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

45. Duel for the White Fang

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

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RWBY: Destiny of Remnant

Chapter 45: Duel for the White Fang

Blake swung Gambol Shroud around rapidly, creating deadly blurs in the air combined with slashes and thrusts and defensive blocks. She rotated the Dust chamber quickly, setting each one up, checking to see how fast it could go for the duel ahead.

Currently the captured members of Team Beacon were in a locker room to prepare for the battle, the various members of the Elite Guard and Leonardo's platoon were on guard outside, making sure Adam didn't try to have Blake assassinated or that any overeager White Fang thug tried to pull anything before the duel. Back on the ship Troy and a few others who remained had locked it down so no one could get in with shields at maximum strength, just in case Adam tried to have the vessel destroyed.

While the others had questioned her about whether her challenge to Adam was a good idea or not, she was beginning to have second thoughts as well. In her defense it was a spur of the moment choice and a desperate one at that, made at the dead last second to keep them alive for as long as possible and so far it was working.

As Blake continued to practice her moves with assistance from Weiss she began thinking over the possible outcomes, but ignored those that ended in disaster in favor of ones that ended with them safe and Adam defeated.

"I can do this." she said quietly, trying to keep her confidence up.

"Let's hope so, but you'll need to be hard and fast on offensive strikes and firm with defensive block, don't expect Taurus to play fair or honorably. Back at Beacon he was willing to behead you and now he has you to himself in front of an audience. You'll need every ounce of strength you have." Weiss said to her.

"After what we were through just a few hours ago I wonder if you really have a chance at this." Velvet voice worriedly.

"Hey, Taurus is tired out too, after the beating we gave him together he won't be at peak performance either." Yang pointed out.

Blake nodded, "You're right; I may be recovering from the battle but so is he. The last few times we fought he was at full power but he doesn't have that luxury at the moment."

"It will be a stalemate." Penny observed.

"Correct, but hopefully Blake will be able to overcome Taurus and win. We can only hope." Weiss stated as she continued to show Blake some basic rapier stances to help her out in the battle, such as the broad and low wards and cuts. "Remember to use some feints, Taurus seems like the type of person who lets his anger get the best of him in the heat of the moment."

"You don't know how true that is." Blake said quietly.

"Apparently not. With feints you'll be able to manipulate him into a position of weakness and that's when you'll have the best chance to strike. I know our blades our different but hopefully it'll do." Weiss said as they gently practiced with her rapier and Blake's katana. While the two blades were obviously different and were used in separate styles they still served the same basic function in combat, so it would do.

"So even if you do defeat Adam, what do you think will happen?" Sun asked.

"Hopefully the White Fang will accept me as their leader for the time being, but its not a position I intend to keep. All I have to do is make them realize the error of their ways and hopefully they'll see Adam for what he is. Like I had to." Blake said bitterly.

"What do you mean?" asked Penny. "Didn't you leave him and the White Fang when you realized how bad they had gotten?"

As Blake kept practicing her forms she said "Not exactly. I mostly left becasue of Adam but I thought there was still hope for the White Fang as a whole, that's why when Sun and I encountered them working for Torchwick at the docks I tried to appeal to them first."

"You thought there was still some good in them." stated Velvet.

"I wanted to believe that. I desperately wanted to believe that. I didn't want to accept the fact that the White Fang was a haven for Faunus with hated for humanity and psychological issues that wanted to take them out on the world and hurt humanity. I even tried to believe Adam's own lies even when I knew he had gone too far." Blake said.

"What do you mean?" asked Yang.

Blake looked at Weiss and sighed before answering "Remember when you told us how friends of your family disappeared and members of your family's company executed?"

The heiress nodded, "Some good friends of my family, men and women I considered to be aunts and uncles. I saw the recording of several board members being execute by the White Fang and their ilk."

Blake winced but continued with "I knew about those things back when I was still apart of this, but I foolishly believed Adam when he said that they were merely ransoms gone wrong and they had fully intended to return the board members. That's why even after I left the White Fang I wanted to stick up for it, say that the cause was a just one. Not Adam, just the Fang, because I still believed that as a whole it was good and had the potential to help our race. But I was lying to myself."

"No you weren't." said Yang firmly, making Blake and the others look at her. The blonde brawler approached her partner and took her by the shoulders before gently adding "The Elite Guard are proof that you were right, there's still some good people left in the White Fang, Faunus who've been fooled into thinking that this is the right way. I think what those Faunus out there need is someone to set them straight and help them realize what they've been doing is wrong. I think you're that someone, Blake."

Blake looked into Yang's beuatiful lilac eyes for a moment before allowing herself a smile. "Thank you Yang, I'm lucky to have a partner like you."

Yang grinned and said "Same here kitty cat. Now get back to practicing so you can kick Adam's butt."

Blake smiled at her partner and the rest of her friends before getting back to practicing with Weiss.

Outside of the locker room Winter sized up the situation and knew the odds were very much against them.

"Are you sure we can't just fight our way to your ship and take off? I think with all of us we could pull that off." she said to Razor.

"It is a tempting option but not one I'd like to go with. I can't stand the thought of running and letting Taurus control the Fang for another day, besides he might have the villagers and the prisoners executed if we attempt to escape. So while our chances aren't exactly overwhelmingly positive I don't want to run." Razor said to her.

Winter nodded and admitted "Sound logic. Do you think we can band together and keep ourselves alive should we face an all out attack by the ranks of the Fang?"

"Possibly, but I don't think we'll have to. Adam is doing this to keep up the illusion that he still has honor, he wants the whole of the Fang to think that he is a leader to be both respected and feared, he wants them to see him take on the 'traitor' and win. However if it does come that, yes we will have to band together and fight our way out but I think Blake might just be able to beat him." Razor said to the elder Schnee.

"I don't know, I don't doubt the girl but I'm not too sure she can defeat him." Winter voiced.

"Well I am. We just have to give her a winning edge." Razor said as he looked to Kong. "Do you have some of your Aura enhancers?"

"Sure do, boss." the Gorilla Faunus confirmed as he took out some patches and tossed them to him. Aura Enhancers were a medical patch that restored the wearers aura, mostly used in battle after an intense and brutal fight or if one were to find themselves in the midst of a particularly resistant horde of Grimm.

"Blake will need every ounce of strength she can get to take him on." Razor told her.

"Good idea. Now Razor, I think we must discuss my father..." she began.

"Not now, we both know your father has things to answer for but that isn't a top priority right now." Razor said firmly.

"That's what I wanted to say. I want to tell you that despite our differences and my family's less-than-pleasant relationship with the Faunus race in the past I hope we can put aside any quarrels and work together to make sure this crisis ends in our favor and we can deal with my father and his dealings with the slavers later. Trust me I am just as curious as to what is happening with him as you are, especially after our relationship has become rather strained in the past few months but that can be dealt with later, we need to focus on the here and now." she stated.

"Agreed. I must admit Specialist Schnee that if you and your sister are a great improvement upon your ancestors and a credit to your family. Why if the Schnees that came before you were more like you and your sister than maybe things would be better." Razor voiced.

"Maybe, but my sister and I both had lessons to learn before we changed for the better and the mistakes of our family's past had a large part in those lessons." Winter admitted as she eyed a few White Fang troopers who were going by and giving them hateful looks.

"Mistakes of the past are often the first steps to making better choices for the future. It is just the way of things Specialist Schnee." Claudandus voiced as he leaned against the wall.

"True, but Adam's leadership is one mistake we are about to correct." Razor said confidently, with the members of the Elite Guard all cheering to voice their agreement.

In a combat training room elsewhere in the base Adam furiously slashed training droids apart, rendering them useless with swift, furious slashes and strikes of his sword. Their laser blasts sailed towards him but he deflected them with some effort. He was still tired out from the night's earlier battle but he was still standing, he could still fight and as long as he could fight his enemies didn't stand a chance.

According to some of the officers rumors were beginning to course through the base and the ranks, whispers of amputees and the Elite Guard's betrayal, rumors that he had gone mad and the Elite Guard were moving to stop him, rumors that he could lose the coming duel.

He'd show them all.

One training droid got in close and attempted to use its blade appendage to wound Adam's arm but he easily parried the attack and kicked the robot back before slicing its head in two. As it fell to the ground in a heap of scrap Mercury and Emerald entered the room.

"Working out your anger issues I see." remarked Mercury, bemused.

"Do not tempt me to make you the next training dummy, Black. What do you two want?" he demanded.

"We want to make sure you won't mess this up." Mercury said to him as Emerald stepped forward.

"We've told Salem about what happened and... well she isn't exactly pleased." The thief informed him. "This is way too risky, if Belladonna beats you it could jeopardize everything with the White Fang."

"Tell Salem she can tend to her own business in her way while I deal with this in mine." Adam snapped as he moved to go back to training.

"Taurus, you are her business. Once you become involved with her plans you belong to her, just like us." Emerald said darkly.

Adam stopped and glanced back at the thief. "Listen to me human, I am no one's slave. Not anymore."

"Oh really?" asked a calm female voice that Adam had come to recognize.

Oh no...

He turned around and looked into the unlit portion of the room and saw two blood red orbs with black dots in their centers looking right at him. From out of the shadows came Salem herself, emerging from the darkness like a swimmer from a lake. She moved past Mercury and Emerald slowly and gracefully, her blood red eyes and milk white face staring right into his very soul.

Adam gripped Wilt and Blush but he didn't dare move, he wanted to fight, he wanted to kill this thing for intruding on his base... but seeing her in the flesh for the first time was utterly terrifying.

"Adam Taurus, my dear, you have disappointed me." she said calmly.

Before anything could leave his lips Adam was levitated into the air and slammed into the wall, held there by an unseen force as Salem walked towards him.

"Adam, you should listen to Emerald, when she says that accepting this ridiculous 'duel of honor' or some such nonsense is a mistake she is correct. You should be a bit more open minded." Salem said to him as she got close. Very close.

She lifted her arm up to touch his face.

"No! Keep away! Don't touch me...!" Adam barked as she grabbed his mask and took it off, letting it fall to the ground so she could see his true face.

"Oh my, what an awful scar." Salem said condescendingly before adding "But what a handsome face if marks." She stroked his face, rubbing it gently, enjoying the feeling of Adam shuddering in fear under her touch. "Emerald told me about your story, she recorded it for future uses should we need to widen the gap in human Faunus relations." Adam looked to Emerald who nodded in confirmation before Salem forced him to face her again. "Understand this Adam Taurus, when you agreed to give Cinder, my disciple, aid you didn't just join her you joined me. If you think you can resist me, fight me, overthrow me..." she glared at him with sinister glowing eyes and a cruel face, "then you're sorely mistaken."

Adam couldn't stop himself from shaking with fear. Cinder was one thing but Salem was something else entirely. He tried to put on a brave, defiant face and said "I... if you kill me the White Fang will..."

