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

44. A Call for Help

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 44: A Call for Help

Ren walked into the gym of the hotel, lured to it by the sound of a familiar voice grunting and a powerful slamming sound that echoed about the large room. The gym was empty save for a girl he knew so well; Nora kept slamming Magnhild into a training dummy that looked like it had been mauled by a hundred thousand Grimm at once as she brought down her hammer again and again, her grunts sounding angry. If one were to look closely, which Ren tended to do, they would notice that a picture of Adam Taurus, taken from a wanted poster, had been duct taped to the dummy's head and Nora was going to town on it.

Ren flinched as the dummy's arm was sent flying off by a mighty slam from Nora and it landed perfectly in the trash container.

It was obvious that Nora was angry, but any one who knew the perky girl knew that that was never a good sign. Ren sighed and carefully walked over to her as she kept slamming her weapon into the dummy.

Her body was tense, her muscles buldging, her eyes furious, her hair wild... none of these were good signs.

"I'll teach you... if any of my friends are hurt... I'll break your legs... for starters..." she muttered under her breath before she slammed Magnhild into the dummy hard enough to knock its head off at last. She began to wail of the round object, slamming her hammer into Adam's picture harder and harder until the picture was torn and crumpled beyond recognition, the head getting flatter and flatter as Nora's grunts turned to growls and eventually screams of fury.

She was about to slam Magnhild down again when Ren caught her and firmly said "Nora, I know this is difficult, but you need to calm down."

Nora's pale blue eyes were angry, nervous, and teary as they looked into his calm but worried magenta ones and she responded "I... I don't know if I can Renny... I barely made it when we thought Cinder killed Pyrrha, but what if this jerk Adam killed everyone else? What if the six of us are the only ones left?"

"I don't think we are, I can't promise you but I think we both know our friends well enough to know they will not go down easily, especially Ruby. I know it hurts, I'm afraid to lose them too and right now I am so worried but all we can right now is hope that they'll be alright." Ren said calmly as he gently eased her arms down and lowered her down to the ground where she gently dropped Magnhild before she let him wrap his arms around her and hug her to him.

Small tears fell down her face along with a few whimpers from her mouth as she buried her face into his chest. "Renny, thank you for being here for me."

"I always will be, I love you." the green clad Ninja said sincerely as he kissed her forehead.

---

Elsewhere in the hotel, the room Team CFVY had been set up in specifically, Fox looked at a picture of his entire team; Coco with that confident smirk and look in her eyes as she tilted her shades up, Velvet looking a little shy but very happy, Yatsuhashi looked his usual stoic self but there was he seemed to be content... and then there was himself, Fox Allistair, scars on his arms, eyes that made people mistake him for being blind, tanned skin, and a stoic face to match Yatsuhashi's.

Those three had become more than just teammates to Fox in the last few years, they were friends, family... he hadn't had many of either before coming to Beacon; a mother and a father that loved and cared for him but he had always been a loner so he didn't have many friends growing up, something that concerned his parents... but then he came to Beacon and met these three wonderful teens. So different from each other, outgoing, shy, reserved, they were the friends he had needed his entire life.

He looked into the mirror and examined the scars on his arms, left by various training accidents that occurred when he was younger and inexperienced with his arm-blades. If any of his team... if any of his friends were killed then he would make Adam Taurus scream for mercy. That was a promise for Team CFVY, for his friends, all of them.

---

Down the hall in the room Team SSSN had taken residence in Sage sat on a wooden chair in front of a desk, watching an old video of he and Sun sparring while Scarlet and Neptune fought in the background. He smiled at Sun's energetic moves and laughs as the Monkey Faunus dodged everything swing and thrust of Sage's sword.

The dark-skinned teen sighed as he poured a small vial of rum he had managed to get his hands on into a cup of coffee.

"To us, Team SSSN. Never a better team of guys. Stay safe out there, please." Sage said quietly to himself before downing the drink.

---

Outside of the hotel in one of the training areas Pyrrha fought on with a group of five training robots, thin but sturdy machines that had been built by one of the companies that the Atlas Military had a private contract with. The robots fire small blasts at her that were set to stun so if she was hit she wouldn't be hurt too badly... but that wasn't a problem because the chances were that she wouldn't be hit at all.

She dodged the blasts easily and with grace as she used her legs to sweep-kick a robot off of its legs and Milo to impale it and bring it up to use as a shield from the other robots fire.

Her tall, powerful body glistened with sweat in the small lighting the lamp posts provided. If one were to look at her normally kind and gentle, not to mention beautiful, face they would see a look of complete seriousness and concentration. She threw the robot into two others before jumping up and landing behind another, jamming Milo into its back just as it turned into its rifle form and blasted through its torso. She cartwheeled away to avoid the blasts and kicked down one of the recovering robots that she had just knocked down a few seconds ago.

As she fought on she thought of her friends lost in Vacuo, their situation uncertain, their lives probably in danger... and yet here she was, thousands of miles away, unable to do anything about it. Those wonderful, powerful, odd at times Hunters-in-training that made up Team Beacon were the best group of people she had ever known in her life, they had all become her friends since this ordeal began when she entered Beacon.

Friends... something she used to crave so desperately during her days at Sanctum, back when she was seen as untouchable, invincible, unbeatable, and left alone because of her abilities and when people did want to become associated with her it was for their own personal gain. But with these Hunters it was so wonderfully different.

She allowed herself a smile as she dodged the blasts and took out another training robot with a series of powerful and well placed punches and kicks that deactivated it. There had been many hardships and tragedies in the months since then, the Grimm within her and the scar near her heart was proof of that, but there had been so many wonderful things too, like her friends; the rest of her team and... the ones who were lost now.

Team CFVY made up of kind Velvet, strong Yatsuhashi, confident and bold Coco, and stoic Fox who was now hiding his fear and worry for his teammates. Team SSSN with goofy but thoughtful Scarlet, polite and charming Neptune, cocky but able and eager Sun, and everyman Sage who she knew was worried sick about his friends. There was the awkward but so adorable Penny who would consider anyone who said anything remotely nice about her a close and personal friend, Pyrrha couldn't help but like the robot girl for how positive her outlook on like was after everything she had been through, more people should strive to be like Penny. Then there was her close friends from Team RWBY; fiery and headstrong Yang, calm and sometimes mysterious Blake who had suffered so much in life and wanted to be accepted for who she was, Weiss who used to so high and mighty and full of herself had changed for the better since she had enrolled in Beacon, as she was now down to earth and trying to improve upon her previous actions and that of her family as well... and then there was Ruby.

Ruby truly was a wonderful person, she wanted to be good and kind to everyone she met and would fight anyone who threatened her friends or innocent people with such power and talent that it was no wonder Ozpin enrolled her so early... then again her eyes probably had something to do with it. Pyrrha avoided a few more blasts from one of the two remaining training robots and launched Milo in spear mode at it, impaling it. Her thoughts went back to Ruby, a wonderful, energetic, kind, eager girl who wanted to save the world and Pyrrha didn't doubt that she probably would someday. What had surprised Pyrrha when she had found out the whole story of what happened after Cinder had taken her away was that her death had been what triggered the shining of Ruby's silver eyes.

While she had considered Ruby a friend at the time she didn't think they were close enough for her apparent death to affect Ruby like that. As she grabbed the final robot by the head and slammed it into the ground, deactivating it, she remembered a personal moment she had shared with Ruby the day before they left Haven.

Five and a Half Months Ago

Pyrrha walked out of the police ship and back onto the grounds of Haven Academy where Ruby was waiting for her. Everyone else was preoccupied, Jaune was getting a medical checkup to make absolutely sure he was alright after the trauma he had suffered, Ren and Nora were going around with Team SSSN to enforce Professor Argo's decree and make sure no one in Haven Academy who had discovered the truth about her and Jaune's conditions told anyone else, Team CFVY were contacting their families, Weiss and Winter were talking about something involving their family, Yang and Blake were talking about what had happened while they were separated, Penny was with her father, and her parents were looking into moving to Cadia since she and Jaune needed to be close for the Aura Crystal, so that left Ruby to greet her.

"Everything okay Pyrrha?" the small girl asked.

"I could be better, but considering what I just got away from I have been worse." the Amazon stated as she sat down on a bench, an incredibly obvious miserable look upon her face.

"So did things go okay with Lieutenant Morse? What did he want?" Ruby inquired.

"Actually Ruby, I needed to talk to him about something instead. During my time with... them... I had witnessed more than a few deaths, the deaths of civilians used as tests for the Grimm Knights. I wanted to identify them from the list of missing people and confirm who had been killed." Pyrrha told her. They were all either homeless, drifters, or unimportant people who would not be missed, ones with few family or friends and minor jobs, which made sense as to why Sherizawa picked them to be their tests. The man she had killed was a dock worker who was a loner with no family, meaning his disappearance wouldn't be that big of a deal. It made her sick to think about it.

Ruby cringed and muttered "Oh... do you need to talk about it?"

Pyrrha looked at the younger girl and said quietly "I wouldn't want to trouble you with the details..."

"Hey, don't worry about it. Jaune's not here right now, but I am." Ruby offered.

Pyrrha smiled and said "Thank you. I... if you are okay hearing about it?"

Ruby nodded with a kind smile as she sat next to the taller girl on the bench.

"Nearly a week ago, when I was still under the delusion of my Fotia persona, Salem forced me to kill an innocent man to prove my loyalty to her, to mark myself with his blood and swear my life to her. I felt his fear... and I am so disgusted with myself because it... the fear felt so good... I beat him to death with that mace and..." Pyrrha stopped and hid her face in her hands as she cried, mortified by her own actions, afraid that Ruby would hate her for what she did... but instead the younger girl wrapped her arms around Pyrrha and gave her a tight but comforting hug.

"Y-you don't hate me for what I have done?" she asked.

"Why would I? It's not your fault, it's Salem and Cinder's." Ruby told her, "They brainwashed you, filled your head with lies and made you do terrible things. You killed him because they made you, you didn't swear your life to her, Fotia did and she doesn't exist anymore. They made you do it Pyrrha and you weren't yourself when it happened, so don't blame yourself. I know what it's like to kill someone when you didn't mean to, I know what it's like when your lack of control gets someone else killed."

Pyrrha winced, she knew that Ruby had accidentally killed two of Ante's thugs before she and Jaune were captured and that she was disgusted with herself for it so she hugged the smaller girl back and said "What happened isn't your fault Ruby, it was self defense in the heat of battle, sometimes you can't stop your actions when everything happens so fast."

"I know, that's what everyone keeps telling me, but I still feel horrible. I still feel like I could have stopped myself if I was good enough..." Ruby lamented.

"Ruby, sometimes you can and sometimes you cannot. In war, all of us are vulnerable, look at what happened to me for proof of that." Pyrrha stated.

"I know, and me, Jaune, and everyone else will work to make sure it never happens again. I promise you Pyrrha." Ruby swore as she kept hugging her friend.

Pyrrha managed a smile before asking "Ruby... Jaune told me that my... death was what triggered the power of your silver eyes, why?"

Ruby was confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well we weren't particularly close when it happened. I mean, I considered you a friend but I didn't think our bond was that strong." she elaborated.

"I still cared about you, I considered you a good friend. I guess after all that happened; seeing the original Penny and Torchwick die and Yang's arm... I probably couldn't take losing anyone else, especially a friend. I know we weren't close but I still care about you, you're my friend Pyrrha." Ruby voiced.

Pyrrha smiled, her tears of woe now tears of happiness as she hugged Ruby as tightly as she could. "Thank you Ruby, you're a good friend and I want our bond to be stronger from here on out, I want us to truly be friends." she said.

"It's a deal." Ruby returned with a smile. "So if you ever need to talk, about anything, I'm here for you."

"I'll remember that." Pyrrha promised.

Pyrrha smiled at the memory as she made her way to the gate to leave the training area, signaling to the maintenance workers that she was done and they could begin cleaning up. As she left the area and walked back towards the hotel she continued thinking about Ruby, the young girl was so unusually kind and optimistic despite the many terrible things that had happened to her in the past, she cared about deeply everyone she considered a friend, even if they weren't that close. People would do better to strive to be like Ruby.

She just hoped that said silver-eyed girl and the rest of her friends were safe. She hated not being able to do anything, but she knew they had to be patient for the time being. For now she needed to get back to the room she shared with Jaune, he had decided to stay inside and try to communicate with the Aura Crystal, she hoped he had made some progress.

---

In a modest hotel room Taiyang Xiao Long lay on his bed with a small bottle of whisky in his hand. He rarely ever drank alcohol and when he did it was only for two reasons; Qrow had insisted he live a little or to deal with grief. The first time he drank was when his parents were killed in a Grimm attack during his time at Beacon, when Raven left him he drank heavily, in the month following Summer's death he had gotten drunk every night after Ruby and Yang were put to bed and after Raven's death at the hands of Cinder Fall he and Qrow had gotten more than a little drunk while in Haven Academy. He had drank after Yang's arm had been severed, he drank when Ruby ran off, he drank when he discovered Ruby had been captured by Cinder...

The blonde rarely ever drank unless there was a good reason for it and right now he didn't know if his little girls and his brother-in-law were okay, they could be alive and safe, or injured or captured or...

He didn't want to think about it. If he lost them it would destroy him, he hated that feeling of helplessness so he drank to deal with the awful feeling. Zwei was currently curled up along side the bed and whimpered a bit at his owner.

"I know Zwei, I'm worried sick too but we can't do anything right now... gods help me if I lose them..." he said groggily as he tried to fight off sleep. It was a fight he was losing.

Zwei got up and trotted over to the bed and nuzzled Taiyang's hand that dangled off the side of the bed as the blonde let sleep take him. Zwei whined, he felt bad for his master and was saddened to know that Ruby and Yang were in trouble, made all the worse because they couldn't help them right now.

All of a sudden there was a noise at the window. Taiyang was sound asleep but Zwei was wide awake. With his ears perking up he carefully walked over to the window as it began to open. He could sense something was coming, but what the little dog did not expect to come in was a raven... a raven that turned into a human.

Raven glanced down at Zwei who growled and barked at her once but Raven held down a gentle hand, letting the dog know she had no ill intentions. Zwei tilted his head as Raven allowed herself to smile at him before looking back to her out cold former husband.

