War.
On farm plains on the outskirts of Atlas, a squadron of Atlesian Military soldiers ready their guns just outside the city walls. As they watch, Grimm start running through the fields. On the edge of the floating landmass, the whale-esque Grimm Monstra roars, releasing a wave of Grimm Liquid that spawns a plethora of Grimm types: Sabyrs, Sulfur Fish, Apathy, Megoliaths, and more.
The forces of Grimm and Atlas clash as General Ironwood looks on from the safety of his office. He scowls, then presses a button on his desk console, speaking remotely to a subordinate.
Soldier "Yes, sir?".
"I am evacuating all citizens to the subway. Prepare Manta Squad Omega, and dispatch to every part of Atlas" Ironwood ordered.
Soldier "But sir-".
Ironwood slams his fist on his desk "Now!".
Elsewhere in Atlas, civilians are seen lounging in a public park. High-pitched speaker feedback is heard before Ironwood broadcasts his announcement "Citizens of Atlas, please proceed to the nearest underground subway station for shelter".
One man gets up from beside his daughter, confused and looking around for a threat. As sirens begin to blare, people start to panic and run for the subway.
Then man is frozen with fear until his daughter points to the sky behind him "Dad? Look!".
A swarm of Lancers weave their way between the Atlas skyscrapers, sending the man stumbling back. A squad of Mantas swoops in, opening fire on the Lancers.
The man hurriedly leaps to his feet "We need to go!".
The Ace Ops and Winter have taken Yang, Lyre, Jaune, and Ren into custody, and cuffed them with Gravity Bolas. Their Manta approaches Atlas, and Atlas Military chatter can be heard over the in-ship radio.
Commander 1 "We can't get the Hard Light shields back up, sir. The generators took too much damage!".
Ironwood "Then don't waste resource on them. Beta Squad, the creature?".
Commander 2 "We tried bombs, missiles, but we can't make a dent, sir".
Winter chimes into the conversation "Sir, Schnee here. Penny is still MIA, but we've apprehended Arc, Xiao Long, Laguz and Ren".
Ironwood "Stand by for further orders, and don't let those fugitives out of your sight".
"Yes, sir. Of course" Winter said.
Behind her, Yang turns to look at her with a grim expression "Still just following orders".
Winter turns and narrows her eyes at the girl, then gasps as Monstra slowly comes into view through the windscreen. Lyre, Jaune and Ren stare slackjawed at the gargantuan Grimm.
"That's where the Grimm took Oscar and Lucina. It's even bigger than I thought" Jaune said.
Vine narrows his eyes, clearly skeptical "Grimm don't take prisoners".
"This one did. If you would just let us go-" Yang makes to get out of her seat, but Vine and Elm grab her shoulders, forcing her back down.
Ironwood's voice comes through over the radio again "Cease fire. Manta squads, concentrate on secondary hostiles. Command is working on a solution for the creature".
"What do you have in mind, sir?" Winter asked.
Ironwood "We aren't making any progress attacking the thing from the outside. But from the inside, it could be vulnerable. Science team is putting together a bomb. When it's ready, we'll drop it off as close to the target as possible. Then, your team will deliver it on foot. Sending your rendezvous coordinates now".
Throughout Ironwood's order, Winter's face goes through a cycle of emotions: pensiveness, horror, denial, and finally, resolution "Of course, sir. We will hold the point and we will get it done".
Lyre, Yang, Jaune, and Ren are taken aback.
"What!? No! You can't do that!" Lyre said in terror.
"But Oscar and Lucina are in there!" Jaune said in urgency.
"You can't do this!" As Yang struggles to break away from Elm and Vine's grasp, Winter's expression changes back to one of regret. Her right hand trembles before she steadies it by clenching her fist.
In the Schnee Manor, Weiss has finished treating an unconscious Nora's injuries as best she can.
Nora talks in her sleep "Now what am I good for?".
