First Blood


Ildaite Ward was more than a city within a city: it was like another Kingdom altogether, nestled right in the center of one opposed to it. Beyond the walls of asphalt and steel hastily pulled up by Glynda Goodwitch, it was something out of Mountain Glenn: skyscrapers stood tall and empty, many with windows cracked or broken entirely during the Breach, the streets were bereft of cars, and even in the late afternoon the streets were lined with buildings lit with lanterns and torches rather than electric lamps and incandescent lights. A society restarting itself in every fashion.

Yet, despite the electricity being shut off to the rogue district, most technology coming in the form of Scrolls and batteries, or the circle of Atlesian drones surrounding the district tasked to hold the line and prevent any from going out(yet always with a blind eye towards faunus going in), Ildaite Ward had started to grow in the weeks after the Breach. The reasons weren't all kind: the various faunus organizations and the Grimm made authority hard to maintain for those escaping the law, people had families refusing to leave their homes, and opinion of the faunus were reaching low enough for some to view the protection of the White Fang as safer.

It wasn't technologically on the same level, but Ildaite was secure, and the White Fang still held plenty of riches and Dust, pilfered and bought. It was a little Menagerie, though Ildaite's lingering in the past was a temporary setback. The time would come when they wouldn't be reliant on rationed power and trading Dust through Vale's black markets. That time was looking to be soon.

"We've double-checked. Triple-checked, even." Chiffon's cheetah ears twitched in agitation and nervous excitement as she explained to Adam and Ilia in their meeting place: Chiffon's new home, a penthouse in a former hotel that took up the top floors of one of the tallest skyscrapers in Ildaite. Said skyscraper—the Vytal Tower—was his defectors' center of power. The good view had other benefits, of course. Like surveillance of the streets below, with the right equipment.

And the room was full of the right equipment: computers, heavy batteries, binoculars, cameras, the works.

"If it's a cell larger than five people, they're moving into combat positions. If it's smaller, they're being reorganized, then moved into combat positions. We don't have a lot of people on the inside, but we know enough to suspect that there's not going to be a single block surrounding Ildaite untouched. My guess is that they want a bigger repeat of the Breach: if the world saw the White Fang able to march on a major Kingdom, they'd have a lot of legitimacy." She shuddered. "Even if they'd use the Grimm."

Chiffon herself was in the uniform most of the defectors had begun to call their own: the bone masks shielding their eyes were now black, cloth masks pulled up to cover their mouths, white sweaters broken up by black vests and the armband that had spread across those who had turned their backs on the White Fang. Fitting, considering their inverted attire.

"Is there any good news?" Ilia asked.

Chiffon furrowed her brow in thought. "Not really... Oh! They don't seem to be focusing any of their attention on us! Even their guards between our zones are being repurposed."

Ilia frowned. "Leaving you for last?"

"Leaving us completely." Adam watched the sun set over the lightless district. "Who would care about 'peaceful' faunus solely defending themselves when they plan on taking so much more."

"Another ward, you think?" Chiffon asked.

He narrowed his eyes, watching, one by one, the buildings of Vale beyond the wall begin to light up. "The entire commercial district of Vale."

"But that'd be impossible!" Chiffon protested. "It'd be way too much for us to hold on to!"

"They won't need to defend it for long: they'd control the combat schools, the businesses, downtown, and the lifelines to every other section of the city. If they hold the center for even a week, Vale will crumble. But you're correct in thinking it won't be easy or even plausible. That's why we're going to find out what their plan is, one way or the other." He thumbed over the black White Fang mask in his hands. It'd been a while since he'd put it on.

"Chiffon, gather everyone who will listen. If the chaos spreads enough, you'll need a plan to establish influence when the White Fang make their move. Ilia, let's go: Ildaite should have their generators running soon." With that, Adam once more donned the mask of the 'Ace of Spades', pulled up his black hood and motioned for Ilia to follow him out.


With nightfall came Grimm, and so with nightfall left the people. Adam and Ilia both could still hear the sounds of people talking in the buildings all around them while they slipped through the alleyways. The street was too obvious, the rooftops were likely guarded, and there were too many roaming Grimm in the darkness to rush. The Grimm lurked in nooks and abandoned buildings, basements and cellars. Those not smart enough to know hunting in broad daylight was a fool's game had already been swiftly exterminated.

