Authors Note: Surprise surprise, it's actually on time… mostly.

Beta: GeneralMayhem, kpmh2001

Pyrrha watched the screen closely, carefully inputting the time to detonation and checking it over before allowing herself to finally hit the priming button and slip the satchel behind one of the crates. She spared a glance up towards Velvet, who was keeping watch through the small window on the door, before moving to the other side of the room and pulling out another explosive from her backpack.

"You're really going to have to explain how you know how to do that." Velvet sent. "I'm sure Coco will want you to teach her." Pyrrha had to resist the urge to chuckle at Velvet's horrified tone.

Explosives wasn't something they taught at Beacon, nor the preparatory combat schools like Sanctum and Signal. She supposed it was possible the third or fourth year students might get such classes, but she had never really spoken to any to find out. The only reason she knew how to operate them was because of the Breach.

The stories team RWBY had told them were awe inspiring. A group of four huntresses in-training had managed to fight off the likes of Roman Torchwick and a small army of terrorists armed with the best and most advanced Atlesian technology. They hadn't quite managed to stop the train of course, but even after the crash they had been able to hold back the Grimm until Beacon and the airfleet from Atlas could reinforce them.

What they said was also cause for alarm however. The explosives on the trains, intended to bring in Grimm behind them, could have just as easily been meant to kill civilians directly; if that were that the case, there would have been very little that the Huntsmen could have done since none of them knew how to disarm a bomb.

The time after the Breach had been filled with optimism and hope. They had been looking forward to the festival and everything that would come with it. They had thought themselves victorious over their enemies, that they were heroes. Despite that, they had still taken time to reflect on their shortcomings.

Ruby had started training on her unarmed fighting ability, the knowledge of how easily she had lost Crescent Rose making her finally accept her vulnerability. Yang had practically doubled her training in the light of her defeat in the train car. Blake had started to actually bond with the rest of her team, and even Weiss had seen the importance of team building and sought to make up for her failures to do so earlier in the year.

One thing that they had all agreed on however, was that they needed to learn how to deal with explosive threats moving forward. Ruby and Weiss had insisted on each of them learning how to disarm a bomb, in the event that they ever had to. That was easier said than done of course, bombs weren't what you saw in movies. There wasn't a single wire that needed to cut in order to save the day or a convenient off switch. Some of them might have that sure, but bombs built by terrorists were usually not so disarmer friendly. They had been forced to get help from the professors as well as countless hours studying information they could find in the CCTS.

In the end however they had learned the basics. Pyrrha had even picked up the other side of the coin, arming bombs and explosives should she ever need to. She hadn't really ever expected it to come in handy, but then again, she couldn't say she had expected anything that had happened to her.

Arming explosives was mundane compared to coming back from the dead.

"Coco and Yatsu just got the last guy out of the building." Fox sent. "Once you guys are out there's nothing to worry about."

Pyrrha spared a glance for Velvet, catching her eyes for the briefest of moments. She couldn't ask her question, not knowing how to actually use Fox's semblance like the rest of them did, but Velvet seemed to get the idea.

"Are you sure?" Pyrrha moved further back to another pile of crates as Velvet asked, again pulling a small satchel from her bag and starting the process of arming it.

"The only people I can sense are down there with you guys." Fox reassured them. "If they're down there… I think they know what they're doing."

Pyrrha spared a quick glance towards Velvet, seeing the doubt and apprehension in her body language. It took her a moment to understand why, much to her own displeasure. Team CFVY didn't know what the White Fang would truly do. They only knew what Pyrrha had told them. Sure they'd heard the stories from Mistral and Atlas, but even those were morally grey from the outside.

They thought they knew what the White Fang could do, but they didn't fully understand it. Not in the way that Pyrrha did. She had seen them lead waves of Grimm into the city, attack the student body of Beacon, and kill countless innocent people.

Pyrrha shook her head, focusing on the rather dangerous task before her. Allowing one's mind to wander would be a poor idea.

"Uh… Amber, I think they're loading the Paladins on the trucks." Velvet sent, pulling Pyrrha away from her task as she rushed over to the window to see what she was talking about.

True to her words, the Paladins were being secured down to the trailers of the trucks; tarps being thrown over them before those too were tightened down.

Pyrrha kept her voice low, barely above a whisper. Even then it felt too loud. "They probably know their base isn't quite as safe as it was. Or they suspect at least." Say what you would about the White Fang, and there was a lot to say, but they knew how to stay hidden when they wanted to. They would have known some of their members were captured during the raid with Qrow, and they were smart enough to know that staying in one location was a bad idea. Especially if said location had their secret weapons in it.

"They can't really expect to move those through the city, can they?" Velvet asked, stepping away from the door to look at Pyrrha directly.

