Cinder was trying to hide how excited she was in case it was mistaken for nervousness. Sure, taking half the powers of the Fall Maiden had given her a rush, but she had had no personal animosity towards the girl. She had been a sap, but she had seemed more like the young girls who stayed at the hotel with their parents and would leave a small tip or be polite to the staff.
Winter Schnee on the other hand was both a challenge and a symbol of all she hated about Atlas. Killing her would fulfil one of her fantasies as a girl growing up. While strictly Winter was only third generation elite and so was a parvenu compared with the Marigolds and the Campions, that was good enough for Cinder.
She hoped that she would have the opportunity to taunt the woman as the power drained from her. She would only do so if it was safe. Winter had shown at Kulsa that she was brave and determined enough and Cinder was not going to underestimate her ability. If anyone could hold a maiden in one place and prevent her from using her weapons than Hazel could after he had stabbed himself with dust crystals.
She had enjoyed watching Lisa Lavender's coverage from Atlas of the seeming downfall of the elder generation of the Marigold family. Of course, some of them would wriggle out of it, but even being arrested would be humiliation enough.
Besides which her days at the orphanage and the hotel meant that the fairy tale aspect of the heir coming back and demanding his inheritance moved her. All those who had never known their parents dreamed of being discovered by a wealthy benefactor and told their parents had not abandoned them out of choice. Even better was seeing the fantasy of confronting the evil relatives in public and on camera and telling them the score.
Even allowing that the Faunus officer had only been allowed to call the Marigolds out because it suited Ironwood's political aims, Cinder had realised that it might have been even more satisfying than killing Madame to have denounced her in front of all her friends and most valued "guests" and hearing General Ironwood saying, "Book her, Clover." Rhodes had been too scared to take her part and denounce Madame. Perhaps he had been right to say that what does not destroy you makes you stronger. It certainly had taught her that the only person you can rely on is yourself and that fear is a stronger emotion than love.
The main building at Haven was almost deserted. It was still holiday time for the students. Even the Vytal festival contenders were mostly absent or like Team ABRN had gone to the provinces near the border with the new Branwen Republic to fly the flag. Those who were on campus would be in the gyms and fighting arenas rather than the main administration block and hall.
The fewer civilians around the less the complications. As the cover story would be that Leo and Winter would have been killed by a bomb planted by Human supremacists to kill Leo and it had been unintended collateral damage that Winter had been there, the fewer other bodies which needed explanation the better. Salem had finally come down on the kill Leo side of the equation when Cinder and Watts had pointed out that this would give Adam Taurus the excuse he needed to continue with the attack on Beacon. He could say that even if Raven Branwen was genuine in her dealings, the fact was that most humans would never tolerate Faunus in positions of power and influence unless they had won the battle militarily.
It was a small complication that Winter had one of the Ace Ops with her, but Leo had briefed her on his semblance. He could only use it on one person at a time provided he was attacked from different angles. It would be easy enough to separate him from Winter. All Leo had needed to say was that they would be talking about Salem's plans. If Tyrian hid until Watts challenged the dog, then he could break the man's aura and then kill him quickly. Watts had accepted that he would join in the battle and the thought that he would be involved in killing two of Ironwood's most valued underlings had made him almost enthusiastic about the thought of being involved in the fighting.
Watts was confident that the device which Mercury was bringing with him could block any scroll communications. His sidekick in Vale was good at that sort of thing and it had been useful in some of the dust shop raids by the White Fang and Roman to delay any police response. This meant that they could prevent the dog Faunus calling for help. Afterwards they could add his body to the two (or perhaps three – there was an elderly servant who was providing refreshments) in Leo's office and Cinder could use her abilities to ensure that only bones were left.
The other complication was that would need to delay the attack on Winter until the woman had told Leo whatever she had come here to talk about. In particular, Cinder was anxious to wait until Winter had filled in Leo in any of the details beyond the terse message from Ozpin that Amber had now died. The powers had not come to her, so Ozpin must have used the Atlas technology. Presumably, it had been used to transfer the powers to Winter
She looked at Leo. The man was clearly terrified, but that was his normal state. She was amazed that he had ever had enough courage to become a hunter, let alone the first Faunus Headmaster of Haven and a player in the snake pit of Mistral politics. She supposed that at some stage he had simply lost his nerve. Luckily, Hazel was good at calming him down. She had taken his advice not to amuse herself by winding up Leo.
