Last chapter of the season! Gonna take a month's break, and then post a massive 10 part event in the span of 10 or so weeks, then take another short break.

For those of you who don't know, I'm working on another fanfic on top of Gems. It's a Gemstones AU crossover with the universe of My Hero Academia, called Carry On. Please visit the Discord for more info. Here's the Discord invite link. Please join Discord at: /mY2QfzMjGt

Leave a review, please!


Weiss knew that one of Salem's minions would ultimately come after her. Would it be Emerald yet again? Or how about the man who dislocated Kylie's arm? Or, worse yet, Zs'skayr himself?

Nobody could ever guess who she would actually fight.

Weiss was assisting Cardin and the others in their hunt for stragglers, invaders, or anything else. Weiss entered a door to a dorm...and spotted him, calmly munching an apple at a desk.

"Sup," Mercury grinned.

"Not who I was expecting," Weiss muttered, before drawing Myrtenaster. Not what she expected, but she was ready for this. Mercury finished off one last bite of the apple and tossed it into a trash can perfectly.

"I feel like I should say something about an assassin and an heiress, but that already sounds like the beginning of a bad joke. So, instead, how about we just start this?" Mercury smirked as he stood up from the desk. He then quickly fired off two shots from his boots, launching himself forward, preparing a side kick aimed right at Weiss' head.

The heiress ducked under the strike and immediately struck back, summoning up Glyph blasts and fired them out at Mercury. He rolled out of the way, letting the blasts hit the wall behind him. He kicked out a few times and sent some heavier shots at Weiss, but she managed to summon up a protection glyph just in time to block them.

"Impressive. I'm shocked you could keep up with those," Mercury jokingly praised her, "But, how good are you without that fancy rapier?" Mercury jumped up, and immediately went to smash at Weiss' hand, to disarm her. The blow would've broken her wrist, and temporarily disabled her ability to fight back.

Good thing Weiss had other tricks.

A brief silhouette of a knight quickly blocked Mercury's attack, letting the assassin's foot smash against semi-solid metal. There was a distinct clang sound as the knight's silhouette pushed back, forcing Mercury back to where he started.

"Forgot about that..." Mercury sneered.

"It's not the only one either," Weiss said, summoning up a glowing white Boarbatusk. It was already rolled up and spinning out at Mercury. He barely had enough time to dodge out of the way, but it quickly curved back around and dashed towards him. But as it did, Weiss went on the attack as well. She rushed in with the help of some speed glyphs and thrust her rapier forward. Mercury dodged the first strike, but as he did the Boarbatusk leapt up and slammed into his back, forcing him forward and opening him up to a few good strikes from Weiss. She finished off the flurry with one good fire-infused thrust that singed Mercury's jacket.

Mercury glared at her, before he brushed off his chest. "And here I thought you'd fuck up somehow. Welp...better start trying for once."

Mercury leapt up, and began to rain down a flurry of devastating kicks aimed all over Weiss' body. His legs were so fast and fluid, she could barely tell where he was attacking. One kick was hard enough to leave a contusion on her arm, and another was strong enough to leave a dent in her armor.

Weiss immediately raised a wall of ice that ensnared his legs in the ice. Weiss took a few steps back, winded by the onslaught of attacks.

With his legs trapped, Mercury was left defenseless as the summoned Grimm swung back around again and covered Weiss, leaping up into the air and slamming down on Mercury. The summon bounced off of him and rolled off, taking another turn back to him. Mercury growled in annoyance as he fired out shots, freeing himself from the ice wall. He then landed an axe kick on the summon as it sped towards him, slamming the poor summon into the ground hard. The Grimm summon squealed in pain as the summon shattered some of the tiles on the floor.

"You know why I don't like you, princess?" Mercury's voice was soaked in acid. "It's because no matter how many times you slice it, you're just the same weak pathetic girl. Even with all that armor and that icy glare, you're still the ice queen with a racist dad and an even worse military papa. You're still the inferior sibling looking up to your cool older sister. You're still weak and pathetic."

Weiss blinked boredly. While scathing, Weiss had long accepted these facts long ago.

"And?" the heiress asked.

Mercury ran at Weiss, ready to continue the offensive. Weiss blocked his incoming spear kick with a wall of ice. He'd been trying to get her all riled up and angry, but the tables had turned.

Weiss smirked at that before she suddenly had the wall shatter, giving her the cover she needed. Mercury fell to the floor in shock as shards of ice pelted him on the way down. Rotating the chamber in Myrtenaster over to wind Dust, she slashed Mryetnaster in a sideways arc and unleashed a gale, pushing Mercury back. With ease, the assassin managed to land on his feet, his boots scraping against the floor before he came to a halt. Some of the ice shards cut him when the wind blew him away, weakening his Aura somewhat. Keeping her advantage with a quick chamber rotation, Weiss thrust out Myrtenaster repeatedly, launching several slicing flame projectiles at the assassin. He rolled his eyes and started firing off shots just as fast as Weiss could strike, each shot hitting with the fires and canceling them out, causing small explosions every time the two hit.

Mercury flipped back, and grabbed something from the sides of his prosthetic legs, two small revolvers, now dual wielded in his hands. Weiss was almost taken aback by his new weapons.

"You like them?" Mercury said with a sly grin.

"...Okay, that's a stupid upgrade," Weiss admitted, "I got my armor to remedy my body being more...gymnastic fit than body builder fit. How the hell does a gun do you good?"

"You wanna talk about 'kinda stupid'? It's 'kinda stupid' how I can only shoot with my feet sometimes. So, I decided to remedy the situation. I mean, yeah, not as cool as I wanted them to be, but they're pretty useful," Mercury shot some bullets at Weiss to demonstrate his point.

The heiress blocked the hail of bullets with an icy glyph. Weiss raised an eyebrow, not exactly impressed by the guns. Kylie used revolvers, sure, and they helped her spread her gas around. So what was Mercury trying to achieve with this?

"Tick tick tick..." Mercury quipped, further confusing Weiss. Then, she heard it.

The beeping. The bullets were beeping. Weiss quickly dropped the glyph in front of her and braced for impact.

BOOM. The bullets exploded in a miniature inferno.

"Damn! Black Knight wasn't kidding, these were the best caliber!" Mercury laughed. He jokingly kissed his gun, and walked over to the smoke. Knowing the Ice Queen, she wasn't entirely dead from that.

"Come on, ice princess. Don't tell me I blew you to kingdom come already! We were just having fun!" the assassin taunted.

The only answer Mercury got was a blade being thrust out of the smoke towards him. He dodged out of the way, spinning one of the revolvers in his hand and striking out with it. The hilt of the gun slammed into the side of Weiss' head and she staggered out of the smoke. Before should recover, the assassin ran in, landing a good series of hooks and kicks, before finishing it off with an axe kick.

Weiss nearly lost her balance from that last hit, but she managed to keep her footing. The heiress rubbed the spot where Mercury hit, before spinning the chamber in Myrtenaster once again and having it come to a halt, locking in the ice Dust.

A glyph appeared underneath her feet after she focused for a moment. Weiss suddenly sent out a wave of ice along the ground from her rapier, freezing Mercury's feet in place.

"Not fast enough for that, are you?" Weiss said, as Mercury shot at the ground with his pistols. Weiss knew this was coming, an explosion to free his feet. A bit overkill, but it'd work. The downside was that the blast would harm his Aura greatly.

The rounds started beeping as the timer went down. Soon, an explosion engulfed Mercury, covering him in smoke and sending shards of ice flying. Even though the thick cloud, Weiss could see it, the telltale sign of his gray Aura flickering from the hit. If she had to guess, it was close to breaking.

"Not the brightest move to make," Weiss said.

"It's not...but it IS the best way for me to hype myself up." Mercury said, as he suddenly took off, running at Weiss.

Weiss spun the chamber in Myrtenaster over to a new type of Dust. She hadn't used this type before and, while she was still practicing with it, hopefully her skills would be good enough here. The assassin ran in and tried hitting Weiss with a side kick to the chest, only for the heiress to easily sidestep the kick and, with a quick motion from her sword, a vine shot forth from the tip of the rapier, wrapping around Mercury's leg. Before he could even think about trying to free himself, Weiss backed off and jabbed her weapon into the ground, the vine moving out from the blade and anchoring itself into the ground. With a tight grip, the vine pulled Mercury's leg back down to the ground.

"The fuck?!" Mercury shouted.

"Just something I've been practicing with," Weiss smirked. She rushed back in, summoning more and more vines. They wrapped around Mercury's free leg when he tried kicking out at the heiress. He tried shooting them with his revolvers, but one of the vines simply wrapped around one of them and yanked it from his hand.

"Seriously?! These are new guns!" Mercury seethed.

"Complain to someone who cares!" Weiss shot back.

Mercury struggled to break free of Weiss' grasp. The vines were thorny and painful, digging into his skin with each defiant move he made. He could slowly feel his Aura cracking as the vines tightened all over. Weiss then flourished her rapier and jabbed it into the ground one last time. The vines quickly constricted around Mercury's body, going taught in an instant. If he didn't get free in the next few seconds, his Aura would break entirely.

"Gahhhhh!" Mercury yelled, as his Aura shattered in mere seconds.

"And now," Weiss took a deep breath and summoned up the Boarbatusk again, along with several glyphs, all lined up right at Mercury. The summon rolled up into a ball and started spinning in place, before dashing through the different glyphs. Each glyph only increased its speed until, by the end, it was like it was fired from a railgun. The boar-turned-projectile hit Mercury right in the chest and ripped him free of the vines. The air left the assassin's lung as he flew back and hit the ground hard.

Weiss sighed, as she flicked her weapon. "That certainly went better than I thought..."

The summoned Grimm landed on its feet after it slammed into Mercury and snorted, ready for another charge if it was ordered to.

Mercury was coughing on the ground, trying to get air back into his lungs. Even through the pain, he tried to find his revolvers. Maybe he could get in a cheap shot, if he was lucky. She thought he was down, he just needed to play the part until her back was turned.

Mercury found one of his revolvers, and reached for it, but Weiss was quick to stab it, and freeze it solid.

"Nice try." She frowned.

"...fuck," Mercury hissed, "Well...guess you got me, princess. So, what now? Haul me off to Atlas? Or are we skipping the trial?"

"I could do that. But, seeing as what happened with Roman...maybe not," Weiss smiled, "But, you're still a threat. And I think it'd be funny if your teammates had to haul you off."

Weiss stabbed her weapon into the ground, and froze Mercury's body solid.

"Oh, and that's also messing with Yang. And for Blonko," the heiress added.

Mercury's eyes darted around after he was encased in ice. He'd never hear the end of this from Cass if she found out.

"Anyways...have fun explaining this one." Weiss said, flipping her hair as she walked off.


Leonardo had never wanted things to come to this. Yes, he was scared, but who wouldn't be? Standing alone against a being such as Salem? And learning her secret firsthand? It would terrify anyone. What made it worse was how calm she was during the ordeal. To set the scene, the lion Faunus had met Salem properly three years before this latest iteration of Salem and Ozpin's war truly began. He was simply finishing up some late night paperwork after a stressful council meeting when she appeared. She didn't say a word, only accompanied by the Seer that would, in time, take up a position in his own office. Knowing who she was, Leonardo acted immediately, but it was in vain. The dark queen sighed after having a flaming hole blasted through her chest, courtesy of a shot from Stalwart; it was almost like she was bored. Seeing the woman continue to stand as if nothing happened put an unshakable fear into the headmaster, shattering the man's will.

"H-how?" Leonardo managed to finally ask. Instead of answering, Salem presented him with an offer. Live, forsake Ozpin and serve her or die, here and now. After seeing her flesh stitch itself back together in seconds, what other option could he take?

He even handed over his pocket watch, the key that opens the path to the Vault, so easily, like the obedient traitor he was. His inner reflection was interrupted when he heard a familiar cane tap against the floor at the top of the stairs. Leonardo hadn't moved from his perch at the top of the grand stairway that would lead students further into this once proud establishment. He turned his head to see Oscar, cane in hand.

"...I never wanted this, you know," Leo began, "but...I didn't have a choice."

"And you have one now. Help us," Oscar said.

"...I can't. You don't understand...she has her strings in me...and there's only one way they're being cut," the headmaster of Haven's left bracer suddenly unfurled into a circular shield, adorned with a large, ornate metal cross in the center. Spread around the shield, like paints in a palette, were several different colored dots, Dust held within the shield. The cross' top portion had laid over the red Dust placement, showing that it was the Dust selected.

Oscar took a deep breath. "Why do you have to make this hard for me?" Oscar wasn't as verbose or well planned like Ozpin. While he had some of his fighting moves down, the words part was lost on him.

"It's...it's no consolation, but I'm sorry," Leonardo said sadly. Before Oscar could try and convince him further, Haven's headmaster took the first move. He moved a second part of the cross like the hand of a clock, moving it over the earth Dust placement with a click. A red glyph appeared above the weapon, similar to Weiss' but the pattern was different. Small stones seemed to materialize from the air, condensing into a soccer ball sized boulder. The boulder then ignited and was flung out at Oscar. Seeing it race toward him, Oscar rolled under the projectile and raced towards Leo. From what he could tell, and the memories he could still access from Ozpin, Leo was more of a defensive-long range righter. That Dust-infused shield gave him plenty of options when it came to attacks as well, mixing Dust effects with every stroke of the cross.

Oscar pulled out the staff, and began to focus some Aura into it. Two weeks ago, that concept was foreign to him. Now it felt like he'd been doing it his whole life.

Oscar began to jab at Leonardo, but the headmaster blocked with his own shield.

The cane clanked against the shield, but with each strike, Oscar got faster and faster. Eventually, once the farm boy had picked up enough speed, he had managed to break through the traitorous headmaster's defense. A few good hits caused Lionheart to sidestep one of Oscar's strikes, giving him the chance to move both of the cross hands to the wind Dust placement. A white glyph appeared above the shield and Leonardo fired a miniature tornado at Oscar, sending them both flying. He got the distance he needed back.

Oscar struggled to regain his footing, and went tumbling to the ground. The boy groaned, shaking his head and steadying himself again.

"Yeesh..." the farmboy grumbled to himself.

