Ironwood: Previously, on The Defenders of Remnant…

"Better luck next time," Yang said before turning away and starting for the exit.

"There's not gonna be a next time, Blondie," She heard Mercury growl. She turned around and saw Mercury leaping for her again, leg out to connect another kick. She frowned before striking him at the knee and firing Ember Celica.

"Agh!" Mercury cried out. "My leg.. My leg!"

"Yang Xiao Long! Stand down!" One of them commanded.

"But he attacked me!" Yang insisted.

"Video footage and millions of viewers say otherwise," Ironwood countered.

"You guys believe me… right?" Yang asked her friends.

"Duh!" Her sister replied.

"I believe you too. And not only do I believe you, I think something's up," Peter said.

"Who are you?" Peter asked.

"Simply a guide," The blacksmith answered.

"A guide for what?" Peter asked.

"Helping those who need it find one's self."

"You use your past to define who you are. Who do you want to be? Do you want to continue to be Peter Parker, the selfless young man who carries the weight of two worlds and a dark past on his shoulders, or do you want to be none of it? Start new. What will be your purpose, Peter?" The blacksmith asked.

"There were several reels from that night from several cameras, but after some searching, she found it: a reel of the brutal encounter between the late Kingpin of Crime and the wall crawler. She smirked and let out an icy chuckle.

"What is it?" Emerald asked.

"Nothing," Cinder answered, "We're just going to be making a slight… alteration to the plan."

"So… concerning the maiden… have you chosen who will take up Autumn's mantle?" Matt asked the headmaster.

Ozpin spun his chair back around to face the two. "Maidens choose themselves. I simply believe I've found the right candidate. Ever since I met her, I had a feeling she would be the one. She's strong, intelligent, caring, but most importantly, she's ready."

"And who exactly is this candidate?" Qrow asked.

"Pyrrha Nikos."

"We can't transfer Amber's power to you, but we can give you what those powers are bound to."

"Her aura," Pyrrha deduced.

"Her life would become intertwined with yours. The question is-" Ozpin started.

"What will it do to you?" Matt finished.

"You have an important decision before you, Miss Nikos," Ozpin said. "There's no guarantee this transfer will work, and there's no telling if you will be the same person if it does. I advise you to take time to think on this matter, but understand, before the Vytal Festival is over, we will need your answer."

The Defenders of Remnant

Chapter 43: Culmination

"A terrible tragedy took place this afternoon during the one-on-one rounds of the Vytal Festival Tournament," Lisa Lavender reported. Mercury changed the channel.

"I don't know what the Beacon's headmaster's teaching his students, but that's disgraceful, completely uncalled for."

He changed the channel again.

"Despite Atlas reinforcements, local authorities are still calling on any available Huntsmen to aid in suppressing the spike in Grimm activity."

Emerald shut the screen off while Mercury was still watching, simultaneously working on his robotic leg with a screwdriver in the joint, repairing the damage done by Yang Xiao Long's Dust round. "Hey, I was watching that!" He complained.

"Shut up," Emerald snapped in an annoyed tone.

"Is this how you treat a patient?" Mercury raised an eyebrow. Emerald firmly gripped the screwdriver jammed into his leg and twisted it hard, causing Mercury to jolt. "Ow, too tight!"

"Enough," Cinder commanded as she approached. "Our Mercury put on a wonderful show. He was quite brave."

Mercury smirked then glared at Emerald while going back to working on his leg. "These things aren't exactly cheap, y'know."

Emerald rolled her eyes at Mercury before turning to their leader. "So, what's next?" She asked Cinder.

"You and I will make sure that our next matchup goes just as smoothly," Cinder said before turning around and heading for the exit, Emerald picking up her tail.

"What about me?" Mercury asked, jabbing a thumb at himself to emphasize.

"You get to lay low until the end. We wouldn't want people to see you on your feet and have all this be for naught, now would we?" Cinder replied.

"Can do," Mercury nodded before shifting all of his focus on his damaged robotic leg. Cinder and Emerald went through the exit and closed the warehouse door behind them. Cinder started to walk ahead without another word, but a concerned look came across Emerald's face, and she took her leader's side.

"Cinder, are you alright?" She asked.

