RWBY: Destiny of Remnant

by UGX7

In the wake of the fall Team RNJR sets out to bring Cinder Fall to justice while the new Fall Maiden overlooks her master's plan in Haven City. Meanwhile Weiss tries to help a friend, Yang struggles with the loss of her arm, and Blake deals with guilt over the White Fang. Meanwhile someone from Cinder's past returns and Salem's newest pawn rises. Arkos, WhiteRose, SunnyBees, Renora

78. Salem Strikes Part VII: True Colors

Please note that this chapter and the last one are happening at the same time.

Chapter 77: Salem Strikes Part VII, True Colors

Blake grunted with effort as she jumped away from Ilia's whip as it tried to slam down on her back. The Cat Faunus whipped around and shot at Ilia with Gambol Shroud's pistol form, forcing the Fusion Faunus to retreat into the shadows created by the raised roofs and towers around them as they fought on the academy's roof.

"Ilia! I don't want to keep fighting you," Blake called out into the shadows, "I know you're upset and confused. You think I betrayed you and the White Fang, and if my actions caused you to think that then I'm sorry! But you have to understand I-"

"Understand what, Blake?" Ilia's voice spat from the shadows, her body shrouded thanks to her Semblance and the enhanced abilities her Fusion Faunus gifts gave her, "Understand that you didn't just betray me? Or the Fang's cause? Except that you betrayed your whole race and your parents! Adam said that makes you the worst kind of Faunus, by siding with those who continue to oppress us!"

Blake's amber eyes picked out Ilia's outline for a brief second within the shadows, and noticed her shuddering a little when she said that last bit. Ilia honestly used to believe it before she learned the truth about Adam's fate.

The Belladonna daughter glared at the shadows with her weapon at the ready, and began to walk into them cautiously, preparing herself to face Ilia once again.

"If refusing to help with his insane ambition and support his cruelty makes me the worst of our kind, then Adam truly did have a dangerously twisted and corrupt view of the world, and anyone who believes that needs to take a good look in the mirror! Ilia, our cause changed, but it's changed for the better under Razor. Adam twisted it into something evil because he let his hatred and misery consume him, let it drive him to become a monster! Don't let that happen to you!" Blake explained earnestly, "And as for the White Fang and my parents…I can't speak for all Faunus, but I know there are many who agree with me that we shouldn't attack the innocent just to get our point across! Most of the White Fang sided with me that night when they realized that's the right thing to do! If you had been there, would you have joined me?"

Ilia did not answer that question. Even though she couldn't deny that Blake was right about Adam's methods, and about the White Fang siding with her after Adam's crimes were brought to light, but she didn't want to admit that had she been there that fateful night, she would have joined Blake without a second thought. She hated the truth, but she knew in her heart that's what would have happened.

But it didn't matter now.

"As for my parents…I've been told they would be proud of me by my grandfather, my aunt and uncle… by people who knew them better than I did, and judging from what the White Fang has become now I would say things are getting better." Blake continued as she carefully walked in front of a circular skylight that hung over a stairwell center which had a four-level drop.

Ilia got ready to strike but hesitated when she heard Blake's words, she knew there was a lot of truth in them.

"What about your parents?" Blake voice came to the Fusion Faunus's ears, "What would they have to say about your choices? About who you've become?"

Tears formed in Ilia's eyes as she leapt out of the darkness, her camouflage ability turning a skin a furious color that resembled fire as she slammed the blade end of her whip weapon through Blake's stomach.

The decoy clone of Blake vanished as Ilia landed on the rooftop and looked around, realizing that she had been duped.

"And do you think killing me is something you really want to do for the greater good?" The real Blake said sadly as she appeared, standing atop the skylight with Gambol Shroud drawn in a combat stance.

"We can't always get what we want, Blake. Real life isn't like that, and it's about time you have a reality check." Ilia turned to face the Cat Faunus, holding up her whip in its blade form evidently ready to go again. Blake made sure she walked gently over the glass ceiling, ready to jump off at any minute…

And she did so, as Ilia suddenly transformed her weapon from blade to its whip form and swung it outwards, slamming into the glass skylight. The heavy impact and the electric charge running through the length of her weapon shattered the skylight completely and sent a heavy barrage of glass falling down the several floors below, making it look as though the sky was raining glass shards. Luckily Blake had jumped just in the nick of time and landed a short distance away from Ilia, swinging Gambol Shroud's pistol form at her former friend who just barely managed to parry it as the whip became a firm blade once more.

Blake's amber eyes gazed regretfully into Ilia's smokey-grey ones, seeing the same sadness in them. It was clear that neither of them wanted to fight each other, but it seemed that neither of them had a choice. Both combatants took up their fighting stances once more, watching each other closely for any tell-tale sign of movement that would give some clue to one's plan of attack even as the sounds of other intense battles around Shade echoed around them.

Blake struck first, swinging Gambol Shroud at Ilia's chest but the Cheetah-Chameleon Fusion Faunus parried it while twisting her body away from the blade before jumping over Blake's next swipe which was aimed at her mostly bare legs. Blade avoided a few quick whip strikes by going sideways before bringing her weapon upwards while Ilia brought her blade down, the two blades clashing together and sending sparks flying from the point of impact.

The Red Fang agent twirled around with her blade out and nearly slashed Blake's hip before the Cat Faunus pivoted away, spinning about and slamming her blade against Ilia's, their weapons meeting once more as the two young women got so close to one another that their faces were just mere inches apart.

Ilia suddenly pushed Blake back and brought her blade in rapidly, aiming to slash Blake's arm but the Cat Faunus countered that move by protecting herself with a well-timed block. Her opponent pulled back and swung quickly at Blake's head, forcing her to block the strike again, only for it to prove to be a distraction as Ilia then quickly plunged her blade in and scored a small cut across Blake's bare side, stabbing a hole through her jacket in the process.

Blake fell backwards and narrowly avoided several quick jabs from Ilia's blade, with the latest one aimed directly for her head. She weaved aside and caught Ilia's waist with her free hand, forced her back with a kick and then easily parried the next swing before dodging and replacing herself with another clone. It was swiftly destroyed by Ilia but managed to give Blake a chance to slam her thigh-high black heeled boot into the chest of the Fusion Faunus, forcing her back.

Blake dashed forward and swung diagonally upwards, nearly cutting a slash across the chest of Ilia's stealth-suit if not for the latter throwing herself backwards and bending over double, kicking up into the air where her own boot collided with Blake's chin before she somersaulted away a few meters to put some distance between them.

Blake wiped off the trickle of spit that had been knocked out of her mouth as she eyed Ilia carefully while guarding herself with Gambol Shroud, and then she spoke, "You've gotten much better. Remember when we used to spar? You never lasted this long."

"I had to get better, Blake. I didn't have you around to help me, so Adam intensified our training regimen." Ilia answered her.

Blake nodded as she watched cautiously for the next attack, "I suppose you and he became close after I left?"

The Fusion Faunus raised an eyebrow, "What makes you say that?"

"I saw how you looked at us when he and I were together…at least during our better moments. You…seemed to want a relationship like what I had with him." Blake said softly while keeping her guard up.

Ilia's face wore a dumbfounded expression for a few seconds before saying, "If you think it was like that, then you really don't know me at all!"

She attacked furiously, but Blake sidestepped her plunging movement and grabbed Ilia's weapon-wielding arm, pulling her in close before elbowing the assassin hard in the shoulder and kicking her in the gut. The Cat Faunus deflected a kick aimed for her face, before throwing Ilia onto the roof's surface with her katana pointed right at her former friend's throat only to feel cold metal against her own.

The two held their respective blades against the necks of one another as their eyes met once more. One simple twitch would be all it took to kill one of them.

"You really have gotten better." Blake admitted, impressed, as she remembered that Ilia had never been this good of a fighter before back when they were in the White Fang together.

"It's amazing what focusing all of your sadness and anger can do for you." Ilia retorted before she transformed her blade back into a whip and with a flick of her wrist, moved it down and snapped it to wrap around Blake's waist before the black cat could jump away.

Before Ilia could activate the shocking function of her weapon, Blake grabbed her and tumbled them both towards the open skylight, where the Fusion Faunus fell over and into the lower levels of Shade. Scrambling to grab onto the ledge at the last moment, Blake cursed as her fingers missed by inches and was dragged down by the whip.

They both cried out as they fell downwards, but Blake acted quickly by making use of Gambol Shroud's kusarigama form like a whip to snag onto the handrail of the third floor and swinging her and Ilia onto the second floor where they collided with the sturdy sandstone walls. The two Faunus then crashed onto the ground in two heaps a couple of meters apart where they groaned in pain for a few seconds.

Wincing as she got up as fast as she could, Blake rubbed her head and her side after she managed to get Ilia's whip off her midriff, rubbing the faint mark it left.

"Ni-nice moves…" Ilia said as she forced herself up onto one knew, "You…you saved the both of us."

Blake nodded as she pushed herself to both feet, her grip on Gambol Shroud holding firm.

"Would you have let me fall if you could?" Ilia asked.

"No." Blake answered truthfully, "Never. You might be trying to kill me, but I couldn't let you die. I want you to make the right choice."

Ilia looked away sadly before saying, "I'm so sorry Blake, but I don't have a choice."

She then struck at Blake with her whip, sending buzzing, rapidly changing arcs of yellow electricity at the Cat Faunus, who did her best to dodge them until she leapt up and stabbed the sickle-end of the kursarigama form of her weapon into the ceiling and swung into Ilia, kicking her back. Blake landed and rolled, ripping her weapon out of the ceiling and jumped away from another crackling snap of the whip.

She executed another combat roll, dodging Ilia's whip attacks, and landed a few feet to the Fusion Faunus's right and used the purple Dust cartridge within Gambol Shroud to send a purple energy arc slamming into her former friend, blowing Ilia down the statue and painting-populated hallway with a pained cry.

Ilia quickly recovered and got up, dashing into the nearest classroom and leaving its door open in the rush to get out. Blake held her side for moment before taking a deep breath and pursued, knowing that her fight with Ilia was not yet over and mentally preparing herself to go on for another round.

She stopped outside the classroom, changed Gambol Shroud into its gun form and took a careful peek inside. Ilia had turned off the lights as quickly as possible, using the darkness to her advantage as she activated her Semblance and hid among the shadows with light pouring in from the open doorway. The room wasn't too dissimilar from the combat training room Glynda taught in back at Beacon, large and circular with two rows of circular desks that covered the whole room with gaps in them so students could enter and take their seats. The room also had a combat pit in the middle that went down to the first floor, and steepled staircases could be seen at the four points of the compass as well.

Blake forced herself to regulate her breathing, then entered the dark classroom by walking in slowly and carefully while her eyes looked everywhere for any sign of Ilia.

