Chp. 56: Battle of Titans

First Horizon Plaza

Back up front of the First Horizon Plaza, Ricky was on a stretcher and boarded on an ambulance with two paramedics inside with him. The doors close as Jacob, Qrow, Velvet, and Team RWBY watch as the ambulance drives away to transport Ricky to the hospital.

"I really hope Ricky will be okay," Weiss said.

"You aren't the only one, Weiss," Yang said.

"Guys, I know you're all worried about Ricky and all, but could you dipshits get your asses over here and help us?!" Kendra asked from afar.

Everyone turned to see Kendra pinned to the ground trying to push The Hound back with Mercy Bringer, while Kelly and Cade tried to pull the Grimm away from her. Before Qrow, Velvet, Jacob, and RWBY could rush in to help, The Hound suddenly stopped as his ears twitched. It jumped away from Kendra, Kelly, and Cade and stood out in the open. A moment later, Salem glided up the street incredibly fast and stopped next to her pet.

"Ruby, get behind me," Qrow said as everyone got into a stance.

Salem blasts a dark beam of magic at the veteran Huntsman, knocking Qrow into Ruby and sending them both flying. Yang charged at Salem and threw a couple punches at her face. Salem grabs Yang by her wrist and tosses her into a nearby car. Jacob rushes over at Salem, but The Hound jumps up in front of her. Jacob bashes The Hound's head with his shield as Blake, Yang, Weiss, and Velvet, ran over while shooting at it. Cade fires a rocket at Salem blasting her upper body open. Professor Ozpin, Oscar, Britney, Robert, Allen, Rebecca, Ilia, Will, and Team JNPR all ran up upon seeing the battle. Salem soon regenerates and notices Kelly and Kendra charging up at her. She shot a blast of wind at Kelly and Kendra, sending them both flying.

"Leave them alone!" Ozpin shouted.

The headmaster of Beacon shot a green blast of magic at Salem, while Will, Britney, Rebecca, Allen, Robert, Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora began shooting at her, making her stagger. Salem shot a large fireball at her new attackers, making them all jump away from the attack. Salem summons a bunch of ice crystals around her and hurls them towards her ex-husband. Ozpin deflects them all by moving at superhuman speed, and then darts forward and delivers a bunch of strikes at Salem with his cane, with the last blow launching her back. Salem and Ozpin both shot a blast of magic at each other, making the attacks clash.

"Children! I'll hold her off! You help the others!" Ozpin shouted.

Team JNPR, Oscar, Britney, Rebecca, Ilia, Allen, Robert, Cade, and Will were hesitant, but all ran after The Hound. Blake dodged away with her semblance as The Hound tried to swipe its claws at her. Weiss summoned two small glyphs beneath the Grimm's feet and froze its feet in place. Velvet created an Ember Celica copy and rushed at The Hound as Yang followed in. They each both threw a few punches at the Grimm. The Hound breaks its feet free from the ice and smacks the two girls away. Its ears twitched and noticed Team JNPR, Oscar, Britney, Will, Allen, and Robert running towards it. Jaune and Pyrrha approached up to The Hound and tried to swing their swords at it, but the Grimm grabbed their wrists mid-swing and threw them both aside. Ren, Nora, Britney, Robert, Allen, Cade, and Will began shooting at The Hound as it ran away from the shots.

Kelly gets up from the ground, while Kendra struggles to get up as her aura flickered. Kelly saw Ozpin and Salem as they continued to clash with their magic. She looked up and saw a flock of birds and gave a smirk.

"Hey, fellas!" Kelly called to the birds with her semblance.

The birds fell down in front of Kelly as she pointed at Salem.

"Fly, my pretties! Fly and attack that bitch over there!" Kelly instructed.

Following her orders, the birds flew towards Salem and began swarming around her, pecking at her. Salem grew irritated and tried to smack them away as the birds continued to peck at her. Ozpin takes advantage of this distraction and shoots another blast of magic at Salem sending her flying into a wall. Infuriated, Salem shot a large blast of fire at Ozpin, sending him flying into a car, causing his aura to break. Salem walks up to Ozpin as he struggles to get up to his feet. Salem conjures a ball of magic in her hand and pulls her hand back to use her magic on him. Just before she was about to do anything else, Hazel rushed up to Salem and sent her flying with a punch. She cushions her fall with a swirling cyclone, and Hazel moves forward to do battle.

