[X] Familiarise herself with the layout of the city of Mountain Glenn. Go through the buildings, ignore the Grimm, memorise the routes.
Walking off the ship's ramp, at the border wall of Mountain Glenn, Yang looked around.
The place was certainly busted down. It was in terrible condition, but that was to be expected of a place that had been attacked by Grimm. In fact, it was a miracle the place had held together as well as it had.
...Though if the stories about the fall of Mountain Glenn were true, that would be because the evacuation effort was partially successful, until the stronger Grimm hunted down the escapees.
Okay, those were bad thoughts, she should stop thinking them before she attracted some Grimm.
Two ran down the ramp a second after Yang, and looked around.
"Wow..." She said to herself. "It's like the old village, except bigger. And the fires have stopped. It's really sad."
"I was just thinking that." Yang noted. "Hopefully, I don't end up on the wrong end of a harpoon gun again."
Two frowned as she looked at the crumbling skyscrapers in the distance. "I don't understand. If the Grimm are capable of doing stuff like this, then why do people keep fighting? Why do we have terrorists like the White Fang when the Grimm are still out there?"
"Because there's a status quo." Taiyang replied, as he walked down. "As it stands, the Grimm can't muster up enough forces to destroy the Kingdoms, and the Kingdoms don't want to overreach too soon. Mountain Glenn was a false hope that could have gone much worse than it already did. If we lose too often, humans despair and give up, and then the Grimm win."
"So we can't just fight them..." Two muttered. "But why is there still people who fight other people?"
"A consequence of not fighting Grimm." Taiyang replied. "To some people, the Grimm are a more distant threat, because they status quo hasn't changed. To some people, the status quo isn't good enough. So they fight to try and bring about a world that they want, because the issues they face are more immediate and important to them then some distant boogeyman who cause great disasters every few decades."
There was silence for a moment, as Two looked back over the walls. There were great Grimm wandering around the area, not looking at them. Yang couldn't identify them at that distance, but the fact she could see them over the treetops was somewhat worrying.
"But hey!" Taiyang suddenly spoke up. "Let's not get two depressed here."
"You need more sleep old man." Yang spoke up. "I know you're trying to get rid of this Grimm mood, but the too/two pun is like the most obvious thing you could go for."
Two chuckled. "Hah. Grimm mood. It's a Grim mood, but because the word Grim is derived from the same source as the monsters called Grimm, it's a pun."
"Speaking of which." Cent suddenly called. "Everyone here knows the origin of the word Grim and Grimm, right? It originally referred to two brothers, who were famous for their depressing and murderous stories that their word became synonymous with the mood that too much death and tragedy causes."
"Seems legit." Taiyang nodded.
"Anyway, Port's staying on the ship for now." Cent continued. "He hooked up the computer on the ship with everyone's scrolls, so he's going to do mission support until Five arrives and Two can pout her into submission-"
"Take it seriously!" Two declared. "Yang's sister is in danger and you're making jokes!"
"Sorry." Cent replied. "I just don't see how anyone can resist the cute look you have when you're upset."
Two pouted at that, which of course only proved Cent's points.
"Alright, if you insist, enough jokes." Cent finished. "Anyway, Port's going to keep the computer running properly. As long as we scan the city every once in a while, we should have a somewhat up to date map with notes on where Grimm are and what are good vantage points. Also asked me to hand these out."
Cent reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a bunch of little orbs.
"Scanners." He explained, as he handed them out. "Drop these everywhere, they'll pick up movement. Port can look over the feeds and keep an eye out in case Five's sneakier than we think, and if we lose track of people mid-fight, we can look through them on our scroll to track people down."
"Have we heard from Qrow?" Yang asked her father, a she took some of the orbs off Cent and pocketed them.
"He sent a message just before he boarded Five's ship with Torchiwck and Neo." Taiyang replied. "But he said he wasn't going to send any more unless his cover is blown, in case Five can intercept the messages. He hasn't sent a message, which means he's either fine, or things have gone much worse than expected."
