Encroaching Threat


"Things aren't looking good at all, Oz," Qrow muttered as he took a sip of coffee. The veteran huntsman was sitting on couch in the living room.

"Ever the optimist," Ozpin replied, being in control of Oscars body so they could have this conversation. "Things could of course still be worse, but humanity is a resilient force." Ozpin said before taking a sip of his own coffee.

"Pro huntsmen don't just bite it in great numbers all at once," Qrow replied back, "It seems like Salem's reach is growing by the day. What does that say about humanity?"

"That there are indeed the misguided few who wish harm upon others," Ozpin replied easily, "But I still believe that there are a many more who wish to help others."

"Like those people from Alrest," Qrow asked.

"Well…if we can hopefully find answers to how Salem suddenly gained power to open these breaches, then perhaps we can help them home," Ozpin said with a worried look.

"Umm…Excuse me," Ruby called out as she entered the room alongside Roze.

"Miss Rose, is there something you wish to ask?" Ozpin asked Ruby.

"Well…" Ruby started awkwardly," It's just…we've been talking about the Spring Maiden and the Relic under Haven. But what about the Fall Maiden and the Relic at Beacon?"

Ozpin chuckled at the question, "I was wondering when one of you would ask about it. So, what is it you want to know?"

"Since we don't know who the current Fall Maiden is, is it possible that Salem might have gotten her somehow by now?" Roze chose to ask, "And if yes, would that mean that she could get her hands on the Relic at Beacon?"

Ozpin looked thoughtful for a moment, "While we still don't know who was in Miss Nikos' final thoughts, there is a slight chance that the Fall Maiden's power might have found its way to Salem somehow."

Qrow decided to take over, "Last we saw, Beacon was being rebuilt and the Titan was still resting there. Right on top of the entrance to the Relic, so even if Salem got the Fall Maiden somehow, she can't access it right now."

"Not to mention that Beacon would be guarded once again by now," Ozpin added in, "But…even if by some chance, Salem had the Fall Maiden and got into the vault, let's just say that I've made the Relic at Beacon a little harder to reach than in the other Academies."

"Oh…that's good," Ruby said, relaxing a bit.

Roze eyed Ozpin's cane, "The Relic of Beacon wouldn't happen to be-" "No, my cane isn't the relic," Ozpin interrupted, "Although this cane is important to me and still has a few tricks, I'm afraid being the relic isn't one of them." Ozpin then had an amused look, "Was there anything else?"

Ruby looked a little hesitant, earning a curious look from her Blade. "I have…no more questions," Ruby said, earning a blanched look from Roze.

"Very well then," Ozpin said just as Qrow's Scroll started ringing.

"Yeah," Qrow answered it. "Really? Already?" Qrow spoke into the Scroll, "Alright, we'll be there." The veteran huntsman pocketed his Scroll, "It was Leo. Said he had a breakthrough with the Council. Told us to meet him tomorrow night to walk through the plan to capture Spring." Qrow's voice tensed just a little bit at the last word.

"Really? That's great," Ruby said happily, "I'll go and tell the others." With that, Ruby ran off. However, Roze looked hesitantly after her before fixing an inquisitive look to Ozpin.

"Is there something you still need?" Ozpin asked politely.

"…What are the silver eyes?" Roze asked after a moment of hesitation.

This question surprised Ozpin, "I believe that question is for Miss Rose to ask, not you."

"No!" Roze said demandingly, "The last time they activated, Ruby was knocked out for three days, and their use changed me. So, if that power is somehow dangerous to Ruby then I have the right to know as much as she does."

Ozpin frowned at the Blade, but let out a sigh, "I suppose you're right to worry. But unfortunately, I don't know what the silver eyes are myself, only what they do."

"But you have lived for centuries," Roze pointed out, "Surely you had time to study them?"

"True, but the silver eyes were such a rare trait that it took me a long time to even discover them, much less find information about them," Ozpin explained, "When I first found out about the silver eyes I did try to find out as much as I could, but too many who had it weren't even aware of their capabilities. And that's not even counting that it sometimes took me decades to reincarnate to a new host, so I couldn't do research for centuries straight. All I know is that they have the power to destroy Grimm."

