Just so people know who hadn't heard, my car was luckily able to be fixed without having to buy an entirely new wheel. This was a major relief.

Beta: College Fool

Cover Art: Kegi Springfield

Chapter 87

Weiss was not a diplomat, though she certainly felt like one lately. There was no one to blame for that. Out of everyone in their group, she was the one best suited to talking with people, being both polite, focused and practiced enough to get what she wanted. It should have been something to be proud of, but when your competition was basically Ruby – social anxiety – Rose, Pyrrha – never had a friend in my life – Nikos and Jaune – not even a human – Arc, it didn't really mean much.

Team RYBN were no better, with Nora and Yang being the only ones not anti-social and both being insane in one way or another. Ilia was Ilia, Sun was Sun, and Emerald was… okay, really. But she deferred to Weiss in most things, so it didn't really make a difference.

Always me, Weiss thought, walking quickly through the halls of Salem's tower. This'll show me for wanting a more adventurous life than that of an heiress. She might have considered that more were it not for the huge battleship approaching with its cargo of attack Bullheads, giant canons and no doubt monstrous robots. Things such as that tended to put a spring in one's step.

"You've spent time with Salem even if only as a prisoner," Weiss said to Pyrrha. "What is she like…?"

"Oh, um. Well, imagine the most evil and terrifying person you can. An inhuman monster who cares for nothing but herself and her goals. Think of that image, and now give her a mighty army of Grimm."

Weiss grimaced. "I have it."

"And now imagine she got hitched – fell in love with sex, had a bunch of kids, suddenly found herself surrounded by affection, had no idea what to do and basically turned into a stay-at-home mom. Think of that image, and now give her the mighty army of Grimm again."

"I've lost the image."

"Yeah," Pyrrha sighed. "Me too…"

"Any advice for speaking to her."

"Don't accept any drinks, don't ask about her children and don't let her bring out the photo albums. You'll be trapped for weeks."

"Not for nothing," Sun piped up. "But weren't you a prisoner…?"

Pyrrha's face turned red. "I'd rather not talk about it…"

It didn't give much for Weiss to work on. It would have to be enough. Weiss strode towards the doors with the others behind. Making a good entrance was important, especially to capture their urgency. Go in hard, fast, and put the enemy on the back foot. Don't let them catch her off-guard no matter what they said or did. Weiss' palms slammed into the wooden doors and she pushed with all her might.

"Salem Arc," Weiss intoned. "My name is Weiss Schnee and I-" Weiss froze.

She had not been ready.

Salem was there, white face, red eyes and veins across her face. She was not so unlike Jaune in appearance – in his transformed state, obviously. It was not her appearance which shocked Weiss, however. It wasn't Ruby, either. Her teammate was stood off to the side, looking a little awkward and out of place. Jaune and Yang were safe, too. Everyone was.

Weiss coughed. "Ahem."

She went unheard. Salem had Yang and Jaune in her grasp, both pulled into her chest so hard their cheeks were pushed together, both buried in the monster's not-so-inconsiderable cleavage. That might have been awkward enough, had it not been for the fact that Salem had a hold of Yang's arm, having dragged it up t her face. She was nuzzling her own into the palm of Yang's hand, crooning into Yang's fingers.

"What the fuck did we just walk into?" Sun asked.

Yes, Weiss thought. Sun, for all his faults, had a very good way of summarising the current situation.

"There's the image again," Pyrrha sighed.

"Image? Oh, right." Weiss coughed and, realising that the battleship wasn't going to wait for man, woman, Grimm or moment of insanity, stepped forward again. "Excuse me, Salem? Queen of Darkness?" Nothing. Weiss sighed and looked to Ruby. "How long has this been going on for?"

"Last few minutes," her teammate replied. "It's really awkward."

Weiss sighed again and strode past Ruby. She reached the hugging threesome, ignored it, approached the dining table and leaned over Mr Branwen's shoulder. "Excuse me," she said, taking the crystal goblet from his hand. She took a stip. "Hm. Shiraz." And then held it out and dropped it on the floor.

The sound of it shattering pierced through the room. Salem flinched, and although she did not release Yang or Jaune, she did glare at Weiss through Yang's fingers.

"I hope you know you will be paying for that."

"I'll buy you a whole new set."

"I was not referring to finances."

