26

Chapter 26

Blake continued to watch around the corner while she waited for her team to arrive. The building ahead of her was quiet, as were the two White Fang soldiers laying unconscious behind her. Only a couple minutes later, Blake's keen ears picked up the sound of footsteps behind her. She didn't bother turning to see, however, as she was already quite familiar with the sound of Yang, Pyrrha, and Ruby's footsteps, and Dr. Oobleck's quick staccato beat was unmistakable as well, as she'd been hearing it all day.

Blake held up a hand behind her as her team and the Professor came near, and they slowed down, coming up behind her as quietly as they could, which was at least decently quiet. None of them was especially good at stealth, Blake noticed, but they were all in good shape, with decent senses, and they weren't exactly noisy either, when they actually put some effort into it. Still, if they had more missions like this, they needed some training.

"Ruby." Blake said in a quiet voice over her shoulder as she glanced back at her friends. "After this, we really need to work on stealth training for the team. You're all way too loud."

Ruby blinked at that. "Oh. Good idea, Blake. I guess you could teach us?"

Blake nodded. "I can. I should have thought of it earlier."

Ruby shrugged. "It's not something we usually have to worry about, at least against the Grimm."

Dr. Oobleck was examining the two White Fang soldiers. "True." He commented softly. "The Grimm will sense your negative emotions before they sense any noises you might make, usually. Even the most cheerful hunter has at least some negativity to them, after all."

Blake nodded, but added. "Well, the White Fang will see us and hear us coming if we're not extra quiet. That's the faunus's biggest advantage in combat as a rule, right Dr. Oobleck?"

Oobleck nodded back. "Quite so, Miss Belladonna. We would do best to follow your lead tonight." He crept up to peer around the corner where Blake was watching. "Miss Rose informed us that you'd spotted a pair of White Fang soldiers coming out of a building near here?" He nodded at the building Blake was looking at. "Was that it?"

Blake frowned. "I'm not sure... but... I think so, yes. I don't think a patrol like this would venture far from their hideout, and we noticed them coming this way from that direction. We should check there first, then widen our search."

Oobleck nodded. "Yes... they will no doubt notice their missing patrol before too long. Best if we act now, rather than wait till daylight, in that case."

Blake nodded back. "Let me scout ahead. I'll check the building, and report back."

Ruby shook her head. "You might be sneaky enough to manage, Blake, but that's not a sure thing. If you get spotted, and it's someone you can't handle by yourself..." She sniffed. "We'll go together. We won't be as quiet, but we'll be able to handle anyone we encounter if we stick together. I'm not going to risk any of us alone."

Blake hesitated, then nodded. "OK, Ruby. We'll do it your way."

Yang grinned. "So... what's the plan when we find them?"

Oobleck spoke up. "Normally, I'd defer to your leader, but in this case, I think I'll point out that our mission is reconnaissance. We are here to discover where the White Fang are hiding, and what they are up to, if possible, then report our findings."

Ruby nodded. "Understood, but the mission isn't finished yet. We need to figure out what they're doing here. They're not just hiding in Mountain Glenn for no reason. There are safer places to hide."

Dr. Oobleck looked thoughtful. "Perhaps. This city IS quite seriously overrun with Grimm. It can't be the safest of hiding spots. But what could they be after here?"

Ruby looked at him with a frown. The White Fang would start the train up as soon as they knew they'd been found out. If they retreated now, they'd notice their missing patrol and they could easily start the train into Vale right then, and all Ruby would be able to do at that point would be to try and make it to Vale before the train did and then fight the Grimm in the center of the city... not the best idea if she wanted to prevent civilian casualties in the hundreds. No, they needed to get in there and stop the train before it moved out if at all possible. She needed to convince Oobleck to stay, however.

"Doctor, how did people get from Mountain Glenn to Vale? Wasn't there some sort of subway?"

Dr. Oobleck blinked. "A subway?"

Blake pointed at the building. "Isn't there a sign on that building that says 'Subway Entrance?"

Dr. Oobleck blinked again. "OF COURSE!" He shouted. "How could I be so stupid!"

Blake winced. "Dr. Oobleck... lower your voice!"

Oobleck frowned, but nodded and continued, speaking much softer, although still at a frenzied pace. "Yes... a great subway was built, people able to go from Mountain Glenn to Vale with ease, even commute between the two. During the final days of the siege... they took up shelter beneath the city, in massive caves they had cleared out for the subway. And they had cut themselves off from the surface."

"An underground village?" Yang asked.

"In a matter of speaking, yes." Oobleck replied with a nod. "A safe haven... until... an explosion opened the mouth of another cavern, filled with subterranean Grimm. After that, the Kingdom officially sealed off the tunnels, creating the world's largest tomb."

Ruby nodded. "So... if they're down there, they have a tunnel that goes all the way into the center of Vale, right?"

Oobleck frowned. "Well... yes, but of course the tunnel was sealed at Vale's end."

Ruby looked dubious. "But... the White Fang have been stealing dust for months. Tons and tons of it. And they've got giant robots, and... well, they've been here for awhile, if what we've already found out is true. What if they've gotten a train working?"

Oobleck blinked. "If so... then, they could drive a train, loaded with dust, straight into the center of Vale!"

Ruby nodded. "We need to see for ourselves. If they miss their patrol, and they DO have a train ready, they could just decide to go now. We can't risk the time it would take to get reinforcements."

Oobleck frowned. "You're right. We need to at least see what the White Fang has prepared below. If our worse fears are correct, we cannot simply leave now. We must at least investigate."

Ruby nodded again. "So... let's go. Together." She paused, then nodded to her girlfriend. "Blake, you're in front. Use hand signals to point out targets, or handle them yourself, depending on your judgment. Yang, you're behind Blake. Take out anyone she points you at." Yang grinned and threw Ruby a thumbs up. "Pyrrha, you're behind Yang. Your job will be to support both of them. Blake, retreat behind Pyrrha if things get hot, or if you just want to pull an enemy out of position. Pyrrha, you're to stay central and let enemies come to you." Pyrrha and Blake nodded at that.

Ruby pointed at herself. "I'll handle clean up and enemy snipers, and pitch in wherever I'm needed." She turned to Oobleck. "Doctor, would you mind acting as reserve? If anyone gets into trouble, you save them."

Dr. Oobleck raised an eyebrow, then nodded. "Very well. I don't see any issues with your plan."

Ruby smiled slightly, then turned back to Blake. "OK, lets move. Lead us in, Blake."

/-/

Blake took one look at the front entrance, then promptly led the group around to the side of the building, and led them in through a broken window. She then led them back around to the front entrance, where a pair of White Fang soldiers were sitting at a table, chatting softly to each other.

Blake gestured to Yang, and pointed at the closer of the two, and put a finger to her lips. She then started to sneak around the room, moving quietly around behind the second man. Yang snuck forward as well, and grabbed the first soldier from behind, wrapping her powerful arms around his neck and yanking him out of his chair.

Blake grabbed her man at the same time and took him down as well. The two men struggled, but before long they'd both passed out.

Yang checked the man who she'd subdued, putting a couple fingers to his pulse. "He'll be OK. He'll have a headache, but he'll live."

Blake did the same with her man. "And... done."

