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

46. War for the White Fang Part I

RWBY: Destiny of Remnant

Chapter 46: War for the White Fang Part I

Ruby pressed the screen on her scroll as she dashed towards the ship through the thick and dark forest. She soon found General Ironwood's number and called him up, and was relieved that he answered so quickly.

"Miss Rose, we've see the explosions. Good work." Ironwood complimented.

"Thank us later General, Blake is fighting Adam and I think he's letting all of the White Fang watch! You've got to move now!" she exclaimed as she made it to the grotto where their ship was hidden.

"Of course Miss Rose, tell me the coordinates right now."

---

On the bridge of the Resolute Ironwood spoke into a microphone, "We have the coordinates of the White Fang's base and we are transmitting them to your ships now. Good luck out there everyone, many lives are counting on us. Scramble and attack!" he commanded as the massive ship and the small armada behind it quickly moved forward at incredible speeds and to the White Fang troops below it looked like the ships had appeared out of nowhere.

To say that the massive ship known as the Resolute showing up combined with the various bullheads and gunships that poured out of its hangar were pretty alarming sights would be quite the understatement.

"It's the Atlas army!" cried a guard.

"And the rangers! Blast 'em down!" ordered a captain to an operator of a weaponized vehicle.

All vehicles with weapons attached, and those with heavy caliber weapons, began firing on the ships as they flew overhead.

Ironwood watched as several ships got hit, but merely buckled and shook from the impacts. He grimaced and opened his mouth to speak an order only for a missile to explode harmlessly against the side of the Resolute's bridge, doing little damage to the massive flagship. Ironwood shook his head and said "They're decently armed with competent aim... Rangers, attack now! Take their attention off our ships." he ordered.

On the ground below the land vehicles of the Vacuo Rangers came speeding out of the forest including armored bikes, buggies, and jeeps with either armed drivers or gun turrets attached to the top and sides.

Along the perimeter of the village over a hundred armed White Fang guards ran to and fro across the assigned areas, getting into their assigned positions under the braying orders of their superiors, while those in or near the village began grabbing a large variety of weapons from inside the ground-level armory rooms. Others simply took whatever weapon they could find from the nearest weapon racks on the sides of vehicles at the moment or simply used the standard assault rifles. Some, however, were silently sneaking off, as many of them had observed the fight via their scrolls and some were now ashamed of what they were a part of.

Huge twin-barrelled auto-cannons and machine gun turrets swiveled atop the White Fang's stolen vehicles, pointed outwards in the direction of the incoming enemy forces, while anti-aircraft cannons presenting their dangerous mouths to the dawning skies, ready to unleash their dangerous payloads at any moment. Heavy stationary artillery cannons and mortars cranked up on their elevating systems as their users slammed shells into breeches and primed them to fire. Among the many weapons they have either acquired by illicit means or stolen from military bases all over Remnant, the White Fang had amassed quite a large collection of stolen Atlas weapons. The irony of using Atlas's weapons against their own forces did not escape those who White Fang troopers who wielded them, and they look forward to killing the arriving strike forces' troops with advanced Atlas weapon technology.

And not a moment too soon, just as a huge opposing army appeared across the huge, dense forest that led up to the front lines of the Fang's blockade. At the front roared a large number of convoys consisting of Vacuo Rangers armored jeeps and buggies as well as armored trucks with additional weapons mounted on them, all decked in desert camouflage and armed to the teeth. The maelstroms of desert sand produced in their wake advancing across the plain was akin to a sandstorm that Vacuoans commonly experienced in their Kingdom, except this heralded an arrival of a massive military force.

In the airspace above the arriving ground forces was filled with dozens of Ranger Bullheads with yet more Atlesian gunships and Atlas Eagles, each sporting an array of formidable weapons and filled with squads of troopers and android soldiers. At the forefront of the aerial forces flew half a dozen advanced-looking black VTOL transports, each black airship far larger and armored than a standard Bullhead and much more heavily armed, their missile pods armed and ready while magnetic blasters and gatling guns tracked back and forth, already prioritizing various available targets by their threat levels.

Were it any other opposing force facing such a daunting army armed with fearsome firepower charging towards them, they would have thrown down their weapons and surrendered in short order. But to the White Fang, while a terrorist organization to some and freedom fighters to others, the approaching combined Atlesian and Vacuoan military forces were just more targets to be destroyed and so they opened fire with every single weapon they had on the perimeter vehicles once the enemy was in firing range, filling the vehicle and aircraft choked forest in front of them with countless bullets, and artillery cannon shells that would have been enough to take over a small city.

The gunners on the Rangers' armored jeeps, buggies and trucks retaliated with their own weapons, firing unending streams of bullets and auto-cannon shells at the blockade as they charged towards the White Fang perimeter, dodging artillery shells which sent plumes of dirt and grass flying in all directions. Desert-camoed buggies with missile launchers on their backs let loose salvos of high-explosive missiles which flew towards the rapidly approaching blockade, some detonating in bright orange explosions as they were destroyed by the White Fang forces stationed around the area, while others impacted and sent hot shrapnel into any unfortunate wall guards who didn't manage to get into cover in time.

Meanwhile in the sky, Vacuoan Bullheads and Atlesian fighter-transports helped out by firing their respective weapons while weaving through the flak and missile-filled skies, causing lines of explosions to appear in the forest while lending much-needed aerial support for the advancing ground forces. Here and there a Bullhead or aerial gunship took a hit from the White Fang's anti-air defenses, causing them to trail oily black smoke from their taxed engines or in some cases, and some were forced to prematurely land but other aircraft simply flew past the chaos towards the White Fang base, intending to deliver their troops to the assigned drop zones as safely as possible.

Task Force Omegas' VTOL led the small fleet while behind them was the ship which contained the rest of Team Beacon, Taiyang, Oobleck, Port, and Crane, and behind them was the group of Ranger ships that Glynda was in command of.

"We're over the village, we have to break off now. Good luck up there everyone!" Glynda said over the radio.

"You too Glynda, give 'em hell." Taiyang bid as Glynda's ship, along with over a dozen other Ranger ships, broke off from the group and dived towards the village below.

"Do you think she can do it?" Sage asked.

"You don't know Professor Goodwitch as well as we do, but she's got this. Trust us." Nora assured him.

"That she does!" laughed Port as he loaded up the bullets Crane had given him. "Now, are you sure these things will work?"

"Of course we are! Well they did in the labs anyway, but this was the perfect opportunity to field test them." Crane said.

"What are they?" Ren inquired.

"Well they're bullets melded with some the residual energy from Miss Rose's eyes we found on the Grimm she defeated with her powers." Oobleck elaborated.

"You harvested the silver energy?" Jaune asked, a bit shocked.

"Yes, but we can assure you we're not trying to take advantage of Miss Rose or the grief she must feel to produce this energy. That is the last thing we want." Oobleck promised.

"It's just another weapon against the Grimm, one that will help us learn more about them and maybe even give us a new way to defeat their mysterious leader." Crane said, giving them a knowing look.

The teens all looked to each other, and while some of them weren't exactly comfortable with it they understood where the teachers were coming from.

"I guess we can talk about it later when we get Ruby and the others back." Jaune voiced.

Pyrrha nodded and said to them "As long as Ruby's not hurt by it." Everyone responded to her with agreeing nods

"I promise, it will never come to that." Oobleck swore with sincerity as the ship flew on towards the base. They left it at that. Right now they had more urgent matters to attend to. Such as hanging onto anything they could while their ship swerved violently to dodge the White Fang's turrets.

In the ship Glynda was in her hand gripped tightly to the railing on the walls as the ship took a hit from the White Fang's heavy weapons from the village.

"All ships, form a circle around the village and surround it, land and attack but watch your aim and make sure your targets are hostiles, minimal damage and absolutely no civilian casualties!" she ordered over the radio. "Is that understood?"

"Affirmative!" came dozens of voices over the radio at once from the pilots and the rangers.

"Good. Those assigned to liberate the prison you have my permission to break off." she said. About six ships veered to the right and accelerated ahead towards the damaged prison while the others began to surround the village. "Pilot, take us down to the village, as low as you can so we can jump in." Glynda instructed.

"Yes ma'am." the pilot said as he had the ship dive down to the village until it was just above the buildings, hovering over one of the back alleys.

"Go!" Glynda ordered as she opened up the door and jumped out, landing easily with her Semblance. The rangers dived out after her, landing on the solid ground of the alley.

"Halt! Hands up now!" ordered a voice.

Glynda glanced backwards to see a few White Fang guards aiming their guns at them. "I don't think so." she muttered as she whipped around and with some quick, well placed and time waves of her wand she used her Semblance to block every single bullet fired before allowing the rangers to blast down the Faunus troops. They were soon down on the ground, knocked out and their guns damaged in the firefight, but they weren't dead.

"Move out, carefully." Glynda ordered as she led them into the village.

---

"You did good Ruby, bet those White Fang creeps aren't so tough now." Neptune said as they looked at the Resolute through the trees, hearing the sounds of battle in the distance.

"Hey, I can't take all the credit, everyone helped out." Ruby stated as Qrow got the ship ready again.

"And we're gonna help some more. Once the others get back we're heading into battle with the army." Qrow called from the cockpit.

"Alright!" whooped Ruby, but Neptune looked unsure.

"Is that really necessary? I mean I know our friends need us and I want to help them but I don't think you or me can fight after what we've been through." Neptune pointed out.

"Don't worry, I'll be flying the ship and all you have to do is shoot. Can't be that hard." Qrow said, "Ruby and everyone else can fight so they will fight."

"You couldn't stop us." Coco said with a confidant smirk as she, Sharp Strike, and the others appeared through the forest. "It's done, those towers are for the scrapheap and it looks like we can say the same for the White Fang's luck."

"It's not over just yet, there is still a battle to be fought." Yatsuhashi reminded her.

"You got that right big guy, everyone on the ship now!" Qrow ordered, "Next stop: White Fang Headquarters."

"Do or die time." Scarlet muttered.

"Don't say die man, after the crud that's happened tonight I'm beginning to think that one of our Semblances brings bad luck or something." Neptune voiced as everyone ran up the ramp of the ship and got ready for another round of fighting.

"Don't be an idiot, kid." prodded Qrow humorously, shaking his head at the thought.

The ramp began to close as the ship lifted off and carefully managed its way out of the grotto but before they blasted off Sharp Strike took out his scroll and sent a message.

'Master, we've destroyed the jamming towers and the Atlesians have arrived. Shall I still help them?'

He soon got a response, 'Good. 'Operation: Fracture' has already begun across the Kingdoms, the White Fang may survive this night but they will be severely crippled. And yes, you may assist them, but do now draw attention to yourself. Once the battle is over leave as soon as you can.'

Sharp Strike nodded as the ship rocketed towards the White Fang's base and typed 'Understood master. Protect the Innocent, Survive the Trials, Serve Remnant.'

---

Back at the White Fang's headquarters alarms wailed throughout the compound the moment after the jamming towers went up in a cacophony of bright explosions in the distance, their shrill screaming nearly deafening the ears of every member of the Fang present in the arena. The majority of those present knew what the alarms meant once the towers collapsed, as that meant that the communications blackout, and by extension the radar scrambling that kept the mountain headquarters hidden from the authorities was gone as well. That meant a massive attack was imminent.

Within the courtyard everyone there was startled and stunned by the sudden appearance of the Atlesian military's flagship and the various ships that had poured out of it. There were cries of panic as some ran off to safety but most were too stunned to do anything.

"Wh... but how?" Velvet stuttered in confusion.

"... Ruby." Yang said with a growing smile.

Weiss looked to her and began to smile as well. "Yes, that's it, it has to be. They're alive!"

Blake smiled as well but she quickly noticed the worried look on the faces of the Elite Guard and the other White Fang members. She quickly realized that Ironwood and his troops didn't completely understand what was going on, they had no idea of what just happened! They didn't know that half of the White Fang members present weren't hostile anymore.

"Oh no... we have to call Ruby and tell her! We need to tell her what's happened." Blake cried.

Winter quickly realized what she meant, but her scroll was still on the Elite Guard's ship so she couldn't contact General Ironwood, but she knew someone who would...

All of a sudden Adam, seizing an opportunity, grabbed Sun's leg and threw him off. Sun landed on his back, made all the more painful because of his halved tail, as Adam jumped up and quickly retrieved his weapons, Hui and the White Fang bodyguards, also known as his Oblivion Vanguard, moved forward to flank their leader. The Oblivion Vanguard were all clad in black stealth-suits with belts with red buckles and black boots combined with armored kneecaps and elbows and gauntlets on their arms along with Grimm masks with horns similar to Adam's own as a sign of their loyalty to him. They were fiercely loyal to him and were willing to lay down their lives for him as they viewed him as a liberator of the Faunus race. Emerald and Mercury stepped forward as well, but Steppenwolffe has mysteriously slinked away.

"They've called on the Atlesians to destroy us! They are traitors! Will you join them in their betrayal of our race?! Fight with me! Fight for our freedom!" he yelled bravely, trying to rally the troops.

There were various mumbles of debate and hesitation among the large crowd, and thought there were a few cheers of agreement from those who still supported him Adam didn't have the whole of the White Fang behind him anymore. However he could hear the large turrets at the front of the base opening fire on the approaching ships, which meant either some didn't know about the outcome of the fight or that not everyone had betrayed him.

"In case your memory has gone to shit; Blake beat you, she's our leader now." Kane said firmly.

"She's too weak!" a bodyguard cried.

"He agreed to the duel, he knew what would happen if he lost, and he lost! He has to pay up!" Teresa snapped.

"We can deal with this later! Right now we need to talk things through..." Winter spoke loudly only for Adam to cut her off.

"There is no talking this over. We go to war now! Do you want to spend the rest of your lives rotting in a cell?! If you want to be free you will follow me, otherwise run while you can." Adam shouted to the crowd.

Some seemed to take his advice and began to leave, while others stayed, not sure of what to do.

"You don't need to be afraid! We can make sure you won't be punished too severely depending on what you did! We won't let you suffer for Adam's crimes! You don't have to follow him." Blake said to the members of the White Fang before looking to the Elite Guard. "Razor, anyone, give me your scroll, we need to call Ruby. She obviously had something to do with this, maybe she can help." Blake said.