Hazel tears his shirt off and embeds crystal after crystal of various types into his shoulders: ice, fire, lightning, earth, wind. Each sends tracks of glowing energy out under his skin, and his eyes start to glow from the power he is channeling.

"Hazel?" Ozpin asked.

"I am not doing this for you," Hazel said, glaring down at him before turning his attention back to Salem.

"So you've decided against vengeance for your sister, after all this time," Salem said.

Hazel sets his fists ablaze, settling into a boxer's stance.

"I'm doing what Gretchen would have done!" Hazel said.

Salem shot short bursts of magic at Hazel as he used Lightning Dust to augment his speed, weaving and dodging between the attacks. He slams wind Dust at his feet, resulting in a burst of air launching him toward Salem. Hazel then combines the Dust between his palms, creating an oversized ball of rock, fire, and lightning, which he slams into Salem. She is knocked to the ground, and he bashes her stomach upon landing, slamming his fists into her face and head. The ground is quickly covered in dark, glistening blood. Even as she is beaten to pieces, Salem's hand crooks upright to make a gesture; her sigil appears on the ground, and Shadow Hands lunges out to immobilize Hazel's limbs, lifting him into the air. Salem regenerates her head, her jaw cracking and popping back into place.

Just as Salem conjures a ball of magic in her hand, a bullet hits her in the side of her head. She turns to see Keaton shooting at her, while approaching her. Salem tried to launch a blast of magic at the marine, but Keaton shot at her hands every time she tried to. Keaton fires a few rounds into Salem's stomach, creating a large open wound, then pulls out a grenade. He pulled the pin out with his teeth and threw the grenade into Salem's open wound just as it closed in. The grenade inside Salem explodes, reducing her into a large splatter of dark blood. The Shadow Hands and the sigil disappear, releasing Hazel as he lands onto the pavement. Keaton and Hazel approached Ozpin who was struggling to get up. Keaton pulled Ozpin up from the ground and up on his feet.

"You alright?" Keaton asked.

"I'm fine. but my students may need help," Ozpin answered.

"Don't worry. We've sent Emerald and Mercury help," Keaton said. "Besides, I have a plan to have Salem taken in."

Ruby, Qrow, and Jacob regained consciousness and as they got back up they looked up and saw Emerald and Mercury. Ruby, Qrow, and Jacob all readied their weapons, but Mercury held his hands out and Emerald held her hands up.

"Wait! Hold it!" Mercury shouted.

"We're not with Salem anymore!" Emerald said in a panicked tone.

"How can we be sure you're not lying?" Qrow asked.

"Jacob!" a voice cried.

Everyone turned to see Judy running up to Jacob looking panicked with tears in her eyes.

"Aunt Judy, what are you doing here?"

"A woman... in a red dress... and a monstrous arm... she's killed one of your friends!" Judy cried.

Everyone widened their eyes upon realizing that Cinder has killed Amber and that she is now the Fall Maiden.

"Cinder," Ruby growled.

"Damn it! She's already killed Amber," Qrow said.

"T-that's... not all. She's... She's kidnapped Ashley, J-Jacob... She-She said she w-wants you... to c-come alone if you... you want to to see her a-alive again," Judy sobbed.

Jacob gained a shocked and terrified expression on his face upon knowing who the woman was. Ruby gasped as she covered her mouth with her hands upon hearing Cinder holding Jacob's baby sister hostage. Without saying a word, Jacob sprints down the street to find Cinder and Ashley.

"Jacob, wait!" Ruby reached out in vain.

Jaune and Pyrrha flew past Ruby and crashed into the wall next to her. They both picked themselves up then looked up to see Emerald and Mercury. Jaune and Pyrrha were about to rush and attack the thief and assassin, but Emerald held up her hands.

"Wait! We want to help your friend!" Emerald said.

"Cinder has Jacob's sister, and Jacob went after her!" Ruby said.

"Please! Someone save my baby niece!" Judy sobbed.

Ruby was silent for a moment before looking at Judy, Jaune, and Pyrrha, to Emerald and Mercury. She turned to face Qrow and finally spoke.

"Uncle Qrow, you go help the others. Jaune, Pyrrha, and I will take Emerald and Mercury with us to help Jacob rescue Ashley and take Cinder down," she said.

