Here is the fifty-first chapter in this story released in accordance with my release schedule for this story. What started as a simple investigation mission on their internship turned into a rescue mission and then a full on terrorist plot prevention mission so Ruby and Weiss are really having one hell of an internship. Now they are on a speeding train trying to stop it and the bombs that are being used to lure Grimm into the tunnel and towards Hosu. To do so Yang, Blake, and Weiss have gone down to the carriages with Ruby now behind them following having run into mechs. Can they manage it or will there be more resistance as the aspiring Huntresses try to stop Torchwick and the White Fangs' attack. That I have for the administrative stuff I have for y'all and while there are no questions to answer here there is a guest reviews that need a response so I will do that now. Do keep them coming as your support is the best motivation for me to keep producing chapters at this kind of rate.

To Guest (guest), as always thank you for your review. Yup, Mountain Glenn is connected to Hosu and with the importance of the city it's a great target so the train is heading there and now Ruby and Weiss are on a convergence path with Hosu given the day of their internship so it's all coming to a head. Yeah the RWBY characters need non-lethal options for when dealing with humans though Blake may have killed someone last chapter, or at least set it up for the person to die from the charging Grimm after knocking that White Fang member off a moving train but that was self-defense. Do keep reading and enjoying my work.

That is it for this pre-chapter note so it is time to sit back and enjoy the fifty-first chapter in Black RWBY Academia.

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to these three great franchises.

Chapter 51: Carriage Duels

"Alright pay close attention Weiss, this is a bit sooner than expected but it's one of the things that U.A, is training us for." Yang said as the three girls landed in the carriage with Yang in the center and Blake and Weiss flanking her a pace behind. "I know you can handle yourself but remember that these are villains who are trained and have a deep hatred for society so they will be tougher than the gutter punks you faced in the USJ and will be trying to kill you. The grunts above weren't their best but any that are left will be better than the cannon fodder that we just dealt with so be smart if any try and stop us."

"I know, thanks." Weiss said touched a bit by Yang's words and knowing that she did have to be smart as any villains left would be better than the grunts they'd just faced so in that vein she reached into a pouch on her belt and pulled out a cylinder with several vials that had easy to pop off caps and handed it over to Blake who looked a little confused. "Here, Ruby said that you have the rare ability to alter your Quirk with Dust so this should help you. I'm sorry I can't properly prepare a better delivery system for it, next time let me know what works best for you and I'll sort it out."

"Thanks Weiss." Blake said surprised at the kindness, and generosity that the younger girl was showing her as it was clearly top grade Schnee Dust, though that was to be expected with Weiss. "So long as I'm in contact with the Dust somehow when I activate my Quirk it will take effect. I've trained with it before so I can raw Dust like this. If you're offering, I'll give you a few of my magazines for Gambol Shroud, that's the best system for activating it as my Quirk extents to what I'm holding so Dust bullets that work with my gun are ideal. That said, unless it's like this I'll pay for the Dust that you use, it's only right."

"Good, I can work with that as I'm learning to make Dust bullets for the purpose of enhancing a Quirk." Weiss said as they began to run. "And alright I'll send you the bill whenever I work on it. Ruby insisted that she pay for it as well when I offered to make her some special Dust enhanced rounds for Crescent Rose."

Yang just smiled at that, Ruby was a true friend and not exploiting Weiss's kindness and Weiss seemed to get it and wasn't pushing it showing that they had a good balance. It was nice to see and Yang knew that there was more there but she held her tongue because this was something that the younger girls needed to sort out, and come to terms with, themselves. That and they were currently on a mission that needed to be completed so they had to focus on that.

As such Yang just replaced the shells on her right gauntlet with special explosive slugs as they ran along the long carriage before raising her arm and firing off the first round as she finished loading her rounds to blow the door off its hinges followed by another one to blow the next door inwards. She never once broke stride in doing so which impressed Weiss as it was a level of coordination she'd not seen from Yang but then again Ruby's sister was a master of multiple forms of martial arts so she had to be coordinated to pull this off and it was just what they needed as the girls didn't have to slow down as they rushed between cars.

They kept this up for with Yang taking the lead to blow doors off while the other two followed a few paces behind her for a good few moments and managed to run through half a dozen train cars and past several inactive mechs on two flatbed cars, though some mechs were missing, before finally something happened. It was in the second car after the mech beds, Yang had just blown the door inwards and off its hinges and the sound of it landing was dying down when they heard a noise that could only be someone moving off metal as they rushed in.

At the sound, the trio slowed down and slowly passed the remains of the door as they entered the car. Just as they got past the door a girl with pink and brown hair that had white streaks in the pink and carrying a multi-toned pink umbrella with a black handle landed from a height above them and in a crouch in the middle of the empty carriage save for a few crates lined up along the edges and several pipes above them. The grace of her leap and landing spoke to years of training and instantly the girls came to a stop to assess their newest foe as it was clear that she was better than the earlier grunts.

As the girl rose, the trio noted that she was wearing a white broad tailed jacked with a pink interior, collar, button, and cuffs that was cropped wide over a brown over bust whalebone corset that didn't quite reach her waist exposing her hips, skin tight brown leather pants held up by a large belt with a gray buckle, and black and white spat style knee high boots. She completed her look with black gloves and several black beaded necklaces around her neck.

It was clear that whoever she was, she was with Torchwick and the White Fang, likely the former as she had no visible heteromorph traits and her style was very unique. Regardless of who she was with, it was clear that they'd have to go through her if they wanted to continue.


Neo smiled as the door to the train car was blown off its hinges but she waited for the smoke to clear and the sound to die down before she leapt down from the pipe near the car's ceiling to land in a crouch as the three girls rushed into the car before slowing down upon realizing that she was present. Neo had not intended on being here this week, she was technically a U.A. student in the General Studies Course right now after all, but with the Hero Course on a week long internship the other courses were allowed to do the same if they wanted to so long as it was relevant to whichever Course they were in.

Admittedly it was mainly for the Business and Support Course students who took internships in the business and support worlds but General Studies students could secure an internship as well if they wanted to. Few did, at least this early into their time at U.A., but to Neo this was a good and valid chance to get out and give all her reports to Roman without any suspicion. That and she wanted to get out school for a week, she was in her mid-20s after all so pretending to be a high school student could be exhausting though her disability actually helped as she could use it to get a break from other students.

Still, this week was needed and she had Roman use one of his legitimate fronts to make her an internship offer which she then accepted. Naturally, she just went straight to Roman using her Quirk to impersonate a member of the White Fang when she got close to Mountain Glenn so that no one but Roman knew that she was here and when she got here she gave him her report.

As always it was detailed report and contained a lot of useful information for him to use which had earned her praise and a relaxing week off from work to just have fun and cause a bit of chaos. Neo didn't care that it was in the tomb known as Mountain Glenn, she was just glad she got some time off her mission and with Roman.

Well that was the plan but the heroes clearly had other plans for them by sending some students on work studies and internships and under the supervision a pro Huntsman to investigate Mountain Glenn because of the increased Grimm activity. That should have been foreseen given the nature of both the White Fang and Mountain Glenn but it wasn't and now Roman had been forced to put the plan that he didn't want to put into action into, well, action.

Naturally, Neo was with him no matter what he decided to do regarding his alliance with the League of Villains. Therefore she'd help ensure that Roman's plan came to fruition by defending the train from these wannabe Huntresses so that Roman could break through the barrier to Hosu and cause chaos there. That would be fun at least and Neo hoped that she'd get a chance to watch the chaos as it unfolded later.

The only annoying thing about facing this trio, who she recognized as two U.A. third years called Belladonna and Xiao Long and a fellow first year who was the heiress to the Schnee fortune, was that she'd have to reveal her villain appearance as it would be too much of a hassle to confront them with her Quirk active the entire time. Thankfully, she was different to the appearance she used at U.A. and she was skilled in Quirkless combat both with and without her special umbrella so she likely wouldn't have to reveal her Quirk either.

She could just take down these interlopers and if she failed, well they'd never catch her so she was ready for this as she rose and smiled at the trio as she put her left hand on her hip and the girls came to a stop before her. This was going to be fun.