Adam grimaced and stopped in front of a side street. The shops here were dark, cars left abandoned. He reached out with a hand and slowly brought it down. At the slightest resistance, he stopped. A thread. A web. Even that small touch by someone with aura left the formerly empty shops lighting up with countless, tiny, gold eyes. Widows: Grimm spiders with an acidic, poisonous bite. Great. That was the third route they'd gone on that was blocked off by them. Slipping around guards atop the roof, it was.

After a shake of his head to Ilia, the two climbed their way up one of the buildings. Faunus had night vision, but between his speed and Ilia's camouflage, they had everything they needed to escape the watchful eyes of those watching from the buildings around them.

"What happened to you?" Ilia broke the silence as they watched over the patrols between uncontrolled and White Fang territory on one of the rooftops, crouched side by side.

Adam didn't speak, only turned his head to her: a sign to continue.

"I'm not going to let Blake get hurt, but you can't seriously think this is a bad thing, right? You're selling out the faunus for, what, some humans you've grown soft for? A Schnee?" She still wore the mask of the White Fang. Proudly, even.

He sneered. "Don't be a fool."

Ilia flinched. "Right. Sorry, sir."

She continued to watch the White Fang—their 'former' comrades—pass, waiting for their chance. The sky was now a darkening blue, and scattered windows began to light up on the buildings of Ildaite ahead.

Adam, however, would not let it settle at that. "During the Great War, the Kingdoms made promise after promise of land, wealth, and power to convince us to fight for them when we were still little more than slaves. They gave us Menagerie and spat in our face, but even though it was nothing more than the scraps Mistral wouldn't eat, it's still ours. But this? If the faunus take over Vale, it'll be because of Cinder Fall and Roman Torchwick. Worse, we'll be in her debt, and I know she'll use us as her army elsewhere. What do you think will happen, Ilia, when she finally has all the power she wants and the world stabilizes again? What will become of this human's loyal army? She'll rule it. Not us."

"Screw Cinder!" Ilia growled through gritted teeth. "We'll have a real Kingdom!"

"The point is that working for humans for promise of land screwed us over once, and now we're supposed to expect that when we're forced into service by Cinder, she'll be more benevolent? That's naïve!"

"And you think one human can stand up to a Kingdom?"

Adam rolled his eyes behind his masks. "Spare me your ignorance: if she would put the White Fang in charge of Vale, then she has the power to rip it away." Especially considering the creature she worked for that he was still trying very, very hard not to think about.

Ilia stared across at him, fists clenched. Then, she sighed. "I just don't understand how you're able to, human leader or not, sabotage your own branch."

"Hating it every step of the way, and despising Cinder for twisting our dreams into nightmares more." He stood. "Widows have started pestering one of the incoming patrols: now's our chance." He was gone in a blur, Ilia doing her best to follow behind. And yet, even as they crossed over into the busier territory of the White Fang, Adam could hear Ilia mumble:

"A Schnee, though?"


Night had come in full, and the streets of the White Fang-run district were lit up by streetlights and the occasional sign. The streets still had a steady trickle of faunus holding no fear of the Grimm, and a constant patrol of White Fang guards kept Adam and Ilia to the alleyways and rooftops yet again. This was a place for abandoned office buildings and apartments now-damaged by the Breach, the latter turned into a red light district. The office buildings were fully lit from within, generators keeping the disconnected grid running, but Adam knew the truth: even before the Breach, they were well-inhabited by the Fang.

The one they were currently watching from a neighboring rooftop was one of them: a regional headquarters of the White Fang. The very same he'd attacked with Ruby once, but that felt like ages ago. Ilia didn't know this, nor did she need to.

"Security is bound to be high, but the Vytal Festival can cover us. Information was previously kept in the basement, but it could be anywhere now," Adam informed Ilia. He leaned back as he saw shadows getting closer to the third story windows. They were abandoned before, but now the top floor appeared to have a few living within. The mood was jovial inside: sounds of laughter, chatter broke up the noise of televisions loud enough for him to clearly make out what was being said. Their attention was on the Vytal Tournament. He doubted anyone there even remembered the last time the 'Ace of Spades' had attacked them.

"Do I have to address you by that stupid codename?" Ilia asked.