She brooded about Emerald. It was annoying that the girl was not here yet. She had reluctantly accepted that Leo had been correct to say that once Winter had offered to give Team VBES a lift in her jet, it would have looked odd to turn her down. After all they had fought together at Kulsa. A snub might suggest to even Ozpin that there was some connection between Emerald and Salem. Hazel said that he had briefed Emerald before he returned from Vale last night and after all just making Winter think that only Leo was in the room with her was not a huge challenge for the girl.
He had pointed out as well that Winter Schnee would be detained by dignitaries and reporters at the airport both as one of the heroes of Kulsa and as a representative of the Atlas government. They would want her opinion about the Branwen Republic and the recent events in Atlas itself. No doubt Winter would dead bat both questions with a reference to the Atlas council being responsible for decisions, the general reluctance of Atlas to become involved in the internal affairs of other kingdoms and not wanting to prejudice forthcoming trials.
What she had not expected was for Mercury to send a scroll message to Leo saying that Team VBES was running late because they were coping with press photographers and autograph hunters. While the man was trying to excuse Emerald by emphasising Sun's enjoyment of the attention and insistence on signing everything, she knew that the girl must be primarily responsible. If she had wanted to, she could easily have cut things short. After all, she could hardly expect to have a career as a model after they implemented what they had planned for the Vytal festival, Vale, and Beacon.
She would have words with Emerald when she was back. There would not be much time, but she would make it clear how much she resented her ingratitude. She would tell her exactly how long her new so-called friends would take to drop her if they knew the truth about her. That Emerald was nothing without her. She would also make clear her view of this so-called career.
She would also bring up the fact which Watts had sprung on her. Igor had told Riff Raff who had told Watts about the fact that Emerald had asked a shopkeeper the way to Tukson's and then pickpocketed him. Admittedly she had used a disguise when speaking to the man but had forgotten that her semblance did not work on cameras meant that she had left a trace which she was lucky that Roman had expected and told Igor to deal with. What angered Cinder most was the fact that the girl had lied to her.
She would of course then praise Emerald after she had helped Cinder obtain the powers of the Winter Maiden. Although she had learned the power of words and withholding affection from Madame, the stick could only take you so far. One also needed the carrot to make the stick hurt. Rhodes had made her believe that he cared for her. He had taught her to fight and about her aura. If she had feared him as much as she had feared Madame, she would never have dared attack him when he had betrayed her by telling her to throw herself on the mercy on the authorities. On the other hand, madame could never have hurt her so much emotionally.
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Mercury was now waiting with Watts, Riff-Raff and Tyrian for the arrival of Winter and Marrow. Riff-Raff was not going to be involved in the fighting but had arrived with Watts. Mercury had co-opted him ostensibly for the purposes of distracting Marrow. One of his tasks was to capture his geeky friend without harming him.
He still had a slight concern that Emerald would not be able to go through with the plan because of her attachment to Cinder. He knew how long it had taken him to realise how little his father cared for him and kept him around primarily because he enjoyed hurting Mercury. Even then he had had to wait months for the perfect opportunity to take on his father. Marcus had come back after a successful and very remunerative mission and had celebrated by getting drunk. Emerald was being forced to make the break before she was totally emotionally ready to do so.
Last night they had shared a bed. Not for anything romantic or sexual, Emerald had just needed someone to hold on to and to talk to. Mercury had understood that was all she wanted and that respecting her boundaries made it more likely that she would be to commit to him after today was over.
His plans to lessen the risk had gone better than he had planned or hoped. Coco's mother had leaked the news of the arrival of Team VBES to the Mistral press and Sun had needed little encouragement to flash his abs to the Mistral press and indeed anyone who wanted to see them. He was also willing to sign anything anyone presented to him. Emerald had also accepted that it would be suspicious if she did not stop for photographs although she avoided the autograph hunters. Airport security had kept the general public at a distance from her, but Sun had ignored them. To be accurate it was more that his clones could ignore them and the fact that he could sign three autographs simultaneously had meant that the delay had not been too long to risk the lives of those engaged in the Vale operation.
