Weiss had a well-trained head for figures, and this math just didn't add up.

RVBY could handle one Paladin. She could beat a squad or two of AKs. But this was three Paladins, several squads of AKs, and Cinder Fall herself—and while Weiss had never seen Cinder fight, Weiss was sure Cinder hadn't come just to spectate. The show she'd put on vaporizing Neptune's attack showed she at least had command of Dust and a dress full of it to wield.

Weiss couldn't see a way for her and RVBY to win this fight.

They couldn't get anywhere near the gate; the Paladins were alternating their advances, taking turns between moving up the road and providing suppressive fire, so that the defenders had to stay back. Once the Paladins and AKs breached the gate, they would be able to bring their numbers and firepower to bear.

But the more she listened to RVBY firing tactical ideas back and forth, the clearer it became that there wasn't a good plan to stop that breach.

"I'm sorry you had to be dragged into this," she said, interrupting them.

They looked at her with surprise. "Dragged?" Ruby said.

"Into all this," Weiss said, gesturing to where the next round of blasts was erupting. "You were just here for enrichment, and you got sucked into a fight we never could have won."

"Stop it," said Blake, and she showed Weiss more emotion than she had to that point. Impatient fury danced in her eyes. "You didn't drag me into anything. Fall Dust is everything wrong with this world in one company. I don't need anyone to drag me into a fight against that.

"And don't you apologize, either," she added. "Your willingness to fight against something so obviously wrong, despite the odds, is probably the best thing about you."

Weiss felt like the mountain had dropped out from under her. "Oh," she said limply. "Thank you."

"Touching moment, ladies," said Neptune as he winced away from another blast that was uncomfortably close to their hiding spot, "but those bots are still coming. Any ideas?"

"We're not charged enough for Bumblebee, and I don't think we have the space to prep it," said Yang.

Ruby looked more serious than Weiss had ever seen her. "Darkshore," she said at length.

All three of her teammates look at her with alarm. "We still haven't got that one working right," said Neptune. "We've never pulled it off in practice."

"Well, we'll have to pull it off now," said Ruby. "It's our best shot at disabling a Paladin in one go. It's risky, but it's less risky than sitting here and getting shot."

Neptune shuddered. "The timing requirements on it are so tight, though. If I mess it up…"

"You need help with timing?" said Weiss.

RVBY looked at her with surprise and intrigue. "Can you help with that?"

Weiss decided this wasn't the time to say she'd never used this move in combat, only incompletely in practice under Winter's watchful eye, and the last time she managed that was before the exchange students had shown up… But, as Ruby had said, the only way to survive was to take risks. If they couldn't win as they were, they had to be better than they were to have a chance.

She dearly wanted RVBY to have a chance.

"I can," she said. For them, she could.

"Alright," said Ruby. "We have a plan. Let's go, Team!"

As ever, Ruby's enthusiasm made Weiss smile.

If this was her last stand, she could think of no one, except maybe Winter, she'd rather be standing with.

Winter's kick sent a thug sprawling and flickering into a wall.

She hardly had time to recover when a flash from the corner of her eye activated her training. It seemed Thornmane had finally committed himself to the fight.

His reputation was not exaggerated: his speed stole Winter's breath away from her. She managed to get Eiszahn up just in time to block an overhead slash, but the follow-up from his offhand sword was almost as furious, and her saber was out of position. In a rush, she freed Family and deflected his second blow just barely away from her face.

Winter could overwhelm most opponents when she transitioned to dual-wielding. Thornmane was not even whelmed. He took her adjustment in stride and concentrated his attacks on her main hand, forcing her to use Eiszahn for defense. Winter grimaced. Family was best used as a shield, not for attack. She was already at a reach disadvantage against Thornmane, and the smaller size of her parrying sword made that worse.

It didn't take her long to appreciate that he was on her level as a swordsman. Although his reach and strength were threatening to her, neither one of them had a decisive edge in this sort of fight, which promised to make this a long slugging match.

…except then he disengaged and rapidly backpedaled towards the pier.

She didn't trust him, and her instinct to chase was doused by an even stronger warning from her danger sense. She retreated as well, fleeing back and ducking behind a house.

Just in time. Before she even heard the boom of the gun, a shell exploded near where she and Thornmane had been fighting. Thornmane must have given them a countdown when he went to engage her. If she'd held her ground or pursued, the blast would have made a mess of her; even her Aura couldn't take more than a few hits from naval grade weapons.

Neither could the town, she realized. The blast had knocked down the wall of the house she hid behind, and some of its roof was coming down as well. She was lucky the whole house hadn't been knocked over.

"You're just making this harder on yourself," called Thornmane. "The more annoyed you make me, the less inclined I am to be merciful to your people when we win."

If he thought those words would weaken her resolve, he'd badly misjudged her. Damage to the town of her people, her people, was intolerable. Intellectually, yes, she knew the odds were heavily stacked against her. But she was a Huntress and a soldier both, and neither of those traditions valued giving up while she could still fight.

She calmed herself, used the breather to recharge what Aura she could, and began plotting her next strike.

The interval between Paladin guns firing and explosions at the mining site entrance was down to almost nothing. There was a spectacular blast that was probably the result of four guns firing at once. Then, for about five seconds, there were no explosions, only heavy footfalls.

Just as Neptune had predicted; droid-driven Paladins were nothing if not predictable in their tactics. The silence marked their final approach towards the gate. Already, Neptune and Blake were running into position.

Their approach would have been exposed except for Yang and Ruby using their showiest ammunition to shower the lead Paladin in fire. It retaliated at a much larger caliber, and though the sisters dodged, the blasts were large enough to nibble at their Auras.

A fair trade, in Ruby's opinion, because Blake and Neptune used the cover to close the range.

Blake leapt in front of the Paladin, almost touching it. It reacted swiftly, a fist attachment snapping into place on its arm to smash the fleshy thing in front of it.

Blake used her semblance to flee, activating a Dust round she almost never used: lightning.

