A/N: Another month, another chapter! As always, please follow, favorite, and review if you like it, especially review - I love seeing what the readers have to say about the story!

P.S.: I've left a few hints here and there about which RWBY characters end up taking which DC monikers besides just Jaune/Arkham Knight. I'd love to hear if you have any guesses about who's who!

Excerpt from "The Age of Heroes", written by Weiss Schnee

Just because we lost the docks battle doesn't mean that we stopped doing anything about it. Well, I suppose that's actually not quite the right phrasing. We, as in Team RWBY, gave our post-action reports to Professor Goodwitch as we always did, and then we had to take the time to recover, physically and mentally. Yang and Ruby needed the most amount of time to fully heal from their injuries, but luckily for them their Auras had stayed intact, so even that only took them two days as opposed to four.

The real action was confined to our professors, as we had finally been given the order we had been dreading for the entire year: not only could we not investigate the White Fang, but with the Arkham Knight having targeted us specifically, we were confined to the grounds of Beacon Academy until further notice.

In short, we were benched.

I had expected Blake to take the news the worst, but surprisingly, she actually seemed happy about it. With the benefit of hindsight, I imagine that seeing her friends hospitalized, however briefly, spooked her into believing that she was dragging everyone into danger and was happy that we were officially being left at home. It was actually Sun who was the most angry about it. He was ready to fight the professors on it and begged the rest of us for backup; it wasn't until he saw that none of us were willing to fight their decision that he backed down.

With how everything had gone at the docks, we knew the professors were on the case. This wasn't like our first year, where we could only wonder what the professors and authorities were doing while we were on the front lines; now, we had to accept that this wasn't about us.

At the forefront of the investigation was our Combat Instructor, Professor Goodwitch.

There were so many preparations for a secret trip into Vale that even someone like General Ironwood couldn't possibly keep track of everything he needed to do and say to all the right people.

That was where Winter Schnee came in.

From the moment she abdicated her SDC role and came to join the military, Ironwood had kept a close eye on her. At first, he could admit that it was just because of her name. It wasn't every day that the scion of the wealthiest family in history chooses to leave all of that behind in the name of serving their Kingdom, so James had assumed that she had ulterior motives. Her father had many reasons to want an in with the military, and it wasn't like Willow would have tried to stop him.

As time went on, however, all of his worries were dashed one by one. Winter proved repeatedly that her interest in the military was genuine; not just that, but she knew there were many like him who doubted or suspected her intentions, so she went out of her way to prove her loyalty. She climbed the ranks faster than anyone had since James himself had gone through, purely through merit, grit, and raw determination.

When she decided that she was interested in joining the Special Operatives Unit, James had been ecstatic. She had proven to be perfect for the job, but she made the choice to join long before he ever approached her about it. He couldn't have asked for a more deserving member.

Clover Ebi evidently agreed, given that he wrote a glowing letter of recommendation for her to join the Ace Ops shortly after that. Though Clover was the leader of the elite group, all of its members were accepted by Ironwood personally, and he had no trouble approving her entrance. With her promotions complete in record time, Winter had immediately worked to prove she belonged in the big leagues, and had only continued to impress James every step of the way.

Hence, why she was with him now. The two of them didn't agree on everything, but as they stood in Ironwood's office, James knew that she would always do her duty to her Kingdom before anything else, which was why she was the only member of the Ace Ops involved in his plan to sneak into Vale.

They had finally finished discussing all of the logistics of who needed to know what, which had led them to several valuable conclusions. In the end, they would keep the circle of trust small; of the Ace Ops, only Clover would be informed of the basics of the plan, and the only soldiers going with them would be a small security team, only around a dozen soldiers. James was still on the fence about whether or not to include Penny, who would be going to Vale as part of the public delegation anyway but was still a very bad liar; he still had three days before they left, so he had to finalize that decision tomorrow.

With the logistics all taken care of, Winter stood up to leave. As was custom, James stood up with her, yet before he could salute her out of the room on instinct, Winter cleared her throat instead, making him pause.

"Sir", she began, "may I have permission to speak freely?"

"Granted", he responded with no hesitation. "What's on your mind, Specialist?"

She spent a brief moment gathering her words, looking straight ahead instead of in his eyes. After that moment, she spoke. "Are we certain this is the best course of action? Beyond our Kingdoms' allegiances, Headmaster Ozpin is our greatest ally. If we're discovered, it will put our alliance in jeopardy on a personal and international level."

James had suspected that this would become a discussion topic; he was more surprised that it had taken so long for her to voice these concerns. Nevertheless, this would still be a hard conversation to have, and it made James sigh before he spoke.

"You're correct", he began. "Vale isn't just our strongest ally, but Ozpin is my best friend. I've never trusted another man as much as I trust him, and our relationship with Vale wouldn't be anywhere near as steady as it is if he were not at the helm." For a brief moment, he cracked an uncharacteristic smile. "Don't tell anyone on the council, but we owe him quite a lot for our own successes."

Winter smiled briefly, but James continued. "That being said, Ozpin and I don't agree on much. We both want what's best for our Kingdoms, and we want to protect the world from the true threats out there". To augment his point, James turned around and faced the window, glancing over his domain and into the barren world beyond. "Beyond that, we disagree on everything. Our methods and reasonings could not be more different from each other, and it has caused immeasurable friction between us. He has his reasons, but he's terrified to break the status quo, where I hope to leave an impression on our enemies. What I take for intimidating our foes into compliance, he takes as threatening the general populace. I hope to show him that Atlas doesn't bring war with our machines, we bring peace and security for Vale."

