Here we are again guys, keeping it going as per the plan. This is going to be a lengthy one, so make sure you have a good 20-30 minutes. Unless you're a faster reader, in that case. Enjoy!

Update: We should be good, nevermind. Enjoy the chapter anyway!

Beta: CrowSkull

Destiny Fated Black

Chapter 22

Ever thought about a series of plans in case one fails? Well, they did a damn good job getting through Plan A and B. Though unfortunately, C was the one that worked...

Qrow burst into their hideout and yelled for everyone to wake up. Dazed, confused and surprised, Winter was the only one who managed to keep herself cool enough to confront the red-eyed huntsman.

"I found them," Qrow reported to them all.

"You found them?" Pyrrha asked, already entering a better state of mind to fit the new circumstances. "How?"

"My semblance allows me to turn into a bird," Qrow lied easily. "Let's not get too much into it. Fact of the matter is that I found them and we have a limited amount of time before it's too late for us to do anything about it. I want everyone geared up and ready to go in less than five minutes."

"Y-yes sir!" Though still sleepy and woozy from suddenly being woken up as they were, he had to give them credit where credit was due, they did exactly as he said. As Team JNPR was getting ready for their first real battle out in the field, Qrow stepped up to Winter and beckoned her to come closer, which she did.

"He's here," Qrow said, managing to keep himself calm for the meantime. "I saw him, the bastard is working with Torchwick and some pink-haired girl."

Winter cursed underneath her breath in a very un-Schnee like manner. As much as he thought that this would have been a good chance to tease her for the slip-up, now just wasn't the time when there was potentially the safety of every innocent in Vale was at risk.

"Do you think we can defeat him together?" Winter asked, genuinely concerned.

"I don't know, it's been too long for me to give an accurate answer to that," Qrow replied honestly. Back in his Beacon day's Marcus was one of the best of their year and even better than some of the older years. He was right up there with himself, Raven, and Summer along with a few other people he wasn't very close with at the time. The only one who was able to beat him and beat him consistently and form any kind of rivalry with him was Raven. But nowadays they were all stronger, and he hasn't been able to fight Marcus one on one, not for a lack of him trying. Sadly, his sister didn't seem like she was going to be showing up anytime soon, so they were on their own for this one. As for what he thinks, however… "Maybe," He said, shrugging helplessly. "Either way, we're going to give him one hell of a fight."

"Understandable," Winter nodded, acknowledging his words as the closest to the truth as possible. "Let us not worry about it for the moment. We should make sure that the students don't have to worry about fighting him, he is a priority target and only we can reliably handle him at this time."

"Agreed," Qrow tried his scroll again and tried to call Ozpin or even Ironwood, but even their state of the art tech wasn't able to reach all the way back to Vale. With a curse, the best he could do was send a message to the pilot who was at a docking station just miles away in the hopes that he was able to relay the message back to Beacon. After that, he stuffed the scroll back into his pocket after making sure he was still connected with the five other members of their party.

With a shared nod between the huntsman and Specialist, they both turned to the students.

"Here's what we're going to be doing," Qrow spoke up and yanked all the attention of Team JNPR to himself. "We're going to go along the route that I took to get into the subway and sneak our way into the compound. There's a minimally guarded path that I think we can all take. Got it blondie?"

"Yes sir," Jaune nodded his head. As the leader of his team, he was responsible for committing everything that was said to him to memory to use just in case they needed it during the mission.

"We stay together no matter what," Winter continued. "I don't care if Marcus Black is escaping right before our eyes, do not give chase unless either me or Qrow are there with you. The White Fang should be easy enough opponents, the only ones that you must be careful with are Roman Torchwick and his accomplice excluding the man we've already spoken of."

"There's also one of the lieutenants of the White Fang there," Qrow pointed out. "He is one of the lower-ranking ones and you should be able to deal with him safely, but don't let your guard down for even a second."

"Ask your questions now or you will lose your chance," Winter said.

"What if we get separated?" Nora asked.

"If you get separated to try and find a way back to your team, notify us immediately and we will come get you. To extend on that, make sure that you take into account all of your teammates and remember where they are located. Any of us could be strayed or forced away at any moment without any of us knowing." Winter explained. "Anything else?"

"Yeah um… what do we do if we are on our own against one of those guys you mentioned and there's no safe option then to fight?" Jaune asked, even raising his hand to draw more attention to himself.

"Don't," Qrow easily answered with a shrug. "Or you're dead."