"I'm fine," Cinder answered, albeit coldly, "Why do you ask?"

"It's just… you haven't seemed the same since Taskmaster's death."

"It's none of your concern," Cinder said.

"I know, but-" Suddenly Cinder wheeled onto Emerald with a fire in her eye, her patience running thin already.

"I said, I'm fine. My well being is not your concern. Your only concern is that the plan should go swimmingly. And if it doesn't because you were too preoccupied, Emerald, then that punishment will come down on you. Am I clear?"

"Y-Yes, ma'am," Emerald quivered.

"Good," Cinder said before turning around and leaving Emerald behind. Emerald was rooted in place for a few moments before she hesitantly began to follow Cinder again.

Yang glanced out the window of the dorm room to see Team JNPR exiting the building and heading out into campus, with Jaune hanging in the back with Pyrrha, Ren just ahead of them, and Nora happily skipping along next to him. At least someone felt upbeat. She looked down, away from the window and at the carpeted floor at her feet. She had tried to rest, but couldn't fall asleep. Too much was on her mind. Peter believed she was framed, and she knew what she saw in the arena. But regardless of what the truth was, she was disqualified, and nothing would change that. She shamed her kingdom in front of the entire world, and even if proven innocent couldn't take it back.

"Hey there, Firecracker." Yang didn't need to turn the other way to know who was in her doorway.

"Hey, Qrow…" She replied dejectedly.

"So, why'd you do it?"

"You know why," Yang frowned.

"All I know is you attacked a helpless kid," Qrow frowned back. "So either you're lying, or you're crazy."

"I'm not lying," Yang finally faced her uncle.

"Mm, crazy. Got it," Qrow said before sliding his hands into his pockets and walking further into the room.

"Who knows? Maybe I am."

"And here I thought your dark-haired friend was the emo one," Qrow joked.

"I saw my mom," Yang said. This stopped Qrow in his tracks. He glanced at her, and saw she was looking back downwards. "I-I was in a lot of trouble, took a pretty hard hit. But when I came to, the person attacking me was gone, and I thought I saw.. Her. Her sword, like the one in you and Dad's old picture. I must be crazy, though. All that was there was that Moon Knight guy. Not that I can ask him about anything anymore…"

Qrow chuckled dryly. "You're not crazy, Yang. That was your mom alright. Lemme guess, she didn't say a word to you, did she?"

"How did you know that?" Yang asked.

"I don't see my sister very often, but she does try to keep in touch. Whenever it suits her."

"Wait, you mean you talked to her? That was real?" Yang questioned.

"Yeah, she found me," Qrow answered. "Had a tip for my most recent assignment, and wanted me to give you a message."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?!"

"I was trying to wait for the right time, and this sure ain't it, but I guess you deserve to know. She wanted me to tell you that she saved you once, but you shouldn't expect that kindness again. Raven's got an interesting way of looking at the world that I don't particularly agree with, and she's dangerous. But you're a tough egg, kiddo. Shouldn't let this tournament thing get ya down. You had a slip up, sometimes bad things just happen. I say it's time you move on."

"Move on to what?" Yang asked.

Qrow leaned over and placed his hands on the windowsill, looking out at the large Beacon campus. "Well, Raven let some info slip before she took off. If you ever want to track her down, I think I might be able to help."

Yang began to think about it silently. Would she want to see her mom again? Raven had kept distance for so long, and with this message, it didn't seem like she cared much at all. So why would she want to find her? "I'll… think about it."

"You got a lot on your mind. I'll get out of your hair then. Just don't forget what I said: you're stronger than this. Show them that, Yang," Qrow said. Yang hesitantly nodded, and her uncle nodded back before stepping out of the dorm.

Peter felt his eyelids weigh heavier on him. He still wasn't getting enough sleep, and now he felt his blood pressure break through the roof with his anxiety and anger rising. He'd gone through camera feeds, air flight records, hospital check ins in both Vale and in Haven where apparently Mercury was taken to his family.

Nothing.

There was no record after the ambulance bullhead left Amity arena, no hospital records for Mercury in either kingdom, as if he just dropped off the face of Remnant. Ben looked over and saw Peter's scrunched up face and balled fists. His fingernails had cut into his skin, drawing blood.

