RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and created by the late and great Monty Oum.

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Now it's important to know that this chapter and the next three will all be happening at the same time. This is the beginning of a five part Battle of Haven, first up: Ashe and Ozpin.

RWBY: Destiny of Remnant

Chapter 16: The Battle of Haven Part I: Vendettas

Ashe glared at the man who had taken away his lover, the man who had taken his only shot at a good life away. He hated this man as much as he hated Salem. It had been five years since he had last seen this man and to be honest he needed to a way to vent out his anger. This was the best way imaginable.

Jude smiled darkly at Ashe as the two circled each other. Despite his initial memory loss after he had been revived by Salem's underlings he soon recalled what had happened to him and who had thrown him to the Grimm. Jude hated Ashe just as passionately, he had been waiting for this for a very long time.

"So, how exactly did she save you? I mean, not everyone can be ganged up by a Grimm horde and come out looking like you do." Ashe said as he kept his hand on his shotgun.

"Oh, trust me when I say I didn't make it out unharmed... in fact quite the opposite." Jude said as his hand transformed into the sharp hook. "I not fully human anymore."

"You never were. You were always a freak on the inside, Jude." Ashe snapped.

"Ashe... you have no idea how long I have yearned for this. I have wanted to crush your skull and gut you like a fish for the past five years. I have envisioned it nearly every night." Jude said.

"You would have the sickest wet dreams." Ashe joked.

Jude actually laughed and said "You know Ashe, the strange thing is I never even wanted it to go the way it did. I explicitly told my men not to harm any of the villagers, I did not want to risk damaging any potential business deals but when your priest friend... Dono?"

"His name was Deno." Ashe corrected.

"Yes him, anyway when he tried to approach the old estate where I had set up shop the guards on duty were drunk and not the brightest of individuals. I assure you I was going to punish them for killing your friend but... your little rampage forced my hand. I decided that since you had turned the village against me completely I needed to make an example out of you. If it any consolation I would have taken your life over that lovely Mila's any day." Jude said, grinning as he saw Ashe's eyes fill with hate.

"Don't you dare speak of her to me!" Ashe screamed.

"Oh I think I will. You see, if she had the right idea she would have let you take your punishment. If you had submitted to me you and she would have had a happily ever after... working for me of course. But I think either way I'd have... made her mine." Jude taunted.

Ashe fired off his shotgun and blasted Jude down.

"Oh! What? Raw nerve?" Jude joked as Ashe lifted Jude up by his shirt collar and slammed his fist into Jude's face.

"She would never be yours!" Ashe yelled as he began to punch Jude over and over again, getting nothing out of the former drug lord but demented laughs.

"Not willingly, no... but then again she couldn't deny me if I were to reduce her to a mind broken shell of a woman, nothing but my sex slave!" Jude said, knowing he was pushing Ashe further and further.

Ashe screamed out as he hauled Jude up to his legs and let out a furious barrage and punches and kicks. He cupped his hands together and slammed them down on Jude's head and followed it up with a mighty "Haakskeekah!"

Jude was sent flying backwards, crashing into the wall near Mercury's out cold form. Jude looked up and grinned. "Okay Ashe, my turn." He said as his arm transformed into a gun, similar to how Penny's did.

Ashe's eyes widened and he muttered "Oh shit."

Jude rapidly fired at Ashe twice. Ashe managed to avoid the first blast but the second scored a direct hit. He fell onto his back as Jude began running towards him, his metal fist glowing. Jude jumped up and came down fist first, aiming for Ashe's head but Ashe used the extra power that the Aura Crystal had given him to roll out of the way. Jude's fist slammed onto the ground, creating a spider web crack in the concrete. Ashe took advantage of how close Jude's head was to the ground and kicked his foot into Jude's face, making his stagger backwards.

Ashe jumped up and was about to open up another barrage of punches on Jude before he fired his Dust ammunition into Ashe, blowing the Guerrilla Hunter down. Jude transformed his hand back to its normal form as he strolled over to Ashe, whistling a little tune as he did so. He grabbed Ashe by the back of the neck and slammed him face first into an elevator door that Ashe had not noticed before. Ashe tried to shoot his enemy with the shotgun but Jude tore it out and Ashe's hands and tossed it into the elevator as it opened up.

"Let's take this fight elsewhere." Jude said as his arm transformed into a blade. Ashe took out his sword and the two went at it, their blades clashing a total of eleven times before Ashe managed to jump up and slammed his elbow into Jude's face. It did disorientate Jude but Ashe noticed that the man's head was a bit harder than a human's head should be.

Jude snarled as his arm turned back to normal. He jumped to the ground, held up by his hands and kicked Ashe in the chest like a horse. The kick sent Ashe into the elevator, flat on his back again.

