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

43. Schism

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 43: Schism

"Hey, get the hell up."

"What, oh... uh, sorry Jorvitz, just got bored and wanted to get some reading done." said one Atlas solider to another as he put the small paperback away in his pocket.

"You're bored? How can you be bored in a place like this Kyle? I mean a friggin' massacre happened here just a week or so ago and there's still blood stains on the walls and we're constantly looking for the scrolls of the Faunus who were here, how can you be bored?" Jorvitz asked.

"Well I don't believe in ghosts for one thing. What, do you think the place is haunted?" Kyle inquired as he got up.

"Well I feel like I'm in a 'Crypt of Terror' episode, so that's a start. Come on, Yin wants us to join up with her and a few others to search the basement again, see if there's something we missed in the last few sweeps." Jorvitz said as he led the way.

Kyle couldn't help but agree with his fellow soldier, this place was pretty spooky, especially knowing what had happened. As he took out his rifle he couldn't help but comment "Search the basement? This whole place is a basement."

"You're not wrong, probably why they picked this place as their little death trap." Jorvitz agreed as he walked on.

Specialist Yin's small platoon had been left behind at the Mining Facility in the desert to search for more proof of what had happened here. According to Styles' log entries she and the other survivors were going to try one last desperate attempt to kill the Grimm beast that had been killing their people, including strapping their scrolls to their chests and getting proof of what really happened. Another big thing was that in the second to last entry they mentioned something about Adam contacting them to brag, which would be undeniable proof of what had happened here, but said audio was not in her scroll, meaning that she probably transferred it to something else for safety.

They soon arrived to the entrance of the basement, if it could be called that since it wasn't the lowest point of the facility. The place was actually a large underground room used for water softeners, large pipes and electric cables, breakers, and as a backup storage room.

"Alright everyone, get your guns ready just in case and check your targets, I don't want a repeat of last time." Yin said to them, giving everyone unfortunate reminders of how one of the newer troops had freaked out when a strange sound came out of a pipe and shot it open to reveal a practical horde of cockroaches and termites and all kinds of pests bunched up in the pipe.

Everyone walked down the stairs and once Yin turned the lights on the began to go through the large, foreboding room once again. Even with the lights on the room was dark, the lights were dim and didn't do much to help the mood.

"Are you sure we shouldn't check through the mine shafts again? I mean isn't that where they tried to bait and chase this thing?" asked a solider named Fong.

"We've searched those tunnels out extensively and to the best of our ability, if the scrolls were down there we would have found them by now." Yin said. They had gone through those tunnels nearly a dozen times since they had arrived. They had tried metal detectors, Faunus soldiers who had been trained in tracking, everything, but they couldn't find any trace of the scrolls in the mines. They had searched the rooms, the mess hall, the assembly hall, the garage, but the scrolls were nowhere to be found.

"Maybe whoever placed the dead rangers here found 'em first." Jorvirz suggested as he pried open an old locker only to find it empty.

"I don't think so, Styles left the scroll in a desk, pretty easily found all things considered. If the White Fang didn't find that they probably didn't find the others." Yin stated as she sidestepped a large pile of dead bugs that had poured out of the pipe.

"We've gone over this place like three times already, Specialist Yin, what makes you think it'll be any different?" a trooper asked Yin.

"You never know, today might give us a little luck." she answered.

Just then, as if one cue, there was a loud clanging sound of something metal falling to the concrete floor. Everyone either looked up, either annoyed or startled by the sudden noise, to see that Kyle had climbed onto a large group of sturdy pipes that came out of ceiling and into the floor, but one of the thinner pipes had came off unusually easily.

"Sorry everyone! I just think I see something behind these pipes." he excused.

"What is it?" Yin asked.

"I see an outline of something, maybe an opening? These pipes are blocking the way, but it looks like these thin ones weren't here originally, they're a bit newer looking than these big ones." Kyle said as he gripped tightly on another one and pulled until it came off.

Yin approached him and sure enough she could see an outline of a small rectangle shape in the wall that wasn't a cinder block or a large brick. "Let me help you with that, come on!" she said to the others.

The other soldiers began helping out, forcing the thin pipes off, revealing more and more of the small shape until they were completely removed.

"These pipes were put up not too long ago, maybe by Styles." said Fong as he examined the hastily installed pipes.

"Maybe..." Yin said as she pressed her hand against the rectangle outline and swept against it. She took out her sword and gently inserted it into the thin opening.

"Uh, that might be dangerous, shouldn't we go get a crowbar or something?" Kyle asked.

"Relax soldier, I can handle this." Yin assured him as she pried the strong piece of metal out of the opening, slowly but surely to reveal a hidden crawlspace. The metal fell to the ground with a heavy clang.

Yin looked inside and said "I think there's something in there, hand me a flashlight."

Fong quickly did so and Specialist Yin peered inside to see a bag covered with a few blood stains here and there but it was clearly filled with something. Yin reached in and just barely managed to get it by the tips of her middle and index fingers. She pulled it forward to where she could get a better grip on it before yanking it out of the crawlspace.

"What's in the bag?" Jorvitz asked as Yin sat down on the pipes.

"Let's find out." Yin said as she opened the bag up to reveal the scrolls. "I don't believe it, we found them." She took one out and examined it. It was in good shape, save for the blood stain on it.

"We did it, way to go kid." Fong said to Kyle.

"Contact General Ironwood and Colonel Chamberlain at once, they need to know about this." Yin ordered.

---

Ozpin and Goodwitch stood in front of a table which was projecting holograms of General Ironwood, Colonel Chamberlain, and a high ranking officer in the Vacuo Rangers named Commander Strider. On the table itself was various holographic readouts and a recreation of the dogfights between the Vacuo Rangers and the White Fang.

"We lost four ships and about nine good Rangers all together. The rest of our aircraft were forced to retreat." Strider reported.

"What about your ground troops? Did they make it to the village?" Glynda asked.

"No, they were stopped by a White Fang blockade, the White Fang officers there told our Rangers that if they came any closer villagers would be executed, just like you predicted Professor Goodwitch." Strider said grimly.

Glynda grimaced as she shook her head. "What of Team Beacon? Have any of your troops been able to get in contact with them?"

"I don't know Professor, one of the pilots who got away said he saw more White Fang ships approach the area where they had engaged the White Fang in battle, and since they have not contact you it is most likely they've been captured." Strider admitted.

There was a small silence around the table before Ozpin said "As of now they are a top priority. Glynda, please contact Taiyang and the rest of Team Beacon, they need to know about this."

Glynda nodded and quickly sent a message to Taiyang and the remaining members of Team Beacon as Ironwood said "I noticed that Taurus and his Elite Guard arrived rather quickly, this most likely means that the White Fang's headquarters are somewhere nearby, probably in the mountains."

"That's a safe bet General, it would explain their sudden appearance and how they've kept such a tight grip on this area." Glynda concurred.

"General, we could send an Atlas Eagle to scout out the area. All it would have to do is do a flyby high enough so it wouldn't be spotted, take a scan of the mountains and see if the White Fang's base really is there." Chamberlain suggested.

"Excellent idea." Ironwood said before looking to someone near him that wasn't in the hologram, "Send one of our top pilots in the Vacuo bases at once. Now that still leaves us with Team Beacon's situation; Strider's right, it is most likely they've been captured, even with Branwen and Specialist Schnee and the multiple powerhouse students among them they couldn't fight all of those White Fang operatives. Can we make an educated guess as to their situation?"

"Adam Taurus kowtows to Salem and Cinder Fall, we know that much, so I fear he will probably hand over Ruby as an offering to them, but hopefully we can stop that before it happens. He has history with Miss Belladonna, and considering her relationship with Mr. Wukong and what happened at the Fall with Miss Xiao Long I think he would want them alive for his personal vendettas." Ozpin said.

"I think we should also be concerned Weiss Schnee and Specialist Schnee, I don't think I need to remind any of you about the bad blood between the White Fang and the Schnee family." Glynda voiced.

"Too true, so we're looking at either ransom or execution there... we need to hurry." Chamberlain said.

"Agreed. James, if you were to mobilize your troops within the next hour how long would it take you to get there?" Ozpin inquired.

"Sometime around two o'clock in the morning, what about you?"

"We have a ship that can get us there a little earlier, it's..." Ozpin said before the door was flung open to reveal Taiyang, Jaune, Pyrrha, and the other remaining members of Team Beacon.

"We got your message, what's going on?!" Taiyang demanded.

"Are the others okay?" Pyrrha asked.

"What happened? What went wrong?" Jaune cried.

"Are our friends in danger? Do I need to start breaking some legs?" Nora inquired.

"Tell us what happened to our friends now!" Sage said firmly.

"What happened to my team? I need to know." pleaded Fox, who looked uncharacteristically worried.

Ren sighed and pulled out a StormFlower and fired off one round into the floor, getting everyone's attention and making them all stop talking at once. "Please be quiet. Asking a dozen questions all at once won't get us anywhere. Now, Headmaster, Professor, General, Colonel, would you please tell us what's happened to our friends?" he asked.

"The plan to rescue Claudandus failed, the ship sent to extract them was destroyed before it could land, and we think they've been captured by the White Fang." Chamberlain answered.

"Oh no..." Nora whispered.

"Not again, oh gods..." said Taiyang in horror with wide eyes.

"We gotta help them." Sage said with determination in his voice.

"He's right, what are you planning to do?" Pyrrha asked importantly.

"An Atlas Eagle will soon fly high overhead and get a scan of the mountains, we think the White Fang's headquarters are located somewhere there since they appeared so quickly. Once we have confirmation that they are there we will move out and attack the base from the other side of the mountain." Ozpin said.

"We need to think about this, even if we attack from behind they'll still have the villagers from Oro as captives, their lives are in the hands of the White Fang." Glynda pointed out.

"Well from the looks of it so are the lives of our friends. We need to save them, if we wait it might be too late to save them." Jaune said.

"And rushing into things will get innocent people killed, including your friends Mr. Arc." Ozpin told the blonde.

Jaune hung his head, knowing the Headmaster was right.

"So, what do you have in mind for this? I mean we have to save our friends and attack the Fang but we'll need to save those villagers too." Fox stated.

"Once we have enough information about the situation we'll plan it out a bit more but I think I'll send in one of our top combat teams to take care of the village when we begin the attack." Ironwood assured the teen.

"What about Ruby and the others? If we wait too long they'll be dead or they could be Salem's prisoners! No one should have to live through that... Ruby's already gone through it once... she's like a little sister to me, I don't want her going through that again." Jaune said sadly when Pyrrha grabbed his hand and gave a comforting squeeze.

"Jaune is right, we need to know what's happened to the rest of Team Beacon as soon as possible, Professor Ozpin, Ruby, Jaune, and I were all Salem's prisoners before and I know for a fact that no one should ever live through it again, especially not Ruby. They're in danger if Taurus hands them over to that witch so we need a plan right away if we're going to save them." Pyrrha voiced.

"Agreed Miss Nikos, but we have no choice but to wait until..." Ozpin was interrupted by a voice coming from Ironwood and Chamberlain's connections.

"General Ironwood, Colonel, we've just received word from Specialist Yin, they've found the hidden scrolls." said a female voice.

"Really?" cried Chamberlain.

"Excellent news." Ironwood said with a slight grin. "Have her transfer it to us immediately."

"Huh? What's going on?" Nora asked.

"We'll explain it later Miss Valkyrie, but I assure you this is a promising turn of events." Ozpin said to the redhead.

Pyrrha sighed and said "Well I hope this is a good sign, whatever it is."

Everyone else could only agree with a nod, except Taiyang who looked on bitterly. "Glynda, please call me as soon as you hear anything about my daughters and my brother-in-law."

"We will Taiyang. I promise we will do our best to save them." the professor assured him.

Taiyang didn't say anything, he merely nodded before walking away, fists clenched. Jaune and Pyrrha both noticed this so they quickly followed him out of the room.

"Mr. Xiao Long, are you going to be alright?" Pyrrha called.

He stopped and said "That depends on what happens to my family."

"Sir, when I said Ruby is like a little sister to me I meant it. They're our family too." Jaune said, with Pyrrha nodding in agreement.

"They mean so much to us Mr. Xiao Long, so just remember if you need to talk we're here for you." she said.

Taiyang allowed himself a sad smile before saying "Thank you."

As the Huntsman walked away the two lovers looked at each other. "Pyrrha, what are we going to do?"

"We can't do anything for the time being Jaune. I know how frustrating it is but for now we can only hope that they'll be alright."

---

Scarlet held onto the rocks at the edge of the riverbank for dear life with his right hand while his left arm braced the injured Neptune close to him as the raging tides of the river they had fallen into threatened to carry them away. The two members of Team SSSN had been unfortunate enough to land in the raging river in the jungle, but Scarlet, who was unharmed and alert unlike Neptune who was barely conscious after the savage beating he got from Mercury and the slash across the chest he received from Adam.

"Hang on lad! We're not done yet!" he said as he kept a tight grip on the slippery rock, water battering his side, trying to knock him down but he didn't give in.

'This would be so much easier if I had my grappling hook.' he thought to himself as he struggled to move Neptune up a bit more. He flung his head up to get his hair out of his eyes so he could see better. He slipped a bit but his hand quickly caught a large rock to keep him and his teammate from being washed away, the water constantly rushing by him, threatening to pull him away.

Scarlet grunted as his left hand got a good grip on Neptune's hand as he lowered his body down into the rapids to get Neptune a little higher as he pulled both of them closer to land.

"Neptune, I don't know if you can hear me but don't leave me! We're gonna make it!" Scarlet cried before shouting out "COCO! YATSUHASHI! QROW! ANYONE, HELP!"

There was no answer.

"Okay, doing this alone then." Scarlet muttered to himself before he got closer to the rocks, his legs fighting the current with every ounce of energy he had. He didn't know who was the strongest or the weakest of Team SSSN, obviously he and the blunette he was holding were the weaker of the two while Sun and Sage, but he didn't know if he was weaker than Neptune or not, but this was a bloody stressful way to test his strength.

He stomped a bit closer to the land, stomping hard to get his feet into the dirt and mud for support so he wouldn't be carried away when he let go. He took a deep breath and braced himself as he let go of the rock. The water kept pounding into him but Scarlet didn't give in, his feet firmly planted into the mud, as he got Neptune onto his back.

"I'm gonna throw you onto the ground, mate, brace yourself!" Scarlet warned.

"Scar... let me go... save yourself, man." Neptune said weakly.

Scarlet shook his head and shouted "No way! I'm not leaving you behind mate! You're my teammate, my friend! I'm not letting the river take you! Hang on... AHHH!" He roared as he managed to Neptune over his head, muscles burning with stress, before he tossed his teammate onto the safety of solid ground.

"I did it! I... whoa!" he cried as his left foot came loose from the mud and a surge of river water swept him down, jerking him free of the mud. "Oh bugger!"

"Scarlet!" called Neptune is horror as he attempted to force himself up.

Scarlet's legs began to kick as hard as they could, his arms stroking, trying to swim back to the rocks but the current was simply too strong. Water kept raging into him, water splashed into his face, flooding his mouth and nose, threatening to overwhelm him.

All hope seemed lost when a voice yelled "Grab the vine!"

Scarlet manage to look over to see Coco and Yatsuhashi on the riverbank, tossing a long vine from the jungle to him. Scarlet's arm flew up and he caught the improvised rope just in the nick of time as the two pulled as hard as they could to get him to safety. Scarlet climbed up the vine as the two remaining members of CFVY pulled him closer and closer until he was finally in reach.

"Grab my hand!" Yatsuhashi yelled.

Scarlet nodded and reached out to the large samurai who quickly grabbed him and hauled him out of the river and to the safety of the land. He coughed up the water out of his lungs and onto the ground, helped out by Coco giving him a rough slap on the back, and after he took a few deep breaths he began to recover.

"Oh man, that Oum you guys showed up just in time!" Scarlet said, relieved to be alive after the insane ordeal he had just been through.

"We try our best. You doing okay?" Coco asked.

"I'm soaked but I'll be fine, Neptune's down the riverbank, he's still hurt but he's okay for the time being." Scarlet told them with a couple of coughs.

"Good, Yatsu?"

