Author's note: I decided to skip the election, since we all know what happens anyway.
Trigger warning at the bottom, again.
After the election, the lights at Robyn's party came back on. Penny was standing on the stage and ready to fight, Fiona was injured, and Robyn was on the floor. Penny looked at the crowd of people, many of which were injured and bleeding. Ruby walked into the middle of the crowd and created a Healing Circle, covering the entire area. Everyone inside the circle began glowing white, and their injuries started to heal. Ruby then used her semblance to rush onto the stage and used Jaune's semblance to heal Fiona.
"It's Ironwood's robot!" One of the men exclaimed, and the crowd charged at the stage.
"Stay!" Marrow said, using his semblance to stop the crowd.
"We've been tricked, Penny is innocent. Keep everyone in here," Ruby said, and followed her friends after Fiona's injuries were fully healed. As they left the building, Penny stumbled a bit and blinked as she remembered that this was supposed to happen, then ran out onto the street. As the Grimm sirens came to life, Penny took to the sky, and Marrow followed her with his copied Flight semblance. Using his copied Homing semblance, he made his gun's bullets target the wings of the airborne Grimm, forcing them to crash on the ground, where rats took them out. Ruby manifested two light blue transparent tentacles from her back, grabbed Emerald's weapons with them and ran towards where the Grimm were.
~o~
Weiss and Jaune stood in front of the cinema, with Oscar keeping the people inside and safe. Weiss sent a combat drone down the street and towards a pack of Sabyr, and it killed the Grimm with ice-dust blasts. It kept moving in a straight line until it hit the wall of a building, then it stopped.
"Ready?" Weiss asked and let her Seer grow to its full size.
"Ready," Jaune answered and began amplifying Weiss' aura. Weiss created five summoning glyphs for Queen Lancers and had the first batch fly down the street to her left, then sent another group to the right, then to the left again. Weiss shot a lightning into one of the ice spikes, using Guardian's Gambit to turn it into a minion. The ice shards assembled themselves as a raptor-like ice bird and it flew away, looking for Grimm. Seeing this, Weiss got an idea, sheathed her sword and contacted Ruby over their communicator.
"Ruby, I have an idea," Weiss said, "Tell Sophie's swarm to send combat drones into the Grimm, and have them augment the drones with ice-dust."
"Got it," Ruby said. Weiss continued summoning Grimm to swarm the real ones. Her Queen Lancers shot their bone projectiles at the Sabyr, Beowolves and Ursai running through the streets. One of the summons saw a group of scared people cowering in a corner, so she used the Rallying semblance, which she had her fusion with Ren share with her, to make them feel safe and allow them to flee. She also summoned two Arma Gigas to safely escort them to the nearest safe-house, and used Guardian's Gambit through her Queen Lancers to summon ice minions.
~o~
After uploading the manipulated files of Penny attacking the attendees at Robyn's party, and helping Jacques win the election, Arthur shut down the array of scrolls laying in front of him and contacted Tyrian.
"Nice work, Tyrian," Arthur said, "I think we are done for tonight." He tossed his scroll in the air, it collapsed and he caught it with a smirk. He turned around and wanted to leave, but found himself face to face with Sirena.
"Hello, Arthur," Sirena said, recording his actions with her scroll, and asked, "Or should I call you Doctor Watts instead?" She stopped recording and put her scroll away again.
"S- Sirena," Arthur stammered, quickly composed himself again and asked, "What do you want?"
"Not much," Sirena answered, "Just making sure you're still playing for the winning team." Arthur was a bit confused, but shook his head and recomposed himself.
"Well, of course," Arthur said, "I have always been playing for the winning team."
"Good, good," Sirena said, and seemingly froze in motion. When Arthur went to see what was going on, she shattered like glass. In the distance, Arthur thought he saw Neo disappear behind a corner.
~o~
A group of people were running from a pack of Sabyr, when Maria suddenly landed behind them, holding her weapon in its single staff form. The people stopped and turned around to see Maria effortlessly kill the Grimm, without even looking.
"Why on Remnant are you stopping?" Maria asked and said, "There's Grimm everywhere, run. And if you see any white orbs, don't be between them and the Grimm." She used Tranquility on the group to calm them down and mask them from the Grimm, and they continued running away. Maria turned around and saw a Megoliath running up to her.
"Stay!" Marrow shouted, flying up to Maria from behind, and stopped the Megoliath's tusks. They broke off and impaled the Grimm's head, killing it instantly.