"You two carry on with the mission." Yang said her face setting as she looked at the shorter, and probably older, girl knowing that this would be a tough fight by the way the girl held herself as her lilac eyes met the heterochromatic eyes of her opponent and noted that one was pink the other brown. "This one's mine, I'll take care of her."

Without a word Blake ran forward with Weiss a step behind her as Yang took a combat stance. Blake knew Yang and trusted her so she knew that if Yang called this fight then she had it and Weiss just played off that running with the older girl.

Neo didn't say anything, well she couldn't seeing as she was mute but her opponents didn't know that, and brought her specially made umbrella, Hush, up and ready to engage the two wannabe Huntresses running at her. Neo had no intention of letting any of them past her as there was only one other person between her and Roman after whom it was a clear path to the engine car that would stop this train before it hit the Hosu seal and Neo had no intention of letting these wannabes stop the train.

Well that was her plan but as Blake and Weiss ran they didn't converge on her but rather kept to their lines thus leaving the lane between Yang and Neo free. This had been Blake's plan all along and Weiss played into it as it allowed Yang to cock her right gauntlet and fire and explosive round right at Neo. It was a controlled round, on that wouldn't kill or affect her teammates but rather occupy Neo and distract her, the villain was clearly capable of dealing with the round so it wouldn't take her out, and allow the other two to run past her and continue on.

It did just that as it exploded right in front of Neo though before it did she'd been forced into a backwards handstand to get out of the way as Neo could tell that if it made contact with her she'd be knocked out so she had to avoid it. As she did, Blake and Weiss rushed passed her and carried on towards the door at the end of the carriage.

Neo just smiled as she landed in a crouch that she remained in as she faced Yang knowing that it wasn't wise to turn to engage the others with Yang in front of her. Neo accepted that they'd gotten past her but there was still the leader of the White Fang contingent, their lieutenant as he was called, to deal with before Roman and he had a deep hatred for the Schnees so Neo knew that she could leave the others to him and deal with the Golden Dragoness herself. Besides, she knew that one on one she wouldn't lose this fight.

Weiss and Blake were unaware of this having reached the door behind Neo and before they could try to force through it, it opened on its own showing that the cars past the mech bed were a bit more high tech and easier to get through. They didn't mind as it likely meant that they were nearing the front of the train, they just pushed on into the next car enroute to the finding where the bombs were being armed. Yang was dealing with the villain behind them while Ruby and Oobleck used the roofs to reach the engine so it was on them to find and stop the bombs.

Alas, the villains had other plans for them because they'd only gone a few feet into the new car when they heard heavy footsteps and the dragging of something that scraped like only metal on metal could. It wasn't hard to see what it was because the villain was right in front of them as they ran into the train car and he walking towards them. The dragging sound was his weapon, a weaponized chainsaw, that was in his right hand and currently turned off as he dragged it along ground causing a few sparks to leap up from the contact.

The villain wore the standard black pants and gloves of a White Fang member but no hooded top showing his close cropped black hair. Instead he wore a simple white vets with silver edging and a high collar over a black sleeveless shirt that showed off his tanned, muscular, arms and the intricate black tattoo on his left bicep. He also had metal bracers over his hands and forearms and a full face Grimm mask that was more elaborate than the other White Fang members had worn.

Oddly his heteromorph trait was unclear so neither Weiss nor Blake had any idea what he could do or if it was tied to a Quirk or not. However, that didn't really matter as it was clear that he was some kind of White Fang officer, probably the cell's leader, and he wouldn't let them pass.

"Go on ahead, I'll handle him." Weiss said instantly volunteering for it and adding before Blake could potentially protest and step in to take this fight as her senior. "My glyphs are a better counter to that weapon than your Quirk is. Find Torchwick and whoever's arming the bombs and deal with them, you've got more experience with that than I would and are likely a better matchup for Torchwick should he appear."

"Got it, be careful Weiss." Blake said as they ran glad that Weiss was taking this on because she had unfinished business with Torchwick from a mission during her second year work study but she was still worried for Weiss. "Remember that some battles can't be won and to fall back and get help from Yang if need be. Ruby's counting on you to not die and you wouldn't want to upset her."

"Don't worry, I won't mess this up or make her sad." Weiss said seriously as the man began to laugh and turned on his chainsaw. "I never want to see Ruby cry or upset her again."

Weiss put on a burst of speed at that and reached the man before Blake and cutting in to be face to face with him as he laughed and brought his chainsaw around and down to intercept Weiss. However Weiss came to an abrupt halt and lent back, Myrtenaster up and pointing down over her body and at the last moment created a glyph in the air to intercept the chainsaw and cause it to bounce up from the sudden impact distracting the man.

As it did there was a potential opening for Black to use to take him down but as she reached him she noticed that the man's vest was armored and her sheath or sword wouldn't get through it to wound him even if they were at their sharpest so rather than waste time and momentum, or Weiss's decision to stay and hold him off, she used the man's stagger to get past him and carry on to the next train car. It was now solely up to Blake and she fully intended on completing the mission and not letting her teammates and friends, after the last few days she couldn't deny that Weiss had become a friend, down.

Blake showed this by rushed passed the chainsaw wielding White Fang man, who was their lieutenant and known only as that or Elder to Torchwick and his fellow White Fang members, while Weiss backflipped away from him and landed in a crouch on the ground with Myrtenaster up and pointing at him in her left hand. She then launched off the ground as Blake got clear and swung her rapier at the man but he easily blocked it with his chainsaw.

Weiss wasn't deterred by that though as she landed on the car floor and unleashed a series of well-honed and practiced strikes her body moving with the grace and poise of a ballet dancer as she pressed the man back. Her moves were smooth and skilled and she used her lighter weapon and smaller stature to her advantage as she forced him to try and block the attacks until an uppercut got through and scored a line along his chest with Myrtenaster's tip.

As Weiss's blade made contact she activated the Lightning Dust cylinder that was in the chamber to coat it with crackling yellow lightning and impart it into the man. He just grunted as he was thrown backwards by the blow and the lightning being discharged into him and rolled over. She'd done all of this before Blake had reached the door out of the carriage causing Blake to look over her shoulder at Weiss who just gave the older girl a reassuring smile as the man began to rise.

Cleary either the armor he wore could resist Lightning Dust or whatever his Quirk was it granted him enhance durability and resistance be it from a standard emitter class Quirk or some mutant class that made him a heteromorph, so the fight wasn't over. That was annoying but as the door opened and Blake ran through it to the next carriage she knew that Weiss had it and pressed on further along the train.

However, Blake's own progress was halted in the very next carriage as she came to a stop a few yards in and glared at the man standing before the door at the end. It would seem that their progress would be stalled every step of the way after the first villain confronted them but at least this had to be the final boss as the man blocking Blake's path forward was none other than Roman Torchwick himself.

"Why hello there kitty cat, been a while since we tangled." Torchwick said in his usual tone. "Miss me? I've missed you, you're more fun than little Red is."

"No I haven't but I still owe you for that shipyard last year." Blake said her voice hard. "So I'm glad I'm the one to stop you."

The incident that Blake was referring to was actually something that Ruby had indirectly set in motion almost a year ago when she stopped Torchwick's Dust robbery in Vale and earned her recommendation to U.A. That was because in the wake of the robbery, which had been the latest in a string of them, Beacon had launched a formal investigation into the robberies taking over the case from the local police due to Torchwick's confirmed involvement.

Blake and Yang had been doing their work study then and thus were part of the investigation as it was a great learning tool for them after only doing several Grimm extermination and town protection missions up to that point. The investigation was slow going but after Yang destroyed a club for the second time they got a lead that culminated in the Vale shipyards where Torchwick was transporting his stolen Dust and other contraband to other parts of Japan as well as to China, Korea, Kaflin, and the Spade Kingdom.