"I'll get him." Yatsuhashi said as he got up and walked away.

"What happened to you guys? Where did you land?" Scarlet asked the fashionista.

"We landed in some bushy trees not too far from here, the branches were strong and had a ton of leaves which cushioned our fall. You haven't see Ruby or Qrow have you?" she asked.

"I was kinda busy trying not to drown or let Neptune go." Scarlet stated as she helped him up.

"Good point. We heard you call for help but you might not want to do that, knowing the White Fang they've probably sent scouts looking for our us." Coco said as she examined her sunglasses, which had one lens with a spiderweb and the other was missing completely. "And I liked these." she muttered.

"Why? Wasn't falling enough?" Scarlet asked.

"We're still alive so obviously it wasn't. Taurus might be certifiable but he's obviously not stupid, he probably wants proof of our deaths, so we should keep it down." Coco finished as Yatsuhashi returned, carrying Neptune.

"His aura is healing his wounds but it would be better if we got him to a healer." Yatsuhashi stated.

"Right, okay so we find Ruby and Qrow, get out of this jungle, and make our way to the next village that isn't controlled by the Fang." Coco said as she began walking into the jungle.

"You think that's a good plan?" Scarlet asked doubtfully as he and Yatsuhashi followed her.

Coco nodded and said "Unless a miracle happens, I'd say it's our best bet. Now just be qui..."

"HELP! COCO! ANYONE! UNCLE QROW IS HURT! SOMEONE HELP US!" cried the voice of Ruby.

"Oh for the love of... come on, if Ruby's calling for help like that this will probably be serious." Coco ordered as she led the others into the jungle.

"Coco, Scarlet, did either of you hear the sound of a ship?" Yatsuhashi asked.

"No." Scarlet answered.

"Nuh-uh, why?" Coco asked.

"When I was getting Neptune I something that sounded like a dropship somewhere out there." he replied.

Coco grimaced and said "Then it's a good bet the White Fang did send scouts, we'll worry about them later, right now we need to get Ruby."

Not too far away Ruby sat in the crook of a mighty tree branch, holding her Uncle to her so he wouldn't fall off into the jungle below. Her hands were still together but nonetheless she placed them over Qrow's head and on his back where he had been shot before jumping off of the cliff, pressing down on the wounded areas as hard as she could to keep the bleeding to a minimum while his aura gave off a weak glow.

They had landed in a huge tree with many bushy leaves and some vines that cushioned their fall and prevented them from falling to the ground below.

"Uncle Qrow, please tell me you're okay." she pleaded as she nuzzled his face.

"Uh..." he moaned.

"Not good enough. Come on Uncle Qrow, you've had worse than this. Come on, you're not quitting on me!" she said confidently as she tried to shake Qrow awake. "We need to get out of this tree, everyone's counting on us! Blake and Yang... and Weiss... and Penny... and Sun... and Velvet and..."

Ruby sighed, she hoped everyone would be okay, but in the hands of the White Fang she honestly didn't know. Penny had been hit by that E.M.P., and so had Yang's arm, Weiss and Winter had found out their family was kinda responsible for what happened to Adam, Velvet had been reunited with her uncle who had betrayed the whole White Fang in the open and tried to shoot Adam (which probably put Velvet in extra danger), poor Sun lost half of his tail, and Blake... Ruby couldn't imagine what was going through her teammate's head right now after what had happened. "Don't worry guys, I'll try to help you... if Uncle Qrow would just wake up!"

Qrow slumped over, nearly falling and dragging Ruby over with him but she quickly pulled him back over. "Whoa! That was a close one. I wonder if mom, dad, and Aunt Raven ever had to put up with you when you were like this." she muttered, knowing the answer was probably yes.

She looked around, trying to get a good read on the situation at hand. Even with her hands cuffed she could jump from branch to branch and crook to crook until she made it to level ground, but she couldn't risk leaving Qrow here, but she couldn't carry him down either, since he was too heavy for her to carry that far and she'd easily lose her balance with him as extra wight. She had called for help from the others and ignored the feeling of dread in the back of her head that was telling her they didn't make it.

All of a sudden there was a loud 'caw' sound. Ruby looked up to see a raven perched on a branch overhead. Ruby looked at the raven closely and her eyes widened. "Wait... I know you, you're the same bird from the factory vents and you were in our room after Professor Ozpin's trial! Are you stalking me?" she demanded.

She stared at the raven and the raven stared back.

"I'm demanding answers from a bird. I've officially gone nuts, as if today couldn't get any worse." Ruby bemoaned as the bird looked at Qrow. Ruby allowed herself a smile and said "I wonder what Weiss would say if she knew about this? She'd probably just stare and walk away. I hope she's okay..."

The bird paid no attention to Ruby, it finished examining Qrow and flew away.

"Ruby!" called a voice from below. Ruby looked down to see Coco and Scarlet.

"Guys! You're okay!" she said, feeling very relived.

"Well we've been better, is Qrow alright?" Scarlet called.

"He's breathing and his heart is still beating so he's alive but he won't wake up and I don't think I can get him down myself." Ruby responded as Yatsuhashi came with Neptune in his arms. "Is he alright?"

"He's injured and exhausted but he'll make it, but it would be best to get him to a healer." Yatsuhashi answered.

"Yatsu, we need to climb up and help Ruby get Qrow down, you up for it?" Coco asked.

The large teen nodded before gently setting Neptune down, resting his head on a big tree root. "Let's get moving." he said as he moved to climb up the tree, Coco and Scarlet joining him.

"Can we call for help?" Ruby asked as she got Qrow ready to go down.

"Nope, the area is still under a communications block as far as scrolls go, we won't be able to call for help with them." answered Coco.

Ruby sighed and said "Okay, so let's recap our situation; everyone else has been captured and we're the only still free, Neptune and Uncle Qrow are out of it, we're in a jungle, we can't call for help, we don't have our weapons, the proof of what Adam did to those poor Faunus was destroyed, and the White Fang probably sent someone to try and find us. Anything else?"

"Nope, that pretty much covers everything. We're screwed." Scarlet deadpanned as he climbed up to where Ruby was and grabbed Qrow by the legs while Ruby hoisted him up by the armpits.

"Not entirely." said Coco as she stood under Yatsuhashi. "You see, before the battle really started I decided that it was too risky for me and Neptune to keep the evidence to ourselves so I sent it to Yatsu's scroll."

"You did!" cried Ruby gleefully.

"Alright!" said Scarlet.

"Why me?" Yatsuhashi inquired.

"You barely use yours man so it was the perfect safe place for the data, plus since you didn't know you didn't volunteer to give yours up. We're lucky they didn't force us to give in all of our scrolls." Coco said as Scarlet lowered the unconscious Qrow to Yatsuhashi while Ruby began moving down the tree, jumping from branch to branch.

"Good thinking." Yatsuhashi said as he carefully lowered Qrow down to Coco. Ruby had finally gotten onto solid ground and ran over to get under Coco so she could help with Qrow again.

"That means if we can get out of this blackout zone we can send the proof to Professor Ozpin and he can use it to show the world what Adam has done." Ruby said as Coco took hold of Qrow.

"Yeah, and I have a plan; we find a way out of this jungle, get to the next village which isn't under White Fang control, call Vale and tell 'em the situation. Or just one of us goes..." Coco said as she looked to Ruby while handing Qrow down to the youngest Huntress.

"Me? Well I guess it makes sense since I'm faster than any of you... but I don't like leaving you behind, especially after what we just went through." Ruby stated.

"But you're smaller and faster than the rest of us and if there are any White Fang patrols you can probably zip by unnoticed and get help." Coco argued as Scarlet floated down via his Semblance.

"That's true but... I just don't want to leave you guys behind. I don't think I could forgive myself if something happened to you while I was gone." Ruby said sadly as she and Scarlet set Qrow down.

Coco sighed, she knew Ruby had felt incredibly guilty over what happened to Pyrrha during the Fall and she reminded herself that the leader of RWBY was the youngest of them all (save Penny) and had been through an insane amount of crap in the last year. Her team had just been taken from her and were in danger, so Coco knew Ruby had a good reason to be so reluctant.

"Okay Ruby, you don't want to leave us we won't force you. We'll get out of here together." she said as she placed a comforting hand on Ruby's shoulder.

"Thanks Coco." Ruby said with a thankful smile.

Yatsuhashi jumped down and said "We should get moving, it might not be safe to stay here."

Coco nodded, "Right, Ruby you take the lead and cover our front while I cover the rear. Yatsuhashi will carry Qrow and Scarlet can take Neptune. We find a way out of this jungle, get to a village, get help, and try to save our friends. Everybody good with that?"

Everyone nodded.

"Then let's move out."

---

Penny's eyes snapped open as her systems rebooted. There was an odd numbness in her entire body, save for her head, she tried to move her arms but found she was unable to, same with her legs, but after a moment of sending additional power to those parts of her body she began moving again. It was then that she realized something uncomfortable was around her neck as she managed to turn her head to see Weiss.

"Hello?"

The Schnee heiress looked at her and breathed a sigh of relief. "Penny, thank goodness you're awake. I was starting to worry." she said.

"Worry? Weiss, what happened? Where is Ruby? Where are we?" she asked.

Weiss sighed and said "To answer your questions in order: we fought the White Fang and we lost, you were taken out by a Faunus with an E.M.P. Semblance. Ruby got away but fell over a cliff with Qrow, Coco, Yatsuhashi, Neptune, and Scarlet and we are currently being held prisoner in the brig of the Elite Guard's ship."

Penny absorbed this new information and quietly responded "I wish I hadn't woken up. Weiss, there is something around my neck, what is it?"

"They put some kind of shock collar to stop you if you try anything, that's what they said at least." Weiss answered as she sat down next to the robotic girl.

"Weiss... do you think Ruby will be alright?"

All Weiss could say was "I hope so Penny."

Penny looked around to see Blake, looking miserable as she leaned against the wall close to the bars of the cell they had been placed in. In the cell with them was Velvet and her Uncle Thayer, which Weiss explained in whispers.

Blake looked at Penny and was relieved that she had woken up but feared what they had planned for her. The cell next door was where Yang (whose robotic arm had been fitted with an odd mechanism that disabled its combat functions), Sun, Winter, Claudandus, and Neo had been imprisoned, and Blake knew Adam had made sure she'd be separated from her boyfriend who needed comfort after the loss of his tail, her partner, and her grandfather.

She glared at the six guards angrily but they took no notice of her furious amber eyes. She found it odd that none of them were of the Elite Guard for some strange reason, just normal White Fang troops.

The group had been silent ever since they had been forced into the cells, aside from Penny greeting Thayer and thanking him for joining them and Thayer and Velvet speaking to each other in low whispers.

"Why did you do that Uncle Thayer? He could have killed you." Velvet scolded.

"Not in front of everyone else he wouldn't have. I needed to do it, I wasn't going to let him hurt you, I might be White Fang but you're still blood Velvet. Oh gods you've grown up so much." he said with a sad smile, regretting how much he had missed because of he had been fooled into this insane crusade. "Can you ever forgive me for what I did?"

Velvet gave her uncle a smile and said "I forgave you along time ago."

Blake smiled despite herself, at least Velvet got something good out of this mess, but it probably wouldn't last long. As Weiss told Penny about the battle and what had happened she heard the sound of a whimper coming from the next cell and recognized it as Sun's voice. There was a tug at her heartstrings as she scooted at little closer to the end of the cell, as fast as she possibly could.

"Sun, can you hear me?" she asked.

"... yeah, I can hear you." he answered with a dry, monotone voice that made her wince. It was a voice that made Blake nervous because his normal voice had this mischievous, likable quality to it but his voice just sounded utterly emotionless now.

"Sun, I'm so, so, so sorry for what's happened to you. I don't blame you if you hate me for it, I deserve it. If we had never met you wouldn't have lost your tail and your family would never have been held hostage. I..." she stopped herself, honestly not knowing what to say. She had been overwhelmed by everything that had happened in the last few hours; the revelation of her true relation to Claudandus, fighting Adam, Sun losing his tail, Ruby and the others going over the cliff, being captured and thrown in a cell, it was all more than she could bear. "I've brought you nothing but pain Sun, I'm sorry."

He was quiet for the moment before he said "I don't want to talk about it right now."

Blake looked down, her eyes threatening to spill tears when she heard Yang's voice whisper "I'll talk to him, okay?"

"Yang?" Blake asked quietly.

"One and only, I'll talk to Sun, I kinda know what he's going through." the voice of the blonde assured her.

Blake sighed, "I'm sorry about Ruby. Gods this is all my fault."

"No it's not. Quit blaming yourself for every little thing that happens to us. Trust me, I know what it's like to feel so low." Yang reminded her.

"Right... sorry about that."

"Didn't I tell you to cut it out?" the blonde brawler joked. "Besides, I think we still have a chance to win this. For now just let me talk it over with Sun okay?"

"Alright." Blake said as she looked over to Weiss who returned the stare with eyes that weren't as accusing or judgmental as they would have been a year ago. "I'm sorry Weiss, you shouldn't have found out like this."

"I don't blame you, I blame my family for what they did in the past... but Adam isn't that old, and that makes it so much worse."

"How so?" asked Velvet.

"Because whatever happened to Adam probably happened in my life time. I was living a life of luxury because my family ran a company that profited off of slavery. I don't blame you for anything Blake, I'm not mad." Weiss assured her.

Blake allowed herself a smile again and was about to reply when the door to the brig was opening up.

"So why why didn't you tell me about that brand?" Weiss asked.

Blake sighed and said "When we first met I didn't trust you and I know you had a good reason to hate the White Fang. When we began to trust each other and truly become friends I didn't want to risk damaging our relationship, that's why I never talked about Adam until things began to go wrong. Once you knew about Adam... I honestly don't really know why I didn't tell you after we were reunited."

"Because you promised not to tell anyone. Remember when we were children and I made you promise not to tell anyone. I'm touched you kept it." said the voice of Adam as he, Emerald, Mercury, Razor, Kane, Russell, Babara and Morgan. What disturbed everyone was that Adam hadn't bothered to put a new mask on, leaving his brand visible for the world to see.

"Actually, I think it's because I didn't want her to feel bad. That promise no longer holds meaning to either of us. Hello Adam." Blake snarled as she glared at him

"Blake." he returned with a calm voice as he looked down on her. He turned to the guards and ordered "Leave us, stay outside." The guards nodded obediently and exited the room

In the other cell Neo had woken up but had remained quiet until she saw Emerald and Mercury. "Hello you two, hope my friends gave you a beating before you captured us."

"We handled ourselves just fine, you would have too but you picked the wrong side Neo." Emerald said angrily.

"We'll see about that." Neo shot back as everyone in the cells looked at their jailers.

"Hello Thayer." Razor said, putting on a disappointed tone of voice.

"Boss." the pilot returned as Penny approached the bars.

"Excuse me, but will someone please tell me what is around my neck?" she inquired.

Emerald looked to the robotic girl and said "It's an experimental type of shock collar designed to be a pacification tool for some of Atlas' most hostile and uncontrollable criminals in their prisons, it's used to punish them if they get out of line. The late Colonel Cy provided about a dozen of them to us before he committed suicide."

"Yeah, we used one like it on Arc, I enjoyed torturing him, but the one you're wearing was made just for you, so I hope you like it, robo-girl." Mercury added.

"I don't." Penny answered seriously.

"He's telling the truth, it was made specifically for you. Dr. Watts, Mistress Salem's highest ranking scientist, modified it with an E.M.P. so it would disable your weapons and mobility should you try to resist." Emerald finished.

Penny said nothing in response, she just turned around and sat down on the bench, trying not to get angry.

Weiss and Winter both looked at Adam and the mark on his forehead and after a moment the elder of the two looked to Razor and spoke up. "Razor, that is your name, correct?"

"Yes." he confirmed.

"You said that our father was involved in the purchase of Faunus slaves, do you have any proof of your claim?" she asked.

"Yes, I'm not lying, I can show you the documents we downloaded from the slavers' database if you wish." he offered.

"Show us." Weiss said.

"Very well." Razor said as he took out his scroll.

"Yes, while you two might be unaware of it your father is still engaged in the same criminal activity that made me like this." Adam said as he absentmindedly rubbed his brand.

