RWBY: Destiny of Remnant

by UGX7

In the wake of the fall Team RNJR sets out to bring Cinder Fall to justice while the new Fall Maiden overlooks her master's plan in Haven City. Meanwhile Weiss tries to help a friend, Yang struggles with the loss of her arm, and Blake deals with guilt over the White Fang. Meanwhile someone from Cinder's past returns and Salem's newest pawn rises. Arkos, WhiteRose, SunnyBees, Renora

42. Honor of the White Fang

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

Read, review, and tell me how I can improve, what you liked and what you didn't. Your feedback is appreciated, thank you! Thanks to all the reviewers, I appreciate all your kind words and thoughts. Seriously, you guys keep me going so share your thoughts. Please try to spread the word about this story so it gets more attention.

RWBY: Destiny of Remnant

Chapter 42: Honor of the White Fang

The R.V. kept moving through the forest as fast as it could while the Hunters-in-training kept shooting at the oncoming Beowolves, and taking the occasional shot at the ships through the treetops. They went over downed branches and rocks, over small hills and stumps, not stopping or slowing down even for an instant as they raced to the extraction point.

"How much farther do we have to go?" asked Yatsuhashi as he slammed Kyodiana Buredo out of the window to take out two Beowolves, slicing open the neck of one while the second lost its arm. The former fell off along with its head while the second one clung on, only to be forced off by Yatsuhashi's fist.

"We'll be there within the minute." Winter declared as she sliced a Beowolf who had tried to get in through the windshield in half while Penny kept her focus on driving.

"About time!" Yang cried as she blasted another Beowolf into dust.

Winter looked up into the sky and could see the ships were still there, engaged in dogfights with the White Fang's attack ships. She began to have doubts about their chances for escape, so she grabbed a radio and quickly talked into it; "This is Specialist Winter Schnee of the Atlas Military, Team Beacon and I need some help now! What is the situation up there?!"

"Specialist! We're getting shot up! We've already lost two of our escort ships and... ah! We're getting blitzed up ourselves!" cried the pilot of the pickup ship.

"Can you make it?" she asked.

"We'll try, are you in position?"

"Nearly... I can see it just up ahead!" Winter answered, seeing through the trees to a large clearing in the forest next to a cliff-side that looked over the nearby Vacuo jungle, one of many in the region.

"We'll get there and hold on! We'll get to the extraction point and get you out as best we can." said the pilot.

"Understood, have your escorts keep the fire off of you while you land to get us." she advised.

"Sound strategy but these White Fang pilots are fiercer than anticipated... we just lost another ship!" he cried.

"Just do it! We're here!" Winter exclaimed as the R.V. burst out of the forest and pulled into the clearing.

"Scarlet, keep firing on those ships, I'll give you a hand!" Coco ordered.

"You got it!" Scarlet replied from the turret as he once again began shooting at the drop-ships above while everyone else focused on taking out the Beowolves.

Penny brought the R.V. to a halt in the clearing with the other members of Team Beacon keep up the defense as hard as they could while Winter said into her radio "It is now or never, come down and get us out of here!"

"Copy that Specialist Schnee, we're coming for you now!" said the pilot.

"Keep firing everyone, they're coming for us but we need to be ready to run!" Winter ordered.

"Got it!" Coco said as she slung the duffle-bag that contained their clothes over her shoulders while she kept firing on the ships.

In the back Ruby saw Adam's ship hovering dangerously close to the trees and in the open, perfect for a shot. She switched to a heavy caliber of bullet, took aim at the windshield of the ship and fired, shattering the glass. "Got 'im!" she cheered.

But she hadn't; while the glass had been shattered Adam was just fine aside from a few scratches that his aura was easily healing. He glared down at Ruby and snarled loudly, something Ruby and Neptune did not miss.

"Uh... did he just growl at you?" Neptune asked, a little weirded out.

"He's crazier than I thought." Ruby said with a shrug, just as Adam fired at the trailer, blowing a hole in the roof. "Oh crud, come on!" she yelped to Neptune as they ran back to the front.

"Where's the ship?" Qrow asked as he shot a Beowolf's legs off. He could see Steppenwolffe in the treeline and could tell that the Grimm Commander was keeping his distance for a reason. He was probably afraid of Ruby's eyes, but there was also the possibility that he was waiting for the right moment to strike... like when they were out in the open trying to get to the ship. Qrow reloaded Reaper and got ready for a running fight.

"Right up there!" Winter said. In the sky above that large ship was about to land, its door had opened and the guns on its roof and side were firing at enemy ships.

"Then we better get moving. Everyone ready?" Sun asked.

"Ready as we'll ever be." Blake answered as she helped Claudandus, getting him ready for a dash. Scarlet put the turrets on autopilot while Penny activated the shields to give them some extra protection while she joined the others.

"Alright then everyone, let's get ready to..." Winter was cut off by a loud explosion.

Everyone looked out of the windows, filled with mounting dread as they could see that the evac ship had been hit right in the cockpit, which had erupted in a huge explosion. The ships began to descend and spin out of control as the White Fang attack ships did not let up and kept shooting it.

"No..." Blake said quietly, horrified.

The ship continued to be blitzed up by laser fire and rockets, making more explosions rock the ship until it finally lost control and fell, spiraling away from them as it landed with a mighty explosion somewhere out of sight.

The inside of the R.V. was silent until Penny asked "What will we do now?"

No one had a solid answer for the girl. Winter spoke up, "Penny, get back to the driver's seat and go as fast as you can."

Penny quickly moved back to the front. "You think we can make in this thing?" Qrow asked, unsure.

"We need to try." Winter snapped.

"Wait a minute... listen!" Velvet said quietly, making everyone go quiet.

There was nothing save for the growls of the Grimm and the sounds of battle in the distant skies.

"What is it?" Scarlet asked.

"I don't hear the Elite Guard's ships..." she answered.

All of a sudden the R.V. was blasted in the sides by lasers, making everyone stumble or fall.

"Oh shit!" cried Qrow as rockets slammed into the back trailer, destroying it. Sun slammed his fist into a button on the wall, sealing off the accordion attachment so the explosions wouldn't rush into the R.V. itself.

Winter looked outside to see Adam's ship had landed and was about to fire at the R.V.. "Hang on!"she yelled.

The rocket flew out and crashed into the R.V., knocking it on its side, throwing those inside around violently. Neptune hit his head on a cabinet while Yatsuhashi grabbed Velvet and tried to hold her steady while the wight of the duffle-bag dragged Coco down when the R.V. tipped over. Neo held on firmly to the seat but a few stray objects hit her while Scarlet fell out of the seat of the turret and landed on his shoulder. Yang had slammed her robotic hand into the floor and had ordered everyone close to her to hold on, Blake held on to Yang with her grandfather holding on tightly as well as Weiss and Ruby held on to her together while bracing each other. Sun had used his tail to hold onto a handle on the wall while using his hands to brace himself as Qrow and Winter had been thrown violently onto each other.

Items around the R.V. clanged about as they fell down while the fourteen passengers within moaned in pain and surprise.

"Ugh... you okay Schnee?" Qrow asked Winter, who had fallen on top of him.

"I'm okay, I've had worse." she assured him as she got up. "Is everyone alright?"

"Team RWBY and Claudandus are good." Ruby called, giving a thumbs up.

"Now I know how my bags feel in the cargo hold." groaned Coco as she recovered.

"We're unharmed." Yatsuhashi voiced as he let Velvet go.

"I'm fine." Sun called.

"Me too, but I've been better." said Scarlet as he pushed himself up.

"Oh... I hit my head but I'm okay." Neptune added.

"Eh." Neo said with a shrug as she dusted herself off.

"Wait... what about Penny?!" Ruby asked frantically. Everyone looked up to the driver's area but no one could see Penny... until they looked further outside to see the she had been thrown from the R.V.. "Penny! We gotta help her!"

Ruby got up and dashed by everyone in a flash.

"Ruby don't! It could be a trap!" Weiss scolded.

"Ruby get back here!" Yang cried.

"Ruby we don't know what they're up to out there!" Qrow said as he tried to catch her, but she simply sped right past him.

Ruby ignored their warnings as she climbed over the seats and out of the dashboard. She needed to check on her friend... she couldn't lose Penny again.

Not without a fight.

As she stumbled out of the R.V. she saw Penny getting up.

"Penny!" she called.

Penny looked at Ruby, her face scratched a bit here and there with her metallic exoskeleton showing a bit under the cuts and wounds, but she smiled nonetheless and said "Ruby, are you okay?"

"I should be asking you that question!" Ruby said with a small smile.

She moved over to help Penny up while Qrow, Yang, Weiss, Winter, and the others got out of the wrecked R.V. as well. Just as Penny got up a blast of pale blue slammed into her and her eyes went wide. "Rubbbyyy... I... wh-ah-what is... aaaaahhhh!" Penny tried to say before letting out a scream as her eyes went dark. Penny fell to the ground.

"PENNY!" screamed Ruby. She whipped out Crescent Rose in all its glory and she glared around the clearing. "Okay, who did that?!" she demanded, her voice letting everyone know she was a serious threat to whoever harmed the people she cared about. "WHO HURT MY FRIEND?!"

"Sorry kid, just following orders." said a voice. Ruby whipped around to see Adam, standing with Hui and other armed White Fang troops with Emerald, Mercury, Morgan, Babara, Penn, Warwick, Misha, and Teresa. Morgan had been the one to speak, looking at Ruby with a slightly apologetic look as he took out his mace.

"Adam." Blake hissed as she got in front of Ruby defensively with Gambol Shroud out while everyone gathered around Ruby and the downed Penny.

"Hello my love." Adam said as he withdrew Wilt from Blush.

Coco hoisted up her minigun while Yatsuhashi held his sword steadily and Neptune got his trident ready as Scarlet held out both his cutlass and revolver. Qrow turned Reaper back into scythe mode while Winter got out her sword and Velvet picked something for her camera. Neo took out her estoc, Weiss gripped Myrtenaster, and Yang loaded up her gauntlets.

"Well... this ain't a pretty picture." Qrow muttered as the other ship opened up for Razor, Piper, Kane, Selena, Russell, Kong, Darla, Johnny, Goddard, Burton, and Cash, all of whom were ready to fight.

Things didn't look good for them at all.

"Surrender now, you are outnumbered and your means of escape has been cut off." Razor said firmly, his voice not betraying the fact that deep down he regretted that the those aboard the ships had to die, but since it was in battle and considering the fact that Branwen had killed Wade it could be considered fair.