"First of all: if it's stupid and it works, it isn't stupid. Second: no. I'd prefer if we never referred to one another at all. We'll be split for this mission: move in from below and use your rank to dissuade anyone who finds you and asks too many questions. If anyone asks, your Tacet's replacement." He tossed an earpiece to her. "If there's about to be trouble, turn it on: it's linked to my Scroll, and I'll arrive shortly after."

Ilia nodded, and as she put her earpiece on, she faded into the colors around her.

"Your highest priority objective is to find assault targets and supply depots. Torchwick's goons won't stay quiet, and we can find them through the gaps. Return here at 22:00, ping twice if you find nothing of worth within that time. Understood?" He couldn't see Ilia well enough to see her movements, but it was rhetorical anyway. "Good luck."

Adam leaped from the building not towards the lit-up third story, but the boarded-up windows of the darkened floor below. He flooded his aura through his body, forcibly activated his Semblance, and landed foot-first against the wood. The sharp splinter of wood and glass was instantly lost as they wilted away on impact, the crimson glow hopefully lost to those within. He landed in a roll to lessen the noise of his break-in further, rifles drawn in an instant. The last time he had come here, the floor was an abandoned office, yet he could already see from rearranged cubicles and desks free of dust that it was being used as a workplace. Fortunately, no one was there.

His night vision was good, but with a flick of a dial, his mask made it perfect while he skulked through the office. A multitude of papers covered the desks: economic information, complaints, suggestions, new census data. Governing material. Adam sighed: he was correct in his suspicions. This might've been only a regional headquarters before, but it was the only one in the Ildaite Ward. That made this, for all intents and purposes, the new capital of the Vale White Fang.

Carefully, he moved through the floor. It didn't matter that he could still hear the muffled hum of music, excited shouts and the combat of the Vytal Tournament: he took no chances. Adam felt no remorse for not telling Ilia the truth of either his suspicions or the reason security might be higher. He wanted that information, but it was secondary. He knew Ilia was here for Blake, not him. She was no defector, and so he couldn't afford to let anything get to Sienna that he didn't want her to know about.

Including the real reason he was here.


Platinum Sky was a fourth-year student outfitted with the latest and greatest of Atlas technology, plated in armor well-refined enough to take a direct hit from a Bullhead's gun. He crashed into the cold ground out-of-bounds with all the force of a comet. The buzzer rang. The crowd was silent. Pyrrha stood with her shield still raised, hiding her wide, shocked eyes from the world.

The fight had lasted all of twenty-five seconds.

"And so falls Platinum! The first fight of the one-on-ones, down in less than a minute!" Port called, and the crowd detonated into chaotic calls of disbelief, flashing Scrolls and deafening cheers.

"I think it's clear to see that Pyrrha Nikos has no intent to let the first fight or its controversy slow her down. If anything, she's come back stronger than ever!" Oobleck followed up as, her expression trained to a smile, Pyrrha waved to the crowd.

"Speaking of strength, that throw must've sent everyone sure of her Semblance right back to the drawing board..." As Port went on, Yang tapped her foot impatiently, leaning against her knees. Ruby sat beside her in the stands, picking at her popcorn and shooting nervous glances her way but not bringing anything up. Good, Yang thought: she wasn't even sure if she wanted to talk to anyone right now. What she wanted was for her name to come up for a fight.

For Ruby, it was decidedly worse. Weiss had abandoned her to this awkward hell because Penny showed up, and it wasn't like she could just leave Yang behind when she was feeling so down. So she did what she always did when Yang was upset: she lingered around to let her know she'd be there, and she waited for her to feel ready. But that wasn't happening this time. Yang stayed angry, and worse, this was the one thing Adam didn't tell her about. Knowing something was happening but not what worse than not knowing anything at all!

Massive screens of hard light rose around the arena, names and faces flashing by. The last branch of the tournament: a gauntlet of one-versus-one matches decided right on the spot. The only rule was that someone couldn't go twice in a row. Both sisters were happy that, no matter how strong she seemed now, Pyrrha wouldn't be the one to end up on Yang's bad side. The first fighter came down: Yang.

Yang finally stopped fidgeting. She sat up straight. Then the second fell into place.

"The next battle will be Yang Xiao-Long versus Mercury Black!"

A vicious grin split across Yang's face, and she leaped to her feet.