At the time there was no known direct involvement with the White Fang but they should have realized it back then as the grunts they faced in the shipyard were far better than your average hired thug and roughly on par with a White Fang grunt. It had been Blake and her boyfriend Sun who had encountered them as they followed up on Yang's tip from the burning club she was in with Sun's friend Neptune all while they were supposed to be at Beacon going over the investigation with Glynda.

The plan to go out and get info from the club that Yang knew was run by one of Torchwick's associates, a man called Junior, had been Sun's. He was a restless sort and that had been why he and Neptune had been assigned to assist Beacon along with a supervising pro Huntsman because Beacon had teamed up with Haven as many of the smuggled goods had ended up bound for locations within Haven's jurisdiction.

The tip had been weak as Junior was on bad terms with Torchwick following Ruby beating his thugs up and getting them arrested which had led to Beacon's involvement but they were hitting walls with the investigation so Blake and Sun followed up on the tip. It turned out to be a good one as they stumbled upon Torchwick's operation when Torchwick himself was present and that had culminated in a fight between them and Torchwick that had ended in a stalemate, though he did land several blows on Blake, and his escape. Since then Blake had wanted to take Torchwick down though she'd only told Yang of this desire.

"You know we really ought to stop meeting in places like this, people are going to talk and think your skipping out on that monkey boy of yours for me." Torchwick said his cane on his shoulder not phased at all by Blake's words. "Somehow I'm not surprised that you're involved with Red and White, those two are rather annoying."

Blake just growled, not bothering with a response as she charged at Torchwick. For his part Torchwick sighed in return and moved to engage her. Blake was more than ready for this and with Weiss's assistance she was certain that she'd win this battle and then she could find out how to disarm the bombs. Hopefully the other two were doing well with their own battles.


As the door behind the tri-colored villain closed, Yang strode forward and towards her. She had no clue who the older woman was but that didn't matter, she'd leapt in their way and was clearly with Torchwick and his operation so she had to be defeated and taken into custody. That was Yang's job and she'd see it through just like she always did.

Neo for her part just rose to her full height, which even in high heeled boots barely reached Yang's chin, and squared off against the third year. This would be fun and she gave Yang a cocky half smirk but Yang just glared at Neo as she clenched her fist before shifting back and punching at a still smirking Neo without any hesitation or warning.

Yang wasn't sure what happened next as she was sure that with how close she was that she'd make contact, her punch was fast enough after all, but it didn't. One moment she was punching and the next she'd somehow been turned around a full 360 degrees and was back to facing the other woman who was now a few paces back with her umbrella up pointing at Yang.

Neo's expression didn't change and she didn't give Yang any indication as to what she'd done, she just opened Hush to reveal the elaborate, multi colored and multi fabric canopy of her weapon before she took a step back and raised it over her shoulder taunting Yang without words. The taunt worked and Yang got pissed, though that was in part because she'd somehow missed her punch, and she let that fuel her as charged again and unleased flurry of punches and kicks against the villain.

However, just as with the initial punch, that didn't work either. Neo simply kept her expression the same, umbrella in her right hand over her shoulder and left hand on her hip as she easily backed up and evaded every punch and kick as if they were nothing.

If Yang wasn't so pissed she'd be impressed by how light on her feet the villain was as she easily ducked, dodged, and weaved out of the way of her blows but she was pissed and focused on landing a solid punch as she pressed Neo so she didn't notice. Neo just kept this up until finally Yang forced her to change things up with a leaping kick that Neo had to close her umbrella to get it out of the way of Yang's leg.

That was fine though as Neo brought the special weapon down in its closed form and used the handle of it to block several of Yang's punches showing how strong the material it was made from was. Then, using the momentum of the blocks and Yang's own battle rhythm against her, Neo crouched down as Yang tried to kick her with her right leg and spun away from the kick before using that to rise up and savagely kick Yang in the side of the head with the heel of her left boot as she rose back to her full height.

The blow caused Yang to yelp in surprise as it knocked her off her feet and to the ground of the train car. It was a heavy hit which Yang absorbed but it had been a while since anyone had managed to land a blow like that on her, well anyone other than her father in sparring practice, and she growled up at the silent villain.

Neo just kept smiling as she didn't let her momentum falter and pressed her advantage by flipping in the air and bringing her legs down for an overhead kick. However, Yang saw the move coming and easily flipped up and out of the way with her own high levels of athleticism and training before putting some distance between them. Then, as Yang landed, she pushed off her back foot and charged again without pausing after getting clear.

Yang's punch was simple and powerful but Neo used her height to her advantage as she fell back and raised her arms, Hush in both hands, and deflected the punch upwards before catching Yang's right arm with her left and swiftly slamming the metal ferrule of Hush into Yang's face. The blow disorientated Yang and caused her to stagger back a step which Neo used to bring her left leg up and then around and kick Yang hard in the gut.

The blow sent Yang flying back to land on her back and Neo pressed forward cartwheeling around Yang to get behind her for her next stroke as Yang's anger rose. It still wasn't at the level for Yang to resort to using her Quirk, the power boost would help but the villain was too nimble right now so it would be a waste to use Burn when Yang wasn't sure she could land a hit. However, she was furious and as she got up and around she brought her left arm down and fired a concussive shot that would disorientate, hurt, and maybe knock out the villain but not kill her.

However, this was what Neo had expected and as Yang brought her fist around she opened her umbrella and blocked the blow with the special material that the canopy was made of and kept it open to block a follow up blast from Yang's right gauntlet. She then closed Hush and swung it horizontally at Yang but Yang backed up from it and used that momentum to bring up her left arm for another blast enhanced punch that the villain wouldn't have time to open her umbrella to block.

Naturally, Neo knew that she couldn't get Hush open in time to block it so instead she used the closed umbrella as a sword and brought it up and into Yang's gauntlet to deflect her arm up as Neo ducked down at the same time sending the blast harmlessly over her head. She followed it up by bringing Hush forward and slamming the shaft of it vertically into Yang's face staggering her back yet again and giving her a nosebleed for good measure.

The stagger did allow for Yang to avoid another slash from Hush and bring her left fist around again. This time, though, Neo had the space to open Hush and force Yang's arm high with the canopy sending the blast into the ceiling of the train car.

Momentum was on Neo's side and she pressed it by thrusting forward with an open Hush to slam the ferrule of it into Yang's large chest and sending her right fist and the blast from her gauntlet wide in the process. She was pressing Yang back and into some cargo containers and Yang was getting really pissed but despite this Yang was still able to keep a level head and brought her right fist back and forward in a savage punch with another blast.

Rather than try to block it, Neo instead closed Hush and flipped back right before the punch would have landed causing it to miss and blast a hole in the floor of the train car. She then sprung off the ground with her right hand and landing on her feet just before a cargo chest and calmly sitting down on it as she opened Hush again. Completely unharmed, Neo brought the umbrella around and back over her right shoulder as she crossed her legs the same half smirk that had never once left her face plastered there as she looked at Yang.

Yang panted as blood ran down from her nose and over her lips. She could feel the bruises forming despite her higher than normal resistance to physical damage and even her high stamina was being tested by this villain though that was in part due to all the fighting that she'd done to get to this point. However, she wasn't going to give up, she just had to go plus ultra if she wanted to win. That was fine with Yang, she was a U.A. student and one of the top third years at that, that's what they did and she set her face as she strode forward towards the villain to reengage her.

Neo didn't move as Yang approached, only kept her half smirk on her face and cocked her head right before Yang swung her left fist at the sitting girl. Neo just swung her body and Hush around to deflect the punch away before using that momentum to push herself up into a spinning handstand and then falling off the crate and keeping her momentum going to press forward with a series of cartwheeling kicks at Yang. The younger girl dodged the first few but finally one broke though and hit her in the face staggering her back and sending a few drops of blood splattering to the floor to Yang's side.

Of course this was still not enough to take down Yang and she growled as she cocked her arms and used the added distance to fire another blast at Neo but Neo just blocked it with an open Hush before spinning back and out of the way of Yang's follow up attack, closing Hush in the process. Neo then reversed course and spun into Yang's attack swinging Hush like an expert swordswoman as she deflected the blows away including another blast that went into the ceiling with an open Hush. She then closed it as she spun and kicked at Yang once again.