"G-got it." Jaune swallowed nervously, Pyrrha placed her hand on his shoulder to give him her support. She'd be there for him, he knew it, and for once he wasn't going to be annoyed by it whatsoever. Considering who they were up against he wouldn't mind the entire army of Atlas coming in to support him.

"No more questions," Qrow said as he drew his weapon, everyone else followed his lead as a result. "Follow me, I know the way and again, be careful and stay together. Those are the most important things you kids need to work with right now."

"Yes, sir!" Now filled with determination and understanding, all of Team JNPR followed Qrow and Winter close behind. After everything they've heard and having it drilled into their skulls day after day, none of them thought it would be a good idea to go against the professional's advice.

Qrow and Winter together lead them through the ruins of Glenn, thankfully there was no Grimm in the area thanks to Qrow's nightly culling and the stairway that leads into the underground subway was found quickly. It looked as if Qrow had to dig himself a hole in order to get into the tunnels, but together the rest of them made an entrance big enough for each of them to squeeze through without too much issue.

Now that they were in, their real mission officially began. One last time, Qrow and Winter ran over the rules to them. They were worried, and rightly so. None of them knew what was going to happen and there was always a chance that something would go wrong, and in this case, that chance seemed to be tripled or even quadrupled considering that Marcus Black himself was within these tunnels. Even then, Jaune and his team would steel themselves for the worst. They wouldn't let anything happen, they promised themselves that.

Even still, the entire team went deeper into the tunnels with barely restrained trembling hands.

A White Fang guard named Gerold looked to his long-time friend, Samson. Together, they were set on guard to watch a part of the tunnels that was deemed almost impossible for anyone up from the surface to get into. But apparently there was a chance of Grimm clawing their way through the rubble and surprise attack them. Of course, nothing happened and the biggest Grimm they had to worry about were the rat types. Which were like regular rats, but much smellier and more aggressive.

"Hey man," Gerold looked to Samson.

"Yeah?"

"You ever wonder why we're here?"

"Hm," Samson hummed. "I don't know, why are we here? Is this part of some grand divine plan, or are we just another piece to the puzzle? I don't know man, life in itself is a mystery. Sometimes it keeps me up at night."

Gerold looked at him through his mask and a confused expression on his face.

"The fuck? I didn't mean that, I meant why are we here? Just two guys guarding a stupid empty tunnel with rocks at the end of it with our only source of entertainment using Grimm rats as target practice. That, not whatever the fuck you just spit out of your mouth."

"Oh," Samson looked away, embarrassed. "Well, in that case, I have no goddamn clue. Torchwick just ran around screaming for us to get to our posts and here we are."

"Ugh," Gerold groaned. "I would rather be packing the damn train with dust."

"Yeah, me too man. Me too." Samson sighed.

The two of them rested their elbows on the rusted guard rail and continued looking into the darkness. Their faunus eyes enabled them to see in the dark and still, like always, there was nothing for them to see and sound the alarm for. Sighing, Gerold let his head fall into his arms and sighed explosively.

"Hey man, I think I see something!" Samson pointed into the darkness.

"Probably another damn rat," Gerold moaned.

"No man, this definitely ain't a rat. It's got wings and shit, I swear."

"A bird got down here then, so what?"

"It's better than shooting at fucking rats. Oh, here it comes!"

Gerold and Samson looked at the crow that landed on the guard rail in between them with goofy expressions on their faces. Little things like these made it easier to handle the guarding shift, it was how they were able to keep going nowadays.

"Heh, ain't you a little cutie?" Gerold said as he reached for the bird.

The crow replied with a squawk and then turned into a full-grown man. Startled, the two terrorists raised their weapons to try and shoot him but they were both kicked in the face before they were able to pull the triggers. Gerold and Samson fell down, unconscious, and from behind Qrow, Winter and all of Team JNPR all climb up and over the guard rail.

"What the- Intruders!" A passing member of the White Fang, likely coming over to relieve the two idiots turned heel and sprinted for what could only be assumed to be an alarm. Winter sped after him and managed to catch him, but not before his hand slapped onto a device of some kind. Sending a signal that made the train in the distance honk it's horn in a near deafening screeching sound.

"Damn it," Qrow shifted his weapon into a scythe and cursed. "Looks like stealth isn't going to work here, not like we would have lasted long anyway. Not bringing attention to myself is a specialty of mine."

"Something you should work on," Winter remarked. "It more often than not brings the wrong kind of attention."

"We all have our faults."

"There they are!" A large group of White Fang came from around all corners and directions. In the distance, the group of five was able to see the other members of the Fang scrambling to load the train with more dust as quickly as they could.