"Ruby..." Qrow tries to speak out, but Ruby interrupts him.

"I know you're trying to protect us, but right now our friends need us. And they can't do this alone," she said.

Qrow looked down for a moment before looking up back at Ruby and gave a nod. He then ran off to go help face off against Salem and The Hound. Ruby turned to face Emerald and Mercury.

"You two want to help? Then you two follow us," she said.

Ruby, Jaune, and Pyrrha all ran down the street as Emerald, Mercury, and Judy followed. Robert kept his distance as he shot at The Hound. The Grimm turns his attention towards Robert and charges at him. Before it could pounce at Robert, Nora rushed in and swung Magnhild at The Hound's head sending it flying into a light post. As The Hound stood back up, Ren, Kelly, Rebecca, and Blake ran up and began shooting at it. The Hound charged at the four and rammed them away. Britney and Weiss ran in and slashed at The Hound's chest. It grabs the ex-heiress by her leg and swung her into Britney, knocking her to the ground, then tossed Weiss aside. Before The Hound could strike at Britney with its claws Will fired his pistol at The Hound getting its attention.

"Get away from my daughter, you creature!" Will shouted.

The Hound rushed straight at the police officer, but Yang charged in and punched it to the ground. As The Hound stood back up to face Yang, Velvet steps up from behind and creates a copy of Floating Array. Before the intelligent Grimm could react, Velvet slashed at its back and legs. As she then fires a laser from her copy of Penny's swords, The Hound runs away from the blast. It charged at the rabbit Faunus and clawed her to the ground. Before it could bite down at her head, Ilia wrapped Lightning Lash around its neck and electrocuted it. The Hound turns to face the chameleon Faunus and swipes its paw at her, knocking her to the ground. Just before it could strike at Ilia, Rebecca charged at The Hound with her scythe. As she swung her scythe at The Hound, it grabbed her weapon mid-swing and tossed her to the ground next to Ilia, breaking her aura. Before it could attack the two girls, Cade tackled The Grimm to the Ground and began to wrestle with it. The Hound kicks the android off of it and stands itself back up. Cade gets back up as well, then charged at The Hound.

Keaton, Ozpin, and Hazel all stood waiting for something and a moment later, a group of American soldiers armed with grenade launchers ran up to them. Two soldiers were carrying a small tank with three valves, two of which were connected to a couple of vacuum tubes which were carried by two more soldiers. Oscar ran up to see what was going on.

"What's all this equipment for?" Oscar asked.

"Inside this tank is filled with liquid nitrogen, one of the coldest substances on Earth. While doing some research, our scientists had theorized that if Salem is reduced to a liquidated state and set into the liquid nitrogen, it should be strong enough to keep her contained for a while," Keaton explained.

"So your men are going to use this equipment to trap Salem?" Ozpin asked.

"Theoretically it should work. Liquid nitrogen is much colder than ice. Salem will freeze up instantly," Keaton answered.

"Sir, look!" a soldier pointed at the black puddle.

Everyone turned to see the black liquid rising up and morphing, eventually Salem has finally regenerated.

"Open fire!" Keaton shouted.

Salem shot a blast of magic at Keaton, but Hazel jumped in front of him and pulled out a hard-light Dust crystal from his pocket and created a shield, blocking Salem's attack. Before Salem could attack again, Keaton began to fire his rifle as a few other soldiers fired their grenade launchers at Salem. Each round exploded upon impact, blowing chunk after chunk off of Salem's body, preventing her from trying to attack.

The Hound was about to charge over at Cade, but its ears twitched and turned its head, noticing its master was in trouble. The Hound rushed at the soldier, but Hazel noticed the Grimm and jumped in front of the soldier. The Hound was about to claw at Hazel, but Qrow suddenly rushed over to it and slashed at its claws. Hazel punched The Hound straight into the ground in front of Salem. It stood back up taking the shots from the grenade launcher for the immortal witch.

"Get yourself out of here! Wait for me when I return!" Salem ordered.

The Hound nodded with a soft growl then sprouted its wings and began to fly away. Upon this Salem was now being struck with rounds from the grenade launchers. A soldier ran up with an RPG and aimed it at Salem. He fired the rocket and it struck and embedded her in the stomach. A second later, the rocket explodes engulfing her in smoke and fire. When the smoke and flames cleared, a black liquid puddle was all that remained.