"Hey, Peter, you alright?" Ben asked.

"No, Ben, I'm not okay!" Peter shot up and struck his fist downward onto the desk in front of him. It instantly caved in at the center, and snapped in half entirely. The entire middle section was obliterated. "He's gone! After Amity, he just dropped off the map! He's not in Haven, he's not in the hospital, he's not anywhere! This only proves Mercury had something to hide, but now I can't prove Yang's innocence!"

"We can figure things out," Ben said, placing a hand on Peter's shoulder, "But first you need to chill out."

Peter sighs heavily and sinks back down into his seat. "Sorry, you're right. Just… I keep doing so much wrong, I want to be able to do something right. If I can save anyone from anything, it has to be a friend."

"You already have saved someone. Me. With Taskmaster gone, I'm in the clear. I'm free."

"That's exactly the problem, Taskmaster is gone," Peter said. "It doesn't matter how bad he was, it isn't up to us to be judge, jury and executioner."

"You didn't kill him, Peter," Ben said.

"I didn't save him either," Peter replied solemnly.

"You should be easier on yourself," he heard Weiss say. The two turned around to see Weiss and Blake enter the lab.

"I thought you guys left for coffee," Peter said.

"That was two hours ago," Blake said concerningly. "You need to slow down, Pete. You're only hurting yourself."

"Doesn't that sound familiar…" Peter said.

"Exactly our point," Weiss added. "It's too late to try and undo what happened with Yang. If you're going to throw yourself into hero work, at least try to help us stop whatever's coming."

"And what if nothing changes?" Peter wheeled around on them and stood up. "What if this pattern just continues over and over, where I can't save anyone? How many people are gonna die because I keep failing as a hero?!"

"Where is this coming from?" Weiss asked.

"Weiss, name one person I've saved with my power since I got here, one. Sure, I've fought the bad guys and let them ride off into the sunset to fight another day, but now those other days aren't coming. Every criminal that came to Remnant with us is dead, Marc is dead, and Yang is being framed and being judged by the entire world! I nearly killed Kingpin, I was useless when the Grimm invaded the city, and when I tried to save Ben from Taskmaster, I got beat up while Logan, Matt and Ruby came in to save the day. I'm not saving anyone, Weiss… I just keep setting them up for failure or death. And that's not who I'm supposed to be."

"Then who are you supposed to be, Peter?" Ben asked.

"I don't know anymore, Ben. I really don't…" Peter sighed. He webbed his jacket to him, slipped it on, and went for the door.

"Where are you going?" Blake asked.

"I don't know," Peter answered. "Just.. not here."

That was a lie.

Pyrrha sat alone against the wall of the empty mess hall, the sky turning a golden-orange hue as the sun began to lower from the sky. She rested the back of her head against the wall. A cool autumn breeze began to flow through the campus. An orange leaf floated down onto the ground next to her foot, landing gently. She looked down on the leaf, and felt a tidal wave of anxiety and guilt wash upon her as Amber came to mind, and the choice she had yet to make regarding whether to take the powers of the Fall Maiden or not. It was a daunting choice, one that could determine not only her fate, but those of her friends and the entire kingdom.

"Hey," Jaune said as he approached holding a giant glob of cotton candy in one hand, holding it out to her. His voice broke her from her heavy train of thought, and she looked up to meet his eyes. "It's no green goop, but I think it might still do some good."

"Um, right. Thank you, Jaune," Pyrrha replied weakly as she gently accepted the offering. She couldn't even hide her overall glumness. Jaune quickly noticed and his smile faded, worried about her. He heard footsteps and looked all the way down the path to see their teammates rounding the corner. Nora stopped short when she noticed Jaune and Pyrrha, and quickly acted to turn Ren back around away from the pair, grabbing his arm and pulling him away while he had a large drink, cotton candy and giant bucket of popcorn in his hands.

"Uh, c'mon Ren! Let's go back to the fairgrounds. I'll win you another stuffed animal." As soon as they left, Jaune turned back to his red-headed teammate and took a seat next to her.

