"Mind telling us your plan now, o' fearless leader?"

"...Our plan is to teach these bastards not to trample on sacred grounds like these again.

It's early. With the sun rising soon, they'll be temporarily blinded due to the light. That gives up the ability to stay hidden within the morning, getting us to our positions. Penny will come from the very south end following the river, and we split off sixty degrees each way. Pyrrha and Ruby, you take the west side. Yang and I will go east. Once all of us move in, we'll keep everyone crammed in the center and draw some of them to the north. Just remember- this is a stealth mission until one of us gets caught. Then we go all out. Just make sure to hold yourself back: no one dies on this island by our hands."

His own words echoed within his head, gently lowering the body he had draped over his shoulders. Lance had just cleaned up the first crowd of White Fang members on his route from the northeast. It was a lot easier said than done- each member was almost always looking in the direction of another's blindspot. He had to start from the weakest chain near the coast and climb his way through from there. He did get caught by three of them, but the avian Faunus was able to dispatch them before they could get a word out to the other groups.

Just before they had left, they made sure to check their packs and confirm they had everything they needed. This included ammunition, water and small food packets to work on if they found themselves fatigued, and most importantly- their scrolls were charged all the way so they could stay in contact. It took Penny a while to confirm that her own scroll was even working, which made him worry about the others potentially having the same problem. Thankfully, they all initiated a group call so they could easily tap in to get in contact with someone if they needed to report something.

And given Lance's current status, he decided to check in.

"All teammates, report. What's your status?"

"All clear here," the rose-tinted huntress' voice would through his scroll two seconds later. "Got my group to move closer to the north end."

"A good plan, actually. Pyrrha, do you copy?"

"Done here, too. Penny was able to help me with this group."

"Ah-ffirmative!" Penny responded in kind.

"Stick together, then. Ruby can move in with you. Yang, what's your status?"

Her response never came, which only worried the avian Faunus more. The other three were silent as well, presumably just as worried. "Yang, this is Lance- do you copy?"

"Yeah, I'm here." The blonde brawler's voice would finally come through. "I'm trying to be stealthy here."

All four of her other members could be heard sighing all at once. "Thank goodness," he replied. "Thought you would've cleaned them up by now."

"That's…the weird part."

From Yang's perspective, she saw…nothing. The clearing she was sure had the White Fang members was completely cleared out. All that was left was a few industrial supports and scaffolding, perhaps a leftover from the time Atlas was here and trying to make more modern architecture. There were even barrels and small machines like concrete mixers scattered around. "They…already cleaned it up themselves."

"What?" Ruby's voice came through Yang's scroll now. "You mean they're all knocked out already?"

"No, like…they're just not here." the blonde replied, turning her head to look around more as she took strides forward.

"That's not normal," Lance remarked. "They would've had an encampment where you are. Wait, Yang-"

"FREEZE!"

Another more clear voice burst out from inside the clearing, making Yang gasp as she whirled towards the direction of the voice. White Fang members were standing amongst the concrete pillars and scaffolding, appearing from almost every corner of the clearing. Most of them seemed to have basic swords or were just bare handed, but some amongst the scaffolding had handguns or a small machine gun. She was outnumbered, outgunned, and certainly taken by surprise.

"Oh no…" Lance could be heard muttering through Yang's scroll, prompting the brawler to close it shut.

"Don't move, lady!" The same voice shouted to her. When she managed to set her eyes on the vocalist, he was very easy to spot. He wore the same white collared tunic, black pants, and armor pads like the rest- but there were thin red lines that accented various ends of the fabric. The back of his uniform was patched open to reveal a long yet thin tail that swayed and flicked. His mask also had red lining along the bottom edges of the mask, further giving the impression he was a higher-ranking officer. "We've got you outnumbered and outgunned. There's no point in you fighting back."

Yang, of course, did the exact opposite as what was instructed and slowly moved her hand down to put her scroll back in her pocket.

"Hey, I said to not move!" The supposed group leader yelled while he unsheathed a long squared headed machete. "What part of "don't move" do you not understand?!"

"Easy, easy," Yang reassured the fierce man. "I'm just putting my scroll away. It's not like I have a pocket knife or anything."

"Don't try to lie to us! We know you people were sent here so the council members could debate on what to do with this place. But this- is Faunus turf! OUR turf! You humans have no reason to be here." The leader then leaned into his left side and talked into a small microphone piece in his ear. "Lieutenant command, this is squadron delta. We have captured a huntress sent here by the council. We're awaiting further instructions."