Meanwhile, Ilia watched as Blake walked past the long desk she was hiding beside, concealed by the shadows and her Semblance. Just as Blake's eyes turned away from her she attacked by jumping out and slamming her whip down, the weapon passing through and destroying another Blake clone. Ilia's eyes widened as she stood up, looking over to see the real Blake watching her in the darkness, the heightened senses of a Faunus helping her sense her opponent.

"Ilia, you have a choice. You only need to make the right one." Blake implored.

"Stop lecturing me!" The Fusion Faunus shouted back.

Ilia snapped her whip again and Blake ran out of the way, jumping atop the desk and pivoting around to jump across to the next one, narrowly avoiding another snap of the whip as it ripped the head off a chair. The Red Fang assassin lashed her whip at Blake several times, and the Cat Faunus blocked it with well-placed parries of her blade before jumping up and using the black ribbon of Gambol Shroud to shoot down and ensnare Ilia's wrist. Blake pulled her forward and leapt towards her, kicking Ilia square in the torso and bringing her down to the floor of the classroom.

Blake struck forward with her katana, but Ilia blocked it and used an electric shock to zap Gambol Shroud out of her hands. The black-haired cat girl ran to grab it, only for the Fusion Faunus to jump around her and kick Blake in the right shoulder, sending her to the side. Blake landed behind the back row on her side and quickly rolled out of the way to avoid getting hit by Ilia's whip, and then ran to take cover in the darkness.

Ilia allowed her sharpened senses to guide her, following where she had glimpsed Blake moving moments ago as said Cat Faunus prowled silently around the classroom to get away and reclaim Gambol Shroud.

Once she did, Blake transformed her weapon back to its gun form and kept a clear eye out for Ilia who continued to stalk her in the darkness. They both moved carefully through the darkened classroom, keeping their footsteps as silent as possible from each other. That was until Blake bumped into the edge of a desk at the classroom's far right end, and Ilia immediately attacked by slamming her electrified whip into her former friend. Blake cried out from the pain before she rolled away from the impact of the weapon, but landed on her feet and fired wildly at the jumping and leaping feminine figure in the darkness, briefly illuminating the room between shots so she could see Ilia dodging and narrowly avoiding getting hit from her bullets.

"Why don't you just leave so this fight can end?!" Ilia's voice demanded as Blake stopped shooting.

"Because I've run away from too many things and have left so many people I should have helped behind. And I know how that hurt you." Blake told her attacker.

The whip struck out from the darkness and Blake moved as quickly as she could to avoid it once again. The lashing weapon hit a closer spot on her other side, forcing the Belladonna girl to jump away towards the lower front row, taking refuge in front of the desks. She glanced over at the large screen which would usually display aura stats and other such readouts during a practice battle near the ceiling and an idea lit up in her head.

"Sorry, Headmistress." She muttered apologetically as she loaded a red Dust cartridge and the fired her weapon through the air, sending an arc of glowing red fire straight into the inactive screen which exploded into a cloud of razor-sharp shards. The fire spread quickly through the air and illuminated the room. Bake blinked her eyes as she chanced a look and son spotted Ilia with her skin pitch black and kneeling down behind one of the wall columns.

Ilia snarled as her skin reverted to normal and she charged outwards from her hiding place at Blake, jumping over her and landing behind just as the Cat Faunus managed to spin around. However, Blake was too late to stop the crack of Ilia's whip which sent Gambol Shroud flying out of her hands for a brief moment before she reacted quickly by using her feline reflexes to jump off a nearby desk to retrieve it and swing it back to clash with Ilia's next attack.

Both Faunus girls began to engage each other in a mixture of rapid blade clashes and hand-to-hand combat, throwing out everything they had against each other and countering each other's moves. Blake managed to catch Ilia's hand and twisted her around, jumping away from her next slash but Ilia simply raced forward and met Blake head-on. The feline ninja dodged out of the way of Ilia's whip and retaliated by shooting back at her, which the Red Fang operative deflected with skillful spins of her weapon.

Their weapons met again in a series of swift clashes, until Blake managed to grab the back of Ilia's hands and slammed both of their weapons to the ground, forcing both of them down. She avoided a kick from Ilia, jumped back and swung Gambol Shroud's blade at Ilia, who leaned back and then flung her whip directly at Blake. The Cat Faunus immediately flipped backwards to avoid being hit, the whip missing her by sheer inches. Ilia let loose an angry cry as she tried to slam her whip down on Blake again, and it was only due to Blake's exceptional agility that she moved like a shadow out of the way and ran across the desks while firing with her weapon's pistol form.

"Quit taking potshots at me and fight me, Blake! Fight me like you mean it!" Ilia shouted angrily as she used her whip to block the bullets.

Blake's clip emptied, so Ilia took her chance and rushed forward just as Blake jumped away and parkoured from one desk to the other, reloading her pistol with a specialized cartridge of ice Dust bullets. She rolled across to the teacher's desk, coming atop it and firing at Ilia once again.

"You used to see the things the way I did! The way Adam did! You know how humans would treat us, still treat us, because they know they can get away with it! And if talking and protesting against their physical and verbal attacks can't work, then the only choice we have left…is to strike back at them!" Ilia ranted, "And while I know Adam's methods were risky at times, what gives you the right to kill him?"

She blocked the bullets again, only this time the ice Dust coating the bullets froze her whip in place and rendering it into the shape of a rough hook. Before Ilia could properly react to that, Blake threw the black ribbon of Gambol Shroud and snagged it on the whip's length and with a mighty tug she yanked it away from Ilia, then launching herself into the air and coming down feet first into her former friend. She kicked Ilia to the ground and held her hands by the sides, pinning her in place while the fire engulfing the screen slowly began to spread.

"There's always another choice, Ilia! I chose to kill Adam, I didn't want to but he was about to kill a lot of innocent humans and Faunus with his newly-built ship's weapons and he wanted to kill me and my friends! I had to defend myself!" Blake answered bluntly, "Stop and think about everything you know Adam did! The people you're working for now! Is this really what your parents would have wanted?!"

Ilia's eyes widened at the mention of her parents. Five years ago, after she and her family were ousted as Faunus things only got worse for them. Her father lost his job and they were forced to move out of their home to a cheaper one in the Atlas port town of Halfix, where Ilia got wind of the White Fang looking for oppressed Faunus to recruit into their ranks when she was walking home one day.

Her parents had once been loyal supporters of the White Fang, but when Adam took over they had lost hope in the movement but Ilia didn't give up. After seeing the human girls she knew in Atlas Academy laugh at the deaths of innocent Faunus, she saw nothing wrong with a little payback on humanity.

She had initially joined up with one of Adam's lieutenants, a vindictive Bloodhound Faunus named Ralph and helped out with a few missions around the harbor to strike back at greedy companies that profited off the oppressed people like the S.D.C., and for a while everything was running along smoothly.

But it all went wrong one night.

Ralph had been drunk and had been trigger-happy, executing the hostages who were only being held until the robbery was complete when one of them insulted him. The cops hadn't even shown up when Ralph had finished executing them, much to the horror of Ilia and most of the other White Fang agents who were working with him.

One of Ralph's underlings had snitched on him to Adam and Razor, and that's when Ilia had first met Blake when she, Adam, Razor, Hui, Sienna Khan, Yuma and Trifa arrived to deal with Ralph. Razor had severely punished Ralph with a furious beating for executing civilians. He, along with Sienna, insisted in turning him over to the authorities and telling the public that he had gone rogue, but Adam had been hesitant to do it.

While they were arguing fiercely among themselves when another one of Ralph's associates arrived with some bad news. The worst news Ilia had ever heard. The news that shattered her.

It turned out one of the hostages who Ralph executed was the daughter of a cop, one who happened to live in the same apartment building as Ilia. In a drunken rampage fueled by grief and blind rage, he had killed the nearest Faunus; her parents.

Ilia didn't remember much of what happened afterward, she had broken down crying while Adam, Razor, and Sienna Khan continued to argue over what they needed to do to limit the damage to the White Fang before the Atlesian authorities use this incident to turn the population against the other Faunus living in the continent. She only remembered that Blake had been there for her, taking her into another quiet room while doing her best to console and comfort a total stranger who was bawling like a child.

Eventually a compromise was reached with certain judicious members of the Atlesian authorities through other less official channels, and Ralph was disavowed by the White Fang and was left unconscious at the doorstep of a police station with a note for the law-enforcement officers. The policeman who had murdered Ilia's parents had also been arrested shortly, stripped of his uniform and badges, tried and given ten years in prison. The last Ilia heard was that he had gained the sympathy of rich and influential figures in Atlas who had him transferred to a psychiatric hospital where he suffered a severe mental breakdown. But it hadn't been enough, not for Ilia.

Ilia's mind returned to the present and her eyes met Blake's again, and she stopped struggling.

"I…I don't know what else to do!" She shouted, half angry and half sobbing. Tears formed in her eyes as she repeated herself in a voice barely above a whisper, "I don't know what else to do..."

"That's why I ran, Ilia." Blake told her gently, I didn't know what else to do."

They kept gazing into each other's eyes as they both slowly calmed down.

Blake found her voice again and continued, "We're people Ilia, not animals. We make mistakes, and even the best people make wrong decisions. But we can always make up for them. I know you are a good person…so don't go down the same path as Adam did. Please, for your sake, make the right choice."

Blake slowly stood up and kept her weapon pointed downwards while offering her hand to the Fusion Faunus girl.

Ilia looked at the hand carefully for several moments before lifting her own. She hesitated for a moment, before bringing it forward and accepting Blake's hand.

---

The Solaria Crescent Orphanage of the Grand Temple of Vacuo stood well defended in the chaos of the battle, since it was sealed off and heavily guarded by its assigned group of protectors as the conflict raged outside its walls.

But despite their best efforts, the temple guardians weren't able to keep every enemy from breaching the orphanage…especially when they came from the inside.

Her staff tapping on the stone floor beneath her, Sister Rosea walked as briskly as she could down one of the orphanage's main corridors after personally making sure that every single dormitory and study room had been emptied of children and staff members. The constant blaring of alarms echoed through every level of the orphanage, and its attendants, caretakers and supervisors were all doing their part to evacuate every orphan into the specially-built shelter underneath the main building until the danger was over.

She could hear the furious battle taking place outside the orphanage's walls, gunfire mixed with shouts and shrieks as well as the roars and screeches of various Grimm creatures. Every once in a while, an explosion would be heard far off, although Anna didn't know whether it came from a detonation of a grenade or from something much bigger like an exploding vehicle or explosive ordnance.