"Nice," Maria said, "But I can handle things here. Go and find people who need help."
"Got it," Marrow said and flew away again. Maria easily cut through hordes of Grimm, thanks to her semblance telling her where they were coming from.
~o~
Ruby stood on a crossing just outside the warehouse where Robyn had her party, and looked around. She saw Grimm in every direction, except for where she had come from, and didn't know where to go first, so she decided to go everywhere and created three clones of herself.
"Alright ladies," Ruby said, "Let's show those Grimm what a single girl in a red hood can do."
"Yes, ma'am," the clones said in unison, then ran off in different directions. When they reached a crossing, they created new clones and stood their ground, directing fleeing civilians towards the warehouse.
"Weiss, can you give me a Safezone?" Ruby asked over communicator.
"Sure," Weiss answered, and a circle of green energy appeared around Ruby and all her clones. The clones slowly became pale as their maximum aura dropped lower and lower, but Ruby knew that she had to help the people. She fired Hellrazer Mk. 3 rounds into the flying Grimm, making their shrapnel home in on the Grimm and explode. Due to her copied Ambush semblance, the surprise attacks dealt additional damage and mostly killed the Grimm in one hit. The other Grimm were severely crippled and crashed, either dying on impact or being torn apart by Sophie's swarm.
~o~
Sirena walked through the streets of Mantle, seemingly oblivious to the chaos all around her. She stopped on a crossing, surrounded by various Grimm, including a few Teryx sitting on bridges or clinging to buildings. The pigeon sitting on Sirena's shoulder angrily called out to the Grimm, ready to fight, but Sirena shushed it, putting her right index finger on its beak.
"It is quite alright, I am in no danger," Sirena said, and used her copied Mentor semblance to teach the pigeon how to enter its soul core. Using Aura Amp, she fused with Cinder's soul. Mithala used her silver eyes to petrify the Grimm, and shared the pigeon's Evolutionary Backtracking semblance with Cinder. She then split up again, reverting back to Sirena, and Sirena continued walking along the streets of Mantle, seemingly oblivious to the chaos all around her.
~o~
After she walked a bit more, Sirena heard how a Big Ursa died in an alleyway, and something large came crawling out of the darkness. Sirena drew her trident and got ready to fight. A large centipede-like creature rose to twice her height, some portion of its body still concealed by the shadowy alleyway, and screeched at her. Its white exoskeleton made it impervious to attacks from above, and its underside was covered in humanoid arms with claws for fingers. The creature also wore a green scarf and torn clothes, and its light blue eyes had a faint green hue.
"Please, wait over there," Sirena said to the pigeon, and it flew over to sit on a nearby lamp post. The mutant got ready to attack. Sirena rushed in and delivered a flurry of blows in the blink of an eye. The mutation wore off and Forest dropped to the ground, still with a large cut in his torso. Sirena used one of her copied semblances to heal him, then turned to the pigeon.
"Make sure he stays alive until he wakes up," Sirena said, "And get him some new clothes." She collapsed her trident into its scepter form again, put it in the noose on her belt and walked away.
~o~
Whitley was flying on a summoned Sea Feilong, holding its tendrils in his left and his sword in his right. He had a Seer with him, though it wasn't fast enough to keep up with him, so it just floated around and headed to wherever he was. After his summon had taken out a couple dozen flying Grimm with its lightning breath, he was hit by a fireball and knocked off his summon.
"Stay," Ruby said just before Whitley hit the ground, and he found himself suspended in mid-air. He dropped about half a meter, then was caught by Ruby. A plethora of advanced sword fighting techniques flooded his mind, as well as battlefield awareness instincts, occupying his mind for about a minute. When he looked at her afterwards, she was somewhat pale, with the red portions of her outfit being pink and the black parts being dark gray.
"Ruby, what happened?" Whitley asked, and Ruby let him down.
"Nothing," Ruby answered, "I'm just a clone of a series of clones, so my maximum aura is pretty low. In fact, this is as much as I can help you. But don't worry, the clone who created me will know you're here." She fired one last shot into a pack of Sabyr, killing them by making the bullet explode, then she burst into silver-white sparkles and disappeared. A Centinel broke out of the concrete, and Whitley charged the Grimm. He tackled it against a wall and stabbed its body, pressing it against the heater on the ground.