"Now's our chance! Have her extracted!" Keaton ordered.

The four soldiers with the vacuums and tank quickly ran up to the black puddle. The two soldiers with the vacuums began to extract Salem's remains with the vacuums. The black liquid traveled through the hoses and into the tank of liquid nitrogen which hissed upon contact. Team CFDT, Ilia, Will, Allen, Kelly, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Cade ran up as Ozpin, Keaton, Qrow, Hazel, and the other soldiers cautiously walked up to the tank.

"Did it work?" a soldier asked.

"There seems to be no sign of a struggle. I assume that it did," Ozpin answered. "How long will the effects of this liquid nitrogen last?"

"Around three to five days. Enough time to put Salem in a cell we had specially built to contain her," Keaton answered.

"Oz, before we get into anything else, I've got some news. And it ain't good," Qrow said.

"What is it, Qrow?" Ozpin asked.

"Amber is dead. Cinder is the Fall Maiden now," Qrow said.

"Are you sure?" Keaton asked.

"Your aunt came up and confirmed this. She also said Cinder has taken your sister. After that, Ruby, Pyrrha, Jaune, Cinder's two ex assailants, and your brother went after her," Qrow said.

"What?! And you didn't tell me that fucking sooner?" Keaton yelled.

"We better hurry!" Britney said.

Everyone began to run down the street to find Ruby, Jaune, Pyrrha, Jacob, Emerald, Mercury, Cinder, and Ashley.

Meanwhile several blocks away, Jacob ran down the street looking for Cinder who had taken Ashley. He then stopped when he heard the sound of a baby crying. He looked forward and saw Cinder carrying a crying Ashley in her arms with a sinister smile.

"What a turn of events this has become," Cinder said.

"Let her go, Cinder. Ashley has nothing to do with any of this," Jacob said.

"But why would I want to do that? We were just starting to get to know each other. Besides, it was the only way I could get to you," Cinder said.

"Using an innocent child as a meat shield just to try and get to me? Even you have to admit this is a new low, even for you," Jacob said.

"You tried to keep me away from the power that is rightfully mine, only to fail. And now, I'm going to make sure that you never see your little sister again," Cinder said.

She brought her Shadow hand up and hovered it over Ashley's face, worrying Jacob. He glanced behind Cinder and noticed peering around from the corner of a building was Ruby, Emerald, Mercury, Jaune, Pyrrha, and Judy. He quickly looks back at Cinder as she brings her Shadow Hand closer to Ashley.

"Alright, Stop!" Jacob cried. "What do you want?"

"Because of you, what should have been a victory at Beacon became a massive failure," Cinder said.

Jacob noticed Emerald narrowing her eyes at Cinder as Ruby and Mercury began to slowly sneak up behind Cinder. He waved his hand back and forth as Cinder was still talking and showing no reaction to his action.

"Because of you and Ruby, I lost an arm and eye," she said.

Jacob realized that Emerald was using her semblance on Cinder, and then began to slowly walk up to her.

"Because of you, I never got the powers of the Spring Maiden from Raven Branwen. Because of you, Salem has an even tighter leash on me! Because of you, I am sick! Because of you, I almost became nothing!" Cinder said.

Jacob, Ruby, and Mercury now had her surrounded and were about ready to retrain Cinder and take Ashley away from her grasp.

"But in the end, I now have the full power of the Fall Maiden. And now I'm going to take the thing you cherish most, you worthless sister, just as you took away most of everything from me," Cinder said.

She glances down and notices three shadows surrounding her and no source of the shadows. Before she could do anything, Mercury wrapped his arms around Cinder, restraining her. Ruby grabs on to Ashley and snatched her away from Cinder. Ruby dashed up to Judy with Ashley. She hands the toddler to Judy.

"Get yourself and Ashley out of here!" Ruby ordered.