The lightning clone was the least useful one Blake had. It was the most volatile, collapsing almost instantly, which meant that unless the enemy hit her immediately the clone would dissipate with no effect; if she waited too long she'd take the hit herself.

The solution, in Ruby's mind, was to hit the enemy with the clone, using as a conduit another electrical weapon: Tri-hard.

The timing for that was almost as exacting; Neptune had been truthful in saying they'd never managed it in practice. But, then again, Neptune had never been under the effects of time dilation when they'd practiced it.

Boosted by Weiss' least stable glyph, Neptune plunged Tri-hard through the heart of Blake's lightning clone and continued on to the cockpit of the Paladin.

Tri-hard glanced off the armor of the machine; Neptune was knocked down by his own lunge. The damage was done. His blow had been a channel for the clone to discharge, hitting the Paladin with the power of a lightning bolt.

There was a loud bang, then two smaller ones in quick succession as the Paladin's in-built surge protection fried. The Paladin went still; acrid black smoke filled and surrounded it.

Weiss, gasping as her headache exploded, released her grip on the glyph; that relief and the surge of triumph at killing the Paladin made an un-Schnee-like cry of joy erupt from her lips.

Too soon. An enormous hand gripped the dead Paladin's shoulder and tossed it out of the way, leaving a second Paladin—and the AKs around it—free lines of sight to Team RVBY.

Weiss threw up a barrier glyph, but it cracked in under two seconds. That was enough; Ruby, bless her, was there again, dragging her teammates out of the line of fire in a blur of red and rose petals.

It wasn't until they were back behind cover that Weiss saw the cost: Ruby had put herself between Neptune, Blake, and Weiss as she rescued them… taking the bullets meant for them. Some of those bullets had put holes in her cloak, which suggested Ruby's Aura had already started to shake, and the battle was only getting started.

"Anyone have any ideas?" Ruby panted.

"Hit 'em really hard?" said Yang, shadow-boxing more long-range rounds downfield, then ducking under retaliatory fire from a dozen assault rifles.

Ruby and Weiss shared a look of understanding: that wasn't much of a plan, but it might be the only one they had left.

Winter gasped for breath. Individually, these thugs were no great shakes. Individually, none of them could hope to touch her.

'Individually' didn't matter when it was fifty to one.

Even fifty to two didn't change as much as it should have, because while Ilia was doing great at picking off isolated enemies with strikes from hiding followed by quick escapes, she wasn't built for straight-up many-on-many fights.

And Thornmane was proving himself to be the Ace Ops-level opponent his reputation suggested. On the rare occasions he engaged her himself he gave Winter all she could handle alone, never mind supported with all these extra guns and naval artillery support. He was taking breaks between clashes with her to regenerate Aura; she didn't have that luxury.

Winter was feeling desperately low on options, was the point.

"Where is that famous Schnee pride?" Thornmane called out to her. "When were you reduced to running away?"

She knew he was trying to draw her attention and get her to give her position away. It would let him coordinate his forces to flank and trap her.

Although with all of the tromping of feet and muttering of commands, it seemed like he was working that angle, too, without waiting to see if she fell for his ruse.

As she tried to come up with a counter-strategy, tried to plan her next few moves, a rustling sound from above caught her attention. She looked up to the roof of the building she was hiding behind. Peering over its gutter was a large black bird.

"Caw," it said. It didn't caw at her; it said the word 'caw'.

Even with so much else on her mind, Winter couldn't help but think that this was not typical bird behavior.

It bobbed its head at her in a gesture that reminded her of nodding, of all things, before it spread its wings and lifted off. Even then, it didn't fly to cover like she might have expected, but instead banked sharply out towards the waterfront.

Telling herself untruthfully that she was just trying to update her tactical picture, Winter peaked around the edge of the building and saw the bird flying directly for the invaders' ship.

Thornmane's voice came again. "I don't want to do this, but if you insist on hiding inside the town, I'll have to knock it down to come after you. I thought you soldiers were taught not to use civilians and their homes as shields. We can still end this with honor."

She couldn't help herself, but the inklings of a plan were coming upon her as well. "I don't think anyone cashing Fall Dust's checks is prioritizing honor," she answered.

She saw the cannon on the ship traversing after she'd spoken, like someone had given it updated firing coordinates. She also saw a black bird flying tight circles directly over said cannon.

"Last chance," said Thornmane.

Readying a glyph to help her escape if she'd guessed wrong about all of this, Winter called back, "You're right, this is your last chance. Fall back now, before things turn against you."

"Defiant to the end," he said wistfully. "Very well. This is on you, not me. Artillery, open fire."

The shipboard cannon exploded.

The barrel of the gun was sent tumbling into the sea, while its cowling was ejected into the air to many times its height. The force of the explosion bent the bow and sides of the ship, warping its dimensions so much Winter could tell even at a distance. The thugs standing on the dock alongside the ship were knocked flat or even into the water by the force of the blast. The fire and the smoke reached so high into the air that the bird disappeared from sight.

A voice crackled over Winter's scroll on the group channel. Winter would never have planned to give the owner of said voice this number, but at this moment she couldn't be mad about it.

"Well now, it looks like someone's gun had a bit of an accident. That's unlucky."

Rudy's squeal was next over the voice line. "Uncle Qrow? Uncle Qrow, you actually made it?!"

"You called, I came. I'm over in town, helping out Ice Queen."

"Hey," said Winter indignantly.

"We need help, too," said Ruby. "I don't know how much longer we can hold them here at the mine."

"You really think I'd show up for a dramatic rescue and leave you hanging? You know me better than that. I brought friends."

When those words had finished, Winter chanced another peek at the pier. Many of the criminals in town had found all their attention drawn back to the ship, no doubt wondering if it had been so dearly damaged as to no longer be their escape route. As Winter watched, a lanky man with a ridiculously oversized weapon and a tattered red cape jumped from the ship down to the pier.

Winter hadn't expected to ever not hate this sight, but in that moment, she was dearly grateful to see Qrow Branwen.

