Dragonslasher20: I do not plan on killing Lisa, no. I have something else in mind.

Nightraze: Thank you, good to see that.

Tuutje 07: Why thank you, I consider myself an expert on the area of telegraph-style communication. Sort of. Thanks for the compliments! I think it is safe to suffice that this chapter will grant the answers you so desperately crave. Regarding Ozpin and Matt sending one team to take care of an enemy Saboteur: Intel. They lacked it.

Lay Down Hunter: What can I say; I dish out, I don't take. The name is Jason Mauve Cho, but everyone calls him Cho. He doesn't like that.

I used to write small thingies when I was tiny, but that was a looong time ago…especially considering my later work. But hey! Glad to see that explanations are good!

And I did base that mask off of him…just a bit, actually. But hey! Chapter was awesome, thanks!

XandricTheBeater: Nope, neither :) And I can imagine you thinking that, a high-spirited female pilot and all?

"The most overwhelming essential of any human being is the self-preservation; the will to survive. It has been the core element of our survival through the ages against enemies whose own need, borders at pure genocidal fury. However, there is one human nature that is more powerful and that nature is exactly what allowed us to prosper for so many years. It is the unconditional extent a soldier will go through to do their duty, for the greater good of all of mankind. The things they will do and the tasks they commit themselves to, with the proper state of mind"

- The ████████ - ██████of ████.

Day 35, Wednesday, 0:14

Professor Matt Adamant sighed explosively, knowing that something was terribly wrong. He could feel it in his gut, a strange, nasty sensation that seemed to drag on indefinitely. Headmaster Ozpin had seem quite sure of himself when he had started to explain his plan, but they had in fact not enough information to be sure of what to do. If someone was out to get Beacon, that person could either be a petty criminal or a very lethal individual. The fact that they had managed to take out three buildings after each other didn't say much about their capabilities or their skills, but them taking out team CRDL should have been an important point. Those four boys weren't the most gifted of students, but at least they had made their way into Beacon. And in close-quarters combat, they had a strongpoint. So one person, taking out all of CRDL at once? Trouble.

"We don't know for certain that anything is wrong, sir."

But this was Beacon Academy after all; the one place people went to if they wanted to become warriors. The students have been training for years to become the hope for the coming generations and that was even before they attended the prestigious Hunting Academy. Sending LACG had been a choice based on a desire to see what people could expect from the students, but also on the lack of intelligence that they had on the subject. But for all intents and purposes, sending Lisa's team wasn't the best decision he and Ozpin had ever made. They didn't know who was after the data Beacon sought to gather, nor did they know who said person worked for. A team sent to scout the position and ambush the Saboteurs was the most logical decision alright, but not the best. They should have sent two teams, or a Professor to assist them.

But of course, Ozpin had not seen it that way. And he could understand -he really could. These students were supposed to be the best of the best and they were unable to take down a single person even with the upper hand, one had to question why they even were at Beacon. But he had seen what a single man could do…and what the results of the wishes of another one could be. One man had founded Beacon and one man wished to destroy it. And no amount of students could stop such an individual.

"There was an explosion, Johnson."

They were currently standing on top the roof of the student Dormitories, looking at the small plume of smoke that was only visible through Johnson's military grade binoculars. He knew that something was wrong; they had both heard something exploding, yet the absence of completely visible smoke signaled that it had to have been at quite a distance.

"We don't know if it is them."

The Sapphirus Warehouse was too far away for them to see from the tower. He could not see if there were ambulances or police cars or fire-trucks, he could not see if it was the Warehouse that had exploded and he could not see if anything had exploded at all. He just knew that there was a big bang and that he had instantly clenched his teeth when he heard it.

"They should seek contact if they heard the detonation."

"They could have a…communication error?"

"Possible, yeah. Their comm tech is very prone to technical failure but…"Adamant collapsed his Aura device and stuck it in his pouch. "Preparations, Johnson. If this Saboteur truly is dangerous, they might need help."

"They won't be needing help sir; LACG is fully capable of fending for themselves. I trust that whoever these Saboteurs are, they won't get past them."

"I do hope so…the previous facilities were unguarded –as far as they can be unguarded, anyway. Because of that, the person was capable of infiltrating their infrastructure with relative ease but…we have NO idea of his or her true capabilities."

"LACG will get it done sir. They will guard that building successfully."

"You have only known them for a few weeks now Johnson."

"Right sir, but I knew Lisa from before. Grace too. I noticed Alessa on several occasions. Jason is truly the one whom I have never met beforehand."

"Yes…right, Mauve."

His sergeant-professor saluted him and turned to walk away, leaving him alone with his many thoughts. He might as well get busy with a lot of things…he still had two scrolls to tinker with. Using his equipment and the few technological bib-bats he had, he was perfectly capable of thinking aloud while developing something new.

He needed the processing power of the two scrolls and whatever he would do with those things, he would NOT make a device that could track the hidden transmitter chip that was totally NOT hidden in Lisa's right shoe. And when he had done that, he would NOT attempt to triangulate her position using other hacked devices. He wouldn't do ANY of that.

It didn't take long for Johnson to return, however. Or at least he didn't think it was long…it might as well have been hours. Was it dawn already? He couldn't tell.

"Matt! Sir! We got trouble!"

"What is it Johnson?" He agitatedly replied. "Can't you see that I am busy over here?" Still not making tracking software.

The dark-skinned man ran his professional and very analytic gaze over the Aura device, two cannibalized scrolls that made up a large antenna-like device and several micro-chips spread across the flat roof.

"No sir, but you need to hear this!"

Then Johnson opened his own, military scroll and played a recorded message. "I intercepted this from the Vale PD forces sir!"

The scroll played the message and the first few seconds were nothing but interference and garbled noises. But then the voice started talking. "We got activity at the Sapphirus Warehouse, it seems that someone has detonated an explosive device. Can you check it out?"

"Getting a view now: it seems that the Warehouse is gone, sir. Whatever went off had to have destroyed the structural foundations; the entire building has collapsed-"

Johnson shut his scroll off again. "That explosion we heard-"

"-I know-"

"-It was the Warehouse!"

"-I know!"

"Sir, what do we do now?"

""I don't know!"

"I that why you are preparing your weapon?"

"Hammer Johnson, it is an Aura hammer now. And I mean no! I am not preparing my device, I am going to sit here and not get involved."

"It that á lie?"

"OF COURSE IT'S A LIE!"

"Sir, what do we do now?"

He turned to face the military man. "We?"

"Yes sir. I don't know what happened there, but I do know of the Saboteur. If he truly managed to breach LACG's defenses, they will need all the help they can get."

"Yes…you are right. I will prepare the cars, you keep monitoring the Vale PD radio feed and tell me exactly what it is they have found. Then we'll leave for the Warehouse. Got it?"