"At what cost?" Roze then asked, "Will Ruby be alright if she somehow activates them again?"

"Don't worry, only the first time has negative effects on one's body," Ozpin said, "Think of it like using a muscle you didn't know you had for the first time in your life. It strains, but becomes easier with each use."

Roze nodded at the information, "Why did the silver eyes change me?"

"I'm afraid I don't know the answer to that," Ozpin said, "Speaking of which, aside from your appearance do you feel different compared to before?"

Roze closed his white eyes as he thought back on the first day of his change, "I was…confused. It was like…I knew something about me was different, but I couldn't point my finger on it. I felt like…I had gained something I needed for my whole life, but didn't realize it until I actually got it…If that makes sense."

Qrow quirked an eyebrow at this description, "Would you say you felt…stronger?"

"Not the word I would use," Roze said.

"Smarter? More knowledgeable?" Ozpin suggested.

"…The latter sounds closer, but not quite," Roze said as he strained his mind.

"…Complete?" Qrow threw a wild guess.

"That's the one!" Roze shouted as he pointed at Qrow.

"Huh?" Came out of both.

"Oh, yeah. I felt like I had gained pieces of myself that I didn't even know I lacked until gaining them. And through that, became complete," Roze explained like he had discovered the secrets of the universe.

"Uh huh?" Qrow sounded out, unable to comprehend what the wind Blade was talking about.

But then the reaper Blade had a serious look, "Are you sure you don't know anything more about the silver eyes?"

"I'm sorry, I wish I knew more," Ozpin replied with a small sigh, "But I do know that the next time your Driver uses them, the after effects won't be as severe, if she has them at all."

"Thank you," Roze said before walking away.

After making sure that the reaper Blade had left, Qrow took out his flask, "Leo got Council turned to our side far sooner than he originally assessed."

"That sounds drastically different from your original conversation," Ozpin said, feeling great suspicion.

"I don't like this, Oz," Qrow then said before taking a swig, now that Kasandra wasn't nearby.


In Lionhearts office, the headmaster of Haven had just finished the call with Qrow.

"You know, I still have questions," Raven then said from some ways away.

"You're not alone," Lionheart sighed.

"Why are you helping Salem now, even after years of loyalty for Ozpin?" Raven asked.

"Same reason you are helping her. I'm afraid," Lionheart admitted, "Ozpin can't stop Salem. Nothing can. There exists no force on Remnant or Alrest that could oppose her."

"Not even this Aegis?" Raven asked with a curious look. Lionheart nodded in confirmation.

"I've crossed a line," Lionheart then said, before covering his face with his hands, "I've done things that Ozpin won't forgive me for and he shouldn't."

"Man up!" Raven said, slamming the desk with an annoyed look. "You did what you had to do to survive, there's no shame in that," Raven said like it was the law of the universe.

"…Who are you trying to convince?" Lionheart asked.

Raven opened her mouth to retort when something cracking sounded out from behind the wall.

"What was that?" Raven questioned, putting her hand on the hilt of her sword.

"I…don't know," Lionheart replied before Raven ran to the windows and opened them.

The bandit leader looked around to see anything that seemed out of place, until her eyes fell upon broken masonry just next to the window. Looking down, Raven noticed deep footprints at the bottom, like something fell down on its feet. Or someone. "We had a spy," Raven said before jumping down the window to see if there were any footprints. Aside from the two deep prints, there were none. "Whoever left these, was big and heavy. Which would explain the broken masonry." Raven thought as she turned into a raven and took to the skies to see if there was anyone running away from the school.

After a short while, Raven returned to Lionheart's office.

"Did you find anyone?" Lionheart asked.

"No," Raven said with a frustrated look, "I checked the whole area, whoever was there is now long gone."

"This is bad," Lionheart said in a panicked tone, "Whoever was spying on us might tell Qrow. We have to tell Salem's associates."

"No, we don't," Raven said simply.

"What are you talking about? When they find out about this, we will be in trouble," Lionheart said in panic.

"You mean, if they find out about this," Raven said like she was talking to an idiot.

"They will find out one way or another!" Lionheart shot back now looking like he was ready to hyperventilate.