James turned back to Winter, trying to convey his emotion with his face as much as his words. "I understand that from the outside, my actions appear to come from a lack of trust, but that is not the case. I intend to plead my case to Ozpin once more upon my arrival, but I cannot do so without a strong force already in Vale. An appeal to force is useless without a force to appeal with, after all."

With his case pleaded, James started walking around the desk toward her. "Why the sudden hesitation, if I may ask?"

James had expected a brief pause, but Winter was prepared for the question and answered immediately. "I only wish to ensure that we've thoroughly considered all of our options. The last thing we need is a moment of impulse to ruin our standing in the international community, regardless of the strength of our message. I believe in our reasonings, but will Vale? Will Ozpin?"

The funny thing was, if James complimented her on her logic by pointing out her leadership material, Winter would humbly deny it; she might even believe that he was lying. James was unfortunately guilty of many lies - everyone in the military was once you got high enough in the chain of command - but his belief in her was the one thing he had never once lied about and the one thing she had never once believed.

Without letting his inner thoughts leak out, James continued.

"Those are excellent concerns to be worrying about in our position", he began, "but should our plan succeed, that will be no problem. As I said, Ozpin and I disagree on many things, but neither of us have ever doubted our committment to our people and to Remnant. He may disagree with my methods, but he has never doubted my reasons, and as long as those reasons remain at the forefront of my argument, I may be able to convince him to see things my way."

He sighed again. "Is it a risk to perform a subterfuge like this? Yes. If our plan goes wrong, the consequences could be… catastrophic." His blunt honesty prompted Winter's eyes to slightly widen, but beyond that, she kept her features blank. "However, trying to plead my case on his terms has proven unsuccessful for as long as I've known him. I need to even the playing field, and if that means strengthening my forces before I arrive to prove my point, then that's what I have to do."

At this point, he finally went around his desk and put his hand on her shoulder, opting for physical reassurance. "And if the worst comes to pass and we're sent back here with our tail between our legs? Well, we know that our intentions are pure. Sometimes all we have is the strength in our own convictions. It's only once we lose that that we truly have nothing."

As he looked down into her eyes, he could see that he had convinced her. It was good of her to voice these concerns; if nothing else, being able to defend his position to his subordinate only further convinced him of his own convictions, but being able to convince her was only further proof that his actions were right. Winter was never afraid to voice her doubts, and calming them for her also calmed him.

It was one of the many reasons why he had instructed Clover that should the worst happen to him and the military needed a new General, the Specialists were tasked with overriding the line of succession and passing the role to Winter. There was no one else he trusted more to fill his shoes; she had seen the world from the ivory tower of her manor and the slums of the army barracks, and she never let her upbringing affect her duty to her country. She was everything he could look for in a successor.

Of course, at the time, Clover had jokingly whined about being "passed up", but he knew his true place was with the Ace-Ops.

However, they were still on a strict timetable, so he had to wrap this up.

"Do you have anything else you wish to ask, Winter?"

"No sir", she replied. "That was all I had."

James took his hand off her shoulder, standing at attention. "In that case, you're dismissed, Specialist. Continue your preparations for our flight."

Winter immediately saluted him, and as James instinctively returned it, his mind began racing as his Semblance briefly activated. As he blocked out any external factors, whether it was Winter walking out of the room or a bird chirping outside, James was able to finally come to a conclusion on the one variable still uncertain in their plan.

Penny should come with us. Otherwise, she'll have to come to Vale on a separate flight anyway. She'll have to lie about something one way or ther other, and it's time that she accepts her role within the war machine.

Before James could lower his Semblance, he again made a fast conclusion that it would be better for the moment to keep it up, letting him keep his focus entirely on his next goal. After all, while Penny was always eager to please her "Uncle Ironwood", she wasn't the one he had to convince.

He had to talk to Pietro, and before he could do that, he needed to create yet another cover story.

He could only hope that all of this would be over before the web of lies started to unravel.

If Glynda Goodwitch could give credit to Team RWBY for one thing regarding their disastrous fight at the docks, it would be the fact that it happened on a Friday night.

Most teachers would be furious to lose their precious weekend time because of a stunt their students pulled, but in this case, it worked in her favor. She had all the free time of the weekend to dig in to the new threat they had discovered, whereas if it had been during the week, she would have also been dealing with the schoolweek.

She was mosty trying to take the good with the bad.

In any case, she was continuing the work she had been given following that disaster of an excursion. While Qrow had been in charge of communicating with the local police, Glynda had been ordered to collect any data she could from the team and use it to create a profile on this 'Arkham Knight' character. Per Ozpin's orders, no bit of information was too small to be irrelevant.

It had begun when she interrogated the team members (plus Mr. Wukong) about everything they could remember from that night.

Despite Ms. Rose still being in a hospital bed, Glynda knew that she should be the first person to ask about everything that happened that night. She was the leader of the mission, and though she was knocked unconscious midway through, her orders would have been what began everything, and her attention to detail had proven invaluable in the past. She could be counted on to kick the investigation off on a high note.

And Ms. Xiao Long could be counted on to be right by her side.

"Can't this wait, Ms. G?", she asked as she dutifully sat by her sister's bedside. "We haven't had a day to cool off. Her head isn't even out of the bandage yet!"

Glynda had been fully ready to give Ms. Xiao Long a talk for calling her 'Ms. G' of all things, but before she could, Ms. Rose spoke up.

"Yang", she started, "You know I love you, but I'm okay. The sooner we tell her everything, the better. Besides, they gave us the night to sleep and rest." She turned back to Glynda, determination in her eyes. "Where do you want to start, Professor?"

