A/N: Hathor Isatari belongs to my friend, decode9.
Team COAL returned to Atlas Academy aboard the airship that had taken them to the Red Fang's hideout. When they arrived, an armored figure was waiting for them at the helipad. He wore what looked like an odd variant of the Atlesian armor, one that completely covered his body and face. His breathing was very loud and mechanical, and his voice sounded robotic.
"Greetings, Team COAL," he said when they exited the airship. "I am Gokhan Ganbaatar. General Ironwood has ordered me to assist in the defense of our Academy."
Autumn looked at him. "The General said you were a pretty good commander," she said. "And that's some pretty advanced armor you have on there."
"I need it to survive," the man replied. "I lost three of my limbs and got burned alive during a battle against the Red Fang in Mantle. If it weren't for Atlas's state of the art cybernetics, I'd be dead."
"I'm so sorry that happened to you."
"Don't be. Just be glad that I'm still alive to fight for Atlas. Now, come into the Academy with me so that we can discuss how best to defend this place." He turned back toward the Academy and entered in, and the others followed him. They went up the elevator and entered Ganbaatar's office, where they all sat down. Hathor showed him the piece of paper she found on which the enemy's plan was written.
"Yes, I think this information will be most invaluable," he said. "We should build up our defenses here, here, and here." He pointed to various places on the map. "Of course, I will be leading the troops. However, we will need a few units to go into the tunnels under the school to stop Steinbrecher from executing his plan. Remember, the attack on the surface is just a diversion."
"I'll go," Hathor volunteered. "I won't let him anywhere near this school."
"I'll go with you, Hathor," said Lily.
"So will I," Colby replied.
"Alright," said Ouranos. "The rest of us will stay on the surface and hold back the enemy's main force."
"Excellent. Now, we need to construct defenses and get all available troops to assist us, including students of Atlas Academy. We also need to get the tunnels under the school under our control. Steinbrecher is going to use them in order to destroy the building and who knows how much of Atlas with it. Our top priority is to stop him."
"Understood!" Lily replied.
"Good. Unless you have any questions, you are dismissed."
"None, sir."
"Alright. We don't know how long we have until the enemy attacks, so we need to work as quickly and efficiently as possible. Colby, Lily, Hathor, I will be sending one of our school's finest teams to assist you in the tunnels. Steinbrecher will most likely be leading his best troops through there."
"Thank you, sir," Lily replied. "Alright, team, let's get to work! All of Atlas is counting on us!"
They left the office and began constructing defenses. They rallied all the available huntsmen and huntresses at the school to help defend the place. Ganbaatar showed Lily's group where the entrance to the tunnels was. There, they met the elite team that Ganbaatar had referred to.
"This is Team FNKI," he said to Lily and her friends. "Flynt, Neon, Kobalt, and Ivori. They are some of our toughest fighters, and they will assist you in the fight against Steinbrecher."
"FNKI…" Lily mused for a moment. "Yeah, I remember you guys! You were in the Vytal Tournament!"
"Yes, we were," Flynt replied. "I remember you were too. You did pretty well against those guys from Vacuo."
"Yeah. You beat those guys from Mistral pretty handily," Lily said, referring to the first round, in which the teams of four all faced each other. "But we all lost in the end." Colby and Ouranos had made it to the Doubles Round, where they faced off against Sun Wukong and Neptune Vasilias and lost. Flynt and Neon had fought against Weiss and Yang, but were defeated.
"Yep," Neon answered sadly. "We not only lost the tournament, but we lost the fight to save Beacon. That was the only one that really mattered. But we're not going to let the same happen to Atlas!"
"Alright," said Colby. "Let's go!" With that, Colby, Lily, Hathor, and Team FNKI headed into the tunnels to secure the area from intrusions by Steinbrecher and his Red Fang allies.
Meanwhile, at the military compound…
Ruby and her allies emerged from the tube system, ready to find their way to Ironwood's terminal. From there, they could give Amity Colosseum the clearance it needed to launch. Once it was in orbit, it could serve as a replacement for Vale's CCT tower, which was destroyed during the Fall of Beacon. Then, Ruby would be able to warn the world about Salem.
As she exited the tube, Ruby gasped for air as she was helped out by May and Penny. Weiss was angrily grabbing Nora by the ear.
