Author's note: a 'T' rating gives me exactly one F-bomb.

The White Fang had expected an unopposed insertion into Beacon. For that matter, the White Fang had expected an unopposed assault on the airbase, and instead had run face-first into the base's very-much-active defenses. Their best fighters, who should have been the vanguard attacking Beacon, had instead been forced to finish sacking the airbase while the rest of the Fang's troops went on ahead to try and salvage their schedule.

This wouldn't have been that big a deal, except that their landing zone was not vacant. The Fang's own Bullheads were supposed to have released grimm to cause chaos and let the stolen Valean Bullheads insert Fang ground troops unopposed. Beacon's defenses were supposed to have been either offline or preoccupied with the grimm invasion.

None of those conditions pertained.

Sheets of fire poured from the makeshift rocket-locker barricade by the north dorm.

"Keep it hot!" bellowed Cardin Winchester. He had no ranged options of his own, but stalked behind the other trainees, providing... motivation. "Keep those filthy—"

"Hiya!"

To their collective shock, Sun Wukong had jumped to the top of their barricade. "Brought my team, too," he said, pointing at the gasping figures staggering after him. "We're here to link up with you. So… consider yourselves linked!"

Thirty-two eyes blinked uncomprehendingly at him.

He held his smile for an uncomfortably long moment, before smacking his head. "Oh, right! Duh! Cafeteria's supposed to be next! Okay, ranged specialists, stay here, a couple of you melee types stay for close support, the rest of you, this way!"

"Why should we listen to you, monkey boy?" said Cardin.

"Because—woah!" Sun stopped his response to hop over the flailing paw of an Ursa. His second jump took him back behind its head, which he looped his legs around. He bent backwards, causing the Ursa to lose its balance and disappear behind the rocket lockers. There was a smacking sound and two strong bangs.

Then Sun popped back to the top of the lockers.

"As I was saying, we're pushing on to the cafeteria. Anyone who wants to come with, let's hit it!"

He turned and went; his teammates stumbled after him. Half the students behind the barricade clambered out to follow… including the rest of Team CDNL.

Cardin resolved he would never, for the rest of his life, speak of the time he had to follow a Faunus.

"Another Bullhead incoming," came Ciel's voice over the scrolls. "Far south—Team CFVY."

"I'm on it," said Coco, hefting her minigun and scanning the cliffside. Beacon's southern anti-air gun was barking angrily nearby, but Coco was sure she could get to the Fang before it did. Sure enough, another pilfered Bullhead—how many had the White Fang gotten?!—was clearing the lip. Trusting her teammates to watch her back, Coco planted her feet and set her sights on the transport airship before her.

Its hatches were popping open as she spun up her weapon. Coco had proven multiple times that night that no airship could long withstand her combination of weapon, semblance, and aim.

Even as a torrent of Coco's bullets shredded the Bullhead's engine and wing, a single figure dropped from its cargo bay. The uncontrolled descent of the Bullhead made a fiery backdrop for its passenger's arrival on the battlefield. Unlike the rest of the White Fang grunts, this one's clothes were black with red accents, and his mask was larger and more ornate.

Details of style Coco could appreciate while also cutting him down with a tsunami of Dust and lead.

When she tracked her aim down to him, though, he reached to his hip and drew a sword to block. Only Yatsuhashi's sword had ever withstood more than a moment of Coco's barrage, and this opponent was twiggy compared to Yatsu. She found herself curious as to when he would fold, and kept her trigger finger down.

The sword was glowing redder and redder, brighter and brighter.

Then the figure was spinning just out of the path of her fire, and before she could correct, an arc of red blazed at her like a solar flare.

Coco was thrown back by the violence of it, her Aura buckling and sparking, dangerously depleted by the force of the blow. Her hands swung apart from each other as she flailed to try and catch herself. Only after she'd landed on her back did she realize why: her prized, beloved weapon had been cut apart. If her own Aura had been any less ridiculous, she would have been too.

"Playtime's over, kiddies," said the approaching figure, sauntering forward arrogantly. "Allow me to put you to bed."

Coco scrambled up, trying to regain her feet and mount some form of defense, although with her weapon in pieces she didn't know how she would.

The figure sheathed his sword, stepped into a stance, and blurred forwards at her, like lightning clothed in flesh, and Coco desperately raised the wreckage of her weapon in the vain hope it would preserve—

Blam!

The enemy was knocked to the side by a new attacker. Flying across Coco's line of sight, fully extended, and with a blue-white glow of activated Hard Light Dust encasing her forearms, was Velvet Scarlatina.

Coco had been right to trust her team to watch her back.

"Get away from her, you bastard," said Velvet.

The enemy skidded to a stop, then turned to size up his new opponent. Velvet stood between Coco and the enemy, a wireframe duplicate of Yang's Ember Celica wrapped around her arms. "I know you told me to wait for your call to use my pictures," Velvet said over her shoulder, very nearly smiling, "but I decided to disobey."

"I'm glad you did," said Coco. "Who is that?"

"Adam Taurus," said Velvet, all without her eyes straying from the White Fang's leader. Coco hadn't recognized the man on sight, but she knew that name, and a chill went through her.

"I'll hold him as long as I can," said Velvet. "Get backup."

"All over it," said Coco as she backed away.

Adam seemed to finish his appraisal of his new enemy. He raised his sword and pointed it at Velvet's ears. "So you're a collaborator," he sneered. "I'm surprised you're not hiding yourself in shame, or denying your nature to blend in."

"I think there's a lot about Faunus that would surprise you," Velvet shot back. "You don't speak for all Faunus, and you sure don't speak for me. I prefer non-violent solutions, for example. But, in your case…"

She held her hands out to her sides. Hard light projections of Penny's Floating Array spiraled into existence behind her.

"…I'll make an exception."

Adam snarled and lunged.

"It's almost sad," said Emerald.

