A/N I didn't mean to seem whiny in my last A/N. I just hit a little bit of an inspiration block. And with mounting college tasks, I probably shouldn't have vented here.

But it kind of gets boring just hearing from the same reviewers looking at my follows and favorites. I'm keeping on this don't worry to much. I'm just slower than dirt as you've already figured out.

But maybe just leave a thought or two, if you feel like it. It would go a long way

Alright I'll stop complaining.

Sub/side note Remember I made Winter a younger twin hear in the post Vol 2 information drought. Because damned if I was gonna wait six months for information on a side character. Last section felt a little rushed to me but I wanted to get something out before the end of the month and other school works piles up.

And if nothing drastic happens within the next two or three chapters, (whenever I get them out...) feel free to like just, shake your head at me or something

Neither of Kad's teammates stirred during the night. He knew, his superhuman heritage had let him sense every detail very closely.

The giant had just sat there shirtless on the end of his creaking mattress. His knees bent up and his black boots tucked back almost painfully against the bed frame. Staring at his scroll next to his knife on the desk he never used. Counting the links on his steel chain over and over, winding the weapon up his left arm waiting for the dawn.

Listening.

Listening to everything.

Tuning in on some of the conversations the other teams in the building had before they retired. The quick muffled reassurances Weiss and Ruby shared several floors up. JNPR's laughter and plans for the next day.

He heard everything. Sitting there all alone in the night.

The last hulk of the wreck of space ships burned with their savage xeno occupants. Ferrus had been very thorough, boarding several likely wrecks looking for the source of the disturbance which threw them off course. The disturbance that He knew his son would not find. And all the while the ramshackle Ork fleet hurled itself into the guns of the Iron Hands.

It was almost time. Whenever this memory was made and shared with Kad. He did not know. He had other concerns.

He didn't want to think about what would happen if he had to run. But there was little else he could do now. Convinced tomorrow there would be trouble.

What would other people say? What role could he still play in Cinder's plan? It twisted his stomach and hurt his head with anxiety.

All his plans for Beacon, his friends who wouldn't understand. Could he ever tell them why he had come to the school anyway? Would Alicia and Co'Balt still be partners? Would they get a new team?

And of course that thinking lead Kad back to the last few days. And the girl Penny that Ozpin had tried to place on team APRC. Co'Balt would never accept any replacement for Jaxon, but if Kad brought Penny on board maybe that would at least increase the team's chances of staying together. His friends could live with it, they were tough.

But as he kept thinking the analytical and optimistic side of Kad realized that he probably wasn't in so much trouble. If he was compromised they probably would have asked only for him, not the rest of his team... Unless someone suspected he had corrupted them as well and the spiral continued.

More hours passed and light began to come over the artificial horizon of the other buildings on campus. Kad looked down at his knife in its thick leather scabbard by his foot and smiled to himself as he came up with an idea to wake the others.

Co'Balt snorted and twitched awake at the jagged sound of a stone scraping across metal assaulting his sensitive ears. His thin sheets pulled up high with his arms as the Faunus twisted up.

His brown eyes narrowed at the giant, "Ever heard of a fucking alarm clock?"

"Seriously…" Alicia agreed into a pillow from over on her side of the room.

Kad just smiled, shaking the point of his knife at the two of them and throwing the whetstone onto his desk, "It pays to keep your equipment maintained."

"I'm gonna pay someone to kick your teeth in…" Co'Balt growled.

"Good luck with that."

The city was waking up.

Blake knew the feeling, even if she had never been in Vale during this time of the day. But she had been through enough metropolises to remember the sense. Movement, new sounds, fresh smells carried on the wind flowing around the three of them.

She shivered a little bit rubbing her bare arms, covered only by the wrap and ribbon on her left. Finally she was warming up a little after the darkness of early morning was pushed away by the dawn. But of course this pleasant feeling was rare this close to The Wall.

The Wall was the massive sheer cliff that enclosed the city of Vale on every side except the ocean. Protecting it from all the malevolent forces out there in the wild. Grimm from the Emerald forest and Forever Fall. It had kept out the massed tank battalions during the Great War. This was the primary reason the kingdom's heart had lasted as long as it had.

But it wasn't a perfect defense. Practically useless against anything in the air. It could be, and had been tunneled through as shown by Torchwick and the White Fang several week ago.

And then there were caves.

Caves used by outlaws on the other side. And caves on the inside used for any number of reasons by the old denizens of the city. And one recently revealed half Faunus White Fang member, Raven.