"Ow, ow, ow!" Nora whined. "Oh, come on! That was a once in a lifetime experience!"
"Good, because I never want to do that again!" Blake replied.
"Girls," Anne whined, still shaken up from the trip through the tubes. "Does Nora always do stuff like this?"
"Sure does," Ruby replied. "Get used to it."
"Alright, Robo Girl, you're up." May said to Penny. "Which way?"
Penny looked around, then turned to everyone. "We cross the bridge, then go left, straight, right, straight, left, up, up, right, straight, right, right, straight, left, left." She said these directions very fast and pointed in the directions as she said them. Everyone looked at her dumbfounded except for Ruby and Anne.
"And my name is Penny!" Penny shouted happily as she finished.
"Thanks, Penny!" Anne replied with a smile on her face. "Now, I know exactly where we need to go!"
Weiss looked at her. "You understood all that?!"
"Of course I did. I'm Penny's teammate, remember?"
"Alright," May told them. "Let's go." She activated her semblance and led the group into a nearby elevator. A couple of soldiers entered the elevator, unaware of their presence. They talked about how strange it was that the Grimm weren't attacking, and wondering why they hadn't attacked the city yet. Once they arrived on the floor that they needed to be on, Nora had the mischievous idea to hit all the buttons on the elevator on their way out, trapping the soldiers in the elevator so that they would not be able to follow the group. As they continued onward, they saw a control panel. Penny held out one of her fingers, and the tip moved to reveal a connector plus.
Ruby's eyes widened. "Cool!"
After hacking into the panel, a nearby handprint scanner flashed green. Pietro's credentials showed up on a holographic display.
"Welcome back, Dr. Polendina!" said a computer voice.
"Alright, where to next, Penny?" May asked.
"Right through Central Command!"
Unfortunately, Central Command was an absolute minefield. It was full of cameras, computers, holographic maps, and people going about their workday.
"Of course," Weiss said in a frustrated voice.
"I can't maneuver us through all that," May told everyone.
"Do not worry," Penny told them. "Ruby is capable of travelling at an extreme velocity by breaking herself down to her molecular components, thus negating her mass and reassembling them at the destination, theoretically making it possible for her to transport all of us in the same way, since mass no longer matters."
Ruby was a bit confused. "I uh…what?"
"You can use your semblance on all of us."
"Did…Did Penny just figure all of that out before you did?" Blake asked.
"Blake, she knew you were a faunus before I did!"
"Penny always was the smartest girl in my class," Anne giggled.
Just then, however, Ironwood's voice broadcast throughout the compound. "A security threat has been detected in the compound. Status alert level 3: red. Lockdown initiated. Authorization granted to handle ANY threats with lethal force."
"You've got to be joking!" Shouted Weiss.
"The system must have picked up someone using Dr. Polendina's credentials," Anne explained. "That must be how he knows we're here."
Penny's eyes glowed for a moment. "The pneumatic tubes have all been closed off."
"We're trapped!" Blake shouted.
"We passed a hangar," May told them. "I can hijack an airship and get us off this floating rock."
"Wait, we can still succeed," said Penny. "We are so close."
"Hmm," Nora said in response. After thinking for a second, she snapped her fingers as if she'd come up with an idea. That idea was for May to use her semblance to hide from the office workers and then trip one of them who was holding a cup of coffee, causing him to fall over and drench a nearby computer and the lap of the worker who was using it. The one using it got up and screamed in pain.
"Read the sign, Bill! Read the sign!" He pointed to a sign that showed food suspended in water over a shark-like Grimm.
"Why don't you ever just pay attention?! You come in late all the time, your coworkers…" The others stood up and started complaining to Bill as well. Ruby's group took the opportunity to go out another door, and then Ruby used her semblance to go out undetected. After Ruby deactivated her semblance, she struck a pose.
"Another thing I don't ever wanna do again," Blake whined, referring to Ruby using her semblance on her.
They walked on over a raised walkway until they reached what looked like an electrified door. "Stand back, please," Penny told everyone. Penny used the panel to deactivate the electricity and turn the lights on in the other room, revealing a room full of terminals. Ironwood's was on the back wall.
"Uh, where is everyone?" Ruby asked.