"We never give up, we can still beat you!" Ruby declared.

"I admire your bravery child, but you have already been beaten. Hello Claudandus." he said to the elder Faunus.

"Hello Razor, old friend. I am sorry we had to reunite like this." the Cat Faunus said sadly.

"Razor, you don't know what Adam has done! He's become a monster and we have proof of it!" Blake cried.

All of a sudden, before she could say anything else, Blake was knocked down by a blast from Blush. "Blake!" Sun shouted out.

Many of the Elite Guard were taken aback by Adam's actions, especially Kane who had known Adam almost as long as Blake and Claudandus had and knew when the Bull Faunus didn't want something getting out.

"That's enough out of you, traitor!" Adam growled. Razor gave Adam a look of both anger and confusion, wondering what Blake had been talking about and why Adam had been so eager to silence her.

Blake wasn't hurt too badly, as her aura was quickly healing the wound in her shoulder, but that didn't matter to Yang who let out a furious scream as her hair turned pale yellow and her eyes went red with fury. "Son of a bitch!" she yelled. She was about to run forward at Adam, who got ready to strike when Mercury jumped up and slammed his boot into her chest, knocking her down on her back a few meters away from the others.

"Hey there blondie, it's payback time!" he snapped, only for Sun to slam his staff into Mercury's back. "Ah! What the...?"

"I don't think we've been introduced, I'm Sun." the Monkey Faunus introduced as he got ready to fight.

"And I don't give a shit!" Mercury snarled as he tried to kick Sun, but the blonde dodged every attack.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Shit. Let me just say you're name really suits you, and you will when we beat it out of you!" Sun shot back with a cocky smirk.

Mercury growled and ignored the amused look on Emerald's face as he preformed sweeping kicks at Sun, only for Yang to jump up, grab him by the leg in mid kick and throw him up into the air. This, however, gave Mercury a chance to attack and he used his boots to rain down Dust attack from above, making Team Beacon scatter.

"Attack!" Adam yelled as he charged at them, leading the Elite Guard, Emerald, Hui, and the White Fang troops into battle.

Blake jumped back up and met him head on with Gambol Shroud, their swords clashing violently while Yang and Sun, who were moving to help her, were attacked yet again by Mercury and some White Fang troops.

"You think you can get away with what you've done?" Blake scolded as she blocked every strike he threw at her.

"What I've done will lead to a Faunus victory, and I won't let anyone get in my way!" Adam snarled as he tried to thrust Wilt into her only for his former love to strike the blade away so she could elbow him in the chest. Blake swung her blade but Adam sidestepped it and met her next strike with a parry and then ducked a swing aimed for his head. He then brought up his sword to her chest and nearly plunged it in but she forced it away with a quick strike of Gambol Shroud.

They struggled a bit but Adam gave in, allowing Blake to strike forward with a yell. She swung her sword at him twice more, he leaned over to avoid it the first time and parried the second blow. He then pressed forward, forcing Blake back as their blades slid against one another. Blake pressed onward, forcing their swords down, she tried to land a cut on Adam's closest leg but he saw what she was trying to do and pulled back, nearly making Blake fall. She recovered and rolled away from a thrust of Wilt and she recovered and plunged her sword at his head but he met it wait a parry, knocking her sword away. He then tried to slam his blade into her side but she caught his blade with a parry.

Blake grunted as she used every ounce of strength she had to force down both swords. The two combatants pulled away and struck at each other once again, but Adam surged against her and pressed her back with a small strike.

"You've already lost." Adam whispered to her.

"Not yet." Blake hissed as she blocked another swing of his sword. The two traded blows about seven times before Blake tried another thrust, only for Adam to duck and jump to her side. Blake slammed her sword at him but he ducked once again and swung Wilt at Blake's side once more but she quickly met it with a parry.

"Don't delude yourself." Adam said as he pulled back and charged at her but Blake ducked down and gracefully jumped over Adam, managing to kick him in the back as she went over him. Blake activated Gambol Shroud's pistol mode and fired at Adam but his Semblance allowed him to cut off every bullet midair.

While this happened the battle raged on across the clearing, several White Fang troopers and many Beowolves had already been taken out by Ruby, Coco, Neptune, Scarlet, Yang, and Qrow's bullet barrages but the Elite Guard hadn't lost anyone yet. Yang and Sun fought Mercury, trying to get closer to Blake and Adam while doing so, Ruby and Weiss fought around Penny to keep her safe while Winter, Coco, Velvet, Yatsuhashi, Neptune, and Scarlet fought with the Elite Guard members to keep Claudandus, who had grabbed a large stick to use as a weapon, safe. Neo, meanwhile, fought with Emerald.

"Long time no see, traitor." Emerald hissed.

"I'm no traitor, I never worked for you, I worked for Roman." Neo hissed back as she ran to avoid being hit by the blasts from Emerald's guns.

"So that's what you sound like... well that's one less question I had." The illusionist said before she ran forward and kicked Neo in the back, knocking her into a tree. She slammed both of her guns' sickles at Neo, but the multi-colored girl ducked which caused Emerald's sickles to be lodged in the tree. Neo brought up her head and smashed it into Emerald's chin, which ended up being a bad idea as she now had a splitting headache.

Emerald ignored the pain in her jaw and jumped up and brought her feet to Neo's back to kick her away. She landed on her feet, tore her guns out of the tree and slashed Neo across the back with one of her blades, making the usually silent girl cry out in pain.

Neo twirled around to block another attack with her estoc. "Emerald, please... I know you're not all bad, Cinder isn't here, help us."

"Never." Emerald snapped as she opened fire on Neo, landing a few hits before punching her. "Cinder gave me a better life, a purpose, a... home. I know what she's suffered through, I've seen some of it! I won't betray her like you did."

She ran forward and the weapons of the two young women clashed once again. "Besides, you tried to pin your little moves on me." she added.

"Not saying sorry." Neo said cheekily as she ducked a few blasts and plunged her estoc at Emerald, who easily parried it before shooting at Neo who shielded herself with her parasol.

"Good, because I don't plan on being forgiving." Emerald spat as she attacked once again.

Nearby Coco blasted the Beowolves to shreds while also swinging her bag to keep Misha and Warwick at bay. She looked over to Steppenwolffe, still keeping his distance in the forest.

"Why hasn't he attacked us?" she asked out loud as Velvet created giant replicas of Fox's arm blades and began to spin around to bisect the attacking Beowolves.

"Perhaps he fears Ruby's eyes and is waiting for the right time to strike." Yatsuhashi suggested as he parried a strike from Russell.

"Less talkin' more fightin'! Scarlet cried as he fought back Cash.

Meanwhile Qrow and Razor fought each other, with the former blocking an attack from Razor as the two entered into another duel.

"What did she mean by proof?" Razor asked as he forced Qrow's blade up but the dusty old Huntsman brought his sword back down and blocked the next strike.

"Proof of what was happening in that prison, have you ever been there?" Qrow asked as he twirled his blade wildly around to force Razor back.

"No, I haven't." Razor confessed as he slammed Kill-Master down on Reaper, stopping it dead. Qrow didn't give up, however, and punched Razor in the gut three times before spinning around the large Faunus and striking at him, only for Reaper to be parried.

"They've been amputating animal features off of Faunus prisoners." Qrow revealed.

"What?!" Razor shouted in shock, giving Qrow an open chance to attack.

Qrow slashed Reaper across Razor's chest, doing little damage, and followed it up by stabbing his blade in the ground and hoisting himself to kick Razor in the chest twice, knocking him back. Qrow yanked Reaper out of the ground and brought it up, ready for another bout as Razor recovered.

"I see, a rouse to get me to lower my guard." he said.

Shit.

"Shit, no! I'm not lying, that's what's been happening up there! We got proof of it, just listen to me..." Qrow tried to argue but Razor refused to listen as he held up Kill-Master and charged forward. Qrow quickly brought up Reaper to block the attacks, and the two began clashing their blades against one another about five times before Razor began to spin Kill-Master around expertly and then slammed it down on Reaper which just barely managed to stop it from reaching Qrow's chest.

"Adam might not be an ideal leader, but he would never sink that low. I thought you had more honor than that." Razor spat before kicking Qrow in the knee, knocking him off balance, which allowed the Boar Faunus to punch him in the chest so hard he went flying into a tree.

"Honor... if you cared about honor you wouldn't be working for Taurus!" Qrow snapped as he got up and plunged his sword at Razor, who easily pulled back.

They swung their swords against each other once again, parrying and blocking about four times until Razor brought up his weapon and swung it at Qrow's waist but the Huntsman jumped up and landed a meter away. "Taurus has butchered his own kind, there is no honor in that!"

"And there is no honor in murder? I never kill outside of combat, can you say the same Branwen?" Razor asked, though deep down he wondered if Qrow really was telling the truth or not.

"I only killed one person tonight, that warden who went along with Adam's crimes, he deserved it for what he let happen. Wise up and listen to us!" Qrow yelled as he ran forward, only for Razor to slam Kill-Master into Reaper so hard Qrow landed on his back.

"If what you say is true than surrender to us here and now, give us this proof and if what you say is true you have nothing to worry about." Razor offered.

"I wish it could be that simple buddy, but I have kids here to keep safe and I don't trust your boss as far as I can throw Beacon Academy!" Qrow quipped as he shot at Razor twice, but the Faunus deflected both blasts. Qrow got up and jumped over Razor, landing behind him holding Reaper tightly.

"Very well then." Razor said as he got ready for another bout... only to be thrown into a tree by a glyph from Winter.

"If you truly are honorable, then stop this battle and let us show you the proof of what Adam Taurus has done." she said.

"Your words mean nothing to me Schnee, your family has a dark history when it comes to my kind and it continues to this day, after all your father is a slaver." Razor revealed.

Winter and Weiss, who had been nearby, were both taken aback by that.

"W-what?" Weiss asked, stupefied, only to be thrown into Winter by a sound blast from Piper, who attacked Ruby with Kane and Selena. "Ruby!"

"I'll be okay Weiss!" Ruby called as she dodged and deflected blasts from Kane and Selena while also avoiding the frantic, yet strangely beautiful musical blasts Piper was throwing at her.

"You see, Schnee, about a week or so ago we liberated some Faunus, and even a few humans, from a slaver's base. We discovered that all of the slaves had been bought by one man so when we took at the data we took from their hard drives we discovered that the identity of the buyer was none other than your father, Willow Jacques Schnee." Razor told them as Winter parried a strike.

