Note: What are we thankful for? Getting over a two-week mental health crisis and being able to write another chapter of LUDITF! You have now been introduced to Team RWBY's plan to survive Atlas. Not clear what it is yet? Well, you'll see it continue to unfold next. We hope you have a wonderful holiday or just a wonderful weekend in general for you non-Americans. Enjoy.

The package was dropped off outside of Team RWBY's dorm. Fifty sheets of paper filled with text. Attached to its front was a letter.

Team RWBY:

Please see inside your points to use during the press conference this week. It is crucial that you memorize these notes and understand what can and cannot be stated during the event. You are not to improvise or go off script at any time. You are not to use impolite language at any time. You are not to mention any explicitly political viewpoints at any time. You are not to discuss the personal lives of myself or Professor Ozpin at any time. You are not to speak negatively of your experiences at Atlas Academy at any time. Failure to abide by these rules will result in the strictest of penalties. You are going to represent the Kingdom of Atlas to the entire world. You must hold yourself to the highest standard.

We hope you will take this task seriously and make us proud.

Ironwood.

Ruby opened the first page and read it carefully.

Opening statement (please refrain from straying from this template as much as possible):

"Thank you very much for coming here today. Once again, we are very proud to welcome you to Atlas Academy. We have been granted this time by the Academy to answer any of your questions to the best of our abilities. Before we begin, we would first like to give our thanks to Professor Ozpin and General Ironwood for arranging our training here in Atlas. With the current threats facing our Kingdoms, the role of Huntsmen is more important than ever before. Our Headmasters' efforts have allowed us to not just continue, but to excel at our training in new and exciting ways, and we look forward to acquiring our Huntsmen licenses on schedule. We are very thankful for their efforts, and we hope that their cooperation will serve as a signal of unity and strength between our Kingdoms in these otherwise dangerous times. We are very proud that we get to become Huntresses, and we hope to share that pride with you."

Ruby read the rest of the pages, memorizing their contents. A few minutes later, she showed them to her teammates. Blake laughed before she threw it in the trash.

Once upon a time, Ruby wasn't able to speak in public. Having more than one set of eyes on her would send her anxiety into overload. With the burst of public attention on her, however, she had grown more accustomed to the spotlight. Her growth over the past semester had certainly helped with her confidence. This wasn't Ruby's first press conference. Or her second. Or her third. Despite the high stakes, she walked in feeling good about her chances.

Atlas Academy had a press room. Of course, it had a press room. It had everything. It was located near the back of the campus, precariously close to the edge of the Hydra. Ruby imagined one wrong question setting Ironwood off, causing him to throw journalists off from the floating school's edge. Se hoped it wouldn't come to that. The room itself was large, plain, little more than long rows of chairs and a single, wide desk at its front fitted with microphones. When Team RWBY arrived some hours after the tour of the Academy had ended, Ruby saw that Ironwood and Ozpin were already sitting at the table, waiting for them. She read Ozpin as being perplexed like they were a puzzle he was still trying to decipher. She saw in Ironwood a deep rage barely suppressed beneath his steely exterior. The team waded through the seated crowd of reporters and calmly sat at the long table, refusing to look either of their headmasters in the eye. That only made him more furious. Good.

Ruby sat down and cleared her throat. Her gaze drifted to the wall on her left side. Several of her professors were lined up down the path. The only individual she cared about was Professor Goodwitch, who sat near the back corner, her body tense like a snake waiting to pounce. Ruby smirked. Everyone was here—time to put on a show.

"Hello everyone," Ruby said cheerfully, pulling the microphone closer to her face. "It's good to see everyone again. I hope you learned a lot on your tour."

"Atlas is a very big campus," Yang noted, comfortably leaning into the mic and resting on her elbows.

"Right. It feels like we've spent half our time here learning how to navigate it."

"And find where the bathrooms are," Blake added.

Ruby laughed. "Yes. Obviously. So, um, I don't know if we have a certain limit on the number of questions we can answer. I assume they'll let us know when we reach—" Someone said something to Ruby out of the range of the microphone. "Oh, okay. So I guess we'll just go until somebody stops us."

Blake smirked. "Oh please, somebody stop us."

