Fear smelled… savory. It smelled like meat, marinated in a sweet sauce and sprinkled with strong herbs, sizzling and popping on a grill over fragrant, burning wood chips, telling the whole neighborhood 'come and eat! Come and eat! There's food for everyone!'

It did not stir the stomach like food, though. Oh no, it did quite the opposite.

The smell made her furious, yet in that fury was excitement. She was on the hunt for something that did not belong; something monstrous, unnatural, a mistake put on the world to torment it that she needed to hew. She felt justification in her chest, a demanding retribution to wipe the world clean of this fearful thing.

She had every right to do it, she felt that deep within her… yet she couldn't will her feet to move more than a few steps.

The hallway that stretched before her was dark, and empty. There was not a single speck of light, and yet she could see every detail of her own rampage perfectly, from the deep gouges when her anger had seized her more tightly, to the minute etching left behind by the Grimm hunting in her stead.

The smell of the man that made this night go so utterly wrong was as clear to her as a path of broken branches and crushed twigs, but she couldn't force herself to move any faster.

Her eyes lingered on the floor, and bleary images flickered across them as she tried to focus an endless rage that bloomed within her. How badly she wanted it to be so simple, to feel nothing but endless, righteous fury, to let it guide her towards her goal and wipe the world clean of a monster that plagued it, and yet…

She hurt Yang.

She clutched at her face and sank her fingers into her brow to try and banish the thought from her head. She remembered the look Yang had given her, that expression of surprise and pain that had bloomed when Ruby had made the decisive blow… and the feeling of triumph being overwhelmed by a sudden wave of regret and guilt.

No… no… Yang had only gotten in her way, she didn't know…

Ruby's back hit a wall, and her vision blurred as she grasped at her face. She would understand once the night was over and the deed was done… she had to, Yang was smart, she'd always been… she knew better, so why hadn't she come to the same conclusion as Ruby?

No, of course she didn't know better, she was the weaker sister, the dumber sister, their fight had proved that, their grades had proved that! The better sister had triumphed.

Ruby felt pride and vindication swell in her chest, and she forced her feet to swing forward, to take her towards the man she had declared her intent to kill. She was right. She deserved this! What did it matter?! What did a little blood matter?! After everything he'd done to her and her friends?! What did Yang know?!

Ruby tried to keep her eyes forward, but with little warning they began to blur. She stumbled to a stop and ran them across the back of her sleeve, feeling the moisture get wiped away. Was she crying…? Why?!

She hurt Yang.

"I had to!" She screamed her denial into the empty hallway, her desperate cry going unheard, its echoes lost in the surrounding, empty rooms until the world fell deathly silent, only the smell of that man lingering in the air.

She sucked in hard breaths as she stared at the floor, her eyes burning as she tried to fight back against the welling of negativity in the back of her mind, but it stuck, it swelled, it consumed her inside and out, and she could feel it festering in her own thoughts until it was threatening to consume her, to drive her to her knees and admit defeat while she was stumbling towards the goal posts.

She… had to. She had to hurt Yang… her older sister, her best friend, the person who looked out for her every day, every step of the way, who only wanted what was best for her…

Her knees hit the floor and she grasped her own face again, weakly sobbing to herself as she kept seeing her older sister lying facedown on the floor, cold and still… not dead, just betrayed, nearly murdered by an ungrateful brat that was throwing a goddamned tantrum because she didn't get to commit cold-blooded murder even though it wasn't what she wanted…

…

…

…

… Wasn't it, though…?

Wasn't a hunter's purpose to protect all of man and Faunuskind by slaying the irredeemable monsters that plagued the land?

She stopped weeping as the thought bloomed in her mind… how was this man different from the Grimm?

He had a pulse, he had a soul, but everything he'd done tonight involved hurting people. He'd hurt Blake, he'd hurt Ruby, and he kept hurting them both until Ruby had him in her grasp, and he showed no regrets, no reason, he just lorded over them both and acted chummy before trying to blow them up with that stupid stupid cane of his…

He hurt people. He lived to hurt people, to kill people, Ruby didn't doubt for a second that his hands were stained with blood, and there wasn't an ounce of remorse in his demeanor… he may have looked like a man, he may have had a soul, but he was a monster.