"Will still be under my control. Maybe one of your underlings will be more obedient. Understand this, you are just another part in the machine of my grand designs and right now you're not working properly. I cannot have that. You need to understand your place, my dear Adam, while I have need of you and your organization you should know that you are ultimately replaceable. So will you fall in line?" she asked, her face so close to his, seeing the naked fear and hatred in his eyes.

"... yes." he answered, only for her hand to grab his throat and squeeze.

"Yes what?"

"Yes... my master." he said finally.

Salem smirked and leaned in. "Very good." she whispered before kissing him on the cheek. "Your fear feels so good Adam, it feels truly exquisite. I'm happy to know you understand who is truly in control." With that she finally let him fall to the floor. As Adam rushed to get his mask back on Salem turned around and moved for the shadows, both Emerald and Mercury watching in both awe and fear. "Adam, my two agents here have informed me what you plan to do to the captives but I want to hear it explicitly from you. What do you plan to do?" she asked.

Adam got back up, catching his breath before he answered "Kill Scarlatina and make an example of him for one, while his niece will make an attractive slave. The Schnees and the robot will be used to lure in their father and some Atlas soldiers and then we kill them all but we'll give you the android afterwards so your scientists can do what they please with her. Cinder can do whatever she wants with the Neo girl. The others will be hunted down and killed except for the Rose girl who I wll have delivered to you. What do you want with her anyway? I thought her powers were harmful to... your kind."

"She can harm me but only just, I have learned to deal with her 'kind', as you put it. She is another tool in my plans just like you Taurus, you will both serve your purposes and if you both serve me well I might spare you. That is all you'll ever need to know." she told him.

"Un-understood. As for Blake, Xiao Long, and Wukong... well I'll make Wukong regret ever laying eyes on Blake and Xiao Long is a rather attractive human, she'll be a good source of entertainment for my troops once she's properly broken. And as for Blake... she's mine and mine alone, once I win I will spare her to make it appear that I am merciful, dispelling the rumors of my viciousness. Then I'll make her mine once again, one way or another." he stated.

"Good. I will take my leave now, so not fail me Adam, and if you do... beg Blake to grant you the sweet release of death because I will not, I will make you the ultimate example of what happens to those who fail me and your pain... your suffering will be so horrible you'll forget all about the trauma of your past and you'll experiance a pain you never could have imagined. Good luck." she finished as she went back into the shadows.

Adam ran over to the wall and threw the switches on, lighting up the entire room, only to see that she was no longer there.

"You heard her horn head, don't mess up." Mercury warned as he left the room.

Adam growled at the grey haired thug before looking to Emerald who eyed him with pity. "She's not exaggerating in the slightest. Win this one Adam, for your sake." she said before following her partner out of the room.

Adam was left alone in the training room, trying to ignore the feeling of dread that flowed through his mind.

---

6 Months Ago

Fotia dodged the spikes from the Boarbatusk and slammed her mace into it, sending it flying into the mouth of the Wyvern where it was crushed. Fotia whirled around and blasted away the Grimm that she and the Wyvern had been pitted against, helped out by her mighty dragon as it poured fire down upon them. She smiled at it, only for her attention to be ripped away by a large Beowolf as it jumped over the inferno and landed in front of her.

It reared up its claws, ready to strike but she quickly slammed her spear into it, impaling its head.

She looked up to see Cinder watching the training session from a chair with an interested look on her face.

Personally Fotia couldn't help but feel that there was something very odd about this, fighting Grimm for practice when she was supposed to be controlling them. True Steppenwolffe had ordered them to attack her before he let them go about it on their own but she figured it was just a new step in her training, plus she had the Wyvern to control.

Control...

She had an idea. She quickly ran over to the Wyvern and climbed on its back. It moaned in confusion but she gave it a gentle rub. "It's okay, don't worry. I have an idea." she whispered to it. She began to realize how surreal it was that not only had she been paired with a Wyvern, one of the most feared beasts in Remnant's legends but here she was treating it as a pet, as a friend.

She shook that thought off as she reached out her hand to half of the remaining Grimm in the room, the other half kept back by the ferocious roars, snapping jaws, and swiping claws of the Wyvern. Fotia's eyes began to glow as she took control of half of the Grimm in front of her, mentally instructing them to turn around, making them face the other half of the hostile Grimm.

"Attack." she ordered.

The two sides of Grimm before her collided with one another, tearing, clawing, biting, stabbing, mauling, and roaring as they diminished in number until only one side was left standing. The side she had taken control over. She jumped off of the Wyvern and bowed to Cinder, who applauded her.

"A magnificent performance Fotia, you have done very well. Not only did you ultimately come out victorious but you did so in a way that didn't destroy all of the Grimm. You're a very good learner. We'll need people like you in the new world." Cinder praised.

"Thank you, Lady Cinder. I hope both you and Mistress Salem are proud of me." Fotia said as she bowed.

"Oh I am, and so will my master." Cinder assured her.

"Lady Cinder." said Lancaster, one of the guards as he approached her.

"Ah, Lancaster. Have you heard anything about the location of Ruby Rose, Jaune Arc, and the other two?" she inquired.

"Nothing but rumors and hearsay. Nothing concrete I'm afraid but we have reason to believe that they are in the Kingdom." Lancaster said.

"Hmm, I will need to consult my master on this." Cinder said.

Fotia had a strange feeling when Cinder mentioned those two names, something about them was oddly familiar. She spoke up, "Excuse me Lady Cinder, but has anything happened? Who are Ruby Rose and Ja..."

"None of your concern for the time being Fotia. You are dismissed." Cinder said bluntly as she got up and made for the exit.

Fotia sighed as the large doors in the pit opened up so Matilda and the other keepers could herd the Grimm back to their pens, sadly Wyvern had to go too.

The Wyvern placed its head low so she could pet it and nuzzled her back, something that still weirded out every one of the keepers. As she pet the large Grimm Fotia couldn't help but wonder about those two names Lady Cinder had mentioned.

Ruby Rose...

Jaune Arc...

The latter name gave her a feeling, one she couldn't describe...

"Are you alright dear?" asked Matilda, who was relatively nice to Fotia.

"Yes, I'm alright, just a little fatigued from the battle. Take care of him." Fotai said to her as she rubbed the Wyvern affectionately and it nudged her in return.

Matilda shook her head, still not quite believing the flat-out unnatural bond the girl had with the gargantuan Grimm.

As Fotia left to retire for the night, she still couldn't shake that odd feeling about those two names. It felt like both of them meant something to her, especially the latter..."

Pyrrha was shaken awake by Jaune. "Pyr, wake up, we're almost to the rendezvous point." he said as she opened her eyes.

Despite her nervousness and worry for her friends Pyrrha had decided she needed some rest before the battle so she needed a brief nap.

"Thank you." she said as she got up and stretched out in her new combat outfit. The Flagship of the Atlas Military, named the Resolute, hovered high over the city nearest to the White Fang's captured territory, here was where they would meet up with the Vacuo Rangers to prepare for the strike against the White Fang's headquarters. She looked around as Ren, Nora, Fox, Sage, Taiyang, Oobleck, Port, and Crane all began to make sure their weapons were properly repaired while Glynda was getting ready to leave and join up with the rangers.

The Vacuo Rangers were the Kingdom's military force, serving as combat teams, terrorist response, and security enforcement but they started out as a way to patrol the vast jungles and deserts on the continent's wilderness but as they became bigger and bigger to properly patrol and secure the more wild parts of the Kingdom and their efforts to battle both Grimm, criminal organizations, terrorists, pirates, and other such threats became more well known they were upgraded into Vacuo's full time military, merging it the already existing forces. They had the typical vehicles for a military like tanks and jets, they also utilized ones such as armored jeeps and buggies with mounted guns to deal with the lands varying environments and specialized bullheads.

These men and women were trained to know the land well and know how to survive all desert, jungle, mountain sides, swamps, and other places, making them rather competent soldiers. With Glynda leading the mission to save Oro and the ones inside of the prison, the villagers and the prisoners were in good hands.

"Are you sure you wouldn't like Professor Port or I to accompany you?" Dr. Oobleck offered.

"No Bartholomew, the Vacuo Rangers will be more than enough to help me liberate the village and the prison. Besides, you're going right for the White Fang's headquarters, you'll need every fighter available." Glynda said to her colleague.

"We're not going up against the whole of the White Fang Professor, just about five percent of them, maybe six, give or take. There are still a lot of other White Fang agents littered throughout all four of the Kingdoms and various islands as well so it's not like we're going up against tens of thousands of Faunus, just a few hundred." Professor Crane surmised.

"But that's still a big number and these are people, not Grimm, they won't go down as easily and they can think." Glynda warned them.

"We know, and we know to hold back." Taiyang stated.

The blonde teacher nodded, "Correct, fatalities must be at an absolute minimum, wound and incapacitate only and only kill as a last resort." She looked to her students and said "That goes for all of you, try your best not to kill anyone."

All six of the students nodded, "We know, murder isn't exactly something we're rushing to do." Fox remarked.

"No killing, just incapacitate them. We got it Professor." Jaune said with a nod.

"Can I still break some limbs?" asked Nora, as innocently as she could.

"I suppose if that's what it takes to keep some of the more hostile enemies down. I just wanted to be clear with you. We'll be there soon so good luck to all of you." Glynda wished them before she left the room and made way to the landing platforms where she'd meet up and board a Ranger gunship.

A few minutes later the Resolute and the other ships got moving again, heading towards the southwest.

As Pyrrha loaded up Milo with Dust she wondered to herself why she kept thinking about the Wyvern. She couldn't really deny that she and the dragon had formed something of a bond, she had been hesitant to tell the others of it becasue of how bizarre the mere idea of it was, but she told them, RWBY and the rest of JNPR anyway and while they did find it incredibly weird to completely impossible they did not think any less of Pyrrha for it, something she was grateful for, but it was still odd. The Grimm were supposed to be pure, unrefined, darkness and hatred given bestial form. They could think or feel real emotions, they could form bonds... and yet when she was Fotia she felt a genuine bond with the Wyvern.

Maybe that bond could still be there?

"You okay?" Jaune asked as he squeezed her hand gently.

She smiled and squeezed back. "I'm fine."

Nora smiled at the couple before she called "Hey Dr. Oobleck, how long before we get there?"

"Twenty-five minutes by my estimates, but we have to tank into account the fact that we need to wait for Team Beacon's signal before we move in and attack." Oobleck said to them.

The students nodded as Crane walked back to sit in the seat in front of Jaune and Pyrrha. "Hello Mr. Arc, Miss Nikos. We met before but we didn't really know each other back then, I'm Professor Crane." he greeted.

"We heard about you, but I guess you know who we are." Jaune said as he shook the thin man's hand.

"Well not everything but I do know the basics and Oobleck has told me a little about what went on in Haven. I'm so sorry for what happened to both of you." he told them as he shook Pyrrha's gloved hand.

"Thank you sir, do you wish to talk about something?" the Spartan inquired, getting to the point.