Ashe groaned, despite the power he felt from it whatever the crystal had given him didn't seem to be doing much. Jude walked into the elevator as the doors closed. Ashe got up, crouching.

"Going down?" Jude quipped.

"No, but you are!" Ashe cried. He jumped as hard as he could, his Semblance powering him. He jumped out of the emergency exit hatch and onto the top of the elevator where he drew out his sword and slashed the cable, releasing the elevator.

"No!" Jude yelled as he fell with the elevator as Ashe held onto the dangling cable.

Ashe watched as the lift crashed to the bottom of the shaft, sending up a cloud of dust that shrouded Jude from Ashe's sight. When the dust cleared Ashe saw that Jude wasn't there, no body or anything. Ashe knew he was not nearly lucky enough for the fall to kill that sick bastard so he'd have to pursue.

He let go of the cable and used his coat as a parachute, falling down not gracefully at all. He landed roughly on top of the elevator, half expecting it to give out on him. He looked into the lift and sure enough Jude was gone with the door wide open. Ashe hopped down and reclaimed his shotgun. He reloaded his weapon and put it away, as he knew he'd have to take in the fact that he was likely facing two directions, both of which Jude could ambush him from.

He took out his pistols and held his arms out in both directions. "Okay Jude, left or right, which is it?" Ashe asked himself as he ran out into the hallways and fired off three rounds from each gun into the opposite ends of the hallway. After he did so he could see it was an idiotic waste of ammo as Jude wasn't in either direction.

"Okay Jude, you're not one to run and hide so which way did you go?" Ashe whispered to himself.

All of a sudden a painful force smashed into Ashe's head from behind. Ashe dropped his guns and fell to the ground, his head throbbing in pain as Saul Jude jumped down from the ceiling. He had been hiding above the ceiling tiles, next to the hall's pulley system waiting for Ashe to, predictably, become stumped.

"Left or right? Ashe, you lack imagination!" Jude said as he knelt down, rolled Ashe over and began assaulting him with swift but strong punches. Turned Ashe over again and got up as he grabbed Ashe's leg. He slammed one foot onto the small of Ashe's back to keep him pinned down as he pulled Ashe's leg, forcing Ashe to scream in pain as he could feel his bones being pulled.

Jude looked on with a serene smile as he stopped pulling Ashe's leg and instead began to spin around, pulling Ashe with him. Soon Ashe was hovering off the ground as Jude twirled like a tornado only to stop suddenly and release Ashe who flew into the wall and collided with it very painfully.

Ashe tried to pull out his sword or his gun but Jude grabbed him by the hair, pulled him over and slammed him into the wall on the other side of the hallway. Ashe moaned in pain as he forced his arms to push his torso up, he saw Jude was enjoying this.

"This is too easy Ashe, come on! Fight back!" Jude demanded as he kicked Ashe in the chin, knocking onto his other side.

"You want it, you got it!" Ashe yelled as he whipped out his switchblade and slammed it into Jude's leg, making the man cry out in pain. Ashe took his chance now and forced himself to stand up where he began a series of twelve punches to the torso as well as three kicks to the stomach and one strong fist to the face before he let out another "Haakskeekah!" that sent Jude flying down the hallway.

"That good enough for you, asshole?!" Ashe yelled as he grabbed the chain on the pulley system and yanked it down. He also made sure to recollect his pistols for later, as he knew he'd need them.

Jude laughed as he tried to get up. "Look at you go! That's more like it!" he said as he pulled the small knife out of his leg. Ashe decided to give him more and he used the chain as a whip, slamming it into Jude's back six times.

"I hope this hurts, I've been keeping this inside of me for half a decade!" Ashe yelled.

"It does hurt and I love it!" Jude yelled as got ready to make his move.

Ashe shook his head in disgust as he slammed the chains down once more only for Jude's hand to transform into hook mode and catch the chains. He jumped up and ran right into Ashe's face, headbutting him. Ashe cried out as he dropped the chains but Jude took full advantage of them and used the long chain to make a metal noose and wrapped it around Ashe's neck and kicked his legs out from behind the knees. He also made sure that Ashe's hands were incapacitated as he transformed his hand into a buzzsaw, sliced off a part of the chain and used it to bind Ashe's hands.

"Let's go Ashe." Jude said as he began dragging Ashe by the chains.

Ashe struggled as hard as he could to get out but it was useless.

"What are you going to do to me?" he asked in a choked voice.

"Hang you up, just like last time. And just like last time I hope that someone you care about tries to save you so I can take them from you!" Jude said as he dragged Ashe down the hallway to a large underground chamber. He noticed the desperation on Ashe's face, how hard he was trying to get out.