Emerald, Mercury, and Cinder looked across the Beacon courtyard as yet another White Fang fire team got clobbered by trainee Huntsmen. Only a single White Fang Paladin had reached the battlefield, and it had gotten immediately and messily disassembled for its trouble.

"It's horrendous," said Cinder, disgust thick in her throat. She slapped at Mercury's hand. "Don't record this, there's nothing worth seeing here."

"I don't know, it's kinda nifty watching the AKs take the brunt of the grimm attacks, leaving the Huntsmen to clean up the mess," said Mercury, who put his scroll away regardless. "I thought the AKs were supposed to be on our side."

"Clearly, Roman and his subordinate have disappointed us again," said Cinder, eyes narrowing. "Just like someone else disappointed me with the fight in Amity. That doll was supposed to be lying in pieces on the arena floor, not hugging her attacker!"

Emerald cringed from the rebuke. "It wasn't my fault, I never got my chance to screw with them. The fight was over before…"

"Enough of your excuses," Cinder said testily; Emerald shrank still further. "It might not matter. Even if the Fang fails, we can still succeed, so long as Ozpin thinks we might win. We just have to see if he loses his nerve… there!"

Distantly, they could see Pyrrha breaking away from the ranks of the trainees, headed towards an Ozpin standing in the shadows but still just visible. Some idiot with a shield followed hot on her heels.

"That's it," said Cinder, greed audible in her voice. "This is my chance. I'll follow her and take what's mine."

"There's an awful lot of enemies between here and there," said Emerald warningly. "The students are supposed to have been broken and scattered to give you a clear shot, but they're all over the grounds."

Cinder made a snap decision. "You two, come with me and give me cover. I can't let this chance pass."

"Sure thing, boss," said Mercury with a crack of his knuckles. Emerald didn't have the same enthusiasm, but she did bring her sickles to bear.

Down below, Ozpin turned as Pyrrha reached him, liberating Cinder from his sight.

"Go," she said.

Almost before she'd finished articulating the word, Cinder and her escorts were down from their rooftop cover and sprinting full-tilt across the courtyard. If they could get through the battle line without being noticed—

A volley of pink explosions erupted before them, forcing them to skid to a stop. As the smoke dissipated, two pairs of enemies stood before Cinder.

"You would have had me killed," said Penny, her daggers moving to ready position behind her. At her side, Ruby's grip on her scythe tightened.

"We won't let you hurt our teammates," said Nora. Ren nodded his agreement.

Cinder only scoffed. "Take out the trash," she said to her subordinates. Emerald and Mercury immediately sprang at their 'peers'; Cinder darted between them and broke for the tower.

"Wait!" shouted Ruby, but a chain whipped past her and nearly entangled her; only a reflexive backwards dodge kept her safe.

"You won't go anywhere near Cinder," Emerald growled, her grip on her weapons tightening.

"I thought you were a friend," said Ruby, meeting Emerald's gaze with a furious one of her own. "Instead, you tried to have my friends killed."

"You think I care?" said Emerald.

"You should," said Penny, her eyes narrowing. "I know your semblance is hallucinations, but those won't work on me. You'll have to fight me with skill alone."

The daggers of Floating Array surged at Emerald. Emerald shot two off course before the others were too close; three short-armed swings blocked all but one of the remaining daggers, but that one impacted against Emerald's Aura. Before she'd recovered, Crescent Rose had hooked her leg and dumped her; Emerald only barely rolled away before the point of the scythe stabbed into the courtyard turf.

"I do not like your chances," Penny finished, and pressed her attack.

Mercury leapt between Ren and Nora, who each faded away to split his attention. He feinted at Ren before lunging into a kick combo at Nora, but they were used to such tactics; Ren's retreat was the bare minimum and Nora stopped the combo cold on Magnhild's haft, leaving Mercury stuck long enough for Ren to almost land a double-stab.

Almost. Mercury instead kicked off of Magnhild and landed lightly a few feet away, safe, but only just. Ren's dagger had come close enough to tear open a pants leg, revealing Mercury's prosthetics.

"It doesn't have to be this way," Ren said.

"It kinda does," Mercury said with a shrug. "If I'm not killing people, I might as well not even exist."

"Then you shouldn't," said Nora with uncharacteristic viciousness.

"A little high-strung, aren't we?" said Mercury said with an unkind grin, before he leapt into the fight again.

It would be annoying if Emerald and Mercury lost, Cinder reflected as the elevator descended.

Just that. Annoying. It would mean she'd have to replace them, and she'd have to endure a lecture about choosing better underlings. It would mean weeks of frustration. But the power she stood to gain would be excellent compensation.

The elevator stopped and the doors opened. Cinder held back, orienting herself to the sight before her.

Ozpin, his false Maiden, and some nobody were about halfway down the hallway, walking towards the end, heads bowed in conversation. They'd failed to notice her arrival.

Arrogant. Cinder sneered in silent contempt as she glanced around. There were pillars here, larger than a body, that she could hide behind. She just had to go from the elevator straight to a pillar, hide there until she could get a clean shot…

She steeled herself and darted for the closest pillar.

Which was already occupied.

"Hiya, bitch," said Yang, and she threw a punch.

Cinder dodged, but the end of Yang's gauntlet blasted a shot that surely gave the game away. Even as Cinder turned to retreat, the elevator crumpled, then the crumpled ball of metal was stuffed up into the elevator shaft, blocking it off completely.

Cinder was still processing what this meant when Yang's second punch caught her flat-footed.

She staggered backwards into the main aisle of the Vault. There, Ozpin and the faker had turned to face her, the faker's hands glowing black as she exerted herself closing off Cinder's escape. The nobody was backing down the Vault to cover the far end with his shield.

Another swing from Yang, and now Cinder's temper flared. She manifested an obsidian sword and deflected the punch away, retaliating with a jab to Yang's kidney as the younger woman slid past. Even as Cinder whirled to a stop away from Yang, she had to rapidly spin her sword to deflect two rifle shots from the faker, and then Ozpin was in front of her, having covered the entire hallway in three strides. Cinder's sword was there in time to deflect the first poke, but a sweep of the cane caught her face and sent her reeling backwards.