"You were the first person to ever believe in me, y'know that?" He said. "Even when I told my parents I was going to Beacon, they told me not to worry if I ended up having to move back home. How depressing is that?"

"I'm sure… they didn't mean-" Pyrrha started to say, then she let out a soft gasp. She dropped the cotton candy and her eyes rounded when Jaune's hand fell on hers, gently covering it and warming it. She looked down at their palms, then back up at her leader in surprise. He wasn't looking at her though. He was gazing down at his feet.

"I guess… I'm just trying to say that… you've always been there for me." He turned his head now with friendly eyes and a warm smile plastered on his face. "Even when I didn't deserve it. And I can tell there's something on your mind, so… I don't know, how can I help?"

Pyrrha's surprise turned to a warm smile as well. She closed her eyes and gently laid her head on Jaune's shoulder, warmth filling her chest and soul. "You're already doing it," She told him. Jaune was surprised at first, but smiled and sat there with her for long moments, just enjoying the moment. Another cool gust of wind flew through, and another golden leaf joined its partner at their feet, their stems leaning against one another in a cross. Soon though, Pyrrha's brow furrowed, her frown returned, and she lifted her head off his shoulder as well as pulled her hand away, the cool breeze quickly taking away the warmth it held with Jaune's. "Jaune…"

"Hm?"

"I don't know what to do…"

"W-What do you mean?" Jaune asked.

She hesitated to answer for a long moment, and her bright green eyes fell on her leader again. "Do you believe in destiny?" She asked.

"Um… I-I don't know. I guess that depends on how you view it," Jaune replied.

Pyrrha clarified, "When I think of destiny, I don't think of a predetermined fate you can't escape., but rather, some sort of final goal. Something you work towards your entire life." The two leaves that once lay upon each other were blown away from the Beacon students, becoming lost the wind's current.

"Okay, yeah. I can see that, sure," Jaune agreed.

"Well… what would you do if something came along that you never expected? Something that had the potential to stand between you and your destiny?"

"Like what?" Jaune asked, but Pyrrha continued.

"Or, what if you could fulfill your destiny in an instant, but at the cost of who you were?"

"Pyrrha, you're not making any sense…" Jaune said, reaching for her shoulder, but she quickly stood up back to her full height. She gripped her own arms tightly and began to walk forward.

"None of it makes sense," She cried. "This isn't how things were supposed to happen." Jaune quickly stood up as well.

"I-I'm sorry, please, I'm just trying to understand what's wrong."

"I've always felt as though I was destined to become a huntress., to protect the world." She let out a shaky breath, trying to keep her composure in front of Jaune. "And it's become increasingly clear to me that my feelings were right. But…" She finally turned back around to face Jaune. "I don't know if I can do it."

"Of course you can," Jaune said firmly. "The Pyrrha Nikos I know would never back down from a challenge, and if you really believe it's your destiny to save the world, you can't let anything stand in your way." Jaune thought his words would inspire her, comfort her, help her. Instead her eyes began to well with tears, and she covered her mouth with both hands as her voice quivered. "Pyrrha…?

"Stop…" She whimpered, using all her strength to stop the tears from running down her face.

Jaune didn't, though, and stepped closer, gently grabbing her arm. "Did I say something wrong?"

"Stop!" She threw her hand out and accidentally triggered her semblance. It gripped Jaune by his white armor pieces and slammed him into one of the nearby pillars, completely shattering it on impact. "Jaune!" She exclaimed, horrified by her own actions. She quickly released her semblance and dropped him to the ground. He quickly pushed himself back up and looked at her. The tears were dripping down her cheeks now. "I'm… I'm sorry…." She quickly ran away from the scene and her friend, not wanting to harm him further.

"Pyrrha, wait!" Jaune called, but it was too late. Pyrrha was already gone. He hung his head low and still sat on his knees. "What did I say…?"

Unbeknownst to Jaune, Matt stood around the corner, and had listened to the entire scene. He let out a heavy sigh and slipped off his glasses. He rubbed his eyes firmly before letting the back of his own head hit the wall of the mess hall. Lord, forgive me… for I've made a terrible mistake…

"So, Parker never mentioned having a brother before," Cardin said.

"Well, we haven't been that close until recently," Ben replied. Only partially a lie.

