63

Chapter 63:

Masked faunus yowled as a white figure flashed through their ranks. Weiss' sliding lunge carried her through their midst before they could even think about turning to attack her. The soldiers easily jumped clear of the tip of her extended rapier. However, that was a minor concern, compared to the wave of ice that spread in Weiss' wake, catching the soldiers who thought they'd dodged, and freezing them in place.

Pyrrha and Ruby followed up on either side, taking down the immobilized soldiers with swift slashes of their blades. Behind them, Jaune followed along, taking care of any stragglers not caught by Weiss' attack.

A soldier rushed Jaune with an angry yell, swinging what appeared to be a crude sword of some kind. Jaune didn't have time to identify what kind of blade it was supposed to be. Bringing up his shield, he caught the blade's descending edge, intending to deflect the impact, just as he'd practiced incessantly. However, the sword snapped right on contact with the shield. The soldier froze, clearly shocked by the destruction of his weapon. Before he could recover, Jaune drove forward, thrusting in and up with the top edge of his shield, slamming it right into the unfortunate man's chin, knocking him over and out.

Another soldier rushed Jaune from the opposite direction. Jaune turned about, barely managing to get his shield into position in time, deflecting a slash from a blade that did not break this time. However, that mattered little, Jaune following up his defense by stepping forward and striking with his sword, dropping the new attacker just as easily as the last one.

Weiss' lunge petered out, having carried her almost right into the middle of the crowd of soldiers. The masked faunus all oriented on her with enraged abandon, several of them raising rifles and pistols, despite the very real risk that their shots would hit their comrades, should they miss their intended target. Others closed to melee range, brandishing swords, spears, and axes, heedless of the risk presented by their gunmen.

Weiss created a Glyph beneath her feet, launching herself directly upwards. Below her, the melee attackers stumbled into the space she'd just vacated, while several of the gunmen had already opened fire. All throughout the group, bodies lurched and jolted, as they were riddled with bullets. These soldiers might have had Aura, but it was not Tempered, and they felt the full impact of every shot.

Up above, Weiss reached the crest of her flight, drawing back her rapier. She'd already switched the Dust-chambers. As she descended back down, she thrust Myrtenaster ahead of her, swirling flames stretching along the length of the blade. Weiss slammed it home, unleashing an explosive shockwave that blew the stumbling and pained soldiers away from her.

Meanwhile, Pyrrha dove into the thick of another group of soldiers, leading with a swing of her left arm that launched Akouo ahead of her. The shield slammed straight into the masked face of the first soldier in front of her, shattering his mask and sending him reeling back. The shield continued on, rebounding from head to head, laying low half-a-dozen troops in a matter of seconds. Then Pyrrha arrived, extending Milo into its javelin mode, she spun and slashed with its blade, using the shaft to fend off strikes from the melee attackers.

At the same time, she used her Polarity to guide Akouo, bringing the shield around to swoop about her body in tight arcs, guarding her rear and flanks, downing soldier after soldier. A burly man, wielding a large hammer, albeit not one as large or impressive as Nora's, slammed his weapon against the shield before it could strike him, deflecting it. At the same time, another soldier, this one wielding a spear that was a good bit longer than Pyrrha's javelin, approached her from the front.

An artful twirl of her weapon allowed Pyrrha to rest Milo across her shoulders, the butt end pointing at the hammer-wielding brute, while the blade pointed at the spear wielder. Triggering the built-in rifle, the shot flew from the butt, striking the hammer-user in the chest, sending him stumbling back, while the recoil sent Milo leaping forward out of Pyrrha's hands, flying past the spear to strike its wielder. Pyrrha dashed forward, snatching Milo out of the air, before it could begin to fall, downing her frontal attacker with a slash, while her shield swooped back around at the brute, who was still staggered by the impact of the gunshot against his Aura, and slammed into the side of his head, knocking him out completely.

Not far away, Ruby also waded into the midst of the soldiers. Akaibara was a crimson streak around her body, the blade, which had broken Adam's sword twice now, cutting effortlessly through the cheap weapons wielded by the White Fang's grunts. Some tried to down her with gunshots. But many of them missed entirely, thanks to the blurring movements of Ruby's body, which made her seem to flicker from place to place. Most of the time, the soldiers realized that they'd taken aim at one of her afterimages, rather than her. On top of that, what few bullets that did make contact glanced off the folds of Ruby's cloak, as though it were woven from solid steel.

Whirling through their midst like a dervish, Ruby's attacks sent soldiers' bodies flying up into the air, scattering around her like the crimson petals produced by her Aura, before falling back to earth like a heavy rain. In a matter of seconds, Ruby was surrounded by prone, groaning forms.