Jaune gave her a look and a smile as Crane sighed.

"I admit I do. I take it since you've heard of me you know of my passion for the myths and legends of our world." he began.

"Yeah, Professor Goodwitch even told me you signed up to take Professor Pine's place when he retires next year. So I guess you want to talk about the Aura Crystal." Jaune said openly. The group was currently alone in the room on the large ship, no soldiers or officers were there to listen in on them so they could be open for the time being.

"Yes. I confess that's what it is. I don't mean to be rude but it's just that..." he struggled to say.

"It's just that Nicolas has always loved learning about myths and legends and trying to prove they're validity. Once he talked our entire team into spending a shore leave on finding some scrolls hidden in the catacombs." Oobleck spoke up as he turned over to talk to them.

"Oh come on Bartholomew, don't pretend you didn't enjoy it too. You were the one who said yes right away." Crane reminded.

"Typical Barty." joked Port from his seat.

"We'll I have had worse nights out." Oobleck admitted, "But I can assure you my students; Crane is a trustworthy individual, he's a good friend and while I don't think it's wise to tell him everything I think you should tell him a little about the crystal."

Jaune and Pyrrha looked at one another before whispering to each other.

"They need to think hard about this." voiced Ren. "The Aura Crystal is very important, and while I don't think you mean any harm Professor just let it be known that they aren't the only ones one would have to go up against should the Aura Crystal be threatened."

"Yeah, you'd have to go through us too." agreed Nora as she loaded up a grenade into Magnhild.

"Duly noted." Crane said with a gulp.

"Don't worry about her, she may act tough and seem weird at times but she's really sweet deep down." Sage assured him.

"Uh, Professor?" said Pyrrha, getting his attention. "We can tell you a little bit about it, but not much. Would it be okay if we got to know you a bit more, trust you, before we really tell you about it?"

Crane smiled and said "I've wanted to see the Aura Crystal in person for over thirty years, how hard could it be to wait for a few more weeks or months? But I hope we can come to trust one another in time."

"I hope so too." agreed Jaune.

"But tell me, if you're both here then who is guarding the Aura Crystal."

In truth the Crystal was being held in a vault in the hotel's basement guarded by highly-trained Atlas troops and Atlesian Knights programmed by Dr. Polendina himself, but they couldn't tell Crane that at the moment.

"Classified." Both of them said at once. They looked to each other and began to laugh together.

"Lovebirds." Fox muttered with a roll of his eyes.

"Yeah, isn't it wonderful?" Nora asked cheerfully.

Jaune looked out the window, gazing at the clouds below. "I hope Ruby and the others are okay." he said quietly.

Pyrrha leaned into him and whispered "I know they need our help, but I'm sure they're alright. If they're in trouble we'll be there to help them."

The blonde knight smiled as his girlfriend as the Resolute flew on into the night sky.

---

The White Fang scout ship slowly and silently flew as low as it could but still over the forest as they got closer to a safe landing site. They discovered that the ship was outfitted with a cloaking device that kept them invisible to radar and other such equipment, however they were still very much visible to the naked eye so they were still vulnerable.

Once the remaining members of Team Beacon and the Remnant Knight has finalized everything they need to know about taking down the jamming towers, each of them took to taking whatever they needed from the stash of probably stolen weapons on board. The passenger compartment of the airship was filled with activity as the various Huntsmen and Huntresses got into enemy attire, checked the reliability of their chosen weapons as well as loaded up on ammunition magazines and grenades.

Currently they were heading to an area not too far from the White Fang's headquarters where the main jamming tower was, along with two others nearby, according to the map. Destroying all three of them would be more than enough to get a signal out to Ironwood and put the White Fang in some serious trouble.

Coco walked up to the cockpit and asked "How are we doing so far?"

Qrow, operating the ship as carefully as he could, glanced back at her and said "So far, nothing suggests that they've detected us so that cloaking device works. I can see the main jamming tower."

Sure enough up ahead there was the primary tower, the largest of the towers that subtly dotted the land and it, like all the other towers, was camouflaged by leaves and vines to keep them hidden from enemy agents. "I think we can land on that grotto." Coco suggested. pointing to a small opening covered by trees but had enough room for them to move in and out if they were careful enough.

"Good eye. Okay everyone we've spotted a good enough landing site so we're gonna go down." Qrow called.

She nodded, besides an assault rifle and pistol, Coco has taken over the minigun of the airship just as Yatsuhashi mentally expected, whirling the barrels up experimentally once in a while with a small smile on her face. The aforementioned samurai Huntsman had picked the largest sword out of the bunch they had found, with was as long as his arms, in addition to a shotgun for close quarters combat. Scarlet had taken a pair of pistols with a handful of clips, and was rather happy when he saw that someone among the scouts had misplaced left behind a grappling hook gun, which he quickly took possession of. Neptune, while still hurting a little from his wounds, was given another sniper rifle with a machine pistol which he accepted gratefully from Ruby. Looking up through the door into the cockpit, she also saw that her uncle had taken a pistol and another shotgun.

The young hooded Huntress checked the sniper rifle she had taken from the White Fang weapons cache, and while it's no Crescent Rose, she was glad that she had at least a weapon she was familiar with to support her fellow friends with during the battle ahead. She personally missed the weapon she constructed herself back at Signal Academy, and personally hoped that later she would be reunited with it once more. Looking up, Ruby looked to Sharp Strike who was doing his own preparations, his gauntleted hands a blur of various movements as he prepared his bike for the main attack. Judging from its outward appearance, the Knight's bike was indeed combat capable and hence it would definitely be a great help to their mission.

Carrying the sniper rifle in her hands, she approached him and heard soft beeping sounds as the Sharp Strike tapped the various functions on the dashboard of his bike to check their functionalities, while loading up the dust-enhanced bullets into the side machine-guns. Watching the Knight continue to work on his bike, Ruby wondered if there are other built-in weapons within the overall deceptively simple design of the motorcycle itself. She somehow had a feeling that perhaps during the battle she might get a chance to see those weapons directly.

"So...you are a real honest to gosh Remnant Knight." She slowly opened up, and saw Sharp Strike's helmet lenses slowly meet her silver eyes. The rest of Team Beacon stopped in their pre-battle routine, listening to her words which echoed around the passenger compartment.

"Yes, that's true enough. I know it must be an intense day for you, experiencing one surprise after another, right?" The Knight replied calmly.

"I guess you could call it that, but ever since I got involved with this mess...starting with that night I met Professor Ozpin my life has been a series of weird but rather risky moments. While some of them are happy, others are...well, I think you would understand if I don't like thinking about some of the bad times in my life." She told him with a shrug as the airship began to descend, having reached their first destination.

"I understand what you mean, Ruby. There are parts of my life which I do not wish to remember, and you aren't wrong...sometimes it's best not to think or talk of them until you're ready." He remarked understandingly, and Ruby noticed that something in the tone of his voice told her that he knew exactly how he felt, "But you're lucky, since your actions have indeed saved more lives than you know."

Ruby was puzzled by his remark, "Huh? What do you mean by that?"

"What I meant, Ruby, is that a lot of people know what you have done. Your speech was broadcast on the newsfeed of every Kingdom and outlying island, and your actions during the Fall were very much talked about so they know it was your powers that frozen the Wyvern and they also know that it was your determination, bravery and the love for your friends and family that led you to Haven and in doing so, saved the lives of not only Pyrrha Nikos, but also a lot of innocent lives who wouldn't be alive had no one intervened with Salem's machinations." The Knight explained as he finished loading up the external weapons on his got ready just in case they were spotted as Qrow began to land the ship, gently placing it down in the grotto.

"Well thanks, but I didn't do it alone. Weiss stopped Penny from being used as a bomb, Uncle Qrow found out General Ironwood was under mind control, Yang and Sun rescued Blake, Jaune himself brought Pyrrha back... I didn't really do much." She lamented, her gaze dropping to the metal floor of the airship.

"Oh really? Would Jaune have been able to bring Pyrrha's memories back if you hadn't led him to Haven?" Neptune spoke up behind her.

"And Weiss wouldn't have changed for the better had she not met you." came Yatsuhashi's quiet and sensible voice.

"And if it wasn't for you the Fang would have executed all of us." Scarlet pointed out clearly.

"Not to mention you slashed Cinder across the face with a flaming scythe, which was, no contest, the most badass thing I have ever seen." Coco praised, as she and the rest of Team Beacon looked at Ruby herself.

Ruby found a small smile coming onto her face, her cheeks blushing a little before Sharp Strike spoke up again, "Look around you, Ruby. Your friends not only admire you for your skills as a Huntress but they also treasure you as a loyal friend. While you remain in the light for everyone else to see, I must stick to the shadows and remain anonymous."

"So why do the Remnant Knights want to be a secret?" Scarlet inquired.

There was a brief pause as Sharp Strike considered his words and replied, "Let's just say our organization functions better without the interference of the military or politicians, and if our identities were public we would be vulnerable to infiltration and other such acts of subterfuge. My master once said that history is a heavy burden, as what was once viewed as a great thing may be seen as a terrible thing by others as the years go by... so while our ways combine both the new and the old, we still dedicate ourselves to the principles of the order and its original cause of protection, which has never changed throughout the ages."

"And what is the cause?" Yatsuhashi questioned with a bit of curiosity in his voice.

"To protect the innocent, survive whatever trials we may face, and to serve Remnant. The existence of the Remnant Knights has been a carefully guarded secret for so long was mainly due to the fact that we only trust those who had proven themselves trustworthy. This is to ensure that our organization don't come under the influence of people in positions of power, so that they would not be able to control us nor turn us from our true cause." Sharp Strike elaborated watchfully, "So if an unworthy person, say a corrupt politician or an irresponsible military official, is given power we will not have to obey him or her and instead adhere to protect the people of Remnant."

"So... if someone evil was put in charge, like someone who would act as Salem's puppet, you would do something about him or her?" Ruby asked.

"Normally we would leave that to the Templars and Revenants. We will definitely take action, but we wouldn't harm innocents or allow them to be harmed. Trust me." Sharp Strike said firmly.

Ruby nodded and put on a smile, looking into Sharp Strike's blank face-plate. All of a sudden her face lit up with an idea. "If you don't mind Sharp Strike, I got a little bet for you." she said.

The Knight tilted his helmet a little at the unexpected suggestion, "I'm listening, what is it?"

"Just hear me out. I want to trust you because you have helped us out so much, but you have kept your face hidden from us under that helmet even though you would have been able to face us eye to eye without it." She said, glancing around to see her friends looking at her and the Knight, "So if we pull this mission off, can you take your helmet off and let us see your face, so that we know who we actually worked together with. Deal?" she asked politely.

Sharp Strike was silent for a minute but as the ship gently landed on solid ground he gave his answer. "While I cannot show you my face, how about just my eyes instead? Since eyes are the windows to one's soul, and they help one to know who they are dealing with, I think that's a better compromise between us. However, you are correct when you say that I should be willing to trust you just as much as I want you to trust me, Ruby. Will that suffice?"