Weiss brushes a lock of Nora's hair out of her face. Ruby and Blake enter the room, hot drinks in hand.
"How is she?" Ruby asked.
"I've done what I can, but she needs a doctor" Weiss goes over to join her friends, accepting a cup from Ruby "What about Severa?".
"Still un-responsive" Bernadetta said as she walked inside the room "She's barely breathing... every time I leave her room I worry that when I return she'll be...".
Blake put a hand on her shoulder "Severa is strong, Bernadetta. She'll pull through, I'm sure of it".
"Her will to live is keeping her alive for now... but without proper medical attention, she'll die. Damn it! Where is Jaune when we need him!?" Bernadetta asked in frustration.
"Hopefully, May's able to reach the others. I'm… I really hope they're okay" Blake glances out of the window at the Atlesian night sky, where distant red lightning can be seen flashing periodically "Salem's monster is making Grimm faster than the Atlas military can kill them. The city won't stand a chance unless we stop it".
"It's massive. Way bigger than a leviathan. What can we even do?" Ruby asked.
Weiss settles into a chair by the fireplace "Penny launched Amity and our message went out. Do we just wait for someone to come? If they even come".
Ruby stares morosely at her cup, red lightning lighting up her reflection in the liquid within "How did it all get like this?".
"The Atlas military and huntsmen are not people... just mindless drones doing whatever their told" Bernadetta said with clear venom in her voice "Ingrid... she impaled Severa without even hesitating... I should've put an arrow between her damn eyes".
Weiss tried to calm her down "You don't mean that, Be-".
"Yes I do! I am so sick of being the small fragile girl who is only good from a distance! My partner is dying because of those heartless drones, who are doing everything they can to run away and abandon Renmant!" Bernadetta almost shouted.
The others were silent, having never seen Bernadetta so angry... so hateful...
May enters the room "Fiona said your friends haven't been heard from in a while. Unfortunately, the last thing they're worried about is a couple of kids. Come on, I've got the ship ready to head back and-".
Weiss hurriedly gets to her feet, setting aside her cup "What? We can't leave".
"It's chaos at the crater. Atlas has its army, but Mantle only has us. People are dying" May said.
Ruby appears conflicted, but Weiss is defiant "People are dying here, too. Don't you have family in Atlas?".
May was silent for a moment before she spoke "No. Mantle needed me, and to the Marigolds, that meant I wasn't their son anymore. And I made sure that everyone knew that I wasn't their daughter. So forget 'em. They've got Henry, yours have Whitley. You get what I'm saying".
Weiss still didn't back down "I don't know about-".
May angrily turns to face Weiss "Which side are you on, anyway?".
Blake spoke up "We've heard that before".
May steps toward Blake to confront her, but Ruby chimes in "There are no sides! We want to help everyone. We're all facing Salem together. And together is the only way we're going to get out of it".
May sighs "So, how exactly do we get out of it?".
As the group ponders their situation, Whitley stands in the hallway eavesdropping on the conversation.
Meanwhile inside the Monstra, Lucina remained inside her room, still being guarded by Líf. The silence was so tense it was suffocating.
"How long will you keep doing this?" Lucina asked.
"Until I'm ordered otherwise" Líf answered.
"No, I mean how long are you going to remain Salem's lap dog? How long will you desecrate your sister's memory?" Lucina asked.
Líf glared at her "Shut your mouth, speak of my sister again and I'll remove your tongue".
"I'm sure your master wouldn't approve of that" Lucina said.
"I don't give a damn of what she approves of, I only care about my revenge. Once Hazel is done prying the information Salem needs from Ozpin or his current meat shield, I will finally kill Ozpin" Líf said, his hate clear as a raging fire.
"You know he will just reincarnate" Lucina reminded.
"And I will hunt him down and kill him again, as many times as I have to until he either stays dead, or Salem's plans are fulfilled" Líf said.