A flash of white caught her eye, and Ruby looked over to see what looked like a rocket slam into a curved barrier of white light, which had appeared between Weiss' upraised rapier and the incoming projectile. Weiss lowered her weapon, the barrier vanishing, before she used a Glyph to launch herself forward at the rocket-wielding faunus. The soldier pulled back on the handles of his weapon, levering them back, transforming the whole thing into a massive club, which he then swung at Weiss' head.

His swing was painfully slow, though, and Weiss easily darted inside his reach to strike home with Myrtenaster, the rapier's impact blowing the faunus back, the club tumbling out of his hand. He joined the rest of the group on the ground, moaning in pain.

"That looks like all of them," said Weiss, casting a contemptuous glance around herself.

"That wasn't too bad," said Jaune.

"Now what?" asked Pyrrha. "I suppose we should make sure they're properly restrained."

"It shouldn't be a problem," said Ruby. "With the shape they're in, it's gonna be a couple hours before they're up to going anywhere. But, just in case..."

Ruby raised Akaibara, holding it up vertically. With the first two fingers of her right hand, she traced her fingertips along the flat of the blade, moving from the base, up to the tip. When she finished, the blade crackled with thorny vines of crimson lightning. "Shibaru, Rai no Keikyoku!" Inverting her sword, she drove it into the ground at her feet.

The lightning crawling along the length of her sword bled out into the ground, spreading to climb across the prone bodies of the White Fang soldiers. her friends watched in awe as the entire group was covered by thorny veils of crackling electricity, which then faded, seeming to sink into their flesh.

"What did you do?" asked Jaune.

"Paralyzed their nerves," said Ruby. "I went light, so that they won't have heart problems or not be able to breathe, but they won't be able to move for sure now." She swayed a little. "Ooh...that took a bit."

"You okay?" asked Pyrrha.

"Yeah," said Ruby, giving her friends a shaky smile. "Just a little bit winded. I just came up with that not too long ago. I figured, if we're gonna keep leaving piles of unconscious terrorists lying around, we should make sure they can't go anywhere...and I don't want to carry a bunch of bindings on me.

"Yes, that would be inconvenient," Pyrrha agreed.

"Well...once you get your wind back, we should go help the others," said Jaune, casting a worried look in the direction of the battle. Moving to stand beside Ruby he allowed her to lean against him, and relax a little.

Ruby looked up. "Pyrrha, Weiss; go on ahead. We'll catch up in a minute."

"All right," said Weiss, nodding. She and Pyrrha exchanged a look, before running off towards the sounds of RYNB's battle with the Paladin.

Ruby spent another moment leaning against Jaune, letting the feeling of his presence soothe her, her heart-rate calming down. Finally, she felt well enough to join the fight again. Pulling back, she gave her partner a grateful smile. Jaune smiled back down at her, reaching up with the fingers of his left hand (careful to avoid clocking her with the shield in the process), and brushing aside a few strands of hair that had fallen across her face.

"What would I do without you?" Ruby asked him softly.

"You'd probably manage," Jaune replied, a slight chuckle rising in his throat. "The real question is what I'd do without you."

"I'm glad we don't have to worry about the answer to either," said Ruby.

Jaune nodded.

They prepared to head off after Weiss and Pyrrha, only for Ruby to pause, the hair on the back of her neck standing on end. They were being watched…by two people. Ruby could sense their presences. One was perched on edge of the warehouse roof, almost directly above them. The other...was much harder to pin down. At best, Ruby could get a general sense of direction, but a glance that way showed her nothing.

Looking up, Ruby's silver eyes met a pair of gray ones. She found herself staring at another girl, who was crouched at the edge of the warehouse roof. The girl's skin was pitch-black, making her form almost invisible against the night sky, though that was offset by the white, horned mask over her face, those gray eyes barely visible through the slits. So, that's Ilia, she thought, remembering what Blake had told her about Blake's old friend from the White Fang.

Ruby's eyes went to the weapon in Ilia's hand, before going back to Ilia's face. Strangely, Ruby felt no hostility from Ilia. It was almost as though the other girl was simply trying to assess the situation, though there was something else about the girl's emotions that Ruby couldn't quite place.

Then Ilia slowly withdrew back from the edge, vanishing from sight. Ruby could sense her falling back, apparently departing entirely, though Ruby suspected that she might double back in order to observe the fight with the Paladin.

Ilia gone, Ruby's attention went back to their other watcher. Again, she glanced in the basic direction she sensed the observation from, but couldn't see any signs of the other person. Her other senses weren't able to pinpoint the watcher's location either. It's probably Neo, thought Ruby, thinking that this felt similar to the other times that Neo's eyes had been on her. She's good.

"What's going on?" asked Jaune, still staring at the warehouse roof. Following Ruby's gaze, he'd been able to see Ilia as well, just barely, though he wouldn't have noticed her, if Ruby hadn't looked her way so pointedly.

