Chapter 22

"Sweet mother of Remnant…this hallway must go on for at least a quarter mile; it's amazing that the turrets haven't activated. They must not be motion-sensor activated." Lionel said as he made his way through the long hallway. The end was finally in sight after nearly ten minutes of walking. The entire hallway was completely White with a vertical hanging White Fang flag every ten feet or so on both walls. There was a single, circular light at the same intervals as the flags keeping the hallway completely lit. The only other thing that was different about the hallway was the obvious turrets that were embedded in the ceiling hidden by tiles.

"There's no way they don't know I'm here. I'm good; really good…but for there to be no resistance in the only entrance to their base? No. They have to be waiting for me. That or they found Yang and have inadvertently allowed me through as well." Lionel thought as he neared the end of the hallway to be met by the same door as the beginning of the hall. Just as before, he pressed a button which was quickly followed by a hissing noise. He vanished once again, appearing on the other side of the door behind a large cargo box. As he looked around, he saw a door on two sides of the room, on opposite sides of each other.

"Yeah, put those over there." A White Fang lieutenant said as he ordered around the lower level grunts.

"Why's there so much shit this time?" the first soldier asked.

"Uhh…because this will be the last time we get a resupply before he's ready." The lieutenant stated.

"Four soldiers…" Lionel thought as he pondered taking them out. He decided against it believing any more information they can give him wound be more beneficial.

"Who is this guy, anyway? Why are the higher-ups so meticulous about this? Is he some kind of major benefactor?" the second soldier asked aloud.

"Don't know. They don't tell me who, just that he's really important. That what this whole Grimm DNA is about…I guess the higher-ups want to give it to him or something." The lieutenant informed.

"He must be paying a pretty penny for them is we're putting as much effort into getting them as we have been." The first soldier stated.

"No kidding. We lost quite a few people in those kamikaze attacks." The third soldier said.

"Let's not forget, they signed up for that job willingly." The lieutenant said.

"Yeah, but that don't change the fact that we lost some good soldiers." The third soldier said.

"Whatever. That's the last of the cargo." The first soldier said, changing the subject.

"Alright." The lieutenant said as he walked to the corner of the room. "Ursa Company ready for transport. Authorization: B-3561-2048-05." He stated into an intercom.

"Confirmed, Ursa Company. Transport in sixty seconds." A voice stated over the intercom.

"I need to take Team RWBY on a few stealth missions. This is a perfect example of why we don't shoot first and ask questions later. Yang." Lionel thought before the ground began to shake under him. The floor began to lower, slowly at first, before picking up a steady pace. After lowering about ten feet, the area above them began to shake as a massive horizontal door began to close over the top of them. The large door, which was easily about three feet thick, closed immediate above the doors that he had noticed earlier. This lead to the idea that there were probably just a few elevators like this that transported people and supplies up to the surface towers, all of which are connected by those small doors which were connected to a series of the turret-infested hallways. Before it closed completely, Lionel could only see rock and dirt outside of the elevator. Lionel began to strategize many potential plans of attack, "This entrance must be in a deep hole in a cave. I wonder how many elevators there are? If we can find the locations of all of them, we can probably drill through the door and just drop bombs on–"

Lionel's thoughts were interrupted by the loud sound of another horizontal door closing. "Never mind. Perhaps dropping tons of thermite on them and watching it melt through both –"

Another door closing again interrupted his thoughts. "This is bullshit. Three impenetrable doors? How long have they been down here building all of this? Who funded them?" Lionel pondered as the elevator began to slow down until it came to a complete stop. He noticed that he was in the corner of a massive, square room with a large, cylindrical structure in the center of the room acting as both a building and a central support column. Though he was hidden behind the cargo box in the small elevator room, he realized he was now in the open from the room elevator landed in.

