The dorm room of Team CFVY was quiet and bathed in darkness that was slowly giving way to morning light. The members of the team were all getting some well deserved sleep from the frankly harrowing mission they had been on for the last several days and were certain nothing could interrupt it. So naturally it was in the early hours of the morning that they were all woken up by Coco's scroll going off.

'Goddammit, I thought I turned that off,' Coco thought angrily and looked at her scroll, suddenly getting a sick feeling of déjà vu as she grabbed it. It was just as quickly pushed away as she silenced the song and checked who the caller was. Her eye twitched when she saw Summer's smiling face on her scroll and heard the rest of her team groan from the sudden awakening.

"Is it who I think it is?" Fox asked, sounding exhausted even through telepathy.

"Yeah," Coco replied as she accepted the call. With a lot of effort to not sound as angry as she was, she said, "What is it?"

Only to get a sharp burst of static that caused her to yank the scroll away from her ear before the call dropped entirely. Coco stared at her scroll for a moment before she shut it and set her hand down as she started thinking.

"That didn't sound good," Fox said just as the lights turned on. Coco covered her eyes with her arm and shot a dirty look at Yatsuhashi, who shrugged and leaned against the wall.

"So what did she say?" Yatsuhashi asked. Coco sat up and shook her head, the light now not nearly as bright as it was.

"Nothing, all I got was static before it cut out," she explained. The rustle of sheets caused her to look at Velvet's bed just as Velvet slowly fell out of bed head first until she was stopped by the floor.

"They couldn't even go a day without getting in trouble and calling us, could they?" She asked grumpily.

"That they called at all is worrying," Yatsuhashi pointed out. He quickly glanced at Fox as he cleaned one of his ears out before looking back at Coco. "What do you think?"

Coco looked down at her hands and slowly spun her scroll in them. "Part of me wants to just go to sleep and write it off as a misdial, but…" Coco stopped spinning her scroll and gave a quick sigh. "After that mess at the docks, it doesn't feel right to do that." She shook her head, threw her covers off her, and stood up. "I don't like it."

"So we're going?" Fox asked as he stood up too.

"Yes, we are," Coco replied and rolled her eyes at the small groans from all of them, no less Velvet. "Let's just hope it really is nothing and kick their asses for wasting our time."

"Fine with me. That was long overdue since the cafeteria anyway." Coco nodded at that as Fox and Yatsuhashi moved to get their clothes while she walked over to Velvet as she fell completely out of bed onto the floor.

"I'm gonna kill them," she said flatly as she stared up at the ceiling.

"No you're not," Coco said as she leaned over Velvet, "You just need some coffee in you. You'll feel better."

"I'm going to need a lot of coffee."


After a half hour of getting dressed and forcing themselves awake, Team CFVY left the dorm and started the walk to the airship pads. They weren't the only ones up at this ungodly hour as they saw that Haven team lead by the scarred girl going somewhere and Sun's team goofing off before their mission. None of them could tear Coco's attention away from Velvet as she drank canned coffee next to her.

"Ok, I'm feeling slightly more alive," Velvet said as she crushed the can in her hand and threw it into a trash can they passed by. Velvet gave Coco an unamused glance and added, "Stop glaring at me."

"I'm not glaring," Coco replied, adjusting her sunglasses enough to hide her eyes better.

"But you were thinking about it. We don't have time for your coffee, so I had canned. There's nothing wrong with that!"

"That's what they always say. Canned coffee," Coco muttered with a scoff.

"As much as I enjoy listening to you argue about coffee preferences," Fox interrupted suddenly with a yawn, "but how exactly are we getting to Mountain Glenn? It's not like we can just take a taxi there… or can we?"

"I assumed we would just take an airship," Yatsuhashi said and rolled one of his shoulders.

"There'll be a lot of teams heading out today," Coco explained, "We'll just hitch a ride on one going east and have them drop us off there."

"Will it be worth all the hassle though?" Velvet asked.

"If STRQ is in trouble, we help them. If not, we'll take half their pay from this mission as compensation. Maybe even force them to pay for our dinners for the next week."

"I'm down for that," Fox said with a chuckle.

"I can taste the sushi already," Yatsuhashi said, which got a look from Velvet. He raised an eyebrow at her and asked, "What?"

"It was probably just a butt dial!"

Coco perked up when she heard that and looked to see JNPR walking along the concourse toward the airship pads. 'Well, would you look at that,' she thought as she lowered her glasses to look at them. She glanced back at her teammates for a moment before she pushed the glasses back up and they all jogged after the underclassmen. As they got closer they picked up a little more of their conversation.

"I just can't shake this feeling. I don't know," Jaune said while rubbing the back of his head.

"That's probably just hunger. We did skip breakfast," Nora said, spinning around in her step to look at Jaune. "I mean, when was the last time they had any real trouble?"

"You'd be surprised," Fox said to them, causing them all to jump at the sudden voice in their heads before they saw CFVY walk up to them.

"I'm never going to get used to that."

"Morning Coco, you're up early," Jaune said and gave Coco a wave, his smile a little more nervous than he wanted it.

"Oh trust me, I'd rather not be if I didn't have to," Coco admitted with a tired sigh, which was matched by most of her team. "So are you heading out now?"

"Uh, yeah. Our ship is waiting for us at the docks now."

"If you're heading eastward, would you mind if we hitched a ride to the south east?" Jaune's eyes widened a little and he looked back at Pyrrha. Coco raised an eyebrow at that and crossed her arms as Jaune looked back at her a little more seriously than before.

"Are you going to Mountain Glenn?" he asked.

"That was the idea. We got a call from Summer a bit ago and we were going to see what's up."

"That's… worth investigating?" Ren asked.

"They never call while on a mission," Velvet added and scratched the base of one of her rabbit ears, "so that they called at all is concerning."

"Did she say anything?" Jaune asked, now looking worried.

"Nah, just static before it cut out," Coco replied and lowered her glasses as Jaune looked back at his team, "Why?"