… and so was she.

Ruby knew she was a monster, though. She had known it since she could form coherent thoughts about the world and herself; she was dangerous… she'd hurt Yang… but she was aware of it. She knew she was just counting down the days until something like this happened, when she'd lash out and hurt her family and friends, the people she loved most…

This was the end, wasn't it?

She blinked blearily at nothing in particular as the thought came to her. After what she'd done to Yang, she was on the chopping block, she'd fully evolved into a monster, a Grimm… but she had the presence of mind to know that, so she wasn't completely gone.

Not yet, at least.

She still knew her purpose. She wanted to be a hunter, a slayer of the monsters… and if her only deed on Remnant was to murder the man who was plaguing the lives of her and her friends, to bring him to some semblance of justice, even at the ends of her own claws…

… … … then so be it.

Ruby, slowly, rose to her feet.

This was all she had left to do.

She couldn't be distracted by these lingering feelings anymore. She couldn't stay aching and hurt like this… she'd hurt Yang. But… but she'd had to. And if this was where the end of the line took her, then she couldn't let that cloud her vision now, and stop her from doing what had to be done.

Repentance for hurting Yang; that assuaged her overwhelming guilt somewhat.

Ruby, quietly, stared down at her feet, and almost reluctantly, a pool of black pitch opened up beneath her, and she allowed it to suck her in.

In the near infinite darkness, she could see nothing, and hear nothing. Everything was damningly still, and even moving her arms out in an instinctive attempt to swim, she felt nothing but the cool Grimmstuff that flowed around her, and wriggled into her ears, her nostrils, and open mouth.

It invaded her, it filled her, it tasted and smelled and sounded like a yawning abyss of revenge. The more she swallowed, the more tightly she could feel that welling bitterness, and the regrets of how the night tuned out waned until they were little more than soft, ignorable whimpers in the back of her mind.

She could feel the Grimm just below her skin, pumping through her heart, and filling her head, and she grit her teeth as that man filled her mind, making her chest hurt with a violent need for retribution. She curled her fingers and toes, ground her teeth together, and let her body lead the way as she ascended towards an opening back onto the ship.

She could meet the fate of a monster with her head held high after ensuring a worse one got the same first.

"What do you see, Ren?" Jaune asked, laying on the deck of the ship as he tried to stare through the darkness beyond the lights interspersed through the dock, but past the gate just barely visible at the edges of his vision, all he could make out were flashing red and blue lights.

To his left, Ren knelt on one knee, his attention focused almost unwaveringly on the distant police, his head slowly scanning to the left and right, while his pupils were expanded to the size of dimes as he took in far more than Jaune could with the careful application of Aura.

He opened his mouth to speak, then shut it, taking several more seconds to watch a helicopter patrol the skies, a spotlight shining on the dock below. His brow tightened the slightest bit, his lips pursing. "They've formed a perimeter, but I don't see anybody trying to move in."

"What? Why?" Jaune demanded below his breath. "We took down a couple of airships; shouldn't they be all over the place? There were explosions!"

"They might be awaiting further back up…" Ren trailed off for a moment, noting the number of White Fang still strewn about in open sight, beaten and cradling wounds, or dragging themselves into a hiding place. "But I can't say for sure, I'm as confused as you are."

Jaune frustratedly gnawed the inside of his cheek; on one hand, he was somewhat relieved that they still had time to find Ruby themselves, ensure her safety, and not be stuck in some holding cell awaiting word on her recovery; on the other, he was trying his damndest to puzzle out the police. He was no cop expert, just stuff he'd seen on TV–which he knew was pretty much a fifty-fifty toss up for being fake–but their passivity was making him nervous.

Which was why he nearly jumped when he heard the thump of bootsteps coming his way. He got to his feet in a smooth, practiced motion–he had to give Coach Taiyang some credit for his improved fluidity–in time to see Nora, Pyrrha, Sun, and Penny approaching with low profiles from their quick exploration of the ship's exterior, wearing grave looks on their faces.

While Jaune moved to meet them halfway, Ren lowered himself to the floor, squeezed his eyes shut, and burying them into the crook of his arm as his Aura sight technique wore off. "Those aren't good looks, guys, what's going on?" Jaune asked, forcing his voice to stay a few degrees above serious.