With a brief moment of pride for the way she handled herself against her sister, Glynda began the questioning.

"Why were you investigating the docks that night to begin with?"

"Sun gave us the tip", Ms. Rose began. "Most of our investigations come from him."

"And do you know where he got the tip from?", Glynda asked.

"No", Ms. Rose answered. "He never told us, but they always worked out in the end."

"I get them from the street rats", Mr. Wukong was saying on his bed. "On the weekends, I sometimes go into town to slum it with the homeless kids in the Bleake District. You know, hang out with them, try to get them some food, stuff like that. After a while, they started keeping an ear to the ground for me."

"Do you know how they get the leads?", Glynda asked.

"Nah", Mr. Wukong resopnded, "don't ask, don't tell. Plausible deniability and all that, you know?"

In a normal circumstance, Glynda would be taking him to task for all of that, but right now her focus was purely on the docks.

"What was your plan of attack going into the night at the docks?"

"Well, Blake and I have the best eyesight, obviously." He said the last part while gesturing to his stomach, where his tail was resting. "We were gonna be overwatch on the docks while the others were below us."

"Where were you stationed?"

"We did some research", Mr. Wukong continued. "We found out that the dock workers are usually there til midnight, but the actual offices close at 9. We were gonna camp in the office building until the White Fang arrived."

"How did you get inside?"

At this, Mr. Wukong hesitated for the first time. The reason became clear to Glynda immediately, and she again shelved her instinctual anger to focus on the real issue.

"Mr. Wukong, if I were interested in prosecuting you, I would have a police officer with me. Do you think I'm not aware that all of you probably broke laws over the past year?" The bashful look he got on his face made it clear that he really hadn't considered that. "Right now, my focus is only on catching the criminals who hospitalized two of my students. Do you understand?"

After a moment of contemplation as his emotions warred across his face, Mr. Wukong finally nodded.

"Yeah, okay. That makes sense." After another moment of nodding to himself, he continued. "We broke into the offices."

"I broke the lock on the door handle to get us in", Ms. Xiao Long was saying. While Ms. Rose was giving her report, she had decided she might as well get it over with as well, so now Glynda was speaking to her at Ms. Rose's hospital bed. Luckily for them all, Ms. Rose didn't mind.

"Once we were inside, Blake and Sun headed up to the roof while the rest of us were stationed one floor down. The two of us with the strongest eyesight were checking everything out, while the rest of us were hidden in a place where we could strike in a moment. Perfect plan to me."

On the bed, Ms. Rose was clearly doing her best not to preen at her sister's praise, but as much as Glynda could agree with the strength of that part of the plan, now wasn't the time to discuss that. Besides, this part of the questioning was just reiterating what Ms. Rose had already said.

"What circumstances would have compelled you to intervene?", she asked next.

"Mostly just the White Fang showing up", Ms. Xiao Long responded. "Sun told us that the SDC was bringing in a big shipment, but wherever he got the tip from, they didn't know the specific time it was showing up. We were just gonna wait until the Fang made their move."

That was essentially what she had already heard before, so that checked out.

"What happened when the White Fang did finally arrive?", Glynda asked next.

Ms. Xiao Long gave a sardonic laugh, showing her frustration at the moment things went wrong. "We were going to do what we always did: swoop in, wipe the floor with them, and be back in time to get a full night's sleep. We were getting ready to jump in right when he showed up."

"Right away, I knew that he wasn't just another member of the Fang", Ms. Belladonna was saying in Glynda's office. "As soon as he spoke, Torchwick started clamming up and getting defensive. I've never seen him like that before."

"Were you able to make any other deductions about the Arkham Knight before your intervention?"

"His guns don't look like they're mecha-shift. I remember that clearly", she continued. An interesting detail that Glynda made sure to note. "Beyond that, I didn't see any of his physical abilities, but I did see the way he treats his underlings. He controls them through fear."

"How can you tell?", Glynda asked.

"Right before I intervened", Ms. Belladonna began, "one of the men dropped a box of Dust and it exploded in the container. The Arkham Knight walked over to him, had him take off his mask, and shot him in the head right then and there. No discussion, no warning, just executing him on the spot. It was barbaric. I don't know what came over me, but that's when I went in."

That was a lot of interesting detail. Not just because the Knight had killed one of his own men; she'd figured that out while she was helping with the crime scene. It was interesting because Mr. Wukong had described the situation slightly differently.

"It was weird", he had said. "I couldn't hear everyting, but he talked a little bit before he killed the guy. He said something about how this had happened before, like he had gotten a warning before he was just killed. I didn't understand what he was going for."

Glynda didn't think either of them was necessarily lying, but the discrepancy was certainly something to note.

To side step that issue for the moment, she instead asked "What did you do when you first intervened?"

Ms. Belladonna took a moment to gather her thoughts, as she usually did before she spoke. Glynda could see the impact of the memories as they went through her system, but let her take her time.

"I knocked as many of them unconscious as I could", she said. "I got through all the forces on one side of the docks, then managed to make my way through the other side before the Arkham Knight saw them. Once he was too close, I couldn't escape, so I got behind him and held my weapon to his throat to stop him."

In a normal circumstance, Glynda would have broken the following silence with another followup question, but Ms. Belladonna clearly wasn't done. Her mouth gaped for a moment like a fish out of water as she struggled to figure out what to say next. Once she finally did, she continued.

"When I did, he called me by my name. Not just that, he immediately realized that his men on the docks must have been taken out. He didn't just know me just from my voice and blade, he knew the way we operated on an individual level. He has to have been watching us."