"So, what, are you guys twins? You look almost identical."

"You'd think, but no. I'm fifteen, he's nineteen," Ben answered. Technically a truth. Ben was physically a fifteen-year-old Peter Parker, even though he was just a month-and-a-half old, about.

Ruby walked ahead of the two. The three of them were heading up to Amity to watch the next finals. Ruby and Cardin were going to watch in case Pyrrha got picked, and Ben was going in case Penny got picked. She listened to Cardin and Ben go back and forth until they came to the landing pads, where a line had formed to slowly fill bullheads taking patrons up to Amity from the ground. She began to look around and spotted Velvet off to the side taking pictures of passing huntsmen with her camera, like Nolan and Sun. She stepped out of line, leaving Cardin and Ben behind, and approached the rabbit faunus. Velvet turned around and spotted the younger first-year huntress.

"Ruby! How are you going?" Velvet asked.

"Hi Velvet!" Ruby greeted with a wave and a smile. "What are you up to?"

"Oh, y'know, just working on my photography. Do you wanna see?" Velvet held the camera towards Ruby. Ruby leaned over and saw the screen with a picture pulled up. It was a close up of Sun's weapons in his arms, not really of Sun himself.

"That's… better," Ruby said with a forced smile, thinking Velvet took the photo wrong.

Velvet smiled back, but it soon fell and her expression changed to one of sympathy. "I'm… sorry to hear about your sister. Is she doing okay?"

"Yeah, she's fine," Ruby unconvincingly said with a nervous chuckle. "Thanks."

"I think it's just awful what people are saying about her," Velvet said while stowing her camera onto the back of her belt. "Yang's such a nice person."

"Well, I'm glad someone besides us thinks so." Ruby rubbed the back of her head awkwardly.

"Most people don't know what it's like on the battlefield. I mean, even experienced fighters can get scared and start seeing things. If it happened to Coco, it can happen to anyone."

"Coco?" Cardin said as he and Ben both approached as well. "What happened to Coco?"

"Yeah. She swore she saw Yatsu in the forest during their fight with Emerald and Mercury, but he never even made it out of the geyser fields. Stress induced hallucinations apparently."

"Yeah…" Ruby muttered. Something was up. Both she and Ben looked down to consider it when a camera flash stunned all three of them. Velvet had her camera back out, and quickly realized the mistake.

"Oop! Sorry," She chuckled.

Ben quickly returned to his thoughts though. Yang was seen as a singular case, but if someone else was seeing illusions on the battlefield with the same people…

Then it hit him. "A semblance that creates hallucinations…" he muttered.

"What?" Ruby asked.

Ben quickly scrambled for his scroll and called Peter as fast as he could. He put the scroll up to his ear and listened as the dial ran. After listening to it ring a half a dozen times, it went to voicemail. "C'mon, Peter pick up!" he called again, only to come to the same result. "Dammit, cmon!"

Peter swung from tree to tree, the rhythm of web swinging second nature to him now. For the fifth time, his scroll chimed. Peter wasn't surprised to glance at the contact and see it was Ben calling. He rolled his eyes and finally decided just to turn his scroll off. He swung and swung for a long while until he finally reached the outskirts of Mount Glenn. He didn't slow down though. He kept swinging through the abandoned urban landscape until he reached his destination: the collapsed site of Merlot Industries.

He slid down into the crater and began to worm his way through the debris, gradually making his way through each destroyed level of building until he reached floors that were relatively intact. The halls were littered with debris still, but the sublevels hadn't collapsed. He had been counting on that. Eventually, he made his way back down to his destination. The collider lab. A massive pile of debris blocked the doorway, but he quickly used his super strength to destroy each piece of debris one-by-one. He soon made his way back into the laboratory. The viewing room was destroyed, so Peter slid down from the entryway directly into the testing chamber. The destroyed collider was there, completely in pieces. That was fine, he didn't need it.

Peter pulled back his sleeve and eyed his blackened wound. It had consumed his entire forearm. The pain had gotten much worse, but he had grown accustomed to it now. If any of his friends, heroes or huntsmen, saw his wound now, they wouldn't have let him leave campus. Not that any of them could've stopped him if they tried. He rolled his sleeve back down and let out a heavy sigh.