Lionel immediately ran to the nearest thing he could, which just so happened to be a group of deactivated Atlesian knights. He looked to the other side of the room and saw another elevator in the corner and the side of a third elevator behind the central structure. "So, there's probably four elevators. One in each corner; good to know…I guess." He thought as he pulled out a gas powered gun. He aimed at the corner of the elevator ha came from and fired the weapon, which made almost no noise as a tracking device flew out and connected itself to the elevator. He reloaded the weapon and did the same to the other two elevators that he could see, leaving only one left.

"Alright guys, I'm heading back to my office. That's all for now; head back to your dorms and get some sleep." The lieutenant stated as he began heading toward the cylindrical structure. The three soldiers followed soon behind, all of them passing another group of White Fang who was turning on their forklifts and lifting equipment.

"They'll probably go and put the cargo way for them…I doubt they're soldiers." Lionel thought as the lieutenant and his soldiers entered the central structure before turned in different directions. Lionel quickly made his way to parked forklift to get closer to the entrance and to get a better view of the White Fang and also revealing the final elevator. The lieutenant was heading up a flight of stairs in the center of the structure. The staircase widened at the bottom, allowing enough people to make their way up and down around the elevator at the base of the stairs. The soldiers stood on the elevator before it took them down even further.

Lionel looked around to see many defensive positions in the central structure and scattered around on the walls. "This is their primary defensive position. It's pretty good, too…only four entrances and they have a perfectly clear view, the high ground, entrenched positions. Yeah, no one invading through those elevators would survive." Lionel thought as he continued to avoiding the cargo workers while making his way closer to the central structure. Before entering the structure, he pulled his tracking gun out and fired at the last elevator.

Lionel looked before entering the structure but was unsurprised when he saw no one. "It is late…or early technically." He thought as he entered the structure. He looked around and saw a door on each side of the bottom floor saying 'staircase' on a sign. He quickly made his way to the door and entered only to see at least twenty flights of stairs. "Coming back up is going to suck…" he moaned internally before looking at his scroll to check the time. "1:18. I've got about forty more minutes before someone figures out something is happening." He finished before heading down the stairs.

"Don't you have another meeting tonight?" Weiss asked as she continued her physical therapy.

"Yeah, but I want to be here until then to cheer you on!" Ruby stated.

"This is hardly difficult. I keep telling them I don't need to PT, but they won't listen." Weiss complained.

"C'mon Weiss, they know best." Ruby said.

"No, I'm aware of my body's needs…and it doesn't need this." Weiss said.

"It'll only be until tomorrow. When they leave the room, just take the time to do some harder exercises. Y'know, stuff that you think your body does need." Ruby explained.

"I know. But, seriously, you should go ahead and get to that meeting. Being late won't look good on you." Weiss said, changing the subject.

"Fine. But I'll be back afterward; tomorrow is Sunday and we're going to have some fun. We haven't gotten a chance to enjoy ourselves since the White Fang attack." Ruby said.

"That's because this isn't the time for relaxation. No one is saying it, but a war is about to start." Weiss said sternly. "This time next year, either we'll be dead or they will…there is no in between." Weiss finished sending Ruby a cold stare.

"I know that, Weiss. That's the kind of stuff that Ozpin and the other headmasters are all talking about. I just want to get away from it for a little bit…it's kind of stressful." Ruby said quietly.

"Didn't you tell Lionel that you could handle it? Do you think he worries about stress?" Weiss asked in a scolding manner.

"No; he takes vacations! All I'm asking for is one day to just hang out with you!" Ruby retorted.

Weiss sighed in defeat. "Just don't get complacent. I don't want you getting hurt." She said in a worrying tone.

"You're always worrying about me, now. You're like Yang." Ruby giggled.

"Don't compare me to that brute. But, we both don't want you getting into trouble…Blake too. In the past few months, we've grown together quite easily. Almost like…" Weiss trailed off.

"Almost like we've done it before." Ruby said. "I agree, it's surprising how well we work together." Ruby said as she stood up and walked toward Weiss.