Without hesitation, Judy ran away carrying her niece with her. Cinder grabs Mercury's left arm and activates her Maiden powers, burning his arm, causing him to remove his grip and hold his arm in pain. Jacob threw a couple punches at Cinder which she was unable to avoid due to Emerald's semblance affecting her. She unleashes a blast of wind around her blowing Jacob and Mercury away from her. Jaune and Pyrrha held up their shields to block off the wind, while Emerald shielded herself and shut her eyes from the winds, causing her semblance to deactivate. Cinder looked around and saw Mercury getting up from the ground, then glanced at Ruby, Jaune, Pyrrha, and Emerald. Cinder frowns upon seeing her associates with her enemies.

"So you've chosen to turn against me and side with our enemies?" Cinder asked before coughing.

"You always were a lousy bitch to begin with," Mercury said.

"I have always looked up to you! But now I see what you really are. Nothing but a monster!" Emerald said.

"And like any other monster, it needs to be put down!" Jaune added.

"And we will stop you from hurting anyone else!" Ruby said

Ruby, Jaune, Pyrrha, and Emerald drew their weapons. Cinder turns around to see an enraged Jacob drawing out God's Trust.

"Fine. Allow me to grant you your deaths today," Cinder said, before coughing.

She summons an obsidian glass scimitar that features a flames core in her right hand and a sword of similar design to her scimitar in her Shadow Hand. Cinder flew down at Jacob and gave a flurry of strikes as Jacob parried and blocked her attacks. Ruby, Jaune, and Pyrrha rushed over to attack the Fall Maiden. Cinder turns to see the three coming and Jacob away, then rushes after them. She swung her blades at them, only for her attacks to pass through them. Suddenly, Jaune came up to Cinder from the side and slashed at her chest. Pyrrha rushed at the Maiden from behind and swung her javelin at her legs, knocking her into the air. Ruby dashed up and swung Crescent Rose at Cinder, sending her flying into a mailbox. Cinder quickly gets up back to her feet and looks around to see nobody around. She noticed two shadows on the ground several feet away from her. Cinder swung her blades unleashing a couple waves of fire at the shadows. One shadow quickly shifted out of the way, but the other shadow was unable to move in time. As the fiery attack went over the shadow, Emerald appeared and flew into a wall. Cinder quickly flew up to her ex-associate and gave a couple of slashes at her, then kicked her in the side of the head, knocking her unconscious. Cinder stood over Emerald with a frown.

"How disappointing," Cinder said.

Just as she was about to swing down her scimitar at Emerald, Mercury rushed at her and kicked the glass blade, shattering it on impact. He swung several kicks at his former boss, but Cinder leans and dodges his attacks. Cinder summons a second sword and tries slashing and striking at Mercury as he was able to dodge and block her attacks. Ruby dashes over at Cinder with her semblance and swings her scythe at her, but Cinder sees her coming and jumps over the attack. She tries to strike at Ruby, but the scythe wielder swung Crescent Rose at her swords, scattering them. Cinder shot a blast of fire at Ruby and Mercury, sending them flying. Without warning Jacob dashes at Cinder with Ruby's semblance and slashes at Cinder's back. She turns to face Jacob as she summons two more swords. Cinder and Jacob angrily gave each other a series of strikes and slashes.

"Are you honestly proud of the suffering you cause around you?! Do you think that people will worship and fear you like some sort of fucking god?!" Jacob asked as he tried to land a strike on Cinder.

"As I said in the show, I want to be strong. I want to be feared. I want to be powerful!" Cinder answered, trying to strike at Jacob.

Jacob jumps away as Cinder swung her swords at him.

"I know that back then, you were nothing but a scared little girl abused by everyone around you! Then became a slave to your step family in Atlas! But then a Huntsman came into your life and trained you, but in the end, you used your training to kill your step family, then your teacher! What was his name again? Oh, yeah. Rhodes. If he was around now, what do you think he'd say or do upon seeing you and the actions you've caused?" Jacob asked.

Cinder widened her eyes in surprise, but then gained an angry look.

"Come to think of it, Rhodes should have done more than just train you! He should have reported your step family to the authorities and have them arrested! Then you wouldn't be what you are today! And he's an idiot for not thinking about that!" Jacob said.

Cinder screamed with fury and dashed at Jacob to attack him. Jacob swung God's Trust at her swords, shattering them. As he swung his sword at Cinder, she caught Jacob's sword mid-swing. Her grip tightens as she heats the sword more and more until she snaps his melted blade into pieces. Enraged, Jacob tosses his weapon's hilt aside and throws a punch at Cinder's face, staggering her. He opens up his shield and hurls several punches and bashes at the Maiden. Cinder shot a large fireball at Jacob knocking him back. Just before Cinder could attack him again, she suddenly starts violently coughing. The Maiden turns to the side and proceeds to throw up as vomit splashed to the ground.