"No need, I will contact Ruby and General Ironwood. I have a communications system built into me." Penny announced, making her friends give her weird looks.

"Why didn't you use it earlier?" asked Selena as she kept watch on the guard, making sure they didn't try anything, but it was hard as some Faunus were beginning to either get behind Adam in support or to get to their battle stations, or just plain running for safety.

"It was being affected by the jamming towers and now that they've been destroyed I can call for help." Penny said, right before dodging a kick from Mercury.

"Yeah right, you just want to tell 'em where to send their bombs!" Mercury accused.

"No. I..." Penny began to say when a masked White Fang trooper threw a rock at her head.

"Freak!" the trooper yelled.

"Hypocritical asshole!" Yang shot back as she blasted the trooper down, she looked to Penny and said "Call 'em Penny we got you covered."

The robotic girl nodded and her eyes went bright green as she began to call her friend and her general as masked White Fang members and bodyguards rushed to attack them, aided by Beowolves from Steppenwolffe who was controlling them from the sidelines. Leonardo and his troops took out their guns and began blasting away at the Grimm while Team Beacon and the Elite Guard fought off the Faunus attackers.

"Protect her, if she can contact Ironwood maybe we can stop this from becoming an all-out disaster!" Razor ordered his team, all of whom quickly got into fighting stances.

"Boss, what about us? They'll want to arrest us too." Kong reminded him.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Right now we need to deal with this... I have an idea." Razor said before shouting out "Everyone! All those of the White Fang who are with us take off your masks! Show us that you're on our side and that you stand for equality!"

"Join us and fight for peace!" Claudandus beckoned.

"And we will fight for you!" Blake declared.

They seemed to listen, those who had ripped off their masks cheered for Razor and chanted the names of Razor or Blake as the former took out his scroll.

"Troy, take out our ship, fight your way out if you have to, and have the others man the guns, give us some air support and help take out the turrets." he instructed.

"Got it boss!" said the old Cheetah Faunus, who was stationed on the Elite Guard's ship with Goddard, Johnny, Darla, Warwick, Miguel, Caitlin, Burton, and four of Leonardo's troops who had stayed on the ship for extra security, including those who had been temporarily thrown in the brig when Jinty and Babara made their move but were now on-board with their mission.

"Attack!" Adam commanded, the bodyguards and those still loyal to him surged forward to attack the group but their combined forced fought back with the help of those on who were now on their side.

"Down with Adam!" yelled a female Faunus as she slammed the butt of a rifle into a soldier.

"For our true leader!" yelled a trooper before he was kicked away by Mercury.

"Attack!" yelled a low ranking officer as he threw himself at one of the bodyguards.

Blake smiled as the Faunus of the White Fang began to fight for her, even though some ran it was better than joining Adam again. They still had hope. She yanked Gambol Shroud out of the earth and blasted down a Beowolf before parrying a strike from a bodyguard, who was blasted away by Yang.

Adam used Wilt to absorb a shot from one of Leonardo's troops before blasting at Razor, who easily blocked it with Kill-Master. Adam ran to avoid a barrage of bullets and took refuge inside of the main base, shooting back as much as he could. Once he took cover he whipped out his scroll and selected an the control room, most of the ones in there would still listen to him.

"All guns fire on those ships, start up the Paladins and send them out to do some damage on the invaders, Spider-Droids too, and while you're at it have someone contact the nearest bases for backup! We have a war zone here!" he ordered.

"But sir..." said an officer, "you lost the fight..."

"Do you think that will matter in the end? Do you think the humans will care? Do you think Blake can keep you all safe?" the Bull Faunus asked.

Silence.

"I didn't think so. Now launch an offense now! And... have the engineers load up the ship's weapons. It might now be all ready but it can fly. I want those missiles loaded up as soon as possible. And get all reserve troops off duty and have them surround the courtyard." Adam commanded.

"Right away, commander."

Outside one side clashed into another, bullets were fired, swords clashed, punches thrown... the civil war for the White Fang had begun.

---

The group inside of the stole White Fang ship had just finished discussing their plan of attack when Ruby's scroll began to ring. She held it up and was surprised by the name on the caller I.D.

"Who is it?" asked Scarlet.

"Penny!" Ruby answered before accepting the call.

"Salutations Ruby!"

"Penny, are you okay? What about everyone else? What happened to you guys? Is Blake..." Ruby quickly asked before Penny interrupted her.

"Miss Rose?" asked the voice of General Ironwood.

"General?"

"Hello General Ironwood." greeted Penny.

"What's going on?" Scarlet asked, confused.

"Penny called but General Ironwood is on the line too." Ruby explained, just as confused.

"To answer your questions Ruby; do not worry, I am unharmed and everyone is okay, and Blake managed to defeat Adam." Penny revealed.

"She did?! Oh that's great!"

"Good news, what is the situation down there Miss Polendina?" Ironwood questioned.

"Well that's the thing general, sir... we have noticed the destruction of the towers and the Resolute's arrival and... General, Ruby, we have a problem." Penny confessed.

"And what is that problem, exactly?" Ironwood inquired as he massaged his temples.

"Earlier we managed to convince the White Fang Elite Guard that Adam Taurus wasn't a morally ideal leader, after they captured us their leader, Razor, sent one of his agents into the prison and they discovered what Adam did and they, along with some White Fang soldiers, have joined us and helped us confront Adam, which led to the skirmish between Blake and Adam for leadership of the White Fang." she explained.

"So does this mean Blake is the leader of the White Fang?!" Ruby cried, utterly shocked.

"Correct. Blake is now in command of the White Fang." Penny confirmed.

"Can she get them to stand down?" Ironwood asked.

"Well your sudden appearance has made that rather difficult sir, some believe you want to kill them or lock them up forever and Adam Taurus still has some supporters. Specialist Schnee ordered me to contact you sir, and I am to inform you that those White Fang members without their masks are not completely hostile and can be reasoned with. Please understand general, we don't want to make this situation worse." Penny pleaded.

Ironwood sighed and said "Very well Miss Polendina, it appears we'll have to work around this. I'll order all weapons set to stun. Tell Specialist Schnee and this Razor to capture Adam Taurus so we can bring him to justice, I give them my word that we'll sort this mess out later."

"I will sir!" Penny said eagerly. As Ironwood deactivated his line Penny continued with "Ruby, I'm glad you're alright, and so is everyone else, especially your team."

Ruby smiled and said "Thanks Penny, and I'm really happy you and everyone else are okay too. We're almost to the base Penny so tell them to save some of the butt-kicking for us."

Penny giggled and said "Will do Ruby. See you soon."

"Sure will, bye Penny!" Ruby said to her before shutting off her scroll and looking to the others. "Things have changed."

"Obviously." remarked Yatsuhashi dryly.

Ruby quickly explained how the situation had changed, which made Qrow smirk and shake his head.

"Looks like Razor pulled through after all. Took him long enough." he said with a laugh.

"Well we still have to fight, from the looks of things Adam still has friends inside." Coco pointed out as they could see the turrets firing at the military ships.

"Everyone hang on and get ready." Qrow ordered as Coco and Scarlet both grabbed the rocket launchers that had been left inside of the ship while Sharp Strike got his bike ready to go, the machine guns on either side of the front wheel loaded up and ready for action.

Back at the courtyard Penny snapped out of her communications mode and all of her swords ejected from her back just in time to parry the swings and slashes of multiple bodyguards who were trying to attack White Fang members who had sided with Blake.

"My turn." she said before she slammed the brunt ends of her swords into the bodyguards, sending them flying before she used the strings to bring her blades up into the air and she plunged them down, impaling multiple Beowolves.

Emerald, who had just shot down another maskless Faunus leapt up and tried to attack Penny with her bladed guns only for Penny to blast her down with her arm cannon.

"None of that, thank you." Penny said cheerfully before she used her swords to help the Elite Guards drive the opposition away.

"Good work Penny, did you get through to the general?" Winter asked as she deflected a shot from Mercury.

"Yes I did, they know to hold back. Ruby and the others are on their way here right now, we don't have to fight this alone for much longer." Penny announced.

"Thank goodness that dolt is okay." Weiss voiced as she sent some masked Faunus flying with a glyph.

"Knew she would be!" proclaimed Yang as she fired at Mercury.

Blake nodded with smile before she noticed some of the maskless White Fang members trying to run away while others looked scared or unsure. "Don't run! If we scatter they'll pick us off one by one but they can't take us all on if we keep fighting! Stand together, stand with us!" she called as loudly as she could. This seemed to work, as more of the maskless joined them while those who had previously been running had began to hesitate. Some turned and some didn't, but convincing some of them to help was enough for Blake as they fought on.

---

The White Fang's headquarters was built into the mountain out of an old mining facility, common since this part of the mountain range used to be rich in certain ores, which was why there were two facilities, one at the base and one in the mountains. The base was located where the mountains met the jungles, giving them good cover from the outside world. Several buildings could be seen from above such as the two main hangars (one large one at the front and a smaller one at the back where Adam's ship was being worked on), multiple barracks, the main building, and various other facilities, as well as a large and sturdy wall that stood in front of the base, from when it used to be a mine, but it now had a group of seven gun turrets built upon it that was firing at the approaching ships. There were several paths that served as an entrance to the base, the primary one led right to the main gate while a couple of others connected to the jungle, but right now the ships were focused on the main gate.

"E.T.A. to drop point in three minutes." The constant rattling nearly swallowed the voice of the Task Force Omega's VTOL gunship's pilot which was transmitted through the communication channel of the occupants sitting in seats on either side in the gunships' passenger compartment and to the ships behind them. From the shaking, loud booms of explosions, and the near-constant firing of the base's wall-mounted turrets as the ships shot back with gatling guns and rockets only for them to be caught by the relentless blasting of the turrets, which was why the E.T.A. was so long. It was clear that this drop zone was going to be a considerably hot one for all those landing, even for Task Force Omega.

Six matte-black VTOL transport gunships were the tip of the aerial spear that was thrust through the White Fang's aerial defenses with the other ships, including Team Beacon's behind them. The pilots of Omega's ship, known as Falcon One, had been pushed to the very limits of their piloting skills and beyond as they swerved sharply in midair to avoid being hit or crash into other airships all the while screaming through the unbelievable amount of anti-aircraft ordnance that was being pumped into the sky by every single functioning White Fang anti-aircraft device on the ground.

Central curled his fingers his personal customized assault rifle and checked the antique analog watch wrapped around his right wrist once more to make sure it was wounded tight. While everyone else had switched to digital watches or simply used the clocks on their scrolls, Central had chosen to retain old watch that was in all terms unable to measure up to the reliability and functions of the brand-new ones. It was a gift from his father long ago, and he had always kept it on his wrist as a way of remembrance. It has never failed to tell the time accurately since the day it came into his possession so Central valued the reliable item greatly.

He hoped the faith he had put in the two pilots he had personally chosen wasn't misplaced, since he was helpless but to rely on their piloting skills to get his task force and everyone else to the drop point in one piece. Central personally hated this feeling of helplessness, of putting his life in the hands of others, and wished that for a moment he was with the other Atlesian troops on the ground, probably riding in one of the armored transport carriers firing its weapon turrets at the visible enemies in front of him.

A loud but muffled boom echoed through the thick armored hull of Falcon One, signalling that the turrets had landed a hit and the twenty troopers of Task Force Omega cradled within the transport hold remained still, their armored helmets hiding all forms of their emotions to the outside world. The rattling got more frantic, and any loose items not properly strapped down was soon shaking in their given alcove placements.

Meanwhile in Team Beacon's ship, the group held on and hoped for the best as they followed Falcon One though the volley of turret fire.

"Man, I'd make a joke about their aim but I don't want to tempt fate." Fox stated as he saw a ranger ship, that had been hit multiple times, land on the ground to allow the rangers and their small attack vehicles out before the turrets blew the ship up.

"Attention all ships, this is General Ironwood." announced the general's voice over the communications system. "We have received word from within the White Fang base, those who were captured are alright and have allied themselves with the White Fang Elite Guard who have turned on Adam Taurus. A young Huntress by the name of Blake Belladonna has defeated Taurus is a duel and she is now the true leader of the White Fang. However, our sudden appearance has made things difficult, it appears that a rift has formed within the Fang and they are now fighting each other. We cannot risk making this situation worse, so I am now issuing this order; all weapons are to be set to stun or be changed to lighter caliber of bullets. Lethal force is prohibited in fighting the White Fang, only use it as a last resort in self-defense. Members of the White Fang without their masks may be dealt with peacefully. I know that makes everything rather complicated but we don't want to make this anymore chaotic than it already is. Do your best out there, General Ironwood out."

Task Force Omega grumbled but knew to follow orders and began adjusting their weapons while the Hunters-in-training weren't so happy.

"Oh that's just great!" bemoaned Nora.

"So what are we going to use to win this? Our snarky comments?" Fox asked.

"Isn't that how we usually fight?" joked Sage.

"I guess we'll just have to fight to disarm and knock out, I know we can all do that. Everyone understand?" Jaune asked, and they all nodded before he looked to Professor Crane and said "I guess you're calculations were off.

Crane looked embarrassed as he said "Well I admit math isn't my strong suit."

Just then another voice came over the radio. "A White Fang ship coming up from the left, at our nine o'clock! Someone blast it away!" said one of the pilots of Falcon One before another voice came on the radio.

"Negative, negative! This ship has been commandeered by friendlies, this is Qrow Branwen speaking, we're on your side!" Qrow shouted as he flew the ship up to avoid a few blasts.

"Hold fire! Ship is friendly, repeat; ship is friendly." the task force's pilot called.

Taiyang quickly walked up to the cockpit of their ship and took up the radio, "Qrow, you guys okay?"

"We're still up and kicking Tai, nice of you guys to show up." Qrow said as he swerved to avoid getting hit by the turrets.

"Qrow I'd be happy to talk to you later but right now we gotta make sure Yang and the others are okay. We need to get into the compound but those turrets are giving us a hard time and we can't bomb 'em without killing some Faunus and escalating this mess." Taiyang told him.