~o~
Yang and Blake were fighting Grimm near the club, along with Team FNKI. Neon was skating around and hitting Grimm with her weapons, with each hit releasing steam that harmed Grimm on contact. Yang jumped around, punching holes in Grimm and flinging remote-controlled explosives around, and tanking hits to build up strength for when the bigger Grimm would show up. Blake used her semblance to propel herself around, or switch places with her shadow clones, and dual-wielded her weapons to cut down the Grimm. Yang got hit by a Megoliath and slammed against a building, and her aura broke after she hit the ground.
"Yang!" Blake called out and ran over to Yang.
"Guess I took it a bit too far," Yang said, sat up and checked if she was hurt anywhere, but finding no problems. After making sure Yang was unharmed, Blake glared at the Megoliath.
"Alright, playtime is over," Blake said, sheathed her katana and clipped her weapon to her back. She crouched and felt an overwhelming primal energy fill her body. Her aura manifested on her fingertips and the base of her spine.
"Blake…" Yang said, not knowing what was going to happen with Blake.
"Don't worry, I can handle this," Blake said, giving Yang a confident smile, and then turned back to glare at the Grimm, with a growl growing in her chest. Her perception of time changed, and the world almost stopped for her. In her augmented vision, Yang saw Blake's aura shoot to 300%, and her combat rating broke the system. Blake dashed forward and slashed the first Sabyr with her purple energy claws. Purple cracks formed in its skull. Blake dashed past the Grimm, sending a clone to any other Sabyr, Beowolf, Alpha Beowolf, Ursa, Big Ursa or Centinel between her and the Megoliath. As soon as any of her clones touched their assigned Grimm, Blake switched places with it, dug her claws into it, and switched back. She jumped into the Megoliath's face and dug her claws into its skull. Purple cracks formed in its bone mask as her aura flooded the Grimm's body with more energy than it could contain. The cracks spread across its entire body, slowly tearing it apart. Yang and Team FNKI only saw Blake suddenly dash forward, then she was in multiple places at once, and finally she appeared in the Megoliath's face, between its eyes, about a second before it exploded in purple energy. Blake landed, her aura traits disappeared, and she dusted her clothes off.
"That… was… amazing!" Neon exclaimed and asked, "How did you do that? You gotta show me." After the Megoliath fully evaporated, the group saw Sirena walk up to them from behind where the Grimm had been.
"Impressive," Sirena said, "You looked almost blurry to me. But at least you finally mastered the Alpha State, at least somewhat." She walked over to Yang and recharged her aura with Aura Amp.
~o~
Ruby looked at the civilians running past her, who were already used to seeing the same girl at every crossing, and told them where to go next. Using Penny's semblance, she hacked into the military's systems, and used Ilia's semblance to make Grimm want to touch the Manta aircraft.
"Ruby, can you make the Grimm focus more on me?" Maria asked.
"Sure," Ruby answered and asked, "You think one hour's enough?"
"Probably," Maria answered, "I just need to distract those things so the civilians around here can get to safety."
"Got it," Ruby said and used Ilia's semblance to make Grimm feel about Maria's cloak like she felt about Salem.
"Maria, where are you?" Weiss asked and said, "I'll send reinforcements."
"Thanks, but I'm good," Maria said, "Those things are pretty angry at me now, and I haven't had so much fun in decades. You just keep other areas safe for now." Ruby instructed another group of people where to go, and suddenly felt an overwhelming flood of information wash over her, just as a pack of Big Ursai charged at her.
~o~
Cucurbita looked out of her window and onto the streets of Mantle, where she saw people running from Grimm. The girl, now wearing pink socks with unicorns on them, blue pants and a white t-shirt, opened her toy box and looked at the Werf blasters her mother had bought her. She had two that were modeled after regular pistols, one pump-action shotgun, and a sniper rifle, which even came with a bipod and scope. She opened her bedroom window, rested the bipod on the windowsill and took a deep breath.
"That way," a woman wearing a hot pink cloak said, directing several civilians towards Cucurbita's house before she began fighting the Grimm with her large scythe. Cucurbita looked through the scope, and an orange energy field formed around the toy gun, giving it the properties of a real one. She took a shot, killing a Beowolf in one hit, and the woman looked over to her. Cucurbita wanted to close the window, but the huntress suddenly appeared in her window, a cluster of pink rose petals in her wake.
"Who are you?" Cucurbita asked, a bit scared.
"I'm Ruby Rose," Ruby answered, "Well, a clone of her. Anyway, I can teach you use a sniper rifle more effectively if you want."
"Thanks, but I'm good," Cucurbita said, "Anyway, my name is Cucurbita Orange."
"Alright then," Ruby said, "Nice to meet you, Cucurbita."