"Alright. Let's talk," He said aloud. At first, nothing happened. Then a rift opened where the collider once stood. He took a deep breath, preparing himself, then stepped through the rift. He was back in the starry void. The rift closed behind him, and soon enough, Peter saw the Blacksmith at her forge in front of him. She turned from her work and faced him in her seat.

"So, you decided to come," she smiled.

"I guess you were expecting me," Peter replied with a blank expression.

"Indeed I was," The blacksmith said before standing to her full height. "Welcome to my reality."

"Whatever this stuff is," Peter said while rolling his sleeve up again to show his blackened arm, "It's linked me to this collider room was covered in residual energy. I figured bringing my part back to this place would temporarily open a rift. I guess I was right."

"As little sense as it makes?" The blacksmith said.

"Well, it's like you said, some things don't have to make sense to exist."

"And so they don't," She nodded. "What would you like to discuss?"

Peter hesitated, and let out a deep, heavy sigh. "I… I don't want to be me anymore… I want to start new… I want you… to show me my purpose..."

Ruby and Ben found seats next to one another, while Cardin went to sit elsewhere, most likely with Velvet and the rest of Team CFVY. The stadium was jam packed tonight. Despite what had happened earlier that day, the turnout had been even higher than before. That wasn't at the forefront of Ben's mind, though, and Ruby could tell.

"I'm sure Peter is just taking time for himself," Ruby said.

"Yeah, but I needed to tell him before he put more blame on himself. He's gonna tear himself apart, Ruby, and I can't let that happen," Ben said.

"He just needs space. We'll try again after the fight, okay? I'm worried about him too, but for now, there's nothing we can do," Ruby said.

"If you say so," Ben said, looking down.

"He'll be okay," Ruby assured him. "He's the toughest guy I know."

"For his sake, I hope you're right," Ben relented.

Ruby patted his arm, then scanned around the arena, smiling at the audience. She was happy to see that her friends would be getting some more positive attention now. Then her eyes fell on a face that wasn't supposed to be there; Emerald sat on the direct opposite side of the arena.

"Emerald's here?" She said aloud.

"What?!" Ben exclaimed. He followed Ruby's eyeline and found the same sight. "No…"

"We have to go, cmon!" Ruby grabbed ben's arm and pulled him up, and the two rushed out of the open seating of the coliseum into one of its maintenance hallways.

"Alright, it's now time to begin the randomization process for our next fight!" Oobleck announced. The two continued to rush down the hall until out of a side door stepped Mercury. They skid to a stop across from him.

"Mercury?" Ruby questioned.

Then Port came over the PA system. "It looks like our first contender is… Penny Polendina from Atlas!"

A concerned look came across both of their faces. "What are you doing…?"

"They're behind it.." Ben said. Ruby glanced at him.

"What?"

"Mercury… Emerald… Taskmaster… Cinder…" Ben's memories were flooding back to him now, and his heart sunk to an infinite degree.

"And her opponent will be… Pyrrha Nikos from Beacon!" Ruby processed it for a moment, then her eyes rounded.

"No…" she quivered.

"Ooh, polarity versus metal… That can be bad," Mercury smirked. Ruby reached for Crescent Rose, but it wasn't at her waist. She began to panic.

"Penny…" Ben trembled. He felt his body shaking. No.. no, this wasn't going to happen. He swallowed hard and stowed his fear away.

"It's been a while, Black Tarantula. How have you been hang- Ough!" Ben closed their distance instantly, connecting his fist with Mercury's stomach and blasting the air from his lungs. This sent Mercury stumbling back.

Ben called out to Ruby. "Ruby, go! Stop the match! Hurry!" Ruby nodded, and in a storm of rose petals, sped away. Mercury attempted to kick her on her way past, but webbing shot onto his foot and he was yanked onto his back. Ruby got away scot free, and Mercury saw that Ben had web shooters on his wrist. "A little something I've had on me since Taskmaster died. I may have forgotten CInder's face and name, but I never forgot she was his leash."