Cinder ran a hand down her sleeve, activating the Dust there, and threw a hail of superheated glass in a spray in front of her. Her enemies backed away to limit the damage, and for a moment they all paused to assess.

Ozpin, Cinder had no reason to fear; she knew she was more than his equal. She could have dealt handily with the false Maiden, too. Both together would have been… difficult, but she would have liked her chances.

Ozpin, the faker, and Yang all at once?

This would take her everything.

She reached within herself, summoning up what she'd kept hidden: that painfully addictive rush of strength, of force, of raw primal power that could not be concealed, that begged to rend reality.

She felt and saw the tell-tale flare around her right eye, alerting her enemies to what she'd tapped.

"Okay, that's pretty freaky," said Yang.

Cinder laughed and snarled. Even now, these fools' faces showed judgement, contempt. She couldn't stand it. "You don't know anything, girl! Step aside and you may yet survive the night."

"Counterpoint: fuck you," Yang replied.

"Succinctly put," said Ozpin.

The faker said nothing, but raised her shield with perfect battle-calm.

Cinder couldn't wait to incinerate them all.

She erupted.

Sluggishly, the Wyvern emerged from hiding, with noises that were less booms and more slow rumbles.

Things were wrong. Its perceptions were fuzzy. It could feel the commands, the demand for it to hunt, to serve, to destroy. That was all that was driving it, because the Prey weren't acting right, weren't feeling enough. They were too few, too indistinct, too dispassionate. It needed more to draw it and guide it, and it wasn't getting that.

Still the Orders for it to fly came. It reluctantly complied. Like a hungover drunk, it glided unevenly, without a clear destination.

The reactions to its appearance started to feed it, started to register in its senses, started to dredge up its full bloodlust. It gave a short, experimental screech, as if rediscovering the ability to make such sounds. That worked; it created a spike of fear that hit the Wyvern like adrenaline. So many points of brightness down below, shining blindingly. The Wyvern sowed grimm essence in their direction to grow their fear. It would harvest soon enough—

A blaze of pain across the Wyvern's shoulder.

Wide awake now, the Wyvern snapped its attention to the source of its pain. Metal cages floating in the air, hiding their meat inside. Stinging cages. Destroy.

Roaring at maybe eighty percent of its maximum fury, the Wyvern flew for the Atlas battleship squadron.

Adam Taurus' temper raged. He was getting nowhere fast.

This collaborator, it seemed, had a whole arsenal of fake weapons to bring to bear. She favored weapons with reach, like polearms or greatswords, to keep Adam at bay and control the range. When he penetrated inside her guard, she met him with light, fast weapons like dagger-pistols or stun batons. If he stayed at a distance, she pulled out heavy firearms to pin him down. She was a one-Faunus arsenal who always had the right tool for the job.

But it hadn't taken him long to catch on to what this cost her. If Adam's Aura was a raging bonfire, hers was a sparkler: bright enough in its way, but not for very long. Her breathing came a little shorter with every exchange of blows, her reactions a little slower, her parries and dodges a little more frantic.

Even when she landed a hit on him—which was rare as she favored defense—it was nothing he couldn't shake off. She avoided soaking damage with the desperation unique to those with overtaxed Auras.

And he hadn't even thrown another Moonslice yet.

Oh, he would enjoy when this one broke.

A projection of a grenade launcher appeared in her hands. Adam didn't feel like trying to absorb those blasts—they'd splash around his sword and hit Aura—so he launched his sword at her first. It hit her squarely, and he darted in for the follow-up strike… but she was too smart for that. She recovered her wits in time to manifest a new weapon as Adam caught his sword out of mid-air; she was swinging away before his slash came down.

When she landed, he saw what weapon she'd used.

Gambol Shroud.

A wireframe recreation, sure, but even an imitation made his blood boil. The memory, the knowledge that Blake had come here and was friends with these—

He was upon the collaborator as his vision filled with red. His blow shattered the hard light simulacrum; the startled Faunus couldn't even gasp before a combo blow with his sheath sent her sailing backwards, Aura crackling.

No mercy. This bitch needed to die.

As she hit the ground, he tapped his Aura, absorbed the rage of his blade, and unleashed his Moonslice.

The rush of crimson energy raced at the downed collaborator, sure to envelope and erase her pathetic existence. It would be glorious.

A blue-white blade surged from the ground before her right as the Moonslice got there.

This was no hard light projection; it couldn't be. When energy hit blade there was a blast of steam and possibly Dust. The blade dissolved, but not in the manner of broken hard light; it was more like snowdrift.

For a moment he lost sight of his target behind the sudden, improvised blanket of fog. From inside, though, a new voice emerged.

"I'd rate that as a highly imperfect summoning, but I suppose we all have to start somewhere."

There was a burst of wind from inside the fog which dissipated it. Two newcomers stood between the collaborator and Adam.

He howled in laughter and pain.

"Blake? And a Schnee?!" he said, delirious with both rage and hilarity. "You went from my arms to the Schnees' lap? Oh, how far you've fallen, my love!"

"'Love'?" the Schnee said, eyes narrowing. She kept her focus on Adam, but her comment was to Blake. "Adam Taurus is the 'mentor' you mentioned?"

Being recognized was a thrill, but Adam couldn't focus on that feeling, not when his insides churned with lava. "'Mentor'? Trying to disown me now, are we? Trying to hide what we had? Our fight got too hard for you, so you gave it up to be a Schnee's pet!"

Blake quailed and took a half-step back, drawing a sneering smile from Adam's lips—but the Schnee raised her sword in response. "No one talks to my teammate like that," she said.

"Weiss, don't!" hissed Blake, her (justified) fear sending a thrill down Adam's spine.

He pointed Wilt at each of the figures before him. "A Schnee, a collaborator, and a traitor. My three most hated things in the world, and I get to kill them all in one go." He looked at Blake again. "You last, my love. After I've made you watch."