However this time Yang was ready and had finally picked up on the villain's fighting style and easily caught the shorter woman's left foot in her right hand and spun with the kick, her left hang going to the woman's leg as she lifted the villain off her feet and tried to throw her. Neo was having none of that, though and opened Hush as she was thrown to add some drag resistance and flipping with both the throw and the change in her speed to land in a crouch that she then pushed off of and rushed Yang.

As she did, Neo closed Hush and used it and her speed to catch Yang's right arm as the blonde woman swung at her and flip with it around the arm and over Yang's head. As she did Neo placed her left hand atop Yang's head as she opened Hush again and spun around her as if Yang was a piece of gymnastics equipment.

Then, as Yang was trying to deal with this, Neo moved along her grabbing her hair and then Yang's wrist before falling down and using her momentum and a surprising among of strength to flip Yang up and send her flying back first into the ceiling with a hard crash, her head hitting it first. As she did Neo had Hush open and landed lightly on her feet her back to Yang.

Neo knew that she could do this because the blow had knocked Yang out. Yang knew it too as the last thing that had gone through her head before she slammed into the ceiling and everything went black was how on earth had she been so utterly outclassed by this unknown villain.

That was something Yang would have to work on though but it still remained whether or not she'd get the chance as Neo turned to the unconscious Yang her smile never faltering as she held Hush in both hands, her right hand on the handle and left on the closed canopy. It was time to end this wannabe Huntress and show that Roman's organization wasn't to be messed with by making a statement. Neo would do just that as she walked towards Yang's unconscious form and began to pull the hidden blade from Hush.

It would be quick and clean kill and Neo smiled the entire time as she drew the blade concealed in the shaft of Hush, basically it was exactly like a sword cane only it was a sword umbrella instead, and spun the crook in her hand as she reached Yang so that the tip of the sword was pointing down. She then raised it above her head as she pulled level ready to plunge it down and directly into Yang's heart.

However, just as Neo was about to stab, there was the sound of someone landing on the ground just past the blown in door followed by a cocking sound. That was the only warning that Neo got before the shot rang out as she turned to the sound and was forced to leap back and away from it.

Neo didn't have time to use Hush's shield as the sword was out and so she just had to get out of the way but she was just a shade too slow and the round scored along her left jaw searing line into her flesh though as it was just a non-lethal round it didn't do more than cut Neo. Still it hurt and she glared at the newcomer a silent snarl on her face as blood began to well up from the wound and run down her neck.

"Back away from my sister!" Ruby said Cresent Rose in her gun mode and shouldered, she'd aimed for the villain's head knowing that the non-lethal round wouldn't kill only knock her out but the villain clearly had good reflexes. "Now surrender."

Neo just shook her head as she sheathed the sword back into Hush's shaft and that was all that Ruby needed to fire again. However, Neo was already prepared for the shot and while she'd not wanted to use it so as to keep some of her tricks concealed, she knew that she couldn't win against both girls working together. That and she was sure that they'd traveled far enough that the mission couldn't be stopped so it made sense that she get clear just in case Roman needed rescuing. As such, Neo had activated her Quirk just before Ruby fired her shot.

The result was that the round hit the forehead of an imagined shell of Neo that she'd created there with Hush in both hands and the moment that it did it, the created image shattered into a thousand pieces and dissipated. Ruby blinked at that as Yang groaned and came to but Neo was already at the far end of the carriage next to an open side door.

Neo blew Ruby a kiss before she leaped out of the train and into the air, opening Hush as soon as she could to safely glide away and make her escape as Ruby brought Crescent Rose around to fire a third shot at her but Neo was already clear of the train by then. There were of course Grimm around but Neo could use her Quirk to hide from them as they focused on chasing the train and the negativity on it and then get clear. She was free and in the long run that was what would turn out to be the right move as the train continued to hurtle towards Hosu.

"What happened?" Yang groaned as she sat up having had a blurry vision of the woman shattering a moment ago. "Did, did she break like glass?"

"I think it was her Quirk though I have no clue what it actually does." Ruby said as she returned Crescent Rose to its standby mode and holstered it on her back and rushed to help Yang to her feet. "Did you see it when you fought her."

"I, I don't think so." Yang said shaking her head to clear it as her nose continued to bleed but she ignored that. "She's talented though, her umbrella is a Huntsman grade weapon and she's at my level in hand to hand. Slippery bitch for sure. Hard to believe that a villain of that caliber has gone unnoticed for so long."

"Well we can report her and have her image put out to all over the country when this over as she was about to kill you so she's looking at an attempted murder charge at the very least." Ruby said worry in her voice. "Good thing I got here in time."

"Yeah about that, why are you here?" Yang asked. "Shouldn't you be up above with Dr. Oobleck?"

"The mechs were attacking so Oobleck and Zwei stayed to fight them and he sent me down here after you guys." Ruby said. "He figured that you'd have cleared a path for me to burst through to the engine room unopposed but you hadn't, and I got briefly held up by a mech that I had to disable with Crescent Rose as I reached them as one of the White Fang members was boarding it. Seems like there was a strong boss down here though."

"Seems so but thanks sis, I owe you." Yang said a little rattled by the loss and Ruby's words that she was about to be killed by the villain. "Going to train extra hard when we get back to school."

"We can deal with that in a bit, let's move." Ruby said as she turned to the door at the far end of the train car. "Hopefully Blake and Weiss didn't have to deal with any resistance."

Yang just nodded as the sisters turned and ran forward to towards the door to meet up with their friends with Yang swapping out her explosive rounds, she was almost out of them anyway, for powerful rubber buckshot rounds as they ran. The sounds of a reeving chainsaw reaching them as the door opened to the next carriage not boding well and causing the girls to pick up their pace as they moved forward.

They weren't a moment too late as they reached the next carriage just as a beefy man in modified White Fang clothing and mask, likely their leader in this location, was raising a weaponized chainsaw over his head. At his feet on the cracked floor was a clearly stunned and injured Weiss and Ruby didn't have time to hear what he was saying as he brought the chainsaw down, all she could do was shout out in anger as she rushed forward pulling Crescent Rose off her lower back and activating it into her full scythe mode just before bursting in her Quirk.

"Stay away from my precious snowflake!"


"Finally, a dream of mine has come right to me like a lamb to the slaughter, to think that you'd be so dumb but I ain't complaining." The lieutenant said a dark chuckle in his voice as he rose from the ground the last of the lightning fizzling out and showing that he was mostly fine after that attack. "At last I get to kill a Schnee. I'll send your head to your father little girl."

"You'll find that it's not easy to kill a Schnee." Weiss said as she slide back into an attack stance and raised Myrtenaster to point it directly at the man. "So bring it, I'm more than just my name."

"A name that will be erased from history!" The lieutenant roared as he charged at Weiss. "Time to die bitch!"

Weiss didn't reasoned to that as she spun her sword and her body and created a glyph before her that intercepted the chainsaw with a boom. The man tried to break through it and pressed against the glyph but the glyph held firm, it would take more than a weaponized chainsaw wielded with above average strength to break through Weiss's glyphs once they were fully established though it did spark as it made contact.

However, Weiss wasn't bothered by this as she waited for the right moment. That came a few seconds after she was certain that her glyph would hold firm as she felt the man's strength was starting to wane. The moment that she did Weiss pushed her glyph back and up as hard as she could manage.

The result was as expected, the man's chainsaw was forced up and away from Weiss, the momentum staggering him back and allowing Weiss to drop the glyph and get in close again. However, the lieutenant wasn't some slouch or grunt and he recovered before Weiss could close the gap and brought down the chainsaw again. This time Weiss didn't have time create a glyph to block it and was forced to slide to the side in a crouch as she got Myrtenaster up to block the blow, angling the rapier down in the process.

The reason for this was simple, against a weapon like a weaponized chainsaw and wielded by a man who was considerably stronger than Weiss, he'd break through a direct block and saw her in half in less than a minute so rather than do that she forced the chainsaw to slide down her blade, sparking as it did, and into the floor of the carriage. It was a risky and scary move but Weiss didn't show her fear as she used the block to pirouette away while the chainsaw was down and thrust forward into the man's armored chest.

