Author's Notes: Hey guys! We're getting closer to the end of the 'Volume 2' arc, Enjoy!

What It Takes

Chapter 24: Clash Before the Storm

"Say that again?"

Team Sunrise and Professor Caerul were in Enero's living room when Namra spoke up about what she felt at the dustworks. She trembled slightly, her face devoid of color, still trying to comprehend the situation.

"Behind the door on the fifth floor," Namra repeated to the group, "I felt the presence of...an old friend."

She had trouble saying the last part, as if it disgusted her.

"Your friend works at Albin Dustworks?" Sylvia questioned.

"No," Namra answered, still shaking where she stood, "but if he's there, then that means this city is in danger."

"Why's that?" Professor Caerul inquired, "What can one person do?"

"It's not what he can do," Namra replied, "It's what his employer can do. My friend works for a powerful and dangerous man, who controlled most of my home town. He also turned my friend into a monster."

Old memories resurfaced into Namra's consciousness, shoot outs, dark alleyways, and burning buildings.

"We need to get into Albin Dustworks," Namra concluded, trying to suppress those memories, "If my friend Nuri is here, then Cole is also here and probably pulling the strings."

"Cole?" Sylvia asked sharply, her eyes darkening.

"Yea, Cole Axenus," Namra responded, "That's who Nuri's employer is."

Silence followed this as Re and Sylvia looked at each other, anger suddenly evident on their faces.

"I know that name," Enero spoke suddenly, "Brilliant huntsman, that is, until the incident with Mr. Jade."

"Who?" Wai probed.

"Mr. Jade," Enero repeated, "Wanted criminal of the likes no one had seen before. Killed Cole's wife, Cole wanted revenge. When Mr. Jade was only imprisoned, Cole went rogue and fell off the grid. Next thing we know, his former partner was killed."

"Yea," Sylvia said through gritted teeth, "He killed her."

Enero nodded, "Your mother."

Sylvia stood shocked.

"Our mother," Re spoke up on Sylvia's behalf, "But how did you know?"

Enero shrugged, "The resemblance is uncanny, figured you were related somehow."

"Seems like he's been busy despite being off the grid," Professor Caerul pointed out, "Well we should head back and report this."

"What?" Sylvia found her voice, "We can't, if we leave now they're just going to cover it all up."

"They won't have enough time," Professor Caerul stated, "We only asked about Project Indigo, as far as they know, we know nothing else."

"That's not true," Re declared, "We met Cole last semester, our dad told us about him. If Doctor Albin is working for Cole, he'll know who we are."

"Wait, the man in the bowler hat was Cole?"

"Yes Wai," Sylvia nodded, "My dad told me he's planning something, he wanted to destroy those who didn't share his belief or something."

"Well if that's the case," Professor Caerul continued, "We definitely need to report this to the other hunters."

"There's not enough time," Sylvia protested angrily, "We need to go now if we are going to stop them."

"We don't have enough people here," Professor Caerul argued, "And I'm not putting you kids in that kind of danger."

"We can handle it," Namra chimed in, "We've fought them before, and I know Nuri's fighting style."

"Maybe," said Professor Caerul, "but that also means you know Nuri well, because he was your friend. And you two had your mother stripped from your lives due to Cole, meaning all three of you are too close to this."

"That just means we're gonna take this more seriously," Re pointed out.

"It also means your emotions are clouding your judgement."

"I agree with my team," Wai interjected, "We don't have time to gather more people, we need to deal with this now."

"Enero help me out over here," Professor Caerul pleaded.

Enero looked up, "Look I understand how you all feel," he spoke in a surprisingly clear voice, "but now is not the time to let emotions run wild."

"But-"

"And if you can't accept that," Enero continued dangerously, "then you shouldn't continue at Beacon Academy. A hunter needs to be clear headed when deciding to jump into the fire. It is only when you are in battle that tapping into your emotions can be an asset."

The room fell silent at Enero's speech as he left the room to get a drink from the kitchen.

"It's getting late," Professor Caerul acknowledged, "Let's get to bed."

The howls of Grimm woke Basil up. He dashed out of his tent, trident in hand.

"You heard it too."

Aurelia was already outside the tent with her battle-axe, having been on the most recent watch. Porphyrios and Celestia were also standing there ready with their weapons.

"Well looks like we know where the Grimm are," Professor Vert pointed out, also armed with her microphone.

The howls were heard again, and a few Beowolves appeared among the trees. They leapt at the group but were immediately cut down by Aurelia's axe. As she finished her blow, however, a Boarbatusk slammed into her side, sending her into the forest.

"Aurelia!" Celestia cried, but she was quickly overwhelmed as two Ursai came charging at her.