"Yeah," Ruby sighed. She adjusted the microphone again and tried to speak carefully. "Before we say anything though, we actually want to say something very important. These past few weeks have been incredibly challenging for all of us, and we know it has been for all of the students here. The difficulty of moving all of Beacon's students overseas and trying to accommodate us here cannot be understated. So, we genuinely want to thank the staff at Atlas for being supportive during this time. Everyone, from the Professors, to the catering staff, to the security team—they really put in the best work they can to make sure that we are safe and happy and… and just doing what we are supposed to during our training. Huntress training is really hard, so keeping us all coordinated takes a huge effort. We're all glad for their help, right team?"

"Right," said Weiss.

"Uh huh," nodded Yang.

"Yep," said Blake.

"So, thanks for putting up with us," Ruby finished. "Even though the world is kind of crazy right now, seeing everyone work together to help us has been really inspiring. With that said, I think… I think we can start taking some questions. So if anyone wants to ask something—" A dozen hands immediately reached to the sky, and Ruby quickly picked one out of the crowd. "Yes, you there."

A blonde, buxom, artificially beautiful woman spoke first. "Brianna Greyjoy, Atlas Television. Would you mind giving more details about the Team RWBY Fund that you announced earlier? What exactly is the Fund supposed to be and what are your future plans for it."

Ruby smiled. They had gotten their attention where they needed it. "I'm really glad you asked. The Team RWBY Fund is something we put together recently because we realized that we wanted to do more to help our Kingdoms than we were already doing. A lot of people look up to us, and we thought if we had some organization, something official, then we could pool together a lot of resources and do something really cool. Yes?"

"Can you specify what products you are selling? Is it purely fashion?"

"No, it's not purely fashion, though wearable merchandise will obviously be a part of that. We trademarked some logos that can be put on basically anything."

"So the Fund mostly be dedicated to creating merchandise for yourselves?"

"No, the merch was Yang's idea," Ruby nodded toward her sister. "We want the Fund to mostly be focused on charitable efforts. We are still putting together a list of all the causes we want to support. Homelessness in Mantle was one of the things at the top of the list, but there are a lot of ideas we're interested in. That's the important bit. All of the gear we sell is secondary to those efforts."

"People like swag, though," Yang explained. "When people go to donate, they want something really cool in return. Like, it's way easier to get people to give to a cause if they're just buying normal stuff and we give away the proceeds. And so, I noticed before that people were already selling merchandise with our faces on them, so I thought that since our faces were in such high demand, we might as well take advantage of that. We're not literally selling stuff with our faces on it though. That's tacky." Yang paused. "Maybe in the future, I don't know."

More hands shot up. The next reporter had slicked-back hair and a fake smile.

"Blaze Alundra, Atlas Television. How many partners have signed up to work with you on this project? Would you be able to disclose any names?"

Weiss immediately answered. "We unfortunately are not able to disclose any names at this time for our financial backers. However, we can confirm that we have sourced all of the companies that we are working with to ensure that they are run ethically. We can announce that these coats were made by Tiana Apparel, which is a small business running out of Mantle. We are taking efforts to promote local industry."

"Does Jacques Schnee have any connection to the Fund?"

Weiss answered even faster. "The Schnee Dust Company does not have any financial stake in the Team RWBY Fund. I am not profiting from any of our sales through my family name."

Ironwood clamped down on his microphone, finally taking control of the room. "If we could, can we keep questions relevant to Atlas Academy? Thank you." He pointed to a familiar face in the audience, his words carried with a snap. "Thomas, you have a question, don't you."

The reporter didn't bother introducing himself, but he spoke with a judgmental tone typical of the more intense members of Atlas media. His face was fat and his lips puckered. "Thank you, general. Team RWBY, you have been spending a lot o time in the public eye. The mainstream media adores you. You have spent almost as much time on social media as you have been training to be Huntresses. Did you expect to receive the same special treatment when going to Atlas Academy?"

Blake held back a snicker. Weiss and Yang leaned back and allowed Ruby to once again take the lead. Despite the biased nature of the question, Ruby spoke confidently. "We don't want to be treated differently than any of our other classmates. We don't think we've gotten special treatment."

"Well, some reports have been saying differently. You have been making consistent posts on KnightsPage since the start of the month. Academy policy typically forbids social media usage for trainees. Wouldn't you call that a kind of special privilege?"