Cinder had also reacted even more helpfully than he had dared to wish for. Being kept waiting had never been good for her temper and he had underestimated how vain she was. The idea of Emerald being a model interviewed by the star journalists and featured in magazines had clearly brought out the worse in her. Telling Emerald that the only reason the men in the fashion industry liked her was because they could pretend, she was a boy and because her breasts did not get in the way of how they wanted the dresses to look just confirmed everything that he and Hazel had been telling her about Cinder. She had also brought up the Tukson incident again and the fact that Emerald had lied to Cinder. That was the angriest of the scoldings, in part because she had learnt of it from Watts. Mercury had even managed to hold her hand and comfort her afterwards.
He and Hazel had predicted that she would tell Emerald that she could not trust her new friends. They had talked to Goodwitch who had presumably spoken to Coco Adel. Team CFVY had come round to their rooms and told them both that they knew that they had done bad things in the past, but that if Goodwitch said that what they had done at Kulsa in fighting the Grimm and dealing with the threat to Vale and Remnant tomorrow cancelled all that out, then that was good enough for them.
Goodwitch had also produced Blake Belladonna and Leslie Corkran as ex-members of the White Fang who had been accepted as part of Beacon. It quickly became clear that the latter was still a member of the White Fang as well as the Atlas military. It made him feel a little better about being spotted by the Faunus spying at the night club.
Another advantage of involving Team CFVY was that they could call upon the services of Fox Alastair. The ability to communicate without speaking and to identify where everyone with an aura was standing was invaluable for a mission such as this one. For example, the fact that Watts was going to be carrying a pistol rather than a scroll meant that it had been possible to tell Marrow to use his semblance first against Tyrian.
Anyway, it was now show time. Winter and Marrow had entered the main hall. He and Lionheart were waiting in front of the statue to greet them. Winter would then leave with Lionheart for the meeting room. The plan was that he would distract Marrow and then introduce him to Riff-Raff. When they shook hands Tyrian and Watts would appear from different doors. Watts would challenge Marrow while Tyrian sneaked up on him. Once Tyrian had unleashed his stinger Mercury was meant to join in the pummelling and Watts would fire his weapon when the Dog Faunus tried to use his semblance against Tyrian.
An old woman was crossing the hall pushing a refreshment trolley. It had been agreed with Cinder and Watts that she too would be collateral damage. The woman was called Maria Calavera and apparently been a star huntress in her time. It had been sold to Team Salem as another distraction for Marrow.
He counted down in his head and used Fox's semblance to communicate with the others. "Five, four, three, two, Go."
He pressed the button on the scroll which cut out scroll transmissions and sent a message to the Vale contingent that they could now tell Adam Taurus how cynically he was being used by Team Salem for their own ends.
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Yatsuhashi was waiting with Coco, Professor Goodwitch, Professor Lee, Ruby, and Raven Branwen in an imposing vault below the surface of Haven. Fox, Brede, and the librarian were hidden in a room on the second floor with a door opening into a balcony used for a small orchestra when formal balls were held at Haven. Pyrrha Nikos and Jaune Arc were waiting behind the door leading to the kitchens. Qrow Branwen was apparently also on the premises.
Professor Goodwitch, Raven Branwen and Winter Schnee had made it clear that in dealing with the three targets today there was no such thing as overkill. They were concerned about inefficiency and getting in each other's way.
It was odd being on a mission without Velvet. In effect Velvet had been swapped with Brede for the two missions today and would be using the same weapon. Coco and he had also welcomed the mission as it distracted them from worrying about Velvet. Compared with the firepower lined up to deal with Cinder, Tyrian, and Watts, they were going in light against Adam. It had been worrying listening to Blake brief them on his semblance, how it could often neutralise aura in one blow and how he prepared for prospective fights by pushing it to the max. To make it worse only the three Faunus were to be allowed to fight against Adam and only if he attacked first. The reassurance from the Lynx Faunus that if Adam did fight, he would first kill him and then Roman which meant that there should be plenty of time for Velvet, Lydia, and Anne to get away while they were being dealt with was not that much comfort.
Yesterday evening had not gone as planned. At the end of the fashion show, they had all received a message to meet with Professor Goodwitch. Not only her but Professor Ozpin had greeted them. They had explained to them that they were needed to help protect Vale, Beacon and indeed the whole of Remnant from an anarchist conspiracy. It quickly became clear that it was really Velvet and Fox who were essential.