"Urgh." Raven groaned before moving in and slapping the headmaster hard across the face. "Stop panicking and listen!" Raven almost shouted, causing the man to stop beginning rant. "Listening? Good. Now I have already erased the evidence of someone being out the window, which are the footprints. If anyone asks, you just say that the maintenance team responsible for the masonry made a mistake," Raven explained.

"But what if they find out the truth?" Lionheart asked.

"They won't if you sound convincing enough," Raven said getting a little frustrated. As much as she believed the possibility of whoever was eavesdropping warning Qrow, she didn't know of anyone heavy enough to leave prints like that who works for Ozpin. There is a small possibility that it was someone else. A thief who was looking for something to snatch now that the school was almost empty perhaps. Then again, that explanation sounded a little flimsy. More importantly, how did someone that big get up there without leaving any marks on the wall?


Somewhere in Mistral a large figure in rags had finally found a nice alley to stop to after making his hasty retreat from behind the headmaster's office. Why did that small ledge have to break when he was hearing such juicy details? Still, now he knew that Qrow, and by extension Ozpin are supposed to be lured to an ambush. And by extension, them. "I cannot let that happen," the figure thought resolutely. But that raised a problem…how was he going to warn them without showing his face. As much as he wanted to see them all again, he knew that he didn't have a place to go anymore. No matter what she said. "But if I let them die…I cannot live with that too." the figure thought resolutely and began to brainstorm how to warn Ozpin and the two teams.


"Your sister sounds very similar to Lady Mòrag," Brighid commented on a story Weiss was telling about Winter.

"I suppose," Weiss said, seeing a slight resemblance in their demeanors and the way they carry themselves. Although Winter always seemed to have a mildly hostile look when she wasn't relaxed. Mòrag on the other hand was far less…icy. She seemed more lax, but still had a presence that commanded respect. "…Does she have any siblings by any chance?" Weiss decided to ask out of curiosity.

"Hmm…I believe you should ask that from lady Mòrag," Brighid replied after a moment of thought. The blue haired fire Blade thought it wasn't her place to reply to that.

"Perhaps I will," Weiss said with a small smile, "Do you know where she might be right now?"

"I believe so," Brighid replied, getting up off the chair she was seated at in the room Weiss stayed at while the former heiress also rose off of her bed. "Would you like to follow me?"

"I would love to," Weiss agreed with a smile and with that, they walked to where Mòrag was.

Which as it turned out was the dojo, where Jaune and Ren were training to be better Drivers.

Mòrag, Zeke, Rex, Pyra and Tora were watching. Strangely, Poppi wasn't with Tora right now.

"Zen Barrage," Ren called out his newly discovered Art which was series of rapid fire blasts of water Ether.

Joana countered by deploying the barrier, before Jaune closed in with Catalyst Scimitar in hand.

"Hero Slash!" Jaune channeled light Ether into the next swing to increase the strike's power. But Ren barely dodged the attack

Otohime placed her palms together and her hair seemed to defy gravity, "Rising Tide, activate!"

Which Ren took as his que to fire again, "Floral Burst!" And the explosive shot hit Jaune with greater force than usual.

This caused Jaune's Aura to finally break.

"Enough!" Mòrag called the match, causing all the fighters to stop, "I must say, Jaune. You have improved vastly. As for you, Ren, we need to work on your stamina if you wish to take full advantage of Otohime's abilities."

"Got it," Jaune said as he was helped up by Joana.

"Understood," Ren commented. As it has turned out, one of Otohime's abilities, Rising Tide was a time-based ability, which periodically amplified Arts. Each amplification is greater than the last, making Otohime great for prolonged fights. Unfortunately, Ren doesn't have much stamina to speak of, so he tends to get tired in battle before Otohime can even activate Rising Tide once. But why hadn't Otohime pushed Ren to train his stamina before if she knew about her Driver's one shortcoming? Simple, she couldn't bring herself to make him do that kind of training. She was guilty of the very thing she called Roze out on, which wasn't lost on Joana.

Speaking of the knightess Blade, her abilities are mostly supportive. One of her abilities for instance is called Divine Presence. It amplifies the effects of healing Arts of everyone she acknowledges as an ally. Another ability she had unlocked during this training, Exalted March, increases the strength of Arts for both herself, her lord and anyone she recognizes as an ally.

