Lionheart sat in his office with his head in his hands. From off-screen, Arthur Watts opened the door to the room.
"Are we ready?" Watts asked. Lionheart lifted his head to look at Watts as he closed the door behind him and stepped into the room. A brief exchange of looks was made as Lionheart turned his head away from Watts, who smirked in response. The two soon entered a secret hallway adjacent to the office. At the end of the curved hallway was a circular room containing a Seer Grimm. "After you." Watts said, before he pushed Lionheart closer to the Seer Grimm.
"Your Grace, are... you there?" Lionheart asked nervously.
The red smoke-like substance contained in the head of the Seer Grimm shifted to form an image of Salem, Cinder and Azula at their location in the Land of Darkness. "Hello, Leonardo. Do you have something to report?" Salem asked.
Salem, Azula and Cinder were also looking through a Seer Grimm to communicate with Lionheart and Watts. "Of course, ma'am. I would not waste your time, if not." Lionheart said.
"I'm still just so fascinated by this creature. Cinder dear, are we coming through? Or Azula, since you can actually speak." Watts asked, tapping the Seer.
"Ugh. You're coming through clearly, now back away from the Seer. I NEVER want to see that disgusting mustache of yours that close up ever again." Azula said. Cinder even smirked at this despite her rivalry with the former fire princess.
Watts scoffed at this. "Bah. You could never appreciate the glory of such a mustache." He told her, smoothing it with his fingers.
"Your report. What is it?" Salem asked.
"I've... I've found the Spring Maiden." Lionheart answered.
"Is that so? Well done. Arthur, had I known how useful you'd be in expediting this process, I would've sent you long, long ago." Salem praised.
"As much as I'd love to take credit, ma'am, I can't say that either of us are to thank for this development. I guess you could say, a little birdie told us." Watts informed her.
"Explain." Salem ordered.
"You see, ma'am, Qrow Branwen arrived at Haven Academy earlier today. He believes Spring has taken residence with his sister's tribe." Lionheart explained.
Azula looked shocked at this. "He's still alive!? And the ninja?!" She demanded.
"Is... the girl... with him?" Cinder asked.
"Yes, Miss Rose was in attendance. As was Ryu Hayabusa." Watts confirmed.
"And you know of the tribe's location?" Salem asked.
"Yes ma'am! But you have to hurry! Qrow is already at odds with my-" Lionheart began to tell her, but Salem made a face of annoyed concentration and in response one of the Seer Grimm's tentacles shot out to wrapped around Lionheart's throat and choked him.
"Leonardo, do you remember the first time we met? I remember. I remember your fear. But, since that day, you've been extraordinarily brave. I won't forget all that you've done for me. Do not forget everything that I can do to you." Salem warned him.
The Seer Grimm slowly brought the point of another tentacle close to the face of Lionheart before drawing it back. Within the orb of the Seer Grimm, Salem made a gesture, and the tentacle simultaneously released him from the choke hold. Lionheart coughed and gasped for breath.
Azula had quietly made her way over to stand by Cinder, whispering to her. "Was that really necessary?" She asked. She was well aware she was ruthless, but at least she only threatened or harmed her staff back in her world when they defied her.
"He made it seem like she could actually be hurt or in danger. He basically implied she could be threatened." Cinder told her.
"Cinder, you and your team will meet with Doctor Watts and together, convince Raven Branwen that the survival of her people depends on her cooperation. Once you have Spring under control, escort her to the Relic and contact Hazel. The White Fang was promised the destruction of Haven and they'll have it once we have what we need." Salem told them.
"Understood." Watts agreed.
"Not you, Arthur. Tyrian's in need of a new tail." Salem informed him.
"What happened to his old one?" Watts asked.
"The same thing that happened to my arm." Azula said, turning to remind Watts of her arm he had patched up just before he left that would've otherwise had to be amputated.
"The ninja, or the silver-eyed girl?" Watts asked.
"The second one." Cinder growled in annoyance.
"It will be done." Watts told her.
"Good." Salem said.
The image of Salem disappeared from the Seer Grimm to show the connection has ended. "Seems Qrow was right, Lionheart. The students aren't pushovers." Watts said.
In the Land of Darkness, Cinder was clearly unhappy. "You're free to speak your mind." Salem told her.