"What happened to you? What did they do?" Weiss asked.

"If you want to know, I'll tell you after Razor shows you the documents." Adam said as the large Boar Faunus held up his scroll.

"These documents are the ones we downloaded, I trust you recognize your father's handwriting." Razor said as both of the Schnee sisters cringed when they knew the signature on the slave trade papers was undeniably that of Willow Jacques Schnee.

"I don't believe it." Weiss said.

"Believe it Schnee, your father is just as bad as those who came before him. I mean the legacy of what your family did to the Faunus race is no secret, even to us non-Faunus." Emerald stated, remembering the rumors she had heard about the Schnee mines as a child in Vacuo.

"But what could he want those slaves for? The mines are worked by drones and highly trained professional miners now and slaves would be useless in the more obscure mines since they tend to be in harsh environments. Not to mention slavery is highly illegal in all four Kingdoms and an because of our regrettable history the Atlas council mandated that an ethics committee should oversee all operations to appease the Faunus citizens of Atlas. It doesn't make any logical sense." Winter said.

"Maybe he didn't want them to do that kind of work, a good many of them were being sexually abused." Russell said, making Velvet shudder in disgust at the thought.

"My father would never..." Weiss said.

"Your father wouldn't let you know everything about the company, Miss Schnee. He'd probably wait until you were older, shared his outlook on life and then let you in on the things he does in the shadows." Razor said to her. "There weren't just Faunus slaves, but humans too. I swear to you on my honor, on the White Fang itself I am not lying to you. Your father is involved in the underground slave trade. It is unpleasant, but it is the truth."

Winter looked Razor in the eye and no matter how hard she tried she could see so much as a hint that he was lying about this. She sighed and thought back to when she was starting out in the Atlas Military, remembering how many people despised her for her family's legacy, remembered the fearful looks on the Faunus citizens she had rescued on various missions. She had known about the uncomfortable truth regarding what her family had done in the past, what her father had said to her after she had been arrested for aiding in Penny's rescue mission was proof that he still held prejudice against the Faunus race.

She sighed and said "I don't want to believe you, but you don't appear to be lying."

"Your father will pay for his sins, one way or another." Adam commented.

"What about your sins? You have a lot to answer for." Weiss accused.

"If you want to keep insisting that I approved of amputation then you are dead wrong. I would never approve of it after what happened to my mother." he said to her, confusing Weiss and everyone in the room save for Blake and Claudandus.

"And that makes what you have done all the more reprehensible." Claudandus said.

"Hold your tongue old man or I'll remove it for you." Adam snapped.

"You'll have to go through us to get to him." Yang said as she glared furiously at him.

Adam looked at the blonde brawler, then to Sun who was also glaring at Adam, and then to Blake. He smirked and said "I never could have guessed you had a type, my love. I suppose I have kept you in suspense long enough. Do you want to know what happened to me? How I got this? How I became who I am now?"

No one gave any sort of response, so he began. "I was born into a small family of Faunus parents, my father was named Tarvos and my mother was a kind and gentle woman named Iona, we lived poor lives in a small home outside of an Atlas town but we were happy. When I was a child, four years old I think, and my mother was pregnant with a second child, who would become my little sister Lily, something horrible happened to us one cold winter's night. Our door was slammed down and strange men in masks rushed in, my father was hit with a tranquilizer and my mother and I were netted, we were forced out into the cold and onto a ship which took us away, leaving our home behind.

When I woke up we were in new raggedy clothes in a dark, dirty little room that was to serve as our home for the rest of our lives. We were told we were now 'employees' of the Schnee Dust Company. My father demanded our release but he got a cattle prod to the chest for his troubles. The mines we worked in were a long way from the Atlas capital, far from anywhere where the Atlas military could see our predicament and put a stop to it. The mining site was on a mountain known as Ausz."

Winter gasped at the mention of the name.

"I take it that you know of it, Specialist Schnee?" Adam asked.

"Only rumors, whispers of a mine site that was a slave labor camp ran illegally by my family's company, there were similar ones that became publicly known over the years but there were no records of one at Ausz at all, while there was confirmation of the site existing the official documents state it had been shut down decades ago." Winter said.

"Yes, your family's company doesn't want to get into too much trouble, any official documents about that place have probably been destroyed or 'misplaced'." Adam stated before going on with his tale. "Anyway, my father was put to work in the mines the next day and after my mother gave birth to Lily she was expected to... service the guards if they ordered her to. My father was furious and tried to stop it but he was punished for his resistance, this brand was put on his chest and the supervisor threatened to do the same to me and Lily if my parents kept resisting so for our sake they endured the humiliation and pain. When I was nine years old I had to cover my sister's ears and eyes as our mother was forced to strip down for the guards."

Adam clenched his fist as he went on but took a breath before continuing, ignoring the looks of sympathy or shock everyone was giving him.

"I was put to work as well, doing minor tasks like carrying laundry baskets or distributing food for the workers. I always put on a brave face for my mother, I always wanted to make her feel safe. Everyday she would kiss my head, smile at me, and promise me we would get out of that terrible place. Once I was old enough, at the age of eight, I was put to work in the mines as well and when Lily turned four years old she was left in our little room while my mother joined the rest of us in the mines.

While my father got by alright and my body endured the labor my mother was not so fortunate, she had always been a gentle person and child birth alone took a toll on her but being forced to work in the mines was something else My father and I usually had to help her back to our room, her skin became sickly pale, her hair was falling out in places, she had no energy... that place was killing her.

A year or so after being forced to work in the mines my father knew my mother wouldn't last much longer, so he plotted with the other workers and began to plan an uprising against the guards and the supervisors. I helped out a little; distracting one of the guards long enough for another worker to knock him out with a heavy tool. The children and the weaker ones were rushed into the living quarters while the able-bodied workers took up guns from the knocked out guards and mining equipment and went to war.

It didn't last long, a few hours later nearly all of the insurrectionists had been gunned down, my father among them. Some of those who had surrendered were publicly executed, made examples of what would happen should we try to escape or resist our masters. Since my father had been one of the leaders of the insurrection my family and I were also punished. All three of us were branded, my forehead, my sister's back, and my mother's stomach. I was only nine years old when it happened and my sister was only five. FIVE!" Adam shouted furiously, tears now falling from his eyes.

The present members of Team Beacon looked at Adam in disbelief, horror, and even sympathy.

Adam took a breath and said "These brands were to be permanent reminders of what we really were, slaves for humanity, to do with as they pleased. So even if we managed to escape that hell we would always be seen as property of the Schnee Dust company."

Weiss, mortified by what she was learning, looked to Blake who had buried her face in her hands. Weiss looked down to the ground, her mind filled with horror and dread as she knew her family's company had done was nothing short of evil.

Adam saw the look upon her face and continued "But that wasn't the worst of it, oh no; the worst part was then they forced my sister and I to watch as they sawed off our mother's graceful horns. For the next three months my sister would always wake up crying over nightmares where she witnessed the amputation again and again. My mother and I could only hold her as I hid my own tears, as I had been having similar dreams, but I had to be strong for them. The next two years went by, I worked in the mines while my sister and mother, now too ill to work with me, did minor tasks like I once did. I would stand up to the guards who would beat on the weaker workers but I only got lashes and punches as compensation for my defiance.

It was hard but we survived... until one terrible day arrived. It was late Winter, early in the year and old man Schnee was stepping down as the head of the company and handing the reins to his son, Willow, who didn't think operations like the one at Ausz were good for the company image and were too risky. The mine was being shut down and its workers were liabilities, potential hazards to the company, loose ends to be tied up. Word got out that they were going to execute us all and bury us deep within the tunnels in mountain. We panicked, we ran, we fought, we died..."

Adam stopped and covered his face with his hand. "I could hear so many screams of men, women, and children as we ran for our lives. My mother found a truck with the keys in the ignition and she quickly got us inside only for a stray bullet to hit her in the shoulder, but she kept on, weak and tired as she was, she did not give up. We drove out of the mine, most of the guards were trying to stop the others so only a few noticed us. The few that did opened fire on the truck. My mother sacrificed herself, using her body to shield us both from the shots. The truck rolled down the mountain until we crashed into a large ditch. When we came to a stop it was then that I realized my mother was dead. I wanted to just break down crying right then and there but I kept moving, I dragged Lily out of the car despite her protests. She didn't want to leave our mom but we had to before the guards came. I dragged my sister away from the mountain and into the forest, it was the first time I had seen the outside world in years and the first time Lily had ever even seen the sun and the sky. She... had always loved hearing stories about what the outside world was like... she always wanted to see the ocean.

We found an old shed in the wood and after using a pitchfork inside to chase away a few mice we took refuge inside to hide from the guards and any Grimm that came around, attracted by our combined misery and my anger. After a few days of no food or water I was sure we weren't in any danger so we left the shed and went to the nearest village for help but we were ignored. I didn't show any of them my brand because I was afraid the humans would report us. I tried to steal some food but I was found out and hit with a brick by the cruel man that owned the stand. I begged for some food but I was ignored by everyone I went to, most of them glaring at me and saying that we should eat grass like that animals we were.

As we passed by a store I heard a news report about the White Fang's progress in Vale and how they'd give shelter to needy Faunus, so I decided we'd go to Vale. We walked to the next town which was by the sea, she was so weak I had to carry her the whole way. Once we got to the town a kind Faunus at a vegetable stand gave us some food out of pity, I gave Lily most of my share but it wasn't enough, she had gone without food for too long. I carried her on my back and let her see the ocean... I think that was the last time she ever smiled. We kept quiet as we snuck aboard a ship headed for Vale.

We hid among the creates from the crew members and after finding a safe place to sleep I laid down so she could sleep on my chest and before we went to sleep she asked me a question; her voice was so quiet, so tired, so weak as she asked me 'Adam, why did this happen to us?'

I didn't answer her. I said nothing!" Adam spat. "There was no reason any of this had happened to us other than we weren't humans. Why should we have had to suffer because we were different?! There is no answer except for the cruelty of humanity."

Adam took a deep breath before dropping the bombshell. "When I woke up she was dead."

The room was dead silent.

The eyes of Yang, Sun, and Winter began to water, all of them fearing what would ever happen if they lost their little sisters.

"I'm so sorry, I can't imagine how you lived through so many horrible things." said Velvet.

"It's simple really, I lived to avenge them, fueled by my hatred for humanity I kept going. I tried to wake her up but she wouldn't stir, her eyes were cold and lifeless, her body was hard. The realization that I had lost everyone I had ever loved hit me like a train and I broke down crying, but my sobs attracted the ship's crew. I was forced to hide as they came closer and closer. They found Lily, assumed my sobs had been her dying cries, and took her away. A few minutes later I looked out the porthole and saw that my little sister's body had been thrown into the sea. I kept watching as her little body floated farther and farther away, even as the seagulls descended on her. That day I made a vow, a promise that I would avenge my family and punish all of humanity for what happened to us... not just us, but every Faunus who had ever suffered because of mankind."

Adam sighed before finishing his story; "The next day the ship docked, I managed to sneak off, and I made my way to the White Fang, and you all know the rest. That is the end of my tale."

"That's... that's the saddest story I've ever heard." Penny worded with a quiet voice.

"No wonder you're so screwed up, I don't think I could have survived that." Sun confessed.

"Oum above..." muttered Winter.

Yang said nothing, she merely glared at her captor with a small hint of sympathy for him now that she understood why he was doing this.

Blake kept her face hidden, she couldn't bear to look anyone in the eye right now.

"You didn't deserve any of that. I'm so sorry." Weiss said to him, her voice sincere and sorrowful.

"It's too late for apologies Schnee, your family allowed mine to be destroyed and Razor has proof that your father still partakes in the subjugation of our race. I will have justice." Adam said to her.

"It's not justice you want." said Velvet.

Adam looked at her and approached as he asked "What did you just say?"

The Rabbit Faunus winced under his harsh glare but she didn't shy away. She remembered Yatsuhashi's encouraging words when they were in the prison's restroom just a couple of hours ago so she bravely approached the bars and said "You want vengeance for what happened to you and while I for one am so, so sorry for what happened to you I don't think it justifies what you have done. I know you lived through so many terrible things, you lost everyone you cared for and I truly do feel sorry for you, but I know what you've done. WE know what you've done. You may have fooled the Elite Guard and your troops, but we were in that prison, we saw what you did to those people, we know you held a sword to Haulan's throat, you cut off Sun's tail and Yang's arm, you were going to murder my friends had Ruby not gotten away, and who knows what else you've done. I feel bad for you, no one should have to live through what you did, but it doesn't excuse the terrible things you have done, the lives you destroy in the Fall, the people who were killed, the pain you've caused, and the amputees we saw. As long as we live we will do our best to make sure your crimes become known, Adam. Your lust for revenge has twisted you into a monster, you're no different than the humans who killed your family, they would be ashamed of you."

Adam's fist flew in between the bars and punched Velvet right in the nose, sending her on her back and forcing her to cry out in pain.

"You son of a bitch!" Yang shouted as she gripped her bars tightly, which made Russell and Morgan get their weapons ready just in case.

"I am gonna kick your ass for that!" snapped Sun.

"Dickhead!" scolded Neo.

"Don't touch my niece you freaking psychopath!" cried Thayer.

Penny glared and grabbed the bars threateningly and said "No one hurts my friends in front of me." She began to try and pry the bars apart but Mercury activated the shock collar and her entire body fell with a heavy 'thud'. Weiss moved to check on Penny, glaring at her captors with an icy stare as she did so.

Blake screamed at Adam furiously, looking at him with hateful eyes, furious that he kept hurting her friends. "She's right about you Adam! That's why you hit her! Because deep down you know she's right! You're everything wrong with the Faunus race! You're a monster!"

"A monster? Yes, maybe I am, but I am one that humanity created and monsters tend to destroy their creators. I am mankind's reckoning. Tomorrow you will be moved to cells in the base fitted for all of you. Enjoy your last hours together." Adam said darkly as he made for the door.

"I don't know how Adam, but I will take you down." Blake promised.

Adam ignored her as he left the room. Babara looked at Blake and sighed as she sat down in a chair.

"You comin'?" Russell asked.

"I think I'll stay behind just in case they try anything. These troops might need some help." she said, Razor nodded in approval as he left the room so the guards could go back in.

Adam walked away on his own but said "Keep an eye on them Razor, make sure they don't try anything."

"We'll do our part Commander Taurus, thank you for enlisting us. I am sorry about Thayer, I'd no idea about his traitorous actions." Razor said.

Adam nodded and answered "I hope so."

As Adam left the ship Kane looked to his commanding officer and said "No wonder he's so messed up."

"Right, a traumatizing ordeal like would drive anyone mad..." Razor said thoughtfully.

"Boss?" Kane asked as he tapped the larger Faunus on the shoulder.

"I'm beginning to think that what happened to Adam could have damaged his mind enough to make him confused when it comes to right and wrong, he has become so consumed by hatred he could see anyone questioning him openly as a betrayal." Razor stated as kept walking on in the ship.

Soon enough the two arrived to the hangar and met up with Piper and Selena who were waiting in front of the damaged ship along with Jinty.

"He's gone?" Selena asked.

"Yes, for now. It's time for this little mission to start." Razor said.

"Okay then, Troy and I gave the ship the once over, it's a bit damaged but she'll fly alright." Jinty stated.

"Right, what's the cover story? Someone will notice us leaving or the at the very least our absence." Kane pointed out.

"I'll tell them that you took the ship for repairs in a nearby city, I'll claim to know a guy. Get moving and remember that your under orders from me." Razor stated as he handed a letter to Kane.

"You got it boss, and before you ask we know the plan: me and Selena distract the guards and pretend to be inspecting the damage for you while Piper sneaks into the high security parts to see if they were telling the truth about these Faunus amputees... but Razor, after we found out what happened to his mom... do you really think Adam would do something like that?" Kane asked.

"A damaged mind can twist a person horribly, but if Adam truly has crossed that line we will have to move against him, but we need to know for sure before we do anything, understood?" Razor asked quietly.

All three of them nodded before Kane climbed into the ship. Piper hugged Razor and he rubbed her head affectionately. "Be careful Piper, if you do find these amputees don't look at them, someone your age shouldn't have to see such horrible things. Do your best." he told her.