"Very soon my lord shall have the recognition he deserves," Joana said with a proud look on her face as her helmet folded away.

"Joana," Jaune groaned, though mostly in amusement. He had finally learned the important lesson for Joana's near fanatical faith of him, just roll with it. Especially when she has gotten happy at the slightest progress.

"A bath would be in order for you two, now," Otohime piped up with a small smile, after all the two worked up quite a sweat.

"No argument there," Ren commented, panting slightly as he still had a long way to go before he could use Otohime's ability to its fullest.

"You know…I kinda wish we could go to Ardainian hot springs," Rex said, remembering the water there.

"Ardainian, hot springs?" Jaune asked out of curiosity.

"Oh, yeah," Zeke piped up, "I heard that the hot springs in Mor Ardain are good for your health, the hot water, beautiful view and the feeling of the strain just melting off of your muscles."

"Not to mention the water is said to be good for your skin," Brighid piped up, earning everyone's attention, "I have tried to get Lady Mòrag to visit the springs at Alba Cavanich, but she is too engrossed in her work."

"Being the Special Inquisitor comes with its share of duties," Mòrag admitted.

"Tora know!" Tora suddenly piped up, "Let's all guys take a good rub-a-dub together. Mòrag can join us there." The bathroom in the house was big enough for a large group of people to bathe in together if needed.

"WHAT?!" Was the universal reaction out of Jaune, Ren, Zeke, Rex, Brighid and Weiss. The latter of the two being the most vocal.

"Why everyone surprised?" Tora questioned, "We all guys here. Except Brighid, Weiss-Weiss and Pyra."

"…Tora, you do know I'm a woman too, don't you," Mòrag asked with an apprehensive look.

"Meh-MEH?!" Tora exclaimed, eyes turning to the size of dinner plates and jaw dropping, "Mòrag a woman? Tora never knew!"

"You seriously didn't know that," Jaune asked in disbelief.

"How is that even possible!" Weiss half screeched.

"Well…," Zeke said awkwardly, "It's not like I can tell Nopon genders apart other than by clothing."

"Zeke know?" Tora questioned with wide eyes.

"Yeah."

"Rex-Rex?"

"Uhh…yes," Rex said while looking down in embarrassment.

"Weiss-Weiss?"

"Stop calling me Weiss-Weiss!" Weiss shouted, before taking a calming breath, "And yes. You can tell that with a single glance."

"Tora not know! This news of the century for Tora!" Tora said, flapping his wings and arms frantically.

"Well, with Mòrag's clothing I'm surprised Tora's the only one confused sometimes," Zeke commented earning glares from Weiss and Brighid. "She could wear more feminine clothes…like a skirt or something."

Mòrag did not look like she appreciated the comment, "How about you die in a fire, Zeke." the dead pan threat made Jaune, and Ren shiver a little.

"I can arrange that if you wish, Lady Mòrag," Brighid said, making a blue flame appear in her palm for emphasis.

"Just joking, just joking," Zeke quickly said, not wanting to be at the receiving end of Brighid's flames. "You know what, I think Pandoria needed me for something, see you!" With that, Zeke ran away.

"The nerve of him," Weiss scoffed at the man-child. And she throught Roze was an idiot when he asked questions only a three-year-old would ask.

"Did you need something, Brighid?" Mòrag then asked her Blade, deciding to forget this whole incident.

"No, but Miss Schnee here had something to ask of you," the Flamebringer's Blade said before motioning to Weiss.

"And what can I help you with?" Mòrag then said curtly, crossing her arms behind her back in a way a high-ranking officer would.

Weiss took a deep breath, "Do you have any siblings?"

Mòrag quirked an eyebrow, "Why do you ask?"

"I'm just…curious I guess," Weiss muttered unsurely.

The Special Inquisitor seemed to ponder the question before walking towards Weiss and motioning for her to follow. "This isn't something I usually talk about, but seeing as it's not a secret I suppose I can tell you. I have the honor of being the emperor's cousin, although we were so close that we think of each other as siblings," by the time Mòrag explained her relation to Niall, she, Weiss and Brighid had left the dojo.