The traitorous lion Faunus didn't relent. By moving the hands to ice and earth, Leonardo created a hailstorm above the farmboy. The ice pelted him from above, the hail ranging in size from pebbles to golf-balls to dodgeballs. The larger hailstones forced Oscard to either dodge out of the way or smash them with the cane.

Oscar immediately made a shield to catch his breath. He watched Lionheart's barrage continue from under the safety of his forcefield, giving him time to recuperate.

Leonardo was trying to think of a plan himself. That hailstorm would only be able to keep him at bay for some time. The shield would work well for giving him time to breathe, but that wasn't something he wanted. He turned one hand to the earth Dust placement and slammed the shield into the ground, cracking and splitting ground. The crack snaked its way over to Oscar, aiming to make him lose balance or concentration. With any luck, that would make the farmboy drop the barrier.

Oscar took a few deep breaths. Think, Oscar. This is your fight. For once, this was a fight that he could actually contribute something to, not just hide behind the others. No training wheels, no grandpa holding you as you go. What can you do?

Oscar closed his eyes, trying to focus again and then he remembered all the crazy plans this group had made in the first few days that he knew them.

Time to fit in, he supposed.

The crack was mere inches away from the barrier now. Leonardo was moving the cross hands to new Dust placements in preparation for when the shield dropped: ice and wind. Once the barrier was down, he would unleash a blizzard on the boy.

Oscar had to time this perfectly. He waited for that moment, for when Leonardo would make his final blow. Careful, careful...

Leo held out his hands to attack, when suddenly, the forcefield fell around his own body.

"Wha-" he began, but he never finished the thought. He had already unleashed the blizzard and there was no stopping it now. The cold wind swirled around inside the barrier, chipping away at his Aura. He tried to blast the barrier with fireballs, but the shield held strong. The only effect his attacks were having on it were making its surface ripple like water.

Oscar let out a deep breath he didn't even know he was holding. That was a VERY high risk move he just pulled off. Ben had been a minor inspiration for it, with Ruby being the other majority of it. Oscar thought- "How would they turn this situation around?"

And then he got an idea. Oscar raced into position. This was another move that he would have to time extremely carefully. One second off and Leonardo would be able to recover. He got into position behind the barrier before dropping it. The snow that had raged from the blizzard had actually somewhat blinded the headmaster. Unplanned, but not unwelcome.

With the barrier down, Oscar took a swing at the back of the lion Faunus' leg, forcing him down to a knee. He then thrust the cane out, slamming it into the mechanism that let Leonardo swap secondary Dust types. In the process, the orb in the middle cracked. He was stuck using wind Dust combos now. At most, the attacks would just be faster. At least, he thought so, but limiting Leonardo's arsenal was a good start.

Getting blown away was manageable. Wind wasn't a stranger back at the farm, so...he could handle some more stronger torrents.

"Are you ready to actually use that brain of yours?" Oscar taunted.

And Leonardo responded with a backhand strike to Oscar's face. The farm boy staggered back a bit and when he recovered he saw the headmaster of Haven...running. The lion Faunus pushed the large double doors that led further into the school open, slamming them behind him.

Leonardo couldn't stay here. If these students won, Salem would silence him. If Salem's forces won, the result would be the same. He was just a means to an end and he needed to get out now.


Ben slammed his fist into his open palm, sparks flying as he got ready to clash with Cinder's closest disciple. He started the battle by warping behind Cass in a flash of energy. He grabbed hold of her head, warped to a nearby wall, and smashed her face into it without a moment's hesitation.

Cass wasn't ready for that, feeling her Aura drain significantly from that hit alone. She always figured that Viktor could hit hard, just not quite that hard. She growled and placed her hand against the wall, tapping it and sending some of her Semblance energy down through the wall and into the floor, making an explosion at Ben's feet. He let go, seemingly blasted away by the explosion as Cass pried herself out of the wall.

Ben grabbed her waist and began to shock her. Green lightning ran through Cass' nervous system, shocking her to her core. "Can't absorb my energy, huh? Too bad, so sad."

"Keep talking, Frankenstein, just keep talking," Cass yelled back. She thrust her elbow back into Ben's ribs, hitting him again and again, weakening him to the point where one good Semblance-charged strike detonated against him and sent them both flying. It was like having a landmine go off between the two.

"Not…my smartest move," Cass admitted, her Aura flickering. She started to stand, but before she could center herself, she found herself dodging a scythe strike. The blade was so close to slice into her; she could even see her reflection clear as day in the blade. The Maiden jumped back and threw a punch, hitting only empty air and rose petals as Ruby raced around her. The red hooded reaper began to skid across the grand hall's floor, firing shots at the Summer Maiden before she ducked behind a pillar. Some of the shots bounced off of Cass' gauntlets, while others actually managed to hit her and charge up her Semblance.

Cass smirked a bit as she locked onto the pillar Ruby hid behind. She slammed her first into the ground and let a line of explosion burst from the ground. The pillar was soon demolished by a landmine-like blast. Cass was expecting Ruby to fall from the smoke with a damaged Aura, but instead, a crimson blur raced towards her. Ruby emerged from the swirling shower of rose petals and began to attack with precise slash after slash. Cass either blocked the attacks with her gauntlets or managed to deflect them, but she still had a limited focus.

Landing a good sucker punch from the side, Ben had warped right next to her, fist charged and reared back before he even moved. The hit slammed into the Maiden's face and knocked her off her feet. She barely had enough time to roll out of the way of a new barrage of ice shots fired from Ruby's iconic weapon. Cass leapt to her feet and wiped some of the blood from her mouth.

"Ok…good hit. Grant you that one. But you know what that means," The Maiden chuckled. Her Aura flared a bit, the kinetic energy transferring into her Semblance.

"Oh, we know," Ruby said, "but you are dealing with two people with some damn good movement boosters. Speed and teleporting. How well do you think you can keep up?"

Oh. Shit, she was right. Speed wasn't usually a problem for her. Sure, Ruby had dodged out of some attacks in the past, but even then, she could still land some hits. Here, she'd be able to just build up the energy. Releasing it would work, but the chances of missing have now gone up drastically.

Ruby and Ben shared a look and nodded to each other.

"After you?" Ben asked.

"Aww, how kind!" Ruby smirked before racing toward Cass in a blur of petals. Ben followed close behind, warping towards the Maiden in a flash of energy.

Cass dodged another electrically charged hit from Ben, one of very few that didn't manage to connect. With the opening there and Ben not warping away in time, the Summer Maiden managed to land a Semblance-fueled hit on the Frankenstein-like alien, sending him flying. She smirked, finally having been able to land a decent blast on one of the two, who had been up to now swarming her with strikes from all sides. She smirked a bit, seeing Tennyson go flying. But she was so caught up in that moment of victory, that she completely forgot about a certain scythe-wielder until she got reminded by a swift slash to her back. Ruby leapt over Cass and fired off one last shot, blasting the Maiden right in the face and forcing her off her feet.

Ruby raced over to Ben, who had now turned back to human in a flash of green.

"You good?" Ruby asked, helping him back up.

"Mostly. Good thing Viktor's as much of a tank as he is," Ben answered. He looked over to Cass as the Summer Maiden growled, getting up from the shot.

"Ready for round two then?" Ben smirked and dialed up an alien. He slammed down on the watch and he swapped into the black and green circuit-covered form of Upgrade.

Cass huffed and dusted herself off, "So, you're really gonna be doing that old bit? C'mon, get some new tricks! After all…" she held out her hand, ready to fire off a blast of energy,"I can track you more easily now, predict where you're gonna go."

"She's right, you know," Ruby said, squeezing her weapon a little tighter.

"Is that so? You're that cocky, huh?" Ben narrowed his eyes.

"I could say the same about your bolstering overconfidence, you piece of shit metal fuck," Cass said.

"Rude," Ruby huffed.

"It's fine, Ruby." Ben said, calming her a bit. "She's right. The trick IS a little old right now. It was cute against Vilgax and Cinder, but...I don't think it'll really work against her."

"I'm glad you came to your senses," Cass smirked.

"I'm not finished." Ben cut her off, voice dripping with acid. "As I was saying...I don't think it would work against her. However...I think the new trick will be enough to do it."

Ruby's eyes got bright. "You mean?"

"Yeah. We're using it," Ben said, as he slapped down the Omnitrix.

Like many of these enhanced forms, Upgrade gained several pieces of armor. Two technological pauldrons appeared on the Mechamorph's shoulders, followed by gauntlets and legguards. A chestpiece soon formed over the Mechamorph and a large, almost shield-like attachment covered his back. His left hand morphed into a technological blade, covered by the same circuits as the rest of his body. The most interesting, and most striking, part of the Omni-Drive form was, technically, something not even physically connected to Upgrade. On the back of the shield attachment, two portions of the metal suddenly lifted off and then moved up to float just above Ben's shoulders. Those two metal parts were drones, each sporting the iconic circular eye that Mechamorphs sported.

"Wow. Upgrade getting an Upgrade," Cass frowned, "Redundant much redundant?"

The two ignored her comment. The enhanced Upgrade started to meld with the weapon. The blade appeared to grow in size, as it became somewhat translucent and green. The drones still hovered in the air around Ruby, locking onto Cass.

"So you made the blade bigger," Cass laughed, "Wow. I'm so scared."

"You're right," Ruby grinned, "Let's relieve her fears a bit, Ben."

"Of course," Ben said, as the blade suddenly disappeared.

Cass raised an eyebrow. That move was...too nonchalant, too forced, and from the looks of things, rehearsed. Her guard had to be up now. She expected Ben to shift the head into a laser or something so he could easily one shot her, but yet, Ben didn't move.

"So, what now?" Cass grinned, "You got rid of your only way of defending yourself."

"We wanted to lighten our load," Ruby grinned, "I'm slightly weaker like this, but hey...I get some more range."

"But it also leaves you open," Cass frowned.

She threw her bladed weapon at the two, only for it to collide with an invisible barrier. Cass didn't pause to question this and simply slammed her foot on the ground, causing the ground to erupt and chunks of the ground to fly at Ruby. Instead of slamming into her, the bits of rubble instantly sliced into dust before they could even reach her.

Cass grit her teeth angrily. "...you piece of shit."

"Hey, we're creative!" Ben grinned, "That move is kinda getting old."

Cass yelled as she ran at the two. She could feel tiny little pricks of whatever sliced the ground apart into her Aura, slightly empowering her. She threw a punch at Ruby, but she ducked under the attack, and suddenly, the blade to her weapon reappeared. She quickly sliced into Cass' chest, knocking her back.

Cass fired some bullets at Ruby, but she quickly evaded them by speeding all over the place. Ruby shifted Crescent Rose into what looked like a personnel halting and stimulation response rifle. Cass was about to fire on Ruby as the weapon shifted, but the two drones from Ben covered the red-hooded reaper, firing a barrage of stinging energy blasts at the Maiden, distracting her. When the weapon had finished changing modes, Ruby took aim and fired. Cass braced for a bullet or laser or SOMETHING to hit her body, but instead, she was blinded by a bright flash.

Ceres pushed the rubble off of her, just in time to see the underhanded move. She couldn't help but crack a smile at the little trick. Cass cursed as she stumbled back. Ruby and Ceres took advantage of Cass' amaurotic state. Ruby shifted back into the weapon's bladeless form, and began spinning her staff around. Ceres could now see what was defending and attacking for Ruby- tiny green translucent rose petals. No idea how Upgrade was doing that, but...

She fucking loved it. Ruby sent a torrent of the petals at Cass, blinding the Maien and cutting into her Aura simultaneously. The Maiden yelled as she slammed her fists into the ground, causing a ring of explosions to detonate and scatter the small petals. Surprisingly, both Ben and Ruby were gone; Cass' eyes began quickly scanning the hall for them…only to lock on an enraged Archimedian charging right at her.

"Where the fu-?!" the Maiden began, before getting clotheslined by Ceres. The two fell to the ground, Cass taking more of the damage. Ceres jumped back to her feet, taking notice of Ben and Ruby, situated on the railing on the second floor.

"Killjoy," Ruby pouted before dropping to the ground next to Ceres.

"Hey, didn't have anyone else to fight," Ceres chuckled.

Cass was laid out on the ground, weakened, but not defeated. Her eyes opened up, revealing they were glowing a terrifying red color. She started to slightly levitate in the air, as Ruby cursed to herself.

"Forgot that stupid Maiden status," Ruby huffed.

"Look on the bright side, Rue," Ben grinned, "She can't exactly defend herself anymore with Aura."

"...Ben," Ceres said, exasperated, "I think we gave her a reason not to hold back."

"Ok, kind of a downside. But, I think we still got this. Not out of tricks yet!"

Ruby struck a pose and a brief flash of green light surrounded her, but it didn't phase Cass. She could briefly make out the outline what looked to be hard light apparitions of weapons including a short sword, a pistol with a long barrel, a katana, a baseball bat that had no place amongst the others, a bow, a giant battle axe, a spear, a normal sword, gauntlets and a cannon.

It reminded the Summer Maiden of the Floating Array Penny wielded, only this one was more nonsensical. Cass barely had time to ponder just how mismatched the weapon selection was, as Ruby suddenly threw herself at Cinder's disciple, holding the spear forward to stab her. Cass stuck out her palm and blew Ruby back with a gust of warm air, as Ceres launched a few fireballs from behind her, aimed right at the Maiden's weakest point.

Cass didn't even have the decency to face Ceres as she summoned icicles from thin air to stab the girl. The Archimedian evaded them cautiously- ice was like poison to her, if she was exposed to the cold, she may as well be a goner. More and more ice missiles were hurled at the dragoness, as the Maiden's eyes followed the red blur that was Ruby.

The red-hooded reaper leapt at the empowered Maiden again, that green hardlight spear aimed right at the Summer Maiden's chest. Ceres took a running start, arm reared back to get ready for the strike. Ruby launched the construct-weapon at Cass, as Ceres flew at her for a standard pincer attack. Cass yawned, as she boredly evaded the spear, and turned to watch Ceres be impaled by said spear,only for it to fade into nothingness as it hit Ceres' body. Cass was caught off guard by that, especially when the other weapons were still out and ready for use. But she couldn't linger on that thought for long. Ruby slammed the giant apparition of the axe into Cass' back, knocking her to the floor. Salem's brawler bounced off the floor as Ruby appeared in front of her, swapping out the axe for other weapons. The red-hooded huntress slashed at Cass a few times with the apparition of a sword and katana. It was quick, but Cass slowly realized something.