The most difficult part had been when Professor Ozpin said, "Your new friends Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black used to work for the people you are taking down tomorrow. You should assume that they have done terrible things in support of the cause because they were ordered to. I believe that their actions at Kulsa have earned them the chance of redemption for their crimes and that they are potentially good people. He was brought up by his father who abused him, stole his semblance and tried to make him into a ruthless killer. He finally rebelled and fought his father. He won the battle but needs prosthetic legs as a result. She was an orphan in Mistral who never knew her parents and has been emotionally manipulated by a sociopath. Amongst the lies she has been told is that no one will ever care for her or forgive her for what she has done."
Glynda had expanded on this and Yatsuhashi had suspected that Coco's most important part in the plan was to reassure Emerald that Team CFVY knew about her past and still cared for her. They had all been there, but Coco had done the talking and had been the person to give Emerald a hug. The girl had not known how to react at first but had then responded enthusiastically to the hug and had cried. She had then gone to Mercury's side and promised not to let them down today.
Fox had recalled Ren talking about Emerald. She had spent a few months in the same orphanage as he and Nora before running away. They had liked her well enough and in retrospect it should have been obvious that she had an illusion semblance. Certainly, the stuff she had got away with made more sense that way. She had not been close to anyone at the orphanage and unlike some of the others had not wanted to be a special friend of an older inmate or a member of staff. From what Ren had said and not said, the orphanage had been a horrid place.
Still, it was now time to concentrate on the battle ahead. There was a plan to deal with Tyrian Callows which involved Pyrrha, Coco, Jaune, the librarian, Professor Goodwitch and Brede. He was there to protect Coco if it did not work as intended and the Scorpion Faunus charged Coco.
He knew that Coco had been shaken by her and Velvet's encounter with the scorpion Faunus. He readied himself to position himself so as to be able to slam his weapon down on the now metal tail of the enemy if needed.
He wondered about the black bird sitting on the head of the statue. He did not recall Haven having a problem with birds getting in.
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Jaune had not expected to be in Haven until two hours ago. Mother had a scroll message from Winter Schnee asking if a contact of hers could meet her, him, and Pyrrha at the Ansel LGDF. They had not been expecting to find a portal opening into the meeting room and for first Professor Goodwitch and then Raven Branwen to step through it.
Jaune had found it difficult to deal with the idea that Raven Branwen was now one of the good guys as did mother. Pyrrha found it easier especially as she was a fan of Professor Goodwitch. Mother eventually got behind the idea that there were common enemies and, when told that Pyrrha and Jaune were needed to help deal with three people with exceptional auras and/or semblances including the scorpion Faunus who had nearly killed Coco, had told him that it was his duty to help. She had only become more insistent when told that the three targets wanted to kill Winter Schnee, Marrow Amin of the Atlas Ace-Ops, and Professor Lionheart today and would be targeting Ruby in the future.
Travelling by portal was an improvement on bullheads and airships. Not only was it quicker but it did not give rise to motion sickness. Still stepping straight from the Ansel LGDF headquarters into Professor Ozpin's office was rather a shock to the system as well as the fact that when wielding the sword to open the portals the new president of the Branwen Republic looked as dangerous as her reputation suggested. He was also getting used to the idea that in around twenty-five years' time Yang was probably going to look exactly like Raven Branwen apart from being blonde.
Anyway, they had been briefed by Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch on their part in the plan. To his horror, it was down to him and Pyrrha to ensure that the second most dangerous of the three hurt no one in the team assembled by Ozpin. He supposed that he should be pleased to be trusted with the responsibility, but it was a big one.
Apparently, Yang's egg donor's semblance also allowed her to make short haul trips. He and Pyrrha had been deposited in the kitchen next to the old lady who they had seen with Ruby at the Atlas ball. She introduced herself as Maria Calavera and then told them to be quiet and not to miss their mark.
On the signal from Fox, Jaune stepped through the doors of the kitchen immediately behind Pyrrha. They saw Marrow Amin using his semblance on Tyrian Callows and holding him in place. Mercury had pushed Watts's sidekick to the ground and was removing any scrolls or other electronic devices. Maria seemed to be intercepting the bullets from Watts's gun with her walking sticks. At the same time Qrow Branwen appeared seemingly out of nowhere and whirled a scythe at Watts severely denting his aura and distracting him from firing at Marrow Amin.