The answer was yes, they could. She knew that because they had moved them countless times during her last life. Not only into and out of the city and towards Mountain Glenn, but even within the city itself. The mustering point that Team RWBY had found springing to mind.

Despite knowing all of this, she couldn't say that. Instead she focused on the obvious. "They got them here, didn't they?"

Velvet's face twisted in a mix of disgust and understanding. Vale had failed to notice the White Fang so far, they were unlikely to notice anything now. Pyrrha stepped away from the door, returning to the arduous task of planting explosives.

"You guys might have company." Fox sent. "Someone's getting closer to your guys' area, they might be on a lower level though."

Pyrrha looked up towards Velvet as she slowly stood, looking out the window for a split second before ducking back down. Eyes wide with panic, she nodded her head frantically.

"We have to hide!"

Pyrrha finished punching in the timer and slipped the satchel in between two crates before turning back towards the doorway they had come through originally. As she stepped into the darkness she looked back in search of Velvet, only to see her ducking behind a set of crates behind the wall. The door opened a moment later and Pyrrha moved back, making sure to keep herself from sight.

The room was completely silent, and she had to fight the growing urge to look and see if someone was still there. Were it a Human she could have looked thanks to the cover of darkness, but most Faunus having night vision meant that they would be able to spot her with ease.

Instead, Pyrrha was forced to wait and listen. The sound of her own breathing was deafening, and she was certain that whoever it was would hear her, but for the moment they seemed to be unaware of her presence. She could just make out the sounds of footsteps as they steadily grew louder, before coming to a stop not but a few feet away from her. She closed her eyes and refused to breathe, focusing all her attention on listening.

The silence was broken suddenly by the sound of metal scraping against concrete, Pyrrha jumping slightly at the noise. Her eyes widened in recognition a second later. The door!

The metal door that she had melted open smashed back into the ground, the footsteps continuing in her direction, only this time they were slower as the person hesitantly went to investigate the stairwell that the door had once protected.

Pyrrha cursed herself a fool for not stowing the door in the stairwell, perhaps then it would have gone unnoticed, but pushed such thoughts aside as she gripped the hilt of her sword. She stepped back from the doorway to give herself the proper distance to attack but she was unable to draw her weapon, the sound of the blade leaving the sheath would be too loud and almost certainly alert the guard to her presence. She would only have a small window to draw her blade and strike, a window she wasn't sure she would be quick enough to make.

"Amber, just stay hidden." Velvet sent. "I-I have a plan."

The tense quiet of the room was broken as another sound rang out, the sound of someone running in her direction. She heard the guard's surprise as he began to turn before something collided with him. The man managed to let out a surprised yelp before smashing into the ground, his weapon scraping against the hard ground as it slid out of his reach.

Pyrrha rounded the corner to see Velvet standing over the downed figure, a metal pipe in her hands and eyes filled with shock. The world was still for a moment, as both of them hoped that the unconscious man's loud collapse to the floor had gone unnoticed. Sadly, it seemed the world couldn't be that kind.

"You've got three more heading in your direction!" Fox sent in a panic. "Are you guys done yet?!"

Velvet looked to Pyrrha, her eyes still wide with panic, and she nodded back.

"Y-yeah, we're done." Velvet passed the message along, throwing the pipe aside and quickly moving back towards the stairwell. "Amber and I are on our way up now."

Pyrrha followed closely behind, not having the time to pull up her scroll to see and nearly stumbling up the staircase. Lifting her hand slightly, she summoned a small flame bright enough to illuminate the few steps in front of her. She almost wished she hadn't.

"Up there! I see light!" A voice rang out from the lower area they had just escaped from.

Pyrrha looked back, seeing several masked individuals running out of the doorway she had broken into. They quickly disappeared into the darkness but she knew they had already found them. If they couldn't see her or Velvet, then the light that she needed in order to see was surely telling them.

"Is there another doorway we could go through?" Pyrrha called out towards Velvet, hoping she could pass the message along to Fox, who in turn could pass it along to Coco.

Velvet did her part, but the reply was slow coming as Coco no doubt struggled to pin their current location.

"Not while you're being chased!" Fox sent back. "All the doors are probably just as stuck as that one was. Your best bet is to go out the way you came in!"

Pyrrha sighed in annoyance, continuing to sprint up the stairs two at a time. It was moments like this that being able to use the maiden powers to their fullest would have been useful. Were she able to shoot up the central column instead of taking the long way, she and Velvet would have had plenty of time. She lacked the control however, and even if she could do it alone, she doubted she had the raw power to do it with Velvet on her back.

As it was, they reached the end of the stairwell quick enough, their pursuers close on their heels. That was when they were presented with another problem.

"We'll never make it!" Velvet looked at the gap and back towards Pyrrha. "They'll catch up to us before we can make it through."

