Chp. 54: Breakin' Outta Hell Pt. 2

Back up north of South Gay Street, the battle continues as a couple of armored trucks drove up and came to a stop. A dozen American soldiers jumped out of each of the armored trucks. The soldiers ran for cover and began to open fire at the White Fang, Neo-Nazis, and the Creatures of Grimm. One of the soldiers ran up to Keaton with a folder.

"I have what you requested for, sir," the soldier said.

"Good," Keaton replied as he grabbed the folder then walked away.

Argento threw a punch at Robert knocking him to the ground. Robert quickly gets up back onto his feet and points his spear at his opponent, but he quickly grabs it out of his hands. Argento swung the butt end of Sweet Kisser at Robert's feet, making him fall back to the ground. He points the spear at its owner with a chuckle.

"So long, loser!" Argento said.

Just as Argento lunges Sweet Kisser at its owner, Robert suddenly fades away as Argento strikes the ground. Argento looks around in shock and confusion and several feet away from him Robert suddenly appears on the pavement. He looked down at himself in shock for a moment then gained a look of realization.

"Was that my semblance?" Robert thought.

As Robert stood back up to his feet, Argento finally spotted him. Robert turned to see Argento throw Sweet Kisser at him. Robert leans away and catches his weapon back and gets into a stance. Argento charges at his opponent and just as he throws a punch at him, Robert disappears and reappears behind him. Before Argento could turn around, Robert swung his spear at him, knocking him to the ground. Argento stood back up and got into a stance.

"Time to take my new semblance for a test drive," Robert said as he got into a stance.

Argento charges over at Robert. Before he could land a punch on him, Robert vanishes and reappears behind him. Robert slashes at his opponent's back, making him cry out in pain. Argento swung his fist back at Robert, only for him to disappear again. Robert reappears next to Argento and swung the other end of his spear at his face, knocking him to the ground as his aura shimmered. Argento swung his leg at the back of Robert's legs, sending him to the ground.

Argento quickly gets up and tries to stomp on his head, but Robert disappears before Argento could land his attack. Robert reappears behind his opponent. Argento only had enough time to turn around as Robert slashed at his chest, breaking his aura. Robert then swung his spear at Argento's throat, slitting it. He then transformed Sweet Kisser into its sniper rifle mode and shot a round into Argento's head, knocking him to the ground and killing him.

Robert stared down at Argento's dead body for a moment before turning his head to see Hazel holding Ren up by his throat as the latter struggled to get himself free, while Nora was on the ground pinned down by Hazel's foot. Robert disappeared and then reappears behind Hazel. Robert jumps on Hazel's back and wrapped his arm around his neck. Hazel drops Ren and steps off of Nora as He tries to grab at Robert.

"Hey, big guy! The sun's getting real low!" Robert shouted at Hazel.

Hazel grabs on to Robert's leg.

"Oh, Christ," Robert whimpered.

Hazel threw Robert into a car just as Ren and Nora got back up to their feet. They both turned at Robert as he was trying to get up before turning back at Hazel. The two partners then charged at Hazel.

Coco shoots at Rosa as she runs away from the shots. Rosa activates her semblance and rushes at CVFY's team leader as her shot from her minigun fazes through her body. Rosa deactivates her semblance and punches her in the face. Coco swung her minigun at Rosa's legs, sweeping her up in the air. She transformed her minigun back into her handbag and swung it down at Rosa, slamming her down to the pavement, making her aura flicker. Rosa gets up from the ground and throws a couple more punches at Coco's stomach and another at her face. She then swings a kick at Coco's head, knocking her down and shimmering her aura.

Just before Rosa could attack again, Coco activates her semblance and switches her handbag back to her minigun. She shoots at Rosa's stomach just as she activates her semblance, as Coco's semblance enhanced shots faze through her body. Coco stops firing just as her aura breaks. She hurls the barrel of her minigun into Rosa's stomach just as her semblance deactivates from aura loss. Rosa gasps in pain and painfully looks down at her stomach with Gianduja through her. Coco pulls her weapon out of her opponent as Rosa falls to the pavement dead. Coco stands back up and transforms her bloody minigun back to her handbag as she walks away.