Ruby couldn't help but smile a little. They'd all practiced how to properly choke someone out when anticipating having to fight Emerald. Yang had done the most grappling training, but all of them had gotten in some practice. It was coming in handy now. The longer they went before they were discovered by the main group, the better. If they could get to the train without anyone noticing and disable it somehow, then the mission would be a success, and they could retreat, get to someplace with scroll service, and call in the General's troops to mop up.

But first, they had to get to that train.

Blake took the lead again, and they made their way down to the subway station below the building quietly. Blake led them to a staircase, and they spiraled downwards for what seemed like at least ten floors. Finally, they came to the bottom of the stairs, and Blake went to the doors, and cracked them open, peeking out.

She closed the door a moment later, as silently and quickly as possible, and winced. "OK... this is a problem."

Ruby looked worried. "What is it?"

Blake shrugged. "There are... maybe twenty members of the White Fang in there? I didn't have time to count."

Ruby sighed. "OK... sounds like stealth isn't going to work any further." She took a deep breath. "OK... we hit them hard and fast, break through, and locate the tunnel that leads to Vale. If there is a train, that's where we'll find it." Ruby looked at her team. "Pyrrha, you're on point, get their attention. Yang, Blake, you're on offense. I'll circle around, flank, and act as support if anyone needs me." She nodded at Oobleck. "Dr. Oobleck, you're our reserve. Stay back and move in when you see one of us in trouble."

Everyone nodded, and Ruby gestured to Pyrrha. "You're up. We'll follow you in."

Pyrrha pulled Miló and Akoúo̱ off her back, took a moment to lower her stance, then burst through the door shield first, moving at a dead run. Yang and Blake rushed in after her, while Ruby moved up to the middle of the now open doorway, taking a long look around the room to gauge their opposition before making her own move.

The White Fang had turned the large lobby area that the stairs opened up into into some sort of improvised barracks. There were folding bunk beds up against one wall, a damaged looking table and some old wooden chairs pulled together to one side where several faunus in masks were playing cards, while the rest of the room was full of faunus who were either resting or getting ready to move out, gathering weapons and equipment.

The faunus were almost completely unprepared for their attack. Pyrrha barreled into one of the White Fang, shield first, and hardly slowed as she went through him, sending him flying into another faunus, both falling to the floor. She came to a halt in the middle of another group of four, and went into a spin, sweeping their legs and sending all four to the floor as well.

Yang ran up to the group around the table playing cards, and kicked the table upwards, then punched the table with a blast from Ember Celica, sending it into two of the faunus who were trying to stand, sending them flying, then spun and decked the two remaining White Fang before the table hit the ground.

Blake sped through the other side of the room, swinging Gambol Shroud and her scabbard around her as she dashed around the other side of the room, felling one soldier after another with clubbing blows with the blunt ends of both scabbard and katana.

Ruby noted a trio of White Fang that were turning to rush for the exit, and she blurred into her semblance, flashing across the room as a burst of rose petals, and returning to her solid form with around sixty miles per hour of forward momentum, which she used to swing Crescent Rose's blunt end through all three White Fang members with a single swing, sending all three flying.

The White Fang were starting to react to their attackers... but most of them were already down. Four of them got to their rifles, but team RPBY was on top of them before any of them could get more than a single shot off.

There were quite a few White Fang that were groaning on the ground, still conscious, but Ruby ignored them, rushing out the door. "Leave them, we need to keep moving!"

Her team exchanged glances, then raced after her, although Yang kicked one White Fang soldier in the head as she went past, and Blake jumped onto a couple people's backs as she went, driving them into the floor as she moved to quickly follow their team leader.

Ruby raced into the underground city. It was only dimly lit, but thankfully the White Fang had apparently put up a number of dust powered lanterns to keep the place from being pitch black, which would have been a serious problem for them.

Ruby hesitated only a moment before running swiftly to the end of the block, and she looked around quickly, searching. Things were too dark, and it had been nearly a year now for her. She wasn't sure which way the train was.

Blake, Pyrrha and Yang ran up beside her, joining her in the middle of the intersection. Ruby was looking around wildly, but it took Blake only a moment to spot what they were looking for.

"Over there!" Blake pointed to their left. "There's a train... and there are a lot of people over there..."

Dr. Oobleck came up to the intersection to join them, following Blake's pointing finger with narrowed eyes. "What can you see? Is the train ready to move?"

Blake shook her head. "I can't tell... but there's a lot of activity over there."

"We need to make sure that train never leaves the station." Ruby said firmly. "Let's go."

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that." A tall red-haired man, wearing almost all black, with a white and red grim mask on his face, stepped out into the street between the train and team RPBY.

Blake gasped, her eyes going wide. "Adam..." she breathed just loud enough to be overheard by her friends.

"That your ex?" Yang said, sounding unimpressed.

"Don't underestimate him." Blake hissed, sounding worried. "He's strong."

"He's no match for the four of us." Yang said confidently, and started to stride towards the man.

Pyrrha moved in beside Yang, nodding once to the blond brawler before focusing on their new opponent.

Ruby frowned at the man. She'd never even seen him before in her previous life, although from what Blake had told her, he was extremely dangerous.

She started moving up as well, flanking to the right, and signaled for Blake to do the same to the left. Blake grimaced, but was moving almost immediately.

Yang and Pyrrha moved in carefully, while Adam simply stood there in the middle of the road, one hand on the sheath of his sword.

Yang and Pyrrha both broke into a run at the same time, as if listening to the same, unheard signal, and Adam charged in to meet them. As they closed the distance, Adam fired his sheath's shotgun, sending his crimson blade flying hilt first into Yang's face even as Yang was about to fire Ember Celica at him, causing the sword to fly upwards, spinning after bouncing off of Yang's forehead. Yang reeled back in pain and shock and Pyrrha stepped over to cover her, while Adam hit Pyrrha's shield with several kicks, attempting to batter through her guard. Pyrrha weathered the storm of kicks but had to duck and disengage as Adam grabbed his spinning sword as it came back down and slashed several times at Pyrrha's head in under a second, the blade moving so fast that even Pyrrha could barely react in time.

Yang and Pyrrha ended up side by side again, having been driven back by Adam's initial assault, but before they could charge him again, there was a startled shout from behind them.

"Miss Nikos! Watch out...!" Dr. Oobleck cried out a moment too late as a heavy boot collided with Pyrrha's head in the side, sending her flying. Mercury Black was just suddenly THERE as if he'd appeared from nowhere. Yang's eyes bulged, and she attacked Mercury before he could land back on his feet, but he managed to block her punch with a kick, the combined recoil sending him flying back into the darkness of a nearby alley.

"You should worry more about yourself, Doctor." Came a gravely voice from the darkness as a huge man walked out from a building to their side. The man wore a green vest and had a lightning dust crystal in each hand.

Dr. Oobleck looked at the man with a frown. "Hazel Rainhart... what are you doing here?"

Hazel jabbed the dust crystals into each of his upper arms, and his veins and eyes started to crackle with electricity. "Your time in the service of that fool Ozpin has come to an end, Doctor. After I'm done with you, I'm coming for him."

Dr. Oobleck sighed, and pointed his thermos/flamethrower, 'Antiquity Roast' at the huge man. "I don't suppose there is any chance of talking this out."

"None." Hazel stated flatly, then charged.

/-/

Adam scoffed. "Are these weaklings who you've decided to replace me with, my love?" He kept his eyes on Yang and Pyrrha, but his words were for Blake, and she shivered in fear at the tone in his voice. His voice was almost pleasant, but Blake knew that tone of voice. Adam was furious. He would often speak such honeyed words just before lashing out in rage.