And if they caught them while they were unable to defend themselves that would be it. It had taken them a few minutes to crawl down the first time, and climbing out would certainly be harder. Pyrrha bit her lip, uncertain of what to do.

Looking down at the flame in her palm she had an idea.

"Tell Fox to stand back!" Pyrrha pulled Velvet behind her and looked back to the group on the flight below them. She waited long enough for Fox to get a safe distance away, before lashing out with a hand.

The darkness that had surrounded them was burned away as the small fire in her hand turned into an inferno, incinerating the blockage and blasting away the larger debris that attempted to fill the hole left behind. Dust, ash, and bits of rock fell upon them but none of it was large enough to be harmful.

Pyrrha had spent the last weeks training to use the Maiden powers, but those had always been small controlled bursts. She had only ever used the powers so intensely during a fight, even then those were short lived blasts that quickly left her drained and feeling exhausted. This was different, requiring a constant amount of force lest the access way cave in on top of them

By the time the way was clear she thought she might collapse, only managing to stay standing due to the knowledge of their situation. As the heat dissipated and their way was clear she grabbed Velvet's arm and began to run up what was left of the stairwell.

Velvet coughed as her lungs burned, desperately trying to get a breath of clean air but instead constantly breathing in dust, causing her to cough and breathe in more, feeling like it would never stop. Her ears were ringing loudly and she could barely keep her eyes open between the dust and the harsh light. Her aura had protected her from any real damage, but she hadn't been prepared for what Amber had done. The true scope of her Semblance being beyond anything Velvet could have imagined.

Said girl pulled her up and out of the small crater she had created through solid concrete and metal, the remains of the staircase having been blown away from their path. She spared the briefest glance back to the men chasing them, only to find nobody there. The explosion had likely driven them back or at least caused them to pause and think about chasing the two intruders.

It gave them the time they needed to escape, or more appropriately, it gave Amber the time she needed to pull Velvet to safety. Once they were out of the hole, Velvet had managed to gain her bearings somewhat, putting her feet back under herself and managed to follow Amber without being dragged.

They caught up with Fox, but kept moving away from the building once Amber didn't stop. Velvet didn't question her, as she was the only one who actually knew when the bombs would be going off.

"What the hell was that?!" Fox sent. The only reason she had even been able to hear it being due to his Semblance, as her ears were still ringing too badly to hear anything normally.

"Amber's Semblance." Was all she could think to reply however. Looking at her friend, she kept her face forward, never looking back.

"Huh, and I thought mine was helpful." Fox sent.

"The front gate just opened!" Coco's voice filled her head and Velvet realized she couldn't see her team leader anywhere nearby, apparently having decided to watch the front entrance. "One of those trucks is pulling out with something big on the back. When are those bombs supposed to go off?"

Velvet watched as Amber pulled out her scroll to check the timer that she had set. Amber's eyes widened and she looked back at the building, Velvet followed along, and a moment later the world shook around them as an utterly deafening blast rumbled throughout the ground, throwing them all off their feet. Not even a second later, a massive plume of fire, wind, dirt, ice, concrete, and various other elements of Dust exploded out of the ground and into the air.

"And that is how I ended up the king of Vale." Ozpin smiled widely at the thought, sitting back in his chair as he concluded the story.

Qrow took a drink from his flask. "Really, that's it? You didn't have any idea?"

Ozpin chuckled slightly. "No, I had no idea that she was a princess. She just made very good conversation… and tea."

He was mildly bewildered by the story, struggling to believe it but concluding that stranger things had happened in the world in recent times. "Well, cheers I suppose. How was the honeymoon?"

The wizards face grew the slightest shade of red as he hid behind his cup of coffee. Qrow simply laughed.

"Not that I haven't enjoyed our conversation," Oz said, finally having managed to suppress the slight hint of embarrassment he had allowed himself to show. "But might I ask why exactly it is that you are distracting me?"

Qrow froze, his flask only a hair away from his lips. "W-what do you mean?"

The amusement on Ozpin's face partially fell away, being replaced with the same skeptical expression of a man who knew something was up, but didn't quite know what.

Qrow took a drink from his flask, coughing slightly as it burned his throat. "I don't know what yo-"

His useless protest was interrupted by a loud explosion in the distance. The two men stood up at once, moving to the window to look out at the city, where a large billow of smoke could be seen.

Ozpin looked to him, all signs of emotion having melted away from the wizard's face.

"Heh, heh, what a coincidence?" Qrow weakly asked.

Ozpin's only reply was to raise one eyebrow.

Qrow sighed and shrugged. "Can't blame a guy for trying."

Author's Note: Little bit shorter than usual, but hey it's better than not getting one right?

Hope you enjoyed and as always don't forget to review.

Sincerely, SE