"I might not get along with my father, nor do I approve of how he treats Faunus, but he would never enslave anyone." she snarled.

"Not openly, not with you knowing about it, but his signature was there and there was an agreement to transfer the slaves to a little used site own by your family's company." Razor said as he dodged attacks from both Winter and Qrow.

All of a sudden he felt a coldness grab his legs and stop him in place. He looked down to see some ice had formed around him via a glyph created by Weiss.

"My father is not perfect, but he is no monster, unlike your leader!" she said as Qrow and Winter both held their blades to Razor's head.

"Tell your troops to stand down." Winter ordered.

"Do the honorable thing." Qrow said dryly with a little smirk.

Just then a loud blast of sound slammed into them and forced the three of them to cover their ears as the noise shattered the ice easily. Razor smiled at Piper before slamming his mighty fist into Qrow who fell into Weiss. Winter struck at him but he easily parried and her attacked her with a heavy swing that sent her stumbling back into Kong's waiting arms.

The Gorilla Faunus smirked as he forcefully grabbed her head and began to squeeze, putting a great pressure on her and making her cry out in pain, but she was not helpless. Winter tried to force her head back into his but his grip was too strong for that so instead she used a more direct method; her twirled her sword around in her hand so it was pointing at his side and she plunged it backwards, slashing him across the side.

"AH!" he cried before letting her go. She staggered forward only for Kong to jump up and kick her in the back, sending her flying forward into a tree.

Winter got up and wiped the small stream of blood off her lip while her aura dealt with the strain on her head. She growled at Kong and a few White Fang troopers who were approaching her.

"Looks like you're done for Schnee." Kong taunted as Edward and Cash joined him.

"Not just yet." she muttered as she created a glyph and she quickly began to channel as much of her aura as she could into it, creating the form of a rather large Goliath. Winter launched herself up into the air over her opponents and landed on the back on the Goliath which began to follow her command gestures. It let out a large bellow and rose up before slamming its legs down on the ground, making many of the fighters in the area stumble around. The summoned replica of the ancient Grimm swung its trunk into Kong and the White Fang troops sending them flying into the forest, while Cash and Edward wisely got out of its way. Winter grimaced as Beowolves charged her and began to attack the summoned Goliath, which attacked the Grimm, stomping on them or impaling them with its tusks while Winter cut them down with her sword.

Weiss smiled at her sister's summon and decided they'd need everything they had to win this so she created a glyph and quickly used as much of her aura as she could to summon up the magnificent shining Knight summon once again. "Attack!" she commanded, and the Knight did so, rushing towards a nearby pack of Beowolves it swung its might sword, killing them all in one strike.

Weiss ran over to Ruby and slammed her rapier onto Kane's bayonet, forcing it away from her partner.

"Thanks! That Knight Summon thing is still awesome." Ruby said as she deflected a shot before cutting a Beowolf in half. Weiss noticed Ruby was constantly looking down to her deactivated robot friend with worry.

"Thank you, how is Penny?" Weiss asked as she traded blows with Kane, who was no slouch as he kept pressing on with his attacks.

"She's not waking up! I don't know what that Hyena Faunus did to her!" Ruby cried nervously.

"Don't worry, she's not dead, Morgan just used his Semblance on her, an E.M.P. blast to knock her out, she'll probably be up and running in a couple of hours." Kane said.

"Oh thank Oum! Kane right?" Ruby asked as she slashed Crescent Rose at Kane's bayonet while Weiss began fighting Selena.

"Yeah, nice to meet you again." he said as he tried to punch her but she easily dodged.

The blades of the two clashed against each other, occasionally letting off a shot which their opponent easily avoided. Ruby whirled around, avoiding a thrusting stab from Kane and slammed Crescent Rose's blunt side into him before letting off a few shots at the Beowolves who were attacking Winter and her summon. Kane attacked her from behind and slammed the butt of his rifle into her shoulder, making her cry out in pain but she quickly recovered and elbowed him in the gut four times before turning around and bringing up Crescent Rose's gun barrel to his chest.

"You wouldn't." he said.

"Not with a high caliber of bullet I wouldn't." Ruby confirmed as she rotated the chamber to a lighter caliber before blasting Kane away.

Weiss, meanwhile, had created another slick patch of ice that had sent Selena sliding into Piper, knocking both of them down. She tried to encase them in ice but Piper's sound Semblance easily shattered it. Selena got up and pointed her long dagger at Weiss before Piper signaled her to go help Kane with Ruby.

"You sure?" she asked, and Piper nodded. Selena returned the nod and jumped into the fray, helping Kane fight Ruby. She stabbed her dagger at Ruby's arm but the red reaper sidestepped the attack and brought up one leg while the other remained on the ground which allowed her to spin her raised leg into Selena's back and the blunt end of Crescent Rose into her head, knocking her down.

Kane had already recovered and opened fire on Ruby, forcing her to spin Crescent Rose around to deflect his shots. She noticed Selena had already recovered but was crawling towards her to attack her legs. Ruby let her get close and before she could stab Ruby met her blade with the mighty scythe of Crescent Rose. Selena jumped up as Kane ran forward, both of them using their bladed weapons to attack Ruby who parried and blocked their attacks as best she could.

Piper's radio weapon transformed into something resembling an electric guitar/violin hybrid. She glanced at Weiss and smiled as she took out the bow while Weiss got into a battle-ready stance as her Knight summon went about attacking members of the White Fang. Weiss attacked first, charging in with a plunging stab only to be thrown off balance by a musical blast from Piper. Piper unleashed another one at her but Weiss sidestepped it and launched a fiery Dust blast at her with Myrtenaster which Piper quickly avoided.

Piper began to rapidly play the odd instrument, one hand rubbing the bow rapidly against the strings creating violin music while her free hand strummed against the upper bits of string to create what sounded like the music of an electric guitar. Since the younger Schnee had a history with music she recognized that this little 'melody' that Piper was making was building up to an attack so she braced herself with glyphs acting as shields. Piper threw a volley of musical attacks at the white-haired girl but the glyphs threw them right back at Piper who failed to hide her surprise as she ran to avoid them.

Weiss created another glyph and launched herself in the air, landing right in front of Piper as she swung her rapier but the Mouse Faunus quickly recovered and blocked the swing with her instrument. Piper smirked, seemingly amused, which made Weiss raise an eyebrow before Piper struck back with her instrument which now had a sharp blade on one side. Weiss parried her strike, and as their weapons met there was a burst of excited music instead of a metallic clang. Weiss struck against her and again there was a burst of music. She looked at Piper who nodded.

Weiss allowed herself a smirk as she began to engage Piper in a musical duel, their blades clashing against one another as Piper's Semblance began to make a musical theme for the battle.

"Oh great, she's composing again." Kane muttered as he ducked a swing from Ruby.

"Is that normal for her?" Ruby asked as she leaned back to avoid a stab from Selena before she slammed her weapons against both of her opponents'.

"Pretty much... why are we talking to each other like this?" Kane wondered aloud.

"No idea, but some of you don't seem that bad, too bad your leader is nuts." Ruby said as she ducked a plunge of Kane's bayonet and caught Selena's arm as she tried to attack her.

"Tell me about it." Kane muttered as Ruby threw Selena into him.

Weiss and Piper fought on, their weapons striking and parrying and swinging each other as Piper's music escalated to match the tone of the duel. Weiss parried, swung, ducked, thrust, blocked, parried, spun, slashed, and parried with Piper within the battlefield, her sword holding steady against Piper's odd, yet incredible weapon. She blocked another attack and forced Piper back and swung at her before sidestepping a swing from Piper.

"You know, I used to be a singer and I must admit you have a wonderful talent. If not for the Fang you'd be a celebrated musician and I would have been honored to preform with you." Weiss said as she rolled out of the way of a music blast. Piper gave her a genuine smile and as Weiss swung her sword the Mouse Faunus gave her a bow. She looked up and smirked before jumping up and slamming her instrument down on Weiss who used much of her strength to parry it.

Meanwhile Thayer stood outside of his ship, nervously watching the battle as it unfolded. Velvet was now fighting alongside Yatsuhashi with Hui, Russell, Goddard, Warwick, and Johnny with an imitation of Crocea Mors to protect Claudandus. Thayer looked to his loaded pistol and sighed, he had no idea what he was going to do; he couldn't let them hurt Velvet, but if he tried to help his niece and her friends he was doomed.

He looked back to Steppenwolffe who glared at him. "Why aren't you out there fighting?" the Grimm Commander inquired.

"I'm not a fighter, I'm just a pilot. Why aren't you fighting?" Thayer shot back.

"Because I do not want to risk being obliterated by that girl's silver eyes. I will be more helpful here, controlling the Grimm... but we'll need to do something about those summons." Steppenwolffe observed as the Knight blocked Morgan's attack on Neptune as Babara, Darla (who had rocketed up on it's head and was attacking from there), and other Elite Guard members tried to stop it.

Thayer said nothing in response, he just looked back at Velvet.

Coco slammed her bag into Warwick hard enough to send him sprawling on his back. Coco whipped around to blast a Beowolf into oblivion as the Giraffe Faunus recovered but she saw him and turned around again and opened up a wild barrage of bullets on him, blasting him so hard his aura could no longer protect him. He fell to his knees but didn't give in, he tried to get back up only for Coco to slam her bag into him, sending him flying into a tree.

"Not bad." the fashionista mused as she whacked a young Beowolf's head off with her bag.

"Doesn't matter, we don't have a means of escaping this." Yatsuhashi said as he blocked Hui's swing before pressing forward to block Russell's blade.

"If we can beat them all we might be able to convince them to listen to us!" Velvet suggested as she leaned to the side to avoid being cut. She slammed her replica sword forward and clashed with Goddard's blade, a kama, and then slammed her sword into the ground, used it to hoist herself up so she could kick him in the chest, making him stagger back. Just as she lowered herself back down Johnny slammed into her but Yatsuhashi punched him over to Claudandus who whacked Johnny in the head with the stick until it broke when Velvet sent him flying with a large holographic copy of Magnhild.

"Are you okay?" Yatsuhashi asked as he parried strikes from Russell, Goddard, and Hui all at once.

"Just fine, thank you sir." Velvet said to Claudandus as she began to create replicas of Penny's swords.

"No problem." he said as Neptune and Scarlet ran back to them, followed by Misha, Darla, Penn, and Morgan while Babara and Burton fought the Knight summon.