Ruby smiled and said "Sure."

"However, since this is already a bet, that means I am also entitled to something from you if the mission is a success." The Knight mentioned.

Ruby raised an eyebrow as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other, "Well what can I give you?"

The Remnant Knight gestured with his finger, pointing at the belt at her waist which contained cartridges in individual loops which led to a magazine pouch, "I would like to have one of those sniper bullets you carry with you, specifically one with a rose emblem engraving."

"It's a deal, Sharp Strike." She smiled at him and the Knight gave a nod of his head in agreement.

"Okay, let's get ready to move out. We don't have much time, so work fast and be careful." Qrow said as he opened up the ship's ramp.

"You think we can get out of here fast enough if we are discovered?" Neptune asked as he inspected the grotto a significant distance away from them. Qrow had landed them behind a rather thick bunch trees, hiding them from view but still giving them a line of sight to the grotto.

"I think we would have a decent chance. Okay, everybody clear on the plan?" Qrow asked, looking around the passenger compartment at everyone present.

"Yep, three teams; me and Yatsu, Ruby and Scarlet, and Sharp Strike take down three towers altogether. That will give the signal for Ironwood and his army to come in and kick some ass. So long as we just keep these uniforms and masks on and don't do anything too stupid we will be in and out before the White Fang even have a clue as to what happened because they will soon be getting wrecked." Coco surmised with a smirk on her face.

"Bingo, now move out." Qrow ordered them, "Neptune, you stay behind with me and guard the airship, got it?"

"Got it, old guy." Neptune waved his hand at them and sat up on his seat, his machine pistol resting on his lap against the open ramp.

Coco, Yatsuhashi, Ruby, Scarlet, and Sharp Strike all disembarked from the ship, the four students from Team Beacon armed with White Fang assault rifles and a few other weapons they had chosen from the weapons stash just in case they needed to put up a fight. After making sure they hadn't been spotted, the group of Hunters and the Knight moved on away from the grotto and towards the jamming towers to accomplish their mission.

---

The duel was going to begin in a matter of minutes.

Blake and the others stepped out of the locker room, seeing the Elite Guard on duty in the halls. A few White Fang troops were nearby, leering and glaring at Blake.

"Human loving whore!" called one.

"You're dead, traitor!" jeered another.

"Get lost!" snapped Russell as he pointed his sword at them, with Kane, Selena, and Teresa pointing their weapons in their direction as well.

The punks left as Yang growled at them. "They won't be such smart asses when you beat Adam." she said.

Blake looked at her with a worried expression but she said nothing.

"Hey, relax. You can do this, we all believe in you." Sun said reassuringly as he took her hand.

"Thank you, I just wish... never mind. Let's get moving." Blake said as she began moving towards the exit, the rest of her friends, the Elite Guard, and Leonardo and his troops flanking her like a convoy protecting precious cargo.

"I don't see why we can't just shoot this sucker in the back during the fight and be done with it. It's more than he deserves." Neo commented.

"Talking my language." muttered Kong

"That won't solve anything Neo, if we did that we'd be no better then our enemies and it would vindicate Adam's claims to those Faunus and we'd risk making him a martyr. For now we have to play by the rules." Weiss stated.

"That's fine and I gotta admit I don't want to sink to the level but I wouldn't put it past that creep to do something like that, so if he pulls anything I'm taking him out." Yang said defiantly as she cocked the Ember Celica.

"While I do not you're wrong I think that it's more important to adhere to our code of honor, that way the Faunus of the Fang can see that we are the right path, not Adam." Razor voiced.

"Let's just hope they're smart enough to make the right choice." Thayer remarked.

"I'm more worried about the fight, you sure you're up for this Blake?" Kane inquired.

Blake sighed and nodded, "The enhancers have done good work, I'm more than ready for a fight."

"Then what's wrong?" asked Yang.

Blake was silent for a moment before she replied "What do you mean? I'm about to fight Adam, possibly to the death and I hold our lives in my hands."

"It's more than that, what is it?" Weiss asked gently.

Blake sighed and looked to her friends and her grandfather before she answered "No matter what I can't get rid of this terrible feeling of guilt."

"What do you feel guilty over?" inquired Penny, curious.

"If I hadn't supported Adam all those years ago, if I had the foresight to see where he would lead us I would have left with Claudandus that night. For years I stood by him, stealing from and hurting humans who I foolishly believed were all the same because of how I was hurt by a few humans. I let myself be taken in by his story, I let myself believe that what happened to him would happen to all of us, he made me think that all humans were the same and that there was no chance for equality because of what happened to his family. When he began going too far I tried to stop him, talk some sense into him but he responded by slapping me in the face and insulting me. He apologized, said it was an accident but it kept happening over and over... and I kept letting it happen because I loved him and I thought he loved me." she told them, complete sincerity in her voice.

"But you left us." Kane pointed out. "You saw what the Fang was becoming, you made the right choice."

"She said earlier she mostly left because of Adam." Velvet informed him.

Blake nodded, "I left becasue I could see what Adam was becoming, I left because our relationship had gotten... abusive." At that Sun, Weiss, and Yang all looked furious. "But I thought there was still hope for the White Fang as a whole, that overall the whole organization still had a noble cause. That's why I defended them so vehemently when Weiss spoke her blunt opinion of them that why when Sun and I encountered them working for Neo's friend, the late Roman Torchwick, at the docks I tried to appeal to them first, I was confused as to why they'd ever work with human criminals but I learned that Adam had allied himself with people much worse than Roman. I had learned that the White Fang had more wrong with it than Adam and Weiss learned that she couldn't judge our entire race because of the White Fang's actions. But there was still a part of me that wanted to believe the White Fang was good, and I suppose I wasn't entirely wrong..." she said, looking at Razor, Kane, Piper, and the rest, "But I still feel guilty over all of this, like maybe if I hadn't ran away Adam never would have joined up with Cinder."

"Don't blame yourself, that lady tends not to leave you much of a choice." Neo stated.

"Plus, you were right to have hope for the White Fang, having hope is never wrong." voiced Claudandus sympathetically.

"And if you truly were a bad person, if you truly were to blame for all of this you wouldn't be with us, you'd be with Adam." Weiss pointed out.

"They're right, so do yourself a favor, heck do us all a favor and stop blaming yourself for this mess. You're here trying to make things right so that proves you're better than you think you are." Sun said to her.

Yang grabbed Blake's shoulder and made the Cat Faunus face her once again, making Blake think of how beautiful Yang was before the blonde said "Sun's right, don't doubt yourself because we know you're a good person, it's a fact. I'm happy to have you as my partner and I would have anyone else. We love you Blake and we're all rooting for you out there, we know you can do it."

With that Yang gave Blake a loving hug, which she happily returned. Weiss smiled and joined in, so did Sun... and so did Penny because she really couldn't resist a group hug.

Blake smiled and held back tears as she said "Thank you. I... I think I feel a little better now."

"Good, because you'll feel even better when you beat Adam." Sun said encouragingly.

"Speaking of which, we better get out there." Razor said. Blake nodded and the group continued on until they came to the exit where several White Fang guards glared at them, but let them pass into the courtyard without resistance.

The area was packed, all of the available members of the White Fang on the base were there to watch the duel, though not everyone was there as there were still workers and guards on duty inside and engineers still working on Adam's ship in the hangar. Many of the White Fang members were chanting Adam's name and upon seeing Blake they began to boo her.

Blake moved on, ignoring the hurtful jeers and insults tossed at her, the hateful names and threats, Faunus telling they wanted to see Adam defeat and kill her. No matter how much it hurt, no matter how much hate was in their voices, she ignored them and moved on until she got into the center of the courtyard to wait for Adam.

Lights illuminated the area in the darkness, there were large cameras, transmitting to other White Fang bases throughout Remnant to show the whole of the White Fang the duel.

Hui stood before Yang, Sun, Razor, Weiss, Winter, Leonardo, and the others, flanked on both sides by a line of strong looking White Fang members.

"What's up with the blockade?" asked Russell.

"We're just making sure you don't try to interfere once Adam defeats Belladonna." Hui answered firmly. "We want to make sure you know your place."

Razor growled and spat "So long as you know yours, but I don't think Taurus will win, not without one hell of a fight."

"We'll see." Hui stated with a grimace.

Razor looked around the courtyard and saw many of the White Fang troops glancing or glaring at him. Some seemed to be furious, hurt by his betrayal, but others seemed to be thinking about it; the Elite Guard was always loyal to the White Fang so they knew that there had to have something to make them turn on Adam after so long. Razor allowed himself a small smile, if some were hesitating, thinking about this, then there might be hope for the White Fang after all.

Blake stood in the center and breathed calmly as the door at the other end of the compound opened up to reveal Adam. He walked out of the doorway and passed the cheering crowds as Emerald, Mercury, and Steppenwolffe followed him, but made sure to stay to the sides.

Adam went past the crowd and exchanged a short glance with Emerald before he approached the center. He and Blake were now face to face.

"Brothers and sisters of the White Fang! We stand here today because I have been challenged for leadership by none other than the traitor Blake Belladonna!" he began, getting boos and jeers directed at Blake, but she did her best to ignore them. "She has accused me of killing and mutilating our own kind, she and her human friends have even done something to turn the ever loyal Elite Guard of this lie! Well today we are going to end our little relationship one way or another. Should I win I will continue to lead us and I shall punish these fools and end Blake's human loving life. If she wins she will murder me and take over, leading you all to an unknown fate." he declared.

"A fate of understanding, kindness, and redemption!" Blake shouted. "I don't want anyone to suffer anymore. I just want us all to be equal."

Adam smirked and said "How optimistic of you Blake, you never learn."

"Neither do you." she shot back.

The crowd died down, everyone from Team Beacon to the Elite Guard to the rank and file of the Fang watched with interest as the two duelists stared at each other.

Blake and Adam unsheathed their swords simultaneously and the blades clashed together as the battle officially began.

---

The fleet had made it to the stopping point. This put them close enough to the village and the mountain ranger but it was still far enough away to keep them from being seen on the Fang's radar, according the Vacuo Rangers who had scouted out the area and had deemed this to be the ideal spot. Glynda stood aboard a Ranger's gunship that was fast enough to get to the village quickly and the armor was thick enough to withstand laser fire, it and several others were appointed to help in the evacuation of the villagers. Down below the Rangers ground forces were already in place for the battle, they just needed the air support.

With the fleet in position everyone needed to get ready to strike one Ruby's team gave the signal. Team JNPR, Fox, and Sage followed Dr. Oobleck and Professors Port and Crane to the main hangar bay of the Resolute, only to fine the large room bustling with activity.

Throughout the hangar bays of the Atlas flagship, squads of Atlas Soldiers with Atlesian Knight-300s marched up their respective fighter-transports and carrier airships in impeccable and orderly lines.