Yep. Torture, death and the other things. Weiss wasn't sure if she felt particularly reckless today or not, but it was kind of hard to take the woman before her seriously. Maybe when she wasn't acting like a cat who had discovered that Yang's hand was made of catnip.

"You won't get the chance if you don't listen to us. An Atlas battleship is on its way here right now."

Salem's eyes widened. "What!?" She dropped Yang and Jaune, both of which slumped into a pile at her feet. The Queen of the Grimm closed her eyes, seemingly concentrating. They snapped open a second later and she snarled. Was she seeing through the eyes of the Grimm? This must have been why Jaune was so incessant on them having Qrow as a distraction.

"It's coming this way," Weiss said, "And unless there is some other potential target out here, I think it's coming for you."

"Foolishness. Atlas cannot hope to best me."

Blake groaned. "Is this the time to be arrogant?"

"Watch your tongue, girl," Salem sniped. "You are not pregnant with my son's children, or at least not by the look of you, so you're not nearly invulnerable enough to mouth off like that. There is no arrogance in my claim. I am Salem, Queen of the Grimm. My forces have brought all of the Kingdoms in Remnant to their knees and have kept it that way for hundreds of years." It was no false claim. "So, ask yourself, with that in mind, what can a single battleship hope to do against me?"

"Shoot you in the face?" Sun offered.

Salem rolled her eyes. "I would bid you try it, but then I'd have to kill you. Do you not think that if high explosives could kill me, I would have died decades ago? Ozpin has been seeking my demise for well over a thousand years. He's a fool, but not that much of an idiot. He's tried bombs on me before, believe me."

"He has?" Blake asked.

"Ozpin and I are ancient enemies. He cannot be killed, at least by conventional means, for his mind will inevitably find another host. Though he doesn't do it so much nowadays, he used to hunt me down personally." The way Salem said it, and the way she lazily waved a hand, seemed like she was talking more about the weather than an attempt on her life. "He would train himself up, gather allies and storm my tower like the protagonist in some silly tale. Each time, he would die. He and his friends. Toward the end, he became more and more desperate. I didn't expect him to blow himself up the last time I faced him in person, but I suppose he was trying new ideas."

Ozpin killing himself to try and take down Salem. Weiss had never thought of it, though she supposed if you were essentially immortal as he was, then physical bodies didn't really mean all that much. To him, anyway. She dreaded to imagine what the body's original host would think.

"He does not do that much anymore. Nowadays, he likes to work behind the scenes. I suppose he learned that he could not face me alone. Or he got bored of dying all the time," she said, shrugging one shoulder. "Either way, this battleship is no danger to me. I'm not sure whether to laugh at the suggestion or feel offended."

Weiss wasn't sure what to think, either. The way Salem said it made it sound like she wasn't boasting, just stating facts, and she did have a point. If one battleship could harm her, then Ironwood would have become the saviour of Remnant years ago. No. Salem could summon and control the Grimm. This was the Grimmlands. The chances of that ship managing to kill her was practically null and void.

But then, Ozpin knew that – as did Ironwood – which meant there had to be something more to this, something they were missing.

"Even if they can't kill you, they can bring the tower down on us," Ren said. "It might not kill you, but the rest of us wouldn't be so lucky. And considering that Yin only survives so long as Yang does…"

"Yes, yes, you can save yourself the effort of logic," Salem said dismissively. "I'm neither so stupid as to not realise that, nor blind as to not see it. A man such as you should not think to-"

"Lavender likes Ren," Ruby piped up.

"-call me anything but `mother`," Salem amended. "Inquisitive minds should be rewarded, after all. And you have such pretty eyes and delicate features. I'm sure they will do well in the family. Ah, children grow up so fast."

"E-Excuse me?" Ren asked, surprised.

"Excuse me?" Nora demanded, less-surprised.

Thankfully, Salem ignored them both. "My Grimm have already engaged the fools who dare to encroach on my Kingdom. I would suggest you leave the tower and stay away from the fighting. It will be safer for you." Salem stepped away from Yang and Jaune, who were rousing themselves on the floor. "Excuse me, I need to liaise with Watts. A pleasure to meet more of my little Grimmling's friends."

Salem hurried over to the doors and away, leaving them alone. The moment she was gone, Qrow slumped onto the table and let out a huge breath. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you. Any longer and I was afraid she'd want Coral and I to start banging on the table while she watched and offered pointers."