"We're pretty much screwed, aren't we?" Scarlet asked as he fired his grappling hook into a Beowolf's chest. He tugged it over and slammed it into Russell before it disintegrated.

"Maybe, but we won't go down without a fight!" Coco declared as she whammed her bag into Russell, adding to his pain which he withstood with little problem, he wasn't a member of the Elite Guard for nothing.

"Nice try kids, but you'll need more than determination to beat us." the Polar Bear Faunus said as Hui, Penn, Darla, Morgan, Goddard, and Misha, rallied around him, their weapons, be they sword, gun, mace, or even knuckle-busters in Penn's case, out and ready to go.

"Everyone get back!" Velvet ordered as she slammed her copies of Penny swords forward. The Elite Guard troops, while surprised, did not back down. Russell, Hui, Goddard, and Morgan fought back with parries and strikes while Misha tried basting the photo-copy blades as Darla and Penny were knocked away by mighty strikes from Velvet as she controlled all of the swords easily.

"She can't keep this up forever." Neptune said as he reloaded his weapon with a new Dust crystal.

Claudandus nodded and picked up a gun from an out cold guard and made sure it was loaded.

"You know how to work that thing?" Coco asked as she blasted some more Beowolves.

"It's been years since... AH!" he cried as a net slammed into him, wrapping around him as he fell to the ground. Coco, eyes wide in surprise, looked over to see Teresa, the Tasmanian Devil Faunus had been the one to fire the net and was quickly dragging the netted Claudandus away.

"Oh no you don't!" Scarlet said as he said as ran to cut Claudandus free, only for to be punched down to the ground by something he didn't see. He looked up to see Emerald standing before him, an illusion falling around her.

Coco growled opened fire on her, only for Emerald to throw a struggling, injured Neo between her and the line of fire. "Crap!" she cried as the unconscious form of Neo took the hits.

Emerald dropped Neo to the ground, falling next to Scarlet.

"Oh man..." Scarlet swore.

"Thanks for finishing her off for me." said Emerald as she got her guns ready for another fight.

Neptune growled at her and looked over to see Penn and Darla had recovered and were about to go help Teresa as she dragged away the struggling elder Faunus. "I'll go help him, can you handle this?" he asked.

"Go." Coco said as she aimed her minigun at Emerald. Neptune nodded and dashed off, blasting Hui and Goddard as he did so to give his friends some help.

Emerald watched him run off and without warning she rushed forward, ducked Coco's blasts and Yatsuhashi's blade and slashed one of her sickles across Velvet's camera, damaging it and causing the sword replicas to flicker away.

"No! No, no, no!" Cried Velvet as sparks flew out of the camera. She could fix it, she had learned how to mend the complicated device but she couldn't do it here.

Russell and the others recovered as Emerald got in front of them. "Thanks for the assistance." Russell said as he gripped his sword tightly.

"Four against six, I like those odds." said Hui as he glared at Yatsuhashi and Velvet.

"Make it eight!" said Penn as he returned, having decided to let Darla help Teresa with the former leader of the White Fang. He was not alone as Cash, who had decided fighting the Goliath Summon was a bad idea, joined in too.

"Come on, two to one doesn't matter to us! We'll take you!" Coco shouted, they were outnumbered two to one, but they'd faced worse odds than that.

"Bring it!" Scarlet said as he whipped out his sword and flintlock.

Yatsuhashi held out his sword while Velvet slung her camera around her back and got into a fighting pose, she might have been temporarily weaponless but she was still a Huntress-in-training and her Semblance made her a fast learner when it came to hand-to-hand fighting styles.

Emerald ran forward with Hui and the five members of the Elite Guard behind her as the present members of Team CFVY and Scarlet met them head on.

---

Meanwhile, Neptune ran after Teresa and Darla who were carrying the struggling Claudandus towards Thayer's ship. "Oh no you don't!" Neptune said as he glanced up to see a large, old tree branch that hung over them. This gave him an idea... He charged up his weapon and blasted the ground beneath him, sending him flying into the sky where he transformed his weapon to guandao mode and sliced the branch off of the tree and it landed on the two Faunus.

"Gotcha!" he cheered as he landed on his feet. He was about to go help Claudandus when he saw his partner and Yang still fighting Mercury. All three of them looked tired and had some battle damage on their clothes but none of them were giving up. Nearby was Blake and Adam, both of them looking exhausted as well as they traded blows with their swords, but Blake tripped over a rock and rolled to avoid a devastating slash from Adam. "Crud..." he muttered as he turned his weapon back into its gun mode and aimed at Mercury, who was dodging punches from Yang and both of Sun's weapons. He had a perfect shot and took it, the blast hit Mercury dead center in his back, distracting him enough for Yang to uppercut him and Sun to slam both Ruyi and Jingu Bang into his torso, knocking him down.

"Thanks for the assist Nep." Yang said as she took a breath.

"Guys, you better help Blake take out Adam, I'm gonna go help Claudandus, I'll explain later!" he said as he ran back to the netted Claudandus.

Yang and Sun looked to each other and shrugged before looking over to see Blake fighting Adam, the two were still trading blows furiously, their blades slammed together as they kept trying to slash each other.

"Let's go." Yang said.

"Nothing else I'd rather do." Sun agreed as they ran off to help Blake fight Adam... not noticing Mercury getting back up, and he was looking at Neptune.

As the blonde duo ran to help Blake, the Cat Faunus jumped away from Adam and slammed her blade down, creating a purple arc of energy that rushed at Adam only for his Semblance to protect him as he easily cut it away with his sword. He ran over to her and swung Wilt at her but she blocked him, the two former lovers glared at each other, but neither gave up. Adam pressed on, forcing her back as he kept slamming his sword into hers relentlessly as they got closer and closer to the cliffsides.

Blake yelled out as she slammed her sword against him, pressing him back as hard as she could before...

"Hey asshole!"

Adam glanced back only for Yang to slam her metallic fist right into his jaw, knocking him away from Blake.

"Ha, you looked!" she taunted. She turned to her partner who was catching her breath. "You okay?"

"Fine, I'm doing better than I did at Beacon at least." Blake said, remembering how he had nearly killed her during the Fall. She glared as Adam had recovered and was getting up, ready for another fight.

"My traitorous love, her pathetic cyborg partner, and the runt who tries to replace me... I will fight you all!" Razor screamed.

"Okay then." Sun said before he created a clone via his Semblance that rushed at Adam. It was destroyed with one swift swipe of Wilt but this distracted Adam enough for Sun to rush forward, jump up, grab Adam by the horns, and hang on, wrapping his legs around Adam's head.

"GET OFF OF ME!" Adam demanded, he tried to stab Sun but Yang grabbed his arm that had Wilt and squeezed hard enough to make Adam scream some more as Sun slammed down the combined bo-staff form of Ruyi and Jingu Bang onto Adam's head. Adam let out a roar of fury as he flipped himself over, slamming Sun onto the ground and prying himself free of Yang's grip. He used Wilt to cut Sun's left leg, making him loosen his grip around Adam's upper body. The leader of the White Fang jumped back up and stopped a foot on Sun's gut while headbutting Yang in the same area, making her cry out in pain as she flew past Blake.

Blake activated Gambol Shroud's kusarigama mode and launched the chain-scythe at her former lover, wrapping it around his arm. He roared once again, practically sounding like an animal as he used all of his might to pull her towards him with a mighty jerk. He slammed a fist into her gut and used his other hand to grab her by the throat and slam her to the ground. He held her down, getting on top of her, his eyes looking at her with hatred... with what looked like guilt and maybe even lust.

"I loved you." he hissed as he took up Wilt and prepared to stab her, when Sun jumped back up and held Adam back, using his staff as a brace to do so.

"She's better off without you." the Monkey Faunus snapped as Blake forced herself up and began punching Adam in the torso and face. She punched him harder and harder, Sun could swear he saw tears in her eyes.

All of a sudden Adam smashed the back of his head into Sun's chest and scratched him with his horns. Sun groaned in pain as Adam got free and jumped up and kicked with both of his legs, hitting both of them. He was about to stab Blake again when she created a stone double with her Semblance and a Dust crystal within Gambol Shroud. The stone Blake shattered as Blake dashed away from the Bull Faunus and rotated the ammo chamber to a red Dust crystal and sent a fire clone at him.

The fire Blake collided into Adam, setting his robe ablaze but he quickly tore it off, revealing a black tank top over his muscular, sculpted body. He glared at Blake, eyes brimming with hatred as he rushed at her. Blake ran at him, ready to strike as well. With a spin of the Dust chamber she sent another arc of energy at him but he cut through with Wilt before he did something unexpected; he sheathed Wilt into Blush as he rushed Blake and used the now blunt weapon to send her flying some meters away.

Adam composed himself and was about to go at her again when Yang returned, blasting him multiple times as he unsheathed Wilt again and tried to protect himself. Just as she stopped she ran forward, with eyes of red and bright yellow hair, she jumped up and kicked Adam in the face, cracking his mask. Blake crouched as she landed, then jumped up to punch him five times in the chest, blasted him in the shoulder, and punched him in the nose, cracking that part off of the mask before he blasted her with Blush, and then grabbed her head and smashed onto his knee. He brought up Wilt but she jumped up a spin-kicked him on the ground on his side where she kicked him into Sun who spiked him with his staff.

Adam swung his sword at the Monkey Faunus but Sun jumped up before kicking Adam in the horn. Adam tried to shoot Sun but he hopped over him and joined up with Blake, cornering Adam over the cliff that looked over the jungle.

"You're done for." Yang said as she approached him, her hair glowing like a giant candle. Sun nodded with a smirk as Blake recovered and walked over to join them.

"Not just yet..." Adam said as someone else approached them.

"Hey dumb blonde and dumber blonde, I got something of yours!" said the voice of Mercury.

Yang, Blake, and Sun all turned to see Mercury holding up a beaten and bruised Neptune. When Neptune went back to help Claudandus Mercury had attacked him mercilessly, clearly coming out on top.

"Let him go, NOW!" Sun shouted as Yang aimed her gauntlets at her fellow cyborg.

"Okay." Mercury said with a smirk as he threw the injured bluentte to Adam who grabbed him and slashed him across the chest, making Neptune scream in pain.

"Neptune!" all three of them cried. Adam grabbed Neptune by the arm and threw him over the cliff.

"NO!" yelled Sun, who ran forward desperately to catch his partner and best friend. He grabbed Neptune's arm, but the weight was too much and Sun was jerked down to the ground, but he didn't lose his grip on Neptune for an instant. Adam was about to impale the blonde Faunus when Yang rushed forward slammed her fist into his gut, knocking him down while Blake dealt with Mercury.