Again the blow didn't do much other than stagger him but Weiss used that to push forward, maintaining her own momentum in the process, and leap over him. As she did a glyph appearing under her feet to boost her jump, so that she could clear the larger man. Then, with a spinning flip, she brought Myrtenaster down, the chamber rotating and Weiss once again activating the Lightning Dust that was loaded to charge the blade right before she slashed it at the man's head.

The goal was to hit the back of his head or better the nape of his neck right on the spine to try and impart the jolt there and hopefully take him down. Alas it didn't work as he turned with Weiss's movements so as to keep an eye on her and as such the tip of her blade glanced off the lieutenant's mask scoring a line there but doing nothing more as the mask was made out of a special polymer and not metal and designed to be resistant to things like an electrical charge.

That didn't deter Weiss though as she landed in a crouch behind him and then arched back as the man used his stagger from Weiss's latest hit to bring his chainsaw around trying to bisect her at the waist but instead it passed harmlessly over Weiss's chest, the air hitting her as it did. The move brought the chainsaw fully around and Weiss used that and her own momentum to flip back and bring her sword up landing another blow to his mask and a follow up one to his arm as he staggered back from the first blow.

Neither were charged as she didn't have time to activate it with her dodge though the chamber had automatically rotated into place after the last charge, but she did manage to cut his arm showing that he could be harmed as blood began to run down it. Weiss didn't celebrate it though as she pushed forward and unleashed a series of stabbing strikes that the man blocked as he continued to stagger and as such his stance wasn't strong enough and he fell down allowing Weiss cartwheel over him.

However, before she could capitalize the lieutenant rolled onto to his side and as he was sitting up spun his chainsaw around and at Weiss. This forced Weiss to abandon her attack and instead lean back and let it pass over her again as she spun and crouched down, avoiding a follow up strike as the momentum shifted to the lieutenant.

The lieutenant pressed Weiss and didn't give her a moment to recover as he pushed forward swinging his chainsaw at Weiss faster than she could get a glyph up to intercept it and forcing her to deflect it away with Myrtenaster as she backed up. The man didn't let up though as he showed that he could use more than his weapon and kicked out at Weiss right after she was clear of the chainsaw but she evaded it by leaping into the air causing the man to kick a crate away.

As she did, Weiss created another glyph and used that to further her leap up as she flipped to avoid hitting the ceiling. She then took a page out of Ruby's battle book from their training session before the Sports Festival and planted her feet on the ceiling of the carriage and pushed off it, her body spinning as she flew down at the lieutenant her sword pointing directly down at him.

It was a good and fast move but not fast enough as the lieutenant dodged it by backing up causing Myrtenaster to hit the ground but Weiss rolled with it figuratively and literally as she rolled forward to avoid crashing into the floor or letting the miss interrupt her momentum. She used that roll to close in on the lieutenant before popping up from it and unleashing a series of slashes at him as she pressed forward.

The man blocked them but the slashes were more done just to occupy him as Weiss kept his weapon high and away from her before she spun, crouching in the process to build momentum, and then thrust Myrtenaster forward under the man's guard and into his gut. Again his armor protected him but he was once more thrown back and onto his back. He rolled with the slid though and flipped up onto his feet into a crouch but now he was far enough away for Weiss to act.

As the man rose Weiss brought her sword up as a large glyph appeared beneath her feet followed by several smaller ones around him and on the ground leading up to him. Then, before the lieutenant could react, Weiss pushed off the ground and at him her speed significantly boosted by the glyphs before she leapt to the glyphs that were around him.

Just as she'd done against Todoroki in the Sports Festival, Weiss leapt between the glyphs that surrounded the lieutenant, slashing him with every pass of him and forcing him off the ground. He may have high resistance thanks to his armor and likely his Quirk, heteromorph trait, or both as well, but even that had a limit as Weiss landed several uncharged blows on him.

Weiss was well past her own limit with this move but she pushed past it and kept it up for a good few seconds before she got over him and with a final slash send him crashing back first into the floor of the carriage with enough force to bounce him off it. Weiss then used the momentum of that move to turn and create a glyph that she landed on and pushed off, Myrtenaster in both hands and going for a stab to the man's shoulder to immobilize his arm, pin him to the ground, and win the fight.

Alas the lieutenant really was resilient as he rolled back from the stab so that it hit the ground just like the last time she'd tried a downward stab, and got to his feet. As he did Weiss followed the stab by leaping at him, Myrtenaster in her left hand and up and behind her ready for a final, hard, strike to his head to end it. However, that was her mistake as she was now a shade slower than before and Myrtenaster was just too far away to bring around fast enough, two things that the lieutenant noticed.

"Yes, come here princess!" The man shouted as he stepped forward and grabbed Weiss's face in his left hand before she could bring Myrtenaster to bear. "I've got you now!"

All Weiss could do was let out a yelp as she was grabbed and her legs swung forward and up as her body pivoted in the air with the sudden halting of her momentum. She didn't have time to do more than that before the man brought his arm forward and with all his strength he slammed her down and headfirst into the floor of the carriage with enough force to crack it.

Weiss gasped, her eyes wide and head ringing, and a wet patch forming on the back of her head as she was knocked senseless by the blow. The man just grinned as he let go of Weiss's face and brought both hands to his chainsaw as he raised it high above his head.

"Time to die Schnee!" The man said gleefully as the chainsaw reeved and Weiss's vision blurred as he began to bring it down on and she realized that there was nothing that she could do to stop it. "I'm going to enjoy this."

"Stay away from my precious snowflake!"

Weiss blinked unsure if she'd heard it right because she was pretty sure she just heard Ruby's voice, she'd recognize it anywhere, right when she needed to hear it the most. To top it off, Ruby had called Weiss her 'precious snowflake' which was extremely endearing and filled Weiss's chest with a warmth that she couldn't describe or understand though she was also still pretty senseless so it was hard for her to process what the feeling meant.

That and Weiss's logical mind, what was still available at the moment, was sure that she must be hallucinating from the head trauma she'd just suffered and with the White Fang lieutenant bringing down his chainsaw on her to kill her the situation was probably causing Weiss to hear things in her last moment. That was a shame because she'd like to see Ruby and hear her voice one more time before the end, her best friend was very dear to her after all.

At least that's what Weiss thought until there was a flash of swirling red and as the chainsaw came down Ruby reformed above her, red rose petals covering Weiss as Ruby burst out of her Quirk and straddled Weiss, Crescent Rose up and in her full scythe mode. It was just in time as a second later the chainsaw slammed into the haft of the scythe and sparked as the man tried to cut through the block but the metal that Ruby's scythe was made off held firm as sparks flew from the contact and Ruby used all of her considerable core strength to hold it back.

Weiss just stared up and wide eyed at her best friend as Ruby held the block and getting a very clean upskirt shot from this angle in the process. Idly, Weiss noted that that wasn't much on an issue as Ruby was wearing red tights that darkened to black so she didn't get to see what panties Ruby had on. Not that that was an issued because she'd seen Ruby naked and in underwear before both in the changing room and the bath, or at least it shouldn't be as every time that happened Weiss felt her heartbeat pick up and it almost felt wrong to see Ruby like that even if it was normal for girls to do so.

"Fall back to Yang!" Ruby grunted out as her arms struggled and she began to crouch down. "I can't hold this forever Weiss!"

That snapped Weiss back from her idly thoughts on how she had a view that Mineta would probably sacrifice a testicle for if Ruby wasn't wearing tights and to the situation at hand. Despite her foggy mind, Weiss's pushed through it and the pain in her head as she created a line of glyphs that extended back the way that Ruby had come. Then, as soon as she could, Weiss pushed off the ground with her heels and slid on her back over the glyphs to speed her up and get clear, a small trail of blood appearing in her wake from the cut on the back of her head though her skull thankfully wasn't fractured.

"I'm free Ruby!" Weiss shouted the very act hurting but she ignored it. "Get free as well!"