"Now I have to get this thing cleaned," Coco said.

Fox jumps and rolls away from Umber as she is swinging her whips at him. Fox fires a couple shots at his opponent as she jumps away from them. Umber wraps one of her whips around one of Fox's legs and yanks onto it, making him fall flat on his back. She swung down her other whip at the blind member of Team CFVY, but Fox rolled away from the attack. He cuts the whip off of his leg and stands himself back up. Umber looked down at her cut whip and gained an angered look.

"That was one of my best whips you just ruined!" Umber shouted.

Umber discards her damaged whip and pulls out another whip.

Rebecca twirled her scythe defending herself from Trifa's knife strikes. Yuma flies down from behind Rebecca and wraps his arm around his neck, choking her. Rebecca transforms Hailstorm from scythe to machine gun and fires a round into the bat Faunus' foot. Yuma cries out in pain and clinches onto his leg, letting go of opponent. Rebecca whacks Yuma in the face with her machine gun, knocking him to the pavement. Trifa rushes at Rebecca and tries slashing at her as she leaned and dodged away from her attacks. She transformed her machine gun back to her scythe and swung it at the spider Faunus, sending her flying into a wall.

Corsac thrusts Inferno and Fennec swings Cyclone at Ilia as she backflips away from their attacks. Ilia swung her whip at the two fox Faunus, but they managed to jump away from the chameleon Faunus' attack. Fennec blasts a ball of wind at Ilia, sending her flying. She tumbles onto the ground to a stop and looks back up at the approaching Albain brothers. Corsac blasts a ball of fire at Ilia, but quickly stands up and jumps away from the attack. Ilia swung Lightning Lash at Corsac, shocking him and making him fall to the ground as Fennec watched as his brother went down.

"Brother!" Fennec cried.

Fennec turned back at Ilia with a furious glare and charged at Ilia.

Qrow was swinging his scythe and Tyrian as he flips and dodges his attacks. The scorpion Faunus tries slashing at Qrow with The Queen's Servants as he cackled, while the veteran Huntsman parried and blocked his attacks. Tyrian jumps away and gives a dramatic pose.

"Tell me something, Qrow. When I get away, do you think you can protect Clover when I find him?" Tyrian asked.

Qrow growls and angrily charges at the scorpion Faunus and swung his scythe at him, but Tyrian easily jumps away from the attack.

"Or better yet, how about the little rose of yours? I'm sure our goddess would be pleased when I bring the rose to her. After all, her command still stands," Tyrian said before gasping in excitement. "You know what? I'll do that right now!"

Tyrian runs away to go after Ruby as Qrow chases after the mad scorpion Faunus with an enraged scream.

Emerald sat on a broken tire as she sobs uncontrollably, while Mercury stood next to her rubbing her back.

"I can't believe she said that to me," Emerald sobbed.

"Well, I hate to say 'I told you so' but... I told you so," Mercury said.

"You're not helping!" Emerald yelled.

Before Mercury could speak, Hazel flies past the two and crashes into one of the two White Fang trucks. Emerald stood up from the tire and then she and Mercury ran over to Hazel.

"Are you okay, big guy?" Mercury asked.

"I can't feel pain, remember?" Hazel asked as he pulled himself out of the truck.

Hazel, Emerald, and Mercury turned to see Ren, Nora, and Robert approaching them with their weapons ready. Hazel, Mercury, and Emerald readied themselves, but before anything could happen, a gunshot was heard close by. They all turned to see Keaton with a pistol pointed up into the air in one hand, and the folder in the other.

"That's enough!" Keaton said.

He walks up to Hazel, Emerald, and Mercury.

"Now all three of you listen. You all may have your reasons on why you chose to work for Salem, but trust me. In the end, you'll just help her doom not only everyone on Remnant, but also Earth and yourselves," Keaton said.

"And what do you know? We all know Salem can't be killed. She can't be stopped," Mercury said.

"I should know. When she came for me, I killed her over and over again. The longest she was gone was only a few hours, before she put herself back together. When I couldn't lift my arms anymore, she showed me that, through her, I could have the vengeance I needed," Hazel said.