"This is a highly classified area." They all walked toward the terminal, and Penny took a deep breath before contacting her father. "Hey, Dad? I'm ready." After that, her eyes turned yellow and everyone heard the voice of Pietro Polendina speak through Penny.
"Ahem. The process is a…little complicated. So I'm remoting into Penny from Amity Colosseum." Penny began working on the terminal while Ruby watched on. The other girls stood around and talked for a bit.
"I hope the others are okay," Blake told the others. "I've never seen Ruby and Yang fight like this."
"Don't worry," Weiss replied. "They're sisters. Sometimes, sisters have very different ideas about what's right."
"Yeah, they'll be fine," Nora added. "Jaune's a great leader, Oscar's grown a ton, and Yang is more than capable of protecting all of them in a fight." Weiss and Blake waited for her to continue, and were a little surprised when she didn't.
"Hmm," they both said.
"Oh. And of course, Ren is uh-" Suddenly, she averted her eyes as if something was wrong. "I don't know what he is. Every time I think we're making progress, he…" She sighed. "We've been together our whole lives, but I feel like I understand him less now than ever. And I don't know if that's his fault or mine."
"When you've been at someone's side for so long, after a while they become a part of you," Blake added. "But that's just it. They're only a part of you. Don't forget about the rest."
Nora chuckled a bit. "I don't actually know who I am…without Ren. Pretty sad, isn't it?"
"Well, maybe take this opportunity to find out?" Weiss suggested. "Do something only Nora can do."
"Like what? Be strong and hit stuff?"
While this exchange was going on, Blake noticed that something was off about Anne. She approached the human girl.
"Is something wrong, Anne?"
The human girl was a bit startled at this and turned around to face Blake. "No, don't worry!"
"Are you sure?"
"I'm fine. If I weren't okay, I would tell you. Alright?"
By then, Pietro was almost finished hacking Ironwood's terminal through Penny.
"I just have to…There. Downloading the cloned imprint now. When Penny gets to Amity, we'll run the launch sequence. Amity's terminal will try to connect to Ironwood's computer but will get Penny instead." With that, Penny's eyes went green again.
"And after the launch, I'll return to help you all with the evacuation."
"About that…" Pietro said. "Penny, when Amity goes up, I think you should be on it with Maria and I."
"But they need me here, right?"
"Well, if you stay far out of Salem's reach, she can't open the vault. She can't get to the Relic. So…"
"Maybe it is for the best?" Weiss asked sadly.
"We should probably get to the hangar," said Blake.
"I guess we all have to do some things we would rather not," Penny said sadly as she deactivated the electrified floor again. Just then, four hunters entered the room. Everyone immediately recognized them as the Ace Ops, the most elite fighters in the Atlesian military. One of them, a girl named Harriet, approached them.
"Hello, kids," she said as she greeted them. "Time to come home now, Penny."
"So, your first time losing to us wasn't enough?" Weiss asked.
"We were holding back," another one named Marrow told them. "And besides, we have another ace up our sleeve this time."
"A…another ace?" Ruby asked nervously. "And what's that?"
"Anne!" Harried replied with a wicked grin.
"What?!" Penny asked. "No! Anne is my friend and my teammate! She would never betray me!"
"She was with us the whole time," Harriet told Penny smugly. "Tell her, Anne."
"No, Anne. Tell us that she's lying. That you would never betray me!"
A pained expression appeared on Anne's face. "I…I'm sorry, Penny…" She drew her weapons, which were two kopis swords, and went to join the Ace Ops.
"Anne…" Penny said in shock and horror. "Why would you do this? Why would you betray your friend like this?"
"I'm sorry, Penny. As a soldier of Atlas, my duty is to my city first and foremost. But please, come with us. This doesn't have to end in violence. That goes for all of you. Come with us, and I promise no one will be hurt."
Another Ace Op named Vine stepped forward. "Penny, you want to protect the people, don't you? If you do, you should come with us."
"If Ironwood is abandoning Mantle, then nothing has changed."
Vine sighed. "I thought you wanted to protect the people, not hurt them."
"I would never hurt anyone!"
"Well, Winter is in critical condition because of you!" Replied another Ace Op, Elm.
"And you repaid her by taking power that should have been hers," Harriet added.