"Good." Ruby said as she was forced to a knee by the lieutenant's strength. "Yang! Now!"

At that Ruby suddenly burst forward and up, her swirl splitting into three as she broke apart and moved around the lieutenant as his chainsaw cut through now empty space. He didn't have a chance to process that because the moment that Ruby had called out Yang had rushed forward and leapt over a sliding Weiss, her right arm cocking back and leveling at the lieutenant. Then, as Ruby was clear of him and his chainsaw hit the ground causing sparks to fly from the metal on metal contact, Yang fired.

There was a boom as the powerful rubber buckshot that Yang used in these shells, basically small scale riot suppression shells, tore across the enclosed space of the train car, and slammed into the lieutenant's mask and upper chest right above where the vest was so where he had no armor. He let out a roar of pain as the mask cracked and he staggered back but he didn't have time to do anything as Yang landed from her leap and ran a few more steps before leaping forward and into a perfect, feet first, baseball slide.

The slide took her over Weiss's glyphs that were still there as Weiss hadn't dispelled them, so she also slid over some of Weiss's blood, and sped Yang up so that she was on the man before he could finish staggering. However, rather go for his legs, Yang slid between them and fell onto her back. Then, as the lieutenant looked down at her, she grinned and winked as her eyes turned red, her hair ignited with the golden light it had when she activated her Quirk, and she punched upwards.

"Cup check!" Yang roared as she drove her fist home right into the man's groin and revealed that he was, in fact, not wearing a cup.

Yang's enhanced punch drove into the man's family jewels and he instantly went wide eyed behind his mask as he was hit there and then blasted upwards from the force of Yang's Quirk enhanced blow. For good measure Yang moved her left arm and fired another round of rubber buckshot into the lieutenant's chest as he was throw upwards to add to the force.

He didn't stand a chance to remain conscious as a second later he slammed head first into the ceiling with enough force to dent it before the rest of his body moved up and hit it. He seemed to stay there for a few moments before he fell down to the floor with a crash, his mask shattering as he hit it and he just lay there eyes white and foam frothing from his mouth, his chainsaw off to the side.

"Weiss!" Ruby said having reformed past the man and turned in the air as Yang did her thing and turning to look to Weiss while putting away Cresent Rose again as she fell to the carriage floor. "Are you ok?"

"I am now that you're here Ruby, you really are an angel you know that right." Weiss said smiling as she flopped back having sat up when Yang leapt over her to see the end and now lacking the strength to remain, her glyphs vanishing as she did. "Thank you, both of you. I thought I was a goner there."

"Don't think like that!" Ruby said as she rushed down the carriage and past Yang who was slowly getting up and towards where Weiss lay. "I couldn't bear to lose my bestie! You're my precious snowflake Weiss, thank god we got here in time. How are you feeling? You're not too badly hurt are you? You can tell me, please stay conscious Weiss."

"My precious snowflake?" Yang asked trying and failing to contain her smirk as Ruby reached Weiss while Yang finally got to her feet and moved to restrain the lieutenant with a set of sturdy flexicuffs that she always carried in one of her belt pouches. "Really? That is so adorable! And you called her it twice!"

Weiss and Ruby didn't hear Yang as Ruby knelt down and gently lifted Weiss's head up and put it in her lap, stroking the side ponytail soothingly with her left hand and placing her right hand gently on Weiss's abdomen as she did. Weiss couldn't deny it, this was really nice and she sighed her eyes closed for a moment as Ruby fussed over her wishing that she could lie her for a while.

Alas the moving of the train and the sound of Yang tightening a pair of flex cuffs on the lieutenant followed by the sound of Yang destroying the weaponized chainsaw brought her back to the situation at hand and her eyes opened. As she did and looked up into Ruby's smiling face and her molten silver eyes that were swimming with tears, Weiss fully processed what Ruby called her and her face went so red it would give Ruby's cloak a run for its money.

"My head hurts, definitely cut it and probably got a concussion as well, but other than that I'm good and won't pass out." Weiss mumbled forcing herself to focus on the situation at hand and not what Ruby had said, the fact that she was using Ruby's lap as a pillow, or the war of feelings both things was causing within her, a war that would make Noelle's own war about Asta proud. "Thanks, you really did save my life you two. I owe you. Don't cry Ruby, you got here in time."

"I know but first Yang almost got stabbed and then you almost got…well I don't want to think about it, it's a lot." Ruby said as she blinked away the tears still stroking Weiss's hair as Yang finished rendering the weaponized chainsaw inoperable. "I almost lost the two people dearest to me back to back, it's a lot to take in. I know that this is part of what we signed up for but to see it so starkly, it's eye opening."

"Ruby…" Weis said softly before trailing off and raising her right and took Ruby's in it, interlocking her fingers with her best friend and noting that Ruby returned the gesture. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. This is a good learning experience for us and we should be grateful that we can learn from it so that next time it won't happen."

"I know, it's just hard." Ruby said doing her best to squeeze Weiss's hand. "And we will, we're going to train so hard when we get back to school."

"Looking forward to it." Weiss said smiling at Ruby and Ruby smiled back holding Weiss's gaze with her own.

"Yeah don't think about it, it's what friends and teammates do." Yang said finally speaking as she watched the adorable scene even if she felt a bit like an awkward third wheel to it. "You'd do the same for both of us, I know. Besides, Ruby just saved my life as well so it's been a lot for her to deal with on her first mission. That colorful bitch knocked me out and almost ran me through it seems."

"Damn, guess we got the short end of the fights which goes to show how strong the top members of this group are so it was a good thing Ruby come down as well." Weiss said as she began to sit up and Ruby moved her right hand to the back of Weiss's head to help it up feeling it get wet right away while she had to disconnect their fingers but she kept holding Weiss's right hand in her left and what Weiss said finally hit her. "Wait! Why did you come down Ruby? Shouldn't you be on top of the train cars?"

"Oobleck and Zwei are dealing with mechs that were deployed to try and stop us from advancing above so he thought it would be faster if I came down here, which turned out to be the right decision." Ruby said as Weiss finished sitting and Ruby grimaced at the blood on her hand, Weiss's blood. "Weiss, you've got a bad cut on the back of your head and a massive lump at least."

"We can deal with it later, for now use this for now." Weiss said as she picked up Myrtenaster, which she was amazed that she'd not let go of, and after reluctantly letting go of Ruby's hand, moved it to slice away enough of the seam at her right shoulder that she could then rip it off, which she proceeded to do once she let go of Myrtenaster. "Tie this around my head as tight as possible, it will help."

"I'll do it, you've not had enough first aid training yet to make a field dressing, especially one that's using clothes and not an actually bandage." Yang said hurrying over. "Go on ahead Ruby, Blake should still be ahead and if we've dealt with two villains there's bound to be more. Hopefully it's just Torchwick but still, the man didn't get where he did without skill."

"Right, take care of Weiss for me." Ruby said as Yang reached them and got down on Weiss's other side and put an arm around her to support her so that Ruby could let go and hurry away to the door. "And follow as soon as you can."

"You got it." Yang said as she got behind Weiss and picked up her removed sleeve that would be used as an impromptu bandage. "This will hurt, sorry."

"It's fine." Weiss said before hissing as Yang pressed the middle of the sleeve against Weiss's head before she began wrapping it around Weiss's head as tightly as could as Ruby reached the door and it opened for her. "Thanks Yang."

"No worries." Yang said as she wrapped Weiss's head and lowered her voice as Ruby ran through the door and into the next carriage with the door closing behind her. "You don't have to say anything, and you're probably very confused by it, but I heard what Ruby called you. I know that that's the first time that she's said it but she always talks about you Weiss, so I know that she means it. You may not realize it but you're the first true friend she's ever made and you are dear to her in a way that not even I can compare. Don't take that for granted wherever it may lead."

"I won't, I'd never do that to Ruby." Weiss said seriously. "It means a lot what she said, I'm touched that she sees me like that and I'll do what I can to live up to how she sees me because she's just as dear to me. She's not the only one who's never made a true friend before you know."