Ruby wasn't really using these weapons. Hell, she was probably piggybacking off of them, mimicking the movements needed to use them effectively.

Ben was using them. It was his damn Drive ability!

Ceres snatched Cass up by the hair and threw her up in the air. A massive stream of fire spewed from her mouth, as Cass quickly shielded herself with an orb of fire surrounding her body, absorbing the flames. Ruby leapt at Cass, the barrage of weapons pounding at her shield. It was overwhelming, even for Cass. The crew had made a good move ridding her of her aura so they could start the real fight.

It was incredibly well planned, but they made one small mistake. They allowed her to cut loose a bit too much.

Cass unleashed a wave of electricity that blew everyone back. Ben got it the worst; his magnetic body cringed in pain as the shocks ran up and down his circuits. Ruby fell to the ground, as Ceres darted over to go help her up and briefly check her vitals.

"You okay?" Ceres asked.

Ruby's eyes lit up a bit, "Just a little angry."

Ruby disappeared in a flash of red, as she flung herself at Cass once more. Cass sent a bolt of electricity at the girl, but Ruby moved around it at JUST the right moment and slammed into Cass' face with a baseball bat. The Maiden growled and brought her hands up to her face in pain.

"Oh, you really just wanna test how pissed off I can be, don't you?" Cass hissed. She was about to go back on the attack when she noticed someone racing by her. Yang kept racing by, the sounds of various fights echoing out all around her. She saw the lowered statue in the middle of the great hall and knew where she needed to go. She made a beeline for the hidden elevator shaft.

Hopefully, she was ready to deal with Raven down below.

"Oh no you're fucking not!" Cass called out as she saw Yang run for the Vault's entrance. She tried quickly brought out her own kusarigama and lashed out at the blonde, aiming to trip her up, but Ruby raced in and took aim with the massive cannon. She grinned mischievously at Cass and fired off an energy shot that disintegrated the original sickle-blades and freeing Yang up to continue on unimpeded.

"YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LONG THOSE TOOK TO MAKE?!" Cass yelled.

"Dunno, but it must've been hours! All that hard work, gone in the pull of a trigger," Ben smirked.

"Cinder helped make those you asshat. Now you're getting fucking decapitated!" the Maiden growled, missing her chance to stop Yang. The blonde reached the Vault entrance and came to a halt, looking down the elevator before taking a deep breath...and jumping down it. It was about time she had a better heart-to-heart with Raven.


Neo and Albedo walked through the halls of Haven Academy. The schooling section looked clear, at least for now. No signs of a possibility of ambush; both of them were blissfully unaware that the show had started already.

"We're good for now," Albedo said, taking a deep breath, "Let's go regroup with others now, shall we?"

Let's. Hopefully they haven't started anything without us, Neo smirked, twirling Hush in her hand before having it rest on her shoulder. The duo started to head back to the main hall, but that's when they heard someone...whistling.

...how much you wanna bet that's not some janitor working bad hours?

Albedo's eyes narrowed. "I've heard that whistling before," the Galvan said, "Back in Salem's castle."

Going out on a limb here, Neo folded up her parasol and had the blade extended out from the top, taking it off her shoulder, Tyrian?

"No, he hums some of the more 'refined' pieces your planet has to offer," Albedo said. "...the tune this person is whistling is something by...Out Fall Man?"

Neo pat Albedo on the back. Almost got it.

"So, this is where you ran off to," a familiar voice called out, "Gotta admit...little surprised you decided to turn."

Oh good...Charmcaster, Neo sighed.

"My work was done and I had other matters I needed to tend to. I may have just worked on a small portion of the plan, but...I realize now how dangerous her work will be," Albedo frowned, How wrong it was to ally wit-"

"Oh no, I didn't mean you," Charmcaster interrupted, "I meant her." Neo could feel Charmcaster's eyes locked on her.

"So what was it? A sudden attack of conscience? Got more than you bargained for?"

Like you'd care, Neo gripped her weapon tighter. She just needed a reason, one move from Charmcaster.

"What quarrel do you have with her?" Albedo's eyes narrowed, ready to transform at a moment's notice.

"None. Just surprised she's the one who left," Charmcaster admitted, "Honestly thought she'd be a mainstay. How many people did she kill at Beacon again? And don't hit me with 'She didn't kill anyone.' We both know that's a bullshit defense."

"So, you'll excuse my presumably extensive body count, but not hers?" Albedo asked.

"Except you made it VERY clear that you wouldn't kill innocent people. Beacon was a step too far for you right? It kinda made sense you'd leave at some point," the mage shrugged.

"So you know a fight's inevitable and your first move is a morality debate?" Albedo asked.

"Yep, because when you look at it…you two basiclly got off scot-fucking-free. It's too easy how you two just inserted yourselves in the 'hero' lineup. You turned yourselves in, and because you know so much about Salem's plan, they're keeping you on a leash for intel and info," Charmcaster said, "Saved them once and they just trust you?"

"Oh, they most certainly do not trust us."

...can I just stab her now? Really not in the mood for this. Neo frowned.

"See? Right there. Violence is your first answer. Give it to the kids, they'll fight after they try to talk it out from time to time, but you?" Charmcaster snickered, "You're just like him. Violent, vindictive, and...soon to be a victim."

...and there goes any reason I had to hold back. Neo suddenly shattered, using that distraction to cover her as she leapt into the air, plunging her blade down at the magic-wielder. Charmcaster smirked and dodged out of the way, surrounding her hand in magical energy and blasting Neo in the gut. The smaller girl shattered again, appearing behind Hope and kicking her in the back. Charmcaster staggered forward from the hit, righting herself and firing off another magic blast at Neo.

Albedo got in between the two, and promptly transformed into a weird turtle thing.

The form was new to Neo, resembling basically a giant bipedal turtle. The shell took up most of its body and, as seen when Hope's magic simply broke against it, was incredibly durable. Albedo then turned to Charmcaster and held his arms out to the side. His legs then fused together as he rose up off the ground slightly. His head retracted into his shell as the now three fins started spinning. Soon a heavy gust of wind slammed into Charmcaster, knocking her off her feet until she created a rune below her. She landed on it and managed to stand against the winds, but she couldn't aim properly, the wind always slamming into her.

That's a new one, Neo looked out from behind Albedo at Charmcaster struggling.

Charmcaster grunted, as she suddenly paused. It was hard to get a good look at the alien, but...

It didn't stop that painful flashback.

"Her magic can't affect me," Albedo slowly grumbled in a low voice, "This species has a natural immunity to magic."

Oh, that is PERFECT for this! Neo smirked. Keep the wind up, Terraspin!

Albedo chuckled at that name. So stupid, but he would stick with it.

Neo opened up her parasol and jumped into the air-current. With Charmcaster distracted and the air boosting her forward, Neo kicked out and slammed into the magic-user's chest, knocking her off of her rune.

"No...it's not him," Hope muttered to herself, "It's not HIM."

"What are you talking about?" Albedo asked, floating forward.

Hope had to steady herself a bit. "I said...you're...not...HIM!" Hope raised her hands and brought up a wall of mana. Spikes suddenly shot out from the construct and Neo was still flying towards it.

SHIT!

Albedo gasped, as he quickly flew over, and scooped her up. He shielded her from the spikes, and tumbled onto the ground a few feet away from Hope.

Hope smirked. Her magic couldn't affect Albedo like this, but Neo was more than vulnerable. She just had to make sure Albedo was distracted. She reached into her bag and grabbed several small stone figures, throwing them out onto the ground. They started to shake and grow, unfolding their arms and rising up to show her signature stone monsters.

Albedo huffed. "These creatures are too heavy to be blown away by standard winds. Hang on. Tight."

Neo quickly latched onto his shell, as Albedo began to spin his 'fan fins'.

Oh this is gonna be fun, Neo smirked, folding up Hush again. The stone creatures charged forwards at the two, ready to follow their master's orders and crush the duo.

Albedo began spinning like crazy; the way his body spun reminded Neo (regrettably) of a fidget spinner. When you had three fins and spun like crazy, it was gonna be something you immediately thought of, don't judge her. Neo hung on for dear life, as the stone creatures were now fighting against 100 MPH winds. Charmcaster narrowed her eyes when she saw how much of a struggle the golems were having and fired a few more mana blasts, aiming for Albedo's fins, but with those winds, it was impossible for her to get a good shot. The stone creatures continued to trudge forward, inching closer and closer.

Albedo began to spin even faster, boosting the speed for the winds to at least double or triple their current speed, and suddenly, the stone creatures didn't have their feet on the ground anymore. They went soaring through the air, before they smashed into a wall and shattered to pieces.

"Damn it..." Charmcaster muttered. How the hell was she gonna counter this?!

A smile suddenly spread across Charmcaster's lips. She couldn't blast him with magic...but she could affect him with a simple hex.

"VIVAMUS VULPUTATE MUNDI!" Charmcaster yelled, as the spinning blades suddenly started to stop.

Oh no... Neo looked over, seeing the blades go slower and slower until fully stopping.

"You like that? I just killed your momentum." Charmcaster smirked. "No easy way around that."

Neo hopped off of Albedo and opened up her parasol, just in case Charmcaster tried anything from range.

So, changing it up or staying Terraspin? Neo asked, not taking her eyes off Hope.

"Changing it up. Gonna borrow a page from someone." Albedo slapped down the Omnitrix, and landed on the ground as Goop.

White energy started to form around Charmcaster's hands. While she wasn't entirely sure if this form was weak to cold, it would at least slow him down. She threw out an arc of white magical energy. Neo gracefully dodged out of the way while Albedo simply slithered to the side. The arc hit a wall behind the two at the far end of the hallway and froze it solid.

Albedo slithered from side to side, trying to throw Charmcaster off her game. He then pounced up at her, coating her entire body in slime.

When that happened, Hope held her breath. This form could easily suffocate her if given the chance. Ice was out so she switched tactics. She built up mana in her hands and then pushed them out. Goop's form began to vibrate from the energy until he exploded into globs.

Now free of the constriction, Hope finally let air back into her lungs. Of course, the only problem with that was how open it left her. Neo exploited that opening to get back into the fight. She rushed in and thrust Hush at Hope's head, hoping to end this fight quickly. Charmcaster barely managed to dodge, the blade only managing to cut some of her hair instead.

"Bitch! Emerald just got my hair perfect!" Charmcaster hissed, before she blasted the multi-colored mute backwards into a wall. Neo slammed into the stone, but she didn't let that stop her, quickly getting back up on her feet. Charmcaster threw out some mana blasts to keep her at bay, but Neo simply brought up Hush and blocked them. She raced forward, letting her weapon take the brunt of Hope's magical assault. Once she was in range, she folded the parasol back up and took a swing at the mage. The magic user ducked under the swing before stepping to the side, her eyes aglow with energy and anger. She effortlessly tore pieces of concrete out of the walls and tiles from the floor and sent them flying at Neo. She silently gasped, ready to tank the hits, unaware of the crimson flash behind her. Before the projectiles reached her, the concrete slabs and tiles were all suddenly destroyed by a high pitched shriek.

Charmcaster covered her ears when that sound filled the hallway, dropping what remained of her next salvo. She turned as her ears suffered the sonic assault to see Albedo as his version of Echo Echo. He quickly began to split himself into more doubles, upping the sound focused on his one-time ally. Charmcaster kept her ears covered, but the sound was getting to be too much. She tried throwing out a wave of mana at the clones, to give herself a break from the sonic attack. The wave did slam into two of them, sending them flying, but all that did was harden the Galvan-human's resolve. The choir of clones shrieked louder, shattering lights and glass windows around them. Charmcaster yelled in pain until eventually the sound was so great it knocked her off her feet and sent her flying. Hope actually flew THROUGH one of the broken windows, hurtling towards the courtyard floor. She quickly formed a series of mana rings to try and slow her fall until she thudded against the courtyard floor outside.

"Ok...that could've gone better..." Hope said to herself, dusting herself off as she got back up.

Albedo and Neo gave chase, jumping through the window a few moments later. Albedo morphed into Jetray, grabbed Neo with his feet and began firing neuroshocks from his eyes.

"Thracius!" Charmcaster yelled. With a quick hand motion, a large, crystalline structure formed around Hope. The blasts that Albedo fired bounced off of the crystal barrier and flew right back at Albedo.

Albedo just narrowly avoided the attack, silently relieved his reaction time was so on point.

"She's got a diverse set of spells- I can't really use one alien against her," the Galvan mused.

How quickly can you swap forms? Neo asked after she blocked a reflected blast.

"It'd take a few seconds, but given how fast her spells can work? It's hard to time."

Just give me some warning. I'll keep her busy before each switch.

"Right." Albedo nodded, as he began to bombard the ground with blasts. The barrage was nowhere near Hope and her shield, but they still served their purpose. Each impact resulted in an explosion and left behind large amounts of smoke that blocked Charmcaster's view of the two. The magic-user still kept the shield up, just in case Albedo tried another trick from range. Neo wouldn't be getting in either; this shield only allowed something in if Hope wished it. But the mage wasn't entirely blind here, she just needed to keep an eye out for that signature red flash. But it wasn't that flash that caught the sorceress' attention. Something large hit the ground, shaking it and almost causing the mage to lose her balance. After righting herself, Charmcaster looked around and immediately, the pieces didn't add up. Neo and Albedo were still in the air, hovering there and trying to figure out a plan. Then what-?

Suddenly, something, probably whatever caused the impact, slammed into her reflective shield. She staggered back from the impact and the shield cracked from the sheer force of whatever that was. She looked back up to see Neo and Albedo shatter.

"Getting real tired of that shit," Hope muttered to herself.

A wall of crystals slowly revealed itself, as diamonds suddenly shot up off the ground, shattering Hope's shield to pieces.

"Of course," she muttered, as the shards of her barrier fell to the ground around her. There was a sudden swing from the side as Hope found Hush slamming into her face, followed by a kick to sweep her legs out from under her. She managed to jump over that last move, though, and threw a mana-infused punch at Neo, who simply sidestepped the attack.