This was testimony that none of the others had been able to provide. More than valuable enough for her purposes.

"With Blake going rogue and Sun following her, Ruby had to adjust quickly", Ms. Schnee was now saying at the same desk chair Ms. Belladonna previously occupied. "We decided that we would intervene in the main docks area to take out the Fang, then figure out our next step based on how the Arkham Knight responded. That plan didn't even make it past step one."

"How so?", Glynda asked.

"He…" Ms. Schnee stumbled on her words. From the looks of things, it wasn't because she didn't know what to say, she was still struggling to believe what exactly had happened. "He used my Semblance against me. Yang and I were in the air, then all of a sudden there were glyphs underneath us and we were being thrown across the docks with no way to control ourselves. How is that possible?"

"According to Ms. Xiao Long", Glynda began, "he can copy Semblances. My encounter with him seemed to prove that theory correct, so we are operating with that assumption."

Ms. Schnee simply nodded, still shaken from the admission. "Copying Semblances. A true violation of the soul." She sighed and shook her head, trying to clear her worries from her body. "After we landed, I realized that Blake had been engaged in combat by someone else, so I intervened there as well."

"Who was Ms. Belladonna fighting?"

"I don't know", Ms. Schnee responded. "She has black hair, was wearing a red dress, uses two swords as her weapon, and has some kind of fire Semblance."

Glynda struggled to keep her eyes from widening at that last piece of information. A "fire Semblance" wielded by a mysterious woman? Could it really be her?

Before she could think any deeper, however, Ms. Schnee continued. "After we managed to briefly fend her off, someone destroyed a crane above us and separated us with a shipping container. However, before we could act on this, the shipping container was thrown in the air. It appeared to be done by a Semblance identical to Pyrrha's. That's when Yang tried to fight the Arkham Knight, and after that is when you arrived."

"In the meantime", Ms. Rose had been saying in her interview, "I wanted to provide Sun with cover fire, but that's when he attacked me. He had Crescent Rose out of my hands before I could even react."

Ms. Xiao Long had her hand on Ms. Rose's back before long, which seemed to give her the strength she needed to get through this part of the questioning. "I thought I was gonna die, but he just… gave me a message to pass on."

"What message did he give you?"

Ms. Rose shuddered again, prompting Ms. Xiao Long to give her another side hug. As Glynda waited patiently, she could hear Ms. Xiao Long telling her that it would be okay, and once she passed along those messages, her questioning would be over.

It only took a moment, but Glynda's patience was rewarded when Ms. Rose spoke again.

"The first one was for Headmaster Ozpin. He said, 'she's going to come for him when he least expects it'."

Salem. That was the only explanation. The possibility that he was working for Salem hadn't necessarily been proven with explicit evidence, but this removed any shred of doubt.

"You said 'the first one', Ms. Rose. Did he have another message?"

"Yeah", she said. "It was for Pyrrha, though."

Ms. Nikos? Why did he have a message for her, of all people? She wouldn't be able to answer that question without knowing the message, but luckily, Ms. Rose provided.

"He said, 'the Arkham Knight is going to show the world she isn't as invincible as she thinks'. What does that even mean?"

Glynda had several ideas, but she wasn't going to scare them with the vague possibilities such a message presented. For now, she chose to look on the bright side.

"It means that his name is 'the Arkham Knight'. I'll keep you all as updated as I can, but for now, I'll be taking it from here." As she stood up to go to her other interviews, she still remembered that she was dealing with a child recovering from an injury, so she still took the time to give her some comfort. "I think you handled the situation admirably, Ms. Rose. I look forward to seeing you in class once you've recovered." With a final nod, she told both of them "thank you for your time" before she left them to their recovery.

Obviously, none of the individual members had the entire story, and it had taken quite some time to put all of their stories together, but her objective had been to deduce anything she could about the Arkham Knight's methodology and she would do that no matter how long it took. It had taken the weekend to study the students' statements and piece together whatever she could about him, but her effort had finally paid off.

With a combination of observation of the events she had personally witnessed and chronologizing the students statements, she had finally deduced what all had actually happened that night at the docks.

Most people would be very nervous to have a gun to their spine and a blade to their throat. The Arkham Knight was not most people.

"All those victories you've gotten over the past year", he was saying to Blake, "you must have thought we were getting predictable, when the only thing that has gotten predictable is you and your friends."

At that moment, gunfire was breaking out over by the Dust pile, no doubt Sun deciding to jump into the fray as expected. Blake tensed up at the noise, probably both from the sudden noise and also the stress of knowing that he was right, but tried to keep her focus on the Knight.

"If we're so predictable, then you know how this is going to end", she was saying. It was a little admirable how she was able to keep her voice from betraying her fears, but the Knight knew her too well for it to work. "The same way it always has. You run for the hills and we take the Dust you wanted."

In another world, where Roman might have been left to handle this heist himself without backup or reliable forces in the White Fang, that might have been true. But this was not another world, and as Blake was making this confident declaration, the Knight could see Cinder, his ace in the hole, getting in position. He laughed under his helmet.

"Blake", he gloated, "I've already broken up your little pattern just by being here. Did you think I wouldn't bring my own backup?"

Right on cue, Cinder threw a fireball right at them. Tapping into his old best friend's Semblance, the Knight sped away - though unlike its original user, he didn't leave rose petals behind. With his timing, Blake took the hit dead-on and was sent sprawling backward while the Knight was standing right next to Cinder already. She looked at him for her next orders, unfazed by his sudden movement.

