Outside of the grunting coming from Ruby, Nora, and Qrow trying to remove the giant metal piece to free the hammer-wielding girl, everything was in perfect silence. Once the piece was finally out, it fell on the ground with a loud thud, but Nora just immediately ran towards Jaune who was desperately trying to somehow stop the bleeding.

Qrow and Ruby just looked at him with pity. Everyone knew, even he knew, that the damage was bad enough and she would be gone within minutes; but he was just desperate, expressing his remorse in his own way. With a loud sigh, Qrow then turned around and walked away knowing very well he was the last person Jaune, and Nora would like comfort from.

Jaune, as expected, was a mess; sobbing uncontrollably while desperately trying to stop the bleeding with a torn piece of his hoodie. "No, no, no, no. You can't go, you can't leave!". He then hung his head, allowing more tears to fall as Nora tried to comfort him with a pat on his back. "We need you…".

Pyrrha coughed violently, spilling blood over herself before talking and gasping for air. "Jaune… Nora… you… came…" she told them, sounding relieved. "I… want… say…" she then took a big gasp before continuing. "Sorry… sorry for… all".

Nora's tough act did not last long after that. She broke into tears and hugged Jaune, trying to get comfort from him now.

Ruby couldn't do much on her end either. First, she looked at her uncle who was now sitting on the ground massaging his temple and drinking from his flask. She then turned and just walked to Pyrrha's other side before kneeling. The red-haired girl noticed and looked at Ruby in the eyes before giving her a small smile. Ruby then reached for Pyrrha's hand and held it tight. "I… I am so sorry" Ruby then told Pyrrha, desperately trying to hold her own tears.

"Thank… you" Pyrrha answered back before looking at Jaune and Nora again. Ruby, however, noticed she was looking at Jaune more specifically. The red-head had already come to terms with the fact that Nora was right, she was a coward. If she was to leave this world, then she would be leaving it with no regrets. "Jaune…" she said after some time, making the boy look at her. She then gulped once before continuing, "Jaune… I… I have… always… augh" before she could say anything else, she felt as the air left her lungs but never returned. Soon after, everything began to turn blurry until she felt so tired that she closed her eyes.

"NOOOOO!" Jaune screamed, placing his hands over the wound in a desperate attempt to stop it from bleeding. "We need you… we need you…" he repeated with a lower voice every time. "… I… I need you…" he finally said, low enough for only the two of them to hear.

Russel was drowsy and a horrible pain on his back after crashing against a wall, courtesy of their Tekunin rival. Worse, however, was the pain he felt when Cardin was launched against the same wall and then landed on top of him.

"Sorry about that… anything serious?" Cardin asked.

"My ego…" the green-haired boy answered jokingly, trying to lift the mood given their current predicament.

The Tekunin drone, in the meanwhile, was attacking Sky with circular saws while the boy was desperately trying to block the blows with his halberd. Sky knew very well that there was no chance of victory for the moment, but they just needed to give Dove enough time to finish his job. A job the cyborg seemed to have figured out since entering the room, trying at first to disrupt the trails of dust until noticing only Dove seemed to be able to ignite them with a shot from his weapon.

Sky managed to block a double slice coming from his side, but with that, the cyborg had firmly stuck both saws on the blade of the halberd and proceeded to pull and then throw Sky towards a column.

Cardin and Russel then quickly stood in front and behind the Tekunin, all three ready to fight once again. That was until they all heard an empty canister on the other side of the room. "Done!" they all then heard Dove yell.

The Tekunin drone's strategy had shifted entirely. While at first, it seemed only interested in disposing of the boys before getting to Dove and therefore being more prone to attack, it was now only interested in getting to Dove as soon as possible. The Tekunin ran towards Russel, made a spin, and delivered a vertical chop blocked by the teen, but it was so strong that Russel was having trouble pushing back, being almost forced to kneel.

Cardin was ready to smack the robot with his mace, but the machine seemed to have been aware of that plan and used Russel's pushback as support to jump over the green-haired boy; and once it landed, it delivered a back kick that sent Russel stumbling into Cardin. The bigger boy's reflexes worked in his favor, however, and he stopped in time to catch his teammate. That, however, allowed the Tekunin to get to Dove.