As the squadron leader listened in on the next steps of their plan, Yang kept her eyes moving between various members of the White Fang. She found a good amount of them with guns were on higher levels and giving themselves the advantage, which made it considerably harder for Yang to actually perform a counter-attack on anyone. They were mostly near the leader up on scaffolding that looked…rather unstable. The only problem was getting it to fall over in the first place without being immediately jumped by everyone. There was even one of the members slowly making his way from her back-left side, which proved an even trickier puzzle to solve quickly.

But her luck hadn't run out yet.

Lance had sneakily arrived on the scene, moving in as quietly as possible. He snuck behind a guard to the left of the scaffolding- Yang's visual right- and a chop collided with the terrorist's neck. His yelp was distinctly quiet as he was buckled over by a strong knee. Lance then grabbed him, spun him around, and used his aura to amplify his arms to throw him. The guard's limp body flew into the side of the scaffolding, causing it to collapse and bring down the White Fang members crashing with it.

"What the hell?!" the leader shouted, causing a great deal of the members to also look in that direction. Lance leapt forward with his daggers and began a duel with one of the other members nearby.

Meanwhile, Yang spun around with her gauntlets clicking into their attack orientation. Her fist collided with the nearby terrorist approaching, sending him flying backwards into a tree. She then turned back and stepped on an end of the branch to flip it into the air. Another punch collided with it and hit another member in the face as they approached. The blonde then spun again and delivered a kick to another White Fang member closing in on her. This was followed up by another blast-punch from her gauntlet to send him flying. A fourth terrorist was now upon her, swiping horizontally at the brawler. She was obviously ready thanks to the momentum of her punch, allowing her to step in and grab his right arm in which he held the scabbard. He was then flipped forward, landing onto his back on the pile of wood nearby. Before he could even sit up quickly enough, Yang's boot came crashing down via an ax kick straight to his face.

Lance's own battle was going smoothly. The member he targeted first had suffered several slashes to the chest before being side-kicked into another member behind the attacked individual. The avian then threw his daggers forward, the first sliding past the cheek on his newest target and the second hitting him in the side of the head with its handle. Lance dashed forward and performed a boosted jump off of this target and onto the concrete pillar beams, thus giving him an aerial view. He watched as Yang's newest opponents stepped forth before being distracted by a bullet just barely missing his head and impacting the stone pillar next to him.

He, of course, fell backwards and landed on the ground- now having to deal with more members himself.

The second bout started with a sword-wielder getting in close with a swipe which was blocked by Yang's gauntlet. She tried again with another smaller swipe, which was blocked too. She did a small spin to add momentum to her next attack, but completely missed the target. Yang bent backwards to let the sword slide over her face and grabbed ahold of her attacker's left arm in which the blade was wielded. She executed another flip that turned into a subtle dive for herself, where she did a short handstand with a gauntlet shot that sent her flying forwards past the next few opponents. With them out of arm's reach, she used her shotgun blasts to pick them off from afar. She even did a boosted jump with her gauntlets after taking out two other terrorists to get to high ground. She was, of course, met with resistance from another sword-wielder rushing her. They were easily dispatched with a few well-placed jabs and cross-punches.

With Lance, he was having to dodge a fair amount of metal and steel coming at him. He was having to weave around every curve of their blades and step at odd angles to make sure he was never touched. This also came at the cost of agitating the White Fang members. The two upon him timed their slashes to come out at the same time, forcing Lance to drop down and deliver a sweeping kick to both members. As they fell, their swords fell with them but were caught by the avian as he moved onto his next target: the squad leader.

"Damn it, man- get us some help! We're getting our asses ki-" His sentence was abruptly cut off as a scabbard flew into the concrete pillar next to him, making him leap back whilst letting out a rather cowardly scream. Lance was now upon him, their blades clashing together with a harsh sting. They both pushed off one another's weapons and proceeded to collide over and over- the ring of metal hitting sharp metal continued to ring out in the clearing.

That was also mixed with the various explosions from Yang herself as she continued to open fire on her opponents. She wasn't going to keep that up for long- she's gone through at least two lines of shells now. This prompted her to start allowing them to close in. All three of them. But by the looks of things, they were bruisers: demanding close-range combat. The blonde easily stepped in and took the offensive, only using her gauntlet shot to gain a boost in momentum or to hit harder for one punch. The first guy went down thanks to a well-placed backward elbow to the neck after a good flurry of punches to the stomach. The next man whiffed a punch and was grabbed by the leg, forcibly spun and bounced off the ground as a result. But when Yang attempted to shift her attention to the next man…there was nothing. There was a third man there, right?

He was there, only now he had moved to a better target.

