A chained kunai flew forth at high speed, aimed straight for the center of Maria's face. Despite the clear and present danger, the huntress showed no concern as she stared down her opponent through her skull-shaped half-mask. Instead, she merely dipped her head to one side, letting the tethered projectile pass harmlessly by her left ear. There was less than an inch between the cold steel and her flesh, and she felt the thin, invisible layer of protective aura around her body ripple in protest to the proximity of the near miss. With reflexes like lightning, Maria reached up and grabbed the chain before her opponent could reel it back in and leapt into the air, intending to ride the backward momentum to Sienna Khan the moment the faunus began to pull. Naturally, things didn't go according to plan… but Maria was prepared for that possibility as well.

The moment that Sienna saw her adversary take to the air, she ceased her pulling of the chain and instead used her Semblance to disassemble it entirely. The links snapped open into a line of pointed shards that quickly oriented themselves to face Maria in midair. All at once, the storm of jagged metal shot forth, aiming to tear at the professor's flesh as the shards flew straight for her. In a dazzling display of improvised acrobatics, Maria twisted and spun herself through the metal storm, drawing her scythes only to briefly bat away the shards that directly threatened her. A double-barreled blast of gravity dust embedded within the hafts of her scythes propelled her out of the way of the final few shards, sending her twirling through the air to land in a long, skidding trail within the sand. Maria quickly sheathed her weapons as she came to a stop, her torn and tattered cloak billowing all around her as bits of metal clung to the dark fabric and rained down on the sand below.

"Remarkable…" Sienna commented as she pulled a fresh chain from around her waist and pulled it taut. "To have such control over your reflexes… is your Semblance showing you the world in slow motion? How can one even begin to process their surroundings that quickly?"

Maria relaxed her stance for a moment, letting a few of the sharpened metal bits that had previously made up the chain fall off of her and into the sand. She found the previously attached kunai a few feet away and bent to scoop it up before brushing a few grains off the weathered metal. The weapon had clearly seen its share of combat, with nicks and scour marks running up and down the length of the blade. Maria made an underhand toss to throw the weapon back to Sienna, and the faunus let it fall a few inches from her feet.

"Something like that. When I sense danger, it is as though the world slows down… but it isn't something I do consciously. At least, not anymore, now that I've grown used to it. I'd like to think it's not all my Semblance taking care of things, but I guess we'll never know. Your command of metal is… frightening."

As if in response, Sienna's eyes began to glow and the kunai upon the ground started to warp unnaturally. The implement wormed its way through the sands as if it was alive before beginning to slither its way up and around Sienna's leg in a spiraling pattern. Upon reaching the woman's waist, the kunai began to jitter for a moment before jumping upward and affixing itself to the hanging end of her held chain, forming a new weapon quite like the first she had used. Sienna gave it a quick whirl, keeping her eyes on Maria the entire time.

"So I've been told," Sienna remarked. "It is a skill that took years to grow used to, and I still have much to learn. You are quite… interesting, Maria. Shall we continue?"

Maria unlatched her mostly destroyed cloak and cast it aside, letting the wind carry it off to somewhere out in the dunes. Beneath the flowy garment was a harness loaded with dust crystals at haphazard angles, seemingly arranged in no particular order. The woman selected a shimmering light blue one and twirled it through her fingers before gripping it in her leather-clad palm and summoning up an icy mist around her digits. Maria's fingers appeared hazy through the soft mist, obscuring what her next move might be from Sienna.

"Yes. Let's."

Without another word, Maria slid forward on a summoned sheet of ice and spun around, grabbing a bright red crystal from its holster with her other hand as she did so. The moment Maria turned back around to face Sienna, she let loose a torrent of fireballs from her clenched fist. Sienna deftly whirled her chain and began to run to the side, dodging what projectiles she could while using the metal to dissipate a few of the flaming globes.

The moment it became clear that the fiery assault would be too much to outmaneuver, Sienna instead changed her strategy and adopted a firm stance. Each and every weapon and chain affixed to her body flew free of its straps and began to warp, twisting into a fused sheet of metal hovering just before the faunus. A torrent of fireballs impacted the shield with great force, turning the silvery bastion an angry orange as Sienna waited for the assault to end. As quickly as the fireballs had started, though, Maria changed tactics and Sienna was caught off guard once again.

Frosty blue manifested at the center of the shield as a beam of ice was channeled into the metal, quickly cooling what had been previously superheated. Casting the ice dust down into the ground, Maria reached for another crystal of comparatively muted color and pulled back her fist. Upon throwing it forward, her entire arm was coated in copious amounts of rock. The stone fist impacted the shield directly in the center, and the compromised armament exploded.