The boy, in turn, had his gun ready to fire, but that stopped when he was forced to block the constant barrage of attacks coming from their opponent. When Dove then managed to block a side attack from the Tekunin's left saw on his left side, gripping his sword with both hands, the robot used the right one on the other side of the blade, grabbing it like a pair of pincers and then sticking it into a wood beam.

With that done, the robot then sliced the gun mechanism of Dove's weapon and kicked the boy who was still strongly gripping his sword and managed to take it with him. But now that there was no longer an imminent danger of the dust charges exploding, the drone got in front of Dove and prepared to slice the boy's head in half.

Thankfully for Dove, Cardin arrived just in time to slam his mace against the Tekunin's head, sending the robot away while rolling on the ground. The orange-haired boy then helped the other teen stand up, but the look of dread on both their faces was telling enough of how they felt.

"My gun is gone! what now!?" Dove asked in desperation, pressing the trigger with nothing happening.

The Tekunin was then beginning to get up and the only positive thing now seemed to be the fact that its face was horribly dented where Cardin's mace slammed against. That quickly passed, however, when they heard the thing talk. "Unit RMNT 9642-327 requesting back up!" it managed to say.

With that, every member of them CRDL knew the mission had failed. "Fuck!" Sky screamed in defeat. With that done, they were ready to try and escape as they had promised the ninjas. "Move, move, move! Before the rest get here!" he then told his teammates as he headed for the door.

Everyone was doing that, but then Cardin looked at his mace and realized something. "Everyone, stay by the door!" he then ordered them. "We are not leaving until we are done here!".

The rest of the boys looked at him in disbelief, trusting that Cardin's ego towards losing had become a thing of the past. "Cardin, you-… face it! We are done here!" insisted Sky.

"Stay by the door and tell me when the other robots arrive!" the bigger boy insisted.

"Cardin, we-!" Russel began to say, trying to convince his leader.

"I know what I am doing! Trust me, please!" Cardin insisted. The others seemed ready to leave Cardin, but then they noticed his face. He was not angry by the fact they had lost, trying to win an already lost cause. He was not throwing himself at his enemies, he seemed to have something planned.

Their moment was then interrupted when the Tekunin rose once again with his saws deployed. Sky then looked through the door once again before speaking. "They are not here yet, but I can hear them!".

"Good enough for me!" Cardin answered back. "You and me, can-head! Round two!" he taunted as his adversary launched himself at him. Cardin's strategy, however, was not to fight the drone; he just needed to hold him. The machine slashed many times, but Cardin either moved away or blocked the attack with his mace, moving back a few feet every time.

Russel and Dove looked with worry at their fight, not really understanding what Cardin was doing until they both focused on the mace and that he was also heading towards the main pillar. "Wait… is he…?" Russel whispered to Dove.

"I think… I think he is!" responded the other boy.

"They are coming down the stairs!" Sky yelled as the echoing steps became noticeable.

At that, the Tekunin delivered a forward kick which Cardin blocked, but it was of such strength that it managed to push the boy towards the column. The cyborg was then ready to slice Cardin but stopped when rocks began to hit his damaged head. Needing to stop that current threat, the robot then quickly turned around and went to attack the other members of CRDL, jumping in the air and delivering two vertical chops which Dove blocked by pushing Russel behind him and placing his sword in the way.

That wasn't really on Cardin's plan, but it was a welcome development as it gave him a better chance to do what he actually intended. He then activated the dust function on his mace and faced the explosive on the column.

The robot was ready to continue, but it noticed the attention of the other two teens, and when it faced back, it saw the already burning dust inside the boy's weapon.

"On the ground!" Cardin roared milliseconds before hitting the dust pack and making it explode and sending Cardin flying back to a wall.

That, in turn, activated the desired chain of explosions, taking out all the main pillars. Seconds later, they all saw as the building was starting to crumble. The Tekunin backup that had just reached the first floor fell to the ground before being crushed by a piece of the roof which also blocked the stairs.

It took a moment for Cardin to focus, being able to only see blurs and hear a ringing noise. His vision then returned just in time to see the Tekunin drone towering over him, ready to cut him in half, only for the remains of the machine's head to be crushed by a boulder held by Sky.