"Sir!"

Matt nodded at his Johnson and left the roof, feeling unsure on how to feel. The most prominent emotion he had right then and there was an extreme sense of worry for his younger sister and her team. He and Ozpin had been the ones to send her there and now she was in danger.

He couldn't be sure as to what had happened to Lisa and her friends yet. They could be dead, they could be alive, but until he had more information about them, he could not reach a conclusion yet.

But as he moved towards the vehicle depot to fetch Johnson's jeep and his own car, his scroll started to buzz and he was notified of another person wanting to contact him. He pulled it out and was surprised to see that it was already two o'clock. He had been tinkering for quite some time, it seemed.

"Adamant." He answered the call.

"Headmaster Ozpin here. By now, I reckon you know what has happened?"

"Yes." Ozpin knew him and his information gathering surprisingly well. Who else would suspect him of overhearing an intercepted Police call in the middle of the night?

"Where are you now?"

"Near the cars. Why"

"What happened wasn't your fault. We made the decision together."

"I know we made it together. That makes it worse."

"Nobody could have suspected that one person was capable enough to blow through LACG's ambush."

"And yet we did. We both suspected that someone with great possibilities was behind this and we sent four students to deal with it."

"I know, I am doing everything possible at this time. But when faced with improper odds, you make a move. Waiting around for something else to happen, is always worse than doing nothing. You know this better than most."

"Yeah, well…our decision was wrong."

"Had it been wrong at the time we made it, we would not have made it in the first place."

"For every decision is in itself based on elements. I know. Thanks."

He switched his scroll off and focused on finding his vehicle. Johnson's jeep was fairly easy to find, but his own car didn't have a specific spot assigned to it. And he nearly always forgot where he had parked it.

While he searched, Johnson contacted him again. "The officials still hadn't found a trace of any of the students sir; they are currently searching for survivors."

"Keep me posted."

If this was the same person, LACG would still be alive, as CRDL had also been left alive too. And this WAS the same person, he was willing to bet on it. Torchwick was beyond this all. He had not been taken out when Onyx forces moved to eliminate all the crime-syndicates in Vale and he had remained at large. And now, some unknown person was attacking their only means of transcribing the glyphs and ruins that had been left through the ages.

But why? Why would Torchwick want to sabotage their information if not for spite? What did he hope to win from that? And more importantly, who was he using to get past LACG and the other defenses? Was the entire slaughter of the southern compound just him, removing loose ends and taking care of opposition? In that case, he needed to inform with Fireteam Lima.

Roman Torchwick wasn't afraid of using lethal means to get what he wanted, that was for sure.

Matt found his vehicle and climbed aboard, activating the engine and bashing the BELAY button. He had three things to worry about: Onyx, Torchwick and now this unknown person working to sabotage them. Unless Torchwick was the unknown person…so much loose things and ends…were they all connected? And why now of all years?

"Professor Adamant?" His subordinate contacted him half an hour later, having also gotten into his ride to travel to the Warehouse after setting up a few things.

"Johnson?"

"The Vale PD is there now. They are reporting car tracks and boot prints and a very destroyed Warehouse. It is definitely destroyed sir, no sign of bodies yet. They are advancing the search."

"Anything else?"

"Well…there is one thing."

"Enlighten me."

…

An hour later, Johnson was still doing a pretty good job finding information at the Warehouse. The most important piece of information however, was also one that made things more difficult.

"Matt, sir? I arrived at the scene about twenty minutes ago. The Vale PD got no clue as to where team LACG is. There are several things that I need to tell you though."

Well, the last time Johnson had told him something it was his suspicion that someone from Beacon might be feeding the Saboteur information. It was as intriguing as it was disturbing, especially since he did not know anyone that he might not trust within Beacon. Well, that wasn't entirely true, but still.

He coughed and tried to focus on what he needed to focus on right now. LACG was not present at the Warehouse…problematic.

But they had their communicators, so they should be able to set up a secured encrypted channel to contact Beacon. Unless the Saboteur had killed them and taken their bodies to dispose of…but that did not make sense, seeing as he or she had let CRDL live. No…there had to be something else going on.

"How's the investigation Johnson?" He asked. He had given Johnson his newly tinkered duel-scroll antenna to find any useful signals -including Lisa's totally not existing tracker- that would allow them to locate them.

Because LACG must have gone after the Saboteur to take him down, the clever girls. And clever Cho.

But…then there was the question of them not contacting Beacon. Why hadn't they contacted Beacon? They must have realized that they couldn't beat the guy on their own after he destroyed the building…perhaps their communication devices had gotten destroyed? That had to be an option.

"Investigation's going damn well! They found several dozens of footprints to the north of the Warehouse, together with car-tracks. And I found something else."

"What then?"

"You are not going to like it sir."

"Hit me."

Matt half expected the man to reach through the phone and slap him in his face, but that didn't happen. What happened instead was way worse.

"Right at the north side of the building, a good forty meters away from where I suspect the rest of the team to have gone down: Lisa's Type-25 ammunition rounds. All spent."

So…multiple dozen footprints to the north…Lisa's discarded rounds and a total lack of LACG…those were some pretty important clues as to what was going on. But…it could be worse, right? "Johnson, keep monitoring the communications."

"Sir!"

Johnson was a really big help on this. Once he had located the team, he would have a serious talk with them about proper procedure. Something must have gone wrong during their fight.

So in short, what did he know? The Warehouse had been destroyed in an explosion but no bodies had been found. The footsteps of many people had been found nearby, next to car tracks. They weren't at the Warehouse, but Johnson believed he could use his own tracking skills to follow them –and he did not doubt his friend for one second.

The Adamant sighed and continued searching for his own clues. While Johnson was moving to get team LACG, he had to find whoever was responsible for sabotaging their mission and make him pay. If the individual was truly competent enough to fend of team LACG while they were dug in, he or she needed to be apprehended by a Professor.

Such as him.

He was about to exit his car and start an investigation near the woods to the west of the Warehouse when Johnson called him again.

"Go ahead Johns."

"Matt, I got Grace on the phone here. Putting her through to you."

"Johnson I could kiss you!"

"Sir, not during a crisis period."

"Right, patch her through."

Oh that good old Sergeant-Professor Tanzanite Johnson. Finally did all those months of wetwork and counter-intelligence work out for him! He would bake the man a cake and invite his girlfriend to give him a striptease he would.

No! He had to focus. Cake later, Grace now.

"Grace Auburn, is that you?"

"Professor Adamant? Are you there? Thank god, we need help!"

"What is it you need?"

"Cho is unconscious –I think he is really badly hurt. He got knocked out when the Saboteur smashed his head in against the curb."

"That sounds bad. I'll come get you and-"

'-Matt, they have Lisa."

"Come again?"