"Because I got a call from Taiyang half an hour ago! It was the same thing, just static before it cut out, but it just didn't feel right." Coco's eyes widened and she looked back at her team, who were all looking at her the same way.

"Ok, so calling us is one thing," Velvet started.

"But both of us at the same time? That's weird." Fox finished.

"Just what did they stumble on?" Coco asked. Their ruminations were interrupted by a distant bang followed by a distant klaxon alarm. The teens all looked toward the distant city of Vale and a single plume of black smoke coming up from it.

"That wasn't good, was it?" Fox asked just as Beacon's own alarms started. Fox covered his ears along with Velvet and Nora in an attempt to block the piercing noise. Coco stared up at the speaker that was giving off the alarm for a moment before she looked at Jaune, who seemed to come to the same realization that she had.

"You guys just got co-opted," she said and pushed her glasses up.

"Fine with me, come on guys!" Jaune replied and started running to the airship pads with his team and CFVY following behind. He wasn't in the lead for very long as Velvet soon caught up and overtook him. They were the first to get to the Bullhead and Professor Port looking at the distant smoke.

"What in the blazes is going on?" Port said aloud while shielding his eyes from the sun.

"Bad stuff!" Velvet shouted back. Port turned around to see Velvet hop into the airship and Jaune to stop next to the door.

"We've had a change in plans," he explained as the rest of the teams caught up and started filing into the airship. Port looked at the city and back at Jaune before nodding.

"That we have," he said and got into the ship after Pyrrha and Fox. Ren was about to get in when he and Jaune's eyes met.

"Another time," Jaune said simply. Ren nodded in reply and both boys got in and shut the door behind them. No sooner had it shut did the ship take off and shoot toward the city as fast as it could.

It would only be the first of many as Ozpin's voice came over the intercoms along with the sirens.


As alarms are designed to do, Beacon Academy's alarms roused everyone on the grounds to react to emergencies as fast as possible. Nobody that was still asleep appreciated this, especially Team RWBY. More specifically, Weiss after she was thrown to the floor after everyone in the room was startled awake.

"Gah! What was that for Blake?" Weiss asked as she leveled a glare at her partner, who was looking around the room in a panic.

"Damn the torpedoes, we're under attack!" Blake shouted and leapt off the bed, "Where's my sword? Where are my enemies!?"

"Calm down, it's just an alarm," Yang said with her face buried into her pillow, "and it sure is loud!"

"What is going on?" Ruby asked just as the intercoms came on.

"Attention! A breach has been detected in the city! All Huntsmen are to mobilize immediately! I repeat—"

"A breach?" Weiss asked.

"Oh no…" Blake added, her eyes narrowed in fear. In a flash of rose petals Ruby was at the window and threw it open to look out toward the city. The rest of the team was right next to her a moment later and they all shared a look when they saw the smoke plume.

"Get your gear together. We got a city to save," Ruby said seriously and got nods in response. She shared a look with Yang before leading Weiss and Blake in getting their clothes and weapons together. Once she was sure she wasn't being watched, Yang grabbed her scroll from the top of the dresser and typed out a quick text.

"What the fuck is happening!?"


'I'd like to know that myself!' Cinder thought. She looked up from her scroll over to the distant city. She had known that there would be an attack on the city from Mountain Glenn, counted on it even, but this soon?

"That idiot must have screwed up," Emerald said disdainfully.

"Or someone forced his hand," Mercury said and scratched the back of his head. "So what are we going to do about this?" Cinder's scroll beeped again and she checked it to find another message from Yang.

"We're giving you the benefit of the doubt that this was an accident. If it wasn't, it's your head."

Cinder felt her eye twitch at that and flicked her scroll shut. "I suppose we're going to have to do some cleanup."


Team STRQ could barely feel the shaking of the crash in their icy prison. The force did crack the ice enough for Summer to hit the Dust switch on York to melt the ice the rest of the way until she was able to break most of the top off with a swing.

"Finally!" Taiyang shouted with a cough and started punching the ice at his waist, "that sucked horribly."

"That's an understatement!" Raven said angrily. She slammed the hilt of her sword into the ice at her knees to break them, letting out the smallest of sighs when she saw Zwei shake some ice off of his head. "Ok, the dog's still alive," she added as Zwei looked around panting.

"Well that's good," Qrow said just as Taiyang finished breaking the ice around them and put Harbinger away. It was only then that they all realized the car they were in was at a steep angle. They almost fell down the slope and put in the effort to not slide down the car. Qrow took a quick look around the car and found a straggler slumped against the side of one of the seats. For a second he thought the man was dead until he let out a soft groan.

"Well, look who else is alive," Qrow said and pointed at Torchwick. He looked back just as Summer started walking over to him with a determined expression.

"Ugh… the hell happened?" Roman asked and looked up in time to see Summer raise a foot and kick him in the face, knocking him out once again.

"Prick. That glyph must have saved him from the crash," Summer said and shook her head, "Too bad it's gone now huh?"

"Do we really have time to worry about him?" Raven asked as she sheathed her sword and gestured to the front of the car, "I get the feeling we have much worse things to worry about right now." The very faint sound of a siren drifted into the car, a sound that sent a chill through Summer before she took a breath, sheathed Soleil, and pointed at Roman.

"We're taking him with us. You never know what else he might know. One of you carry him."

"I got him," Qrow said as he walked over to Roman. While he picked him up and threw him over his shoulders, Taiyang picked up Zwei and followed Summer and Raven toward a door in the train. They all fought against the incline the car was in as Summer shoved her sword into the crack in the doors and pried it open enough for Raven to wrench it open.

"Go, I got this," Raven said and lifted an arm up to let Summer slip past her and jump outside, where she lost her footing a little on loose pavement and fell forward. The blaring alarm drowned out the clatter of her sword skidding along the street and Summer pushed herself up onto her knees to find the one thing she didn't want to see.