"You! Are a stupid, crazy, egomaniac son of a bitch!" he yelled at his leader before picking him up with Russel behind. "But that was awesome boss!" he then said with a big smile.

The roof next to them then fell, reminding them of their current situation. "Hugs later, move you, morons! Move, move!" he ordered as they all left the basement and ran towards the outside doors of the observatory.

They managed to leave the crumbling structure, but that was only phase one, as the ninjas now had to get out of there.

In no time, Frost's command room had become an ice cavern. It took the Tekunin drones time, but a group finally came through only to be received first by Hanzo's spear, which pulled one towards him, and second by Ermac's powers, which pushed the drone towards a group of stalactites, impaling it in them. It did not die, however, until the one caught by Hanzo was also slammed on them.

Learning their lesson, the incoming robots activated their flame throwers and fired before entering, giving them a small window to teleport somewhere in the room.

The ninjas were now fighting back-to-back, blocking the incoming pulse blades with their own weapons while also communicating with each other.

"What is taking them so long!?" Ermac managed to ask Hanzo as the strength of his ax swing made the drone stumble before being psychically pushed towards an ice wall.

Hanzo, in turn, was blocking a double vertical slice from his opponent before kicking it away with a roundhouse kick powered with his hellish flame. "Don't know. I just hope Sub Zero can take care of Frost!" he then answered.

Two drones then teleported next to each other and pointed their flamethrowers towards the ninjas. Hanzo had just enough time to roll in front of them to then absorb the fire while the previous attackers charged at them once again. Ermac had seen their reflection on the floor and managed to turn around to hold them in the air. He then turned again and clapped his hands, making the drones arch around the fires and slam against the other Tekunin.

Hanzo and Ermac were then getting ready to receive the next wave, but a faint alarm coming from a wall behind them suddenly got louder.

"Incoming!" Hanzo warned, getting between Ermac and the wall before surrounding them with fire as an explosion first broke random pieces of ice and pushed them away. Immediately after, a random freeze blast hit various spots in the room, creating new walls, columns, stalactites, and stalagmites.

"Unfortunately, it seems she still has enough power to fight…" Ermac lamented as they were now able to see the blurry silhouettes of Frost and Sub Zero through a clear wall before the latter was sent flying towards it with the impact managing to crack but not break the wall.

On the other side of the wall, Frost made a giant stalactite which she then propelled herself to. She then grabbed it and tore it from the roof, flying down with the spike in hand with the objective to stab Sub Zero with it.

The grandmaster had just managed to shake off his dizziness before having to roll out of the stalactite's path. The shockwave from the attack, however, was strong enough to send him crashing to the floor again.

Frost herself was already pointing her ice-blast canons at him and fired, giving the grandmaster less than a second to move out of the way and leave an ice clone in his place; and when both ice powers made contact, giant and sharp ice columns emerged. It was then clear that the female ninja's strategy – or lack of in this case – was just to go all out and kill Sub Zero with everything she got.

Once their fighting space was reduced and filled with columns, it was only a matter of time for Frost to make her move; and this time, it came in the form of Frost using her spinning blades move in conjunction with her thrusters to crash the column Sub Zero was hiding behind. Had he not managed to make an ice shield just before her blades made contact, she would have made ground meat out of him.

The impact, however, was strong enough to push Sub Zero towards another column, and the ice spikes coming out of it were enough to stab him in the back like knives. His current pain, however, was the least of his worries as Frost charged at him again with her spinning blades, making him create an ice blade with which to block her. Indeed, he stopped her spinning, but she was also managing to push the blade out of her way.

"Die, you old fool! Die, die, die, DIE!" she screamed at him; only for the grandmaster to first headbutt her first and then kick her away with a mid-kick.

With that, Sub Zero then managed to pull himself out of the spikes. His clothes were now tattered in the back while the spikes behind him were dripping with dark red blood.

She would have rammed him again, but then a warning window showed up on her head, telling her of her core overloading; so, she then took out the device on her chest and opened it.

Sub Zero knew what was happening next, so he made an ice wall before Frost could close the core again, releasing a shockwave that broke some of the previous ice formations while making new ones appear. Unfortunately for him, the shockwave was still strong enough to break his wall and push him away. Not willing to give up, however, he just stood up once again and prepared to fight.