"Over here!" called Chamberlain to them.

"Ah, excellent. This way." Oobleck said as he led the group over to Chamberlain as they moved to meet up in front of a specially-built VTOL transport, which was far more superior than the bullheads used by the various Kingdoms, and armed with highly advanced weaponry including magnetic blasters and tracking missile pods.

As Chamberlain made his way to them down the aisle through the rows of soldiers and android machines, the group of students couldn't help but notice two lines of troopers with very different armor configurations and markings walked behind him, making their way towards Team Beacon along with their Academy's teachers.

Unlike the other Atlas soldiers who wore armor with colors of blue, red, green and yellow on them designating their functions within the Atlesian military forces, these particular soldiers were clad in full body armor plates of black and grey, with the dark blue highlights along their helmets, forearms and legs. Their helmets covered their heads and faces entirely including the mouth areas, and they all looked pretty much to be of the same height. The black-grey armored troopers wore utility belts with pouches for extra ammunition and a variety of grenades, in addition to a pistol holster on the left, a inactive shock baton on the right, and another collapsed a laser sword in a sheath strapped to their lower backs. While the majority of them carried highly advanced assault rifles of different make and design, others carried a variety of weapons including submachine guns, sniper rifles, plasma repeaters and the last few at the back carried what look like bulky shoulder-held missile launchers.

What Jaune, Pyrrha, Fox, and Ren fount intriguing was that upon their left shoulder pad was the emblem of the gear and spear of Atlas, while the other shoulder pad displayed what department of the Atlas military the aforementioned soldiers belonged to. It was an insignia of a white Nevermore clutching a couple of thunderbolts in its claws in an inverted triangle, while cursive script spelled out the following words at the bottom, "Exitus Acta Probat."

Stopping in front of the assembled Huntsmen and Huntresses, Chamberlain smiled and said "Good to see you all in person again, though I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever get to talk with you guys outside of a crisis."

"It is unlikely Colonel but maybe someday it will happen." Port greeted as he shook the man's hand.

"Who are those guys?" Nora asked, deciding to be bold and forego the pleasantries unlike her teammates.

Chamberlain smiled at her forwardness, he turned and gestured to the neatly ordered rows of specially-armored Atlas Soldiers behind him."Allow me to introduce Task Force Omega." Gesturing to one of the troopers who walked a few steps in front and saluted him curtly, "And Commander, code-named 'Central', who is the leader of this particular Strike Force who will be taking part in this battle."

"I believe we'll come in handy. We've heard a lot about you kids, took some guts to pull off what you did in Haven. Let's hope you'll keep it up here." Commander Central remarked.

"We certainly hope so." Pyrrha said, "But truth be told we're more concerned about our friends' safety then our combat performances at the moment."

Central nodded and gestured for his soldiers to move up the ramp of the VTOL transport, which had been specially refitted for their group.

Chamberlain looked to Central and began "So I take it that..." the Colonel stopped and looked at the teachers and students before finishing with "he will not be joining you."

As Central walked up the ramp he sighed and shook his head, "No. While I would like to have as much backup as possible, he's still not ready as the technicians haven't got his... teaching hasn't been fully ironed out yet. Plus they say he's just not ready for a battle on this scale yet."

"Understood sir. Perhaps next mission then." Chamberlain said before saluting the commander once more, which Central returned before the ramp of the VTOL closed off and the airship lifted off from its pad, its engines whining at peak efficiency as it powered up to join the rest of the deploying joint task force.

"We'll at least we're going in with a lot of firepower and troops this time instead of just a handful of kids and a few teachers and civilians." Sage observed.

Jaune nodded, "Yeah, hopefully this won't be anywhere near as insane as Haven."

"We can only hope my boy." Port agreed.

"The stakes are high, but I'm confidant that we'll succeed. I mean, look at all of this." Chamberlain said as he gestured around the hangar. "How can the White Fang hope to stop us?"

"Well they have some of our friends and a lot of other hostages for one, plus our whole strike relies on Coco, Ruby, and the others getting those jamming towers down." Fox reminded him.

"Don't worry about it Fox, we just got to have faith in our teams and do our best to help and hopefully this will all be over by sunrise." Pyrrha told him.

---

Blake and Adam kept on, their respective blades pressing against one another. Adam tired to surge on but Blake let go and spun around to meet another strike in a parry, only for Adam to hit her with an uppercut, sending her on her back.

"Hey, that's cheating!" shouted Weiss.

"No, in this kind of fight anything goes." Kane told her as Adam approached Blake.

Adam brought up his sword to slam it down but Blake jumped up and landed on her feet, just in time to strike Wilt and pin it down.

"It's not going to be that easy." she hissed as he glared at her from behind his new mask. Adam pulled back again and slammed down his sword again but Blake quickly parried it. The two went on, exchanging about nine blows in all before Adam held up Blush and tried to shoot Blake but she dodged both blasts before dropping, rolling beside Adam, and kicked up, landing a hit on his jaw.

Blake separated Gambol Shroud into both katana and cleaver forms and spun around, tearing a small scratch in Adam's robe as she drove him back.

Adam glared at her as he stepped carefully away but stood strong as Blake began to charge. She jumped up and landed behind Adam and attempted to strike him from behind but he blocked her attack expertly. The two opened up another volley of strikes, Blake with two blades and Adam with one, they clashed about six times before she unexpectedly changed in styles and she engaged his sword in a fencing style with her katana. Adam slammed it away and pulled back to quickly block Gambol Shroud's cleaver.

"Come on Blake!" Sun cheered.

"Kill the traitor!" yelled a White Fang thug.

The two exchanged blows thrice before Blake used the Dust crystal in Gambol Shroud's hilt and her Semblance to create a fire clone that got between the two combatants and exploded, sending them both back and giving them some distance.

Adam charged her and jumped, trying to slash at her head but she quickly parried the high attack before he landed behind her. Blake turned around and activated Gambol Shroud's kusarigama mode and the scythe's blunt end hit Adam in the chest and knocked him down.

Blake ran towards him but Adam used Wilt to shoot at Blake. She deflected it but the blast was powerful enough to nearly knock her down as he recovered.

Adam glared at Blake, determined to beat her. He couldn't lose this, he knew Salem was watching the battle, he didn't know how but he was sure she was observing them. He couldn't lose this, his life depended on it.

He rushed at her with a furious yell as she braced herself, the two clashed, he attacked both of her blades one before she struck back, forcing him to parry both weapons. The former lovers slammed into each other, exchanging blows mercilessly. Thrusts, parries, strikes, slashes, blocks, spins could all be seen as two figures of black and white and black and red fought on.

Blake ducked as he swung for her neck, allowing her to kick him the knee. He grunted as she brought both her blades at him but he quickly blocked again before retreating.

Blake gave chase, only for Adam to strike back with powerful blows and slashes which she managed to parry. He tried to strike at her legs and he chest but each attack was met with a parry. He held his sword low and swung it at her legs but she jumped up and as she came down he rose up his blade and aimed for her head but she quickly blocked that as well before she slashed at his chest but he easily leaned to avoid it.

"Tell me Blake, how long do you think this can last?"

"We'll find out." she answered as she lunged at him. She swung her katana at him and then her cleaver but he blocked both, she followed up with a plunge of her sword but he moved quickly so it missed. She attacked once more, a swing that he dodged and a strike that he parried before he used Wilt as a blunt instrument to hit her in the gut.

"Ah!" she cried out as she moved her sword to block, acting disoriented. Adam smirked and moved in to attack, to keep on pressing her back but as he neared her she suddenly struck back with both her blades, forcing him back instead.

"A clever feint." he admitted as he blocked her strikes.

"I learned it from a human." she said as she pressed on her attack.

She forced Adam on until he stumbled back and she changed Dust crystals within her sword's hilt and attacked him with an arc of purple energy, but his Semblance allowed him to use the energy of the blows he had endured to cut the energy arc down.

Blake grimaced as she put the cleaver away, leaving her with just the katana for the time being, deciding to put all of her energy into a single sword.

Adam rushed forward and attacked, striking at her four times but she was able to parry each blow and sidestep a thrust attack.

"I hope you made your peace with you friends, you'll never be with them again!" he barked as he opened up a wild barrage of attacks on Blake, forcing her to strengthen her defensive parries as quickly as she could.

"What's the point of this Adam? I know you don't want justice for what happened, you just want revenge like Velvet said. Even if you achieve it what good will it do you? In the end you will lead all of these Faunus to ruin, because now you are nothing but Salem's slave, you're just to blind to see that!" Blake shouted as she kept blocking and avoiding his attacks.

"Your friends are the ones who will be MY slaves!" he screamed furiously as he pressed on until he landed a slash against the side of her right upper-arm.

Blake cried out in pain as she just barley managed to knock away a stab from Adam. As he aura went to work healing her she jumped up and kicked him in the chest. He stumbled but didn't fall as he swung his sword to keep her at bay but she went after his legs and used Gambol Shroud's pistol form to shoot him in the lower leg.

Adam fell on his back but quickly parried Blake's next attack as she tried to strike his chest. "What do you hope to gain from working with these people?!" she demanded.

"A world of dying humans, for starters!" Adam snarled as he kicked her in the gut, forcing her back.

Blake recovered just as Adam did and the two charged each other again, Adam opened up with a swing that managed to score a small cut on Blake's cheek but went to attack his chest, forcing him to block but instead she jumped over him and scored a slash on his left shoulder before she landed behind him only for Adam to kick her in the center of her back and knock her down.

Adam whipped around and approached her fallen form. Blake began to get up only to realize how close Adam was to her so she dropped back down just as Adam slashed her across the back. While it wasn't a fatal blow, as she had dropped just in time so the cut wouldn't be deep at all but it was still painful.

Adam glared as he held his sword above her, ready to plunge.

"No!" Sun, Yang, and the others yelled.

Adam plunged, only for Blake use her Semblance and another Dust crystal within Gambol Shroud to create an ice double before she rolled away just in time. Before Adam realized what she had done Wilt was already stuck in Blake's ice duplicate.

Blake had Gambol Shroud transform into its kusarigama form and launched the weapon, the chain and scythe wrapped around Adam.

"No!" he cried as she hauled him down.

"Yes!" cheered Yang enthusiastically.

Adam growled and gripped Blush and aimed it over to the ice Blake and fired, shattering it and freeing Wilt. He aimed it up at Blake and fired, forcing her to block the blast with her cleaver so it wouldn't hit anyone in the crowd, this gave Adam a chance to escape so he reached out and managed to grab his sword and cut himself free of the chains.

He spun his blade around before he charged at Blake, opening up a relentless series of seventeen strikes, forcing her back more and more.

"Face it Blake, you're going to lose!" he hissed.

"The future isn't set in stone just yet!" Blake snapped as she pressed him back and engaged in another series of strikes and parries, eight this time. He tried to kick her but she responded with a punch to his foot. He swung at her head but she quickly ducked and ran to avoid the slash he followed up with before she created another fire clone that crashed into Adam, knocking him down.