"I don't understand. Working with bandits? Keeping Ruby alive? What's the point? We're strong enough to take what we want by force!" Cinder snapped.
"Never underestimate the usefulness of others. Take Leonardo; he was one of Ozpin's most trusted and yet now..." Salem explained, then chuckled.
"Precisely. If someone is used or manipulated the right way, anything is possible. In my old world, one man leading a powerful organization was all I needed to capture a kingdom as large and powerful as Mistral from the inside." Azula told Cinder.
"Yes, Azula. An excellent point. Power can only get you so far. Strategy is what truly wins you the war." Salem said, nodding in approval to Azula, before looking to Cinder. "You will have the power I promised you, when the time is right. But remember that it comes with a cost. If Ruby Rose has learned to harness her gift, then you must take care to protect yours. There's only so much I can do to aid you." She told the new Fall Maiden.
Cinder bowed to Salem and exited the room. "Are you sure she can still be trusted? She's been questioning your direct orders and has tried to defy you more than once. It's almost like she doesn't appreciate the powers you've given her. Because she certainly doesn't deserve them." Azula said.
"She is angry and impulsive. Her actions make sense. She is not become an issue yet. However, if she does become an issue, then you are free to take her place as the next Fall Maiden. But for now, you will continue to work beside her. As an ally." Salem told her.
Azula frowned at this, but bowed. "Yes, ma'am." She said, following Cinder out.
As the cargo ship flew over Lake Matsu, Weiss was sitting around, still somber over being unable to help the Mistralian cargo pilots, before she suddenly noticed to her right, a series of landmasses floating in the bright blue, partly cloudy sky, with what appeared to be black crystals jutting out from the bottom of the rock formations. Puzzled, she then decided to head into the pilot's cabin. The doors opened. "Where are we?" She asked.
"Passing by some of Lake Matsu's floating islands. Pretty picturesque, don't ya think?" Dante asked, admiring the view.
Enzo, however, wasn't as placed. "Oh, yeah, real swell! Except the damn gravity Dust that forms in these things is making all kinds of turbulence!" He snapped.
"I thought you're supposed to be good at this stuff, Enzo. Turbulence never brought down a plane." Dante said, walking up to him. "In this world or our old one." He said.
Enzo scoffed. "It's nothing I can't handle, but the islands can hide some of the nastiest Grimm you've ever seen. And they bring down ships all the time." He said. As Weiss walked toward the pilot, outside, an airship was seen quickly heading towards them, on fire and leaving a giant trail of smoke behind it.. "I'm just betting on our friends in distress keeping them preoccupied." Enzo said.
"Man, you're spineless." Dante said.
Weiss noticed to her right the approach of the heavily damaged airships. "Look out!" She cried out.
The airship came barreling from their right, narrowly hitting their cargo ship and forcing Enzo to pull upward to avoid it. The doomed craft, bearing a white symbol for Mistral on its sail, proceeded to collide into one of the floating islands.
"Oh, what a fucking day!" Enzo cried out. Bayonetta's former informant then decided to switch back to the radio, listening in for nearby transmissions.
"By the gods, we've lost Percy! Help!" The pilot of another Mistralian ship cried. Just then, likely the very airship they just heard from, pursued by a swarm of wasp-like Grimm, was suddenly hooked from multiple directions by their extendable stingers, which left them trapped and unable to move. "We're hooked! We're hooked!" The pilot cried. As the pilot made a frantic call, the wood on the ship's exterior began to crack, as the insects grappling on the ship pulled very tightly.
"Dammit! No!" Dante shouted. If he still had his Devil Trigger, he could fly out there and help, but as it stood, none of his summons could reach them in time.
"Everyone, abandon ship!" The pilot called. Capitalizing on their fear, one of the Grimm somersaulted into the air and dive-bombed into the top of the ship, as the pilot and everyone on board perished in the ensuing explosion. The rest of the Grimm following this turned their attention to and pursue Weiss and Dante's airship.
"Lancers, freaking Lancers! Alright buckle up- Huh?" Enzo cried, but turned to see the Schnee twins jump down a hatch into the cargo hold, as they were determined to stop the swarm.
"What the fuck are you doing?!" Enzo cried. Enzo demanded over an intercom speaker.