He saw rather than heard the effect of Brede's bullets slamming into Tyrian's aura. The librarian at Beacon had a semblance which allowed him to impose silence bubbles. When annoyed he could use it to prevent people from talking to the person next to them or, if he believed the conversations were about course work, could simply allow conversations to be had without disturbing anyone else. Apparently, it was strong enough to cover the noise of Brede's rifle.
He activated his semblance flowing power into Pyrrha. Using Fox's semblance she sent a message to Marrow, "Now."
Marrow moved his attention to Watts and Tyrian finding himself able to move again charged and pulled his stinger back ready to strike. At the same time Raven Branwen opened a portal and her, Coco, Ruby, Professor Goodwitch and Yatsuhashi appeared out of it. Tyrian was distracted by the sight of Coco and seemed to shift his emphasis to her.
Pyrrha activated her semblance and redirected Tyrian's stinger. Jaune had thought it an optimistic call, but it was mainly successful. Tyrian's stinger hit his own aura and for a split second the aura and the stinger reacted instinctively, and the scorpion Faunus drained his own aura. Pyrrha then put her augmented semblance to the full test and made Tyrian Callows fly backwards by his metal tail. He had not been expecting it and with Glynda also lending her telekinesis semblance to the battle he was pinned against the wall and struggling.
Tyrian was now a sitting target for Coco and Brede who were both using Velvet's special bullets. It was weird seeing Coco firing Gianduja at full power without any noise being heard. At least it meant that no noise would be heard by Cinder Fall either.
Ruby sped towards Watts and searched him. It appeared that Marrow could control his semblance, so it only prevented the person it was aimed at from moving. A few seconds later Maria joined her and pulled the gun out of Watts hand. Marrow Amin then turned his semblance on Tyrian Callows.
He and Pyrrha advanced into the sound bubble. They heard the screams of frustration and anger from Tyrian Callows as the bullets took down his aura. Both Brede and Coco stopped firing then. The Scorpion Faunus continued to shout defiance. Raven Branwen now satisfied that Watts was not a threat charged the Faunus and finished Tyrian off with a thrust from her truly intimidating sword she called Omen.
Professor Goodwitch had joined Ruby and Maria next to Watts and had grasped his hands. Marrow released the man from the semblance. Professor Goodwitch pulled the man's arms behind his back and a knee in the back forced him to the ground. The man said, "I surrender." Qrow Branwen appeared out of nowhere and put hand cuffs on him and gagged him
Jaune held Pyrrha tight. Raven Branwen and Professor Goodwitch had made it clear that Tyrian Callows was dangerous and was unlikely to surrender meekly. Coco had told of her fight with him and how he had made it clear how much he was going to enjoy killing her. It still had been hard for Pyrrha to have held Tyrian in one space making him an easy target for execution by Raven Branwen.
Raven had volunteered for the duty of finishing him off. He had apparently killed several of her subjects including members of the Branwen Tribe during the Kulsa affair and besides which as she had said her conscience had rather more practice at doing the necessary unpleasant tasks then the rest of them.
He held Pyrrha and comforted her. He noticed Yatsuhashi doing the same with Coco. The sidekick with the weird hairstyle was also being restrained although more lightly and Mercury was clearly trying to do his best to make the man feel more at ease.
For the next step of the operation, Pyrrha was not needed. Indeed, only Ruby, he, Qrow Branwen, Raven Branwen, the librarian, Emerald, Marrow Amin, and Professor Goodwitch were being involved. It had been explained that the likely fighting space would be cramped and any more would get in the way. He had been involved to help Ruby.
He noticed that Professor Lee appeared to be using her semblance to repair the damage done by the bullets Coco had fired which had not hit Tyrian or had bounced off his aura when it had still been up. He had wondered why she so often joined Professor Goodwitch at the end of combat classes. No doubt she smoothed over the cracks left by Professor Goodwitch's immediate repairs.
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Cinder was waiting impatiently for Winter and Leo to get to the point and for Mercury to signal that Marrow Amin had been dealt with.