Adam caught his breath as Blake approached him. "Surrender, it doesn't have to be like this."

"Yes it does!" he roared as he forced himself back up and attacked again.

---

A pair of White Fang Troopers hefted their assault rifles and eyed their relatively empty surroundings, save for a small shack that kept them sheltered from potential rain, as they guarded the gates that led to the main jamming tower. While the rest of their small platoon retired for the evening, both of them were apparently given the raw deal as they were assigned the boring task of guarding a small steel gate with wired fences stretching in two separate directions around the main tower, which was supplemented by two smaller towers on either side of it connected by large cables. Not too far away in either direction, about a few hundred meters or so, were other jamming towers, all of them working together to keep the communications blackout strong. They were all hastily constructed but they did their job decently and so far none of their captives within the territory had been able to call for help. Or so they thought.

Both troopers had heard about the skirmish with Team Beacon earlier over the radio and as much as they wanted to get a piece of the action by going out and help the scouting party deal with the ones that got away, orders were orders and they followed what orders their lieutenant had given them, even if it was to guard a gate while suffering from extreme boredom.

The taller of the pair looked at their sparse surroundings and grunted, shifting his grip on his assault rifle and adjusting the strap which connected the weapon to his shoulder. He privately wondered if he and the other trooper were given the thankless task just because they both lost spectacularly in the poker match three days prior.

The other trooper rubbed the side of his face of sweat with the back of one hand, and turned to his companion guard slowly, and posed a question out of boredom, "Hey, do you ever wonder why we're here?"

The taller guard grunted once more, "Oum knows and who really cares? I just find it stupid that we both are guarding this gate instead of doing something important like guarding those prisoners or searching for the ones who got away."

"Huh. I thought we are both here just because we played badly at the poker game a few days ago." The smaller guard let out a groan, "I can't believe the lieutenant actually cleaned us both out of lien!"

"And I had to scrub the floor of the restroom yesterday." The taller guard complained, "Just wait till I get into another poker game with him. I will make him regret it, even if it's the last - "

His companion abruptly held up a hand, "Wait, did you hear something?"

The taller guard frowned, and turned his head to follow where the shorter guard was looking at. In a short cluster of trees near their guard post, a group of four White Fang troopers came walking calmly out of the forest. They were all in standard issue uniforms and armed with standard assault rifles, the small group comprising of two men and two women by the looks of it.

"What the...? Halt! Who are you? State your business!" the taller guard demanded immediately.

"At ease soldiers, we just need some help." the tallest one, a male, started speaking. "We're members of Captain Hopkins' scouting party, and we have come to call the base for help."

"What happened?" asked the second guard a little curiously.

"The humans attacked our ship and sabotaged it, took out the radio so we can't call for help and our scrolls have ceased to work down in the jungle." The taller of the two girls answered.

The two guards glanced at each other before the taller one reached into the shed and took out a clipboard with several papers on it and demanded, "What's your clearance code?"

"4WDRX7FX-1928." The tall male answered.

The first guard looked at the list and to make sure it was the correct code. "They check out, sorry about this." he said as he took out a key and unlocked the gates. "It's just that we are so bored out of our minds here that anything out of the ordinary gets us excited."

"So you're looking for some action?" asked the smaller of the two girls.

"Eh, a little would be nice." remarked the shorter guard with a small shrug of his shoulders.

"Well how about we give you some?" The taller girl replied.

"Wha... Ah!" cried the second guard as the hugely sized leader picked him up easily, squeezing his throat so that he couldn't cry for help. So instead he choked for air while struggling in the large man's unyielding grip.

The taller guard turned quickly, but the second male trooper whipped out a sword and swung it, slicing off the top portion of his assault rifle completely and rendering it useless. He tried to draw his own blade, only for the shorter one of the girls to grab him by the uniform and shove him into the large man's waiting hand where he was picked up and slammed into his partner's head with a painful thud, which knocked them both unconscious. Then they were shortly thrown into the small shack, with Yatsuhashi closing the door.

"Okay, the guards have been taken care of, come on out." Coco beckoned to the woods, and Sharp Strike emerged from the forest like a ghost, holstering his revolver and carrying the satchel that contained the explosive charges that would be used to demolish the towers.

"Excellent work." He placed the satchel down and opened it, handing the charges to the group of Huntsmen and Huntresses, "Now remember, all of these charges are timed to go off at the exact same time, so move quickly, plant the charges and put as much distance between you and the jamming towers as possible. I'm going to take the building and all the guards inside and make sure the security systems are down before we get to work. Once you're done make for the airship as fast as you can, because we need to get out of here before the other White Fang patrols are alerted. Everyone clear on that?" Sharp Strike looked at them and got acknowledgement nods from all present, "Now get to cover and wait for my signal!"

---

Adam kicked at Blake, forcing her back before he began to swing his sword at her. She parried five times before weaving right, left, and down to avoid swings and thrusts. He jabbed out Blush and fired but she avoided the gun and jabbed Adam several times in the arm before he forced her back. They reengaged in dealing sword blows, clashing about ten times before both of the duelists took a brief pause only to go at it again with eight clashes.

"You can't win this Blake. Surrender now and I just might be merciful." Adam offered, malice in his voice.

"Never!" Blake cried as she ignored the stinging pain of the healing gash on her back as Gambol Shroud turned to its glock form and she opened fire on him, only for Adam to deflect every single shot. She rushed forward, Gambol Shroud going back to its katana mode and she slashed at Adam who jumped out of the way.

He shook his sword at her, spinning it around in his hands, ready for the next fight.

The two met again, clashing violently and swiftly. They moved like dancers, engaged in a deadly duet as their blades kept clashing until they locked blades together.

"Even if you win they'll never accept you. The White Fang is mine." he spat.

Blake ignored him and fell back, kicking her legs up at she did so.

"Wha...?!" cried as her legs jabbed into him and tossed him over and behind her, landing on his front. "Ugh!"

Blake held her ground as he recovered and attacked with a plunge, locking them in another phase of the duel. Strike and parry, strike and parry, swing and duck, jab and block, it kept going on like that.

They continued to trade blows until they were in another blade lock, madly pressing against one another as hard as they could. And then Adam made a daring move; he loosened his hold on his sword and leg one hand free. This allowed Blake to press the blade against Adam's chest, slightly hurting him but he struck back by using that free hand to grab her by the neck and haul her overhead to slam her into the ground.

Blake rolled away from Adam's stabs, she tried to get up only for Adam to kick her in the chin, sending her into the air and on her back again.

"You are doomed." he said to her as he stalked towards her.

"I don't think so!" Blake cried as she opened fire with Gambol Shroud's glock pistol mode. Adam took five hits before he could block the last two and by then Blake had recovered and came at him with a jump kick, getting him right in the face and knocking him down.

Blake took a moment to breath and collect herself, wiping the sweat from her face as Adam got back up and slowly approached her, but kept his distance. The two gazed at each other warily as they both took careful steps with blades ready.

"Come on Blake, you can do it." whispered Weiss hopefully, it was more to herself but the others could hear it.

Adam jumped at her and landed, blocking her strike just as she made it, the two pressed against each other before Blake made a swipe at Adam's mask with her hand, causing Adam to draw back, giving Blake the upper hand.

She pressed onwards, the two engaging in an odd mix of sword fighting styles, with Blake using some of the fencing moves Weiss had shown her earlier, but the two had traded blows nearly forty times before Blake kicked Adam away again. As he landed he whipped out Blush and blasted Blake before she could deflect it.

"It's odd, you shouldn't be a match for me at all, and yet you're putting up a much better fight than I expected." he admitted as he held up his sword.

"I've had aura enhancers placed on me before the duel so I'd be up to full strength. I don't think you've done the same thing." she said as she recovered, ignoring the pain her body felt.

"True, but then again I suppose it's only fair, the only way you'd ever be able to keep up with me is if I were weakened." he shot with a sneer, ignoring the pain he felt himself.

"I'm not weak. Not anymore." Blake said bravely before she rushed at him furiously, striking him with such fury and strength that Adam was forced back more and more, nine clashes combined with multiple swings that were avoided until they became locked in yet another blade lock. Blake slid her sword down to the tip of Adam's and they engaged in a manner of sword fighting more akin to fencing until Adam pulled back and aimed to slash Blake's neck but she quickly ducked under the blade and slipped beside Adam, scoring a small slash on his side.

Adam pivoted around just in time to parry Blake's swing at his legs and the two began again clashing about eleven times before Blake feinted, making it appear that she was going for a lunge at his chest, which he moved to block, only to swing her sword at his face, knocking off his new mask.

Adam snarled as he forced Blake back, his branded face now bare to the world. "Look at me! Look upon my face, members of the White Fang! Humanity did this to me! They enslaved and murdered my family and marked me as their property! This is what she wants to do to all of us!" Adam ranted.

"NO!" screamed Blake furiously. "I don't want anything like that! It's horrible and no one deserves to suffer that, not even you. But I know what you've done Adam, and what happened to you doesn't justify your actions at all!"

She leapt to attack him but he fought on, fighting her back, their swords slamming together seven more times before they found themselves in yet another blade lock.

"I like this Blake, you've become much stronger than you were when you left me. I think I like it." Adam said sinisterly as he pressed forward, forcing Blake to surge against him as hard as she could as he glared at her before he drew Wilt back and then slammed it forward, forcing Blake to stumble back as he landed a hit on her shoulder.

Adam plunged forward, aiming to stab her upper right arm but she blocked it, he whirled around with his sword out to cut her left side but she parried it, both hands gripping the hilt strongly. Blake attacked next, he parried two of her strikes before she swept at both his chest and legs, the first he leaned away from and the second he jumped over. As he landed he slammed his sword down at Blake's head, aiming to sever her ears but she blocked it and the swords met in a mighty clash that created a small shower of sparks.

Blake pulled away and spun around, holding her sword out as she attacked him once again but he quickly, and desperately, parried they exchanged blows wildly, making no sounds except the clangs of metal and pants and grunts as they fought on.

Neither gave in, neither wanted to surrender, so both would fight on until they had been defeated.

Dozens of clashes were traded with strikes, slashes, jabs, thrusts, and parries, both of them growing more and more exhausted from the duel but they both had more than enough motivation to ignore any sense of being tired and fight on.

Adam kept slamming his sword onto Blake's who parried every strike until Adam held up Blush and fired at her half a dozen times but she ran, avoiding each blast as Gambol Shroud went back to kusarigama mode and she launched it at Wilt, it wrapped around the blade and she used as much of her strength as she could to pull Adam closer to her as her weapon went back to katana form just in time to swing at Adam who ducked the attack at plunged his own weapon at Blake but she easily avoided it.

---

At the building before the main jamming tower there were three loud knocks at the door. The lieutenant looked up from his chair and said to a guard "Go see who it is."