She leaned down and whispered "Taiyang, Ruby is alright, she is free but Qrow is badly injured and Yang has been taken prisoner by the White Fang but I know she is alive. You can still help our daughter Taiyang, help our family. Good luck."

Taiyang was brought out of sleep when he heard the faint sound of a quiet voice speaking to him.

A voice that was so familiar...

"Raven?" he asked aloud as he opened his eyes, his vision blurred by sleep but he got a brief glimpse of a figure in a room. He wiped his eyes clear and looked around the room to see that he and Zwei were the only ones there but he noticed that the window was mysteriously wide opened.

He got up and slowly walked over to the window to inspect it before looking off into Vale, hoping to get a glimpse of something, anything that was a sign of somebody entering his room, a sign of Raven, miraculously alive again... but there was nothing.

"I'm losing it, no more for me." Taiyang muttered before he went into the bathroom and poured the whisky into the sink before returning to the bed.

Zwei whimpered as he jumped up and snuggled against Taiyang. "I know, I'm worried too... don't worry, we'll get 'em back. Hopefully that voice, whatever it was, was telling the truth about Ruby." he said as he rubbed Zwei's chin.

A few blocks away Raven landed on the top of another building, remaining in her avian form. She turned around to see a fellow bird she knew as her friend, she supposed she could call her that, Samantha in dove form.

"That was much too risky, he could have seen you." she pointed out.

"I know, I don't care. I needed to tell him that our family isn't dead yet. He is suffering and I needed to relieve that suffering somehow." Raven argued.

"What would have happened if he saw you?" Samantha asked.

"Gabriel has only said we should avoid being seen but I honestly do not know, nor do I care what would happen but I was not seen. If I am seen in the future then I'll deal with it when the time comes." Raven said.

"It would be quite the discussion." Samantha said quietly as Raven flew up to a higher level of the rooftop.

"Quite; 'hello everyone, turns out I'm an undead guardian of those who have passed on but I only deal in those who deserve complete oblivion and Qrow is going to join me someday if our Semblance is anything to go by. Oh by the way Qrow and I can turn into birds." Raven deadpanned.

Samantha giggled a bit before saying "I wish we never had to keep our Semblances secret in life."

"They blur the line between human and animal even further which isn't something a lot of people like, had our powers been known they would have brought persecution upon us much like the Faunus. It was best for them to remain secret. Though I never expected this was what I'd do for my afterlife." Rave admitted as she looked back to the hotel, getting one last glimpse at Taiyang as he shut the window.

"You've told me about your family, do you regret leaving them?" Samantha inquired.

"When I was alive and preforming missions for Ozpin, roaming Remnant I honestly wasn't too sure how I would answer that question, but now... yes. I do regret the choices I made in life, it's also why I needed to tell Taiyang about Ruby, Yang, and Qrow. I hurt him before so now I want to help him." Raven explained.

Samantha flew up to her so she could say to her "If it means anything to you, I think you're doing the right thing."

Raven glanced at her and said "Thank you. Now, let's go somewhere private and I'll show you nothing is wrong with transforming in the world of the living."

---

Jaune sat on the floor of his hotel room, the Aura Crystal floating in front of him above the containment case. He had been meditating, or at least, trying to, he didn't really know how but he knew that meditation required him to be calm and serene with a clear mind... but the problem was he was too nervous and worried about his friends to be either of those things or have a clear mind things he couldn't. He tried to focus on the crystal as he breathed in and out slowly at his body's own natural pace but he couldn't keep from worrying about his friends.

That was the problem with having an emotion Semblance, his emotions defined him and he couldn't meditate when his friends were in danger.

It had been completely silent within the room for the last hour, the only noise being that of Jaune's calm breathing, he had even turned his scroll off so there would be no interruptions, but he regretted doing that as he was hoping for some word on the rest of Team Beacon's situation.

Jaune thought about his friends who were out there, he didn't know if they were safe or not and those thoughts kept plaguing his mind; he cared about all of them and if even one of them was hurt he might let the darker parts of his Semblance take over, since anger was a powerful motivator but could easily lead him down a dark path. But he couldn't help it, Ruby had been his first friend at Beacon, before even Pyrrha, she was like a little sister to him and he'd go nuts if he lost her, or any of the others.

He kept breathing slowly but his emotions got the better of him and he lost focus on the slight glow of the Aura Crystal.

"I can't do it." he said quietly in defeat as he opened his eyes. He looked at the crystal and continued "Did you pick the right person? Are you sure you didn't make a mistake when you accepted me? Am I really worthy?"

Jaune didn't expect an answer at all. He sighed and moved to place the crystal back within the containment case but as he touched it he got a brief flash of something, a small but clear vision in his mind of something that happened during the Battle of Haven; he was pushing Pyrrha out of the way and taking Cinder's arrow for her.

Jaune stumbled back, the vision fading from his mind when a familiar voice whispered to him "Jaune, you are worthy..."

Jaune shook himself to make sure he was awake as the the vision and the voice faded away.

He looked at the Aura Crystal and stood up before placing his hand on it and while he could feel the immense power within it he didn't hear the voice again, nor did he get another vision. He sighed and gently pushed the crystal back into the case, and once he finished locking it he felt a pair of arms wrap around his neck.

"How was your meditation?" asked Pyrrha.

"Whoa, I didn't hear you come in, probably too focused on this. But I guess it went okay, I mean I got a vision and I heard a voice." he told her as they moved to sit down together against the bed with him leaning into her while she kept her arms wrapped around him.

"What was the vision? What did the voice say?" Pyrrha inquired, the look in her eyes and some of the more subtle motions of her body giving off curiosity as well as some concern for her love.

"Well, it happened when I got frustrated, I've been trying to meditate ever since you left for training but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't keep my mind from worrying about Ruby and the others in Vacuo." he began.

"That's very understandable, we're all worried about them Jaune, wait until you hear what Ren told me Nora did to cope." Pyrrha said, remembering her little run-in with Ren on the way up.

"I guess I'll hear about it soon. But anyway, I began to doubt myself again and I wondered if the crystal made the right choice when it deemed me worthy." he said, noticing the slightly annoyed look on her face. "I know, I need to be more confident..."

"It's not just that, if the Aura Crystal hadn't seen how worthy you are you wouldn't be here, we would have lost you and I... I don't think I could have handled losing you." Pyrrha voiced as she held him a little tighter and set her head atop his shoulder, pressing her head against his.

"I know, I'm sorry Pyr but I just keep letting my insecurities get the best of me sometimes. When I touched the Aura Crystal to put it back in the case I got a brief flash of me pushing you away from Cinder's arrow." he told her.

Pyrrha smiled and said "I think that is the crystal showing you what makes you worthy, you risked your life for me with complete selflessness, that is absolute proof that you are worthy."

Jaune smiled and said "Thanks Pyr, apparently the crystal, or someone inside it at least, agrees with you because the voice I heard told me that I am worthy... and it sounded like Ashe."

"Well fragment of the souls of the past guardians are supposed to be within the crystal, maybe Ashe's is trying to reassure you." she suggested.

"I think you're right." he agreed as he kissed her cheek before saying "Thank you, you always know what to say, my goddess." He leaned into her took in her scent.

Pyrrha blushed a bit as she kissed him back when she realized he was smelling her. "Don't smell me! I'm sweaty from the training session." she said with a giggle.

"I don't care, you smell good to me no matter what." he said, making her blush even harder before he added "So do you really think Ruby and the others will be alright?"

"I'm worried, but I think they'll make it. They're all strong, brave, and wonderful friends, I am confident they will be triumphant. They might need our help, and I know we are all eager to give it to them." she stated as she leaned into Jaune. Both of them worried for their friends, both hoped their fellow Hunters-in-training they had come to think of as family would be alright, but for now they had each other for comfort.

"Pyrrha?"

"Hm?"

Do you ever wonder what we'll do when this is all over? I mean if we win and we beat Salem? What will happen?" Jaune asked as he looked into her eyes.

"To be honest... I never thought about it. When I first enrolled in Beacon I never expected any of this, I didn't expect to have friendships this wonderful or to fall in love or to nearly die and be mind raped by those monsters... I honestly do not know what the future holds for us Jaune, I don't even know if we really will win in the end or if it will even end in our lifetimes but I promise you that no matter what I will always be here for you. Always." she answered.

Jaune smiled at her before capturing her lips in a passionate kiss.

---

After what felt like a considerable amount of minutes of watching the jungle sights whiz past her at relatively rapid speeds, Ruby finally felt the Remnant Knight's bike beginning to slow down and easing into a cruising speed as they approached a series of green hills after coming out from the crowded trees of the forest. Realizing that they should be out of the communication blackout zone by now, she slowly eased her grip on Sharp Strike's shoulder pauldrons and looked at their deserted surroundings.

"How much further?" She called out to the Knight, eager to get to the place where she could call for help. In the young huntress's mind, she was hoping that the sooner they could get some much-needed reinforcements, the sooner they could rescue the rest of Team RWBY and Team Beacon. While Ruby wasn't letting her worry show on her face, internally she was most definitely worried sick for her friends.

"We're almost there. The place we need to go is just over a few hills and over a river, but we will be there in a minute or two." Sharp Strike replied reassuringly as they sped through a large puddle, creating a big splash as water splattered onto the plant-choked surroundings.

As they neared their destination, Ruby began to wonder about her new ally. While it was undeniable that he had saved them from the White Fang's recon team, the quick but somewhat brutal manner in which he had dispatched them honestly made her a little uneasy. Her thoughts went back to Ashe who had been guilty of the same thing but he was different in the sense that he had experienced enough tragedies in his past, and those traumatic events had gradually turned him into a lonely and angry man who was in desperate need of some friends, especially friends who would understand his perspective on life. While she was glad that she had never personally witnessed any of Ashe's brutal rampages when he fought against their enemies, Ruby had heard enough about how unrelenting when he was fully immersed in his fury. But unlike the armored Knight who was accompanying her now, she knew Ashe needed help desperately since she had spent some time with him, and she also knew he wanted to be a good person despite his own personal issues.

Ashe had never given up on whatever obstacle life has thrown in his way, and kept on moving forward until he could finally put the ghosts of his past to rest. What about her own issues? She still had quite a few essential things that she needed to work on even if the existing problem with the White Fang was finally resolved, not to mention whatever Salem and Cinder had planned for her. Ruby knew that she would probably need to make a some really hard choices in future.

And there was Sharp Strike, who was new to her in the form of another stranger who was playing the man of mystery for the time being... and to be honest, he was indeed doing a fairly good job at it, making vague allusions to whatever associates he worked with and superiors he reported to, as well as being given an unexplained order to watch over them. While Ruby was grateful to him for rescuing them from the White Fang, she wanted to know more about him before she made any real judgement about him as a person.

In the time since she had first decided she wanted to be a Huntress and save people she had experienced a lot; Cinder, the Breach, Torchwick, the Fall of Beacon, the whole Haven incident, and she had personally seen what was under Adam's mask, all of these things taught her that the world wasn't fully black and white, and there were more threats out there in the world of Remnant other than the Grimm. Other somewhat harsh lessons had also come too, such as good people can be sometimes manipulated into doing terrible things, those with considerable power in their hands would also make huge mistakes in their decisions, there's always a price to pay when someone tries to be a hero (or heroine), and finally... some things need to be said before you lose the chance to say them forever, which made her happy that Pyrrha wasn't dead after all, but both she and Jaune had nearly died at Cinders hands, but everything worked out okay for the couple in the end.

Realizing that she knew nothing about Sharp Strike, Ruby gathered her courage to find out more about him by any way possible, so that she would gain a better understanding of the armored warrior assisting them at the moment.

A vague thought appeared in her mind, and the red hooded Huntress remembered that Sharp Strike had indeed recognized the name that she had spoken in her conversation with Coco...even though neither of them had mentioned his last name. That was certainly another questioned she needed answered from the Knight.

As Sharp Strike's bike reached the top of one of the larger hills, the Knight and Huntress could see their destination from the panoramic view afforded by the hill's height. Just like where Coco had pointed out in the operations room map, the large hill they were supposed to head for was the size of a building with a few large trees scattered about it and a gently flowing river at its base. There was a rather huge tree at its summit and beyond it was a large curve of jungle before opening up into the vast masses of Vacuo's desert which disappeared into the distance.

Seeing that the Knight had stopped his bike for the moment, Ruby couldn't help but pose a question, "So do we leave your bike here or can it jump over the river?"

"Hang on tight." Sharp Strike answered in a voice that made Ruby suspect that he was smirking under his face-plate.

The Knight pulled on the handles and the custom motorcycle sped down the hill swiftly, and he followed up on that by tapping a certain function on the dashboard which made the engine roar with additional power as they powered down the slope. Just as they reached the edge of the river, the accumulated speed caused the motorcycle to fly over it with ease and land safely on the other. Executing a perfect circular drift and bringing his bike to a perfect halt, Sharp Strike slammed down the parking brake and looked back to Ruby who was taking off her helmet.

"Are you alright?" he asked in a calm voice.

"Yes, I am fine. Now let's get up there and call for help!" Ruby spoke as she hopped off the Knight's bike and took off the helmet Coco had given her before she began to climb the hill. Normally, she would have used her semblance to cover such a distance, but she realized that she needed to conserve every last bit of her energy for the rescue mission, not to mention any sudden clash with any White Fang patrols they might accidentally run into so the Huntress decided to go at a brisk pace. Sharp Strike followed a few steps behind her, after activating the scanners on his bike to alert him if there was anyone else in the vicinity around them.

As they progressed up the hill Ruby kept turning her head to glance down at the Knight to make sure that he was still behind her, but she was still feeling a little uneasy about his presence due to witnessing what Sharp Strike had done during the fight just a few hours earlier.

"Ruby, do you feel uneasy around me?" The Knight's voice came from behind her.

"Erm...what makes you say that?" Ruby questioned as she continued climbing up the steep hill.

"Other than the fact that you keep glancing back at me, I noticed that there's some significant tension in the way you walk, and you seem to be taking short and rapid breaths whenever you speak to me." The Knight continued when he saw Ruby giving a small nod, "I presume the reason for such behavior would be due to my actions during the fight against the White Fang scouts earlier that has made you feel so nervous."