Seeing that as their signal, they each looked to each other and charged into battle. Winter and Qrow lead the charge, with Nora and Pyrrha at their sides and Jaune and Ren behind them to give them support. Together, the first wave of White Fang hardly stood a chance against their combined might. Qrow was relentless in his assault and Winter was as well, showing no mercy in cutting down or knocking out terrorists that tried to get in their way. Behind them, Pyrrha and Nora took care of whoever slipped through their first line of their formation, and their other two teammates supported all of them whenever they could. A second wave came and went, and as they all fought with no holding back and ignoring the terrorists who had not unlocked their aura just yet, Qrow and Winter started directing them toward the train itself.

The train was massive, and it looked like it had been hastily repaired. After the Grimm invasion on Glenn, not all of the trains were finished. If they had, it would have been much easier and safer to evacuate all of the civilians. Some were left behind and the White Fang seemed to have used that to their advantage and repaired parts of this train the best that they could and seemingly they were able to get it functional. Considering that they were still packing it with dust, it had to be functional.

They didn't know what they were planning to do with the train but none of them wanted to wait and find out later. Qrow called for them to form a tighter formation within the chaos and Pyrrha and Jaune with their shields were pulled to the front so that they were able to block the hail fire of bullets that primarily came from that direction. They were pushed forward by Qrow and Winter with Ren and Nora covering the back together. However, they weren't getting there fast enough with all the White Fang getting in their way, and there was hardly any cover between them and the train. Likely an intentional design plan by Torchwick just in case huntsmen or huntresses did happen to come across their little secret base. With no cover, they were forced to cross the open space in order to get to the caboose of the train cars.

To their horror, the train blared it's horns again as it started its engines. Breaking their formation, Team JNPR and their escort huntsman and huntress all broke into a sprint in an almost vain attempt to catch up to the train before it got too far. Even the White Fang didn't expect it, most were left behind and wondering why this happened. But a good bulk of their forces made it onto the train, and as it moved people dropped their crates and made for the doors before they could close. One by one they shut tightly.

Winter realized that they were going to make it running like this, so as they sprinted she used her semblance and outstretched a hand out in front of them. A series of glyphs covered the path before them, and each member of JNPR, herself, and Qrow all felt the time around them seemingly slow down, as did the train itself. On the outside, the White Fang perceived them as moving much faster, so much so that Qrow was able to dive inside the last train car before it's door could shut all the way and keep it pried open with his sword.

One by one the rest of their party dove into the train. Winter first, then Pyrrha, Jaune, Ren, and Nora in that order. Though Jaune needed to be pulled the rest of the way in by Pyrrha before Ren was able to get in himself. Before they knew it, they were on the train and already taking ragged labored breaths.

They couldn't rest for long, there were more White Fang on the train and some were even in that train car. Pyrrha took the initiative with the professional hunters and pinned one of them up against the wall with her shield and pinned their arms to the wall with her free hand after dropping her weapon. Jaune picked it up for her as Qrow and Winter knocked out the other terrorists.

"Why were the train cars behind loaded with dust?" Pyrrha demanded in a demanding tone. The adrenaline was still pumping through her veins, giving her an amazing amount of strength, and she wasn't in the polite mood that she was usually in, the terrorist was completely at her mercy.

"I'll never tell you, shitty human!" He spat into her face, but Pyrrha kept her cool. Thankfully, Ren wiped off the spittle for her with his sleeve.

"Answer her bud," Qrow said as he placed the edge of his sword against his neck, threatening to kill him and with no reason not too. They were terrorists, after all, most of the world didn't even consider them normal faunus with rights anymore. "She won't ask again and you won't want me to ask you that question, do you?"

"I-I…" The terrorist struggled with his emotions and loyalties. But he was still a fresh recruit, in this situation, survival meant more than anything. He gave in quickly as Pyrrha slowly strangled him with her shield.

"O-okay, the train is going to be-"

Pyrrha's eyes widened with shock as a hole suddenly exploded open through the man's skull. Blood splattered over her face and she fell with a terrified cry. Another bullet struck the bracer on her arm and another against the aura of her neck. Finally, Qrow shot back at the attacker.

Pyrrha looked up and saw him, Marcus Black, he had a smug grin on his face even as he dodged Qrow's retaliation. There was a shuttle maintenance door at the top of the train car, and he'd used it to silence the terrorist before he could reveal their plan and then nearly killed her as well. Pyrrha shook with fear, she's never come that close to dying before, she was so thankful for holding her aura up the entire time just in case.

"MARCUS!" Qrow continued to shoot at the ceiling of the train car.