Basil moved to Celestia's side and helped her take them down easily, while Porphyrios and Professor Vert dealt with a second Boarbatusk. After they dealt with the Grimm, Aurelia came back from the forest with three more Beowolves trailing behind her. She ducked as Professor Vert blasted fire from her glove, destroying the creatures. Before the team could recover, however, they suddenly found themselves surrounded by more Grimm than they had ever seen in one place. There were Beowolves, Usrai, Death Stalkers, and they could even hear some Nevermores circling from above. Each Grimm had varying degrees of white bone plates and spikes on them, revealing which ones were tougher to kill.

"Well no one said defeating them would be easy," Basil chuckled.

Suddenly there was a clapping sound coming from the tree in front of Basil. The rest of the group turned to face the tree. Up in the branches stood three figures, each silhouetted amongst the trees.

"Always ready to fight, huh Basil?" The smallest of the silhouettes called out.

The figures dropped out of the tree. One was the giant bear Faunus they had met last semester, which they now knew as Roano. The second was the girl Olivia from last semester in her camo tank top and black shorts. The bear swung his sledgehammer onto his shoulders while the girl held her kamas at her side. The third figure was hooded and completely clad in black with two single bladed warglaives hanging from his belt. The figure removed his hood and the students' eyes widened as they saw who it was. The boy had straight black hair and gray eyes, and a necklace hung around his neck.

"Cinereus?" Basil asked, shocked by what he saw.

The boy gave a twisted smile.

"Good to see you brother."

Namra woke with a start.

Another nightmare, Namra thought, a cold sweat covering her forehead, she could still see the fire vividly, as if it were right in front of her.

"Not sleeping well?"

Namra was startled and instinctively turned toward where the voice was coming from. She felt the unique energy of Enero and relaxed a bit.

"What time is it?" Namra asked in a whisper.

"Six-ish," Enero responded shrugging, as if it was no consequence.

"Do you always wake up this early?" Namra inquired.

Enero shook his head.

"Only when I want to see the sunrise," he replied, "and I wanted to see it today."

"Why today?"

"No reason, just felt like the right thing to do."

Namra sat upright in her sleeping bag.

"Was the sunrise pretty?"

Enero shrugged again, "It was alright. I miss the sunrises I would see out in the field."

"I'd imagine it would be better without the buildings everywhere."

"Mmmm," Enero nodded, "Shame you can't see it. There's really nothing quite like a sunrise."

Namra felt the sadness in his voice, as if he genuinely felt bad that someone could be robbed of such a sight. The sunrise must mean a lot to him.

"Actually-"

Enero suddenly tensed up and soon Namra knew why. She realized that there was someone right outside the wall she was facing.

"Get Down!" Enero yelled as part of the living room wall came crashing into the room itself.

Dust and debris was scattered everywhere as everyone tried to stand after being so rudely awakened. In the new doorway he just made was the bodyguard from the factory, staring coldly into the room. His eyes roamed around the room as he finally grabbed Professor Caerul by the throat and pinned him to the wall, trying to suffocate him. As quick as she could, Namra picked up the chain of her weapon and threw one of the swords at the intruder. The man grabbed the sword out of the air.

"Stay out of it," he commanded, and threw the sword back at Namra.

Namra was knocked back against the wall from the impact of her sword, still shaky from the sudden entrance. The other members of team Sunrise began to rise, still dazed as they watched this man choking the life out of Professor Caerul.

"Hey!"

The intruder turned and received a punch straight to his face from Enero. The man staggered back, dropping the professor. Gasping for air, Professor Caerul grabbed Enero's outstretched hand as Enero helped the professor to his feet.

"Bennet," Enero stated, "you met this man yesterday?"

Bennet nodded as he continued to catch his breath.

"Then you know what to do, I'll handle this guy."

Bennet nodded again and motioned for the students to grab their weapons and follow him.

Once they left, Enero turned and grabbed the oncoming fist of the intruder. Enero pushed him back to the wall and readied himself for a fight. The bronze haired man drew his tomahawk looking blade and readied himself as well.

"Alright," Enero goaded, "Let's see what you got."

The bodyguard charged at Enero, swinging his weapon over his head. Seeing the blade coming down, Enero dodged out of the way, letting the blade slice into the couch behind him. He then punched the bodyguard straight in the ribs, causing the man to stumble backwards, his weapon still buried in the couch. He then charged at Enero, barreling him into the opposite wall. He grabbed his weapon and started to head for the door. Before he could leave, Enero grabbed him and threw him into the table, breaking it. Enero then grabbed two of the legs from the table as the bodyguard swung at him again. Enero ducked under the blow and jabbed the man's ribs multiple times with his make-shift weapons.

Fed up, the man grabbed Enero and threw him against another wall. The man swung again and Enero blocked it with the table legs, stopping the weapon in its tracks. The man then swung with his free fist, striking Enero in the side. The legs of the table clattered to the floor as Enero sunk to one knee. The man's weapon once again came at Enero from an overhead strike, but this time Enero grabbed it with his left hand.