"You talk too much," the Schnee said waspishly.

"Weiss," said Blake with a tremulous voice, Gambol Shroud shaking in her hands, "please don't, you don't know what he can do, what he is…"

"Oh, I know exactly what he is," the Schnee interjected. "He's an abuser. And a bully."

Her eyes narrowed. "He's just like my father."

Adam's fury went supernova. He roared louder than the Wyvern and charged.

Two White Fang operatives glanced at each other with increasing panic.

As they'd been dispatchers in their pre-terrorist careers, Adam had assigned them to coordinate the White Fang's airlift into Beacon. The scene they saw on their screens, however, told them that nothing about that airlift was going to plan. First there'd been all the opposition from the airbase's defenses during their initial seizure, which had totally wrecked the timing of the attack. Then there'd been the unfortunate discovery that Beacon's defenses were still active, and far less preoccupied with grimm than the plan had predicted.

Only a handful of White Fang airships were still in the air, and all were frantically calling for instructions.

"Do we recall?" asked one of the dispatchers.

"I know we were supposed to, but the plan said later. Either at the one hour point, or when the Emerald Tower falls, whichever comes first."

"But those things aren't gonna happen," the other countered, pointing at the radar. "If we wait 'till the hour point, we won't have any airships left! Then everyone at Beacon's stuck for good!"

The first nodded reluctantly. "Alright. I'll sound the recall."

He raised a handset plugged into the airbase's comms. Even as he opened his mouth to speak into the handset, it ripped itself from his grip, then came back and smacked him in the face.

Before he could even attempt to make sense of this development, his chair was yanked out from beneath him. His chin dropped against the edge of the console, knocking him senseless.

The other dispatcher jumped from his own chair in alarm, but the hovering chair sped against him and slammed him against the wall hard enough that the chair splintered. Its pieces fell to the floor. The dispatcher flopped just as limply.

Heeled shoes click-clicked against the floor before a manicured hand lifted the handset.

"This is Glynda Goodwitch. Airbase secured."

"Good work," Ironwood's voice answered over the comms circuit. "Vale's Huntsmen have sealed the city's perimeter and the interior is clear. Leave a team of Huntsmen to hold the airbase in case the Fang returns. Bring the rest to join my counterattack into the forest."

"I'll do one better: I'll use the airbase to track the remaining White Fang and guide your counterattack to their staging ground."

"I always said you were the smart one."

Emerald was good, one of the best.

She wasn't this good.

Every time she thought she'd battled her way inside the reach of Ruby's scythe, the kid would burst away and be gone. Every time she thought she was making progress closing on Penny, another one of her daggers would zip in and put Emerald on the defensive.

But she had to keep attacking, because both her opponents outranged her and would pick her apart if she didn't.

There was no time to set up her semblance, either, with these opponents attacking constantly from multiple angles and high speeds. It was frustrating beyond belief.

Even more obnoxiously, the two covered for each other as if they'd been partners for years. If ever Ruby's scythe swung too far out of arc, Penny's daggers would fill the gap. If Penny's defense was weakened from trying to spread her daggers out on the attack, sniper bullets were Emerald's reward for pushing that opening.

Maybe Emerald could exploit those protective instincts…

As Penny moved her daggers into two groups to attack Emerald from both sides, Emerald charged between them, firing at Penny's face. Penny withdrew the daggers to form a spinning shield in front of her, but that left her rooted in place and unable to see Emerald's approach.

Ruby, seeing the danger, swooped in from Emerald's left—just as Emerald had hoped. Sliding beneath the swing of the scythe, Emerald flung a chain at Ruby's legs, entangling them and bringing her to the ground.

Finally! Emerald scrambled to her feet and brought her other gun to bear. Aura would protect Ruby from single shots, but if she unloaded the whole clip into the girl's face—

And then her arm was yanked upwards; her reflexive squeeze of the trigger sprayed bullets into open air.

Even as Emerald tried to pull her arm back into firing position, Penny's daggers swirled around her, not stabbing and thrusting but circling, circling—wrapping her up, as surely as her chain had bound Ruby's legs, but everywhere.

Emerald shrieked in surprise and pain. The wires connected to the daggers were squeezing her, she toppled to the ground and they just got tighter, they were everywhere, thin but oh-so-strong, constricting her, tearing into her Aura. She could feel the pressure and the pain even through that protection as they dug in, tighter, tighter, draining her shields with terrifying speed…

"Penny!"

Penny blinked, and lowered her hand. Her daggers clattered to the ground, no longer pulling their wires taut. "Y-yes, friend Ruby?" she said, voice shaky.

"You got her," Ruby said, rising to her feet after shucking the chains off. "You got her. You can stop."

"Of course. I was just… I wanted to break her Aura, to make sure she couldn't use her illusion semblance," Penny said, and hiccupped.

"I think you did," said Ruby, slowly approaching Penny, hand up. "Your face looked kinda scary as you were doing it, though."

"Did it?" said Penny, distressed. "I… I was afraid she was going to hurt you."

"But you stopped her," said Ruby, and she smiled. "I'm glad you did, but I don't want to lose you in the process."

"Lose me? I was in no danger," said Penny.

"You can lose someone who's alive," said Ruby sadly. "If they lose their way, or if they stop being the person you liked so much."

"That sounds awful," said Penny, wide-eyed. "I will endeavor not to be lost!"

Ruby smiled. "I know you will."

That drew a gagging noise from Emerald. "If I knew you two were going to be so damn sappy, I would have rathered you finish me off."

"Well then," said Penny firmly, "consider this your punishment for your misdeeds." Ruby giggled.

There was no giggling coming from Mercury. He was a blur of motion, throwing his body around recklessly to stay a step ahead of Ren and Nora, who actually had been partners for years and moved with an eerie, wordless synchrony, like they shared braincells.

Which meant that all three people in the fight knew Ren was the weak link.