"Blake!" Ruby shouted. "Ladybug!" Putting action to words, Ruby shot forward towards Adam from the right. Blake, on the other hand, hesitated a moment too long, and when she shot forward Adam had already managed to parry Ruby's attack and had time to come around to focus entirely on her.

He caught Gambol Shroud with his blade only partially pulled out of it's scabbard, Wilt already glowing red from all the attacks it'd absorbed, and managed to halt her charge entirely. They pushed against each other for a moment, their blades sparking against each other.

"Taking orders from a child?" Adam taunted. "Like an obedient little pet?"

"I'm no ones pet!" Blake shot back.

"Could have fooled me." Adam said as he kicked her solidly in the stomach, sending her tumbling. "You disappoint me, Blake."

"And I'm not a child!" Ruby yelled as she came swinging at his back with Crescent Rose. Adam turned and parried her strike, although his feet slid several feet in the dust of the long abandoned street from the impact. Ruby began spinning her scythe in close circles around her body, striking at Adam again and again. Adam parried each blow with contemptuous ease. "And Blake's not YOUR love!" Ruby snarled at him as she spun and struck at him again and again. "She's my LOVER!"

Adam's eyes widened in shock under his mask and he nearly missed a parry. "Your what?"

Ruby disengaged momentarily. "You heard me."

Adam shot an incredulous glance over his shoulder at Blake. "You reject me, and turn to this...?" He seemed to have trouble finding words.

"Ruby's worth ten of you." Blake told him coldly, getting back to her feet. "And I deserve more than your cruelty."

Adam started stepping sideways, sheathing his sword again, getting out from between the two girls so that he could watch them both at once. "You will regret those words." He told her coldly. "I will enjoy..." Adam unsheathed his blade in a flash to parry a sniper round from Crescent Rose, and glanced at Ruby with a smirk. "I will enjoy destroying everything you love."

/-/

Pyrrha stared into the alley where Mercury had fled with a frown. It may have been dark, but she should have been able to see something, shouldn't she? Then her head jerked backwards as a dust round struck her in the temple, and Pyrrha fell to the ground again.

Yang yelped. "Pyrrha, why didn't you dodge that?" Her eyes narrowed at the green haired girl in the alley who'd just shot Pyrrha, and then widened in realization. "Damn... it's Emerald. Should have known." She made a punching motion towards the alley, firing Ember Celica back at the green haired girl, who deftly dodged the return fire. "Right... I've got her." She glanced down to check on her girlfriend. Pyrrha looked dazed, but thankfully her Aura seemed to have stopped the round from penetrating. "Get to cover, Babe, I've got this." Yang glanced back to the alley, but nothing was there. Yang's eyes went wide, then some instinct had her bring her arms up defensively in front of her face. Several dust rounds bounced off of Ember Celica as Yang started to hunker down in front of Pyrrha, absorbing the hits with her Aura and her armored gauntlets. "Pyrrha... get up. I can't take her alone." Under her breath she muttered. "Especially if I can't fricking see her..."

Pyrrha groaned and started to get up, then her eyes went wide and she threw her shield above Yang's head to catch Mercury Black in the stomach just as he was about to land feet first onto Yang's head and shoulders.

Yang gasped in shock and leapt backwards, keeping her arms up in front of her face. "Damn it! How do we beat them if we can't see them coming?"

Pyrrha frowned, she COULD see both Emerald and Mercury now, although she hadn't been able to a second ago. She recalled her shield to her arm, and stepped in front of Yang to block another hail of dust bullets from Emerald with it.

"I can..." Pyrrha started, then broke off as Emerald and Mercury both vanished from her sight. "And now I can't."

Yang lowered her guard at Pyrrha's words, then fired Ember Celica at Emerald again as the green-haired girl appeared once again. "She can't blind both of us at the same time." Yang muttered to Pyrrha. "So we watch each other's backs so they can't surprise us again." Emerald leapt up to avoid Yang's return fire and she whipped the kusarigama chain from one of her pistols up to the rooftop of the building to her right, then let it start pulling herself up to the top of the building even as she faded from Yang's sight again. "Damn... lost her." Yang muttered. "She went toward the rooftops. Can you see her?"

Pyrrha shook her head, her eyes scanning the street frantically. "Nothing... I..." she caught movement out of the corner of her eye and managed to see Emerald swing onto the rooftop before moving out of sight. "Yes, she's on that roof." She pointed.

Yang nodded. "OK. Now what?"

"We can't let her get away."

Yang grinned. "Greek fire?"

Pyrrha nodded back with a smile. "That's my girl." She cupped her hands together, and Yang leapt into them. Pyrrha launched her with every ounce of strength, both physical and semblance, that she could, and Yang flew across the street onto the far rooftop like a bullet from a gun.

Then, Pyrrha ducked and rolled, her hands both glowing black. She couldn't see anything, but with her semblance active, she'd felt metal hurtling towards her head again from the side. She growled, and gestured, and there was a yelp from the empty air, then curses that started to rise higher and higher as Pyrrha lifted her glowing black arms. Mercury Black became visible again, dangling upside down in midair as the sound of Ember Celica being fired erupted from the rooftops.

Pyrrha smiled at Mercury coldly. "Got you."

/-/

"Blake!" Ruby called as she ducked out of the way of a blast from Adam's shotgun sheath, 'Blush', then spun Crescent Rose to parry several swings from his red sword, 'Wilt'. She leapt back, firing a sniper round at Adam to boost her retreat further, but Adam caught it on his blade, which glowed even brighter. "Switch mags!"

Blake's eyes widened and she nodded as she quickly ejected her current magazine of regular bullets from Gambol Shroud, letting the clip clatter to the ground, and quickly inserted the magazine she'd hand loaded with various types of dust ammunition. Then her eyes went wide in horror as, while she was busy reloading, Adam had re-sheathed his blade, and had gotten into his signature iaido sword drawing stance now that Ruby wasn't pressing him as closely and had opened up some distance.

"RUBY! DODGE!" Blake screamed.

Ruby's eyes locked on Adam's sword and the world seemed to slow down as Adam drew his sword with a flash of red that seemed to light up the world. All she could see was red. She went into her semblance and zipped just barely out of the wave of destruction. Ruby zipped around as a swarm of petals till she was at Blake's side again, coming out of it to drop lightly by Blake's side.

"Is that his semblance?" Ruby asked, panting at the near miss.

Adam had turned to face the two of them looking quite a bit more annoyed than he had been when the fight had started.

"It's like Yang's." Blake explained. "He absorbs hits with his blade and stores the energy, and then unleashes it in a powerful strike. He can cut straight through Aura with ease... we have to be careful."

"Got it." Ruby said. "So... don't shoot his sword?"

Adam snorted dismissively. "Think you can manage that, little girl?"

Ruby smiled grimly. "Yeah, actually. I think I can."

/-/

Dr. Oobleck kept Antiquity's Roast's flames centered on Hazel as the big man charged him, the intense fire curling around the huge man's body as Hazel closed the distance. Rather than trying to dodge or extinguish the flames, however, Hazel simply kept coming, and Dr. Oobleck was forced to dodge backwards, using his enhanced speed to keep the distance between him and the larger man.