Crystals suddenly jutted out from the ground and coated the mage's feet, thus stopping Hope from moving. Albedo appeared from behind Charmacaster, and grabbed her hands.

"Give up before this gets ugly, Charmcaster." Albedo said.

"Funny, was about to say the same!" Charmcaster smirked. Mana had built up in her hands and Albedo's form started to vibrate and crack.

"Eradico. Very useful spell!"

Albedo released her, and slapped down his Omnitrix, transforming into Swampfire, "Great to know..."

"Ooh, that one. Always wanted to try this one spe-" Charmcaster began before Albedo started throwing a barrage of fireballs at her. She dodged out of the way of some of the flaming projectiles and blocked the flames of others with mana barriers. Neo tried to jab at Hope from behind, but again, the strike only met the air thanks to the mage's agility. Hope actually managed to land a solid kick in response, sending Neo staggering.

"Aw, that the first time anyone's hit you?" Hope grinned.

Neo's eyes changed color as she glared at Hope. Suddenly, Hope was kicked in the face from above, catching her by surprise. Neo's illusion powers struck again. Hope brought a hand to her face in pain before she charged up another attack. She threw two circular mana blades at Neo, only for a dense wall of green roots and vines to sprout up from the ground and protect the trickster. The blades sliced into the roots, but the wall was so dense that they stopped after cutting through only a few inches of material.

After pulling his arms out of the ground to pull that off, Albedo's feet suddenly caught fire before he leapt up into the air, using the flames as propulsion. As he descended, he swiped his hands at Charmcaster, releasing a barrage of small glowing plant seeds. They detonated as soon as they hit the ground, barraging Charmcaster with blast after blast. Albedo was looking to end the fight now.

The magic user rolled out of the way and, instead of going for Albedo, she instead raced over to the root wall itself.

"Amplusmica!" Charmcaster called out, throwing a golden powder onto the wall. Wherever the powder touched, similarly colored golden flowers sprouted and bloomed. With a flick of her wrist, Hope called out another spell.

"Atherfo!"

The flowers then began to spin, like a propeller starting up. Faster and faster they spun, much like Terraspin earlier, until they freed themselves from their stalks and flew at Albedo at high speeds. The spinning flowers actually CUT THROUGH Swampfire's plant body like saw blades, mulching the plant-based form. Albedo quickly regenerated from the wounds, essentially rebuilding his body from the scattered pieces, before he clasped his hands together. He swung them forward, burning all the flowers in seconds as they made their return trip.

"I just want this to be over with, honestly. You're probably distracting us from something much bigger," Albedo slapped down his Ultimatrix, as spikes protruded from the sides.

"I thought you were smart. Don't tell me you didn't piece it together," Charmcaster smirked as Albedo transformed again.

"l," Albedo said, as he morphed into Ultimate Swampfire, "

"Oh,," Charmcaster looked up into the night sky, "it's already started."

"All the more reason to finish this up."

"And all the more reason I should go all out." Charmcaster said, throwing down some more Stone Golems.

Some of them were the usual ape-like stone monsters, but she brought out a new type here as well. Some of them unfolded and spread wings, growing only to the size of a hawk. Stone bats started flapping their wings, rising up into the night sky.

"Moving targets," Albedo turned to Neo. "You don't have the range for those ones," Albedo frowned.

I noticed. Neo frowned.

"What can I say? Thought I needed more variety for them," Charmcaster smirked.

"Can you take her for a bit longer?" Albedo sighed.

I can try. Neo said, holding up her parasol.

Charmcaster smirked, pointing towards the duo, before she snapped her fingers. The stone golems and bats descended on them at their master's command. The bats fired out small blasts of mana from their mouths, forcing Albedo to go on the run. Neo, meanwhile, had to deal with the bruisers. She quickly maneuvered her way around the hulking brutes, effortlessly evading their heavy haymakers, having one witless golem miss her and slam its fist into one of its comrades. With a small bit of infighting created, Neo unfurled Hush and blocked several blasts from an incoming wave of stone bats. She swung her parasol out to try and swat at least one of the annoying pottery rejects out of the air, but they scattered before she could land a hit.

Albedo had a much better time with them, though. He fired a large massless burst of superheated air and energy from his palms, immediately vaporizing the airborne enemies, not even shards remained. The ashes fell to the ground, but Charmcaster simply replenished the ranks, tossing out another group of airborne golems. One of the traditional stone brutes, meanwhile, rushed in at Albedo, raising both its arms above its head and bringing them down.

Albedo's flames just grew hotter; he threw a smaller fireball, but it quickly expanded in size and exploded. The stone creature was obliterated, pieces of it scattering across the courtyard outside. Charmcaster rolled her eyes at the display. But these creatures served for a good distraction...and focus. Much like a familiar set of swords, several of the bats gathered in a circle in front of Hope, their eyes glowing red as energy gathered up inside them. Once they were fully charged, she simply snapped her fingers and the bats released a barrage of red energy darts like a minigun, aimed right at the duo.

Ultimate Swampfire simply got in front of Neo, protecting her.

"Open your parasol." the plant-like alien instructed her as the blasts pelted his barky skin and Neo did so without hesitation. She didn't see what happened, but she sure could hear and feel it. The cacophony of a massive explosion erupting reached her ears, followed by the backdraft of an insane heatwave.

Hope was barely able to bring up a barrier to protect herself, but the sheer force of the explosion pushed her back and cracked her barrier. The bats and other remaining stone creatures? Nothing left of them but ash.

Neo closed her ash covered parasol, as Albedo frowned. "Enough games, Charmcaster." Albedo said. "We have a very important mission to do."

"Oh, please. The tin man has you on such a tight leash I'm surprised it reaches all the way to Mistral," Charmcaster grinned.

A little walk through a hellscape helps with trust issues. Neo admitted. They had somewhat eased up around Albedo and Neo ever since the Breach incident. Not by much, mind you, she was still a wanted criminal, after all. Albedo was a bit more warmly received, but that was besides the point.

"Ah, yes, Breach. You two really messed her up. She's gotten a little…temperamental now," Charmcaster sighed, "Not fun."

"Temperamental?" Albedo repeated, a bit surprised. Yes, Breach was childlike when it came to personality, seeing most people as nothing more than toys she could play with. Emotions weren't exactly something that the four-armed mutant really showed often. The whole Dollhouse incident, from what he understood, wasn't any sort of critical mission; it was just Salem letting her "play."

"Yeah, she's all depressed, mopey, and her temper's on a hair-trigger," Charmcaster said, "I know she hates that you all got away, but still. How badly did you fuck her up?"

"We…didn't even really touch her. The only real lasting damage she took were two tranquilizer shots."

"We all know," Charmcaster frowned. "Think you gave her a hatred of shots. But now that our mobility is, let's say 'testy', that makes our operations a bit less stable. Will say though, Salem's infuriated with you for that."

I'd be more scared of that if Breach didn't insist on making me her personal little plaything, Neo frowned.

"Yeah, you're not special there. Breach changes her 'focus' practically every day. Besides, out of everyone she could've wanted, you're probably the most brittle," Charmcaster taunted.

Brittle? Right, and she's the one who needed to be caught by a fucking Gaunt. Neo shot back.

"Wait, what?" Chamcaster asked. That was genuinely surprising and that momentary shock gave them an opening.

Albedo didn't hesitate to blast her away with a powerful burst of napalm. Charmcaster went flying back, smashing into a wall.

"Thank goodness for your sass." Albedo grinned.

One of my greatest weapons, Neo grinned and gave an over the top bow.

"Now, should we worry about her or get back with the others? I assume that unprotected blast will keep her at bay," Albedo hummed.

If she gets back up, we can deal with her again. Don't think she has Aura, so she should be down for a while, Neo guessed.

"Good." Albedo said, reverting back into a human, "Now, back to running."

Leading the way, Neo grinned, letting Albedo start off first. She quickly raced after him, her parasol resting on her shoulder. Her finger was on the button to reveal the hidden blade from the tip of the parasol just in case something else came up to stop them.

"Gladly." Albedo grinned, as he and Neo continued on with what they were doing before Charmcaster rudely interrupted.

Charmcaster groaned from the wall she had been blasted into and started to stir after the two had left. She blinked a few times, moving a hand up to a new wound on her forehead. She winced and pulled her hand away when it stung. The Charmcaster frowned.

"Great. They got away," her lips curled into a smile,"That just means I can get them back later," Charmcaster snapped her fingers, and warped away.

Albedo and Neo ran towards the main area- there was a good chance Cinder might have procured the Relic already, and they were ready to fight her for it.

The duo could hear fighting from where they were, gunshots and blades clashing echoing out in the night. Albedo even managed to catch a glimpse of someone in one of the upper windows running for their lives. Wait a minute...was that...Lionheart?

"Where is he going...?" Albedo wondered aloud, seeing Haven's headmaster vanish from sight after a brief few seconds.

What? What's going on? Neo asked.

"I just saw Lionheart up there..." Albedo said. "I thought Oscar was tailing that coward."

Wanna take a look? Neo asked.

"Absolutely..." Albedo nodded.

They veered off to the right, ignoring the main hall for now and trying to head back inside. Albedo quickly shifted into Jetray once again, grabbing Neo by the shoulders and flying up to the window. As soon as they did, the two former villains saw Oscar run past the window. The next Ozpin froze for a moment and looked back upon seeing them, giving them a small wave before he continued after the traitorous headmaster.

Neo smirked and waved to the kid. Oscar's eyes suddenly went wide in fear and, even though it was muffled behind the glass, they could still make out what he was yelling at them.

"LOOK OUT!" Oscar yelled, muffled behind the glass.

Albedo quickly grabbed Neo, and moved out of the way- a magical beam of energy suddenly hit the wall, and caused it to explode. Albedo didn't hesitate to strike next. Albedo aimed his eyes and tail at his attacker, and shot a powerful eye laser. Charmcaster boredly blocked it with a powerful spherical shield, and yawned.

"Thought you'd be down for longer," Albedo sneered.

Oh round 2, huh? Neo rolled her eyes and readied Hush.

"Did you think it was that easy? And you've known me for how long?" Charmcaster asked, a bit insulted.

I mean, you were kind of our Ice Queen. You don't really get into hand-to-hand fights that often. Good at range but you can't take that many hits, Neo shrugged.

"Can't really hit what's behind a shield, can you?" Hope knocked on her spherical dome for emphasis.

I mean fair, buuuut you can still get tricked, Neo smirked before she and Albedo shattered.

"Not this shit again," Hope sighed as her shield echoed from the impacts of the next barrage of neuroshocks from Jetray. After another flash of red, a sharpened diamond struck at her shield.

"Kind of one note aren't we? Let Neo hide you with her tricks and then you try to backstab me? Mix it u-" Charmcaster said before stopping herself. Where did Neo go?

"Something the matter?" Albedo taunted, "Where's your focus!?" The Galvan prepared to fire another laser blast, but Charmcaster snapped her fingers. A sphere formed around his head and the tip of his tail, blocking the energy inside. Albedo suddenly fell to the ground, struggling to get free of the dome.

"Hmmm, should've done that to begin with," Hope hummed. But before she could even think of anything else, her eyes widened in pain as a stinging cut slashed across her back. Nothing too deep as to be considered a danger, but damn was it going to bleed. That was all Neo needed, one good hit to make her drop her focus. The dome around Albedo weakened and gave him the chance to break free of it, shattering it to pieces.

"Son of a-!" Hope cursed, turning on her heel and lashing out with an arc of fire from her hand. Neo opened her parasol to block the attack, but the force behind it still forced her back.

Albedo quickly changed forms, he needed something faster. Fasttrack could easily remedy that. Fasttrack replaced Jetray, and he began his assault. He rushed around, picking up various debris from other battles, and tossed it at Hope, full force. Hope put up her barriers, but not fast enough- one lucky rock hit her head, hard enough to feel like it was a bullet. Hope clutched her head in pain, as Albedo pelted her with more objects.

Neo winced in mock sympathy, seeing the barrage of debris slam into the sorceress from practically every direction. Neo then noticed something interesting. something that Albedo would most certainly use in this barrage. She raced over to it, picking up a discarded wind Dust crystal. She had a feeling she knew where it came from too, only hoping those taking him on were able to bring down his Aura.

Albedo rushed over to Neo, who handed him the crystal.

"Hazel's, no doubt about it," Albedo correctly theorized as he inspected it.

Have fun with it. Neo teased, as she blocked a mana blast from Charmcaster.

The crystal actually opened up a few options for Albedo, more than even Neo probably figured he could use. He had a pretty good idea on how he could use this too. Charmcaster continued to fire off blasts at Neo, changing her focus to the mute for now. Neo held out Hush as a shield, letting the blasts impact against the open parasol as she ran. With her focus on Neo, Albedo took the chance and raced towards Hope, Dust crystal still in hand. When he was close, he tossed the crystal at Hope's feet hard enough to shatter it against the ground. The sorceress was suddenly blasted back by a powerful gust of wind, being flung back into a wall. Hope groaned, as she shook her head furiously.

"That's just cheap," Charmcaster hissed and put her hands on the ground and now the earth was hers to mold. She lifted up her hands and the ground quickly shot up, following the movement and encasing Neo in a massive pile of compacted dirt. The mute trickster squirmed and struggled to get free..

"Neo!" Albedo called out before racing over to try and force Charmcaster to release her. He began running around the mage, hoping to work up enough speed to create a vortex and force her focus to just survive.

"Ah ah ah, nope!" Charmcaster suddenly lifted her hands, and quickly created a rocky barrier that Albedo crashed into and dirt suddenly captured his hands and feet. Charmcaster sighed, unimpressed with Albedo's plan.

"Oh, Albedo. It's cute how you think by turning yourself around, and helping the others, you're automatically absolved from what else you helped us do," Hope grinned.

"Absolved? That's still a long ways off for me," Albedo admitted, "For both of us. We'll only get such a luxury when this war's over."

"Nice speech. No, really, it is. But, I gotta wonder what makes you think you'll live to see that end. You're on her shit list now, in case you forgot."

"No. I didn't forget. But you seem to have forgotten something yourself. The voice command," Albedo smirked.

"What?" Hope blinked.