"That… that is true," Ruby clarified. "However, any change from normal school policy went directly through General Ironwood. He agreed that, given the public interest in our case, it would be beneficial for everybody if we were able to continue talking to our supporters and any worried parties back in Vale. We have been giving updates on our training every week, and anyone can see that we have worked just as hard as any other student here. Everyone here is working in very difficult conditions. I have never had to train in the snow before, or this type of climate. I can guarantee that every Beacon student here would say the same thing. I can admit that our behavior isn't usual; these are unusual times. However, I'm sure the General or Professor Ozpin would be willing to confirm that we have not taken any shortcuts in our training, which is being treated equally is vastly more important."

Ruby cast Ironwood a knowing smile, and his lips thinned. She felt like she dodged a bullet with that question, but unfortunately, another came right at her before she could take a minute to relax. This reporter was beady and his voice cut like a knife.

"Rolan Tulip, The State Inquirer. I have a follow-up to the last question, specifically for Blake Belladonna. Since we're on the topic of social media, your KnightsPage account has been very active since the Grimm attack in Vale. Many people have said that your comments are incendiary. Why is it appropriate for someone, like yourself, who is considered to be a significant public figure, to make comments about other Kingdoms and their cultures?"

Ruby's smile faded fast. It was what she had been dreading. The team turned their attention to Blake, who sat at the very end of the table, unable to rely on others for support. Despite the pressure, Blake seemed unsure of herself more than anything. It was a moment she had long been dreaming of: the chance to get in front of the Atlasian media and tell them all how she really felt. She used to fantasize about all the talking points she would hit, all the different ways she could chew the bastards out and expose them for the liars they were. She didn't have that luxury anymore. A single wrong statement would either cause the hammer of Atlas to fall on her, or expose herself as disingenuous to her fans around Remnant. Blake sighed into the microphone, considering her words carefully as Ironwood's eyes pierced through the side of her head.

"Could you please be more specific about what comments I made that were incendiary?"

Her words were plain but fierce. The pressure reversed. The reporter stumbled for a moment before reading a few notes off his Scroll.

"I have some comments right here. 'Faunus still cannot legally find employment in most of Vale. They are barred from joining Huntsmen schools. The idea that we are anywhere close to equal rights is dumb.' Or how about, 'Actually, not supporting same-sex marriage for literally any reason does make you homophobic, okay thanks.' Or this one you posted right before the start of the school year: 'The lack of response by Huntsmen guilds to the slow response to Vale is shameful. We shouldn't have to take up the slack of those whose job it is to keep us safe.' You wouldn't call that inflammatory?"

Blake shrugged. "I would call those opinions, which I'm allowed to have. Given the support I got for those posts, I would hardly say I posted anything controversial."

"Criticizing Huntsmen isn't controversial?"

"I didn't criticize Huntsmen. What I criticized was—"

"It's definitely hypocritical. You are a Huntsmen, but you're criticizing Huntsmen for just doing their jobs."

"They weren't doing their jobs. That was my problem."

"You directly said—"

"Hold on, please," Blake said, trying to keep her voice down. She was close to snapping, but she refused to let the pestering get to her. She wanted her opinions taken seriously. Speaking collectedly was the only way she would achieve that. "I know what I said. Maybe providing context would be helpful. There is a Huntsmen guild located within three blocks of the square where the Grimm attack took place. There is a police station that is maybe a ten-minute drive away, too. It took twenty-two minutes after the Grimm appeared for the Huntsmen to finally coordinate and arrive at the scene. I was able to get a call from my teammates and head across the city in less than that same period. When asked on this issue, the Central Valian Huntsmen Guild did not give any justification for why they could not properly mobilize their team and cut the Grimm off before us. I do not know why they weren't able to act. I'm not here to speculate. Frankly, I don't really care. People could have died that day if it wasn't for the actions of my team. Obviously, I am appreciative of the support we have received, but the simple fact of the matter is that we never should have had to take action in the first place. I'm not saying I wouldn't have taken action, or I shouldn't have. I don't want anyone misconstruing my words. All I am saying is that public safety should not be dependent on the actions of students who happen to be in the right place at the right time. There is, believe it or not, something kind of bad about society when you can't trust Huntsmen to protect anyone."