Hazel rushed forward again, and again, Dr. Oobleck kept his flamethrower roaring into the big man's chest. Hazel roared and swiped at the history professor, but again, Oobleck zipped away, too quick to be caught so easily.

Dr. Oobleck grinned, letting the flames die for a moment. "This seems to be a bit of a bad matchup for you." He commented wryly.

Hazel's eyes narrowed. "We'll see." He pulled an ice dust crystal from his pouch and jammed it into his left forearm. Then he charged Oobleck once more. Oobleck hosed him down with flames, but Hazel simply kept his ice infused left arm in the path of the flames, and they met a cold blue aura that radiated half a foot from his skin, and failed to do any damage.

Dr. Oobleck's eyes narrowed. "I see..." Inwardly he was getting a bit concerned. Antiquity's Roast only held fire dust. It could use fire dust in quite a few ways... fireballs, fire explosions, streams and jets of fire... but he didn't have an easy counter for ice dust. This seemed like it would become a contest of endurance. He kept hosing Hazel down with jets of flame, dodging backwards out of reach every time the bigger man got close, as he tried to think of a counter strategy that would work. His gaze flitted off the damaged and deserted underground buildings they were fighting in the midst of, and he started to get the first glimmers of an idea. Still... it would be tricky, and if Hazel figured out what he was doing in time, it wouldn't work.

"Your sister..." Dr. Oobleck started. "She was in my class... years ago."

Hazel's eyes narrowed. "Don't you dare..."

Dr. Oobleck continued, blithely. "Yes... a lazy girl. Never paid sufficient attention in class." He said coldly.

Hazel charged, roaring, and Oobleck dodged backwards again, not even bothering to shoot back as he made a quick adjustment to his weapon. "Yes... I suppose if she'd paid better attention, she might have lived a bit longer..." Hazel's roar of rage was loud enough that Dr. Oobleck could practically feel the ground shake under his feet, and he sighed as he ducked into a nearby three story building. "Well... that should do it." He muttered quietly to himself.

/-/

Yang landed on the rooftop with a thud, and located Emerald almost at once. The green-haired girl had been looking down at Pyrrha from her perch far above, but turned to face Yang as the brawler raced toward her. Emerald flicked out of sight even as Yang unloaded both of her shotgun gauntlets at her. Emerald flickered momentarily as a fire dust round caught her, and Yang leapt upwards, firing Ember Celica backward to give her more momentum towards Emerald's revealed position.

Emerald disappeared again, and Yang threw her arms wide as she fell towards where she'd last spotted her. She flew through empty air and hit the ground rolling, having missed Emerald entirely. Yang spun and brought her hands up in front of her face defensively once more, just as a chain hit her in the side of the neck and started wrapping around her. Instead of wrapping around her neck completely, Yang had her arms in the way, and the chain wrapped around both arms as well, trapping Yang's arms in front of her face.

But only for a moment. Yang had kept her forearms out half a foot from her face in order to try and absorb any hits from the front without punching herself in the face, and therefore the chains were loose. Yang slipped one arm out even as Emerald pulled hard to try and yank Yang off her feet, and wrapped her other arm in the chain, ducking her head and wrapping her left arm in Emerald's chain several times.

There was a momentary tug of war, then Yang's eyes flared red and her hair burst into flames, and Yang's next yank ripped the pistol out of Emerald's hand. Emerald flickered back into Yang's vision for a moment, showing her startled face before she vanished again, but Yang wasn't done. She whipped Emerald's chain around above her head, rapidly building up momentum, then swung the spinning chain across the rooftop, using Emerald's pistol as the weight at the end to give it speed and momentum.

Emerald appeared in Yang's vision again for just a moment as the green-haired girl backflipped over her own weapon, and Yang promptly punched her right shotgun gauntlet at her, sending a fire dust round into Emerald's back as she flipped away. Emerald cartwheeled into the rooftop thirty feet away and Yang leapt forward again, trying to close the distance before the illusionist could fog her vision once more.

/-/

Adam started striding towards Ruby and Blake with an implacable stare. "I don't normally kill little girls..." He told Ruby with false calm, then glanced to Blake. "But for you, darling, I'll make an exception." He shot Wilt at Ruby without warning with Blush, but Ruby parried the red blade into the air and blurred into rose petals once again, zipping directly for Adam while his blade was still spinning above her.

Adam met her charge with a kick that tore Ruby out of mid air and sent her hurtling into a nearby building, then he followed that up with another shotgun blast from Blush. He then leapt forward to catch Wilt before it hit the ground, and started to run towards Ruby again.

Blake met him halfway, throwing herself forward with assistance from one of her clones in order to get ahead of him in time. She met Wilt with Gambol Shroud and once again the two strained over their joined blades, sparks flying from both.

"You'd kill Ruby... just to hurt me?" Blake asked him, not wanting to believe it.

"Her." Adam agreed. "And everyone else you love." He lashed out with a kick, but this time Blake was ready, and his foot slammed into a fire clone which exploded, sending him flying backward.

"Not today." Blake promised.

"Not ever." Ruby agreed, coming up to Blake's side again. "You're going to lose, Adam. And you'll never hurt anyone, ever again!"

/-/

Pyrrha kept Mercury suspended with her left hand while she spun Milo in her right, transforming it into it's rifle configuration. She then calmly shot him with all five rounds while he struggled to get free. He managed to block a few with his arms, but his Aura was taking major damage. Pyrrha then slid Milo into it's sheath at her back, and brought her right hand out as well, twisting the fingers on both hands as if gripping... she then brought both hands downwards with a swift motion. Mercury slammed into the ground at the same time with stunning force. Pyrrha brought her hands up, then down again, and again, Mercury slammed into the ground hard enough to crack the concrete.

There was a faint clink of metal hitting the concrete behind her, and Pyrrha turned just in time to barely dodge the diving tackle of a man in a dark leather duster. She noted a pair of what appeared to be bracers lined with curved blades on the ground behind the man.

"It's about fucking time, Tyrian!" Mercury spat out angrily from mid air. "And why the heck did you take off your damn weapons?"

"This one can move metal!" Tyrian cackled happily. "Which is why you're less than useless here, robot boy. Leave the work of killing the Maiden to your betters."

"Ah." Pyrrha said quietly. "You know I'm a Maiden then."

Tyrian laughed. "Of course, of course! The new fall Maiden, all shiny and special!" His grin turned evil. "You'll be SO much fun to kill."

Pyrrha's eyes started glowing with green flames. "You really shouldn't have told me that. Now I have no reason to hold back." She gestured with her left hand, and Tyrian's eyes went wide as every remaining piece of metal on his body... buckles on his belts, his bandoleers, his steel toed boots, even his earrings started to pull him inexorably upwards. Pyrrha still held Mercury in the polarity she was projecting from her right hand, but she sensed that Tyrian was the greater threat, so she tossed Mercury into the air and focused on calling on the Maiden powers to call a ball of lightning into her right hand instead.

Tyrian screamed in rage as he struggled, ripping his head from one side to the other as he tore his head free of his earrings, leaving bloody furrows in his ears. He tore at his clothing next, ripping at his belts with frantic strength.

Pyrrha brought her right hand forward, and let the ball of electricity go, where it ground out into Tyrian, causing the man to writhe and scream in pain as it scorched him till his bones were momentarily visible through his skin. Pyrrha brought him closer and concentrated, and lightning flowed from her fingers into the man, keeping the electrocution going.