"I hope it's that Arc boy, you do seem to be rather fond of him." Jude said, getting just the reaction he wanted.

"If you hurt any of them I'll send you straight down to hell!" Ashe screamed.

"Ashe, you know I've already been there... and I loved it." Jude said as he hauled Ashe up and tossed him into a stack of crates that had been left in the hallway. Jude pinned Ashe down with one hand and pressed his robotic one up to Ashe's face, the sharp hook delicately tracing around Ashe's features.

"You know Ashe; I think I get it now. The reason you care for Arc so much is because he is who you want to be while I am who you are afraid you truly are."

Ashe responded by spitting blood into Jude's face and hissing out a "Fuck you." He then felt the power of the crystal surging through him. "Better late than never." Ashe muttered as he used this new strength to rip through the chains that kept his hands together. He jumped up and spin-kicked Jude in the head, causing him to slam into the wall.

He grabbed Jude and slammed his knee into Jude's stomach. He tried to punch Jude in the face but Jude blocked it with his arm that was still flesh and bone. Ashe jumped back and then jumped up and slammed his fist into Jude's head. Jude ran forward a bit and turned to blast two shots at Ashe, neither of which hit.

Ashe ran after Jude and sucker-punched him, but Jude retaliated big time. He got behind Ashe as he did so he whammed his natural fist on Ashe's head, wrapped his robotic arm around Ashe's torso and jumped over Ashe, kneeing him in the head as he did so. He landed on his feet, grabbed Ashe's arm and pulled it away, kicking Ashe in the hip, dislocating Ashe's shoulder.

Ashe was in a lot of pain right now but his aura was doing its job and was healing him as much as it could. He knew he could keep this up for a long time and he didn't have a lot of time as it was.

Jude lunged for Ashe but the Guerrilla Huntsman met him and the two began wrestling for dominance. Ashe struggled to get his hand near Jude's face but Jude was stronger than he remembered, but then again five years had obviously changed both of them.

"You won't win this, Ashe." Jude snarled.

"I probably won't but I don't really care as long as those kids will make it out." Ashe snapped as he tried to grab Jude's face.

"They'll die with you!" Jude yelled as he managed to overpower Ashe and slam him onto the floor. Ashe rolled out of the way to avoid being stomped on by Jude's foot. Ashe took out one of his pistols as Jude's arm turned back into the Dust cannon.

Ashe got the first shot off, hitting Jude's robotic shoulder. The impact of the blast forced Jude to cry out in pain but he still fired his blast as Ashe. The powerful Dust blast hit Ashe dead on and sent him flying several meters down the hall and onto his back.

As Ashe got up he saw Jude was charging at him like a wild bull, blood lust in his eyes. He took out his shotgun but he couldn't aim it before Jude slammed into him and wrapped his arms around Ashe's torso, locking them together.

Jude ran down the hallway towards the door but Ashe had other plans. He slammed the butt of his shotgun into Jude's head and the force of the blow caused Jude just enough pain to lose his grip on Ashe who slammed one foot down on Jude's running feet, causing him to trip.

Ashe jumped clear and watched as Jude fell to the ground, skidding to a halt. He tried to get up but Ashe sent him flying with another blast of the Haakskeekah which slammed Jude into the door that ended the hallway. Ashe decided not to let up and blasted away at Jude with his shotgun until the clip was empty.

He waited for a few seconds to see if Jude would get up but he didn't. Ashe knew that this time he'd have to make sure that Jude would stay dead. Once he got close enough he could see that Jude's aura was healing him so he was still alive so Ashe decided he'd put Jude down here and now like the rabid dog he was. He reloaded his shotgun and was about to blow Jude's head off when he noticed something strange about Jude's scalp; a spot where he had been hit was torn and revealed metal under the skin.

"What the hell did they do to you?" Ashe asked aloud.

Suddenly Jude's robotic hand shot up and grabbed Ashe's throat. Jude's eyes snapped open and looked at Ashe with a hateful glare. He stood up, lifting Ashe off the floor as he squeezed his old enemy's throat.

"You did this to me! You threw me to those Grimm; this is how Mistress Salem saved me! I am going to take my revenge now!" Jude ranted.

Jude tossed Ashe through the door and he skidded on the floor until he crashed into a steel railing. Ashe opened his eyes to the sound of guns cocking and he saw about a dozen guards all aiming their rifles at him.

"Stand down! He's mine!" Jude roared at the guards who all obediently nodded and lowered their weapons, seemingly ignoring the presence of the two fighters to return to work.

Ashe got up and looked around to see a giant underground cavern, a platform on each side connected by a catwalk. Below dozens of Grimm Knights and human servants of Salem worked hard, transporting inactive Grimm Knights and caged, sedated Grimm. Jude's arm turned into a blade and he attempted to slam it into the guardian of the Aura Crystal but Ashe unsheathed his sword and blocked the strike.