Lance had gotten himself into a bit of a hassle with the squad leader. He was beginning to lose a bit of stamina from the fight, his attacks coming out a little slower or weren't hitting the mark well enough. The White Fang lieutenant managed to sneak a punch in to knock the winged fighter back. And before Lance could recoil properly to get back into the fight, his arms were pinned by much stronger appendages and he was hoisted off his feet. The third man that was in the group to fight Yang had moved off to help his squad leader take down their more mobile opponent.

"I got 'im, boss!" He would yell as he struggled against the shorter man he had pinned. "Finish 'him off!"

This prompted the leader to chuckle as he stumbled to his left, his gaze fixated on Lance. His laughter continued while his hand reached down and grabbed a fallen handgun, chambering in the next round before settling his aim. "Say goodbye, Feathers."

Before the lieutenant could pull the trigger, a red-hot blast hit his hand and sent the gun flying from his grip as he recoiled from the shot. Yang had managed to assess the situation quickly and gave Lance the best option to free himself. And he did manage it, by amplifying his arms with aura to push against the stronger fighter holding him. But he didn't squeeze his way out. Rather, the brute's left arm was enveloped in these strange cracks. It felt like his aura was being drawn to that location in the short time that it appeared- before it flashed from the camel-brown to this cyan-blue and let out a sound like a glass bowl broke. All of his feeling from his left arm vanished in an instant before being replaced with a great deal of pain- as if it was cut off from him or every bone was broken from within. This was when Lance was dropped out of the man's grasp, allowing him to land on back and kick off to get some distance. He spun his body around, got a good stance, and launched off again back at his grappler. His left arm hit the strong man's face in a haymaker attempt, connecting with the face and causing Lance's arm to flash that same cyan-blue. His momentum carried him through and he skidded on the grass, coming to a stop at least three meters from his initial target.

And that White Fang member sprawled to the ground, his camel-brown aura flickering for a brief second before evaporating off his body. His aura was broken with a single punch.

Suffice to say, both Yang and the lieutenant were both incredibly perplexed and awestruck at what just occurred in front of them. An incredibly shocking scene sat before them, something neither party managed to put into words. Lance himself didn't even utter a single phrase as he stood up from his knelt stance he had skidded in, his eyes now locked on the lieutenant who was shaking in his boots. Team SPYR's leader took one thudding step forward and made the White Fang member scream in fear- metaphorically tucking his tail between his legs and running off north as he picked up a different handgun. Before he could even make it out to the treeline, Lance would turn to his blonde teammate to give her their next objectives.

"I'll go after him- get to the others in the center village!" He would yell before getting a running start after the leader. He made sure to pick up his iconic daggers along the way to make sure he had something to fight the terrorist with. And Yang jumped off the building she was on and ran towards the northwest to get to the others. She also pulled out her scroll and got on the scroll call with everyone else.

"Ruby, Lance went after one of the members that fled but we handled the rest of them," she would explain briefly. "How's it looking for you guys?"

From across several dozen meters, Ruby was sitting perched in a tree firing down upon the village that now housed the White Fang. She had taken out numerous members that stayed hidden in the homes and were using long-ranged weaponry to attack Pyrrha and Penny- who were clearing out the various parts of the town. The rose-tinted huntress was able to use her semblance to get from tree to tree, branch to branch so she could hit every sniper's nest and stay virtually invisible. The only problem was her bright red outfit- which got her caught a few times.

"We're doing fine!" She would yell into her scroll before another bolt was fired. "Just making sure to keep them at bay!" Another shot fired, this one leading to one of the terrorists tripping into Pyrrha and getting kick-flipped as a result.

The two redheads had their backs to one another to cover their blindspots, more than easily wiping out the legion of White Fang coming their way. While Ruby handled the ranged weapons, the PvP duo managed to slaughter the hordes of melee users. Blasts from their ranged options with a few well-placed swipes from their own melee weapons- it was looking like team SPYR was at quite the advantage.

"How many did you have turn tail and run?" Yang would ask over their scrolls, with no response coming in for a few seconds due to concentration. That's when the blonde realized her wording. "Oh crud, was that racist?"

"It might be considered offensive to some," Pyrrha would reply, taking a more defensive position with her rifle. She would take glances up to buildings and down pathways, finding no more activity from her section. Penny was still dealing with a few targets, prompting the redhead to change her position and help fire upon the members. "But to answer your question, we've only seen a few move north. Ruby, do you think you can move up north to see how many there are?"

"Already gone!" She would reply over her scroll, a flurry of rose petals being seen appear from a faraway tree. This prompted Penny to ask the next available question.

"If Yang is to arrive soon, shall I go find our leader?" She would ask her equally ginger teammate, allowing her Floating Array to slowly spin counterclockwise behind her back.