Mercury managed to reorient himself in mid air and fired his boot guns once to slow his falling momentum, landing heavily but without injury. He hesitated, torn between making a break for it and attacking the distracted Maiden. Still, Pyrrha had her back to him, and it was too tempting a target. He kicked forward, shooting an air dust round at her back.

Pyrrha jerked forward as the dust round hit her in the back, and she gasped in shock, starting to turn to face Mercury once more, when she gasped in pain as a long brown tail with a very nasty looking stinger whipped out from behind the scorpion faunus's back, where it'd been concealed under his duster, and jabbed her in the stomach. Pyrrha screamed and the electricity pumping into the scorpion faunus tripled in strength. Tyrian flew backwards with the strength of it, and his Aura shattered.

Pyrrha then ducked under another dust round from Mercury, and her eye flames died. Her hands both glowed black instead, and Mercury flew skywards again, dragged upwards by his boots with a startled yell.

/-/

Ruby flicked around Adam in spirals, going in and out of her semblance and firing Crescent Rose occasionally, not at Adam, but behind her to gain even more momentum.

"Ladybug!" She shouted, the command serving to spur Blake into action once more.

Blake and Adam crossed blades as Blake shot past him, striking sparks once more, but Blake didn't put much force into her blow, only trying to shoot past him to try and gain his back. With the little crimson reaper farther off, Adam focused on his ex-partner, spinning and lashing out with Wilt with every bit of speed he could muster.

Wilt sliced an ice clone in half, then stuck mid way inside a stone clone on the second swing. Ruby then zipped up directly behind him, kicking the man in the back of the head, then whipping Crescent Rose around to his throat while he tried to pull Wilt free.

"It's over." Ruby told him somberly. "Don't make me do it."

Adam put one hand on the blade that was resting at his throat, not to push it away... not yet, but as if surprised to find it there. "Hmm." He said after a long moment. "Why don't I believe you?"

Ruby frowned. "Don't test me. I'll do it."

Adam seemed to hear something in her voice. "In the heat of the moment... perhaps. But you're just a child. How many people have you killed, girl? In cold blood? When they no longer pose any threat?"

Blake appeared and put Gambol Shroud to the other side of his neck a moment later. "Don't underestimate her. Or me."

Adam looked at Blake, his face going calm and still. "No... I suppose I shouldn't." He raised his hands over his head. "Alright, Blake. You've got me. Now what?" Blake hesitated, and he saw it. "Are you going to turn me in to the... rightful authorities? Will you give me over to your new friend, General Ironwood? Does he know, Blake? Does Ironwood know the crimes YOU have committed? Do you really think that you won't end up in a cell on his flagship right alongside me?"

Blake shook her head. "You can't scare me, Adam. If I have to face up to what I've done, so be it, but this ends tonight. You're going to answer for your crimes, even if I have to go down with you."

/-/

Yang leapt upon Emerald, only for the girl to vanish like smoke. "Damn... another illusion." She muttered. She whirled around, but there was no sign of the green-haired girl. Yang twisted and turned, but there was nothing. She pulled Emerald's weapon to her by it's chain, wrapping it around her left forearm, but by the time she'd gotten the weapon fully into her hands, nothing had happened.

Now that she wasn't fighting, she could hear the sounds of what was happening down below, and her eyes jerked to the street as she heard Pyrrha cry out in pain. Panicked, Yang ran for the edge of the roof and leapt off, heading for the street below. She fired Ember Celica once before she hit the pavement to bleed off some momentum, and raced over to Pyrrha even as Pyrrha smashed Mercury into the street again. Yang looked from Pyrrha to the smoldering scorpion faunus laying in a blackened heap nearby, and frowned in concern at her girlfriend.

"Pyr... are you alright?"

Pyrrha slammed Mercury into the ground again, the young assassin's Aura breaking with this impact, then brought him up once more. "I'm... I'm OK." She muttered, then brought Mercury slamming down into the ground another time. Then she finally released him. "Ruby... and Blake?"

Yang looked up the street to where Ruby and Blake had apparently captured the red-haired, horned faunus. "I think they're OK." She glanced the other way, to where explosion after explosion seemed to be coming out of a three story building down the block. The building in question started to collapse, and just before the doorway into it vanished under tons of rubble, Dr. Oobleck zipped out of the building in a blur of motion. He got well clear as the building collapsed behind him.

Pyrrha nodded, smiling. "I think... everyone is OK." She put one hand to her stomach, and winced, but decided not to bring her injury up quite yet.

Dr. Oobleck zipped up to them. "I see you ladies have wrapped things up here as well."

Yang frowned. "Emerald got away. She could be anywhere."

Dr. Oobleck looked concerned. "That is a problem."

There was a noise down the block, of steel on steel, a screeching noise that brought all of their eyes towards the end of the block where the train was. Even without faunus night vision, they could see that the train was starting to move.

"No time to relax." Dr. Oobleck said with a frown. "We have to stop that train!"

They ran together down the street, Dr. Oobleck matching Yang and Pyrrha's slower pace.

Adam looked at the train with a grin. "Are you sure you'll have time to arrest me? Seems like you have a train to catch."

Ruby continued to hold her blade to his throat. "We have enough time to deal with you." As the others ran up, Ruby called to Yang. "Yang... punch him."

Adam blinked as Yang, without missing a beat, slugged the bull faunus square in the stomach without breaking stride, her eyes flaring red and her hair glowing with golden fire for just a moment as she did.

Ruby and Blake pulled away as she did so, and Adam flew, crumpled over by Yang's fist, into a nearby building and slumped to the ground.

Ruby immediately turned to run towards the train. "We've got to stop that train!"

Dr. Oobleck nodded to her almost cheerfully, keeping pace easily. "I just said that."

Ruby shot him an irritated look, but shook it off and continued to run.

The train was already moving fast when they caught up to it's end. Ruby used her semblance to get to the top. Dr. Oobleck used a burst of his own super speed semblance, and Yang threw Blake to the roof. Blake in turn threw back Gambol Shroud, and held onto the ribbon. Yang caught the gunblade, held out a hand for Pyrrha, and Blake, Ruby and Oobleck hauled the final two on board using Gambol's ribbon.

"That was too close." Ruby muttered, then turned to look down the length of the train. She started to run. "We need to get to the front and shut this train down! Don't stop for anything!"

Dr. Oobleck however, did stop to open the hatch on the top of the rearmost train car to see what was inside. "Oh dear..."

Pyrrha paused to look down. "Professor... is that...?"

"That my dear... appears to be a bomb." Dr. Oobleck said with a note of forced calm.

"Keep moving!" Ruby yelled from ahead of them.

Dr. Oobleck quickly rose and started jogging forward. "Quite. I doubt any of you have the skills to disarm such a device. We should indeed keep moving forward."

He leapt the gap and stopped to pull open the hatch to the next train car. "Another bomb." Just then, the first car detached and started to roll backwards. "What on Remnant?" The train car fell behind about a hundred yards and exploded violently, creating a hole in the roof of the tunnel. Grimm started to fall and jump through the hole. His face paled. "That's not good."

Blake had been following Ruby closely, both girls now a couple train cars ahead, but she pulled open a hatch as well. "Another bomb here!"

Ruby stopped to shout back. "We have to get past the bomb cars before they're detached!"