"Oh hell." Summer looked back at Taiyang as he set Zwei down. They both looked around at the crowd that was slowly forming around them, taking pictures with their scroll and muttering among themselves. The fact it seemed like nobody had been hurt in the initial crash was probably the only real miracle that might come from this.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Raven shouted as she joined up with Summer, Qrow right behind her. "That fucking tunnel led all the way back to the city! Just our luck!"

"Did you expect any different?" Qrow asked and got a look from Raven that pierced through her mask. Then the train car they had come from shifted a little, causing STRQ to look back at it along with quelling some of the murmurs from the crowd. STRQ shared a look between each other and sprang into action with Summer rushing forward to get her sword with Raven and Taiyang following her and Qrow splitting off to the nearest building to stash Roman for later.

"Run! The Grimm are coming!" Summer shouted as loud as she could.

"There's been a breach! Get out of here!" Taiyang shouted. Some of the more wary of the crowd started running at this.

"Why are you standing around!" Raven screamed as she took her mask off and threw it to the side, "if you stay here, you'll die! Run your fucking asses off!" Raven didn't need to press it any further once something banged against the train car two more times before a King Taijitu crashed through it and sent half of it flying over the crowd and into a building. That got the crowd running, even before a small pack of Beowolves out and chased after them.

"Oh hell. Did anyone else see that thing following us!?" Taiyang asked as the Taijitu looked them over. Summer and Raven shook their heads and readied themselves as the Taijitu started to hiss. It was about to strike when Qrow leapt off a building with his scythe fully extended and slashed at its eye, leaving the Grimm roaring and thrashing around as smoke shot out from the wound. Qrow landed near his team and rested his weapon on his shoulder.

"Got a plan Sum?" Qrow asked, looking at Summer. She looked around the plaza as Grimm advanced on people or attacked doorways to try and get inside. She took a deep breath, set herself, and drew Soleil.

"Do what you can. Kill Grimm, save people, and try to hold them off. Help will come." Her teammates nodded before looking back at the King Taijitu, its second head coming through the hole to hiss and attack them. Summer and Raven jumped backwards away from the strike while Qrow and Taiyang dashed in opposite directions, each focused on a separate group of monsters.

"That help had better come fast," Raven muttered as she drew her sword and faced the Taijitu. Summer could only silently agree as she ignited York.


"Entering Vale airspace. It's starting to look pretty bad around the epicenter."

'When is it ever good?' Coco wondered as she moved to one of the side doors of the Bullhead and opened it. The siren was still blaring, occasionally being drowned out by the occasional explosion as they flew over the city. Coco leaned out the door, a hand on her beret, and looked toward the plume of smoke at the center of the chaos.

"I don't doubt for a second Summer is in the middle of this mess," Coco shouted and glanced into the airship, "They're going to need help."

"And they'll get it," Port said as he came out of the cockpit, "but we have other problems. Grimm are spilling into the city and we just got word that a large group is heading toward Vermillion Plaza."

"Crap. How bad?"

"Nothing concrete, but there are reports of multiple giant Grimm."

"This is spreading fast," Velvet said worriedly. Coco rubbed her chin in thought for a moment.

"We can back them up," Jaune said suddenly. When everyone looked at him he gestured to his team and added, "I mean, it's not like we haven't played backup to them before. We'll help them and you can help somewhere else."

"Are you sure you can handle this?" Coco asked. When Jaune simply nodded along with the rest of his team, Nora taking out her hammer in addition, she smiled and said, "Well, who am I to say no to that?"

"You won't be alone for long," Port interjected, "more Huntsmen are on their way even as we speak. For now, stay vigilant and alive." Port then moved back into the cockpit while Pyrrha opened the other side door and looked toward the center of the chaos. Nora walked up next to her and hefted her hammer a little, raising her eyebrows rapidly when Pyrrha looked at her in confusion. "The drop off will be on your left, so be ready for any—"

Port didn't get to finish since a small bang echoed through the airship and by the time he looked back into the cargo he saw Pyrrha being held up by Ren, holding her shield up, and heard Nora's laughter growing fainter outside. Those who weren't involved looked at Port as he watched for a moment before breaking out into a hearty laugh.

"I knew I liked that girl for a reason!"

From Nora's now rather high view of the city, she could see quite clearly what the problem was. It was a lot worse than she thought, what with the plaza looking almost thoroughly trashed. Some Grimm were running down a couple side streets and Nora could see STRQ fighting in the plaza itself, Qrow and Taiyang holding off a couple of Grimm on their own while Summer and Raven were busy dodging around the strikes from a King Taijitu. That she was now flying toward.

Nora grinned widely and positioned herself to grip her hammer more firmly and gave it a hefty swing to get herself spinning. She only spun a couple of times before her attack found its mark, slamming into the top of the black half of the Taijitu and sending the snake Grimm slamming down onto several sharp pieces of metal. With that head dead and the recoil from the blow sending Nora flying backwards, Summer and Raven take advantage of the opening.

Summer Blinked past the Taijitu to a nearby building and Raven sheathed her sword and tensed up, waiting only a moment for Summer to get ready and Blink again before jumping. Both girl's swords were little more than a flash as they both lopped off the Taijitu's remaining head and went sailing past in opposite directions, Summer landing on the ground in a roll and Raven doing a flip before coming down onto an Ursa and stabbing it in the forehead.

All of this before Nora landed. Once she did, the scream of airship engines filled the plaza for a moment before receding and she heard the soft thumps of her teammates landing next to her with their weapons out and ready.

"Let's go!" Pyrrha shouted and rushed into the plaza toward Raven, with Nora and Ren splitting off to help Qrow and Taiyang as well. Jaune, slightly taken aback by this, could only roll his eyes and run to Summer as she fought a Beowolf and an Ursa.

"Summer!" he called out to her. Summer turned her head enough to see him before she flipped out of the way of another strike and Blinked back toward Jaune. The Beowolf and Ursa followed and Summer pointed at the Ursa with her sword before she jumped to the left to deal with the Beowolf. Jaune let out a small huff before focusing on the Ursa, its right arm already raised to crush him. He planted his feet, reared his shield arm back, and flared his Aura a little as he swung to parry the attack.