"But what would that solve, Hazel? Nothing, that's what! I know you think that Professor Ozpin should be held responsible, but what about Remnant? Earth? You think you're doing this for justice, but you're just doing this for yourself. And Salem pushed you to think it would help. So tell me, Hazel, has it helped?" Keaton asked.

Hazel was silent as Keaton turned his attention to Emerald.

"We all know you chose to work for Salem because Cinder follows her," Keaton said.

"Because she gave-" Emerald gets cut off by the marine captain.

"But here's a cold hard dose of reality for you, Emerald, Cinder only wants you for her own selfish desires. She cares nothing for you. She even told you that herself. So what are you going to do now that you have nothing left to fight for?" he asked.

Emerald wanted to deny it but knew it would be pointless because she knew that everything Keaton said was true. Keaton turns his head to face Mercury.

"And you chose to side with Salem because of your status as an assassin. And you became an assassin because your father made you that way. A life that you didn't choose. Take that away and what are you?"

"Where are you going with this exactly?" Mercury asked.

"Deep down, all of you joined Salem because you believe that she can give what you all want. But beyond it all, you all joined her because you're all afraid of her," Keaton answered. "But the worst part is what she really wants. She doesn't want to create a new world order for Remnant, she wants to destroy Remnant entirely as an attempt to commit suicide. All she craves is death."

"You're probably just saying all this just to get us to turn against her, which by the way is pointless," Mercury said.

"I knew one of you would say something like that. But at least take a look at this," Keaton said as he crouched down and slid the folder at Hazel's feet.

Hazel picks the folder up as he, Mercury, and Emerald look at it in confusion.

"What is this?" Emerald asked.

"Read it and you'll find out," Keaton answered.

Hazel opens up the folder and he, Mercury, and Emerald grow stunned looks upon reading the papers' title; RWBY Volume 8.

"Go ahead. Feel free to read it. I've got time," Keaton said.

Meanwhile down the street, Allen continues to fight off Watts as they both piloted their paladins. Allen fires a few missiles at Watts as rushes through them. Watts' paladin grabs on to Allen's paladin and lifts it over him and hurls it to the ground. Allen shoots at the opposing paladin's torso, as it approaches. Before Watts could attack, a rocket struck his paladin from behind. He turns around to see several American soldiers all shooting at the paladin.

Allen takes advantage of this distraction as he gets his paladin back up to its feet and punches Watts' paladin to the pavement. He grabs on to one of the opposing paladin's legs and rips it off of the mech. Watts tries to shoot at Allen's paladin, but Allen quickly shoots at the shoulders of Watts' paladin, shooting its arms off. The hatch to Allen's cockpit opens as he jumps out of his paladin and onto the other. The cockpit to Watts' paladin opens as Allen Jumps up to him. Watts pulled out his revolver, but Allen quickly pulled out his stun batons and struck the revolver out of Watts' hand. Allen grabs onto Watts by his collar and tosses him out of the destroyed paladin and into the ground in front of the soldiers. Two of the soldiers pulled Watts up to his feet, as they restrained him while two more approached and started to take Watts' rings off of his fingers.

Meanwhile a block away, Ozpin struggled to stay on his feet as Salem approached her former husband. She shot a red beam of magic at Ozpin, sending him flying into a wall. As Salem walks up to the downed Ozpin, Britney and Oscar watch from behind a car.

"You help Professor Ozpin. I keep Salem distracted," Britney said.

As they both ran out from behind the car, they were unaware that Will had been watching them from out of the corner of a building. He turned back and ran away. Salem glared down at Ozpin as she approached.

"Look at how you've diminished, Ozma," Salem said.

She conjures a purple ball of magic in her hand. Before she could do anything else, Britney rushed to Salem with Geminos and sliced off her hand. Salem turned her attention to Britney and shot a blast of magic at her with her only good hand. Britney swerved away from the attack as Salem shot two more blasts of magic at her, forcing Britney to jump away from the magical attacks. As Salem walked towards Britney, her severed hand that was on the ground melted into a small puddle of black liquid, which then shifted into her robing. It was then followed with her hand growing back. As Salem continued to walk towards Britney, Oscar ran towards the downed Ozpin.