"Oh I can tell." Yang said hearing the feeling in Weiss's voice and smiling. "And I know that you won't do anything to hurt Ruby but I am her sister, I do look out for and protect her, most of the time as she just saved me. That said, if it comes to it, and you both realize it yourselves, you have my blessing. You make her happy, happier than I've seen anyone but me or dad manage, so I could never get in the way of that."

Weiss didn't know what to say, or even think, about Yang's words, especially the whole blessing thing as that implied something that Weiss was nowhere near ready to address. Still, she smiled as she felt that she'd earned Yang's trust and approval which did mean a lot to Weiss because Yang was Ruby's sister who Ruby looked up too and she didn't want to upset her. There was certainly a lot to think about but Weiss pushed that to the back of her mind as they were still on a mission and with Yang's help she got up and they hurried after Ruby though Yang did have to support Weiss a bit.


Blake had sheathed her sword after passing the White Fang lieutenant and pressing forward but as she charged Torchwick she drew it once again. However, rather than duel wield with her sheath, instead she reached into a pouch and pulled out the Dust cylinder that Weiss had given her but kept it concealed in her left hand so that Torchwick wouldn't see it.

It did mean that Blake wouldn't be able to tell what Dust she was using until she felt it but she knew how all the types interacted with her Quirk and could adapt on the fly. Plus being unpredictable would throw Torchwick off and she'd use the Dust from the start, popping the cap on the first vial that she could reach with her thumb and shifting it so that the powder could touch her skin just as Torchwick raised his cane to fire at her. Blake noted that the feel of the Dust was hot which meant that it was Fire Dust so a good one and she suppressed a grin as she activated Shadow Clone while in contact with the Dust.

The shot missed as Blake left behind a clone in her place to take the hit but because she'd used Fire Dust with her Quirk she left behind a burning clone of herself that remained in her wake longer than normal and covered the fact that Torchwick had missed her. As a result, he thought she was still there because the miss played into the fire clone and swung his cane at what he thought was Blake only for the whole thing to explode the moment his cane made contact with fire clone and send Torchwick flying back in the air with a yell.

Blake didn't let the opening go to waste as she leapt up, her sword charged into its blunt form as it was well known that Torchwick was Quirkless, and swung it in a powerful arc, slamming it into Torchwick's chest as he was in midair. Blake kept this up with two more expert swings that made contact with the villain and sent him crashing down to the floor of the carriage with a bang.

Torchwick groaned as he rolled over showing that either he was naturally resistant to damage or that his clothes were made from a special fabric that granted him greater resistance to weapon damage, which given his Quirkless and criminal status was likely the latter. That was fine with Blake as she landed in a crouch and rose with a flourish of her sword. He may be Quirkless but Torchwick was an expert with both his weapon and hand to hand combat so he could handle many Quirk users with ease.

He showed this by raising his cane and firing as soon as he got to his feet and before Blake could close the distance again. This forced Blake to twist the cylinder in her hand and pop another vile with her thumb and let the Dust in it touch her right before she activated her Quirk without even processing the feel of the Dust. Thankfully, this time it was Earth Dust and as such Blake left behind a solid stone replica of herself which took the hit as she fell back from it.

However Blake didn't let this go to waste as she pushed off the ground the moment that she landed and rushed Torchwick from around the remains of her rock clone and leapt into the air bringing her short sword to bear before he could fire again. This forced Torchwick to swing his cane to intercept her strike which was exactly what Blake wanted as she rotated the cylinders in her hand and popped the next cork in midair to let the next vial of Dust powder touch her right before she activated Shadow Clone again as Torchwick swung his cane at her.

This time the Dust was Gravity Dust and it created an amorphous blob clone in the air that held Torchwick's cane in place for an extra few seconds as Blake landed on the ground below it and with a yell launched a savage upswing with Gambol Shroud. She was going for a clean body blow but Torchwick showed his skill by bringing his cane down hard and intercepting it showing that all the gravity clone had done was allow Blake to land within sword range.

Blake wasn't deterred by this and for the next for seconds she engaged in a duel with Torchwick swinging her sword with expert precision as she readied the next vile of Dust. Torchwick easily parried and countered her strikes though just like he had when they dueled in the shipyard. Torchwick was as skilled as Blake was in swordplay so Gambol Shroud and Melodic Cudgel just sparked and clanged as the made contact with each other over and over again as their owners dueled in the train car while trying to get the upper hand on their opponent.

Finally that moment seemed to come for Torchwick as Blake fell into a crouch opening up for a vicious downward strike from his cane. However, this was just a feint from Blake to give her just enough time to pop the next vile of Dust and let the powder touch her as Torchwick's downswing came.

There weren't that many vials left but Blake was certain that there were at least three types of Dust available to her in the remaining vials as Weiss had no doubt given her all the possible types of Dust she could so Blake had a good chance of getting one of the Dust types that she could really capitalize on against Torchwick. Of course any type of remaining Dust would be useful but two of them were better and Blake hoped for one of them.

She got her wish as her Quirk activated and she left behind a crouching ice clone while flipping back and away from it showing that the Dust she'd used was Ice Dust. That was the perfect one as the timing meant that Torchwick was swinging through her Quirk as she was activating it so his cane was now stuck in the chest of Blake's solid ice clone as Blake flipped back to create space, storing the remaining two vials of Dust back in a belt pouch, and drawing her sheath from her back in the process.

Torchwick couldn't get his cane out of the ice and he was too focused on that to realize what was going on or fire it at Blake as she brought her sword and sheath parallel and flipped switches on both at the same time while yelling and bringing them down in a powerful slash. What happened next was a special feature that Blake had built into her weapon that used Dust cartridges of Blake's own creation to that created a projected slash of whatever kind of Dust she'd loaded at the time, in this case it was Hard Light Dust as that was what she'd had on her the last time she'd made Dust cartridges.

She needed speed, power, and both parts of Gambol Shroud together to pull this off so it wasn't an easy move, and she usually saved it for Grimm, but with Torchwick's cane stuck in ice and him trying to get it Blake had that time. That and the ice would be a barrier ensuring that the attack was non-lethal so she could use it on a human, which she did without hesitation.

With time on her side, Blake pulled it off to perfection and the slash of Hard Light tore from her weapons and at Torchwick carving a path through the floor before slamming into her ice clone and then into Torchwick. The ice had slowed the attack and the Hard Light slash wasn't sharp so it was a blunt force attack but it still had more than enough power to blast Torchwick off his feet and sending him flying backwards until he hit the hard metal door face first while upside down and bounced off it, Melodic Cudgel flying out of his hand and skittering away from him as he hit the ground a few feet in front of the door.

The move clearly dazed Torchwick as well as disarming him while telling Blake that the door had been locked. That was interesting to know but she pushed it to the back of her mind for the moment as she strode forward towards Torchwick. The man was recovering and slowly sitting up but Blake got to him before then and slammed her right foot into his chest as hard as she could pinning him to the ground under her boot and lowering her sword down to his face, the crackling on it sharpening the blade enough to cut him as she did.

There was no doubt that Blake had won this duel, which though she didn't know it made her the only one of the three girls to actually win her one on one matchup, and Torchwick knew this. Still, he was a smooth talking criminal who could worm his way out of almost any situation so he just chuckled and raised his hands as he was pinned to the ground unfazed by the sword in his face.

"Why are we even fighting kitty cat?" Torchwick asked the strain in his breath showing that he probably had some cracked, if not broken, ribs though as there was no blood around his mouth it was most likely the former. "I've heard about your past my dear, I know that you were once a member of the White Fang so we're on the same side and you know it. You're a heteromorph, do you really think that society will ever truly accept you? You know what it's like for those who are different in this age of Quirks. The cities are one thing but you want to be a Huntress, you will have to deal with the rural prejudices."

"I've seen where that path leads and it doesn't lead to equality only violence and bloodshed." Blake said as she lowered the sword down a bit. "That's why I walked away from it and chose the right path just like many other heterotrophs have done before me. Now tell me how to stop the bombs."