"I'm not sure about Ilia," said Ruby. "But I think Neo's watching us from somewhere else, though I can't say where."

"Is that a problem?" asked Jaune.

"I'm not sure," admitted Ruby. "But it's a moot point now. Let's go help the others."

"Okay," said Jaune, the two of them setting out towards the sounds of battle.

"Meinrad! What are you doing? You can't activate that here!"

"Silence! I refuse to let that traitor, and her filthy friend, escape!"

Ilia retreated away from the girl in red, a bevy of mixed feelings in her heart. She'd watched as the other troops had rushed off after Meinrad, and their Paladin. The most she could do was stop the new recruits, and prospective ones, from joining them. More than a few had seen enough though, already fleeing, and discarding their masks in the process. Ilia didn't blame them. It was one thing to talk and cheer about violence, when it was something that others merely talked about. But seeing such in real life made for a completely different experience. Several of those who had come to this rally had realized that this particular kind of fear wasn't for them.

No doubt, Adam, and those who shared his fanaticism, believed that they could break the more timid ones with time and conditioning. Ilia felt fairly certain that they could. But that didn't mean that they should. If anything, Ilia felt horrified by the prospect. Sienna would be revolted as well. She had no desire to force those who didn't have it within them to fight onto the battlefield.

And yet, Ilia had done her part. She'd given her speech. She'd stirred up the feelings of anger within those who were upset over discrimination, whipping them into a violent frenzy that they would then turn upon the humans. But that wouldn't engender respect. That would only enkindle fear and resentment from the humans, and a desire to respond in kind.

Little by little, Ilia was beginning to understand why Blake's father had foresworn such things. But...Is it too late for us? It's not just Adam's faction. The White Fang has relied on violence too much. And now we've backed ourselves into a corner, where it seems that the only way out is even more extreme violence. There had to be a way to put a stop to it. Ilia just wished she knew what that way was.

She made her way along the row of warehouses, heading for the sounds of battle. She wasn't sure what she could do, beyond watching. But she wanted to see just what Blake's new friends were made of. One of them had already proven a match for Adam, twice over. Were the rest of them any good? If that was the case, what did that mean?

Even as she pondered those questions, Ilia failed to realize that she was being followed. A silent figure stole along in her wake, her footsteps falling perfectly in time with Ilia's own. Behind Ilia, Neo moved under the cover of her Semblance, the light bent perfectly around her body, rendering herself completely invisible. She too wished to see the outcome of this battle, to see if, just maybe, there was something to these people who'd managed to defeat Adam's plans twice. Neo too would see what they were made of with her own eyes.

The Paladin stalked forward, firing a salvo from its arm-mounted cannons. RYNB, Sun, and Neptune scattered, the shots blowing apart the asphalt where they'd been standing, sending chunks of it flying through the air, while smaller fragments buzzed about like angry hornets. Even if the shots didn't hit directly, their explosive force, and the shrapnel they threw up, made even near misses a threat.

Still, these were weapons designed to take down large and powerful Grimm, or heavy swarms, where the collateral damage would rip through a packed mass of Beowolves or Creeps. Against a sextet of Huntsman students, such shots were far less effective, as everyone went their own way. Neptune was a bit slow on the uptake though, being caught by one of the explosions and blown off his feet. He landed hard on his back, stunned, but uninjured.

Again, the machine's overwhelming power worked against it. With the smoke and dust thrown up by its explosions, Neptune was blocked from sight, so the pilot made no effort to try and finish the job. Instead, he was tracking the movement of the others as they circled around the Paladin. The machine swiveled atop its legs, allowing it to turn without needing to move its feet. Its guns tracked a black, fleeting shadow in particular, firing off a constant stream of shots.

Blake shot forward, her Shadow being ripped apart behind her, even as it propelled her at an angle that allowed her to clear the next shot. She got the impression that it was someone familiar in the cockpit, probably Meinrad. The lieutenant in particular she could see holding a grudge against her for her desertion. He had always been one of Adam's more-devoted followers, no doubt relishing this opportunity to punish her.

Of course, that fixation worked against him. Even as he continued to try and track Blake, a pair of glowing figures, sharing the likeness of a particular monkey-faunus, dropped down in front of the Paladin, directly into the path of its cannons. They exploded in flares of light. From the cockpit's right, Nora abruptly flew in, riding the head of her hammer and propelled by one of the weapon's explosive shockwaves. Pulling the weapon out from under her feet, Nora brought it around in a powerful horizontal swing.

"SMAAAASH!" she shouted, slamming the hammer directly into the side of the Paladin's cockpit, triggering her weapon's shockwave again, which both sent her flying back away and sent the machine staggering. The fact that the cockpit wasn't aligned with the legs only made it wobble more awkwardly, as the pilot wrestled with the controls and tried to adjust for the differing angles of movement.