"Break a leg, sis!" Ruby wasn't entirely sure how much of that was a joke in her head. From the dangerous glint in Yang's eye when she gave her a thumbs-up, Ruby was definitely sure Yang took it both ways. As preparations began and speakers filled the stadium with bombastic pop music, Ruby wished she could focus a lot more on that than the three empty seats surrounding her now. The last time she was in Amity, it couldn't even move from Atlas, she could barely see the action and was freezing her butt off even with her dad's jacket, but everything felt so much happier then.

She groaned and laid her head back against her chair. And because of Weiss' stupid dad, this was probably going to be the only time she'd have seats like this again. Would probably even be the last time she'd be in Amity if things went as bad as they could. What would her mom think of that: running off from the life of a Huntress to be some... vigilante-soldier, she guessed? It was still helping people and still stopping monsters, but she couldn't help but wonder if she was betraying some part of herself and her dream. Ruby pulled her hood over her head and stuffed her face with popcorn. She ignored the sound of someone sitting beside her: if they weren't saying anything, it was probably Adam, and he probably wouldn't bother her brooding.

"Huh, you really must not like Yang's chances," said Emerald.

Ruby shot upright and glared over at the girl now stretching herself out beside her. "What do you want?" she asked, depending on the din to keep Team CFVY from hearing them. Emerald was always the odd one out to her: Cinder was the leader, Mercury was the monster and Blake was the hostage, but Emerald was the anomaly. If anything, she seemed just as annoyed by Mercury as they were the sparse few times they saw each other, but she couldn't have just been a bystander, right? She was around when Cinder wasn't being subtle about her diabolical schemes.

But with Emerald staring back with a lazy, smug smile and her arms folded behind her head, she didn't exactly fit the villainous standard Mercury and Cinder had set. "No need to get hostile: Cinder's busy, Blake's off somewhere else and Mercury's in the ring. Besides, it's lonely just sitting around by yourself, right?" She nodded back to the empty seats for Weiss and Adam.

Ruby huffed, feeling it getting harder and harder to stay angry at someone who she didn't know much about. "Well, maybe I liked being alone, have you thought about that?"

"Oh, yeah, yeah, brooding like Blake in a team outing. Definitely liked it."

"Ugh, shut up!" She resisted the urge to pull her hood back over her head to hide her embarrassed blush. "What's the real reason you're here, huh?"

Emerald rolled her eyes. "You know, when you're finally not all diabetes and rainbows, you're actually kinda cute."

Ruby sputtered, face as red as her cape for a variety of reasons that settled on flustered anger, especially when Emerald just laughed at her.

"Relax, Ruby: I just wanted someone to enjoy the show with. Oh, and to see your face when Yang loses." She winked at her, and Ruby could see a little of Cinder in her knowing smile.

Left only more determined by it, however, Ruby crossed her arms, turned her nose up and leaned back. "Well you're gonna be disappointed, because Yang's taking you down and ending whatever little plan you've got set up right here and now."

"Sure, sure, if you say so..."


Even the stairwells down to the first floor of the headquarters carried the sour scent of cheap beer and cigarettes. From what little Adam could see, peeking through the door while still hovering at the stairs above, it was Amity in miniature: White Fang packed into a lounge cramped enough for them to be sitting beside the door to the stairwell, chatting away. Their voices were almost lost in the booming tones of Port announcing the next match. The plan couldn't be tonight.

It was likely he and Team RWBY were right, then: whatever it was Cinder was planning, it would be during the finale. He mentally struck the entire area from his places to investigate and turned to move on. There was no way he would be able to sneak through it with that many people in the area.

"Hope you don't have any friends betting on you," Yang's voice echoed through the stairwell. Adam frowned: she was up already?

"Hope your parents aren't watching," Mercury shot back.

Adam paused. Was this planned? A twist of fate? An alteration? Would Cinder go so far as to make a move against them, even on a live broadcast? Adam shifted his jaw, but forced himself to continue: he had no choice to. There was no way for him to get back to Beacon in time, let alone Amity. He could only hope that nothing would go wrong.


Yang knew enough about Mercury to know he'd be a real pain in her ass: he was to kickboxing what she was to normal boxing, and from what Ruby said about her fight with him, he was as fast or faster than everyone on their team. Maybe that was why he was leaning back, hands in his pockets, looking like this was the least interesting day of his life.

The countdown began, and Yang raised her fists up. There was nothing to focus on but Mercury: their arena was a simple, white platform floating many meters in the air, stage lights leaving them perfectly illuminated and the plane out of bounds looking just that further away in the darkness of the cold night. No tricks. No terrain. No special tactics.