"I know. But I can't figure out why." Weiss said still looking down at her weights on the rack before being embraced by the young leader.

"I'm going to ask the group if I can bring you to the meetings after today." Ruby said. "You'd be really helpful." She finished as she released her teammate.

"I don't know. They might want it to be as private as possible." Weiss said.

"Yeah, but Ozpin lets Glynda come, and some of the other headmasters allow their disciplinary heads to come, as well. Besides, your 'Schnee connections' would be a big help." Ruby said.

"I hope I still have them…from what Lionel has said in the past, my father might be up to some things far worse than indentured servitude." Weiss explained monotonously.

"Yeah, I heard. That's one of the things we covered in the meetings. But I trust you, and so will they. Ozpin was even talking about my uncle getting a chance to join in on the meetings, but he couldn't get a hold of him." Ruby explained, becoming sad when she mentioned her uncle's lack of communication.

"He's probably on a hunt right now." Weiss said. "He will join whenever he's done with his business." Weiss said.

"I know…I just wish he'd tell us when he leaves for a hunt…" Ruby said with a sad expression.

Weiss places her hand under Ruby's chin and lifted her head. "No pouting, General. You have to keep your head up for morale's sake." Weiss mocked.

"Very funny." Ruby joked. "I should probably go now…like I said, we're gonna have some fun tomorrow." She stated.

"That's fine, but you have to make up for it by training extra hard on Monday." Weiss said.

"Deal." Ruby said as she began walking to the door.

"And…thank you for visiting. Having a friend nearby made the recovery easier." Weiss said.

Ruby smiled. "You'd do the same for me." She finished before walking out the door to head to her meeting.

Weiss' smile slowly faded as she looked around the gym. "Push myself harder…" she thought as she saw the squatting rack.

Ruby walked swiftly down the hall, not letting her emotions get the better of her. She knew now was not the time since Ozpin had informed each of the members that he had received an update from the Knight-General. Ruby had contacted him once since his departure, so she knew he had gone somewhere east of Vale since the time he gave was about three hours ahead of their current location. "The meeting starts at 10:30 and Ozpin sent us a message saying that he had just received information from Lionel. That was at 9:58…I wonder what he found out?" Ruby wondered as she made her way to the elevator that led to Ozpin's office.

Ruby pulled out her scroll to take a look at the time. "10:29; perfect timing." She thought as the elevator reached the top of the tower. The doors slid open, revealing the other seven members of our 'antiterrorist task force' as Jaune called it.

"Perfect timing, Rose." Coco said with her signature smirk. Ozpin's office looked completely normal, with the exception of four chairs that had been added for the four students to sit at, immediately on the other side of Ozpin's desk. Ruby made her way over to a chair and sat in between Jaune and Coco, leaving Cardin farther to the left, much to everyone's, and his, pleasure.

The holograms on the table activated revealing the forms of each of the academy's headmasters as well as their own respective student task forces. The holograms were a miniature version so that all of them could fit on the table and everyone could see one another. "Now that we've all arrived, let us begin with the message the Knight-General left us. I know us headmasters already know about it, but I want to reveal it to everyone else present." Ozpin began. "It states, Quote, 'I don't think they have a central command center on the surface like we originally thought…I think this entire base is underground and so well fortified that it could withstand a nuclear explosion.' Unquote." Ozpin stated clearly.

"We had planned on bombing the base if he found it. What do you think we should do now? Invasion?" Ironwood asked.

"He sent a second message; a picture." Glynda said as she activated another hologram showing the picture Lionel sent them.

"That's a helluva door." Coco stated.

"Indeed." Ironwood added.

"There's no way we could break through that without heavy machinery, and judging from the room he's in, we're not going to fit anything beyond a single squad of soldiers in there." Jaune said.

"Enough explosives would probably open the door…but even if we did that, that room is so small and without cover. We'd likely be massacred by whatever is on the other side." Glynda said.