She gave him a salute and a smile before she joined Kane and Selena on the ship.

Razor and Jinty watched as the ship left the hangar and set off into the night, back towards the base of the mountain. The Boar Faunus sighed and left the hangar, he just hoped Piper would be alright, she was a brave girl and qualified for this mission but even she had her limits. For the time being he could only hope that his soldiers returned soon with the evidence they needed.

---

Ruby dashed ahead of the battered and wounded group, jumping over various jungle plants, logs and bushes, while pushing aside hanging vines and large branches the best she could so that that the others could have an easier way of passing through. They were moving as quickly as they could, heading towards one of the many routes located in the large canyon walls which led out of the jungle.

Just moments before when she had climbed a rather tall tree, getting to the very top while still keeping herself hidden, Ruby noticed a path which had been carved into the side of the cliffs which led up presumably to level ground, which would give them a way to get out of the jungle. The girl with the red hood would normally use the sniper scope on Crescent Rose for her scouting of far places, but since her weapon was lost when they surrendered to the White Fang she could only rely on her own abilities for the moment.

The only other ways would be to climb up the cliffs, which were definitely out of the question due to Neptune and Qrow's injuries, or move deeper into the wilderness until the jungle ended at the far end of the valley which rose up and leveled out further. The latter option would meant risking the chance of running into a White Fang scouting party, which they wanted to avoid at all costs.

So that meant the path through the canyon walls was obviously the best option.

"Clear." She said as Scarlet came up with Neptune leaning heavily against him with his arm draped over the former pirate's shoulder. Yatsuhashi was next with Qrow hoisted over his shoulder while Coco kept guard from behind, bring up the rear. They were all alert for any sign of the pursuing White Fang scouts, intending to take cover at the slightest notice.

"How much further do we need to go?" Scarlet asked, his face a mask of exhaustion.

"Not far now, we will be there soon." Ruby answered as she ducked under a branch, "I hope..." she whispered the last two words silently under her breath, hoping no one else heard that.

"I hope so, because your uncle is heavier than he looks." Yatsuhashi said, glancing at Qrow who was still unconscious, he pressed his hand down on Qrow's back to prevent any further bleeding.

Ruby looked at the large teen and asked "Is that a joke?"

Yatsuhashi answered with a smile, which Ruby returned. "Ruby, to be serious; did you hear the sound of a dropship while you were up in that tree?"

"No, did you hear one?" she asked him with a puzzled look on her tired face.

"He says he heard one earlier, which probably belongs to a White Fang recon team. All the more reason for us to get out of here as soon as we can." Coco stated as she reached down and picked up a large thick branch from the ground to use as a melee weapon just in case. It wasn't much of a weapon, but at least it was better than nothing.

Ruby led the group closer to the route in cliff walls, keeping to the shadows and making as little noise as they could to avoid leaving a trail behind for the White Fang scouts to pick up on. After a short while later they eventually entered a small clearing in the forest, the shattered moon in the night sky casting its glow from the openings among the treetops of the jungle.

"Can we take a break? I'm gettin' tired of hauling Neptune around." Scarlet complained.

"No resting until we're out of here. You'll just have to grin and bear it." Coco replied, her dark brown eyes scanning their surroundings for anything out of the ordinary.

"Fine. I'll bear it but I won't grin." Scarlet joked, but the good humor went over the heads of everyone else.

"Don't worry Scarlet, we'll be coming out of the jungle soon." Ruby said as she turned her head to look back at them, walking a small distance ahead of the group. She barely took a few steps mire when all of a sudden a white net shot out of the darkness with a whooshing sound, slamming into her and knocking the young teen on her back as it rapidly wrapped her up.

"Ruby!" Coco cried as she ran forward to help her friend, only to topple and fall over when she was promptly blasted from both sides by stun blasts, twitching a little as she laid on the forest floor. Scarlet and Yatsuhashi quickly ran for cover, carrying Neptune and Qrow with them. Laying the wounded huntsmen down as quickly and carefully as they could, the former pirate and large warrior got ready for a fight as they saw dark figures appearing from the gloom in the jungle, running towards them with their rifles raised.

"Get me out of this thing!" Ruby cried as she struggled, trying to free herself from the net but instead of loosening the net curled around her even tighter, restricting her movements.

"We will, just hang on!" Scarlet said as he grabbed Coco's branch and held it up like a sword. He really missed his cutlass and flintlock pistol, but consoled himself that he at least had something to defend himself with, unlike Yatsuhashi who brought his gloved fists up as though like a boxer ready for a match.

A dark figure jumped down from a tree and Scarlet managed to slam the heavy branch into the assailant so hard it snapped in two. The attacker cried out in pain, falling on the ground and rolling into a patch of moonlight, revealing his identity as a White Fang scout by the attire he was wearing. The scout which was hit by Scarlet staggered back, putting some distance between him and Scarlet only for another one to tackle Scarlet by slamming into his side, knocking him down and before Scarlet could do anything else the other scout held a knife dangerously close to his neck.

"Move and you're dead." The scout threatened but Scarlet simply glared back at him.

Yatsuhashi narrowed his eyes when he saw the White Fang scouts slowly tightening their circle around him, and only managed to get a few good punches in when a couple of them ran at him. Then he was hit by several stun blasts coming from the other scouts and went down on one knee, before being knocked down by a rifle wielding scout who delivered the final blow with a kick to his chin.

Coco groaned in pain as she felt her nerves on fire from the stun blast, but she forced herself to endure the pain as she tried to get up, pushing herself up only for another scout to step on her back and jammed the barrel of his rifle at the back of her head, "Keep still, or I will put a bullet through that pretty head of yours."

The fashionista swore and laid her head down before the scout grabbed her by the back of her collar and threw her bodily onto Qrow and Neptune who were laying in a heap a short distance away. Turning on her side, she then saw three scouts working together to throw the injured Yatsuhashi into them, a thin line of blood leaking from the side of his mouth and down his chin as his aura healed the small wound and a few seconds later the scout who had cornered Scarlet forced the redhead towards them as well. She looked around and mentally counted eight White Fang scouts altogether, with Qrow and Neptune down for the count and Ruby captured in a net their odds didn't look too good.

It would honestly take a miracle to save them now.

"So you all survived the fall from the cliff and the river, lucky." said the leader of the scout group as he replaced his rifle's stun rounds with bullets, before racking the charging handle.

"Not lucky enough apparently." muttered Scarlet as he shot the leader a death glare.

"Captain Hopkins, all six of them are here and accounted for. The one we have netted is Ruby Rose." said an underling.

"You're dang right I'm Ruby Rose! Now let me out of here and maybe I won't kick your butts that much!" The said Huntress threatened as she tried to tear the net apart, but to no avail. The net constricted her movement to the point she only could turn her head, and the more she moved the tighter it grew around her form.

Hopkins merely sighed and shook his head, before saying, "Good, that means we can wrap this up now. Commander Taurus' orders were only for Ruby Rose to be brought back alive." He turned to address the rest of Team Beacon, "As for the rest of you...well, it's nothing personal but your time is clearly up."

"NO!" Ruby yelled as she pulled at the nets with all her strength, her silver eyes glowing a little more fiercely than normal. She had hoped that they would all make it out of their current predicament alive, but it seems that fate had decided to deal a cruel hand on her.

"Keep still, brat." One of the scouts snarled before kicking her in the side, causing her to cry out in pain.

"You don't have to do this, were you up there during the battle?" Yatsuhashi asked as he forced himself up from the ground, ignoring the pain running through his wounded body and wiping the line of blood from his mouth with the back of one gloved hand.

"Towards the end of it, yes." confirmed Hopkins, the barrel of his rifle still aimed at the group of Team Beacon members, as did the rest of the White Fang scouts.

"Then you must have seen what Taurus did to our Faunus friend and that was clearly no accident." The samurai continued, forcing words out of his mouth, his brown eyes fixed solely on Hopkins.

"Adam Taurus is a one hundred percent nutcase. We saw what he did to Faunus captives in the prison we attacked earlier." Coco snapped, nursing her wounded side. She tried to look for something, anything that would give her a slightly better chance of survival, but without her signature minigun-handbag and being wounded from the fight hours earlier, she was in no shape to fight.

"The same prison which now lacks a warden thanks to Qrow Branwen here killing him in cold blood." Hopkins pointed out grimly, although his eyes narrowed a little.

"That warden was just as cold-blooded as Taurus, considering what he did to those Faunus who disagreed with his ways of leading the White Fang." The fashionista accused, and then added, "Have you gone to look and see for yourself...or do you already know of what atrocities he had committed?"

There was a pause of a few seconds, and Coco for a moment wondered if she had gotten through to the White Fang scout leader. The next answer, however, dashed all her hopes.

"Enough of this. You are just biding for time." Hopkins snapped, "Men, reload your guns. We'll execute these five and get back to base with Ruby Rose as our prisoner." Around him, the other White Fang scouts slid back the receivers on their rifles, the sounds of rounds being chambered like the announcement of a judge's hammer in court.

"No you won't. I won't let you..." Ruby snarled as she tried harder and harder to get free. She didn't care if the net constricted her movement, but the young huntress was certainly not going to be captured without a fight. She knew what would probably happen to her once in the custody of the White Fang, and they would probably hand her over to Cinder Fall or worse.

"Quit struggling, brat." said the scout guarding her, kicking her in the back. "Heh, maybe I should make you watch. You know, I like it more when they squirm, showing a bit of defiance before a bullet goes right between their eyes. I mean, sure, it may be futile, but making you watch us kill them will definitely make these kills much more satisfying." Ruby growled at him with clear contempt, wishing that she could dish out a whole lot of hurt on him and save her friends, but it seemed that the scout's words had a kernel of truth after all.

Trapped in a net, she could do nothing but watch as the White Fang scouts and Hopkins aimed their rifles, ready to deal the killing blow that will wipe out Coco, Yatsuhashi, Scarlet, Neptune and her beloved Uncle Qrow from the face of Remnant itself.

All of a sudden, the scout guarding Ruby heard a distinctive click of a revolver, a round already chambered and ready to fire. Dismissing it as one of his other scouts clearly switching to a pistol for some reason, like his or her rifle jamming, he paid no attention to the noise until he heard a voice coming from the jungle behind him, "You've just made it so easy for me to chose who to start with."

There was a sound of a revolver shot in the next split-second, and a large Dust bullet ripped through the scout's chest, grazing the heart as it punched straight through him, bypassing the armor vest he was wearing like it was nothing. Seeing his blood splattering on the tree behind him and the ground below him, flowing from the fist-sized hole on his chest that his aura definitely couldn't heal. The scout collapsed with a gurgle, his eyes in pain and shock as he twitched in the throes of death, blood flowing freely from the mortal wound. His rifle clattered to the ground from deadened fingers, and the scout twitched once more before becoming still. Ruby gasped in shock at the dead body before her, as Hopkins and the other six remaining scouts all whirled around to see their dead comrade collapsing.

Their rifles turned from the wounded members of Team Beacon and towards the patches of darkness between the jungle trees, just as the voice spoke again, "Killing mere children now? When I thought the standards the White Fang had reached its lowest, they go lower still."

"Fire!" screamed Hopkins, and with that the remaining scouts all ran past Ruby and began to fire their guns wildly into the jungle. Their rifles chattered as the rounds expelled tore up bark and vines, shooting off branches and leaves, and sending splinters of wood flying into the air from rounds impacting on tree trunks in the vicinity. Whatever animals that lived in the area quickly fled for survival, seeking shelter elsewhere as leaves fell like rain upon them.

While the White Fang scouts were preoccupied Ruby seized her chance, worming her way towards her friends. Seeing their enemies distracted, Scarlet quickly got up and darted over to help her up, before carrying her over to the rest of the group.

"What's going on?!" Coco asked, surprise and relief on her face that she still lived. Yatsuhashi, who normally kept a stoic face, also had what passed for surprise and puzzlement on his own features.

"I don't know, but it's definitely not good for them!" Ruby declared, glad that the scouts' attentions were focused on them for the moment.

The scouts kept on shooting until they were nearly out of ammunition, small piles of smoking bullet casings carpeting the ground beneath their feet. After several seconds of shooting Hopkins held up his hand and yelled "Hold your fire!"

They stopped shooting and kept their eyes and guns directed at the forest, watching and listening for any signs of the mysterious attacker. Hopkins pointed at two scouts and used hand gestures that instructed them to move in and check it out. The two nodded obediently and moved up while the other reloaded their weapons and got ready for another attack, aiming at whatever shadows they could find in the jungle around them.

The two scouts looked around carefully, listening for something, anything, that could warn them of the attacker's next move. "Do you see anything? Did we hit them?" Hopkins asked as a scout inspected the dead scout's body and nodded back to his leader to confirm the latter's demise.

"Nothing sir, no blood, no body, zilch!" said the scout closest to the others.

The scout who had ventured a little farther smirked and said, "We probably scared 'im off."

As the last words left his mouth there was a sickening crack. The air was immediately filled with the alarming sound of a falling tree and the unintentional spectators watched as the huge jungle tree toppled over and crushed the cocky scout instantly, causing others to shout in shock and horror just as they caught a glimpse of an armored figure jumping down from above and sliding into the shadows behind the large fallen tree in the clearing.

"Shoot him!" yelled Hopkins as he opened fire with his rifle, the others quickly following his orders but they didn't wait for the second scout to duck or retreat, so as they fired at the downed tree, trying to get at the intruder, they accidentally riddled him with bullets, the scout's body dancing like a puppet before their salvoes before he fell down dead, red blood oozing from his many wounds with the faint glow of aura.

"Stop, stop, stop! We've hit one of our own!" Hopkins cried in horror as he realized what they had done, but it was already too late as the armored figure had already made use of the lull to change his position.

Just then, from the darkness surrounding the scout nearest to the downed tree a gauntlet clad hand wielding a silver-blue revolver appeared like a ghost and fired, the round blasting that unfortunate scout right in the forehead, killing him instantly before he even had the chance to scream, his body flying backwards a few feet to land at unceremoniously in a splayed heap of limbs.

The scouts' number had just been halved.

A figure stepped from the darkness over the downed tree, clad in gunmetal-gray armor which peeked out from his midnight blue cloak which flowed from his shoulders. An armored helmet with a V-shaped component at the front and sharp edges at the side encased his head in a series of similarly colored plates, the eye lenses glowing an azure color while an emotionless faceplate covered the figure's face. Blue highlights were clearly seen on various places on the surfaces of revealed armor plating, in addition to lines of tiny archaic script which glowed faintly in the light of Remnant's broken moon. His legs were also armored with cuisses and greaves, although Ruby could see that he was clearly wearing combat pants of sorts underneath the armor plates. His feet ended in armored boots, and they tread with purpose towards the stunned White Fang scouts, the revolver in his outstretched gauntlet smoking a little from the discharge seconds earlier. Besides the revolver, the armored figure was in possession of three swords, two clearly attached to his back and one belted to his waist, and he had drawn one of the twin swords at his back, a long silver of a blade with a gold pommel engraved with markings that bear remarkable resemblance to the script on his armor plates, inlaid with a red gem in its rainguard. The other sword sheathed to his back would have been a twin of the one gripped in his other gauntlet, if not for the sapphire which adorned its rainguard. The last sword at his waist had a red and gold pommel and crossguard, with some black ribbon wrapped around the grip, and its sheath was clearly black and gold in color, such as Ruby's glimpse of it before the last sword disappeared into the midnight-blue cloak of the armored figure once more.

Before the White Fang scouts could react, the figure flew at them, his sword arcing in a downward slash as he attacked Hopkins first. The scout leader narrowly avoided the figure's first attack, the blade slicing some hair away from his face as he dived to one side. The figure turned at lightning fast speed and landed a flying kick to his chest that sent the scout leader flying across the clearing and into a tree behind the captive six with a crash. He landed on his feet and crouched down, sliding the revolver back into his left thigh holster as he unsheathed the other sword from the cross scabbard on his back and swung them upwards, slicing away the top half of the rifles of a pair of scouts who were aiming at him, leaving them with shocked looks on their faces. The twin blades silver and gold glowed faintly in the moonlight, the brief illumination revealing lines of cursive script down the length of the blades, clearly written in a language that wasn't spoken by the majority of people on Remnant. The inlaid ruby and sapphire gems on the rainguards of the twin swords also glimmered in the moonlight, showing a sharp angular beauty as deadly as the cutting edge of those swords.