That was where Mercury focused his aggression. Attacking Ren and forcing Nora to chase played against her strength and Ren's agility both. Mercury stayed in as close as possible at all times, keeping both Ren and Nora from using their guns and making it hard for Nora to take a clean swing with her hammer.

Ren knew what Mercury was doing, of course, and kept fading back towards Nora, trying to bring the fight back into her arc, but Mercury was faster and stronger, and though Ren had good hand-to-hand skills, Mercury was a melee specialist. The difference was stark.

For the eleventh time, one of Ren's daggers glanced harmlessly off the inside of Mercury's right leg. Mercury answered with a cruel smile and a kick to Ren's chin, hitting him with a Dust shot at point-blank range. It knocked both of them back, but where Mercury was able to spring right back into a fighting stance, Ren stumbled to the ground, Aura flickering.

Mercury expected the answering hammer blow, and was able to spin off of it, bleeding its energy without taking too much damage. When he came to a halt, Nora had interposed herself between Mercury and Ren, face stony.

"Hey, asshole," said Nora, "wanna know why we're still alive? Wanna know what we've got that no one ever thinks we've got?"

Mercury huffed. "Not really, but go ahead and say it."

Ren smiled. "Patience."

Nora swung low, forcing Mercury to jump to avoid the hammer head; while he was in the air, Ren dove to his right and fired into Mercury's leg, connecting for the twelfth time.

Mercury barked a laugh. That was nothing, nothing, and now he was close to Nora with her hammer out of position. He stepped in sharply and went for an axe-kick with his right, leveraging his height for maximum power against an opponent with no weapon to block.

Nora didn't try to raise her hammer. She dropped it and caught his kick with her bare hand.

Her fingers plunged into the gap in the leg's plating, the gap that had been steadily eroded by twelve patient hits to the same spot. She found the circuitry and wiring within. But as the electricity hit her, she didn't let go, she didn't yelp in pain, she didn't seize up.

She smiled.

She kept smiling as her semblance kicked in and the plan she and Ren had agreed on, without either of them needing to say a word, came to fruition.

"Finally," she roared as her eyes flashed pink and sparks framed her face, "finally… I get to break someone's legs!"

"You're welcome," Ren said with a grin.

And when the last of the electricity in Mercury's leg had been devoured by Nora's ravenous semblance, she squeezed and tore.

Fragments of prosthetic leg were scattered to the winds.

Four fighters moved with dizzying speed and shattering power, with consummate skill and uncanny precision.

Outside of that fight, at the end of the hall, stood Jaune Arc.

He burned to be in there, to join the battle, to help. Pyrrha was fighting with a desperate skill he'd never seen from her, and still was only just staying ahead of gouts of flame and slashes of obsidian. Yang was hardly doing better, eating some of the incoming damage; even Ozpin was struggling to land hits and dart around this monstrous woman's wrath.

It made Jaune sick, to know he wasn't good enough to be a part of that fight.

No, he thought determinedly. He had a job to do. No time for self-pity. They were counting on him.

Ozpin had told him that, in those brief seconds before Yang signaled the enemy was here. "Listen, both of you," Ozpin had whispered urgently, "the woman at the end of this hallway must be protected. If the enemy kills her, all is lost. Miss Nikos, you and I will engage the enemy. We must defeat her to end the threat to Beacon. Mr. Arc, stay with our guest, no matter what happens, and keep yourself between her and the enemy."

"So… I'm just a shield?" he'd asked.

"At times like these, we need both a shield and a spear," Ozpin had said, looking at Pyrrha.

Jaune had seen Pyrrha psyching herself up, looking more troubled and worried than she had before any tournament fight—and why not? This was the real thing, against an opponent so strong Ozpin needed backup. It was enough to trouble even the Invincible Girl.

But Pyrrha wasn't 'the Invincible Girl', not really. In some ways, the ways that mattered, she was just a kid like him, only with a mountain of expectations piled on top of her… and now this one, the biggest of all.

So why was Jaune busy feeling sorry for himself?

"You've got this, Pyrrha," he'd said. "I'll do my job. I know you can do yours. Just like we practiced."

She'd given a faltering smile. "Jaune, I—"

Blam—Yang's shot gauntlets firing off. The enemy was here.

"I know," Jaune had said, and he did. "We'll say the rest later." A smile had flickered across her face before she turned to face the foe.

Jaune had broken off to take position, shield up, grip tight, front foot forwards, putting himself between the enemy and the woman in the… pod? Capsule?

He would have serious questions for Ozpin if they all survived.

And Pyrrha and Ozpin had rushed into the fight… which was still going on, incredibly.

Jaune's tactical mind knew what his ego did not. If this pod-woman really was so important, if her survival was the objective, then this was the proper place for him. He had the least mobility of anyone in the hallway, but he also had armor, a shield, and an ocean of Aura. He could soak anything the enemy threw at him. If Ozpin and Pyrrha and Yang didn't have to worry about the enemy hurling a random projectile at the woman and winning, they could focus all their attention on beating her down.

As ferocious as the enemy was, it seemed his allies were doing just that.

Jaune didn't have to be the best, he realized. He didn't have to be the hero. He just had to be good enough. He could win by helping the others be their best selves.

He was good enough for that.

Taking a focusing breath, he shuffled his feet, adjusted his position as he watched the enemy, and stayed alert for any sign of an attack in his direction.

In the depths of his soul, a metaphorical key turned…

"Beringel, northeast, NDGO." Even if you ran off in all the other loops and left Beacon's students to die... I'll never forgive you, but I'll take your help now that I have it.

"All over it."

"This is BRNZ, just cleared the forge. White Fang didn't make it that far, just a few Beowolves."

"Roger. Watch your left and move for the Registrar's Office."

"What, in case the grimm are after Beacon's paperwork?"

"A group of Creep is coming around that way, now that you mention it."

"Perfect, I could kill those all day!"

"Cut the chatter."

"Uh, this is SSSN... we pushed past the cafeteria and... kinda got lost?"