"Stop! You're just wasting ammo." Winter pointed out as she pushed Qrow's arm down and away from the ceiling. With a frustrated groan, Qrow agreed and lowered his weapon, though now he was on more guard than ever.

"Are you okay!?" Jaune asked his partner as he helped her up.

Pyrrha had a shaky look in her eyes, there was still blood on her face from the terrorist that died right before her eyes. "Y-yes," She stammered out, thanking Ren as he once against offered his sleeve to wipe the blood off of her face. "I was just… shocked."

"Y-yeah," Jaune shook as well, he'd never seen anyone die in person before, neither did Nora. Ren hid his frustration well.

"That," Qrow pointed at the dead terrorist. "Could happen to any of you if you let your guard down for even a second. Stick close and stay together, we'll go through each train car one by one for now."

"Uh… guys?" Nora pointed to the next train car, drawing each of their attention toward the opening. "The door is already open, and besides some dust there's nothing else in here."

"It may be a trap," Winter said with narrowed eyes. "We enter all at once, follow."

As a single unit they entered the empty train car, the doors automatically shut behind them with a hiss, but suddenly enough to startle Ren as he was pulled forward by Qrow just in case he would be crushed by the doors itself. A few seconds passed and they heard a loud mechanical clink, another few moments later, an explosion rocked the entire train as the old caboose of the train decoupled and detonated suddenly. The entire team looked on with shock through the windows.

"They… de-coupled the train." Ren said, analyzing everything in his head and figuring out the plan of the White Fang. "There are bombs in these train cars, and the Grimm are entering the tunnels… this tunnel leads to Vale… Oh, God."

"We need to stop this train!" Winter shouted, much more unprofessional than she was being before. They moved in much more of a rush, and none of them thought they had time to ask the question of why they were allowed into the next train car and not all killed in that explosion.

They were allowed no rest and no time to process this new sudden information. The train cars were rigged with explosives, and in time each of them would explode and more Grimm would enter the tunnels. If they didn't stop this train in time, then Vale would be swarmed with Grimm before they knew it.

With that in mind, Pyrrha stopped and looked up to the ceiling of the train. Her eyes narrowed as an idea formed within her mind. She knew of a way to defuse these bombs in the quickest way possible without endangering her teammates. However, it would require a lot of focus and a lot of gritting her teeth...

Marcus stuck close to the roof of the train as he felt the force of the winds blow his hair every which way. Being careful with each step as to not alert the ones that he is tailing of his presence. He couldn't let that guy tell them about the plan, they'd figure it out in time, but not like that. Though if there were any more doubts for any reason that he wasn't there in Glenn anymore, he squandered them when he tried to kill that red-haired girl.

She was so famous that it was hard for anyone not to know about her. It was Pyrrha fucking Nikos, of course he'd know about her. Not that she'd actually cause trouble for him, but he figured that he'd try and get her after killing that White Fang grunt that was getting a little too talkative for his liking. Impressively enough, she was smarter than Blake was and kept up her aura and managed to survive his shots. He wouldn't get another chance like that, even with them being distracted by the White Fang currently in the train cars ahead of them. Roman ordered them all to leave the back two mostly unoccupied for obvious reasons, and the door in the back was the only one that was set to automatic. Which sucked, of course, however anti-climatic it would have been, he would have been amused at the sight of Qrow and them all dying in a big fiery explosion without every crossing blades with himself.

Now he was just waiting for a chance to jump in there for when Neo did her part to separate them, and she was taking her sweet time as usual. While crouching, he slowly followed their sounds of fighting, until it stopped. Curious, he stopped as well. Listening closely for anything that may hint to him of what they could be planning now.

What he didn't expect was for the roof and top compartments of the train car previous to his to get peeled off and thrown down the tunnel, exploding harmlessly in a much smaller explosion that wasn't able to blow a big hole in the ceiling of the tunnel.

"Fuck…" Marcus cursed as he noticed the bolts and metal of his train car denting and peeling apart. He threw caution to the wind and dove forward to the next train car, looking back to see that the place he was just standing was now on the train tracks behind them, the bomb going off once again harmlessly. Gritting his teeth, he dared to look over the edge and into the train car when he heard Qrow and Winter cursing and running back to the one who caused all the damage.

He stepped back and flicked his head away to dodge a bronze shield that would have struck him right in the chin. Pyrrha Nikos, red in the face out of exertion attacked him as she flipped onto the roof of the train. Caught off guard at first, she was able to drive him back with her first few attacks.