"But taking the Maiden power was the only way to stop-"
"As long as you keep refusing to do the right thing, Mantle AND Atlas are going to die."
"You can stop all of this, Penny," Marrow pleaded. "Just open the vault, hand over the Relic, and you'll save Atlas."
"Penny, please," Anne told Penny. "Remember our mission as huntresses. We need to protect our kingdom and the world. I know this is hard for you, but please. Do the right thing. Surrender now, and you can save our city. You can keep the Relic out of Salem's reach, and in doing so, you can save our world."
"What do you know about doing the right thing?!" Ruby shouted at Anne. "You're betraying not only half your kingdom's population, but your friend and teammate. Come on, Anne. We can save everyone. There's seven of us and only four of them. We can take them."
"One more word, and I'm throwing you in jail right next to your uncle, runt!" Harriet shouted in response.
"Leave. Her. Alone," said Penny.
"And what are you going to do about it, tin can?"
Penny stepped forward out of the room she was in, and before any of her friends could come to help her, the Ace Ops reactivated the door remotely. Penny was trapped on the bridge with the Ace Ops and Anne, outnumbered five to one.
"Penny, no…" Ruby said in horror.
Penny activated her Maiden powers, surrounding her eyes with green flames. She stared down her enemies, knowing that the fight ahead of her would be difficult.
Meanwhile, below Atlas Academy…
Colby, Lily, Hathor, and Team FNKI entered the tunnels and descended as deep as they could. They went down a flight of stairs all the way to the bottom of the abandoned SDC mine, and went down a tunnel until they reached a corner. When they went around the corner, they saw the thing they wanted and expected to see the least. Red Fang troops. They quickly retreated back behind the corner.
"They've occupied the tunnels already?!" Lily said to the others in a loud whisper. "We don't have much time! Steinbrecher's already down here, and he could use his semblance at any moment!"
"I agree," Colby replied. "But we should also let Ganbaatar know what's going on down here. If the Red Fang is down here, then the attack on the surface is probably going to start any minute now." He pulled out his scroll and called the cyborg commander.
"The Red Fang are here!" He told Ganbaatar. "They've already occupied the tunnels under the school. Steinbrecher's down here, and I don't know how long we have before he destroys this place! And if he's down here, the Red Fang's main force will probably be ready to attack the school at any time."
"This is an unfortunate turn of events," the cyborg replied calmly. "I'll tell my forces to prepare for an imminent attack. You need to get to Steinbrecher as soon as you can and stop him. Do whatever it takes to reach him in time."
"Understood, sir," Colby replied before hanging up. "Crud," he told the others. "I don't think there's any way past these guys other than to blast our way through them."
"Then that's what we'll do," Flynt replied. "Remember, we have the element of surprise. On the count of three, we'll go out there and catch them off guard. Ready? One…"
"Two…" Colby replied nervously.
"Three!" Hathor shouted out. She put her axe in gun mode and jumped out from cover, firing at various Red Fang grunts in the tunnel. Colby opened fire with his tomahawks' gun forms as well. Flynt attacked the enemies with his saxophone, which functioned in a manner similar to Autumn's guitar. It used sound waves to attack the enemies. The Red Fang grunts were completely caught off guard, and were eliminated in no time.
"Alright," Kobalt said to everyone. "Let's keep going. We need to stop Steinbrecher, and he has to be down this way."
"Yes, but be careful," Lily replied. "My semblance calculates a very high probability that the next enemies we face won't go down so easily."
"Whatever we face ahead, we'll get through it!" Neon shouted. "Now come on! Our city is counting on us!" She rode ahead on her roller skates, and the others followed her.
Outside Atlas Academy…
Ganbaatar's forces were struggling to prepare their defenses for the expected Red Fang attack. The soldiers and huntsmen in the school were scrambling to get the defenses ready, knowing that the enemy could strike at any second. According to the document that Hathor had retrieved from the Red Fang's hideout, Ares Vesa would be leading the Fang's main force. Autumn and Ouranos didn't know anything about Ares' fighting capabilities, but they suspected that he must have been a capable fighter if he managed to rise to the top of the Red Fang's leadership. Leaving the main faction of the White Fang to join an offshoot must have been a huge leap of faith for those who joined him. They must have had great faith in his fighting skills and his ability to carry out his objectives. If they were right, then the good guys were in for a tough battle.
