Chapter 32

Within ten minutes, all of the individuals Ozpin requested for the meeting were gathered in his office. The other members from the three teams stood guard on the ground level.

"Huntsmen, we are, unfortunately facing a grave danger. Our enemy has made it clear that they are not only capable of targeting vital equipment on Amity Colosseum, but also able to launch a simultaneous direct attack against Beacon." Ozpin looked at each gathered individual in turn, "While you are predominantly trained to fight the creatures of Grimm, you are sometimes required to handle threats in Human or Faunus form. I can appreciate your hesitance to eliminate these threats, but make no mistake, they will not hesitate to kill you in pursuit of their own nefarious ends."

Ruby, Jaune, and Weiss shifted uncomfortably at this statement. Neo and Coco took it in stride. Winter, Goodwitch, and Ironwood all nodded their understanding, based on hard fought experience.

"James?"

"Thank you, Oz." The General began, "Given Cinder's brazen, public attack on Miss Neopolitan and Miss Schnee, which was very closely followed by this assault against the revelers at the Vytal Festival, it is imperative that we strike fast and lethally to ensure that neither she nor her associates have the opportunity to launch another attack. Thanks to Captain Schnee's people, we have been able to back trace Cinder's every move from the time she and two of her associates came to Beacon disguised as exchange students from Haven. Unfortunately, we have yet to detect their communications, as evidenced by their ability to orchestrate this attack without tipping off our intelligence personnel."

Ironwood paused as Winter tapped on her scroll, "Okay, I have confirmation that the three targets are in their room in the northwest dorm building of the exchange students' village. If we move quickly we can end this now. I want Team RWBY and Neopolitan with me to breech and take Cinder directly. Teams CFVY and JNPR can hold a perimeter around the dorm to ensure they don't escape on foot. General, can we insert a team on the roof to ensure they can't air drop reinforcements or try some sort of air-evac?"

"I'll send a team of Knights to drop and hold the roof."

"And we've been clearing the students from the dorm as quietly as possible." Ozpin finished.

If Ozpin's already ordered the building clear, he's accepted the assault and is going to order it to happen immediately. Neo reasoned, Just waiting on the final "Go!"…

Neo looked at Weiss and Ruby and raised a questioning eyebrow towards them.

"I didn't expend that much Aura, I think I'm still good." Came Weiss's reply.

"I can manage. I used my semblance a lot, but I'm used to it." Ruby chuckled, "I'll be fine."

"Do you think Yang and Blake are going to be good to go?" Weiss asked their team leader.

"I'm not one-hundred percent sure, but they didn't really seem to exert themselves too much. Even if they did, Yang will be fine and Blake always knows when to shift to a more defensive posture."

Winter walked over to join them, "Well, little sister, are you ready to join me in the big leagues?"

Weiss forced a smile, "I won't let you down, Winter."

The elder Schnee placed a hand on both Weiss and Neo's shoulders and smiled proudly at the pair. "I have seen the security video of you both fighting her. There is no doubt in my mind that you will perform admirably."

Ironwood checked his scroll and boomed out, "Everyone has their assignments. You have two minutes to brief your teams then we're moving."

Ozpin's office cleared out as the team leaders gathered their teammates in the lobby to give them their instructions.

"Okay, Blake. Yang. Weiss and Neo already know what's up; time to brief you. Basically, we're storming a room in the visiting students' village in the northwest dorms. Winter's with us. CFVY and JNPR will set and hold a perimeter around the building. Ironwood's dropping a team on the roof. We have three targets in the room. Cinder, who has planned these attacks, and two of her associates. I don't know who they are, but if they're with her, we have to assume they're bad news. Remember what Neo and Weiss told us, Cinder has to die. She's too clever, manipulative, and evil to just lock in prison. I know it's not easy," Ruby swallowed hard and looked to the floor, unsure of herself. "Does anyone have a problem with that?"

Ruby looked up to see four very serious faces looking back at her. Weiss looked a bit uncomfortable but said nothing. Neo and Blake were stone-faced. And Yang shifted with barely contained nervous energy.