Blake was mostly calm, but she was starting to rile herself up. Sensing that she had an opportunity to intervene, Ruby quickly grabbed her microphone and took over. "I think Blake is touching on something really important here. I actually want to say this very clearly, because I think there has been some confusion about this. This might get a little personal, but…" Ruby paused, her heart skipping several beats as she dove into a part of herself she rarely liked feeling. "I think everyone here knows about… my mom. It's not exactly a secret who she was. I don't see anyone talking about it because I think they want to be polite, but we are all aware of it. My mom—and for the record, she was Yang's mom just as much—was a Huntress. She swore an oath to protect people. And she… she did very, very bad things. She broke that oath. A woman that we trusted to do the right thing used a power that was handed to her and she misused it and a lot of people died. Weiss and Blake have talked to us in private about their experiences with Huntsmen who have hurt people in their lives. All four of us have seen those monsters firsthand. The fact of the matter is that Huntsmen have an unbelievable amount of leeway to approach crime as they see fit, it grants them immunity for most of their actions and that has led to a lot of Huntsmen abusing their power to hurt innocent people. It is not a secret that Huntsmen Guilds make a lot of money, that it is in the interest of the Kingdoms to ensure they keep functioning, and that they can maintain most of their power. Stories of Huntsmen being bad are commonplace and they so often get dismissed as just hating Huntsmen in general. We want to be clear: We do not hate Huntsmen. We understand their history and why they are important. But all four of us very firmly believe that right now, Huntsmen have a problem. We decided to become Huntsmen not just to help people, but to help be the solution to the current system that we have. The best way to make Huntsmen better is to make better Huntsmen. That's why we're here, and that's what we hope all of you understand about our criticism."

Ruby kept her eyes ahead toward the sea of reporters, but she could still feel Ironwood's rage boiling over. How badly did he want to scream at them and go on some ill-informed rant? With every eye in Atlas directly on them, he couldn't do a thing. He said it himself: contradictions breed conflict, and they needed to put up a united front. He couldn't say a goddamn thing if he wanted to look good. He knew it. She knew it. The only reason she didn't rub it in was that her family was still in danger. A single premature phone call would spell disaster. That was the big risk of their plan. They needed to make sure he didn't act for another few hours. But as long as he was in front of the press, he was neutered. In the meantime, his scorn would stew inside of him, and that gave her time. She hoped she used it well.

Ozpin, no less bitter but still fascinated by RWBY's actions, was less easy to control. He smiled and politely took the microphone for the first time before Ruby could ask to move to the next question. "You know, the great thing about working with young Huntresses is that you get to hear their experiences. I've always found that this generation has such a different view of justice than mine did, though perhaps that reveals more about my age than I could care for. I am very appreciative that Team RWBY feels comfortable speaking on a matter that they feel passionate about, even though we might have disagreements. I hope we will continue to learn a lot from each other as our training continues." He gently patted Ironwood on the back, and Ironwood's fury dimmed, at least for the moment. Ozpin pointed to another reporter. "Perhaps we can get a question from outside of Atlas?"

The reporter in question was a young woman, whose skin was a darker complexion than that normally found in the frigid northern Kingdom. She had a bob of green hair and spoke with a nervous stutter as she read notes from her Scroll. "Uh yes. Ayana Mirage from the Kingdom Post. Can you confirm Team RWBY's participation in this year's Vytal Festival? Thank you."

Ozpin smiled graciously. "Thank you, Miss Mirage. We have not yet made any decision related to participation in the Vytal Festival. Team RWBY is entirely focused on completing their school year, and we look forward to showing everyone today how far their training has come."

Ruby didn't know what Ozpin expected from them. Worry, possibly. However, they nodded at each other and realized that they had been given the opportunity they had been waiting for. Ruby cleared her throat and acted sheepishly.

"Um, well… actually…" she stammered. "We do have some bad news about that."

Ozpin furrowed his brow. Ironwood—well, whatever calm he had achieved quickly evaporated.

"Yang, do you want to talk about this?"

"Yeah, sure' Yang shrugged. "So, we haven't been talking about this publicly because we were hoping this would blow over, but unfortunately, it looks like it's still an issue. During the fight with the Grimm, I suffered a really serious head injury that has been keeping me out of action. I know people have looked at old photos of me, so you know that my eyes haven't always looked like this. This," she pointed to her face, "is actually from the battle. General Ironwood can confirm that I haven't done any physical training since my arrival. And unfortunately, I haven't received permission from the medical staff here to enter combat yet. So, I can't participate in the demonstration today."

Ironwood could not hold his tongue. "I'm sorry, everyone. I have to correct that. Yang will be performing today. I don't know who told her she wasn't able to compete."

"I mean, I have the note from Dr. Noetal right here. I'm shocked she didn't tell you," Yang said calmly. She reached into her coat pockets—one of the many spectacular features of the official Team RWBY coats—and pulled out a medical form she had filled out the previous evening. She passed the note down through her teammates, but when Ruby went to hand the note to Ironwood, he refused to look at it.