That didn't last long, once Marcus regained his footing he took control of the fight quickly. Drawing out his long knife and deflecting Pyrrha's spear and punching her in the stomach with his free hand the moment an opening was made. Pyrrha's green eyes bulged and the tide quickly turned against her. She scrambled to defend herself but the assassin was merciless, constantly driving her back with kicks and slashes against her shield, always angling the knife she found herself quickly bruised and her aura dwindling. Especially when Marcus slashed his knife against her neck. If it weren't for her aura, her throat would have been slashed open.

"Gah!" Pyrrha gagged as a hand wrapped around her throat. Panicking, she realized what he was going to do instantly and thrashed out, throwing her leg forward and hitting him in the groin to prevent her semblance from being stolen from her.

Marcus dropped her with a cry of pain as his crotch was struck by a guarded knee. "You little bitch!" He hissed and drew out his pistol, taking aim at her face.

Pyrrha staggered back and held up her shield the best she could. The power behind the bullet pushed her back, but someone caught her before she could fall over. Qrow grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and threw her behind himself and back into the ripped open train car behind them. Beside him was Winter Schnee, already forming a glyph beneath her feet as they stared him down.

Marcus snickered, not even a hello to start off this fight. He began by backpedaling. Taking on two hunters at once was a difficult task, and it would only be harder if one got behind him. Luckily he chose their battleground carefully. On the top of a speeding train, there was only a straight path for them to take in order to get to him, which meant he only needed to worry about one direction. Qrow and Winter were strong, incredibly so, and they were very skilled. Marcus felt his muscles burn and sweat began to precipitate across his body as they continued to fight. Weapons clashed against weapons, and his long knife paled in comparison of Qrow's long and thick blade and Winter's saber. In a straight fight, it would take a lot from him to win, and it didn't help that Qrow already had a vague grasp on his fighting style. Winter and Qrow kept advancing, forcing him to back peddle. Winter thrusting forward and Qrow shifting his weapon mid slashes to get around his guard… it was working.

His knife clashed and ground against Qrow's sword and his forearm encased in aura defended him against Winter's prodding attacks. The specialist occasionally sent out small Grimm in the form of swarms of Nevermore to try and disorient him, but he countered by simply pushing through them and ignoring the pain of them pecking at his aura. He couldn't take his eyes off them, doing so would mean his certain defeat. Deflecting Qrow's sword he created an opening for him to kick the other man in the chest. Qrow blocked with his forearm and absorbed a lot of the damage, but he was forced out of the way. Winter widened her eyes as Marcus entered her guard within the second that Qrow spent recovering after his hit. Once, twice, and three times Winter was cut by his knife. At such a close range, she had no time to summon nor did she have the distance to use her weapon effectively. She was knocked back as Marcus ended his attack with a crushing roundhouse to the side of her head.

Winter cried out as she rolled on the roof of the train and held on to the edge for dear life before she could fall. Before Marcus could kick her down, Qrow tackled him, the two of them continued their battle much more aggressively. As she tried to pull herself up she could only watch as Marcus and Qrow fought violently and acrobatically. Qrow was fast and he never let Marcus touch him with the skin of his hand, even going as far as to slap it away when he tried to grab him. In turn, Marcus seemed to remember Qrow's style and was able to keep up with him very well. As the Specialist struggled to pick herself back up, she noticed that as the fight was prolonged into a full minute, Qrow was slowly losing the advantage. He and Marcus were practically evenly matched, but the battleground was completely against Qrow and his style. He had no room to use his usual tricks lest he fall off the train and as luck would have it, he slipped on the metal roof.

Thankfully, that luck seemed to rub off on Marcus as he slipped as well, catching himself on all fours before his face could hit the metal. Qrow rolled backward and assumed a stance, preparing to be attacked right away, only for a tense inaction and silence to fill the tunnel.

Breathing deeply, Marcus pushed himself back up and stared down his old friend.

"Qrow, good to see you again." He greeted in a mocking tone. "You've gotten stronger, been training again?"

"Thanks to you, yes," Qrow replied. "Since my niece seems to have to learn a completely new fighting style thanks to you."

"Not my fault she tried to pick a fight with me."

"She tried to reach out to you!" Qrow screamed, his emotions getting the better of him. "She tried to bring you back to the light because that's just how she is. No matter who she is up against she sees them as a person, and once upon a time, you were known to be good. And in return, you stole her semblance and destroyed her team." He grit his teeth tightly. "She hates you now, I've never seen her so ruined and negative... I'll kill you for that, you fucking murderer."