"He might need some help with that other commanding officer," the Mistralian replied and stood up from her position to move eastward. "But I'll go. Yang might need your help taking down anyone else who shows up here." Penny then nodded her head in agreement, allowing for the taller of the two to move off down a path eastward to find her team leader. And once she was out of ear shot, Penny could hear the shuffling of feet moving towards her from the north. She whipped around with her blades pointed at the ready.

Before her stood a tall burly man, standing no more than seven-foot-three. His skin was a dark tan, which contrasted against the gray tunic he had. Thick red highlights outlined parts of the top as well, showing his superiority and outward strength. The sleeves were also ripped off, exposing his hardened skin with dark fine hairs. And instead of the traditional mask that covered the eyes, he had one that covered his mouth- depicting the mouth of a Beowulf. Bloon-stained teeth and everything.

"I'm impressed, young lady," his voice came out heavily, the breaths being heard through the mask itself. "You and your comrades have managed to take a fool out of our forces. But your luck runs out."

"We did not want to resort to violence like this," Penny responded back, her sights still lined up with the man in front of her. "But it is unfortunately the only way either side of the conflict seems to listen."

"It is the sad truth of our societies. One that will lead to the demise of many." As he talked politics, Penny noticed the armor plating on his arms looked different. They looked like shackles- ones with the chains still attached to them. Sure enough, he was pulling two large spiked balls of metal on chains connected to those cuffs on his forearms. They were being dragged through the messy gravel-dirt path he walked on, leaving large trails from where they originally landed. "But it has to be this way, for humans to listen to us- and to listen to yourselves. And with this iron fist of justice, we shall prove to your kingdoms that we are just as strong and violent as you can be.

The only thing I promise you. Is pain. Without. End."

Once his speech ended, the lieutenant commander's eyes began to glow a golden-yellow. He grabbed a hold of the chain connected to his right arm and tugged hard, catching further down the chain while spinning the ball in the air above his head. With a roar-like yell, he let go of the chain and sent the spiked mass of steel flying forward towards Penny. She easily leaped backwards, the heavy end of the weapon slamming into the ground. The strong man would do the same with the other with another dodge succeeding in removing any contact. He then leaped forward into a sprint, grabbing both flails close to the steel ball to spin them around and slam them at the ginger. Each one managed to miss the target, Penny's blades hitting the chains in an attempt to break them. They scrapped and marked the links but were not able to snap a single one with each pass. The lieutenant commander even threw normal punches and kicks along with using his flails- proving to cause a lot more damage to the surroundings than anyone else might have as of recently. His pointed spheres had dug small trenches in the dirt and gravel, broken off parts of houses, and tore up trees once they got far enough along the walkway. Penny used her weapons to make the trees around them move, smacking the pursuing Faunus to break his concentration or balance. In between these smacks, a fist collided with his face followed up by a searing blast to the same area. He was knocked back a fair distance with his chains being pulled taut to keep him from going too far.

This punch was delivered by none other than Yang, coming in to help the redhead with dealing with this hearty foe. "This guy giving you trouble?"

"He is causing a rather large disturbance, yes," Penny agreed flatly. "I would suggest we disable his ability to use his weapons and wear him down stamina-wise from there."

"Good idea," Yang would comment back. "Anything specific I need to do?"

"Attempt to get in close and stay close. His weapons seem to be ineffective from that range. And his overall physical speed seems to be slow as well."

"Quick in-and-out. Just like the mud puddles back on Patch. Let's go!"

The brush rustled wildly as the lieutenant ran frantically. His footfalls were heavy along with his breath, charging through various plants and dodging low branches around him. His flight instincts had kicked in and all he cared about was getting distance from his pursuer. The lines of bush and branch eventually broke into a dirt path, allowing him to go straight west down the path itself. But as he turned and got a fast stride in that direction, something sharp hit his calf and caused him to stumble. This, in turn, made him trip on a dirt-sunken log and landed face first.

Lance was the one chasing after the White Fang member, keeping his feet light on the ground and movements steady as to make himself faster and nigh-unnoticable. The only trick he pulled was throwing one of his daggers to disable the running man and more easily catch up to him. And soon enough, the stumble and fall allowed the feathered man to get in closer.

"Your people have a lot of nerve coming out here," Lance would say with a bitter tone.

" 'Your people'?" the lieutenant would repeat back. This made him chuckle as he tried to get up to his feet again, failing to do so thanks to the cut on his leg being far worse than he realized. It nearly cut his hamstrings. "Like you would understand our cause."

"That's the point- I don't," he would jeer back. "This place was meant to be a safe haven from the terrors of the world."