"Keep her busy as long as you can", he said. "Be ready to evac once their backup arrives."

Before she could throw any of her usual petulant remarks back at him, the Knight was speeding away again. This time, instead of racing away from an attack, he was speeding towards the confrontation that he knew would be happening in the center of the docks.

As he had predicted, Sun had jumped into the fray after Blake, and he was attempting to make quick work of the White Fang like he always did. However, the goons were actually holding their own this time, doing a good job of covering both long and short range to keep Sun on his toes. His teachings were sticking, and if any of them made it out tonight, he'd be sure they got rewarded.

"Sun!", he yelled, getting the boy's attention. Sun took the time to slowly turn around, doing his best to avoid triggering his men into firing. Smart call.

As Sun's face came into sight, something shifted within the Arkham Knight. It was one thing to see his old "friends" again and be reminded of how fast he had been replaced. It was another thing entirely to see the one who had replaced him. Now, he wasn't just furious, he was in the mood to really get under his skin.

"You shouldn't have come here", he said. "Not even for her." It wouldn't take a genius to know who he was referring to there, not with the way he had hung off of Blake's side ever since they'd met. "You and your friends sticking your nose in our business is starting to make some people upset."

As he expected, Sun was unfazed by his basic insults and kept his cocky smile on his face. "Good! Always nice to hear I'm doing my job right."

The reply caught the Knight off guard and made him genuinely laugh. 'His' job? Yeah right. "It's not you though, isn't it? It's Team RWBY." Even then, it was mostly Blake, he knew. It was just nice to throw all of them under the bus when he had the chance. "You're just along for the ride like a loyal little sheep."

Again, Sun was unfazed. "At least I'm loyal to something! What're you loyal to, Dust and guns?"

Now that struck a nerve with the Knight. Someone like Sun could never understand what he was loyal to. The woman who had saved him from his hell, the one who took a boy from nothing and raised him into a man who could make a difference. He could never understand that kind of true all-or-nothing loyalty, not when he spent a whole year risking his life for a teenage crush.

"Your loyalty is pathetic." That actually struck a nerve with Sun, whose smile began to drop. "You're not loyal to an ideal or to heroism, you're loyal to a girl. A girl who doesn't know how she feels about a terrorist organization, much less her so-called friends. Is that something worth being loyal to?"

While he had been talking, his men had slowly began moving around Sun; now that he was going all in on the insults, Sun was too focused on him to notice. Perfect.

"What do you know about her, anyway?", Sun was asking. Of course he took everything else on the chin, but the moment he needed to defend Blake, he jumped at the bit. "What do you know about friends? You kill your own men just for screwing up, is that loyalty?"

Friends… the Knight knew a lot about friends. The way they could raise you up, make you feel like the most important man in the world, and give you something to dedicate your life to. They gave you something to protect and care for, something to fight for.

Then they'd leave you to die.

The Knight was done with Sun's pathetic games.

"Do you think I don't know you're stalling me, Sun?" It gave Sun credit for something that really was the Knight's plan, but seeing the way he froze solid in realization was worth it. "I'm not like the others you've fought. I know how you all think, which means I know how to beat you."

Case in point, he could see Sun's eyes flickering back and forth between his face and the building behind the Knight, telling him all he needed to know. "Backup" had arrived.

With Blake already in the field and Ruby undoubtedly staying back to snipe, there was only one option for who it could be.

"I think it's time for Weiss and Yang to join us, don't you think?"

Before Sun could react, the Knight heard glass breaking behind him; with a quick flick of his wrist and a use of the famous Schnee Semblance, the girls were sent flying in the wrong direction, separating them.

This gave him a spark of joy, and he laughed again. "Poor little Ruby, all alone on her perch, doing nothing but watching as her friends are split up. Can't even provide cover fire without risking hitting you."

Finally, Sun looked outright confused. "What are you talking about?"

Going silent, the Knight smiled under his helmet as his men finally got into position. "Sun, you're a Team Leader yourself", he began. It was risky to reveal that much information right away, but the Knight suspected Sun wouldn't quite grasp the implications of what he was saying. "Did you not realize that I was the one stalling you now?"

As Sun frantically looked to his left and right, the Knight stepped out of the circle, where two of his men then filled in the gap like he knew they would. Offhandedly giving the order to take him down, even if he knew they would fail, the Knight then used his old friend's Semblance once more to quickly race to Ruby's perch, where her ever-loyal Crescent Rose was ready to fire.

Before she could react, the Knight smacked it out of her hands and grabbed her by the throat, leaving her hanging in the air. Without her 'baby' by her side, all Ruby could do was helplessly flail.

That… why didn't that feel good?

"You're going to give a message for me", he said. It was confusing because that was not at all what his plan was when he came up here. What was happening? "I want you to tell your Headmaster that she's going to come for him where he least expects it."

Now he was outing his relationship to Salem. He had no doubt they'd suspected that already, but what the fuck was he doing confirming it?

"Then, I want you to give a message to Pyrrha Nikos."

Even saying her name sent a spark of rage through him, but again, none of this was the plan. He wasn't thinking straight, why wasn't he doing what he came here to do?

"Tell her that the Arkham Knight is going to show the world she isn't as invincible as she thinks."

With nothing else to say, even though he shouldn't have been saying anything anyway, the Knight headbutted Ruby with a little bonus from his Semblance, knocking her out right then and there. As he dropped her to the floor, he knew what needed to be done. He needed to pull out his gun and kill her right there. He knew that despite his growth, he'd still struggle in one-on-one combat with her, especially if she had her weapon. She was defenseless, literally unconscious. It was the perfect time to get rid of the thorn in his side.