"That would have been a little embarrassing, even for me," Coral said, almost surprised to find that the thought of anything embarrassed her. Weiss refrained from pointing out that they hadn't come here to help either of them, and simply accepted their thanks with a nod. She helped Jaune and Yang to their feet.

"You heard, I take it?"

"Atlas on the way," Jaune said. "But why?"

"Was what your mother said right? About them not having a chance against her…?"

"Yeah. I mean, they could probably kill me or any of my sisters, but not even the full Atlas Armada could technically kill her. Don't you think they would have tried that already if they could?"

Perhaps, though from what they knew from Ozpin, he and Ironwood had kept Salem's existence from the public, so that shouldn't have been an issue. What had changed? Why send people now? It would require letting people know about Salem.

And what did they hope to achieve with this?

Weiss had a feeling they'd soon find out.

/-/

The Atlas battleship rocked in the air as Nevermore buffeted it from every side, some raking claws along its hull, more aiming for the windows, and some feeding themselves into every opening they could find, no matter what it meant for their lives. They threw themselves into the engine vents and turbines, being torn up or incinerated in seconds. Others fell to gunfire that raked out from the side or were blown apart in great globs by the cannons.

Through it all, the Battleship continued. Not silent, but devoid of reaction. It made no effort to evade or outrun the Grimm, nor did it change its trajectory. Its current path would take it past the tower, placing the spire of black rock on its starboard side. As it drew close, a large shadow detached itself from the tower and beat its mighty wings. It spiralled up into the air, seeking a position to dive down on the ship.

The battleship ignored it entirely. As it came up alongside the tower, the ships engines fired in reverse, blasting gouts of hot air and fire forwards instead of behind, bringing it to a halt. Or as close a halt as it could have. A slow drift. On the sides of it, great doors opened, pooling out and up as the hangers were exposed. Grimm poured in, but there were no screams, no panic and no blood.

Only rows upon rows of white, metallic faces, each of which started to move forward, stepping out of the Battleship and free-falling through the air.

As they did, the great canons opened fire.

/-/

Jaune had to reach out and catch himself on the corridor wall as the tower shook. The others were no better, some falling and the rest unsteady on their feet. The salvo lasted only a few seconds, but crumbling rock could be heard in the distance.

"They're not wasting any time!" Sun yelled over the noise. "What the hell?"

"Why would they waste time? They want to bring this place to the ground," Ilia said.

"And do what, piss Salem off? If they can't kill her, all this is gonna do is make her angry enough to hit back. And she can hit back a damn sight harder than Atlas can."

He wasn't wrong. Jaune cursed, already feeling the chances of peace between humans and Grimm slipping away. Sure, Ironwood didn't know he was interfering, but he had to know this was a bad idea. Another salvo struck the tower – though this one was followed by an ear-splitting roar from outside.

"Looks like Kevin is pissed," Jaune quipped.

"Judging by the sheer size of him, he should be able to deal with that thing on his own," Blake said. "Assuming they don't catch him with the canons. Even if they did, I'm not sure how effective it would be. This attack is going as badly for them as Salem said it would."

That didn't stop the canons, though. Another salvo hit the tower, and this time closer to their position. Jaune tackled Yang to the floor, but he needn't have. The explosion was two floors up and the roof held.

Yang pushed him off her with a sigh, "I'm fine. I'd also be fine if the roof collapsed; I'm a huntress." She looked to the others. "We need to get out of here. Salem may think it's fine for us to stay in where it's safe, but Atlas isn't pulling any punches here."

"You think it'll be safe outside?" Coral asked.

"It should be." Qrow had been able to stay on his feet. He fingered his weapon nervously, eyes scanning around him. "They're going to be so focused on the tower, they won't notice us leave. I'm not saying to run away," he added quickly. "Not like we can go anywhere on foot. But we'd be safer stood on the outskirts until this is over. Who knows how much of this place they'll bring down. And this is nothing if Ironwood decides to ram the thing into the tower."

"He wouldn't," Weiss said. "It would kill him."

"Yeah, and going solo against Salem won't?"

Jaune was forced to admit Qrow had a point. This was already a suicide mission from Atlas' point of view. Going out with a final hurrah would just ensure their deaths were quicker, and not by the Grimm. "I think we should keep moving."

"Couldn't have said it better myself, kid. Are any of your other family members here?"