The guard nodded and got up from his seat to open up the door. He opened it to see no one there. "What the heck?" The guard looked out, expecting one of his two comrades who were outside for the night had decided to play a prank on them. He looked to the right and saw nothing, but when he looked to the left he saw a large armored figure pressed against the wall.

"Hello there." said Sharp Strike before he whacked the guard right in the face with the pommel of his sword, knocking the guard unconscious and breaking his nose at the same time.

As the guard fell Sharp Strike grabbed his assault rifle and quickly fired into the room, not shooting the guards but their weapons instead, blasting them out of their hands. He tossed the rifle behind his back and withdrew his sword to deflect a few blasts from a guard's rifle before he sliced the gun in two and kicked up to send the gunner into the lieutenant before whipping out his own pistol to shoot down a guard who was scrambling to sound the alarms.

The lieutenant approached Sharp Strike with a machete but the knight did a sweeping kick that knocked the legs out from the lieutenant which allowed him to punch the officer in both the chest and the stomach before grabbing him by the neck and slamming his head on the operations table.

A female Faunus charged him, and he leaned back just as her sword swung mere inches by his throat. Turning her sword aside, he fired his revolver at her kneecap, causing her to scream in pain before he shut her up with a fist to the chin and sending her flying across the room where she landed atop the guard who had tried to set off the alarms.

He went to work, dispatching the others with sharp gestures from his swords and careful shots from his revolver, and after making sure no one else was conscious in the room except him, the knight walked over to the lieutenant, grabbed him by the hair and dragged him over to a control console.

"Deactivate the security systems." Sharp Strike demanded.

"Go to hell!" refused the lieutenant before the knight slammed his face into the console a few times. He held up the officer and gently placed the sword underneath his chin.

"Do you really want to make this harder than it needs to be?" the armored knight asked the shivering Faunus.

The lieutenant shook his head and reluctantly muttered "Okay, I'll do it."

Sharp Strike let the lieutenant go and at first he moved to the console and pushed various buttons and entered the codes under Sharp Strike's careful watch, the screens on the consoles lighting up as the security systems deactivated. "There, it's done." said the officer, but then he punched Sharp Strike in the chest and moved for the alarm button only for Sharp Strike to kick his legs out, causing him to fall clumsily to the ground where he groaned in pain.

Walking in front of the officer, Sharp Strike kindly said "Thank you for your kind assistance" before delivering a kick to the lieutenant's face, knocking him out completely.

Sharp Strike went to the door and signaled to Ruby and the others who were taking cover in the bushes.

"Okay, let's go!" Coco said as she and Yatsuhashi headed for the tower to the left of them while Ruby and Scarlet went for the one of the right.

Sharp Strike began to work quickly, moving the unconscious White Fang members outside so when the tower came down they wouldn't be killed by the explosions and the debris. He didn't mind killing but he did want to avoid it when it wasn't necessary.

On the left tower Yatsuhashi began to plant the charges on the base and the lower levels while Coco climbed up the ladder, carefully planting charges as she went up the tower. She left the ladder and carefully moved one foot at a time across the beam like a trapeze artist, planting a charge on each horizontal beam until she went all the way around and reached the ladder once again.

"Are you alright up there?" Yatsuhashi called.

"I'm solid." Coco responded as she glanced up and sighed, deciding to get the highest level over with before she moved towards the top. "Next time Fox is coming whether he's sick or not." she muttered to herself as she kept on climbing. She quickly made it to the top of the tower, planting a charge right on the tip, making sure it would stay on. She smirked, admiring her handiwork before she let herself slide down to the middle before stopping herself and setting to work once more.

On the other side Scarlet aimed the scout's grappling hook and fired, snagging it on the top of the tower in one shot. "Here we go..." he said to Ruby as he had the grappling hook pull him up to the top of the tower in no time and soon he was busy planting the charges at the upper half while Ruby covered the lower half, using her Semblance to cover the base with charges in no time.

"Are all these charges really necessary?" Scarlet called down.

"Well we want to a big explosion for them to see, don't we?" Ruby asked as she made sure all the charges were set properly.

"True." Scarlet admitted as he lowered himself down to set some charges below the top.

Ruby was quickly done with the base and was currently setting up the charge on the beams above her, her Semblance and natural energy helping her to move the job along rapidly.

Meanwhile Sharp Strike had finished moving all of the White Fang guards outside of the compound to a safe distance from what would be the blast radius he moved back to the building to begin setting the bombs but first wanted to check that they hadn't set off any hidden security systems. Luckily they hadn't but he noticed something he hadn't before; one of the Faunus had left their scroll on the operations table, and it was showing a girl he recognized as Blake Belladonna fighting the leader of the White Fang.

Sharp Strike grimaced underneath his mask and knew they had to hurry before something bad happened.

---

Blake had Gambol Shroud turn into its gun-scythe mode and jumped over Adam's head and came down behind his back, slashing her weapon down length-wise before twirling around to blast him right between the shoulder blades.

Adam cried out in pain but forced himself to ignore it as his hand formed a fist and he threw it behind him, managing to hit Blake in the face. Blake withstood the blow and struck at Adam twice, but he blocked both attacks and sidestepped her thrusting stab. Adam threw himself at Blake and she caught him, the two stood face to face, hands in hands as they pressed against each other before Adam kicked her in the shins and cupped both his fists together to wham her on the head but missed, hitting her shoulder instead. He brought up his sword to finish her off but she created another clone and combined it with a rock Dust crystal to create an earth clone that Adam reduced to rubble as she got out of his way.

Blake struck back, throwing six slashes at him, all of which he parried before he managed to land a small cut on her left hand.

Blake yelled out furiously as plunged forward as fast as she could, Adam just barely got out of her way but still received a stinging slice across his cheek. He pivoted around to block Blake's next attack which she unleashed on his with as much power as she could must, striking at him hard and fast about a dozen times until Adam tripped over a rock and fell on his back, he held up Wilt to protect himself as Blake slammed Gambol Shroud down three times, weakening his grip before she used her left hand to shoot forward and grab Adam by the neck.

"I guess this isn't as easy as you thought it'd be." she shot.

"No." Adam admitted before he brought his leg up and kicked Blake in the gut hard enough to push her off of him.

Blake breathed hard to recover, rubbing her sore abdomen as Adam got back up and pressed his hand against his bleeding cheek as his aura worked to heal it.

"I have to admit Blake, you've put up an excellent fight. You were always so weak before, even earlier tonight you needed your friends to give me a real challenge, but again, I'm not at full strength which puts us on..." Adam was interrupted as he quickly moved to block an attack from Blake.

"Shut up and fight." Blake hissed as she pressed on.

The two traded blows furiously, moving so fast that they became blurry figures, even in the light. They traded blows about thirty times in all, clashing and striking their blades together until...

"AH!" Adam cried as Blake slashed him across the hip. He fell to his knees, snarling in fury as he began to channel his aura to heal the wound.

Blake approached him and said "Give up Adam."

"It's too late for that, my love!" Adam cried as he brought his sword up and swung at Blake's which she easily ducked.

Their blades clashed about ten more times before another swing from Adam and a duck by Blake, then another nine strikes and parries before Blake struck with her legs three times; Adam suffered one kick to the side of the head and two to the abdomen followed up by a palm strike to the face and a kick to the shoulder, but Adam lunged and grabbed Blake and forced her down to get a knee to her upper chest, followed up by Adam tossing Blake across the courtyard.

Blake used Gambol Shroud's pistol mode to blast Adam in his still hurting shoulder and then jumped on his back, punching him in the head five times before Adam grabbed her arm and threw her to the ground. Blake rolled away to avoid both a stab to the gut and a stomp on her head and she sprung up to delivered two quick and painful punches to Adam's side before he swung Wilt at her but she quickly ducked and jumped up to punch him in the jaw only for him to punch her in the chest at the same time.

The two stumbled back from each other, both tired but both of them had no choice but to go on.

Elsewhere Salem watched with great interest, especially in Blake...

"You can't keep this up forever, Blake." Adam said as he approached her.

Blake held up her sword, grasping it firmly in her hands as she retorted "Neither can you."

Adam struck at her while she countered with a parry, the two stuck in another blade lock.

Adam leaned in and whispered "Once this is over, I'm going to have fun with your two blonde friends... and I'm going to make you watch what I do to them."

"NO!" Screamed Blake as she slammed her sword forward and forced Adam back. She slammed Gambol Shroud into Wilt over and over again, as fiercely as she could to drive him further back, not giving him any time to recover.

"Come on Blake! You can beat him!" Yang called.

"Finish him off!" cheered Sun.

"Don't give up!" encouraged Weiss.

Blake kept it on, striking faster and faster, making struggle to keep up with her to block her blows.

'Do it. Strike him down. Give into your hate for him. End him, cut him, kill him for everything he's done!' Said a smooth feminine voice in Blake's head. Blake was so into the duel that she didn't stop to wonder where that strange voice had come from, she just kept hitting away at Adam with everything she had.

Adam tried to use Blush to shoot her but she struck it hard enough to send it flying out of his hands. Adm cried out as he tried to push her back only for Blake to slam Gambol Shroud into Wilt so hard it fell out of his grip as well.

Blake swung her blade, driving Adam further back before she kicked him in the knee, bashed the hilt of her sword into his chest, and punched him with an uppercut to the jaw all at once, sending him down on his back.

"No, NO!" Adam shouted as he tried to crawl away, only for Blake to step on his chest and point her sword to his neck. "You have lost." she spat furiously, her usually serene amber eyes now ablaze with anger.

Adam panted and said "Then finish it. Kill me."

Blake was silent and still for a moment, but kept Adam down by gently pressing her sword to his neck.

"Kill him! He lost the fight!" cried a female White Fang Trooper.

"Yeah, do it! He lost to you so he's too weak to lead us!" called another.

"Kill him!" "Cut his head off!" "End it!" "Go for the heart!" "Kill him!" "He lost!" "Do it!"

Blake began to nervously shake as she realized she now had Adam's life in the palm of her hand, she could kill him right now and make him pay for everything he had done.

"Do it Blake, for everyone he has killed and maimed, for the sake of White Fang itself, for both Humans and Faunus, kill him!" Razor said.

"Blake, you don't have to do it!" Yang cried.

"... yeah! Don't sink to his level!" Sun pleaded.

Blake didn't know what to do. It would be so easy to just swing her sword, sever his head, and end it. She could kill him in a second... but what would that make her?

"Do it Blake. He hurt you and so many others, it's only fair you end him. So kill him. Kill him. KILL HIM NOW!" Came the smooth but sinister voice that invaded Blake's ears.

Blake brought up her sword and screamed as she brought it down...

---

Sharp Strike climbed further up the long ladder, not an easy task considering his armor but he managed. He soon reached the top and set up the charges at a decent pace and as he began to move downwards he heard a voice call "Sharp Strike!"

He looked down to see Ruby at the bottom of the tower, "Scarlet's finishing up on our tower and I was wondering if you could use some help?"

