with a reporter on VNN saying, "This is a day that started bad, and it keeps on getting worse and worse and worse by the minute. Folks, we just witnessed a 165-story building collapsing in downtown Vale. I have never seen such devastation in my career or in my life. Not even the Battle of Beacon in 2015 comes close to this attack, folks."

After a moment of silence, Delwyn said to himself, "Ruby..." He then slumped his head between his arms onto the table. "Oh my God, Ruby..." He then began to cry to himself as his advisors looked on in worry. "Ruby, no..."

At the Ren residence, Nora, holding Leona in her arms, began loudly crying as she stared at her T.V. Leona, not knowing why her mother was crying, also began to cry as well. Nora held her close as she said, "Oh my God... Ren, no... Please be okay, Ren, please... We're waiting for you at home..."

Leona continued to cry, still not understanding why her mother was so sad and what she was seeing on T.V. Nora tried comforting her, but she was unable to keep herself calm.

"Your daddy is down there, Leona," Nora tried telling her daughter as she also tried to fight back the tears. "He's saving people because he's a hero. If... Oh my God... If he doesn't come home, remember that he's a hero, okay, jenta mi?" Nora would often call Leona by a term of endearment in her native language of Norusk, while Ren would use a term of endearment in his native language of Han when talking to Leona. Nora then cried again as she continued to watch the news and hold Leona.