"I just love it when our two options are so very different." Yang noted. "It's just, when there's two wildly different possibilities, no way of telling which is the case, and one is a very bad thing we would want warning on. That's just perfect."
"Ah." Cent noted. "I see that you, too, are a master at the art of Sarcasm. The most deadly of art, one in which one can, at the pinnacle of skill, kill a man with their sharp tongue and razor wit."
Two blinked, looking at him. "You never told me that! I would've asked you to teach me if I knew!"
"...I think he's joking." Yang noted.
"Me?" Cent asked. "Nah, I'm just not there yet. I have yet to replicate the time I was able to insult a man so thoroughly that he manifested burn scars all over his body."
"He's lying." Yang decided. "And I'm leaving. I'll scout out the walls, following... That way?"
She pointed left, and everyone nodded.
"I'll follow the right, then." Taiyang said. "Though, we shouldn't stick too close to the walls. Try building hopping, that should be in the city enough to scan a good distance."
"I'll cover the city centre!" Two declared, waving a hand.
"I want nothing more to be at Two's side." Cent said, and Two went bright red.
There were more footsteps, and everyone turned to see Miltia step off the airship.
"How do you people wake up this early?" She asked, with a yawn.
"Not a morning person?" Yang asked.
"It's morning when the sun comes up." Miltia mumbled.
"Go get some coffee." Taiyang advised. "Peter may ramble on at times, but I'm telling you, you'll never find someone who makes better coffee."
Two turned to Taiyang, her eyes burning with determination at that statement.
Cent sighed. "Looks like my week's going to be looking up different brews of coffee to find what Two can work the best with..."
"Just go already." Miltia complained, as she turned back in to find the promised coffee.
"Let's go." Taiyang said. "The instant you run into trouble or see an airship on it's way, call everyone immediately."
"Before we go." Port's voice suddenly came out from everyone's scrolls. "Let's go over the forces we're likely to face quickly."
"There's Five and her Disciple." Two noted. "Uh, if they're together, they can probably do a thing, so we should probably keep them separated? Like, me and Cent can do the thing too, but it'll tire me out because I haven't practised and it'd be pretty bad if the things happen around people."
"Melanie too." Miltia's voice came over the scrolls, along with a whistling kettle. "She's a melee fighter. Her Semblance is the same as mine, and she doesn't like it being shared around, but I suppose I have to in case she uses it. If she's expecting an attack where the projectile is smaller than her body, she can absorb it, nullify any damage, and use the energy from it to fire a projectile of her Aura back at the source. She keeps it for emergencies so people won't expect it if they're trying to kill her, but, well, Five might have her on orders to use it regardless."
"Ozpin said a few students didn't return to Beacon last night." Professor Port said. "Too many for them all to be connected to Five, but he doesn't know how many are related, so be prepared for some students being out there. If you can identify them, I can give you a report on their abilities."
"And then there might be some common mooks." Cent noted. "Some people who didn't get a real Beacon-level education apparently? Dropouts and people who weren't good enough to get in, at most. They should be easy to deal with, if they're around."
"Everyone got that?" Taiyang asked.
"Got it." Yang said, and everyone else echoed a moment after that.
"Then let's go." Taiyang said. "Be careful, everyone."
Yang nodded, then started running.
Heading off, Yang ran straight to the closest building, leaped through a broken window, and started running up the stairs to get to the roo-
Nevermind, the stairs only went up a floor and then there was a huge hole in the wall and most of the above floor was gone too.
Well, plan B, then.
Leaping out the hole, Yang blasted Ember Celica downwards to hit the wall of the next building, and started running up it. Whenever she stumbled or lost momentum, she fired again, boosting herself upwards and getting to the roof before long.
Pausing for a moment, Yang pulled out her scroll and scanned the area. It beeped after a moment, and Yang took a moment to pull out one of the spherical scanners, and threw it as hard as she could towards the middle of the city.
It sailed over the roof of another building, and Yang nodded as it went out of her line of sight.
Setting off on a run, Yang explored the city.
It went by for some time. Yang had to take a detour to avoid a group of Grimm including what looked like a small Nevermore resting on the back of a large Beowolf.