The two members of Team COAL were helping Ganbaatar set up a barrier for the troops to hide behind as they fired at the enemy. "The General says you two were exceptional hunters," the commander told them. "He said you two helped defend Beacon, among other things. So you have experience in this kind of battle?"
"Yes," Ouranos told him. "Not only did we help defend Beacon, but I helped defend Haven Academy from the Isatari bandits in Haven just a few days ago."
"So, Helen finally decided to attack that place with her army of savages," Ganbaatar replied. "I knew it was just a matter of time. Especially with the White Fang trying to blow the place up and the mysterious deaths of so many hunters. But judging by the fact that you're alive, you must have been able to hold them off. If Helen had won, you would be dead right now."
"We sure did," Ouranos answered. "And Helen was killed. But at such a heavy cost…"
"Victory can be costly," Ganbaatar explained. "But you must be willing to do whatever is necessary in order to achieve victory. Especially now. The Grimm horde that is preparing to attack Atlas may be the largest ever seen in all of Remnant's history."
"We understand," Autumn told him. "We'll give it everything we have. Atlas will not fall while my teammates and I are here!"
"Good," Ganbaatar replied. If Autumn could see behind his mask, she would see him smiling. "But we need to get back to work. The Red Fang could be here any minute-"
Just then, his words were cut off by sounds of gunfire coming from one of the streets in front of Atlas Academy. An Atlesian soldier ran up to him.
"They're here!" He shouted in a frightened voice.
"Alright," Ganbaatar replied as he pulled out his weapon, a massive sword. "We will deal with them." Autumn and Ouranos drew their own weapons, and the three of them rushed to the front lines to deal with the advancing enemy. When they arrived, they saw Atlesian soldiers shooting at the advancing Red Fang grunts from behind the barriers they had erected. The soldiers were taking down several grunts on their own, but they were heavily outnumbered. It was clear that if the hunters did not intervene, the soldiers would be overrun by the sheer number of enemies.
Autumn rushed into action, pulling out her guitar and unleashing a powerful sonic attack on the advancing enemy troops. Several were blown to the ground. As they started to get up, the hunters charged in to engage them close up. Autumn used her guitar as a melee weapon, striking down a Red Fang grunt while he was still dazed from her sonic attack. Two more rushed in with swords drawn. One of them struck at Autumn vertically, but she blocked it with the guitar and then. Took the opportunity to push back and hit him with her own weapon. He fell to the ground, and the other one attempted to stab at Autumn before she jumped out of the way and hit him with a horizontal strike from her guitar.
While this was taking place, Ouranos was dealing with some Red Fang soldiers himself. This included a dual axe wielder like Colby, who was able to move much faster than the blond boy. Ouranos struggled to keep up with him at first, until finally the faunus lunged too far in and left himself vulnerable to attack when his own strike missed. Ouranos took full advantage of this opportunity, striking him across the chest with his axe. Once he was dealt with, an enemy wielding a katana lunged at him. Ouranos jumped a few feet back, narrowly avoiding the strike, before the man tried to strike at him from above with the sword. Ouranos blocked it, then locked blades with him for a few seconds before kicking him to the ground and finishing him off with a strike from his axe.
Ganbaatar charged into battle while the other two hunters were fighting off the enemy, and impaled an enemy on his sword. The man fell to the ground, dead. Then, a female faunus wielding a spear struck at him. He dodged her thrust, then jumped over to the side before closing in before she could react and striking her down with his sword. Finally, a male faunus struck at him with his sword. He blocked the strike and hit back, and the two kept parrying and deflecting each other's strikes for a while before the cyborg managed to disarm his opponent. He then wrapped his arms around the faunus's throat, strangling him to death. All the other enemies had been defeated at this point, and Autumn and Ouranos looked on with horror. The soldiers barely reacted, as if they were used to the sight. Perhaps strangling was Ganbaatar's preferred method of killing his enemies. After a while, the Red Fang member's lifeless body fell to the ground.
Just then, another wave of enemies closed in. Along with the typical Red Fang grunts, there were a couple of lieutenants mixed in. But most concerning was the red-haired ram faunus who closed in on them. The hunters immediately recognized him as Ares Vesa.