Cinder strolled casually through the midst of her forces. Ahead of her, a Paladin and a troop of AKs had breached the mining site gates. Behind her, another Paladin and more AKs were bringing up the rear, ready to exploit the gap the vanguard had made.

She hoped one or two of those nuisances survived the big rush. With any luck, one of those children and one of the Schnees would still be fighting by the time she arrived. Maybe they'd be burning with shame, or a need for vengeance, or some other severe emotion that would drive them to new heights of effort and passion… that Cinder would then snuff out.

As she'd told Watts, she did so enjoy playing with her food.

And Huntresses, even trainees, were especially delightful because they thought they could succeed no matter what. They always believed they could win, that they were invincible, right up until they were proven wrong. That moment when defiance turned to despair was so delicious to Cinder. She craved it, craved it especially from these twerps who had defied her for so long.

The best part was when she tore the weapons from their hands, breaking all their taboos about souls and weapons and who was allowed to touch what. It was like snatching the souls right out of their bodies. Delectable.

The bots ahead of her were spreading out for maximum surface area, to ensure that as many as possible could bring their guns to bear on the defenders. The defenders had been forced back to the mouth of the mine, but they were putting up a good fight. Cinder saw AKs dropping from headshots or blasts of electricity or spikes of ice or rock. Apparently, one of the enemy was a Dust wielder.

Perfect. Cinder would show them what Dust could do.

She strode fearlessly to the front line of AKs, noting the rockpile where the heaviest fire was coming from. She tapped the Stone Dust in her dress, whirled, and made a motion like throwing a discus. It was no mere disk that flew from her hands, though; with the power of Dust at her command, it was a fully-fledged boulder that was launched at the defenders, a boulder larger in diameter than Cinder was tall.

Distant figures quit their cover to dodge her attack, but there was no safety to be found for them, because while they may have evaded her, the AKs could now see their targets and focus their fire.

Cinder smiled in savage delight as the defenders did their best to dodge, deflect, or absorb the bullets being fired at them, but still took splashes of damage against their Auras. This was delicious. This was…

Explosions.

Explosions behind her.

Cinder whirled to look behind her. Her last Paladin had been bringing up the rear of her formation, and it must have detected some new threat, because it had turned to fire behind her. As she watched, though, it stopped firing.

And was split apart.

One more explosion consumed what was left of the Paladin and sent scrap sailing into the valley below. As the rear-guard AKs turned in the direction of the foe, Cinder looked with them at who was crashing her party.

The little girl-shaped toy soldier that'd so irritated Watts was there, along with someone that made her blood run cold.

Salem had a list of Huntsmen and Huntresses of particular interest. Some were on the list because of their attachment to Ozpin; others because they were notably powerful or dangerous; a few were both. For those that were both, Salem's standing guidance was to engage only with a substantial advantage, and otherwise to avoid them.

Cinder had just lost her choice in the matter, because next to Penny Polendina was Taiyang Xiao Long, and he was on the warpath.

Cinder knew it wouldn't take him long to dispatch the AKs, especially here on the road where their numbers counted for nothing. If Cinder had to fight Taiyang, she needed to do it with as much support as she could get.

Which meant quickly cleaning up the children at the mine.

Using a combination of Dust and her semblance, Cinder materialized a pair of obsidian swords and charged.

Holly Hemlock stole a fearful glance through her window. She almost wished that she'd gone to the train when the town had been called there. She was right to suspect the motives of those animals, of course, but how could she have known they'd be telling the truth? That was how they'd tricked her! And now she was trapped in her home while those animals were safe aboard the train, taking up spots for safety that should have been hers!

Safety from all of these, these hooligans.

A troop of said hooligans was coming around the corner, heavy and scary weapons in their hands. Holly knew she ought to hide, but she couldn't tear her gaze away as they made their way up the street, kicking down doors and spraying bullets into houses as they passed.

They were looking for something, or someone, and Holly felt a surge of desperate hope at that. Why, it couldn't possibly be her they were looking for! She had a chance! Then she heard them speaking.

"Another empty one."

"Dammit, Thornmane's gonna bag 'em all and then he'll have the pick of the litter!"

"Then you'd better keep looking, jack wagon. You remember the deal, anybody we catch, we get to keep."

"Oh, I remember," said one of the thugs, their voice full of greed and terrible promise.

Holly found herself unable to breathe. They were coming this way, any moment now they'd…

There was a blast of noise as loud and sudden as a thunderclap, and before Holly could process anything, the street had turned into a firefight. A couple of the crooks screamed and fell where they stood, while the rest returned fire and dove for cover.

In a burst of fright, Holly dropped to the floor and covered the back of her head with her hands, trying to protect herself in the war zone that was now her neighborhood.

Then, even over the gunfire, she heard a new sound, one that resembled a crackling of electrical arcs. There were screams from down the streets; the gunfire slackened each time.

Then it ceased altogether, and a strangely familiar voice called out, "Panzoa preserves!"

"Panzoa preserves," answered many voices from, it seemed, right outside Holly's door.

Morbid curiosity overrode fear for a moment. Whoever these people were and whoever Panzoa was, at least they weren't the invaders. Once more, she lifted her face up to look out for window.

And was struck by an impossible sight.

Walking up the streets in broad daylight with weapons of their own were figures in uniforms, uniforms even a backwater creature like Holly recognized.

White tabard with red emblem, black shirt and pants, and white, grimm-like mask.

The White Fang was here.

Holly gasped; how could she not? But it was still a fatal mistake, as the nearest of the White Fang looked in her direction. She was too scared to try and hide, so the animal soon spotted her.

But they did not bring their weapon to bear. Instead, they called out to her, "You alright?"

Holly was unable to muster a response.

"Don't worry," said the animal reassuringly. "We'll have those cretins out of your town in no time."

The familiar voice called up the street again, "This way, brethren!"

"Just sit tight," said the grunt, and then rushed off in the direction of the voice.