As the two scouts stared in shock at their damaged rifles, the intruder pounced up and delivered two elbow punches to the closest scout in the face and gut, shattering his mask and staggering him. The punches, coming from an elbow clad in armored plates, was significantly more painful when coming into contact with flesh and bone, and the injured scout screamed in pain the armored figure grabbed him by the collar and threw the screaming scout right into another thug who was charging at them, the two colliding with painful thuds and falling to the ground, ending up in a twisted heap.

The third scout, knowing his rifle was out of ammunition, tried to use it as a club to slam it across the intruder's back, but as he landed the blow he only hit empty air. There was a blur of azure color as the attacker was suddenly beside him, slamming his pommel into the scout's face which sent him reeling, before whirling around to plunge both of his blades into the scout's lower torso and hauled him up, making the scout scream in agony as his body hung in midair, slowly splitting apart as it slid down the smooth steel of the blades, droplets of blood dripping down onto the jungle ground.

There was no hesitation in his movements, nor a modicum of wasted effort. Each of the mysterious warrior's blows were precise and clearly designed to deal maximum damage to his opponents and dispatching them as quickly as possible.

Rifles barked, and the armored warrior withdrew his blades from the rapidly cooling body just in time to deflect the rounds flying his way from Hopkins and the scout who had attempted to ram into him earlier, the latter pushing himself up as they both took out their own swords after their rifles clacked empty.

"Surrender now, before more blood is shed." the attacker said calmly as he lowered his twin swords a little, his voice sounding a bit regal in contrast to his brutality.

"Never!" yelled the scout as he and Hopkins charged. The attacker sprinted to meet them, and jumped high when he was just a few steps away, landing easily behind them as he swung both his blades in an attempt to end them speedily but the two Faunus managed to parry his blows. The warrior tilted his helmeted head a faction, before swinging his blade in an overhead slash at Hopkins and sidestepping a thrust from the other scout. Seeing the scout overextending himself, the warrior brought his blade round in a blur of silver at the scout but the latter managed to duck at the last moment as the warrior's sword passed through the air above his head.

The stranger rapidly stepped backwards, swords akimbo as he got ready for another bout. Hopkins and the other scout quickly rushed at him, and the scout struck first by slashing at the warrior, but the armored figure merely leaned back to avoid the attack. He then forced the scout back with a mighty parry before sidestepping just in time to avoid a downward slash from Hopkin's sword. The swordsman delivered a kick with his armored boot into the abdomen of the scout which sent him staggering, before sweeping his legs out from under him, and sent the scout crashing into the jungle floor. He spun, his midnight-blue coat flapping as he blocked all three of Hopkin's sword strikes in rapid succession, before swinging at the captain's legs in return. The Faunus captain jumped up narrowly to avoid having his limbs cut off, but he didn't expect to see the warrior's leg strike out and kicked him n the gut hard enough to send him flying onto his back a short distance away.

An enraged scream caught the warrior's attention as he saw the scout attacking once more, catching his blade by crossing his swords together in an 'X' shape before he forced the scout back and opened up with a mad series of quick and precise attacks that severed the scout's arm from his shoulder, slashed open his chest, and cut a thin red line on his neck. The scout stood shakily for a few moments, blood leaking from his many wounds as his aura tried to heal him but to no avail. The warrior then finished off the scout by plunging his sword into the scout's chest, impaling him to a tree. The scout gurgled once, and then died with shock written over his face.

The warrior let go of the sword impaling his latest opponent when Ruby suddenly yelled "Behind you!". He whipped around just in time to deflect a Dust bullet aimed for his head with his other twin sword, as the last remaining scout stood up holding the gun from the first victim his hands.

"I almost forgot about you. Will you surrender and live? Or fight and die?" the warrior asked as he gripped his sword and pointed it at the final scout. The scout's reply was a scream followed by a hail of bullets expelled from the barrel of his gun. The warrior sprinted at the scout, dodging every single round flying his way while deflecting others, his shape a blue blur that left blinking afterimages in the sight of everyone present.

With one swift, sharp gesture from the warrior's sword the scout's head was separated from his head and fell off his body, bouncing away across the clearing and coming to a rest beside the fallen tree. He stepped past the headless body which fell to its knees, its arms going limp even as the fingers locked in a death grip around the trigger, causing the gun to fire continuously even as the body toppled onto the ground with a loud thud.

Turning around swiftly, the warrior looked at Hopkins with those glaring azure lenses of his emotionless faceplate, who was the only one left of the entire White Fang recon team. The captain gripped his sword tightly, knuckles white around the handle, his entire form shaking nervously even as he glared at the stranger, sweat running down his forehead and cheeks.

"You are alone, captain. I advise you to give up." The warrior spoke softly.

Hopkins reached to his belt and took out a small grenade, armed it and lobbed it at the warrior. Faster than the eye could blink, the grenade that was sailing through the sky was cut cleanly in half, the detonating mechanism clearly severed from its explosive payload and landing on the ground in two pieces harmlessly. The captain's eyes were wide with disbelief as he looked back from the destroyed grenade at the warrior who simply glared at him in return.

"I offer you mercy, captain..." The warrior's voice cut through the night air effortlessly, but Hopkins let out a furious scream and charged at the warrior who had single-handedly killed his entire squad, swing his sword wildly. But before he could enter into another duel the warrior swung his own blade into Hopkins's own with such force that he severed the captain's blade from the hilt, sending that silver of metal flying away to embed itself on a tree trunk a short distance away from them, its broken tip quivering from the force of impact.

Stunned from seeing how easily the warrior has broken his blade, the White Fang Captain stood still as he regarded the hilt of his sword before dropping it in shock. When he looked up again the armored warrior was right in front of him, the pommel of his sword shooting out in a sharp jab that sent him doubling over, followed by a punch in the face which sent him stumbling over towards Team Beacon.

Coco pushed herself up and used her recovering strength to finish him off with an elbow drop to the face, knocking him out. She then turned, and along with Yatsuhashi and Scarlet by her side, got into defensive stances in front of Ruby, Neptune and Qrow just in case the stranger tried anything they didn't like.

"Who the hell are you?" Coco demanded immediately.

"Are you friend or foe?" Yatsuhashi added half a second later.

"Well, he just saved us so I'm guessing he's not our foe..." Ruby voiced from behind them, a bit hesitant as she eyed the new arrival.

"The young one is correct in her judgment. I am not your enemy, but an ally. I have just saved your lives and had I not intervened, you will all be dead and Ruby Rose would have been taken prisoner. As for my identity, you can call me Sharp Strike." The armored warrior spoke as he regarded them with his azure lenses, idly shaking the last few droplets of blood running down his sword before sheathing it back into his scabbard.

"Sharp Strike? Is that a codename or something?" Coco guessed, her eyes never leaving the armor-clad figure as he moved across the clearing, nudging the bodies with his armored boot to check for life signs.

"You can say that." Sharp Strike said as he pulled out his other sword which had impaled the dead scout to the tree. "Forgive the brutality you have witnessed, but they were going to kill you and I couldn't allow that."

"No skin off our bones." Scarlet replied as he began helping Ruby with the net, but no matter how much he pulled at the net it simply would not loosen.

"Perhaps I can be of assistance." Sharp Strike volunteered as he approached Ruby, gesturing for Scarlet to step back, "Don't worry, you can trust me. I'll be careful, just keep still."

"Okay." Ruby said, a little unsure but doing exactly what she was told by their savior.

With a sweeping gesture from his sword Sharp Strike sliced open the net, freeing Ruby from its confines. "Finally! Man that was uncomfortable." she said as she stretched, working the kinks out of her limbs. Then realizing that her uncle was still unconscious, she ran over and tried to shake him awake, but the surviving Branwen twin remained unconscious.

"Uhh... guys? What happened?" asked the unsteady voice of Neptune. They all turned to see that Neptune had woken up and was looking at the carnage with a mixture of amazement and fear.

"Nice of you to join us, Blue. This is Sharp Strike, apparently. He just saved our butts from a White Fang scout team so I guess he's okay." Coco said to him before turning to Sharp Strike, placing her hands on her hips and asking, "So what are you doing here anyway?"

The warrior thought for a moment before answering her question, "Let's just say an associate of mine had given me specific orders to follow Team Beacon in order to ensure that your mission's a success."

"Good job, " Scarlet snarked a little bitterly, "But shouldn't you help us like, half an hour ago when we are fighting for our lives against the White Fang forces at the cliff?"

"There were too many enemy combatants in the vicinity, most of them armed with heavy weapons with reinforcements standing by in support. Even I would not be able to handle that many, not without significant assistance." Sharp Strike answered carefully, checking over his other blade, "...I admit by the time I arrived I was far was too late to help you in the battle against the White Fang, but when I saw you all go over the cliffs I was determined to make sure you were alive. How is Branwen doing?"

Ruby eyed him as she checked her uncle's pulse, but she eventually answered, "He got shot in the back before we went over the cliffs, and he needs a healer badly. The same goes for Neptune."

"There is a Vauco Ranger outpost not too far away from here, which has been captured by the White Fang. They have stocked some medical supplies there." Sharp Strike said as he knelt beside Ruby, giving both her uncle and Neptune a brief once-over and saw how extensive their wounds were. Both of them had suffered a lot of damage in the fight and Qrow's shirt had large blood stains here and there and Ruby noticed that a few of them had gotten large while Neptune's clothes were also a bit bloody they were also soaked from the river and if he didn't get warm soon he could suffer from hypothermia.

"I don't mean to rain on your parade, but I don't think any of us is in a position to fight." Scarlet pointed out, "You saw how easily the White Fang recon team has taken us down, right?"

He withered a little when Sharp Strike turned the azure lenses of his helmet in Scarlet's direction. "Who said anything about fighting? I had liberated the outpost from the White Fang troops stationed there fifteen minutes ago, and they aren't a threat anymore." Seeing everyone listening to him, the Remnant Knight continued, "You would need to fix up the radio to call for help since they smashed it when I made my presence known to them."

"But what about the communications blackout?" asked Neptune weakly, one hand clasped over the wound on his chest, his aura still faintly glowing as it healed him.

"The blackout only affects Scrolls and other high tech devices, but radios at the outpost will probably still work. Maria the innkeeper told me that the White Fang destroyed every radio in Oro so the villagers couldn't get help. It just might work, but we'll probably only be able to contact the Rangers but it's better than nothing." Coco said before looking at Sharp Strike, "But I'm not too sure about you, who is your 'superior officer'? Who exactly do you work for?"

The lone Knight sighed and replied, "I am afraid I cannot answer those questions right now, another time perhaps."

Ruby and the others all looked at each other before the silver eyed girl spoke; "Look, we really need help right now and since you saved us I'm willing to trust you for a little bit. Can you help us?"

Sharp Strike nodded his head as he placed his gauntlets on his belt and revolver holster when Coco spoke "How can we be sure we can trust you?"

Ruby was about to say something when they heard a polite cough coming from the armored Knight, "Because I have just saved your lives, and if you don't get your friends some medical treatment quickly they would most likely suffer shock from from their injuries and hypothermia in Neptune's case I will help heal your friends, give you the bullhead that these scouts used to get here as transport, and I will also help interrogate the captain here so that you will have all the information you need to assault the White Fang base and save your friends once help arrives." He slowly spread his hands as though to encompass them all, "Would that be an acceptable offer?"

"It'll do for now." Coco stated before she grabbed the net launcher the scouts used on Ruby, turned and fired at the unconscious Hopkins, capturing him in a net so that he would be trapped and much more easier to carry. The Knight gave them a series of orders to strip the dead scouts of anything useful, and to spare Ruby the horrific sight of those dead bodies Yatsuhashi volunteered to do the dirty work instead, relieving them of their radios and ammunition. The samurai picked up a pair of battered but usable rifles, and tossed one to Coco who eyed the gun with disgust before slinging it under one arm.

The fashionisa marched up to the Knight and glared at his helmet lenses, "One more thing, Sharp Strike. Just remember that Ruby and me are still in charge for the time being. This is still Team Beacon's mission."

The silver-blue armored Knight returned her glare impassively, before stating, "Duly noted. But I will be watching." The reply was a huff from the brown-haired huntress.

Yatsuhashi picked up Qrow again while Scarlet helped Neptune up, but the bluenette said, "No, it's okay man... I can still walk..." Just as the words left his mouth he tripped and nearly fell flat on his face if not for Ruby who had caught him.

"I'll help you. Scarlet, can you drag the captain along?" she asked.

"With pleasure." the redhead said with a cheeky grin, grabbing the netted captain by the legs and dragged him by the legs unceremoniously along the jungle ground.

Slipping out his silver-blue revolver from his thigh holster once more and slamming a fresh clip into said firearm, the Remnant Knight turned to them and spoke, "Follow me, the outpost is that way, and it isn't far from here." After getting nods from everyone present he began to lead the way.

"Ruby, can I talk to you?" Coco asked in a whisper.

"Sure." The red hooded huntress replied softly.

"Why are we doing this? Trusting this random, not to mention brutally violent, stranger?" she asked, while watching the Knight's cloaked back a few meters in front of them.

Ruby looked at Sharp Strike for a brief moment, then back to Coco and said, "Well it worked out okay the first time with Ashe, didn't it?"

Coco chuckled as Ruby continued talking, "I mean Ashe was a jerk at first and a pretty brutal fighter but he was a good guy when all was said and done."

"Ashe Kasai..." said Sharp Strike, abruptly getting everyone's attention as he turned his helmeted head slightly to look at Ruby, the blue glow of his lenses meeting her silver eyes for a fleeting moment.

"How did you know who I was talking about?" Ruby demanded.

Sharp Strike shrugged his armor-clad shoulders a little and replied, "I will tell you later. Come on, we need to get to the outpost before the White Fang realizes that their team haven't reported back with your capture."

Nothing else was said after that. Sharp Strike led the way with Ruby supporting the injured Neptune close behind. Scarlet followed them, dragging the netted Hopkins with Yatsuhashi holding the still unconscious Qrow and Coco bringing up the rear. The group of Huntsmen and Huntresses, with the new addition of a Remnant Knight, walked further into the jungle and vanished into the night.

---

Adam, now with a new mask to cover his face, stood before the White Fang airship that was being refitted with armor and weapons for its journey across the Four Kingdoms. The weapons were being loaded up for the inevitable attacks the various towns and villages would launch on them but even if they didn't attack the weapons would still be put to good use, a simple trick to make it look like they had been attacked first would justify a 'defensive' strike against a populace. Salem had come up with a plan to help both of their agendas, namely creating a schism between humans and Faunus; they would go to various towns across Remnant and attack them, targeting human areas while sparing ones populated by Faunus, this would claim the lives of many humans and would generate misery and anger from the humans who would blame the Faunus race for the devastation. While some would say the humans would only blame the Faunus of the White Fang and not the entire race Adam knew what some humans could be like, and such a 'tragedy' would create a schism between the two races.

The Mistress of Grimm wanted the racial tensions to rise so the negative emotions from both sides would fuel her power while Adam wanted to prevent the peace between the two races, as he realized the more and more Faunus out there were beginning to believe in the chances for equality while they simply forgave humanity's past sins. That was something Adam could not allow, so Salem's plan gave him the perfect opportunity to strike and widen the gap between the races once again, giving Salem's Grimm fear, anger, and sadness to feast on while the White Fang grew stronger.

An engineer with the ears of a rat approached Adam and bowed his head. "I have the reports you requested earlier, Commander Taurus."

"Spare me the elaborate details, just give me the bottom line." Adam ordered.

"As you wish, well the refitting is going over steadily and the weapons and the armor plating are in good shape. All in all I think it'll be ready to fly in three days time." the engineer reported.

"Three days?"

"At the least. You don't want to rush it, too many things could go wrong; armor would be too heavy, guns could jam, it could even fall apart in the air." the engineer said.