Qrow quickly replied "Now problem we already got an idea to deal with them so just hang on and we'll..."

Just then there was an incredibly sound of metal bursting and tearing as the Elite Guard's ship burst out of the main hangar, its guns assisting in its escape as it rammed its way through the metal doors.

"Whoa..." Ruby said, very impressed as she stood beside Qrow's seat.

Just then Qrow spotted some of the White Fang guards who had been operating the turrets rushing out and running for dear life, right before the Elite Guard's ship opened fire on the mounted guns atop the wall and reduced them to flaming scrap.

"This is the Elite Guard Ship, our leader is currently engaged in battle on the surface but he wants to make it known that we're with you!" said the voice of Troy over the radio's open frequency.

"Good to know, keep those turrets off of us so we can land." said Task Force Omega's pilot.

"We'll do our part, just... whoa!" cried Troy as the Elite Guard's ship came under fire.

"You've got ships coming out of the hangar, hang on." said a Ranger pilot as he and some others sped up and went ahead of the small armada to engage the hostile White Fang ships in a series of dogfights.

The ships zoomed up and down, left and right in a dangerous and harrowing series of moves as the two sides blasted at each other and narrowly avoided collisions high in the air.

The turrets of the Elite Guard's ship gave them some aid by blasting at their former allies while also keeping the turrets busy, blasting away as fast as they could.

"Now's our chance, follow us!" Qrow said into the radio as he flew the ship down and forward towards the gates. He almost at the gates when he swerved the ship around just as the ramp opened up. "Now!" he ordered.

Coco and Scarlet fired the rockets at the gate just as Sharp Strike rode his bike off of the ramp at high speeds into the gates, firing the dual machines guns to help blast the gates open. The combined force of the rockets, bullets, and the bike's front tires forced the gates wide open. The site of the magnificent bike bursting through the gates and the fearsome, armored warrior riding it left many of the White Fang troops awestruck.

As the Remnant Knight's bike hit the rough ground with a bounce, its tires bit into the ground easily and its engine produced a throaty roar as though like a beast ready for battle. Sharp Strike, already mentally prepared for the upcoming battle, spoke a coded command into the dashboard and activated the bike's secondary form which was more suited for battles like the one he was about to provide his assistance in. Ruby and the others watched in surprise as the advanced bike literally changed its overall form within seconds, with the front wheel pushing out and side fairings disengaging to reveal additional dual-front mounted cannons underneath its machine guns which pointed forwards, while grappling hooks slide out from hidden forward compartments. The windshield moved forwards and down a little as additional armor panels opened and shields extended to provide additional protection to its rider. The armored back of the motorcycle revealed a miniature missile array of sorts, probably to launch decoy chaff or mini-missiles to dissuade enemies from chasing after the Knight. Some components of the bike, especially the complex-looking engine and both identical front and rear wheels, glowed a subtle azure color, as though powered by some other form of energy generated by dust.

Everyone witnessing the unexpected transformation of Sharp Strike's high speed personal motorcycle into what could be described as a "Battle Mode" was simply stunned for quite a few seconds, and Ruby could have sworn the Remnant Knight turning his helmet a little for a glance back at them even as he rode a small distance ahead of them, adhering to the formation they have agreed. For all she knew, Sharp Strike could be grinning underneath that armored helmet of his, enjoying their brief expressions of surprise.

"Well, that's one thing you don't see everyday..." Scarlet muttered to Coco to himself as the ship went over the gates.

Putting an extra burst of speed, the bike spun around in circles, blasting down the masked White Fang guards with a lighter caliber of bullet until the bike skidded to a halt as Sharp Strike jumped off and withdrew his swords as he landed on the ground in front of a group of guards all aiming their rifles at him so he quickly swung his blades around and sliced the guns apart before he unleashed a mad volley of attacks, slamming the hilts of his swords into them, kicking, punching, elbowing, anything he could do that wasn't lethal he did as the ship made it over the entrance courtyard.

Ruby, Coco, Scarlet, and Yatsuhashi all jumped out to attack while Neptune acted as a sniper from the ramp, shooting down hostile Faunus with his rifle on the stun setting as more guards came out to fight them, two of which were rather large and had heavy armor on.

Ruby landed on her feet and quickly blasted away a guard who tried to attack her before she saw some maskless Faunus being corraled by guards with masks so she quickly zipped off and used her speed and the butt of her new gun to collide into the group of hostile guards, sending them all on the ground before knocking them out by blasting them while they were down.

She looked at the maskless Faunus and smiled. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you." she assured them as Yatsuhashi sent a guard flying behind her.

"W-we don't want to fight..." said one of the Faunus before he got shot in the shoulder.

"Traitors!" yelled a guard as he and four others aimed their guns at them.

Ruby desperately wished she had Crescent Rose back, that would have this so much easier but she had to protect these defectors no matter what. Before they could shoot however they were blitzed up by Neptune, raining laser blasts from above. This was enough of a distraction for Ruby to make her move, she jumped forward and knocked out all five guards with quick and strong punches, jabs, and kicks, helped out by Neptune's shots.

She waved to him and he waved back just as Scarlet used the grappling hook to trip up a masked guard and hold him down so a maskless Faunus could knock him unconscious. Scarlet whipped the line away and snagged the hook on a piece of debris from one of the turrets and used that as a melee weapon, bringing up the cable to a shorter length and swinging the object around, hitting guards that were running about the place in the head and knocking them out.

"Not as good as mine but it'll do." Scarlet said before he shot a guard in the foot.

Coco dodged a punch from one of the big armored guards, he swung left and right hooks at her that would hurt like hell if she got hit so she had to keep avoiding them. She jumped over a sweeping kick and muttered "Okay, dodging got old real quick." She jumped away from him and hoisted up her minigun before letting lose an intense barrage of heavy fire, blasting the armored guard's body over and over again.

He fell to his knees and was finished off with a spin-kick to the head from Coco.

The fashionista smirked and blew on the smoke emitting from the barrel of her temporary weapon.

Just then laser blasts began to rain down on them from above. Coco and Scarlet took cover behind Yatsuhashi and Sharp Strike who were deflecting the attacks with their swords.

"Where's it coming from?!" asked Scarlet.

"Up there!" Yatsuhashi said, pointing to a crow's next tower on the other end of the courtyard.

"We gotta get in close and take 'im down. Maybe Neptune can shoot him down from above?" Coco suggested.

"Maybe, if I can get close enough..." began Sharp Strike but before he could say anything else the tower was blasted off of its base and it fell down with a loud creaking sound and landed with a crash as the sniper tumbled out of the post. They looked up to see that on of the gunners in the Elite Guard ship had been their rescuer so the three waved back as three more ships hovered over the entrance courtyard.

From one came Taiyang, JNPR, Fox, Sage, Port, Oobleck, and Crane. Fox landed in the middle of a group of masked guards, whom he disarmed by slicing apart their guns with swift and deadly carefully placed arm movements and he finished them off with quick and precise punches, kicks, and jabs.

Sage landed, whacking a guard out cold with the heavy hilt of his sword while Nora sent the second armored guard into a wall with a barrage of grenades and he was finished off with some shots from Ren who blasted a guard who tried to attack them from behind.

Taiyang, Jaune, and Pyrrha made their way to Ruby and the others, fighting the White Fang thugs almost casually as they did so.

As the seconds counted down from the corner of his helmet's holographic head-up display, Central readied himself for the inevitable moment when the restraints binding him to his seat will release and the side bulkhead doors will slam open to reveal the theater of war happening outside the transport gunship. He could feel each second that passed and knew a thousand different things could happened in that single second that had taken place in the battlefield.

With a stomach-plummeting lurch, the VTOL transport gunship reached the drop point, weapons still firing away at any enemy targets the pilots could find within range even as it switched from flight to hovering, air currents dancing around its shadowed form even as the other four sister aircraft formed up in a somewhat circular formation in the middle of the courtyard of the White Fang headquarters. Descending carefully, Falcon One spun around to strafe any opposing enemy forces with its external weapons before the pilots declared that the drop zone was secure even Team Beacon and the teachers began to fight the White Fang forces below.

"Exitus Acta Probat." Central intoned solemnly into the private communication channel, and heard the chorus of acknowledgements coming from the other nineteen Omega Troopers within the passenger compartment coming back to him, "For Atlas and Remnant!"

The internal lights of the passenger compartments switched from blue to red as the doors snapped open, revealing the deafening cacophony of war and finally the restraints holding him in place released with metallic clunks. Moving like programmed machines, Central and the rest of Task Force Omega grabbed hold of dropping zip lines dangling in front of them and attached their safety clips, rappelling down from Falcon One and already blasting away with their individual weapons at any moving figure with a White Fang mask within sight and reach.

As Central hit the ground in a crouch, he fired his advanced assault rifle at a group of armed White Fang members hiding behind a damaged truck and returning fire back at him. He managed to hit one in the arm and another in the chest, and he directed one of the Omega troopers carrying

He managed to hit one in the arm and another in the chest, and he directed one of the Omega troopers carrying a bulky shoulder-held missile launcher to fire at a target he tagged with a laser pointer. A second later the truck was blown into the air in a fiery explosion and flipped end over end before crashing into a nearby repair shop, but he was already moving onto shooting other more dangerous targets, all the while keeping track of his ammunition counter while running with the rest of Task Force Omega across the drop zone to link up with other elements of the Strike Force.

Taking a quick glance back, he saw Team Beacon fighting and smirked behind his helmet. He looked forward to seeing what that particular Team could do, and he had a feeling that they would be showing him their skills pretty soon.

"Ruby! Thank the gods you're alright!" Taiyang said as he hugged his daughter, who eagerly hugged him back.

"Thanks for coming dad." Ruby said with a happy voice.

"Sorry we took so long Ruby, I don't think we should split up the team in the future." Jaune suggested.

"Definitely not." Ruby said.

"Yo Pyrrha, nice outfit." Coco said as everyone moved to group up while Task Force Omega and Colonel Chamberlain and a squad of Atlas soldiers disembarked from their ships.

"Yeah, it looks awesome." Ruby agreed.

"We can talk fashion later, right now we need to get the others and figure out how we're going to resolve this peacefully." Pyrrha said, everyone nodding in agreement as Vacuo Ranger vehicles and soldiers marched in through the now open gates.

"Secure the area! Make sure you check your targets, remember that the masked ones are hostiles, unmasked ones aren't." Chamberlain called to his men as the went about securing the perimeter.

"You heard him. Move out!" called Central.

Fox fist-bumped Coco with a sly smirk. "Nice to see you're okay boss. You holding out alright big guy?" he asked Yatsuhashi.

"We're fine, but I'll feel better when we get Velvet and the others back." Yatsuhashi said before adding "But it's good to have you back."

"Same here, you wouldn't believe the crazy time we've had tonight." Coco said.

"Try me." Fox said dryly.

Sage and Scarlet shook each others hands before exchanging a small hug, the partners happy to be together again.

"So how bad is it this time?" Sage asked.

"Pretty bad but I think we'll have to wait until its over to rank it." Scarlet remarked.

Team JNPR were with Ruby but just as Nora began to hug her Sharp Strike approached them.

"Who's this?" Jaune asked.

"This is that Hunstman who saved us from the White Fang scouts..." Ruby began.

"Sharp Strike. It's okay Ruby, I know who they are; Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren, and Nora Valkyrie. It's a pleasure to meet you all." the Knight said, weirding Team JNPR out.

"We can get to know each other later because Pyrrha's right, we need to find Yang and the others and work together to end this before anyone gets killed." Taiyang said.

"Right dad." Ruby said before looking to the maskless White Fang members. "Do any of you guys know where Blake and the others are?"

"They're on the other side of the compound, you can still hear the fighting from here. What's gonna happen to us?" asked a female Faunus.

Ruby looked to Colonel Chamberlain who nodded. "We'll get you to a safe place, some of the ships are landing outside right now and I think as long as you don't try to attack us you'll be okay. Solider, take them to a ship and be sure to treat them properly." he ordered.

"Yes sir. Come on, we'll get you out of here." the Atlas trooper said before he and a few rangers led them away.

Sage spoke up, "Well let's get going before something tries to sto..."

Just then, as if on cue, a trio of Atlesian Paladin 290's, repainted with the color scheme and symbols of the White Fang, jumped over some of the nearby buildings and landed in front of the group. Standing tall and proud with their weapons ready to fire the pilot of one said "Surrender now or be destroyed."

"Paladins?!" cried Jaune as he got into a defensive stance.

"Oh boy, my favorite." Nora groaned sarcastically as she got ready for another fight.

"I wondered if Torchwick made good on those sales!" Ruby cried as she aimed her gun at them.

"Surrender to us now or die, you have no other options." ordered the pilot of the lead Paladin.

"Oh I beg to differ... GO!" Ruby commanded as she leapt into battle, the others quickly following her example. Ruby, Sharp Strike, Port, Coco, Scarlet, Yatsuhashi, and Taiyang took on the main one while Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, Nora, Fox, Sage, Oobleck, and Crane took on the second and Task Force Omega attacked the third. Qrow would have helped via the ship but he was currently trying to avoid being shot down by a hostile White Fang attack ship.

Ruby circled around the main one in a mad dash, blasting as fast as she could while Coco fired away at its cockpit with another mad barrage of gunfire, helped out by Port who was shooting it with powerful blasts from his blunderbuss, their combined fire managed to make the battle-suit mech buckle under the impacts but it was managing against them.

Scarlet got up close and hooked up the grappling hook on one of its legs, ducking to avoid being both slammed and shot by the powerful arm. He followed Ruby's example and ran around the tank in a circle, trying to tie it up and trip it while Yatsuhashi began hacking away at the legs with his sword, which made him long for his proper weapon as the blade he was currently using wasn't anywhere near as good as the blade he had earned.

"I don't think that'll work kid!" Taiyang called as he threw fireballs at the battle-suit.

"Worth a try!" Scarlet shouted as Sharp Strike used a small remote and his bike went into autopilot and its guns began blasting away at the mech's arms, trying to disable it's main guns. The Paladin turned to the bike and fired the lasers from its shoulders but the bike swerved out of the way and began to ride around the Paladin, blasting at it to get its attention off of the others.