Then Yang dropped down from above, having launched herself up with the recoil of her gauntlets. She landed squarely on the Paladin's left shoulder. With a loud shout, she punched down with a rapid sequence of blows from her right and left hands, discharging Ember Celica directly into the Paladin's exposed shoulder joint. The sudden explosive impacts against its shoulder only made the machine wobble all the more uneasily, the pilot desperately fighting for control.

It wasn't helped by Sun, who charged from the dead angle behind the cockpit, jumping up to attack the legs, which were still turned at an angle to the cockpit's orientation. Sun drove his staff directly into one of the knee joints, an explosive shockwave punching into the joint, making the leg seize up.

The Paladin lurched violently, the sudden shift throwing Yang off its shoulder. She punched out with her gauntlets, launching another pair of shots, which exploded against the mech's shoulder again, while the recoil also launched her away. The mech tilted dangerously, practically on the verge of falling over. However, at the last second, the whining of servos filled the air, and the turning of the Paladin's torso accelerated so that it could plant its right arm against the ground, the forearm segment rotating, the guns folding back, and a fist-like extension replacing them, allowing the Paladin to plant said fist to keep from falling over all the way.

"Nice save!" Nora shouted from where she'd landed.

It was clear that the pilot didn't exactly enjoy her compliment. Instead, there was a hiss from the pods mounted behind its shoulders, and a barrage of rockets launched outward, their trajectories spreading out in broad arcs, before turning to converge on Nora, whose grin turned nervous.

"Uh oh!" she squeaked.

A bolt of blue and white plasma slammed into one missile, then another, each shot downing one of the volley with pinpoint precision. Neptune had finally stood up and entered back into the fight, and not alone. Beneath his feet, a white Glyph had appeared, shining with a faintly yellowish tinge, a pair of clock hands spinning about the circular sigil faster and faster, becoming blurs, with the Glyph's light coalescing around Neptune and outlining his body.

To Neptune's eyes, the missiles had slowed down to a crawl, which allowed him to aim at them as though they were stationary targets on a range. Even the shots of his weapon were faster, allowing him to target them easily, rather than needing to lead his shots to account for the missiles' trajectories. With another series of shots, he downed several of the remaining missiles...right as the Glyph's power expired, and time sped up to its normal rate.

Two of the missiles remained, still homing in on Nora. However, two things happened at once. First, the missiles were seized in fields of black, their bodies shaking as they were pulled away from their guided trajectories. Then Ren seemed to appear out of nowhere, standing atop the Paladin's cockpit. Spreading his arms, Ren aimed at the missile pods, or rather, the targeting sensors mounted at the base of each of them, and opened fire, his shots causing both sensors to explode in a shower of sparks, while he jumped clear.

The missiles that Pyrrha had gripped with her Semblance ceased their struggle to correct their flight-paths, submitting entirely to the guidance of her Polarity. Smiling, Pyrrha directed them back around, then let them go, the missiles flying straight back towards the listing Paladin, slamming into the very pods that had fired them, blasting the pods off their mounts, before detonating the payloads within, the explosions rocking the machine below, as the Paladin lurched once more, its efforts to correct is position further disrupted.

"Glad you could make it," said Ren, landing next to Pyrrha, who was sweating a little from the effort of controlling the missiles.

"You were just in time," agreed Neptune, flashing a grin at Weiss, though she was a little too focused on the task at hand to notice it.

"We need to keep at it!" declared Weiss, glaring at the machine.

Their strategy for fighting the Paladin had hinged upon the revelations provided by the schematics that Ironwood had given them. The Paladins that had been stolen were prototypes, still in the testing phase. As a result, much of their armor was incomplete. Both the targeting sensors and the joints were exposed, allowing the designers to view and test the mechanisms while the machine was active. By targeting those points, they could bring down the Paladin little by little. Of course, it wasn't an easy task. Prototype it might have been, but this Atlesian Paladin was fully-armed, and more than capable of inflicting a great deal of destruction, exposed joints or not.

Before them, the Paladin pushed off with its right arm, managing to right itself. Both Yang and Nora charged to meet it, flying at the machine from opposing directions, propelled by the explosive force of their weapons. The Paladin immediately responded to both of them, splitting its aim. The left targeted Yang with its cannons, while the right drew back, aiming a punch at the incoming Nora.

Yang punched directly downwards, abruptly shifting the course of her flight up, over the Paladin's first shot. The mech would have tried to track her. However, that was when the damage that Yang had inflicted previously caught up to it. The recoil of the cannon-shot naturally drove the barrel of the gun backwards. There was a cracking noise, followed by an explosion of sparks and smoke from its damaged shoulder joint, then the sound of metal shrieking filled the air, the Paladin's left arm dropping free at the shoulder, a few trailing wires still connecting the separated pieces, before they too snapped.

