To those wondering on the absent chapter yesterday, a new potential buyer has come for the company I work for but it's with a… dodgy offer. They'll buy it, but they want to replace sales team with low-paid south east Asian call centre, and editorial team with AI generated content.

Ugh.

Obviously, it's an awful idea but my boss wants to try anything, since it's a toss up between company goes bust and he makes nothing, or company is bought by these people and he at least gets something out of it.

As a result I've spent all of yesterday (from early morning to late afternoon) speed training a sales rep in Singapore on how to sell in our magazines. And been doing the same today, hence the smaller chapter. They will then go train their people what I taught them, and they'll try and do it for our mystery buyer.

As for why I am stuck teaching them sales rather than, say, an actual sales person, it's because we obviously can't let the sales team know a buyer is thinking of replacing them, or they would all give up hope and stop working. But as much as it'll destroy the credibility of the magazine, my boss is right to want to try it. If this works, remaining staff will have to be paid to leave, rather than lose their jobs, so at least they'll also make some money off the change. I'll be leaving either way so no difference to me.

Training is over now though, so I shouldn't need to do more. Well, some more tomorrow but no fics to update tomorrow so not an issue.

Cover Art: Mystery White Flame

Chapter 21

Roman decided that he didn't much like airships. They were claustrophobic, ugly, and incredibly loud. Why Atlas couldn't have carpeted the floors he didn't know, but every step was clang, clang, clang on metal walkways.

It made ditching Team Red Friends rather difficult.

Not for the first time, Neo made a throat-slitting gesture and nodded backwards.

Not for the last time, Roman sighed. "I've told you we're not ruining what is otherwise a perfect record by murdering four young women. One of them is practically a girl! Think of the optics, Neo. The optics!" Neo raised an eyebrow. "Oh, and the morality. Obviously. Very important."

Red and her friends didn't seem to have the same concerns as bullets, buckshot and esoteric glyphs dogged their every step. Apparently, it wasn't amoral psychopathy to shoot a fleeing man if said man was a criminal. It was times like this he wished he would carry smoke bombs on him, but, alas, obscuring people's view of his handsome self wasn't typically the objective.

"We'll have to drag them back down to Cinder's area," he whispered. "If they can't use their brains and realise she's evil, we'll pull them into the firing line and let Cinder prove it by killing one of them." Neo raised an eyebrow. "Well it's different is she kills a child."

Roman grunted as something hit his aura. It looked like Red could hit a large target in a narrow corridor with a sniper rifle. Hooray for her. He knew Red could also catch up in a second with her Semblance but, wonders of wonders, she'd learned from their last spat and knew rushing ahead of her team was a bad idea.

"We have to find Cinder!" Roman shouted.

Neo tilted her head awkwardly at him.

"Cinder!" he kept shouting, despite Neo's expression. "She can help us deal with these brats! And her allies, especially Emerald who – as you know, Neo – has a Semblance based around illusions and hypnosis. Even if she's only limited to one person at a time, she can make one of them see things that aren't real and attack their allies!" Neo rolled her eyes, utterly disgusted with his behaviour. But hey, he couldn't afford to be subtle where these four were involved. "Mercury, too! Especially with his cybernetic rocket legs!"

Roman stumbled as a glyph appeared under one of his feet, accelerating him – but only that foot. His right foot shot forward while the rest of him did not, almost sending him elbows over heels down the corridor. Growling, he wished not for the first time he still had Melodic Cudgel and could fire an explosive shot back at them.

"A little help, Neo!"

His diminutive sidekick held her arms out to the side, silently asking what he expected her to do when she wasn't allowed to kill the brats.

"I said you couldn't kill them! Harming them is fine."

The girl's mouth opened in a surprised "O", and then she smiled.

And shattered into glass.

A scream from behind followed kitty-cat being thrown back thanks to Neo's foot in her stomach, and Red and her sister swung their weapons. Neo slipped over the scythe while also ducking blondie's fist, agilely sliding between both attacks and grabbing blondie's arm. Using that, she vaulted up onto Blondie's shoulders and kicked down, pushing her to the floor and somersaulting through the air toward the Schnee.