Not having expected that, the Ursa was thrown off balance. Jaune took advantage of that and swiped at its legs, which knocked it flat on its back and gave Jaune a clear line to its throat. He braced the end of his sword with his palm and thrust it into the Ursa, the monster giving off a few roars and gurgles before he ripped the sword out of the throat. With its throat split clean open, the Ursa fell limp and started disintegrating.

Jaune turned to help Summer in time to see her duck under a swipe from the Beowolf, cut off said arm, and stabbed it in the chest with York. The Beowolf snapped at her with its jaws while Summer pushed her sword deeper and stabbed her dagger into the back of its neck. It struggled for a moment before disintegrating and giving Summer a moment to breath before looking at Jaune.

"Please tell me you have good news," she asked as she flipped Soleil into gun mode and fired a few rounds at some Creeps coming out of the breach.

"Right! Um, we're here to back you up," Jaune started and stopped for a second to duck under a dive bomb from a Nevermore, "Team CFVY and Professor Port are heading off a group of Grimm at Vermillion Plaza, and reinforcements are on their way."

"I hope so. Things are getting worse by the second." As if to punctuate that, there was a crash behind them that was caused by a Giant Nevermore landing on a nearby roof. The tiles cracked under its talons and it shuffled a little as it stared down at them, black smoke leaking out of its beak as it let out a low growl. "Had to open my mouth," Summer muttered as she ejected the magazine from Soleil and started reloading. The Nevermore started opening its beak when a small airship quickly flew by overhead before pulling up, which drew its attention for a moment.

"What?" Jaune asked just as something slammed into the Nevermore's head and sent it crashing down onto the roof. That something turned out to be a certain redhead, who quickly formed her swords into a buzzsaw shape and slammed the spinning mass down onto the Grimm's neck as it started to get back up. The bird struggled as the swords dug through its neck until a crack gave way and the head fell from the roof, taking the girl with it down to the street. It had only barely slammed into the ground when she jumped off it and left it disintegrating behind her so she could rush over to Summer and Jaune.

"Salutations Summer!" Penny said and gave a small salute, "do you require assistance here?"

"Yes Penny, we do," Summer replied as she pulled the slide back on her pistol.

"Then I will help as needed." Penny gave a nod and turned to run toward the breach, her swords held wide behind her as she saw a new group of Grimm crawl out of the hole.

"I can see why you like her," Jaune commented quietly.

"Oh yeah, she's adorable." A roar filled the plaza as an Alpha Beowolf jumped out of the hole, sending the group of Grimm in front of it flying all around, and charged toward Summer and Jaune. Penny's swords clanged off of its bone armor and Summer had to dodge out of the way while Jaune only had enough time to raise his shield and brace himself. The giant Grimm slammed hard into the shield and pushed Jaune back a few feet. His arm ached from the effort and he took everything in him to keep from falling over while Summer took the opportunity to stab York into the Alpha's side.

The monster roared and raised a forearm to bat Jaune aside. He managed to hold his sword arm up enough to lessen the blow, but the attack still hurt through his Aura and sent him flying to the side and onto a bench. It spun around, ripping the sword out of Summer's grip, and swiped a claw at her that she Blinked up and out of the way of. While in the air she fired a quick shot at its head, hitting dead center in its bony forehead, and caused it to massage the spot momentarily. When it was done it roared and ran toward a nearby building, jumping onto the wall and scrambling up and over the roof.

"Shit! That's going to rile up the small fry!" Summer shouted and ran after it. She got to the bottom of the building and Blinked up to the edge of the roof and flipped over it. Jaune stared for a moment before another crash behind him drew his attention and he blanched as another Alpha Beowolf tore through the plaza. Raven barely flipped out of the way of a claw and it smashed a car toward Nora. Nora saw it coming in time to swing her hammer to meet it and send it back at the Alpha, only barely missing it as it ran down the street.

"I got that one!" Raven shouted as she sheathed her sword and started to run after it, "You all hold this place down!"

"Easy for you to say!" Taiyang shouted back before he punted a Creep into an Ursa that was going for Ren. Jaune silently agreed as Raven disappeared around the corner. Regardless he took a quick breath and ran to help Pyrrha and Penny.


"We're coming up on Vermillion Plaza. That's a lot of them down there!"

"I'll be right behind you all," Port said as he drew his weapon, "And remember students, don't hold back!" Coco nodded and looked back outside with her team toward the plaza until they stopped above the center. Yatsuhashi jumped out first, a hand on his sword's handle, and did a quick spin to build up speed before he drew his sword and slammed it into the ground. The pavement cracked and flew apart under the force, along with any Grimm that happened to be nearby. With a suitably cleared area the rest of CFVY and Port jumped out as well, already scanning for a place they could be the most useful.

Velvet and Fox ran to deal with a small pack of Beowolves while Yatsuhashi stayed in the center with Port to draw in and deal with the bigger Grimm. That left Coco with her own little pack of Grimm, which would have been easy if an Alpha Beowolf hadn't stormed down a street and slammed into a delivery truck. Coco watched as the truck flew just far enough to crash into the front of a clothing store.

"Oh you bastard," Coco muttered and gripped her bag tighter as locked eyes with the Alpha, barely registering how the smaller Grimm were bristling from its presence. "I get my favorite blouses from there! You're all dead!" Her words naturally fell on deaf ears as one of the Creeps took the opportunity to leap at Coco, only to catch a quick kick to the side of the head and get sent into a light pole that crumpled on impact and killed the Creep. The rest of the group charged at Coco, the ones in front at least getting a chance to die at her hands. The stragglers at the back had to deal with unexpected arrivals.

"Junior Detectives!" A Beowolf looked up in time to get its head cracked open by a rod wielded by a certain monkey Faunus. Before it died the Grimm slammed into the ground hard enough that nearby Grimm were sent flying. Coco batted a Creep away with her bag toward the center of the plaza, where it was shot out of the air by Port, and gently raised an eyebrow as the rest of Sun's team landed next to him and went to work. Whatever their faults and eccentricities, Coco was glad that they could fight and were willing to.