A second later, Nora met the Paladin's right-handed punch with a sideways swing of her hammer, spinning her body to add centrifugal force to the blow, slamming her hammer against the machine's fist, head-on, triggering Magnhild's explosion on impact. The recoil sent her flying back away again, while the Paladin staggered more, already unbalanced by the loss of its arm.

Then Blake darted in, rushing at the mech straight from the front. The pilot tried to catch her with a wild swing of its remaining arm, but the attack only passed through Blake's Shadow, which propelled her the rest of the way in, where her weapons struck with precision, taking out two of the Paladin's remaining targeting sensors. Now the mech was nearly blind. Desperately, the pilot armed its right arm-cannon, and began to fire around wildly, hoping to hit something solely by virtue of the explosive force behind its shots.

One such bolt rushed right for where Blake had landed, after retreating from her last attack. She barely had time to rise up out of her crouch, and look back the way she came, before she saw bolt of white energy flying straight at her. Her mouth dropped open to scream. Then a figure dropped down in front of her. Sun extended his staff, spinning it rapidly, the weapon becoming a red and gold blur in his hand. The bolt exploded against it, the defensive maneuver successfully deflecting most of the force. But the shot was a lot more powerful than the attacks Sun typically used this move to deflect, so the remaining force blew him back into Blake, knocking both of them sprawling.

The Paladin's pilot noticed, and the machine bounded towards them, leaping up and then dropping towards them, one massive metal foot threatening to crush them beneath it.

Then someone else skidded to a stop in front of them. Blake and Sun caught a glimpse of a ragged hoody, covered by white armor. Jaune lifted up his shield, bracing with all his might. Reflecting back on his training, he shifted as much Aura as he could spare into the shield. Ruby had only begun to teach them the basics of Flow, so his control was rudimentary, amounting to little more than flushing everything he had into the shield he was holding up. Not remembering to shunt Aura to any of the rest of his body, Jaune would probably still find himself folding before the Paladin's weight.

But something within his shield responded. A sharp chiming noise filled the air, and the surface of Crocea Mors shield flashed pure-white. The Paladin's massive foot slammed down on the shield's surface. However, rather than crushing down the person holding it up, the machine abruptly shuddered, the scream of servos straining filling the air, and showers of sparks erupting from the knee and hip joints. The Paladin was suddenly blasted back the way it had come, leaving Jaune standing there, looking perplexed, an expression shared by Blake and Sun behind him.

The Paladin's arcing flight carried it towards the other new arrival, a figure in black, shrouded in red. Ruby stood at the point where the Paladin was about to land, Akaibara split into its two component swords. Ruby watched it, an almost placid expression on her face. Crossing her swords in front of her, she scissored them back apart, sliding their flats against one another. As they did, the blades rang and flashed with brilliant red light, the atmosphere curling in around them.

"Akai Hanabira no Mai!" Flashing crimson crescents scattered through the air, as Ruby shot up to meet the Paladin. The blades of red wind sliced through its chassis effortlessly, cutting through the layers of armored plate like butter. Ruby landed on one side, her swords blurring to a stop, her left held across her body, while the right was extended back down over her shoulder, her cape flaring dramatically. Showers of red petals fountained from the cuts she'd inflicted on the Paladin, like blood from sliced arteries, as though the mech was bleeding.

The Paladin fell to earth...and shattered to pieces on impact, the cleanly-severed remnants spilling the pilot onto the ground. A few seconds later, the muscular figure of Meinrad slowly rose up with an angry growl, staggered and dazed by the unexpected tumble, but not injured.

"You damn wretches," he snarled, taking a staggering step towards them.

"Meinrad..." whispered Blake, looking at her former comrade sadly.

"Whatever," said Yang dismissively, stepping up to stand next to her partner. "Let's just take him down already."

With that, Yang punched forward, launching a shot from Ember Celica. The bolt rushed across the space between her and the White Fang Lieutenant, who braced himself against it.

Then, at the last second, a familiar figure, dressed in white and brown, dropped down between Meinrad and the incoming shot. The bolt of fire-Dust scattered across the curved surface of an open parasol. Lifting it out of the way, Neo rested her weapon over her shoulder, beaming cheerfully at the assembled students. Behind her and Meinrad, a large object dropped down from the sky, a bullhead. Its engines kicked in, bringing its descent to a halt, just barely above the ground, a demonstration of impressive skill on the part of the pilot. The bay doors opened to reveal Ilia, who jumped down and quickly pulled Meinrad into the passenger bay. The bulky man went reluctantly.