"Doing some exterminating. Something we should've done before those ships were in pieces." Dante explained.
"You're carrying Dust, right?" Weiss asked.
"Of course I got Dust! Man needs to earn his keep!" Enzo said.
Weiss opened a large container of vials of powdered Dust and loaded her weapon Myrtenaster with six of them.
"Then when I tell you, open the rear door!" Weiss ordered.
"You better know what you're doing!" Enzo cried out as he made multiple evasive maneuvers, but the Lancers gained on the ship and begin to shoot their stingers at it. "Eh, girlie! We're cutting it close!"He warned.
Weiss summoned a black glyph underneath her to keep her stuck to the ship as she readied her sword in front of her. "Ready!" She declared.
"Best of luck, sis." Dante told her.
"You're the one who's going to need it." She told him.
The cargo doors opened and the battle began. While Weiss kept herself in place, Dante was immediately sucked out of the plan, drawing Rebellion and slicing a Lancer in half, before pulling out Spiral and blasting several more on the way down. After taking out five of them, he decided he'd fallen long enough, turning to face the ground and creating a glyph, summoning the form of Griffon and flying back up after the ship. Weiss for her part, used a powerful wave of wind dust to force the remaining Lancers back, blasting several fireballs at them, eventually taking out on herself.
Back inside, Enzo's tone quickly changed. "Yeah, that's it kids! I knew you could do it! No check this out!" He cheered, pulling off several impressive evasive maneuvers.
"Well, well, looks like he does have some moves. Maybe he's not as bad as Bayonetta said. Close, but not AS bad." Dante said, flying into the crowd of Lancers. Griffon snapped on up in his jaws as Dante cleaved another one in twain. As he did that, Weiss created five white glyphs, each one shooting a blast of energy out from it, each one hitting and eliminating a Lancer while the pilot continues to do evasive maneuvers. Suddenly, she got knocked off balance when the cargo ship rocked.
"Ah! What was that?!" Weiss cried out.
The upper level of the cargo ship had Lancer stingers sticking in through the ceiling. "Oh, that's it! We're dead! We're hooked!" Enzo cried.
The outside of the airship had the two Lancers that hooked on firmly planted on top of it, weighing it down and allowing the rest of the swarm to gain on the cargo ship once more, with some of the Grimm flying alongside it. Fortunately, Dante came back, jumping off of Griffon with Agni and Rudra in his hands, creating a line of glyphs down the length of the ship, shooting him forward as he spun with the blades outward, easily shredding the two lancers on the ship as Griffon passed by and snatched two more out of the air, crushing them in his talons, before reaching the end of the ship and allowing Dante to land on his back once more.
Enzo continued to maneuver the ship and attempt to avoid the Lancers, before heading towards a couple of islands. "I got an idea! I doubt you'll like it, though. Better hang on for all you're worth back there, girlie!" He told her, before he accelerated the ship toward one of the floating islands, waiting until the last possible moment before suddenly diving and using the remaining forward momentum to throw the Lancers on the ship off into the side of the rock formation. "Yeah! Take that, you overgrown pollen suckers!" He taunted.
A few Lancers broke off from the ship pursuit to engage Dante, who had been chasing after them as they chased the ship, firing with Spiral to take out three more of their numbers. The two flew out far, before getting on either side of Griffon and firing their stingers into him, reeling themselves in, impaling the demonic bird with their legs, as well as biting into him with their mandibles. Dante pulled out Coyote-A and swung it like nunchaku, blasting the wasp-like Grimm off his summon. However, the damage was done and the bird began to disappear. And as it did, a Lancer came up from underneath and slammed into Dante.
"No! Dante!" Weiss cried, before looking closely and seeing Dante detach himself from the beast, but also get around onto its back, now using Cerberus like a pair of reins on a horse to control the beast. She suddenly got a call on her scroll. She saw it was Dante and quickly answered. "Are you okay?!" She asked.
"Never better! Too many more hooks, though and you won't be able to say the same!" He told her.
She rolled her eyes at this, before calling back to Enzo. "Can you find a pair of islands we can fit between?" She asked.