Her aura had healed the wound up more, returning a little of her mobility back even if the limb was still sore and she had to use her katana as a walking stick. But at least it wasn't as bad as before from what Blake could tell watching Raven limp in between herself and Yang.

Her partner was walking right along the edge of this dirty back street beneath the highway over pass. No cars passed along Yang's left, but they all could hear the hum of tires and the roar of engines starting to pass high over their heads.

Raven was to Yang's right safely within arm's reach. Just in case she suddenly needed support. Or so that Yang could grab her if she tried to run again.

Another cold burst of wind pushed them back half a step sending the edges of their clothes rippling backwards. Blake stifled her moan of frustration with a question, "How much farther?"

She didn't mind walking, but she was getting impatient. Their pace was painfully slow. Public transport routes didn't run into this sub district very far. And Yang's bike could only carry two people. Two uninjured people at that.

Raven looked up to try and get her bearings, "Not far, at least to where my entrance is."

"And what about when we get inside?" Yang asked.

"Depends,"

"Sure…"

Both other girls chose to ignore the blonde's sour mood. They had all spent the night in near awkward silence. Raven fell back asleep so that she could focus on healing. And Yang had sat angrily in the parking lot tinkering with her motor cycle most of the night until the time Blake came to tell her that Raven felt okay to leave.

And so here they were.

Raven suddenly stopped and raised her right hand to point up the street, "In this building…"

Nothing had disturbed the small arch way of stone deep in this old brick structure butting up against The Wall since Raven had last seen it. What lay inside of the door was cloaked in shadow. Blake squinted trying to adjust to the dim light as she crouched closer. The arch was only about shoulder high on each of them and an arms width wide. It would be a tight fit in single file, at least at first.

Yang groaned in resignation, "You always pick the nicest places."

Raven didn't bother turning back to look at her, "All the privacy a girl could ask for."

Taking the initiative Raven ducked her head down and entered into the little cave. Blake and Yang shared a quick look of confirmation before following in her footsteps.

The day was slowly wearing on as Kad and his team finally dragged themselves out of their little dorm room to go and find an airship down to Vale.

Co'Balt threw on his usual attire of blue vest black sleeve-less shirt, brown pants and new brown boots. Ignoring Alicia's little comments about his posturing as she called it. The bull Faunus just had a little habit of rolling his burly arms showing off to the world.

Alicia was buckling her thick leather belt into place around her waist, trying to get used to carrying the Mistrali rifle spear that used to belong to Jaxon. Her knife Detergeo settle down next to her right hip over her black pants while she shrugged her black leather jacket back into place then flicked her thick red brown fighting braid out from under the collar.

Kad was busy adjusting Ignis in its harness as they all walked across campus. Somehow it just didn't feel right sitting across his signature orange leather jacket. It was getting late, but Kad figured that was a good thing in this case.

Alicia had talked to her grandfather again that morning. And Professor Port had told her that several other professors were meant to go down to this meeting as well. Kad was hoping to let those adults sort this out and get his team off the hook for whatever it was.

Once again most of the student body had left down to Vale for the tournament that day. It almost felt like he was beginning to forget what it was like to have the school actually active. But there was still some activity.

He heard the sound of small boots and heels stepping onto the cobblestone behind him. Kad stopped and turned to see who it was, Alicia to his right took a few more unaware steps before stopping to look up puzzled at the giant.

Her confusion didn't last long after she saw both Ruby and Weiss several steps behind them approaching fast.

"Where's the fire?" Kad asked cocking up an eyebrow.

The Heiress grumbled and looked to her leader. "Evidently not under Ruby's bed this morning…"

"Isn't that where you sleep?" Ruby asked scratching her hastily brushed hair.

"Yes…" Weiss agreed at least, "And it's a good thing I prefer Ice Dust otherwise there might have been a fire when I notice we had nearly slept past nine... Again."

Alicia couldn't help but smirk, "Yeah, I guess a private tour of the Atlas command ship isn't something you'd want to be late for."

"It's not really a tour," Ruby tried to start.

Weiss cut her off, "For you it may as well be. I've got to suffer my family again before we see if they have any info on where we might find Blake and Yang."

Having her fill of chit chat, Weiss threw her chin up and marched away from the other heading straight for the landing pad.

Kad sighed, "I don't envy you Ruby…"

"What?"