Winter was as brusque as her reputation made her out to be. Still if the interview had been for real, Leo would probably have been glad to hear that Atlas had no intention of unilaterally intervening against the Branwen Republic and no desire of taking sides in the internal politics of Mistral. That roughly translated as meaning that if Leo could keep together a sizeable faction of the government who felt that taking unilateral action against the Branwen Republic was not advisable then Atlas would be glad of an excuse to do nothing. It was also intimated that while the Atlas Multi-kingdoms were free to sell weapons to Mistral the foreign office would be recommending that they insist on a deposit and cash on delivery.
Finally, she heard what she wanted to know. "The remaining powers of the Fall Maiden have been successfully transferred to Ruby Rose."
Even though she knew that she needed to concentrate on dealing with Winter Schnee, she could not help being distracted by the implications of this. The girl was obviously a better fighter than Amber but seemed to be almost as naïve. Perhaps there would be scope for an ambush. On the other hand, what were the implications of the silver eyes? Salem had grown thoughtful when she had watched the coverage from Kulsa.
Just then she received a scroll message from Mercury. It said that the mission had been accomplished and that he and Tyrian were on the way to the corridor for the ambush. She sent Hazel and Emerald to join them. The plan was for Emerald to disguise Tyrian as Marrow Amin and Hazel would be made invisible. Tyrian would take out Winter's aura if it was up, Hazel would grab the woman by the arms and put his knee in her back and then Cinder would extend the Grimm arm to take the maiden powers from her. Tyrian had been briefed thoroughly about the need to avoid killing Winter Schnee before the glove could be used and that he would have to make do with dealing with Leo. The corridor had been chosen because of her known summons only the baby Nevermore were capable of being used effectively and even her use of her sword would be handicapped by the small amount of room available. Even the Maiden powers would be of less use in a confined space where the walls and ceiling were solid
As instructed, after saying that he agreed with Winter that the Spring Maiden must be embedded in the Branwen tribe, Leo invited her and Marrow Amin to join him in a visit to the vault underneath Haven. Winter agreed saying that Fria had said that it was well worth the visit, although of course she had preferred the Atlas Vault.
Cinder left the conference room she had been occupying. She had learnt to move quietly at the orphanage and the hotel. She saw Leo and Winter start up the corridor and moved in behind them.
She saw Tyrian launch his stinger at Winter and although the woman had reacted quickly to throw up her aura, the tell-tale signs of it breaking were there. She saw Hazel rush in and grab Winter's arms and turned her around so that she was facing Cinder.
The Grimm glove flew out and she saw it hit the chest of Winter. However, she felt no surge of power, but instead felt a series of heavy hits against her aura and felt through the Grimm arm some pain as something sharp scythed through it. A blast of ice surrounded her, and she felt a sword slashing at her.
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Emerald had activated her semblance as Cinder left the conference room. She was angry with herself at having idolised the woman so long. It was obvious now that she had been manipulated by the woman from day one.
She was now crouching not far from Cinder but positioned so that she was protected by Jaune's aura who was also amplifying her semblance.
She concentrated hard. Maintaining the illusion when reality was telling Cinder that it was not true was not possible. Cinder must realise that Emerald had betrayed her by using her semblance and that she had been trapped in the way which she had intended to trap Winter. She would also realise that Hazel and Lionheart must also be in on the betrayal. However, an illusion which put her opponents at slightly different places than they were or made them into different people was possible to impose on Cinder.
She cast an illusion which showed the original illusion fading away and being replaced by something which was almost but not quite a reflection of what was really happening. She had been told that a sound bubble was to be placed around Cinder so that she could not use her sense of hearing to place where people were coming from.
The scythe wielder was seen by Cinder as having ambushed her from the opposite side of the corridor than he had actually come from. While Goodwitch was in Cinder's line of sight, Ruby, Emerald, and Jaune were not. The sniper bullets which Ruby fired at Cinder were made to seem like ice missiles fired by Goodwitch.
Cinder was yet to turn round but Emerald was ready to place Winter a couple of feet more to the right than she really was. She would hide the advancing Raven Branwen. In the brief period she had known the woman, she realised that Mercury had been right to say that this was not a person to whom Cinder should have been condescending to.
It was clear that no thought of surrender crossed Cinder's mind. She was clearly trying to burn her way out of the mess but the ice which Winter had surrounded her with was nullifying the effect. In addition, when she tried to power her way through the door and exit through a window in the office off the hallway, Emerald had cast an illusion which meant that Cinder charged stone rather than wood. The stone held as Cinder had not been able to get off a set of steam.