"Haha, still as feisty as ever I see." Torchwick said with a laugh. "Do you really think a threat from some wannabe Huntress who has to follow the law will make me reveal how to stop this train? Nah, that's not going to happen, you're a cat without claws after all."

"I won't kill you but I can make you talk." Blake growled.

"Ah there's the cat in you, I can see that you still have it." Torchwick said still unfazed by the situation as he looked up into Blake's eyes and noted that she was serious but as Torchwick had dealt with worse it didn't affect him. "You've still got that darkness in you but do you really think that people will forget your past and what you did when they realize that it's still there? Yes Nezu managed to get you amnesty for your testimony and you even made it into the U.A. Hero Course but you'll always be nothing more than a heteromorph freak to the public."

"Don't let him get to you Blake! You're better than that, I know it!"

The voice was Ruby's and got Blake's attention as she turned to the door to see Ruby rushing in. That really confused Blake because she thought that Ruby was supposed to be up on the train car roofs not down here but she couldn't think about that because a still conscious Torchwick was under her foot and he wouldn't let her forget it.

"Well? What are you going to do Blake?" Torchwick asked taunting her by using her first name as if they were close friends. "Are you…"

He didn't get to finish before Blake pressed down into his chest with her right foot and then spun on it to savagely kicked him in the side of the head with her left foot that knocking him out and sending his bowler hat flying. She then turned as Ruby rushed towards her to make sure that she was ok.

"What happened?" Blake asked and she noted that there was blood on Ruby's right hand but it didn't appear to be hers. "And why are you here Ruby? I thought that you were staying above with Oobleck?"

"Too many mechs, it was faster to come down here and follow you than to fight them up above." Ruby said as she hurried deeper into the car. "Are you ok? The others needed help."

"Yeah, Weiss gave me some Dust which made the difference against him though I'll need to get some treatment for my thumb as raw Dust does damage when used like that." Blake said as she turned back to Torchwick as she sheathed her sword before she flipped him over onto his chest and pulled out a set of flex cuffs she always had on her for villain detainment, well villains that didn't require special detainment, and pulled Torchwick's arms to behind his back. "He's skilled but without help and in an enclosed space like this there's only so much his weapon can cover. The door's locked though and I don't know if we've got the time to get through it."

"Probably not but I get the feeling that with Torchwick out cold the bombs won't go off." Ruby said as Blake cuffed Torchwick and hissed as her adrenaline wore off and she started to feel the pain of using 4 different types of Dust so directly. "So we just need to stop this and we're past the mech bed so we should go up and use the roofs again to reach the engineer car and stop this train."

"Alright let's move then." A new, familiar, voice called out as the door opened again. "Up we go!"

Blake turned to see Yang, who had been the one to speak, coming in with Weiss by her side. Blake noted that Yang was looking a bit battered with dried blood on her face from a clear nose while Weiss was missing her right sleeve. It took Blake a moment to realize that Weiss's sleeve was now tied around her head as a bandage and stained red at the sides showing that she'd taken a bad hit but both girls were still standing and able to fight it seemed. Either of them could be responsible for the blood on Ruby's hand as she'd have had to pass them to get here but Blake had a feeling that it was Weiss's not Yang's.

Before Blake could ask how the two girls were doing, Yang reached the hatch at the top of the car and raised her right arm to blasted off with a blast so Ruby and Blake just ran over. As soon as Ruby reached Weiss she grabbed her bestie in her arms and hoisted her into a princess carry that caused Weiss to blush before bursting up and through the hatch in a red and white swirl leaving the corresponding rose petals in their wake. Blake raised an eyebrow at that a bit surprised at how fast Ruby had been to grab Weiss in such a manner.

"I'll tell you later in confidence." Yang said with a smirk. "Suffice it to say that I'm sure of how Weiss feels at least. Ruby might feel the same but she's so innocent to that stuff that she's likely oblivious to it."

"Right well let's leave them to it and go." Blake said. "Give me a boost."

"On it kitty." Yang said causing Blake to groan and Yang's smirk to widen as she crouched down and interlocked her fingers so that Blake could put her foot Yang's hands and let Yang toss her up and through the hatch to land on the roof with the grace of, well, a cat. "I'm right behind you."

At that Yang activated her Quirk again so that she could boost her leg strength and then leapt off the ground and up to the hatch, grabbing it as she reached it and pulling herself up and through it with her upper body strength as she deactivated her Quirk. A second later she landed on the roof and moved to join Ruby, Weiss, and Blake as they stood in a line looking forward while the sounds of a mech blowing up and a happy dog barking came from behind them.

"Does anyone know how long we took to reach this point?" Ruby asked. "Because I'm don't know how fast we're going so I can't calculate the time it will take to get there."

"No clue but I'm pretty sure that I'm seeing what you're seeing and my eyesight is better down here." Blake said confirming that ahead of them was a slab of rock that the train was hurtling towards at full speed and they were far too far back from the engine car to get to it and stop the train before the train hit the obstacle in its path. "What do we do? That's the seal!"

"That's just the first seal, there's more past it."

The voice was Oobleck's and the girls turned to see him running towards them with Zwei by his side as the final mech burned merrily away behind him. It would be close but he should reach them in time to be with them when the train hit the seal.

"There are more?" Yang asked. "I thought there was only one."

"There is one great seal at the end of each tunnel but there was an entire underground complex below Vale and Hosu when the rail was active so each level of the underground complexes are sealed off as well as a precaution just in case." Oobleck said as he reached them. "Never thought that the failsafes would be needed but they are. Seems this train is faster than anticipated. That or I've forgotten how far it was from Mountain Glenn to Hosu."

"Well then let's just brace for impact." Ruby said looking to Weiss but didn't say anything when Weiss looked back at her.

The first years' eyes met and Weiss just nodded, a look and action that Yang and Blake noted, before she spun and drew Myrtenaster. As she did, a large glyph appeared under their feet so that all of them were standing on it.

Then, as Weiss knelt down and slammed her sword into her glyph and through it and the roof below, she rotating Myrtenaster's cylinder to the right chamber that she always kept for just such an occasion no matter what her chamber's loadout was. As she did this, more glyphs burst to life around them and formed an overlapping cube of glyphs that forced them to huddle close thus adding to the level of protection that they would have. Weiss didn't fail to notice that Ruby had wrapped her arms around Weiss's waist and held onto her tightly, pressing her body against Weiss's in the process.

The feeling or Ruby's arms around her and holding her gave Weiss strength and so she pushed herself even further despite the pain in her head as the train neared the seal so that once the cube was formed, Weiss hit the trigger in her sword's handle. That activated the Hard Light Dust that was in the loaded chamber and caused it to flow down her sword and into her glyph.

The moment that it did the Dust interacted with her Quirk and base glyph and all those connected to it solidified into glowing light blue shield glyphs more than twice as strong as Weiss's normal glyphs. This glow and change extended outwards as it spread from glyph to glyph until all the glyphs were covered.

This was Weiss's ultimate defense and one that she and Ruby had worked on in their private practices while preparing for the Sports Festival as they needed to keep up their standard training as well. It should hold, it would have to because only a split second after the last glyph was reinforced with Hard Light Dust the train slammed into the seal and an explosion rocked them as everything went white as they punched through it and into the lowest level of the abandoned underground station below the heart of Hosu City.

I think that that's a good spot to leave this chapter off on, don't you? Ruby and Weiss have now reached Hosu City with a bang but they're still underground and a lot is yet to come as they sort out what's going on. I know that this isn't the most original chapter in this story, there just wasn't that much to change though there was some changes, but don't worry that will change now that we're on the cusp of the Hero Killer arc and all that that will entail. There is still of course some more players to be in position so let's shift a bit to that while Ruby, Weiss, and the others extricate themselves from the mess they are in. That is all that I have for this chapter, next up is a look above ground in Hosu as the last of the needed characters for this arc are in place and what they're up to as this train barrels down on Hosu. If you like this story please follow, favorite (this story and me) to keep up with it and leave a review or PM; your support is what helps motivate me to keep up this work and any questions posed before the next chapter is uploaded I will try to answer. Until next time.

Stringdog