Now if only they weren't wearing those stupid mustaches.

Putting that horrendous fashion choice out of her mind for the moment, Coco walked through the battle toward the main target of her ire. Sun struck out with his staff and knocked two Creeps out of the way before leaping after them, Sage used his great sword to sweep a Beowolf off its feet before bringing it down to cut in half at the waist. Scarlet managed to do a rather impressive maneuver where he snagged a Creep's leg with his pistol's grappling hook and launched off of it over a light pole, pulling it up as he fell down, and split it down the middle with his sword. And Neptune was probably there somewhere, though Coco didn't see him nor cared to at the moment.

Sage was at least nice enough to let Coco step over his sword before he pulled it out to chase after some more monsters. Coco herself was focused on the Alpha, standing tall on its hind legs and staring down at her as she walked towards it. It was bizarre and Coco probably would have noticed it if she weren't so determined to end its life. Coco saw a flash of red and black out of the corner of her eye before she had to focus on the Alpha raising its arm to claw at her.

Coco swung her bag to parry it, knocking the clawed hand back and knocking it slightly off balance. Then something slammed into the back of the Alpha and completely off its feet toward Coco. She used the opening to ready her stance and slam her bag on top of the Alpha's head, which cracked the bone plate on its head and slammed it into the ground hard. Coco glanced up to see Raven standing on the Alpha's back and already drawing her sword. Quick as a flash she drove the blade into the Alpha's neck, grunting a little as the monster shook a little to try and free itself, and dragged the blade out of the side of its neck. The gouge was enough to finally kill the beast, the body disintegrating and dropping Raven onto the ground in front of Coco.

"The fuck was that?" Raven asked quietly while looking down at her feet.

"I could have had that," Coco said and adjusted her beret once Raven looked up at her. "I gotta say, you guys give one hell of a wake up call."

"Not our intention. Boring mornings are better anyway." Raven leaned to the side to look behind Coco, who looked behind her in time to see an Ursa get launched into a crowd of Grimm and explode courtesy of a focused strike from Fox. Bone spikes from the explosion flew through the plaza and Coco and Raven knocked away some with a swipe from a bag and sword respectively.

"Don't suppose you're too busy?" Coco asked and looked back at Raven.

"Tch, like you need the help," she replied and gestured with her sword at Velvet, who had just slammed a Creep onto a fire hydrant. "Still, I'll do what I can before heading back. Would that be ok?" Before Coco could answer, a loud crash from down the street drew her attention, the source being a few Giant Deathstalkers and a Giant Nevermore that just landed.

"It'll be just fine. I got the big guys."

"Sure you do." Despite her words Raven sprinted to help Yatsuhashi and Port, leaving Coco behind to deal with her own Grimm. She took a deep breath to calm herself from the coming long day and unfolded her gatling gun before she started walking.


As the Grimm spread through the city, more airships carrying Huntsmen descended on the city hoping to head off the tide. One such ship was carrying Team RWBY and the majority of Team CMSN, all of them quiet as Cinder listened to a dispatcher on her Scroll.

"Civilian evacuations are proceeding as scheduled with most of the hardest hit areas already cleared. Property damage is still ongoing and the spread is continuing. General Ironwood has rallied his forces and will be on scene for containment ASAP."

"What a way to start the morning huh?" Mercury asked as he fiddled with his boots. Cinder put away her scroll, double checked that the twin blades she 'borrowed' were still at her waist, and scanned the cabin to see what the others were doing. Emerald was content to sit and wait, occasionally throwing Cinder an almost unnoticeable glance. Blake was busy looking over her weapon and making sure she was topped up on ammo while her team looked out the side door over the city.

"This is awful," Weiss said quietly as she gripped the handle of her rapier tightly. Blake looked up at her briefly before she looked back at her weapon and pulled the slide on it back before stowing it on her back. Cinder had to do her best to fight down a smirk.

"Yup," Yang said simply as an explosion flared up from behind a building. She looked over at Weiss, her lips pressed together tightly from worry, and gave her a light tap to get her attention. "Relax, we got this. Between all of these Huntsmen and Ironwood's little army, this place isn't going to fall easily. We just have to do our part."

After a moment of hesitation, Weiss slowly nodded and said, "I hope you're right."

"This city won't fall," Blake said firmly and stood up to stand next to Ruby, "We won't let it."

"You got that right," Ruby agreed with a nod. Weiss gave Ruby a small smile that dropped when the intercom for the ship crackled to life.

"Team RWBY your drop is coming up. Get ready."

"Time to show them what we're made of girls!" Ruby shouted happily and waited just the one second needed for the airship to clear the last building in their way before jumping out with a shout of "Banzai!" The rest of her team followed after her in the same manner, with only Weiss being somewhat reluctant in her shout as she jumped. Ruby and Yang angled their fall to reach the square as fast as possible while controlling their fall as much as they could with their semblances.

Yang was the first to reach the ground, having aimed her fall right for a small group of Grimm, and did a quick front flip before slamming a fist into the ground. Any Grimm close enough were sent flying into the air and became an easy target for Ruby and her scythe. The cloud of smoke that resulted from Ruby's brief slaughter hung in the air for a moment before Blake and Weiss shot through it and landed next to their teammates, their weapons up and ready as soon as they were settled.

"Bumblebee, go!" Ruby shouted once she had gotten her bearings and smiled at how fast everyone leapt into action. Literally with Yang, who had jumped up to let Blake run under her and launch a Beowolf up for Yang to punch back into the ground. With it dead Yang used the momentum of the punch to flip and kick a Creep that had jumped at her down toward Blake, who finished it with a kick that sent it toward a group of its brothers.

From where she was, Ruby could feel the lack of aggression coming from the Grimm and squinted carefully at them. 'I know I'm holding them back a little and so is Yang, but to this extent? I wonder if the others are around?'