"Understood, you're doing well. Keep it up and give me updates on your progress." Adam said. The Rat Faunus nodded, but Adam noticed he was staring at his mask. "Does my mask interest you?"

"Well sir... I heard about what happened out there, those Hunters took your mask off and on your forehead was a brand with the Schnee emblem on it... is that true?" he asked.

"Yes, it is." Adam answered simply.

"I'm sorry sir, I don't know how you could have made it through such brutality." the engineer said sympathetically.

"... I almost didn't. Get back to work." Adam ordered. He said nothing more, he just turned and walked away back into the base but when he got to the entrance he was greeted by Hui.

"Commander, I need to speak with you." he said.

"Go ahead Lieutenant, I'm listening." Adam said as he walked on.

"Talk of what happened tonight has spread through the ranks, rumors of what's behind your mask, the severing of Wukong's tail, and the amputees are all over the base. Some are beginning to have doubts." Hui stated.

"Well make sure the amputees stay as nothing more than a rumor for the time being, Lieutenant. The first two will make them fear and respect me more, it will discourage any potential traitors and let the rank know how serious I am about our cause. Keep an eye on anyone who question my leadership." Adam said to his underling.

"Understood sir, but I am concerned about the Elite Guard, Razor openly questioned you in front of everyone, he was willing to defy you. What are we going to do about them?" Hui inquired.

"If they get too out of hand I will talk with Salem, Steppenwolffe tells me his fellow hybrid, Sheer Kaa has a mind control Semblance that helped keep Nikos under their control for months. If Razor challenges us I believe Kaa can strengthen his loyalty." Adam stated.

"Good idea sir, I'll return to my duties." Hui said.

Adam nodded and continued on alone until he came to his room. He locked the door behind him and looked in the mirror as he took off his mask.

"Be brave Adam, take care of your mother and sister." Those were the last words he ever heard his father say before he ran off to join the uprising.

"Adam... Lily... I love you both..." Those were the dying words of his mother before the car crashed into the ditch.

"Adam, why did this happen to us?" And the final words of his little sister before she died in her sleep at the age of seven.

Blake and Claudandus had known that, and yet they still believed equality was an option. Blake left him and befriended humans, one of the a Schnee, whose company was responsible for the destruction of his family. If she expected him to forgive humanity for what happened to his family she was dead wrong.

"I will avenge you all." he said quietly to himself as he sat down, alone in his room. "And I will make her understand my pain."

---

"So what's the damage report? Casualties?" Kane asked as he and Selena followed a White Fang officer about the prison.

"Only one fatality thus far, Warden Wade." reported the officer, "As for injuries we have over four dozen guards injured, with said injuries varying in degree but none appear to be life threatening."

"That's good news." Selena said, sounding relieved.

"Now you're sure Razor doesn't want Commander Taurus to know about this visit? Why?" the officer inquired.

"Well you know Commander Taurus has had one hell of a night, might have overlooked to send you guys some help. Plus Razor is just concerned, I know he looks like the ultimate badass but deep down he cares about everyone in the White Fang. It's just that he doesn't want Adam to think he's going soft, you know?"

"I see... well let Razor know I appreciate it and I won't tell Commander Taurus about this little visit." the officer said with a nod.

Kane nodded back and quickly thought up something else to keep the officer distracted while Piper went about her part of the mission. "Uh, what about Captain Furman? From what I understand the intruders replaced them and disguised themselves as the captain and his squad to enter the prison's grounds."

"Yes, about twenty minutes ago we got a call from a patrol, they found Captain Furman and his squadron drugged to sleep and tied to a tree. From what we've been told they're all still alive and they'll be looked after by a medic." the officer reported.

"Shame they got taken out so easily, I mean if they had been more alert this wouldn't have happened." Selena commented.

"Yes, but your group and Commander Taurus did end up capturing the perpetrators, that's a win in my book." the officer said smugly.

"So what about the damage? How many hits the prison itself take?" Selena asked.

"Well outside of a virus that temporarily infected our computer systems, which we eliminated quickly, most of the damage was confined to the rear of the building where the maximum security sector is. Luckily none of the prisoners escaped aside from the old geezer who founded us and you recaptured him." the officer said.

"How bad was the damage to the prison itself?" Kane questioned.

"Well luckily not too bad, they set up an explosion that demolished the entrance to the sector but the sprinkler systems put out the fires so none of the prisoners were injured. The damage wasn't too severe but we've made sure the structure is sound and I'm happy to say it's not in danger of collapsing but I think we should stay away from it for now until some professionals examine it properly. As for the exterior damage; the walls were shot up in the battle, many of the spotlight towers were blitzed up by one of the brats' heavy fire weapons, and the wall surrounding our complex was blown open in the back via a rocket and their vehicle smashed through another part of it." the officer listed off.

"I'd suggest reinforcing that wall, seems a bit shoddy to me." Kane commented with a smirk, which caused the officer to nod in agreement with some embarrassment.

"Yes... we did build it in a rush to satisfy Commander Taurus' orders, I'll make sure to have it rebuilt but to a higher standard." the officer stated.

"I take it we can't see the maximum security wing? Too much damage, right?" Selena guessed.

"Oh yes, far too much damage, burn marks and shrapnel and a couple of live-wires that got loose... I don't want to risk you getting hurt." the officer lied.

"Okay then, what did you do with Wade's body?" Kane asked.

"Oh, uh, in the morgue." he said.

"You guys have a morgue?" Selena said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, back when this place was a functioning mining facility it was used to keep the bodies of workers who had died in accidents on ice until someone arrived to transport them. Do you want to see him?" he asked.

Kane nodded. As the officer led the duo further into the prison Selena said "And after that we'd like all the guards who were involved in the battle, the active ones at least, to come to the main hall to answer a few questions." The officer gave her a look but it softened and nodded. Selena leaned to Kane and whispered "Do you think she can handle herself?"

"Oh I've come to know the musical mute quite well since Razor recruited us, I think by the time we get home she'll have everything in order." Kane answered quietly but vaguely so as not to arouse suspicion.

As the two kept talking Piper, who hadn't come with them and had kept herself hidden in the ship until she was sure she could get into the prison unseen, sneaked past a pair of guards who were patrolling the area where Team Beacon had escaped. The ground was still marred by blast marks and the blood of Warden Wade after he had been cut if half by Qrow, but Piper forced herself to ignore the remnants of the battle as she darted into the open doorway which had been frozen up by Weiss.

Using her Semblance to mute any noises she made as she moved about she hid behind a pillar as a guard went by to leave the sector. Piper quietly snuck around the area, getting a good look at the damage done to the area; scorched walls, fallen lamps and pipes, loose wires, broken glass, bits of debris strewn about the place. The guards were too busy with their work to notice her as she silently went about, ducking behind pillars and the damaged desks to keep herself hidden from anyone who might spot her. Most of the guards were easy to get around as they were busy clearing the wing of debris and any glass that had been scattered about the floor during the attack.

She inspected the left wing of the sector first but found no amputees, but luckily for her she saw that all of the steel doors that led to the cells themselves had been opened, due to the fire messing with the wiring, making all of the steel doors open and they could close them again or they'd risk sealing it permanently. Piper silently inspected the left wing but found nothing of interest, most of the prisoners she saw were human and the Faunus prisoners were not amputees. The guards didn't notice her as most of them were dozing or just lazy and the prisoners were bored so it was easy to keep out of their collective line of sight.

The Mouse Faunus was about to move to the right wing when she heard a voice call out "All guards who were present during the battle earlier tonight please come with me, don't worry about your prisoners, they're not going anywhere and you'll only be gone for about 10 minutes."

Piper quickly but silently climbed up the old pipes along the wall and used her arm and tail to get a good, tight grip on the pipes of the ceiling to avoid being spotted by the guards who were getting up and leaving. Once she was sure they had left she quickly began to 'jungle-gym' her way across the left wing to the right, making sure to keep quiet so any remaining guards wouldn't spot her.

She made her way to the right wing and left herself fall down, she turned herself over in the air and quietly landed on her hands before cartwheeling back onto her feet. She was very tempted to make an applause sound but resisted it for the sake of the mission.

The right wing of the sector was mostly empty except for a big room at the end of it. The steel door was open like the others and there was a single guard who stood before a large, dungeon like cell with multiple people within. Piper's eyes lit up, knowing that was probably something so she quietly tip-toed down the hall and pressed herself up against a small corner beside the open door. She pointed out with her hand a made a clanging sound towards the end of the hallway, getting the guard's attention.

The guard grumbled as he left the room to investigate and the moment she decided he was far enough away Piper slinked into the cell.

What she saw made her stop dead in her tracks. In the dark, dungeon like room were over two dozen Faunus, all amputated of their animal features. The young Rabbit Faunus whose ears had been cut off looked up at her with sorrowful eyes, but what made Piper shiver was how his wounds had been left for all to see save for a hood that had been pulled down.

Piper looked to another to see a Deer Faunus who no longer had horns, a Tarsier Faunus with wrappings around her head meaning her eyes had been gouged out, a Possum Faunus missing his tail, a Panther Faunus with her hands chopped off... their eyes... their faces looked so miserable, most of them still had eyes but a lot of them looked hollow, dead inside.

Blake and her friends had been telling the truth.

Piper's Semblance activated and the entire hallway went quiet, not a sound was heard, dead silence. Piper rubbed the scarf around her neck as tears began to fall from her eyes. Adam had been doing this behind their backs for who knew how long... and they let him remain in charge, Razor had challenged him on certain things but had never openly called for a resignation. Adam was responsible for so many terrible things like some of the people who died in the Fall and these poor Faunus before her... but no one in the White Fang tried to stop him.

Belladonna tried and now she and her friends were their prisoners.

A terrible pain coursed through the young Faunus' chest as she realized what a hypocrite Adam was, he was a monster... no different than the humans responsible for what happened to her throat. They were supposed to be helping Faunus not hurting them!

He needed to be stopped.

She needed to tell Razor.

She looked up at the Faunus behind the bars, who were know pointing behind her and silently shouting warnings. Piper whirled around just in time to jump out of the way of the guard she had tricked. With her Semblance still muting everything he couldn't call for help, which was a big plus since Piper was angry, and needed to take it out on something.

She tripped him with her tail and slammed her knee into his face on his way down. He tried to push himself up with his hands but she elbowed his head as she jumped on his back and began to punch his head wildly. The guard let out a silent snarl as he jumped back up and forced his back into the wall, getting Piper off of him.

Sound began to return quietly as the guard glared at Piper. "I don't know who you are, you little brat, but you're about to join these traitors..."

Just then a rock hit him in the back of the head. The guard whipped around to glare at the Bear Faunus who had cooperated with Team Beacon earlier.

"You'll never mutilate another Faunus, your days are numbered." he said.

"Your so called saviors failed, so I think tha..." the guard was interrupted by Piper slamming a fist into the back on his head. She had recovered and put up a sound barrier on the room so none of the other guards could hear them. The Bear Faunus punched the guard, forcing him back to Piper who slammed a sound blast into him, blowing him into the door frame where he was knocked out when he bashed his head on it.

Piper made quick work and threw the knocked out guard into the next prison room and quietly closed the steel door, trapping him.

She looked to the Faunus prisoners and quickly took some pictures of them before mouthing 'I promise I will help you.'

"Good luck kid." said the Bear Faunus as Piper made for the exit, quietly sneaking along the walls so any passing guards couldn't see her.

She made her way out of the prison and quietly ran past the guards, unseen the entire time. She began to make her way back to the ship as she took out her scroll and sent a text to Kane, letting him know her mission was accomplished.

Her mind was being racked by guilt and sadness over what had happened to those people inside, but she knew it wouldn't last long. All she needed to do was wait for the others, fly back with them to Razor, and confirm all of Blake's accusations.

As she got back into the ship, unnoticed by the guards patrolling the area, she allowed some more tears to fall from her eyes. Adam had thrown everything the White Fang was supposed to stand for in the dirt and he had been using them for his revenge, making them his tools... This wasn't how it was supposed to be, the White Fang were supposed to be the good guys, standing up for the Faunus race. That's what she thought they were, that's what she always wanted to be.

After she saw what had happened to those poor people she knew the White Fang weren't heroes. Adam had used them, twisted them all into his tools for revenge on humanity.

She made a determined face as she decided then and there she wasn't going to let him get away with it. And she knew Razor wouldn't either.

---

Ruby entered the small outpost after coming back from inspecting the White Fang's airship that had been left behind at the bottom of the hill, covered with camouflaged tarpaulins on long steel poles so as to avoid being seen from the air by any passing patrols from the Vacuo Rangers. On the ground however, they found the said airship pretty easily when they began their search, thanks to Sharp Strike's directions. It was one of the many small ships that the White Fang had hijacked over the years, clearly modified for battle and had enough space for a full squad of White Fang scouts or troopers. It was probably used for quick and easy pick-ups for supplies the White Fang had stolen in their operations from trains, boats or other airships in the surrounding regions, before disappearing into the jungle without a trace.

The outpost itself was a small cabin-like structure built upon a hill that overlooked the jungle but was hidden from view by the overarching treeline. There was a series of radar and radio antennas jutting from its roof, in addition to a small machine-gun nest beside the cabin which housed a sizable projectile weapon pointing towards the jungle below. If the weapon nest was not present, the outpost would look more like a simple holiday cabin than a place for a certain White Fang cell to monitor the jungle surroundings.

Inside of the outpost the small group of Huntsmen and Huntresses had gotten to work with whatever tasks that occupied their mind at the moment. Coco was examining the damaged radio, parts of its transceiver and various colored wires scattered across the table, while its shell lay a short distance away, shattered apart like a broken egg. Yatsuhashi was currently guarding Hopkins in the back room, the only sole survivor of the White Fang scout team which was tasked with their capture and execution. The captain had woken up shortly after they reached the outpost but thus far he was remaining silent, even when Yatsuhashi had secured him to a steel fold-up chair and stood close by with his braced arms crossed over his chest, and his usually stoic face occupied by a stern glare at the aforementioned captain.

In the bunk rooms off to the side of the main operations room of the outpost, Scarlet was keeping an eye on Sharp Strike who was almost finished tending to Neptune, wrapping medical gauze around the bluenette's bare chest to cover the wound Adam had inflicted on him. The small wooden table beside the bunk bed was completely covered with bloodied bandages and various medical supplies they had taken from the cabin's underground basement storage area, and the electric lamp which hung from the ceiling cast a sickly yellow glow which barely illuminated the room. Laying opposite Neptune in another bunk was Qrow, who haven't woke up yet but was still breathing slowly and steadily, his Aura clearly healing him at a slow pace. Just moments before Sharp Strike had removed the bullet that had lodged itself into the male Branwen's trapezius muscle with a pair of sharp clippers, and bandaged the wounds the veteran huntsman had sustained in battle.

"Ah..." Neptune seethed in pain as he writhed a little on the bunk, the gauze turning a little crimson as a few droplets of blood leaked from his deep wound.

"Keep still, it's not going to help your recovery if you move around unnecessarily. I have stopped the bleeding, but it's going to sting for about a few days. This should keep the wound closed while your aura heals you." Sharp Strike said before passing Neptune a few white pills from one of his waist pouches and a container of water, "Take these too. It will help speed up your Aura recovery significantly."

The bluenette sat up slowly with help from Scarlet who assisted him by propping him up with pillows while Neptune took the white pills and drank from the container. He grimaced at the bitter taste but still managed to swallow the medicine given by the Remnant Knight.

"How bad was the cut?" Ruby inquired with concern in her voice as she shut the door of the bunk area behind her. She glanced at her uncle on the other bunk bed and was relieved to see that he was already given some medical attention.

"Your friend is very lucky. The cut was not that deep, but it was enough to inflict severe pain. Had the blade cut any deeper and severed one of the major arteries, then even with my medical training I would not be able to help Vasilias." The Knight stated as he tore more pieces of gauze and began to tie it around Neptune's chest.

"I guess I'll count my blessings for that." Neptune murmured, managing a weak smile even as Scarlet gently patted him on the shoulder.

"Indeed, just keep out of fights until it heals." Sharp Strike instructed as he wiped his gloved hands clean of Neptune's blood with a piece of clean cloth. His gauntlets laid nearby beside the first aid kit, disengaged from the rest of his Knight armor so that he could administer medical attention to both Neptune and Qrow, but he haven't seen any purpose to remove his helmet yet.