Just a fight to its conclusion.

Mercury looked her over and sighed. "Make this interesting at least, alright?"

"Begin!"

Scowling, Yang shielded her head and rushed forward, shifting from side to side. She couldn't afford to let Mercury by the one who cleared the distance. Her focus narrowed on him, picking up every little twitch he made, yet the only thing she saw was him rolling his eyes—

A blur of a kick sent an explosion of pain through her jaw, and her entire body spiraling into the air before the next thought even crossed her mind. Mercury lowered his leg and watched from below, not bothering to move. But even though the pain, Yang could use his cocky attitude: she let herself fall limply from the sky, rolling down from the air and inevitably towards Mercury's next attack.

The second before she would've struck the ground, she caught him pulling his leg back. That was when she pulled the trigger her gauntlets, speeding up her tight roll and slamming her elbow into his head. One shot to soften her landing, another shot to blast herself back to her feet and drive her fist into Mercury's stomach, driving the air from his lungs. Yet, in the time it took her for her to pull her fist back again, he'd recovered enough of his wits to lean out of the next swing. And the next. And the one after.

She forced herself closer into his defense and tried to overwhelm him with a series of jabs and crosses. Mercury dodged each one. She swung low to catch him of guard. Mercury swayed his hips to evade them. She feinted and fired towards his legs. Mercury used his own gunboots to glide away. Yang grit her teeth: this felt familiar.

Mercury shot a wink at her just as the memory struck her: that was the damn ice cream girl's style. Mercury's leg slammed into her stomach, and a gunshot sent her flying clean towards the edge. Mercury beat her to it, and a knee to the back knocked her right back to the middle.

"Come on, is that seriously the best your team can do?" Mercury taunted as she rolled back to her feet only to fall to one knee. Barely thirty seconds and her aura had been cleaved in half. "Goliaths are faster than this!"

She felt her Semblance begin to burn, but rather than let the inferno take hold, she let it only trickle out enough to numb the pain. Eyes blazing red, Yang stood, settled back into a fighting stance, then waved Mercury forward. She'd fought quick people before, and she sure as hell wasn't going to get embarrassed on live television.

Mercury smirked, and finally pulled his hands from his pockets. Instead of rushing forward, he snapped his leg up and fired a barrage of bullets, each twisting the air around them: they were infused with Wind Dust. Rather than contest him in speed, Yang stalked forward, dipping out of the way of any shot aimed for her head and jabbing any other aside into the sky, where the others seemed to follow. Then, it was her turn to start laying into him, firing waves of buckshot that Mercury was forced to dive away from. He moved left, right, then vanished altogether.

Yang brought her arm up to block the kick coming in from behind her. Mercury fired his boot, but she didn't budge. Instead, she fired herself back, drove her elbow into his chest, then twisted around to strike him in the jaw. Yang caught glimpses of the spiraling bullets starting to spin around them, but paid it no mind: they probably couldn't do anything without their controller, right?

This time, she pushed into his guard, forcing him into hand-to-hand combat. Here, she had the advantage: with him not focusing entirely on the defensive, she could punish every mistake with jabs to his side and slapping away his attempts to knee her. However, Yang wasn't perfect: all it took was one mistake for him to twist and thrust her back with a flat kick and blast from his shoe. Yang heard two blasts in rapid succession, and by the time she'd even skid to a halt, Mercury had flipped forward and his leg was coming down like a sledgehammer.

The kick broke through her guard, but it was a rain of Dust-infused bullets slamming down into her now-defenseless body from above that forced her to the ground. She'd underestimated how long those bullets stuck around, and that waterfall of pain was her punishment. Her aura was crackling. If she hadn't lost already, she was about to. She'd barely even scratched him. Even Ruby could, but she was supposed to be the strong one! This was supposed to be her time to prove herself, damnit!

As Yang rolled onto her side, she saw the 'score'. She was at sixteen percent. Mercury hadn't lost ten. The fire within began to claim her. To get this far, to do so much, only to get beaten down by this smug asshole?

Mercury leaned down over her, that damn smirk having never left his face. "I was going easy on you, by the way." He raised his foot to stomp her out. The dam within Yang broke.