Mercury shot off Dust blasts from his robotic legs, a few managed to hit her but she avoided them for the most part. She blasted him with Gambol Shroud's pistol mode before he dropped down to the ground, used his hands to support his body as he kicked and blasted Blake in the torso at the same time, sending her flying back. She tried to get up to help her friends but Mercury didn't let up, he kicked her in the chin but she slashed him across the chest, just like Adam had done to Neptune.

"Bitch." he snarled as she got back up. Mercury began to run around her as quick as he could, kicking and blasting her every chance he got until he ran to her side and kicked her in the hip and punched her the shoulder. Blake cried out in pain as she slammed down Gambol Shroud's hilt on his forehead. Mercury grunted in pain before he jumped up and kicked her in the torso multiple times before she managed to grab him and twist his foot, spinning him around as he landed on his back. Blake moved to finish Mercury off but he leapt forward and landed a kick right in the face, blasting her as he did so. She fell down on her back, moaning in pain as she tried to get up, only for Mercury to place a firm boot on her gut. "They've already loaded up the old guy, so stay down."

Meanwhile Yang knelt down to help Sun get the injured Neptune back on solid ground. "Come on Neptune, don't look down just keep looking at us." she said as she grabbed his right hand with Sun holding the left.

"We... are r-really high up..." he said nervously as they pulled him upwards.

"Don't worry man we got you." Sun assured him as they managed to get up to solid ground. Yang grabbed Neptune's leg and yanked him up and over the cliff, placing him back on the ground.

"Oh man... thought I was gonna die there." Neptune moaned as his aura healed the wound on his chest.

"Not while we're around." Yang promised him. She glanced over and saw Adam standing right behind Sun with Wilt about to stab the Monkey Faunus. "SUN!"

Sun moved quickly, he was able to get almost entirely out of the way only for Adam to bring down his sword right on Sun's tail, cutting it in half.

Sun let out a scream of pain that echoed throughout the battlefield, heard by everyone. Tears fell from his eyes as he saw half of his tail lying on the ground, severed from his body. Horror and misery surged through his body and he seized up, allowing Adam to kick him in the chest, knocking him on top of Neptune, who tried to get up and fight, only for Adam to blast him with Blush.

It was horrible, pain seared through Sun's body as his aura went to work healing the stump where most of his tail used to be. Tears fell from Sun's eyes as the fact that his tail, something that was part of him and had been since he was born, something that made him who he was, was gone... taken from him by Adam Taurus.

"You bastard!" Yang yelled as she blasted Adam with everything she had, forcing him to run out her range of fire. The blonde brawler, very pissed off, gave chase. She jumped up and came down right behind him where she smashed her metal fist into his back, knocking him down. Yang grabbed him by the horns and slammed his head into the ground over and over again. "Why?! Why do you keep hurting people she cares about?! First me, now Sun, who next you obsessed psycho?!" she ranted as she kicked him in the torso hard enough to send him flying into a tree.

Adam got up and fired Blush at her but she took that blast easily, just more fuel for her Semblance.

"She is mine, and no matter who she wants to replace me with; you, him, I will always come back to hurt them until she learns that no one will have her but me." Adam said to her.

"Yeah, you're crazier than I thought. Let me beat some sense into you." she said as she rushed at him, but made sure to keep her distance from the sword to avoid a repeat of last time. She ran circles around him, shooting him from all sides but he managed to catch the Dust blasts with his sword, fueled by his Semblance.

He swung his sword at her but she caught his wrist and pushed him back, allowing her to open up a barrage of palm strikes on his chest before he recovered and shot her with Blush, but her Semblance took that pain and it fueled her 'fire', so to speak, as she struck him in the gut before landing another painful uppercut on him but before he fell to the ground he grabbed her hair and pulled her down with him.

Adam lay on his back with Yang on top of him. "You know, most guys would love to be with me in this position, but I think you're gonna hate it!" she snarled as she aimed both of her gauntlets right at his head.

Just then the same blast of pale blue that had taken Penny out hit Yang, shutting down her robotic arm. "No!" she cried as her arm twitched, trying and failing to function before it went lifeless. "My arm!" she cried as she looked over to see Morgan, who had come to Adam's aid.

"All too easy." Adam said before he brought his head up and bashed his head, horns and all, into Yang's face as he punched her in the gut, throwing her off of him. They both jumped up to fight again. Yang used her left leg and arm to attack Adam's side but he blocked it with Blush. Yang used her deactivated robotic limb to slam Adam in the ribs just as he punched her in the collarbone, threw both of his weapons into the air so he could smash his palms into the side of Yang's head, he caught his weapons as they came down, sheathed Wilt into Blush and slammed the now blunt weapon into Yang's head before bringing it down on her back to keep her down.

Yang wasn't giving up yet, despite one limb being dead weight for the time being she wasn't going to let him win. She tried to push herself up only for Adam to to kick her into a tree.

Adam approached Yang's body and said "I can tell you love Blake, but she belongs to me."

"She belongs to no one!" yelled the voice of Sun. Adam turned around to see Sun, missing half of his tail, walking over to the Bull Faunus for another fight.

"Sir... his tail!" Morgan said in shock as he saw what had happened to Sun.

"I was aiming for his leg, he moved and I accidentally got his tail instead." Adam justified before he glared at Sun, "I can see why she likes you; you're just as persistent as I am."

"I'm nothing like you." Sun snarled as he got ready for another fight.

"Please, what makes you think you can..." Adam began just as Yang blasted him in the back. He fell towards Sun and managed to block an elbow jab from the blonde Faunus, who jumped down on his hands and landed several kicks on Adam's torso before jumping back up and slamming Jingu Bang into Adam's face, nearly knocking off his mask.

Adam retaliated, punching Sun twice, forcing him towards the tree where Yang was trying to get back up only for him to kick her in the chest, knocking her back down. Adam opened up a mad series of punches, jabs, and palm strikes, while Sun managed to block a few of them the leader of the White Fang landed over a dozen hits on him.

Sun tried to jump up to another tree, but what was left of his tail wasn't enough to help him keep grip on a branch as Adam grabbed him by the leg, yanked him off of the tree, and slammed him into the ground, knocking him out.

Adam stood over his defeated opponents, the ones Blake tried to replace him with. He had proven he was better than them.

"Sir... your mask." Morgan said. Adam felt his mask was cracking, nearly destroyed in the battle.

"I'll make a new one. Get back into the battle." Adam commanded.

Morgan, now unsure of Adam's actions and afraid of getting on his bad side, nodded and ran back into the battlefield.

Adam looked out at the ongoing battle, watching as the Knight summon fell a group of Beowolves in one swing of its sword.

"We'll need to take those things out if we are to win this." Adam said as Mercury approached with Blake and Neptune in tow. He took out his radio and said "Attack ships, swoop down and open fire on the Goliath and the Knight summons, laser fire only."

"Right away Commander Taurus." said the voice of a pilot.

Mercury dropped Blake and Neptune on the ground next to Yang and Sun. Blake, still conscious, saw what had happened to them. "Yang... Sun!" she gasped when she noticed half of his tail was missing. "Oh gods Sun... I... I'm so sorry... not again... this is my fault."

"Yes, it is." Adam told her coldly.

---

Winter stood atop her summon, directing it as it sent Grimm flying and drove back White Fang troops. As she decapitated another Beowolf she looked around and knew that the battle was not going to end in their favor if it went on like this; Qrow fought on with Razor while Weiss still fought with Piper, Ruby was still fighting Kane but she had taken out Selena, but Scarlet and the present members of CFVY were being overwhelmed by the Elite Guard and obviously needed help.

She directed her summon towards them and with a loud roar it rampaged out of the Beowolves, crushing them with its immense weight, and slammed its tusk into Cash, forcing members of the Fang to run out of its way as it ran to help the young Hunters-in-training.

Coco used her bag as a shield from Misha's gunfire and then whacked her with it before blasting Penn off of Velvet.

"We can't hold out much longer!" Scarlet cried as he parried blow after blow from Goddard.

"We have to!" Coco barked as she heard a loud stomping sound coming from behind. The various members of the Elite Guard looked up and gasped at the terrifying sight of the Goliath Summon charging at them. "The cavalry is here." the fashionista mused before blasting down another Beowolf.

Just then the attack ships soared towards the battlefield and used the laser guns on the end of the ships to blast both summons and the ground around them.

"Scatter!" Russell shouted as he ran out of the way and everyone, White Fang or not, followed his example as the lasers blitzed up the ground. The Knight summon fell and Weiss felt it as the large warrior of light faded away as lasers continued to blast it until it was gone.

Winter cried out as a laser zipped right by her, mere inches in front of her face. The lasers slammed into the side of the Goliath summon over and over until it fell on its side with a roar, forcing Winter to jump off of it. She landed with a roll and the Goliath faded away, only for one of the attack ships to hit the ground next to where she was getting up and she was sent flying down on her face.

"Specialist Schnee!" Velvet cried as she went to help Winter, only for Penn to jump on her back and knock her to the ground.

"Hang on!" Yatsuhashi said as he tried to go help Velvet, only to be attacked by both Hui and Russell.

Winter tried to get up but a large Beowolf rushed out in front of her and slapped her with its claws. Winter fell back to see Steppenwolffe had entered the fight, he jumped off the large Grimm and landed on Winter's body, kicking her in the stomach and chest.

"Your summon destroyed a lot of my Grimm, you'll suffer for it." he said darkly as he kicked her in the face. Winter grabbed his leg and pulled him down, making him fall on his face.

She tried to get up but Steppenwolffe kicked her on her back as he jumped up and slashed her across the back with his blade. Winter screamed furiously as she sliced him across the arm with her own sword. The two warriors glared at each other as they entered a duel, trading blows with their swords, not giving up for an instant, but Steppenwolffe had waited until Winter was tired out and the drain the summon had on her aura was beginning to show, she wouldn't last long.

The two blades met with a clash until Winter pulled away and swung at the Grimm hybrid's midsection but he sidestepped it and plunged his sword at her head but she blocked it and parried his next strike before he pulled back and swung at her again, the blow nearly cost her her firm grip on the hilt of her sword but she held on to her weapon and stepped back to avoid the slashes aimed for her head. She swung her sword at him and sliced open his shirt but didn't touch his skin. They traded blows about eleven times until they went back to dodging each other's strikes.