"This is not appropriate behavior," he said sternly. "You cannot promise that you will perform and then turn your back at the last minute."

"I'm sorry. I wanted to be cleared," Yang insisted, flashing the cameras big puppy dog eyes. "No one wants to fight more than me. I'm just not medically cleared."

"Then get medically cleared," Ironwood hissed. "That demonstration is extremely important to me. If you think you can just run away from this—"

Ozpin grabbed onto Ironwood's arm, stopping him before he said something he regretted. The atmosphere in the press room was growing tenser, and though many of the reporters within were loyal, there was little they could do to manipulate footage of a General's temper tantrum.

"What the General is trying to emphasize is," Ozpin explained quickly, "that Huntsmen have a responsibility to uphold their promises. Even if Yang is medically unable to fight, the rest of you will still have to perform in the demonstration today."

"With no disrespect, we're not sure how safe that will be," Weiss stated. "Atlasian mechanical soldiers are very highly skilled and dangerous. Most of our strategies are developed around all four of us working together. Having us fight a TITAN mech and inFantry soldiers without our strongest team member would put us at a significant disadvantage."

"Miss Schnee, this is not the place for negotiations," Ozpin countered.

"We're not trying to negotiate. We thought we might just suggest an alternative," Weiss explained.

Ozpin only seemed more confused. What the hell were these girls planning? They knew how bad this looked right? They understood the consequences. They had to be bluffing, or at the very least, they were stupid enough to think they had some winning strategy. They were making him look very foolish in front of the public. That was unacceptable. The only thing that kept him playing along was knowing how it would all end for them.

"What kind of alternative would you have in mind?" Ozpin asked bluntly. He stopped looking at the reporters for questions and focused his attention squarely on his rebellious superstar team. Ruby spoke innocently, throwing out the idea as if she hadn't been carefully planning it for days.

"Since there are only three of us, we thought that it might be more appropriate to fight an adaptable opponent," Ruby suggested. "Like… what if we had a sparring match with one of our professors?"

Ozpin held back a… was it a laugh? A sneer? He held back something, but Ruby couldn't tell what it was. "You want to fight your teachers?"

"No, not fight. Spar," Ruby clarified. "Our classes involve a lot of light sparring with the professors anyway. They know our moves, and it would be very easy for them to hold back against a weakened team. This isn't really about fighting hard. You just wanted us to show off our skills. Sparring with a professional Huntsmen would serve as a much better showcase of our progress and our future than battling a bunch of Atlasian soldiers. Right?"

No, it wasn't. It very much wasn't. Fighting against a Huntsmen did nothing. You couldn't advertise a professor the same way you could a mech. If Team RWBY beat Atlasian mechanized soldiers, then Ironwood could turn to the Atlasian council, point to their inefficiencies, and demand more funding for research and development. Which gave him money. If Team RWBY lost to Atlasian mechanized soldiers, then Ironwood could point to the successes of his machines and demand more funding for research and development. Which gave him money. Selling one's losses as much as one's successes was a strategy that Weiss pointed out to Ruby several nights earlier. That may have been more important than getting propaganda footage of Team RWBY fighting for Atlas. How much more important, Ruby couldn't say. But she suspected Ironwood considered it very important. Of course, he couldn't say that to anyone. Instead, all he could do was grudgingly sit and boil in his rage while Ozpin sighed in defeat.

"What professor did you have in mind?"

Team RWBY nodded at each other again, and Blake answered on behalf of her friends. "Well, it'd be really great to spar with Professor Goodwitch."

From the back of the room, a hysterical cackle broke the tension. The numerous reporters turned around in their chairs as Goodwitch laughed out loud, nearly falling out of her seat. Even with no microphone, her words could be picked up clearly by every camera in the room.

"Fight… me? Fight me?" she laughed. She didn't care that Ozpin was giving her his classic please-shut-up-Glynda glare, or that Team RWBY seemed incredibly smug for some reason. She just found the idea hilarious. "You girls seriously want to get in a battle with me? No. That is not happening. I have no interest in battling against half of a team without any notice, and certainly not when that team is made of my students. No thank you."

"But Professor," Ruby pleaded loudly. "You've been so helpful to our training. Don't you want to help show what we're capable of doing?"