After examining her face for a moment, he sped away.

After he sped to the area where Roman had consolidated the hostages, he tried to slow down his suddenly rapid breathing, but he was interrupted by several gunshots happening close by. Activating Neo's Semblance, leaving a clone standing over the terrified hostages, the Knight looked around the containers and located the source of the ruckus; Cinder had engaged Blake and Weiss at once, holding her own as to be expected. The two students were giving a pretty good showing all things considered, but he knew they'd lose if he let the fight continue.

Of course, Cinder had been trained to see through Neo's Semblance, and she quickly realized that the Knight was watching. Taking her moment, Cinder used her flames to propel herself back towards him, while the Knight quickly threw a fire Dust round in his chamber and fired at the container hanging from the crane.

As it fell, he knew the students would get out from under it, but he only needed a moment. Turning to Cinder, he gave his next orders.

"Get to one of the bullheads", he began. "Get it fired up and ready to go. Their backup's going to arrive any second now, we can't afford to stay here a second longer than necessary."

The Knight could see that Cinder wanted to argue with him, never wanting to take his orders even if she had no choice. However, he turned away from her, showing complete disregard for her obvious rage. With nothing else she could accomplish, Cinder ran towards the bullhead.

Now was the moment he hated more than anything. He had to use her Semblance.

Even accessing the remnant of her soul felt like he was being defiled all over again, like she was continuing to taunt him with her promises of help and care. He could see her Gods forsaken smile, filling him with false confidence and reassurances that she would always be there for him.

He couldn't wait to watch her die.

Before he could dwell further, he metaphorically reached out, grabbed the container, and threw it straight in the air, locking eyes with two more of his former friends.

And then, before he could even take a step, he heard a yell that could only be the blond-haired bitch of Team RWBY launching herself at him, decking him across the face before he could react.

As he rolled with the punch, Yang didn't let up. Credit where it was due, she was using her Semblance to her favor; with her rage and the damage she must have taken from the fall, she was fired up, throwing countless punches that he could never hope to react to in time. Even after everything he'd endured, they hurt like a motherfucker too.

It would be an excellent strategy, if he couldn't use her Semblance too.

As she continued her fast paced beatdown, the Knight tried to break out of it while hoping she didn't notice the flames building up around his helmet, raging in the signature black color of his Aura. Before he could react, Yang had ended her beatdown by rearing her fist back and socking him straight in the face. Though his visor took the hit without any damage, he was still sent flying backwards from her sheer strength until he hit a shipping crate, knocking him down to the ground. He knew there would be a followup, so he desperately tried to fight tbrough the pain, knowing he couldn't use Hazel's Semblance or he would lose all the power he generated.

Luckily for him, that power he had stored up gave him the strength he needed to catch Yang's incoming fist, even with his left non-dominant hand.

He'd wanted to do that so many times in class, so that was one of the most satisfying moments of his life.

As her power billowed around him with black flames, the Knight watched Yang's dawning horror as she couldn't get her fist out of his own. As he slowly stood back up, she even tried to use her other fist to open his own, but with her own strength depleted from that final hit, she had no leverage.

Though she couldn't see the smirk under his helmet, he felt great pride as he whispered "my turn" and punched her right in the stomach, sending her flying across the docks like she had sent him flying just a few moments ago.

If catching her fist felt good, that felt even better.

As she fell to the ground, the Knight knew he couldn't hold back this time. He still had no idea what had happened in the warehouse, but this was a pawn he could take off the board guilt-free. He pulled out his gun, ready to use his Semblance once more to end one of the biggest physical threats in his path.

So of course, as soon as he fired, purple glyphs appeared out of thin air and blocked the shots. A quick glance slightly further up on top of the crate showed Glynda Goodwitch standing there with her weapon out like a sword, protecting her student.

He just knew Cinder would never let him live this one down.

It was unfortunate that she had gotten here as fast as she did, but this was expected. As she jumped between him and Yang, the Knight activated his comm unit and broadcasted to anyone still conscious.

"Goodwitch is here. Full retreat, now."

With that simple command, he knew that at least Cinder and Roman would be evacuating ASAP, alongside the pilots of the other two bullheads they had. If all went well, they'd all go in different directions before returning to base, which would throw off air traffic control enough to stay hidden.

"If you know who I am", she was saying, which he almost missed in his musings, "Then you know I'm far from a pushover. You killed several of my students. I will see you brought to justice for that."

That… was she talking about Team CRDL? Someone actually gave a shit that they were dead? The mere thought of that made him outright laugh out loud.

"You can try, professor", he said, throwing as much disdain as he possibly could into that word. It would mean nothing to her, but even having to repeat the title to the woman who left him to fight for himself made him furious.

And then, all he could do was watch while Yang revealed that she had figured out his Semlance.

Credit where it was due, he figured that Weiss would be the first one to put it all together, not her, but as Goodwitch turned to listen to Yang, he knew that his strategy for this fight had just completely changed. She would normally be a very offensive fighter, but she didn't get to become Combat Instructor at the most prestiguous academy in the world by being an idiot. She'd be smart, and she'd play defensive.

It'd be up to him to make the first move.

Once she was turned back around and facing him, the fight was on. It felt like a lifetime of the two of them staring at each other, all while he saw and heard the three bullheads escape into the distance. It was just him now, and it was time to show his teacher how much he'd improved without her.

In a flash, he held up his gun and fired.