"Are you a huntress?" Cucurbita asked.
"Yep," Ruby answered and said and asked, "Anyway, I have to keep killing these things. Keep an eye on them for me, will you? I'm a clone, so my aura can only be at two percent of what the original has."
"Alright, will do," Cucurbita answered.
"Thanks," Ruby said and dropped back down to the street to keep fighting Grimm. A few minutes later, Cucurbita got tired of having to shoot the stronger Grimm multiple times, and just imagined shooting special rounds that dig into the Grimm and explode once they're in the middle. She took another shot and killed a Sabyr in one hit. Seeing how effective this new ammunition was, Cucurbita kept shooting and killing Grimm, even though the scope highly limited the area she could observe.
"I can't believe it," Cucurbita thought, "I'm actually helping a real huntress. Too bad I can't tell anyone. The others would be so jealous." She kept shooting any Grimm she saw, and eventually grabbed her toy binoculars to get a better view of the entire area, using her semblance to make them work like those high-tech binoculars she always saw in movies, with their x-ray vision and whatnot.
~o~
Ruby fought one of the Big Ursai, when a Centinel popped out of the ground and wrapped around her, immobilizing her. A large bird of prey made from ice struck the Centinel, attacking its eyes. A white Centinel burrowed out of the ground and bit the one holding Ruby down. The Grimm evaporated and a glyph moved Crescent Rose over to Ruby.
"Are you alright?" Whitley asked, walked over to Ruby and helped her up.
"Yes, thanks," Ruby answered. They both got ready to fight the Grimm, and Whitley called his summoned Sea Feilong to help them from above. Ruby engaged the Grimm directly, whereas Whitley stayed in the circle of green energy to keep his summons active and provide support from the sidelines.
~o~
Vine and Elm were fighting Grimm left and right, allowing a group of civilians to make it to the next checkpoint, where a pack of rats waited with a combat drone. Elm anchored her feet to the ground and used her copied Homing semblance to make her rockets home in on some Grimm. Vine stretched his vines between two lamp posts, creating a small fence of sorts, and activated his copied Retaliation semblance. A couple Sabyr ran into the fence and died.
"How are you holding up?" Vine asked, looking at Elm.
"I'm fine, thanks," Elm answered. A Big Ursa rose to its hind legs and swiped at her with its right front leg. She activated Retaliation and blocked the attack. The Grimm was hit with its own strength, but kept hitting Elm a few more times until it died.
"Everyone alright?" Clover asked over communicator.
"Yeah, we're fine," Vine answered, "No casualties so far, either."
"Good to know," Clover said, "Keep it up, and don't let the Grimm escape."
"Got it," Elm said and fired another pair of rockets into the flying Grimm. After the last of the civilians made it to the next checkpoint, Vine and Elm moved on to find more civilians, and the rats established a new checkpoint where the two had been standing.
~o~
Harriet ran through the streets of Mantle at top speed, running along the walls to avoid running through the civilians whenever she came across a group of them. She tackled a Teryx to the ground and snapped its neck, then ran into a pack of Sabyr and punched them until there was nothing left. She burst into a cluster of rose petals and reappeared a few meters behind where she had been standing, looking at a Sphinx that had dropped from the sky.
"Guys, Harriet's aura is pretty low," Yang said over communicator.
"Thanks for the warning," Harriet said and dodged the Grimm's claw swipe. Its snake tail bit her shoulder and tossed her aside. The Grimm walked up to her and prepared a fireball. Harriet saw a black bird fly up to the Grimm from behind. As the bird was briefly hidden by the Sphinx' tail, it turned into Qrow, who killed the Grimm with his sword.
"You okay?" Qrow asked, helped Harriet up and said, "And… please keep what you just saw to yourself." Harriet nodded and hesitantly took Qrow's hand, not knowing how to process the fact that he had been a bird less than a minute ago. A pack of Sabyr ran up to the two of them, but the Grimm were killed by falling ice chunks.
~o~
Clover was fighting Grimm in Mantle's shopping district, using Preflexes to avoid getting hit, and cutting Grimm with his weapon's hook. Luckily, he always managed to land a hit, otherwise his weapon would be borderline useless. Penny came down and killed a pack of Sabyr and Beowolves, led by an Alpha Beowolf, before they could hurt Clover.
"Thanks, Penny," Clover said.
"You're welcome," Penny said, looked around and said, "Anyway, I see people over there. It would be best if we get them to safety, too."