"Ozpin," Oscar spoke as he knelt down at Beacon's headmaster.

"Oscar... what are you-" Ozpin gets cut off by his future reincarnation.

"Getting you out of here," Oscar said as he pulled Ozpin up off the ground.

Ozpin struggled to stay on his feet as Oscar grabs on to him and held him up. He then hands Ozpin's cane. They both slowly walked to find safety. Salem shot a gust of wind at Britney that sent her flying back several feet. Britney transformed her katanas into her pistols and began to open fire at the immortal witch. Salem slowly walks up to Britney as her shots passed through her body. She blasts a column of fire at Britney as she charges at her and weaves away from the fiery attack. Britney jumps at Salem with the aid of her semblance, she wraps her arms and legs around Salem's arms and torso restricting her movement. Salem struggles to break herself free from Britney's grasp as Britney herself tries her best to keep her restrained.

Salem motions her hand as a sigil appears at her feet beneath Britney. Several Shadow Hands spawned from the sigil and grabbed Britney and managed to pull her off of Salem and restrain her. Salem conjures a ball of magic in her hand and brings it up to Britney's face. Just before anything could happen, a police cruiser drives up from out of the corner and rams right into Salem and smashes her into a wall. Black blood splattered all over the place, on the cruiser, on the sidewalk, and on the wall. Upon impact, the Grimm arms and sigil disappeared, freeing Britney. She walks up to the police cruiser and inside it was her father, Will.

"Dad?" Britney asked.

"Britney, are you nuts?!" Will yelled.

"I was helping save Ozpin's ass!" Britney shouted back.

"Get in the car now!" Will ordered.

"Can we not deal with this right now?" Britney asked.

As both father and daughter argued, they didn't notice all of the splattered black liquid shifting to the front of the car. Oscar and Ozpin both walk up to Britney and Will.

"I don't have time to deal with this! Get your ass in the car!" Will yelled.

"Fine! Whatever you say!" Britney yelled.

As she opens the passenger side door, a beam of magic suddenly blasts the door off. Everyone turned to the front of the car to see Salem in between the police cruiser and the wall. Will backs the car over a couple feet before driving it into Salem, smashing her in the process. Salem looks back up at Will.

"Hit her again! Hit her again!" Britney shouted to her father.

Will backs the car over and then drives it into Salem, smashing her once more. Salem shot a blast of frost at the front of the car, freezing it over. Will steps out of his now dead police cruiser and pulls out his pistol. He and Britney began shooting at Salem. The immortal witch lifts up the front of the car and flips it on its top. Ozpin, Oscar, Britney, and Will backed away while both father and daughter continued to shoot at Salem. Just before Salem could attack, a storm of bullets began striking at her. Everyone turned around to see several American soldiers and police officers shooting at Salem.

"Come on! Now's our chance to move!" Will said.

As Ozpin, Oscar, Britney, and Will ran away the soldiers and officers continued to shoot at Salem as she began blasting beams of magic at them.

Meanwhile at the front of the parking garage of the First Horizon Plaza, Ruby, Jacob, Kelly, and Cade continue to fight off The Hound. Jacob and Kelly try to shoot at The Hound as it runs away from the shots. It charges at Ruby as she prepared herself. Suddenly Cade rushes at the Faunus-Grimm hybrid and tackles it to the ground. The android pins The Hound down to the ground and tries to stab at it, but it quickly smacked him off of it. Cade and The Hound both stood back up and were about to rush at each other. Ruby dashed up towards The Hound to attack it, but The Hound quickly noticed her coming and grabs her and tosses her at Cade.

Kelly rushes at the Hound with Hacker in its buzz saw form and begins swinging it at The Hound. The intelligent Grimm dodged Kelly's attacks, then grabs her by the leg. The Hound tosses Kelly into a nearby car. Jacob rushed at The Hound and swung his sword at it as it swerved away from his attack. The Hound smacks Jacob several feet away.