"That's... true. I... I just don't know how you could kill so many people so easily!" Ruby replied, once he finished surmising her reasons for feeling jumpy. "Don't you feel any remorse for the people you've kill?"

Sharp Strike walked a few more steps before answering her question, "You misunderstand me. Taking lives is not something I do with ease, unless those enemies I kill are merely Grimm. I understand your reasons if you are indeed wary of me after what you saw, but I can assure you that I am not your enemy, the only reason I killed them so brutally because those White Fang scouts were going to kill your friends and the one guarding you was going to force you to watch. So I don't truly regret killing them but I am not proud of killing them either and I do not take pleasure in taking lives."

They walked on in silence for a few moments as Ruby mentally digested Sharp Strike's words before she spoke again. "I don't know how anyone could... I mean it's just so...so..." She tried to find the right words to express the various thoughts rolling around in her mind, but she failed to do so because her mind was currently in a messy clutter.

"Wrong." Sharp Strike spoke up again, "Disgusting. Awful. Nerve-wracking. Trust me when I say this Ruby, no words can do the feelings of killing another person justice. I know what happened in Haven, and I understand that you were forced to kill in self-defense, and that particular incident must have traumatized you greatly."

The young scythe-wielding Huntress was silent for a moment or two before responding, "Yeah, it's not something I like to think about most of the time... I mean, I've talked it over with my dad, my teammates, my friends from other teams, and even Uncle Qrow. He mentioned that he had killed in self defense before but it's still really hard to deal with, but he eventually moved on."

"Your uncle isn't wrong." came the Knight's reply, "It also took me quite a while to come to terms with my own first kill." He confessed as they got closer to the top of the hill.

"I don't think I will ever really be over it... I mean I threw up after that happened." Ruby admitted as she looked out to the view of the jungle beyond the hill and stopped for a brief moment to admire its beauty, especially with the illumination of the shattered moon flowing across the forest and desert. She squinted her eyes and in the darkness she could see some new-looking towers, probably the ones that were jamming communications.

"Don't be ashamed, we all have our own ways of dealing with the experience of taking lives. As long as you don't take joy in it you will eventually come to terms with your actions." Sharp Strike told her as he walked past her, his midnight blue cloak flapping a little behind him in the soft night breeze. "However, there will be times you will have to make hard choices, perhaps even fight to save your friends and loved ones, and such actions would inevitably lead to the injury or death of your enemies. But you would need to know that those people you fight against have no such compunctions, and they would gladly kill you along with everyone else you love without a second thought."

Ruby felt her face frown a little at the casual tone the Knight used while speaking the latest words, and asked, "Then how do you cope with the of taking the lives of others?"

The Knight turned his helmet a little to regard her, and plainly said, "As I said earlier, I have simply come to terms with my actions and accepted them... and I don't let them control me nor do I allow myself to take joy from it."

"I don't see how anyone could enjoy it, but I guess there will be people with really sick minds in their heads. People like Cinder, Adam, and Ante and whoever else works for...well, I don't think I should say this..." Ruby stopped herself from saying the last word but the Knight filled in with the appropriate response.

"Salem. Yes, I know of the Mistress of Grimm." He stated as though it was a commonly known fact.

"How...? I mean, wasn't she supposed to be like some kind of really obscure myth or something? The rest of my team didn't even know about her until Jaune and I met her face to face." Ruby said as she climbed up after the armored warrior.

"The organization I am part of knows of her existence. I am on your side, Ruby Rose, the side that seeks to vanquish Salem and all those who serve her." Sharp Strike told her as his helmeted head looked around to make sure that if a White Fang scout ship passed by it wouldn't see them.

Ruby nodded before letting a slightly awkward silence take over. Her mind became plagued with thoughts of her captured friends, of Penny, of Blake, of Yang, and Weiss... she needed to talk about something else, to seize upon anything that would keep her mind from worrying about them so much.

So she plucked up the courage and voiced the first thought which came to the front of her mind, "So how did you know about Ashe? I mean you knew exactly who we were talking about even though we didn't say his last name?"

The armored Knight was silent for a moment before he answered Ruby's question, "I met him twice before, and while I wouldn't exactly called us friends... he had quite an impact on me."

"If you don't mind me asking, how exactly?" Ruby inquired, curiosity brimming in her voice.

He took a breath before answering, "When I was younger and much more naive, and also overconfident, I believed that... the organization I belong to was invincible, I thought we could not be defeated by anyone save the agents of pure evil itself, but Ashe proved me wrong."

By now they were quite close to the top of the large hill, with the summit less than twenty paces away.

"Again, how?" Ruby repeated her question.

"I was part of a small team of Knights whose mission was to take the Aura Crystal from him and place it under the proper protection of the... organization." The look of alarm that appeared on Ruby's face did not escape him, and the Knight carefully added, "Before you jump to any conclusions, I can assure you we merely wanted to protect it, since the previous guardians of the relic, his parents, were dead and the location of the Aura Crystal was lost to us. Fearing that it was either destroyed or fallen into the hands of the enemy, my superiors sent agents like me all over Remnant to look for any sign of it. After the Knight in charge of my group received word of a Guerrilla Huntsman-in-training named Ashe was in possession a powerful relic that matched the description of the Aura Crystal, and our leader sent a spy to watch him after he 'graduated' from the Guerrillas' unofficial Huntsman Academy. Once we had confirmed that he truly did possess the relic, our leader ordered us to move in and take it to a more... secure location where it could be easily protected. I was among the group given the assignment and I thought it would be a simple mission of negotiation and in the worst case scenario, strong-arming him into surrendering the crystal to us, since he was clearly outnumbered and didn't have the kind of training we had."

"Ashe still had the Aura Crystal when we met him, so that means it's obvious that mission didn't work out." Ruby pointed out as they finally walked the last few steps to the top of the hill, reaching the cover of the large tree at the summit of it.

"No, it didn't." came the whisper from the Knight.

"So what exactly happened?" Ruby posed her next question, wanting to know more about Ashe.

"He defeated every single one of us in my team, we had him outnumbered three to one and against all odds he kept us at bay and fought us off no matter how injured he became. Eventually the Knight in command of the mission decided that he had seen enough of Ashe's conviction to protect the Aura Crystal, and proved himself worthy of being the crystal's guardian so we leave him be and withdrew to lick our wounds." Sharp Strike elaborated, "I still carry the bruises from that unforgettable fight within my Aegis armour, if you didn't know."

"So in short: he kicked your butts." Ruby stated with a small grin on her face.

"A crude and blunt summary, but not entirely untrue." Sharp Strike admitted " as he rubbed his left shoulder pauldron, a gesture that did not escape Ruby's notice.

Another question left the Huntress's mouth; "What about the second time you met?"

"The second time I crossed paths with him was before the grave of his love, but that's a story for another time." The Knight answered before he then looked at the surroundings around them before taking out his scroll from within the folds of his cloak, "We should be out of the communication blackouts zone. Get in touch with whoever you can in Vale while I contact my superiors."

"You got it." Ruby said as she took out her scroll. She knew just who to call, and she quickly dialed Jaune's scroll number but there was no answer from his end, "Oh come on! You have got to be kidding me!" She cried frantically before she called him again only to for it to be ignored, not even a voicemail answering. "No, no, no! You have to answer me!"

Turning to the Remnant Knight a few steps away from her, she noticed that he was tapping a message on his own customized scroll which has the same color scheme as his Knight armor, and said with urgency, "I thought you said we were outside of the blackout zone!"

"We are, my scroll is working just fine." Sharp Strike stated in that rational voice of his again.

"What am I gonna do?! What if that nut job Adam has done something to them?! He's already cut off Yang's arm and he wants to hurt Blake and do who knows what else to her! Plus The White Fang hate the Schnees, what if they do something to Weiss? What if they cut off Velvet's ears?! What if...?!" She was abruptly stopped in her rambling when Sharp Strike reached out with his gauntlet clad hands and firmly held her by the shoulders, but not enough to cause any pain. Ruby could clearly see her emotional, worried and teary silver eyes reflected back at her while she looked into the emotionless face-plate that hid his face from her.

"Ruby, calm down. Whoever you are calling probably just deactivated their scroll. I know you are worried about the rest of your team and your friends, and I am sure that they are all very important and precious to you, but panicking is not going to help matters. If we are going to save them then you will need to stay strong and most importantly calm with a clear head. Do you understand me?" he said to her gently and quietly.

"Okay." she calmed herself down with a few long breaths and said before adding with a smile "Thank you."

The Knight gave a barely perceptible nod before releasing her, and guided Ruby's gentle hands to hold the scroll within his gauntleted ones, "I suggest trying another number. And I hope you don't freakout again."

"Yeah... you are right. I am probably thinking too much. I'm good now. I'll just call someone else." Ruby looked up at him before looking down as she entered another number, and felt relief surge through her like a powerful medicine when Pyrrha's scroll was answered.

As the Knight returned to his scroll a small thought presented itself in his mind. While he couldn't shake the feeling that Ruby's recent freakout had been a genuine case of a worried girl's emotions getting the better of her, but it could also be a way for her to test him to see if he could truly be trusted. While he was going for the former as a more reasonable explanation, from what he knew of Ruby Rose the Knight understood that the silver-eyed girl was probably clever enough to do just that.

"Ruby?!" Pyrrha's surprised voice cried from the other end of the scroll connection, and her face peered into view, showing her emerald green eyes.

"Pyrrha! Finally!" Ruby cheered as she felt her silver eyes became a little watery.

"Ruby? Is that her?" exclaimed the so excited it became high-pitched voice of Jaune in both surprise and relief as he tried to get into the frame projected on the scroll's screen.

"Yes, now just remain calm while I answer the call." Pyrrha tilted the scroll to show Jaune and her concerned faces, "What happened in Vacuo? Are you okay? What happened to the rest of Team Beacon?" She asked hurriedly and carefully.

"Hey guys... I guess you know about our situation already? Also, Jaune... you might want to keep your scroll on just in case of times like this." Ruby playfully scolded him while trying to hold back some joyful tears at seeing her friends after what felt like so long.

"You called? Oh Oum, I am so sorry!" Jaune cried out as he held his head in his hands.

"Don't worry about it, Jaune... just don't do it again, man your voice was almost as Nora's." she joked, making Jaune smile at her. "Listen, we need your help... and lots of it." Ruby's face became slightly serious after wiping away her tears with her hand.

"Just tell us what happened, we know the extraction by the Vacuo Rangers failed but nothing after that. Are you hurt? Who else is with you? How did you get away from the White Fang?" Jaune asked frantically, a little panic cracking his voice at the edges.

"Jaune, love, give her time to answer. And remember to breathe." Pyrrha admonished the blonde Knight, quieting him down.

"Umm... to sum up my current situation; I am safe and unhurt for the moment but everything else is too complicated. Can you guys get me in touch with Ozpin and Goodwitch so I can tell them the specifics of what happened personally? Please tell my dad too, I bet he's worried sick." Ruby quickly stated her purpose.

"You got it Ruby, I'll go get Taiyang and the others. Pyrrha, you take this to Ozpin and Glynda quickly." Jaune said to his girlfriend as he got up from the floor.

"Right. Ruby, you just hang on. I am putting you on hold but don't hang up okay? We will be back shortly." Pyrrha replied and Ruby nodded her head. The frame on her scroll showing their faces blanked out with the words 'on hold' appearing on them, but Ruby could hear the background noise of their hurried footsteps leaving the current place they were presently in.

While Ruby engaged in conversation with the rest of Team Beacon, Sharp Strike focused his attention on making contact with his own superiors. Opening his own scroll and tapping out a brief and precise message, he hit the sent button once a secure line has been established with his superiors. The Knight wondered briefly who would receive the message and reply him, perhaps Shadow Reaper who was the one who had given him the assignment, or some other Knight within the organization's chain of command who holds authority over him.

A full ten seconds elapsed before his scroll chimed with a reply, and the Remnant Knight felt his eyes widen behind his helmet lenses when the secure line switched over to a private communication channel, and a particular emblem he knew very well appeared on the screen of his scroll.

It was a pair of twin scythes curved in opposite directions with a sword pointed upwards. That gave Sharp Strike an obvious clue to who was responding to his latest mission report. He fought the urge to go down on one knee even though the Knight who that emblem belonged to wasn't presently in front of him.

It was Argentius, without a shadow of a doubt.

"I received your mission update as Shadow Reaper is indisposed at the moment with other matters in Vale." The words appeared on Sharp Strike's scroll, "Your recent work in locating Team Beacon and ensuring that their members did not come to any serious injury is commendable."

"Yes, master. However, half of Team Beacon's members are captured by the White Fang. The other half have escaped with my careful intervention, but they are going to need some serious assistance if they are going to succeed on their mission." Sharp Strike tapped back quickly, "Can I humbly request the assistance of the Relentless Crusaders Knight Legion for this endeavor?"

"Request denied. The Relentless Crusaders Knight Legion is currently engaged in Operation: Fracture across the continent of Vacuo. They do not have enough time to regroup and proceed to your location. However, I will inform the Knight Castellan of Fire of your task and request that he send any closest available troops if possible. However that isn't a given guarantee, so you must be prepared to become a lone wolf again." Argentius's emblem blinked as it chimed a reply almost immediately.

"Understood. I have also made contact with some members of Team Beacon, including Ruby Rose. So... am I given permission to assist them on their mission?" Sharp Strike inquired, and there was a pause as Argentius considered his situation and formulated a reply.

"Yes, I have consulted with the prognosticars. Permission is granted. However, proceed with caution and make sure that you aren't seen during your intervention moments when assisting Team Beacon. Our organization's secrecy is still paramount, so watch yourself." Argentius replied.

Sharp Strike considered and answered "Yes master, I understand completely. But what are my orders should I encounter any of the Dark Queen's agents during the rescue mission?"

"Do not engage unless absolutely necessary. And if you do, make sure they don't walk away...if you can. Also, make sure you return alive. Do you understand me?" The last few words were as serious as Sharp Strike had known Argentius have ever been, and he felt himself instinctively stand at attention.

"Understood master. Orders received and acknowledged."