"I did not want to see that," Jacob said with a cringed look.

Cinder stops vomiting and coughs some more. She turns to face Jacob when suddenly, she sees a car flying at her, forcing her to float up in the air to avoid the large projectile. She turns to see Pyrrha lifting up a few cars and metal debris into the air with her semblance, while Jaune has his hand on her shoulder boosting her girlfriend's aura with his semblance.

Pyrrha hurls the projectiles at Cinder as she flies and weaves away from the attacks. The Fall Maiden summons a spear and hurls it at Pyrrha and Jaune. The spear strikes the ground in front of the couple then explodes, sending them flying into a car, making their aura flicker. Before Cinder could fly down at them, a shot was fired at her Shadow Hand, making her cry out in pain. The Maiden turned to see Mercury shooting at her. She flies down at the assassin and tackles him to the ground, depleting his aura. She summons a dagger and is about to plunge it into Mercury. Ruby steps up to Cinder and Mercury getting their attention. Ruby's silver eyes began to glow as Cinder's expression turned from anger to fear, dropping her dagger. The light from Ruby's silver eyes envelopes everything around her as Cinder flew a distance away. The light dies away as Ruby drops to her knees panting. Several feet away from her, Cinder clenched on to her Shadow hand in pain. Enraged, Cinder flies straight at Ruby and tackles her to the ground, breaking her aura.

Cinder raised her Shadow Hand ready to strike Ruby, but Jacob suddenly charged at Cinder, tackling her to the ground and making her aura flicker. He slams her head to the pavement a couple times, before Cinder grabs Jacob and flips him off of her, making his aura flicker. As Cinder stood back up Mercury got up and charged at the Maiden. Cinder quickly notices Mercury and blasted fire at him knocking him to the ground, breaking his aura. Jaune and Pyrrha run up to Cinder to attack, but the Fall Maiden summons several daggers and hurls them at the two, knocking them back and breaking their aura. A shot was suddenly fired at Cinder hitting her in the back and breaking her aura.

Cinder turns around to see Ruby aiming her sniper rifle at her. Ruby pulls the trigger, only to hear a click. She was out of ammo. Cinder stretched her Shadow Hand at Ruby and smacks her to the ground. She stretched her Shadow Hand at Ruby, but suddenly, Pyrrha ran up and sliced off her Shadow Hand as it then disintegrated and Cinder began screaming in agony. She stumbles around having her Grimm arm cut off. She continues screaming and begins writhing as her Shadow hand grows back. Cinder glares at Pyrrha, hyperventilating in pain and before she could attack, Ruby rush over and slice off Cinders only good arm and grazed Cinder's remaining eye. She screamed in pain while stumbling around. Jacob gets up from the ground and tackles Cinder to the ground.

He proceeds furiously to hurl punch after punch to her face, knocking some teeth out. Ruby and Pyrrha walked up to Jacob beating Cinder as Jaune, Emerald, and Mercury all got up and gathered around Jacob and Cinder. He continued beating her more as everyone around him heard the sound of bones cracking.

"Jacob, stop! Cinder's beaten!" Ruby cried.

"She's clearly had enough!" Jaune added.

Jacob stops and glances at everyone around him as he turns back at Cinder as her face was now bloodied, swollen, and disfigured beyond recognition. He looked down at his fists as they were covered in Cinder's blood. He got up off of a beaten and unconscious Cinder and Turned to the others.

"I'm... sorry. After everything that she's done, beating like a pig was all I could think about. Especially after she tried to kill my baby sis right in front of me," Jacob said.

"I would have done the same if I'm being honest," a voice called out.

Everyone turned to see Team CFDT, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Ren, Nora, Will, Keaton, Ozpin, Oscar, Qrow, Velvet, Allen, Kelly, Ilia, Cade, and a few other soldiers.

"Damn. You really didn't hold back on her," Rebecca said.

"We better get back and deal with the arrests," Will said.

"Right," Keaton said.

The few soldiers ran up to the downed Cinder as everyone else began to walk away.