Holly fainted.

Weiss flinched as a wave of flame licked over and around her glyph. Her Aura kept her safe, but the heat was still unpleasant.

The flames didn't last, but that was less of a blessing than it should have been, because Cinder hadn't stopped attacking; she'd just changed targets. Yang had charged in while Cinder was attacking Weiss, but Cinder seemed to have expected that. A spear of ice sprouted from Cinder's sleeve too quickly for a charging Yang to dodge; it caught her in the stomach. Yang's eyes bulged in a way that would have been comical if not for her Aura flickering over her face.

But Cinder, as talented as she was and with as much Dust as she had, was still only one woman, and in the absence of three hands she couldn't fend off Yang, attack Weiss, and defend against a vengeful Blake all at the same time.

Especially since Blake had apparently weaponized her sheath and was swinging at Cinder from two angles—demanding two hands more than Cinder had available.

She escaped with only a modest blow from the sheath across her back, rolling away from the follow-up swing and meeting the next slash with a parry and counterattack of her own. Blake, sensing herself to be outmatched, semblanced away before she could be overpowered. Cinder stumbled just a touch at the sudden lack of resistance, and that was enough for Weiss: a gust of wind projecting from a glyph knocked Cinder from her feet and opened her to counterattack.

Or would have, anyway, except arcs of lightning leapt away from her in every direction. It was a clever point defense, Weiss would admit, as long as you had Dust to burn; the lightning was too dangerous and too unpredictable for an attacker to risk rushing into. It was an extravagant use of Dust, but Cinder was nothing if not extravagant.

Instead, Blake and Yang backed up and used their small arms to ping at Cinder's Aura, getting in a few hits before she was rolling away.

They weren't hitting her hard enough. Three versus one, and she was still cutting away at their Auras. They were making her pay, they'd landed hits, but nothing solid, nothing critical, and they were gasping under the strain of fighting first the bots and now her.

Weiss felt her eyes slide away from her enemy for just a moment, long enough to see Neptune knocked away from cover by the Paladin again. Neptune and Ruby were doing their best to delay the Paladin and AKs while their three teammates engaged Cinder, but it was way too much to expect them to hold back a Paladin for long without support.

Support Weiss burned to provide.

With a rush of ferocity in her chest, Weiss flew into action.

She drew a new glyph near Neptune and poured on Dust she normally only used in combination. "Neptune!" she called.

He must have felt her gift of water coming through the glyph, because instead of that water splashing to the ground, it formed into a lance, and went flying towards the muzzle of the Paladin's cannon. The next shot hit the lance and exploded against it, blasting water droplets in all directions, but causing the Paladin to stagger back from the force of its own explosion.

"Dad!"

And there was their backup Huntsman, a solid middle-aged man with an Aura that shone like gold. How he was strong enough to grapple a Paladin and throw it like it was a straw dummy, Weiss had no idea, but that was exactly what he did.

And alongside him was Penny. Whatever doubts Weiss might have had about Penny's capabilities were dispelled as she charged up a particle beam and used it to blast at Cinder-

"Look out!"

-taking a bite out of the woman's Aura, but knocking her perilously close to Weiss, and with Weiss too busy gawking to defend herself.

Then gravity lost its hold on her and she felt herself launched and spinning and tumbling wildly.

Her vision went light, then dark, and when the world finally stopped spinning, she looked up to try and place herself. To her shock, Cinder had knocked her through the entrance of the mine itself. There were several explosions, the place got darker, and Weiss realized Cinder had just collapsed the tunnel entrance behind her.

Cinder stepped forward, fury on her once-elegant face. "The Schnees, as usual, are ready to sacrifice everyone else to save their own skins," she said. "But let's see how you do when it's only your own strength you have to rely on."

"Ha," said Weiss, doing her best bluff to buy time to collect herself. "They're still giving me strength, right now. I don't expect you to understand that."

"I understand enough," said Cinder. "I bet they're panicking about how they have to save you. They'll burn their Auras recklessly, then trickle in… slowly and easily enough for me to slaughter them one by one. You've accomplished nothing.

"Now," Cinder said, readying her swords, "be a good girl and die."

Weiss' witty retort died unsaid as Cinder bolted forward.

There was a clash, another, and even with Weiss totally defensive Cinder still broke her guard and sent her flying with a kick.

"You'll see," hissed Cinder, prowling towards a breathless Weiss. "You have cost me an inordinate amount of time and energy and money, but there was only one way this could end. You'll be dead, and your workers will be back where they belong—slaving away at the bottom of a mine until they go blind."

Weiss' mind was racing, trying to figure out an escape from her fix... the only thing to do was to keep Cinder talking, keep her distracted... "Do you hate the Faunus that much?"

"Human—Faunus—makes no difference to me. I'm an equal-opportunity slavemaster," Cinder said mockingly. "The citizens of your town will end up in my mines, too. The survivors, anyway. The ones still alive after my thugs have had their fun."

"You truly don't care," said Weiss in realization. "There's nothing you won't do for money."

"Money," Cinder spat. "Money is a means to an end. The goal is freedom."

"Freedom?" said Weiss, all thoughts of tactics forgotten. "You're talking about shackling hundreds of people and you dare say your goal is freedom?!"

"That's how the world works, child," said Cinder, and her voice wasn't mocking anymore. It was the sound an animal makes when its wounds are poked. "That's the lesson I learned at the age of ten. Money, power, freedom… there's only so much to go around. If you want some for yourself, you have to take it from someone else."

"You're wrong," said Weiss, clarity bursting upon her. "It's the opposite. That's what SDR is—that's why we've survived. We've done so well by making there be more money and power and freedom, by growing those things and sharing them with people, by being better—"

"Liar!"

Something had gotten under Cinder's skin. She was heaving breaths, heavier than she had even at the height of combat.

"You say you're helping people," said Cinder, sounding almost insane with how much emotion burdened her voice. "You say it's the right thing to do."

Weiss couldn't resist pushing the button when presented. "And it's better business, too."