"Good. Protect the Innocent, Survive the Trials, Serve Remnant."

Sharp Strike gave his assent and replied with the creed of his organization, "Protect the Innocent, Survive the Trials, Serve Remnant."

"Did you manage to contact whoever you need to reach?" Sharp Strike asked Ruby when he looked up from his scroll and saw her looking at the words "on hold" on her scroll screen.

"Yes, I manage to get in touch with my friends and they're going to get Professor Ozpin, what about you?" She questioned him in return.

"I received a response, but I think it's best to keep it to myself." Sharp Strike said as he looked at the final message he received on his scroll from Argentius, the azure glow of the scroll's screen briefly illuminating his face-plate.

"So, I guess I shouldn't mention you, or at least skip the specifics?" she asked him, not liking the idea of lying to Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch, General Ironwood, and her friends but she wanted to stay on the warrior's good side.

"Just say I was a wandering Huntsman who saw what was happening and decided to help out. Pretend I'm not here, the less I am noticed the better." Sharp Strike told her.

As they waited for Pyrrha to get to Ozpin and Glynda's current position Ruby looked to Sharp Strike and asked "Okay. Look, I know this is a bit forward but I need to ask you this; will you help us fight the White Fang and save our friends? With Uncle Qrow and Neptune hurt I don't think we can do what I'm planning alone."

"I will. I asked permission to do so from my superior and he granted it. Besides, I can't let you do this alone." he said to her.

Ruby smiled before saying "I think I'm beginning to like you."

"So what exactly are you planning?" he inquired.

"Wait and see." Ruby answered with a wink.

---

Ozpin sighed as he looked over the Atlas Eagle's report of the mountains and found it to be rather disappointing; while it was guaranteed that the White Fang's headquarters was somewhere in that area the jamming technology they had stolen or obtained from Salem, combined with the natural camouflage of the mountains made it impossible to ascertain the exact location of the base from that high up, and if the pilot went any lower she'd be shot out of the sky. Ironwood and Chamberlain were already on the flagship of the Atlesian fleet and they were approaching Vale at the moment, thanks to its new and improved engines which got it there very quickly even with the various soldiers, strike teams, and Atlesian Knights aboard it for the coming battle.

"This is maddening, waiting while our students suffer... Commander Strider, surely a few of your men are familiar with the terrain, could one of them make an educated guess as to where the base could be located?" Glynda asked, her patience running out.

"I've already asked them and they don't know, one suspects it could be an old mining facility but he isn't positive on that." the bearded Ranger stated.

"And with the White Fang jamming the area's communications Team Beacon wouldn't be able to contact us anyway even if they did evade capture." Ironwood voiced as a holographic map of the large area hovered over the table.

"Perhaps a small recon team? Have some Rangers go in, sneak past the guards at the village and check out the mountains? It would take a while but it might be worth a go." said Port as he, Oobleck, and Crane all stood their superiors.

"Not a bad idea Peter, but it would take too long and from what Strider's scouts say the White Fang have placed a strong blockade around the village and the surrounding area, preventing anyone from getting by unseen." Ozpin dismissed.

Oobleck hummed in concentration as he looked at the map, "Since the White Fang made the first mining facility a prison it's reasonable to assume that they've made use of the other derelict site, maybe we could dig up some old records and..." he was interrupted by Pyrrha throwing the doors open and rushing into the room.

"Professor Ozpin, Professor Goodwitch!" she cried as she made it to the table.

"Miss Nikos?"

Glynda held up her hand to silence Pyrrha before she could speak and said "While I don't appreciate students bursting in unannounced and without permission, again, I know you well enough to know you'd have a good reason for it."

"I do, Jaune and I just got a call from Ruby." the redhead announced, shocking everyone.

"What?!" cried Ironwood and Chamberlain together.

"Good heavens, that's lucky!" declared Port.

"Are you certain it's her?" asked Crane.

Pyrrha eyed the skinny teacher and nodded, "She's my friend, I'd know her anywhere. She wants to talk to you and tell you about their situation." she said to Ozpin, Glynda, and Ironwood.

"Then put her on." Ozpin beckoned as he gestured to a port that the scroll could be plugged into. Pyrrha quickly inserted it and the hologram of the map shut off and the table was now covered with a large view of Ruby on the scroll.

"Miss Rose, it's incredibly relieving to see you alive and unharmed." Ozpin said.

"It wasn't easy, but I'm here." Ruby said.

"Can you tell us what happened?" Ironwood inquired.

"Oh you bet, but the story is a little... complicated." Ruby answered as the doors opened up again to show a frantic Taiyang, followed by Jaune, Nora, Ren, Fox, and Sage, all rushing into the room.

"Ruby!"

"Dad!"

"Oh gods honey, I'm so happy to see you're okay!" he said as she leaned against the table, feeling very relieved to see his youngest daughter alive.

"I'm happy to see you too dad, man I know we've just barely been gone for a week but it feels like months since I've seen you guys." she said, wiping away a happy hear from her eye.

"Where's Yang?" Taiyang questioned, but his heart sank when he saw Ruby's change in expression.

"Ruby, what happened?" Glynda asked carefully.

Ruby collected herself and began; "After our ship got shot down we were forced to take on the White Fang, and they weren't alone; Emerald and Mercury were there too, so was Steppenwolffe. We put up a good fight but there were just too many of them and they beat us. That Adam guy is totally crazy, he wanted to execute Uncle Qrow, Coco, Yatsuhashi, Neptune, and Scarlet..." This information made nearly everyone gasp or widen their eyes, "but I managed to get free and knocked them down so they weren't shot, but we fell into the jungle, so we got away. The others were all taken by the White Fang."

There was a short silence as everyone processed this dreadful information, especially for Sage and Fox who were both horrified by the fact that two of their respective teammates had nearly died while the last remaining member of both teams was currently a prisoner of the White Fang. Taiyang, however, was not just terrified by the idea of his elder daughter being a prisoner of the bastard that had severed her arm but he also realized that what the mysterious voice told him had come true.

"So it's just the six of you?" Fox asked.

"Kinda; Uncle Qrow and Neptune were both hurt pretty badly and my uncle's alive but he hasn't woken up since we went over the cliffs. We tried to get out of this jungle but we were nearly caught by a scout patrol but a new friend helped us out a lot." Ruby revealed.

"A new friend? Who?" inquired Sage.

"A... Huntsman called... Striker. He helped us and took out all of the scouts, even took us to this old outpost the White Fang captured, but he took it back." Ruby said, hoping she was convincing enough.

She wasn't.

Everyone in the room looked at each other, even Nora knew that Ruby wasn't telling them the whole story for some reason, but right now it didn't matter.

"Is this 'Striker' guy with you?" asked Taiyang asked.

"Nope, stayed at the outpost to heal Uncle Qrow, I went outside of the blackout zone to call for help and man an I glad I got it." she said.

"We'll do our best Miss Rose, but we're at a bit of a disadvantage here." Came Ironwood's voice, "The White Fang are blocking us from entering the area, they have the villagers of Oro hostage, and our scout pilots can't place the location of their base. We need information before we make a move."

"Well Sha... Striker managed to capture one of the scouts, he'll probably know the location of their base and we can force it out of him." Ruby proposed.

"You'd have to go all the way out of the blackout zones to relay the info to us." Crane pointed out.

Ruby sighed and looked up, and then a smile graced her lips. "Not necessarily..."

"What do you have in mind?" Jaune asked, his curiosity piqued.

"From here and I can see some jamming towers, if me and the others take a few of those down we'll be able to tell you the coordinates of the base and you can swoop in and take 'em down!" Ruby cheered.

"Not a bad concept but it's highly unlikely the seven of you, with two of your number injured, that you'll pull it off successfully, and from what you've told us I feel like you were forced to surrender your weapons to the Fang so you will not have enough weaponry to full off such a feat." Oobleck argued.

"That's where you're wrong Dr. Oobleck! With the scout patrol out of the picture their ship is ours for the taking, along with all of the weapons inside of it, including explosives." Ruby said.

"How many?" asked Nora.

"Enough to get the job done, trust me." Ruby said.

"I think it could work, what do you think, Glynda? James?" Ozpin asked.

Glynda considered it, "It's a decent plan but we still need to take the villagers and the prison into account."

"I know and I am thinking of them Glynda, in fact I think we should all help out in the attack and you can lead the Vacuo Rangers in rescuing the villagers and the prisoners." Ozpin assured her before he glanced to Strider, who nodded.

"I see no problem with that, if you'd like to Professor Goodwitch?"

Glynda nodded, "It would be my pleasure to lead the mission to help those people. What else do we need to go over?"

"Our fleet. We're approaching Vale now so if you can come up in a Bullhead we can take you the rest of the way and rendezvous with the Rangers when we get to Vacuo. We'll move towards the White Fang's territory but we will keep our distance until Miss Rose and her group destroy the jamming towers, which will be our signal to move in. Once you've take down the towers Miss Rose, contact me at this number and tell us the coordinates of their base." Ironwood said as he sent Ruby his own personal scroll number.

"Got it General, I'll go back and tell the others about the plan, how long will it take you to get here?" Ruby asked.

"At top speed combined with the stops we have to make it will take an hour and a half to make it." Chamberlain reported.

"It'll have to do, just get here as fast as you can!" Ruby cried before she remembered something. "Oh man am I dumb! I nearly forgot to give you the evidence!"

"Evidence?" Ren repeated.

"Yeah! Of what Adam's been doing to Faunus prisoners, we had it on both Coco and Neptune's scrolls but Mercury and Emerald destroyed them. Luckily Coco transferred her data to Yatsuhashi just in case and he gave it to me so I could send it to you, it even has a Faunus talking about what Adam did to him and the others. Let me transfer it to you!" she said as she set to work.

"Good thing you remembered, now we have some more proof against Taurus." Chamberlain stated.

"More?" Ruby asked.

"Yes, you see we found some information regarding the fates of some members of the White Fang who didn't agree with Taurus' methods, they died but they left behind footage of what Adam unleashed on them along with proof that he was behind it." Chamberlain told her as the data finished transferring.

"Well the more proof the faster we can turn every Faunus in the White Fang against him." Ruby said before she looked at her dad and her friends. "I gotta go now, hopefully I'm not forgetting anything else."

"Stay safe." Taiyang said to her.

"I'll try my best dad."

"You always do. I love you."

"I love you too." Ruby said with a smile as she held back tears.

"Just hang in there Ruby, we're coming." Jaune promised her.

"We won't let you face this alone, Team Beacon needs to stand together." Pyrrha declared firmly.

"We're gonna kick their butts." Nora swore, with Ren merely nodding, but flashing Ruby a relieved smile.

"Tell Coco and Yatsu we're on our way and we'll get Velvet back in no time." Fox said to Ruby.

"Will do." she said with a nod.

"Same to blue and red, and tell them I'll be there to help them save Sun's tail again as soon as we get there." Sage added, noticing the brief uncomfortable look on Ruby's face when he said that.

"I'll tell them, I'll be really happy to see you guys again, just get here asap and help us win this. Love you guys, bye!" Ruby said before she turned off her scroll.

As her transmission cut off Glynda looked to the present members of Team Beacon and Taiyang. "Go and get ready for the mission right away." she commanded.

"You got it Professor, let's go!" Jaune said before leading the others out of the room. Taiyang glanced at Glynda before running back to the hotel to get ready for action.

"Professors, would you mind if I tagged along? I could use a good mission." Port requested.

"Granted, we'll need all the help we can get." Glynda said before looking to Oobleck and Crane. "Would you like to join us as well?"

"Of course, I'm a bit tired of being in that ship all day, I'd like to do some good, especially if I can help my students." Oobleck voiced confidently.

"Same here, you can count on me to lend a hand." Crane added.

"Excellent. James, I will call you when our ship approaches so be ready to receive us." Glynda said.

"Understood. What will you do Ozpin?" Ironwood inquired.

"I will overlook the situation from here, I don't feel confident to be a battle situation again. Not yet." he said.

The others nodded understandingly, "Understood sir, just take care. Hopefully this mess will be over by dawn." Glynda said before she led the three Huntsmen out of the room.

"We can only hope, old friend." Ozpin agreed before he looked to Ironwood and Chamberlain. He opened up the file and shuddered at the images of the Faunus amputees. "What of the footage of Norvik's rampage and what Miss Rose has sent us we can make those Faunus see Taurus for what he really is and hopefully they will forsake him."

"It's what he deserves. General, if you'd like sir I need to go discuss the plans with our troops, Strike Force Omega wants some clarification on our plan of attack." Chamberlain said.

"Go ahead." Ironwood permitted before the Colonel's hologram deactivated.

"I best go as well, I need to get my forces ready to mobilize." voiced Strider.

"Excellent, go ahead." Ozpin told him.

As Strider's hologram faded away Ironwood and Ozpin were nearly alone in the room, save for a few technicians.

"Hopefully we can end this with minimum casualties and no loss of life." Ironwood said.

"We can only hope James, good luck my friend." Ozpin bid and once the General's hologram vanished the Headmaster of Beacon muttered "Good luck to everyone." to himself, hoping to himself that everything would work out in their favor without losing anyone.

---

Qrow's eyes snapped open, taking in the light. "Uh... ah!" he grunted as he felt the pain the covered his bruised body. He struggled to lean up and take a look at his surroundings seeing the cabin, along with Neptune who was resting on a coach and Coco who was studying a map on the wall, but what alarmed him was the memory of his nieces and other members of Team Beacon being captured by the White Fang, he and four of the kids about to be executed, and Ruby breaking free before dashing over to crash into him, and all of them going over the cliff... and then darkness.

And he had just woken up after being out for who knows how long.

That was never a good thing.

"What the hell happened?" he asked, announcing his awakening.

"Yo Qrow, nice to you among the living again." Coco joked, "How do you feel?"

"Like crap, what happened?" he asked.

"Well we all gathered up after that nasty fall, Nep and Scar fell into a river while Ruby had to keep you from falling out of a tree. Plus we nearly got killed by some Faunus scouts, but another Huntsman happened to be in the jungle and saved our butts and slaughtered the Fang." Coco explained as she went over to him. "Do you think you can get up?"