The Caribou Reindeer Faunus had been urged by many of her staff to leave the evacuation efforts to the other, more able-bodied staff members and temple guardians, but she had insisted vehemently that every single child under her charge needed to be safe before looking to her own safety. After all, if any of her predecessors were in her shoes they would have done the exact same thing, even the original founder High Priestess Maria Solaria.

The ground shivered beneath them and the head caretaker nearly lost her balance, but thanks to Carolyn's timely assistance she was able to remain on her feet. The two accompanying temple guardians have concerned looks behind their red-cowled heads, but Rosea waved a dismissive hand when they stepped forward to help which they reluctantly complied.

When they reached the main staircase that lead down to the shelter, Rosea frowned when she caught sight of an open classroom at the far side of the corridor. As she made her way there with Carolyn and the two temple guardians, she suddenly had an uneasy feeling settling deep within her heart when she heard children sobbing quietly.

"What's going on here?" The elderly Reindeer Faunus spoke as she limped through the open classroom doors, "Sister Charlotte, why aren't you…" The rest of the words died in her throat when she saw the awful sight before her.

Inside of the classroom, a group of thirty orphaned children as well as their teacher, a woman in her early thirties known as Sister Charlotte, were forced to sit at their respective places while an array of dangerous looking laser cannons and machine-guns were aimed at them by eight Grimm Knights. Two of them swiveled to look directly at Anna, their weapons coming up to aim at her. Carolyn quickly stood in front of the head caretaker to shield her, just as a pair of blue electrical blasts were fired from the Grimm Knights at the two temple guardians standing behind them. Both warriors crumpled to the floor without a sound escaping from either of their mouths, their guardian spears dropping from nerveless fingers to land beside them.

"I'm afraid school's not out yet for these orphans, Sister Rosea." A voice came from the front of the classroom, and Anna turned to see the impassive form of Arthur watts sitting in the chair behind the teacher's desk, tapping one gauntleted finger idly on one of its arms, "How nice of you to join us."

"Who the bloody hell are-" Carolyn glared at him but felt the targeting lasers from a Grimm Knight which had dual multi-barreled laser cannons for its arms aim at her face and neck, and decided to remain silent.

"Tsk, tsk, Sister Carolyn." Watts drawled while waving a finger in admonishment, "You should mind your language in front of so many young minds, lest they learn to swear."

"I'll dispense with the pleasantries then." Sister Rosea took a step forward and gestured for Carolyn remain where she was, "Who are you and how did you get in here with your…machines?"

"Oh, that. I have my ways, you see. Subtle, forceful, whatever is called for." Watts said as he stood up and walked around the teacher's table, gently tracing his gauntleted fingers on the fine wooden material, "My name is Dr. Arthur Watts, and it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." He gave a small, polite bow.

"So what do I owe the pleasure of your presence, Mr. Watts?" Rosea raised an eyebrow as she looked around, "Aside from you currently holding my fellow caretaker and many innocent children hostage? Besides, I highly doubt someone of your caliber would be adequately qualified to teach in this class."

"My word, you have a sharp tongue despite your old age." Watts gave a good-humored chuckle, "Now, Sister Rosea, there's no need to waste any of our time. I have already done this kind of business once today, so there's no need to make it any harder than it needs to be. I know your kind, old woman; a kind bleeding heart who cannot stand to see harm come to innocents, especially children."

He slowly walked around the senior matron whose green eyes followed him carefully, "So, how about we make a simple trade?" Watts proposed softly.

"What do you want?" Rosea asked quietly as she glanced at the fearful faces of the children who were keeping their heads down. Several of them had visible tear streaks on their faces, and such a sight made her old heart ache.

"Very well. Let's cut to the chase, shall we? I know for a fact that you safeguard certain…information regarding the whereabouts of a relic that is hidden in Vacuoan desert. I want that information." He stopped and looked at Sister Rosea in the eyes, "Give it to me, and I shall let all of these children go, along with the other hostages I have in the temple's Grand Archives."

Rosea gasped, "What have you done to Vidya?"

Watts sighed and shook his head regretfully, "He made the unfortunate mistake of trying to stop me…and paid the price."

Carolyn also gasped at this, while Rosea simply hung her head mournfully. Watts waited a few seconds before he resumed, "Moving on, as long as I get the information I want there will be no need for further bloodshed. However, if you try anything to stop me or call for assistance it will be met with the instant and swift execution of these orphans. So what will it be, Sister?"

Anna glared at the moustached man contemptuously before letting out a heavy sigh, "If I give you the information, it would undoubtedly lead to the death of millions of innocents. But I am also oath-sworn not to let any harm come to these children. Very well…you shall have what you desire, you despicable scoundrel."

"A wise choice, ma'am." Watts answered with a smirk on his face.

"But know this Mr. Watts; I only do this because I know you and your ilk will ultimately fail in the long run." She hissed at him, "One day you will get exactly what you deserve, and your name will be associated with failure, arrogance and misplaced faith. Think about that, if you have any possible idea of the true motives of the master you serve."

"I suppose you'll be praying for such an outcome? Thank you for the warning though." Watts mentioned condescendingly before letting out a haughty chuckle. At the snap of his fingers, a pair of Grimm Knights marched up to protect him, "Sister Rosea and I shall be going now, and I've had enough nasty surprises for today. I promise that no harm will come to her unless she doesn't…fully cooperate with me."

He turned back to Rosea and gestured towards the open corridor, "After you, Sister. Now lead the way, and remember; no tricks or deceptions."

"That's rich." The senior matron retorted hotly as she began to led the way, "Coming from someone like you who works with those that use those very things as their tools."

As Watts and the two Grimm Knights marched Sister Rosea along to the classroom's entrance, Carolyn grabbed her robed arm just before they exited, "Sister Rosea, you can't give that man whatever he wants! For all we know, he'll kill us all once he gets what he wants!"

Reaching up with another hand, the female Caribou Reindeer Faunus held her assistant's hands gently with firmly, "Have faith, fellow sister. The outcome of this mess has not yet been decided. Pray for me, and I'll pray for your safety as well." She turned her head to look over one shoulder and glared at Watts as though daring him to interrupt them, but the villainous doctor simply focused his own eyes at the ceiling of the classroom and allowed them both their brief moment.

Giving Carolyn's hand a final squeeze and a firm nod, Rosea released her and led Watts and his escorting Grimm Knights further into the orphanage. It wasn't long before the tapping of her walking staff and Watt's footsteps vanished into silence after they descended the staircase at the far end of the level.

Carolyn sighed, shaking her head slowly as she sat down with the captive orphans and fellow teacher. Her superior had told her to get help through a series of innocent hand-gestures that went unnoticed by the enemy, but given the way circumstances were at the moment she wouldn't be able to physically send the intended message. The guardian spears that were frequently used by the two unconscious guards were also too far of reach as well, and she was pretty sure that any sign of aggression from her would be met with instant and painful death from the Grimm Knights that were standing around the periphery of the classroom.

But there was still another way she hadn't tried yet.

There was a small tug on her long robes, and Carolyn looked down to see a young Sheep Faunus girl trying to get her attention, "Sister Carolyn, what's gonna happen to us? Will Sister Rosea be safe from the bad man?"

The assistant caretaker gave her a reassuring smile and replied, "Don't worry. I'm sure someone will rescue us and Sister Rosea."

She then placed the fingers of her hands on her temples as she decided that immediate action needs to be taken, mentally composing a brief but urgent message that she could give to a certain pair of temple guardians in particular, who were no doubt nearby clearing out the last of the Grimm that had managed to get through the orphanage's main doors. To the menacing-looking Grimm Knights it seemed as though the robed woman with grey-white hair was weeping softly, so they remained motionless.

Carolyn concentrated harder as she activated her own unique Semblance. She hadn't used her Semblance in years out of respect for the privacy of others, but it was now or never.

---

"All right, slow and steady, no need to rush." Ruby spoke in a reassuring tone as she helped the teachers shepherd the young students from the first-grade classrooms into the school's underground shelter.

"Okay, that's another class saved!" Ruby mentioned to the school's principal, who was a dark-skinned woman in her early fifties with her brown hair tied into ringlets known as Principal Rujos, "I know there are still some classes left on the second floor, but how many are there?"

Rujos checked her scroll hurriedly, running through the names and numbers twice before answering, "From the headcounts we've taken so far and the calls with the remaining teachers still trapped in the floors above, all but three classes have been accounted for."

"Which ones specifically?" Sergeant Ismail demanded as he listened to the reports coming from the rest of his squad, his grip on his assault rifle tightening.

"Erm…the sixth grade classes in rooms 201, 211 and 212 on the second floor, they're all that's left." The principal swallowed nervously as she looked at both the Vacuo Ranger sergeant and young Huntress.

"Gotcha." Ruby acknowledged with a quick nod and checked her remaining ammunition for Crescent Rose, "Okay, get ready to seal the doors, I'm going out again."

"Miss Rose, are you sure you don't want the rangers to go with you?" Rujos asked while gesturing to the pair of Rangers that Sergeant Ismail had detailed to protect the shelter as well as the student body within, while the rest of the squad were bravely fighting off the Grimm hordes that were massing outside the school.

"No, you better keep them here in case anything happens! The shelter has reinforced walls, right?" Ruby asked questioningly.

"Of course! I already told you when you brought that first group in." She assured Ruby.

"Sorry, I saw Deathworms digging through the streets and I just want to be sure they can't get through." Ruby spoke carefully.

"I understand, Miss Rose, but we're safe in here." Rujos promised the silver-eyed Huntress.

"My squad will protect the shelter as long as we can should anything happen." Sergeant Ismail added gruffly, "Try and get the remaining students and teachers here as fast as you can. Given the situation outside, I don't think we have much time left."

"Okay, understood. I'll be back soon!" Ruby answered before speeding away with her Semblance, leaving a flurry of rose petals in her wake.

A couple of young girls watched as the black and red-haired Huntress sped off, and one of them whose class had reached the shelter before Ruby had arrived asked her friend, who had been among the first group of students Ruby had escorted, "So that's really Ruby Rose?"

"Yeah! She's just as awesome as they say!" Her friend whispered back.

Rujos shushed them before turning to the sergeant who told her, "The Grimm hordes have broken through the outer gate. My rangers are doing their best to delay them as much as possible."

As though to mock his words, the ranger's communicator squawked static and a panicked voice cried out, "The Grimm have breached the courtyard! We can't hold them back much longer!"

"Damn it!" Sergeant Ismail swore and slid a fresh magazine into his assault rifle, "I need to go help my men. Just keep the shelter doors open as long as you can."

"I understand." The principal swallowed, "Is it really as bad as it seems?"

The gruff sergeant's reply was only a grim nod.

Meanwhile Ruby zoomed through the school with the help of her Semblance, passing by windows and through doorways, her speed knocking off posters and notices from the walls as she sprinted by. She approached a staircase that led to the second floor, whipped out Crescent Rose and swung it up to catch the handrail above, then using it to flip herself up onto the second floor above before running on to look for room 210.