"Getting tired, geezer?" Frost taunted, looking at her panting foe. "So that IS only a costume!" she concluded.

Sub Zero then charged at Frost and she responded by preparing and firing her ice blasters. Before her shots could land, he sledded out of their path but never ran away from Frost; and once she was sure she had figured out his plan of attacking her from her right, she activated her left arm to make a drill. Finally, Sub Zero arrived and covered his right hand in ice before raising it to deliver a punch on her face. Seemingly knowing that Frost made her drill appear and went to strike Sub Zero in the middle of his forehead.

Frost was shocked, however, when Sub Zero jumped forward to the ground and rolled right under her drill. He then landed on one knee, got up, and broke his ice glove to make an ice mallet which he slammed against his former student's back, shattering it, and cracking open the metal plates, exposing delicate pieces of her machinery and making her fall face-first into the floor.

Sub Zero wasted no time and made an ice ax which he intended to slam on Frost, but the woman's torso turned around separately from her legs to block his attack with her spinning drill hand. It then came as a surprise to Sub Zero that Frost was pushing him back and managed to get on her feet again before they turned around as well, and they were facing each other.

Outside of the wall, the last shockwave had helped the door get unblocked and allowed more Tekunin to get in. Hanzo was jumping and teleporting around the room, trying to get behind some of the drones to then impale them with his katanas. Ermac was keeping the increasing number of drones at bay using blocks of ice to try and crush anything that got close to him.

The three kept on fighting until everything came to a stop as a loud booming noise was heard, followed by a strong quake. Frost was confused as to what was happening, but Sub Zero knew it was just time to get out. The room then began to shake, and the ice to crack. That was then followed by the room sinking on one side, making everyone but Ermac fall on the ground and roll down.

Frost recovered first and was running towards Sub Zero with her hand blades deployed. Unfortunately for her, she was not expecting a fire column to appear on her path, making her stop. On her path now was Hanzo, katanas already drawn and attacking her left and right with both at the same time, making her block his blows and then step back.

The building crumbled for a second time, making Sub Zero jump and grab Hanzo's shoulder. Knowing she would not get to them in time, Frost shot an enormous ice shuriken from her remaining shoulder canon. Not expecting that lower attack, and being more focused on retrieving his ally, Frost's attack landed, going through Hanzo's leg before they teleported away.

Ermac was overwhelmed with the number of cyborgs throwing themselves at him, blocking the path of some while deflecting saws and blades from others with his ax just in the nick of time. A giant fire blast then came from behind him, taking away his immediate attackers and giving him a moment to breathe. Soon after, Sub Zero and a limping Hanzo arrived next to him and looked for a way to escape; unfortunately for them, all windows were blocked.

Another crumbling happened, but this was bigger than any before. The ice in the room finally caved in and the roof, along with anything above it, began to fall towards them. Ermac activated his powers with as much strength as possible, but everyone knew that wouldn't last as the roof now fell at a slower pace. Fortunately, a wall facing the outside had fallen, giving them just one way out but considerably far away, especially with Hanzo's condition.

Sub Zero then made an ice layer on the floor and grabbed Hanzo by the shoulders. "Grab the ledge!" he ordered before throwing the yellow ninja on the path.

Hanzo was aware of the plan, so he did as he was told and managed to stick one of his spearheads at the edge. Sub Zero followed and did the same with his own ice daggers. Ermac, however, was now on one knee, and the roof was already over his shoulders. Hanzo gritted his teeth in pain as he jumped from the wall with both legs and threw his spear towards Ermac. He managed to hit a non-lethal part on the other man and pulled with as much strength as he could yelling "Get the fuck over here!".

Ermac came out just as the roof had finally caved in, and the pushback from the air had sent all three ninjas flying back towards the woods. Sub Zero was hazy, but it wasn't until he heard a "Wake up, you idiots!" that he came back in full, grabbing Hanzo by the back of his clothes and creating an ice slide that allowed them to at least land but then roll at full speed and crash against the trees of the forest next to the observatory.