"Most people's ideal partner and turns out she's one,"

Alicia quickly backhanded Kad's leg to stop him from completing that thought. Ruby frowned,

"She's just a little swamped right now." The scythe wielder said, "She doesn't have the easiest family to live with."

Co'Balt was enjoying the clear skies and view of Vale out at the edge of the landing pad. And not for the first time wondering where the hell any security railing was. This let him easily stare straight down into the lake below the cliffs. White surf splashed against the rocks, the water's endless quest to erode down the cliffs carried on.

"Are you gonna jump or what?"

"You'd love that wouldn't you?" He said turning on Alicia who had walked up close without him noticing.

"I'll give you five hundred Lien if you make it," She offered.

"And survive right? I don't think my old landing strategy would work here."

"Knock it off you two," Kad called over as he sat down on a concrete block to wait, "We've got places to be."

Both the remnants of team RWBY and Kad's own grouped up next to the giant to stand and wait for their flights. Alicia pulled out her scroll on the inside of her jacket and checked the time. Ten minutes until the next public shuttle.

Alicia and Co'Balt thought that the approaching roar of jet turbines belonged to the expected flight. Kad, knew this was not so. Weiss knew better, her father wouldn't let his daughter arrive in anything but style.

That and only an Atlas gunship could dock with the command ship.

The sleek military craft pulled up seemingly from nowhere below the cliff. Backwash gentle pushed the trainees back as the ship hovered closer, extended its landing gears and touched down.

"Nice ride," Co'Balt said looking sideways at Weiss.

The Heiress ignored him and began to walk forward with Ruby on her heels. She was in no mood to waste time.

The back ramp of the gunship eased down smoothly. No android guards came out to meet their passengers. But one figure did descend from the crew compartment.

Winter Schnee smiled at her older twin when her high heeled boots clicked onto the concrete pad. And Weiss stopped dead in her tracks at the sight of her identical sibling, surprisingly dressed in an outfit now not so dissimilar to the one Weiss herself wore. Gone was the dress coat and in its place was a pragmatic short white jacket and long combat skirt.

"Really Weiss one of these days I'm going to take a picture," Winter said, "Your surprised face is priceless as usual."

Ruby managed to voice the thought that had crossed her partners mind for a brief second before being internally answered with the obvious,

"What are you doing here?" Ruby asked.

Winter shifted her beaming smile onto Ruby, "I couldn't let my sister fly up alone now could I?"

Ruby slowly nodded her head in understanding. Weiss could have slapped her for missing such an obvious connection. But looking back over her sister one striking detail did stick out,

"Why are you armed?" The Heiress asked.

Winter suddenly looked down to the rapier on her left hip and self-consciously gripped the rigid hilt.

"Oh, just a thought…" She answered.

In all her life Weiss had never known he sister to do anything more dangerous then walking briskly from one physical hobby at their castle to another. Combat was one of the farthest things from Winter's mind. At least so Weiss thought.

"Do you even know how to use that?" She asked.

"Sure…" Winter said shrugging, "Pointy end goes into someone else."

Weiss shook her head pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed in disgust. Ruby drew in a sudden breath as she got an idea that to her seemed perfect.

"Hey we can teach you!" Ruby said proudly,

Both sisters had the same reaction, "What?!"

"Yeah!" Ruby shouted, "We can, Uff!"

Weiss latched a hand onto Ruby's cloak and started to drag her up the waiting ramp. The last thing she needed was more time with her sister. No way in hell she was going to let her leader suggest just that. Weiss just wanted to get this day over with as quickly as possible.

No one could tell how much time had passed down in the dark.

Blake figured that it had probably hadn't been more than half an hour. Still despite that small estimate she was starting to get extremely frustrated at their pace. Raven lead them through turn after turn. The stone beneath their feet shifted up and down more than once as they climbed. For the last several minutes they had been headed down.

Yang was feeling much more talkative now, her voice echoed in the narrow corridor, "Why couldn't you have rented a mail box or something?"

"You might have guessed I have a problem with authorities and trust Yang. Plus I've kind of been pressed for cash," The half Faunus said back over her shoulder. Still pouring over her mental map remembering all the little details of this subterranean walk.

The little group rounded another sharp left turn. The pitch black tunnel surprisingly lightened up a little bit further along. A small flood lamp was pushing back the shadows several steps ahead.

Blake narrowed her eyes in confusion, "Is that yours?"

"No…" Raven said. This was just as much of a surprise to her.

Slowly approaching the patch of light, the two better sets of night eyes were useless beyond this lamp bolted into the right hand side of the tunnel at head height on them. Yang stopped to have a closer look.