"Not that I know of. I've only been here as long as you have. Pyrrha?"

"They're not," Pyrrha said. Jaune let out a breath of relief. "I heard Watts mention that Lavender came back, but she left again – apparently to spend time with an Uncle. Hazel, I think. I heard that two of your sisters – a pair of twins – were out learning to fight with your father."

Huh. So, Jade and Hazel – female Hazel – were learning the sword? Lucky. Well, anything was lucky compared to their current situation. "Then it's just us. That's fine. Watts will get out if he needs to and Mom can-"

The wall beside them erupted inwards. There was a momentary flash – the only warning they got, and enough for Jaune to push his aura out of his body, before the force hit and hurled him back. He slammed into an opposite wall. The others were no more fortunate.

"Jaune!"

"I-I'm okay," he rasped, both for Remy's sake and everyone else. "Shit, that was close. Guys, are-"

"Alive," Weiss reported. She stood and dusted herself down. "I don't think anyone was hit by it, just the shockwave and-" She cut off, looking to the opening created in the side of the tower. "Well, we have our way out."

"Uh. You mean Qrow has a way out, seeing as he can fly," Ruby said, peeking out over the long drop. "I don't fancy our chances jumping down there."

"It'll be just like initiation," Nora quipped.

"With no trees to break our fall, just jagged terrain and large, spiky masses of crystalline dust? Yeah, just like Beacon…"

"I don't mean we should jump. We have Coral and Jaune with us. Ruby said you summoned Nevermore to take her to Beacon when Amity was attacked. Can't you do that here?"

"The Nevermore were technically already in Amity. I can't make that many on my own. But," he quickly said when Weiss looked cross, "I think I could make a couple of medium-sized Nevermore. They'd be enough to get us down safe."

"I, too," Coral said. She brought her hand to her mouth and bit down viciously, drawing blood. Jaune winced, not nearly brave enough to do that. He drew Crocea Mors and ran his palm along the edge instead. The cut was cleaner, if no less painful. All the teaching at Beacon instilled in a person a strong desire to use aura to prevent wounds, so letting something like this happen wasn't easy.

Between them, they were able to summon four Nevermore. Not giant ones. They wouldn't be flying anyone back to Vale, but they could probably support the weight of their group between them and glide down safely. They just wouldn't be strong enough to generate any lift. The exertion drained him a little, but he was able to stay standing.

"Alright. These four can get us down. Qrow can fly on his own, saving us a little weight. Everyone else-"

"Incoming!" Pyrrha cried out.

It was Yang's turn to save him this time. She gripped his shoulder and tossed him back a second before several blurs struck the opening in the tower's wall. They didn't detonate like missiles, but instead pushed themselves up with a near-silent whirr. Four humanoid shapes. Their faces were covered by white plates, as was the rest of their bodies. They were armed and quickly brought their guns up.

"Cover the Nevermore!" Blake yelled. She darted forward and snap-kicked the gun of the lead one, forcing it up. It fired anyway, raking the ceiling. Sun was behind her, cursing but using his staff to divert the barrel of another just a little bit. A Nevermore was clipped in the wing and squawked angrily, but it was still alive.

"Get back!" Jaune commanded, both out loud and in his mind. The Nevermore reacted instantly, pulling in their wings and waddling back into the hall, further away from the fighting. They'd need those in one piece to get out. To the aggressors, Jaune held out a hand. "Stop! We're not Grimm. Don't shoot!"

To his shock, they didn't stop firing. The one Blake was fighting tried to bring its gun down onto her, and only failed because she sheared its wrist off. Jaune cried out, but there was no blood. Only sparks.

"They're not human," Weiss yelled, plunging her rapier into the back of one. It sparked and twitched before her. "Atlas' newest toys, the Knight-200 series, they're just robots."

Just robots they may have been, but more had landed in the moment's distraction. Six more. Jaune brought his shield up as one opened fire on him. The shots pinged off the front of it, but the force threatened to knock him off his feet. Stamping a foot down, he pushed off and forward, rammed the shield into the thing's body and back.

It tried to bring out a blade that it had attached to its arm but failed to notice what was behind it. The robot collided with another, and as Jaune gave one final heave, they fell out of the opening and down the tower. One to his right went down as Yang caved its head in with a single blow. Her other arm, Yin, lashed out with a large, cleaver-like shape, cutting one of the Knights from its shoulder to its groin. It sparked and fell to the side, but fortunately did not explode.