"You're not getting away!" shouted Yang, preparing to rush forward, only to stop as Ruby lurched, and fell down on one knee.

"Ruby!" shouted Yang, abruptly distracted by her sister's plight.

Ruby was gasping for breath, her cloak fanning out behind her, looking ragged. "Don't...worry...about me," she said, between panting breaths.

However, that tiny delay was enough. With Meinrad, Ilia, and Neo aboard, the bullhead lifted off into the sky, swiftly accelerating out of reach.

"Dammit!" snapped Yang, stomping angrily.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group, save for Jaune, who was looking over Ruby worriedly, assembled around the wrecked Paladin.

"Well...that's one down," said Sun sheepishly.

"What were you thinking?" demanded Ironwood, looming over the desk at them.

"That that thing had to be stopped," replied Ren, remaining calm in the face of the General's frustration. "We could not allow something that dangerous to run around, nor could we risk it blundering into a more populated area."

"That one Paladin represents an investment of millions of lien!" Ironwood exclaimed. "And now it's so much scrap, thanks to you children."

"And what exactly did you expect us to do with it?" asked Yang sardonically. "Should we have let that jerk kill us all, so that you could have a chance to get it back without a scratch later?"

"Your investment was lost the moment your shoddy Atlesian security let them be stolen in the first place," added Blake irritably. "Regardless of the situation, it'll be nothing short of a miracle for you to recover any of them undamaged."

"She's right," said Ozpin, glaring sidelong at Ironwood. "Given the circumstances, they had no choice but to do whatever was necessary to stop that Paladin from inflicting damage."

"You'd be a fool to expect anything else," added Glynda. "Ms. Belladonna is right about the rest of them as well. Ensuring that those machines do not inflict damage on the Kingdom is the priority, and that shall be accomplished by any means necessary. If any of them are left in useable condition afterwards, then you are welcome to them."

"That is not how this was supposed to go," protested Ironwood.

"You lost your war machines in Valean territory," said Ozpin, giving Ironwood a stern look. "They have fallen into the hands of terrorists, and represent a threat to the citizens of Vale. As such, Atlesian protocols and priorities are not our concern."

Ironwood glared at Ozpin and Glynda, before letting out a long sigh, and slumping over the desk. "You're right," he admitted reluctantly.

"We did get information on where the rest might be though," said Ruby.

"That's right!" said Sun excitedly, from where he was standing, a little behind Blake. "Lizard-Girl said something about an operation in the southeast."

"That's what my info-broker friend said too," added Yang, with Neptune nodding, though his eyebrow went up at Yang referring Junior as a "friend". "Someone's been moving a lot of cargo and heavy equipment by bullhead to the southeast."

"Mountain Glenn..." mused Ozpin softly.

"What's the deal with that place?" asked Jaune.

"It's the site of a failed extension of Vale," said Glynda. "Sadly, it was overrun many years ago. Only ruins remain now." She frowned. "And it remains heavily infested by Grimm still...strangely enough, which makes it odd that anyone would attempt to set up any kind of operation out there."

"Do you have any idea what they could be doing?" asked Ruby.

"That is...difficult," said Ozpin. "If the White Fang are moving large amounts of materiel out there, then they must be building something. However, there are more suitable sites to use as staging points for attacks against the Kingdom."

"Definitely someplace they'd set up if they didn't want people looking too hard for them, though," said Weiss. "If they've figured out someway to keep the Grimm from bothering them too much, then the Grimm themselves become a deterrent to searchers."

"Very true," agreed Ozpin.

"So we operate under the assumption that they've found someway to keep the Grimm from overrunning their position," said Pyrrha. "We just have to figure out how to find them, with all the Grimm swarming around."

"You say 'we' under the assumption that you will be a part of any future operation," grumbled Ironwood.

"Hey, we found your walking gun-thingy," protested Nora.

"And wrecked it," countered Ironwood.

"And we'll wreck the rest of them, if we have to," Blake replied.

"Again, a moot point," said Ozpin. "Given the circumstances, it is best to have Raspberry and Rainbow continue on with this investigation, as they have already gained experience against a Paladin in combat. So far, they've proven worthy of our trust."

Ironwood didn't look happy, but made no further protests.

"So, what's the plan?" asked Nora eagerly. "When do we go in?"

"Not for another week, at least," said Ozpin.

"Huh!?" gasped his audience. In fact, both Ironwood and Glynda looked surprised as well.

"Oz!" protested Ironwood. "This situation is top priority! There's no telling when the White Fang could put these machines to use."

"He's right," said Glynda, the urgency of the situation actually keeping her from wincing at the thought of agreeing with Ironwood.

"As a matter of fact, I believe that we do have an idea of when they might launch their attack," said Ozpin, a sly smile on his face. "Need I remind you what will be taking place a little over a week from now?"