Mercury thrust his foot down and grunted as the force rebounded through him hard enough leave his aura flaring. Yang hadn't budged. Her hair burned hot enough to almost look platinum-white instead of gold, eyes bright like rubies when they locked onto his. Like Mercury's foot wasn't even there, she rose with enough speed to send Mercury stumbling back, and in a single, flaming hook to his jaw, sent him crashing to the ground.

Yang pressed the advantage, storming forward and firing blasts of fiery buckshot that ripped through the metal of the arena like it were paper. Only quick blasts of Mercury let him dodge, flipping through the air over the bursts, and blasting his way around each shot with such grace and precision he could've been mistaken for flying, but he couldn't run forever.

And he had no intent to: Yang unloaded smoking, glowing, empty shells and went to reload. That was Mercury's chance. He soared down like a comet before her shells were even fully loaded. Rather than dodge, Yang swung, her fist meeting Mercury's foot. The shockwave rattled everything from the lights to the floor. The audience's cheers were loud enough to press down on the two even through the flickering forcefield.

Both fired at the same time, sending each other skidding back, but it was uneven: Mercury had to blast himself ahead just to avoid flying off of the edge, while Yang only moved a few feet. He spiraled in with a roundhouse kick, and finally, at last, Yang saw his smirk vanish when she caught his leg and yanked him in closer. Now, it was his turn to be sent soaring into the air, launched by an uppercut and an explosive shot following behind.

It wasn't the only thing that followed: Yang blasted herself up to the apex of Mercury's height, and with an axe kick trailing flames behind it, sent him crashing into the arena. He hadn't even the time to get up before blast after blast sent Yang flying down as a meteor, her knee aimed for his chest.


A wave of cries, cheers and sympathetic shouts rippled through the White Fang headquarters.

Adam had found what he was searching for. It took a minute to find it, but there was a secluded corner of the building connected only by a staircase on the second floor and separated from the makeshift barracks the top floor had become. Ironic that it would've been on the third floor after his reluctance to start there. Not only was it well-lit and recently-cleaned, but the sound below was muffled the moment he let the door behind him close. This place was important. Pristine, carpeted corridors guided him through the new area, most doors locked except for one opening to a large bedroom haphazardly combined with an office. Banners of the White Fang hung along the wall behind a heavy desk: a 'throne room' in miniature.

Almond's room, no doubt. He was definitely in the right place. Yet, he left the room behind and explored deeper. Then, he heard voices, dull enough only for his aura combined with his faunus senses to pick up on. A well-carved, wooden door was the source. Adam drew one of his short rifles and crept closer: he could only make out two. One was softer and often pausing. The other, however, was clearly the rumbling voice of Almond. He took a silent, deep breath, focused his aura to the point where he could feel every twitch of the air around him, readied his rifle, then reached out for the handle.

First, there was an uproar from the first floor, heard even here. Then, the next thing all of that focus let him feel was nothing short of a bomb of emotion going off around him: flared auras, anger, confusion, all of it sending his instincts wild. What the hell had just happened?

Before he could turn around, the door was flung open. Almond looked up in surprise and pushed up from his desk, his helmet set aside, but that wasn't what Adam was paying attention to.

No, that was the girl with black hair and amber eyes staring at him in shock, hand reaching for her weapon.

Blake.


"You sure do look happy for someone who's about to lose, you know," Ruby said with a grin, leaning over to Emerald.

Smiling, but resting her head on her fist, Emerald glanced over at Ruby. The entire stands were being lit up by Yang's explosive strikes, yet she was unfazed. "I'm happy because Mercury had that coming. Whether or not he wins, it's a win-win for me." She winked at her, and Ruby couldn't help but feel like there was more to that.

Deciding she didn't even want to know, Ruby just huffed, turned back to watch the battle, and ignored the ice in her gut.


"What's wrong, Mercury! Where's your good talk now!" Yang shouted as she laid into him. He'd managed to get back to his feet, but Yang had been pressuring him ever since. She was quick enough to throw back his heavier blows and just force her way through the ones too quick to respond to with her Semblance. His kicks grew more frantic, trying to push her back with vicious strikes, but she returned that brutality full-force with hooks into his side or wild haymakers into his faltering guard.

She saw the burning light begin to fade, felt Mercury's attacks dig into her more, saw him flinch less and less from every blow, but she didn't care how much her Semblance was fading. A snap kick to her jaw, left her reeling but she just compressed her Semblance down and came back swinging. He ducked under her first hook and leaned back from the follow-up uppercut. She weaved through a pair of shots and dipped beneath his spinning kick. She gripped every ember left within her and swung.