Qrow parried a mighty blow from Razor's weapon, just as the Boar Faunus activated the chainsaw 'teeth' which created a small shower of sparks as Qrow jumped back.

"Have to better than that." Qrow said.

"Maybe so, but you will not win this battle, you're outmatched." Razor said as he parried a slash from Qrow.

Razor struck back and hit Qrow's sword three times before Qrow threw Reaper up into the air as it transformed to scythe mode, weaving away from Razor's attacks until he caught the weapon in it's full form. He attacked first but Razor parried, they kept striking and parrying each other over a dozen times until Razor had Qrow backed up against a tree. He kicked Qrow in the gut and swung Kill-Master in chainsaw mode but Qrow ducked so all he did was cut apart the tree before Qrow spun away from him and parried Razor's next strike as the leader of the Elite Guard whirled around to hit him.

"I'm not lying to you, I swear, Adam Taurus amputated Faunus of their animal features, call a ceasefire and we'll prove it!" Qrow said.

"I will see your 'proof' once this battle has been won." Razor answered before striking back, trading blows with Qrow four times before he preformed a sweeping swing at Qrow's legs but Qrow jumped up to avoid getting his legs cut off only for Razor to jump up as he came down to kick him in the chest. Qrow back-flipped and landed in a crouching position and came up just in time to block Razor's next strike.

The two exchanged strikes and attacks nine times before Qrow slammed Reaper into Kill-Master so hard Razor nearly fell back, which gave Qrow the chance to cut Razor on the shoulder. Razor recovered, letting his aura tend to the wound as he struck back, entering into another series of a dozen parries, strikes, slashes, thrusts, and blocks with Qrow until they parried each other and their blades surged and pressed hard against one another, neither letting up.

"Give it up Branwen, do not make the children suffer through this battle any longer." Razor said, "I will see that you are treated fairly."

"Fat chance!" Qrow shouted as he pulled Reaper back and tried to strike, only for Razor to slam Kill-Master into Reaper so hard it slipped from Qrow's grasp and landed a few meters away. Razor stabbed Kill-Master into the ground before grabbing Qrow's right arm, twisting it as he slammed his foot into the back of Qrow's leg to pin him down. Razor punched Qrow in the face five times before slamming him down on the hilt of Kill-Master before throwing him back, ripping Kill-Master out of the ground, slashing Qrow across the chest, and sending him flying with a jump kick.

Qrow landed roughly near Ruby whose eyes widened at seeing her uncle defeated. "Uncle Qrow!" she cried in horror. Now she was ticked. She quickly hit Kane down with the blunt end of Crescent Rose before she slammed the scythe into the ground and took aim at Razor and fired, hitting him in the chest.

"Argh!" Razor cried as he fell, getting Piper's attention. The Mouse Faunus and Weiss had been fighting each other the entire time, neither one giving up while Piper kept up her music to go along with the battle but when she saw Razor go down she got serious and glared angrily at Ruby.

Her music began to sound angry as she slammed her instrument into Myrtenaster, forcing Weiss around until her back faced Ruby and then she let out a gigantic blast of sound that sent the Schnee heiress flying into her partner, knocking both girls down.

"Ugh... what hit me?" Ruby asked.

"I did..." Weiss moaned as she recovered, she glanced up to the sky to see more White Fang ships surrounding the area. "Oh no..."

"Looks like we're going to have to fight harder." Ruby said as they got up, weapons ready. "You okay Uncle Qrow?"

"Been worse, but I've sure as hell been better." he muttered as he pushed himself up.

"Ruby, let's be realistic here... I don't think we can win this." Weiss said to her partner as Kane and Selena got back up.

"That's never stopped us before." Ruby answered as she got ready for another fight when...

"TEAM BEACON! Surrender to us now!" yelled the voice of Adam, getting everyone's attention. Behind Adam was Blake, Yang, Sun, and Neptune who were being held in place by Mercury, Kong, Edward, an injured Cash, and some of the still active White Fang troopers who had guns pointed at the captive four. "Give up, throw down your weapons or we will kill them!"

The members of Team Beacon were silent and nervous as Qrow called "Okay Taurus, we give up. Everyone throw down your weapons."

"Uncle Qrow are you crazy?!" Ruby whispered.

"We still have the proof and if we show it to Razor he and the rest of the Elite Guard will turn on Adam, we're not beaten yet." Qrow whispered back with a wink.

Scarlet and Coco's team reluctantly threw down their weapons and were marched towards Ruby, Weiss, Qrow, and Penny with Scarlet and Velvet carrying the out cold Neo.

Winter glared as Steppenwolffe but placed her weapon down on the ground before he forced her to group with the others.

Adam gestured to Mercury who led Kong and the others in dragging the four defeated teens to the group of captives as the ships landed, spilling out more White Fang troops loyal to Adam. Darla and Teresa returned, "We've secured Claudandus sir, he's not going anywhere." the latter said to Adam, who nodded in approval.

"Yang, Blake? Are you guys okay?" Ruby asked as she held Yang in her arms.

"My arm got hit by that E.M.P. and I feel like crap, but I'll survive." Yang said.

"Good, what about you Blake? Blake?" Weiss asked as the Cat Faunus hugged Sun to comfort him, it was then that everyone noticed what had happened to Sun's tail.

"Oh... oh no... Sun..." Scarlet struggled, trying and failing to come up with something to say.

"Sun... I'm so sorry." Velvet said with tears in her eyes as she gave him a hug as well.

Razor turned to Adam, glaring at him. "What happened to his tail?" he demanded.

"I was aiming for his legs, he moved, I couldn't stop and I accidentally cut off the tail. It's regrettable but it was just an accident." Adam answered.

"Yeah right you murderous little prick." Qrow spat before he looked to Razor. "You said you'd give us a chance, let us show you what Adam has done."

Razor glanced to his leader before eyeing Qrow, "Very well, bring me your proof."

"And give it to me." Adam ordered.

"No way, no deal." Ruby said defiantly.

"Why not? If this so called evidence of my alleged crimes is legitimate, then you have nothing to fear." Adam promised.

"We won't give it to you, we'll give it to Razor or one of his, but not to you." Blake said, hatred oozing from her voice. She looked to Razor and said "Razor, I know you and your team are better than this, better than him! He had been torturing, mutilating, and killing humans and Faunus alike, you have to believe us!"

"Be quiet!" Adam snapped as he smacked her.

"Son of a...!" Yang shouted as Mercury kicked her back down.

"You just don't learn, do you?" he asked as he aimed his boots at her head, making sure everyone stayed down.

Well... almost everyone.

Ruby growled at Adam and shot up and raced towards him, grabbing Crescent Rose on the way.

"Ruby don't!" Qrow yelled as Ruby slammed the pole of Crescent Rose across Adam's face, throwing off his mask and revealing to the world what he hid.

His face was a handsome one, with dull red eyes that hinted at years of anger, but what made everyone gasped in shock as he looked back at them, was that they were now able to see the mark on his forehead: the logo of the Schnee Dust Company branded on him, burned into his forehead with the words 'Property of' carved above the snowflake emblem.

Weiss and Winter's jaws had dropped, their eyes wide with shock and guilt. Qrow, Yang, Velvet, Neptune, and the others looked shocked and appalled at the sight, all of them wishing the mystery of what lay behind Adam's mask went unknown.

Weiss, who was mortified and ashamed at seeing her company's logo branded on someone's head, and Yang looked to Blake who hung her head in shame and misery. She had known the entire time.

Various members of the White Fang were horrified, disgusted, angered, or saddened by the sight. Most of them didn't know what was under Adam's mask as they had joined after he took control but they had heard the rumors, but reality was a bit more sickening.

Ruby dropped Crescent Rose, shocked and horrified by what she was seeing and what had happened to Adam in the past. Adam punched her before grabbing her and forcing her to look him in the eyes as he said "Yes, look at it. Look at what humanity did to me. I was a slave to do with as they pleased in the Schnee Dust Mines. I wasn't a life, I was lower than dirt, a waste of food, water, and air to them. I was just a number on a piece of paper, a name to fill a quota. As was my father, my mother, and my little sister. I am the only one left in my family... would you like to know why?" He grabbed her by the shoulders and Ruby shook her head as her eyes began to give off a fading glow that made Steppenwolffe and the Beowolves a bit nervous. "Humans killed them all, and they did this to me so I would always know that I was nothing more than their slave... but this slave has become the master!"

He grabbed Ruby and held up Wilt to her throat. "Give me the Scrolls with the evidence now or I'll slit the throat of your little mascot!"

"NO!" Everyone yelled as they struggled to help Ruby, only to be held down by the guards. Yang struggled under Mercury's boot. Weiss and Winter were handcuffed by the newly arrived troops, and Qrow nearly got up only to be shot by the guards and beaten down with rifle butts. Ruby tried to get away, struggling but she felt the steel of the sword against her throat, meaning she couldn't do anything without injuring herself.

"Adam, please don't do this!" Blake pleaded, but he ignored her as Emerald placed a White Fang mask over Ruby's face to cover her eyes.

"Adam! What do you think you're doing?!" Razor shouted as he got Kill-Master ready and pointed it at Adam, shocking everyone. "Let that child go or we will have a problem." he added as the Elite Guard got ready for another battle as the troops aimed their guns or swords at Razor.

"Are you threatening me? That's treason." Adam said quietly.

"I have a code of honor, sir," Razor spat, "I won't allow a hostage to be harmed, especially one as young as her!"

"Honor?! What the hell do you know about honor?" asked Qrow as he spat out some blood. "If you were were as honorable as you say you are, Razor, you'd have smartened up and killed him the moment he began working for these people."

"Relax Razor, I know what I am doing. I will ask you once again, give me the 'proof'!" Adam demanded again.

"Okay, okay! We'll give you the freaking proof you damn sociopath!" Coco cried as she took out her scroll. She had her doubts about this but she didn't want Ruby to die for this.

"Coco, Neptune, don't give them up, show them what you recorded." Winter said.

"Yes, show us." Razor said, glaring at Adam while he lowered his weapon, his troops following his example.

Coco took out her scroll and Neptune's from his pocket, since he was barley conscious and held them up. "Okay, once I show them what you've done you can kiss your..." Coco was interrupted by Mercury kicking a scroll out of her hand and smashing it with his foot.

"Oops, clumsy me." Mercury said as Emerald shot Coco's scroll to pieces in her hands.

"Ah! Coco cried as she pulled her hand back, her aura beginning to glow.