"I agree. Have we received any more information from him?" the Shade Academy headmaster asked.

"No, but we should be expecting more soon." Ozpin said.

"If bombing and invasion are completely ruled out, what else can we do? We can't nuke it…the Triangle Trade is too close, right?" Cardin said.

"Yes. What about drilling? Could we drill a tunnel and hit them from the side?" Jaune asked.

"If we find out exact coordinates, then yes. However, they will likely hear us coming and will be prepared." Ozpin said.

"Realistically, what are our options?" Ironwood asked no one in particular. "Ozpin?" Ironwood asked when he noticed what he thought was Ozpin staring into space.

Ozpin did not acknowledge Ironwood's questioning as he was looking at Ruby. She had her eyes downcast, deep in thought. "Ruby? Would you care to participate?" Ozpin asked calmly.

"I…I don't think it's practical…" ruby started.

Ozpin grinned behind his folded hands which were resting in front of his mouth. "Please. Elaborate." He stated.

"We know that he entered this area from one of the watchtowers out there because of the pre-mission report. We've all seen the pictures; the towers are really thin and not able to accept aerial supply drops." Ruby started.

"We know that; this room is probably the connection from which they receive their supplies." Ironwood said.

"Exactly. But if what Lionel said is true and the base is underground, then we have to ask: how does the central base gets its' supplies?" Ruby continued with more confidence than before. "There's not any ocean close enough for any ships or submarines to dock there and if the base is underground, then they can't receive aerial shipments either. They have to have a larger docking area, somewhere, designed for taking massive amounts of cargo. An area connected to the surface." Ruby explained.

Ozpin's grin turned to a full-blown smile. "And what makes you think that it isn't even more defended?" he asked.

"It probably is, but it would give us more space and room to modify our plans." Ruby stated. Before anyone else could make another statement, the headmaster's scrolls began to vibrate.

Ozpin picked up his scroll and glanced at what he received. "It would seem Lionel has given us more information." He said as he pulled up the pictures in holographic form. The first was a picture of a large elevator with a small tracking device on it. The text sent under it said, 'Cargo elevator to the surface; there are four of them. Tracking device planted on all of them but is too far underground to be of any use right now. Active the tracker and wait for them to receive another supply shipment. The elevators have three massive doors, even larger than the one I sent earlier, but is otherwise not defended at the top. DO NOT INVADE through the door I showed earlier as the other side is littered with turrets and no cover. Invading through this area is a possibility, but the base of the elevator does not have any cover either and is under constant watch. Best case scenario is to drop Atlesian knights/paladins through here.'

"It would seem you were spot on Rose." Coco said with a grin.

There was also one other picture and a video displayed in a holographical form. The picture showed the inside of a building he was currently in and the text below it read, 'Central structure and support for the cargo bay. Up the stairs leads to offices and probably an armory, going down takes you to the base.' The video, which was playing on a loop like a .gif file, was about seven seconds long. It started at the elevator and slowly panned across the room allowing for everyone so see the defensive structures they had set up. Eventually, the video showed the massive cylindrical-like structure, that he mentioned in his previous picture before the video looped again.

"From what it looks like right now, we only have the option of invasion from the cargo bay. However, they must realize that any possible invasion would come from that area, as well. To me, I don't see any form of advanced tactics or strategy working…we'll need sheer force and numbers to get through, given this is the only way in." Ironwood stated.

"Agreed." Jaune said followed by a nod of agreement coming from each of the students and headmasters.

"Then I will begin gathering troops in addition to as many Atlesian Knights and Paladins as the brass will allow. Tomorrow's meeting, we will discuss our plan of attack; specifically, we need to know who's going in and when. Our Atlesian Knights and Paladins will only serve to get us past the initial stages of the assault. After that, all we will need are those coordinates." Ironwood explained.

"With permission, I would like to let Weiss join us for tomorrow's meeting. Her connections within the Schnee Dust Company could get us more help." Ruby said.