"And what then? You're just going to let Salem destroy the world your sister gave her life protecting?" Lucina asked.
Líf was silent for a moment before he spoke "Without her, this world isn't worth protecting".
Noticing the change in his tone, going from hateful to sorrowful, Lucina stood up "Líf... I know you think you're blaming Ozpin for Sharena's death... but you're really blaming yourself. You feel like if you had been stronger, faster, better... then maybe your sister would still be alive".
Líf glares at her "What makes you think you know anything about me?".
"Because I felt the same when Beacon fell... I lost good friends back then, and I always wondered if I could've stopped it, had I been better. But I learned that constantly thinking about what I could've done wasn't helping, and instead I should focus on what I can do now" Lucina answered.
"And what are you going to do now?" Líf asked.
"I am going to fight Salem to my last breath... When I learned she was my grandmother, it broke me and I almost gave up, I even wanted to die... But thanks to my friends, I managed to move on and keep fighting" Lucina explained.
"Touching story, I had no friends or loved ones, I was trapped in my suffering for years. My hate is all that kept me alive" Líf said.
Lucina sighed, Líf's emotional walls were nearly impossible to break down "Hate is a toxin that kills slowly. You are only hurting yourself by refusing to let go".
Líf said nothing... but he knew she was right.
Meanwhile, in the Ace Ops' aircraft, Yang stands up to confront Winter. Elm and Vine quickly get up, grabbing her arms.
"You can't blow it up with Oscar and Lucina still in there!" She said in frantic anger.
"That creature causes more damage every minute. We cannot wait" Vine said calmly.
Winter has her back to the others, hiding her pained expression from them.
Jaune gets up as well "Please, Winter, give us a chance to try to rescue him first! We… We could be your test run. You don't know what'll be waiting for you inside, right? So we can go ahead to check it out, and look for Oscar and Lucina while we're inside".
Marrow turns to look at them from the pilot's seat "You want to go inside that thing alone?".
"Wouldn't you do it for Elm? Harriet? Vine?" Yang asked.
Marrow and Harriet trade uneasy looks.
"That's like asking if a grimm would risk it's life trying to save a pack member. They won't, because despite being soulless beasts, they focus exclusively on their goal, regardless of how many members of the pack fall. Emotions can easily be a weakness, which is why we are trained to keep them in check" Ingrid explained
"We don't let feelings get in the way of making the right call. Trading four lives for two is stupid" Elm said.
Ren's head is bowed, but as he speaks, he slowly raises it in defiance "No, it's not. They're our friend. We will do whatever it takes to find them, because we care about them".
Harriet gets up from her co-pilot's seat and scoffs "I really had you pegged as the most level-headed of the bunch, but I guess you're just as naive. Feelings don't matter, the job matters. When you lose someone on your team, you move on. Replace them, like Marrow replaced Tortuga and Winter replaced-".
Ren leaps to his feet "No! No one is replaceable".
Ren's eyes widen as he stares at Harriet. Surrounding her are red flower petals rising up from below like fire. She is glowering at him, incensed.
"You don't really believe that. You are furious about losing Clover, and you, you miss him" Ren said.
Harriet' briefly lets her surprise show, but her expression quickly reverts to anger "You don't know anything about me!".
Ren glances at Marrow, who is surrounded by blue petals slowly falling like snow. Elm has rising red and yellow petals surrounding her, Ingrid with a mix of red and blue, and Vine has green petals swirling gently around him.
Ren finally looks down at himself. Pink petals gently fall toward his feet "That's why you lost against Team RWBY, Lucina and Severa. You, you try to fight how you feel about each other, so you'll never truly work as a team".
Elm lets go of Yang to rage at Ren. The red and yellow petals are still rising up around her "Shut up! You don't know what you're talking about!".
She pulls her fist back to strike Ren before Winter steps between them.
"Everyone, calm down" She takes a moment to study her prisoners' expressions "Fine. We will drop you as close as we can to the monster".