"Sure, take these charges and set them on those cables, those towers are just extra power for this one so if we sever the link they're useless." he instructed.

"Got it!" Ruby said with nod as she caught the bag of charges he threw down to her. She rocketed off with her Semblance, planting the charges on both sets of power cables.

Sharp Strike eventually got to the base of the tower and began planting the explosives as Coco and Yatsuhashi returned.

"Got it done, all wired and ready to blow." Coco reported as Yatsuhashi nodded.

"Good, Scarlet's probably done about now anyway. General Ironwood and the others are probably here now so all we have to do is get out of the way, blow this thing up, and go rescue the others." Ruby surmised optimistically.

"Maybe." Sharp Strike said seriously. "But we need to hurry, I saw something on one of the guards' scrolls, your friend Blake is fighting Adam, and it appears that the White Fang are broadcasting it like a sports tournament."

"Damn." Coco swore ruefully.

"We have to help her!" Ruby cried.

"And we will but we need to set off the bombs first." Yatsuhashi reminded her as Scarlet came up.

"Alright guys, everything's all set up." he said.

"Good, how's it here Sharp Strike?" Ruby asked.

"We just need to get the tower's base loaded and then everything will be ready." Sharp Strike answered as he jumped off the tower beams and onto the top of the building

"Take these and set them at the bases of the beams." Sharp Strike ordered as he threw a charge to each of them.

As the four went to work Sharp Strike set down the bag with the rest of the explosives and set them up, wiring them so they'd activate when he pressed the button on the detonator. Instead of sending a radio signal the detonator would send a specially modified electric pulse that would activate all of the explosives at once.

Soon everything was set.

"Alright, it's all done up here, what about down there?" asked the knight.

"All wrapped up!" called Scarlet.

Ruby got out her scroll and looked to the others. "I'll head on back to the ship so I can call the general!" She said before she dashed away in a blur thanks to her Semblance.

"Good thinking, now I suggest we make ourselves scarce." Coco suggested.

"As you said, good thinking." said Sharp Strike as he jumped down from the building and ran with the others away from the main jamming tower's compound.

Once they were far enough away Sharp Strike held out the detonator and pressed the button without another thought.

---

Blake let out a loud, powerful scream as she stabbed Gambol Shroud down... right above Adam's head.

She panted furiously, sweat dripping from her body as it subtly shook from adrenaline, and her eyes wild. She looked into Adam's eyes, and he looked right back. He had come so close to dying...

Everyone was silent until Adam spoke up. "I thought you were going to kill me. I would have."

Blake sighed and said "Killing you would be the easy way out, and you do not deserve it. Besides, I don't want to be a monster like you."

"You coward. You should have killed me."

"NO!" Blake shouted. She looked up and faced the crowd. "No more killing! No one is killing anyone tonight! Not me, not him, none of you! No one! I want all of you, every single one of you to listen to me!" She pointed at Adam and said "This man... if you keep following him he will lead you to straight to hell. He had aligned himself with not just Cinder Fall, but something much, much worse; something pure evil. Those three know exactly who I'm talking about." she said as she pointed to Mercury, Emerald, and Steppenwolffe. Blake looked back to the crowd and continued, "Adam is so obsessed with revenge and hurting humanity that he has gone out of his way to silence and punish anyone who opposes him, that's how corrupt he truly is! That why it wanted him, becasue of how far gone he truly is! He is going to let this thing destroy you, make us all destroy each other because that's what sh... what it feeds on."

Blake looked around, seeing looks of interest, confusion, and doubt. She looked to her friends who encouraged her to go on.

"Listen to her! She's telling the truth!" Razor roared.

"Can't any of you see what he's done? He's led you to attack and murder both humans and Faunus to create hatred between our races because that is what that thing wants and needs, it manipulates and turns people, human and Faunus alike, against each other, makes them all irrational and full of hatred! Look at yourselves, chanting for death and violence, is that who you really are, is that what any of you really want to be like?! You're all here because you never wanted to be treated like animals again, so stop acting like animals! I know you can do it, I think that deep down you're all better than this, you can all change! I know how you all feel, you hated being looked down upon, you hated being treated like 'the other' by some terrible examples of humanity, I know what that feels like! I got sucked in by his vision too, he tricked me, made me believe he loved me, so I believed him when he said there was no chance for equality and that the White Fang needed to become violent to get respect, I let myself be fooled by him! But I began to see him for what he truly is, that's why I left the White Fang. I know what happened to Adam was horrible and it should never happen to anyone but it doesn't excuse what he's done. How many people have you had murdered or butchered Adam? How many?!" she demanded furiously.

He remained silent, glaring at her with hatred.

Blake shook her head in disgust before going on. "We're all decent people, maybe some of you aren't but if you work to improve, to change for the better, you can all be redeem yourselves! We don't need to spread hatred or hurt people to get respect anymore, you never had to! Do any of you honestly think that helping attack the Vytal Festival helped you? Do you think that made people admire you? And yes, I know that many of you have suffered because of humanity, I know that you all have a reason to be here, but humanity isn't evil! You cannot judge an entire race on the actions of a few people, no more than all humans can judge the Faunus race on the actions of those like Adam Taurus! A Faunus who had murdered innocent people, led terrorist attacks and robberies, and killed or even amputated the animal parts of members of the White Fang that either left, tried to get away, or opposed him because they saw him for what he really is!"

Many of the faces in the crowd began to soften, some looked regretful, some looked unsure, some looked shocked, some looked guilty, some looked furious, some looked nervous.

"She's telling the truth! I saw the amputees! I saw their suffering!" Velvet declared.

"So did Piper!" shouted Kane as he gestured to the musical girl. "And Adam had the proof destroyed to save his ass!"

"He had former members like Tuskon, Nettie, Rusk, Fergus, and many others killed when they tried to leave!" Claudandus revealed as loudly as he could.

"The hybrid kill one of my troops because of what we discovered and Adam allowed it to happen!" added Leonardo.

"He cut off my tail!" yelled Sun, letting the crowd see what Adam had done, getting gasps of shock from the many Faunus there.

The crowd grew quiet, everyone looking either ashamed, angry, or nervous until Hui spoke up; "Do you really believe what she's saying? It's crazy!"

"Shut up!" yelled Babara, "Don't listen to him, he's Adam's crony. If you go along with these bastards they'll make you just as bad as they are!"

Blake shook her head before saying "Listen, you might not believe me about Adam's new master, but I promise you that it is real. I haven't seen it myself but my friends have! Friends who have suffered horribly because of it! It wanted Adam because he could lead you and he could help it exploit your weaknesses so it can feed off of your hatred, your greed, your prejudice, your fear, your lust, your grudges, your anger, and maybe even your desperate desire to be treated as an equal! It's the ruler of all Grimm!"

The crowd was silent.

"It feeds on hate, and it can use that to manipulate us all, no matter what race or gender, and turn us against each other. Yes, there is racism out there, there are some humans who hate us because we're different but it's a two-way street. I'm willing to bet there are a lot of Faunus out there, maybe even here, who hate humans and consider them inferior. Hate can feel good, it helps you vent your frustrations if they been held back for so long but its effects are not worth it. Hate blinds you, makes you not realize what terrible things you've done until it's too late. Don't give into the hatred, don't let people like Adam use you. I'm begging you to change before it's too late."

Silence again.

"Are you really going to believe this?" shouted Adam as he got up. "Some stupid, melodramatic, cliche-ridden speech about peace and love and equality?! This awful load of tripe wouldn't fool anyone with half a brain! If any of you listen to her, or have doubts about the White Fang, then you're just as stupid and pathetic as she is!"

"That's not up to you." Razor said, "The choice is up to them, each of you have a choice and no one else can make it for you, especially not you... commander." He spat that last word out sarcastically and scornfully before adding "In case you haven't noticed; Blake defeated you, so she is now the leader of the White Fang. Listen everyone, whatever happens next is up to you. The choice is yours. Blake or Adam.

One member in the crowd, a Husky Faunus, ripped off his mask and threw it to the ground. A Faunus near him did the same to hers. And another. And Another. And another until over half of the crowd was tearing off their masks. While there were a good number who were keeping their masks on, even some of them looked nervous.

Hui and the others loyal to Adam began to feel very nervous while Emerald, Mercury, and Steppenwolffe began to see that the situation wasn't going to please Salem at all. Many of those who still had their masks on began to move away from the others.

Adam began shaking with both anger and fear as he knew he had failed... and Salem was going to punish him.

"Don't! Stop! I order you to stop NOW! I am your leader! YOU WILL OBEY ME!" he screamed.

"They don't have to listen to you Adam. Not anymore." Blake said as she looked at him with a mixture of disgust, disappointment, and even a hint pity for what he was without his power; a sad Faunus who had let his tragedy and hatred consume and twist him into a monster. "You're going to pay for what you've done. You and everyone who believes in your insane ambitions will rot in a cell for the rest of their lives. These Faunus want to change, and you don't. You're finished Adam."

Adam began to seethe in fury as he looked to Wilt, still on the ground. He grabbed it and glared at Blake, "If anyone's finished here it's you!" he yelled as he charged at her.

Many people in the crowd gasped or cried out while a few cheered for Adam as Blake got ready for another bout when all of a sudden Yang jumped out of the crowd and slammed the Ember Celica right into Adam's face.

"You don't know how good that felt!" she quipped.

"GAH!" he cried as Razor grabbed him and sucker-punched him. "I've been needing to do that for a while." he remarked as Weiss kicked Adam in the jaw.

"That's for my team and everyone else you've hurt." she hissed as he staggered around.

He turned only to come face to face with Velvet who slugged him right between the eyes. "That really did feel good." she muttered as Sun knocked Adam down with his bo-staff.

Sun got on top of Adam and said "So, who exactly is finished here? Oh right! You. By the way, if you ever try to hurt my girlfriend or anyone I care about again I'll do the same thing you did to me!"

"Don't." Blake said as she placed a hand on Sun's shoulder. "Don't be like him."

Sun looked at her and nodded as Blake looked down at the defeated Adam and finally said with a tired but triumphant smile "I did it."

Then a loud explosion ripped through the air, making everyone look over to see the tall jamming towers about a mile away in the forest exploding.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Special Thanks to RelentlessCrusader for helping to write this chapter and check out his prequel to this fic, RWBY Crucible.

Hey everybody, things are finally looking up for our heroes... not so much for Adam. Originally Pyrrha's flashback was going to be in the last chapter but I decided to save it for this one so it would have more meat to it.

I hope you guys liked how I wrote Blake in this chapter, I worked really hard to get her big scenes right because I love her as a character and I wanted her scenes in this chapter to be really top notch so I hope I was able to pull it off.

Important notice: This story will soon be upgraded to an M rating, just a heads up for you guys and those who have yet to fave and follow the story but still want to read it. Speaking of which I hope it gets more of both as a few more and I'll have 200 of each! Thank you everyone!

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.