Red took aim, but a sudden blur had all sorts of illusionary targets in her way – odd shapes and shimmering glass obstructing and deflecting her vision so her shots went wide. Neo landed on the Schnee's shoulders, sword drawn and parrying the rapier away as she carried a girl that was for once her size to the ground.

"Weiss!" Red cried.

Catching Neo's irritated glare his way, Roman stopped "spectating" and got back to running, making use of the opening she'd bought him to reach a staircase and jump down it. The alarm blaring was occasionally broken by loud voices over the speakers reporting progress, instructing the soldiers on board how to cut off Cinder and her crew.

"Enemy is pushing through supply block B, westward toward supply corridor C!"

It didn't mean too much to Roman, but he could at least surmise the supplies would be on the bottom of the airship, if only because it'd mean less carrying to load and unload them. Getting bulky munitions up floors would be a joke, and the guns were naturally on the bottom of the ship as well.

"Secondary intruder, Roman Torchwick, located leaving officer deck and approaching barracks!" another voice chimed in. "Tertiary intruders designated enemy huntresses accompanying!"

Roman heard the indignant squawks from Red and her team behind him and couldn't help but smirk. Neo wiped it off, catching up and swatting him angrily for having stopped again. In his defence, they kind of needed Red and her team to be in pursuit, so he didn't want to lose the idiots and have them get lost in this labyrinthine airship.

/-/

"We're gaining on them!" Blake hissed.

"We're obviously not," said Weiss, much to Ruby's relief. At least someone had noticed what was going on. "They're keeping us in range following them and making sure we don't lose them. They're drawing us somewhere."

"Doesn't change anything," Yang hissed. "We still need to stop them, so we can't let them outrun us. There must be some soldiers on here to help us!"

There was, thought Ruby, but then you knocked them out, Yang. Ugh…

Yet again, Ruby had to resist the urge to use her Semblance to end the chase. A part of not doing so was the fact that Roman or Neo (or both) would just dumpster truck her. Having learned from their first meeting in Dust til Dawn, she wasn't about to risk a one-on-one fight with someone who had been trained just as much as she had and then had extra experience to boot.

But the main reason she didn't give chase was because she wanted to see if what they'd said about Cinder and her team was true. Roman had been right about things before, and the ship was clearly under attack by another faction. Roman had helped her before (unofficially, of course) and it looked like he was at it again.

Not that she could say that to her team. Blake would blank out everything that painted him as not being responsible for the White Fang's ills, and Yang would freak out and assume Ruby's belief in the man was because of her "romantic feelings" for him.

Yuck!

As for Weiss… well, Weiss might give her the benefit of the doubt, but Weiss was also as completely helpless as she when it came to controlling Yang or Blake. Ruby might have been team leader, but those two were like the team's legs. They dictated where the team went, and it was all Ruby and Weiss could do to hold on for dear life.

"We're close to the bottom floor now!" Weiss said. "They'll start running into trouble with elite Atlas forces soon, and then this chase will be over!"

Ruby would have liked to believe that, but the elite Atlas forces hadn't stopped them from making their way up to the officer's quarters. Not much had, and not much was now. Ruby sighed and rounded the corner—

And crashed into Roman's back. "Oof!"

"Watch it, Red."

"Sorry!" Ruby pushed off him, and then blinked. "No, wait, not sorry! You're caught!"

"We're both caught, actually."

"Eh? What do you—oh, crapsticks!"

The rest of her team caught up, Weiss first, and she waved her rapier high, about to stab it into Roman before she, too, caught sight of what lay beyond them. Weiss yelped and tried to stop, but didn't have the time and smashed into Ruby, who was smacked into Torchwick once more. Blake and Yang came after and repeated the process one after the other.

General Ironwood stood in the corridor ahead, along with Winter Schnee and a few others that Ruby didn't recognise.

"Ha!" Yang cheered. "Nowhere to run now, Torchwick!"

"Indeed," Ironwood snarled. "Roman Torchwick and Neopolitan… Torchwick…?" Neo cringed and made upset motions with her arms. "Neopolitan White, then—" Neo looked even more offended if that were possible. "It doesn't matter," Ironwood said. "Surrender now and submit to arrest."

"Yeah!" said Yang.