"Finally, something you and I both agree on," Mercury said before shooting the webbing off with his free leg then flipping onto his feet again. He scowled though and shot a flare at Ben. The flare temporarily blinded Ben. Mercury leapt away and quickly grabbed his scroll from his pocket, trying to contact Cinder to let her know things were going South. Before he could even get to the contacts page, it was covered in webbing and yanked from his hands. It was pulled into Ben's own hand, then crushed into scrap with ease. Ben let the bits hit the floor, and Merc looked up at him in surprise.

"I don't think so. Let's keep this between old friends," Ben said menacingly. Mercury felt a little anxious now. Even when on Taskmaster's leash, he never could beat him. Freed and pissed off? Mercury didn't like his chances. But he didn't need to win, he just needed to hold him off. He hoped he kept Ruby away long enough.

Ruby, meanwhile, quickly made it back out into the arena. Pyrrha and Penny had already begun their battle. I have to be quick! She looked around frantically for someone, anyone with the authority to stop the match. She scanned the nearby seats and saw Frank Castle patrolling the rim of the spectator stands. She rushed up to him. "Mister Castle! Mister Castle!"

"Huh? What do you want?" Frank asked gruffly.

"You have to stop the match! Now!" Ruby exclaimed in a panicked tone.

"What are you talking about, kid?" Frank raised an eyebrow in annoyance.

"I'm serious! Penny's life is in danger! You have to stop the match!" Ruby begged. Frank's eyebrows shot up and he spun around to look out into the arena.

"How is she in danger?"

"Emerald and Mercury, they set up Yang and rigged the match for Penny to fight Pyrrha. She's gonna die! Please, stop the match!" Frank considered for a moment, and figured if there was even the slightest chance she was telling the truth, he had to act. He leapt over the railing and dropped down into the arena. Ruby sped down next to him and rushed for the central platform where the two huntresses were battling.

Pyrrha dodged and countered each attack from Penny, with the android sending her blades on strings at her from afar as well blasting beams of green energy at Pyrrha from said blades. Pyrrha flipped over one last blast before Penny rushed her with her blades primed behind her. Pyrrha thrust her spear forward and forced Penny back to a distance. Penny rebounded though, scraping her blades along the ground before leaping up and divekicking Pyrrha, breaking her guard and blasting her backwards. Pyrrha tried to recover her defense, but two of Penny's blades struck her shield and weapon from her hands, leaving her without her equipment. Pyrrha attempted to use her semblance to call her spear back to her, but a third of Penny's blades hit it mid-air and sent it even further out of Pyrrha's reach.

The blade returned behind Penny and all seven of her weapons formed a semicircle above her. Pyrrha was ready to defend herself, until suddenly seven stringed blades turned into dozens, then a hundred, then a thousand, impossibly multiplying before her eyes. Pyrrha stumbled back in bewilderment, and Penny shot her blades forward with a confident smirk. Pyrrha stood firmly and readied to call upon the full strength of her semblance, when suddenly Ruby and a man she didn't recognize suddenly put themselves between her and Penny.

"Stop!" Frank exclaimed. Pyrrha stopped short, and Penny quickly pulled her swords back so as not to harm her friends. "Stop the match!" Penny and Pyrrha were left confused, while the crowds entertained cheers changed to a mix of confused sounds and disappointed boos.

"Specialist Castle?" Penny questioned.

"Ruby?" Pyrrha did the same. "What's going on? Why did you get in between us?"

"We're saving a life," Ruby answered.

Frank's comm chimed his ear, and General Ironwood's hardly restrained anger came through. "Specialist Castle, I expect you have a good explanation for this," he growled.

"I do. I'm saving Penny's life," Frank said.

"Saving my life? What is going on?" Penny asked.

"Emerald and Mercury are behind all the weird stuff going on during the tournament," Ruby answered. "They beat Coco and Yatsu, framed Yang, and were trying to get Pyrrha to kill you."

"What?" Pyrrha shuddered.

"Pyrrha, were you seeing anything wrong? Something sudden and impossible that couldn't be explained?" Ruby asked.

"I… yes. Penny's swords were multiplying…. I was going to use my full power to repel them…"

"Penny doesn't have that many swords. If you'd gone full power, you would've torn her apart," Frank said.

"I don't understand…" Pyrrha said.