"The criminals that came after the Saboteur took Lisa! She gave us the DSM and lured them away with a fake. I think they kidnapped her!"

"…Grace, listen to me and listen well. Johnson is going to pick you up. You will send your location to him and conceal yourself at the coordinates you are currently hiding at."

"Matt, what are you going to do?"

"I'll find Lisa. You just stay put and do something against the bleeding."

"How did you-?"

"No time to explain, just do it." He urged her and started his car again. Screw the west, Lisa was to the north and that was where she was taken by the criminals. The Saboteur had back-up…if he found Lisa, he found the criminals and if he found them…he knew who the runner was working for.

But that was not important at the moment; finding his younger sister was.

He switched the scroll to Johnson's frequency and contacted him. "Sergeant, did you get that last call?"

"Sure as hell did, on my way to the source now. ETA damn quick!"

He could always trust Johnson. But it was currently night-tine, so LACG had to be tired. Very tired. There was no telling who would be after them and after such a stressing fight, they couldn't be ready to defend themselves. It was vital that Johnson got to them in time to defend them and in the meantime…he would have a little trip to find his sister.

"Thanks Tanzanite."

"Sir with respect –I will have to make you eat your bowtie if you call me that again."

"Why? Isn't your first name?"

"JOHNSON SUFFICES!"

The resulting burst of static nearly blew his ear-drums. "Ouch. Got it."

"Sir? One more thing?"

"Yes?"

"I found multiple pairs of red sunglasses, black hats and red blades a few meters away from Lisa's grenades. It seems that the gang that is responsible for taking Lisa was also responsible for the Dust shop robberies…Junior's men."

So those mumbling baboons had taken Lisa? Good, they were too stupid to hurt anyone without killing them. If it were The Lonely Angels, it would be a whole different thing. Junior's goons were adapt at getting their asses handed to them by girls and…well, him. If they had taken Lisa for whatever purpose, they would be having a very hard time actually keeping her.

And he would find them…and take them out.

Day 35, Trophy room, 10:33

Aside from the newscast of the destroyed Warehouse and the curious absence of both Will and team LACG, the morning had gone by relatively easy. The first-years earliest lesson had started around eight o'clock and had been purely Professor Port lecturing them on how to deal with a Nevermore. As interesting as the college had been however, there were still a few things that pressed down on her mind quite heavily. The most noticeable of those was the seeming destruction of another Warehouse. That was the third building related to Beacon this week to have been hit. It was getting a bit suspicious…and Pyrrha Nikos really hoped that Headmaster Ozpin would find a way to deal with it. Fearing for terrorist strikes while relaxing in the city wasn't one of the things she really looked forward to doing.

But that problem aside, things were going fairly well. Jaune had finally managed to get rid of Cardin bullying him, had revealed his secret to everyone important and did not get kicked out of Beacon. She was happy for her leader; it was good to have him back.

Although Pyrrha felt kind of bad for team CRDL that they got beaten up by someone attacking the place they had been guarding. But without CRDL and LACG in the colleges, things were pretty quiet. Perhaps Ozpin had sent LACG on such an escort mission too? It would explain where they had gone. Or perhaps they just had different classes scheduled than them? Both options were there…but there was no way of knowing for sure.

And RWBY had left the most recent lesson –History with Professor Oobleck- relatively early on with some lame excuse.

"Things that needed to be done needed to be done," Ruby had told the man. And if that hadn't been bad enough, Oobleck had actually accepted that excuse and let them leave the classroom.

There were a lot of signals that there was something strange going on, but she didn't want to worry about them. For once, she wanted to go through a few days without having to worry.

So instead of dining in the dining hall or strolling through the gardens, she had decided to visit the trophy room for once and see what the fuzz was all about.

It was a beautiful building, with pillars and stunning artworks decorating the walls. There were three walls dedicated to describing the heroics and feats of the students attending Beacon –and the current wing was solemnly dedicated to the first-year students.

Pyrrha could see Jaune Arc written on the right, next to her own name. His currently only standing feat was 'attending Beacon Academy without combat experience.'

Despite the feat being charged with meaning to her teamleader, she couldn't help but smile at it. It was just funny that Professor Adamant had managed to get Jaune's biggest self-harming mistake turned into something good.

Her own name had –understandably- more feats and accomplishments assigned to it. Her achievements at Sanctum were really standing out, as well as 'being the face of cornflakes'. Whoever had designed these titles was a genius.

She wanted to move on to the wall of team RWBY, but then she noticed that someone else was standing in the room as well.

Pyrrha felt her ears sting with heat when she realized that she had been so engrossed in the beauty of the room that she had completely failed to check her surroundings. She should do better than that!

The person wore a black suit, complete with armoured components and a helm with a tinted visor. It identified him as a member of team Lima, the soldiers that had come to assist Beacon –commonly known as 'those four'. Their disregard for human life might have been limited only to criminal murderers, but their behaviour remained a solid fact: they didn't speak to any of the students and kept referring to themselves with numbers.

Pyrrha couldn't stand people like that…but they hadn't done anything to directly harm her or her friend…and they had probably helped save their lives. So she would accept them.

If only barely.

She stepped closer, moving as silent as she could in an attempt to get past him. She had come here to be alone for a while and had no desire to be anywhere near those soldiers. But then she noticed a short chain hanging on the person's waist: it was a pretty blue gem hanging on a silver chain. It looked like it should belong to a woman –had he stolen it from someone? No, their captain would not allow that. Why else would he have that then? Had he found it somewhere and decided to keep it? Or did he think it was evidence of some crime that was committed somewhere, taking it from the location?

She really shouldn't be thinking so negatively about people.

The helmeted figure turned around and faced her –as much as 'facing' was possible when a person had no face. "Miss Nikos?"

He caught her by surprise; Pyrrha had not expected him to actually know her. "You know my name?" She asked, indulging herself in a conversation.

"Everyone here knows your name," He replied. If she didn't know better she would think that he almost sounded…excited.

"Ehm…okay?" She said, not knowing how to reply to that. She usually disliked people looking up to her purely because of past achievements. She wanted to be treated like a normal person, not like she was some kind of celebrity.

"Is it true that you won the Mistral tournament three times in a row?" He then asked, proceeding to leave her even more flabbergasted. They had never bothered t eve partake in a conversation with students, but now this one talked to her on his own with an almost childlike curiosity. Why was that?

"What is it to you?" She asked back and crossed her arms, perhaps sounding a bit too harsh.

"Just…curious…" he said again and turned back to the wall, looking at the accomplishments. "You students are well-known." It didn't sound like a snide remark, but more like a statement.

"Known by whom?" She suspiciously asked him.

"This city."

Why did it matter to him that the students were well-known? He sounded nice enough, but she just couldn't shake the thought of him murdering those surrendering criminals with such ease; extinguishing their lives with the casual press of a trigger.