"Ruby!" When she heard her name Ruby ducked and swung her scythe, impaling a Creep in the head, and gave her weapon a quick spin to send the Grimm flying. Ruby rushed to help Weiss, who was in the middle of her own pack of Grimm keeping them at bay with some well placed glyphs and fencing strikes. Weiss saw an opening in the attacks and leapt to the side a little so Ruby could have some room to fight some of the Grimm as well. Her scythe did a good job of pushing them back away from the pair and distracting them from the glyph that appeared under them before they were impaled by numerous icicles when it activated.

"Ok," Weiss said as she let the glyph disappear and gave the Dust chamber of her sword a spin, "if we keep this up, we should have the square clear in—" Weiss was cut off when a roar echoed through the plaza. They turned in the direction of the roar and saw an Alpha Beowolf crash through the side of a roof and fall down to the street.

"Oh come on!" Yang shouted as the Alpha found its footing and turned to stare at them before giving off a loud howl that both caused the girls to flinch and drew a new horde of Beowolves toward it. They all readied themselves, with Ruby and Yang narrowing their eyes at the Alpha to send a message, when Blake suddenly charged toward the Alpha with her swords held out. "Uh, what?"

"Cover her!" Weiss shouted and swung her rapier to launch a flurry of beams toward the horde of Grimm that Blake was running toward. Ruby and Yang started firing not long after, bullets and rockets joining the Dust beams in thinning out the crowd for Blake. With the barrage Blake only needed to take care of a few Beowolves herself before she was at the Alpha.

Only when she saw the claw coming down on her did Blake realize she didn't have much of a plan other than dodging out of the way using her Semblance, stabbing Gambol Shroud into one of the openings in the Alpha's bone armor, and hack at whatever else she could get at with the scabbard while avoiding the Alpha's jaws and claws. So it was just as much a surprise to her when Summer dropped out of nowhere onto the Alpha's back and stabbed her dagger into its neck.

Not that Blake was going to be ungrateful for the help.

"Yang, get in there and help them out!" Ruby commanded, getting a nod from Yang before she launched herself into the fray with her gauntlets. Ruby was about to give Weiss an order when a glyph appeared in front of her. She looked at Weiss and got a nod along with a knowing smile in response before Weiss refocused on the glyph. "I love when we're in sync!" Ruby shouted as she slammed Crescent Rose's blade into the ground and took her first shot.

The Ice bullet shot past Yang and hit the Alpha in the shoulder followed by Yang herself. The Alpha roared as it stumbled backwards from the impacts and sluggishly tried to swipe at Yang as she rained blows on its chest that slowly started cracking the armor. Blake did her best to hold onto the Alpha as she focused her attacks on the neck while Summer just stabbed whatever she could reach until a Beowolf slammed into her side and knocked her off the Alpha.

Summer hit the pavement hard and only barely managed to roll onto her back to catch the Beowolf with her feet. She held it back long enough to transform her pistol and fire into its head three times before kicking it away. She Blinked into the air when she heard a few growls coming at her and spun to fire down on the two Grimm that had tried to charge her. She landed in a crouch after they had fallen dead and snap fired at two more to her right and left before focusing on the Alpha.

Yang had climbed onto the Alpha's shoulders, finally giving Ruby a clean target to shoot, and wrapped her arms around its head to hold it still so Blake could hack at its neck. The Ice rounds hit all over the Alpha and knocked it back and slightly off balance, but it was only when one hit its leg that Summer acted. She Blinked to grab her sword sticking out of its side and pulled it out with a grunt. The Alpha roared as best it could through its shut jaw and stumbled as Summer did a quick spin before she slashed at its leg and snapped it off.

The Alpha started falling and Yang saw an opportunity to finish it off. She flipped herself over its head and grabbed its head on her way down. The second a foot touched the ground she slammed the Grimm's head onto her knee, which shattered its jaw and dimmed the glow of her hair slightly. She then grabbed the handle of Gambol Shroud and pulled it out of the Alpha before it was tossed up to Blake.

Blake grabbed her weapon out of the air and swung both of her blades at the Alpha's neck with a scream, the blades cut like butter, and cut the head off. Blake jumped off and kicked the head away into the Grimm horde and landed next to Yang and Summer, the latter staring incredulously at the dead Alpha. At least until the roars of the remaining Grimm and the cracks of rifle shots snapped her out of it and the three girls scattered to deal with the crowd.

Ruby was about to take another shot when the glyph disappeared. "What happened? Is something wrong Weiss?"

"I ran out of Ice Dust," Weiss said as she gave her Dust cylinder another spin, "I'll have to make due without." Ruby stood up and looked around the plaza. Summer was busy rolling and dodging around the Beowolves, Blake had started jumping onto any Grimm she could, shooting and slashing any that got too close, and Yang had just gotten slapped across the plaza by an Ursa and landed next to Ruby.

"You son of a bitch!" Yang shouted as she slammed a fist into the pavement and stood up with her hair ablaze, "You're going to pay for that!" Ruby glanced from her sister to the crowd of Grimm and then finally to Weiss as an idea started taking shape.

"Hey Weiss, do you need Ice Dust to do that time dilation thing?" she asked.

"Not really," Weiss answered, her eyes darting between Ruby and Summer, "It'll just be a little harder to stabilize."

"What about two?"

"We'll have to see."

"Oh, I like where this is going!" Yang shouted as Weiss ran her fingers up her blade and Ruby pointed at her.

"Yang, clear a space over there! I'll keep the Grimm off both of you!" Ruby ordered before she reloaded her weapon and mentally goaded the Grimm into attacking as hard as they could when she finished and cocked her rifle. A fight is no good without a little challenge after all. The Grimm charged once she was finished and Ruby jumped with a spin to decapitate the nearest Beowolf before firing a shot to send herself toward the next one.