Adam slashes at Blake as she dodges the attack with her semblance. He fires a shot at Blake with Blush as Blake dodges it. Blake jumps a distance away from Adam and begins to shoot at him. Adam blocks all the shots fired at him, then charges at Blake. He swung down Wilt at Blake as she blocked it and tried to push him back.

"This world hasn't done anything to the Faunus! So why attack it?" Blake asked.

"All humans are the same! Regardless of whatever world they reside in! Which is why they must pay as well!" Adam answered.

Adam looked down and noticed a glyph under his feet. He jumps away as a large mount of ice sprouted from the glyph. He turns to seeWeiss and Ricky aiming their weapons at him.

"You have no idea how delusional you sound right now, you horned prick," Ricky said.

"I know Blake would go as far as to side with humans. But when one happens to be a Schnee?" Adam asked.

"I'm more than just a name," Weiss retorted.

"Then let's see what you've got," Adam said.

Adam charged at Ricky and Weiss. He swung his sword at the two as Weiss jumped away, while Ricky blocked his attack. Ricky tried slashing at the bull Faunus as he blocked and parried his attacks. Blake jumps in and tries to slash at her ex-lover, but Adam sees her coming and blocks her attack. Weiss creates a glyph behind Adam and summons a Boarbatusk. It charges at Adam in an attempt to ram him, but Adam quickly takes notice and jumps over the charging summon. He swung Wilt at its legs making it trip and fall on its back. Adam then stabs the Boarbatusk summon in the stomach, killing it. He turns his head at Ricky, Weiss, and Blake.

Meanwhile up on the rooftop of the First Horizon Plaza, Yang, Velvet, Kendra, and Amber all finally climbed up to the top. They all looked to see two Blackhawk helicopters circling up in the air around the building.

"Light the flare!" Kendra said.

Amber pulls out the flare and lights it, then begins waving it back and forth in the air. A moment later, one of the Blackhawks flew down to the edge of the roof in front of the four girls.

"Get the girl inside!" a soldier inside the helicopter shouted.

Amber, Yang, Velvet, and Kendra all approached the helicopter.

Down below the building, The Hound continues to fend off Ruby, Jacob, Cade, and Kelly who were closing in on them. The Hound sniffs the air and turns its head up at the Blackhawk above the edge of the roof.

"Take. The. Girl!" The Hound growled.

The intelligent Grimm sprouts its wings and launches itself up towards the helicopter. Amber had just stepped on board the helicopter. Just before the other three girls could climb on board, Velvet stops and looks down over the edge and notices The Hound flying towards the Blackhawk.

"Look out!" the rabbit Faunus yelled.

Before the helicopter could fly away, The Hound flew up at the Blackhawk's tail and tore into the tail routers with its claws. The helicopter spun out of control and The Hound flew off of it. They watched as it spun all the way down towards the street down below until it finally crashed. Yang, Kendra, and Velvet looked down at the crashed helicopter.

"We need to get down there now!" Yang said.

"Unfortunately, there's only one faster way down," Velvet said.

The three girls all took a few steps back.

"This... is a terrible idea," Kendra said.

"Yep," Yang said.

Yang, Velvet, and Kendra then ran and jumped off the roof and began to fall into the street down below. Yang quickly readies Ember Celica as Velvet makes a hard-light copy of Yang's shotgun gauntlets. They both used their gauntlets to fire at the ground and flip to land on their feet and on the pavement. Kendra pulls out Mercy Bringer in its pole axe form and hooks it onto a street light. She then swung down and safely landed onto the ground. Yang, Velvet, and Kendra all approached each other and before they could speak, Ruby, Jacob, Cade, and Kelly approached them.

"We need to get to Amber now! She may need help!" Yang said.

Without hesitation, they all began to make a run for the Blackhawk.

Meanwhile at the crash sight, Amber staggered out of the crashed helicopter as her aura was now dangerously low. She looked around for a moment then spotted someone walking towards her. It was Cinder.

"You escaped me long enough. Now it's time I take what's mine," Cinder said as she summoned Midnight.