Contact. Yang didn't hesitate to pull the trigger and send Mercury flying past the edge of the ring. She felt the warmth slip from her just after, absorbed back into her aura. Yet, the buzzer didn't ring.

Mercury swung himself from the edge back onto the arena. Her aura had managed to regenerate to only twenty-five percent even through her rampage, but now Mercury was on the back foot. He was at twenty percent. It was his turn to feel the loss.

And yet, as the two stood, catching their breath, Mercury looked back up, walked forward with held his arms out and, with that same damned smirk, asked: "Couldn't you have just sent your sister instead?"

The ground cracked from the aura Yang shoved into her shotguns, one shot sending her towards that bastard. There were no thoughts in her strikes, nothing more than instinct in every dodge. He was taunting her as they traded blows, but it faded into dull noise. Mercury flipped over her kicks and slid under her flurry of punches, but a determination only true wrath could bring let her follow. All she could see was that stupid smirk every time he slipped by a jab. All she could feel was his strikes. Yang heard a quiet crash of sound, like a metal brushing against metal, but she didn't care.

All she cared for was that his foot just drifted too far back. She took the chance and swung. Their fists crashed into each other's jaws at the same time, silver and gold flashing and crackling. But their auras stayed. The buzzer didn't ring.

Yang forced herself to follow through, swinging herself to the other side and cracking him once again in the jaw. No buzzer. Once in the side. No buzzer. The head. No buzzer. Her vision narrowed. Her focus intensified. She'd beat this bastard until he broke. Bullets sprayed against her side, but even with her aura so low they felt so weak. Mercury brought a knee up in a desperate defense. Yang drove her fist down and blasted it back hard enough for him to buckle.

She pulled back her fist as Mercury fell to one knee. Her Semblance had begun to awaken again, and she put every bit of training into gathering every shred into just her fist. Her hand blazed white. She bared her teeth. The flames were strong enough for even her to feel it.

Then pain lit up across her back, sharp enough to leave her muscles tightening and her knees buckling. Her aura shattered like glass as she hit the ground growling. She recognized it now as electricity, and aura or not, she clenched her fist and twisted to swing at whoever had tazed her... but her hand was wet. And the world came crashing into focus. Her gauntlet was streaked with red. The ground was red. Blood. Plenty of it. Emerald was screaming at her. Mercury was screaming for help. The crowd was screaming in horror. Half of Mercury's leg was lying away from his body. When had Atlesian soldiers gotten there?

Gravity began taking hold. Yang felt sick. Her breath came unsteady. Ruby was trying to get past two of the guards, her words lost in the chaos. Yang was yanked roughly to her feet, yet she stayed limp. That couldn't be right. That hadn't happened. The buzzer hadn't rung. She saw that his leg was fine. The stage lights abruptly shut themselves off to hide the scene, leaving Yang only with her horrified thoughts. What just happened?

What the hell had just happened?


"Wait," Adam ordered, and Blake reeled back, no doubt knowing exactly who was standing before her now. "I'm here to talk." He forced back the swirling thoughts born from why Blake would be here at all, what that meant, if she was truly working with Cinder. But he'd come here for a reason, and the unease in his gut wouldn't stop him.

"Adam?" Blake tentatively asked, not removing her hand from Gambol Shroud.

His stare remained affixed to Almond. After a moment, the man slowly sat back down. "Leave us, Belladonna."

"Edward?" she asked in disbelief.

"That's 'Captain Almond' as far as you're concerned! Go!" Almond barked and, with her shoulders squared and her gaze on Adam all the while, Blake rushed out of the room. Left in her place as the door shut was not silence but a fervor and excitement in the air formed by the uproar, heard even on the third floor as a constant hum from the first.

"You have a lot of nerve to come here after all you've done in that getup," Almond rumbled. "What do you want? Come to plead for Vale's life like she did?"

"No." With every move deliberate, Adam holstered his rifle. There were so many questions he needed to ask him now, but he had to cut the chase. He'd come here for one reason. The same reason he didn't want Ilia here. The same reason he'd have never brought Ruby along.

"What I want is for you to leave Beacon and my people out of your assault. Do that, and the White Fang can keep Vale."

To negotiate.