"We can do this. Go TEAM RWBY!"

Around the lobby, the other team leaders wrapped up their own briefings. Within seconds of completion, everyone was ready to roll.

"Alright," Winter called out. "I'm with RWBY. JNPR, CFVY, Cinder's room faces north, therefore, you will secure the south, west, and east faces of the building on our arrival. Do not move to the north until we breech ~ the flashbangs going off will be your cue to move to the north wall. And Ironwood will drop a squad of Knights on the roof. Last chance for questions."

With no questions to be asked, Winter nodded at her assault team and support squads. "Let's move!"

The group began a steady jog across the campus towards the visitors' village and their target dorm. As they ran, Winter double-checked her scroll to make sure Cinder's faction had not left their room. There was no indication that they were gone yet. She motioned for everyone to quicken their pace. They entered the dorm and climbed the steps to the third floor. On the stairwell landing, she stopped her assault team and began to five final instructions.

"I'm going to hold the door. There's going to be a lot of smoke and I probably won't be able to see in, so I'm going to take out anything that comes through that door at waist height or higher before I hear double-confirmation that the fight is over. If you need to get out, go low and I'll cover you. Yang: I need you to one-shot the door. Demolish it and move out of the way. I'll throw two flashbangs. That is TWO, everyone, do not enter until both have gone off. If this goes according to plan, they will be temporarily blind and stunned. You know what to do with Cinder. As for her accomplices, it is the same to the Atleasian Army if they are captured or casualties."

The women all signaled their understanding as Winter reached for the door.

One by one, they slipped under Winter's arm holding the door from the stairwell and sneaked down the hallway. In seconds, they arrived in front of their target door. Ruby stepped in front of Yang as the brawler prepared to breech the door. Winter looked on, confused. Ruby took hold of a few strands of Yang's hair and yanked them out with a quick step out of the way. Yang's beautiful lilac eyes went a terrifying red as her hair looked like it ignited. Her gauntlets cocked and ready, the blonde lined up the door's hinges and punched straight through them, blowing the door inward.

Winter flipped the spoons off her grenades and lobbed one then the other a brief second later. They all turned from the door, clenched their eyes shut, and covered their ears in anticipation of the "BANG… … …BANG"

As soon as the second flashbang went off, there was a mad dash into the room. Yang lead the way and ran headlong into the silver-haired boy they knew as Mercury. She unleashed a hellish barrage on him, worried that she alerted the other two in the room as to her presence. And she would have, if they were able to hear or see what was going on. Yang quickly closed the distance on Mercury, after her initial barrage blasted him into the far wall directly opposite the door. She followed up with a trio of body blows and an uppercut that raised him clear off the ground. Yang jumped up after him, grabbed him by the hair, and threw his head downward into her rapidly rising knee. Blood exploded from his nose as Yang made contact with the devastating blow. The sight of his blood fired Yang up even more. For him to bleed, his Aura had to be depleted already.

Yang was working Mercury over as Ruby dashed in right behind her and made contact with the green-haired girl, Emerald. Ruby fired off a round from Crescent Rose to launch herself at Emerald. She bodily struck the girl and drove her into the block wall on the left side of the room from the entry, concrete shattering underneath the force. Emerald managed to free one of her sickles and raise it above her head. As the pair impacted with the wall, she drove the butt-end down towards Ruby's head. The small girl was too quick though; Ruby sprinted back to the far wall as Yang was delivering an intense knee to the face of Mercury.

Neo and Weiss entered the smoke-filled room behind Ruby. Neo knew Cinder would attack before she could see anything, so she opened her parasol, intent on blocking the woman's preemptive strike. As expected, a trio of arrows exploded against the parasol as she entered behind Ruby. As she closed her parasol, she dove towards the source of the arrows with a flying side kick. Cinder separated her bow into the twin scimitars and easily blocked Neo's kick with the flats of her blades. As Neo kicked off the swords to flip to safety, Weiss skated underneath her and scored a glancing blow off Cinder's left hip. Neo dashed at the woman with her parasol held out like a rapier.