As he expected, she used her weapon to form a shield and block the bullets, and he used that brief moment to speed forward and punch downward at her head. She flicked it away with her crop, then flicked it again. In a moment, she was using her Semblance to quickly flick stones from the ground at him; with anyone else, stones would be nothing, but in her control, they were basically bullets.

They were too fast for him to react, so as they pelted him one by one like a machine gun, he activated Yang's Semblance and started storing the power, but this was where she differed from Yang; once the black flame started forming around his head, she stopped pelting him and closed the distance for hand-to-hand.

He had to use Ruby's Semblance and speed away, but she closed the distance again, leaving him still under assault and with none of Yang's power bank. As she struck with her crop, backed up by whatever Dust she had in it, he threw some of the Schnee glyphs at the attack sites, giving him a shield. He used those same glyphs to conjure glass shards similar to Goodwitch's own stones and shot them, but she used her own shield to counter them.

While she was defensive, he threw another glyph on his feet and sped away to the top of another crate behind her. She briefly had to look around to find him, and while she was looking, he used her own Semblance on her weapon; unused to having her own Semblance used against her, she wasn't able to grip it fast enough and it was thrown it from her hand.

As it sped towards him, he switched to his Semblance. It made her weapon fall out of the air, but it was all he needed to get his gun out and start firing. Without her shield, Glynda sprinted to cover as he fired, each bullet only landing slightly behind her before she ducked behind a crate. He was going to drop down and approach, but she used her Semblance to break off the wall of the crate and launch it at him, forcing him to use her Semblance to catch it.

The metal bent under the pressure of the polarity, and the brief moment he took staring at it in his mental break gave Goodwitch the opening to grab her weapon again.

She grabbed the metal with her Semblance again and pushed it towards him, slamming it into him and pushing him off the other side. As he fell, a storm cloud formed above him shooting hail shards at him, so he used more Glyphs to block them. They disintegrated on impact, and after his back slammed into the ground, he used Ruby's Semblance to speed away once more, giving him a moment of reprieve.

As she jumped on the crate and tried to look for him, the Knight stayed hidden as a voice came over his comm unit.

"Arkham Knight, come in. I've got the bullhead the Huntress used to get here, I'll be over the docks in fifteen."

Mercury was giving him nowhere near enough time to actually prepare for evac, but he'd have to deal with it.

He could see the bullhead approaching from the side of the warehouse, speeding over the docks as fast as Mercury could punch it and forcing the Knight to make some quick calculations. Before he could make a quick glance around the corner to check on Goodwitch, another round of hail shards bombarded his position. She'd found him, and she was closing in. His options were running low.

Reaching into his pouch for some gravity Dust, the Knight crushed it in his hand right as the bullhead was crossing over his head. With Goodwitch approaching from his left side, the Knight turned around the right corner instead and used Ruby's Semblance, speeding toward the water.

Once he was over the water, he switched to Weiss's Glyphs, and using some of the gravity Dust in his hand, he rose in the air before he used another burst of speed. Alternating between the two Semblances and using the gravity Dust with the glyphs to create the world's fastest staircase, the docks were soon far behind him and he was quickly catching up to the bullhead.

As he was nearing it, the landing ramp opened, revealing Mercury standing at the panel extending his hand. The Knight only needed a few more steps before he was close enough to grab Mercury's hand, letting himself be pulled into the aircraft.

Once Mercury had pulled him in, he closed the ramp behind him until the cabin was finally presurrized again, finally giving the Knight a chance to relax. However, before Mercury tried to sit down in the cabin, the Knight gave more orders.

"Are we going as fast as we can?", he asked.

Mercury seemed confused and nodded his head. "Yeah, we're gunning it. Why do you need to keep racing? We're lucky this thing doesn't explode with all the pressure we're giving it."

The Knight shook his head. "Beacon bullheads are stronger than the average aircraft. We can push it a little more than Cinder can push hers, and we need to get there first."

Mercury scoffed like he usually did whenever his boss was brought up. "Worried she's going to pull some kind of power play?"

The Knight again shook his head. "I'm not worried about it, I know she's going to try something. Word to the wise, when we land, I'd stay in the bullhead. Where we're going, the person in charge doesn't take kindly to strangers."

Mercury laughed, then started walking to the pilot's chair to monitor the autopilot. "Staying here and doing nothing? It's my dream come true, boss."

Her report was as thorough as it could be, and Ozpin and Qrow were looking at her, impressed at differing levels; Ozpin looked unsurprised yet proud, while Qrow seemed caught off guard by all she had to say.

"Okay", Qrow began, "forgetting about the insane amount of detail we just got… care to give the Sparknotes for me?"

Ozpin chuckled, yet answered before Glynda could. "I can narrow that down for you, Glynda. If you had to summarize his abilities, how would you do so?"

Glynda had expected that to be the question, so she had her answer prepared.

"He's a tactical genius who has no combat experience whatsoever."

Ozpin seemed to take that on the chin, but Qrow looked downright mystified. "Hold up", he said, "this guy gives you a fairly difficult fight and you're saying he has no experience? He killed a team of second years and escaped from you."

"All of that was with his Semblance", Glynda replied. "His usage of it is masterful, but in actual direct combat, he floundered. In our fight, all he tried to do was get as much distance as possible and disarm me; when I countered that, he could barely keep up."

Ozpin nodded, having made the same connection. "This connects with his murder of Team CRDL, too. He didn't try to fight them, he used his Semblance and strategy to pick them off one by one. The challenge won't be fighting him, the challenge will be cornering him, and if that escape plan of his is any indication, that will be quite the challenge. Someone being able to use 'multiple' Semblances in that manner isn't unheard of, but to be able to do so that quickly takes quite a lot of study."