"Head southeast and link up with ABRN."

"Which way is that?"

"...look for the bright, glowing hoverboard."

"Oh, got it!"

"Look out!"

Adam's kick caught Weiss in the head, sending her tumbling. Blake fired Gambol's pistol form at him, but he blocked the shots easily, which made her effort worse than useless; Wilt glowed an angry red from the impacts.

It did the job, though: Weiss recovered and sprang away, eying Adam warily.

Blake nearly panicked as she saw Weiss mentally preparing her next move. Weiss took pride in her swordsmanship—too much pride. Adam was almost untouchable and certainly unbeatable on his terms, in melee combat. They needed to put some distance between them and him.

Lots of distance.

All the distance.

She shook her head as the fear surged up and threatened to overtake her again. No—no, she couldn't do that, she couldn't let that consume her, Weiss needed her—

Adam drew his sheath and fired its coaxial rifle at Blake. Panicking, she used her semblance to flee… putting her much too far away to support Weiss, whom Adam immediately charged.

No, he'd played her, he knew her too well, he knew her cowardly nature, and Weiss would pay the price—Weiss, too stubborn and proud to turn down a challenge—

-Or did Weiss simply trust Blake that much?

Feeling like she couldn't breathe, Blake dashed forward recklessly, loading a new magazine into Gambol as she went, praying she'd be in time.

Blades clashed, clashed again, and Adam was just overpowering Weiss, who summoned a glyph to disengage, but slow, too slow, Adam was pressing his advantage, and Blake threw Shroud at Adam in the vain hope of distracting him before the deathblow hit.

He turned, contempt on his face, and stabbed straight at her skull as she ran directly at the blade.

It went right between the eyes.

Of her shadow clone.

Which resolved into ice.

Blake fell to the ground, having dodged too hard to have a landing strategy. Adam tried to swing at her, but his hand came away without his sword, which was embedded in her ice clone. As much as he knew her, she realized, she also knew him—and she knew that his sword was his everything.

"That's a new trick," he snarled as he kicked her; she rolled away, not letting him do it a second time. "You've found all new ways to run away."

"I've grown without you," she said as she rose to her feet. "I've improved my weapon, but I've also improved myself."

"Not enough," said Adam, and he whipped about with his sheath raised, ready to blast away the ice trapping his sword.

Stone rose from the ground in a cone, entombing clone and sword alike.

"You had the right idea, Blake," Weiss said, letting her glyph fade. "That's why I make sure you always have Dust to spare. You use it like it's supposed to be used."

The affirmation- of the sort Adam had never given her- swelled in Blake's chest.

If Adam appreciated the import of Weiss providing Dust to a Faunus for weaponry, he gave no sign. "Of course you'd think you needed to disarm me," he sneered at Blake. "You're not strong enough to face me head-on, and you're sure not brave enough to—"

"I am so sick of your put-downs," Blake interrupted, surprising even herself. "I want your voice out of my head. Checkmate."

Blake started moving before getting confirmation from Weiss. The God of Animals must have been with her, because Weiss' wit was as ever sharper than her blade. She reacted instantly to Blake's call, and was side-by-side with her as she drove in.

Adam readied his sheath to wield like it was a sword, but it was an inferior option, and being without his weapon hurt Adam both psychologically and materially. Besides which, Ruby had drilled Blake and Weiss exhaustively on this move.

Sudden simultaneous lunges from multiple angles, impossible to defend with a single guard, tore into Adam's Aura. The attacks were so fast and so strong they should have left openings to exploit, but when they always landed at least one hit Adam had no opportunity to gather and retaliate before their swords were racing at him again.

And again.

And again.

Checkmate indeed.

Adam stopped trying to block, soaking both of the next hits on Aura as he held his sheath up to use its gun mode. Blake, as he probably expected, semblanced away from the blast; immediately he was whirling to strike at Weiss, but the moment she saw the timing of the attack broken she'd leapt away. A new glyph was forming beneath her, one that looked like ever-more-rapidly spinning gears.

Blake pounced to retrieve Shroud and held both her blades at the ready.

Weiss' glyph completed, and zapped Blake.

Adam turned and fired at her, but she simply moved around the bullet, accelerated by Weiss' Time Dilation to a disorienting but lethal extent.

She was on Adam before he could bring the sheath down to guard himself. Normally he was faster than her. Now she could swing twice for every stroke of his.

She hit him. She hit him again. Faster. Stronger. More. More. Too fast for him to even try to block, too fast for him to do anything but sit there and take it, and even his colossal Aura reserves began to fail beneath the barrage. Blake could feel the effects of Weiss' glyph fading, but she pushed harder, harder, squeezing her own Aura for all the power it could add to her strikes, maxing it out while she had the advantage, detonating every damning lie he'd ever told about how she wasn't good enough…

Because she was when her team was with her.

And when she felt the glyph's effects leaving her for good, she activated the next Dust round in Gambol as she used her semblance again, leaving nothing in front of Adam but a clone.

Specifically, a fire clone.

The explosion threw Adam backwards, covering Blake's escape. As he tried to stand, tried to muster some kind of defense, a blur of hard light struck him and sailed into the air.

Velvet swooped in, copying Adam's signature move. She plucked the spinning faux-sword out of the air and slashed down on the stunned Adam.

She struck him in the face, shattering his grimm mask and his Aura alike. Adam crumpled to the ground.

For what felt like the first time in ages, Blake breathed.

Just breathed.

This… this feeling…

Was this what it felt like to be free?

Adam, somehow, was laughing. He'd put his hand over his face, as if to nurse the wound he'd just gotten. He looked up at Blake, his visible eye dancing with madness. "Of course you're not strong enough to try and fight me alone. Of course you'd go whimpering to the Schnees, even if that meant betraying everything and everyone you said you loved."

Blake waited for the words to hurt, waited for them to hit her in the soul. They never did. She breathed again.