"Funny, I've heard that one literally dozens of times." His smile gone, Marcus frowned and drew his pistol out once more. On his left was his knife. Qrow's comment hit a little close to home and drew out even more memories from him. The comparison was made almost automatically, since another certain Rose sought to bring him back to the light a long time ago.

That story was beaten into the dirt enough, he became numb to it now. He got Qrow angry and that meant he would make mistakes. Though, he didn't attack right away. The four students of Beacon behind his old friend discouraged him from continuing his assault.

Winter was helped up by Jaune and Pyrrha stood again alongside Qrow. Ren and Nora coming up behind them and the former two return to form an even greater line of defense against him. Cautiously, Marcus slowly stepped back step by step, the two on one suddenly turned into a six on one and he was at a very clear disadvantage.

No matter how skilled one person may be, they can always be overwhelmed. If he fought them all at the same time, he'd lose, they all knew that. Even if the students seemed to be terrified at the very sight of him. He continued stepping back as they slowly stepped forward. The White Fang and his two other allies were still around there somewhere and they were still cautious of them. There was a train car of distance between them and him.

Perfect.

With a smirk slowly creeping up the corner of his lips, he pulled out a detonator from his back pocket and pushed the big red button. The train car behind his six opponents that wasn't touched by Pyrrha's semblance exploded in a great ball of fire mixed with dust properties. All six of them were blasted forward and the force of the blast even threw Marcus back as well.

Nora and Ren fell over the side of the train but the green monk managed to grab a broken window of the train and save himself and his partner, pulling them both into the undamaged train car. On the other side, Jaune hung from a piece of metal and Pyrrha was stunned and shaken in front of him, she crawled her way to him and started to help him up.

"Watch out!"

Neo narrowly missed Jaune's side as her thin sword pierced through the air. Pyrrha wildly swung her spear - now turned into its sword form, and Neo bent backward impossibly to dodge it. She landed on her feet and smirked at the two of them cockily, not even turning around to worry about the two huntsman behind her.

"We have to get back to the others," Jaune told Pyrrha and pulled her back before she could continue the fight.

"We have to help Qrow and Winter!" Pyrrha argued.

"Trust them to handle this!" Jaune screamed back, startling his partner. "We'll just get in the way and Ren and Nora got separated from us, and with what just happened I don't know if we can beat this girl on our own."

They both stepped back as Neo took a step toward them. She giggled silently as she sensed the fear within them both. After the explosion effectively more than half of their squad were scattered, leaving the two escort hunters against Marcus Black by themselves, and the rest of the students against Neo. Who is on par in terms of skill and danger to her fellow ex-assassin. She was more than confident that she'd be able to take them all on at once with how versatile her semblance was. What made it all the more entertaining was that she loved playing with her food.

"We can't beat her," Jaune said, shaking as he pushed Pyrrha back further. "You're weak right now and I'm even weaker than you."

Pyrrha understood that as fact, she never thought that Jaune would ever admit it and she would never point it out herself, but it was true that they didn't stand a chance against this girl. After hearing it from Weiss, she never stood a chance against her and it didn't even seem like Neo was trying. Being one of the better fighters in Beacon, that spoke of worrisome concerns with how dangerous this girl may be. Even more so that she was fighting directly with Marcus Black and was allied with him.

Metal ripped around both Pyrrha and Jaune and they fell into the train through the hole that the champion's semblance created. When they landed, Neo frowned and chased after them. Sounds of fighting were heard immediately as all of Team JNPR were reunited and fought together against the colorful girl.

Marcus watched and listened to this with a satisfied grin on his face. After recovering himself from being stunned, he found that he was too far from either Winter or Qrow in order to take advantage of them being on the ground face down. Qrow was the first to recover and Winter followed shortly after, though after being so close to the blast their auras had to be dwindling already. All three of them were taking deep ragged breaths and their ears were still ringing because of the sudden explosion that went off. They were getting desperate now, Marcus noticed. Qrow had a feral look in his eyes and Winter had such hatred within hers that if his will was any weaker he may have retreated right there.

Not yet though, not when they were getting closer to the front of the train where Roman was making sure that the train wasn't going to be stopping anytime soon. Someone needed to keep the train going and if he was interrupted at all, then they wouldn't be able to cause nearly as much damage as they need to in order to blow a large enough hole in Vale for the Grimm to crawl through.

"Why are you doing this?" Qrow spoke over the winds as he moved toward him. "What is the point of all this? Coming back after all this time, causing this much chaos in Vale and now you're going to try and bring Grimm into the city?" He shook his head when Marcus refused to reply to him. "I guess your reasons don't matter, Salem's got to you, hasn't she? That's reason enough. I'm going to stop you, Marcus, by whatever means necessary."