"That terror- you brought it upon yourselves."

"How? Rallies, I get. Protest, I can understand. But vandalism? Thievery? Murder? What good does it do for anyone?!"

"You wouldn't know a damn thing about righteousness, defect!"

The conversation hung silent there, the clash of battle being heard far in the distance. Lance didn't manage to retort because of how confused he was from being called a…

"…defect?"

The lieutenant's laughter started to kick in again, reaching an actual genuine laugh as he managed to stand up. "You still don't get it, do you? This entire place…was just a test site for Atlas. Your entire life- heh heh heh- it's just a huge grandiose lie. And we're here to make sure that bridge is burned for good."

Lance blinked once. And saw it again. The burning forest along the path with an injured man standing in front of him, his gun raised and pointed right at him. It was the same vision from the construction sight, the same one that started these new flashes within his mind. This was the exact same spot, with what felt like the exact same person. It wasn't the same Faunus, in reality- but all he could see was the fire and the man. Smell the smoke. Hear the crackle and screams in the distance.

In reality, the lieutenant just cackled as he watched the other Faunus stand there in traumatized awe. "Finally put the pieces of the puzzle together. Well, Feathers, lemme put you out of your misery."

Then the tree fell. Lance jolted back as his breathing lurched forward to become sharp and quick. The tree was ablaze, obscuring his sight from the man and making it appear as if he might have been crushed. The terror, the realization, it all came crashing down onto this one single fighter in a matter of moments. The existential crisis going through his mind was unreal- unfathomable. And uncontrollably, he picked himself up and sprinted the opposite direction down the path. This wasn't natural- this was instinctual.

Back from the nightmare playing within his eyes, the tree that fell was a distraction to separate the lieutenant from Lance. The White Fang officer had jumped back to avoid the tree hitting him- which caused him to stumble and fall on his rear end. The gun he was holding fell out of his hand as a result and landed just a foot away from him. Pyrrha had managed to find her team leader and now was able to give her leader time to meet up with the others. Of course, she only saw him run off down the other end of the path- she didn't notice how frightened he was or that he didn't turn to start moving west. She stepped forward from the treeline, Miló aimed at the lieutenant in rifle form and Akoúo on her back.

"I would highly advise you to stand down," she would call out to the terrorist on the ground in front of her. His masked eyes peered at the redhead as his hand patted the ground next to him to try and feel for the handgun he had- only for Pyrrha to shoot the gun itself. It splintered the metal and made impact with the ground, which made the lieutenant yelp and retract his hand.

"O- okay, okay! I get it! Please don't shoot!" He would shout back, his palms being presented to Pyrrha as a sign of forfeit.

"You need to elaborate for me," the Mistralian huntress would say as she took a slow stride forward with her weapon still trained on her enemy. And said enemy was beginning to shuffle backwards, dragging himself along the ground. "Do you really believe Atlas would do something so inhumane? Making artificial Faunus?"

"Of course they would! They abuse us!" He replied in the same terrified tone. "They made us slaves! And they still do!"

"But that's why we're trying to fix it. People like us can find ways to help make peace around the world."

"And you think a bunch of teenagers can stop all racism on the planet?! Hundreds of years of hate?!"

"We know it won't take that away, but we certainly can make up for it together!"

"Not everyone is going to agree with you! And we certainly won't! I won't! I won't let you put a stop to our retributi—"

Before he could finish his sentence, a small stone came sailing out of the air into the back of the lieutenant's head. He was knocked out instantly, falling limp on the ground with a groan. Pyrrha would let out a small gasp as he fell so suddenly, relaxing her stance when she realized he was unconscious. Miló was condensed down and slotted back behind her with her shield as her hand went down to look at her scroll. It seemed Yang and Penny's aura were dropping a fair bit- probably from the fight they were still engaged in. So she quickly called Ruby instead to assess her situation.

"Ruby, are you there?"

"I'm here," she said quietly in response. "The other White Fang have sheltered up in the north-end of the forest. But the trees aren't attacking them. Maybe they can sense their fear?"

"I don't know," Pyrrha would say in agreement. "But your sister and Penny are still fighting- I'll try to meet up with them." She would keep her scroll on as she walked over to the knocked-out man and threw him over her shoulder. "Do you think you can get in contact with Lance?"

"Sure! I'll call him now." Ruby's session ended soon after, which prompted the crimson- haired woman to put away her scroll and move west.

"Lance, this is Ruby. Uh, what's going on with you?"

…there was no response. There was simply silence on the other end.

"Lance? Lance, are you there? Are you okay?"

He couldn't hear her. All he could hear were the screams.

And the fire.

He was back home.