"Yeah, I'm in pain but I've had way worse than this." Qrow assured her as he managed to get up. "So where are we?"

"Ranger outpost that the Fang took over, our friend, who calls himself Sharp Strike by the way, took out the troops holding it and we're held up here for the time being." she elaborated.

"So how are we? Give me more on the situation." Qrow requested.

"Well one scout is still alive and we got him all nice and tied up in the back, you and I were out for a while but now we're both awake." Neptune answered.

"The scouts left their ship outside so Yatsuhashi and Scarlet are checking to make sure we can fly it somewhere or use it to get somewhere safe. On the real bright side I transferred the data over to Yatsuhashi's scroll before Emerald destroyed it." Coco added.

"That's damn good thinking Adel, now where's Ruby?" Qrow asked sternly.

"She went with Sharp Strike to get out of the blackout zone and call for help, plus she's sending that evidence to Ozpin." Neptune revealed.

"Are you telling me that while I was knocked out you met up with a stranger who slaughtered a bunch of Fang thugs, and now my niece is out there alone with said stranger?!" Qrow asked loudly, obviously quite angry.

"I know how it sounds but considering the circumstances I think we can trust the Sharp Strike guy for the time being, I mean he helped heal you and blue." Coco argued.

Qrow sighed and muttered "Just another day in the life of Qrow Branwen. So what have you found out about this Sharp Strike guy?"

'Well apparently he was ordered to follow us." Coco stated, which made Qrow's face darken.

"Well that's just dandy." he muttered.

Outside of the cabin and inside of the ship Scarlet and Yatsuhashi looked over the weapons and the flight capabilities.

"Okay, yeah, we just might be able to get outta here." Scarlet said as he examined the cockpit.

"Or infiltrate the White Fang's base." Yatsuhashi suggested as he looked at some papers taped to the wall, one of which had the clearance code. He looked over a minigun on the wall and knew Coco would want it if they had to go into battle.

"Well maybe, but I'm not to keen on that idea without a full blown plan and some backup." Scarlet said as he climbed out of the seat he had been sitting in.

"Well Ruby is getting that as we speak, hopefully help will arrive soon." the larger Huntsman said as he examined a sword that was too small for his liking. "Here, this might be more to your liking."

"Let's hope it's enough to get the job done." Scarlet muttered as he admired the decent looking blade.

Just then there came a buzz on the ship's radio. "Come in Scout Patrol One, repeat come in, this is headquarters. Commander Taurus wants to know the status of the mission asap. Come in, over."

"Oh bugger." muttered Scarlet before they both dashed up to the cockpit with Yatsuhashi getting there first but hesitated at touching the radio. "What should we say?"

"Go over there and look at the paper on the wall, it had the clearance code just in case they want it. I'll impersonate a scout and try to keep their suspicions down." Yatsuhashi said.

"You sure this'll work?" Scarlet asked nervously.

"We have to try." Yatsuhashi stated before he answered the voice on the radio. "We read you command, this is Scout Patrol One, over." he said, trying to make his voice sound right.

"Finally, how goes the search for the escapees?" asked the voice.

"We've found the places where they landed but we're still trying to find them. Our trackers have a scent but we will contact you when we find something or bag one of them, but we're okay otherwise." the large Huntsman-in-training lied, hoping this deception would work.

"Okay then, do you need assistance down there?" the voice offered.

"Uh, negative, negative... we're fine down here, we even had the boys from the outpost help us out so everything's good. We're fine. Uh... how are you?" Yatsuhashi asked, resulting in a dumbfounded look from Scarlet.

"Oh! Well I'm doing just fine, thanks for asking. Taurus is about to have the Elite Guard bring the prisoners up so he can have one last face to face before they're put away." the voice revealed, causing both teens to look at each other is surprise.

"How are those prisoners? Not causing trouble I hope?" Yatsuhashi asked.

"I wouldn't know, the Elite Guard has been keeping watch but I hear none of them have been killed and that the commander told them the story of what's behind his mask. Happy hunting out there, hope you find those humans soon. Over." said the voice with a friendly tone.

"Copy that, thank you. Over." Yatsuhashi said before he put up the radio.

"Whoa, that was close." Scarlet said. "At least we know the others are okay."

"That is a positive, let's hope they stay that way until help arrives." Yatsuhashi agreed with a nod before he moved past Scarlet and exited the ship.

The large teen saw Qrow opening the door of the cabin and walking outside. "Good to see you're awake." he said.

"Good to be awake, I hate it when important stuff happens and I'm not there and it looks like I missed a lot." Qrow remarked.

"Not too much, I assume Coco told you what transpired while you were out of it?" Yatsuhashi stated.

"Pretty much, still pretty annoyed with Ruby going off alone with this Sharp Strike character." Qrow voiced as he looked at the ship. "You go through that thing?"

"Yep, guns, rockets, explosives, blades, enough to take on a small White Fang base if you and Neptune get better real soon. Can you fly it?" Scarlet asked as he got out of said ship.

"Sure thing, but right now I'd feel a hell of a lot better if..." Qrow sighed, "I'd feel better if I knew for certain about Ruby and the others."

"We all would." Yatsuhashi stated simply.

Qrow Branwen began to pace around the area impatiently, his steps slowly but surely wearing out the ground beneath him. The veteran Huntsman had forced himself to ignore the pain he still felt from his healing injuries and demanded answers from everyone present. He honestly didn't know what to make of a mysterious warrior coming out of nowhere to save him as well as the rest of Team Beacon who have escaped from the White Fang.

It could be one of those strange warriors who helped out small villages about to be overwhelmed by Grimm attack, it was wholly unexpected, but not impossible. He had heard rumors here and there during his own missions of armored warriors suddenly intervening in battles involving Grimm and the outlying villages, sometimes single-handedly turning the tide of battle by doing some rather impressive feats. Others were hearsay about whole renegade militias and White Fang cells completely wiped out without a trace, leaving the authorities to sift through the wreckage and bodies for any clues to what had caused their complete disappearance.

And the thought of Ruby being alone with such a dangerous individual had rekindled an emotion that Qrow haven't experienced for quite some time: anxiousness.

If Yang was here, she wouldn't have let Ruby leave alone with the Knight, seeing how protective she was of her sister. The bombshell probably inherited that trait from her father, who would gladly suffer any amount of pain for the sake of his two daughters. Speaking of Taiyang, if he so much as heard a whisper about Qrow being unable to protect Ruby and letting her get hurt in any way, the surviving Branwen twin knew he would in a world of hurt the likes of which Remnant has ever seen. He should know, since he had both seen and experienced that form of terrible anger quite a number of years ago.

He don't normally pray, but as Qrow took another swig from his flask he felt himself murmuring a prayer he heard from somewhere he never bothered to know a long time ago, asking whatever god or goddess listening out there to safeguard Ruby's safety. He was so not looking forward to become Taiyang's punching bag once more if his daughter come back with so much a strand of hair missing from her head.

Qrow stopped his pacing when his hearing picked up the sound of a travelling motorcycle, he moved quickly to the side of the large hill.

"So I assume that's him?" he asked

"Yes." Yatsuhashi said briefly as the motorcycle came into view in the forest at the bottom of the hill, the impressive looking bike came up the incline and stopped a short distance from the main door the ship, with Ruby safe and sound. Qrow Breathing a sigh of relief upon seeing that his niece was alright, he was nevertheless more than a little wary of this 'Sharp Strike' individual accompanying her.

Once the bike came to a stop, Ruby hoped off the back seat and took off her helmet. Her face broke into a cheerful grin at the sight of her uncle awake and well, his jacket hung loosely around his shoulders and one hand clutching the bandages around his torso.

"Uncle Qrow!" She cheered as she ran over to hug him, "You're up!"

"Apparently thanks to you, squirt. Thanks for keeping me alive." Qrow said as he ruffled her hair before looking up to face the mysterious armored warrior who walked towards them as Coco and Neptune left the cabin, the latter having recovered enough to walk on his own for the time being, "And I guess you're this Sharp Strike I keep hearing about?"

"That is correct, Qrow Branwen. Nice to see you're recovering from your ordeal." Sharp Strike greeted, his azure lenses looking at Qrow in the eyes.

"I'm a quick healer. So who exactly are you and where do you get off taking my niece out there after what she's been through tonight?" He demanded immediately, resulting in looks of shock from the others.

The only gesture from Sharp Strike was a slight tilt of his helmet to one side, the lenses of his helmet shifting to Ruby who was standing beside her uncle.

"Uncle Qrow, I..." Ruby started, her hands holding onto Qrow's but he gently shook her off, still glaring at the lone Knight.

"Who exactly are you? Why were you 'ordered to follow us' as Coco put it? What are you up to?" Qrow demanded, getting up into Sharp Strike's face.

"Such blunt behavior would get you nowhere, Branwen. Is there really a need to be hostile towards someone who had just saved your life?" Sharp Strike voiced as Qrow glared at him, and Ruby noticed one of his gauntleted hands resting on the holster of his revolver pistol, which was obviously alarming.

Seeing that she needed to do something to defuse the current situation before anything even worse happens, the hooded Huntress got in between them and held up her hands, pushing her uncle back while firmly saying, "Uncle Qrow, please calm down. Right now."

The normally drunk, but now sober Huntsman looked down at her and his stern features softened a little, "Ruby, you don't have the slightest idea of who this guy is or what his motivations are. For all we know..."

"'Well neither do you!" Ruby shot back at him before adding "I was out there with him, and I can tell he's not a bad person, and he's definitely not an enemy!"

"Ruby..." Qrow tried again but his niece interrupted once more.

"Uncle Qrow! He saved us from the White Fang so that Coco and the others would not be killed, and I wouldn't be handled over to Cinder and... her! He healed you and Neptune so that you won't die from your injuries! He could have just left us to fend for ourselves, but instead he offered to help us, so think we can give him a bit of our trust. Besides, we're outnumbered and outgunned, and our friends are captured and probably imprisoned. We won't have any help for another couple of hours and unless we work together that help that's coming wouldn't make it in time to make any difference." Ruby looked up at her uncle with a pleading look in her silver eyes, "So...can you please just be nice to him, okay?"

The reaper looked into his niece's eyes for a few moments before he sighed and eventually stepped back, saying, "Okay, Ruby. I think I was letting my feelings get ahead of me. I am... sorry, Sharp Strike."

"I accept your apology, Branwen...though you might want to be a bit more cordial in future." The armored Knight said dryly.

"And thank him for healing you too." Ruby added quickly.

"Ruby, come on..." The adult Huntsman nearly groaned in exasperation.

"Uncle Qrow...please?" Ruby said with adorably firm eyes.

Knowing that he would probably never win against such a disarming expression, Qrow sighed and replied, "You have my thanks for the medical attention, Sharp."

"It's no problem... and I suppose we could have waited until you woke up to go contact Vale, so I am sorry for causing you unnecessary stress." stated Sharp Strike.

Qrow nodded, accepting the apology as he let out a slow breath before looking at the warrior's motorcycle and letting out a gasp of surprise upon seeing the emblem on the side fairing.

"What's wrong?" Neptune asked with concern.

"It can't be..." Qrow's hand moved to his mouth as his red eyes widened slowly.

"Uncle Qrow?" Ruby said worriedly after Qrow remained silent for a moment. Sharp Strike glanced at his bike and knew what Qrow was thinking, he must have seen the emblem of the Remnant Knights. It wasn't easy to miss if you didn't know what the symbol meant, as another copy of that emblem was emblazoned on his right pauldron.

Qrow looked up at Sharp Strike and allowed himself a smirk. "I never thought I'd meet one in person again, even Ozpin was hesitant to talk about you guys. Kids, looks like we're in the presence of proof that a legend is true." he said.

"Uh... what?" Scarlet voiced the thought on the everyone's minds at that particular moment.

"Qrow, what are you going on about?" Coco asked bluntly.

"Yeah Uncle Qrow, what's up?" Ruby chimed in, her face showing distinct puzzlement.

"Our mysterious savior here is a Remnant Knight." Qrow revealed as he turned to face them.

All five teens, even Yatsuhashi, gasped in amazement. They all looked to Sharp Strike who nodded in confirmation, his gauntlets resting on his belt.

"That's well spotted, Branwen. Your reputation indeed precedes you." Sharp Strike complimented before turning to face the rest of the teenage Huntsmen and Huntresses, "He's right, I am one of the legendary Remnant Knights."

"Wait a minute, I thought the Knights of Remnant or Remnant Knights or whatever were supposed to be a myth!" Neptune cried, his face a mask of surprise and shock.

"Well they'd like it to remain that way for the world at large but for a few of those sitting on the councils and high places, people like Ozpin and Councilman Henry, know about them. Ozpin told me and Goodwitch that they do exist but they wish to perform their missions alone unless they need our aid, which to my knowledge hasn't happened yet." Qrow explained while gently shaking his flask in one hand.

"So Ozpin knew about them?" Coco asked carefully.

"Yeah. I've heard rumors of Huntsmen dressed in distinctive types of armor saving villages and slaughtering Grimm or taking down roaming packs of criminals and even a few White Fang cells, but those same 'Huntsmen' always vanish once the job was done. While Ozpin has told me you guys are our allies I've been a little wary of your true motives as well as who you all report to." Qrow said cautiously, staring at Sharp Strike.

"We report to our own leaders and no one else. That's one of the reasons we have survived for so long; empires, governments, royalty...they all come and go but our order will always exist because of our independence. The reason you have not heard of us is because of our proficient skills are keeping ourselves hidden, all the while fighting to protect Remnant from the shadows. You may not care for our methods or our ways, but at the end of the day we are all on the same side and we all aim for the Salem's defeat." The Knight spoke guardedly, and when no one spoke he continued, "We can talk about this later as right now we have a mission to discuss. Right, Ruby?"

"Right. Guys, I got in touch with Ozpin, Goodwitch, and the others. They're on their way here with reinforcements to help us save our friends but we got to do our part first." she declared to all those present.

"And what is our part, exactly?" inquired Neptune, as he and the others kept glancing at Sharp Strike in disbelief. They had all heard the legends of the Remnant Knights when growing up in different parts of Remnant so to find out that they were indeed real and were currently working with one was a little overwhelming.