Scarlet got it nice and tied up around the legs and it began to trip. "Yes!" he cheered... only for the Paladin to use the small laser beneath the cockpit to destroy the cables. "Crap..." Scarlet moaned before he took out a gun and just started shooting at the mech.

Sharp Strike jumped up from behind and held up his twin swords to stab into the Paladins back, intending to go for the cockpit and take out the pilot, only for the rear shoulder lasers to fire at him. One got him in the abdomen while the other merely grazed his hip but it was enough to cut his fall short and he landed with a grunt.

Ruby ran over to him and moved him out of the way as it fired a rocket at where he had landed.

"You okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine. We need to take out the pilot and then destroy its interiors." Sharp Strike said.

"Good idea, but it has rear sensors to detect sneak attackers. We need to give it something to shoot at..." Ruby said.

"Then let us supply that very thing!" Port declared as he, Coco, Yatsuhashi, Taiyang, and Scarlet ran over to them while the bike kept the Paladin busy.

"Ruby, Port, and me can keep the back lasers busy while your bike, Scarlet and Ruby's dad give the front some trouble." Coco said as the Paladin stopped firing at the bike.

"And then you and I get up on one of those buildings and jump onto the Paladin, take out the pilot and destroy the interior of the cockpit to disable it." Yatsuhashi finished.

"Sounds like a good idea to me. Let's do it." Ruby said eagerly.

"Okay, move!" cried Taiyang right before a cry of pain interrupted them.

Everyone looked around to see that a White Fang trooper had tried to hijack Sharp Strike's bike while they came up with a plan, hence why the Paladin had stopped firing, only to be electrocuted into unconsciousness when he got into the seat and was now lying on the ground.

"Your bike is electrocuted?!" Scarlet cried.

"For protection... only when its autopilot is activated in combat." Sharp Strike justified as the Paladin turned to face them.

"Whatever, let's go!" Ruby cried as she blasted at the mech, with help from the others. The Paladin raised up its arms to protect the cockpit from the heavy barrage of fire as Ruby, Coco, and Port ran behind it and began blasting away while Taiyang, Scarlet, and Sharp Strike's bike attacked the front while Sharp Strike and Yatsuhashi ran for it.

"Ha! Two of the cowards run, that'll make hunting them down more fun." said the pilot to himself as a fireball from Taiyang burst against the cockpit's armor. However his cockiness didn't last long. "Hey, stay still!" he cried as he and the suits automatic defenses struggled to keep all the attackers at bay, and to make matters worse the constant attacks were damaging the armor. "Argh!" yelled the pilot in frustration as he had the right arm come up behind him and fired at Ruby and the others as he brought up the leg and tried to stomp on Scarlet and Taiyang, who both quickly both got out of the way as the bike moved about, giving both their Paladin and the one JNPR and the others were fighting some trouble.

Scarlet fired his gun at a particular spot on the ankle and then Tiayang stabbed both of his gauntlets into that spot on the Paladin and let out a blast of fire into the open now open machinery, creating an internal fire. The two quickly got out of the way at the Paladin's gun-arms fired at them blitzing up the ground where they had been. It jumped around, despite the now damaged leg to face Ruby, Coco, and Port who were all shooting at it with everything they had.

It opened up fire, shooting rockets at them, forcing the three to run out of the blast radius.

"Oh man I what I'd give to have Crescent Rose back right about now." Ruby moaned as she shot at the damaged leg.

Up above on one of the nearby buildings Sharp Strike and Yatsuhashi came over to the edge, close enough to the Paladin to jump on it.

"You ready?" Sharp Strike asked.

"Always." Yatsuhashi answered.

The two went back before running forward together and leaping off of the edge and down to the Paladin. The rear lasers spotted them but before they could fire Sharp Strike stabbed his twin swords into the small cannons, causing an energy backlash that created an explosion within the Paladin. Yatsuhashi managed to land right atop the left shoulder, his sword stabbing deep into the mech's armor.

"Made it!" he called, only to get in the shoulder by a laser blast. He nearly fell off but he held his balance and looked up to see snipers on a catwalk between two buildings, opening fire on them, the Atlas Soldiers and the Vacuo Rangers.

Yatsuhashi grunted and tried to lift his sword out, only for it to break off. "Damn shoddy craftsmanship." he muttered with a shake of his head as Sharp Strike pulled himself up while tearing his swords out. The Paladin was now very damaged with an internal fire in both its back and right leg while Ruby and the others kept pouring on the attacks.

"Take this one." Sharp Strike said as he handed Yatsuhashi his left sword.

The large teen nodded in appreciation before the two walked over to the cockpit and slammed down their swords into the crevices of the cockpit's opening and used their combined strength to rip it open but even with their very considerable power it wasn't an easy task but they were getting it done.

"Let's crack this nut open!" Port declared as he ran under the opening cockpit while Ruby and Coco kept the weapons off of him, he hoisted up his blunderbuss and blasted the cockpit's underside, helping the two to pry it wide open and reveal the pilot inside.

"No, no!" cried the pilot at Yatsuhashi picked him up, punched him, and tossed him to the ground below. Sharp Strike stabbed his blade into the control consoles, causing them to spark and glitch out. He ripped it out as he took out his gun and shot the cockpit's interior up, finishing it off.

The two jumped off and landed safely as the Paladin topped over, the cockpit exploding and the steel body going limp.

While they had been fighting the lead Paladin Team JNPR and the others took on the second one with great bravado, but it wasn't an easy fight for them either.

"Ugh!" Jaune grunted as he used his shield to protect himself from a laser. He rolled out of the way of another one as Crane used his giant microscope/laser cannon weapon to blast at the battle-suit mech relentlessly. "Man I wish we had been fighting this thing at Beacon instead of..." he shook that thought away as he ran next to Pyrrha who was shooting at the Paladin's weapons

"Aim for it's cockpit, the sooner we take out the driver the sooner it goes down!" Oobleck called, quietly adding "Assuming he doesn't activate the auto-pilot before we get to him..."

Nora launched a bunch of grenades at the 'head' of the Paladin, all of the exploding against the war machine but the damage wasn't enough to slow it down. It tried to stomp on her but she back-flipped out of its way.

"Okay, let's see how you like it!" she cried as she hoisted up Magnhild and slammed the warhammer into the ankle of the Paladin, making it trip and lose its balance. "Oh yeah!" she cheered as she fired a grenade under its other foot. Ren shot the grenade and the resulting explosion sent the Paladin on its side, allowing Ren, Fox, Jaune, and Sage to wail on it with their weapons but unfortunately it quickly recovered and shoved itself back up, its arm knocking all four Huntsmen down with a powerful swing.

"Crud!" Nora cried as she dashed away to avoid being hit by a rocket.

"Are you all alright?!" Pyrrha shouted, concern in her voice.

"We're okay, I can personally say I've had worse." Jaune called as he shielded Ren and Sage from a laser blast.

"Good, don't give up! Keep at it!" Pyrrha called as she fired multiple Dust bullets at the gun-barrels of the arms, hoping to disable its weaponry while Crane attacked it from behind, blasting it with his laser and trying to avoid the lasers sent at him. Pyrrha used her Semblance to pick up a heavy piece of debris and she sent it flying at the the Paladin, which scored a direct hit. It stumbled a bit but managed to stay up right as it fell against a building and pushed itself back up.

"Pyrrha, can you use your Semblance on this thing?" Jaune asked as he gripped his sword.

"No, not the whole thing, it's just too big even for me." Pyrrha said.

The Paladin recovered from its near trip-ups just as Fox slammed his blades into its right arm and began to climb up towards the cockpit while Ren blasted its hips and Sage slashed his sword at the area Nora had damaged with her weapon.

"Distract it! Fox has a chance!" Oobleck ordered as he shot a fireball from his weapon at the cockpit.

Fox kept climbing but the Paladin's other arm reached around and aimed right at him.

"Crap!" he cried as he leapt off, narrowly avoiding being shot at an incredibly dangerous range but luckily it did manage to accidentally harm itself as the blast seriously grazed the armor Fox had been on.

Jaune, meanwhile, had been carefully assessing the situation, trying to come up with a plan. Pyrrha had said she couldn't use her Semblance on the entire Paladin, but she could still use it on parts of it, but the problem with that was she'd have to remove parts from it and with its weapons systems she would have to do it slowly but surely, taking bits and pieces of the thing off until it was an easier fight.

Jaune looked at Crane's laser and remembered how it had disintegrated Grimm in one blow in the retaking of Beacon. They had talked about it on the ship and the professor had mentioned that it had different settings for various types of combat, for fighting both Grimm and living creatures, or tasks such as cutting through objects...

An idea flew into Jaune's head.

"That's it! I know how to take it down!" he announced.

"Don't keep us in suspense fearless leader!" Nora called as she ran to avoid being crushed by the Paladin's arm.

"Nora, Pyrrha, Dr. Oobleck, keep that thing busy with your firearms. Sage, you and me keep them covered."

"Got it." the green-haired teen agreed.

"Professor Crane when I say go you attack its limbs. Ren and Fox, attack its back and keep its attention off of Crane!"

All of them nodded and got to work, Pyrrha, Nora, and Crane blasted away at the Paladin's front, with Jaune and Sage using their weapons to cover them, though Sage was beginning to have doubts.

How can I keep cover with just my sword?!" he cried as he swung to keep the laser blasts away. Just then he managed to deflect one and it hit the cockpit dead center.

"Does that answer your question?" Jaune said dryly as he kept his friends covered.

Fox and Ren attacked from behind, rushing to the Paladin and then running away from it in a series of hit and run attacks with Ren shooting and slashing at its legs with his StormFlowers and Fox slicing deep into the outer parts of the legs with his blades the rear laser kept firing at them to keep them at bay but missed every time.

"Now professor!" Jaune yelled, "Hit the joints where the limbs meet the body!"

"Of course! Brilliant!" declared Crane before he set the laser to 'high' and fired at the connecting points of the left arm and the body. A magnificent burst of sparks erupted from the front of the Paladin as its arm, while not severed, came loose from the body and the arm went limp, the weapons refusing to work.

"Pyrrha, now!" Jaune called.

Pyrrha nodded and used her Semblance to take hold of the now dead arm and ripped it completely off of the Paladin.

"All right! Way to go!" cheered Nora.

"We're not done yet! Duck!" cried Oobleck as he, Nora, and Sage jumped out of the way at a rocket the remaining arm fired at them.

"Professor Crane, don't give up!" Jaune called as he rolled away from the lasers fired at he and Pyrrha. Pyrrha looked over to see how their friends were doing just in time to see Yatsuhashi get hit by the snipers on the catwalks. She looked over to see that several rangers and Atlas soldiers had been hit as well, something needed to be done.

"Uh, right! All right you brute, let's finish this!" Crane said confidently as he fired away at the other shoulder, right before the ground in front of him was scorched by the rear lasers.

Another shower of sparks burst through the seams of the metal arm and Pyrrha acted quickly to rip the arm out of its socket with her Semblance. She smirked as she knew just the place for this. With a grunt and a medium amount of straining she tossed the heavy robotic arm away, towards the catwalks where the snipers had taken positions.

"Run! Get out of the way!" cried one of the snipers as the arm flew towards them. Before they could escape the arm smashed into the small bridge and the snipers went with it, landing in a great heap in between the buildings.

"Good job!" Jaune said, impressed by not just her quick-thinking as he looked at her beautiful face.

Pyrrha giggled and said "Why thank you, now let us finish this." she said.

"Right. You heard her! Take it down!" Jaune shouted.

Ren, Sage, and Fox worked together on attacking the mech's legs. Ren blasted away while the other two hacked and slashed with their blades. The Paladin tried to move away but Nora and Crane kept it still by firing their weapons at it to make sure it didn't get past them.

Pyrrha used her Semblance to grab the pole of the downed crow's next and she threw it at the Paladin, forcing it to fall backwards with a tremendous crash as the others scattered to get out of its way.

"Pyrrha, the hatch!" Jaune said as he got on top of the downed mech and stabbed the lasers on the shoulder with some help from Oobleck who had jumped up with him.

She nodded and used her Semblance to rip the hatch of the cockpit clean off. Jaune got in front of it and used his shield to protect himself as the pilot shot a gun at him.

"You won't take me, humans!" yelled the pilot.

"Too late." remarked Oobleck from behind the cockpit before he slammed his weapon down on the pilot's head, knocking him out. He looked to Jaune and said "Excellent strategy Mr. Arc, I can see why Ozpin made you a team leader."

Jaune smiled and nodded as he got down, looking over to see that Ruby, Taiyang, and the others had taken down their Paladin and Task Force Omega was returning from their own battle, however they had tougher going with theirs...

---

"We need heavy support, and we need it NOW!" Central shouted into the increasingly confused communication channel in his helmet as he dragged a groaning Atlesian trooper who had taken several gunshot to his armor behind the wreckage of a burning White Fang truck, while the other Omega Troopers around him fired their weapons at the White Fang Paladin which was smashing and killing its way through the other friendly forces in front of them.

It appeared that the White Fang's version of that battle-suit had been upgraded with different weapons tech, with additional armor plating as well as missile pods, cannons and to make it worse was the paint on the main chassis was in the shape of a mocking, grinning Beowolf face. The extra weapons grafted onto it made the battle-suit even more dangerous, and right now it was literally an unstoppable titan racking up large numbers of casualties even as other Vacuo and Atlas soldiers fired at it with everything they have as it followed them out of the gates.

Explosions from several missile detonations covered the White Fang Paladin for a brief few seconds, but an answering fire from its missile pods sent a Vacuo Ranger Bullhead spiraling from sky and crashing into the mountainside with a ball of flame, the operator of the enemy Paladin glanced to look at her handiwork before the mech turned its weapons towards the joint strike forces' soldiers and vehicles and continued its murderous rampage.

"All Task Force Omega forces in the vicinity, concentrate fire on that enemy Paladin!" Central shouted as a medic patched up the wounded Atlas soldier beside him as he ran from cover to cover, shooting at the heavily-armed battle-suit. An Omega Trooper with a missile launcher popped out of cover and fired his payload at the giant target, knocking it back a few steps even as others continued to pour more firepower into its armored frame, chipping bits and pieces out of the reinforced armor plating.