"You will try," Marcus acknowledged. The two old friends squared off against each other from across the train cars, behind Qrow Winter was close behind, but after experiencing just how outclassed she was she opted to play the support role for now and not get into direct combat with her distant cousin. If he were to grab her and take her semblance then they'd be killed. Qrow had to trust her, he proved to be skilled enough to fight him and as much as it pains her to admit it, he was better than her as well.

The winds in the tunnel went deaf to their ears as Qrow rushed forward to attack Marcus. The assassin held his ground and barely budged even as he clashed his knife against Qrow's thick sword. He grit his teeth as he tried to push the man back and took aim with his pistol, but Qrow noticed and broke off. Right in time for Winter to leap over him and immediately keep up the assault for him. Her blade pierced through Marcus' defenses and his white aura flared as his shoulder was struck by the blade, right to the old bullet wound done to him by Blake. He winced and deflected the followup attack, but had to jump back to avoid Qrow's massive overhead swing that destroyed the roof of the train where he struck. Marcus tried to jump back in to grab Qrow in an attempt to steal his semblance, and therefore some of his aura, but in a stroke of bad luck Qrow actually caused enough damage to the roof of the train car that he broke a hole into the roof itself and halfway fell into it. Making Marcus miss his mark unintentionally. Winter kicked him in the chest before he could move his arm lower, and Marcus hastily raised his pistol to block her saber from cutting his face.

Jumping back to the next train car behind him, he opened fire with his pistol and unloaded the clip. Winter dodged and blocked the bullets, but they were much more powerful than the typical dust rounds that she was used to deflecting from the White Fang. One of the bullets got through her defenses and struck her in the leg. Causing her to cry out in pain and fall forward. Her own white aura flickered and threatened to go out, but the last few bullets were blocked by Qrow's sword before any more could hit her.

Marcus cursed as he ran out of bullets and returned the gun to its holster. He had no time to reload and he knew it, so he reached into another hidden pocket of his and drew out a slightly shorter knife than the one he mainly used. Only this one he held in a reverse grip.

His teeth gritted as he met Qrow's blade with both of those knives, and he found himself slowly being pushed back by Qrow's overwhelming strength. He allowed him to win the contest of strength and was not confident in his knives holding up against Qrow's large sword any longer. But it was all that he had, long combat knives were his best weapons and while he would be alright with a normal generic sword, he was much more dangerous with his shorter knives.

He dragged on their battle, allowing himself to be pushed back lest he let himself take unnecessary damage. Winter soon recovered and quickly joined Qrow once again, and together they were able to make Marcus worried about his chances of winning. Qrow was one thing, him being supported by an Atlesian Specialist with a huge grudge against him was another. He lost the advantage as they worked against him with magnificent teamwork and landed more blows against him while being careful of his hands. He was pushed farther and farther back, all the way until there was nowhere else for him to retreat too. The last car behind him was the one Roman was in driving the train, he had to hold his ground here.

He had no idea what was happening within the train either. A few of the train cars decoupled during the fight and exploded, but somehow he knew that Neo and the team of students were not in any of them. The White Fang were fighting but they were useless dead weight here. Grimm was chasing them down and they were only getting to Vale sooner and sooner with each second that passed.

Looks like I am going to have to resort to Plan C after all… Marcus thought as he went down to one knee and braced himself.

"NO!" Qrow screamed as his train car was decoupled, he tried to run forward but Winter grabbed him and pulled him to the previous car. Marcus covered his eyes and winced as a wave of heat and fire washed over his aura and yet another vast explosion shook the entire tunnel.

Marcus couldn't hang on and was blasted back. His aura flickering as it dealt a massive blow and he slipped off and onto the nose of the train itself. He continued to slip and cursed with wide frantic eyes as he felt himself slipping further and further down the nose of the train. Death by being pulled under a train and destroyed by the metal gears and wheels was not something Marcus wanted on his tombstone. He kept slipping and frantically grabbed at the steel plates to try and pull himself back up, but his fingers wouldn't stick and there was nowhere to die. He shut his eyes as he thought that he was going to die right there by being sucked underneath a train because of an explosion that he caused, but finally, at the last moment, his hands found purchase and wrapped around the hooked part of a cane and tightened his hands like a vice.