Yang and Pyrrha looked at each other in concern, then raced after Blake and Ruby, while Oobleck used another burst of super speed to catch up. He slowed as he came up beside Ruby and Blake, looking fatigued. "They all have bombs?"

Ruby pointed forward where dozens of White Fang soldiers were climbing onto the roof, carrying mostly rifles and pistols. "Not all of them."

A second car fell away from the back of the train and exploded, creating another hole in the roof.

"There's no time..." Ruby said in worry. "We'll reach Vale soon." She looked at Pyrrha. "Pyrrha, you, Yang and Dr. Oobleck, cover us. Blake and I are going to head straight for the front. We're going to stop this train before it gets to Vale."

Everyone nodded, and Ruby started to run forward towards the White Fang, Blake running next to her. "Blake, do you trust me?"

Blake smiled softly at her. "Always."

Ruby grabbed her around the waist. "Good." Then she called on her semblance, transforming both her and Blake into a burst of red and black rose petals as she carried them toward the front of the train.

Meanwhile, Yang and Dr. Oobleck started to engage the White Fang, but Pyrrha stepped up between them, holding up a hand. "Allow me." She passed a hand over her bandolier, causing four metal strips to rise up from it, then gestured. The strips flew out, hit four different faunus in the ankles, and wrapped around each of their ankles. Some left ankles, some right, but before any of them could react, Pyrrha swept her hand to the right and all four faunus flew off the train, dragged by the metal strips around their ankles. Then the rest of the Faunus paused to start shooting at Pyrrha. Pyrrha raised her left hand, and the bullets started bursting apart as they hit a wall of pure heat. Raising her right hand, she made a gripping and pulling motion, and rifles and pistols flew from every hand toward her. Pyrrha made a twirling motion and the stolen weapons hammered back into their owners, knocking most of them off the train. Pyrrha started walking forward, throwing metal strips at any faunus who remained, dragging them off the train by ankles, wrists, or one unfortunate soul by a strip gripping him around his forehead.

In moments, the roof was clear.

Yang and Dr. Oobleck looked at Pyrrha in astonishment.

Pyrrha only smiled and shrugged. "It felt like it was time to stop holding back."

Yang grinned. "No complaint here, Babe."

Dr. Oobleck pointed forward, where an Atlesian Paladin had climbed up onto the front of a train car ahead of them. "We're not out of the woods yet!" He warned.

Pyrrha only smiled. "Doctor... those are made of metal." She started to walk forward confidently. "Metal... I can handle." Inwardly she concealed a wince of pain. Her stomach was KILLING her. She hadn't exactly been lying to Yang or the doctor. It really wasn't time for restraint, but normally, she'd have charged into battle in her usual fashion. However, she was in too much pain right now to want to push her body that hard. She was leaning on her semblance and her Maiden powers more to keep from having to strain herself further physically. She knew she needed to tell them about her wound... she was starting to suspect she'd been poisoned, but if she said anything now, they'd want to pull back and treat her... and she knew Ruby was right. There wasn't time for that. After the White Fang were defeated, there'd be time to deal with her wound.

/-/

Ruby pushed her semblance to it's limit, carrying Blake and herself past the White Fang grunts, past the rows of Atlesian Paladins, all the way to the final pair of train cars. She came out of her semblance on the roof of the car right behind the engine, setting Blake down on the roof as gently as she could.

Blake still stumbled and only Ruby's hand on her arm kept the cat faunus from falling. "Whoa..." Blake said in astonishment. "Is it... always like that for you?"

Ruby shrugged. "I guess? Come on, we can talk about it after we stop this train."

Blake nodded, gathering her wits. "Right." She leapt down into the gap between the car and the engine, and opened the door. Ruby went in through the gap and Blake was right behind her.

Roman Torchwick was standing there at the controls, turning around at the sound of the door opening. Ruby flitted up to him with another burst of her semblance and came out of it while twisting into a drop kick. Roman was blindsided by her speed, and took the kick squarely, knocking him back into the controls.

Blake zipped forward as well, going low at the last moment to try and sweep his legs. Roman leapt over her leg sweep, but was forced to parry a swipe from Crescent Rose mid leap and was hurled into the side wall by the force of the strike.

"Damn, Red! You really know how to ruin my day!" He said as he recovered himself, pushing off the wall.

"We're just getting started." Ruby told him cockily. She and Blake both charged forward and started exchanging blows. In the tight confines of the engine room, Ruby was a bit limited in how much momentum she could gain, but while Torchwick was skilled, outnumbered two to one, he was out-matched.

Blake 'let' a blow from his cane slip past her guard, only for his cane to get stuck in the ice clone she'd made to replace her at the last second. Ruby and Blake both came in, hammering at him with their weapons while Roman's guard was down, an in moments, the man's Aura broke. Ruby then tripped him, and Blake finished him off with a boot to the head, knocking the man out.

Quickly they turned to the train controls. "How do we stop this thing?" Ruby said, looking worried.

Blake frowned and gestured to a large lever. "How about that? That kind of looks like a throttle?"

Ruby nodded and grabbed the lever, pulling it downward. Immediately, the train began to slow.

The two girls breathed a sigh of relief, and, exchanging glances, headed back to check on their friends.

/-/

Pyrrha calmly walked down the length of the train, using every ounce of her semblance's power. Each time a Paladin climbed up onto the top of the train, Pyrrha would grab one of it's legs and topple it from the train, letting the giant robot fall to the side and be left far behind as the train continued. By the time the train started to slow, she'd already felled the last Paladin, with a little help from Yang and Dr. Oobleck, who distracted them with fire from their weapons.

The White Fang were almost all scattered behind them. A large man with a chainsaw had come out of a train car to try and rush them, but Pyrrha had swept him and his huge, almost entirely metal weapon off the train with a wave of her hand. There seemed to be no more opposition. And then, the train started to slow.

Yang and Pyrrha smiled at each other. "Ruby did it!" Yang cheered.

"Vale is safe." Pyrrha said with a sigh. "We won."

Dr. Oobleck was frowning as the last of the train cars that had decoupled behind them exploded, letting in another large wave of Grimm. "Vale may be safe... but we are not." He said solemnly. "I'm sorry..." He turned to face the horde of Grimm that was even now starting to catch up to the slowing train. "I should have thought this through."

Yang and Pyrrha turned to face the Grimm as well, and their faces turned sober. "Damn." Yang said softly. "That is a LOT of Grimm."

Pyrrha licked her lips, her hand going to her stomach. It came away stained purple. "Oh dear." She muttered. "This does not look good."

Dr. Oobleck took a deep breath. "I'm so sorry." He repeated, then brightened just slightly, offering the girls a faint smile. "You can be proud. You protected the city. Many lives will be saved because of what you've done today."

Yang sighed. "Well... there are worse ways to go out I guess." She faced the incoming horde. "Heck, maybe we'll even win. We've got the Fall Maiden on our side."

Pyrrha smiled back weakly. She was feeling light headed, and at the same time, overheated, as if she was coming down with a fever. "I'll do my best." She offered.

"And that is all anyone can ask." Dr. Oobleck said gently. "Let this be a battle that the history books will remember, then." He said firmly. "We shall not fall without a fight!"

Ruby and Blake raced down the top of the train cars back towards them, stopping just behind the trio. "That... is a lot of Grimm." Blake said with mild horror.

"No!" Ruby said with dismay. "I... no... I did this... why didn't I realize this would happen?"