"You are?!" was the last thing those that still were at the dojo heard from Weiss before they got out of hearing range.

"So…you guys still need that bath?" Rex commented.

"Yeah." Jaune and Ren said in unison and moved out to do just that. The Blades have the luxury of not perspirating, but that doesn't mean they don't enjoy baths when they can. But that's unimportant, as Jaune and Ren also left the dojo to have a bath or at least a shower.

"…Tora confused," Tora then said, still unable to completely wrap his head around Mòrag being a woman all this time.

"Poor thing," Otohime commented as she moved to pet Tora's head lightly, "You do not have enough outside relations, do you?"

"…Zeke right, if Mòrag wear different clothing Mòrag could be very blushy crushy," Tora then commented.

"Blushy?" Otohime commented with a raised eyebrow.

"Crushy?" Joana finished with an uncomprehending look.

Neither of them noticed how Pyra's face tried to become redder than her hair.


In another room, Poppi was having a conversation with Penny and Kos-Mos.

It started with Penny revealing what she was to Poppi, not having told that to Tora and Poppi yet. And apparently none of the other Alrestians had remembered to do that.

"So, Penny is an Artificial Driver," Poppi stated, earning a surprised look from the mechanical girl.

"That is an apt way of putting it," Kos-Mos agreed.

"So…what's it like being an artificial Blade?" Penny asked.

"Poppi not understand question."

"I mean…does everyone treat you like a person?" Penny asked more apprehensively, despite being with Ruby and her friends for months she still felt insecure about it.

"What Penny mean?"

"Does everyone treat you as a part of the team or a weapon?" Penny tried to reiterate.

"…Poppi is an artificial Blade, so of course Poppi is a weapon and a valuable ally and friend. That's what Rex, Pyra, and most importantly Masterpon say," Poppi replied with a happy look.

"Uhh…" Penny sounded out unsurely.

"Master, do you consider me a weapon?" Kos-Mos then asked.

"What? No, you're my friend," Penny said, fearing that she had done something to make her Blade think otherwise.

"Then I believe Poppi has already answered your question," Kos-Mos then said, earning a surprised look from her Driver.

"Why is Penny worried about such things?" Poppi then asked with a head tilt.

"Well…I was once told by Mister Ironwood that people would never think of me as a real girl," Penny said with an embarrassed look.

"…Mister Ironwood sounds stupid," Poppi dead-panned.

"I agree," Kos-Mos added in, "Many of his decisions and handling of his ships security are…questionable at best."

"Kos-Mos!" Penny cried out, looking around like she expected someone from Atlas military to lecture them about badmouthing the general.

"I merely speak based on past experience and how easy it was to take your blueprints," Kos-Mos said in monotone.

"Kos-Mos has Penny's blueprints?" Poppi asked with an inquisitive look.

"Yes, I was wondering if there were ways to upgrade Master without compromising her soul," the android Blade revealed, "So far, no working hypothesis."

"Maybe Masterpon can figure out something," Poppi suggested, "If you show Penny's blueprints, Masterpon could figure out how to upgrade Penny."

"He could do that?" Penny questioned, while looking Poppi up and down.

"Yes, if anyone can do it, it's Masterpon," Poppi said while putting her hands on her hips.

"Sensational!" Penny sounded cheerful, "Do you think he could give me boingy bits?"

"What Penny mean?" Poppi inquired.

"The ones that most other girls have on their chest," Penny said happily, "I think it's weird that I don't have those." At the latter part, the artificial Driver patted her flat chest.

"Weiss' mammary glands, alongside Mòrag's are much smaller compared to the others," Kos-Mos spoke in monotone like she was reading from a text book, "Besides I believe adding artificial breasts to Master would serve no purpose."

"Oh…okay," Penny said sounding a little disappointed.


In another room Nora was finishing maintenance on Magnhild. "Screwdriver," Nora said and Electra handed it over.

"I'm sorry that my hammer doesn't have a grenade launcher," Electra apologized.

"Hey, it's fine," Nora said with a smile as she tightened a few screws, "You're still the cutest Blade ever."

"Thanks," Electra said happily, before looking bashful about something, "So…when are you and Ren getting married?"