"Coco! Are you alright?" Velvet asked as she looked at the wounds.

"I'll be fine..." she muttered as she glared at Adam.

"What are you doing?" Razor cried.

"He's afraid of you figuring out the truth Razor. Look at what he did to Sun, that was no accident." Blake said angrily as she hugged the injured Sun to her.

"Wake up man, he's playing you!" Yang cried.

"Join us, help us bring this man to justice for what he has done." Winter invited.

"Justice? Where was your justice while my family and I suffered, Schnee? You were off at some fancy school while I was being whipped, moving Dust crystals about the mines in those cold mountains." Adam snarled. He looked at Razor who was glaring furiously at him so he said "We'll talk about this later, but I only needed to hold Rose like that as a bargaining chip, I wasn't really going to kill her."

"Yeah right." Ruby hissed while she secretly placed Ashe's whistle around her neck, just in case.

"Then why did those two destroy those scrolls? Are they telling me the truth?" Razor demanded.

"It is simple, they had fake footage of amputated Faunus probably from a secret prison in Atlas. It was nothing but a rouse to turn you against me Razor and by the looks of it you're falling for their trick. Now stand down and I shall ignore your little acts of treason, unless you wish to dishonor yourself and the Elite Guard by betraying the White Fang at a pivotal moment like this?" Adam asked.

Razor was silent for a moment before withdrawing his weapon as Thayer approached the rest of the Elite Guard

"Sir..." Russell began but Razor held up his hand to silence his troops.

"Put your weapons away, we will deal with this later." Razor told them. The various members of the Elite Guard looked around at the various White Fang troops, all of them armed. Some of them looked at Adam, unsure and unconvinced but Razor nodded and they began to put away their weapons.

Piper glared at Adam and gave off a menacing rattling sound like a snake before placing her musical weapon on her belt.

Kane placed his bayonet rifle away before looking at Blake and Ruby with sympathy and me muttered "Sorry..."

Razor looked to Qrow who said nothing, he just glared back.

"Excellent choice, Elite Guard. Now we need to get ready to move out back to base, and yes, we will talk Razor. First we sort out this lot." Adam said as he surveyed Team Beacon. "Blake is my prisoner, obviously, same goes for Xiao Long and Wukong."

"Like hell you will..." Qrow began before Adam kicked him in the side to silence him.

"Adam, please..." Blake said, getting Adam's attention. "Just take me, but let everyone else go. If you let them go free I will do anything you want, just don't hurt my friends anymore."

Adam turned away, ignoring her as he looked to Ruby and said "Rose is for Salem, she will be most pleased that we succeeded where Cinder failed."

Emerald glared at him when he said that but Ruby spoke up. "You just don't get it, do you?" She looked at him and said "When you joined Cinder you became Salem's slave, you've turned everyone in the White Fang into Salem's slave even if they don't know it. You're not just evil Adam, you're dumb too."

"She's right Adam." added Blake, "You claim to be a freedom fighter, but you'll bring nothing but death to the White Fang in the end."

Adam said nothing in return to either of them and looked to Weiss and Winter. "We'll ransom off the Schnees and the android to Atlas. You can use it to lure Willow Schnee in so you can make him pay for his transgression." he said to Razor who said nothing, he simply nodded with an angry look on his face.

"We'll deal with her ourselves." Emerald said as she glared at the multicolored girl, who had still not awakened.

"Fine. As for you, Miss... Scarlatina, correct?" Adam asked as he cupped the Rabbit Faunus' chin. She nodded, looking up at his brand and shivering a bit. "I think I'll keep you around, I believe we can find something for you to do." he finished, looking up and down her body.

Yatsuhashi and Coco both glared at him but didn't move, no matter how much they wanted to.

"What do you have in mind sir?" Babara asked, the doubt in her voice obvious.

"I'll think of something, but that's none of your business." Adam answered darkly when Thayer stepped up.

"Sir." he said.

"What?"

"Beg pardon sir, but fuck you!" the Rabbit Faunus said as he whipped out his pistol and fired at Adam. He kept pulling the trigger until the gun was out of ammo...

And Adam stood there with Wilt unsheathed, having blocked every bullet.

"Oh shit." Thayer muttered as Hui came up behind him and grabbed both of his arms and twisted them, forcing Thayer to cry out in pain.

"Thayer?" Edward said, stumped.

"What the hell?!" cried Teresa.

"What just happened?" asked Babara, confused.

"Holy shit, Thayer just tried to kill Taurus." Penn stated, his mouth agape.

"I don't believe it." murmured Russell.

"Well that's not good." Kane said as he looked to the shocked Razor, who said nothing.

Adam grabbed Thayer by the throat, squeezing hard as he did so, and said "I suspected there was a traitor in the Elite Guard, who is this Razor?"

"Thayer... one of our pilots." Razor answered.

"He's my uncle! Let him go you thug!" Velvet demanded.

"Very well. We will deal with you later, Thayer Scarlatina." Adam said as he threw Thayer into Team Beacon.

Velvet caught him and helped him down, "Uncle Thayer, why did you do that?"

"I didn't want him to hurt you. I'm so, so sorry Velvet." he said as he hugged her.

Adam glared at Razor and asked "Did you know about his relation to her?"

Razor sighed, looked at Thayer with sad, apologetic eyes. "No, I didn't know. I'm embarrassed and ashamed." he lied.

"You should be. As for the rest of them..." Adam began, looking at Qrow, Coco, Yatsuhashi, Neptune, and Scarlet, and then he looked to Hui, "take them to the cliff and execute them, throw their bodies into the jungle."

"What?!" cried most of Team Beacon as Hui and a dozen other troopers led the condemned five away, all of them struggling for freedom while other guards began to handcuff everyone else.

"I am gonna kill you, you horned-head asshole!" Yang shouted as she struggled.

"We won't let you get away with this!" Velvet cried, tears in her eyes.

"Come on boss, don't go through with this!" Thayer called.

"If you hurt any of them we'll kill you!" Sun added.

"If you go forward with this I will make sure that you're executed for what you've done Taurus!" Winter scolded.

"You can't do this! Stop and think about what you're doing!" Weiss yelled at the guards.

"I won't let you!" Ruby screamed as her eyes began to glow, which made Steppenwolffe and the Beowolves draw back and some guards moved to cover her head.

Blake looked at Adam and said "Adam, please stop this insanity, I know the boy I loved is still in there somewhere, you can redeem yourself, you can still change! You don't have to stay a monster! Just stop this! PLEASE!"

Adam looked at her and knelt down. "The old Adam Taurus is dead, he was died a slow, excruciating death that began with the death of his family and ended when you abandoned him on that train. As he died he slowly turned into me, and I suppose I should thank you for helping me become what I am today, my love. This is the new Adam Taurus, in all his glory."

Blake screamed out in anger and fury as she tried to attack Adam but was held back by the guards. She fought and struggled, glaring at Adam with pure hatred as she fought to get out. Tears streamed down her pale face as she kept screaming at Adam, her mind racked with guilt, horror, shame, and misery.

Qrow fought a bit but looked back at his nieces and shouted "Ruby, Yang! Everything will be alright, don't give up!" Then he looked to Razor. Told ya, you frigging moron! Where's the honor in this, eh?! Where?! So much for your fucking code of honor!"

Razor looked down in shame before Piper grabbed his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. He looked at her and she nodded. He approached Adam and said "Commander Taurus, you can't do this, I promised they would be our prisoners, we cannot execute them."

"I am in command here, not you! If you defy me again I will have every member of the Elite Guard arrested for treason and betrayal." Adam threatened darkly.

"I thought you were better than this!" Razor shouted.

"I've never been better. This is justice for the death of Wade and our brothers and sisters who were killed in the mines, so if you want to be a traitor like your pilot just keep pushing it Razor." Adam growled.

They stared at each other until Razor finally backed down.

Babara looked to Razor and said "We gotta stop this, we can't let him do this."

"She's right boss, this is wrong." agreed Russell.

"Adam has lost his damn mind." voiced Kane.

"No shit." muttered Misha.

"Can we really do something?" asked Morgan.

"We... we can't stop this without openly defying Adam's command and with this many armed troops around we will not win. It's a horrible thing, but we will avenge their deaths. Adam will not get away with this." Razor said quietly but firmly. He looked to Qrow and the five teens as they arrived at the cliff and he whispered "I am sorry Branwen, I should have listened to you."

Meanwhile Ruby and the others struggled as they were marched to the ship. Winter and Yang were being forced along with electric prods to keep them under control. Ruby kept fighting to get free but both of the Faunus who had her were too strong and she was too tired after everything that had happened. She looked at her team with Weiss having a look a guilt for what Adam had been through while tears were falling from the eyes of Blake and Sun, and Velvet kept glancing at her friends as she was forced on as four guards carried the deactivated body of Penny.

She looked over to Uncle Qrow, Coco, Yatsuhashi, Neptune, and Scarlet.

They could die here and now.

Someone needed to help them. She needed to help them.

She glanced up at one of her escorts and noticed he had large Bar ears on the side of his head. This gave her an idea as she looked down at Ashe's whistle. She bounced it off her chest and into her mouth and blew into it as hard as she could, hurting the Bat Faunus' ears and forcing him to cover them for protection. Ruby made her move, she slammed her head into the other guard's side, jumped up and kicked both guards with a split-kick and as she came down she curled up so her arms could pull her handcuffs under her legs so she'd have her arms in front.

She didn't waste a single second as she dashed forward to help her friends.

"Ruby!" Weiss, Blake, and Yang all cried as their leader dashed through the crow of White Fang troops, her eyes glowing a magnificent silver that made the Beowolves flee.

Adam saw Ruby run towards Qrow and the others and yelled "Shoot now!"

Ruby ran faster and launched herself into Qrow who fell sideways, creating a domino effect, knocking down Scarlet, Neptune, Coco, and Yatsuhashi... but the largest member of the team slipped and went over the edge of the cliff. Coco grabbed him but he was too much so she was pulled over too, Scarlet and Neptune tried to grab her but they were too late, Neptune however was too close and went over, grabbing Scarlet who went down with him.

The remaining White Fang troops, confused, shot at Qrow and Ruby. The Huntsman looked at his niece, grabbed her, and said "Hang on!"

He turned around only to be shot in the back by the White Fang gunmen as he jumped over the cliff into the jungle below.

"NO!" screamed Yang, Weiss, Blake, Sun, and Velvet together, utterly horrified and grief stricken by what just happened. They all tried to fight themselves free but more troops came over to keep them secured as they were forced towards the ship.