Blake put a hand to her girlfriend's shoulder. "You did your best, Ruby."

"Hey, Vale is safe, right?" Yang shot back over her shoulder to her sister. "That's a win in my book."

"Don't give up yet." Pyrrha said quietly. "We can do this."

Ruby turned around as if to go back. "I can... I can start the train up again. We can break through to the surface...?"

Everyone exchanged looks. Pyrrha spoke first. "And let a horde this large into Vale? Ruby... we can't do that."

Yang sighed. "Sorry, sis... but, as much as I'd like to make it out of here... we can't sacrifice Vale to do it."

Blake nodded. "Ruby... it's OK. We did the right thing."

Ruby sighed. "I... I know... but..."

Dr. Oobleck stood silently, watching, but finally he spoke. "You girls make me proud to be your teacher. You do not need to do this. No one would fault you if you did what you needed to do to survive."

"We would." Pyrrha said softly. "We would fault ourselves."

Blake closed with Ruby, and took her face in her hands. "If this is the end, there is no one else I would face it with... and no greater cause to fight for." She kissed Ruby roughly, passionately.

Yang and Pyrrha exchanged fond glances. "Not to interrupt..." Yang finally broke in. "But we have about... ten seconds before they get to us."

Ruby straightened up, leaving the kiss and moving to stand side by side with her love, her eyes blazing with determination. "Right... area attacks first. Bumblebee and Milk and Cereal. Plant explosives on the big ones... we fight our way to one of those holes... and..." she looked far into the distance where light was shining in from above. "And get out."

"Sounds like a plan." Yang agreed.

"No more time for planning." Dr. Oobleck said with calm determination. "Time to fight." He leapt down from the train car, launching balls of fire from his weapon to detonate into the front ranks of the horde of Grimm.

Yang and Blake jumped down next into the gap he created, Yang leaping into the air while holding onto Gambol's ribbon so that Blake could accelerate her into an arc to slam the blond brawler like a rocket powered battering ram through half a dozen more Grimm.

Ruby nodded to Pyrrha. "As soon as I get my momentum up, do your thing, Pyrrha."

Pyrrha smiled weakly. "Milk and Cereal. Got it."

Ruby sped into her semblance, coming out over the horde, and Pyrrha gestured, whipping the smaller girl to the left and spinning her and her huge scythe into and through the front ranks of the horde to cut them down like so much grass. At the end of the arc, Ruby came out of her spin with recoil from Crescent Rose, then used another shot from her sniper rifle to take her back and away from the horde again, while taking out a Beowulf at the same time. Pyrrha, however, sank to one knee, the black aura around her hands fading.

Ruby shot back up to Pyrrha, looking concerned. "Pyrrha... are you alright?"

Pyrrha touched her stomach again, and showed the purple on her palm to Ruby. "Ruby... I'm so sorry. That scorpion faunus hit me with his stinger... it must have been poisoned. I... I'm afraid I don't have much strength left. I don't think I can do much more."

Ruby's face paled. "Pyrrha... no."

Pyrrha smiled faintly. "I'll do what I can from here. I can still shoot... and I think I can use the Maiden powers a bit more."

Ruby swallowed and nodded. "Do what you can. We'll keep them off of you." She turned to face the horde once more.

Pyrrha frowned to herself, but simply transformed Milo into it's rifle mode and went to one knee, aiming carefully and looking for a good target.

Yang and Blake were fighting individually now, Yang duking it out with a pack of Ursa, while Blake used her clones to throw herself up on top of the head of a King Taijitu. Planting a mine on it's head, she leapt over to the second head, and planted a second mine. The first head coiled after her and Blake leapt away even as the mine on the back of it's head exploded. Blake bounced off of the head and shoulders of one of the Ursa Yang was fighting as the second Taijitu head exploded a second later, and the headless snake started to evaporate.

Yang caught Blake before she could slam into the ground and set her on her feet. "Nice work, Kitten."

They both dodged back as a pair of Deathstalkers scuttled forward into the gap left by the dying King Taijitu. "Not sure it'll be enough."

"Yeah." Yang said grimly. "Me neither."

Ruby fought like a woman possessed. This was HER fault. She'd meant to stop the train. She'd never considered the ramifications of that. It had taken the best teams Beacon had and a horde of androids and gunships from the Atlesian fleet to stop the Grimm horde the last time. Keeping the train from reaching Vale may have saved any civilians that would have been near the sealed subway exit, but it as good as doomed her team. She forced herself to move faster, pushing her semblance harder and harder to be everywhere, protect everyone. Every time Yang or Blake or Dr. Oobleck might have found themselves overwhelmed, Ruby was there, slicing into their enemies with Crescent Rose like the angel of death she somewhat resembled. A literal Grimm Reaper, like the one from her Uncle's stories.

Pyrrha ran out of ammo before too long, and reentered the fray with bursts of fire and lightning, coming down off the train to fight side by side with Yang. Blake used the last of her mines on the Deathstalkers, and was running low on ammo as well.

Ruby emptied her last magazine, and deeply regretted the fact that she'd left her bag of extra ammo and explosives at their campsite. In her hurry to bring the others back to Blake, she'd forgotten it. She hadn't even thought about it in the fights that had followed. The extra weight would have hampered her fighting Adam, and it might have kept her from being able to use her semblance to reach the front of the train. Which was even worse... since that was the reason they were all going to die down here!

The battle wore on. Dr. Oobleck's weapon sputtered out as well, it's fire dust expended, and Ruby resigned herself to the truth. There were just too many. They'd tried to cut their way through the Grimm to the hole in the roof several hundred yards back down the track, but it was too far, and the entire tunnel was jammed with Grimm.

Ruby knew that if she abandoned everyone, if she used every ounce of her Aura to power her semblance, she just might be able to use her petal burst to reach the surface. But she couldn't do so while carrying anyone. It was too far, and going upwards took too much energy. She could escape alone, but not with anyone else, and she refused to leave them. Refused to even hint at the possibility, fearing that her friends would insist she escape on her own.

Even if they could reach the hole, Blake's ribbon wouldn't reach that high. Pyrrha might have been able to throw one of them through the hole with her polarity, but she was barely able to move now. She stood in place, barely able to stand, tossing lightning and fire at any Grimm that approached, but it was obvious that even her magic was starting to run out.

Ruby blurred into motion to rush up to a Beowolf that had managed to get past Pyrrha's guard and cut it down, but doing so, her Aura broke. She'd used her semblance for too long, pushed too hard. Even the tiny amounts of Aura she needed to power her abilities were more than she could handle. She started spinning Crescent Rose in arcs in front of her, building momentum the best as she could without ammo or her semblance to slash and cut and dismember any Grimm who dared come too close, but she just didn't have the cutting power or momentum she needed anymore. She could wound them, keep them back, but it was getting harder and harder to get off any finishing blows. Her arms were like lead, and her swings started losing momentum. She was at her limit.

"Ruby." Pyrrha gasped, the flames from her eyes guttering out. "Ruby... fall back. If... if you can go back again. If you can travel in time one more time... you can save us... you've got to try."

Yang fell in beside Pyrrha, supporting her girlfriend as Pyrrha started to collapse, and firing one handed with her right gauntlet. "Pyrrha's right, Rubes... get out of here. We'll cover you. You did it once, right?" Ember Celica clicked empty, and reluctantly, Yang lowered Pyrrha to the ground so that she could fight with her fists and what remained of her Aura. "Ruby... you have to live. We'll protect you... I know you can do this."