Ermac was out, Sub Zero was on the brink of fainting, and Hanzo was busy removing the shuriken from his leg while also using his powers to prevent his leg from freezing from the inside. Hanzo heard people coming, but relaxed when he identified the voices from team CRDL.

"Here they are!" Dove told the rest of his team. "I found- Woah!" he then exclaimed, looking at the three people in front of him.

The rest of team CRDL arrived in time to help Hanzo and Sub-Zero sit, then noticed the horrible state of his back. "What happened to you people!?" Cardin exclaimed, completely in shock.

"It matters not; we did what we had to" Sub Zero then told them, recovering his senses while holding his head. He then turned to look at Ermac who was being checked by Sky and Russel.

"He is breathing" the blue-haired teen assured the rest. "Knowing him… I would hate to see what was needed to take him out…".

Their reunion was interrupted as they heard the final stone walls of the observatory coming down. "At least it's over…" Sub Zero said with relief having completed his mission and finally closing Frost's chapter of his life.

"Uh… I don't think so…" Dove said from behind him. "I mean… if it was… shouldn't we be getting a signal?" he then asked while showing them his scroll still out of service.

None could believe what he was saying. The rest of team CRDL quickly looked at their scrolls only to see the same thing. It was then that Sky seemed to have voiced his conclusion. "But if she had the blocker, then…".

Immediately after he began to speak, a beam of light emerged from the ruins of the observatory, followed by ice spikes that moved the rubble away. Soon after one of the spikes was cracked open, and from it emerged a livid Frost. "SUUUUUB ZEROOOO!" she screamed loud enough for her voice to echo through the forest. "FACE ME, COWARD! LET'S FINISH THIS ONCE AND FOR ALL, YOU HEAR ME!?".

The members of team CRDL were speechless, not expecting her to survive that. More worrying was Sub Zero standing up. "Where do you think you are going!?" Cardin almost screamed at Sub Zero.

"Finishing the mission" the blue ninja simply stated. Cardin seemed ready to reprimand him but was quickly silenced when Sub Zero continued. "But you are right; I can't do it alone". Cardin then looked at the other ninjas still out of commission before Sub Zero spoke again "And they won't be helping either". All teens then looked at him in shock, waiting for him to say what they thought he was implying. "If you want retribution for what she did, you will do exactly as I tell you".

Yang punched the metal wall with all she had, but it was not enough to even dent it. That glowing blue symbol just stood up on the wall, mocking her. Both girls had cuts and tears on their clothes from the three Tekunin drones they had fought. Yang couldn't care less due to her rampage, but Blake had figured out that the drones they fought were, at best, the bottom of the barrel or suicidal ones like the one at the stairs. Then again, the walls would not be down if they were expecting the robots to take care of them.

After five more bangs, Blake's patience had finally run out. "Yang! You are not going to do anything to it!" she yelled at her partner in frustration.

The blonde girl stopped punching to then look at Blake with her eyes having turned red. "I don't see you doing any better! Our objective is behind this wall! You should be helping me tear it down!" she responded.

"We should have gone and helped the others!" Blake snapped back. Immediately after, Yang's eyes turned lilac again, seemingly having figured the same as Blake. "We still don't know what happened to the others and the trash duct would have at least put us on the other side of the wall!".

Blake kept on ranting and Yang could do nothing but listen. That is until she was able to hear steps getting closer. Yang then went on to cover her partner's mouth, and when Blake seemed insulted by that, Yang placed her index in front of her lips. Before Blake could mumble or push her hand away, she then heard the steps.

Both girls then ran towards the end of their hall, not willing to wait for whatever was coming to ambush them on a dead-end. Once there, the girls were faced with halls in all directions. Yang then faced the hall on their right while Blake did so for the left. They waited patiently until Yang was able to distinguish a shadow. She thought at first that it was another Tekunin drone, but then she noticed that the body build was smaller and the presence of a hat, a chauffer's hat.

"Blake!" Yang whispered to the other girl, who turned and saw the incoming shadow. "That looks like Ryu!" the blonde added.

That it was, but Blake grew concerned when the shadow stopped walking. Worse still was when she could distinguish sniffing sounds. Yang then pushed her down the hall they came from while she hid in the other, ready to ambush their opponent.