"So, the leader of the Revolution has come to fight," Ganbaatar said mockingly. "I'll make this quick."
"Atlas Academy is as good as fallen now that I'm here." He drew a two-handed sword like Ganbaatar's. "Let's end this."
Meanwhile, at the military compound…
Penny unleashed a mighty gust of wind at the Ace Ops, forcing them to grab onto the railing or other objects in order to avoid being knocked over. Harriet used her semblance to run up against the wind, and Vine used his to jump behind Penny, who turned around to face him.
"You will NOT hurt my friends!" Penny proclaimed. The wind lightened up, allowing Penny to summon her swords to defend herself from Vine's semblance. Harriet jumped at Penny from behind, hitting her several times before she finally managed to hit Harriet in the chest with one of her own swords. However, Elm fired a rocket at her, which sent her flying several feet. Then, Marrow, Harriet, and Anne rushed in to face Penny up close. To distract them, Penny used her Maiden powers to create a cloud that unleashed a hail storm on the members of the Ace Ops. This distracted Marrow long enough for Penny to knock him over the railing, but Vine used his semblance to help him back up. The Ace Ops kept swinging their weapons at Penny, who did her best to dodge them but took a few hits.
The others watched from behind the electrified door. "Five versus one?" Weiss asked angrily. "Cowards!"
"Penny is the Winter Maiden," Ruby told Weiss. "I'm sure she can hold her own for a little bit."
The fight went on for quite a while, with Penny doing her best to fight back against the Ace Ops and her former teammate, but she was outnumbered. Finally, Marrow threw his boomerang at Penny. The boomerang missed, but then he snapped his fingers.
"Stay!" Marrow shouted. With that, Penny was suddenly and completely paralyzed. She could not fight back at all, and she fell to the ground.
While this was happening, Nora walked over to the electrified door. "We have to get out there," she said to everyone. "Be strong…" She told herself as she pulled out her hammer. "And hit stuff…"
"Nora, wait!" Weiss shouted. But Nora shoved her hammer into the door's power supply, using her semblance to drain the electricity from the door. Her hair stood on end and pink streaks started to appear on her body, but she kept absorbing the electricity.
Meanwhile, the Ace Ops had Penny lying on the ground. Elm was about to put a pair of handcuffs on her.
"Hurry up, Elm!" Marrow yelled. "I can't-"
Just then, there was an explosion that blasted the Ace Ops back. Nora stumbled out the door, her upper body covered in electrical scars.
"That was pretty awesome!" She shouted before falling to the floor.
With Marrow's semblance no longer active, Penny was able to get up. "Nora!" She yelled as she went to help up Penny. Just then, the Ace Ops received an inaudible order from Ironwood through their comms.
"But General, we-" Harriet said in surprise.
"We understand, sir," Marrow replied.
The girls made one more attempt to push through. Penny launched her swords at Vine and Marrow, who managed to dodge them. Vine used his semblance to push Ruby, Weiss, and Blake over the edge, leaving Penny to fight Harriet alone. Harriet managed to grab one of Penny's swords, pulling it hard and snapping the string that connected it to Penny. Meanwhile, Ruby used her semblance to bring herself and her friends back up onto the walkway.
"Tch, let's go," Elm told the other Ace Ops. They all jumped over the walkway, leaving Team RWBY to wonder what had just happened. Later, they presented the sword that Harriet had stolen to General Ironwood, who was in a computer room and forcing Arthur Watts to work at a terminal for him at gunpoint.
"Good work," he told them. "You're dismissed."
Anne spoke up. "General, why'd you order us just to take Penny's sword? We need the Winter Maiden, not her weapon."
"Leave that to Dr. Watts over there."
Anne was a bit nervous at hearing that name. "A-are you sure we can trust him?"
"I'll keep him in line. Don't worry about catching Penny. You focus on preparing for the Grimm invasion.
Anne wasn't exactly sure what Watts was going to do, but she knew it wasn't going to be good. Watts was going to do something to hurt Penny, and Anne knew it. Though Penny had betrayed Atlas, she was still Anne's teammate and Anne didn't want her to be harmed. Remembering that Penny would head to Amity next, Anne went to the hangar and stole an airship to fly to Amity against Ironwood's orders. She would try her hardest to convince Penny to come back to Atlas peacefully before Watts could harm her.