"Mind telling me what's going on?" Ashe asked as he backed up onto the catwalk, held up by some support beams from the ground bellow. He twirled the sword around in his hands to show he was ready for a duel.

Jude laughed as he struck again but Ashe easily parried it. Ashe went further on to the catwalk as Jude walked forward.

"Do you really think we can stay here? Even with Ante's influence over the police we won 't be able to cover this up." Jude said as he parried two of Ashe's strikes and pressed forward, forcing Ashe back.

"Well at the very least we've gotten on Salem's nerves." Ashe joked as he walked backwards, blocking strikes from Jude.

"Oh yes, I think she and Lady Cinder will be most pleased once I get you out of our way." Jude said as he spun around to gain momentum and blew a powerful strike into Ashe's sword, nearly making Ashe lose his grip.

Jude kicked up and scored a hit on Ashe's chest, knocking Ashe onto the railing. Ashe dropped himself down to avoid being struck by Jude's blade. Ashe decided to retreat to the other end of the bridge as Jude began to give chase.

"Running away? That's a rather cowardly thing to do." Jude said.

"Running? This is gaining an advantage." Ashe said as he made it to the other end, an elevator being the only near means an exit. Ashe created an aura shield with his semblance to protect himself from a Dust blast from Jude's cannon. Ashe took out his pistol again and tried to shoot at his enemy but the sound of the elevator doors opening grabbed his attention.

"Freeze!" yelled a human guard who had just stepped out of the elevator. Ashe whipped around and shot the man in the head. Another guard ran out of the elevator, looking rather baffled and confused before Ashe blasted him three times in the chest. Ashe jumped to avoid another blast from Jude and he retreated into the elevator to take cover behind a large container on a cart the guards were taking.

Jude stopped where he was, looking a bit nervous and Ashe saw this.

"Why is he hesitating?" Ashe muttered to himself before he noticed that the container was marked with the words 'WARNING! Hau Bakuhatsu: Extremely Dangerous. Highly Flammable.'

"Holy shit, I thought this crap was banned." Ashe said aloud. He remembered hearing about this stuff ten years ago when a Schnee Dust Ship carrying a ton of it malfunctioned and crashed, but the true devastation was what the Hau Bakuhatsu did: devastate five city blocks and kill over two hundred people. Naturally the councils of the four kingdoms agreed to ban it from being used so it was sealed up in secure sites. Ashe knew he shouldn't be surprised that Cinder had somehow gotten her hands on some. He looked to see Jude had taken advantage of his distraction to get closer.

"What are we to do? Even I'm not crazy enough to fight with that substance around." Jude said.

Ashe smirked and said. "Then let's take it out of the equation." He grabbed the cart and pushed it out of the elevator. Jude grinned and ran into the elevator, crashing into Ashe and pinning him against the wall.

"Let's continue this up stairs." Jude said as he pushed the button. Ashe and Jude began wrestling as the doors closed and the lift began to ascend up.

Jude kneed Ashe in the gut and smashed his metal hand onto Ashe's back, slamming Ashe down to the floor. Jude pressed both his arms on the two walls beside him to lift himself up and kick Ashe in the face five times before Ashe jumped up, grabbed Jude, and threw him to the other side. Ashe threw himself into Jude and began to savagely beat Jude, growling like a feral animal as he did so.

"You took her away from me, you son of a bitch! I'm gonna break your fucking neck, hang you up, and leave you for the birds and the bugs!" Ashe yelled as he slammed Jude to the floor, the fight making the elevator shake and buck. Ashe put every ounce of his fury into these strikes, his basic primal rage slammed into Jude without mercy.

As they reached the top of the shaft the doors opened just as Jude's arm began to glow again and smashed Ashe in the chest, throwing Ashe out of the elevator. The tired warrior could see that they were in an upper level of the factory's hangar.

Ashe whipped out both of his pistol and turned to face Jude who was coming out of the lift.

"Come now, Ashe, let's do this like men." Jude said as he took up a battle-ready stance

"Fuck that." Ashe said as he unloaded his pistols into Jude, blasting away without a care in the world until Jude fell to the floor.

"Stay dead, asshole." Ashe muttered.

"Stop right there!" yelled a voice. Ashe looked up to see four guards approaching him.

"Oh I am getting really tired of this shit!" Ashe cried as he took out his shotgun and began blasting the guards away.

Once he was done shooting down the guards he noticed some ships in the hangar bay that were preparing to take off and they were full on attack ships by the looks of them. He knew that most of the airships they had faced so far were just transport ships armed with guns but if real, proper attack ships got out Jaune's sisters in the White Fang ship could be in trouble.