Blake meanwhile was still dealing and drawing monsters to her, using her Semblance to give her a boost if needed to cut through the monsters and dodge their blows. During the brief lulls in the fighting, when Blake had a second to feel the adrenaline running through her, she was concerned at how much she was enjoying the fighting. The thought was gone as quickly as it came as the next Grimm was on her and she was back to killing them before she could really process it.

Weiss focused on shutting out the combat around her, especially as Yang opened up and fired rockets to help out Summer, even if she had to dodge the rockets and explosions as well. Time Dilation was a very hard glyph to perform even in the calmest of times and Weiss had never tried to do two at once. Still she had to try if it would help in any way to curb this disaster. Soon she felt the familiar surge of power that came with her glyphs. "Ready!" Weiss shouted and did a spin and swung her sword to launch a beam of light at Summer, "Summer, catch!"

Summer looked back when she heard her name and saw the beam coming toward her. A Beowolf growled behind her and took a swipe that she jumped over. She kicked in the face hard enough to send her flying away while firing behind her to kill it with a couple headshots, and Blinked to land where the glyph formed nearby. The moment she landed the glyph lit up and the world blurred around her with the explosions caused by Yang's rockets slowing down gradually.

"Ruby!" Weiss shouted and held her rapier out and drew a line of light upwards in front of Yang, who was still happily firing away at Grimm. Ruby looked back, locked eyes with her sister, and sprung into action. Yang stopped firing, which let Weiss fully form the glyph in front of her, at the same time as Ruby cut down the last Grimm she was dealing with and ran at Yang. Yang turned and held out an arm just as Ruby jumped and flipped so she stood on Crescent Rose's blade just as the blunt end hit Yang's arm. Yang's hair lit up and her eyes turned red just as the glyph lit up when it was completed and, with a loud shout of effort, Yang hauled her arm forward and threw Ruby into the glyph. The glyph caught Ruby and seemed to bend a little in the center before it activated and broke apart to let Ruby fly through.

When Ruby's vision cleared from the light of the glyph, the change to the world was immediate to her. Several of Yang's rockets were still in the air slowly flying forward and a quick glance left and right showed a few Beowolves had tried to jump into her path along with an Ursa standing upright at the end. With little effort she flipped and slashed at the closest Beowolf with her scythe, the blade cutting through its body like a knife through butter, and kicked off the head to land on another one. Ruby spared a glance back at her team to see Yang watching her as she recovered from the punch, Weiss beginning to lean forward from exhaustion, and Blake still in the middle of her own fight before she pressed the barrel of Crescent Rose against the Grimm's head. She jumped on the blade and pulled the trigger to launch herself into the air where she saw Summer in the middle of her own bout.

For Summer, as soon as the glyph finished and died out she got to work. She Blinked backwards and decapitated the closest Beowolf with a spinning swing before jumping on its back and using it to launch into the air. She threw her sword at a Beowolf, which impaled its neck, and Blinked to the right onto another Beowolf. She pressed her pistol against its forehead and fired before jumping off, leaving the lifeless monster behind as she moved on. As she flipped she fired down at a couple of Creeps that had been running at her when the glyph activated. The bullets tore through their bodies and left them now slowly stumbling while Summer landed on the side of a car that had been blown up several feet by Yang's rockets.

Some Grimm were sent flying along with the car and into Summer's sights. Two creeps in front of Summer both got bullets through their heads before Summer shot a third to her right. She had just aimed at a Beowolf to her left when a gunshot rang out and its head exploded, followed by a cheerful shout from down the street. She turned to see Ruby coming at her from down the street, hopping from Grimm to Grimm slicing and shooting as she went. She landed on the Ursa and switched Crescent Rose into its rifle mode and fired at a Beowolf nearby. She spun around, pulling the bolt back on her rifle in the process, and shot another on the other side before repeating. After two more shots Ruby unfolded her scythe and cut the Ursa's head off with a gunshot boosted swing before zooming toward Summer in a flurry of rose petals.

Summer, realizing what Ruby was doing, jumped off the car toward Ruby. Ruby reformed and held out her left arm for Summer to grab, which she managed to after a quick Blink to build some speed. Once she grabbed Ruby's arm she met her eyes, the two of them silently acknowledging the plan, and Ruby switched Crescent Rose back into a rifle before both girls started firing. For a brief moment they turned into a whirlwind of red and white spinning over the horde of Grimm that rained bullets down on them. After a few rotations the girls pulled on each other's arms and brought each other close while Ruby unfolded her scythe. After both of their feet were on the blade Ruby fired and sent them shooting into the air.

From her position in the air Summer could see the carnage down on the street and the Grimm she and Ruby had killed. However there were still some alive near the car she had been one moment ago and, with a little difficulty caused by the spinning, fired the last of her rounds at the cars Dust engine just as the world started speeding up again.

For the rest of RWBY the street briefly turned into a flurry of color, bullets, and death for Grimm before a car blew up at the end of the street. All the Grimm fell to the ground disintegrating before Ruby and Summer landed in a crouch with spent shells falling behind them and Summer's sword landing point down in front of them. They both took a deep breath before standing up and looking back at the street.

"Whoo! That was awesome!" Ruby cheered as she hefted her scythe over her head, "We gotta use that glyph more often!"

"Not today we're not," Weiss said as she hunched over with her rapier keeping her up, "that just about spent all my Dust!"

"And we're nowhere close to done!" Blake shouted as she pointed her sword at a Giant Nevermore that landed on a nearby building. "They just keep coming!"

"We just have to hold on!" Summer shouted as she started to reload, "help is on its way and they're more than ready to deal with these things!"

"Fine with me," Yang whispered and ejected her spent shells with a twist of her wrists. Everyone reloaded their weapons, Weiss only able to replace some of her spent Dust cartridges, and got ready as the Nevermore spread its wings and opened its mouth to start screeching.

Only for a missile to slam into its head, vaporizing half of it and sending it tumbling to the ground disintegrating. The group looked up to see an airship hovering over the plaza that opened fire on the horde of Grimm. The team shielded themselves as best they could as bullets riddled the ground in front of them and only stopped when all the monsters were reduced to black smoke. Summer shook her head at that and straightened up before pulling her scroll out and tuning it to an open channel.