She heard the old lady muttering encouragement to Ruby and could sense that the short sixteen-year-old was concentrating hard. Maria told her and Jaune to close their eyes. She did so and even having done so registered that a bright white light flared from the girl's eyes in a similar way which it had done at Kulsa.
When she opened her eyes, she saw that Cinder was in intense pain. She had instinctively withdrawn the gloved hand while it regenerated and had been holding it near her face. The glove had been obliterated by the white eyes and the damage was not limited to Cinder's hand and arm. It had spread to her right eye and side of the body. It also depleted her remaining aura.
Ruby ducked and just then marble statue of General Lagune was launched at Cinder by Professor Goodwitch. The woman must have got some momentum behind it as it finished off Cinder's aura reserves.
Cinder was then grabbed hard from behind by Hazel who pulled both arms behind her and rammed a knee into her back. She tried to grab at him presumably to use her heat generating ability against him, but he had grasped her hard enough and at an angle which meant that she could not get a grip on him with the bare hand while the gloved hand was inoperative.
Suddenly a portal appeared in front of Cinder. Hazel pushed her towards it as Cinder seemed to pass out due to the pain from the burns on her hand, arm, and face.
Ruby, Maria, and Qrow Branwen went through the portal. Raven Branwen and Professor Goodwitch stayed behind.
Raven looked at Emerald "Well done. After a few words with Glynda and Winter it will be time for me to return everyone else home. I assume you and your partner are staying here at least today?"
Emerald nodded. She followed Winter back towards the hall to meet up with Mercury and Coco. While she knew that she had done the right thing for Remnant and for herself, there was still a sense of regret. She did understand what motivated Cinder and until the last few months she had shared that motivation.
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Ruby got into the Polendina Maiden power transfer cabinet for the second time in days. Cinder Fall had passed out from the impact of the silver eyes and the combined attacks of her, Winter, Raven, Qrow and Professor Goodwitch. The college doctor had injected Cinder with a powerful sedative as well as painkillers before Hazel Rainart had placed her in the cabinet previously occupied by Amber.
The machines started and she felt her powers increasing. After 10 minutes, her imagination moved to the dreamscape again. She saw Amber for the second time who said, "You now have all the maiden powers I ever had. You will have some of Cinder's memories. She is not dead but having spent some time in her mind she might prefer it if she was. Good luck Ruby."
Ruby nodded at Ozpin and then gave a thumbs up. The door of the cabinet opened, and she stepped out to be greeted by her teammates, dad, and Uncle Qrow.
After the group hugs and reassurances that she was perfectly fine, she went and looked at the woman in the other cabinet. Her right arm was severely burnt and did not seem to be recovering. It was also clear that the right side of her face was badly injured as well.
As Amber had warned her, she did have some memories of the woman who had wanted to be the fall maiden. Enough to understand that the woman had reasons justifying her anger, although insufficient to justify the way she had tried to deal with it.
The librarian and Professor Lee were both in Learning to Lead, Learning to Follow. Having a silence bubble semblance seemed a good one for a librarian and then finding it has a practical application in fights was fun.
Sorry for the gap but I have been on holiday for seventeen days. Next chapter should be out shortly.
Both here and the last chapter we have ended up with Team Ozpin curb stomping their opponents. One of the main changes I have made from the series was that the good guys are competent and basically they had the time and imagination to do what the Ace-Ops did to the gang in Mantle and what Adam did to Sienna Khan. The fights in the last two chapters were one sided but that is the point of ambushes. In addition, matching semblances to the weaknesses of the opponent seemed like a good strategy e.g. Pyrrha using her semblance on Tyrian. Cinder is facing two and a half maidens plus Glynda and Hazel while trying to deal with illusions cast by Emerald boosted by Jaune.
I can understand people not liking what I did with Adam especially as it was planned by an OC although relying heavily on Neo and Velvet's skills. This would be especially understandable if you have not read some of the Muskrat2 stories or the Yang in Atlas story. My intention has been from early on to use the Lynx Faunus as an alternative Adam who targets his revenge on the humans who have harmed him/family and Faunus generally rather than indiscriminately, waits for an opportunity and who knows the end game has to be peace on more equal terms rather than the Faunus treating humans in the way which humans treated them. I will try next chapter to include an explanation of why Adam basically chose suicide by cop and Perry as the executioner.