Large chunks of metal flew backward all around Sienna, and she was quick to seize them in midair with her Semblance as Maria rushed forward for another blow. Thinking quickly, Sienna brought the metal shards inward to try to pierce Maria from all sides as she went for a haymaker. Instead, the professor pulled her fist back at the last second and thrust it up into the sky, exploding the stone fragments outward to deflect the incoming bits and pieces of metal and send them scattering. Both women pulled in their respective elements once again to form steel and stone encased fists, which they threw forward to meet at the knuckles. The resulting impact caused a sound far louder than either anticipated, sounding almost like an explosion in the clear desert air.

"You're actually making me sweat," Maria mused as she offered the faunus a smirk. Both of their fists were shaking as they tried to force their opponent off balance, though neither of them was moving an inch. "That hasn't happened in ages. You could almost say this is… fun."

"You forget my pedigree," Sienna hissed through clenched teeth as she tried to stabilize her stance within the sand only to find herself slipping. "There's a reason we're called Those Above All."

"Something to do with living on a mountain, I assume?" Maria teased.

Sienna growled in response before causing the steel encasing her fist to bend forward and encompass Maria's arm. With her hand free, Sienna gripped Maria's enlarged gauntlet and pulled her forward to try to throw her down into the sand. Instead, Maria simply pulled her arm out of the stone encasement and socked Sienna hard across the jaw, sending the faunus down to the ground. Maria shook out her hand as her opponent fell, looking triumphant as both of their cobbled together weapons fell to pieces all around them.

"Not bad. Not bad at all… but we've attracted some attention with all of that noise. Look alive, and do try to be somewhat civil, if you can manage that."

Sienna looked over her shoulder toward the beach house to see a group of people running their way. Though she couldn't yet make out the details of just who it was, she already knew… or at least, she thought she did. Upon looking back toward Maria, she found the other woman offering a hand with an unreadable expression.

"…hm," was all Sienna said as she took Maria's hand and pulled herself up. "Speak nothing of this."

"Pride above all," Maria commented as she helped the faunus to stand. "Be careful with that."

"I discarded my pride upon leaving the mountain," Sienna snarked as the metal scattered all around began to crawl back toward her. "Deposing Salem matters more."

"That it does," Maria agreed as she stashed away her dust crystals once again. "Glad to hear that. You may prove a useful ally in the days ahead, if you mean what you're saying."

"We'll see what the remainder of the day brings," Sienna let on as she turned to face the incoming group. "That is…"

"…Ozpin," Maria finished for her as she looked to the man at the head of the pack. "What? But he shouldn't be… get behind me."

Sienna did as she was told without question while her weaponry began to re-form around her body. Ozpin was indeed leading the group, holding his cane at the ready as they reached the pair. He didn't look particularly amused at the sight of them, though he also didn't seem particularly surprised.

"Sienna Khan, is it?" Professor Ozpin asked as he slowed to a walk, stopping only a few feet away. "I see you've met my associate."

"Don't," Maria warned as she remained in front of the faunus, her eyes on her students rather than Professor Ozpin. "She's here to help… in a sense. We don't need more enemies, Oz. I'm… surprised to see you here."

"It seems everyone is," Professor Ozpin said with a smirk. "I thought this the best way to get everyone on the same page and regain control of the situation. It seems as though things have been slipping, despite your presence here."

"Is that your way of saying I haven't been doing my job?" Maria asked as she folded her arms across her chest.

"Hardly," Professor Ozpin said as he pushed the tip of his cane down into the sand and folded his hands atop it. "Simply pointing out how… difficult this group has been to manage."

Cerise rolled her eyes from her place behind Professor Ozpin. Sienna noticed and gave the girl a nod as she stepped out from behind Maria.

"You cannot expect everyone to simply fall in line without question due to your position of authority. That isn't how a just cause is spearheaded."

"Is that not how Arowana did things?" Professor Ozpin asked immediately, keeping his tone and expression completely neutral.

"Damn," Roman commented in a low voice to try to make sure that Sienna couldn't hear. "That's cold."

"But accurate," the faunus replied, flexing one of her feline ears as she gave the boy a glower. "And I no longer serve him. My loyalty to you will not be as ironclad as it was to him, and I will have frequent questions. Questions that begin at needing to know what all of you know, so we can combat that witch more effectively."

"And I would ask the same from you in kind," Professor Ozpin said with a nod. "Your knowledge of Those Above All would be invaluable to us, should we establish a ceasefire. There are greater problems to tackle than whatever perception you may have of me at the moment."

"There are," Maria agreed. "Let's get inside and get everyone caught up."

"Very well," Professor Ozpin agreed as he turned back to the group. "It is going to be a rather long day. Let us go and make the most of it…"

Author's Note:

Next time- Fox makes a big decision…

-RD