"It's about time you guys got here," she said looking up at the airship just as several others flew past, "We were starting to think you guys would miss the party!"

"Sorry, bad traffic. We brought some presents to make up for it though," the pilot said just as the back of the airship opened up and dropped a dozen ATKs down to the street. They activated once they were all on the street and moved out with standard issue rifles raised. "Keep up the good work and leave the Giants to us," the pilot added before the line went dead and the airship took off further into the city.

"As if we have a choice!" Yang shouted after the airship.

"Save your energy Yang," Blake said with a small shake of her head and looked at Summer as she put away her scroll. "So, clean up for us?"

"Whatever helps out," Summer replied and pulled her sword free just as a new group of Grimm rounded the corner with some nearby ATKs already engaging. "And we have a lot of work ahead of us. Let's see what you girls can really do." Summer looked at Blake and received a quick nod before the both of them ran at the newest fight.

"Hey, as long as there's a fight and killing to be done, I'm ok with anything!" Yang shouted and ran after Summer and Blake before doing a gauntlet assisted jump to get to the fray faster.

"Are you going to be ok Weiss?" Ruby asked as she looked at her last teammate. After a moment of deep breaths Weiss stood up and nodded.

"I don't intend on falling behind," she said and flicked her rapier to spin the chamber.

"I know you won't," Ruby replied with a smile and a quick playful punch to Weiss's shoulder, "just try not to get separated from us, ok?" Weiss nodded and ran ahead of Ruby, her next target already spotted. Ruby herself glanced in the direction of the breach, her thoughts on the Grimm's behavior, before she ran to join her team.


Among the airships was one that lowered down toward the breach. It stopped over a street down from it long enough to let three people off before taking off to rejoin the others. The trio landed on the ground and did a quick survey of the street, two of them already readying their weapons when they saw the fighting in the plaza ahead.

"This will be tricky," Peach said as she double checked her rifle and glanced at Oobleck as finished chugging coffee out of his thermos.

"When is it ever not?" he asked and swung the thermos into its full form. Peach gave a slight nod in agreement while Glynda silently started walking to the breach. Some of the horde noticed them and charged, which was when Peach and Oobleck sprang into action. They raised their weapons and opened fire, sending bullets and fiery blasts down the street that tore into the Grimm. The few that managed to survive the volley closed in and found close range to be just as deadly with the first one getting slammed in the face by Oobleck's thermos. Peach was only slightly behind needing to twist her rifle to separate the halves and unfold them into twin hatchets before charging.

Peach saw a Beowolf coming at her and threw one of her hatchets at it, which buried into its neck and stopped its momentum dead. It growled loudly and swung at Peach, who ducked under it and used her other hatchet to sever one of its legs cleanly. As it fell she reached up and grabbed her hatchet, slammed her other one into the side of its head, and gave them both a quick jerk to break its neck and leave it disintegrating in front of her.

"Look out!" Peach looked to the side at Oobleck's shout and readied herself when he hit another Beowolf at her. For a moment she could have sworn it looked confused, but that was pushed away so she could bring her hatchets down on its arm and sever it where they struck. She let herself be carried by the momentum past the Grimm into a handstand that she used to throw the monster toward Glynda.

Glynda barely had to move her wand and hand to catch the Beowolf in her telekinesis and tear it in half at the waist before letting it go. Any Grimm that got past her fellow professors were met with similar fates. Some were rocketed backwards into walls, others slammed by whatever loose object happened to be near them at the time, or the one Alpha Creep that found itself caught in her telekinetic grip and crushed much like one would a piece of paper into a ball.

'So tired of distractions,' Glynda thought as her group finally reached the source of the breach. The plaza was the picture of chaos with half of Team STRQ, Team JNPR, and Penny doing their best to stem the tide. Glynda gazed at each of them, starting with Penny as she charged into a small pack of Grimm and slid into the center, her blades turning into a whirlwind of death in front of her that sent monster limbs flying. Taiyang and Qrow were bouncing some kind of ball off several Grimm and toward each other in some odd game of theirs while JNPR were doing their best to catch any stragglers that got past the heavy fighters.

She concentrated on the train and raised her wand toward it while Oobleck and Peach joined in the fight in the plaza, each opening fire to help the students. Metal and asphalt rumbled and floated into the air before starting to reform. The train slid underground and pavement fused together before falling into place in the road.

The entire time Glynda never broke concentration, not even when one of Nora's grenades shot into the hole just before it fully sealed. Putting that bit of recklessness aside, Glynda found herself rooted to the spot with her wand still pointed at where the breach used to be. Her grip on her wand was tightening harder and her eyes were narrowed dangerously.

"That was easy! What horse shit!" Glynda finally found herself able to move again as she looked at Qrow, who had been looking at the same spot she had been, before he had to raise his scythe to deflect an Ursa claw away from him.

"I couldn't have put it better myself," Glynda whispered to herself before waving her wand at the Ursa and launched it into the air. Qrow used the opening to jump and slash at its stomach, cutting it wide open and exposing it for Taiyang to kick that ball at it. The ball shot right through the Ursa's stomach and left it dying behind it as it ricocheted off a light pole toward a Beowolf that was pressing against Jaune's shield. It hit the Grimm in the head and threw it off balance, giving Jaune the opportunity to cleanly decapitate it and dash off to help Ren.

Glynda hardly even blinked when the ball unrolled into a corgi and ran to rejoin Taiyang. Instead she pressed a finger to her earpiece and said clearly, "The breach has been sealed. I repeat, the breach has been sealed. Moving on to clean up."

"Roger that," General Ironwood said on the other end, "I'm just arriving in Sector 18 now. Be careful Glynda."

"You too," she replied and pulled her hand away as she started walking to the fight proper. As airships roared overhead and the telltale signs of Atlas mechs dropping in and activating sounded around her, Glynda was both relieved and not to see she wasn't the only one concerned about how this was going.