She soon came to a stop in front of the first of the three rooms, with the other two down the hallway. Moving forward cautiously, the hooded Huntress heard a hissing sound and looked down the opposite corridor to see a Creep stomping out with its tail wiggling up behind it.

It looked up at Ruby, who was the last thing it saw before she blasted it into fading dust. Ruby took a moment to wonder how many Grimm were already in the school and how many more would get in. Judging from the furious battle and explosions coming from outside, she was eventually given a rather bleak answer. She turned to look back towards the classrooms and considered her current options, "Okay, three more. Wish I had some help so I could get all three classes at once but alone I might not be able to protect everyone and it might make too big of a crowd, unless…"

Ruby's silver eyes lit up with an idea and she said, "Never mind, forget it. I'm getting everyone out of here as quickly as possible."

She walked briskly to the nearest classroom door, and since she was unable to see into the room due to the covered windows on the door so she knocked on it. There was a click and it opened quickly, revealing a skinny and slightly terrified male teacher in his mid-thirties, "I guess you're Ruby Rose?"

"The one and only." Ruby replied with a reassuring smile, "You all ready to go?"

"Good. Get up everyone! We're about to head for the shelter!" He said quietly into the darkened classroom while Ruby looked into the room. She could see the group of about twenty-seven children, all about ten to twelve years old getting up from underneath desks and behind bookshelves, or up from the floor in spots that was out of sight which was exactly they had practiced in the event of such disasters.

"Okay, these kids look big and strong." Ruby voiced encouragingly, "I bet they can help me make it with the other two classes."

"What? But Principal Rujos told me that you are taking the classes one at a time." The teacher objected.

"Change of plan. I don't want anyone left in a dangerous position for to long, besides if you all move fast I'll be able to watch your backs as well. Don't worry, the Grimm won't come near me or get near you." Ruby told him politely.

"Oh, right. Those silver eyes of yours." The teacher said, remembering the Grimm Wyvern Ruby had frozen atop the Beacon tower.

"Bingo. Okay kids, we're gonna get everyone else down to the shelter. You, you and yo,." She pointed at a few older, stronger kids, "You guys are my spotters, so just follow me and watch out for any Grimm. If you see anything that looks like a Grimm, let me know and I'll get rid of 'em!" She brought up her weapon for emphasis, and the kids nodded understandingly.

After checking that the coast was clear, Ruby gestured for them to follow her and she kept glancing down both sides of the dark hallway to make sure nothing was coming or sneaking up on them. As she guided the shuffling group to room 211, she heard a young boy whisper a question, "So, uh, Miss Rose? Is it true you can really kill Grimm just by looking at them?"

"Uh, that's kind of a tough question. Sometimes I can, but I would rather stick to killing 'em with Crescent Rose. But keep your voice down okay? I'm trying to get you all to safety as fast as I can." Ruby told him while putting on a face of confidence and bravery. While she was fairly certain she could get all of these kids and their teachers to safety, she wasn't so sure about how their lives would change after the battle of Vacuo City was finally over.

Ruby couldn't help but wonder how many of them had lost family members in this attack. How many were now fatherless? How many were motherless? How many were now orphans all together? How many people would be dead at the end of the day? And how many of those wounded in the attack who couldn't be saved would add to the even longer death toll soon enough?

She shook her head, forcing the dark thoughts out and tried to focus on the positive side. She just had to hope that despite everything, things would turn out okay with the minimal loss of life. It might had been naïve to hope, but Ruby wouldn't let her optimism be squashed.

Ruby ran towards both doors and knocked on the door to room 211 while she took out Ashe's whistle and blew into it to alert the other class, "Open up! We're getting everyone to the shelter now!"

The door to room 211 opened, and the female Jack Rabbit Faunus teacher breathed a sigh of relief before turning and calling out, "Students, get up! It's time to get to the shelter!" She turned back to Ruby and asked, "Wait, you're taking all of us at once?"

"No one's getting left behind. Trust me, the Grimm won't come around-" Ruby began before she was cut off abruptly by a loud booming sound suddenly coming from the roof, as though something had crashed on top of it.

"W-w-what was t-that?" A Faunus boy asked as something that sounded like extremely heavy footsteps could be heard moving overhead.

Ruby wondered about that herself. An Ursa? No, the rangers would have shot it to pieces before it could climb all the way on top of the school. An alpha Beowolf? That was the most likely answer…

Then she heard the roar, loud and long and bestial. It sounds like some unnatural mix between a lion, a bear and a hawk. Ruby's eyes immediately widened upon hearing that sound. She hadn't faced that type of Grimm before, but she had heard its roar thanks to the recordings of various Grimm beasts during Professor Port's class.

"Oh, please don't be an alpha…" Ruby muttered as she heard the thudding footsteps move towards room 212. She sprinted back to the door of the aforementioned room, pounded on it and shouted, "Come on! Everyone out! We gotta go!"

The teacher inside, a balding man with dark brown skin, opened up the door and asked, "What the blazes is going on out there?"

"Something's on the roof!" Ruby hurriedly answered, taking noticed of the terrified looks on the kids' faces, "We need to move now, before-"

Before she could finish her sentence, the head of a Grimm Manticore slammed through the wall, sending dust, glass and bits of debris flying in all directions as it let out a fearsome roar. The young students in the vicinity all screamed in terror, while the stout teacher shrieked like a child as the Manticore looked hungrily in their direction.

The Manticore wasn't fully grown yet, which was lucky since a fully grown one was about four times the size of a Beringel and roughly twenty times the size of Ruby herself, but this one was still about five or six times the size of a normal adult. It resembled a lion for the most part, with a splayed mane comprised of long, wide spikes and the horns of a bull coming out of its head. Large wings resembling that of a frightening bird of prey spread out from its sides, and while some Manticores tend to have the typical scorpion-like stingers this one had a spiked mace-like tail instead.

It let out another roar, its head shook with its sharp teeth-filled mouth opening and closing repeatedly as it struggled to slam its way into the building, ignoring the bullets punching into it from the Vacuo Rangers below. The Manticore tore away another large chunk of the ceiling, ignoring the bullets fired from Crescent Rose as it managed to get its left foreleg into the room and swipe it outwards to knock down one of the fleeing boys by slashing him across the leg.

He screamed in pain as the Manticore tried to bite onto his foot and drag him closer so that it could devour him whole, only for Ruby to jump in and slash the lion-like Grimm across the face. It bellowed in agony as Ruby stared straight at it, her silver eyes beginning to glow while the teacher dashed forward and pulled the wounded boy out of the way.

In a lightning-fast move, Ruby attacked and slammed the Manticore off the side of the building and slashing Crescent Rose deep into its chest before forcing it downwards, cutting open the Manticore's ribcage between the bony ribs of its exterior while her silver eyes shone brightly. Before it could roar again, the Manticore stopped as its entire body paled in colour and gradually stopped moving as it fell towards the ground below. Ruby pulled out Crescent Rose and jumped off of it back into the newly-created hole, turning around with her gently shining eyes to see the teachers tending to the boy's wounded leg with a first-aid kit that was in the room. There was a loud crash behind her and the sound of crumbling rocks shortly after, announcing the death of the Grimm Manticore.

"Will he be all right?" Ruby inquired, not noticing their stunned expressions.

"There's no major damage, it's just a deep cuts. Luckily he's already had his aura unlocked, so it's not as bad as it would be otherwise. Still, we best get him to the nurse." The bald portly teacher replied.

"Right, put some bandages on the wound and help him up." Ruby said as she made her way through the crowd of pre-teens, ignoring the sounds of gunfire coming from outside as the Vacuo Rangers shot down any and all Grimm trying to take advantage of the new entrance, "Okay everybody! Let's get moving right now!"

"Grimm!" A young girl outside the hall cried out when she saw a group of nine Beowolves appearing and then charged from the far end of the hallway.

The crowd quickly parted for Ruby who dashed out into the hall, and as soon as the Beowolves saw her shining silver eyes they stopped mostly dead in their tracks. The closest one even winced in pain as its color slowly began to dim from exposure to Ruby's silver eyes, and another one snarled hungrily but was unable to come any closer even though the fear from the children was driving it mad.

Ruby remembered the fairy tale she apparently resembled, and thought about the wolf from that particular fable.

"Okay, Big Bad Wolves…come and get me!" She dared the beasts.

The closest Beowolf moved slightly forward, and that was the last thing it ever did as Ruby unleashed a furious barrage of bullets from her weapon, killing eight of them. The final one tried to jump over her but a slash from Crescent Rose cut into two separate disintegrating pieces. Many of the kids present, as well as the teachers herding them, stared at the sight of the fading Grimm bodies and black dust floating and fading in the air.

"Whoa." The Faunus boy from earlier stammered out as Ruby reloaded her weapon.

Ruby kept her eyes glued to both sides of the hallway, ready for anything, waiting while they got the injured kid ready to move. While the teachers were working on a makeshift stretcher, she shot down a few more Grimm which happened to stray by at the ends of the hallways until she heard and felt something move on the first floor as the building shuddered slightly.

"That doesn't sound good." A timid-looking girl whispered quietly, her hands shaking.

"Hey, don't worry. Nothing will happen to anyone while I'm around." Ruby promised her with a confident smile before they all heard a huge booming explosion in the distance. Ruby didn't know what it was or where it came from, but she hoped it was a lot of Grimm getting blown up.

"Okay, he's patched up and ready to go." The Jack Rabbit Faunus teacher called to Ruby.

The silver-eyed Huntress nodded, "Okay, everyone in three steady lines. Each class in one so we don't have anyone getting separated or lost, and so if something comes up behind us I can get back there and take care of it." Ruby explained to them all. The teachers made sure the students were in their proper rows and ready to move out, with a few of the larger students from room 212 helping to carry the injured boy.

Nodding approvingly, Ruby led the way towards the staircase and kept Crescent Rose pointed downwards as she took a glance to make sure the coast was clear below. She was halfway down when an Ursa erupted through the wall and onto the landing, roaring threateningly at Ruby. Remembering her mentor Argentius's words, Ruby concentrated on using a small fragment of the silver light within her eyes and released it outwards, making the Ursa shriek and tried to withdraw, only to die then and there as it turned to stone.

Ruby looked back to see students with wide eyes and stunned looks before she confirmed it by saying, "Yeah, it's dead." She then slammed Crescent Rose through the Ursa's head to drive the point home, and it crumbled into small stone fragments, "Come on!"

They quickly obeyed the young Huntress's instructions, and it wasn't long before all of the students and the three teachers were on the ground floor, Ruby blasting at any remaining Grimm that dared to come into view.