"Maintenance people maybe? Spelunkers?" She asked,

"Not likely," Blake said.

Behind them Raven softly whispered. "Oh God…"

Both girls turned to look at what startled their companion. Three little white slashes decorated the opposite wall. The reason why the lamp was there.

It was illuminating a White Fang territory marker.

Yang's eyes flashed red once before she stepped and slammed Raven back against the wall and pinned her with both hands.

She tried to keep her voice down, turning her tone into a furious hiss, "You set us up!"

"No!" Raven said. Trying to restrain herself as well.

"Bullshit…"

The half Faunus tried to explain, "Yang it's been a while since I've been down here… Anyone could have moved in… How could I have known?"

"Because…"

Blake grabbed onto Yang's left shoulder, "Wait…"

"God damn it Blake, why?" The blonde demanded.

"Wait, because I don't think it matters…"

"Huh?"

"Do you smell that?"

The blonde took a pause and a deep breath in through her nose. Nothing stuck out to her in the cool damp wind. Raven sniffed as well. And with her shared Faunus heritage she sensed what had given Blake pause. Yang noticed the movement and turned on Raven again.

"What is it?"

"Blood."

It was at least a hundred meters and several more turns before Yang caught the heavy iron stench as well. The cave tunnel was slowly widening.

"I found an old fort here. It was going to be my hide out in Vale for a while." Raven's new running commentary didn't provoke a response from either other girl. They were starting to feel sick to their stomachs at the reek permeating the air.

It wasn't long before they found the first body.

One male, his animal features probably hidden beneath a signature black hood slumped to the end of this little tunnel with a small stone arch to his right with some dim light illuminating the gristly scene before them.

Blood leaked down from beneath his mask and his white shirt was drenched in blood from the massive gut wound which was what had probably killed him.

Yang took a second to step in front of Raven and readied Ember Celica. The loud racket of the shotguns loading seemed even louder in the appropriately deathly silence hanging around them.

Raven clutched her own sword up and didn't object to the motion, she knew exactly who the weak link was right now. Blake took hold of the pistol grip behind her and brought her katana up and around. Folding the slender blade down and racking a round into the pistol chamber.

She put her back to the wall on the left. Edging closer to the archway and psyching herself up to spin out into the larger room as Yang crowded close in an almost identical position. She met eyes with her partner and gave a single nod before they both swung around ready for a fight.

No one they saw in the bright dome like structure was in any position to challenge these new intruders.

They were all dead.

Faunus of all shapes and sizes were lying in the positions they had died in. All poised in various stages of flight away from the massive hole that dominated the center of the room. Blood coated the floor and the walls behind several outlying bodies. Their mouths were all open in identical screams of pain and terror, locked by rigor mortis.

Rough layers of rock were shattered upwards around the hole which looked big enough for a Deathstalker to crawl through. Crates were broken and scattered all over the old carved structure.

"Fucking hell…" Yang mumbled in shock.

Neither relaxed their postures as the slowly walked into the carnage. Raven quickly followed them. Holding up a hand to her face to try and block some of the wretched stench. Blake crouched close to one of the dead lying on his back. His throat had been viscously torn out. The mortal wound had none of the neat cut lines she associated with blades.

"Looks like claws…" She noted out loud.

No one replied to the Faunus. Her bow twitched over towards Raven who had just kicked a box aside after pulling it from a pile of other crates.

She growled in frustration and clenched her empty fists, "Damn, they're all gone."

Yang shouted over from the other side of the room, "What? Your files?"

"No! Worse…" Raven said picking up another crate. Holding it up to show the recognizable empty foam pattern inside, "All the bombs."

Yang shook her head, her mind went back to that night in the alley when they had tracked the White Fang smugglers. She quickly focused again, "We aren't here for those."

"Are you blind? Look at what happened here."

The blonde crossed her arms and just stared back, she hoped the girl knew what the silence was asking. Frustrated Raven walked close to the edge of the hole.

"I stashed the thing right in the middle here in an old shrine," She said pointing a finger into dead center of the mess.

Blake sighed as she stood, "Well that's just great."

Raven turned to her, "We should go back."

Once again Yang shook her head no, "Not a chance."

"But there's nothing left here," Raven emphasized that last word with a wave of her hand, pointing around the room.

"We'll we won't search here,"

The blonde crouched down and took a good long look into the black pit before them all. Blake's heart began to race hearing what her partner said next.

"We search down there…"