"Not interested," Goodwitch insisted, her laugh slowing to a dull chuckle. "I have so many more important things to do than to take challenges from a bunch of teenagers."

Ruby sighed loudly into the microphone, feigning a frown. "Well, I guess you're right. It wouldn't be fair to fight against you anyway. It'd probably be better if we fought someone who, well… actually could beat us in a fight."

Goodwitch crossed her arms and flashed a satisfied smirk. "Yes, obviously it wouldn't be fair for…" Her smile vanished. She froze for a moment. Thinking. Thinking very carefully. "I'm sorry, what did you just say?"

Team RWBY could barely hide their grins. Ozpin felt something heavy sink into his stomach.

No…

Glynda…

Goddammit…

"No, no, I didn't mean it like that," Ruby insisted. "I mean, I know you used to be one of the best Huntresses ever but—"

"Used to?" Goodwitch said, shaking her head. She wagged a finger defiantly at them. "No, no… no no no no. I am one of the best Huntresses ever. Get that correct."

"We're just saying… with your injuries," Weiss said carefully. "You're not in any condition to fight either, just like Yang. It wouldn't be right to go against an injured opponent."

"You think just because I have minor wounds I can't fight you?" Goodwitch challenged them. She rose from her chair, prompting Ozpin to grab his microphone in a panic.

"Professor Goodwitch, now is not the time for—"

"I could beat you all with one hand tied behind my back," Goodwitch declared. A few of the cameras were now directed toward her, snapping whatever pictures they could of the out-of-place professor staring down her more famous pupils. "It doesn't matter what condition I'm in. A real Huntress is always ready to fight, unlike some people in here."

Yang gasped in shock—shock—at the accusation, and Blake threw her hands in the air to defend her friend. "Professor, it would be three-on-one. That's just unreasonable. No one would expect a Huntress to win in those conditions" And then, Blake leaned forward, making sure to say her next words very clearly. "I mean, hell… in your condition, I doubt you could beat just me."

Goodwitch ripped the sunglasses off her face, her eyes a blaze of fury. She didn't care about the reporters anymore. She didn't care about Ozpin silently pleading with her to stop making a scene. Goodwitch marched forward through the crowd of reporters, her mouth twisted into an insidious grin that bore fully all of the malice and disgust the Professor had for the young Faunus who dared to disrespect her.

"I couldn't beat you?" Goodwitch said with revulsion. "You… little Blake Belladonna. The cowardly little runt of the litter that hides from everything? You legitimately think that you could take on me, the absolute best that Beacon has ever produced. I don't have to hide behind my fame, Blake. I don't have to use my teammates as a human shield. I don't care how many people follow you on KnightsPage. Those kids only look up to you because they don't know what a real Huntress looks like. I could beat you even with a bullet hole in my chest. Hell, I can beat you even if you chopped all of my limbs off. All you ever do is run your mouth, and now you want to challenge me, Glynda fucking Goodwitch. Are you stupid? Really, are you this stupid? You have managed to last this long because all you know how to do is stab your enemies in the back." Goodwitch approached the table and slammed both of her fists down on top of it, leaning over Blake with a menacing scowl. She didn't care if her words were getting picked up by the microphone. All that mattered was that Blake heard them.

"Do you have any idea what I can do to you if I see you coming?"

Blake was undisturbed. She kept flashing that cocky, dumbass grin at her as if she was somehow in control.

"Why don't you prove it to me?" Blake asked in a low whisper, keeping her words just between them. "Ten minutes. Just you and me. And if I survive, you leave me the hell alone."

"And when I win," Goodwitch stated, "I ruin you. I ruin the fuck out of you."

"I mean, hell," Blake shrugged. "What have I really got to lose, you know?"

Before her rage got the best of her, before Ozpin could reason with her, and before any of the reporters could quite figure out what was going on, Goodwitch spun around on her heel and addressed the room with an over-the-top cheer.

"All right, everyone! It's official. Today, you'll get to see Glynda Goodwitch in action against the social media starlet herself, Blake Belladonna! It's not what you expected, but I can promise you…" Her smile twitched and threatened to crack completely. "It'll be one hell of a show."

And Ozpin felt his shame take over him, and Ironwood felt the rest of his hopes crumble, and Ruby, Weiss, and Yang felt a spark of hope, knowing their goal was one step closer.

And Blake just smiled confidently as she thought of all the pain and suffering Goodwitch had inflicted on her for the past few weeks, and how she would finally be able to return the favor.