Pyrrha wanted to leave, but her curiosity needed to be sated first. Giving people a second chance was very important to her; all human beings were redeemable in one way or the other. And as much as she wanted to hate this team Lima for their casual butchering of dozens of people, she could not ignore the fact that those criminals had come after kids with tanks and helicopters. Second chances ended there.

But this person, having suddenly changed in her mindscape, could perhaps still change if he was subjected to the right people. Jaune had changed for the better and perhaps Cardin had too. And whether the students of Beacon wanted to admit it or not, these people had been vital to their survival.

Everybody deserved second chances. "Do you kill easily?"

He turned around again. "What?"

"Back at the criminal compound, days ago. You and your teammates killed more than a dozen people within a minute. How did you feel about that?" She was relatively good at spotting body language. Even if this person wore full-body armour, she could still see a slight slump of his shoulders and a lowering of the head.

Then he shrugged. "They were bad, so it's alright."

…bad? Who talked like that? "What do you mean, bad? "

"Just that. They were bad people who killed innocent people. So they needed to die."

That…what? "But they were surrendering. You could have handed them over to the VPD."

He shook his head. "Nah. It is the only thing I can do," He then said and then looked back when he heard something near the entrance. She had heard it too and she quickly spun around, wanting to see who had disturbed them here.

"Come on Two-Three," Another Lima stood near the entrance of the trophy room. "Chit-chat with the nice lady later, now we got things to do."

Nice lady? That was a very odd figure of speech. It sounded a bit condescending…towards her or to the person named Two-Three?

"Coming Two…" The soldier stated, sounding happy at the intrusion. "Talk to you later Miss Nikos."

And then the two mysterious soldiers left, but not before the tall one stared at her for a few seconds. Even though he was wearing a helmet, she could still feel his glare.

And then he too left, leaving her alone with a considerably less happy feeling

~0~

Headmaster office, 12:23

"You said Ozpin wanted to see us?"

"Yeah, he sent me a message himself. No Goodwitch, no Matt, it's very strange."

"So if we knock on his door, he won't be kicking us out?"

"No Ruby, don't be afraid of the Headmaster."

Just fifteen minutes ago, Headmaster Ozpin had sent Ruby a message saying that he had an important mission for them to undertake. He said that it would be…vital…for them to arrive when they could, even if it meant getting out of their lessons.

So she had come up with an awesome excuse to leave Professor Oobleck's History lesson and she had taken Weiss, Blake and Yang with her.

This mission of Ozpin probably had something to do with the string of violence against Beacon's friends…and the destruction of Sapphirus Warehouse. Or something of equal importance.

Ruby gathered her courage and knocked on Ozpin's door.

"You can come in," The Headmaster's voice rang out.

"Let's go," She told her team and entered the office. The first thing she noticed was the dark state in which Ozpin's office was; the windows were shut and the only light came from a small lamp.

"You asked for us sir?" She verified with a voice that sounded weaker than she had hoped. It was always very scary when the Headmaster of a combat school asked for you.

"Yes, I did." The white-haired man said and did not reach for the cup of coffee that was standing in front of him. That meant trouble. "We have a situation. A troublesome one."

"Does it have something to do with the weird explosion last night?" Yang bluntly asked.

"In a way, yes." Ozpin said. "As you are well aware, there has been a string of violence against certain buildings in Vale. Warehouses, research labs and Dust stores."

"That is correct," said Blake.

"As you are well aware of, Miss Rose, the wanted convict named Roman Torchwick is behind one of the Dust robberies. However, the Warehouses and Research labs contained more important things than mere Dust. Like I said, I have an important mission for you. But I must be honest with you four. This will be a dangerous operation…Professor Goodwitch will inform you and after that, you can decide whether or not to take this mission."

"Is this about the sabotage that took place? The explosion in the city?" Yang asked.

"It is."

"There is no way we are going to refuse that!" Weiss told the Headmaster.

"That's right!" Ruby added, forming a fist and putting it on the table to show how badass their team was. "Professor Goodwitch can bring it on!"

On cue, the door slammed close behind them and revealed the slender form of Glynda Goodwitch standing behind them.

Ruby involuntarily screamed with surprise and fear when she saw the woman. It went coupled with the noise, it really did! And Weiss had the exact same reaction, although with less noise and less…arm flapping.

Yang only exclaimed a mild "Oh" when she saw the Professor and Blake lacked a reaction altogether.

That sneaky teacher had been standing behind the door the whole time!

"This is not a something to joke about!" Glynda Goodwitch told them. "I will take it from here Headmaster Ozpin."

The white-haired man nodded once and got up from his chair, walking out of his own office to leave for some unknown Headmaster-Ozpin-duty.

"Now then," Goodwitch started, looking very agitated. "First of all, a debriefing. Beacon has multiple allied groups and organizations in Vale. Half of them are currently working at the decryption of runes and glyphs found at ancient ruins near Beacon's foundation site, the other half are involved with keeping important pieces of art and culture."

"Are these important enough to gain attention from a Saboteur?" Ruby asked the teacher.

"They are. However, a person most likely working with or close to the wanted convict Roman Torchwick has set his or her eyes on this data-"

"-someone got there too early-" Yang softly joked.

"-and in doing so, has already destroyed three major facilities."

Yang slowly opened her mouth to say something else, then decided better and shut up. Most, if not all of the humor had been lost at that mentioning.

"How many people died?" Blake softly asked.

"Luckily, these facilities were lightly guarded and populated. So far, the casualty rate is zero. But beware! This only means our enemy is cunning and guile. Continuing on the topic: last night, we all heard the distant detonation."

"Now it comes!" Yang whispered, not really taken back after all.

"It was the destruction of the Sapphirus Warehouse, an important structure to which team LACG was assigned as protection."

"What?" Ruby snapped, forgetting the fact that she was talking to a Professor. "Are they hurt? Did anyone die? Are they okay?"

The rest of her team was equally shocked. As soon as their brains had processed just what Goodwitch had told them, they all started yelling and asking questions and statements.

"What happened?"

"Who did that?"

"Are they alright?"

"Was it the Saboteur?"

"Please be quiet," Glynda said and pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. Judging from her tired eyes and slightly less tidy hair, she had been kept very busy by this. There was every possibility that she had been having a lack of sleep lately, possibly because of this Saboteur.

So Ruby shut up and the rest of her team followed her example, except for Yang who asked one final question: "What was that facility doing?"

She poked her sister in her ribs and that shut her up too.

Eventually the Goodwitch started talking again. "Professor Adamant set out to find them last night. He and Professor Johnson managed to locate three of the members of the team. Their situation is bad, but so far there is no lethal damage found with them." She paused for a few seconds and then softly added: "Lisa Adamant is missing in action. Professor Adamant has confirmed that she has been kidnapped by criminals last seen working for Roman Torchwick."