"And Team RWBY," Ironwood said, regarding them. "Surrender."

Yang's cheers faded. "Eh?"

"But we're the good guys!" Blake exclaimed.

Ruby wasn't so sure anymore.

"You have illegally boarded my vessel and trespassed on, and within, confidential Atlas military property. You have discharged weapons within this airship—"

"In pursuit of Torchwick!" Weiss argued. "We're on your side!"

Winter cleared her throat. "Several soldiers who reported that they have been attacked and rendered unconscious by you would imply otherwise, Weiss."

"Erk."

Yep. Karma was coming back to bite them. Ruby sighed.

"You would be wise to put down your weapons and submit to arrest," Ironwood said. "Team RWBY will be dealt with diplomatically with Beacon."

Ruby's shoulders slumped. At least Roman was caught as well. Transforming her scythe back into its carry size, she made ready to order her team to disarm – except that something shimmered in front of her. Glass. The girl's Semblance which, by now, Team RWBY were intimately familiar with.

And which Atlas was not.

"They're resisting arrest!" one of the soldiers yelled, even though Team RWBY very much were not. "General! Orders!"

"Take them down!" Ironwood roared. "Schnee, deal with the team. Ace-Ops, with me!"

Ruby stared in horror at Neo.

Multicoloured eyes winked back cheekily.

"Bitch!" Ruby hissed, before it was too late. Winter was on her, sabre coming down. Yang knocked her aside and parried it, while Weiss desperately tried to explain that Winter had been tricked.

"Enough!" Winter snapped. "You've clearly let your discipline go, sister! I will be having words with your teachers!"

"It was an illus—" Weiss was swarmed with summoned Nevermore before she could finish. The glowing birds filled the tight corridor to such a degree that Ruby had to deploy Crescent Rose and slice through them just to see what was going on.

That, she realised a moment later, was probably taken as an aggressive motion by Winter.

And, apparently, a signal to Blake and Yang as well.

"Take her down and then we can explain ourselves!" Yang shouted.

"What? No! That's a terrible idea—eep!" Ruby barely dodged the sabre in time. "Gah! Oh, fine. Team RWBY, take her down." A quick glance at Weiss had her adding, " Gently!"

/-/

Ironwood coming after them instead of Cinder hadn't been a move Roman had calculated. In his defence, he'd expected the far more deadly team downstairs (at least in terms of their willingness to kill) to draw the most attention. Red and her team chasing him must have changed that, since there were more enemies for Ironwood to deal with.

Joy, oh joy.

"I'll handle the tin can!" Roman said. "You deal with the specialists, Neo!"

Neo stared back at him slack jawed, and pointed at the oncoming soldiers as if to point out that Roman's allocation of the numbers against them was less than even, or even remotely fair.

"I have faith in you!"

Neo had the time to raise her middle finger before the might of the entire Ace Ops was upon her, and then it was all she could do to try and stay out their grips. Roman would have helped (honest!) but the irate general opened fire on him, blasting three slugs from his hand canon Roman's way.

Spinning, Roman failed to dodge any and took them all on his aura, but at least he looked good doing it. He dashed in and struck with his cane, ignoring the obvious disarm since even an idiot knew one of the man's arms was cybernetic. He focused on the other instead, driving the tip of the stolen cane into the man's shoulder. Ironwood grunted and swung with his robot arm, but Roman was quicker and ducked under it. He came up on the other side and hit the man's neck from behind with the staff.

In the movies, that'd be enough to knock him out, but aura and overall reality made that less-than-likely. Ironwood twisted back and threw his robotic elbow for Roman's face, forcing him under. Ironwood was ready for it and drove his knee up. Roman managed to block that with one hand, but quickly realised his dilemma when Ironwood closed his robotic arm around him in a bear grip.

"Got you!" he hissed.

"Tch. Tell me, tin can. Is your junk robotic as well?" Roman grinned ferally and struck his knee into the man's crotch. Ironwood did not flinch and Roman hissed at hitting metal. "IT IS!?"

"No, but I wear a metal cup."

"Balls."

"That's the idea." Ironwood squeezed his hand back and began crushing Roman against his barrel chest. "I've had enough of your pointless banter, Torchwick. Enough with your theatrics, enough with your nonsense, enough with this city's silly refusal to put you down like the mad dog you are!"