He looked up through one cracked open eye and saw Roman and the broken windshield of the train. He held out his cane and Marcus was holding onto it for dear life. Roman grunted as he pulled the man back into the train, straining against the force of the train itself, but the winds that were pushing them back actually became beneficial as the last few feet were covered by Marcus easily pulling himself back into the train with the help of the wind pushing him forward. When he rolled onto the floor of that train car he felt the exhaustion finally get to him. His aura flickered and was about to burst, only a few percent in the single digits remained. But that was all that he needed. He successfully held off Qrow and Winter on his own and the only train car that remained was the one that they were in and the one behind them. The rest of the train was destroyed save for the single train car that the two hunters and their students were now trapped on. They couldn't chase them anymore, they had to stay behind and defend themselves from the swarm of Grimm.

Roman slumped down beside him sighing explosively as their train continued forward. They had about two minutes or less before they would strike the rubble blocking off the tunnel.

"I'm going to have to start charging you for saving your ass," Roman said with a laugh.

"Fuck off, I just fought off two hunters while you sat down here and pushed buttons," Marcus said as he sat up, wiping the sweat off of his forehead and brows and flicking it to the side.

"Hey, because of my immense skill at pushing buttons, we don't have to worry about those hunters anymore." Roman pointed out. "Speaking of them, think they're gonna die out there?"

"Doubtful," Marcus said after a moment of thinking about it. "Qrow and the Schnee are good, and the last time I saw the students were all healthy."

"Heh, too bad most of the White Fang and Bane are dead," Roman laughed. "He was in that car that you blew up you know, I wonder if there's anything left of him."

"Probably not," Marcus shrugged his shoulders, uncaring for the White Fang whatsoever. "My main concern is Neo, will she be able to get out of there?"

"Worried about someone for once?" Roman teased. Marcus glare told him to explain and so he did lest he anger his partner without a need or desire to. "She's probably on her way back to us already, her semblance is pretty handy. Got a whole little pocket dimension she can travel through unhindered. She'll find us."

Marcus nodded his head and dragged himself so that he could rest against the wall of the train car. This was it, it was over. They won again and with any luck, he'd never have to see Qrow again after this. All that was left was finding a good time to ditch the train before it could hit Vale and head back up to the surface while the authorities were too busy dealing with the Grimm. They could all sneak back into society and with any luck, Cinder would get what she wanted. This was it, it would all be over soon.

He never felt more relaxed in his life. Marcus sighed after taking in a long deep breath. After this, all he had to worry about was Anon and his little kill list that he set up for him. It would be easy enough, two of them were likely to get crossed off very soon and the only ones he'd have to worry about next was Emerald and Cinder. He was pretty sure at least, he'd have to remind himself about it later. Right now, he was much too satisfied with himself to care. Another victory to chalk down on his long mental list.

"H-Hey…" Roman almost sounded like he was whimpering. "W-was there always lights at the end of this tunnel?"

Marcus snapped his eyes open and he rushed back up to his feet. He went to the front of the train beside Roman and widened his eyes with shock at what he saw. Blue and white lights shined at them from the end of their tunnel, Atlesian mechs and soldiers formed a blockade, but what worried him the most was that General Ironwood himself was leading this battalion, and there was a ginger-haired girl, the android that Marcus remembered encountering, and she was forming a bright green ball of energy in between her hands. Aiming right at the front of the train with it.

He remembered that attack, it was an energy attack that she tried to use against him when they fought. Only this was much more powerful, it was much more massive and much much larger. It would engulf the entire train.

"Fuck…" Roman summed up their new set of circumstances quite well.

"FIRE!" Ironwood's booming voice echoed throughout the tunnel, and green light reflected off Marcus' eyes as Penny's bright green energy attack got closer and closer to their train car.

The last thing he remembered before it hit was grabbing Roman and throwing him out of the train while he jumped after him. The explosion that followed just a few feet behind his back melted away the rest of his aura. The tunnel began to collapse around them and his vision darkened as he felt rocks and concrete fall all around and on top of him and Roman.

The sounds of Grimm fighting soldiers and getting up into Vale to cause chaos through the holes that were created by the chain reaction of explosions were all that he could hear before his vision went black completely.

And that was that, there is one more chapter before the end of Volume 2 here, but I am pretty satisfied with this chapter. As you know, Neo and JNPR are not main characters in this story, I chose not to write too much in detail of them to save myself some time and stamina. However, the interactions between Marcus Qrow and Winter were all the priorities of this chapter, and then of course, the end of it when Ironwood and Penny made a surprise appearance.

I wonder how much worry I caused all of you guys just now… heh… don't worry, the next chapter is already planned and will soon be written. You'll get to see the aftermath of what just happened pretty soon.

Please review and let me know what you think!

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