Jaune looked out the hole and gasped. It… It was raining. Raining white.

"There has to be hundreds of them!"

"An assault," Weiss realised. "They're not trying to bring the tower down at all. They want to assault it. I'm still not sure that'll do anything against Salem, but it's possible that battleship doesn't have a single person on board."

"It's all AI?" Emerald asked, cutting a Knight down herself.

"Not all of it. The unit controlling the Knights must be in there, but it would be following a strict code put in place by Atlas. Its orders and directives. The ship itself might be on some kind of auto-pilot, remote-controlled, or maybe just pre-programmed to fly to a specific point and unload. It would explain why it's not trying to fight back against Kevin." True to Weiss' words, Kevin had landed atop the battleship, his wings wrapped around its side. He was busy tearing into it from above with his jaws, but the cannons didn't so much as try to dislodge him.

"That's nice an' all," Sun yelled, still fighting. "But why are they attacking us!?"

"Because we hit them first?" Ruby suggested. "They did go for the Grimm."

Weiss seemed to think the idea had merit and stepped forward. She didn't sheathe her blade but held it at her side and extended a hand, palm up. "Peace! I am Weiss Schnee, heiress of-"

Jaune had to tackle her out the way as one shot at her. "I don't think they care!"

Ruby sheared the thing's body off its legs, unimpressed with it trying to kill her teammate. She cartwheeled into another, Crescent Rose spinning wildly. More and more Knights were landing, as they were all over the tower.

He didn't think they'd do anything against his mom either way. Their guns couldn't be any more devastating than explosives, and she'd pull them apart if they tried to get into melee and stab her. Jaune continued to pull Weiss back, though the proud heiress soon fought her way out of his grip.

"I'm fine, let go."

"I don't think we can reason with them."

"That doesn't make any sense. One of the biggest impediments to this being rolled out was people being afraid of rogue AI attacking humans. They were coded to only ever use none-lethal force, not to mention to recognise when someone tries to surrender. And to recognise key people."

"I thought you said they'd be following strict orders from Atlas?"

"I did, and that means someone overrode the normal routines for these."

"So, this isn't Atlas?"

"No, it is. No one could sneak in and steal a Battleship. Not and fly it out. It would be an international disaster. Ironwood would sooner shoot it down himself than let it escape. No, this was sent by Atlas. It's just that they – Ironwood or someone else – gave it orders to attack anyone here, and to ignore all previous safety protocols."

"Wouldn't that make sense? They're attacking a place where they don't believe there are any humans."

"In that case, they wouldn't have needed to override the systems at all. They can already identify and fire on Grimm, and no offence, Jaune, but your mother hardly looks like a normal human. There's no point to disabling their ability to differentiate and spare normal people. Unless… unless…"

"Unless what?"

Weiss grimaced. "Unless that's the point of doing it…"

"Weiss?"

"They might very well have disabled it because they are here to kill us. Not Salem."

"What? Why?"

"To keep the truth about Salem hidden? To prevent us speaking out against Ironwood and Ozpin? Maybe just because they think we're traitors. I don't know. But the only reason to change the systems to make it so they don't recognise humans as friendly would be because they're afraid you might confuse them by using your human form. And the only reason I, a well-known figure from Atlas, can't peacefully surrender, is because I've been removed from the database."

Put like that, it didn't look good. It couldn't be an accident that more and more of them were streaming through the hole, either. Or that the canons had stopped firing. The Knights must have been communicating with one another somehow. They'd found their targets and now wanted to swamp the area in bodies. Maybe they wanted to hold off the bombardment because there was a chance they could survive that.

Atlas wanted confirmation that they were all dead.

"Get back inside!" Jaune yelled to the others. "The plan is shot. Nevermore, attack!"

The Grimm instantly reacted and flapped their wings wildly, pushing themselves into Knights which tore into them with their bladed arms. The Grimm cared not and continued to push them back, bodily knocking some out of the hole and causing others trying to land to have no room, slip and tumble down. The reprieve was a temporary one, but enough for Jaune to reach the others.

"Weiss thinks they're here to kill us. We need to get back inside now. As deep as we can! There's no time to explain," he said when Pyrrha looked ready to. "Move!"