"First we need to find out the coordinates of the White Fang's headquarters from Hopkins so that we can tell General Ironwood the base's exact location. Then we need to take out a couple of those jamming towers so that we can give the signal for the reinforcements he's sending to help out and save our friends." Ruby told them.

"They're on their way here, right now?" Coco asked incredulously.

"Yup, General Ironwood said military forces from both the Atlesian military as well as the Vacuo Rangers are coming, along with the rest of Team Beacon. They'll be here in about an hour and a half so we have to work fast to pull this off." The leader of Team RWBY confirmed.

"If that's the case then we need to interrogate Hopkins right away." voiced Yatsuhashi before he slowly shook his head. "Both Coco and myself have tried to get him to talk, but no luck."

"Allow me to handle that particular problem." Sharp Strike volunteered, gesturing with one hand, "I will get it out of him soon enough."

"So I take it you're with us on this?" Coco asked, raising an eyebrow in questioning.

"Yes, my master gave me permission to aid you... and to be honest I probably would have helped you anyway since we both want the same outcome." The Remnant Knight admitted.

"Well you're not getting the info out this guy alone, I'll go with you and help." Qrow said, after taking another sip from his flask.

"I welcome it, Branwen. Do we have enough explosives to cripple the jamming towers?" Sharp Strike asked the other members of Team Beacon.

"I just went through the airship's inventory, we should have more than enough to get the job done." Yatsuhashi stated, "Should there not be enough, there should be more explosives in the storage basement of the outpost."

"And the map on the wall of the operations room has the locations of the jamming towers marked. They didn't mark where the main headquarters is but I guess the tower positions are good enough." Coco revealed.

"Good, you kids get the airship ready to go while we get the necessary information out of our guest." Qrow ordered. He walked a few steps, turned and added to the rest of them, "You too, Ruby. If any of you hear any screaming, do not come into back room. I mean it, do you all understand me?"

The serious glare on her uncle's face told Ruby that he definitely meant business this time, so she nodded her head, and so did her other friends clustered around her.

"You got it, come on guys." Coco said as she led the way to the ship. Ruby followed her friends, but took one last look at her uncle and Sharp Strike as they ventured back into the outpost. She noticed that Qrow was eyeing the third sword that Sharp Strike had attached to his waist. Ruby had noticed the sword also when the Knight had made his first appearance, and judging from its plain and nondescript appearance she remembered that she had read about the design in a book of swords she had read a few years ago... and both mental images somehow matched in her mind.

"Ruby, come on!" Scarlet called, waving his hand to catch her attention.

Ruby shook the thoughts out her head and dashed over to catch up with the rest of her friends.

Once the Huntsman and Knight made it into the outpost, Qrow took another swig from his flask which had somehow miraculously survived the fall. He wiped his lips with the back of one hand, turned and asked, "Where did you get that sword from?"

"You're going to have to be a bit more specific, I have three of them after all." Sharp Strike stated wryly.

"The one on your waist, shiny. I have seen that kind of sword before, a red and gold pommel and crossguard, with a sheath of black and gold. That's definitely a sword of the Promethean tribe, and they're all gone. Where did you get it?" Qrow demanded in a harsh manner.

Sharp Strike was silent for a few moments before he answered, "It has always been with me, Branwen."

"Funny, because from what I heard of that particular tribe, they only give their weapons they forged to their familial kin as family heirlooms. For someone else not of their tribe to possess such a remarkable sword, you must either have done something courageous to earn their respect, or defeated one of their warriors honorably in ritual battle... or you're a grave-robber." He leaned against the cluttered operations table, which was strewn with various White Fang articles and paraphernalia, "So... which one are you?"

"Neither of the choices you have presented me is the correct answer, but while I can assure you the third option is very wrong... judging from your words I personally think you have answered your own question." Sharp Strike looked at him solemnly, and before the Huntsman could come up with another retort, the Knight continued, "Perhaps I can indulge your curiosity at another time. Right now, let us get to work."

For a brief moment it seemed that Qrow wasn't going to comply without getting an answer, but then he sighed and relented, saying, "I have a feeling that working with you is going to be very interesting, kid."

"The same to you. I have heard quite a bit about your exploits, Branwen, and let me just say it's fortunate that I met you while you were sober." Sharp Strike snarked.

Qrow grimaced at him and asked "And what do you know about me?"

"Only what the little birds tell me." The Knight answered, making Qrow's red eyes widen considerably as he paused just as he was about to take another drink from his flask. The two stared at each other for a moment of silence before Sharp Strike added "What? Did you think you and your sister were the only ones with such Semblances?"

Qrow glared at him with narrowed eyes but answered, "I know there are others, but how did you know? Not even my family knows about my Semblance."

"We Knights have our ways, and let's just say I had worked alongside a few people who possessed the same Semblance as yours. It's simple enough to see the signs of such a Semblance user if you know exactly where to look. My superiors knew of your powers and told me of them, but how they know is a mystery to me as well." Sharp Strike pointed out thoughtfully, "Don't worry, I won't go around telling your secrets. My whole existence is supposed to be one, remember?"

Qrow still eyed him suspiciously before saying "Look, I'm grateful for the help and I'm in your debt for saving not just me, but my niece as well. I might not act like it but my family is what keeps me going, so you have my thanks. I'm sorry if I'm acting like an ass right now but it's been one hell of a bad night, so can I trust you to do your duty for the duration of the rescue mission?"

"Understood. Since my motives for this mission corresponds with yours, I will help your team as much as I can. Speaking of which, let us get down to business..." Sharp Strike said as he opened the door to the back room and the struggling occupant within, "How do you want to do this?"

Qrow capped his flask and put it within his trouser pockets, "You can appeal to his better conscience. I will put in the screws whenever he doesn't cooperate with us."

"I guess that's fair enough." Sharp Strike replied as they both walked into the room, watching the bound Hopkins struggling to get free and making little to no progress, since the net that bound him had the same effect when it captured Ruby and the additional ropes didn't help his situation.

"Settle down, you're not going anywhere." Qrow said as he placed a leg on Hopkins' lap to pin him down.

"You don't scare me, Branwen, I know you're still injured! You're too weak to do anything to me right now." Hopkins hissed in undisguised contempt.

"Wanna bet? I've had worse times than tonight, I've suffered injuries much worse than this and because of those experiences I'm a pretty fast healer, so while I'm still sore and a little dizzy I'm still strong enough to put plenty of hurt on you." Branwen warned, his red eyes glaring dangerously at the White Fang captain.

"Listen to him, Captain Hopkins. It doesn't have to end badly for you, just cooperate with us and you'll be fine. It would be in your best interests to tell us the location of the White Fang's headquarters, for starters." Sharp Strike explained, gesturing to Qrow, "And just a word of warning, you do not want to piss this man off."

"What? So the seven of you can go up against over a few thousand of my brothers and sisters? Maybe I should tell you just so it'll end in a bloodbath for all of you." Hopkins retorted darkly, shooting baleful glares back at them.

]

"You aren't in a position to threaten us, Captain Hopkins. I advise you not to make the same mistake again." Sharp Strike advised as he tiled his helmet a tiny faction, the light of the room refracting from its smooth surface, "And don't bother to reach for your hidden switchblade. I removed it the moment you were unconscious."

Hopkins snarled at the Remnant Knight in scorn before Qrow spoke up again.

"I will tell you what your choices are, and then it's up to you to make your choice. If you answer all of our questions right here and now, starting with the base's location your sentence probably wouldn't be as harsh as it would be if you cooperate with us, and that will look favorably upon you when you are in custody." The Huntsman pointed out as he stalked around the room like a predator looking at a vulnerable prey, "If you resist, however, it would only make things worse for you. I mean, working for a terrorist organization, attempted murder, not to mention attempting to kidnap my niece, all of which are pretty big offenses."

"And perhaps we should add refusal to cooperate willingly with an official Huntsman to the list?" Sharp Strike added a second later.

The White Fang captain knew Branwen had a point but there was no way he would willingly betray the cause. "Take your offer and shove it! I'm not betraying the Fang for you humans."

"Well then, we're going to have a problem, aren't we?" said Qrow with a fake sigh, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"I suppose we will." voiced Sharp Strike, as though he was having a perfectly civil conversation over a cup of tea rather than an interrogation, "It's a pity another one of my fellow associates isn't here, or else we would have gotten the information out of him whether he likes it or not, but I suppose we can try to do this your way or my way, Branwen."

Hopkins laughed bitterly, "What is this? Good cop, bad cop?"

Sharp Strike leaned down until he's face to face with Hopkins and answered "No, I'm the bad but reasonable cop while Branwen is the worse cop who had just learned you tried to capture his niece for your less than desirable superiors, and was about to outright murder the rest until I came along. Not to mention the fact that he is fearing for the life of his other niece and is very desperate to get her and the rest of the team back safely, so he is not in a merciful mood." He let that knowledge sink into Hopkins' mind before asking calmly, "So will you willingly cooperate with us?"

Hopkins answered by spitting on Sharp Strike's face-plate. As the glob of phlegm slid down his armor plates, the Knight sighed and slowly shook his head, before looking to Qrow and nodding.

Within a second Qrow grabbed the fold-up steel chair Hopkins was tied on and threw it against the wall so hard it broke into pieces. Hopkins cried out in pain as he fell to the ground, still tangled up in net, ropes, and the remains of the chair when Qrow picked him up by the neck and tossed him into the wall again, the second gesture giving the uncooperative captain a bloody nose and more bruises.

"You wanna play rough?! You want to piss me off?! Congratulations, it worked!" The old crow shouted furiously before holding his hand out to Sharp Strike and adding "Give me a sword. Perhaps if we remove some of his fingers this guy's tongue will loosen a little."

Sharp Strike unsheathed one of the two swords on his back and handed it to Qrow, "Don't cut yourself."

The Huntsman rolled his eyes a little before picking up Hopkins by the back of his collar and held the given sword to the latter's chin, the gleaming blade bare centimeters from his quivering skin.

"You want to kill me, human? Go ahead! You'll be proving our cause is a just one!" Hopkins snarled, "Evil humans, doing whatever they want to us..."

"Shut up and listen to us!" shouted Qrow, furious anger evident on his face. "I don't discriminate. Humans, Faunus, half-breeds, it doesn't matter to me. If you were a human I'd be doing the same thing. If your cause is a just one then why are you willing to murder teenagers in cold blood? Teens who are friends with other Faunus? Hmm? Why did Adam amputate all of those Faunus who tried to escape or speak out against him? You got some self-righteous, preachy answer for that?!"

Hopkins remained silent, but his defiant attitude clearly slipped a little due to his limbs showing signs of shaking.

"That's what I thought." murmured Sharp Strike as he pretended to find interest on a piece of shattered steel lying a few inches beside his right armored boot.

"Now listen very carefully. My niece and her friends, some damn good Faunus among them, have been captured by Taurus and considering how obsessed he is with Blake Belladonna, my niece's partner, I am afraid of what he is going to do to her. My niece, her friends, and the rest of her team all need our help so we are going to save them, along with every villager in Oro and every prisoner the White Fang has. We need to save them and you are hindering us by refusing to help us do that, so you are making me very, very desperate. And when I get desperate I do things I'm not proud of, so either you start answering our questions or you're going to be in a world of pain." Qrow said quickly and angrily, his death glare never faltering for a moment.

Hopkins was silent for a moment, but it was clear that he was very nervous despite his defiant appearance. Then he looked at Qrow and managed to say "Go to hell, you asshole."

Qrow looked to Sharp Strike and winked, "Coco told me you completely took out this guy's team so I take it you're not squeamish when blood is being split?"

Sharp Strike crossed his arms and inclined his head a little before saying "I have seen many things which I'd rather not say Branwen... so what makes you think I would bother if that man over there bleeds a little?"

Hopkins's face turned pale as Qrow grinned back at him. "Last chance, start tell us the coordinates of the base or you'll regret your silence."

Still the Faunus said nothing, but he was evidently shaking.

"Okay then..." Qrow muttered before he impaled Hopkins' hand with Sharp Strike's sword, making him scream in pain. The blade met a little resistance when it hit the captain's Aura, but gravity eventually won and it went through his hand in a loud squelch of blood.

"You son of a bitch! My hand! You stabbed my hand!" cried Hopkins before biting his lip so hard he drew blood, trying to do something to keep himself from screaming again.

"That's right and if you don't tell us where the base is now I'll stab the other one and then get to work on your feet and after that I will get creative, so who knows what body part you will lose next. Your aura can only do so much but you can keep yourself from suffering that pain here and now, and that's up to you. And don't try lying to us because believe me, we can tell." Qrow stated with a grim look on his features.

"So what will it be, Captain?" inquired Sharp Strike, showing his emotionless face-plate once again.

Hopkins seethed in pain as his aura slowly healed his impaled hand. He thought very carefully, and then finally gave his answer.

A few minutes later Qrow and Sharp Strike left the outpost, carrying the rolled-up map from the wall along with some additional ammunition and explosives from the basement. The Knight particularly had a large satchel of charges slung over his cloak even as he carried some other items.

"We got the coordinates, is the airship ready?" Qrow asked the assembled Huntsmen and Huntresses.

"Yeah, it's good to go." Coco said as Ruby stepped forward.

"So what happened to Hopkins? We heard screaming in there." she pointed out, her voice trying to hide the nervousness she felt at the thought of her uncle murdering someone.

"Don't worry, we didn't kill him." Qrow said gently to Ruby, looking her straight in the eyes so she could tell he wasn't deceiving her. Despite everything he knew his niece still hated death and didn't want anyone, save maybe their most evil enemies to die. Qrow supposed this was because of just how good a person she truly was, something she took after Summer Rose, who saw good in just about everything. "We just... had to get a little forceful to persuade him a little to get the information we needed out of him, and we needed to be rough so that he wouldn't lie to us and get us all killed by sending us into a trap. He's still alive, we just tied him to another chair... I kind of broke the first one. We'll send someone to get him once we're done, okay?"

Ruby managed a small smile, relieved at this news. "You did good, Uncle Qrow." she told him while stepping closer to his side.

"Don't I always?" he replied with a smirk as he hugged her.

Sharp Strike drove his bike up the airship's ramp and parked it near the entrance, before securing it with straps which hung from the walls of the aircraft. "We need to think up a plan of attack, so let's get moving."