There was a knock on the bunk room door, and Ruby walked over to open it, revealing Coco who nodded a greeting to Scarlet and Neptune, but a displeased look inhabited her face for a few seconds when she laid eyes on Sharp Strike again, who simply focused on checking the medical supplies in the first aid kit, his cloaked back turned from her direction.

"Glad to see you all patched up, Neptune. How are you feeling?" The fashionista inquired civilly.

"I'll live." The bluenette replied, gently patting his chest and wincing a little, "But I feel much better now after having some rest and taking some medicine."

"I knew you'd pull through, Blue." Coco replied before looking over to Ruby who was seated beside her uncle, holding one of his hands in her delicate ones, "Ruby, how's the airship?"

The young huntress turned her head to look at Coco with a small smile on her lips, "It's in good shape and that airship has got a lot of awesome weapons! I found some really heavy artillery on the side sponsors, there are crates of grenade launchers with usable grenades, some rifles and pistols, a couple of sniper rifles, and even a pair of rocket launchers with several rockets each! If we manage to sneak into the White Fang headquarters undetected we could really do some serious damage before they even know we're there."

The Remnant Knight closed the cover of the first aid kit with a sharp click and turned his head a little to listen to Ruby's words, his head tilting a little as though considering about what she was saying at the moment even as he opened another box of medical supplies.

"Well, let's just hold that thought until we get in touch with Vale or Vacuo. Sorry, but I don't think we will be able to fix this radio." Coco mentioned doubtfully.

"How bad is it?" Scarlet inquired while allowing Neptune to lean on him, one hand draped around the redhead's shoulder.

"Honestly? It's pretty much scrap. The audio receptor is damaged, and the motherboard is fractured. The transceiver is history, and some of the wires are burnt. I might be able to reconnect some of the wires but I have to admit that I am do have enough experience when it comes to these things; give me a damaged gun and will know what to do flawlessly, but this..." Coco informed them with a slight shake of her head and a shrug from her shoulders, "What about you, Ruby?"

"Well...I am good with guns and a variety of other weapons...but I have never fixed a radio before." She looked at them in the eyes, "Plus, I don't think we have could find any of those parts in this cabin we would need to fix it."

"She has made a good point. That ancient thing is probably too low tech to get us some real help anyway. Who knows? It could be bugged for all we know." Neptune pointed out as he held one hand to his chest wound and looked at Ruby and Coco.

"You're probably right. There's another radio on the airship... so maybe we could try that?" Ruby suggested hopefully.

"I wouldn't advise that." Sharp Strike turned and regarded them carefully with those azure lenses on his faceplate, "The White Fang uses specific codes for their radio frequencies for communication purposes. While I have managed to obtain some of those codes, the ones I have are way out of use and the recent ones are still unknown to me. If you broadcast on an open and unsecured frequency the White Fang forces in the vicinity would be able pick up on that, and use the transmission to triangulate your location."

"He's right, it's too risky. I don't think our luck would hold out once more." Coco muttered to herself, until an awful thought suddenly hit her, "This is an active White Fang outpost right? Why didn't the White Fang headquarters send anyone to investigate after you have taken out the entire cell?"

Sharp Strike turned and calmly raised a gloved finger to prove his point, "Remember the sizable computer console system in the main operations room? When I attacked earlier the White Fang troops here did not have time to call for help, so the computer is still transmitting an all-clear signal to other White Fang troops as well as the headquarters, so that no one would bother to come and check for the time being."

"That's one less problem to deal with." Coco admitted while watching Neptune shrugged his shirt back on while Sharp Strike turned and inspected his handiwork on Qrow's bandages. The wounds he had sustained in battle were many, and they weren't healing as well as they usually would due to the massive Aura drainage Ruby's uncle had suffered in battle, not to mention the various beating he had received from Adam's thugs. He would be fine for the moment, at least for now.

"Then what do we do?" Neptune asked slowly, "We have no way to call for help, and it's only be a matter of time before the White Fang discovers that their recon team haven't reported back with our deaths and Ruby's capture." Coco, Scarlet and Ruby found themselves nodding their heads in agreement, while the Knight simply remained still, a gloved finger placed at the chin of his faceplate in contemplation, while having a bottle of disinfectant liquid in his other gloved hand.

"The main thing is that we need to get outside the communication blackout zone put up by the White Fang." Coco replied, "I've checked the map in the operations room and I know where the blackout zone ends. Maybe if one of us can get outside the blackout zone and use a scroll to send a message to someone in Vacuo's government, or maybe even to Vale so that we can contact Goodwitch or maybe even get a report to Ozpin himself to send help for us."

Ruby listened as she continued to watch at the injured form of her uncle as the Remnant Knight began to clean the wounds, wiping away the caked blood and grime from Qrow's body and limbs, the faint glow of aura coming from the healing of his wounds.

"My thoughts exactly. The boundaries of the communication blackout zone most likely extends a few miles from this outpost since its boundaries can't be that long or passing Vacuo Ranger patrols would detect the jamming of communications in the area." Sharp Strike concurred, checking the bandages he had already put over the bullet wound on Qrow's back after gently moving the Huntsman over to his side.

"Time is of the essence..." Coco agreed, "...which means Ruby is the best one for the task since she's the fastest out of the all of us, she has the best chance of success." She looked at Ruby, as with the rest of everyone present in the bunk room, "I know it's a lot to ask, but I don't see any other option."

"I'll do it." Ruby replied firmly, her silver eyes filled with determination, "But I won't go until I know for sure that Uncle Qrow is going to be okay." She and Coco turned to look at Sharp Strike, and the latter posed the question, "How is he doing? Is he still in danger?"

"I have patched him up as much as I can, and I have also cleaned all of his visible wounds so far. I have also removed the bullet in his back, so that wouldn't be a problem anymore. The spine wasn't hit when he took the shot for you, so that's good news. The bleeding has stopped as far as I can see, and his breathing has been steady for the past half hour and the blood circulation through his body is adequate. All in all, I can say with confidence that he will pull through, since I' sure he has been in worse scrapes than this." The Knight moved Qrow onto his back and examined the bandaged wounds to make sure the bleeding won't start up again.

Coco, who was closest to the open door of the bunk room, felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see Yatsuhashi coming out of the back room where Hopkins was confined. The large teen sighed and said "Our guest is not talking, but he's tied down good and tight so he's not going anywhere. We will have to interrogate him if we are going to find out any useful information about the White Fang's headquarters."

"Well, it has to be close by, I mean how else would they have gotten to the prison so quickly?" Scarlet pointed out, everyone else seeing his point

"So their base of operations must be probably hidden somewhere in those mountains we have passed by. That is the only plausible explanation." Yatsuhashi voiced his assent after giving some thought.

"Okay, since the radio's busted, we can't use the airship's radio...and seeing as Uncle Qrow is no longer in danger I'll run into the forest until I get out of the blackout zone, and then I can call for help." Ruby explained to the Samurai of the group, "Can you give me the backup evidence Coco sent you?"

Yatsuhashi nodded and took out his scroll and sent the evidence to Ruby's as Sharp Strike finished wrapping the final piece of gauze around Qrow's chest, covering it with some bandages and checked his breathing. After making sure that he had done all he could to the best of his abilities, the Knight cleaned his upper limbs free of blood and locked the armored gauntlets back onto his gloved hands with small clicks before flexing them slowly, checking their functionality a few fingers at a time.

"I have a better suggestion, Miss Rose. I think I'll be going with you since I will also need to contact my superiors to inform them of the developing situation. I know the surrounding area better and with my directions you won't get lost easily or run into any White Fang patrols. And you won't have to run when we can take my bike." Sharp Strike mentioned as he looked at Ruby, hooking his gauntlets around the belt at his waist.

"You have a bike?" Coco asked disbelievingly.

Sharp Strike gave a small nod, "I left it behind so I wouldn't be noticed, but since the White Fang scouts have already been taken care of I used my own scroll to call it to this location."

"Call it? What do you mean by that?" Coco questioned him, confusion clear on her face just as Ruby's ears perked up at the faint sound of a motorcycle in the distance through the slightly ajar window. Just moments before, there was the usual quiet of the jungle except for the sounds of night animals and birds, but the sound of a motorcycle was definitely something alien.

"Does anyone else hear that?" She turned around asked the other members of Team Beacon, just as Coco and Yatsuhashi moved aside for Sharp Strike to walk past them and out of the cabin's front door, the rest of Team Beacon except Qrow following him, with Scarlet supporting Neptune as usual.

"I can hear it too." Yatsuhashi replied as it got closer, the sound growing steadily louder.

A few moments later, the Knight's mechanical steed roared out of the darkness of the surrounding jungle and came smoothly to a halt in front of Sharp Strike, its engine slipping down to a idling purr once more as the Remnant Knight glanced at his side, seeing the stunned faces of Team Beacon behind him. His bike looked like an upgraded and personally customized version of a sports bike, except it has a sort of heavy duty look to it yet possessing a design that emphasized on speed and aerodynamics.

Fully decked in silver-black colors with blue highlights like his Knight armor, the motorcycle had wide tires with a certain special design of riveting that probably allows it to travel a variety of landscapes in addition to climbing up hills and even mountains when necessary. It also boasted a complex engine design made up of gears, springs and other unique metallic parts, with twin supercharged intakes with honeycombed meshes on the upper sides of the bike above the front wheel which extends in front of it. A windshield occupied the front part of the motorcycle, underneath which was an highly advanced dashboard which boasted a full suite of special functions, including remote autopilot and frequency scanning. Protruding from both sides of the front wheel were openings for twin machine-guns, and the glaring illumination came from the two front lights underneath the windshield. While the members of Team Beacon could see the visible machine-guns, they doubt those were the only weapons Sharp Strike's personal bike possessed in addition to a vastly superior engine than most custom-made vehicles.

And emblazoned on the side fairing of the Knight's motorcycle was the emblem of the Remnant Knight Order, a simple image of a pair of Knight swords crossed over a shield of silver with gold trim.

Neptune let out a slow whistle at the sight of such a spectacularly customized vehicle in front of them, "I have a nagging feeling that Yang would probably fall deeply in love with this Knight's bike if she so much as lay her italic eyes on it."

"I don't even want to bet on the odds of that, Neptune!" A surprised Ruby agreed as she regained her senses and closed her slightly open mouth.

Swinging a leg over his motorcycle, Sharp Strike looked up at them from his windshield, "So are we actually to make a move, or should we waste more time gawking at my bike?" He was about to gesture for Ruby to take the seat behind him when the Knight noticed the red hooded Huntress was missing from the group.

He looked about and then saw Ruby running back up the hill, a matte black sniper rifle taken from the weapon cache in White Fang airship slung behind her back with a sling running diagonally down her body, "Sorry! Just getting a weapon just in case of anything!"

She climbed onto the back of the Knight's motorcycle and caught a pilot's helmet thrown to her by Coco, putting it on to cover her entire head, "Thanks! We will be back as soon as possible!" The rest of team Beacon waved as they watched Sharp Strike revved up the engine of his bike, the sounds building up to a crescendo as Ruby grabbed onto the side holds on the bike itself.

"Just so you know, we will be going at very fast speeds...so I recommend you holding onto me so that you don't lose your grip and fall off." The Knight mentioned, his helmet turning a little so that Ruby can see one of his blue eye lenses.

"Don't worry about me. If I have ridden on my sister's bike Bumblebee, this should be a piece of cake." Ruby replied as Sharp Strike gunned the throttles and stepped on the accelerator.

She yelped as the custom-made motorcycle shot forward like a racing horse expelled from its stable, and almost regretted her previous words as she lunged forward and grabbed hold of Sharp Strike's shoulder pauldrons tightly, feeling the swift wind rush past her face as both Knight and Huntress shot into the darkness of the jungle, towards a place where they could summon reinforcements to rescue the rest of Team Beacon from the clutches of the White Fang.

---

Yang fidgeted with the annoying little clamp like mechanism that that been placed around the right Ember Celica to keep it from activating. She had tried to get it off but no luck so far, even if she did the White Fang guards would probably blast her. She looked out of the bars to the Elephant Faunus known as Babara and glared as she looked around at her cellmates.

Things had been quiet in the brig ever since Adam had left; Winter and Weiss were deep in thought about what their family's company had done, Penny was paralyzed from the neck down due to the collar, Neo was seemingly lost in her own little world for the time being, Claudandus was rubbing his leg as an old pain irritated it, Thayer was taking a look at Velvet's face to make sure Adam's punch hadn't hurt her too badly, Blake was keeping to herself remaining quiet and Sun was doing the same as his girlfriend, looking at his half-tail as he did so, letting out a few tears and grunts of pain as he mourned the loss of part of his tail.

Yang looked at her fellow blonde with concern before she looked to the wall, knowing Blake was behind it.

The silence between them was a sure sign that they both needed help and Yang decided she wasn't just going to sit on the cold steel bench and mess with her arm. Her friends, the people she loved, were more important. Sun had had enough time on his own, now he needed someone to talk to whether he liked it or not.

She got up and walked over to Sun and said "It'll be okay Sun, we'll get out of this somehow." In the next cell Blake's ears perked up and she listened in.

Sun was silent for a moment or two before he looked to her and said "Yang, We're prisoners of the White Fang and who knows what that psycho has planned for us. Not to mention Neptune and Scarlet, my teammates, my friends, the guys who I'm supposed to lead, are out there and I don't even know if they're alive or not. They count on me and I let them down. And then there's my tail... it was cut in half... I... I don't..." Sun couldn't go on as tears began to fall from his eyes.

Yang wrapped her arms around the Faunus and hugged him to her. She rubbed his back with her organic hand and said "Don't forget, I know what you're going through."

"Oh man... I'm so sorry Yang. I almost forgot." he said, feeling guilty that he had forgotten that Yang had suffered from the same kind of trauma not too long ago.

"It's okay Sun, but I know what you're going through, I felt the same way. Remember when I talked to Nadir when we found out his hand had been cut off?" she asked quietly.

"I wasn't really paying attention." he admitted.

"Well I'll give you the same talk I gave him. I don't know if it's quite the same but it probably is for you, it's a horrible thing to lose a part of your body. You feel overwhelmed with shock, anger, and sadness. The shock takes you over and once you've realized that part of your body is gone you just get angry, you try to assure yourself it can be fixed despite that annoying little voice saying 'you're stuck like this'. You let sadness and misery take you over and I can tell how devastated you are right now Sun, just overwhelmed by everything that's happened. But don't forget, I've been there before, I let anger, self-pity, and depression control my life for four months. Don't let them control you too. I managed to beat it when I got tired of them controlling me, but I'm going to do my best to keep it from happening to you." she said as she made Sun look her in the eyes.

Blue met lilac as the bombshell went on; "I know you're worried about your team but I think they'll be alright. I bet they've already gotten together with Ruby, Uncle Qrow, and the others and they're on their way to help us as we speak. You're a good leader team, and your guys are good Huntsmen, you're a strong leader so they're a strong team. Trust me, I'm worried like crazy about Ruby but at the same time she's proven she can take care of herself, so trust Neptune and Scarlet and they'll be okay. I know it sucks that we can't help them, but we have to hope and trust in them that they'll come through. Never forget Sun, you are not alone; you have Blake and I know for a fact that she loves you, you have me, everyone here, you have Neptune, Sage, and Scarlet all counting on you, and you have your mom and your sister are out there and they'll be there for you when we get out of here, losing your tail won't make them or anyone else love you any less. So just remember Sun, we are here for you."

Sun tired to hold back his tears as he quietly said "Yang I..." He couldn't speak, he just launched himself into her and hugged her tight. Yang was taken aback at first but quickly recovered and hugged the Monkey Faunus back as best as she could with one arm barely functioning.

In the next cell over Blake, now with tears in her eyes of gold, smiled to herself, happy for the boy she loved.

"Yang, I don't deserve a friend like you or someone like Blake. I'm not good enough." he said.

Blake was about to say something when Yang scolded "Yes you are! You're a team leader! You wanted to help Blake when I was too depressed to care! You fought the White Fang with just you and your team to help her! That makes you pretty damn good in my book!"