The cargo ship was turned and traveled toward a pair of closely adjacent, interconnected islands. "Dang, you sure you ain't graduated yet? You're thinking like a genuine Huntress!" Enzo complimented. As the cargo ship narrowly avoided the close islands walls and the attacking Lancers, Weiss fired three fireballs from her glyphs to destroy an overhanging rock formation. The attack caused debris that killed the attacking Grimm, but also awakened an unseen Queen Lancer.
"Yeah! Great going, kid! We are in the clear!" Enzo cheered.
Immediately after Weiss exhaled in relief, a Lancer significantly larger than the rest suddenly appeared outside the cargo doors. "It's a Queen Lancer!" Weiss cried.
"Oh, come on! I swear the universe is trying to make all my lives miserable!" Enzo complained.
The Queen Lancer attacked and Weiss was unable to stop it. It simply tanked her attacks, before opening up several ports on its body and firing several spikes out of itself. Weiss used a barrier to protect herself, but the rest of the ship suffered the full brunt of the attack, including the jet burners, which exploded, the ship struggling to stay in the air. "You gotta do something! Or we're going down!" Enzo cried.
Weiss then looked at the Dust behind her, jumping and launching herself behind all of it, cutting the strap as she flew past. With the Dust now free, she launched it all at the Lancer matriarch, but she managed to tank it all. Dante caught site of this as he was catching up to the queen. "Dang. That's one tough bug to squash. But that just means you gotta try something bigger." He said, decapitating the Lancer he was riding and jumping to the Queen Lancer with an aura enhanced jump, landing on its back and slicing away at it. But this only served to make the queen struggle to get him off, picking up and speed and slamming into the cargo ship in an attempt to knock him off.
This worked and Dante was thrown back into the cargo hold behind his sister. "Dang it! I was gonna go for the wings and make that thing drop like Jacques' chances of winning that open council position." Dante said.
Enzo suddenly looked forward and noticed something. "There it is! The shorelines! But we ain't gonna make it with that damn bee on our tails!" He cried out.
Regaining her composure, Weiss summoned her Arma Gigas. "Not bad, sis. I think you got this one." Dante said, using a glyph to keep himself in place to watch the show.
"Pull up, now!" Weiss ordered. Enzo did just that and the Arma Gigas leapt out, running out of the ship and diving into the open air, descending towards the queen Lancer. Weiss then focused and created her summon's sword. Enzo then completed the loop de loop and Weiss made the Gigas disappear, before reappearing below the Lancer and slicing it. Weiss repeated this attack several times at several angles. The queen, becoming desperate, shot her massive stinger at the Gigas, but he deflected it. Unfortunately, he deflected it into the Bullhead, causing it damage too extensive to keep flying. But with one final slash, he defeated the Lancer queen and they both vanished together.
"Not bad, sis. Just too bad he had to knock that hook into us." Dante said as the ship started to descend toward an inevitable crash.
Weiss and Dante observed the ships downward spiral as they stood beside each other and gave each other a look. "Together!" They said and tried to use their Semblance to slow the ship's trajectory down, but it was not enough to prevent it from crash landing.
Inside the White Fang headquarters, Adam knelt before the leader of the White Fang: Sienna Khan, who was sitting on a throne flanked by two guards on either side of her.
"Adam. I'm not going to repeat myself, so I want you to listen when I tell you that the White Fang will not attack Haven Academy." Sienna declared.
"High Leader Khan, I am begging you." Adam pleaded.
"You should beg for forgiveness and nothing else! The assault you led on Beacon was not the great victory you clearly think it was, and you should be more grateful your punishment was not more severe. You are a symbol for many in our organization, but that doesn't make you infallible." Sienna told him.
"I was merely trying to follow your example, High Leader." Adam told her.
"And what example might that be?" Sienna demanded.
"Strength. Strength and unwavering conviction. The humans have seen that strength now." Adam explained.
"I was one of the first to suggest violence where violence was necessary. Peace bred complacency and acceptance of our place in the world. I will not allow humanity to push us down without pushing them back. But the destruction of the Huntsman Academies crosses a line! The loss of the CCT has brought global communication to a crawl! And the White Fang is more of a target now than ever before! You have justified humanity's campaign against us, and for what?! Empty promises from a group of humans? Humans we still know nothing about, and come and go as they please! These are not examples of strength, Adam. They are examples of your talents being diminished by shortsightedness!" Sienna snapped.