This made Nora freeze in midscrew, before her face reddened, "Whoa, whoa! Where did that come from?"

"Well, you got Ren as your boyfriend now, so the next step is marriage. Or do you not want to marry him?" Electra said the last part with a worried look.

"Electra," Nora said, not believing she was having this conversation, "Ren and I just became a couple, and with everything that's going on…I'm not sure we can even think of marrying. But once we've dealt with Salem…who knows." At the last part Nora had a wide dreamy smile.

"Okay," Electra said happily. Just then the window to the room they were occupying broke.

"What the-?!" Nora exclaimed looking to the culprit. It was a paper ball. "How did a paperball break through a window?" the orange haired hammerer questioned as she moved to pick up the trash, only to be surprised by its weight. After fiddling a little with the thing, Nora realized that it was a paper that was crumpled over a small rock.

"What is it?" Electra asked trying to see what the paper was.

"Lionheart is a traitor. He's luring you to an ambush," Nora red aloud on the paper.

"What?!" Electra cried out in alarm.

Just then, Ruby entered the room. "Hey, Nora! Professor Lionheart called, we had a major breakthrough!" The silver eyed girl looked so excited until she read the mood in the room. "Is…everything alright?" Then she also noted the broken window.

"Not if what this paper says is true," Nora said warily as she handed over the note.

"Huh?" Ruby questioned before accepting the note and reading the text. Her eyes widened. "Nora, where did this come from?"

"Through the window," Electra replied instead, while pointing to the hole that was caused by rock delivery.

"But…that can't be," Ruby said looking at the note again. There was no address and no addressee. Then again, whoever threw this in probably knew who was occupying this house. Ruby then moved to the window to open it and look outside. "No one's here." Ruby said, of course, whoever threw the note was probably gone the moment they got their message in.

"Do you think that message is right about professor Lionheart?" Nora asked now looking worried.

"…I hope not," Ruby said, "But we need to take this to Ozpin."

"Take what?" Asked Roze who had just found Ruby.

"This note that someone threw in through the window on a rock," Nora said while Ruby showed the note in question.

The reaper Blade's white eyes widened at the content, "Let's gather everyone, we need to address this."

"I just said that," Ruby said with a pouty look.


Some time later, because Jaune and Ren took their shower, the gang was all gathered into the living room with the note being shown to everyone.

Ozpin looked at the crumpled paper in worry, "As much as I wouldn't trust something that came the way it did, it would explain Leo's odd behavior."

"Why would he betray you?" Ren asked, "Wasn't he loyal to you?"

"More importantly, for how long?" Aizen piped up, "Assuming that whoever who wrote this is telling the truth."

Rex looked worried about this terrible news just as much as everyone else, then his eyes fell on Mòrag who looked more worried than others for some reason.

"Mòrag? Is something wrong?" the salvager boy asked.

"There are several possibilities that I can think of why Lionheart has betrayed everyone, none of them are good," the Special Inquisitor said with a frown.

"How many of those involve extortion and threats?" Zeke asked with a frown, causing everyone to look worried.

"Quite a few," Mòrag revealed, "Assuming of course that professor Lionheart wasn't against Ozpin from the start."

"That's not possible," Ozpin spoke up, "Leo has been loyal to me for so long that he couldn't have possibly been with Salem from the beginning."

"I suppose you would know better," Mòrag admitted, "But that doesn't change our situation."

"I believe we are overlooking something right now," Otohime then said with a deep frown, earning everyone's attention, "If Lionheart does work for Salem, that would mean that he has most likely informed her of the Spring Maiden's identity."

"That means Salem would go after my mom," Yang said in worry, despite not liking the woman that birthed her.

"Which would mean Salem could get her hands on the Relic," Jaune added in.

"Raven is many things, but she's not easy to take down," Qrow spoke up, "But if Salem does know about Raven being the Maiden then…who knows what she might do."

"Dammit this is my fault," Rex said, earning surprised looks from everyone, "I shouldn't have said anything!"

"No, Rex! This isn't your fault," Pyra argued, "Neither of us could have known, so you can't take any blame."

"Pyra's right," Ruby added in, "None of us thought professor Lionheart could be a…traitor." The silver eyed girl still found it hard to believe that Lionheart who seemed so nice was a bad guy.