"Granted." Ozpin and Ironwood said.

"Is there anything else that needs discussing?" Ironwood asked.

"No. I only called this late meeting tonight to share Lionel's information with you all." Ozpin said.

"Very well. Tomorrow night, expect a very long meeting." Ironwood said as his hologram faded along with the other headmasters and students.

"Normally I'd volunteer for the assault but…" Ruby trailed off.

"But, the Knight-General asked us to remain here to defend Vale. You really want to fight the White Fang that much?" Jaune asked.

"Not really…but I'm sure that is where Yang is…and probably Blake, too. It feels wrong to just stay back instead of helping rescue them." Ruby stated.

"Unfortunately, we can't always be there for our friends. Sometimes, we have to trust that they are capable of taking care of themselves." Ozpin said.

"We've taken up enough of your time. Get some rest and be ready tomorrow…if we're sending a force to assault one of the White Fang's largest bases, then we'll have fewer responders here to help out. That makes your job just as important." Glynda said before each of the students stood up and began to walk toward the door.

Just as each of the students entered the elevator, as a massive shockwave of aura flew through the entire room, instantly giving Ruby one of the worst migraines she had ever had. She fell to her knees as blood began to run from her nose.

"Woah! Are you alright, Ruby?" Jaune asked as he knelt down to help her.

"Yeah. What about you guys? What happened?" Ruby asked.

"Ummm. We're fine…and what do you mean?" Jaune asked in confusion.

Ruby opened her eyes and looked up to see everyone noticeable worries, but general unconcerned with the shockwave that entered the room. "Didn't you feel that?" Ruby asked quietly.

"Feel what, Rose?" Coco asked.

Another shockwave of aura blasted the room, making more blood pour from Ruby's nose and some from her ears. "What is that?!" Ruby asked in a panicked tone.

"What do you mean?" Cardin asked.

"Please get Miss Rose to the infirmary, it appears she's having a bad migraine." Ozpin said which caused Ruby to open her eyes again. She looked forward and saw Ozpin's legs, but he was just as unfazed as the rest of the people around her. There was a hint of a purple haze floating in the air all around the room.

There started a silent ringing in Ruby's ear. It grew louder; first a white noise, then a hum, then a noticeable roar from a beast like nothing she had ever heard before. "Savior…" the voice roared. "…you have had your time to dither…" the roar said. It was a monstrous howl, worse than any Beowolf or Ursa; she tried to cover her ears and keep her eyes shut, but the roar continued to talk. "…your peace is fragile…your society is weak…you will fall…" the roar stated. "…and I will start with the ones you love, so that this time, you will face me alone…and you will die with the rest of this planet." The roar finished as silence returned to Ruby's head. She uncovered her ears and opened her eyes only to be met with a monstrous figure coated in a black sheen so that it looked like a shadow. Ruby tried as hard as she could to call for help, but she was frozen. The only thing she could do was cry.

"Ruby!" Weiss yelled as Ruby's eyes shot open.

"Thank Remnant." Jaune said, relieved.

"What happened?" Ruby asked.

"When we got in the elevator, you just collapsed." Jaune said.

"I…just collapsed?" Ruby said in confusion.

"Yeah…do you know what happened?" Jaune asked.

"No, that's why I asked you what happened." Ruby said.

"You never asked me anything. We got in the elevator and you just fell unconscious." Jaune explained.

"So, that never happened?" Ruby whispered.

"I assume you were dreaming something pretty bad because you were crying a second ago…so, yeah. It never happened." Jaune said.

Weiss held Ruby in her arms as she shivered. "Thank you for bringing me here, Jaune." She said in a calm tone.

"Anytime. You get some rest; it'll help you calm down. We've got a big day tomorrow." Jaune said with worry as he made his way out.

Weiss wanted to help Ruby any way she could. "Do you want to tell me–"

"No. Don't worry." Ruby interrupted as she stayed still in Weiss arms until she fell back to sleep.