Ryu's shadow moved again, indeed, and both girls waited patiently, but Blake was the only one who grew concerned when she heard a familiar noise; a noise made by the guns from the Seidan guards back at the Pyramid. The energy guns to be more precise.

Yang was unable to contain herself and went out to punch Ryu with all she got. "Yang, no!" Blake screamed as she threw her gun and ribbon which wrapped around Yang's left wrist.

Yang was beyond enraged by what Blake did. That was until she was face to face with a giant minigun's cannon with yellow bright energy tubes being easily carried by Ryu who had a psychotic grin on his face, showing all his perfectly sharp teeth.

Just as Blake managed to get a hold of Yang, they heard the gun being fired and a storm of golden projectiles going down the hall. Wasting no more time, both girls then ran down the hall and went left before Ryu reached the same hall.

Both girls went still, not daring to make a move or noise that could alert Ryu of their presence. They were also breathing as softly as they could. They then felt chills as they heard Ryu chuckling softly, but Blake began to sweat when she heard him sniffing the air again. As fast as she could she then pulled her scroll and wrote one thing before showing it to Yang:

'He can smell us!'

They both then felt panic when they heard a roar coming out of Ryu, followed by running stumps.

"We need you… we need you…" Jaune repeated with a lower voice every time. "… I… I need you…" he finally said, low enough for only the two of them to hear.

As an overwhelming sense of tiredness made Pyrrha close her eyes, she then felt a strange tickling on her chest. That was soon followed by a growing surge of energy on her body, enough to make her slowly open her eyes to then see a white energy field. Soon after her hearing returned, and she was able to hear someone crying over her.

Once Ruby looked back at Pyrrha one last time, she noticed the white energy field that was now surrounding the girl as she opened her eyes again. The young girl had no way to explain what was happening until she saw Jaune's hands over Pyrrha's body. "Jaune! Your hands!" she then basically yelled in excitement.

That made both Jaune and Nora finally open their eyes to look at his hands; even Qrow stopped sulking to look at them and the white light with shock, standing up and heading towards the others, but keeping his distance, nonetheless. In due time, they were then able to hear Pyrrha slowly breathing once again.

"Whatever you are doing Jaunie, don't you dare stop!" Nora told the boy as she weakly shook his shoulders.

The process continued for a bit longer until they were then able to see that the open wound was gone and Pyrrha had opened her eyes fully once again. Jaune finally stopped when she inhaled deeply once while her eyes opened completely. She then turned and rested over her right shoulder, coughing violently to clear the blood that was caught on her throat. When she was done, she then looked back at the other people gathered around her, remembering in its entirety what had just happened.

"I… I am… I am alive!" she said in complete disbelief, looking for an answer from the others.

"Jaune, that's amazing!" Ruby then exclaimed to her friend. "How did you do that!?" she pressed on.

"Must be his semblance, finally unlocked it, huh?" Qrow then told them, raising his arms as to prove no ill intentions.

"So, you can heal people? Cool semblance!" Nora said happily while hugging Jaune who was looking perplexed at his hands.

"Yes… but… I don't think healing is my semblance…" he answered the orange-haired girl while going back to use his semblance on Pyrrha. "Aura is what heals our bodies, and it feels more like I was… I am transferring aura to her".

"You… do have a lot of it, remember?" Pyrrha said softly, falling on the ground once again after the adrenaline shock was over.

"How long will this take?" Nora then wondered out loud.

"Nora!" Ruby said while reprehending the other girl. "She had her heart pierced, remember!?".

"The heart is a delicate organ, and she lost a lot of blood" Qrow then added while taking the girls away. "The stomach might have healed faster, maybe" he added, admittedly with some relief.

So worried were they that none had considered how much time had passed; that was until they then began to see pieces of rubble shaking a little and then the whole building began to shake as the lights went on and off.

"Was that… an earthquake!?" Pyrrha asked, only to then see the horror in the faces of the others.

"No… we are too late…" Qrow then said in horrible realization.

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Might have solved the drama too soon, might have conveniently made Jaune's semblance a convenient way out, but I can't let my girl go down again.

It's a small chapter, but I feel like stopping here is best for the phasing, don't want to go on another large gap again.