"Shouldn't we focus on what to do now?" Penny then asked, "I mean, unless we find a way to get Lionheart on our side then wouldn't it be better if we figured out what to do?"

"Urgh. Penny's right," Weiss agreed grudgingly, mostly because she didn't have any more reason to argue other than letting out more grievances, "We should focus on what to do about this trap instead of how we didn't see this coming."

"Yes, Miss Schnee," Ozpin spoke up, "I believe we should. Let's begin with what we can safely assume to be in this ambush."

"Salem's cronies might be waiting for us at school," Dragunov began brainstorming, "They probably don't know about, me, Yang, Weiss, Dahlia and Aizen, unless they got that information out of Raven somehow."

"Which also mean they might not know about Tora and Poppi," Tora added in.

"Or Wulfric," Poppi also added in.

Joana had a thoughtful look, "Seeing as we never told Lionheart about Ozpin being back, there is a high probability that our enemies might not know about him or Zeke and Lady Pandoria."

"Very true," Zeke added in, while Pandoria smiled at being called a lady.

"Unless someone was spying on us," Dahlia muttered with a worried look.

"I doubt it," Roc pointed out, "Although there have been moments when I felt like we were being watched outside of this house. But that could have very well been our mystery informant."

"But who could it have been?" Kasandra asked the big question.

"We don't even know what that person looks like," Jaune added in while Joana took the paper from Ozpin and was eyeing the writing with a critical look.

"Assuming it's even a person," Electra said, which earned her a series of weirded out looks.

"You mean that was written by a ghost person?" Nora asked with wide eyes.

"Nora, no." Ren quickly shot the idea down, "Just…no." Otohime also shook her head in exasperation.

"What do you think Joana?" Jaune then asked. "Joana?" The knightess was still staring at the paper with a frown. "Joana!"

"Uhh…Yes, milord?" the knightess asked with a startled look.

"Was there something on the paper that caught your interest?" Jaune asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No…it is just…something about this text is disturbing me," Joana said as she put the paper down on the coffee table.

"What is it?" Jaune asked, thinking they might have a clue.

"…I do not know," Joana said with a disappointed look, "Perhaps it is merely a figment of my imagination."

"This still doesn't help us with what to do about this trap," Wulfric spoke up.

"Right," Ozpin said with a sigh, "Assuming that whoever threw this to us is trustworthy, we may have to prepare ourselves for a fight."

"Can't we just skip the whole meeting?" Rex asked.

"Assuming that our lives are the only thing at stake, sure," Qrow said, "But…if Leo is working for Salem now, then we might want to assume that they want us dead and worse yet somehow try to take the relic."

"But you said Yang's mom isn't that easy to beat," Roze pointed out.

"Yeah…Well I don't want to think of the possibility, but with everything Rae has done…I wouldn't be surprised if she started working for Salem to save her own skin." Qrow said through gritted teeth.

"Worthless piece of glass," Dragunov muttered under his breath, but Yang heard him.

"So…does that mean we have to fight her again?" Pyra asked carefully.

"Probably, and whoever else Salem might have under her employ," Qrow sighed as he reached for his flask. "You gotta be ****ing shitting me!" And then realized Kasandra had once again yoinked it.

"SWEAR!" Ruby cried out before covering her mouth in embarrassment.

This earned a round of laughter out of everyone, while Qrow winced at slipping this badly around Ruby.

"Anyway," Roze butted in, "If I understand right, then unless they know about our increase in numbers, then we should have the element of surprise on that front."

"Roze isn't wrong," Aizen agreed, "We could use this to our advantage. For example, a portion of us go in immediately, while the rest wait for a moment and then spring a counter trap."

"You make it sound so simple," Weiss commented with a dry look.

"It's not," Aizen said simply, "And of course, any number of things can easily go wrong."

"So. your plan isn't much of a plan," Nora said with a dry look.

"You are welcome to suggest a different one," Aizen replied easily and with a slightly smug look, as if he didn't expect Nora to come up with anything.

So, this was how the time at the house was spent, brainstorming ideas on how to counter an ambush, despite them not being entirely sure if the message was left by someone trustworthy.