"It was all a setup!" Ruby exclaimed. "They were trying to-" Suddenly every screen in the arena flickered, changing from the normal combatants screen to a black Queen chess piece on a dark red background. Cinder's voice filled the airwaves.

"Your kingdom has become so reliant on the deeds of so-called 'superheroes' to fight your battles for you, to protect your people and defend your borders. If they were so great, what would be the point of Huntsmen? Except they aren't great. The symbols you have looked up to for the past few months are nothing but charlatans pretending to enforce the 'greater good'."

The screens changed to show camera footage of Moon Knight with Raven Branwen outside Tukson's book store. "Do heroes associate themselves with known terrorists?" Then it changed to show the battle between the Defenders and Team RWBY. "Do heroes assault the very children of the kingdom they swore allegiance to? Or perhaps…." The screen changed again, and ran footage of Peter's bloody battle with Kingpin. Peter's unmasked face was blurred, his identity safe, but that wasn't the point. She wasn't aiming to expose the heroes' other lives, but ruin their reputations. "Do heroes brutalize and attempt to murder innocent bystanders?" Far from the truth, but Remnant didn't know that. Remnant didn't know who Fisk was. All they saw was their favorite hero beating a man to a bloody pulp. Gasps of horror and shock filled the arena. Ruby could feel the energy change around her.

"No, I don't think they do," Cinder continued. "And worst of all, academy headmasters like Ozpin and Ironwood actually endorse and support these people. This is what happens when you hand over your trust, your safety, your children to men who claim to be our guardians, but are in reality nothing more than men. Our academies' headmasters wield more power than most armies, and one was audacious enough to control both. They cling to this power in the name of peace, and yet, what do we have here? Hired warriors by one headmaster tearing apart the kingdom they were hired to protect. What need would the kingdom have of masked vigilantes if Huntsmen were enough already? And what, I ask you, is Ozpin teaching his students? A dismemberment clearly wasn't enough. Huntsmen and huntresses should carry themselves with honor and mercy, and yet in both cases, I have witnessed neither.

"I haven't the slightest idea what the goal is for these so-called heroes, but I do know that peace is fragile, and the leaders of our kingdoms conduct their business with iron gloves. As someone who hails from Mistral, I can assure you the situation there is… equally undesirable. Our kingdoms are at the brink of war, yet we, the citizens, are left in the dark. So I ask you, when the first shots are fired, who do you think you can trust?"

The feeds flickered off, and the coliseum was left in a dread, their beliefs and hopes in their heroes tainted and tattered. The people were all confused, horrified, angry and afraid, a beacon of negative emotion.

"Ruby, what is happening?" Penny asked. Before Ruby could answer, sirens began to wail all across the city below and in the arena itself.

"Warning: Incoming Grimm attack. Threat Level: Nine. Please seek shelter in a calm and orderly manner." The announcement system warned. Of course, that didn't happen. People began to scream and sprint for the exits, rushing for the airships as fast as possible.

Then Ironwood's voice pierced over the speakers. "Ladies and gentleman, please, there is no reason to panic-" His words were cut off as the familiar screech of a Nevermore filled the skies, and the massive bird Grimm landed atop the force field protecting the open sky view of Amity. It began to claw and peck at the energy field, trying to break through.

"How did a Nevermore get past the kingdom's defenses?!" Pyrrha exclaimed.

"It didn't come alone…" Frank growled.

Ozpin looked out his office window in horror as hordes of Grimm flooded his streets and the sirens wailed, as if crying for the kingdom itself. The elevator behind him opened and Goodwitch, Logan, Matt and Qrow sprinted out.

"Ozpin!" Matt called as they came in.

The headmaster quickly turned to them. "Get to the city!" Ozpin commanded.

"But-" Qrow started.

"Now!" Ozpin snapped. The other three traded glances and went straight for the elevator, but Matt still faced Ozpin.

"What will you do?" Matt questioned.

"I will go below. Someone must safeguard Amber's chamber. I've no doubt she is one of the true targets. Now go. Defend." Matt glowered, but joined the others in the elevator. The doors closed, and Ozpin turned back around to face his endangered kingdom.

The Battle for Beacon had begun.