"Torchwick?" Ruby asked, already feeling angry. "This Saboteur works for Torchwick?"

"His ass is screwed!" Yang growled, her eyes briefly shifting between red and violet.

"So this person took out LACG all alone? And then kidnapped Lisa?" asked Blake.

"No. The criminals arrived later and were there to take the data that Lisa had hidden. From Grace's report, the Saboteur left when the reinforcements arrived."

"What is our mission?" Ruby asked the teacher, having heard enough, "to guard another building? Wait for this guy to show his face?"

"No," Glynda told them, "You are going to track him down and capture him. We need to know who he truly works for and why did what he did. According to Professor Johnson, the Saboteur won because LACG was forced to protect a valuable target. If you force him in the defensive, you can take him down. According to Alessa, they managed to wound him moderately to severely."

"Where will we look for him?" Blake asked.

"The Red-Fire Research Laboratory," Glynda told Blake and sent Ruby the coordinates of the facility to her scroll. "According to the Professors, this is the last and most important target that the Saboteur will target."

"Got it!" Ruby verified and got to her feet. "Can we go now?"

She honestly expected the Professor to deny her offer and let her wait till Thursday, but much to her surprise, the woman nodded. "Yes. The sooner the better. I will contact the necessary people. Good luck…and be careful girls. LACG experienced some nasty wounds."

"Yes ma'am!" Weiss said and started towards the door.

"What now?" Yang asked.

"First we visit LACG to ask them a few questions…then we visit the Research facility and capture the Saboteur," said Ruby. It was time to contact Lotus, the designated flyer for their missions.

Get a ship, get to the hospital and then get to their guy. If only the plan could stay a plan this time.

LACG had a better plan and look how that worked out.

The Cradle Hospital, 13:06

"Ladies!" Johnson later welcomed them and got to his feet, rising in all his military glory –as much as that was present. His normally ever-so tidy fatigues looked sloppy and damaged; there were several cuts and scrapes across his pants and his eyes looked darker than ever.

But once he flashed them a smile with perfect white teeth, Weiss recognized him as the Professor that he was. He might be strange and rude, but he was professional and knew what to do. And he had managed to single-handedly track down Alessa, Cho and Grace and bring them to the hospital back in one piece. In the middle of the night. That wasn't nothing –and even though she did not really like him as a person, she had to admit that he was truly deserving of the respect and awe that other students had for him.

"Sergeant-Professor!" Yang and Ruby saluted –and she resisted the urge to do the same.

"I was briefed on your coming operation!" The man explained while he led them through a series of hallways. He had been waiting for them at the entrance of the hospital to escort them to the room where LACG was currently recovering. Or what was left of LACG.

"What does that mean?" Ruby asked her older sister, "I don't know soldier-talk!"

"It means that they told him what we are supposed to do today!" The blonde said, having probably read her fair share of military gossip in her weird hobby.

"I can't let you in for longer than a few minutes –there's a nasty-ass doctor in there; woman despises me. She'll beat me like a drum if you stay in there for longer than ten minutes. Apparently she likes kids. Rose! You are good to go."

"Thank you sir!" Said Rose replied. Weiss felt the urge to tell her to be careful, but she stayed quiet.

They reached a white door, which the Professor held open for them.

"Johnson, I swear to god if you disturb me one more time I will shove this syringe up your –hello, I am Doctor Azure." A woman with platinum blond hair yelled, before she quickly corrected herself and changed her tone. "Who are you?"

Johnson swallowed and slowly entered the room, making sure to shove Ruby in first. "This is team RWBY, another team from Beacon. They are going to hunt down the person responsible for hurting those three."

Weiss hesitantly entered the room, staring at the three people she could call friends. Cho was lying in a bed with bandages wrapped around his head and a breathing mask attached to his mouth. Grace was also lying in a bed, but she was sitting upright and –in contrast to Cho- fully conscious.

The normally always cheerful and relaxed Grace didn't do anything to acknowledge their presence; she kept on staring at a point on the floor, completely ignoring them. She looked very pale and had fresh-looking bandages around her waist…that looked painful.

"Grace…" Yang softly said and looked around, taking in the details of the room. "What happened?"

"Jason Mauve Cho has moderate trauma to the cranium and a minor concussion. He will be fine if he takes it easy and doesn't overexert himself –that goes for all three of you, by the way," The scary doctor explained. "Grace Auburn has a deep stab-wound in her side, but was lucky that the wound was not lethal. It was really close –another half centimeter and it would have pierced a vital organ. All three of them have multiple bruises and cuts."

"Yeah…lucky…" Ruby whispered.

"Alessa Noctis has two bruised ribs and a minor crack in a third. In addition, she has a sprained wrist and a torn muscle in her left arm. The two girls will recover this day, I think. Mauve, however, will take longer. Aura takes a long time to heal possible head trauma."

Weiss frowned, for the very first time understanding what they had gotten themselves into .Whoever was responsible for this had really wanted to hurt LACG –yet none of them had actually been lethally wounded. Either they were very lucky, or this Saboteur was just a pushover when it came to finishing his targets. Maybe he or she could not stomach the idea of actually killing someone?

"Grace…Alessa? I hate to disturb you like this, but we need your help. We need to know how to take this guy down and what to expect," Ruby asked the wounded students. Grace was still staring at the floor, but she also clenched one of her hands into a fist. Alessa looked at her for a second –still wearing her blindfold- and then looked at them. "He is fast…" she began with a soft voice.

"He uses a knife… and a pistol," Grace then spoke up, taking over from her partner without looking up. "And…he is dangerous."

"I think that is about all I can allow, really," The doctor sighed and crossed her arms. "I have let you stay here long enough, now it is time for you to take your leave. I do wish you good luck on your mission and hope not to see you here too, but I cannot let you disturb my patients any longer.

"Crazy fool…" Johnson whispered.

"What was that?" The doctor snapped.

"Case is foul," the Professor quickly repeated. "This whole Saboteur thing."

"Right…I think you had better leave now."

Weiss nodded and followed Ruby outside the room, allowing Johnson to close the door behind her.

"I'll stick close to the place in case anyone wants to finish the job!" The military man said. "You get going on your mission. Move it!"

They all saluted him, except for Blake. But that was because she disliked soldiers in general.

"That was…depressing," Yang stated.

"I have never seen Grace like that…" Ruby replied, sounding shocked.

"Neither have I seen Jason like that. He always seemed so…indestructible," Blake added.

"It must have been really heavy for Grace," Ruby then said and opened the door that let them out of the hospital again.

"How come? She wasn't hit the hardest, was she?" Yang asked.\

"No, but think of it this way: her best friend, one she had had since childhood, gets kidnapped by criminals who are capable of doing who knows what horrible things to her, her partner gets beaten up and her friend gets hurt so bad that he was knocked out. I am willing to bet that she is traumatized by this…if I look at her."