"There are some things that the Ultimatrix cannot handle. Magic is one of those things, that which is infinite and disobeys laws of conservation usually has no notable counter. I'll admit you are superior to me in that regard, Charmcaster."

"Thank you~!" Charmcaster gushed. "Finally, a compliment from your pale face."

"I wasn't finished talking," Albedo said, a scowl crossing his face, "There's an alien in this device that I save for last resort situations. It hasn't failed me before, and I hold its powers in high regard because of that. Ultimatrix: voice command Galvan-113." The Ultimatrix blinked to life and readied itself to be activated.

"Select sample: 5-3-0-0-6. Initiate," Albedo ordered. With the smallest amount of effort, the dial on device turned and adjusted itself before a hologram of his Arburian Pelarota sample appeared. Neo raised a brow at that. Cannonbolt?

Wait. Cannonbolt!

"Change into whatever you want," Charmcaster said with a laugh, "Magic's a nice catchall counter for every-" Hope stopped herself, "for most of your forms."

"Then consider this form another exception," Albedo began, "Voice command: Galvan-002. Initiate!" The Ultimatrix complied and the symbol slammed itself down. Neo watched Albedo morph into his Cannonbolt form, breaking free from the earthen restraints. With his hands now free, Albedo twisted the Ultimatrix dial on his chest ever so slightly before he slammed it down. Spikes extended out from the rim of the symbol and connected to Albedo's chest. A surge of red energy began to sweep over the alien's body as it began growing in size and changing appearance. The base Pelerota had a height of five feet tall and a circumference of ten feet, the size of a small storage container. The Pelerota's evolved form? That form clocked in at a height of twenty five feet tall with a circumference of fifty feet. That's quite large, reaching around Humungousaur's base size.

Aside from the obvious and substantial size increase, Albedo's new form sported metallic gray skin and his shell had cylindrical studs that turned into spikes whenever he went into his ball form. He had two on each segment of armor that covered his back and one on each shoulder, wrist and leg plate. His now split pupils were locked onto Charmcaster now.

"Really? The overgrown bouncing ball?" Charmcaster laughed, "Yeesh. You're not even trying anymore!"

Albedo said nothing in response to the mockery and he simply picked up Neo.

"Can you use your Semblance on me?" Albedo asked. Neo nodded, already liking where this was going. Albedo morphed into his ball form, and began slowly approaching his opponent. Charmcaster laughed even harder.

"This one is so damn slow!" the mage scoffed, "I could easily just throw you off course!" Charmcaster decided to prove this by using her telekinesis, flicking her hand away to boredly throw Albedo to the side. But nothing happened. Charmcaster tried flicking it a dozen more times, but each attempt only ended in failure. To the practiced mage's shock, she couldn't do it.

"What on- Oh, never mind!" Charmcaster growled, pushing her concern out of her mind. She could just simply move out of the way when the thing was near. With the comically low speed it had

"Good. You've figured out one part of the puzzle," Albedo said, as he began to increase the speed of his rotation, revving it up from 4.5 feet per second to 9 feet per second. Charmcaster's heart nearly dropped when she heard that thing moving faster and faster. She wanted to run, but she WAS wearing heels for some reason...probably aesthetic? She didn't remember. She just knew that running in heels was a death sentence.

So, she took to the skies. Her form gained a pink aura, as she floated up to the sky. Charmcaster snickered- no way Albedo could catch her up here.

...wrong again, Hope. Albedo's form seemed to be suddenly moving upwards, as if climbing on some sort of sky ladder. Charmcaster was lost for words. What the fuck WAS this form!? How was it so unstoppable?! The mage was panicking a little now. Before it looked like only that damned turtle form was immune, but there was at least a reason behind that; there was no such explanation for a form like this. She tried to knock him out of the sky, gusts of wind wrapping around her hands as she commanded a gale to slam into the wrecking ball climbing its way up to her. No such luck though, as the gusts simply broke against the armored form.

"How...how the hell...this doesn't...this doesn't make SENSE," Hope muttered, the panic obvious in her voice.

"Physiological adaptation, Hope. The Aubrian Pelerota's have adapted to no longer be obstructed by obstacles such as friction," Albedo's now deeper and metallic voice rumbled, "And unfortunately...you'll be crushed beneath that adaptation."

"...how the hell do you adapt to being immune to FRICTION?!"

That is a good question actually. Mind explaining that later? Neo raised a brow.

Albedo immediately started rolling and smashing through Charmcaster's platforms like the wrecking ball he was, letting the sorceress fall. At first, it just looked like he would rise above and then fall on her, crush her underneath the iron shell. But instead, she felt something much smaller slam into her chest. The illusion shattered and she saw that Albedo had unfurled and dropped Neo on Hope like a bomb, both of the silent trickster's feet planted firmly on Hope's stomach with a powerful kick. She opened up her parasol to slow her descent as Charmcaster was simply sent flying down into the floor with a massive crash.

Albedo's massive form hadn't even left the ground. Neo had just simply made it look like it was flying. The whole thing, even Neo's question, was nothing more than act.

"...I hate you," Charmcaster hissed, as Albedo rolled towards her.

I know. If it helps, I never really liked you either, Neo smirked before leaping out of the way. Charmcaster used what energy she still had to form a barrier over herself, just in time to avoid being completely crushed underneath Ultimate Cannonbolt's iron shell. She was terrified that it would break at any second, leaving her at the mercy of the evolved alien's crushing might.

Miraculously, it held, but it took everything out of her.

"H-help..." Charmcaster whimpered, hoping that one of her friendlier allies would hear her.

And, as if to answer, a green flash got her out of there.

"Hope!" A familiar voice cried.

The last thing Charmcaster saw before losing consciousness was her girlfriend looking down at her.


Oscar made a break for it, chasing down the traitorous headmaster. But Leonardo was faster than Oscar had first thought, plus he had a bit of a headstart from their last encounter.

Leonardo looked behind him to make sure he wasn't followed. His breathing was panicked, his heart racing. At the speed he was going, he was there in no time, his office. He threw open the doors and moved behind his desk. He carelessly flung open drawer after drawer, searching for something. He had a contingency plan in case things went south like this. You see, being in Mistral had more perks than just enjoying a scenic ecosystem and learning about its diverse culture. The criminal underground was quite...expansive. Everything from smugglers and gunrunners, to drug dealers and assassins. But Leonardo had found a particular use...for the forgers. After his introduction to Salem, he contacted someone in the Mistrailian underground and managed to acquire everything he'd need to start a new life and hide. Fake IDs: driver's license, passport, everything. So where the hell were they?!

He was so busy and focused on his search...that he didn't notice the entrance to the secret meeting room was open.

Oscar turned the corner, his eyes locking onto the doors of Lionheart's office. The door was slightly ajar, letting the sounds of objects being shuffled around echo out in the halls. He raced forward, cane in hand, ready to subdue Lionheart, before he stopped. What...what was he hearing right now? It was muffled, but it sounded close.

It sounded like...wing-beats. The wall behind Oscar suddenly came crashing down, rubble scattering across the ground and dust littering the air.

It climbed through the newly made hole with a grunt and snorted.

A winged Beringel.

"W-what?" Oscar gasped. "What the hell?" These Grimm were always land based, why did it suddenly…?

The Berringel beat its chest with its hands before charging at Oscar, ready to simply trample the boy. Oscar dodged out of the way, getting in a counter strike at the back of the monster's leg. It roared slightly, more annoyed than hurt by Oscar's attack, but continued on like nothing happened.

"W-what on Earth?" Lionheart said, as he looked up from his panicked search. The ground shook in a steady rhythm before a roar sounded out from the other side of the doors.

The monster suddenly slammed through the doors to Leonardo's office, but it didn't immediately attack him. That was the oddest part. Instead of charging him and pounding him into the floorboards...it simply paced, like a wolf would before pouncing.

"Your grace?!" Leonardo called out, hoping that the Seer downstairs might respond. Sure enough, that familiar clicking filled the air as the Seer floated into view.

"Going somewhere, are we Leo?" Salem asked.

"You heard me searching, didn't you? A-aha, well, you see, um, t-the plan is falling apart! Qrow and the general must have realized something was wrong! They dispatched a group of pupils, including the boy with the watch and the girl with the Silver Eyes! I'm not sure if Cinder and the others will be able to collect the Relic...but I can still help! I vow to you! I can dodge the authorities and come find you if necessary!"

Silence.

"Y-your grace?"

The Seer let out a series of clicks and, like a trained pet, the Beringel seemed to obey the non-verbal command. The massive ape lowered itself closer to the ground. Leonardo raised Stalwart up in defiance, ready to fire off a Dust shot, but the Beringel was faster. It leapt up from its crouching position and pinned the cowardly headmaster to the floor. It squeezed its massive hand around Leonardo's wrist, crushing his shield and the bones in his arm. He screamed as the bones cracked and shattered, before the gorilla Grimm went for his throat.

The jellyfish like Grimm simply floated there, giving Salem a full view as the Beringel began to mutilate Haven's headmaster.

In her throne room in Evernight, Salem traced a finger over the outline of the spherical "head" of a Seer that rested on the table and sighed.

"Coward," she said to herself.

The Beringel gripped the corpse of Haven's headmaster by the throat with its jaws. It turned to look at Oscar for a moment, before charging and bursting through the window at the back of the headmaster's office, taking flight once more.

Oscar watched the event, in silent horror. What the hell was going on!? Why did...why did Salem just…

His usefulness to her ended, Ozpin mentally spoke, Leo…I'm sorry.


Students were making a dash to the training ground as the evacuation continued. The eastern side of the campus had Blonko in charge of things, directing the students in the right direction. He passed by the school's cathedral, a building with that trademark eastern architecture as the rest of the school. It wasn't dedicated to any one religion, having materials for all different services that could be brought out as needs changed.

The evacuation was going according to plan on his end. Blonko raced past the cathedral, hoping to check the rest of the buildings on this side of campus. But then, he suddenly froze and looked back at the on-campus place of worship.

Was the wind playing tricks on his mind or did he hear someone in there?

As he walked on over to the cathedral, Blonko could hear the voice much more clearly now. He opened the doors to the cathedral, following the voice like a siren song. The voice was angelic, befitting of the earlier comparison. It was less fitting that the voice belonged to an alien mummy woman. Blonko looked down to see the crumpled body of the Headmaster of Haven, as the woman's voice quieted down.

"Have you come to witness the repose of the soul, Rook Blonko?" Imhonet asked, not even bothering to open her eyes.

Blonko flinched, how could she have possibly known he was there?

"I will not harm you just yet," Imhonet said softly, as she looked at the body, "We need to give this man a proper memorial."

"Are your people not the ones who killed him?" Blonko asked.

"Indeed they were," Imhonet replied, fixing his body into a normal resting position with her bandages, "Lionheart couldn't keep our secret with his life, and he knew that. Maybe confessing his alliance was his penance."

Imhonet set Lionheart's body back down, and closed his horrified eyes.

"Even one's enemies deserve a proper burial. It is sad that he is gone, though. He will never see the students he's watched over grow up and become proper hunters and huntresses...and they'll never be able to trust authorities by the time the truth comes out. Isn't it sad? How much hurt a dead man can do to a person?"

Blonko thought about Max for a moment.

"...yes," Blonko agreed, "It is."

"I suppose that...we'll be the only ones here at his service," Imhonet said, listening to the destruction and conflict around her, "With everyone out and about, it's just so...sad."

Imhonet stood back up, as she held her hands together, as if she was praying.

"I do appreciate you being here, Rook Blonko. It saves me a little time," the mummy alien added.

"How so?" Blonko raised an eyebrow.

"I don't have to go back and find your body. I can simply lay the headmaster to rest… " Imhonet began, as candles suddenly lit up around her. Their flames were low and pink in color, as her eyes shot open. The smell of rotten sage filled the air, as the doors to the cathedral slammed shut. Blonko felt the air get tense as Imhonet turned to face him.

"And then bury you right next to him," Imhonet sinisterly whispered.

Blonko watched the mummy alien's bandages rise up behind her, reminding him of a certain scorpion-tailed madman. Like the tail of a rattlesnake, the bandages began to shake before lashing out. Blonko jumped over the strikes and up on one of the pews, letting the attacks hit tile before he began firing his Proto Tool's rapid fire energy shots at Imhonet's head. Some of Imhonet's bandages curled inward and wove themselves into a makeshift barrier. The shots, somehow, couldn't penetrate the weave, only leaving scorch marks behind. If the mummy's masked face could shift into a smug grin, it would.

Rook narrowed his eyes, locking on to Imhonet. This was going to be his fight for the evening, it would seem. On the command of Zs'skayr's priestess, the bandages spread out, removing Imhonet's barrier, and went on the attack. Rook managed to jump off the pew and land in another, right as the bandages slammed down and crushed the pew in half, splinters flying everywhere.

Rook pulled back the Proto Tool, before swinging it forward. The weapon extended into its staff mode, forcing his opponent back. Rook's weapon shifted into its turret mode and began to fire off at the mummy.

Imhonet walked forward, her bandages extending in front of her, weaving themselves back into one massive shield to tank the Proto-Tool's shots. Growing tired of Blonko's "stings," Imohonet rushed towards her opponent with a flurry of bandage-tendrils in her wake. They began wildly striking and whipping at the Revonnahgander, trying to overwhelm him. In response, Rook quickly shifted his weapon from turret to shield. As fast as Imhonet's strikes were coming, he was bringing up the shield to block them even faster. The bandages bounced off the energy barrier, but Imhonet didn't relent. Two of her bandages snaked around Rook, trying to flank him. They shot up like vipers but the Revonnahgander was able to leap out of the way. He shifted the Proto-Tool into rifle mode mid-air and fired a few quick shots at the priestess. A few of them managed to hit her before she brought up her shield. Imhonet's hand shot to her shoulder, where one of the shots hit, and examined the scorch mark. Her eyes widened before they started glowing with anger. This nonbeliever dared to harm the priestess of Zs'skayr? Such blasphemy will not stand!

The woman dropped to the ground, flattening herself. Suddenly, the bandages shot back up, causing a drill to arise from the ground. Rook stumbled backwards, as the woman jumped in the air. Her legs unraveled and began to strike randomly at the ground.