Meanwhile, under Atlas Academy…
Colby, Lily, Hathor, and Team FNKI fought their way through the tunnels, encountering many Red Fang members along the way. Colby and Lily were quite impressed with the skills of the Team FNKI members. Flynt's weapon blasted away everything in front of him, and Neon's roller skates made her very hard to hit. They were also quite impressed with Kobalt's hand-to-hand fighting skills. His enemies were armed with guns, swords, clubs, spears, axes, and many other weapons, yet he was able to take them down with his bare hands. Ivori also proved to be quite tough with his whip. He was able to take down many enemies at once with a swing, and his lightning-quick reflexes allowed him to deflect bullets. Many Red Fang who attempted to fight him ended up being hit with their own bullets.
Finally, they reached the lowest point of the mine where Steinbrecher and his toughest men were waiting for them. The former Atlesian general turned to face them.
"Team FNKI…" He said when he saw them. "I should have known Ironwood would send you. You all made quite a name for yourselves during the Vytal Tournament." Then, he turned to Colby, Lily, and Hathor. "And who are you three?"
"Did you seriously just ask me that?" Colby asked in an irritated tone. "I'm Colby Castanho, the Gray Lightning!"
"Doesn't ring any bells," Steinbrecher replied in a bored tone.
"What do you mean you haven't heard of the Gray Lightning?"
"Oh, I think I remember you now. You lost to Sun Wukong in the Doubles Round." He turned to Hathor. "And you. You look like a younger version of Helenium Isatari. But that doesn't matter now. None of you will survive this fight. I will defeat you, and with the power of my semblance, Atlas Academy will fall. The workers will rise up, and Atlas will be free."
"But there are so many innocent people living in Atlas," Lily answered.
"Hardly innocent. Atlas is home to the rich bastards who murdered my dear wife and framed me for it! I rotted in prison for years because they didn't like my message to the people. Well now, they will pay for their greed."
"Do you really think allying with Salem will help? Even if you succeed, she will destroy your new workers' paradise. She's determined to destroy humanity, and she will throw your life away as soon as she's done using you."
"Enough!" Steinbrecher replied angrily as he pulled out his weapon, a mace. "I will kill you all and bring about our new world." He pointed at the hunters with his mace. "Attack!"
The Red Fang members charged forward with their weapons drawn. Flynt unleashed a sonic blast from his saxophone, knocking a few of them over. Several grunts stayed down, and Flynt went in with Neon to deal with them up close. Flynt's weapon was primarily for ranged combat, but he was able to hold his own against several enemies at once. Meanwhile, Neon rode around on her skates, striking several enemies with her nunchaku. She was very fast on her roller skates and evaded several enemy attacks as she danced around her enemies and hit them whenever she could.
Kobalt, Ivori, and Hathor dealt with the lieutenants. One approached Kobalt and swung his sword at the boy, who quickly jumped over to the left and punched him to the ground before finishing him off with some kicks. Another charged at him from behind, but Ivori struck at him with his whip, stunning him and allowing Kobalt to take him down. While all of this was going on, Hathor was facing a lieutenant who dual wielded axes. The hunters were all impressed at her abilities, as she was able to take on a grown man all by herself. She activated her semblance, which greatly increased her speed and allowed her to hit him with a lightning-fast flurry of attacks, taking him down quickly.
Colby and Lily faced Steinbrecher himself. He pointed his mace at Colby and pressed a button on it, firing a bullet at him. Colby deflected the bullet with one of his axes and laughed.
"A mace hand cannon?! How original. My great grandpa used a weapon like that during the Great War. So, you decided that since you couldn't beat the huntsmen of Vale, you would copy us?"
"Mantle only lost because it was run by weak, decadent capitalists," Steinbrecher replied. "They had no fighting spirit, and saw others as their pawns. But no more. The new land we build will be ruled by the workers and their unbreakable resolve to free the world from scum like you!"
"You're completely delusional," Lily said mockingly. "Let's finish this, Colby!"