"So, uh, Miss Rose?" A Faunus boy with dog ears whispered hesitantly after she shot down another Creep.

"Call me Ruby." She said with a kind smile.

He nodded and continued, "Uh, how many Grimm have you killed? Must be a lot, huh?"

"I have, but I don't know how many I've destroyed. I tried to keep count when I first began training to be a Huntress, but I lost track after a while and now...well, let's just say I've killed a whole lot of Grimm." Ruby answered while putting on a heroic face, which she remembered was the same look that her mother, father, and uncle would put on while telling her and Yang stories when they were still little. While these kids she was protecting were older than they had been, hopefully the brave look she was giving off now would have a reassuring effect on them.

Then she paused momentarily and wondered if any Hunter had kept an accurate record of how many Grimm they had killed, or maybe even the Remnant Knights as well, but quickly told herself that those thoughts could probably for later.

Once everyone was down on the first level Ruby led the way to the shelter, only to stop suddenly when they arrived at the corridor that had been demolished in her absence. In its place was a large hole that had been now torn through the floor as part of a tunnel several meters in diameter.

"That…can't be good." The Jack Rabbit Faunus teacher mumbled, a tinge of fear in her voice.

"It's made by a Deathworm. Looks recent too." Ruby knelt down and took a quick look, before backing away and looking to the teachers with a question on her lips, "Is there a way around?"

"Yes, through the gym. Down that way." The Faunus teacher pointed down another corridor.

"Sounds good to me." Ruby said as she made her way through two of the three lines towards the gym hall.

"…Rose, are you receiving me?" The young hooded Huntress took out her scroll.

"Sergeant Ismail? I'm here, we're taking a detour through the gym but we'll make it. Keep the shelter ready for us!"

"Understood. I'm sending a couple of my men to come and assist you." The sergeant replied, "They'll meet you at the gym and get everyone to the shelter."

"Okay, thanks! See you there later!" Ruby replied before ending the call on her scroll and looking to the students and teachers behind her, "Come on, let's move!"

It wasn't long before they reached the entry points to the gymnasium, which was large and wide like a normal gym with two sets of bleachers on both sides while the ceiling stretched high upwards. It was also rather dark, due to the metal shields activated to cover the skylights.

Ruby looked around to make sure no Grimm were in the room, even looking up into the rafters just to be extra careful. There was a whistling sound, and scythe-using Huntress saw the other pair of large doors at the other side of the gym open with a small group of Vacuo Rangers gesturing for them to come over. Satisfied that the whole place was entirely empty, she looked back and spoke, "Okay, we're clear. Everyone, stay calm and make your way quickly to the other side!" She beckoned as she got back into the hall to cover the rear while the teachers held the doors open for the students.

As they all trotted briskly past her, Ruby began humming a gentle tune to calm the nervous students, doing her best to make the situation less intense for them.

Then things got worse.

The ground suddenly shook violently, knocking students and teachers off their feet as a Deathworm exploded out of the floor, roaring as rocks poured out of its mouth. Screams and shrieks rent the air as students and teachers gave voice to their fear and terror while scattering back against the walls. A few of the Vacuo Rangers ran into the gym, pulling students to their feet and pushing them through the open doors while a couple of other rangers opened fire at the Deathworm with their assault rifles and shotguns. Ruby activated her semblance and ran through the disordered crowd before jumping over them, directly towards the Deathworm's mouth as it lifted its upper body.

Ruby's silver eyes shone slightly brighter as she used another small portion of the incredible power within her to petrify the Grimm Deathworm in a single blinding flash, while the rapid spinning and blasting of Crescent Rose and her Semblance's speed helped Ruby to rip right through the back of its head like a living bullet, reducing its head to several ragged pieces before it fell to the ground dead.

Ruby landed on both feet, shuddering after seeing what was inside of the Deathworm's throat, even though it was little more than a couple of seconds. "Well, I hope I never have to do that again." She murmured to herself before looking back at the students, teachers and Vacuo Rangers who all gazed at her in barely disguised awe.

"Hey, let's not just stand there! As long as we're out in the open we're in danger. Let's move!" She shouted as she ran back to them, the silver glow of her eyes' power dimming for now. Thanks to the help from her mother's spirit and Argentius's training she was better at controlling her powers, but using the power of her silver eyes still took a significant toll on her, so the female scythe user didn't know how much longer she could keep fighting before she was too drained to go on.

Ruby, along with the Vacuo Rangers, made sure everyone got through the gym and blasted at the Grimm that were appearing in the doorways while the rangers tossed frag grenades into the Deathworm's tunnel to hold back any Grimm that planned to enter through that way.

"Go, go! We'll hold them off!" The Vacuo Ranger corporal shouted at Ruby as he shot down a Beowolf with his assault rifle while tossing a grenade to kill a group of Grimm Creeps, while the rest of the squad kept the emerging Grimm occupied. She raced to get ahead of the large group and recognized the hallway that was part of the route to the shelter entrance, which was a large series of steps wide enough for all three lines of students.

They were so close.

"Okay everyone, almost there! Come on!" Ruby said encouragingly, pointing them in the right direction as the lines of students moved quickly but nervously by.

The first teacher took out his portable radio and spoke, "Principal Rujos, we're about to start down the main staircase! Open the doors to the shelter!"

The opening of the shelter's heavy metal doors was loud enough for Ruby to hear at the other end of the hallway, and obviously enough for the Grimm as several Beowolves, including an Alpha leading the small pack, appeared at the far end of the hall and began charge.

"Ruby!" One of the children screamed.

Ruby was already racing forward, using her Semblance to rush by the students and got between them and the Grimm. "Get them in the shelter!" She cried as her eyes glowed slightly once again, Crescent Rose ready to fire.

There was a bright flash of silver light, and the Grimm Beowolves crumbled to stone dust before Crescent Rose's blade even touched them. However, Ruby heard more roars followed by the pounding of clawed feet which announced the arrival of more Grimm creatures.

She felt herself smile as she racked the slide of her weapon and chambered another fresh round, eager to meet the incoming Grimm. Today was a bad day to mess with Ruby Rose.

---

Jaune and Pyrrha didn't know how long they had been running through the streets of Vacuo's capital, but if the sweat pouring down Jaune's body was any indication, it was way too long for his liking. He felt like he had ran an entire marathon, and the blond was suddenly grateful for the endurance training that he had undergone with Pyrrha and the others back at Beacon.

The couple had chased the two Enforcers through the city, occasionally stopping to trade blows or killing Grimm creatures that were menacing civilians, always swapping between themselves to slow the criminals down. Fireball had the Aura Crystal's case strapped tightly to his belt after Trooper had thrown it over to him while sprinting through a messy store-covered throughway, and was doing a good job of keeping it steady as he ran and fought.

Jaune groaned as he saw a lone gang member who had forced open an ATM machine and was shoving money into his bag, taking advantage of the chaos to steal some loot. He whacked the thug in the head with the pommel of Crocea Mors, before grabbing him by the head and slammed the gang member into the brick wall the machine was built into, and then resumed the chase.

"If Trooper's secretly helping us, now would be a pretty good time!" He panted as he held up his shield against another salvo of bullets from Fireball's pistol. Pyrrha fired back with Miló in its rifle form and managed to graze the flamethrower Enforcer's suit-covered arm which began to bleed.

"If he genuinely wants to help us, he could have warned someone about this. Perhaps he's changed his mind? Trying to play both sides is a dangerous game." Pyrrha pointed out as she kept ahead of Jaune, jumping over an abandoned vegetable cart, and drop-kicking another gang member who fell groaning onto his face before knocking him unconscious with a punch to the back of his head.

"Or maybe he's just waiting for the right time to make his move." Jaune realized, "We know he's a former Atlas soldier, so maybe he's smart enough to look for opportunities that hopefully won't end with him dying for us."

"Could be, but we shall see what's the truth." Pyrrha acknowledged as she looked up ahead to see the two Enforcers heading for a derelict, three-storey brick building, "They're going in there, hurry!"

Jaune shook his head as he used his Semblance to speed up as much as he could, "At least I got enough of a workout for today, or for the whole week!"

The apartment building had been abandoned for at least two years, judging from its decrepit look. It had been built fifty years ago as part of a project to modernize the Vacuoan capital with newer designs, but due to various finance and insurance problems, this particular building had been neglected and left to decay. It was finally condemned two years ago, and was now currently being used by homeless people and criminals looking for a safe haven, like the majority of the abandoned buildings in the capital's various districts.

"Upstairs!" Trooper told Fireball as they arrived at the main staircase after bursting into the main hallway. It was a litter-strewn place, covered with empty supply crates and various garbage bins, not to mention having a horrendous smell.

"What? Why?" The burn victim inquired and Trooper simply gestured to the rooms upstairs.

"If we run through, they'll just keep chasing us until we're all exhausted. But if we hide up there and fool them into going on, by the time they realize what has happened we'll already be in the clear and away."

"Heh, not a bad plan." Fireball admitted seeing Trooper's reasoning.

He smirked behind his protective mask when Trooper pulled a frag grenade from his belt and said, "Just do what I do, quickly!"

Trooper glanced back through a nearby window and saw that Jaune and Pyrrha were almost at the last corner across the street. They had only a handful of crucial seconds to work quickly if they want their hastily-made deception to work. So the two Enforcers worked quickly on their strategy, placing a number of frag and smoke grenades in hidden alcoves around the main hallway and Trooper completed the trap by tying some thin wires across the ground that would hopefully activate their diversionary trap when Jaune and Pyrrha ran into the building's ground level.

"Okay that should do it, now go!" Trooper urged Fireball up the staircase, but as the latter Enforcer went up the wooden steps one of them snapped under his weight and the pyromaniac nearly tripped and fell if not for him grabbing onto the rusted handrail built into the wall, but he still made contact with it though. Trooper slid an arm underneath Fireball's unwounded shoulder and hauled him up the staircase, both of them half-stumbling, half-running up the stairs until they got to the second level. Seeing that everyone else in the building had either blocked their doors or fled, Trooper blasted away the wooden boards nailed across the door-frame at the far end of the corridor, and kicked it open.

"In here." He hauled a grunting Fireball through and gently pushed the door mostly closed, leaving only a small gap visible while hoping privately that his plan to return the Aura Crystal to its guardians would work. Depending on the circumstances, he might have to improvise should anything unexpected happen in order to make sure that no one within Salem's faction would realize that he purposely allowed the sacred relic to be recovered.

Laying Fireball down on a nearby worn and moth-eaten couch, Trooper put a finger to his helmet's face-plate and kept his assault rifle at the ready, then he took a quick peek through the small gap just in time to see Jaune and Pyrrha sprinting across the street and arriving at the derelict building's ground level.