"Weiss is actually very nice…" Velvet began, but Adam roared and moved his hand. There, burned into his face, were three letters.

SDC.

"This is who you're sleeping with," he roared at Blake. "This is what you embrace when you become a whore for the Schnees!"

That silenced Velvet and Blake, but not Weiss, who approached. "I am truly sorry for everything my family has done to the Faunus, including you. But you don't understand Blake even one little bit- which is why I'm not sorry for this."

And she kicked his lights out.

This couldn't be happening!

Even with half the Maiden's power, Cinder was losing. She couldn't be, yet here she was, staggering as that stupid cane struck her yet again, as her answering strike was blocked by a spear, as a shotgun blast peppered her Aura because the pellets were too small and too many to deflect like she would a bullet…

No! She would still win! She was landing plenty of blows of her own, her enemies were close to exhaustion, they were having to burn through their own Auras to try and keep up with her… if she could just land a few good hits, break through one of them, she could snowball that to victory.

Cinder's Aura flickered, cutting in and out from protecting different parts of her. Her half-Maiden condition, and her reckless use of those powers, were making her Aura unreliable, more fickle than she was used to, especially as it depleted…

She would target Yang. It had to be her. She was potentially the most dangerous opponent with that semblance of hers, but she used it so predictably, so bluntly. Cinder just had to watch for it, wait it out, and then bait her into something foolish.

There.

Yang's eyes were changing colors and her hair was starting to glow. Those were her tells.

Cinder turned to put Yang in front and her other foes on either side. Running her hands down her clothes, she activated all her remaining Dust to fling glass shards at the faker and Ozpin, driving them back for just a moment—just long enough to get Yang on her own. Flashing her most arrogant smile, Cinder crooked her finger mockingly, daring Yang to charge.

Yang couldn't resist the bait. With a roar of bad temper, she lit up like a gas explosion, fired her gauntlets behind her for acceleration, and soared through the air at Cinder.

On a terribly predictable arc she didn't know how to change.

Cinder gathered up all the Maiden power she could grasp and threw it into the furnace of her anger, then funneled it all through her outstretched palm at a Yang whose eyes were widening as, too late, she realized her mistake.

And, somehow, there was Ozpin!

Unnaturally fast, he flew into the air himself, perpendicular to Yang, dragging her out of the line of (literal) fire—but not fast enough, not completely enough. The wave of flames roared over his extended legs, rushing around and then through his depleted Aura, before his momentum carried him out of the stream.

There was no time to celebrate, because even before Cinder had turned off the flame, the fake Maiden was right there, ducking under Cinder's guard with pitiless eyes.

A slash of her spear caught Cinder right at the waist, with strength enough to split someone without Aura in half. Cinder screamed and leapt backwards, trying to wrestle her flamethrower in the faker's direction, but she was darting forwards, staying impossibly low for someone so tall, and as Cinder landed, that cursed spear lashed out again at the closest part of Cinder she could reach: her foot.

Nothing blocked the blow; Cinder's Aura, unstable from her overuse of powers she didn't fully control, abandoned her. The faker's spear tore open her foot and cut off her shoe. Screaming in pain, Cinder fell to her knees as her shoe skittered away from her. The Maiden powers slipped out of her control and cut out.

No. No! She'd spent too long on her knees! She would get enough power to never kneel again—not to some conceited play-fighter, not to some self-righteous old man, not to anyone!

She planted her good foot and started to rise, but the tip of the spear stopped her. Its point was inches from her chest.

"Tell me," the faker said with tight voice and narrow eyes. "Do you believe in destiny?"

With a start, Cinder saw how she could still win.

She had a moment's respite here while the faker hesitated… and the pod containing the corpse-Maiden was in her line of sight! That idiot with the shield, who'd thwarted so many of her ambitions just by being there and in the way, couldn't stop her last, best hope, the attack she always counted on in extremis: igniting the ground beneath her enemies, blowing them up most literally.

It was simple: explode the fool and the Maiden, get the full Maiden powers, and immolate everyone.

"Yes, I do," Cinder snarled, and she reached for the Maiden powers one more time.

Jaune noticed the floor underneath him starting to glow. "Pyrrha!" he screamed.

Pyrrha didn't look back. She didn't panic. Jaune's scream was not a distraction. It was a cue. It told her to do what she did better than anyone.

She struck.

Her spear punched through a glass-brittle Aura, through skin and bone and heart, and continued on out the other side.

The flame around Cinder's eye was doused. She went instantly limp over Pyrrha's spear. The glow beneath Jaune and Amber faded to nothing.

"Me, too," said Pyrrha.

She pulled her spear back. Cinder's corpse flopped to the floor. She would threaten no one else.

Pyrrha breathed out her tension as she stepped away from the body.

To her surprise, wispy tendrils, like ribbons of fog, spiraled into the air above the corpse. Like comets of red and orange and all the colors of autumn, they circled higher in the air, faster and brighter, orbits growing larger and fuller, until they shot down the hallway and into the pod at its end. They disappeared completely beneath the glass.

Pyrrha's intuition understood, somehow, that the Fall Maiden was now whole.

She almost dropped her spear as a light-headed feeling overtook her. It was like the weight of the world had lifted from her shoulders.

If the Fall Maiden was whole, there was no need for that soul-colliding sacrifice. Pyrrha didn't have to become the Fall Maiden at some unknowable cost. She could just be Pyrrha.

That was victory.

The Wyvern screeched in pain and frustration. It made another dive for the Benefactor. The ship swung just enough to take a glancing blow rather than a direct hit. The Benefactor's hard light shields wavered and that section of hull buckled, but there was no breach. As the Wyvern continued its flight past the Benefactor, the other battleships fired on it, and Magnanimous connected yet again.

It was neither random chance nor logistical requirements that led Atlas to deploy its ships in squadrons of three. It was tactics.

The Wyvern had sustained many hits from the ships, now. Its torso armor was blackened and burnt and its back was smoldering. Enraged, the Wyvern turned tightly at the Magnanimous, but that just opened its back to Generosity, which sent scarlet fire lancing into its wing.