They caught his urgency, if not his reasons. The gunfire from behind told them the Nevermore wouldn't last, but they sprinted down the corridor nonetheless. Kevin would deal with the Battleship eventually, and when it fell the AI-System would fall with it. Hopefully. Even if it didn't, the Grimm had the numbers and would eventually win out.

He'd barely made it a hundred metres before canon-fire struck the building again, and close to their position.

"They're tracking us!"

"They really are after us!"

"Keep moving!" Jaune barked. "If we get deeper inside they'll have to dig through more to reach us."

The staircase was out. If that was hit, the whole thing could come crashing down on top of them and Jaune wasn't sure how bad the other floors were. The Battleship had to be using guesswork to track them, though. He doubted it could sense their presences through heat with a dragon breathing down on it. If they could just lose it in the twists and turns, they'd be okay.

The cannon-fire opened again, and this time seemed to be raking the wall beside them on a wider area. It was no longer certain where they were and was blanketing the area. The Knights, being too slow to run after them, had been left behind.

A sudden roar filled the corridor ahead as a gout of fire rushed in, cutting them off. Whether it was a sudden salvo, heavier payload or just too much for the wall was unknown, but the battleship had cut through again.

They were all thrown to the floor by the explosion this time. Dust and heat swirled around Jaune's face as he coughed and pushed himself up. There was a fire by his ear. He staggered away and looked to the result of the latest hit.

"Oh Gods!" Ruby called from the other side of the rubble. "You guys okay!?"

"Y-Yeah." Jaune looked around nervously and counted the groaning bodies. "We're missing Yang and Emerald!"

"They're on this side."

Jaune sagged, letting out a quick breath. None of them had been buried, then. "Are they in one piece?"

"Y-Yeah," Yang replied, coughing. "We're good."

Good, but cut off. The wall had collapsed inward, creating a barrier that reached from the floor to the ceiling. Jaune was fairly sure he could move it given time, but the Knights were coming up behind them – and since the canons had stopped again, more Knights must have been coming for this hole, too.

"Heads up," Blake called. "We've got company."

"Damn it." Jaune glanced back. "Can you guys hold them off while I try and make an opening? It's that or fight our way back through them all."

"We don't have much choice, do we? Nora can help."

"I sure can!" Nora cheered, bringing her grenade launcher forward. For a horrifying moment, he thought she might open fire, but Nora opened it up and revealed the individual charges in their chambers. She pulled one out and mimed a toss to him.

"Will these be enough?"

"On their own, probably not. But it should shift a lot if we set them all off together. We can move the rest, or just crawl what's left." Nora slipped in beside him as the others engaged the Knights. "Stack them at the base. We'll detonate from a distance."

"You're the expert." He wasn't sure he'd ever thought to say that about Nora. "Ruby, get yourself and the others back."

"Okay."

Jaune helped provide the grenades as Nora stacked them, tipping them over so that the fronts were facing toward the wreckage, but also pointed to the hole in the wall. Most of it was blocked off, but the other side was open. Jaune assumed there was a reason she laid them like that but didn't comment. She knew more about the things than he did. Meanwhile, the others held off the Knights. It might have been worse if their group had been more evenly split, but there were seven of them back there. They'd be fine.

"That should do it," Nora said. "Now we just need to back up and set them off."

Nora used one final grenade for the task, slotting it into her launcher and pointing it at the mass. "Everyone back!" she yelled, just in case Ruby hadn't taken the earlier warning. She fired a second later and struck the small stack of grenades perfectly.

The explosion was… less and more than what he'd expected. It was big and loud, but nowhere near the size of the explosions being fired from the battleship, which probably made sense. It was awfully pink, however.

Either way, it did the job. Sort of. A good portion – about half – of the wreckage had been cleared away. What remained was loose and Jaune surged forward, grappling with it and pushing what he could out the hole. "Ruby, are you guys okay!?"

"Yeah. We were far enough-" Ruby cut off as a burst of gunfire echoed through their hall.

"RUBY!" Damn it. More Knights must have come from the other direction. Jaune scrabbled harder. "Nora, help me move this! They're under attack."

Nora didn't say a word and leapt up. Between them, they started to push and kick rock away, trying to form a tunnel through the loose rubble from which they could crawl through to reach the other side, where he could hear Yang, Ruby and Emerald fighting. Come on, come on, get through. Some more rock ahead fell when he pushed it, finally granting a view through to the other side. Not much of one, but enough to see smoke, tracer fire and an opened wall further down. The battleship had blasted another way inside.