"D—Don't take your lack of popularity out on me," Roman hissed.

"There it is again! Do you think this is a game, Torchwick?" Ironwood's face was close to his, but aura made headbutting him or trying to do anything about it pointless. "You're not some grand player on the board. You're a petty thief! An idiot who seems to think he's respected when the world sees you as nothing more than a two-bit criminal!"

Roman felt his aura flex. "Gahhhh!"

"No one cares, Torchwick! You're famous because the world is laughing at you! They'll forget all about you once you're in a cell. No one will care to remember you. I've seen it happen so many times before."

"B—Bitch," Roman grinned, and slid his hand over Ironwood's trigger finger. "You haven't seen anything like me."

Pushing down, he forced the man to fire. Two shots, at point blank range. They hit nothing, splashing against the wall, but the recoil knocked the hand crushing him loose just a tiny bit. Enough for Roman to work a knee between them and push back. He landed hard, jumping back for distance.

He'd have gotten further if Neo didn't hit his back halfway, panting furiously and with her hair frazzled and sticking out at all angles. A quick glance showed her bout with an entire squad of specialists had not gone particularly well. She was missing her sword and, somehow, one of her heeled boots.

"I won my fight," Roman lied.

Neo elbowed him angrily in the kidney.

"Nowhere to run, Torchwick," Ironwood said, approaching from one side, as a team fanned out the other. The corridor was so narrow there was no escape, and Red and her team were busy fighting the Schnee. "Unless you think anyone will care to rescue you."

"Ah, well. About that—"

The world around them burst into fire. A wall caved inward, erupting into the specialists and driving them back. Out of the inferno came an Atlas soldier, but Roman doubted he was responsible. Dead men weren't capable of that. The man, in uniform, hit the far wall with a sickening crunch and fell dead to the floor. Behind him came Cinder, eyes blazing, hands on fire, body trembling.

Roman smiled awkwardly. "Reinforcements?" he asked, not really all that hopeful.

Cinder screamed furiously. "TORCHWICK, YOU TRAITOR! YOU'VR CROSSED ME FOR THE LAST TIME!"

For once in his life, Roman didn't much appreciate being the centre of attention.

/-/

If the fight had been awkward before, it grew even more so with the inclusion of three-quarters of a probably evil team. Ruby didn't think there was much "probably" to it now that Cinder, Emerald and Mercury were actively attacking both Torchwick and Ironwood, but then her own team had kind of done the same in both regards as well.

There would be much soul searching later.

Assuming they weren't expelled for this.

"Look!" said Weiss, frantically giving ground to her sister. "Another team of bad guys! Unlike us!"

"All I see is another team of students intruding on our ship!" Winter replied. "We'll sort out guilty from innocent once we have you all detained." Winter summoned a Beowolf to block Blake's attack from behind. "Striking at me doesn't help your cause."

"You attacked us first!" Yang argued.

"Did I? You attacked Atlas first."

"Well… yeah but… uh… you…" Yang looked around desperately. "Ah! You used military equipment to cheat in the Vytal Festival!"

Winter paused. "Did we?"

"She means Penny," Ruby added, helpfully. "Since, you know, she was secretly a super robot terminator or something, and you had her fight kids from other schools."

Winter had the good grace to blush. "That wasn't my call."

"Still Atlas technically attacking us first—"

"Except that your teammate is ex-White Fang and they attacked Atlas before we even arrived in Vale—"

"Ah, but you're a Schnee!" Blake replied. "So you technically started it all off with your disgusting racism and cruel business practices! No offence."

"Much taken," Weiss sniped.

"Indeed," Winter added, eyes narrowed. "Why are you friends with her, Weiss?"

"Because we both like horses."

"What?"

"It's a chess thing." Weiss shrugged. "So, peaceful ending to this…?"

Winter responded by summoning more Grimm and knocking them all back. It looked like the peaceful conclusion wasn't on the cards after all. Winter came crashing down on Ruby, making her yelp and back into the wall. Her Semblance would have been great to dodge with if not for the rather problematic fact that the corridor wasn't big enough for the ten or so people already fighting. Dodging Winter might as well have put her in the firing line of someone else. Ruby raised her scythe defensively instead.