Ashe saw them begin to lift off and slowly approach the open hangar bay door. He knew he had to stop them before they got out so he ran to a catwalk above and waited until the leader was in firing range and he had luckily gone unnoticed due to all the noise of the hangar.

Once the lead attack ship was close enough he took out a small explosive he had been keeping on hand just in case things got hectic and right now it was his only hope of stopping these ships from taking off.

He fired at the cockpit with his shotgun, blasting it open.

"What the hell?!" shouted the startled pilot.

"Catch." Ashe deadpanned as he pulled out the pin and tossed the grenade into the pilot's lap. Then he ran as fast as he could.

He could just barely hear the pilot's panicked cry of fear before he went up in a mighty explosion. This created a domino effect as the ship grounded to a halt and the ones behind it began crashing into it, creating a massive pile up that spread explosions all around the hangar.

Ashe looked down to the hangar floor, watching as engineers, flight crews, and pilots tried to outrun the explosions only to be swallowed up by fire. He honestly regretted what he had just done, but he knew it was for the greater good.

"Is this what a good man does, Ashe?" asked the voice of Saul Jude.

Ashe turned to see Jude appear through the flames that had engulfed the catwalk, the larger man seemingly just ignoring the fire. Ashe was completely and utterly stumped as to how Jude was still alive, he had emptied every round his pistols were carrying into the bastard and he seemed to be alright.

"Look at those men and women. You killed them all. Some hero you are." Jude said accusingly.

"I never claimed to be one." Ashe said.

Jude scoffed and said "I recall that you did all those years ago, you tried to be a hero but look where that got Mila."

Ashe screamed in anger as he aimed his shotgun for Jude's head and fired, but the former drug lord dodged the blast easily and smashed into Ashe and the two men fell onto the main platform that connected to the wall.

Ashe was utterly fed up with Jude. He currently wanted two things right now; for his young friends to make it out of here happy and to see Saul Jude dead. He was very determined to get what he wanted.

Ashe and Jude wrestled with each other and fire continued to engulf the hangar. Ashe tried to smash his fist into Jude's chest only for the madman to catch Ashe's arm and slam his free hand into Ashe's face, following it up with a kick to the stomach that knocked Ashe to the ground.

Ashe saw that Jude's arm had transformed back to its blade form and he was preparing to stab Ashe but the guardian quickly took out his sword and parried it. He got up and the two resumed their duel, walking up a flight of stairs and then onto another, very high catwalk that hung dangerously over the inferno.

"You brought this upon yourself Ash! You always have! If you had just waited a bit those guards would have been punished for murdering that holy man but you were too damn impatient, your attack on me forced my hand and in the end it cost you the one you loved. It's your own damn fault Ashe!" Jude yelled as she slammed his blade into Ashe's sword.

The catwalk they fought on shook as the fire beneath them rose up.

"You made me into what I am!" Jude yelled as he tried to slam his blade into Ashe's arm, aiming to sever it, but Ashe was too fast and Jude's blade instead hit the pole that held the small bridge up.

Ashe noticed how the catwalk shook from this and it gave him an idea.

"Hang on, asshole. We're goin' for a ride!" Ashe cried as he spun around with his sword out, slashing more poles in half. Jude's eyes widened as he could feel the bridge they were on get weaker, the lack of support causing it to slack.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Jude demanded.

"Taking us both down. Haakskeekah!" Ashe screamed, the powerful blast of aura sent Jude to the other end of the catwalk, landing hard on his back but the impact of his crash made the bridge disconnect from the platform.

Ashe grinned as he slashed down some more of the poles, making the bridge slacken even more. Jude realized what Ashe was doing and transformed his robotic hand back into its natural form and grabbed on to the railings. Ashe noticed the uneasy look on Jude's face and couldn't help but enjoy it.

"I made you, you made me! You took everything away from me and made me into what I am! You took my Mila and our child!" Ashe ranted as he slashed another pole down.

"Your child? What are you on about?" Jude questioned.

"She was pregnant when you killed her!" Ashe screamed.

Then it happened; the catwalk gave in to their combined weight and the bridge fell down towards the spot where they had came in, polls being ripped out of the ceiling as it did so. Ashe grabbed on to the railings, hanging on for dear life as the catwalk swung over and slammed into the wall. Below him Jude let go and landed onto the floor but Ashe let go as well. He fell and landed roughly on his legs, the impact of the landing hurt like hell but he ignored the pain to keep fighting.

Jude transformed his arm back into cannon mode and said "If I had known she was with child I would have stabbed her in the gut instead of the heart!"

He tried to fire off his Dust cannon but Ashe plunged his sword forward and stabbed the cannon before it could go off, resulting in a painful backlash that knocked Ashe down and sent Jude into the wall.