"The first-years will be going on their first missions..." Glynda's voice trailed off, her eyes going wide. "Oh..."

"Yes," agreed Ozpin, nodding sagely. "Over the course of that week, not only the first-years, but most of our students, will be heading out on missions. On top of that, several of the Kingdom's Huntsmen and Huntresses will be leading those missions."

"Leaving the Kingdom's defenses much lighter," mused Ironwood. "Vale's military isn't equipped to handle the Paladins, to say nothing of the police."

Ozpin nodded. "If it were a matter of one or two, I wouldn't be so concerned. But with eleven still out there..."

"It'll be a bloodbath," whispered Blake, her eyes wide with horror.

"Therefore, we can hazard a guess that the White Fang's attack will take place during the mission-period," said Ozpin, "most likely at the time when the largest number of our students are outside the Kingdom itself."

"That would make sense," said Ironwood, scratching his chin. "But doesn't that make it all the more imperative that we find them before then?"

"True," said Ozpin. "However, we don't want to spook them unnecessarily, or we might run the risk of setting off an attack prematurely. Even if they aren't fully prepared, they might still be able to inflict severe damage on the Kingdom, with the right plan. Therefore, if we are going to send in searchers, then we need to do so in a manner that will not attract unnecessary attention."

"How so?" asked Ruby.

Ozpin smiled. "As it so happens, Mountain Glenn is one of the areas that is regularly subjected to Search-and-Destroy missions, to clear out the Grimm population there. Because they tend to congregate so heavily in that area, they often mount attacks on the wall, if their numbers are allowed to grow beyond a certain extent. To prevent that, we frequently send in Huntsmen, or students, to clear them out, and keep their numbers manageable.

"Normally, such a mission is considered too dangerous for first-years. However, I believe that Raspberry and Rainbow have more than proved their mettle, considering their previous excursions."

"Dang, we're really making an impression, huh?" mused Yang, beaming with self-satisfaction.

"So, you send us in on this Search-and-Destroy mission, and we use that as cover to find the White Fang's operation," said Ren.

"Correct," said Ozpin. "Once you do, we can relay the location to Ironwood, and his forces can move in to deal with the White Fang." He looked pointedly at Ironwood. "You may use that to reclaim your Paladins, if you believe you can. However, preventing any threat to the citizens of Vale is the highest priority."

"Very well," said Ironwood with a sigh. "It would be unacceptable to have our own technology used to inflict civilian casualties."

Glad to see his head might be in the right place after all, thought Blake, though she still couldn't shed her dislike of the man who would bring such dangerous weapons into a Kingdom that wasn't his own to begin with.

"That being said, since the White Fang may very well be planning to launch their attack during the mission-period, it is imperative that they are found quickly," said Ozpin. "The mission-period occupies two whole weeks. By the end of the first week, our personnel shall be the lightest. Therefore, it is imperative you learn their location by then."

"Understood," said Ruby and Ren in unison.

"On top of that, unless you have no other alternative, you must absolutely not engage with the White Fang," continued Ozpin, his gaze going pointedly to Blake, who shied away from it. "If they know that they've been found, then they may very well choose to launch their attack prematurely, which could still result in severe damage and civilian casualties."

Blake understood the unspoken message in Ozpin's instructions. During the unofficial mission at the docks, she had given herself away by approaching Ilia. If she did something similar during the Mountain Glenn mission, then she would be putting lives at risk. Even if she thought it was her responsibility to try and reason down the White Fang, making sure they couldn't inflict harm on innocent civilians had priority.

"Good," said Ozpin, smiling at the two teams. "Other than that, excellent work on your mission. You are dismissed."

"Thank you, Professor," said Ruby.

While the others got up and began to head to the elevator, Ruby remained seated. The others paused, looking back over their shoulders at her.

"Is there something else, Ms. Rose?" asked Ozpin.

"I'm afraid so," said Ruby.

"I see...this is about your father then," said Ozpin, sighing sadly.

"Yes," said Ruby.

The others turned to watch and listen, noting that neither Ruby nor Ozpin seemed to mind. Ironwood and Glynda both looked on. Ironwood's expression was neutral, but Glynda's was clearly one of frustration, frustration that wasn't directed at Ruby, fortunately.

Ruby had included her altercation with her father in the mission report, mainly because his actions constituted interference in the mission, and indicated that he had no intention of giving up on her anytime soon, which would only lead to more incidents, if something wasn't done.

"Qrow told me that he has successfully subdued Taiyang," said Ozpin. "For the moment, we are keeping him restrained, until we can figure out what to do with him."

"Okay..." said Ruby.