Rather upsettingly, Winter snorted and disarmed her with a quick lock, twist and flick of her weapon. Ruby gulped as the sabre tickled her neck, and slowly raised her hands in surrender. Aura would stop it hurting her, but Winter was walking all over them. I guess this is the difference between a real huntress and a bunch of students. Poopie.

"Throw down your weapons or I'll leave your leader with an injury she won't soon forget."

Her team snarled angrily at Winter, while Weiss tried to plead, but it was all for nothing. Atlas wasn't going to listen to them after they'd attacked their soldiers. Which, Ruby had to admit, wasn't exactly an unreasonable stance. Yang, Blake and Weiss lowered their weapons.

"Good. Now—"

"Hey!"

It was a familiar voice.

A drunken voice.

"U—Uncle Qrow…?" Ruby looked over and couldn't quite believe her eyes.

Nor, apparently, could Winter. "Branwen…? What are you doing here? How are you even here?"

"Oh, you know, just happened to walk on board after I heard my nieces were here."

"We are in the sky! How did you walk on here!?"

Qrow took a swig from his hip flask and stashed it away. "I've got long legs." He didn't elaborate on that despite the many confused expressions sent his way. "But I think the more important question is why you're attacking my niece and her team – a Valean team – on Valean soil. Not a good look for the esteemed specialist, is it?"

Winter frowned. "Technically, this airship is Atlas soil."

"Valean airspace."

"They attacked two of our men!"

"Huh." Qrow looked to Yang, who nodded. "Proud of you, kid."

This, Ruby thought, This is why Yang is barred form half the nightclubs in Vale. Why did you have to die and leave us to be raised by two frat boys, mom?

"Branwen…" Winter snarled.

"Point is, I'm here, that's my niece, and you're causing a scene." Qrow approached, unsheathing his weapon. "That's an issue. Anything beyond that, you can take it up with Ozpin. Back away, kids. Leave this to me. Help…"

Qrow paused to look.

And to consider.

"Help… uh… um…"

Torchwick, a criminal.

Ironwood, currently their enemy.

Cinder, probably a criminal and definitely a murderer.

"Help… Uh. You know what, why don't you all just do whatever you want, since you probably know more about whatever this clusterfuck is than I do."

Qrow dashed in to challenge Winter, knocking Ruby away. Yang caught her. The new combatant didn't go unnoticed, with Ironwood screaming out angrily, "Why is Branwen here? How many people are going to climb onto our airship? What do I even pay our sentries for!?"

Good question.

"What do we do?" Yang asked. "Who do we help? Do we bail?"

"We stop Torchwick!" Blake said.

Ruby slapped her across the back of the head. "We take down Emerald and Mercury," she ordered, "And we do not attack Torchwick or Neo." Blake's ears drooped. "Yet." They perked back up. "We can figure out what to do with them after, but Cinder and her team just killed someone in front of us. Torchwick hasn't killed anyone yet."

"That we know of."

"Yes, Blake, that we know of." Ruby rolled her eyes. "Can you just follow my orders for once in your life? And watch out for Emerald's Semblance. We know what it is now."

"If Torchwick wasn't lying to mislead us—"

Yang silenced her partner. "Look, Blake, even I'm going to have to say give it a break. Torchwick is a dick, but we've bigger problems. Like how Glynda is going to peel the skin from our bodies once she finds out about this."

"Or the active combat happening in front of our eyes!" Ruby reminded them, sternly. "Less talk, more fight!"

Team RWBY dashed into the already confusing melee, slipping past the apparent Ace-Ops with shouts of "friendly, friendly" which they weren't sure if were respected at all. Ruby cringed under the gaze of a gargantuan woman with rippling muscles. "Eheh. Friendly?"

"No, you're not."

"Then… uh… enemy of an enemy?"

The woman's eyes narrowed.

"Um. That's Emerald and she has a Semblance to make one person hallucinate and see or hear things that she wants them to. She can make you think your ally is an enemy or vice versa."