Jude groaned in pain as he opened his eyes, only to see two legs in front of him. He looked up to see Ashe standing above him, shotgun ready to fire.

"It seems you are victorious." Jude said as he got up, glancing at his ruined Dust cannon arm.

"Yeah, time for you to go back to hell." Ashe said as he pulled the trigger but no shot came out. "Oh crap." He muttered as Jude smirked and rose up, his hand slowly turning into a hook once more.

"Looks like you're out of ammo, Ashe." Jude said with an evil smile.

"Well that's what swords are for." Ashe said as he threw down his gun, whipped out his sword and fueled his Semblance with pure rage to smash into Jude, ramming his blade right through the man's stomach.

Jude screamed out in pain as he felt the steel impale him, right now all he could feel was the pain from his stomach hammering through his body. Ashe slammed him into the wall, using the sword to pin him there.

Ashe released his sword and backed away to admire his handiwork. Jude's screams died down as his eyes glazed over, his breaths became shallow and brief, and his body stopped twitching.

Ashe pulled his sword out and sighed. This hadn't felt nearly as good or as triumphant as he thought it would have. He crouched down and looked into Jude's eyes, seeing no life in them. He was oh so tempted to reload his shotgun and blast Jude's head off to make sure he was dead but Ashe decided to let the fire finish his adversary off, right now he needed to get back to the Hau Bakuhatsu. Whatever Salem's other pawns were doing couldn't be good and he needed a way to stop them and lighting the relatively small batch of the extremely volatile explosive liquid up was a good way to cause one hell of a distraction. He went over to one of the guards he had blasted down earlier and began to take off the man's armor so he could disguise himself and go to work unnoticed.

He stepped into the elevator, now disguised as one of the guards, ready to give Salem one hell of a middle finger. The elevator door closed and the lift began to descend back down.

Jude's organic hand twitched and his eyes snapped wide open.

As Ashe and Jude had been fighting in the hangar another, much smaller confrontation had occurred.

Neo led the small group in the warren-like structure of the factory's smaller hallways.

"Why couldn't we just go out the way we came in?" Fox asked.

"Do you want to be spotted? I know a way out the side; we can surprise our enemy and get Ozpin to your ships unseen." Neo said as she strolled ahead.

Fox and Penny looked to each other, not entirely convinced of Neo's intentions but right now the best they could do was keep an eye on her and watch for anything suspicious.

"Where are all the guards?" Penny asked, curiously.

"Either running outside to join the battle or helping in transporting everything they can to the escape ship." Neo explained.

"Escape ship? Is there a way we can stop that?" Fox inquired, not wanting these terrorists to have even a remote chance of getting away.

"No, it's too massive and guarded by over a hundred Grimm Knights. Right now the best we can do is get out of here. I have no doubt Cinder will escape this but she will suffer an enormous set back, one that will force her to run and hide, maybe even upset Salem's plans enough to prevent whatever she has planned a few years from now." Neo said.

"She is right; Salem's plans will most certainly be upset by this battle. Hopefully enough for her to miss her deadline on the seventh millennium." Ozpin said.

"The seventh millennium?" Penny repeated.

"Yes, I don't want to clarify that right now as I don't think you'd be able to fully understand." Ozpin said.

Fox sighed and said "Right, but I'm just hoping we get the explanation to end all explanations when this is over. Seriously, I think I was able to follow the plot of a..."

Suddenly Penny cried out in shock as a man jumped out from behind a small, narrow passageway and wrapped his arm around her throat, while aiming a gun to her head.

Ozpin, Neo, and Fox all whipped around to see Norvik holding Penny hostage. Her arms were on his but she wasn't using her incredibly strong grip yet, she was waiting for the right moment.

"You." Ozpin hissed.

"Hello Ozpin." Norvik said as he pressed the gun to Penny's head.

"I was wondering where this creepy old bugger went to." Neo said as she prepared her umbrella for a fight.

"I simply needed a chance to get away and claim a life. Oh yes, William, I have killed once more. Yet another life you failed to save." Norvik taunted, his eyes wide with insanity and blood lust.

Fox was stumped, he had no idea what was going on anymore but it was obvious that this crazy old man was a threat but he wondered why Penny didn't just use her strength to take care of him but nonetheless he kept his blades ready for a fight.

"Let her go, this is between you and I." Ozpin said.

"I don't think so! You see; this is exactly why you are a failure Ozpin, no matter how hard you try, no matter how hard you fight, it will always come down to the same thing: innocent people, the people you care about die because you are a failure! This girl is nothing but another example of that fact!" Norvik ranted only for Penny's hands to crush the arm around her neck with an incredible grip.