"It's going down!" Weiss suddenly yelled. "The Battleship is falling!"

"About time…" Jaune grumbled.

"It's- Oh Gods. Hit the deck! Get down!"

"What?" Jaune had a brief moment to share a panicked look with Nora, both of them stuck in the tunnel, when the world suddenly shifted. The battleship had indeed come down, but whether by accident or design, it crashed into the side of the tower, raking its prow through the walls above them. If it were their own, they'd have surely died, but even so, the sheer force of the impact shook the building. Jaune covered his head with both hands as the tunnel collapsed on top of them, rocks pelting off his head, smashing against his aura.

"N-Nora!"

"I'm-"

An explosion rocked the tower. Somewhere on the ship, something had exploded. It quickly set off a chain reaction, causing a second and then a third – the final one so close to their position that they were blanketed in heat and thrown to the floor. Those that could be, anyway. Jaunt's head cracked against the back of the tunnel and he slumped, not unconscious but dazed, perhaps even concussed.

Sound became muted. His vision blurred. He could hear… something, both behind and ahead. His body felt like it belonged to someone else, but he had the sense of mind to realise he wasn't dead. Just stunned. He forced his eyes open and was finally able to see through the path ahead.

Ruby was down, as was Emerald. By the blast or the Knights, Jaune had no idea. Only Yang was left, and she was covered in soot, ash and grime. Her face was twisted into a feral snarl due to the pain and her eyes glowed red. Yin was doing most of the work, scything through Knights that came too close. She was being overwhelmed.

"Y-Yang…"

He tried to move. His body wouldn't. Or couldn't. His legs were pinned. He strained anyway, until feeling came back – agony coursing up his legs. Yang was holding, but she wasn't winning. It was a never-ending stream of the Knights, or so it seemed. He saw one appear at the back with a gun larger than the others. He tried to shout out a warning.

It was a grenade launcher – though one unlike Nora's. He saw the canister fly and tinkle across the floor to rest at Yang's feet. She didn't notice, too distracted fending off three Knights currently fighting her. The canister opened, and gas poured out, filling the corridor.

"Yang!"

The gas poured out the open hole in the wall, but even as it did more were launched, a second a third, until Yang was completely covered in the stuff. She tried to break free, but the robotic bodies pressed her in.

Jaune watched as she staggered, fell to her knees, and then was knocked unconscious, the butt of a rifle driven into the back of her skull. Even had she the aura to defend against it, she couldn't protect herself against the gas.

"Yang," Jaune snarled, voice different. His eyes flashed red in an instant and his skin ashen. His hair lengthened, turned white. Tentacles didn't so much sprout as shoot from his body, spearing into the rock surrounding him. They tried to drag him forward. His legs screamed in agony.

"Jaune!" Remy warned. "You'll tear yourself in two!"

"Y-Yang!"

The Knights approached her body. They didn't shoot. Some looked in his direction and Jaune snarled back, pushing his aura to the fore in case of a hail of bullets. To his surprise, they didn't take the opportunity. Instead, four of them knelt around Yang and reached for her body. Between them, they lifted her up.

A vehicle appeared outside the ruined wall. It was a Bullhead, though one more aerodynamic than he was used to. It was marked with Atlas' symbol. Vision swirling, Jaune watched as the side opened up and the Knights carried Yang on board. They ignored Ruby and Emerald, both down and out. They even ignored him as he tried to drag himself out to fight them, no matter what it cost.

"Don't you dare take her," Jaune whispered. "I'll find you. I'll come for her."

One of the Knights turned as if it had heard him. Its blank face regarded him for a moment, before it turned with a mechanical movement and stepped up onto the Bullhead. The door closed, locking Yang inside.

The last thing Jaune saw before darkness claimed him was it speeding away.

Well, something happened. Yeah, it was supposed to seem a little "odd" that a single battleship would think it had the means to assault Salem. But to take a prisoner? Well, a little easier. Not to say that Yang was the primary target or not; that will be delved into next chapter. But Ozpin may not have taken the loss of his assets as well as expected.

Why did this all happen? It seems so crazy!

You'll find out next chapter.

Next Chapter: 18th October

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