Rook tried blocking the strikes where he could, but so many with no clear pattern to them meant that a few strikes managed to bypass his shield and hit. He shifted the weapon into sword mode and slashed at the bandages when they were near him. Imhonet scowled and impaled the ground in a few spots. She used those bandages like anchor-points and she quickly brought herself down, kicking out and slamming into Rook. The Revonnahgander didn't have time to swap back from sword to shield, so he simply tried blocking with the blade as best as he could. He staggered back when Imhonet's double-kick connected, almost losing hold of the Proto-Tool in the process.

"Your will is weak. Your head is not straight." Imhonet noted. "I wonder- do you doubt what you're fighting for, heathen? Deep down, do you know surrendering is your best bet?"

"You say my will is weak? When was the last time you did something WITHOUT your 'lord' commanding you?" Rook shot back, "Or have you always needed someone to direct you? You are not an example of faith...you are an example of dependence."

"The last time I was left without my lord was the time of darkness. I prayed and prayed for his return, and he came back, for me specifically...I am blessed. Heaven sent and purified..." Imhonet said, sighing.

"So more than dependent...addicted," Rook said.

"You would not understand," Imhonet said, "None of you in this world would. Zs'skayr brought our people up from a time of upheaval. He SAVED us!"

"That is not the word I would use," Rook said, "I do not know what happened-"

"And you never will," Imhonet cut him off, moving her arm in an arc and sending her bandages out, slicing through the wooden floor and several pews. Rook rolled out of the way, narrowly avoiding getting bisected.

"Revonnah Kai: Stone Wings!" Rook said, as he focused his energy into his body. Rook's agility greatly increased, as he ran around the woman at his top pace.

Imhonet growled as she slammed her hands into the ground. Bandages started erupting from the ground, tearing through the floor and pews. With how random they were appearing, the priestess was betting on at least one hitting Rook, or at least stopping him in his tracks.

The mummy priestess' bandages fanned out in front of her body, ready to both defend and ensnare the need arose. Blonko knew that this was just a trap, though. If he got close enough, she'd snatch him up and possibly expose him to Corrodium.

"It appears I have no other choice, then," Blonko said.

The Revonnahgander's eyes lit up. He focused his attention on Imhonet, and studied her body for a few seconds. From his perspective, targets popped up all over the priestess' body, and he began to fire at those specific points. Despite her own efforts to avoid the blasts, a majority of them hit. The priestess of Zs'skayr's eyes went wide as she realized just how much more painful these shots were than any of the others.

"A-ah!" Imhonet yelled out as she clutched one of her wounds, as a purple mist began to seep out. Why were these shots more painful? There had to be a trick to it; was it that damn Swiss-army rifle?

As he sprinted at the mummy, Rook's eyes continued to shine. The Prototool took on the appearance of a crossbow and began shooting energy arrows towards the priestess. The arrows hit her chest, her head, and her arm. The pain surged through her body, as she struggled to pull herself together.

"How are you-!?" the priestess yelled.

"I can see your weak points," Rook said coldly, as he fired another arrow into the priestess' shoulder.

"So…I remember you described Revonnah Kai as 'the Revonnahgander version of Aura'," Ruby said, as she was hanging out with Rook one day. (He was doing some technical stuff with his weapon after Ruby had deconstructed a lot of it to integrate into Crescent Rose. She wanted to watch / help.)

"Correct. Although most of the tactics have been rendered obsolete by the arrival of modern technology, I realize there are SOME benefits to having it, especially when compared to my own skill set," Rook said, as he reached for a part of the disassembled Proto Tool. "While reading the history, I was able to find something very much applicable to my combat."

"Oooh, is it like, a cool technique?" Ruby asked. "Can you do some cool attack that can summon a dragon made of energy?"

Rook chuckled, "No, sadly not."

Ruby pouted.

"My ancestor's Stonecutter technique was born from breaking apart rocks. Of course, you need to know WHERE to punch the rock in order to conserve energy and break it apart in one blow," Rook explained, "Revonnah Kai can help me detect weak points."

"W-wait, seriously?" Ruby's face lit up.

"I can make sure all my attacks are most effective by hitting certain areas. This can apply to both living and non-living objects." Rook said. "And, of course, I can tell my teammates where to hit."

"That's pretty versatile, actually." Ruby said.

"Indeed," Rook smiled, before returning back to his weapon, "...did you steal the Polymorphic Energy Projector?"

"...maaaaaaaaaaaaaybe," Ruby said.

Rook gave her a look.

"Look, I wanted an energy blade."

Rook's blows were all 'critical hits,' meaning they broke through whatever protective barriers Imhonet had erected, but he wanted to knock her out for a time. Rook assessed the chapel for multiple structural flaws. He discovered a dozen of them. He reached into his suit's pockets to pull out small thermite charges. He then used the Proto Tool to launch the small thermite charges at the targets.

(Lev supplied the thermite charges, by the by.)

Rook transformed the crossbow into a gauntlet and fixed his gaze on Imhonet.

"This structure is terribly fragile," Rook remarked.

Imhonet gave Rook a confused look.

"Forgive me," Rook said, closing his eyes, "I am not good with quips."

Rook smashed the weak point beneath him, and the building started to shake. The thermite charges went off, causing the place to quickly collapse. Imhonet was buried in a landslide of rubble and stone, while Rook was able to avoid any harm.

When Rook opened his eyes again, he stood in a chapel that looked as if a tornado had struck. An hour ago, it looked brand new and in just a few minutes, it looked as if it had been abandoned for years.

Blonko took a deep breath, as he sat back down in a pew. Thep Kulphans were resilient, she'd be back, but not before the battle was won.


Back down in the vault, Cinder looked down at the motionless Vernal. She had been tricked, betrayed. Raven Branwen was the true Spring Maiden.

"The last Spring Maiden must've trusted you a great deal before she died. I bet that was a mistake," Cinder smirked.

Raven growled, as Omen shot out of her hilt, and the two Maidens began their momentous battle. The. The two eventually clashed, the strike breaking Cinder's glass weapon and the shrapnel hurting her Grimm arm. She let out a short yell of pain and yanked her arm back, holding it in pain.

"Tennyson was smart to go after that weak arm of yours. Aura can't protect Grimm." Raven scoffed, "You turned yourself into a monster just for power."

"They did this to me," Cinder huffed, making an obvious excuse as she pulled the glass shard from her arm, "The boy took my eye with his…his SEMBLANCE," a statement that piqued Raven's curiosity, "And the girl used her Silver Eyes and disgraced my body, made it an impure mess of scars and a Grimm arm."

"And who performed the surgery? Who was the woman who truly ruined you? Was it the mistress you swore your life to?" Raven asked. "Or was it the woman in the mirror, the true monster of your story?"

Cinder quietly conjured another sword. "Look who's talking..."

Raven didn't dignify that with a response, she just continued her assault. Raven rushed back in towards Cinder, the two of them engaging in an impressive duel. The usual crimson blade of Omen broke in half thanks to a well placed strike from Cinder. The Fall Maiden was about to strike again, but Raven dodged out of the way. The chamber in Omen's sheath rotated, stopping on a yellow cylinder of Dust. The Spring Maiden quickly sheathed the hilt of her broken blade and drew it again, the blade now matching the Dust in the sheathe, small arcs of lightning streaming down the length of the blade. Cinder, admittedly, was not entirely ready for that. That small opening was all Raven needed and she thrust the newly made blade forward, hoping to skewer Cinder. The Fall Maiden sidestepped the attack, lashing out with her own side-arc swing, only for it to be deflected in a quick motion. Raven exploited the opening and unleashed a lightning-charged slash at the Fall Maiden's neck, but the bandit chief underestimated Salem's pawn's improved reaction time. An obsidian blade had narrowly blocked Cinder's own demise, stopping Omen's blade mere inches away from the pyromaniac's neck. Cinder and Raven locked blades for a moment, their eyes burning with rage as they stared each other down. Cinder was the pure embodiment of rage and vengeance, while Raven was a mystery, the true extent of her motives known only to herself.

The infernal Cinder forced Raven back with a sudden burst of strength. Raven landed on the pathway and, after several backflips to regain her balance, charged again. As their battle intensified, Cinder conjured a giant flaming sword while Raven used her Maiden powers to create a massive ice sword.

Cinder smirked madly as she raced towards Raven, who was also charging towards the Fall Maiden. The two massive blades clashed, surrounded by sparks of energy and the attack released a massive shockwave. Far above, in the academy's main hall, everyone could feel it, like the aftershocks of an earthquake. The two Maidens were in a stalemate in the Vault, both pushing against the other, hoping for an advantage. Either one just needed one gap, some small opening that would give them the advantage over the other, but neither would give an inch. The shockwave had shaken loose some of the stalactites that hung from above and they began to fall. Some simply crashed down into the cavernous drop surrounding the platform connected to the Vault. But, one of the sharpened rocks fell from directly above the two. They looked up in unison and saw the falling stalactite and pushed off of each other, getting themselves out of the way being crushed.

Cinder's hands lit up, as she began throwing beams of pure heat at the rocks. They vaporized in mere seconds, leaving nothing but dust in their place. The Fall Maiden began throwing more of those same heat beams at Raven, ignoring the rocks, but the disgraced Branwen sister expertly weaved through them, faster than the human eye could see, thanks to a secret technique of the Branwen tribe.

Raven's blade lit up again, this time changing to a green color. She spun around, and unleashed a slash that quickly evolved into a hurricane. Cinder was almost thrown away from the winds buffeting her. She quickly summoned up two obsidian scimitars and stabbed them into the ground. The winds pushed her back, causing the blades to slice through the floor of the platform. The hurricane soon ended, but that wasn't a sign of respite, all it meant was a change in tactics. She quickly brought up both of her blades to block a series of strikes from Raven, Omen's blade having returned to its signature crimson hue.

"Allow me to show you true heat," Raven said. As a more inexperienced Maiden, Cinder's heat beams were more unfocused, but a Maiden with years of experience, however, could really channel the element Cinder was fond of. The disgraced Branwen sister slammed her sword into the ground, causing a "shockwave" of heat to fill the room.

Cinder could feel the heat rising. The breath she was taking in got caught in her throat. The Fall Maiden started to cough, her throat burning from the hot air, and her vision started to get blurry, as if she was in a burning building with invisible smoke.

"Pathetic," Raven frowned, as she walked through the heat like it was nothing, "This is a summer day to me."

Cinder seethed. The fire was HERS to command. But then she got an idea. She had her swords shatter in her hands. She could feel the shrapnel pierce her hands, but she could endure the momentary pain. When Raven was close enough, Cinder then had those shards begin to glow with heat. With a flick of her wrist, Cinder had the shards fly at Raven like bullets. The Spring Maiden did her best to swat away the shards with Omen, but there were just too many. The glass cut into her body, into her Aura, that red energy flickering in certain areas where the glass sliced her.

"Another thing, you monster..." Raven said, ignoring the pain from the glass barrage. She aimed her sword at Cinder's monstrous arm and smirked a little.

"You can't shield that arm, can you?"

Cinder growled, unprepared for Raven's next move. Omen's blade flashed for but a second and, suddenly, Cinder's replacement arm was severed.

Cinder's good eye shrank in pain. She arched back as her human arm darted to grab a hold of the stump. She screamed in agony and that was all the opening Raven needed. She quickly brought a hand to Cinder's race, just over the cracked half-mask that covered her damaged eye. Energy sparked and arced between Raven's fingers before Cinder felt a massive current of electricity surge through her body.

But the bandit chief didn't stop at just one jolt. Raven blasted Cinder with bursts of electrical energy, shattering the Aura of Salem's pawn in seconds. Her onslaught was brutal and vengeful. Suffice to say, Raven savored every second of it.

"Salem's had her claws in you for a while. She molded you to be without mercy. You harmed my daughter, threatened my tribe, and killed my second without an ounce of guilt. Now, let me return that pain back to you, tenfold." Raven smiled.

The Fall Maiden could feel it happen, her half-mask shattering from the sheer electric force. Cinder growled as she felt the pain in her eye. She formed up a dagger in her free(and now only) hand and, without wasting a second, thrust it forward into Raven's side. The Spring Maiden gasped in pain, while Fall simply smirked, like she'd just won a major victory.

All she'd managed to do was piss off the Branwen matriarch even more.

With a flick of her wrist, Raven simply unleashed a gale from her hand, knocking Cinder back and over the side. Cinder's good eye shrank in fear and realization. With one hand clutching the wound, Raven looked over the side and held out the other. A single, shimmering crystal appeared in the palm of her hand before shattering...and Cinder froze over. The Fall Maiden, scarred and brought low again, fell, disappearing into the cavernous darkness below. Raven thought she'd hear the sound of ice shattering, but no. Only silence filled the Vault chamber. With a pained grunt, Raven removed the glass dagger and threw it over the side.

It was done. Salem's Fall Maiden...was dead.

Raven took a deep breath, before looking over at Vernal's corpse. Lifeless and cold. Raven closed her eyes, she warned Vernal of the risks, and yet, the woman still took it. She was a fighter, through and through...

Until the bitter end.

"I'm sorry..." Raven muttered. She walked over to the door of the Vault and held out her hand. Energy gathered and pulsed out from her palm. The archway reacted, illuminating with golden light. The intricate fan-like components began to move, folding back into the archway before disappearing completely. From the outside, the archway seemed to lead into just a rock, but, in truth, it led to something...somewhere else. A path of three stone circular platforms led to the Vault's prize, but those platforms were situated in sand. Peering in, Raven could see an entire desert within the vault.

Before she could even think about heading inside, she heard something thud against the stone floor behind, followed by footsteps. The Branwen Tribe matriarch didn't even need to turn around. She knew who it was.

"...Yang."

"...Raven." Yang was still a bit mad after their last meeting. She saw the dead Vernal, and looked away.

"So. You used her as a shield," Yang frowned.

"You wouldn't believe me if I said otherwise, would you?" Raven wanted to tell Yang the truth, that Vernal had volunteered for this. But she knew that wouldn't change anything.

"She only gave up her life, because you probably manipulated her into it," Yang spat back.

"I didn't manipulate her..."