"Then where were you?!"

"…what?"

"Look at me, Schnee!"

With horrified fascination, Weiss watched Cinder reach a hand to the high collar of her dress.

"Where were you?!" Cinder repeated, her eyes out of focus and her hand straining against her collar. "If people are supposed to be generous, if what you're doing is the right thing, if it's better…"

Her hand tugged; seams popped.

"…if you're giving away freedom…"

Harder. The collar of Cinder's dress ripped open.

"…then where were you for me?!" Cinder half-screamed, half-sobbed.

Her hand dropped out of the way, revealing her neckline. Weiss realized she'd never seen that before; as eager as Cinder was to flaunt her looks, she'd always kept her neckline covered. Now Weiss saw why.

Old, ugly scars were burned into Cinder's delicate neck, like she'd put on a necklace that'd been superheated… no, no, the scars wouldn't have been so ingrained. This hadn't been a one-time trauma. It had happened over… and over… and over again.

"Where were you for me?" Cinder said again, the words barely distinct through her teeth. "When I was suffering, when I was trafficked, when I was a wage-slave, when I was starved and tortured and abused, why didn't you help me then?! Where were you?! I know where—you were sitting in a mansion!"

Weiss swallowed hard, trying to restore her powers of speech; what she'd seen and heard had struck her dumb. "Through no virtue of my own, I promise you."

"Oh shut up!" Cinder roared. "No one came to give me my freedom. I had to take it. I bought my freedom with sweat and blood. My sweat…" she smiled in a way that made her seem almost grimm-like. "…and their blood."

Cinder's face had been wet with tears for a moment, but her Aura shimmered as her semblance engaged and the tears vaporized; puffs of steam blew away from her and took her sorrow with her, leaving only her learned cruelty. "That's why your workers are going to the bottom of a mine. They don't have the power or will to take their own freedom, so they don't deserve it, and I'll take it from them, because I do. I want it, and I have the power to take it, so I will. That's what it means to be worthy."

Defiance raged in Weiss' heart. "You may have all the money in the world, but the most miserable Huntress on Remnant is worth more than you."

Cinder's Aura became almost visible, like a heat haze that warped the air around her. "Say that to my face."

Weiss heard a whistling from beneath her. A glance showed her that the ground under her feet was glowing, and she felt a growing heat—

She leapt away before a column of flame burst from her old position. A clumsy shoulder roll got her feet back under her, but she hadn't risen to a combat stance before Cinder was all over her.

Cinder's face was murder cloaked in flesh.

The trouble with swarm strategies is that they're only effective until they aren't.

Being able to throw away numbers and be indifferent to losses is a powerful thing, but it has natural limits: sooner or later, you run out of mooks. At that point, if all those numbers haven't been traded for a real advantage, you're still as weak as you were to start on a one-to-one basis, only now the numbers ratio is much closer to one-to-one.

To wit: Thornmane was starting to look awfully lonely there on the pier.

Thornmane knew that fighting off two top-tier Huntsmen at once would be too much, so focusing on Qrow, who was closer and in an exposed position, made the most sense. To that end, he ordered his squads to withdraw towards his strongpoint at the head of the pier, the better to let them concentrate on Qrow.

Unfortunately for him, Winter thought clinically, that just opened their backs to Winter.

The squad she was following was sprinting back to safety when she caught them. The scream of their trailer as she cut her down just encouraged the rest to run all the faster. No matter; Winter was faster still. She caught up to the last one right as he broke into open ground.

Oh, right. Machine gun nests.

Ilia had taken out one group of gunners, but a new set had taken up their position and weapons, to complement the second gun that hadn't been touched. And Winter was now in the open before both of those guns.

Before they could open fire on her, however, a blaze of gunfire erupted to her side, and the machine gunners ducked for cover. For an instant, Winter thought she saw a visual distortion to her side, as if something was there her eyes couldn't quite track.

She resisted the temptation to try to figure that out, though, because if those machine gunners decided to brave this unexpected covering fire they could still shoot. Using glyphs to speed her approach, Winter surged into melee range.

Even mooks with melee weapons could not resist her up close.

She finished up her group in time to see Ilia's appearance amidst the others, a whirlwind of crackling energy. Beyond her, Winter saw figures in White Fang livery engaged in a firefight with the remaining criminals.

It was an amazing sight. The White Fang, intervening on behalf of the Schnees, bringing all their notoriety and firepower to bear not to tear down, but to preserve.

Ilia was glowing with pride. She looked, somehow, more fetching than ever.

"We'll mop up," she said breathlessly, "you go get Thornmane!"

Any number of acknowledgments would have worked there. "Sure," or "Okay," or "All over it," or even, "What a good idea, I wish I'd thought of that first."

What spilled out of Winter's mouth instead was, "Love you."

Much of the Ilia's reaction was hidden by her mask, which was just as well. Her face burning, Winter turned and raced down the pier. Even an Ace Ops-level foe was easier for her to deal with than her own stupid mouth.

Thornmane seemed to be having a rough time of it. Qrow had a reach advantage which would normally force Thornmane to be cautious and defensive, but Thornmane knew he was on a timer and was pushed into aggression like it or not. As Winter advanced, he managed to squirm inside the reach of Qrow's scythe, but Qrow tossed the scythe straight up into the air, delivered a quick punch combo that sent Thornmane stumbling back, and snatched the scythe right back.

While Thornmane was still staggered, Winter leapt into the fray.

To his credit, Thornmane only suffered a single hit against his Aura before his swords were up to defend against her, but that required him to turn his back almost completely to Qrow, who took full advantage. Thornmane would have been a worthy opponent for either Qrow or Winter, but there was almost nothing on Remnant that could withstand the two of them together. They'd proven that before.

They didn't hesitate. They didn't relent. They would end this definitively right here and now.

Fast as Thornmane was, Winter and Qrow combined were faster, and his defense just couldn't hold against the number and reach of attacks made against him. In moments, his Aura was visibly failing.