Weiss didn't want to argue with Ruby when it concerned people, but she really didn't want her friend to be right at the moment. "Grace will over it; I mean, Matt is after Lisa and we all know that Lisa is too stubborn to be hurt. Things will be fine!"

"Does Grace know that?" Yang replied.

"Let's focus on the mission…the sooner we bring this guy to justice, the better it is," Blake angrily said. When that girl showed emotions other than satisfaction or dissatisfaction, things were going down.

"Hell yeah, I can't wait to get my hands on him!" Yang exclaimed.

"Locus is waiting, let's get to the Research Lab and catch him," Ruby decided and that was final.

En route to Red-Fire Research Lab, 13:27

"Alright team RWBY!" Ruby started to explain the mission one more time, signaling for her team to stop. They had currently reached the edge the roof of a large, abandoned house. More than ten minutes had gone by since them leaving their dropship and finally reaching the Research lab. "Let's go through the things we know again. The person we must capture is dangerous, fast and uses…a knife."

"Right," said Blake..

"But LACG managed to wound him or her, so it should be easy going. Johnson sent me a rapport describing bow he looks like. Weiss?"

Her partner cleared her throat and activated her scroll. "The Saboteur originally wore a large, black coat. It was burned during their fight. He has a pair of red sunglasses and wears a 'skull mask' to hide his face-"

"Coward…" Yang muttered.

"-Target is highly dangerous and has shown the capability to withstand close-combat, nonlethal slash wounds and a sufficiently high dosage of electricity that would have knocked an Ursa on its can."

"Yay…" Blake quietly cheered.

"That's it people!" Ruby told her team and got to her feet. "The building we need to get this guy is just up ahead. We will stick around and wait for him to appear and then oppose him."

"So we'll do the same as LACG did?" Blake asked her.

"Yes, but we don't have to protect anything. Professor Johnson told us that the Saboteur is more important than the data. So…get cozy, I guess?"

"Did you bring pillows then?" Her older sister asked.

"Ehm…no…"

Yang sighed and fell silent, as did the rest of her team. Their guy had yet to show up, but they knew that he would get there eventually. So, they took turns in watching the building. First Yang and Blake and then Weiss and Ruby.

"What do you think of this?" Her white-haired partner eventually asked when it was their turn to watch again. They were lying on the roof of the building, constantly shifting their positions to something more comfortable. Sitting and waiting for some jerk to show up while on top of a roof wasn't the most comfortable of things to do.

"I think this is painful," Ruby grumbled and repositioned herself, this time sitting on her legs instead of on her buttocks.

"No you dolt, this! This mission. We have this Torchwick guy to worry about, these criminals who tried to kill us a week or two ago and now this! Why are there so many people out to get Beacon?"

"You know Weiss," She started, "When we become Huntresses, we will be the protectors of the innocent people. Slaying monsters, catching bag guys, it will be our daily job. Some of the bad guys out there don't agree with it. And don't forget; we attacked those criminals first.

"But how come they are so organized? Who is behind it?"

"I guess Torchwick is. But now that we have contact with Atlas, things can only improve…right?"

"I guess so. Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure!"

"Are you and Yang related by blood, or is one of you adopted/" Weiss then asked, very suddenly.

Ruby thought her answer through for a few seconds before deciding that she could trust Weiss with it. "Yang and I have different mothers, but the same father." She replied and shifted her gaze on the research lab again.

"How does that work?" Weiss asked, but then Ruby noticed something that was more important than her own personal history.

"Look! That's the guy!" She excitedly said and pointed at the building. She had spotted the right one alright; even from this distance she could see that he did not belong there.

The person was moving very carefully, moving from cover to cover and never actually getting into view of the Red-Fire facility. Too bad that they could see him perfectly.

"Get him!" She yelled and gestured for Yang and Blake to move –which they promptly did. There was no way that the person could have seen them from that distance neither could he have heard them –and yet his head shifted to their direction and she could have sworn that he stared her right in her eyes.

But that was impossible. And while the Saboteur continued to advance towards the building, they advanced towards him. But Ruby couldn't just attack him like that, she had to give him a chance to surrender. LACG had wounded him and he might give in when he saw that he was outmatched…yet she couldn't shake the sight of the three wounded students. And Lisa being kidnapped by a criminal group that was responsible for a lot of trouble.

And then she got angry.

"Hey you!" She yelled at him when she was close enough. The research facility had several waist-high walls between it and the surrounding area where all sorts of plants grew and she see him sneaking past one of them on his way to the building. She noticed that he had two large gashes in his torso, but she could not see whether he was actually wounded or just had bad luck concerning his clothes.

And then her gaze was attracted to his face and she instinctively gasped. She couldn't help it; despite having seen the most disturbing Beowolves that Remnant had to offer to them, the appearance of this man shocked her deeply. He wasn't even that tall; Johnson and Matt Adamant were both taller than he was by at least a foot. Neither was he built like a tank as she had initially expected; he was more muscled than an average male like Cho or Ren was. No, it was his face that elected such a reaction from her: he wore red sunglasses and a skull-mask alright. It was some sort of mask that was wrapped around his head, with the front shaped and coloured like a very pale skull. The pair of glasses made him look even worse, like some sort of skeleton from a place that could be called hell.

But Ruby would not let his appearance get to her. This man was a lowly criminal and had hurt her friends, sabotaged her new home and even gone as far as to allow a student to be captured at the hands of other criminals who weren't even helping him at that moment.

As soon as she called him out, he increased his speed dramatically and sprinted towards the facility, intent on getting past them like he had gotten past LACG to destroy the building. But they were faster.

Blake intercepted the Saboteur the moment he jumped in the air to crash through the window and unleashed a few lightning-fast blows with her katana. The Saboteur deflected them all with a black knife, which was one-fourth the size of her blade. It had a serrated edge on the back and was way larger than any normal knife she had seen.

The raven-haired girl and the masked man continued to exchange blows in midair for a few seconds, spinning and bending their limbs as Blake's greater speed and force pushed him back, before gravity got a hold of both of them and pulled them down again. There, he managed to outspeed Blake and dove at her, into the range of her blade. She stabbed at his ribs, but he sidestepped the strike and planted his elbow into her gut. Blake stumbled backwards and tried to recover from the blow, when Weiss reached them.