At the airship that Emerald, Mercury and Watts stayed at until tomorrow when their plans would be set in motion, Emerald was tapping her foot impatiently. "Is it done yet?" Emerald asked the doctor who was tinkering with a rather large circular machine.

"Don't rush me, girl," Watts said in annoyance, "It took me weeks just to change the design, not to mention make slight improvements."

"Sooo, where did you get the blueprints for that?" Mercury then asked.

"That's not something for you to be concerned about," Watts replied as he did some final checks on the machine.

"Come on, I'm bored here," Mercury whined.

"I'm a little curious too," Emerald admitted, "I mean, when were you able to make something to counter Blades?"

Watts sighed before deciding that it would be easier to answer, "Some time before the Vytal Festival, Ozpin got his hands on several files from Doctor Merlot. Among them were some blueprints for machine that would disrupt a Blades ability to harness Ether. Because of Cinder managing to implant my virus into Beacon Tower, I gained access to those files. I was…surprised that this man had managed to make machines designed to counter Blades. Such a shame too."

"What do you mean?" Emerald asked about the last part.

"Salem was aware of the experiments he was doing on Grimm and considered recruiting him," Watts replied as he started messing with some of the wiring, "Sadly that Titan and the Atlas military bombarded the island that had the substance he used to make that serum. It could have been most useful. And who knows, perhaps I could have worked on a few things alongside him. Such a waste." Then Watts locked a few plates in before getting up from the small workbench he had on the ship. "I have now finished the adjustments, but like I said, I can't guarantee that it works as perfectly as I intended," Watts said with a meaningful look to Emerald.

"So that thing's supposed to make those Blades powerless?" Mercury asked with a small smirk as he walked to the machine and poked it.

"Be careful, this machine isn't designed to take hits," Watts said with a glare at the boy.

"What? Then what if they break it?" Mercury asked with an incredulous look.

"We're supposed to hide it," Emerald said like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "That way while the Blades become worthless baggage, we can kill all the Drivers."

"Yeah, they won't know what hit them, especially those other-worlders," Mercury said cockily. Without their Blades, they will be completely defenseless. The brats will put up slightly more fight, but it's not like they're worth a thing.

"Don't underestimate them," Watts said firmly, "The machine is based off of technology from their world so it would be safe to assume that they have other means to defend themselves." If this other world has technology that can restrain Blades then it's safe to assume that the Drivers would have learned to defend themselves in the event that their Blade can't be used.

"Whatever," Mercury shrugged in annoyance.

"Alright, tomorrow we'll set this up at Haven, then we wait for our problems to walk into the ambush. Then we kill them, and once we've done that, we can get the relic and then the White Fang blows up Haven," Emerald went over the plan one more time.

"You're not planning to absorb the Spring Maiden?" Watts asked, knowing that Salem planned for Emerald to be the replacement of Cinder.

"I'm just…not comfortable with it, but if it comes to that I can get it before Raven even realizes what's going on," Emerald admitted while rubbing her arms. Trying not to think about the uncomfortable feeling she gets.

"So long as we get the relic, nothing else truly matters," Watts said, "But if you do succeed, I expect to have some credit and especially if you manage to bring the Aegis too."

"Yeah, yeah," Emerald said impatiently. Honestly, she just wanted Ruby to suffer, but she's also afraid of what Salem would do if she doesn't get the job done. So, this has to work.


AN: There we go. Shit is about to hit the fan on all sides. Though which side will have it worse, remains to be seen.

Now a guest asked if Lionheart had informed Watts, Emerald and Mercury about who the Spring Maiden is. The answer was, to me anyway, so obvious that I felt like I didn't even need to note it. Watts already knew first through Lionheart and Emerald was there when the turncoat informed the witch. So of course they knew. But why not tell Raven what they knew? Simple, to let her think that they didn't know she was the Spring Maiden. I'll let you think on your own what good that will do.

Anyway, we also got info on Otohime's and Joana's abilities. Otohime is practically the opposite of Ren in terms of how she relishes in long fights. While Joana kind of reflects Jaune's semblance in terms of her abilities.

And to those who have played XC2, yes I took that H2H and altered it a little.