"You have made a serious error." Penny said calmly as Norvik cried out in surprise.

"What in the name of...?!" Norvik tried to say before Penny grabbed his arm, lifted him over her head and slammed him to the ground, the gun sliding away from him for Ozpin to grab.

Norvik looked up to Penny as two of her swords came out of her back and gracefully came to her hands.

"I do not know who you are, but that was a bad mistake." She said.

"What the hell are you?" Norvik asked as he moaned in pain from her attack.

"I am Penny Polendina, which is all you need to know." She said with a playful smile on her face.

"Get up, Norvik. I am ending this right here, right now." Ozpin said.

Norvik laughed as he feebly stood up and slumped against the wall.

"Oh Ozpin, don't fool yourself. You failed to kill me forty-four years ago and that was after I ripped out your beloved's heart, boiled it, and ate it! Even if I die Ozpin you will forever be burdened by the..." Norvik stopped as his body began to shake and his eyes began to glow. "...w-w-what? What is this? What's happening to me?!" the old man asked.

Fox and Neo looked at each other, both shrugging in confusion. Even Penny looked creeped out by the motions the old man's body was making as his head began to shake rapidly from side to side.

Ozpin got a brief glimpse of Norvik's eyes and saw that they were no longer filled with that smug superiority, now they were filled with fear and confusion.

All of a sudden different voices began to emerge from Norvik's mouth, three of which Ozpin knew all too well.

"Shoot him, Ozpin! Shoot! Kill him! Kill him now and free us! KILL HIM!" screamed the voices of all of Norvik's past victims, including Ozpin's dead teammates.

Ozpin aimed the gun at Norvik's chest, his hands shaking slightly.

Then he heard the voice of the girl he had loved so long ago speak to him. "Free us William, kill him. Shoot him now. Please."

Ozpin screamed as he pulled the trigger, unleashing seven rounds into Norvik's chest. A bright light erupted from Norvik's body and over four dozen streams of what could only be described as pure light, possibly even aura itself shot out of Norvik's body and through the ceiling.

Fox, Neo, Ozpin, and even Penny all shielded their eyes until the light died down until only one small orb of light remained. They looked to see a pretty blonde woman with a smooth body and hazel eyes emerge from the orb, causing the orb's light to weaken somewhat.

"Daisy..." Ozpin said.

"Good job William, you made our team proud." She said as she faded away.

Another being stepped out of the orb, a strong young man with a cocky and proud grin.

"Zachery." Ozpin announced.

"Hey Will, you kicked his ass good. See you on other side someday buddy." His old teammate said as he faded away as well.

The orb of light finally dissipated as one final figure appeared, the pretty, shy looking redhead teenage girl who smiled at Ozpin with adoration.

"Rouge..." Ozpin said, tears in his eyes.

"You saved us from this monster William. Thank you." She said as she gracefully walked forward and planted a ghostly kiss on Ozpin's lips.

"Rogue... I...

The ghostly girl smiled and said "I know, and I love you too. We will be together someday William. Goodbye." And with that, she faded away like the others.

The hallway was silent except for Norvik's grunts of pain until Fox asked "Can someone please tell me what just happened?"

"Y-you took them from me!" Norvik rasped out. "They were mine! You..."

"Shut up." Ozpin snarled as he aimed the gun at the madman's head.

"Yes... do it. Stop the pain, end me. You know you want to. Take your revenge and end my suffering!" Norvik cried.

Ozpin glared at the older man and lowered the rifle. "No. Killing you now would be the easy way out and you do not deserve it. What you do deserve is to die here, alone and suffering, a slow and painful death is the only thing a sick monster like you needs." Ozpin said.

He looked to the three young people behind him and said "Let's get out of here."

As they walked away Penny asked "Mr. Ozpin, who was that man?"

Ozpin sighed sadly and answered "A monster from my past, Penny, and now he will never hurt anyone ever again."

All of a sudden a mighty blast interrupted them.

"Whoa, what the hell was that?!" Fox asked.

"We'll probably know once we're out of here, come on!" Neo said.

As they vanished from sight Norvik began crawling away, leaving a trail of blood behind. He refused to die like this.

Back down in the underground cavern the elevator finally reached its destination. Ashe stepped out and saw that, thankfully, the Hau Bakuhatsu had been left alone since he and Jude had left.

"Okay, gotta work fast if I'm gonna pull this off." he muttered as he took out another grenade and set the timer on it. The grenades he used had several settings; normal and timed, the dual use came in handy very often. Ashe pushed the cart containing the explosive substance onto the catwalk, unnoticed by the Grimm Knights below.

He could see a squad of the robotic soldiers pushing what seemed to be some sort of rolling hanging rack, as inactive Grimm Knights hung from rows.