Blake leapt in to decapitate an Ursa, and landed on the other side of Yang. "They're right, Ruby. If there's any chance you can go back, you have to take it."

Dr. Oobleck fell back to stand with Blake and Yang, the three of them forming a wall of bodies between the fallen Pyrrha and the horde of Grimm. "I'm not sure what you're talking about... but if I'm hearing this correctly, Ruby has the power to travel backwards in time?"

Yang grinned. "Just going to accept that on faith, huh Doc?"

Dr. Oobleck swung his weapon, now reduced to a club, into the head of a Creep, sending it flying. "I don't believe I have anything to lose in doing so." He said back, strain evident in his voice. "In any event Miss Rose, if you can... reverse this course of events, then I will attempt to buy you as much time as I can for you to make the attempt."

Ruby shook her head. "I... I don't know how it works! I don't know if it was even me that did it!"

Pyrrha looked up at her with a soft, trusting expression. "Ruby... it doesn't matter. If you succeed, we'll never know. If you fail... we won't blame you for it. Either way, we're all willing to give you the chance." She started forcing herself to her feet. "Perhaps if I die, that will give you the trigger you need. If it saves you... I'm more than willing to make that sacrifice."

She raised a hand, and a ball of lightning appeared there. She chucked it at an Ursa who had been about to swipe at Yang's unprotected flank, knocking it back, sparking with electricity. The Ursa growled and got back to it's feet, and Pyrrha hit it with another ball of lightning, dropping it for good that time.

Yang glanced back at Pyrrha, then shook her head. "Just keep fighting, Babe. If somebody has to die to kick Ruby's time travel powers into gear... might as well be me." She pounded her fists together, and her Aura exploded around her, her hair fanning out with golden flames, and with a scream of rage, Yang charged into the thick of the Grimm, her fists sending them flying in every direction as she expended the energy her semblance gave her all in one go.

Pyrrha staggered after Yang, throwing fire and lightning into what Grimm attempted to catch Yang from behind as she passed.

Ruby tried to run after Yang, only to catch a backhanded blow from an Ursa that dropped her to the ground. Blake was there in an instant, driving the Grimm back, standing over Ruby and snarling with fury at any Grimm that approached.

Ruby looked up at her love through the blood that was pouring down her face from a cut she barely felt on her temple. "Blake... I love you."

"I know." Blake kept fighting, although it was clear she was nearing exhaustion as well.

From out of sight, Pyrrha screamed. "YANG! NO!"

Ruby's heart went cold. Her breathing stopped. She tried to struggle to her feet, but she was so dizzy, so tired. Dr. Oobleck charged the Grimm, and was battered aside by the claw of yet another Deathstalker.

Blake screamed and charged as well, burying Gambol Shroud in the belly of a Beowolf, and hacking into it's bony faceplate with her scabbard over and over, too weak to get a clean kill with a single blow, but hammering away relentlessly regardless.

Ruby's whole body shook as she tried to stand, tried to summon the energy to fight just a little more. She had to save them... had to protect them... they couldn't die like this!

A warmth filled her, and her vision went white. And the world... went away.

/-/

As the light faded, Blake stared around in astonishment. Everywhere she looked, the Grimm were evaporating into dust, save for some of the largest, which had been frozen into stone.

Dr. Oobleck shakily got to his feet, and staggered over to check on Ruby, who lay senseless on the ground. He put fingers to her neck, and sighed in relief.

"She's alive..." He confirmed. "But she appears to be solidly unconscious. We'll need to evacuate her."

Blake looked down the tunnel in concern. "What about Pyrrha and Yang." She spotted the tall red-haired champion, who was leaning tiredly against the statue of a Deathstalker. "Pyrrha, are you alright?"

Pyrrha swallowed, clutching at her stomach. "I... not really." She admitted. "I've been poisoned. I... I... think I'll need medical attention soon."

Blake rushed to her side, checking the wound. "That looks bad." She admitted, then looked up into Pyrrha's eyes. "Yang? What about Yang? Where is she?"

Pyrrha shook her head. "Yang fell... I managed to kill the Ursa who knocked her down, but then... a woman in red just... appeared. She fell from the air above Yang, scooped her up, and she swung her blade... it cut the air, created some sort of portal, and she carried Yang through it before the rest of the Grimm could close in to finish her..."

Blake blinked in astonishment. "So... Yang's alive?"

Pyrrha shrugged helplessly. "It looked like she wasn't too badly injured... presumably whoever rescued her wouldn't do so just to kill her afterwords. So hopefully she'll be fine."

Blake sighed. "Well, hopefully she's safer than we are."

Pyrrha looked wearily at the scattered stone statues around them. "What... happened? The Grimm were destroyed... or turned into statues? How?"

Blake shook her head. "Ruby did this... somehow. She screamed, and her eyes flared white. It was so bright I thought I'd go blind, but... when the flash cleared, the Grimm were like this, and Ruby was down." She put a hand on Pyrrha's arm. "Dr. Oobleck says she's just unconscious."

"She didn't travel in time?" Pyrrha said with a small frown. "How odd."

Blake frowned lightly. "I'm not sure WHAT she did. But whatever it was, she saved us."

Dr. Oobleck picked Ruby gently off the ground. "Regardless, we should make our way to the surface before more Grimm approach. This is only a reprieve. We cannot waste it."

Blake nodded, and pulled one of Pyrrha's arms over her shoulder, supporting the larger girl. "Lean on me, Pyrrha, we're getting out of here."

/-/

As the light faded from her eyes, Ruby found herself on a snow covered cliffside, facing her mother's grave. She took a slow, staggering step toward the grave marker, then another, then collapsed to her knees in front of it. Then, with a scream, she started pounding on the grave with both fists, howling out her rage and pain.

/-/

Not the end.

Now I can hear you all asking... what the heck? What's going on? Why is Ruby back to the beginning again if her silver eyes worked like they do in Canon?

Well... that would be telling. But suffice it to say, this story is a lot more complex than it may have first appeared. Ruby has indeed traveled back to the past yet again. But at the same time, she hasn't. Blake's theory was partially right. Ruby can send her memories back to the past. But, as every good fan of science fiction knows, there are two possibilities when changing history. Either you change everything, overwriting the world to suit the changes you've made, or you create a new dimension where you made the change, leaving your original dimension behind. And while Ruby did send her memories back to the past... she's still in the present as well, alive, if unconscious.

So, in this story, Canon RWBY-Verse still exists. The first time Ruby used her silver eyes went just as it did in at the end of Season 3. Only in my story, she ALSO sent herself back in time, splitting off an alternate reality where she'd get to try to save everyone again.

And now she's done it a second time, creating a THIRD reality. In the second reality, Ruby will eventually wake up from her silver eyes induced coma, and Blake and Pyrrha will be there waiting for her. Will Neo rescue Cinder? Will Torchwick escape yet again? What happened to Emerald? Will they figure out where Yang has gone and go rescue her? Will we get to see how team RPBY fares after this? All I can say is... spoilers. Wait and see. For now, the answers to all those questions are for a different Ruby... because we're following our time traveler.

In this third reality, Ruby is alone once more, and convinced that she's failed. Will she do better on her third try? Tune in next chapter to find out!