It would actually be cute, if they weren't murderous beasts intent to destroy all humanity. There was probably a disturbingly high chance that the positioning of the Nevermore was designed to make people hesitate at the oddity or cuteness, giving the Grimm time to get the first hit.
Looking around Mountain Glenn was a rather chilling experience. In places, it looked like buildings had been devastated by Grimm, or in conflicts with people. In these places, it wasn't out of place to see a vaguely red stain covering the floors or walls, or a scrap of torn, rotting cloth. Even the occasional bone fragment that was barely identifiable as a bone.
In other places, however, it seemed remarkably well put together. It was easy to tell when Yang had gotten to the parts that had evacuated early. It was the places where she could look in through a window and see plates set out on the table, with some half-eaten, rotting food. Places that almost looked untouched, where Yang could buy that people had lived their daily lives, until something horrible happened and their daily routine was interrupted.
Yang didn't want to think about how many people had died in Mountain Glenn, when the Grimm had invaded. It was at least big enough to be comparable to the capital of most Kingdoms, but that varied between the Kingdoms too. She didn't want to think about how crushing it must have been to people, that the first major settlement outside the Kingdoms, the first major one where there was hope of pushing the Grimm back, was crushed at this scale.
As she approached the north of the city, Yang noted that the buildings were getting smaller, so before long, she jumped to the ground and wandered the streets.
This seemed like a residential area, more than anything. Yang looked around, scanning the area with her phone, and paused momentarily as she saw the giant hole in the wall.
...Best not to pay attention here. If the Grimm got into Mountain Glenn near a residential area, then chances were there was going to be some hard sights. She shouldn't look too closely, this was the kind of set up in movies where the rookie Hunter wanders around, notices a body crushed in rubble near a child's doll and gets a harsh reminder that there was more at stake than their own reputation. Or something like that.
Besides, she didn't want to attract any Grimm right now with negativity. She needed to focus on Ruby. Five would be here any moment no-
There was a beep on her scroll, and Yang opened it up.
"I see something!" Two declared over the screen. She quickly repositioned her scroll, pointing the camera at the sky.
In the distance, there was a small blip.
"Uh, how do I zoom in?" Two asked.
Port's voice spoke over the scroll. "Press the blue button, and hold down the same coloured button on the scanner and hold it in the sky."
"Thank you!"
A moment passed, before the camera changed positions. Then, a slightly higher angle zoomed in.
"That's definitely an airship." Taiyang said. "A bit hard to pick it out, but that's an airship. Anyone find anything of note to keep an eye on?"
"There was a gathering of Grimm in the city that I passed." Yang noted. "If Five wants this city as a kind of base, she'll need to clear the city, so someone might engage them, and someone could find one of her fighters by watching them."
"I fell in a hole." Cent said. "It's, uh, a big hole. Five might investigate it. I totally planned to fall down it. To, uh, lay a trap. Ignore that I can't find the way out."
There was a pause.
"Hey, is that a train?"
"I'm watching the scanners." Miltia said. "The instant I find Melanie, I'm going to her. If anyone wants to lend a hand, that's fine, but I'm going to go see my sister."
"I'll wait until the airship lands." Peter Port said. "If it comes too close to our airship, I'll fly it away so it cannot be damaged in a fight. Once I know it's safe, I'll step out to lend a hand. If I see any of the missing students, I'll take responsibility."
"Two, you were going to fight Five, right?" Taiyang asked. "I'll try and find Dito then, keep him busy so he can't help Five. Yang, what about you?"
[X] "I'm making sure Ruby gets out alright before anything. Getting to the airship, even if it's guarded. Qrow's there, but I want to be there as well."
[X] "Miltia, tell me when you're heading to Melanie, I'll lend you a hand. I'll just fight whoever I encounter until then."
[X] "Someone should probably help Cent. If nobody else is, I will, I suppose. Where's this hole you got stuck in?"
[X] "I want to punch Five in the face. Two, please let me punch your sister in the face. It'll make me feel a lot better."