The white-haired girl had activated one of her speed-glyphs, launching her towards the rolling Saboteur at incredible speeds. He barely managed to avoid getting skewered at her sword by letting his body fall to the floor, making the sharp point of Myrtenaster swing through the air he had just occupied. Then, he lashed out with his leg and kicked Weiss to the side, as she held her sword with two hands above her shoulder. The stance allowed her to thrust her sword with more reach than normal, but it also made her vulnerable to counter-attacks

But his maneuver had cost him valuable time; Ruby and Yang caught up to him too and while both Blake as Weiss were slowly stumbling upright, the two sisters proceeded to engage the Saboteur in combat. Ruby swung her scythe at him in a circle-pattern causing him to use that curious knife again to deflect the sharp edge of her weapon. Doing so, however, knocked him off balance, as her weapon was many times larger than his and had way more swing to it. She took notice of his movements; the speed, the force and the calculation. It was all just precisely enough to fight to a stalemate. Why didn't he push harder?

Ruby's speed carried her overhead again, but Yang caught up where she had left and attacked the masked man on her own, swinging her Shotgun-gauntlets with lethal precision and efficiency at the openings Ruby had created. The blonde unleashed a quick jab at his chest, which he attempted to block by pivoting his knife against her wrist. But that was where his obvious tactic of deflecting full-blown strikes with a short blade got turned against him; her right fist blew right through his defense, spinning him around when his arm couldn't sustain the forces exerted on his blade. When he did so, Yang spun around and attempted to smash his head in with an uppercut. The masked man jumped backwards, but Yang pressed the attack and unleashed a series of well-placed punches and hooks, until he eventually dodged her last strike and closed in on her again. He was alternating between blocking and dodging, weaving in-between her attacks just to barley avoid the worst this. He grabbed her by her neck, spun around her and threw her to the ground. But Yang planted a fist on the ground and pulled him with her, unbalancing him and setting him up for a massive blow right at his chest

The impact sent the Saboteur stumbling backwards and he brought his left hand to his chest, grabbing the place where Yang's rock-hard gauntlet had impacted on his bones. There had been no Aura to protect him.

The brief opening lasted only a split-second. Then he charged forwards, recovering his stance and staging a counter-offense. He clashed with Yang again, fighting her in close-combat with nothing but his knife and a bare hand. Despite Yang out-brawling him in sheer strength, his speed still made it possible for him to get behind Yang and send her to the ground by swiping her legs out from underneath her body. But Blake was right on top of him again and slashed at him with her cleaver, splitting a piece of wall in half when he dodged her strike yet again.

"This guy is a slippery bastard!" Yang growled and brought her fists up again. "Blake, get down!"

The bow-wearing girl jumped to the ground and at the same time, both Yang and Weiss unleashed their ranged attacks in an elemental fury. He ducked low and sprinted to a piece of cover, dodging and jumping over the various attacks that had caught a Nevermore in mid-flight by surprise.

Ruby caught one glimpse of another ruined piece of clothing on the masked jerk; the right pipe of his black pants was bloodied and ruined. It appeared that someone of LACG had managed to inflect some pretty nasty gashes on his body. She had to give it to him that he was very good at defending himself against the four of them, if he was wounded like that.

She saw Weiss inhale sharply as the girl activated another glyph to unleash her Dust-powered attacks. Then, her partner clenched her teeth and grimaced. Why did breathing hurt her?

And then it hit her; this masked guy might be bad at actually fighting all four of them at the same time, but that didn't mean they should underestimate him in any way. He had kicked Weiss to the side during her attack, catching her in her stomach.

"Weiss," She asked her friend, feeling worried for her health. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine!" Weiss replied with an angry expression on her face. Was she mad that she had gotten hit during the fight or was she remembering how hurt LACG had been after the fight?

Their enemy managed to get above their attacks and landed on the roof of the Red-Fire research facility.

"How the hell did he do that?" Yang snapped and fired off a shot with both of her gauntlets, jumping after him with the massive recoil of those shotgun blasts. Weiss created a glyph and launched herself after him. Blake followed her example and shot her elastic ribbon to the roof of the building, her sword and pistol combination attaching itself to an iron bar.

Ruby used the recoil of her sniper to launch herself towards her team, wanting to take place in their conversation too. She was interested, despite the combat situation.

Blake narrowed her eyes and looked at the Saboteur more closely. "By using your shots to enhance his movements."

"That's bull-" Yang's eyes shot towards her and she corrected herself for some reason, choosing different words. "That's impossible, how does anyone except me do something like that?"

"Those shots are pure heat and kinetic energy, Blake." She told the ribbon-wearing girl. "You don't use their blasts for something positive."

Yang was sort of heat-resistant. Her close-quarters blasts didn't as much as singe her, but they meant hell for those that were hit. Like Grimm. Or Junior and his men. Or Grimm.

Blake sighed and pointed at the Saboteur, who had actually stopped moving to slice at his trousers with his knife. He cut the lower segments off and the singed, black piece of clothing fell to the ground. Then he plucked two thick pieces of…leather, apparently…from his legs and dumped them too. The badly burned fabric hit the ground too and then he was moving again, taking the fight to them/

"Was that padded enhanced combat-leather?" Blake asked with a hint of surprise.

Ruby could understand her teammate's surprise; the masked bad guy had placed thick leather padding around his legs after having fought LACG apparently, as he had managed to gauntlet-jump Yang's gauntlets. Which was impossible, as the heat should have crippled his legs. Damn this guy was clever! And pragmatic too… this might be problematic, what else had he planned? He had very obviously planned for fighting team LACG.

"Whatever it was, it's of no use to him now!" Weiss angrily yelled and readied her weapon.

Both Yang and Weiss seemed fairly angry with this person and Ruby could understand that. But she was the leader and she was supposed to keep a clear head at all times. She couldn't allow emotions to get in her way. Besides; those soldiers from Fireteam Lima had never indulged in severe violence against their enemies, preferring a quick kill above such means.

In a way, that made them both worse and better than RWBY. Curious, perhaps she should have a talk with one of them some time.

The skull-masked man ignored her remark and clashed with their team once again, whipping his knife up and down to block several blows from both Blake and Weiss respectively. It was suicide to engage all four of them simultaneously and he had to know that –why was he continuing to do so?

Blake lunged forward and yelled when she slashed at their enemy, who backed up to avoid the first two of her strikes. Then he counter-attacked and stabbed at her waist, but Blake jumped to the side and created one of the clone-mirages that her Semblance allowed her to use, distracting him and swiftly delivering two more blows to him. The first of these attacks missed as he jumped to the side too, but the second one grazed his left shoulder and he disengaged from Blake, before ducking and bashing his intact shoulder into her stomach to blow her away.

Again, no Aura.

As soon as he had caught that wound, Weiss jumped closer and swung her rapier at him, quickly spinning around to block a roundhouse kick aimed at her head with the hilt of her weapon.

Ruby closed in and struck at the Saboteur with her scythe to defend her partner, who narrowly managed to avoid a vicious punch directed at her chest. The skull-mask wearing hostile rolled to the side again and that was when Weiss managed to score a direct hit. She waved her Myrtenaster through the air and a black glyph appeared right underneath the Saboteur's feet, which caught him before he could even hit the deck. Another glyph appeared at the same time and launched several white lights at the hostile, pinning his limbs to the black glyph.