As though angered by the latest damage inflicted in it, the Paladin swung in the direction of the Omega Trooper with the missile launcher. The elite trooper quickly dropped his weapon, and ran for cover as missiles, energy blasts and countless bullets rained around him, diving into a nearby low wall just the weapons fire from the stolen upgraded battle-suit sent a Vacuo Ranger truck up in flames and killing its occupants within and those who didn't have time to get clear.

"This is Atlesian Armored Transport Kilo-5. I am going to ram it!" An angry voice came into the main communications channel just as one of the white-grey colored armored transport carriers roared into the compound, the driver within revving the vehicle to full speed before sending it charging straight at the enemy Paladin which was firing all of its weapons at the opposing soldiers surrounding it. The turret on top of the Atlesian armored transport carrier was firing away, its cannons blasting the Paladin repeatedly before colliding into it with a massive crashing. For a brief moment it seemed that the armored vehicle had nearly knocked the Paladin off its feet, but then one of its reinforced armored legs stamped down and crushed the entire front of Kilo-5, and then with a kick sent it crashing across the area into a pair of Vacuo Ranger buggies whose drivers abandoned their vehicles just in time. Without missing a beat, the mechanical titan blanketed those vehicles with multiple missile salvos and energy blasts, reducing them to burning wrecks.

"Cover me!" Central said to the Omega Troopers beside him and ran around to the back of the enemy battle-suit. He didn't wait for the trooper to protest before scooping a bandoleer of high explosive grenades from a dead solider on the ground, "Distract the enemy paladin! Call in the VTOL transport gunships if you have to!"

"What are you doing, commander?!" One of the Omega troopers hollered over the thunderous sounds of various weapons firing between Task Force Omega and the slightly-damaged battle-suit. How they wished they could do the crazy stunts Hunters and Specialists could.

Central prayed he didn't sound crazy when he replied, "I have an idea, but you aren't going to like it!" His latest plan was simply made up as he went along, and if that plan succeeded that stolen Paladin would be heavily damaged, maybe even incapacitated. But if his plan failed the next newly-promoted commander of the Task Force would be chipping his name on the Wall of Heroes back in the Atlas Military Academy, and there wouldn't be enough of his corpse for a proper military funeral.

After receiving acknowledgement replies from the other troopers in Task Force Omega, Central waited until the White Fang Paladin was receiving fire from multiple directions and properly distracted. Then he made his move by running around the wreckage of a burning Atlesian Fighter-transport and sprinted as fast as he could towards the rear of the battle-suit, even as explosions harried him every step of the way. Bullets stuttered past his head, shrapnel bounced off his armored form, and the shouts and screams of other soldiers fighting and dying rang through his ears as he continued to run, the bandoleer of grenades clinking against his armored vest.

Thankfully the enemy Paladin was too preoccupied to notice him coming and Central saw his opening just for a brief second as the attached weapons of the battle-suit paused to reload before unleashing more firepower against the military forces fighting against it. Jumping onto one of its huge legs, the commander of Task Force Omega scaled the battle-suit like a indoor rock climbing wall back in the Academy, grunting as he pulled himself higher and higher, and prayed that the enemy pilot didn't notice him for the next few seconds or that he wouldn't get hit by friendly fire.

A missile blast which impacted the battle-suit nearly caused him to lose his grip on both the mech and the bandoleer of grenades. He quickly caught the bandoleer and gripped tighter onto the main chassis, he quickly slung his advanced rifle and used a small laser tool to cut a rough hole into the chassis of the mech, exposing the cabling and energy core inside. The Paladin suddenly swerved to the side to avoid another missile blast, and the commander cursed as the grenade he was about to throw inside slipped from his gauntlet and bounced away from him. Freeing another grenade, he was about to toss it in when Central saw a better way of destroying the enemy Paladin hanging right above him.

One of the missile pods' catches was unlocked probably due to the mech being hastily deployed for battle, and the long thin missile was slightly slipping out of its launching mechanism. Allowing himself a smirk Central quickly reached up and pulled the black missile out of its pod. As the Paladin battle-suit swerved again he slammed the recently-acquired missile deep into its chassis, before pushing every single grenade he had with him into the hole he had into the hole he had cut. Then he primed the last grenade and threw it in before he let go of his grip on the Paladin and dropped to the ground only to immediately run for the safety of any cover he could find. The stolen battle-suit finally saw him in its weapon sights and started to fire at him, but the commander didn't care as the other Task Force Omega troopers as well as various Atlesian soldiers and Vacuo Rangers continued to empty their weapons into the constantly retaliating mech.

Central barely made it ten meters when he heard a massive explosion and felt extremely hot air lift him off his feet and tumbling end over end towards the firing line. Fragments of the enemy mech flew everywhere, along with flaming hot shrapnel which embedded itself on anything being used as cover. Central crashed to the ground and rolled for at least a dozen meters by the force of the blast which ignited the huge amount of ordnance the enemy battle-suit was carrying. He could feel the flames of the explosion scorch his back and shards of hot metal embed themselves into the armored plates covering his body. Even in his helmet his ears were ringing, and the commander felt other hands pulling him upright and behind cover, and muffled sounds which sounded like shouting were being directed at him.

Then his helmet was pulled off and he saw a number of Atlesian soldiers and Task Force Omega troopers around him, along with a medic who was making sure he wasn't too badly injured. Looking around, Central saw his handiwork: the enemy Paladin was nothing but scrap, secondary explosions still announcing its defeat. A pair of large metal legs stood like a pair of giant tombstones announcing the death of the battle-suit, which swayed for a brief moment before collapsing in a loud crash.

"That was either the most awesome or most insane way to take down a Paladin, commander." One of the Task Force Omega troopers remarked as others charged back to the compound to press on the attack.

"Just don't let me to do that again." Central forced himself up despite the medic's protests, and gestured for his advanced rifle to be handed back to him again, "The next guy who wants to replicate what I did just now would be welcome to show his or her skill with the next enemy Paladin that shows up!" He waved off the medic's arguments and slapped a medical patch over a slight bleeding wound in his abdomen that his aura tended to,

He checked his old watch again, it was somehow miraculously undamaged throughout the ordeal. That meant his luck was still holding, at least for now, "Well, what are you waiting for? Move out!" He shouted at the assortment of varied troopers around him and directed them back into the fray once more, returning to the compound to see that Team Beacon had destroyed the other two Paladins with much less hassle.

---

"Nice work Jaune." Ruby said as her group came over.

"You too, now let's go find Blake and the others before something else happens..." Jaune said before something fell from the sky right in the middle of the group. "Whoa!"

Everyone readied their weapons as the figure got up, revealing herself to be Darla the Flying Squirrel Faunus, who Coco quickly recognized. "Weapons down folks, this girl is part of the Elite Guard, who I think is on our side now." She said as she held her hands up, signaling for everyone to lower their defenses as Darla gripped the large box she had been carrying.

"Uh, yeah! We found out what that scum-sucker Taurus did. So sorry for fighting you guys... twice... uh, anyway we saw you guys come in and well... we decided you'd have a better chance of beating Adam with these." Darla explained as she opened the box to reveal Crescent Rose, Kyodiana Berudo, and all of the other weapons.

"Oh yes!" Ruby cheered as she quickly handed her rifle to Taiyang and hugged Crescent Rose to her. "I got you back! Oh I'll never let anyone take you away ever again!"

"Uh... she really loves that weapon, huh?" Darla said.

"You have no idea." Taiyang said with a smile as Coco, Yatsuhashi, and Scarlet reclaimed their weapons.

"Qrow and Neptune are still airborne and in no shape to fight, we'll have to leave 'em here." Scarlet said.

"Not out in the open, someone who isn't too fond of us could take them so that's a bad idea." Fox pointed out.

"We'll take 'em!" called a voice from above. Everyone looked up to see the stolen ship hovering abut twenty-five feet overhead. Neptune stood on the ramp and added "Toss 'em up!"

Yatsuhashi picked up the weapons and threw them high into the air, Neptune just barely managed to catch both items. "Whoa, thanks guys!" Neptune said gratefully as he activated his weapon.

"Alright, which way to our friends?" Ruby asked Darla.

"Back that way." Darla said, pointing in the direction they needed to go. "I got a glimpse of 'the fights when I came down. Just follow the noise, you can't miss 'em!"

With that she crouched down on all fours and used her Semblance to rocket back up to the Elite Guard's ship.

"Good, everyone ready?" asked Ruby, getting positive responses from everyone. "Then let's move out!" And with that she led the charge.

---

Neo ducked under the bullets Emerald shot at her.

"You're going to pay for trying to frame me for what you did, traitor." Emerald said furiously as she slammed her weapon into a maskless Faunus.

Neo didn't bother giving her former 'ally' a snappy retort or joke, all she did was lunge at her with her estoc.

"Roman got killed because of you people! Helping to take Cinder down a few dozen pegs was one of the best ideas he ever had!" Neo said as she she swung her blade to keep Emerald back.

Emerald shot at her and landed at hit on Neo's forearm. "Ah!" the multicolored girl cried before Emerald kicked her down. "Emerald, I think you're better than this. I know you're not in this for violence like that idiot Mercury, you genuinely want to make the world better. So why work for them?!"

"The world is too broken. People like Taurus and what happened to him? Only a fraction of what's wrong. The only way to fix it is to start over." Emerald answered before being knocked away by a blast from Yang.

"Not if we have anything to say about it." Yang said as Neo recovered. "You okay short-stuff?"

"Just fine." Neo answered with a smirk before slamming her blade through the jaws of a Beowolf, impaling its head.

Blake parried a strike from one of the Oblivion Vanguard members before sending him, and several others, into a wall thanks to both Gambol Shroud and a violet Dust crystal.

"Commander Belladonna!" said a maskless White Fang member. "What are we going to do about the humans?"

"Help them if they need it. Today we're ending the White Fang's legacy as a terrorist threat. Speaking of which, where's Adam gone to?" she asked, but quickly remembered how dangerous he was and the damage he could do on his own.

"I spotted him go in there!" Jinty said as he ran up beside her, shooting at a Masked Faunus. He pointed to the building where Adam had taken refuge and added "He could have gone further into the building or he could have snuck off but either way it's not good."

"Agreed." said the voice of Razor as he sent a bodyguard flying. "We need to capture him and we can end this conflict."

As soon as he finished talking an Atlas Eagle crash landed somewhere outside of the compound into the mountain rock, exploding on impact. Several Atlas ships had tried to land but the White Fang ship had prevented them from helping out with the battle on the ground.

"Hopefully before too many people are killed." Blake said with a shudder before yelling out "Everyone! Group up and push on together! They're nothing but a distraction for Adam!"

Everyone gathered around each other into a large, well armed circle with Blake and Razor ahead of everyone. Yang, Weiss, Penny, Winter, Neo, all of the Elite Guard, and Leonardo's troops had their weapons out and ready to fire or stab while Velvet had taken up an assault rifle and was using that for the battle, even though she found it much less effective than her camera but she knew it was better than just relying on her fists and feet plus her Semblance helped her adapt quite easily. Claudandus stood in the middle of the circle with a staff as both a weapon and a cane, he was panting and very tired but he wouldn't give up. Dozens upon dozens of maskless Faunus stood about the circle, either armed or unarmed, but regardless they stood with Blake for the hope of a brighter future.

In front of them was Hui, the members of the Oblivion Vanguard, and a few dozen Faunus who had kept their masks on stood ready to end the battle even though they were outnumbered.

"Listen to me, you don't have to fight us anymore." Blake offered.

"Even if that were true, those humans leave us no choice." said an Oblivion Vanguard.

"We can..." Blake sighed, she honestly didn't know what to really do to end this peacefully. "We can try the peaceful way."

Before she could say anything else there was a harsh, but familiar, laugh filling the air as Adam exited the building and made his way to the front of his loyalists.

"You really believe that? Do you truly believe that Blake? It can't end like that. Many of these Faunus here, including some who have sided with you, have done things in my name, in the name of the White Fang. They have stolen and fought for me, engaged in acts of 'terrorism' against humanity so even if you do beat me they won't be released with a slap on the wrist!" Adam said scornfully.

Blake sighed, knowing that Adam was telling the truth, no matter how unfortunate it was.

"Well they'll get better treatment if they stick with us instead of keeping up with you!" Sun snapped boldly.

"We can help them get lighter sentences. The fact that they've chosen to turn against you and help us will make that easier." Winter said as she gripped her sword tightly.

"And do you trust them? Do you trust the word of a Schnee?" Adam asked the the group.

"I trust these two Schnees more than I'd trust you." Came the voice of Claudandus, which got various signs of agreement from the various maskless Faunus.

"Give it up Taurus, you're done for and we outnumber you. Blake beat you fair and square and she even spared your pathetic life even after all you did to her. So why don't you use some common sense and surrender before you dig your own grave even deeper than it already is?" Yang said, resisting the urge to just fire her rocket a Adam and end him then and there.

"She spared me, true... but it's proof that she doesn't have what it takes to lead the Fang." Adam argued.

"Wrong Adam, in sparing your life she has proven herself stronger than most of us here. It takes an incredible amount of courage and strength to spare an enemy, especially after what you did to her. She's more worthy than you will ever be!" declared Razor, who got cheers and whoops of agreement.

Adam scowled as Steppenwolffe and various Beowolves emerged from the surrounding area.

"You think you can beat us with Grimm? Bring 'em on!" Sun challenged.

"Yeah!" Yang chimed in agreement.

"No, not Grimm alone." Adam said before he clapped his hands together.

All of a sudden from the areas in-between the various surrounding buildings or from the entrances of said buildings came dozens upon dozens of masked White Fang soldiers, all armed with guns, blades, and other weapons. There were even a few Spider Droids repainted with White Fang colors stolen from various places.

"This is just not our night." Weiss muttered as she looked around, seeing that they were now the ones outnumbered.

Blake looked around at the Faunus that now surrounded them before looking back to Adam. "We're not giving up Adam. I'm not at least. I'll keep on fighting you with everything I have until you're brought to justice for what you've done." she said bravely.