'Good, I'll take a few of those fuckers out with me.' he thought as he waited for them to pass out of sight. Once they were gone the used all his might to lift the very heavy container of the railings and dropped it to the ground below. The container burst open, spilling a brownish-black liquid all over the floor that pooled out.

Ashe took out a grenade and set it to timed and set it to go off in one minute. He tossed it over the side and quickly retreated back to the elevator, as he wanted to be as far away from that tunnel as possible when it went off. It wouldn't be as powerful of a blast as the infamous accident that got the liquid explosive banned but it would do just enough to blow Salem's operations up in her face.

As the elevator lifted up Ashe began to consider what he had just done, some of those minions down there, be they guards or workers could be innocent people who were being forced to do this. It weighed heavily on Ashe's conscious to the point where he even briefly considered going back and turning the bomb off but he knew he had to let it blow.

The few dozen or so people down there were an acceptable sacrifice for the billions of lives he could save if he let it go off and the untold amount of people that would be born in the future if Salem's plans failed.

"Good of the many and all that crap." Ashe muttered as the elevator came to a stop. By now he had thirty seconds to find an exit and with the hangar in chaos he'd probably be able to find an easy exit via the hangar bay doors if he could bypass the flames.

The doors opened and Ashe was face to face with Saul Jude once again.

"Hello Ashe." Jude said as his arm transformed into a small stub with a whip coming out of it.

"How are..." Ashe tried to say before Jude grabbed him with the whip and pulled him in.

"I am very stubborn, Ashe. I won't die unless you go out with me." Jude said as he tightened the whip around Ashe's throat.

"You won't have to wait long for that! I'm making this place go out with a bang." Ashe growled as he tried to free himself from the cable around his neck.

"What do you mean by that?" Jude inquired.

"The Hau Bakuhatsu, I spilled it and dropped a timed grenade on it... one that'll go off in twenty-three seconds!" Ashe said

Jude's face looked shocked at first but it soon twisted into a sadistic smile.

"That's perfect! Wonderful! This is how I want it to happen, both of us die together!" Jude said ecstatically, "We all go leave this world in one massive fiery explosion! I'm the only one who's going to get what he wants tonight!"

"Not on your life!" Ashe yelled as he slammed his elbow into Jude's stomach four times, making Jude loosen his grip on Ashe's neck, giving Ashe the advantage he needed to free himself. He sliced off the whip with his sword and slashed Jude across the torso.

Jude cried out in pain as he took out his scroll, his robotic hand turning into the hook as he did so.

"Seal off the tunnels to the ship!" Jude said as he blocked a strike from Ashe. "You've already found it? Seal if off anyway! Who cares what happens to them? Seal the tunnels segment by segment so the ship will not be damaged!" Jude yelled before Ashe cut his scroll in half and followed it up by stabbing Jude in the organic shoulder.

"Ah! Son of a bitch, Ashe... you're darker than I thought. First you incinerate all those pilots and now everyone down there? I knew you had it in ya!" Jude mocked as he used his hook to wrap around Ashe's sword and rip it from his hands. He launched himself at Ashe, wrapping his hands around Ashe's throat and squeezed tight.

"I'm nothing like you!" Ashe hissed. He had to find a way to get rid of Jude, he only had about fifteen seconds left!

"Yes you are! Admit it! Confess!" Jude demanded.

Ashe closed his eyes and said "Okay... I confess."

Jude lightened his grip to let Ashe speak. "I'm a horrible person, a murderer, an asshole... but that doesn't mean I can't try to do better!" Ashe said as he pulled out one of his pistols and blasted Jude in the gut, forcing him off.

"Gah!" Jude cried in pain as he fell backwards.

Ashe grabbed Jude and flung him into the elevator, the impact of the crash made the elevator shake downwards, exposing just a little bit of the cable that held it. Ashe aimed his pistol at the cable and said "Welcome back to hell, Jude."

"No, wait!" Jude cried as he got up.

Ashe pulled the trigger.

The elevator fell with Jude screaming all the way.

Ashe knew he now only had about three seconds to get out so he got his sword and ran towards the end of the platform which faced the still open hangar doors and he put every ounce of aura he had left into one big jump.

As Ashe made his jump the explosions went off.

To Be Continued...

Next time: Saving Pyrrha. Expect it about Friday morning. Hopefully. Maybe.

In case you didn't notice the beginning notes the next three and a half chapters will be taking place all at the same time. So the explosions the begin at the end of this chapter won't really affect the events of those... promise.

I decided to cut chapter 16 into five parts to keep it simple, short, and so I can update more often. Also I guess my chapters are too long, so I decided to keep them shorter from now on... god help me do that.

May take a few days for the next bit as it will be difficult to write.