"He's right, we don't have much time. Let's get inside and plan this out." Coco agreed.

"Um guys, who's going to fly the ship?" Scarlet asked, his face showing concern.

"I will. I've done it before. Everyone ready?" Qrow asked as he and Ruby walked up the ramp of the airship.

"Ready as we'll ever be." stated Coco as she shook her head while she and Scarlet followed them into the vessel, with the ramp closing up behind them with distinctive clunks.

Slipping into the pilot's seat, Qrow waited for everyone to be seated and secured before he started flicking switches and punching buttons on the airship's dashboard, activating the engines which speedily whined into wakefulness. Leaves and loose branches scattered around them as the airship's engine roared throatily, lifting it into the sky before shooting off into the night, the red and orange blaze of dawn seeping across the lands of Vacuo.

---

Blake's ears twitched a bit at the sound of the workers outside of the ship, from what she had been told Adam was having a special airship constructed to travel around Remnant to spread the message of the White Fang. She couldn't put her finger on it but she had a strong suspicion that the ship wasn't just for 'spreading the word'.

Oh well, the ship was never going to fly becasue they were going to put an end to Adam's reign once and for all.

"Are you okay?" Weiss asked her.

Blake looked to her human friend and nodded, "I could be much better but considering the circumstances I could certainly be worse." she said.

She looked about the room as the rest of the 'captured' members of Team Beacon got ready for the next battle they would have to face; fighting Adam once again, and this time with six more of their number gone in addition to Fox, Sage, and JNPR. Blake didn't know if Ruby and the others were alright out there or if they were injured and running for their lives from Adam's scouts, but she hoped they were alright and she wasn't the only one, as all of the others had voiced concern for their friends safety.

"I don't know what's worse; not knowing what's happened to them or the possibility of them being captured." Velvet stated as she allowed the healer from the standard White Fang troops that had been stationed on the Elite Guard's ship to heal her nose.

"Both suck if you ask me." Sun voiced as he loaded up Ruyi and Jingu Bang with Dust clips.

"Agreed." Penny chimed in as she flexed her arms, stiff after being paralyzed for the last few hours. She placed the deactivated and damaged collar back on her neck, turning it around so the damaged area would be hidden by her hair.

"They're probably going to be okay, I mean we don't know for sure but given her track record I'm positive my little sister is still out there fighting or getting help as we speak." said Yang as she loaded up her gauntlet with a new rocket, just in case they needed some heavy artillery which they probably would.

"Whatever their current situation we can do little about it for the time being, Miss Belladonna, are you sure we can trust the Elite Guard, can we be sure this is not some trick to break our will?" Winter inquired as she made sure her sword was in good order.

Blake and a few of the others glanced over to to the entrance of the room to see Kane and Morgan who were assigned to guard them just in case one of Adam's lackeys came on-board the ship.

She shook her head, "No, what Adam has done goes against everything Razor stands for, it goes against what the White Fang is meant to be. They're not deceiving us. We can at least trust them until Adam is dethroned." she said.

Claudandus nodded and spoke up, "After what they saw they will be confused but I think they'll be with us until they get some proper answers from Adam, answers they probably will not like."

"If this Razor guy is as honorable as he claims to be then why did he let you get kicked out and let Adam take over?" Yang questioned.

"She raises a valid point, why did he follow Adam?" Weiss concurred.

Blake looked to her grandfather and said "Razor was a fighter in the last great war thirty years ago, fighting for the old Faunus Liberation movement, when they lost the war he became just lost, becoming a pit fighter, allowing himself to be used and abused by humans who looked down upon him but when my grandfather found him he offered Razor a place among the White Fang and he took it."

Claudandus nodded and continued; "He recovered from his problems, studied the old ways of battle, became my bodyguard, but he was always more loyal to our race as a whole rather than just me, he saw the White Fang as a glorious cause that could lead to our race being treated with dignity and respect because the ideal behind the White Fang was bigger than just me, it was all of us. When Adam revealed what was under his mask to a crowd of our members Razor was shocked and a little bit angry that I had kept such a thing hidden from them for so long. When I left Razor stayed, because I was not the White Fang anymore, and his loyalty to the White Fang was one of the things he held dear, along with his honor."

"So where did the Elite Guard come from?" Sun asked.

"Well after Adam took over he and Razor didn't exactly get along, even back then." Kane said from the doorway.

Blake nodded and added "He started up his own command, with Adam's approval, a combat team that would have the freedom to fight the oppression of the Faunus without the increasingly violent reputation Adam and the rest of the Fang was getting. Razor is even considered a hero in Menagerie for freeing slaves and taking down hate groups."

"Sounds like a good guy, too bad he didn't see that Adam was off his rocker until recently." Yang observed.

"He and Adam have clashed before." Morgan said, "He objected to allying with Cinder's forces, he hated the mere idea attack on Beacon and the Vytal Festival which is why we had no part in it, but recently their disagreements have gotten more... frequent."

"Which is why the Elite Guard mostly worked alone, correct?" Winter guessed.

"Yeah, before he was happy to let the Elite Guard go around and do some good, make the Fang look better but after the little run-in at Hondyama he's been keeping us on a short leash." Kane told them.

"He wanted to use you all as a weapon to strike us a serious blow, it clearly worked." voiced Weiss thoughtfully.

"Well it's gonna backfire on him now that you guys are on our side." Yang said.

"We can only hope." Morgan said with a shrug.

"And the sooner we take Adam and his followers down the better, you can arrest them and the White Fang can get back on track." Kane said to Winter.

"While we will certainly try to take down Taurus, but the fate of the White Fang is uncertain, many of its members have done terrible things and have committed serious crimes, we can't just let most of them go with a slap on the wrist." Winter stated.

"I see your point, but its gonna be hard to get the ranks on our side with that logic." Kane stated as Misha came into view.

"You guys got your weapons ready?" she asked.

"Pretty much." Blake said.

"Okay, Razor contacted the command room and they say the cells are nearly finished. Apparently Adam wants a word with you guys before you're locked up so it now or never. Come with me." the Mandrill Faunus said as she entered the doorway.

Everyone looked to her and she nodded, giving a sign that she was with them and that she hoped things would work out.

"I sure hope this plan works, are you guys sure about this?" Thayer asked as he got up.

"No, but then again we've never been a hundred percent sure about any of our plans..." Blake said.

"But they usually work out okay in the end." Yang chimed.

"Mostly." Weiss stated dryly, it was true that their plans for dealing with threats were risky at best and would often have to be changed on the spot when dealing with said threat and she expected that this insurrection would be no different. They all knew it had little to no chance of going smoothly, but the main thing was that it would end in their favor with minimum casualties, because the only one they truly wanted dead at this point was Adam.

The group got up and allowed Misha, Kane, and Morgan to lead them all back to the bridge.

On that very location Razor observed the pair of Jinty and Babara, with Jinty's pet carrier pigeon Swoop, silently, his expression calm and stoic.

"Okay boss, so I figure you're right ticked but..." Jinty began before the older Faunus held up his hand to silence him.

Razor gave them both a grave look before he calmly said "Right now we have more important things to deal with, but I would like to know as to why you two betrayed us."

"Well we didn't really betray you sir, well it's all very technical but..." Babara said before stopping herself from droning.

"She's right, we're loyal to you Razor, not to Adam. Both of us signed up with the White Fang because we wanted equality, we wanted to do some good; and we all know that Adam doesn't want that at all so we technically didn't betray you at all, only our leader who's lost it." Jinty pointed out.

"This is true, but why did you operate your own agenda behind our backs? Why not voice your concerns to me and tell me your ideas?" Razor inquired.

"Because despite your differences with Adam you were still loyal to him because he was the leader of the White Fang, even when he had Claudandus arrested you didn't question it until recently when you began to doubt him. We began to have doubts when he arrested the old founder and after we heard of how he punished Kane." Babara stated.

"Yeah, and we wanted to do something about it, but we didn't know how you'd react so we decided to keep it to ourselves but once we heard about Blake, who we still considered a friend, and what her team had been through and what went down in Haven we decided that the best way to take Adam down without getting caught was to send messages to her via Swoop here." Jinty explained as he patted his bird's head.

"Before we even knew about the whole Vytal mess I had had contacted Claudandus, since I kept in touch with him, and told him that Jinty and me weren't happy with Adam's leadership so Blake knew we could be trusted... to a point." Babara added.

"So once we heard where Claudandus was being held we told her and the higher ups green-lighted it and eventually it led us here." Jinty finished.

"And you eventually knew that Adam allowed Claudandus' location to leak out to catch any traitors, so if you had warned them of this they wouldn't be here right now." Razor stated.

"Well that and we didn't know their exact location..." Babara muttered nervously.

Razor sighed before Jinty spoke up, "Look boss, I know you're probably pissed at us and you have every right to, but we care about the White Fang, we care about what it's supposed to be and it definitely isn't supposed to be what Taurus has twisted it into. We want it to be what you can make it, a group of heroes fighting for equality and the rights of our race, doing good for humans and Faunus alike. You know it and we know it, Adam needs to go down and if we really were out right traitors we would have snitched to Blake and the Atlas Military the location of every base and they would have put a rather big dent in the Fang's ranks, so we aren't traitors, we are loyalists."

Razor sighed and looked to Piper who was sitting on the floor nearby. She looked up to him with her bright eyes and she simply shrugged before he looked back to the two before him. "I suppose that while I'm not exactly pleased with your actions your hearts were in the right place and in the end you were proven right, but you're not getting off so easily but we can talk about that once this is finished." he said.

"If you want us to leave the Guard we'll do it, even if we don't..." Babara began before her leader cut her off.

"No, I will not force you to leave, you are a part of this command and part of my team. As I said we will discuss it later." he said firmly as Russell, Misha, Kane, Selena, Morgan, Kong, Teresa, and a few others arrived on the bridge with the captured members of Team Beacon a few of the White Fang troops.

"We're pretty much ready Razor, should we go on?" asked Blake.

He nodded and said "I have contacted the command room and Adam says the cells are just about ready, naturally he wants the chance to gloat. We walk out of this ship in ten minutes."

Blake grimaced as she handed Gambol Shroud to Misha while Yang did the same thing with the left Ember Celica before putting on the deactivated clamp device to make it appear that she was still helpless.

The plan was simple; the Elite Guard and the platoon of troops who knew the truth, led by a Lion Faunus named Leonardo, would march the seemingly captive 'prisoners' into the command room for Adam to gloat and for Razor to distract him while Kane, Piper, Misha, Russell and the others would carry their weapons as trophies for Adam so when it was time to spring into action they could take over the control room. While they did this Jinty would sneak into the communications/tech rooms and plug in the images Piper had taken of the prisoners and then transmit them, along with a speech Razor had recorded all over the base and to other White Fang outposts. Everyone knew it was risky, and there was a chance that some would remain loyal to Adam despite the atrocities he committed most would most certainly turn against him.

Blake thought that while it was obviously going to be incredibly dangerous, she felt that with all of the Elite Guard at their backs along with Leonardo's troops they had a good chance of pulling it off.

All of them Beacon handed their weapons to various members of the Elite Guard while Leonardo's troops began placing unsecured handcuffs on them so they could spring into action when the time was right.

Weiss approached Razor and said "Sir, I know this probably isn't the right time but I want to assure you I had no knowledge of my father's involvement with the slave trade. I used to not like Faunus becasue of my family's unpleasant history with them and the things I have witnessed but I have changed for the better and I realize now that a Faunus' life is worth just as much as a humans'. I don't know what's going on or if he truly is enslaving Faunus, but if he is I apologize for it on behalf of my entire family, and all of Atlas."

Razor looked at the teen girl, then glanced up to Winter who awaited Razor's reply.

"Miss Schnee, if you are wiling to change, if you want to make up for your family's past sins... then it gives me hope, so I thank you. We shall discuss your father's actions later but right now we need to go." he told her.

"Thank you." Weiss said gratefully to him.

Winter placed her hand on Weiss' shoulder and gave her a proud smile before she allowed the unlocked binders to be placed on her.

"Okay, everyone clear on what to do?" Razor asked.

"Yes." "Uh-huh." "Ready." "Locked and loaded." "Let's take him down."

"You hear 'em boss, they're willing to follow you into the fire." Russell said as he took up his weapon.

"Some of us might not be convinced we can do this, but we're willing to give it a good try." came Leonardo's voice.

"I know my part." Jinty said confidently.

"Whatever happens is up to us, if we work together, if we prove to Adam that humans and Faunus can work together to obtain justice, we can prove him wrong on his entire ideology." Blake voiced as she gestured to her human companions. "This isn't just for us, this is for everyone who has suffered because of the White Fang; the ones killed during the Fall, those prisoners, those killed for leaving or speaking against him, everyone. We're doing this to make the White Fang what it's supposed to be, we're doing this for equality, for Faunus everywhere! Together we will stop Adam Taurus and bring him to justice, together we will make things right, together we will make a difference."

Various people in the room cheered or applauded for Blake and her short but effective speech.

Yang nudged her partner and winked as she said "You've done good, kitty cat."

Blake smiled as Weiss said "You're a credit to this team, I can honestly say I'm happy we became teammates, it changed us both for the better."

Blake nodded as Sun kissed her on the cheek. She smiled at him and he didn't have to do anything except smile back.

Claudandus, who hadn't been cuffed yet, placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and said "Blake, I am so proud of you, and I know your mother and father would be too."

Blake took the cuffs off for a moment so she could capture her grandfather in a hug which he gladly returned. Most of those in the room smiled at the scene as the two parted.

"Whatever happens, I forgive you for not telling me the truth, and I am proud to be your granddaughter." she told him with a smile as she cried tear of happiness. "I'm sorry I ever let you go."

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Blake. I forgave you long ago, becasue I love you." the elder Cat Faunus said. Blake nodded at the sentiment, but she honestly didn't know if she could ever truly forgive herself, as there was still a part of her the blamed herself for what the Fang turned into, letting Adam go too far, Yang's arm, Sun's tail, the attacks, the amputees... if she had just left with Claudandus, if she hadn't thought he lover her, if she had just...