The Wyvern's wing burned. The monster fluttered vainly beneath Magnanimous, too crippled to complete its attack. Losing altitude, losing control, the Wyvern put itself on a glide path to the nearest landing site.

Beacon cliffs.

"Well," said Yang, watching the autumnal energy vanishing into the pod in the Vault, "that's something you don't see every day."

"Not if you're lucky," panted Ozpin.

Yang scrambled out from under Ozpin, trying to do so without hurting him. "Speaking of unlucky, you look pretty bad," she said, the forced humor not covering her distress as she looked over his legs. The flesh had been seared from them, so that all Yang could see and smell was char.

"You… survived," he said. "And you'll learn from your mistakes."

She nodded with no trace of levity. "Yeah. Yeah, I'll learn."

"That's all a teacher can hope for," Ozpin said.

Then Jaune and Pyrrha were there, close but not too close, none too certain what they were supposed to be doing.

"Help me up," said Ozpin. "We must return to the surface. There… there is still a battle to be won."

"Oh! The elevator!" chirped Pyrrha as she remembered. "I'm sorry! I'll go sort it out!"

As she scurried away, Yang caught Jaune's eye. "We'll each grab an arm, okay?"

"Got it," said Jaune. "And… lift!"

Supporting Ozpin between them, and using some Aura to make it easy on themselves, Yang and Jaune walked towards the elevator, which Pyrrha was busily un-crumpling. "Good work, all of you," Ozpin said as he watched. "I could not be more proud of all your efforts."

"Hey, this is what we signed up for," said Yang. "Well, maybe a bit more than I signed up for, since I don't know what the hell all that glowing crap was, but… I guess that's the job sometimes, right?"

"Sometimes," said Ozpin, trying for a weak chuckle.

"We're here because we want to help," said Jaune. "I just wish I could do more."

Jaune flexed his Aura again. The last thing he wanted was to let his Headmaster fall when he was hurt. If only he could do something about that hurt…

Ozpin sucked in a breath.

If only Jaune could help everyone else succeed, help them be their best selves…

"Jaune?"

…that would be the best…

"Jaune!"

He blinked and looked over to Yang. "What?"

But she didn't need to answer, because it was obvious and right in front of Jaune's nose: Ozpin's depleted Aura had started to shimmer. His arm felt stronger across Jaune's back and the stench of burnt flesh was receding.

"Mr. Arc," said Ozpin, his breathing less labored than before, "please keep on doing exactly what you're doing."

What was he doing?

Helping others. Helping them be their best selves.

He felt some of his Aura leaving him. He had a pretty keen idea where it was going.

Yang whistled. "I think that wins second place for 'weirdest thing I've seen tonight', after the crazy flamethrower lady."

"Mr. Arc," said Ozpin, "I believe you have discovered a most useful semblance."

Jaune's concentration broke (Ozpin hissed in pain). He looked at Pyrrha, eyes shining with excitement. "Did you hear that? I did it!"

"I knew you could," she said proudly as she waved them onto the elevator pad.

"Well, I only could because you saved my life and won the fight and all that," Jaune said. "You did the hard part. You're the heroine. I just did enough."

"We all did just enough," mused Ozpin as Yang and Jaune maneuvered him on to the pad. "Now, let's see if there's more we can do."

Lifting her arms as they glowed black, Pyrrha pulled the pad of the elevator up the shaft, ready to face whatever was out there.

"The Wyvern's coming your way!"

Ciel's clipped call over the radio sent the students scrambling. While many had dispersed to continue clean-up operations, two teams had remained on the cliffs, keeping prisoners under guard and keeping the landing zone clear.

All of them sprinted away from the cliffside as the Wyvern crashed into it. It was wounded, yes, and on fire, with smoke billowing from open wounds and its wings too torn to fly, but it was still a massive monstrosity.

Ruby Rose liked to think she specialized in fighting massive monstrosities.

"Friend Ruby? What are you doing?"

"We're gonna kill this thing, Penny," Ruby said, her voice brooking no alternatives. And why would she? This was what she'd come here to do. This was who she'd come here to be.

The Wyvern screamed its rage at her, but of course it did, that was its role. It played its part, just like she did. And her part was to protect everyone, to kill the things they couldn't, to protect whoever couldn't protect themselves.

She could feel them all. She could feel her peers, her friends, her family at her back. She could feel their hope and determination and belief pushing her forward like a tailwind. She fed on it and reinforced it at once, until it was both sword and shield.

She stepped towards the Wyvern. It screamed again; she didn't flinch. Fear did not exist, only certainty at what was about to happen.

(Warmth rose within her.)

This was what she'd always wanted. This was what she'd come to Beacon for. This was what she'd done tonight, what they'd all done. Doing it again, doing it more, was as natural as breathing.

(Her chest filled with it.)

What was a beacon, anyway?

(The warmth surged through her whole body, but especially her head.)

A beacon was a guide.

(Warm and bright.)

A beacon was hope.

(Rushing, blinding.)

A beacon… was light.

(Ruby was the beacon.)

The whole world turned to silver fire.

"Okay, I take it back. That's the weirdest thing I've seen tonight."

Slowly, with shaking hands, Ciel set down her scroll.

She looked from camera feed to camera feed, hardly able to believe what she was seeing and needing confirmation. She saw dozens of White Fang, including Adam Taurus himself, being taken into custody. She saw Huntsmen and students advancing past the Beacon perimeter towards the borders of the Kingdom, firing at the occasional straggling grimm. She saw many people clustered on the cliffs, where the Wyvern had just been blasted to ash.

She saw a living Ozpin being carried by Yang and Jaune, while Pyrrha brought up the rear, and none of them sporting any sort of eye glow.

That… that was it. That was everything. That was every theater clear. That was every foe vanquished. It was over.

They'd won the Battle of Beacon.

Ciel was free.

She wept.

Next time: The Veil