"If you want to know more about the humans, then why not talk to one of them yourself?" Adam suggested, then rose and turned toward the entrance to the room. "Hazel!" He called.
Hazel opened the doors to the large room. "Took you long enough." He said.
As Hazel entered, Sienna rose from her seat and her guards all pointed their spears toward Hazel. "What is this?!" Sienna demanded.
"Apologies. I don't aim to cause any trouble." Hazel told her.
"You've brought a human to this location?" Sienna questioned.
"You should hear what he has to say." Adam told her.
"This is grounds for execution!" Sienna snapped.
"Ma'am, please. Nobody needs to die today." Hazel said, kneeling. "I'm just asking for a moment of your time." He requested.
"The longer you stay here, the less of a chance you have of leaving alive." Sienna warned him.
"I'll take those chances, if you don't mind." Hazel said. Sienna sat back down, her guards returning to their neutral position and Hazel rose again before continuing to speak. "You don't like me. You have no reason to like me. But you don't have to like me to get the results you want." He told her.
"I'm starting to doubt either of you fully comprehend what it is that I want. I want humanity to fear the Faunus, to know that we demand respect! I do not want to start a war with the humans that we cannot win!" Sienna demanded.
"That's where you're wrong." Adam said as Sienna and Hazel focused on him as he began to advance toward Sienna while continuing to speak. "We can win a war against the humans. Not only because we have the support of Hazel's master, but because the Faunus are the dominant species of this planet. We're better than humans. We have everything humans have and more. Humans shouldn't just fear the Faunus, they should serve the Faunus." Adam told her.
"I've had enough of this conversation for tonight. Guards, take them away." Sienna ordered, but the guards remained stationary. "I said, take them away!" She repeated.
"I will admit, Sienna, you were right about my popularity. My followers in Vale already see me as the true High Leader. And many here in Mistral feel the same." Adam said as four armed White Fang soldiers entered through the main doors and stopped, pointing their weapons into the room as Sienna rose to her feet.
"What are you doing?" Hazel demanded.
"What's right for the Faunus. From this day forward, I will be the one to lead the White Fang." Adam declared.
Four more soldiers revealed themselves with their weapons drawn, two on each side of the room, as Sienna's guards pointed their weapons at her. Sienna quickly judged the situation, though taken by surprise. Her eyes narrowed darkly. "If you think I'll just step aside and follow beneath you, you're wrong." Sienna growled.
"I don't want to kill you, Sienna, but I'll be more than willing to if I have to." Adam declared. He had thought of simply killing her outright, but his mind flashed back to the fall of Beacon and his encounter with Dante, who had shown Adam that Faunus and humans had the potential to work together and that Adam was willing to kill his fellow Faunus to get what he wanted. And above all Dante, a Schnee of all people, defeated Adam, yes spared his life. But one human being willing to show mercy to Faunus was not enough to shake his beliefs. Although, they were enough to make him question how far he'd go for his beliefs. And killing a fellow Faunus, especially one he admired may be going too far. But still, he'd come too far to back down now.
Sienna growled. "Then you're going to have to." She declared. However, as this coup was happening and these soldiers came out to intimidate Sienna into surrendering, no one noticed the black cat walking forward until it sat down right in between Adam and Sienna and let out a meow that echoed in the sizable, mostly empty room. Adam and Sienna both looked down, spotting the cat and were shocked. "Sister?" Sienna asked.
Suddenly, in a puff of smoke, a human leg suddenly rose from the smoke and uppercut Adam, before retreating back into the smoke and shooting back out as a side kick, sending Adam flying into Hazel.
The smoke began to clear, revealing a slender and well-endowed woman of average height. She had dark skin, golden irises and black hair. Her hair was waist-length and kept in a ponytail with chin-length bangs framing the sides of her face. Her attire consisted of a black, backless, sleeveless undershirt, an orange over-shirt with two white straps on each shoulder, a large beige sash around her waist and black stretch pants with a pair of lightweight brown shoes. However, she also had red gemstone on her forehead, tiger ears on her head and black tiger stripes over several places on her body.
"It's the high leader's older sister, Yoruichi!" One of them declared.