A broad scythe swing led into a counterpoint kick from Qrow, knocking Thornmane into a smack from the hilt of Eiszahn. He dropped to his knees, gasping.

"Whatever you were hoping to get out of this," Winter said, "I hope it was worth it. I hope it wasn't just for money."

"Humbling you was the point," said Thornmane.

"Yeah," said Qrow, "I can appreciate the desire, but you're kinda sucking at it."

"Is that really it?" said Winter dubiously. "A Huntsman of your stature throwing it all away for something so trivial?"

"Stature? Stature?" growled Thornmane. "I don't have the stature I deserve, and it's all your fault!"

"That's the second time you've said that," said Winter, "but we've never met. How can it be my fault?"

"They only let you apply to the Ace Ops three times in a career," said Thornmane. "On my third try it was all lined up for me. They had an opening, they needed a close combat specialist, and my resume was impeccable. But when I applied, Ironwood rejected me. He told me he had someone else in mind for the spot… you. He was keeping it open for you. And then you didn't even apply! You turned Ironwood down and quit!"

Winter sighed. "I can see how personally you took that, but to me, that just seems laughably petty."

Thornmane's grip on his swords tightened. "We'll see who's laughing, alright…"

Even as he began some elaborate new attack, some of the stored ammunition from the ferry's busted main gun cooked off.

The explosion split apart the bow of the ship and sent debris flying everywhere, but most especially into Thornmane. One of the ribs of the ship blasted free, came flying and over and across the pier, and smashed into him. Huntsman and rib dropped to the deck as his Aura puffed away.

The explosion had been no picnic for Winter, either, and she felt herself nearly knocked into the water by the force of the blast as her Aura flickered under the stress. But fights are decided by who has any left at the end, and by that measure, Winter was a winner.

And standing there unfussed, grinning like he'd just told the world's funniest joke, was Qrow, cockily leaning against his scythe.

"Now wasn't that unlucky."

Weiss panted with exertion. She'd escaped a clinch with Cinder, but only for a moment, because Cinder was stalking around her the way a lioness stalks a crippled zebra, knowing what's about to happen but taking her time to choose the perfect angle.

Weiss knew without looking at her scroll that her Aura was running low. She felt the difference, felt how hard it was to muster what she needed for another glyph or leap or strike. Even if she survived Cinder's next attack, Cinder would exhaust her soon.

A fact Cinder eagerly reinforced as she planted hard and lunged at Weiss, her obsidian swords slashing one after the other.

Weiss tried to back away, tried to avoid parrying the blows as much as possible to preserve what was left of her Aura. She couldn't be wholly successful; Cinder was too good. Every clash of blades took a little more out of her as she filled Myrtenaster with her Aura to keep it intact, give it the strength to withstand the bruising Cinder was dishing out. And if that took less Aura then it would have taken to absorb those same hits against her body, that was cold comfort.

Cinder was just too strong. Too strong. It was like trying to fight her sister all those times. Weiss never had managed to land a hit against Winter, only having come close enough a few times to nick her clothes.

And even if she did land a blow on Cinder, it wouldn't be enough to pierce her greater Aura…

Cinder stepped in aggressively, too close for Myrtenaster's point to touch her, and lashed out with an elbow. Even as Weiss tried to stumble away to restore range, Cinder's sword flashed again. Weiss partially dodged it: the sword didn't carve her flesh, but it did tear through her bolero.

It was a warning. Normally, a huntress' Aura had enough area of effect to cover her clothing as well, especially combat-rated clothing that she wore often. It was a lesser, but similar, effect to how their weapons worked. Weiss' Aura was low enough that it no longer afforded her clothes their usual protection.

Weiss was able to evade the follow-up and open range again. Cinder began to circle her once more, knowing that each exchange along these lines brought the end closer. All she had to do was not overcommit and the outcome was inevitable.

Cinder could even conserve the Dust in her dress. She'd need that to run the gauntlet of enemies outside the cave; she didn't need it to put down Weiss. Besides, and maybe more importantly, Cinder wanted to feel it when she killed.

Even if Weiss' defense stayed perfect, she would fail eventually. All she was doing like this was losing slowly.

She needed help. She needed whatever her friends and family could give her.

But she had that, didn't she?

I won't accept 'bad guys win' as how this ends!

The most important thing is to want to get better.

Fix what you can touch, when you can touch it.

We'll take you along for the ride.

Ruby's resolve, Yang's warmth, Blake's serenity, Neptune's promise. With them behind her, she had the strength to fight on... but how?

Are you a Huntress or not? You should be hunting it!

Winter's wisdom, but how could Weiss apply it? How could she hunt something stronger than her?

She raised Myrtenaster in a guard stance that brought the hilt into her line of sight, allowing her to check her depleted Dust reserves. Spinning the chamber in the rapier's hilt, she saw that she'd burned through almost everything. Why, Cinder probably had more Dust left in her dress than Myrtenaster had ever held, and Weiss had burned far more than Cinder.

Using Ice Dust like that was innovative…

Weiss looked past her weapon to Cinder and at last saw a solution.

Her expression must have changed, because something set Cinder off. She took a stutter step, then bent into a charge, not slashing with her swords this time but looking to impale from two different angles. Weiss's headache split her brain as her body and her Aura did opposite things in opposing directions: she dodged right even as she drew a glyph to her left. The black glyph wasn't strong enough to pull Cinder to its surface, but it did pull her just a little off course, enough that when combined with Weiss' dodge, the swords stabbed air.

Every muscle in Weiss' right leg screamed as she planted on it, reversed all her momentum in a single step, and lunged back at Cinder.

Cinder saw the danger, of course. She drew her body back and away from Weiss' attack. The rapier's point fell short, far short of impacting Cinder's body, at the cost of completely exposing Weiss to counterattack.

Except that Cinder's body wasn't Weiss' target. Her target was Cinder's still extended arm-and specifically the sleeve that hung loosely from that arm.

Outside her Aura boundary.