"Courageous, but pointless. I suppose I could be merciful, after all I admit you did defeat me in combat but as you can plainly see; at the end of the day I am still victorious." Adam said smugly as he walked past Hui, Emerald, and Mercury. "So surrender and I will show all of you mercy."

Blake glared at him and said "If any of those behind me wish to go back to serving him, I won't stop you. As for me, as for my friends, for the ones I love... we know you're a liar and a cruel person Adam, we won't give into you and let you use us. We stand together against you."

A few of the maskless had begun to move away, but after hearing Blake's words they stopped and returned to the rest of the group.

"I believe she speaks for all of us. So if you want to lose to her again, then come on! Because this time we will fight with her." Razor said to Adam.

The Bull Faunus sighed and said "Very well, I can see you've all made your choices. Kill them."

The White Fang troops and the Oblivion Vanguards all raised their guns and took aim while Steppenwolffe got his Grimm ready to pounce and maul any runners. Emerald sighed and looked away while Mercury smirked, thinking he was in for a show.

Adam took out Blush and aimed it at Blake, who held Gambol Shroud tightly in a defensive position. Razor held out Kill-Master, ready to go as his loyal friends got ready for an intense battle. Yang held out both her gauntlets, Weiss and Winter created glyphs beneath them, Sun gripped his staff firmly, Velvet crouched down slightly as she waited for something to happen, Neo held her estoc tightly.

Adam stared into Blake's eyes. Red to Gold. Black and White to Red and Black.

"Ready..." Adam began when all all of a sudden a heavy barrage of lasers strafed the ground around the rebelling group, a few hits even knocking the masked Faunus down. "What?!"

Everyone looked up to see the Elite Guard's ship with its many guns approaching the area, along with the stolen ship piloted by Qrow.

"Shoot it!" Adam ordered. Several soldiers armed with rocket launchers fired into the sky and managed to hit the larger ship, but they didn't do much damage.

"Hey!" cried Cash before he blasted down one of the rocket users. "No one shoots at my home!"

Several troopers and Grimm approached them menacingly only to be blown back by a sound shockwave from Piper.

"Enough of this! Kill them now!" yelled Adam before there were cries of shock from the rear. He looked over to see Atlas soldiers and Vacuo Rangers firing into the ranks of masked White Fang troops, shooting them down, not killing them but stunning them unconscious. The Faunus in the back had turned around and were now shooting back at the invading humans, but they weren't the only attackers as just then White Fang troops all around the area were shot down from above. Everyone looked to see Atlas soldiers on a rooftop acting as snipers, shooting the hostile Faunus out cold.

"Shoot them down!" yelled Adam, causing the Oblivion Vanguards to open fire on the snipers.

"Ah!" cried Blake as she swung her sword at Adam, which combined with the crystal within sent a purple energy arc at him that knocked him into his troops.

"GO!" Blake cried as she ran forward and parried a strike from a bodyguard. The present members of Team Beacon, the Elite Guard, and various others all ran into the enemy crowds, fighting with punches, kicks, slashes, shots, jabs, everything they could do to fight they did.

A Spider Droid charged at Blake, firing missiles that were blasted down by Yang and Leonardo. The mech slammed its arms into a maskless Faunus and pinned her down with its heavy metal legs and aimed to shoot her to death, only for Penny to use half of her swords to slice its arm clean off before blasting it in the chest to force it off of the Faunus.

Penny said nothing, she simply grunted as she jumped towards the Spider Droid and sent all of her shining blades at its limbs, severing all of them from its body, making it fall to the ground, struggling to move with its legless nubs. Penny jumped up and kicked it in the chest, knocking it on its back. She stood atop its chest, charging up her arm cannon until it was powerful enough, using her swords to slash down Grimm as she did so. Penny fired at the droid's head, blowing it clean off and destroying it.

Penny gave a satisfied smile as she went back to help the injured Faunus girl, blasting down a White Fang thug that tried to attack her while she was down.

"Are you alright?" Penny asked as she helped her up.

"Uh, yeah... thanks." said the Faunus girl.

"No problem, now let's get you to a safe place." Penny said with a smile before sending two of her swords out in a stabbing plunge to impale a large Beowolf. Claudandus came over to her and took the girl off her hands.

"Help the others, I'll get the injured to a safe place." he told her.

Meanwhile Adam dodged multiple shots from Yang as he scrambled towards the entrance of the main building. "Hui! Vanguards! To me! It's time we left!" he called before he retreated into the building, the others following him while Emerald and Mercury kept on fighting and Steppenwolffe had jumped atop one of the nearby buildings to direct his Grimm in battle.

"Don't let him get away!" shouted Kane as he shot one of the Vanguards in the back which made him fall forward and slam his head right into the wall, knocking him out.

Blake, Kane, Sun, Yang, Velvet, Thayer, Selena, and the others all fired at their escaping foes but it was too late, as Hui closed the door and wired the panel to seal it shut. "No!" cried Blake as she slammed her fist into the closed door.

"Hang on, they're not getting away that easily." Razor said before he rammed Kill-Master into the door on chainsaw mode and quickly began to cut through before Penny tapped him on the back.

"Allow me." she said politely before she stabbed her swords into the door and ripped it out of the wall, just to toss it into a group of masked Faunus.

Razor smirked and said "Thank you. Come on, let's go after him! Russell, Morgan, you take command of the Elite Guard until I return!"

"You got it!" Russell shouted over the loud sounds of the crowd as he punched a masked Faunus in the gut.

Razor, Kane, Piper, Selena, and Teresa ran into the building after Adam. Blake was about to but she hesitated. "Go, we'll stay here and fight." Winter said to her.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Blake, go. We can handle this and I know you can handle Adam." Weiss said encouragingly.

Blake smiled at her friend, finding it... odd that two so different, from different backgrounds, races, upbringings, lifestyles, and ideals could become so close and help make each other better.

"Hey, don't forget about us!" cried Yang as she sent a Vanguard flying.

"We're coming too." Sun agreed.

"You don't have to." Blake told them.

"The hell we don't, he's made it personal." Yang said firmly.

Blake nodded, she knew they were right. "Let's move!" she said before leading the two blondes, as well as Velvet and her uncle, into the main building.

As soon as the small group had left the battlefield there was the tremendous sound of a motorcycle's engine. Masked White Fang troops were either knocked to the ground or sent careening out of the way as Sharp Strike's bike plowed through the crowds, forcing them to get out of his way as Ruby and the others followed, thinning out the ranks of Masked Faunus as best they could with Yatsuhashi hitting them away with his huge sword, Coco shooting out the armored ones, Crane using his laser to render guns and rocket launchers inoperable, Nora sending masked Faunus flying with her hammer, Ren blasted down masked thugs to the best of his abilities, Fox cutting up weapons and cutting off armor with quick slices while Scarlet and Sage helped him out by taking down those he had disarmed, Oobleck, Port, and Taiyang fought together to take a good number of the forces out, Jaune and Pyrrha were fighting back to back, keeping the enemy busy while taking down as many as they could, and Ruby was dashing energetically though the large crowds, shooting Grimm into oblivion and knocking people out with the blunt end of Crescent Rose.

"What the hell?" cried Morgan as Sharp Strike's bike zoomed past him, the machine guns blasting away at one of the remaining Spider Droids.

"It's them." Emerald hissed as she shot an Atlas Soldier off one of the buildings.

Ruby ran into the center of the group and tackled Weiss with a hug. "Weiss! I'm so, so, so happy you're okay! Where's Blake and Yang?" she asked as she released her partner from the hug and tripped up a White Fang thug who had tried to dart past them.

"I'm happy you're okay too. Blake and Yang just went inside with Sun and some of the Elite Guard to stop Adam from escaping. I think Velvet and her uncle went with them." The heiress elaborate as she parried a strike from an attacking sword wielder, who was blasted away by Ruby.

"So, who exactly is that fellow on the bike?" Weiss asked as she created an ice patch that caused a few Oblivion Vanguards to slip up so Cash, Penn, and Misha could finish them off as they fell.

"Long story, trust me." Ruby answered as she shot off a Beowolf's arm.

"One of those 'Ruby Makes a Friend' stories?" Weiss guessed as she created a massive glyph beneath her.

"Yeah." The silver eyed girl said with a giggle before inquiring "So how bad do you think the situation is so far?"

"It's like an airship spiraling out of control, about to crash and explode." Weiss answered.

"So pretty much business as usual for us?"

"Pretty much!" Weiss replied as she poured her aura into the glyph to create her Knight Summons once again. The Knight slashed apart a group of half a dozen Beowolves before kicking an Oblivion Vanguard into the distance.

"Weiss!" called Morgan as he knocked the head off a Beowolf with his mace. He came over to them and said "Claudandus has gotten the wounded and those who don't want to fight to a storage building for safety but they're coming under attack. Think your big knight there can lend a hand?"

Weiss nodded and pointed to the storage building and her summon marched over in long strides, stepping over the crowd., as Penny joined up with them and hugged Ruby from behind.

Sharp Strike, meanwhile, drove his bike towards the Spider Droid and made it lean down as low as it could go before he jumped off. The Spider Droid spread is legs out, its gun arms were up and ready as Sharp Strike flew towards it. The robot fired at him but Sharp Strike deflected every shot and sliced apart the droid's torso as he went over it and his bike went under it.

His bike came to a stop as he landed right in front of it and quickly got it up on both wheels again before jumping back on and blasting away at the other Spider Droid.

"Whoa." muttered Sage as he parried a strike from a masked Faunus.

"Yeah, I'll fill you in on him later." Scarlet said as he used his grappling hook to tie up a large member of the Oblivion Vanguard and pulled it up tight to trip up a group of charging troops who were moving to attack Ruby and Weiss. "Where's Sun?" he asked them.

"Going to catch Adam with Yang and Blake. Velvet's with them too!" Ruby called to not just Scarlet and Sage, but the other three parts of Team CFVY.

"So we come to rescue her and she's off kicking the bad guy's ass." Fox observed.

"I'm so proud." Coco joked as she blasted away a gather of Beowolves.

"I just hope stays safe." Yatsuhashi muttered, loud enough for Coco to hear him.

"Come on Yatsu, you know she'll be okay, she's one of us after all." she said to him.

The large teen nodded as she bashed a Masked Faunus on the back with the hilt of his sword. Despite his own personal worry for his partner he knew Coco was right, she might be shy and look fragile but she could take care of herself.

---

Adam, Hui, and the remaining twenty-two members of the Oblivion Vanguards who had followed him inside ran down the length of the main hallway, occasionally blasting at Razor and the others who had been pursuing them when they came close to a fork in the road. At the end of the main hallway was a grand staircase which split into two directions, with the left leading to the control room while the right led to the rear hangar which contained Adam's ship and faced away from where the combined forces of the Atlesians and Vacuo Rangers were attacking from.

Before they could make it to the staircase, Adam's group came under intense fire from Blake, Yang, Velvet, Kane, Selena, Teresa, and Thayer at the other end of the hallway, forcing them to take cover in either both sides of the hallways or behind thick wall pillars even as they returned fire on the pursuers.

"Keep shooting, we need to keep them pinned down!" Blake said as she led the others down the hallway, shooting the whole time to keep driving the hostiles back. Razor, Sun, and Piper followed them, waiting to get close enough to strike with their own weapons.

"Return fire!" Adam ordered his followers who peeked around whatever cover they could find to shoot back, forcing Blake and the others to take cover as well. Seeing the return fire intensifying, Sun quickly pulled Yang behind a pillar just in time to avoid a powerful blast from a rifle which took a large chunk of concrete from the cover they just managed to hide behind. Fragments of concrete and dust pattered over them as more gunfire punched pieces of concrete from their slowly crumbling cover.

"You okay?" The Monkey Faunus asked the bombshell.

"You bet, thanks for the save." She said to him before shooting back at the Oblivion Vanguards, managing to land a hit one in the head, who toppled over and slumped to the ground.

Velvet helped out by firing at the Oblivion Vanguards clustered at the far side of the hallway, shooting back at them along with Selena and Teresa while Thayer paused to slam a fresh magazine into his assault rifle, discarding the empty one which clattered to the ground.

Sun saw the rabbit girl duck back as bullets peppered the pillar area above her head, her hands covering her sensitive ears even as her uncle pushed Velvet back into cover even as he raked the Vanguards with assault rifle fire, dropping one while forcing the others to slide back into cover. "Velvet, why did you come?" He called over the continuous sound of gunfire.

"Because I want to help stop him from hurting anyone else." Velvet answered with fierce determination in her brown eyes even as she popped out again and took single shots down the hallway, bullets pock-marking the pillar she had used as temporary cover.

"And I'm not letting her fight alone without me." Thayer stated as he pulled his backup pistol to shoot at his former leader the moment his last magazine for his recently-acquired assault rifle emptied itself. He tried to aim for Adam's head but a Vanguard with a bulletproof shield was blocking his shots while returning fire with his own rifle.

As he hid behind a pillar near the grand staircase, Adam took out his scroll and called up the control room, "Are you reading me?"

"Yes sir, we've gotten... Well about those reinforcements..." The deck officer at the other end of the line tried to say.

"I don't have time to listen to your stammering, out with it!" Adam snapped as he fired at Yang, who was trying to blast any enemy she could within range. Those that were hit by her shots never rose from where they fell, either knocked out or groaning in pain from wounds they have suffered from the yellow bombshell.

"We've contacted the nearest two bases but they are both under attack! We have also gotten reports from the primary bases in Vale, Mistral, and Atlas, and they are also all under enemy attack sir!" The deck officer blurted out the words as fast as he could.

"WHAT?!" shouted Adam, his eyes widening even as his hand clenched around his scroll, almost crushing the communication device in his grip

"We're receiving a message from a base in Vacuo, it sounds... well listen to it sir!" said the frightened officer before connecting Adam to the transmission that the former had received.

A static-laced voice of a White Fang commanding officer even as screams and explosions could be heard in the background as he said "We need reinforcements now! These warriors, Huntsmen or mercenaries, or... I don't know what they are! We managed to slow them down but that's it! We can't... they're unstoppable!"