Yoruichi then grabbed the top of Sienna's head and bent her over, rolling over her sister's back while delivering a long swiping kick to knock down the spear-wielding guards as they closed in. She then grabbed Sienna by the waist and lifted her up, carrying her little sister over her shoulder. "I can't leave you alone for even a minute without you getting in trouble, can I?" Yoruichi asked, before pulling out a detonator and pushing it, blowing up the wall behind them, as well as Sienna's throne. She then leapt out of the building with her sister.
"After them!" One of the guards shouted.
"Don't bother. She's gone now and I'm in control. We can simply say Sienna abandoned her position and I stepped up to take her place." Adam told them. He was annoyed that his plan was ruined, but he couldn't lie and hide the fact he was a bit relieved he hadn't had to kill the leader he respected, as well as a fellow Faunus. There was no undeserving blood on his hand.
Meanwhile, Yoruichi sat her sister down on a boat, which she then set sail. "Man, what happened to your leadership? I'm gone for a few years and you get overthrown? Times sure change." Youruichi said.
"What are you even doing here!? I thought you abandoned our cause along with the Belladonna's?" Sienna demanded.
"Wow, great way to greet someone who just saved your life." Yoruichi said, before noticing her sister's face. "I heard some serious changes had been happening in the White Fang, so I infiltrated the group and found myself in Adam's faction. I heard everything. So, I came here to get you, now we need to stop the White Fang from destroying Haven, or we'll be back to the bad old days of Faunus hunts." She explained.
Sienna sighed at this. "You're right. If Adam pulls this off, all-out war against us would be totally justified." She said, looking to her sister. "So, do you have a plan?" She asked.
"Well, I highly doubt the police in Mistral would believe us. Plus, you're a wanted criminal, so that's out. I think it's time to pay the big cat a visit." Yoruichi said.
"Ghira?! What makes you think I'd beg him for help!? Or that he'd even give it!?" She demanded.
"Because he's a wise, forgiving man. And if the information I've heard is right, he's Adam's next target." Yoruichi explained, shocking her sister.
The cargo ship crashed in a forest. Due to the combined efforts of the siblings, the crash wasn't horrible, but the vehicle was still damaged beyond repair and both of them were still rather spent. Enzo got out and looked at his ruined Bullhead. "Oh, what a day! I'm screwed. It'll take every Lien from transporting you two and then some to fix this! Thing's can't get no worse!" Enzo complained.
"Help... please." Weiss pleaded, dropping to one knee.
"They aren't help, Weiss. They're bandits." Dante said, drawing Rebellion with a bit of difficult, despite his aura being nearly gone.
"Well, we got a tough guy over here. What do you think?" One of the bandit said, drawing his sword and approaching Dante.
Raven approached from off-screen to take a position directly in front of Weiss. "I think... we just hit the jackpot." She said. Weiss' face turned to one of concern as she looked up at Raven. She drew Myrtenaster and tried to lunge at Raven, but she simply dodged and grabbed the blade of the weapon, punching Weiss in the side of the head to knock her out.
"Weiss!" Dante shouted, locking blades with the bandit in front of him and kicking him down, using Stinger to try and attack Raven, but she easily intercepted the attack with her sword, the two now in a blade lock.
Enzo suddenly drew a gun. "Alright, that's enough, ya dirtbags! These kids are with me! I made a promise to get 'em to Mistral, and Ol' Enzo prides himself on doin' his job right... For a decent cut." Enzo said, resolutely at first, but saying the last part under his breath. "So, you all back off and let me and the kids go, or else you'll be going to a place some friends of mine are very familiar with." He explained. However, his grand line was suddenly cut short as Raven pushed Dante back and threw a throwing knife into Enzo's chest, killing him instantly as he collapsed face-first to the ground.
"Enzo!" Dante cried out, then growled, glaring at Raven, when he suddenly noticed her similarities to a certain blonde brawler he knew, then at her piercing red eyes, reminding her of a girl he very much loved. "You're... Bayonetta's mother." He said in shock.
Suddenly, he felt a massive shock as if he'd been blasted by lightning, dropping to his hands and knees, holding his gut. "I really hate that nickname. She could at least have stuck with the name I gave her." Raven said, before stomping on Dante's face, everything going black.