The Guardians of the Aura Crystal took their places at both sides of the open deserted doorway, before cautiously taking their first cautionary steps into the carcass of a building. They looked around with all of their senses at high alert, expecting an attack from Grimm beasts or an ambush by more of Damien Ante's thugs.

"Ideal place for an ambush or a trap, huh?" Jaune whispered as his blue eyes flicked around.

"You read my mind." Pyrrha returned as she kept both Miló and Akoúo̱ at the ready, until she caught sight of something long, thin and silvery dangerously near the knight's leather boots, "Jaune! Don't move!"

He complied, freezing in place instantly. "Take half a dozen steps backward, towards me. Slowly." The Spartan gestured slowly, and Jaune gave a small nod as he moved as if in reverse slow motion. When he was close enough to Pyrrha his partner quickly pulled him to the side, "You almost triggered a trap, Jaune!"

"You saw it?" Jaune asked and she nodded, pointing with Miló's spear form.

"Follow where my spear is pointing. Did you see a couple of thin wires near the feet level, between the empty crates and garbage bins?"

Jaune squinted and then realized what Pyrrha had seen, thin wires connected to grenades cleverly hidden around the ground level. Obviously a trap set by Trooper and Fireball, one that they obviously wanted both Crystal Guardians to fall into and possibly get themselves seriously injured or worse. He shuddered a little, and looked around them, "Do you think those two could be hiding in this building?"

"The backdoor's still open, they might have gone through there. We can take a detour through the next street to catch them, there's-" Pyrrha began before Jaune cut her off.

"Actually, I think I may be right." He pointed to the step that had snapped in half, and the dents in the wall where someone heavy had smashed into it.

"That looks recent, given the marks on the dust, and the grenade trip-wire trap...and there's that," The blond knight whispered to his girlfriend, pointing to Fireball's blood on the staircase's handrail. The pyromaniac Enforcer had left the smear of red when he slammed into it earlier, which caused his old burn wounds to reopen and ooze blood through the sleeve Jaune had cut earlier.

Pyrrha nodded her head, agreeing with her partner and whispering, "It's a diversionary trick. They want us to take another way around while they hide somewhere else. The tripwire trap was just to further the deception and probably injure us as well."

"They're probably hiding upstairs now." Jaune mentioned back softly, glancing up at the second level, "Think you can get up there and then pull me up?"

"That's not a problem." Pyrrha replied, "Although we need to make sure we trigger their trap and make it look as though we fell for it."

"That's easy. Just be ready to act." Jaune picked up a fist-sized chunk of broken brick and tossed it directly at the filament thin wires which were connected to the grenade trap down the hallway. Both members of Team JNPR hid behind the adjacent wall as a couple of thudding booms ripped through the corridor, shrapnel pinging off the ceiling, walls and floor outside.

"Pyrrha! You okay?" Jaune gave a shout of concern. He then looked at Pyrrha and nodded.

"I…I'm fine! We can't go this way, the place probably filled with more traps." Pyrrha acted out her part, mentally thanking those acting lessons she had taken for her commercial appearances and guest spots on TV shows.

"What about the staircase?" Jaune peeked upwards as he spoke, "Have they gone up?"

"No, I don't think so. Those steps are too weak to hold men of their size." His partner paused and then continued, "They are probably in the next street. Let's keep going, before we lose them!"

After checking that the vicinity was free of any other traps, Pyrrha jumped up to the second floor and gracefully grabbed hold of the handrail, carefully maneuvering herself to land on her feet stealthily. Then she looked down and used her Semblance to quietly pull Jaune up as well. They then drew their weapons and got ready.

Down the hall, Trooper and Fireball hid in one of the empty apartment rooms, waiting for the coast to be clear while eyeing each other carefully. They heard their grenade trap go off, followed by the sounds of their pursuers talking between themselves, but little else was heard after that.

"You think they bought it?" Fireball questioned his fellow Enforcer.

Trooper doubted it as he didn't hear their footsteps go on downstairs, but he hoped Jaune and Pyrrha wouldn't fall for it since it would make his plan to return the Aura Crystal to them even more difficult. Besides, who was he to point that out when he had already made his choice? "Wait here, I'll check." He told Fireball, and slowly eased the door open with his assault rifle at the ready.

He put his head out into the doorway, and instantly caught sight of the two Crystal Guardians who likewise saw him at the same time. Before Trooper could squeeze the trigger of his rifle, Pyrrha opened fire on him with Miló's rifle mode. The Enforcer flung himself back, with the blast from Miló impacting into the door-frame and creating a crater that sent splinters hitting his helmet and flying into the air.

"Smart kids." Fireball muttered as he stormed out of the room and brought up his flamethrower, spraying an arc of roaring fire that drove them back.

"Whoa!" Jaune cried out in alarm as he quickly pulled Pyrrha out of the way and raised his shield to protect them both, the burst of fire nearly hitting them both.

"Are you mad? Setting fire here could cause the entire building to collapse!" Pyrrha shouted as Trooper fired a couple of salvos from his assault rifle, then grabbed the case containing the relic crystal from Fireball's belt.

"To the roof! Let's go!" He told his pyromaniac comrade, who nodded and began walking backwards towards the back stairs, putting out plumes of scorching red flames to discourage any pursuit. Then he tossed an incendiary grenade before jogging after Trooper as fast as he could, the resulting explosion covering the hallway with even more conflagrations.

After the wave of fire had rushed past them, Jaune took out a vial of blue Dust from his belt and tossed it at the roaring fire in the hallway, his Semblance activating it and creating a sudden burst of water that doused most of the flames. "Hurry!" He told Pyrrha as he ran ahead.

The Arc son rounded a bend, but cried out as another wave of fire rushed right at him. Pyrrha quickly pulled him back just in time into the adjacent corridor, and the wave of fire passed them by and slammed into a number of windows, which were all smashed open by it.

"You saved me again, how many times is it now?" Jaune asked lightly to Pyrrha.

"What? You keeping count now?" She retorted with a smile before she added as they ran, "Those two are heading for the roof. If we keep following them through the hallways we'll make the fires worse, and I don't think we have enough blue Dust to extinguish them all."

"You have a point…so let's take a shortcut." Jaune said as he gestured to an adjoining apartment's open doors, where a fire escape could be seen through the dirty window.

They exchanged smiles and made their way inside, and Jaune continued speaking, "This isn't going to be easy. However, they'll be cornered if we can get Trooper's grappling hook away from him, and once we manage that it's just a matter of beating them in a fight. Fighting a trained ex-Atlas soldier and a nut armed with a flamethrower, that is."

"Then we just have to do our best to avoid the flames." Pyrrha remarked as Jaune opened the window and added, "We have to do this, Jaune. We can't let the Aura Crystal fall into Salem's hands. Who knows what she would do with such a powerful relic?"

"I know, so we gotta give it our all in order to make sure she never gets it." Jaune answered as he carefully stepped onto the rusty fire escape.

He helped Pyrrha out and once she placed her feet securely on the creaking metal she told him, "And I'll be by your side no matter what happens, my love."

Jaune gave his partner a warm smile she returned, "Same to you, my goddess. Now let's get up there."

Pyrrha nodded before she looked at the fire escape and frowned, "This might not hold us up all the way..." So she jumped up to the handrail and leapt high into the air where she grabbed the ledge of the roof's border, while Jaune leapt onto the ledge of the window by the fire escape, crouched down and bounded upwards to grab another brick ledge above him. After the female spartan managed to climb near the top of the roof, she grabbed a long flagpole extending from its top to pull herself fully up, turned and then used her Semblance to pull Jaune up and dropped him gently next to her.

The blond gave her a grateful look before they ran to flank the doorway that was at the other side of the roof while drawing their own weapons, preparing themselves to ambush the two Enforcers.

A moment later the door was thrown open by Trooper, who let out a barrage of bullets into the open air in front of him. Thankfully both of the young Crystal Guardians were hidden at either side, but they drew back slightly just to keep up the impression of an empty roof.

"What was that for? Save your bullets!" Fireball admonished as he shot out another blast of fire at the lower end of the staircase to cover their escape.

"These kids are smart." Trooper grunted as he stepped out onto the roof, "For all we know, they're up here already…"

Mentally composing himself, Jaune sprung forward and pivoted on his foot, slamming the shield of Crocea Mors into Trooper's helmet and knocked him sprawling onto the hot surface of the roof, the Aura Crystal's case slipping from his gauntlets.

"What the-?" Fireball cried as he spun around accidentally let out a burst of flames from his flamethrower at Jaune who quickly jumped back, but some of the flames unfortunately did land on Trooper's tactical outfit.

"Oh, son of a BITCH!" He cried out as he rolled quickly to put out the flames, ripping off the flaming jacket in the process. Once he stopped he noticed Pyrrha coming up to stand a few meters away from him in a combat stance, ready to fight.

"You have something that belongs to us. Surrender it now, and you can walk away." She offered quietly.

"I'd love to, but I can't." Trooper replied as he whipped out dual pistols and leapt up, firing at Pyrrha who immediately shielded herself with Akoúo̱, the expelled bullets ricocheting off it.

Fireball spun around and shot his flare gun at Jaune while holding his flamethrower with one hand. The blond sword-wielder sidestepped the flaming rounds before he leapt over the next wave of fire that shot towards him from the barrel of the Enforcer's flamethrower. With a smash of his shield Jaune knocked the flare gun out of Fireball's hands which dropped off the building, then ducked underneath a return punch coming from the masked Enforcer.

Jaune came up from a roll beside Fireball and crouched down to try and grab the case, only to see that it was no longer there. He quickly rolled away as the Flamethrower-wielding Enforcer tried to torch him alight, and with a swift upwards slash of Crocea Mors he managed to cut through the back of Fireball's fireproof suit, ripping it open to reveal a back of scabby, charred flesh.

Fireball let out a furious yell as he swung around and tried to burn Jaune alive, but the young knight quickly got out of the way while keeping his shield in front of him even as Pyrrha fought Trooper, either shielding herself from or deflecting his bullets before his ammunition ran out. The Mistralian champion then launched herself forward and kicked the ex-Atlesian soldier in the chest, knocking the crystal's case out from underneath his right arm and sent skidding across the rooftop.

Jaune jumped towards it, only to be tackled out of the way by Fireball who created a spread of scorching flames to separate the two Crystal Guardians from the case. Pyrrha leapt over the semicircle of flames while Jaune pushed himself up, just as the pyromaniac Enforcer ran to rejoin Trooper who had taken out his grappling hook gun again after picking up the relic's case once more.

"Let's go!" Trooper called as he aimed his gun's grappling hook attachment at a ledge of the building opposite. He fired it, only for Pyrrha to use her Semblance to control it and pulled back it almost immediately, yanking Trooper down as she brought the cord over to Jaune who severed it with a powerful downward slice from Crocea Mors.