Elm grunted. "Okay, that is actionable intelligence." She pressed a thumb to her ear. "Ace-Ops, the green-haired one has an illusionary type-two semblance. Beware eyes and ears. Question unusual orders."

"Roger," the other members responded.

The woman looked back at her. "This doesn't get you out of trouble."

"No, but my Semblance will."

Ruby blurred away from the meaty fist. It was a shame the Ace-Ops weren't going to work with them, but at least they weren't being actively attacked. It was just attempts aimed their way whenever they came close. Ironwood was more focused on shooting into the melee of Roman and Cinder, not much minding who he hit.

Emerald and Mercury weren't having quite such a great time against the Ace Ops and Team RWBY (even if neither side was working together). The two fought as best they could but were pushed back at every opportunity. It was all they could do to occasionally divert an attack via Emerald's Semblance, or at least that was how Ruby assumed it happened whenever Blake or one of the Ace Ops would turn and shoot on their teammates.

Neo and Roman were locked in a duel to the death with Cinder.

Ruby bit her lip.

Was she meant to get involved in that? Mercury and Emerald were kind of being dealt with, and Cinder was trying to kill Roman. Not to mention she was apparently his nemesis, whatever that meant, and he'd challenged her to capture him. Letting him die felt too much like losing for her liking, and he'd technically saved her life against Adam.

Gnh. It's going to feed the shippers if I do! Yang will never let me hear the end of it.

But her conscience wouldn't let her hear the end of it if she left them to it and Roman died because of her.

"Gah!" Ruby deployed her scythe. "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!"

Petals whisked through the air as she charged Cinder head on.

/-/

Roman knew Red had entered the fight not because of her battle cry or her appearance, but because he (and everyone else) came under a flower inferno. A new name he'd coined, but what else was he to call it when Red could generate flower petals when she used her Semblance, and Cinder was currently a ball of fire?

Petals met fire and became napalm, and napalm met skin and became pain.

"Damn it, Red! I've told you she's the enemy!"

"I know! I'm helping you!"

"Could have fooled me!" he hissed. "Help better!"

"Isn't this just fucking adorable?" Cinder screamed. He couldn't recall hearing profanity from her much before, which only went to show how utterly livid she was. "Roman and his pint-sized girlfriend working together to stop me."

"Actually—"

"We're not—"

"I DON'T CARE!" Cinder howled. "I'll kill you all anyway! This whole airship will go up in flames!"

An explosive round from Ironwood threaded the needle of Red and Roman and hit Cinder. Roman didn't have much confidence the threading was deliberate on the general's part, but he'd give the man the benefit of the doubt if only for Cinder's pained noise.

"You'll need a bigger army than this to challenge my flagship!" Ironwood said.

"Yeah!" Red cheered.

Ironwood glanced her way. "I count you among her army."

"Awww…"

Cinder chuckled. "A bigger army, is it? Or maybe it's quality over quantity."

What did she—

The world shifted as something struck the flagship. Roman was thrown off his feet, and then Ruby was thrown at him. He caught her so she couldn't hit him, not for any other reason, but that meant he couldn't catch Neo, who struck the wall with a silent groan and a glare his way, as if it were somehow his fault.

Everyone else was equally worse for wear, including Cinder, who was hardly immune to gravity despite apparently being prepared for it. The flagship lurched precariously, veering to the side in a way that made Roman's stomach flip.

What the hell was going on? Cinder had no other allies, and certainly none that were capable of taking over the bridge. Were Ironwood's men drunk? Roman pushed Red off him and steadied himself against the wall, dragging himself over to the closest porthole to look outside.

A huge, glowing red eye larger than the porthole itself stared back.

"Ah…" Roman winced. "That's awkward."

/-/

Ozpin blinked as a gargantuan black form, some bat-dragon hybrid, struck the flagship and clung to its side like a horny dog clinging to someone's leg. The flagship lurched horrifically to the side but, thankfully, did so over the Emerald Forest and not Beacon or Vale. He continued watching as the added weight slowly dragged the ship down into the canopy, causing it to crash with a horrific sound and plume of smoke.

"Should we…?" asked Glynda.

"Yes," he said. "This is the perfect chance to reclaim my cane."

"And our students. Right…?"

Next Chapter: 17th September

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