"Bullshit. You probably fed her something about Salem coming for you eventually, that if you fell into her hands, the tribe would be done. Because that's it, isn't it? It's not about the world or anyone else outside the walls of your fucking camp. Fuck them, right? They're not in the tribe, not your problem?"

"Your anger seems to be directed at the wrong person right now," Raven said, as she turned to face her daughter, "...you know the full truth, don't you?"

"If you mean Ozpin's little secret, yeah. Or are you trying to be cryptic again? I'm not in the mood for that, you know." Yang's eyes had already changed from violet to red by now. They might have even been like that before Raven turned to her. Who could say?

"...then, you know about Summer," Raven sighed, " I warned you, Yang. I gave you every opportunity to walk away from Qrow and Oz. So you can believe me when I say this wasn't personal."

And that's when she saw it. Yang had been so caught up in the moment, so focused on the anger inside her that she completely overlooked it.

"...You opened the vault," Yang said.

"Thanks to the chaos you and your friends caused upstairs. I knew you could handle it. You're my daughter after all," Raven said, "If there's two things that run in our family, its chaos and stubbornness."

"...you wanted me to start looking for the full truth, right? Last time we spoke? There's one truth I think you need to come clean about," Yang began, "Oz, Qrow, and Ironwood? They told us about how the Maiden powers were transferred. But from what Ruby heard, the Spring Maiden was a kid the last time Leonardo saw her. How did she die? Grimm? Sickness? Natural causes?"

Raven turned away.

"Raven."

Raven didn't answer. She simply looked over the edge, and stared at the abyss.

Yang didn't need her to talk, though. That action alone was all the confirmation she needed as to the prior Maiden's fate.

"...how old was she? How fucking old was she when you decided to cut her down?!" Yang seethed.

"She was scared when we found her! Weak. No matter how much training I put her through, she never learned! She wasn't cut out for this world!" Raven argued. And with those powers, she would've been hunted her entire life! What I did-"

"Wasn't personal, right?" Yang frowned.

"It was mercy!"

"Mercy? First time I've heard you talk about it. Which is it, then? Are you merciful or a survivor? Cause last time I checked, those two just don't mix!"

"It's not that simple. You don't know me, you don't know what I've been through, the choices I've had to make..." Raven went on.

Yang took a deep breath. "You're right. I don't know you. I only know the Raven Dad told me about," Yang countered. "She was troubled, and complicated, but she fought for what she believed in, whether it was her team or her tribe! Did you kill her too?"

Raven quickly turned away from Yang again. She didn't want her daughter to see the expression on her face, the expression of shock and pain.

"I've stared death in the face...over...and over again," Raven said, balling her free hand into a fist while the other still covered the wound Cinder left her with, "Each and every time...I looked at death and SPAT in its face and survived!" She turned now, showing Yang that glowing red...flames, for lack of a better term, extended out from her eyes. Her Maiden powers had been triggered by her anger.

"Because I'm strong enough to do what others won't!" Raven finished.

"...but you're not strong enough to face the past, are you?" Yang said. "You're still scared, deep down. And I know I'm right. I'm your damn daughter, I'm scared to be here, every single day, because everything could go south in a damn heartbeat! I have to be on guard, because of Salem, Zs'skayr, or some other new threat! But! I'm not like you, I won't run, which is why you're going to give me the Relic."

"Give you-...no. No, you're not touching that. You're already ENOUGH of a target for Salem, I'm not giving her a reason to put you at the top of her hitlist!"

"Oh, and being the Spring Maiden doesn't rank that high?! If you take that Relic, you'll be just as much in her sights as I would! But there's a difference between you and me. If Salem came for you...you'd run before she ever got close. Spend your whole life running. If she came for me...I'd be right there...waiting for her. I wouldn't let her have the Relic...but I'm sure as hell not gonna run."

"...why?" Raven said.

"My mother was Summer Rose. She gave up everything to save everyone." Yang said. "Now...let me have the Relic."

Raven didn't answer, she was struggling to think of a response. Something she could say to convince Yang to stray from this, to stop her from taking that damned thing.

Nothing. Raven had nothing.

Instead of waiting, Yang simply walked up and bumped Raven out of the way, heading straight to the Vault.

"I..." Raven muttered, as a tear hit the stone floor, followed by more welling up in her eyes, "I'm sorry, Yang..."

"I'm sure you are." Yang said. "Now run."

Yang didn't even turn around, but she heard the sound of one of Raven's portals opening, followed by the sound of flapping wings. The portal closed shortly after, the only sign Raven was even there being a single, black feather. Yang didn't care, though. She walked into the otherworldly desert on the other side of the Vault's door, stepping over the stone platforms until she reached the Relic. Floating in the middle of the last platform was the prize so many sought. It was a large, ornate, golden lamp with a cyan blue sphere in the middle. Yang took hold of the ring-shape handle at the top of it and suddenly, the lamp shrank in size. Before, it looked like Yang would need to use two hands to carry it, but the minute Yang touched it, it shrank to the size of a normal, everyday lamp.

"...so. This is what she's chasing." Yang said. "...a stupid ornament."

Yang stood there for a few moments.

...before she started to cry.


Back above ground, Ben, Ruby, and the rest of their group formed up in front of where the woman's statue had been. They were all exhausted. But so were their enemies. Cass huffed and rolled her shoulders as Hazel trudged up next to her. Much to the surprise of Cinder's loyal followers, he actually looked worn down. Only one of his arms had a Dust crystal jabbed into it and was it just her, or was one of his eyes glowing?

"Wow," Cass huffed, smirking a little, "All of you guys look like shit."

"So do you," Ruby shot back, loading a fresh clip into her weapon, "But there's only two of you. And you've spent pretty much this whole night fighting us."

"And now it's just you two," Ben smirked, "And Maiden or not...you're low on Aura."

"Oh please," Cass grinned, "Did you forget? Cinder's down in that Vault. The minute that elevator starts moving up again, I'd start running."

Ben looked back at where the elevator would rise up. As much as he hated to admit it, she was right. They've been jumping from fight to fight...but Cinder's only really been in one fight.

And it didn't take that much out of her.

Everyone's attention suddenly turned to the elevator as they could hear it moving back up. The group spun around, weapons at the ready in case Cinder was the one who rose up from the depths of the academy. Cass simply watched, waiting for them all to break when they saw the Fall Maiden. Because by then, they'd know what it meant. Raven and her pet Maiden were dead, and even better, it meant that Cinder finished what she started back at Beacon.

So imagine how she felt when the first glimpse of the person on the elevator...was blonde. Cass' smirk quickly faded, as did the unease of the group, when the elevator came to a halt. Yang now stood where Haven's headmaster once did, on the terrace at the top of the stairs supported by the golden chained statue. Instead of worry on her face, there was...well no one could really tell what emotion she was feeling, but the sharp-eyed among the group saw the glint of tears in her eyes.

Most of those who saw Yang triumphant smiled, Ruby beaming the brightest among them. Even Hazel was impressed by the sight. Cass' reaction was far different, though. Her eyes locked onto what Yang held in her hand: an ornate golden lamp with a cyan sphere in the middle. Her heart plummeted. How. How could Yang go down there, with Cinder, Raven and Vernal, and only she came back?!

Hazel's eyes darted over each and every one of the combatants they'd have to face. Maiden or no, Cass' wouldn't be coming out of this. And Salem wouldn't be too happy that she lost one of her prized pieces.

"We need to go," Hazel said.

"N-no...no, no, no, no...you...she just got lucky! Cinder's gonna...blast her way up out of the vault any minute now!" Cass yelled. Cinder had to come back. She had to.

"Sorry, Cass...she's been snuffed," Yang said calmly.

Cass took a minute to process that, her face a mix of emotions...before one took over. Rage. Her eyes lit up, brighter than any other time she used her powers and screamed. Hazel had to take a step back as he could feel the power that radiated off of her. Everyone spun back around, weapons at the ready.

"I don't know how you did it," Cass seethed, "and I don't. Fucking. CARE." Energy started to gather around Cass' hands, lightning crackling between her fingers.

"When I'm DONE there's gonna be NOTHING LEFT OF YOU! NOT EVEN ASHES!" Cass yelled, ready to charge in. She didn't even care about any of the others at this point. She just wanted Yang dead. She was about to start things off...but then Hazel socked her in the back of the head. The hit was strong enough to knock her out. Her Aura was practically nonexistent at this point so it wasn't just used as more fuel for her fire. Before she hit the floor, Hazel managed to catch her and carry her over his shoulder. He used his free hand to grab two Dust crystals from the pouches he had on him, one fire and one water. Using what Aura he had left, he activated the crystals and tossed them hard enough to shatter them at the feet of Ruby and Ben. After the sound of crystal shattering, fire and water explosions mixed together form a massive cloud of steam.

Kylie used her powers to dissipate the steam after overcoming the initial shock. By the time the smokescreen was gone though, so were Hazel and Cass. Maybe the rest of Salem's forces had vanished as well.

"Did...did he just…" Ruby was about to ask.

"No. At least...not for the reasons you think," Yang answered. Hazel said he reminded her of someone. That had something to do with it, no doubt. She made her way down the stairs, lamp in hand.

"...that's it?" Blake asked when she got a proper look.

"This is it," Yang looked at the trinket she held.

"What...happened down there?" Qrow asked. He knew Yang was good but...well, it was a similar thought process to Cass. Yang had walked into basically a lion's den and came out unscathed.

"By the time I got down there...Vernal was dead."

"Raven?"

"Gone."

Blake looked at Yang, picking up on the tone she used for the word.

"...what about Cinder?" Ben asked.

"No sign of her," Yang answered, "Raven might've tossed her off the cliff though."

"There's a cliff down there?" Ruby asked.

"Cliff, giant tree, massive cavernous void…" Yang listed off.

"...Ok, we're asking Oz about his thought process when building those vaults, first chance we get," Ben said.


Nearly a week had passed since they had saved Haven. For the most part, the city at large never knew how close they came to total chaos. The local law enforcement were notified and set up a perimeter around the school itself, under the pretense of an investigation. Of course, the media swarmed to the place with questions but they got no answer. Eventually, Atlesian officials got involved, as Ironwood himself had some business to attend to back in floating Atlas. Much to Weiss' surprise, Winter was the delegate he chose to send. The elder Schnee sister brought together key members of the team into Leonardo's office to discuss the information that would be given to the press.

"I think it goes without saying," Winter said, "That a cover-up isn't exactly the optimal way to handle this...but it's the only way that myself and the general can see that leads to a continued peace in Mistral."

"The world needs to know some of the truth. Not all of it." Ben said, looking at where Clockwork saw the headmaster's neck get snapped.

"Leave out the info about Leo selling out hunter's info. As shitty a move that was, he was pressured into it probably. If that got out, I think people would lose faith in the academies." Qrow frowned.

"That was always part of the plan," Winter said, "Not to mention that such info would be just what those with an anti-Faunus mindset need to spring into action," Winter said.

"You said 'probably,'" Oscar chimed in, "Like there's doubt there. If you heard what he said to me before we fought...there'd be no room for doubt. He hated what he was doing."

"I think we should also go ahead and publish details surrounding Cinder's plot, but leave out the Relic details." Ruby said. "The world REALLY isn't ready for that."

"It would help bring the public on our side. Have them be our eyes in case she somehow resurfaces," Winter agreed.

"Which I doubt. My sister isn't one to leave a job like that half finished," Qrow added.

"...leave mom out of the accomplices," Yang said, looking away.

"Huh?" Ben said.

"She's got enough on her plate." Yang said. "If she's gonna run, she's gonna do it. She's great at hiding...so I doubt we'll see her in the coming future."

"I...see," Winter sighed, "Then we'll put out a bulletin on the rest, and say that Leonardo died defending the academy."

"Gives him more respect with the students and his detractors...even if it is posthumous," Qrow said.

"I can't believe they tried to do it again." Kylie frowned, looking at Leo's desk. "And they had a headmaster in on it too! What if that happens with Shade?"

"Don't worry. The headmaster down there is...eccentric. He wouldn't fall for such a trick." Qrow said.

"You still need to tell us about him," Ruby said.

"Let's just say that if someone tried what they did with Leo...he'd punch them in the gut and literally throw them out of his office."

That is not an exaggeration, Ozpin mentally chimed in.

You...are really lucky I'm not telling them about you yet, Oscar responded in his head, Might be too soon for you to try and get back on their side...

I know. I'll have to 'live' with that for a while. Maybe it's better if I disappear for a while. Ozpin said. Oscar...I'd recommend you take some time off. Maybe visit your aunt for a while.

Oscar raised an eyebrow. What? You're telling me to do that after such a crazy event. I shouldn't slow down.

It's not that. Ozpin said, as Oscar suddenly felt the urge to look at Ben. He was so deep in conversation he couldn't make out what the others were saying.

I have...a gut feeling. Ozpin said. That something is going to happen with Ben and the others.

Well don't just end it there. -What's- gonna happen to them? Oscar asked, the concern evident in his mental voice.

...I don't know. But, I said something in my past life, that still holds truth now. Ozpin said.

What's that?

Devils...truly do come from the sky.

"Oscar? Hey, Earth to Oscar?" Ruby said, waving a hand in front of his eyes. The farm boy blinked a bit, snapping out of the conversation.

"Y-yeah?" Oscar asked, stammering a bit.

"Official meeting's done. You good?"

"Uh, oh...yeah, fine. Just...flashbacks I guess," Oscar half-lied, "Wait...why 'official?'"

"Oh! Easy. I wanna throw something out to the others that I've been thinking on for a while."

"Wait...what are you talking about? You never told me about something like that," Ben said.

"Well duh, I wanted it to be a surprise for everyone. As much as I wanted some input from you on this, I decided, 'Nah. Let him be surprised too.' So I went to Marrow to bounce ideas off of."

Oscar chuckled. "Of course you do."

"Hey, so...I know it's been like a crazy few months and we're just all around weirdos, but it gets easier with each experience," Ben said. "I didn't get stabbed this time, so it's a win."

"You didn't...but I swear to god, I panicked when I saw Cinder go for you and Yang! My heart was fucking pounding and all I remember thinking was 'Please god, not again!'" Ruby chimed in.

"Hey, we handled her better this time." Ben said, as Yang walked over. "Thank God Rath could hold it together for a few minutes, Base Rath would've been-"

Yang slapped Ben upside the head. "Not helping."