"She's right young man." Claudandus interjected. "From what Blake has told me you have risked your life for her in the past, I understand you care for my granddaughter very much. Why else would you go on an incredibly dangerous mission to save an old fool like me? I may not know much about you personally, Mr. Wukong, but I think you are a prime example of our race."

Blake smiled at the voice of her grandfather, something she was going to have to get used to, but before she could say anything Weiss spoke up as well.

"Sun, throughout my life I have been forced to mingle with spoiled brats, nitwits, and malicious fools of from the Atlesian upper-class. When I first saw you as a stowaway on that ship I thought you were a rapscallion and a low-life, but after I got to know you I realized I was wrong, and I can promise you that you are worth a dozen of those rich idiots." the Schnee heiress said.

Sun was stunned, to hear Weiss of all people say that was a mind bender.

"Sun..." said Blake's calm, smooth voice. Sun moved to the edge of the cell so he could hear her. "Sun, what I said earlier; I meant every word of it. I've brought you so much pain and grief, you've suffered because of me and I'll never forgive myself. Your family was held hostage, you went out of your way to help me so many times, you don't know whether your team is safe or not, and you lost your tail. All because of me. I understand if you want to break it off, I understand if you never want to see me again, but I want you to know that I love you, Sun Wukong."

Sun's eyes kept pouring tears as he heard a small sob from Blake. He slid his hand past the bars and reached over to the next cell as one of the guards moved to stop him but Babara blocked them off.

"Let 'em have this." she ordered firmly.

Blake smiled at her former friend as she reached out and grabbed Sun's hand, giving it a loving squeeze.

"Blake... I don't blame you for what happened to me so don't blame yourself for what happened to me, blame Taurus." Sun said to her before finishing up with "I don't hate you, I never could. I love you too Blake Belladonna."

Blake, now with tears of happiness squeezed Sun's hand a little more as another hand joined them.

"Don't forget about me." Yang said as he hand joined theirs.

"Yang, thank you. I love you both." Blake said.

"Same goes to both of you, things might look bad now but they'll get better soon." Yang promised, getting small smiles from the others.

"Heh, fat chance human." cracked one of the guards.

"Shove it." Yang and Sun both said at the same time while Weiss, Velvet, Blake, and Winter shot him death glares.

Just then there was a knock at the door that came in a strange, specific pattern. Babara shot Blake and the other prisoners a kind grin as she opened up the door to reveal Jinty, who gave the Elephant girl a thumbs up as she closed the door behind him.

"Hey Blake, long time no see." the Weasel Faunus said, nodding to her.

"Nice to see you Jinty." Blake said, smiling and giving her friends in the cell looks.

"Babara?" he said.

"Yeah?"

"They're coming back, everything's working just like we hoped it would. NOW!" he cried as he whipped out a gun and blasted one of the White Fang troops in the torso three times with it.

"What the...?!" cried a guard as Babara slammed him into the wall after she bashed him in the forehead with the pole of her battle-axe before grabbing another guard with one hand and smashing her head into the ceiling and them whammed her on the back of the head as she fell to the floor.

Jinty shot another one of the remaining three guards down and he was finished off by Babara who grabbed him and punched him out but the other two opened fire on them. He took cover by a desk as he fired from under his cover, blasting one in the legs. The unlucky guard cried out as he fell to the desk, his jaw hitting it as Jinty jumped up and socked him right in the face, knocking him out.

The last guard tried to get to the door but Blake, Sun, and Yang all reached out of the bars and managed to trip him up. He fell flat on his face just as Babara jumped on top of him, grabbed his head, and slammed it into the floor hard enough to knock him out.

Jinty grinned at the prisoners and said "Surprise."

Everyone was silent and stunned, except Blake who smiled at her old friends.

Neo broke the silence by saying "What the hell is happening?"

"A jailbreak, that's what." Babara said as she got the keys and unlocked the first cell, letting Blake, Weiss, and the others out.

"I don't believe it, you're both traitors?" Thayer asked in disbelief as Vevlet and Weiss worked together to move Penny up.

"We're loyal to what the White Fang is supposed to be but if you mean we're betraying Adam then you betcha. After the Fall of Vale and that craziness at Haven I got back in touch with Blake with some help from Swoop." Jinty explained as Weiss and Velvet helped Penny out of the cell.

"Could you please remove this from our friend's neck?" Velvet asked as Babara let Yang and the others in the second cell out.

"Sure thing." Jinty said as he took out an odd looking device. "Babara, go get their weapons."

"You got it babe." the large Faunus said as she made for the door.

As Jinty worked with getting the collar off of Penny, Winter, who was working with Neo and Thayer to get the knocked out guards in the cells, spoke up. "You do realize that if Razor discovers this you'll be in just as much danger as we are. What about the security cameras?"

"Relax, I disabled 'em before I came down here. Also I'm part of the White Fang's top teams and I've been a traitor among them for the last few months, I know what's dangerous Miss Schnee." Jinty said as he managed to get the collar off of Penny. "There you go."

"Thank you!" Penny cheered as her legs and arms began to move once again. She took up the collar and crushed it with her bare hands, then let it clatter to the floor. She saw Winter about to grab one of the guards but Penny said "Allow me Specialist Schnee."

She walked over and picked up two of the guard easily and threw them into the cells so Velvet could shut and lock the gates on them.

Yang held her robotic hand up to Jinty and said "Hey, me next."

"Sure thing." he said as he went to work.

"By the way Jinty, why did Babara call you 'babe'?" Blake inquired, which Jinty pretended not to hear as he began whistling while getting Yang's arm free.

Once the guards were locked in the cells and Yang's arm was freed from the restraining device Blake addressed the others. "Yes, Jinty is my contact within the White Fang. I'm sorry I didn't tell you but he swore me to secrecy because he didn't want there to be any chance of his 'treachery' being discovered."

"No complaints from me, thanks Jint." Yang said as she shook his hand a little too tight.

"Anytime." he said as he nursed his smarting hand. He looked to Claudandus and said "So you're Claudandus?"

The old Faunus nodded, "I am, thank you for helping us, it means a lot."

"I joined up after you left, I wanted to be in the White Fang because it was supposed to be about equality but then Taurus twisted it into what it is now. I stuck around because I wanted to do some good... and I didn't want to piss off a certain redhead if I ran." Jinty admitted as he shook Claudandus' hand.

"Excuse me, but what are we supposed to do? Just waltz out of here? In case you've forgotten we're still surrounded by less than friendly White Fang agents." Weiss pointed out.

"Don't worry about that, Adam's actions as of late have been making Razor weary of him, he sent your old buddy Kane along with Piper and Selena to check out that prison and see if you were tellin' the truth about the amputees. I placed a bug on their ship before they left and they are on their way back right now... and they know." Jinty said firmly as Babara came back into the room with a huge box.

"Here you go, weapons for all." she said as she placed the box on the ground and opened it up, revealing all of the weapons.

Everyone quickly recovered their own weapon; Yang placed the left Ember Celica back on her flesh hand and kissed it while Blake and Weiss took up Gambol Shroud and Myrtenaster respectively. Sun combined Ruyi and Jingu Bang, Winter gripped her sword, and Neo reclaimed her parasol. Velvet mournfully looked at her camera and sighed.

"Any chance of fixing it Velvet?" Blake asked.

The Rabbit Faunus shook her head, "Not here, I need the proper tools and I doubt this place has them. It's alright though, I still know how to fight." she said with determination.

"Atta girl." Yang said with a smirk as she loaded up her gauntlets.

"Mr. Jinty, has there been any word of our friends?" Penny asked.

"She's right, have Ruby and the others been found?" Weiss asked seriously.

"No, there's been no word from the scout team that went into the jungle to look for them. If there had been we would have known by now." Babara stated.

"Hopefully that's a good sign." Winter said.

"Relax, the rest of your team is probably fine. We won't be doin' this alone either way, once Piper lets Razor know you lot we're tellin' the truth he'll help take Adam down. Trust me he'll call everyone to the main room any second now..." Jinty said before he was interrupted by a voice over the intercom.

"Attention all members of the White Fang aboard this ship, please report to the bridge for an emergency gathering, right away. This is mandatory." said the voice of Razor.

Everyone in the brig looked at each other and Yang smirked, "Well that was perfect timing."

Blake smiled at her partner and said "Maybe this will work out after all."

---

About five minutes later Razor stood on the bridge, overlooking all but five of the members of the Elite Guard and the various White Fang troops which Adam had claimed to put on the ship to 'guard the prisoners' but Razor no longer trusted Taurus enough to believe that. He knew these soldiers were there to keep an eye on his team.

He sighed as he pondered the absence of Jinty and Babara, the former had retired for the evening unusually early and the latter was guarding Blake but should have been able to attend. Kane, Piper, and Selena had just docked in the hangar and were coming up now. Kane had said over the radio that Piper had successfully sneaked around the maximum security wing and had seen something that had shaken her up.

Razor grimaced at that, he had known Piper for five years and she didn't get shaken up easily, not after the things the young girl had seen... not after what happened to her neck.

He sighed and looked about the bridge, seeing Russell, Morgan, Misha, Penn, Teresa, Burton, Darla, Warwick, Cash, Goddard, Kong, Johnny, Graham the Buffalo Faunus, and Miguel the Armadillo Faunus who had recently recovered from an injury he received during the fight with Fatalea's slavers so had yet to fight Team Beacon. There were also the two members who were non-combatants such as Troy the old Cheeta Faunus who served as their engineer and an Anteater Faunus who helped run the bridge known as Caitlin.

As for the White Fang troops, there were twenty of them altogether but only fourteen of them were here at the moment as the other six were guarding the prisoners. He wondered how they would react if Piper confirmed Blake and Qrow's accusations. He decided he would find out soon as Piper, Kane, and Selena entered the bridge.

"Everyone, if I may have your attention please." Razor said firmly, his raspy, commanding voice making everyone look to him. "I know you all want to know why you're here and I will answer that. As of late I have been having my doubts about our leader Adam Taurus; he joined up with this Cinder Fall person and aided her in attacking Vale, killing who knows how many innocent civilians human and Faunus alike, he has made dangerous and murderous suggestions such as bombing a village and has become increasing more violent in battles, tonight he cut off the tail of a fellow Faunus who opposed us. He claimed it was an accident, but our rivals that we hold prisoner now have claimed that Commander Taurus threatened the life of a Faunus child and that in the prison they infiltrated a couple of hours ago contained Faunus prisoners amputated of their animal attributes. Once he attempted to execute our prisoners I became totally disgusted with his dishonorable tactics and I wondered if our 'enemies' were telling the truth. I send these three to check out the prison and see if Adam truly has had Faunus prisoners amputated."

"Razor, that sounds like treason." growled one of the White Fang troopers.

"Maybe it is, but I will not let him use me as a tool for destruction and you shouldn't either soldier. Piper, please come up here." Razor beckoned.

The young Faunus climbed up the metal ladder and came along side Razor, who took out his scroll. "Tell me what you saw, type it down."

Piper took out her scroll and was about to start typing when she sighed sadly and put her scroll down before grabbing her scarf.

"What are you doing? Don't show them...!" Razor cried as she took off her scarf to reveal her bare, horrifically scarred neck. Nearly everyone in the room either gasped or winced at the sight of the neck wound.

"What happened to her?" Kane asked, a little stunned.

Razor looked to Piper for permission and she nodded as she took his hand. "Five years ago after a raid had been found out by human police and I was forced to scatter from my old team I made my way into the outskirts of the town when I heard a young girl screaming. I ran to help and I found a young Faunus being mauled by dogs from a nearby farm. She had tried to steal some food as she was starving, homeless, and without a family but the farmer didn't care, so he set his hounds after her. I blasted the dogs and saved her, managed to get her to a medic we had but her vocal cords were damaged beyond repair. I took her under my wing, gave her a home, a better life. Piper, why did you take your scarf off?"

Piper took out her strange instrument and combined it with her Semblance, struggling as she managed to make something that resembled a voice. "What is on my neck... is proof of humanity's cruelty... but tonight I saw proof that Faunus can... be just as evil... I snuck into the prison... and I saw that Blake was... telling the truth. Taurus did have Faunus parts amputated... they were in pain... like I was... they were scared, sad, and... mutilated... it was so wrong... so horrible. I thought that we were supposed to... be heroes... Adam is no hero..." she said with tears in her eyes as she plugged her scroll into a computer and the screen showed pictures of the amputee Faunus

"Oh gods..." Misha gasped quietly.

"They were telling us the truth, Adam is insane." Russell said angrily.

"What are we gonna do?" asked Warwick.

"What can we do? We can't go against Commander Taurus openly." said one of the soldiers.

"She's lying... she has to be... this has to be a trick..." said another solider nervously as he stared at the pictures

"No, she's not! Look at her eyes, look at her face! Look at the damn pictures! Piper has never cried in all the time I've known her, she isn't lying!" snapped Teresa.

Kong looked at the disturbing pictures and slumped down to the floor before quietly asking "What have we been doing?"

"His dirty work." Razor snarled as he hugged Piper to him. "We won't let him get away with this. We aren't his tools, for three long years we've been going around Remnant, doing good for Faunus kind, now Taurus himself is a threat to Faunus kind. He must be stopped. Who else is with me?"

Every member of the Elite Guard nodded or cheered or said something like "Yeah!" or "We're with you Razor!" The soldiers who were there were a bit hesitant at first, but one by one they threw down their masks, rejecting Adam Taurus

"Thank you, I don't deserve your loyalty, I let myself be blinded by the White Fang's cause, which Adam has now ruined. We are going to do our best to fix this, I promise you all." he swore to them as more figures entered the bridge.

"Nice to see you found out the gruesome truth boss." said Jinty.

Everyone looked to see Blake, Yang, Weiss, Sun, Jinty, Babara, Thayer, and the rest of the captured members of Team Beacon. The members of the White Fang tensed and got ready for a fight when they saw that the prisoners were free and armed but relaxed when Blake said "Don't worry, we don't want to fight you. There's been enough fighting already. Now you all know the truth of what Adam has done."

Everyone nodded sadly, feeling guilty for following Adam for so long and never seeing what he had become.

Kane approached her and said "I'm sorry about your friends Blake, I hope they're alright... and sorry about capturing you earlier this year."

"I hope so too, and don't worry, I've had worse." she said before looking to Razor and asking "Now that you know the truth, what are you going to do about it?"

Razor looked to the his Elite Guard, then to the soldiers, and then to Team Beacon before looking down to the girl he considered a daughter. Piper smiled and Razor looked back to the crowd and announced "We're going to have ourselves a little insurrection."

TO BE CONTINUED...

Surprise! I lied about the last chapter being the final one of the year, I wouldn't end this year on that depressing note! Still... Adam's backstory was pretty sad, wasn't it? I'd like to know what you thought of it as I worked really hard on it.

Also let's give a big thanks to RelentlessCrusader who helped write this chapter and created Sharp Strike and the Remnant Knight and allowed me to use them in this fic. I couldn't have done this chapter without him and if you're curious as to what Sharp Strike looks like check out DA artist Beartrixzel who did a pic of him.

This chapter's early release is a special Christmas present to all of my readers, whether you on fanfiction . net or Archive of Our Own I want you all to know how much I appreciate all of you. So thank you all to those of you who reviewed, faved, and followed my story. Thanks to everyone who left a kudos, a comment, or bookmarked it. O care about each and everyone of you guys so thank you all so much for helping me make this story what it is now. I couldn't have done it without you guys.

See you guys in January and don't forget that you all matter to me. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Holidays to everyone who reads this.

Also here are some story recommendations:

4 Years of Beacons by smstanton, wonderful Arkos fic.

Jaune Arc: Man of Steel by pitviper1158, a RWBY/DC crossover which, despite some spelling errors, is shaping up to be a good fic.

Overcoming Darkness by Dracohalo117, a great and mysterious RWBY AU fic that has a dark take on Jaune's Semblance when Pyrrha unlocked his aura. Updates are slow but the story is worth it.

A Full Metal Alchemist fic call The Awful Truth of Suffering by c mary c, an AU FMA, a tragic but beautiful story focusing on Ed and Winry's blooming romance in New York as they are haunted by their tragic pasts

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.