"There's also another advantage I found", Glynda continued. "I'm confident that he can't use more than one Semblance at a time."

Ozpin leaned back in his chair, appraising her. "Interesting, how did you reach this conclusion?"

Glynda flipped back a few pages in her report, pointing to the relevant sections for Qrow to read as she spoke. "When I was hitting him with rocks", she began, making Qrow snort, "I noticed flames around his helmet, just like your niece's hair when she uses her Semblance. When I closed the distance and he used your other niece's Semblance to speed away, the flames disappeared. He lost the power he was storing when he tapped into another Semblance."

Then she flipped forward two pages, cutting off Qrow's attempt to follow along. "Then, when he used my Semblance to grab my weapon, it fell out of control when he went to shoot me. I assume that's when he switched to Tyrian Callows' Semblance to try to make his gunshots pierce my Aura, and the fact that he didn't take it entirely allowed me to retrieve it later."

Taking the report from Qrow's hands even as he grasped at the air where it used to be, she turned to Ozpin. "The only thing that explains those intentional handicaps is that he can't use more than one at a time. Otherwise, he would've tried to use combinations of Semblances instead of switching between them."

With this out of the way, she sighed and moved on to what she considered the bad news. "That being said, something that Ms. Belladonna mentioned has been concerning me. She said that he has to have been spying on at least Team RWBY, and I'm inclined to agree with her."

With that declaration, any levity Qrow and Ozpin had on their faces vanished, especially as Qrow's protective instincts flared up. "He's been watching them? For how long?"

"I have no idea", she said, "but it's the only thing that lines up. He predicted everything they would attempt during their skirmish and has incredible control over their Semblances, even a multi-faceted one like the Schnee glyphs. That kind of psychological understanding and physical skill doesn't come from nowhere. My best guess would be that he's been watching them in their fights with the White Fang, but I worry that it might go back even farther."

Ozpin leaned forward, clasping his hands on the desk. "I understand that we do not wish to worry the student body, but in light of this information and the threat on Ms. Nikos' life, do we agree that we should confine the three teams to Beacon? I do not wish to be unfair, but he's made it clear they are specific targets in whatever vendetta he has."

Glynda immediately nodded, having considered that exact solution, but Qrow seemed uncertain. "I mean, I get it, but do you think that will really stop them? I've been trying to make them quit for a year, no dice."

"They will once they remember the pilot."

Glynda put her head down, staring at the ground as sorrow gripped her heart.

After Glynda made sure the Team was okay and cleared a crime scene for the police, a dead body had been discovered half a mile away from the scene - the pilot who had delivered her to the docks. The best guess the police had was that he'd parked nearby for their evacuation and been ambushed, while his bullhead had been stolen with its GPS tracker removed.

Glynda knew that it had to be the bullhead the Knight had used to escape. He'd killed a civilian pilot just so he could get out of his heist and away from her, and the only reason he'd even been there was because he'd ordered her to go.

Intellectually, she knew that it wasn't her fault; he was a civilian, but he still worked for Beacon and knew the risks that came with that. Emotionally, he never should have been there in the first place, and if she had done something different that night, maybe he wouldn't have died a pointless death.

Qrow put his head down too, knowing his nieces would indeed listen if he told them about that. "It'll break their heart, Oz. I can't do that to them."

Ozpin looked him in the eyes to convey his sincerity. "I would never ask you to, Qrow. I'm going to bring Teams RWBY and SSSN here once this meeting has concluded and inform them that they're on lockdown on campus until further notice. After that, I'll bring Team PRN in for the same reason. It will hurt them and they'll need your help, but what's done is done and we need to take action."

Qrow looked at Glynda, hoping she would have anything to say, but in this instance, she couldn't say anything to her old friend. At the end of the day, mistakes were made all around and an innocent had paid the price. If that's what it took to keep them safe, that's what would happen.

Realizing he'd have no support, he sighed. "Fine, you gotta do what you gotta do. Can I at least be here? Tai would kill me if I wasn't."

Ozpin let out a wry chuckle, knowing that Qrow was being completely literal and Taiyang would indeed kill him. "If that will help, then yes, you can be here."

With Qrow placated, Ozpin turned to Glynda next. "Glynda, you've done fantastic work these past three days. For now, I'll keep in contact with the VPD while we look for the Knight; the last Qrow here reported, they had set up a tip line for people to call. Until we have any other leads, you can go back to your Combat Instructor duties. Hopefully, things will stay quiet until James arrives."

Qrow's face instinctively twitched at the name of the 'tin man', which gave Glynda a small chuckle before she turned to leave.

It had taken three days, but her job was done, and now it was time to return to her actual job.

I can remember the meeting we had with Ozpin so vividly. He was as gentle as he could be about it, but he also had to speak in no uncertain terms that our actions had finally gotten a civilian killed.

That is not to say that his death was our fault - the blame lies solely at the feet of the Arkham Knight, who arranged his death, and Deadshot, who pulled the trigger. However, the fact remains that not only would the pilot not have been there had we not been at the docks, but the Knight used his presence and death as a key part of his escape plan.

It was the wakeup call we needed to realize that the world was changing. No longer were we living in the world where we swooped in, stop the bad guys, and save the day; we were caught in a war with countless civilians caught in the crossfire, where every action we took, however innocuous, could mean life or death for someone we'd never met.

If there is one thing you take from this book, I hope it is this: all Huntsmen and Huntresses, even the so-called "superheroes", can't save everyone, no matter how much we all desperately want to.

After all, regardless of any of the rumors that are spead about Yang, we're all only human.