---

Heavy artillery shells flew out of the heavy snowstorm from unseen cannons and bombarded the secret White Fang base in Atlas which was made from a derelict military base, built into the shadowed side of the mountains, showering the base's occupants with snow and rock fragments even as dozens of vehicles shot across the barren ice plain, their weapons already emptying precise missile shots and energy blaster fire at the substantial wall defenses of the White Fang base. One by one those defense emplacements either blew up in fiery explosions or were put out of commission, and even as the base's forces scrambled to counter the heavy firepower being leveled against them it was already far too late to make a difference.

The great metallic doors of the White Fang base was soon blown off its hinges and crushed underneath the grinding treads of a massive armored tank whose twin huge cannons roared its deafening sound of war, causing the command tower in the middle of the base to suffer catastrophic damage to its structural support and collapse shortly after. The enormous fighting vehicle, emblazoned with a mysterious emblem on both of its thick armored sides, continued to fire shells into the flaming base, while its secondary weapon arrays including grenade launchers, energy blaster turrets, missile launchers and twin-linked gatling assault cannons discouraged any White Fang forces from approaching it, all the while shrugging off massive amounts of intense enemy fire like a unstoppable giant.

In the wake of the giant tank, warriors clad in thick-plated white-silver armor and helmets sprinted across the snowy landscape, firing their energy weapons as well as using their long thin broadswords to cut down anyone who stood in their way.

The attack was akin to a wrecking ball, smashing into the unprepared defenses of the secret White Fang base with unparalleled ferocity and crushing every defender within underneath its unyielding fist of iron. Soon the base was in flames and the remaining meager number of survivors immediately surrendered upon seeing the gaping barrels and blades of those armored warriors being pointed at them.

They could only watch in trepidation and relief as the white-silver armored warriors pause for a few moments as they received fresh orders, before turning and vanishing back into the heavy snowstorm along with their powerful vehicles and transport gunships, leaving for destinations unknown, while also anonymously transmitting their coordinates to the Atlas military.

---

In a remote section of Vale a series of abandoned storage facilities served as a covert base for the largest White Fang cell operating in the continent, since it was far enough to avoid any detection by law-enforcement authorities and their quiet 'handling' of any unwanted curious onlookers. They thought that no one would discover their concealed base, but that belief was proven wrong when a simultaneous attack blew up the entire row of storage facilities, just as they came under fire from battle tanks and a few gunships.

Transport Carriers rolled into the open area in front of the hidden White Fang base, disgorging ranks of thickly-armored warriors armed with a variety of unique firearms and close-range combat weapons who charged towards whoever was left reeling by the explosions, while their tanks and fighting vehicles continued to unload shell after shell into the collapsing buildings. Meanwhile in the sky, heavily armed drop-ships provided much-needed air support by firing salvos of missiles and streams of shells to destroy any stationary defenses and enemy vehicles as well as armor.

The remaining White Fang troops fought back the best they could, but were quickly wiped out and within mere moments the largest underground base of the White Fang stationed in Vale was reduced to flaming rubble and collapsing ruins. When the Vale militia received word of a massive fire outbreak, they arrived to find a scene of utter devastation with shell-shocked White Fang members who were only too happy to be taken into custody, although none of them could say who were the mysterious warriors that attacked them.

---

The secondary bases of the White Fang located in Vacuo were hit in a sudden and synchronized attack by armor-clad warriors riding on bikes with damage-dealing weapons mounted on them. The warriors struck quickly and with frightening speed after taking out the surrounding radar-jamming towers, wiping out as many White Fang troops, vehicles and aircraft as possible before they can coordinate a response and send reinforcements for their main headquarters when the joint Altas-Vacuo Strike Force makes their move to attack the aforementioned location.

While armored warriors crashed their bikes through the main gates and firing their weapons at everything wearing a White Fang uniform, but they were careful enough to not kill unless they had no other choice. Multiple gunships and drop-ships dropped additional armored warriors who took to the fray wielding swords and axes, hacking apart any opposition they found while shooting others with uniquely-designed rifles and pistols. The remaining troops of those White Fang bases simply wasn't able to mount an effective defense against such a sudden and inexplicably efficient strategy, and were soon wiped out in short order, with both bases completely destroyed and rendered useless to the overall fighting strength of the White Fang organisation, it had all been made easier by the infighting caused by Adam's defeat.

Once they made sure there's no way for the White Fang cells to recover from their unexpected yet frighteningly effective attack, the armored warriors disappeared back into the brewing sandstorms of Vacuo once more on their bikes and airships like desert ghosts, leaving no trace of their existence behind.

---

The largest White Fang cell in Mistral has managed to convert a series of abandoned offshore mining platforms into a base with its own reasonable fleet of ships and accompanying attack craft, and they thought themselves invincible since the Mistral government's naval forces wasn't able to take them on in an extended fight.

However, on a rainy night their considerable defenses were put to the test when a huge armored battleship with air support in the form of heavily armed gunships rained untold amounts of firepower against the seaborne platforms. Massive explosions showered the installations, sinking one after the other even as the battleships and gunships unleashed their weaponry again and again, blasting large pieces out of the mining platforms until they fell into the oceans, crushing the escaping White Fang ships and attack crafts by the dozens.

Those that managed to escape the destruction of the mining platforms could only watch in shocked silence as flaming buildings fell into the oceans amid repeated blasts from the battleships' cannons as well as their escort ships.

Within moments the entire series of re-purposed mining platforms were wiped from existence, leaving a considerable fleet of floating wreckage and detritus behind. The survivors of Mistral's main White Fang cell watched in fearful silence as the battleships turned round and vanished into the dark night along with those accompanying gunships, and when the Mistral Naval Forces found them about an hour later they promptly surrendered without word, fearful of the warriors' return.

---

"Do something about it! Get some of the smaller bases..." Adam began to speak when the officer cut him off mid-sentence.

"We've tried sir, but there's trouble. It seems that the matter of your broadcasted defeat has created a problem for others, and there seems to be a schism within our ranks sir. There have been mass defections to Belladonna's side as they believe that you are unfit to command after watching you being defeated by Belladonna. Also, those still believing in you are currently fighting those who oppose you. And there are other bases which are just too far away to send help, it appears that we are on our own for the time being." The officer reported in a slightly cracking voice.

Adam let out a furious growl as he realized that the whole White Fang was collapsing around him, everything he worked for and set out to do was being undone right in front of him. He couldn't let that happen, at least not without a fight. Not without doing some major irrecoverable damage to humanity before he was finally beaten. Something to make Blake regret fighting him.

He needed to get to the ship as quickly as possible, but he couldn't do that with Blake, Razor, and the rest of those pests keeping him pinned down. Any member of the Oblivion Vanguard who left their cover or tried to get close either just barely made it to a new cover or were shot down by the members of Blake's group. Already a few were lying unmoving on the ground of the hallway, aura glowing from their sustained wounds.

One of the Oblivion Vanguards who managed to tumble out of the line of enemy fire settled next to Adam. He looked at Adam as if asking him for fresh orders and the Bull Faunus simply looked up to the staircase, the desperation to reach his destination written clearly on his face. Maybe if he managed to get the ship in flight and launch some bombs at some human cities to do some widespread damage Salem would see fit to spare him. The chance was slim, but at least it was a chance, but first they needed to get out of here.

"Any ideas to get us out of this?!" Adam shouted to his followers over the escalating firefight.

"Well sir, I've got some flash-bangs, will that do?" shouted one of the Vanguards while others continued shooting down the hallway.

Before Adam could answer he heard Kane shout "Blake, don't!" He lifted his head up just in time to see Blake dodging gunfire coming down the hallway as she ran forward to attack in a uncharacteristically brazen move.

"Fire!" yelled Hui as the members of the Oblivion Vanguard opened fire on Blake, riddling her with Dust bullets, making her flicker out of existence as they did so and revealing it to be a shadow clone.

"Oh no..." Adam muttered before he turned his head quickly and brought up Wilt just in time to block a strike from Blake, who had snuck by against the walls while her Semblance distracted them. He kicked her back and jumped up to strike against her next blow before yelling "Do it!"

The Vanguard took out two flash-bangs and violently threw them to the ground, making them go off with incredibly bright flashes that forced everyone to shield their eyes and cover their ears. Unfortunately for Blake and her group the Oblivion Vanguard's masks were enough to protect them from the visual effects of flash.

"Not again!" moaned Velvet as she wiped her eyes and pulled down her ears, while other members of Blake's group blinked their eyes furiously to clear away the effects of the flash-bangs.

"Move, move, move!" Adam shouted as he led his followers in retreat, running up the grand staircase.

"Don't let up!" Yang shouted as she wildly fired back. Selena, Kane, Teresa, and Blake, despite the light, managed to pour more gunfire at the retreating Faunus, managing to injure and take out a couple of them as Piper used her Semblance to cancel out the flash-bang's auditory effects.

As the effects of the flash-bang wore off Blake and the others quickly recovered and began to move ahead as fast as they could, firing a lot lesser now to conserve ammunition and realizing that they were merely delayed for a few minutes or so. But enough for Adam to have a head-start in getting to his destination.

"Come on, let's go!" Sun shouted as he dashed ahead to be alongside Blake, with Yang close behind and Velvet, Razor and the others following at a fast pace.

"Which way do you think they went?" Velvet asked as she reloaded her gun.

"Well we need to go to the hangar, we can't risk letting him escape." Razor voiced quickly.

"The hangar sounds most likely, but he could have gone to the control room to call for help from other bases." Kane replied after some thought.

"Then we might have to split up." suggested Teresa, looking at everyone in the group as she mentioned her suggestion.

"No, it's too dangerous, if he went to the control room we can go back and catch him but right now we need to make sure he can't get away." Blake said firmly as they made it to the split in the paths ahead.

"She's right, hangar's the best bet." Yang agreed with the black cat.

"Very well, commander." Razor said to Blake, giving his assent with a nod of his head.

Blake smiled, but wasn't sure she deserved the title. She might have won the duel, but she didn't really feel worthy of it.

"Let's quit wasting time and move!" Sun shouted before rushing down the hall, Blake and Yang alongside him.

"Now you're talking my language!" Yang exclaimed eagerly.

As they ran down the hallway Kane spoke up. "And if he went to the control room instead of the hangar?"

"Then we double back and go there, if he's scurried off we force the information we need out of the officers and techies there. And then we transmit a message to the other White Fang bases." Razor said.

"What kind of message, sir?" Selena inquired with curiosity in her voice.

"To stand down." That was all Razor said as they focused on getting to the hangar, their running steps pounding along the steel walkways.

---

Glynda waved her wand, expertly deflecting every single Dust bullet shot at her as she strode proudly forward. Her Semblance lifted up a piece of wood laying against one of the buildings and it flew into the head of a White Fang officer, knocking him out.

The battle for Oro wasn't as difficult as she feared it would be; not only were most of the White Fang's forces busy fighting the forces at the perimeter but the Fang themselves were in disarray as half of them seemed to be fighting each other instead of simply fighting her and the rangers, which gave Glynda hope for the mission's success.

Just then she saw a group of masked White Fang agents holding a group of villagers hostage, they were human and Faunus, young and old, and all afraid eith the guns pointed at their heads. "Stop or we shoot!" yelled a masked White Fang operative.

"Let them go, do not do something you will regret." Glynda told him calmly.

"Then take your rangers and leave!" yelled the Faunus.

"I cannot do that, but if you release them and all of the other villagers I will make sure your sentence won't be too harsh." the blonde teacher promised them.

The Faunus sneered at her and said "No dice. Kill... AH!"

Glynda used her Semblance to rip the weapons out of their hands, turned them around in midair, and made them fire at the ones who had been holding them seconds ago, shooting them all down but she made sure to only shoot them in legs or shoulders, so as not to kill them.

"Find shelter, quickly!" Glynda told the hostages who thanked her before making their way to a safe place.

Glynda looked up to the mountains and could see the smoke from the explosions at the White Fang base. "Be safe." she muttered, hoping her students and friends would be alright. She could only hope for now, as she had work to do.

---

Pyrrha shot down an Oblivion Vanguard who was brutally attacking one of the maskless and sent him out cold with a hard kick to the head before she elbowed a Faunus who was about to attack her from behind right in the gut before whirling around, grabbing him by the head, and smashing his face into her knee before tossing him into a charging Oblivion Vanguard.

She helped the beaten Faunus up and directed him over to a small group of maskless that Jaune was covering, Pyrrha quickly helped out by shooting down a sneak attacker who tried ti jump Jaune from behind, to which he waved in appreciation before pointing behind her. Another White Fang trooper leapt at her and tried to stab her with a machete, but she whipped around right in time and knocked his legs out from beneath him with a sweeping kick and then slammed Milo into his face when he tried to get back up before transforming it into gun mode to blast a female Faunus' gun in half when she tried to execute a former comrade.

"What the...?" The Faunus questioned before Pyrrha sent her sprawling on the ground with a swift punch to the side of the head. Pyrrha directed the nervous Faunus she had just saved to Jaune's group before she quickly blasted away a few Beowolves that were charging at Jaune

Jaune, meanwhile, was fighting for all his worth, cutting down Beowolves and knocking out White Fang troops. He swung Crocea Mors, decapitating a Beowolf before ducking the swing of a Masked Faunus' blade, whom he then delivered a powerful blow to the gut with his shield powered by his Semblance. He then used his Semblance to shield himself and the several injured Maskless White Fang members from gunfire. When they stopped shooting he lunged forward and attacked brutally, striking with his shield and Semblance enhanced kicks and punches that sent them into unconsciousness.

As a few of Leonardo's troops quickly took the injured and helped them to the storage building one of them called to Jaune.

"Thank you!" she said.

Jaune smiled at her, only to be floored by a mighty punch from an Oblivion Vanguard. Jaune tried to get up but the assailant stomped on his chest, right on top of the armor plate, a gun pointed at his face should her try to use his sword.

"Heh!" laughed the bodyguard as a Beowolf prowled behind him, eyeing Jaune darkly. "What're you gonna do now, blondie?"

Pyrrha, who had just taken down a trio of White Fang thugs, saw what was happening and was about to rush to her partner's aid when she gave her a look.