"Mistake," Enero stated plainly, as if just having a normal conversation.

He punched the man straight in the gut, causing him to hunch over, allowing Enero to throw the man back into the wall. Holding the blade of the man's weapon, Enero tossed it aside as the man got back up.

He then quickly raised both fists up in the air as the earth trembled beneath Enero's feet. Stone erupted from the ground from all around Enero, pinning him where he stood. Holding out his arm, the stone rose up around Enero, so that only his head was visible.

Enero chuckled as the bodyguard approached his stone prison.

"What's your name?" Enero asked, still chuckling.

"Bronze," the bronze man stated.

"Well Bronze," Enero replied smiling, "it seems you're full of surprises."

"Stay put," Bronze commanded as he picked up his weapon.

"Sorry, can't do that," Enero responded, "Gotta make sure you don't hurt those guys."

"You don't have a choice in the matter."

"I disagree," Enero smiled, "I have a few surprises myself."

The air began to grow cold as white wisps fell off around Enero's head. Suddenly the earth around Enero froze over and became ice. Shifting his weight, Enero broke free of the ice, shards of it hitting Bronze. His hands covered in an icy glow, Enero glared at Bronze.

"Round two then," Bronze stated as he pointed his blade at Enero.

Team Sunrise followed Professor Caerul out of the house and down the street.

"Where are we going Professor?" Sylvia asked.

"I may not like it, but we have to go back to Albin Dustworks and stop what they are doing," Professor Caerul responded.

"We're going after them?"

"Yes," Professor Caerul affirmed, "Albin's bodyguard showing up at our safe house confirms that we're onto them. You were right; we have to stop this now before they cover up everything."

"Sweet!" Re exclaimed, "Time for some action!"

"Right," Professor Caerul disapproved, "Just stay behind me."

They continued to run at a full sprint until they arrived at Albin Dustworks. The doors were locked, as expected, so Professor Caerul kicked them open and rushed inside, followed by the students. Sylvia noticed that the halls were completely abandoned as their footsteps echoed around the dustworks.

"They must have cleared out by now," Wai stated, looking around.

"Only one way to find out," Professor Caerul claimed, beckoning them to the elevator door.

They reached the fifth floor and made their way to the steel plated door from yesterday.

"Well Namra?" Inquired Sylvia.

"They're still here," Namra confirmed.

"Wai," Sylvia turned, "Can you get us in there?"

Wai smiled as he moved to the electronic lock on the side of the door. He released the blade from his gauntlet and used it to pry off the panel, revealing the wires and electronics. Within about a minute of Wai tinkering, the steel plated door opened.

"Let's go."

The room was large and open so that you could see everything in the room, from the railings on the next floor above them to the wiring machines in the back. There were only three work stations throughout the entire facility.

Probably because the rest had been moved out of the building by now, thought Sylvia.

The stations looked complicated, with several test tubes and dangerous looking concoctions. But the students didn't get to look much more than that, as all eyes were drawn to the four figures in the center of the room who had their backs to them. On the far left was Doctor Albin, next to whom stood the long redheaded girl from last semester, in her silk pink shirt and black skirt. On the far right stood a boy with short, spiky, black hair, a black t-shirt, and fire tattoos on his forearms. And in the middle of the group was-

"Cole!"

Sylvia called out before she could think about it. Cole and the other three people turned toward them.

"Doctor Albin, we will settle this later," Cole commanded brusquely.

The doctor, looking disgusted, left at his word.

"How nice of you to drop in," the tattooed boy smirked, "Unfortunately, visiting hours are over, so we'll have to ask you to leave."

"I demand to know what you are doing in this facility," Professor Caerul declared, pointing at Cole.

Cole stepped forward, causing all of the students to draw their weapons. The redhead drew her steel fans in response, but Cole waved his hand and the woman backed off.

"Dust," Cole spoke as if it held the answer to all life's mysteries. "It's a very powerful energy source, yet also highly volatile when used correctly. What I'm doing is harnessing that raw energy to make this world a better place."

Sylvia lowered her sword.

"How?" Sylvia asked, "This world has been at peace for so long, what needs to be changed?"

"The White Fang, criminals, murderers, increased Grimm activity…you call that peace?" the redhead inquired, a hint of steel in her voice, "We are raging war against ourselves."

"And you're gonna fix that?" Wai interjected, "By what? Using dust to wage even more war?"

"We will be using that dust to fight," Cole explained, "but it will be a fight to destroy corruption forever."

"You can't just leave that to the police and the hunters?" Re asked.

"A lot of the hunters and officials are corrupt as well," Cole continued, "We would have to eliminate them too."