"Owwww." Ben frowned, rubbing his head.

"Yeah, I'd prefer to sleep tonight. I don't need the 'What If' nightmare again," Ruby sighed.

"Again?" Ben asked, concerned.

"Tell you later. For now! Team RWBY and Zeta Squad joint meeting! Rex is invited too!"

Ruby raced off, and Yang smacked Ben upside the head again. "Come on! Keep up!"

Ben rubbed the back of his head and shook it. "I swear."

The rest of their little group was back at the safe house, packing up and getting ready to head back to Atlas. It was gonna be a long flight, if only because the group was exhausted. Maybe the general would let them all have a break?

Ben dragged his luggage into the living room, and flopped on the couch next to Ruby. She looked up from her scroll, and patted a place on her lap for Ben to rest his cute brunette head.

"Yeeees." Ben said, snuggling up in Ruby's lap.

"Ok! So!" Ruby said once everyone was in the room. Albedo took a seat on the other cough in the living room and Neo happily snuggled up in Albedo's lap. The mute illusionist winked as she got comfortable, making the Galvan blush a bit.

"So?" Blake asked.

"I've been thinking. We need a name."

"Uh, what? Rubes, we already have team names," Yang said.

"We have individual team names! We don't have a name for us as one big group," the red-hooded reaper corrected, "So I talked with Marrow about it, and I have some ideas but I wanted to put it to a vote!"

"An individual team name..." Ben hummed. "Something that unites all of us. That's a hard one. All the good names are kinda taken."

"Which is why I have a list of four that we can all vote on!" Ruby pulled out her Scroll and brought up the file with the names, "Ok, so we got The Enigmas, The Squad, The Outcasts and The Stardust Crusaders."

"The last one is technically copyright." Kylie said.

"They'll never know." Ruby grinned.

"Hmmmm...I kinda wanna vote Stardust..." Yang hummed.

"You're a fan of JoJo?" Kylie asked.

"Are...are you serious?" Yang shot Kylie a disbelieving look, "I have no shame in saying that I cried when Kakyoin-"

"Yang. I'm still on part 2," Blake interjected.

"W-wait...what?" Yang asked, "You're reading-?"

"Kylie lent me a few volumes. Got hooked at the start of Battle Tendency."

"No more spoilers." Ben waved that away. "Those names are...okay. But they don't really speak to all of us. Look at our friend group. A weird guy with an alien watch, a goth girl with a giant scythe, a robot dude-"

"Nanites." Rex corrected.

"Nanite dude, right, a catgirl ninja, a fiery fighter-"

"Among other descriptors you could use," Yang smirked.

"-an heiress, two different Osmosians, an alien dragon girl, and on and on," Ben finished.

"He's got a point. There's not really a word that fits over everyone's head." Min said.

"Well, I think I know what we are." Ben grinned. "We're just a bunch of outcasts."

"That...was literally one of the names," Ruby deadpanned.

Ben blinked. "Shit, was it?"

"Yes, you dweeb!" Ruby smirked, throwing a pillow at Ben. "Everyone, throw pillows at Ben!"

"Wait, wait, wai-!" Ben begged before a barrage of pillows hit him in the face. Only one missed Ben and hit Ruby instead. Neo smirked a little.

Whoops. Friendly fire! Neo signed.

Ruby rolled her eyes. "If you say so." She pulled Ben up from the pillows. "But, yeah. Outcasts is a good name."

"Has a nice ring to it, yeah," Kevin agreed.

"All in favor?" Ruby asked, getting various nods of approval, even from Albedo, though he seemed distracted.

"Motion carried then!" the red-hooded Huntress announced.

"Alright. From now on...we're Outcasts." Ben said, raising his fist up, "Let's just hope...we find some more outcasts along the way from here on out."

You don't seem that enthusiastic about the name, Neo signed.

"Hm? No, I am, just...thinking about something," Albedo answered.

What about?

"...the corrodium."

"It hasn't made an appearance in a while. I'm kinda worried why it hasn't been in play," Ben said.

"You read my mind. From what you described, it's clear that Breach had a hand in bringing the deposits to Earth. But after the Atlesian deposit, none have been discovered..." Albedo mused.

"Too much to ask that they gave up on the idea?" Yang asked.

"Very much. Given its use to Zs'skayr and his followers."

"And the mutations it gives Grimm," Ruby added.

"I'm...sorry?" Albedo asked, "What...what mutations?"

"You didn't know?" Ben asked.

"No..." Albedo had a deeply concerned look on his face now.

"The Omnitrix can track it, but even then, with Breach being able to pick them up, there's no way we can snatch it in time." Ben frowned.

"But we haven't even gotten so much as a blip in awhile," Ruby said.

"They clearly changed their method...but the question is how," Albedo said.

"Hey, uh...you guys ok if I make a call?" Rex asked.

"Uh...yeah, sure. Who to?" Weiss asked.

"It's just...uh, personal business," the Ace-Op nodded, taking out his Scroll and calling up Holliday.

Rex walked off, as he waited for Holiday to pick up. Above all else, he trusted her. The closest thing he had to a mom.

"Rex?" Holliday asked, answering the phone, "Heard from Winter about what happened. Everything o-"

"Someone else has the nanites," Rex quickly interrupted.

"…what?" Holiday asked.

"I…I encountered someone else with them." Rex said. "I don't know how."

"But...that shouldn't be possible," Holiday said, shuffling some papers around in her office.

"But it happened. Add insult to injury, she was on Salem's side."

"She?"

"Called herself the Black Knight. She had these...gnarled versions of my own builds. Claws instead of fists, a grenade launcher instead of a cannon."

"There's no records of nanites in general- this just deepens the mystery. How many others like you are there?" Holiday asked.

"If I knew that, I'd be making a support group for this sort of thing," Rex half-joked, trying to alleviate some of the tension. It wasn't exactly working, but still.

"Ironwood needs to know about this, then. If Salem has access to the nanites, then all of our systems could be at risk."

"Yeah. Let him know- this should be like top priority." Rex said.

"Understood. I'll do digging of my own into someone with that name. Given the name, they probably take pride in it. Bound to be some trace of them," Holliday added.

"Please." Rex said. "I feel like my search for WHO I am just got 10x more complicated."

"If I find anything, you'll be the first to know," Holliday promised.

"Thank you. I am just...crossing my fingers so hard right now. I need to answer that burning question that's kept me going for years and years and years." Rex sighed.

"You're welcome. And...call when you and the others are on their way back. Ironwood wants to congratulate you," Holliday said.

"Alright, alright," Rex grinned, "You'll hear from me when we're like...two hours out."


Salem didn't need anyone to tell her that they had failed when they had all returned. Spectacularly, it would seem. She had entrusted Cinder with this mission...and she would've gladly punished her for this failure. If she was here. The absence of the Fall Maiden was definitely surprising.

"Hazel," Salem said, her voice dripping with disappointment, "when you've all recovered...tell me, exactly, what...happened."

"Of course...your grace," the brute of a fighter said, looking over to the unconscious Cass. He might have put a little too much force behind that hit; she should've come to by now.

A few days had passed since the failed assault on Mistral's academy. The Black Knight was hard at work fixing up Tyrian's weapons and prosthetic tail, replacing their blades and metal plating that Kylie had rusted away. Watts had helped patch up the rest of them and Charmcaster had thawed out Mercury. Of course, he threatened to throw someone out of a castle window if they so much as even thought about making an ice pun.

Hazel, Cass and Mercury were mostly back to peak condition and made their way towards Salem's throne room. As they went, Hazel could feel Cass glaring daggers at him the whole time.

"I thought you moved past it," Hazel sighed.

"Of course I haven't. Cinder's…" Cass struggled to say the word, "gone. And you fucking stopped me from making sure she didn't die for nothing!"

"We were outnumbered. Both of us were low on Aura, almost broken. Maiden or no, you could've met your end there...and then no one would've tried to avenge Cinder."

"...I fucking hate it when you're right," Cass sighed.

Hazel was the first to enter after pushing aside the double doors to enter Salem's throne room. On the Grimm queen's right, Zs'skayr hovered, now wearing a tattered purple robe, black stains around the chest. The robe's hood was pulled up, giving the Ecto Lord a true specter of death aesthetic. On Salem's left, Breach stood to the side, along with a Beringel. One of her larger hands was comfortably placed atop the gorilla beast's head, petting it like it was just another house pet.

"Hazel," Salem began, "Zs'skayr informed me of some of our problems during the assault. But...I want to hear it from you."

"Yes, your grace," Hazel said, bending a knee before her, as did Mercury and Cass, "Everything started out as we had expected. But we were forced to split our attention when several members of Tennyson and Rose's group managed to slip past us and begin an evacua-"

"Stop," Salem cut him off, raising a hand. She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.

"Perhaps I should rephrase the question," the dark queen began, "who is responsible for this defeat?"

"...I take full responsibility," Hazel said as he rose to his full height. Salem suddenly shot up from her chair, anger flaring in her eyes.

"But that wouldn't be fair now, would it?!" the Grimm woman yelled, the anger on display even causing Breach and Zs'skayr to flinch a bit. Salem stormed over towards her bruiser of a minion.

"We all know...who's truly to blame," Salem said, holding a hand out in front of her as she walked.

"I don't-" Hazel began, before he was cut off. Mercury and Cass could only watch in shock and horror as a dark red rune appeared beneath Hazel. From inside the rune, several Grimm arms emerged and grabbed Hazel, pulling him down and restraining him. These Shadow Hands forced him against the floor, clawed fingers wrapping around his neck, covering his mouth, getting ready to suffocate him.

"...Cass," Salem began, her voice somehow in a more calming tone. Cass could feel her heart racing in her chest as the Grimm queen's eyes locked onto her.

"Who is to blame for this?" Salem turned to fully face the still-kneeling girl.

Cass was silent, out of both fear and reluctance. She knew what her master wanted to hear and she hated the idea of denouncing the dead.

"Tell me…now," the cursed woman demanded.

"It...it was because Lionhear-'' Cass began, before one of the many Grimm arms that held down Hazel elongated and shot out towards her. It grabbed her by the throat and slammed her into a nearby window with enough force to crack it.

"No excuses."

"It...it was...C-Cinder!" Cass choked out after a few more seconds of denial. Upon hearing the name, Salem waved her hand and had the Shadow Hands retreat into the rune before it vanished. Cass dropped to the floor coughing while Hazel gasped for air, getting to his knees. The cursed queen walked back to her throne and stood in front of it, one hand outstretched and resting atop one of the arm rests.

"Cinder. That's right. And I want you to understand that failure. She may have gone along with the plan set in motion, but the truth is, she focused on herself more than the goal at hand. It is important to remember what drives us. Be it love."

She turned around and her crimson eyes shifted to Cass.

"Revenge," she turned to Zs'skayr.

"Or justice," she looked to Hazel, "But the moment you put your desires before mine, they will be lost to you. This is no threat...this is fact. The path to your desires is found only with me. And so we must press on. The Relic of Destruction beneath Shade-"

"Ma'am," Hazel interrupted, earning him a glare from his master, "there...is one thing Zs'skayr does not know."

"And what, pray tell, would that be?" the specter hissed.

"They no doubt intend to take the lamp back to Atlas...under Ozpin's guidance."

"Ozpin? But we killed him! You and I, together, atop that damned tower! I saw it, you sa-" Zs'skayr began before he saw the look of pure rage in the dark queen's eyes.

"Leave," Salem commanded. Even Breach heeded the order, as she and her little pet were the first to leave via red portal.

"Your grace, allow me to stop them! I can find them before they return to At-" Zs'skayr began, but Salem cut off his proposal with a glare. With a hiss, the specter turned intangible and faded into the floor. The trio originally summoned by Salem to report looked on at their master, a terrifying aura radiating off of her. Mercury was the first of their number to flee the room.

Hazel helped Cass up quickly before motioning for them to leave. He got no argument from her. The two quickly filed out of the throne room, Hazel shutting the heavy doors behind him.

Salem screamed in outrage, the sheer magnitude of it shattering each and every window present in the room. Glass shards scattered across the floor as Salem's rage slightly subsided.

"So...it's true what they say after all. If you want something done right..." Salem began, walking out of her throne and out of Evernight entirely, passing by room after room as she went. Outside the castle, she ventured over to a jagged cliff and stopped at the edge. She looked over the side, seeing the bubbling black Grimm pool below and sighed.

"...do it yourself," she finished. Crimson runes appeared in front of her hands and she started her work.

But Salem wasn't the only one at work. After Zs'skayr had been ordered to leave the throne room, he decided to check in on the progress of a little project he, Watts, Imhonet and the Black Knight had set up. After Viktor and Imhonet had failed to acquire in one of their missions together, and the Atlesian deposit was quickly dispatched of, it was obvious that their current method wasn't working. Random chance provided too many risks. Breach's portals were good for transport across a planet, but not between them. With Imhonet's magic paired with the technology of Salem's smartest, a rift was formed and stabilized. Due to the nature of the plan, the site was actually far removed from Evernight itself.

Further out in the Land of Darkness, a ruined temple stood, built into the side of a great mountain. Dust crystals had seemingly erupted from within the mountain long ago, like lava from a volcano. The temple, in the age of the First Humanity, had been constructed by a reckless group of settlers who sought to prove their resistance to destruction. The fact that Zs'skayr now freely floated above their efforts and dusted bones should be enough to tell you how well they fared. Imhonet, after recovering enough to return her work here, greeted Zs'skayr at the entrance, before leading him deeper within.

The two monster-like aliens soon came upon the main chamber, manned entirely by Black Hand were transporting and refining a familiar purple rock being pushed through the techno-magic portal by the cartful, some wearing protective suits, others risking form and sanity and working without such protection. The cavernous reaches echoed with the sound of metallic clanging and creaky cart wheels turning.

"As it stands, Lord Zs'skayr, the workers are working to meet double your set quota," Imhonet said.

"Double? Be careful Imhonet. We don't wish to work them to death," the High Ectolord chuckled. That chuckling echoed through the cave as the portal surged. On the other side, a vague silhouette appeared, its more distinct features blurred by the swirling energy of the portal, but one thing was clear.

Whoever or whatever it was, was about to step through.


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