"Alright," Clover said. Penny walked over to a garbage container and looked behind it, where she spotted a bunch of people hiding from the Grimm.
"Don't worry, you're safe with us," Penny said and walked back onto the street, making sure the people followed her.
~o~
When the last of Ruby's clones disappeared, another wave of information washed over her. She learned that Whitley had helped one of her clones fight off several Grimm, and where the kingdom's crown princess lived, among other things. She put her weapons away and focused, trying to spot any Grimm in the city.
"Everything clear," Ruby said over communicator, "And I can't sense any major sadness either, so there are probably no casualties."
"Alright, doing one last check of my area," Harriet said.
"Me too," Marrow said.
"Alright," Clover said, "We'll let the people know that it's safe to return to their homes now." Ruby turned around and saw Sirena walk up from behind a building.
"Sirena, you're here, too?" Ruby asked.
"Of course," Sirena answered, "It can never hurt to see how other kingdoms handle their government. Though, given what happened tonight, I'm somewhat glad I did not pursue the establishment of democracy in Soraklia further. In any case, you can tell Weiss that she can make her Life-Stealer disappear now."
"Alright. But, tonight was an outlier," Ruby said, contacted Weiss and said, "Weiss, Sirena just told me that you can make the Life-Stealer disappear."
"Finally," Weiss said with a groan.
"Wait, you had a Life-Stealer summoned and let loose?" Qrow asked, "For how long?"
"Since we got arrested," Weiss answered, "Ruby told me to keep that other guy safe, just in case."
"Anyway, Sirena, do you sense any strong fear?" Ruby asked and said, "You know, from people being hurt and such."
"Nope, just people worried about Grimm," Sirena answered, "You know, since the military can't do its job."
"Actually, we did do our job," Marrow said, and landed on a nearby building. The groups all did one last check, just to be completely sure that noone was hurt and that all the Grimm were dead, then they all headed back to Atlas.
~o~
In the Mantle crater, Tock was helping the faunus living there move heavy crates, fortify their houses against the Grimm, or excavate the tunnels. General Ironwood had sent a couple Atlesian Paladins, as well as some soldiers, to help them with the endeavor, but her hard-light armor and the added strength still made her the best for the job. She had always kept an eye on her nephew, Albus, in order to kill him as soon as she could.
"Ya know, yer ain't half bad," Albus said as he handed Tock another nail to force into a wooden beam.
"Don't worry, I know," Tock said, "I'm the best."
"One of the best," Tyrian said over communicator, "After all, people don't call me your better half for nothing."
"Stop it, you," Tock said flirtatiously.
"What do you mean?" Albus asked.
"I'm talkin' to someone else," Tock answered somewhat angrily.
"And who?" Albus asked and said, "If ya don't mind me askin', that is."
"The man o' mah dreams," Tock answered, a bit distracted by those new emotions she wasn't quite used to yet.
"Can you two please just learn to talk in private?" Arthur asked, a bit exasperated by their interactions.
"No, not sorry," Tyrian answered, and both he and Tock laughed. Tock and Albus went to one of the mine shafts, where Tock finally got the chance to strike. Using her armor's crocodile tail, she slammed Albus against a wall and broke several of the man's bones.
"Wha- why are you doing this?" Albus asked, and coughed up some blood.
"Tell Ognen I said hi," Tock answered and drew her sword.
"Wait, how d- how do you know my father's name?" Albus asked, and coughed up some more blood.
"It's simple, really," Tock answered, "My new boss has excellent healthcare. He should've joined me."
"Y- you are… but… that's impossible," Albus said.
"Maybe," Tock said, "But I don't care." She swung her sword and cut off the man's head. She sheathed her blade, planted some of her special moss in the freshly opened wound and left the mine shaft again.
Trigger warning: Minor character death.
Author's note: Blake gets awesome when she's serious.
Evolutionary Backtracking is exactly what it sounds like. The user can turn into any species in its genetic history. My original plan was for this pigeon to come and help Clover, instead of Penny, and turn into Carcharodontosaurus. The way this helps Cinder is not at all. At least right now. But in the future, when she is reborn as Sirena's daughter, she'll be able to turn into all kinds of fish-based faunus, as well as some other kinds from before her ancestors left the land, and even some therianthropes.
Sirena's plan for the Ace-Ops was to make Marrow better than the rest of the team combined, so that they would worry about being able to keep up. This would allow Sirena to talk them into copying semblances. Then Harriet got hurt, Oda mentioned copying semblances to them, and now we're here.