Jaune smirked at the Vanguard "Improvise." He answered as his eyes faintly shone red for a second.

"What the... AH!" screamed the Vanguard as the Beowolf suddenly attacked him from behind. The vanguard cried out in panic as the Beowolf reared up to sink its teeth in only for Jaune to ram his sword through its head, killing it. He looked down at the injured Vanguard as he tried to recover only to kick him in the chin, knocking him out.

Pyrrha jogged over to him and gave him a look, to which he shrugged and said "Had to do something, can't let you save me all the time, plus I don't think anyone noticed."

"You two!" shouted out a voice.

Jaune and Pyrrha turned about face just in time to see Steppenwolffe appearing out of the crowd, riding atop a large Beowolf. Pyrrha quickly held up Milo and fired five quick shots, hitting the Grimm in the torso and head, killing it before it could reach them. As the beast died Steppenwolffe leapt off of it and landed in front of the couple, his weapon drawn.

"The traitor and the failure, I've been looking forward to this." he said darkly.

Jaune and Pyrrha glanced at each other before Pyrrha's hand shot up towards the Grimm Commander and various guns from the masked White Fang soldiers went flying out of their hands and into Steppenwolffe, battering him over and over again with the buts of the guns but he managed to block some of the now floating guns before dodging them and rushing forward and striking at Pyrrha but Jaune parried his strike right before Pyrrha grabbed him and tossed him overhead, slamming him into the ground.

"Ugh!" he grunted as he kicked her in the gut before jumping back up, only to get Jaune's shield to the face. He growled at the blonde and plunged his blade forward, managing to land a cut on Jaune's shoulder while also punching him in the face. Jaune recoiled and sidestepped a slash from Steppenwolffe before suffering a jab to the abdomen but he quickly managed to grab Steppenwolffe's hand and pull him in close to headbutt him and use his shield to ram the Grimm hybrid in the gut at the same time.

Steppenwolffe stumbled back just as Pyrrha used her Semblance on a long rifle to twist it into a circle around Steppenwolffe before shoving him against the wall of a building.

Pyrrha held him to the wall and said "You're not walking away from this."

"Well that's wrong, as that's exactly what I'll be doing. Fotia." he sneered.

Pyrrha glared and punched him in the face before saying "I'm going to ask you a question and for your own good answer it: what became of the Wyvern?"

The elder Grimm hybrid snorted and said "So you still care for the beast? I always have found your bond with it to be most curious and it was... rather unhappy to lose you, but you won't be getting any answers from me." Just then his eyes began to glow as he summoned his Grimm to come to his aid.

The Grimm charged them, ignoring Atlas soldiers and the White Fang alike as they rushed to aid their commander. Pyrrha glared at him before turning around and shooting away at the Grimm while Jaune cut them down, the two fighting together perfectly against the surge of Grimm, not noticing Steppenwolffe using all of his strength to pry the gun open enough for him to get free.

He reclaimed his blade and quietly moved to stab Jaune in the back, preparing to plunge the blade and twist it harshly, but just as he raised his blade Pyrrha whipped around and blocked his stab.

"Don't even try to touch him." she spat before engaging him in a brief duel, Pyrrha's raw talent against Steppenwolffe's years of experience made the two equally matched with over a dozen strikes, parries, swings, and blocks before, seemingly out of nowhere, Sharp Strike brought his bike to a halt and jumped off, kicking Steppenwolffe in the face.

"Thank you." Pyrrha said to him as Sharp Strike withdrew both of his blades.

"Help Jaune and the others, I'll keep him busy." Sharp Strike told her as he approached the rising Grimm Commander. "So what are you? A new version of a Sin Commander?"

"Sin Commander? Those chaps are things of the past. Who the hell are you?" Steppenwolffe demanded as he got ready for another bout.

"Come and find out, abomination." Sharp Strike dared.

Pyrrha watched the two begin to fight as she winced at the harshness of Sharp Strike's words when he called Steppenwolffe an abomination.

Jaune gently grabbed her shoulder. "I'm sorry, we can try to find out about your Wyvern later but right now we've this mess to worry about." he said, gesturing to the chaos around them before casually bashing a masked Faunus in the face with his shield as he did so.

The Amazon nodded and said "You're right, let's get to work."

---

Adam and the rest ran into the the rear hangar, it was slightly smaller than the main one at the front, catwalks flanking the sides and going above the hangar door, the large room was mostly taken up by the ship that Adam had commissioned to achieve his goal. The ship itself was average size for its purpose, a rebuilt cargo freighter that was slightly larger than a bullhead, with various guns and catwalks attached to its sides, and the engineers had made sure that the engines were fast enough to outrun attacking ships. The ship's armor wasn't quite finished yet, but that would have to wait.

More members of the Oblivion Vanguard had made it to the hangar, a few of them stayed by the door to keep watch for Blake and Razor while Adam made his way to the ship and the various Vanguards and other masked White Fang troops got into position around the room to defend the vessel.

"Lieutenant Hui, I leave you in command of the evacuation, get everyone still loyal to the cause out." Adam said.

Hui nodded and gestured for half of the Vanguard to follow him to the control room while the other half continued to follow Adam. "Good luck." He whispered to his leader, knowing that he would never see Adam again.

Adam nodded to his lieutenant, one of the few people he could genuinely call a friend. Hopefully he'd make it out of this.

"Engines prepped?" Adam asked one of the engineers as he began climbing up the stairs for the catwalks that led to the ship.

"Yes sir, and the weapons are fully loaded and armed, the missiles you wanted have been loaded up as well, we're ready for takeoff. ...Uh, sir, are you sure this is a good idea?" The engineer asked.

"We have no time to reconsider. Either we strike now or pay the price." Adam said as the launch crew opened hangar doors.

Adam made it onto the ship noticing that the few crew-members aboard looked uneasy and wary of him. "Is there a problem?" he asked, an edge to his voice.

"Uh, no sir... well it's just that... this might be too risky and considering the fact that you lost..." said an engineer who Adam silence by grabbing him by the throat and lifting him up.

"I haven't lost to her. Not yet." Adam seethed furiously.

"Un-understood sir!" The engineer rasped out before Adam let him down.

Just then there was an incredibly loud clash of sound as the few Vanguards who were guarding the door shouted in alarm before being sent flying across the hangar by a powerful sound blast, courtesy of Piper. Yang and Sun rushed in, the former blasted away at everything she could while Sun slammed the combined form of his weapons into every Vanguard he could before taking them apart and blasting them off as he used them to hit the ground crew.

Hui growled and ran to slash Sun down, only to be parried by Razor.

"Sorry to interrupt, but we insist you stay." the large Boar Faunus quipped before surging against Hui and pushing him backwards. Razor began forcing Hui further away from the ship, relentlessly striking against him with Kill-Master and taking time to cut down or destroy the weapons of anyone who tried to attack him from the side and rear, slicing apart guns and slashing masked White Fang members to the ground.

Teresa used her claws to slash up those on Adam's side who didn't have thick armor while using every move she had to keep they at bay while Velvet, Kane, Selena and Thayer fired on the ship. A large armored Vanguard member charged Kane, avoiding his blasts and got close enough to slam his sword down but the Flying Fox Faunus jumped up, aided by his wins and fired at the brute from above before coming down feet first, knocking the guard to the ground where he was finished off by Selena.

Kane smirked as he fired at Adam, nearly hitting him. His former leader glared down at him and tired to shoot him with Blush but the winged Faunus easily dodged it. "You don't know how good this feels, Taurus!" he shouted as he blocked an attack from another thug, who Selena shot down.

"Less talking, more fighting." she told him as she opened fire on another guard.

Adam growled and lifted his gun to fire on them, only for a Dust bullet to graze his shoulder. "Ah!" he cried. His aura worked to heal the minor wound as he looked down to see Blake.

Blake kept her focus on Adam, who was atop the ship, and fired on him while dashing to avoid being hit by his own blasts. She saw the metal staircase that led to the catwalks as she blasted down a guard who was trying to block it.

Velvet saw what she was going to do and pointed it out to Kane.

"Go for it! We'll cover you!" Kane called to her as he and Selena fired on the Vanguards.

"Good luck!" Velvet shouted.

Blake nodded and ran for it, ignoring the thug who tried to jump her only for Teresa to slam into him, burying her claws into his side.

The Cat Faunus used Gambol Shroud to deflect the shots being fired at her from above, running as fast as she could but soon she had Yang and Sun running beside her.

She smiled at them both, knowing she could count on them.

A group of four guards from the catwalks scrambled down to block it, firing on them but Sun didn't stop for an instant. With his Semblance he created two clones that dashed ahead. One jumped over them, landing behind the group while the one in front slammed into them and burst just as the second one did, the force of the attack sent the guards tumbling over the railings and onto the ground just as the trio made their way up the stairs.

"Take off now!" Adam yelled to the pilot, who quickly obeyed and began to slowly fly the ship forward.

"Hurry!" cried Velvet as she kept shooting at the ship, hoping to do some damage to it.

"Aim for the engines!" Thayer said as he and his niece began to shoot at the rear of the ship.

Velvet looked over and saw an Oblivion Vanguard hoisting up a rocket launcher and aiming it at Kane, so she quickly whipped around and blasted him or her in the chest. Velvet had an idea and dashed over to the downed Vanguard and took up the rocket launcher and aimed it at the catwalks at the front of the hangar and fired, the recoil knocked her off her feet but the rocket hit its mark, the catwalks were badly hit and they fell atop the ship, forcing it to slow down.

However, large parts of the scaffolding fell down to where Razor and Hui were dueling, both of them jumped away from each other before the debris came crashing down, separating them both.

"Next time traitor." Hui said before retreating out of a side door.

Razor revved up Kill-Master's chainsaw mode, but stopped when he heard Kane scream. He looked to see that Kane had been stabbed by one of the Oblivion Vanguards, who was quickly blasted away by Selena. Razor shook his head and ran back to help the others fight off the guards. "Your time will come, lieutenant." he whispered before sending a guard flying with a mighty punch.

Meanwhile, up above the part of the catwalk that led to the ship had disconnected, and was now blocked off by six Oblivion Vanguards who let lose a wild barrage of fire to keep the trio at bay. Blake created an earth clone of herself to take the shots for them.

"Yang, can you use your rocket?" Sun asked as the blonde brawler fired back.

"Not at this ranger! It'd kill them and knock out the bridge!" Yang justified as a bullet went flying past her face.

Just then the six Vanguards all cried out in pain and moved to cover their ears from a sound the trio couldn't hear. Blake looked down and smiled as she saw Piper using a sound bubble isolated around the group of guards to disable them with a sonic attack. She smiled back and waved as Blake and Sun used their Semblances, Blake's clone was on fire thanks to the properties of a Dust crystal, and they sent the clones charging forward to collide with the guards and blow them off the bridge and to the ground below or onto the ship.

Yang as she rushed forward to the end of the platform and with great effort jumped onto the ship's side as it began to exit the hangar, getting free of the catwalk debris.

"Come on!" she called as she held out her hand.

Blake ran back and dashed forward to jump, landing safely in front of Yang who grabbed her to make sure she was steady.

"You good?" Yang asked.

Blake nodded, blushing slightly when she realized their close proximity.

Sun jumped over the gap as the ship was almost out of range, but he managed to just barely make it, he landed on the side platform, only to stumble back into the railing which hadn't been properly secured. He nearly fell backwards before his hands were caught by Blake and Yang.

"Gotcha!" Yang said as they pulled him to safety.

"Whoa, close call." Sun muttered as he took Ruyi and Jingu Bang's combined form off his back.

As the ship took off into the night and away from the battle, Blake looked down at the battle below. She could just barely see the courtyard where her friends still fought on, she could see the Atlesian soldiers and the Vacuo Rangers fighting with everything they had, she could see the dogfights taking place, she could even see the Resolute about a mile or two away. This had escalated into an all out war, and she couldn't help but blame herself for it.

Yang, seemingly sensing her partner's distress, placed a loving hand on her shoulder and whispered "It's not your fault Blake, you've did everything you could. A lot of people will know what a hero you are for this."

"I don't feel like one." Blake admitted.

"You're a hero to me." Sun said.

Blake looked to him, seeing nothing but love for her in his eyes despite everything that had happened.

"You're one to me to, and to Ruby, Weiss, and everyone down there who sided with you because you want to do the right thing. That makes you a hero in my book." Yang said honestly before hugging her partner.

Blake returned the hug before giving Sun a kiss before they all got their weapons ready.

One way or another, they were going to make sure Adam Taurus would be defeated before sunrise.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Once again this chapter was co-written by RelentlessCrusader, who created the Remnant Knights and Task Force Omega and has begun to write a prequel to this story called RWBY Crucible, check it out!

Please help me continue this story and give me some feedback. Please fave and follow this fic and leave a review if you read it on fanfiction . net. If you're on An Archive of Our Own then please leave a kudos and a comment. Tell me what you liked and what you didn't, and how I can improve. 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, please let me know that my efforts aren't wasted. Thank you all, once again.

I want to thank all those who faved and followed this story as I have finally reached 200 followers on ff . net! I hope to get more soon, as I hope more readers will come to enjoy this story. I am so sorry to leave you guys on another cliffhanger, but this is the last one for a while. Also, I'm sorry if this chapter sucked or if you don't enjoy this story. I know a lot of people tell me its good but I'm just nervous I guess, the lack of faves, follows, and kudos have made me question its worth.

Big announcements: Beginning next chapter this fic will be rated M and after chapter 50 I will be going on month and a half long hiatus after burning myself out on this fic again and plan out the next arc, while attending to personal things.

My grandmother, despite some issues, managed to make it through the open heart surgery and is currently recovering and will be able to go home in a month.

Also I want to say Rest In Piece to John Hurt, my personal choice for Claudandus' voice. He was a wonderful actor, I loved him whenever I saw him in anything. Kane, Hazel, Mr. Olivlander, The Elephant Man, The War Doctor, Harold Oxley, these are just some of the roles he's lived in his wonderful and unforgettable career as one of the finest actors alive. Also because I forgot last time RIP Carrie Fisher, to us Star Wars fans she was royalty, and will always be our Princess of the Stars.