No. She couldn't blame herself, she knew that was wrong but it still felt like it was her responsibility to make Adam pay for his sins, and she was going to do her best to accomplish that. Maybe then she'd learn to forgive herself.

They arrived to the main entrance of the ship, which was still closed. Razor stood in the front of Team Beacon with various members of the Elite Guard and Leonardo and his troops flanking them, making it appear that they were still under subjugation.

"How long will it take you to upload the files to the main system?" Razor asked Jinty.

"Not long, few minutes tops. I can hack into it and transmit the images and your speech to everyone on the base, and maybe once we've taken him out we can send it to every White Fang base throughout Remnant." the Weasel Faunus said as he put the scroll carefully in his pocket.

"No turning back now." Razor muttered to himself, but those with good hearing knew what he said. Piper walked up and grabbed his hand to squeeze it, to let her surrogate father know she would be there for him, he smiled at her and squeezed back, letting her know he would be too.

"It's now or never, Razor. For the honor of the White Fang." Blake said quietly to him.

The large Faunus glanced at her and allowed himself a smile. "For honor." he returned before he opened up the door.

He stepped out of the ship, leading the group behind him, putting on a stoic face while the captured members of Team Beacon pretended to be wallowing in the misery of their defeat or have angry looks of defiance as they were marched out of the ship and into the docking bay, towards the entrance to the base itself. Leonardo and his troops had put their masks back on to keep up appearances while the various members of the White Fang tried to look serious and professional.

Jinty was sandwiched between Babara and Graham so he'd be able to slip out of the group and and into his own mission, which would be easy enough as long as he kept his cool and acted casually.

"Need some help escorting these prisoners sir?" an officer asked Razor.

"No, we're fine." Razor dismissed bluntly as they made it to the main entrance door.

They kept walking and had no interruptions except from other officers or guards who offered the same thing, but were turned down each time by Razor but aside from that no one tried to stop them and they were able to move deeper into the base, up towards the control room.

Sun, Weiss, and Yang decided to pretend to be rebellious to keep up the illusion so the various members of the Elite Guard played along by shoving them forward or prodding them with their guns.

"Wait until we get out of this, I'll..." Sun began before Leonardo shoved his rifle into him.

"Silence, traitor!" he snapped.

"You'll never get away with this! My father has powerful allies!' Weiss proclaimed, winking to the others.

"We'll see where your wealth and power get you now, Schnee!" spat Misha before shoving the heiress along.

"You guys won't be so high and mighty soon, we can still take you down!" Yang said, doing a decent job of averting the dumb blonde actress archetype.

"Whatever you say, top heavy." joked Kane as he prodded Yang in the back, giving her a subtle, and very brief, thumbs-up.

Before they went up a giant staircase Jinty quickly sneaked away from the group when he was sure no one else was looking. One of Leonardo's troops also broke off to go with him for protection.

"Good luck." Babara whispered to him.

"Thanks, I'll need it." Jinty muttered before he and the trooper set off, but the Weasel Faunus gave a hopeful look to the others as he did so.

As they walked up the staircase and Jinty and the trooper sneaked their way towards the tech room the two didn't notice that someone had spotted them... and was beginning to silently follow.

Blake remained silent, but so far everything was working out okay. If they kept it up they'd make it to the command room, pretend to be submissive captives or obedient followers and then they'd catch Adam completely by surprise. Hopefully no one would be killed in the process and they'd all get out of this okay, with Adam and those loyal to him rotting in a cell for their horrific crimes.

They kept walking up the stairs until they came to the top floor, and once there the command room was dead ahead. Blake glared at the large metal doors of the command center as they approached them, the quartet of soldiers standing guard outside opened the doors up to reveal a large two-story room with various computer terminals and banks along the walls with a large table in the center and a giant screen underneath a sealed window, obviously for communication purposes. Various White Fang officers of varying species either sat or walked about the room, doing their own duties.

In the center by the table stood Adam, talking with Hui, Emerald, and Mercury. "I assure you they're up for the task but it depends on what this Watts wants with them..."

"Adam!" called Razor, "We have brought the prisoners to you as requested."

Adam turned around, the mask hiding his eyes as they assessing the captives. He approached them with a serious stoic face that didn't give off any sign of either smug superiority to his defeated enemies or anger at his former lover like they expected, instead there was a calmness to him, an odd serenity that must have come with his apparent victory over Blake.

"Excellent work Razor, it's good to see you become a bit more understanding." Adam said to the larger Faunus before he eyed Blake and the other captured members of Team Beacon.

"We brought you their weapons." Razor said as he held out Gambol Shroud. "I thought you might like them as trophies."

"Not a bad idea, but I'll decide what to do with them later." Adam said before he turned his attention to Team Beacon. "I hope you all realize how utterly doomed you are. There will be no rescue, no salvation from your punishment. Our communications officers have been in tocuh with the hunting party and they are on the trail of your friends who will also be killed while the Rose girl is brought here as a present for our great ally. As for what will happen to you? Well the Schnees shall suffer for their crimes against our race, Wukong, and the Scarlatinas will pay the price for betraying our entire race, Xiao Long will know what happens when you try to attack me, this robotic abomination shall be handed over to our allies for experimentation, the one called Neo shall also be punished for betraying our allies, and you... my dear..." he cupped Blake's chin and made her look at him. "You will be put in your place once and for all. I will make you mine again, and you will pay for betraying me. No one is coming to help you, my love... oh no. Do you have anything to say to that?"

"You really do love hearing the sound of your own voice." Yang shot.

"Well duh, he probably gets off on it." joked Sun.

"SHUT UP!" yelled Adam harshly, trying to ignore the snickering from Mercury which was silenced by Emerald elbowing his gut.

"Actually I do have something to say to you Adam." Blake announced.

He looked to her, "And what would that be?"

"They're right. You do love the sound of your own voice, that's why you always forced me to be quiet when I still followed you. You always shut me up, ignored my suggestions and ideas, to you I was a trophy of your victory over Claudandus and I see that now. I was nothing to you but a tool! You're a pathetic excuse for a leader becasue you lead by fear and force when a real leader should lead by compassion, strength, trust, and wisdom. Sun, Velvet, her uncle, and I have not betrayed our race, you have when you used every Faunus in this organization for your own crusade for revenge. The real Adam Taurus died after his sister and he was replaced by this man in front of me, a cruel being who feeds off of hatred just like a Grimm, which I suppose makes your mask all too appropriate. I won't let you win because we have seen the terrible things you're responsible for and as long as I am alive I will make sure you pay for them, I will make sure the truth is known about you, the whole world will know what a monster you truly are... and I won't be alone, because I know my friends will be there for me." Blake said as strongly as she could.

Adam smirked and said "A good speech my love, but pointless. What did you expect? That my soldiers would turn on me because you said a handful of meaningless words? If you truly do expect to stop me then you're more pathetic than I thought."

"Want to bet? NOW!" Blake cried.

Razor tossed her Gambol Shroud, loaded with a purple Dust Crystal so she could send an arc of purple energy into him, slamming him into the wall.

Everyone sprung into action; Team Beacon caught their weapons from the Elite Guards and worked with them to take down any guard that tried to attack or restrain them. Guards and officers were sent flying, knocked to the ground, into the walls, while those who tried to attack from the second floor were shot down by Leonardo and his troops and the Elite Guard members who had guns.

Piper slammed Emerald and Mercury into the wall with a powerful sound blast and Penny kept them pinned there with her swords. "Going somewhere?" she asked with a smirk as she used her blades to close in on them, making sure they wouldn't even try to move, helped out by Piper aiming to blast them again.

Razor slammed Kill-Master into Hui's sword parrying a heavy strike. "What are you doing?!" Hui demanded.

"Making it right!" Razor answered before Velvet attacked the Bear Faunus from behind, punching and kicking him in rapid succession, striking at the right places that caused him enough pain to force Hui to fall towards Razor who sent him flying with a mighty punch to the face.

Adam snarled and tried to get his sword out only for Blake to hold her own weapon to his face.

"Surrender now." she ordered.

"Never! How did you turn them against me?!" he demanded.

"It wasn't hard, after they found out the truth about the prison. Yes, they know." she told him.

She got a small feeling of joy from the slightly fearful look on his face.

"Razor, what is the meaning of this?!" he shouted.

"She's right Taurus, we know what you've done. Piper saw it for herself and I want an explanation now." Razor said as he stepped forward.

More guards tried to rush in but Kane and the others shot them down as Razor and Blake both held their blades to Adam.

"You have no proof." Adam hissed.

Razor allowed himself a smirk and said "Don't worry, we do. As we speak one of my agents is in the communications room and is about to transmit evidence of your actions all over the base, which will lead to it spreading through the entirety of the White Fang's ranks. We give you this one chance to surrender unconditionally so you can try to justify your actions... and then we'll still have you thrown in a cell. I'm telling you Taurus, all my agent has to do is push a few buttons and..."

"Oh, you mean this skinny twerp?" asked the voice of Steppenwolffe.

Everyone looked up to see the Grimm Commander holding up a struggling Jinty with one hand while a large Beowolf dragged the dead body of the trooper who had gone to cover Jinty.

"Oh no..." Velvet said quietly as everyone on Blake's side began to feel very bad about their chances.

"Damn it." swore Leonardo and his fist clenched at the death of one of his soldiers.

"I was keeping to the shadows and I noticed this little sod sneaking off from your group. I thought I smelled a rat and sure enough I caught this little rodent meddling with the computer systems." he explained.

"Actually I'm a weasel, which is a mustelid not a..." Jinty didn't get to finish his correction as Steppenwolffe tossed him off the catwalk and to the floor below where Babara caught him.

"Sorry guys, I couldn't fight him." Jinty said ashamedly.

"Not your fault, hon." assured Babara as she glared at Steppenwolffe while more guards arrived at the entrance.

Weiss, Yang, Winter, Sun, Neo, the Elite Guard, and Leonardo's troops all kept their weapons up and ready for battle, which seemed imminent. Emerald took advantage of Penny's temporary distraction to slide through the blades and strings to freedom where she jumped up and kicked Penny away, freeing Mercury. Piper, however aimed her weapon right at Mercury, letting him know that she could make his deaf with a loud enough blast and Penny's arm quickly transformed into its cannon form and aimed it right at Emerald just as she got out her own guns.

The room briefly became silent as one side glared at the other. The massive standoff was essentially one big powdered keg waiting to go off.

"Uh, anybody got a really quick, magic way to get us out of here?" Kane asked as he aimed his bayonet/rifle hybrid at the guards and officers surrounding them.

"It doesn't appear likely." Winter said to him.

"Shit." was all Kane could say.

Blake looked around the room frantically, Yang, Weiss, Sun, Velvet, and Claudandus all shot her looks of worry as the guards took aim.

"Well, that little insurrection was short-lived." Adam observed as he got up, unsheathing Wilt. "Tell me Blake, how exactly are you going to win this? How will you save your friends?"

He held up his sword and moved to attack when Blake yelled out "Adam, wait! I have a proposal."

Adam stopped and stared at her, and so did everyone else.

"And what is this proposal, if I may ask?" Adam inquired.

"Blake, what are you doing?!" asked Weiss frantically.

"Trust me." Blake said to her teammate before she nodded to Razor, who returned the gesture. "Adam, I challenge you for leadership of the White Fang. A duel, whoever wins will be the leader of the White Fang and the loser will... die. If I win not only will I save my friends and these brothers and sisters who know the truth of your crimes but the White Fang become what it's supposed to be again, and you are spared the shame of living with the consequences of your actions."

"And if I win I get to have my revenge." Adam finished for her.

The was a few moments of silence as Adam considered the challenge.

"Blake, what is wrong with you?! I didn't expect something this crazy from you!" Sun said quietly.

"Yeah, I mean you can't beat him alone!" Yang reminded her.

"I agree with them Blake, that was rather foolish of you." Razor stated.

"I know, but I had to do something!" Blake whispered as she looked back at Adam, still thinking about it.

He opened his mouth to speak... but stopped as a grin spread across his face. "Very well, my love. I accept your challenge."

TO BE CONTINUED...

Once again this chapter was co-written by RelentlessCrusader aka Golden Crusader so thank him for his help. Also check out his story RWBY: Crucible, the prequel to Destiny of Remnant! It's avaliabe to read on both Ff . net and Archive of Our Own.

So Pyrrha killing that civilian finally came back after forty chapters, sorry it took so long to get back to it.

Also, new artwork! Deviant Art artist RindouShinichi who did some art of Cinder and Ashe, check it out!

Hey everyone, happy New Year! I hope you all had a great time this Holiday season with your friends and family like I did. I hope you all got great gifts, I got everything I asked for... except for the ability to become a good writer. Seriously though, it was great. I want to thank everyone who has faved and followed his story or left a kudos and a bookmark, you guys cheer me up when I feel down, I sometimes think this story isn't very good and that I'm wasting everyone's time but I'm overjoyed when I get a new fave/follow or a kudos, and I am always happy to hear that you guys enjoy the new chapter.

Sorry this took so long but things have not been good for me, part of the reason as to why this chapter was so late was because of two personal reasons; my grandmother had health problems and needed a heart surgery but she is recovering slowly but surely, pray for her please as she is an incredibly important part of my life.

And before that I was attacked on Deviantart by a RWBY fan who wouldn't leave me alone because I posted a rant on Pyrrha's death and he kept demanding I take it off but I refused so he posted it on the RWBY Reddit (without my permission) and basically had a bunch of fans insult and belittle me, telling me I don't deserve to live for 'attacking Monty's legacy' and that I will never matter and will always be alone and an idiot, that I will never be successful, and since I don't have the best self-esteem to begin with I couldn't take it so I broke down crying and nearly committed suicide but I was able to stop myself because I realized that I have a good life with a good family, home, and friends, and a story that I need to continue. And I nearly threw all of it away because someone wanted to silence my voice on Pyrrha's death. Luckily a kind stranger stood up for me and helped me through the night and got it taken off of reddit but the emotional damage is still there. Yeah, the RWBY Fandom attacked me and nearly drove me to suicide just because I wanted to voice my opinion on why I felt Pyrrha's death was a terrible mistake and why I didn't like the second half of V3. I am not making this up or trying to get attention, I am telling you all the honest truth.

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.