Cinder parried the parasol with her left sword as Neo drew it back to her side and dropped low. Neo spun clockwise and kicked her right leg out in a low sweep at Cinder. The woman gracefully jumped to dodge the attack but wasn't in position to block Weiss's thrust with Myrtenaster. The rapier landed a solid hit squarely into Cinder's left kidney. The blow was hard and ate significantly into the woman's Aura.

The uppercut should have been fatal to Mercury, but he managed to get a round off with his boots and used the upward momentum to absorb some of the impact. Desperately, he threw a midair double front kick towards Yang. Both kicks landed solidly and Mercury felt confident as they sent the Blonde to the ground, unaware of her Semblance's ability to redirect that energy. As he came down from the peak of his leap, he planted his right foot on the solid concrete wall and fired a round to propel himself forward as he raised his left foot in kick aimed at Yang. The blonde effortlessly caught his foot and, using his momentum, spun counterclockwise and slammed the boy into the wall. She released the foot and took a step forward as Mercury fell. With a wink, she cocked Ember Celica and punched Mercury directly into the floor. His ribs made a sickening crack at the impact from Yang's punch and again as his body essentially splat against the floor.

Enraged at the sight of her associates' failure to defend her, Cinder fought like a mad woman. With a lunge directly at Weiss, Cinder scissored both blades at Weiss's neck. Weiss narrowly avoided the attack as she quickly threw Myrtenaster up in a block as she activated a glyph to skate back to safety.

Neo sensed an opening. She darted in front of Cinder, underneath the scissoring blades and jammed the tip of her parasol into Cinder's wounded left kidney. Cinder spun towards Neo and chopped at her with both blades in tandem. The attack was easy enough for Neo to block with her closed parasol, but the force Cinder put into the attack caused her to stagger and fall to the ground. Cinder raised her swords and swung directly downward, as if she wielded dual great axes, bent on killing the traitor.

A bolt of ice formed into a block in front of Neo and trapped Cinder's blades inches from Neo's head. Cinder pulled hard on the glass swords to free them, but instead shattered them. The woman turned on Weiss as she grabbed a vial of orange dust from her belt and swung her arm, casting the particles into the room. Neo threw herself between Cinder and Weiss to try to hide her partner behind the open parasol. Weiss cast a glyph and completely unloaded her air dust immediately followed by her water dust from Myrtenaster's chamber to create an icy mist to try to offset the orange's fire properties. The air dust from Weiss blew a significant portion of the orange dust back onto Cinder as she activated her aura to ignite it.

The explosion was deafening and blew Cinder hard into the concrete block wall with the door. Weiss and Neo were reasonably well protected behind Neo's parasol and Weiss's cast icy mist. The shock wave hit Yang hard on right side; her semblance absorbed most of the damage as it threw her into the wall. Stunned from the impact against the wall, she landed on top of Mercury's body. Emerald took a full blow from the explosion and careened back into Weiss's mist field. Ruby saw the orange dust and knew what was about to happen and activated her Semblance and made for the door. Ruby dropped to her knees and leaned backwards as she slid underneath Winter's swords. Blake had just fired off a round from Gambol Shroud in kusari-gama form and landed a direct hit in the right side of Cinder's throat. She threw a stone shadow clone and hid behind it as it took most of the blast. Blood poured from the wound as the explosion died down and Blake pulled her weapon back to her.

Neo grabbed Myrtenaster from Weiss and dove towards Cinder. She grabbed Cinder by the throat with her left hand and dug her fingers into the wound. Neo forced Cinder to her knees and raised the rapier, the tip positioned between the woman's clavicle and throat on the opposite side of her neck from where she held the woman in place.

Cinder knew what was coming. She refused to show any fear as she stared Neo down, daring her to strike the final blow.