"Yeah! Take that!" Ruby yelled at the now captive man, but something was wrong. She had seen the attack coming he had seen the attack coming. He could have dodged it. Why hadn't he?

But Weiss wasn't done yet. Apparently, she had really taken the defeat of LACG and the destruction badly. Or she was just in a really foul mood. Or it was that time of the month again.

Whatever it was, it got Weiss pissed good, as the white-haired girl scowled with a vicious expression and made another difficult movement with her rapier. Then, the black glyph turned around and launched the Saboteur violently into the roof, causing several cracks in the pavement.

Ruby had NOT expected something like that.

"He's better off with that solution than mine!" Yang snapped and slammed her fists together in an angry fashion.

"That was brutal," Blake quietly said. She never seemed to like extensive violence –human lives were very sacred to her, but she knew her duty better than some other students. It was just like her to dislike such a violent act like Weiss had committed when aimed to a human, only to swallow her pride and admit that it was necessary.

And still the masked Saboteur got to his feet again, slowly rising from the cracked concrete surface with hunched shoulders and his gaze aimed at the floor. A lone crack had appeared on his sunglasses and a small tear was visible in his mask. He was bleeding from the wounds in his chest now –and then his head snapped up to look at them, before he charged at them again.

What did it take to bring this guy down? LACG had stabbed him, blown him up, set him on fire and even zapped him with Cho's electricity! And during this fight he has also repeatedly been beaten, slashed and then smashed into a full concrete floor-ceiling thing! Why didn't he know how to quit? Was he even human?

Moving one leg in front of another and keeping his arms synchronous with his sprinting movements, he closed the gap between them within seconds and she watched him closing in on them fast, unable to believe what she was seeing.

"I got this!" Yang yelled and jumped towards their nemesis, choosing to go all out against him now. Her Aura flared to life and a corona of fire and heat flashed emanated from her body. The cracks on the floor widened and elongated with the intensity of her Aura and she felt the heat wash over her, spreading like a great wind.

Yang grabbed the Saboteur in midflight by his shoulders and kicked him in his chest, which sent him flying off the roof and crashing into the grass below.

They followed the fiery blonde to the ground-level and Ruby watched as her older sister furiously walked up to the fallen warrior, grabbing him by the front of his smoking form and lifting him off the ground with one hand. She screamed with rage as she plowed her fist in his face one final time, causing his body to crash into another wall and slump to the ground…five meters away. Alright, now it was just obvious. He seemed to possess the skills to circumvent her brute force, so why had he allowed himself to be caught by that?

As he fell to his knees and placed his hands on the floor to prevent himself from fully falling over, the Saboteur's sunglasses fell to the ground in a collection of broken pieces. Half of his skull-mask had been sheared off by the sheer force of Yang's blow and when he attempted to stay upright, the other half fell off too.

He raised his head to look at them once more.

"No…" Blake whispered.

"How-?" Weiss muttered.

"You!" Ruby exclaimed, not understanding what she was seeing. This couldn't be. It wasn't possible.

Yang didn't even say anything; she just stared at the beaten form of their fallen nemesis, her mouth half opened as if she wanted to say something but couldn't find the words to express herself. Her Aura weakened and then faded away.

Ruby could see the shock and hurt in the eyes of her older sister and for once, she too couldn't find the proper words to express her feelings. Probably because there weren't any words to describe them.

It was Will.

"You…" Yang growled, her voice trembling and her fists clenching rigidly. "YOU BACKSTABBING LITTLE TRAITOR!"

Ruby had seen her sister a few times like that and she knew what was coming next. And now she found herself torn between interfering quickly and seeking shelter as soon as humanly possible.

How could this have happened? She liked Will. And he had liked her. At least, she thought so. Why did he work foe Torchwick? This didn't make sense! Had they been hurting him the entire time? Had he been trying to hurt them the entire time? Just who was he?

Will slowly brought his arms up and placed his hands on his neck, looking at them without any discernable emotion on his face besides fatigue. There was nothing. His eyes were empty, devoid of life. He was surrendering…to them? Was that because they had seen his face or because they had beaten him in combat?

Yang didn't let him surrender however and walked up to him with quick passes, her Aura exploding into being again with much more force and power than previously. The ground underneath her feet cracked with heat. The corners of Will's mouth rose ever so slightly and the blonde lashed out with her leg, catching him at the side of his head. His body got flung through the air again and he landed against another stone wall without even attempting to break his fall. Before he could do anything else than gasp as the air got knocked out of his body, Yang was on him again.

"I trusted you!" The girl screamed as she punched him in his stomach with her bare fist, not bothering to activate her gauntlets again. Her punches were strong enough to bash through metal and destroy concrete.

"Yang!" Ruby cried for her sister, but she didn't get an answer. She was forced to watch as her older sister mercilessly beat the already incapacitated boy up, throwing him around like a ragdoll without any resistance. She was understandably pissed, but Yang was taking it too far.

Her sister had always had emotion problems.

"We need to stop her!" Weiss pleaded her and grabbed her hand. "She'll kill him!"

Yang's Aura was still burning very actively and some of Will's clothing was already burning. Aura wasn't as lethal against humans as it was against Grimm, as it was a manifestation of the soul and not murder weapon.

But even a small manifestation could be used to deflect small arms fire when trained defensively…and Yang's Aura was naturally deadly. If you didn't have Aura left to protect yourself…

Will didn't scream or beg for mercy or anything like that. He just lay there and took the hits, averting his face to prevent worse damage every time he got punched again. Eventually, Ruby couldn't take it anymore. "Yang!" She screamed at her sister, "It's okay, you can stop now!"

The blonde's head snapped up and she looked at her, realizing just how far she had let herself go in her blind rage.

"Is he…still conscious?" Blake hesitantly asked and stared at the now ex-saboteur, who was currently lying on the ground with his arms wrapped around his ribs, with his back turned to them. Judging by his slow and subtle writhing in the dirt, he was still fully conscious.

Ruby pulled Yang in a tight hug and held her close. "It's alright Yang…don't worry about it. We'll call for the pilot to pick us up and…return to Beacon."

Her sister didn't reply, but she knew that the situation was far from alright.

"Why did he have to stay conscious during…that?" Weiss softly inquired.

As she grabbed her scroll to contact Lotus, she guessed that Will probably thought the exact same thing. He had a lot to answer for…and so did Yang. But Will had betrayed them all, betrayed Beacon with his actions. He had nearly killed LACG and allowed Lisa to be captured by the enemy.

But the sight of her sister being ready to violently murder someone who was surrendering to them had hit a particular sensitive spot in Ruby's heart.