"Oh damn." Fireball muttered. Now there was no easy way of getting off or away from the building they were currently on top of, as it was also way too long to jump to the next one.

"No one's leaving until we get the crystal back. Now hand it over!" Pyrrha told them firmly as she readied herself for another bout, as black smoke began rising from the open staircase's door and the broken windows below them.

"Well then, I guess we'll have to just keep fighting until the whole building collapses!" Fireball snapped as he lifted his flamethrower. The masked Enforcer pulled the ignition trigger, letting out a stream of flames which Jaune deflected with both his shield and his Semblance, which was fueled by a burning desire to protect Pyrrha and reclaim the crystal.

Trooper pointed his assault rifle at Pyrrha and opened fire, the Huntress leaping away from his fusillade before slamming Akoúo̱ into the rooftop and using it as cover while she shot back at the Enforcer with Miló's rifle mode. When Trooper's own rifle clacked empty, she jumped up while ripping her shield out of the rooftop and landed next to Fireball, sweep-kicking the flamethrower user. He stumbled and lost his grip on the crystal's protective case and Pyrrha grabbed it from him, yanking it out and further ripping off the sleeve that had been cut earlier, revealing more of the burn victim's scarred body.

Growling, Fireball whipped around and shot a stream of flames from his flamethrower at the redhead who slammed down Akoúo̱ and curled up into a ball to protect herself and the Aura Crystal. However some of the flames managed to get through and licked at Pyrrha from the edges of her shield, making her wince in pain and her aura flare. Jaune ducked an attempt by Trooper to use the butt of his assault rifle to bludgeon him and sent the Enforcer stumbling back with a shield bash, then sprinted towards Fireball and slammed his fist into the other Enforcer's masked face. The impact from the punch was so great that it not only broke the protective goggles protecting Fireball's eyes, it also smashed the mask's nose piece to one side and nearly ripping it off.

Fireball quickly lowered his head so none of the broken glass could get into his eyes or the skin around them, shaking his head slightly as he pawed at his mask. Seeing her chance, Pyrrha drop-kicked the groaning flamethrower user and then ran past him, scooping up the crystal's case by the handle while Jaune raised his own shield to protect Pyrrha from a fresh barrage of bullets from Trooper's assault rifle.

"We got it, let's get out of here!" Jaune shouted to Pyrrha who quickly nodded as they both sprinted towards the side where the rusting fire escape led down to the street below, intent on getting away from the burning building. Their way of escape was abruptly cut off when Fireball recovered and threw an incendiary grenade in that direction, which came down and landed in front of the couple and close to the flagpole. It detonated in a sizable ball of flames, knocking the two of them down and creating a new wall of fire that cut the off and causing the flagpole to list slightly over them due to its base suffering damage from the grenade blast.

"You see, fire can be used for many things…including cutting off escape routes." The pyromaniac Enforcer stated as he got up, visibly cringing in pain.

"Are you all right?" Trooper asked as he aimed his assault rifle at the pair of Crystal Guardians.

"I'm fine, I had worse before." Firewall dismissed while glancing at Trooper through the corner of his eyes. The protective mask had become undone so the flamethrower user's dark blue eyes were completely exposed now, as well as the flesh around them which were swollen and scabby.

"I don't think that was a good idea!" Jaune called out, "Our fight has set most of the building on fire, and that explosion from your incendiary grenade makes it even worse!" He then pointed to the impact zone of the grenade, which had cracked the rooftop severely in many places.

"The kid has a point, the smoke does seem to be getting thicker." Trooper noted as he looked towards the open doorway where thick black smoke was pouring out, with red flames not far behind it.

"Hmm…" Fireball murmured as he looked at Jaune and Pyrrha, "Maybe I was a little hasty…"

"Obviously!" Pyrrha cried out, "You were also way too hasty when you chose to become a complete pyromaniac! You take pride in destroying things wholesale with fire, but are you really proud of all the wanton destruction you've caused?"

Fireball was silent as he briefly looked down and then began to slowly approach the pair, asking, "Perhaps I am. I honestly don't know if I should be proud or not. I have suffered, and so I want to make sure others suffered with me. I can see it in both of your eyes…you two have suffered, but I can tell it has largely diminished since that night at Haven, has it not?"

Trooper's eyes widened behind his face-plate when he realized what Fireball was talking about.

Jaune and Pyrrha glanced at one another as they kept their guard up, ready for anything both Enforcers might throw at them. "Yeah, we both suffered, that's for sure…" Jaune eventually admitted while Pyrrha tightened her grip on the Aura Crystal's case, determined to make sure no one took it from her.

"But it hasn't totally ended since that night at Haven. We've both had nightmares and visions, and suffered near-emotional breakdowns, not to mention also having been haunted by our trauma. But we have managed to endure thanks to our friends, family and each other." Pyrrha finished, "And we both emerged better and stronger from it."

"Why do you want to know?" Jaune asked carefully, keeping his weapons at the ready.

Fireball was silent, looking at them through the broken goggles of his protective mask. Around them, the crackling sound of burning flames and thick black smoke continued to pour into the sky, along with the loud crashing sounds of various things collapsing in the lower levels.

"Fireball, what are you doing?" Trooper asked cautiously while wondering where the conversation was going. Personally, he would like to let the two get away with the crystal and get off the building before it was completely engulfed in flames and eventually collapsed, but he didn't want to risk anyone knowing that he had been secretly helping the other side. Not even to any of his fellow Enforcers, because he didn't know how they would take it.

It was then that Fireball did something none of them expected: he ripped off his mask and threw it over the building's roof edge. Jaune, Pyrrha, and even Trooper gasped at the sight of the burn victim's real face, especially Trooper, since even though he had been fighting alongside Fireball for quite some time he had never seen his fellow Enforcer's face behind the mask.

Fireball's face was now entirely exposed, and it was a charred mess of a face with skin that was scabby and somewhat leathery, with a waxy sheen and his veins visible underneath his thin skin that had a few stitches here and there. A mere few raggedy strands of black hair were left on his bald scalp, his lips were rather swollen and slightly disfigured which revealed a mouthful of dirty teeth, and he barely had any nose to speak of except for an empty space where his nose should have been.

"As you can tell, I have suffered as well." Fireball revealed, his rasping voice sounding as though he was gargling ashes, "I was once an aspiring student training to be a Huntsman, just like you two. Then this happened to me and my dreams were gone forever. I was offered the reprieve of death while lying in the hospital's operating theater, and I felt the presence of Oum…I was so close! But it was snatched away from me, so I could go on living and suffering. But then I eventually grew to consider the possibility that maybe suffering isn't all that bad. Maybe it did help people to learn and grow. To become better. You two know what that's like, having experienced such trauma firsthand. You both nearly died and were saved from death, but unlike me you don't have to live like…like this, so you don't know the truth I know."

"W-what truth?" Pyrrha asked, evidently disturbed by his words, but feeling quite sympathetic for him.

"That life is just a journey on the way to death, and that is where our true 'lives' begin. Though where you end up exactly though…that's a different story, and that also depends on who you really are." The burn victim told them.

Jaune shuddered at the melancholic voice, but was quickly snapped out of it when he heard one of the floors below collapse noisily due to the rapidly spreading fire. He also heard a slight creaking sound, and looked out of the corner of his eyes to see the flagpole which was not far away from them creaking as it slumped further over, the fires travelling up the ropes that were keeping it vertically straight.

"Speaking of life and death, we need to get off this building if we don't want to end up dead!" He shouted at the two Enforcers.

"Not bad advice!" Trooper agreed as he felt the ground underneath his booted feet tremble unexpectedly, "Fireball, we need to go now!"

"Very well, we can continue our fight below. Maybe with my flames, I can help you two children get even closer to Oum. It would be an enlightening experience, I promise you." Fireball said as he lifted up his flamethrower to point at the Crystal Guardians.

Jaune and Pyrrha brought up their shields again, anticipating another burst of flames from the Enforcer's flamethrower when they heard a very different sound. Suddenly, with a loud screech of breaking metal and the crunching of shattering bricks the flagpole fell over and smashed down onto Fireball, the flames from the snapped ropes catching his bare arm while the rusted wings of the metal Nevermore figure atop the pole slashed through the side of the cylindrical gas tank which was attached to the Enforcer's back. There was a clear hissing sound of escaping gas, and the volatile gas reached out towards the burning flames.

"NO!" Trooper shouted as Fireball's charred arm was set ablaze, rapidly traveling up his arm and to his face. Jaune took out another blue Dust vial from his belt pouch, and was about to throw it when the leaking gas was ignited by the flames and blew up with explosive results.

Fireball screamed in pure agony as he was consumed by the flames, with the original fire that had severely scarred his body flashing in his mind along with the echoes of the dreadful screams of his former teammates when it happened so long ago. It spread rapidly through his whole suit to the rest of his body, causing intense and unbearable pain. It wasn't long before the Enforcer was simply a living torch, screaming and howling agonizingly as he was literally burned alive, while Trooper and the two Crystal Guardians took several steps backward to get out of the burn victim's way.

BLAM!

A bullet went through the burning figure's head, killing Fireball and ending his suffering forever.

The flaming body collapsed onto the rooftop with a loud thud like a puppet with its strings cut, and Jaune and Pyrrha both slowly looked over to see Trooper lowering his assault rifle and shaking slightly.

"You…killed him." Pyrrha stated in a whisper, "You murdered your own ally?!"

"I had to. He lived in constant pain ever since his accident, so even if he survived this…let's just say the pain would eventually become unbearable and turn what's left of his life into a living hell and eventually kill him outright. Slowly and painfully. I did what I had to do, even though my actions may seem inhumane to you. I eased his suffering, at least a little." Trooper said as he watched Fireball's body continue to burn, "It's not murder, it's mercy!"

Another Enforcer was gone while following Salem's plans, just like Zane and Douglas. When would his turn come?

"May you find whatever you were looking for in the next life, Fireball." He said quietly, keeping his assault rifle by his side in an Atlesian-like soldier salute.

Pyrrha looked away from the terrible sight while Jaune hung his head, looking down at the cracked rooftop. The sounds of flames was nearer as well, and so he looked up to spot the fire rising from the doorway as well as hearing the sounds of more floors beneath them creaking and beginning to collapse. The cracks on the roof's concrete floor spread outwards from beneath Fireball's body, growing bigger and wider as they snaked towards the remaining Enforcer and the Crystal Guardians.

"We gotta go, now!" Jaune shouted as he grabbed Pyrrha's hand and led her towards the fire escape. He stopped for a second and then added, "Trooper! Get going!"