Meanwhile, outside Atlas Academy…
Autumn, Ouranos, and Ganbaatar dealt with Ares Vesa and the Red Fang troops who were supporting him. Autumn let out a sonic blast from her guitar, which took care of many of the grunts. One of the two lieutenants who went with Ares charged at Autumn, swinging an axe at her from above. She blocked it, and then countered by striking at him from the right. He jumped out of the way and then made another horizontal strike toward her before she jumped behind him and hit him with another sonic attack, smashing him into a nearby wall. He did not get up, and Autumn assumed he was either dead or unconscious.
Ouranos dealt with a chainsaw-wielding lieutenant, who swung his chainsaw at the boy horizontally. He ducked under it and hit the lieutenant from underneath, sending him back a few feet. Before Ouranos could follow up with another attack, he blocked the strike with his chainsaw and attempted to push back. However, Ouranos activated his strength semblance and used it to overpower the faunus and kick him to the ground before finishing him off with his axe.
Ganbaatar fought with Ares while this was going on. They traded blows for quite a while, and the terrorist leader seemed to be the first enemy to give the cyborg much of a challenge. He landed a good hit on Ganbaatar, knocking him to the ground. But before he could follow up, the cyborg rolled out of the way and managed to hit Ares with a good horizontal strike. The two of them blocked, parried, and dodged each other's attacks for a while, but Ganbaatar was ultimately victorious. He broke down Ares' aura and knocked the ram faunus back a few feet. The other enemies had also been dealt with by this time.
"This isn't over!" Ares told him with a wicked grin. "For you see, this attack was only a diversion. By this time, Steinbrecher should be activating his semblance, thus shattering the foundation of Atlas Academy and this wretched floating rock. Farewell, capitalist scum!"
With that, Ares started to run away. The three hunters started to pursue him, but a group of Red Fang grunts came in from another street to cover Ares' retreat. They were dealt with quickly, but Ares was out of sight by the time they were defeated.
"Damn it, he got away!" Autumn shouted in frustration.
"I hope our friends below have dealt with Steinbrecher," Ouranos added before contacting them over their comms. "Guys, what's your status? Have you apprehended Steinbrecher yet?"
Under Atlas Academy…
"On it!" Lily replied as she and Colby were fighting Steinbrecher. Colby was faster than the ex-general, but he was able to put up quite a solid defense with his mace. He crossed blades with Colby before knocking him several feet back. But before he could follow up on it, Lily crossed blades with him.
"Now, Colby!" Lily shouted. Colby activated his semblance, turning himself into a literal lightning bolt and knocking Steinbrecher to the ground. Steinbrecher panted as the two approached him. By this time, Hathor and Team FNKI had dealt with the other enemies.
"It's over, Steinbrecher," Lily told him.
"Go ahead and kill me!" He shouted defiantly. "You may be able to kill me, but you can never kill our revolutionary spirit! The rise of the proletariat is inevitable. You might have delayed it, but nothing can stop it."
"Steinbrecher," Lily told addressed him sternly. "Look at what you've done. You've brought war and suffering to a kingdom that already stands on the brink of destruction."
"It's only because of the greed of the bourgeois that the kingdom found itself like this to begin with!"
"That may be so, but you aren't making it any better. You claim to support the people. If you truly wish to help the people, you will end this pointless fighting."
"They killed my wife and framed me for it!"
"And I'm so sorry they did that to you. But this fighting won't bring her back. What would she have wanted?"
"I…very well," he said in a defeated tone. "I surrender."
"Good," Lily said. "Now come with us."
"Am I still under arrest?"
"A lot of innocents died because of you. You'll have to pay the penalty for your crimes, but you're still doing the right thing by surrendering."
"Alright. Take me to jail."
They handcuffed him and brought him up to the surface, where the Atlesian military took him into custody. There, they rejoined their counterparts.
"That was some good fighting, Teams COAL and FNKI," Ganbaatar told them. "Now that Atlas is safe, we'll need to report back to General Ironwood. He's at the military compound. I've arranged for an airship to take us there."
"Alright," Colby replied. "Let's go."
The airship arrived, and the members of COAL and FNKI boarded it along with Hathor and Ganbaatar. They took off, and the members of COAL hoped that Ironwood hadn't had a chance to hurt Penny while they were gone…