Neo couldn't bring herself to let Cinder know how thoroughly she had ruined her life, backed off from her original plan of telling the woman exactly who she was and why she spent the past seven years tracking her down to kill her. Instead, Neo steeled her resolve and drove the blade home. With little resistance, it pierced Cinder's skin and easily sliced into her vital organs. She twisted the blade and pulled it out.

Bright, red blood spurted from the wound as Cinder fell forward.

Ruby and Winter reentered the room as Blake, Yang, and Weiss stood over their foe as she was dying at Neo's feet in front of them.

"Ruby? Can you end her suffering?"

Ruby took a step towards Cinder and swung Crescent Rose in an overhanded arc, landing the tip of the blade in the back of Cinder's neck, and nearly severed the head from the rest of her body.

As Ruby pulled the scythe clear, she converted it into the more manageable rifle form and took aim at the badly burned Emerald; her pain so severe, she couldn't even scream.

"Winter?" Ruby asked as her eyes began to fill with tears.

"She's in excruciating pain, her entire body's burned… I don't thing there's anything anyone can do for her now."

"I'm sorry Em…"

The girl's pain was too much to bear; she never heard Ruby's apology or the sound of the large-caliber round being fired at her.

Ruby's tears fell freely as she turned back to Weiss and Neo.

"You did what you had to do, Ruby"

Ruby was shocked at the voice; it wasn't one that she knew. Unsure where it came from, she quickly looked around, she saw a black haired girl with vibrant green eyes holding Myrtenaster and wearing Neo's clothes.

"N-Neo?"

"I'm sorry you had to do that Ruby." It's finally over. Cinder's dead, just like everyone that vile woman had taken from me. Just like I had been all these years. Dead. Not really living. Only plotting. And now, there's nothing left. My mission's over. Neo sobbed. Gods! There's nothing left for me. I… I finally did it. And now… Neo looked at each of her teammates and Winter, "I'm sorry you all had to go through this because of me."

Neo spun Myrtenaster around, aimed the tip upward at the bottom of her ribcage, and readied herself for the pain as the blade pierced into her.

Her world went dark.

A/N: Sorry this is a day late ~ this is the longest chapter and one of the most difficult for me to edit due to the battle and trying to keep everyone's positioning straight and describe everything that's happening simultaneously.

As I'm sure you can tell, this story's winding down... I have about 12k words of a Velvet-centric story I started working on when I finished writing this one, but it's far from complete and I'm not sure I want to edit / post it before it's finished. I also have plans to edit an original (non-fanfiction) piece this year and try to shop it around to a publisher ~ I'm not going to disappear, but I do have several irons in the fire and I'm not sure how I want to post my next story, especially as it's incomplete right now.

lucassource - I normally reply to reviews through PM, but since yours is disabled: Can Neo teleport? I'm not 100% sure what to call it, but that's what I went with. Think back to the train at the end of V2 - Raven appears, Neo's eyes go white, she opens her parasol, and jumps backwards and vanishes with a flash. Is it an illusion or an actual teleportation? In the end, the effect is the same, she looks like she's somewhere, then gone. Similar to the way she created the illusion that shattered like glass when Yang punched it, only for the camera to pan to the Bullhead and show us Neo and Roman standing in the door as it flew away.

Generally, if you take the time to favorite the story, I send a quick PM to thank you ~ for those that don't have PMs enabled: Thank you so much! I appreciate your support. Likewise to everyone following: I hope the story's been worth your time and that the upcoming ending is worth the journey to get there.

Honestly, Weiss x Neo is pretty obscure and I thought I'd get about 20 views on this thing... Instead, I've been incredibly lucky and have somehow managed to gain some awesome followers that think this is "good" and enjoy reading it that I've been able to correspond with regularly. Thank you all!

After this, there's three chapters remaining (unless I add or combine anything), so it should be wrapping up next week. Feel free to share your thoughts ~ I'm a bit behind on my replies, but I'm working on them!

Enjoy the remainder of the holiday season and stay safe.

Best,
~shdwmchn