Trooper followed them, but paused to take one last look back at his smoldering comrade's dead body which was lying on the rooftop, grey and black smoke rising from the small fires scattered all over the burnt corpse. Letting out a sad sigh, he sprinted to join the two Aura Crystal Guardians on the creaking fire escape and began climbing down, throwing away his broken grappling hook gun in the process.

It was no easy feat, as the ol, rusty fire escape shuddered precariously under their collective weight, as well as the weight of their gear and the case containing the crystal. Nevertheless, the fear of being crushed the debris of the slowly crumbling apartment building kept them all going as fast as they dared to.

Trooper followed Jaune and Pyrrha down the metal steps, but upon reaching the third story he suddenly felt the steps collapse under him with a loud screeching sound. He abruptly stepped into thin air and with a shout of panic, the Enforcer fell through the metal frame of the fire escape. Jaune turned and tried to reach out with one hand to catch Trooper, but failed and watched helplessly as he saw the Enforcer's armored body crashing and slamming into the rails and steps of the fire escape as he fell.

"Hurry!" Pyrrha cried as she grabbed Jaune by the arm and ran towards the other end of the fire escape, just as the groaning of metal got louder and soon enough the whole thing collapsed section by section, chasing both Crystal Guardians as they tried to stay a few steps ahead of sharing Trooper's fate. The partners made a running leap off of the fire escape just as the bolts holding it to the building's derelict façade snapped off and the entire fire escape toppled and met the ground in a thunderous crash. A moment later the rest of the building groaned thunderously as it collapsed from within, the entire structure itself crumbling into a huge pile of debris and rubble within seconds and throwing out clouds of dust and smoke.

Both of them landed on the street relatively unscathed, Pyrrha tucking and rolling away from the crackling flames while Jaune landed crouched on his feet and right hand before getting up to run to Pyrrha's side. He quickly checked his partner over, relieved that she didn't suffer any major injuries save for some small superficial scratches here and there.

"You okay?" The blond knight asked, putting a hand on Pyrrha's shoulder and checking her one last time to make sure she wasn't injured.

"I'm fine, what about you?" Pyrrha asked him in return, rubbing away ash from Jaune's cheek.

"Same here, just some scratches." Jaune nodded before his head snapped back to the collapsed fire escape and building wall, wondering if Trooper had survived. Narrowing his blue eyes a little, the leader of Team JNPR spotted a battered body half-buried among the wreckage of broken rebar and smashed bricks.

Without hesitation Jaune ran towards the trapped Enforcer and knelt down, pulling and throwing aside heaps or crushed metal to dig him out. Pyrrha also came over to help, assisting Jaune in lifting up a few heavy pieces of metal railing with her Semblance to free Trooper's body so her partner could pull him out of the rubble.

"Is he alive?" Pyrrha asked as she came over, putting one arm of the unconscious Enforcer over her shoulder and helping Jaune carry him to an empty ground level of another building down the street, getting away from the worst of the choking black smoke. Jaune snatched up Trooper's assault rifle as well, reasoning that it might come in handy against any lingering Grimm in the area.

"He's had experience in the military forces. It'll take more than that to kill someone like him." Jaune responded as he propped Trooper against a wall and gestured to the Enforcer's breathing chest.

Knowing that they were safe for the moment, Jaune looked back at the burning building and shuddered. Something about the sight of so much fire made him feel real uneasy and he didn't know why. However, something in his gut told him that his apparent namesake, Joan of Arc, probably had something to do with it.

Trooper soon stirred, seething painfully while raising one hand to hold his head, "Ugh, ah! Oh damn! That hurts as bad as the time I was in specialist training back at Camp Independence!"

"Not surprised it hurts so much, that looked like a bad fall." Jaune remarked as he sheathed his sword and collapsed his shield.

"Yeah, hurts like a bitch. But I'll live." Trooper confirmed as he glanced over to the sight of the burning and collapsed apartment building, "And you both have my thanks for saving me."

"Coming from someone who tried to kill us more than a couple of times…" Jaune said as he shrugged, "…I guess that's at least some remarkable improvement."

"So…where do we go from here?" The Enforcer asked, seeing Jaune holding onto his assault rifle, "And I appreciate it that you don't point my weapon at me."

"Just being cautious, since we don't know where your loyalties lie." Jaune pointed out.

"I suppose that depends on your answers to our questions." Pyrrha asked, pointing Miló in spear form at him, "Like why didn't you warn us that you're actually trying to help us?"

"Yeah, you let Taiyang go back Bressi's nightclub after fighting him, saved my sister Violet from Anansi, and let us know what has happened with Ashe, Jude and Cinder after the battle at the CraftTech factory. Taiyang told us that you said you weren't going to be on either side, but it kind of looks like you actually want to help us." Jaune explained gently and asked, "So, what's the deal?"

Trooper turned his ripped off his helmet to look at Jaune and explained "I wanted to anonymously warn Shade's headmistress of the attack, but there's apparently a spy already planted within the academy who would tip off Salem if Luna took any additional actions, and I couldn't let anyone know there's someone within Salem's group who isn't a hundred percent sold on her 'better world' crap. Plus, by the time I was informed on what's going to happen I had that Fusion Faunus nutjob Callows hanging around and I couldn't do anything without giving myself away."

Jaune and Pyrrha shared a look while remaining silent, not sure of what to do. Seeing that the surviving Enforcer wasn't going to make a run for it or do anything else, the Spartan lowered her spear.

Trooper sighed as he forced himself to sit up, ignoring the pain stabbing through parts of his body, "Look, I want to stop Salem as much as you. I'll do what I can when I can, but I'm honestly no good to anyone if I give myself away and get myself killed before I can put out another warning or give anything useful. I'm sorry this is happening, but-"

"It's all right, we understand. You probably tried your best anyway." Pyrrha told him gently, "For what it's worth, I'm sorry about what happened to Fireball…I didn't know he had suffered so greatly…"

"Yeah, me too." Jaune added carefully, "I know he had his reasons, but no one deserved to live in pain like that."

"I didn't know either until recently. Life just had the tendency to screw certain people over, you know? He could have been a Huntsman, and I could have been a distinguished Atlesian Specialist…you two nearly ended up like us, but you both pulled through despite everything. I respect your idealism and persistence to continue the fight against Salem in that regard, so enjoy that happiness while it lasts kids." Trooper said as he laid back down, "I may not be a good person, and I've done a lot of things I'm not proud of, but I refuse to be party to bringing about the end of the world."

The male knight and the female spartan looked at one another, briefly gazing into each other's eyes. They knew Trooper was at least right about their individual personalities and strong human nature. Those were the things Salem can never take away from the both of them.

"Well, we'll be taking the Aura Crystal and getting back to helping our friends, and to go see what we can do to stop the Grimm." Jaune told Trooper calmly, "So what are you gonna do?"

"What else? Call up Ante and tell him Fireball was unfortunately killed in the battle, and that I lost the Aura Crystal to you two because the both of you got the drop on us. He's gonna be pissed, but I can easily cook up a plausible story that will hopefully allay his suspicions since I'm already bruised and beaten up enough as it is." Trooper mentioned as he checked himself over, "Can I have my rifle back as well, I don't want to be running around without a weapon, especially with Grimm and Rangers roaming the streets."

"Sorry. Just being careful in case you are only putting on an act." Jaune held out the weapon grip first and with its safety on, "But is there a way you can discreetly contact us if you want to pass us any useful information?"

"I understand, I would've done the same if our roles are reversed." Trooper checked his rifle as he thought about it for a moment, "There…is a way, but it's kind of risky. Well, more for me than you since I'm the one who's putting my neck on the chopping block if anyone finds out I'm working against Salem's group in secret."

"Yes, but how can you contact us?" Jaune questioned.

Trooper slung his assault rifle and produced a small advanced communicator device from one of his waist pouches. It had a certain high-tech look to it, clearly Atlesian-made, and looked about the size of his fist. The Enforcer tapped something into the communicator's screen and held it out to Jaune, saying, "Here. When you have the chance after the battle, connect this communicator device to an isolated computer system and make sure it has a connection to the CCT. I have the other one in my possession, and also modified them both to be able to send and receive messages anonymously. If I manage to obtain any valuable information on my end, I'll be sure to pass them along through this communicator as soon as I can. It's not much, but that's the best I can do at the moment."

"And how do we know it's you?" Pyrrha voiced the next question, "Just in case you've been found out by others working for Salem?"

"All secure messages will come with an attached code name." Trooper lowered his voice, "Mine's Delta. It's the designation I went by when I was previously serving in the Atlesian military forces. If you didn't see my code name come with the message, destroy it immediately, since that means I'm compromised and likely already dead."

There was a massive explosion in the distance, followed by loud rumbles that echoed through the empty streets accompanied by more clouds of choking dust and smoke. The three of them took cover briefly from any stray falling objects, and Trooper gestured for Jaune and Pyrrha to leave quickly, "Okay, enough talk. I need to get going before my comrades get suspicious of my absence or anyone working for Salem actually sees us together. I would very much want to be alive for a little while longer, if you don't mind."

"I can imagine so. Good luck." Pyrrha answered as she and Jaune began walking back deeper into the streets of the city to reenter the battle.

"And if you ever want out of this and get away Salem, just send us a message. We'll find some way to pull you out and also vouch for you. Goodbye and good luck!" Jaune assured the ex-Atlesian soldier before he turned and ran off with Pyrrha, the female spartan gripping the case with the Aura Crystal tightly.

Trooper nodded and walked down another empty street opposite, and didn't stop until he was sure that he was in a secluded enough place that no one from the Vacuo Rangers or Desert Guards could find him. Then he took out his scroll, with its screen cracked by his fall but still fairly functional, and called Ante. After hearing Ante demanding to hear only good news from him, the Enforcer sighed inwardly and knew he had to disappoint his superior.

Then there was the news of Fireball's death, but that can wait for a later time. Wherever Fireball was now, Trooper hoped his suffering was finally over.

Meanwhile, unknown to the Enforcer someone was indeed watching him. Behind a broken window within an empty room on a nearby building that he was closest to was Emerald, who had expertly kept herself hidden from view and heard everything that had transpired between Trooper and the two Crystal Guardians.

She had decided to help save a few people from some rampaging Grimm by killing the soulless beasts while making her way to try and make sure that Ante's thugs still had the Aura Crystal, only to arrive and witness Jaune and Pyrrha carrying Trooper away from a collapsed burning building. The red-haired spartan had regained the Aura Crystal's case, and Fireball was nowhere in sight. Needless to say, she decided to keep quiet and hid herself behind an abandoned transport truck and listened in, trying to find out what had exactly happened between the three of them.

And what Emerald had listened in on was quite promising to say the least.

It appeared that she had found another possible candidate for Cinder's insurrection against Salem.

To Be Continued...

This chapter was co-written by Relentless Crusader

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