"You can't be serious. They're fugitives and traitors!" Harriet said in anger.
Winter turns toward Harriet with cold indifference "I outrank you".
Harriet's eyes widen in surprise before she relents, growling indignantly.
"If you aren't out in time, we drop the payload. No matter what" Winter warned.
Marrow turns back to face the windscreen, uncomfortable.
"We understand" Jaune said.
"Thank you..." Lyre said.
The Manta touches down on the outskirts of Atlas. As its hatch opens, Winter deactivates the Gravity Bolas tied around Yang and Ren's wrists. The latter approaches Marrow, who is standing guard by the door.
"You don't like this either. In fact, you don't want to be a part of it at all anymore" Ren said.
Marrow's expression falls. He seems to steel himself, and lowers his gun "I… I have a job to do, and I'm going to do it".
He heads for the cockpit area. Yang uses the blast from her gauntlets to leap off the ship, and Jaune tosses Ren his guns before drawing his own sword and shield, then leaping onto the plains, Lyre leaps out as well ready to save her friends and partner. Winter watches Jaune and Lyre as they leaves, her expression stony.
"I know you don't, either" Ren said.
Winter, in Ren's eyes, has rising red and yellow, swirling green, and falling blue petals surrounding her as she fixes Ren with an indifferent stare.
After Ren leaves the ship, her expression betrays her concern. Ingrid was also showing signs of hesitations.
In Schnee Manor, the girls, minus Nora and Severa, descend the central staircase.
Ruby spoke "Wait, what about Qrow and Robyn? Well, maybe if we can get them out of wherever they're being held, they could-"
May clutches her forehead in frustration and rounds on the other four angrily "No, see, you just don't get it! This is not a situation where everyone wins. Now, you all can come with me to help in Mantle, or I can drop you off near the front lines, if you still want to help Atlas. Your uncle and Robyn can't save us. We have to choose. So choose".
Ruby, Weiss, Bernadetta and Blake look at each other uneasily. A knock at the door draws everyone's attention, and they draw their weapons, creeping to the door.
Weiss opens it cautiously, her eyes widening when she sees who it is "Klein!".
Klein stands in the doorway, doctor's bag in hand. He tips his bowler hat "Miss Schnee! I heard there was two patients here who needed my help".
"I, I am so sorry, Klein. It's my fault that Father..." Weiss trailed off.
Klein's eyes turn green as he holds his hat to his chest. He seems to develop a stammer "Please don't worry, my snowflake, it had nothing to do with you" His eyes turn red as he puts his hat back on his head "And everything to do with Jacques".
Klein enters the manor and slams the door shut.
Weiss walks him in, sniffling and wiping away her tears as the others put away their weapons "Well, that's sweet of you. But wait, how did you know-".
Klein blinks, his eyes turning sky blue "Ah, young Whitley. I'm so glad that you rang! May I please see the patients? I understand it's urgent".
Whitley descends the central staircase "Yes, they're in Weiss's and the guest room. Just go up the-".
"I haven't been gone that long, Master Whitley. I believe I can find them!" Klein pats his hand on Whitley's shoulder before heading up the stairs.
Weiss looked at her brother in surpris "You called Klein?".
"The girls needs a doctor" Whitley said as he turns away from Weiss "I didn't do it for you".
Weiss smiled "I know. That's why it means so much to me".
Whitely gasps as Weiss steps forward to hug him. After some hesitation, he sighs and embraces her back. Weiss gasps when she and the others hear an explosion from outside.
"Did you call anyone else?" Weiss asked.
Whitley shakes his head. Ruby opens the door to find a smoking crater in the manor walkway. She, Weiss, Bernadetta and Blake run out to see Penny, crackling with electricity and covered with neon green coolant lying in at the bottom of the crater. Penny catches sight of her friends and weakly reaches out to them.
"I'm… I'm sorry" Penny said before collapses.
.
Tell me what you think.