"There may be officials and hunters who are crooked," Namra spoke up, "but there are also those who aren't! We make progress every day to fight evil and keep this world safe."

The tattooed boy cackled at Namra's comment.

"You'd have to be completely blind to believe that we've made any sort of progress," He chided.

He smirked at Namra, "Then again you are blind, so I can see why you'd think that."

Namra shook a little bit at his words, but then tightened her grip on her swords.

"I think you've all missed the point," Cole lectured, "If I wanted to target just the corrupted officials, then I wouldn't need all this dust."

Cole smiled darkly, "No, I want to destroy all authority on Remnant."

"What?!" Sylvia exclaimed, incredulously.

"That would be anarchy!" Professor Caerul realized, "How would that be better than what we have now?"

"It wouldn't be," Cole stated plainly, "but in order to rebuild, we would have to tear down what's already there. Only then can we take control and truly rid this world of evil."

"What you're talking about is already evil!" Wai yelled, his eyes turning red, "You wouldn't just be killing those who are bad! You'd also be killing innocent people!"

"An acceptable loss," Cole indicated coldly, "We can only achieve a perfect society by eliminating every aspect of the old one."

"I've heard enough!"

Wai, completely engulfed in a red aura, lunged at Cole with his blades extended. The red haired girl blocked the attack with one of her steel blade fans, as Cole delivered a swift punch to Wai's gut.

Everyone acted at once. Sylvia fired her arrows at the three enemies, but they were quickly deflected by the red haired girl, who then shot blasts of fire dust at her. Re jumped in front of Sylvia and blocked the blasts with his scimitars, while Namra used her chained swords to grab a hold of the tattooed boy. The boy quickly dodged though as Cole pulled out his pistols and shot at their group. Professor Caerul then pulled out a textbook from his satchel and used it to block the bullets. Wai got up and grabbed the red haired girl's arm and threw her towards the back of the room. He then turned to Cole, eyes still red, and delivered a powerful punch towards him. Cole grabbed Wai's fist and then threw him at the rest of the students. They all tumbled out of the way of Wai's body, giving Cole and the other boy ample time to run to the back of the room.

"Keep them busy Coralia," Cole commanded as he passed by the red haired woman.

She gave a grimace, but proceeded to do as he said. The professor and his students began to chase after Cole, but were stopped as Coralia began to rain down elemental blasts from her fans, keeping them from getting closer. They quickly hid behind some of the leftover desks as she continued to fire upon them.

"We have to get passed her!" Sylvia called out, "We can't let Cole escape!"

"I'll handle it!" Wai declared, eyes still ablaze as he rushed out from cover.

"Wait!" Namra called, but Wai was already charging at her.

He dodged each blast and quickly reached her position, causing her to shift into a more defensive position.

"Go!" He cried, "I'll hold her off!"

Sylvia, Re and Namra quickly followed after Cole, heading up the stairs the criminals had just climbed up.

While checking to make sure they got there safely, Wai didn't see Coralia strike him in his side with her fan.

Sputtering, Wai fell to the ground while Coralia prepared to fire a dust blast from her fan. As she fired, Professor Caerul jumped in front of Wai, protecting him from the blast with his book.

"Next time," Professor Caerul stated, "look before you leap."

Wai's eyes became blue again as he nodded. He stood and extended his blades as they prepared to fight Coralia.

All of Team Peacock stood shocked in the clearing. Not only were they surrounded by numerous Grimm, but they were now confronted with two of the crimnals they had met last semester.

"Cinereus."

Basil spoke his brother's name with complete disbelief.

It couldn't be, Basil thought, this has to be some sort of nightmare.

"Why are you here?" He inquired.

"Isn't it obvious?" Cinereus sneered, "I'm helping these guys round up Grimm."

"Round up?" Celestia asked, confused, "You act as though you can control them."

"They can," Porphyrios pointed out, "Grimm would normally have attacked by now, especially in large numbers like this."

"How is that possible?" questioned Aurelia, astonished.

"All the Grimm have collars on them," Professor Vert noticed, "Meaning…"

"That with a touch of a button," Cinereus finished, holding out a remote in his gloved hand, "I can make the Grimm do whatever I want."

"Why though?"

Basil couldn't look at his brother as he asked his question.

"They're the bad guys." He trembled with anger. "How could you turn on us like this?" Basil spat.

Cinereus smirked again.

"Us? The bad guys?" Cinereus scoffed, "If you knew what we knew you would be thanking us for what we are going to do."

"What are you planning?" demanded Professor Vert.

"Stop wasting time," Roano growled, his hammer now held in both hands, "Let's finish this."

"Yea," exclaimed the girl in the tank top, "Let's start fighting."

Cinereus sighed, "You two have no patience. But you're right."

He pointed the remote upward and pressed one of the buttons.

"Kill them."