"Normally, it would be best to provide him with counseling," said Ozpin. "However, there will be no helping him if he does not recognize that he needs help. So long as he remains stubbornly convinced that he is in the right, we would sooner pull the moon back into a single piece."

"Then what?" asked Ruby. "Can you keep him confined?"

"Well..." Ozpin frowned. "The issue is muddied. If he refuses counseling, and continues insist on interfering with you, then we can have the courts take care of it." He rubbed his chin. "A restraining order would likely be middlingly effective at best, even if it were to force him to relinquish his weapons. Mr. Xiao Long has made it apparent that he believes his claim to you supersedes the law, and would ignore any such strictures at will. Therefore, we shall have to aim for a harsher sentence, and request his commitment to a psychiatric institution."

Ruby sighed. "Well...whatever you can do," she said.

"We will do what we can," Ozpin promised.

"Thank you, Professor," said Ruby, finally getting up from her seat, and following her friends into the elevator, the group packing themselves in rather tightly.

Ozpin watched the doors close, then let out another sigh.

"That fool," grumbled Glynda.

"Taiyang Xiao Long is a traumatized man," said Ozpin. "It is clear that said trauma runs far deeper than we ever thought. I fear that he may well be beyond all reasoning."

"Then what can we do?" asked Glynda.

"Short of having him committed, very little," said Ozpin. "I would like to say that option shall remain a last resort. With what he knows, a regular institution, even one suited to Huntsmen, would be insufficient. If he is sufficiently desperate, he might well trade upon his knowledge in order to gain leverage...or even simply indulge in vengeance. He might well be at the point where he perceives throwing the Kingdom into chaos as an appropriate recourse, so long as he gets Ms. Rose back into his custody."

"That would be unacceptable," said Ironwood firmly.

Ozpin nodded. "It will be difficult," he said. "But I will make arrangements. It is my hope that we can find some way to get through to him."

A heavy silence fell over the office, before Ironwood decided to change the subject. "About the mission, Oz...are you sure it's wise to wait?"

"It is the best option I can think of," said Ozpin. "The White Fang are aware that Ms. Belladonna was at their rally, a rally where the location of their present operation was alluded to. They will be on their guard right now."

"But...if they wait, and don't see any sign that anyone is looking for them..." mused Glynda, "...then they might believe that Ms. Belladonna was disinterested in that information, or did not pick up on it...and their guard could potentially lower again."

"In any case, we shall see," said Ozpin, clasping his hands in front of his face. "Why Mountain Glenn though...? What is there that they require for their plan?"

"Do you think this may have something to do with Cinder Fall?" asked Glynda.

"We still have no confirmation that she and her cohorts are working with the White Fang," said Ozpin, frowning, "though that remains a distinct possibility."

"If that is the case, then Cinder is working for Her," said Glynda, "which would mean that the White Fang are also working for Her, albeit indirectly. And there is one thing that Mountain Glenn has in excess, which She has always had her subordinates make effective use of."

"Grimm," growled Ironwood.

Ozpin nodded. "So you think that the high concentration of Grimm in Mountain Glenn may be a factor in the White Fang's plan?"

"Quite possibly even a vital component," said Glynda. "We mustn't forget that Mountain Glenn was directly connected to the heart of Vale itself at one point."

"Those tunnels have long since been sealed," said Ozpin.

"What is sealed can be unsealed," Ironwood pointed out. "This information broker your students mentioned said that there have been large shipments out of the Kingdom. While much of that may be the Dust they've stolen, it's also possible that those shipments might include the heavy equipment necessary for clearing the tunnels, and opening the way into the Kingdom back up."

"Then we should look into seeing if there have been any thefts of construction equipment," said Glynda.

"Please do," said Ozpin, frowning. "I do not like the sound of this."

"If that is the case..." said Ironwood.

Ozpin nodded. "Then we do have one major advantage. We know where those tunnels come out, inside Vale. If the White Fang try to attack along that route, then we have an idea of their egress, though we cannot rule out the possibility of them opening up different exits along the tunnel's path. Once they are within Vale's perimeter, they could forcefully make their exit anywhere along that line."

"Those tunnels run under the faunus quarter though," Glynda pointed out. "Surely they wouldn't endanger their fellow faunus by doing so in that area."

"Normally, I wouldn't think so," said Ozpin. "However, the situation with the Forrest Family indicates that the White Fang, at least their Vale Branch, is no longer so concerned about the wellbeing of uninvolved faunus, if it means realizing their goals."

Glynda and Ironwood paled at the possibility.

"That being the case, what should we do?" asked Glynda.

"James, you brought your army to my Kingdom," said Ozpin, looking at Ironwood. "I think we may well have found an appropriate use for them."

Ironwood could only nod in agreement, too disturbed by the possibilities to feel any vindication at Ozpin acknowledging that his forces might be needed after all.