Blake began to sob wildly and say "I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." over and over again. Ruby, Neptune, Qrow and the others could be dead... and in her soul there was this dreadful feeling that it was all her fault.

The executors ran over to the cliffside and began firing wildly into the jungle and the river until their weapons were empty.

"Save your ammo you idiots." scolded Hui as Adam led he, Emerald, Mercury, and Steppenwolffe to look over the edge at the jungle in the valley below.

"Salem and Cinder are going to be furious if Ruby died, they have plans for her. We need to recover her." Emerald said.

"They couldn't have survived that fall." Hui stated.

"Normally I'd agree but these people have a nasty habit of surviving literally everything we throw at them." Mercury pointed out.

"Besides, until the bodies are found and brought to us I don't think we should consider our work done just yet." Steppenwolffe voiced.

"Good idea." Adam agreed as he looked over to an officer who was the leader of a scouting team. "You there, Hopkins."

"Yes sir?"

"Take your team down into the jungle and search for their bodies. If they're not dead kill them except for Ruby Rose, we need her alive. Do not return until you find them dead or alive." Adam ordered.

"Understood sir but what if Ruby Rose died in the fall?"

"Trust us, she's more durable than she looks." Emerald assured him, "But if she did die... then there's going to be trouble."

Adam nodded gravely and said to Hopkins "Get moving."

The scout nodded and went to get his team.

Adam looked to Hui and said "We'll need to ready the cells at the base for our prisoners and until them we'll need to keep them in the brig on the Elite Guard's ship. Assign a platoon to 'aid' them, I want the Elite Guard watched, especially Razor."

"Yes sir, it will be done." Hui said with a salute before he turned to the crowd "Alright, let's get out of here!"

Razor led the Elite Guard members back to the ships. "Kane, pilot Thayer's ship, Edward can you fly yours in that condition?"

Both Faunus nodded as Piper held Razor's hand to comfort him like a daughter would her father. "Thank you." he whispered to her. "I don't deserve a friend like you, I don't deserve any of you."

"Don't say that boss, this isn't your fault." Babara told him.

"She's right." Russell nodded.

"Your loyalty warms my heart, old friends but I have no longer deserve it, not after this disaster. I have dishonored the White Fang and the Elite Guard by letting Adam become what he is now. I have lost my honor." he said sadly.

Piper squeezed his hand and used her instrument to make a voice that said "You can always get it back."

Razor looked at her and gave a sad smile. "Make I can. We have to make this right, Adam needs to be stopped." he said quietly. He wasn't worried, his troops were loyal to him and not Adam, and Piper was currently making sure anyone who wasn't part of the Elite Guard couldn't hear them because she was using her Semblance to mess with the soundwaves and sound molecules in the air so only the Elite Guard members could hear him.

"Okay boss, what are we gonna do? I mean you want to go against Adam now but I think we're pretty screwed if we try it." Kane pointed out quietly

Razor nodded but said "A plan is forming..." He looked at Piper, then Selena, and then back to Kane to say "I think I have a mission for you after we've rested up..."

Razor didn't care if this was treason, he was loyal to who ever led the White Fang but after his actions tonight Adam no longer deserved to be the leader, he had dishonored the entire Faunus race, and Razor would make him pay for it, but first he needed to know something for sure.

---

With all the attention of the White Fang troops, including the firing squad, all solely concentrated on the escaping prisoners of Team Beacon, none of them bothered to look twice at the Vacuoan surroundings around them. If any of them did glance around, they also would not have been able to clearly see that one of the darker shadows near the waterfall a considerable distance away towards the end of the valley wasn't actually a shadow at all.

Bringing the sleek silver-black motorcycle with blue highlights to a sharp but smoothly curved halt behind a series of large boulders, a figure clad in gunmetal-grey armor plates with similar blue markings released his grip on the throttles and raised his fully armored head from the smooth windscreen just in time to see the captured members of Team Beacon make their spontaneous and incredibly risky escape.

The armor-clad figure's midnight-blue robes slowly settled about the clasps on his shoulder blades while the miniature dust maelstroms died down around him. The sound of his specially-designed motorcycle slowed to a throaty purr, although if he had any reservations of the noise alerting any unwanted attention he might as well not have bothered as the roar of the motorcycle's passage was completely eclipsed by the sound of the waterfall and the noises the White Fang troops and equipment were making.

The figure did not make any sound as he watched the Huntsmen and Huntresses of Team Beacon fall like toy figurines in a child's hand from the cliffside and into the lush Jungle of Vacuo several hundred meters below, surrounded on both sides by a lush green trees, a raging river, and boulders. His armored face-plate concealed any emotion that could be seen on his face at the scene unfolding in front of him, and the sharp blue lenses of his helmet similarly obscured his eyes.

He watched silently as those members of Team Beacon all plunged into the jungle loud clashes of leaves, snapping of branches, and splashes announcing their impact on the water surface of the river and within mere seconds the choppy, foaming waves swallowed them greedily, erasing any trace of their existence, the river and the tower tress providing cover from the Fang. The assembled White Fang troops had immediately rushed to the aforementioned cliffside and fired their rifles futilely at the raging river, their usual conservation of precious ammunition clearly forgotten. The shifting waters of the river easily consumed their extended clips of bullets as well, small spatters of water splashes announcing where those rounds had penetrated the surface too, tree leaves and entire branches were blasted off of trees, crashing to the jungle floor below, scattering the green leaves about.

After expending every single round in their rifle magazines, followed by looking at the gushing river below them for several moments and then engaging each other in a heated shouting match among the leaders of the group, the various White Fang troops immediately stopped after the White Fang Lieutenant known as Hui ordered them to. The White Fang's leader, two young humans who were probably enemy agents, and what was without a doubt a Grimm hybrid looked over the cliff and clearly did not believe that the escaped hostages had died in their rather deadly plunge, and ordered a scout to lead a group to finish the job.

While the cloaked warrior on the motorcycle believed their survival too, he wasn't there with the intent to kill. For the last few days he had been tracking their progress across the continent of Vacuo from a discreet distance after being told to watch over them by his superior Shadow Reaper. He had heard about the battle that had taken place in Hondyama after doing a little intelligence-gathering here and there, making sure that Sun Wukong's family was safe, he continued to follow their progress to Preshia and eventually to the White Fang-held village of Oro on the outskirts of a Vacuo mountain.

Taking caution, the warrior made himself scarce so as to avoid detection by the increased White Fang patrols around the village and the surrounding mountain. Hence it was slightly more difficult for him to monitor Team Beacon's progress more effectively, and it was deep in the night when his built-in electronic system on his motorcycle's dashboard picked up increased White Fang communications and activity ,thanks to a White Fang frequency code he had obtained a few months ago during another operation with other Knights), alerting him that something big was definitely going down in the nearby prison complex.

Soon enough, furious fighting outside the prison complex and an explosion signaled an escape attempt by Team Beacon, and the armored warrior smoothly slipped onto his motorcycle and since he had warmed up the engine in advance, pursuing the R.V. as well as the White Fang ships chasing it was a simple enough task. But the mountain roads of Vacuo were treacherous even to a trained motorcycle rider like the armored knight, so he had to be careful white cutting corners or taking shortcuts to stay behind the chasing combatants.

When he eventually arrived at the waterfall, the armored figure witnessed the scene of a clear aftermath of a large battle, with at least half of Team Beacon about to be taken prisoner with the R.V. reduced to smoldering scrap metal, while the rest were forced on their knees in front of a firing squad. Mentally thinking that it was perhaps time for him to intervene before Team Beacon suffers any serious casualties, he was a little surprised when the red hooded Huntress managed to effect a hasty escape for all of them.

He was impressed, he hoped to see Ruby Rose in action soon.

As he watched the White Fang bullheads take off one by one away from the forest while one took off towards the jungle, the Knight contemplated on his next course of action. Reaching a decision quickly after remembering the important message sent to him from Shadow Reaper mere days before: 'Sharp Strike, meeting with Ozpin successful. Team Beacon operatives currently on mission related to WF in Vacuo. High possibility of interception if current search perimeter include locations with High WF activity. Locate and observe from discreet distance, keep watch. Intervene if necessary.'

He turned off the engine and got off his motorcycle in one smooth action, and stowed his bike in a shadowed lee between two of the largest rock formations near the waterfall.

Intervene if necessary.

The last three words of Shadow Reaper's message echoed through Sharp Strike's thoughts as the lone Knight made one last check of his armor's functionality, his two signature swords magnetically-locked in cross-scabbards affixed to his back armor plates as well as the dust bullet ammunition for the personal revolver which laid in a quick-draw holster at his left thigh. Walking to the lip of the cliff, he carefully checked the surroundings before drawing his twin swords and began to slowly descend the steep cliff, stabbing into the rocky surface of cliff as well as the large branches of the giant trees of the jungle to balance himself before jumping from tree to tree in a series of quick motions that would have made any Monkey Faunus proud, despite being clad in armored plates.

Setting his mind on finding those escaped members of Team Beacon, Sharp Strike sprinted at a brisk pace once he reached the jungle floor, slipping into the shaded shadows of the Vacuo jungle and becoming one of them within moments, leaving no evidence of his presence behind.

It was time for him to do what he does best.

TO BE CONTINUED...

So... sorry to leave you with that cliffhanger. I'm sorry to leave you with that but I hope you liked it and enjoyed the fights, since I worked by butt off on them. So will they live? What will Razor do? Who is Sharp Strike? Will I get more faves and follows? You'll have to wait to find out. Also I've decided that this won't be the last chapter of the year, I will give you one last chapter before new years eve, so see you in a few weeks. Also thanks to Relentless Crusader for helping to write Sharp Strike's introduction.

Also just to make it clear; there won't be a Penny/Scarlet pairing as one reviewer thought, the scene between them last chapter was just some character interaction and development.

Note, the rating of this story will change from T to M in the future for violence and possible lemons.

Please if you enjoyed this chapter on Fanfiction . Net then please let a review, or simply follow and favorite the story if you liked it and if you're on An Archive of Our Own then leave a kudos and comment and possibly even bookmark it. Please guys give me some feedback, as it keeps me and this story going and if you want me to keep writing please tell me what you think, please! For those of you on the RWBY Reddit please give this fic a mention, thanks. Please guys, help me out here, let me know if you enjoy this story, what's good and bad about it, tell me if you liked it or tell me if it sucked, please, I work really hard to make this story good so please give me some feedback. Thank you all, once again.