For a fleeting moment, Weiss was reminded of her first Centinel kill. Of a blade going in one eye hole and out the other.

Like a supersized sewing needle, Myrtenaster pierced the sleeve of Cinder's dress, overly loose and outside the boundary of Cinder's weakening Aura. With her follow-through, Weiss brought Myrtenaster further forward until both sides of the sleeve were pinned against her weapon's hilt.

Weiss fired off all the Burn Dust she had left.

Dust was incorporated into most of the threads of Cinder's dress. When some of those threads cooked off, they started to activate along their entire lengths, including where they contacted other Dust-imbued threads.

Burn. Combustion. Lightning. Wind. Stone. Gravity. One after another, but so quickly in real time as to seem instantaneous, the Dust woven into Cinder's dress began to discharge-enough Dust, as Weiss had said, to power a small village.

The discharge of all that energy blew Weiss back off her feet and away from Cinder. It didn't matter that this left her exposed and shattered her Aura. The damage was done. Cinder had clothed herself in weaponry, and now that weaponry was turned against her.

Weiss could barely make out Cinder's scream over the sound of nature's wrath unleashed.

Whips of water shattered rock, while six strong hands dug with urgency, throwing aside everything they could as they tried to dig open the mine entrance.

"Come on," Yang said through clenched teeth, her Aura aflame as her semblance-boosted strength tore at the pile of rock, "come on!"

"Any faster and you won't have Aura left when we get this open," Taiyang warned, though the sheen of sweat around him showed he wasn't taking this lightly himself.

"Any slower and Weiss won't have Aura left when we get this open," she countered, moving even faster.

Penny said nothing, but worked with the efficiency one would expect of her.

"I think… I think I've got one more in me," said Neptune, gasping for breath.

"Are you sure?" said Ruby anxiously. "You look like you're about to keel over."

"This is for Weiss," he said—any pretensions of cool or detachment long gone.

"You've never used your semblance this much before," Ruby said.

"You told me Goodwitch said it was the second most powerful in our class," said Neptune. "For Weiss, I'll believe you."

Throwing his hands forward, a column of water splashed against the fallen rocks that remained- only a third of what had fallen, but still a formidable amount.

But they'd created a gap near the top, a gap the water flowed through, pushed to the far side by the force of Neptune's mind and will.

Like a tidal force, Neptune had pushed… and, when his water had fully collected on the mine side, he gathered it against the bottom of the rockpile and pulled.

There was a rumble, and then a shake, and then a geyser-like burst of rock and water blasting out of the entrance. It was clear—clear enough to move through.

Neptune's Aura puffed away and he all but fainted; Ruby got under him in time to catch him. "And you say I overdo it," she said.

His grin was fleeting. "Look!"

Walking towards the entrance on shaky legs, coughing tiredly, was a figure in a dirtied white dress.

"Weiss!" screamed Yang as she pulled Weiss to safety. "Are you alright?!"

"That was…" Weiss paused, as if her mind was too exhausted to find the right word quickly. "…annoying."

"That's our Ice Princess," said Blake fondly, and in a rush all of RVBY plus Penny had piled into a hug, like a solar system around a white star.

Or maybe more like a trash compactor.

"Can't… breathe…"

"Sorry," said Ruby, and her team loosened their grips—just a little, not moving away, but still surrounding Weiss with a cocoon of warmth and affection.

It was, in Weiss' opinion… nice.

Very nice.

She could get used to this.

Except then there was a click noise.

Her eyes reopening, she realized that Taiyang, Ruby and Yang's dad, had his scroll out, was smiling evilly, and had just snapped at least one picture.

"Great shot!" he said. "This is going in the scrapbook!"

"DAAAAAD!"

"So," said Qrow, laying that ridiculous sword of his across his shoulders, "that was a workout."

"You always did have a gift for understatement," Winter said testily. She was just putting the finishing touches on bindings to immobilize an unconscious thug. It wouldn't do to have them run off when they woke up.

"How were you planning to explain the White Fang?" Qrow asked.

Winter snapped a knot taut, earning a grunt of pain from the criminal beneath her. When she stood, she looked Qrow dead in the eye and said, "White Fang? I don't see any White Fang here."

Qrow assessed her for a moment, critically, like he was X-raying her. She must have passed inspection, because the side of his mouth quirked up in that too-cute-by-half grin of his, the one that made him attractive and insufferable all at once.

"I gotcha," he said. "Guess I didn't see 'em, either." He looked up at the sky, as if gauging the hour by the sun. The sun was behind the mountain, but never mind. "Looks like we've got some time left before the CCT comes back up and we can call the MPs to pick up these clowns. Got any plans on how to pass the time? 'Cause I have a few ideas if you don't."

Winter knew all too well what he meant. She even remembered accepting such an invitation in the past, thinking foolishly that it meant as much to him as it had to her.

Before she could generate any kind of response, however, Ilia approached the Huntsman and Huntress. Her coat was back on, and there was no trace of either mask or weapon. "Finished my last sweep," she said. "I think we got them all."

Qrow's eyes tracked over to her. "Who's the toothpick?"

Ilia looked half-affronted, but more frightened. She quickly glanced back and forth between Qrow and Winter. Winter could see understanding dawn, could see her picking up on their history in real time, as Ilia's eyes got wider with every second.

Winter saw fear on Ilia's face. That could not stand.

Winter closed the distance between them in two strides, wrapped her arms around Ilia, and swept her into a dip-and-kiss that left Ilia putty in her hands.

It was sloppy and show-offy and intentionally dramatic, but for once, Winter didn't mind, because she was sending a gods-damned message to both these idiots.

At last she pulled back and settled Ilia back on her feet, though the smaller women was still breathless and blinking. Winter looked over her shoulder at a stunned Qrow. "She's my assistant," she said with absolute maximum dryness.

"Ahh," said Qrow. "Looks like she assists you in all sortsa ways."

"She does, and very skillfully, I might add," Winter shot back. She felt Ilia shiver in her arms, and held her lover even tighter.

Qrow stared a bit more. Let him stare, thought Winter. Let him decide what he wants about this. He made his choice, I made mine.

To her surprise, Qrow smiled—not a half-smile like his usual, not anything cynical or bitter or sarcastic, but a genuine one Winter couldn't ever remember seeing on him. "Good for you," he said. "Good for both of you."

Winter waited for a qualifier or a judgement or something ugly to follow. When nothing did, she said, with slightly less sharpness, "Thank you."

As if realizing she was allowed, Ilia snaked her own hands around Winter and clung to her, as well.

"If she's good for you, then I'm happy for you both." It was the most generous thing Winter had ever heard from Qrow, including when they'd shared her bed. Predictably, it didn't last. "Well, that's about my quota for wholesome for the week. I think I'll go check on the ship, see if they have any non-CCT comms I can use. Speed this up a little bit."

He folded his sword up with some unnecessary flourishes and, whistling badly, rounded a corner out of sight.

The moment he couldn't be seen, Ilia looked up at Winter, her scales pale with fright. "Winter, did you and him—in the past-"

"It doesn't matter," Winter said. "Another time, if you really want to know, I can tell you all the sordid details. But they don't matter. Here and now, I choose you. If I need to kiss you again to help you get the message, I absolutely will."

Ilia gaped for a few seconds, and then her scales reverted. "Don't threaten me with a good time."

"I only make threats I mean," Winter said daringly.

"Since we're talking about it…" Qrow had poked his head back around the corner. His smirk was back in full force, as was Winter's dread. "Hey, Toothpick. When you're 'assisting' Ice Queen over there, did she tell you she likes it when you use your—"

"Flock off, Qrow!"

There was a buzz from Professor Ozpin's scroll. He picked it up and saw the new announcement.

CCT RESET COMPLETE

SYSTEM RESTART UNDERWAY. STAND BY.

A blessing and a curse, to be sure, he thought as he sipped at his cocoa. He'd enjoyed the quiet. Then again, the quiet of ignorance was deceptive. The cacophony of truth was painful but preferable.

Ooh… that was a good line. He'd have to make a note of that for next year's speech.

Before he could actually take said note, the banner disappeared. The sigil of Atlas appeared in red, then in blue, then faded to the background, leaving his scroll—and, presumably, everyone else's too—at full functionality.

Two seconds later it buzzed in his hands and the screen filled with incoming alerts.

Typical.

He perused them discerningly, gauging which ones seemed most urgent… oh, one from Taiyang. That qualified.

"Ozpin," he said as he picked up.

"The girls are safe."

Oz's mouth ticked up into a grin. Leave it to the man to have his priorities in order. "That's good to hear. And the Schnees?"

"They're fine, the town's fine. We won."

"Excellent. Well done," said Oz.

"I didn't do this under orders," Taiyang said warningly. "You should be glad I even took your call. I didn't come here for you."

"You went for your girls," Oz said.

"That's right."

"A father's love for his daughters," Oz said wistfully as ancient memories resurfaced. He looked at the windows of his office, and saw in his reflection not the Oz-that-is, but the Oz-who-was. He felt like an old wound had healed just a little. "The world has moved for less."

There was quiet on the line, like both men respected the sanctity of those words.

"Anyway," Taiyang said, "I took some pictures of some of the people involved. They might help you, I don't know."

"I appreciate it," said Ozpin graciously.

"Bye," said Taiyang, and he hung up.

Ozpin brought the scroll down from his ear. He was up to thirteen missed calls and eighty-two pending messages. A good third of the messages were from Glynda alone.

Not bad.

A new message landed atop the pile, this one from Taiyang. Ozpin opened it. As promised, it was a picture, and as promised, Ozpin might find it useful… just not in the way Taiyang had probably meant.

Because the picture was of Team RVBY embracing the junior Schnee.

"Good for her," Ozpin said appreciatively.

His scroll buzzed again with a message from Taiyang marked "urgent".

It said, Wrong picture! :(

Ozpin disagreed.

"Uncle Qrow?"

"Yeah?"

"We have something to show you. Something super sensitive."

"I'm not gonna give you romance advice, I told you that already. 'Specially not about a Schnee."

"Not that kind of sensitive. I mean, we got some intel that ties Cinder Fall to Adam Taurus."

That brought Qrow's full attention. "That'd be something," he said slowly. "Ozpin's people have ninety percent of the picture, but they're missing a few pieces. If you have them, that'd be huge."

"I think we do," said Ruby. "We want to give it to Professor Ozpin, and we know you can help us with that. The thing is, we're not supposed to have this info. And we can't just give it away or show it to everyone. It's… well, sensitive. We need your help redacting it."

Qrow gave a skeptical look. "What kind of intel do you have that needs redacting?"

"The sensitive kind."

"Kid—"

"I need you to pinky swear," Ruby said with full sincerity. She raised a hand. "I know you can keep secrets. Well, this is a big one. Pinky swear with me that you won't ask where it came from, and you won't tell anyone anything that we redact. Even Professor Ozpin."

Qrow took in her expression and raised finger, seemed to appreciate her sincerity, and heaved a sigh. "Alright, kiddo. Cross my heart and hope to die."

They clasped pinkies. Ruby shook their hands up and down. "Okay, then. Here's what we have."

Qrow's eyes popped open.

For the next ten minutes, the only sounds aside from Qrow clicking through the data were his increasingly vehement mutters of "damn", "shit", and "holy shit".

"Okay," said Qrow shakily, reaching for his flask. "You were right. This needs hella redacting."

"But you'll help?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'll help," he said shakily, tossing back a drink. "Because this is some of the most… Ozpin needs to see this, like, yesterday. Or ten years ago. Even if we redact the shit out of this it's still gangbusters." He looked side-eye at Ruby. "And how did you get-?"

"You promised," she said sternly.

He swallowed. "Yeah. Yeah, I promised. Okay, let's get started."

Next time: Her (Final) Boss