"No signs of RWBY, so far." Nora muttered, looking uncharacteristically worried.

"The girl or the team?"

"Both." Pyrrha answered, her frown matching Nora's. "You're sure this is where you sent Blake?"

"Well, yeah… wouldn't they be in the boat, though?" Jaune asked, trying to follow their lines of thought.

"Yeah, and that's the problem." Sun's joviality was lessened, but not entirely. While his eyebrows still flickered with some excitement as he spoke, he had the gravity of a man in charge about him. "There's Grimm signs all over the place; I'm talking everywhere. Like, in the hold and around the boat's doorway."

"Several milliliters of blood were spilled, surrounded by broken glass." Penny added on, her face flat, her eyes almost unblinking as she scanned their surroundings as she spoke. "The depth and shape of the gouges around the castle entrance suggest Beowolves, including at least one Alpha; I predict at least five-to-seven Beowolves in total."

"Gotta be kiddin' me…" Jaune groaned, and Ren joined the small huddle with a deep frown. "Grimm are involved now, too? Wait, is this why the police are holding back?"

"A possibility," Ren offered, slowly making his way to Nora while blinking the lingering spots out of his vision, "but given that we haven't gotten confirmation of the Grimm until now, I doubt it. Though I question why Grimm would be here in the first place…"

After a moment of thought, Sun spoke up. "Grimm smuggling." He answered, drawing a few curious looks. "Look, I don't get it myself, but apparently there's money to be made illegally transporting Grimm into cities." His answer did little to quiet their fears, but Pyrrha could only nod in confirmation.

"In Mistral, numerous underground fighting rings were busted for illegally transporting, housing, and fighting with Grimm. Since Grimm rarely get into the major cities, some people pay for the 'spectacle' of seeing them in 'action.'" She grunted distastefully. Jaune could barely contemplate the stupidity of such a sport, but he didn't have the time to.

"Alright, so… we got new mission—uh… parameters. Parameters?" Jaune glanced at Pyrrha.

"Elements, or factors may work better."

"Right!" Jaune turned back towards the other four. "There are new factors at work here: the Grimm. We got the police behind us, and the Grimm ahead of us, and as much as I'd like to avoid the clink, we're only trained to fight one of 'em, and frankly, they're the only ones I wanna fight. Right?" He looked around as he got a series of nods; getting into a fight with the Grimm was noble, fighting the police was how a hunter became the hunted. "Right! So, until the police decide to do something, the mission's the same: find Ruby and get her to safety."

"Best thing to do is to split into teams: one team in the boat's living quarters, the other in the cargo hold searching the crates." Sun said, his tail waving about in apprehensive excitement. "We'll cover more ground, but need to stay in contact, and not do anything stupid. Like, 'get cornered by the Grimm without backup and now it's over,' stupid."

Jaune nodded as his team looked to him to see if their leader would go along with it. "Right, so, teams…" Jaune looked between his companions, and his mind ran through the possibilities; the most obvious answer was two teams of three… "JNPR's gonna split in half, alright? That means each pair of partners gets a third wheel."

"Oh dude, trust me, I'm used to that with Neptune." Sun grinned wryly, and though most of the smirks he got were confused, they were smirks nonetheless.

"Each team should also have an experienced shot-caller, so…" Jaune glanced at Pyrrha and Penny. "I've got my partner, and we're taking Penny."

"Which leaves me with the lovebirds!" Sun discerned, putting an arm around Ren's and Nora's shoulders, while Jaune gave a slow nod, and a stern look.

"If they get hurt under your watch…"

"Not a chance!" Sun snorted, while Pyrrha and Penny moved to Jaune's sides. "Anywho, since me 'n Nora got the longer weapons, we'll get the cargo hold since we'll have more room to swing around."

"And I can tune my ears to listen for signs of Ruby." Ren offered, getting a nod in return.

"That means we'll be in quarters and stuff, and meet up with Weiss, Blake, and Yang, and look for Ruby in there." Jaune surmised, drawing further nods. "Good, then let's not waste anymore time; break."

At the word, the two teams moved with a cautious haste towards their discussed destinations; Jaune, Pyrrha, and Penny were heading for the entrance to the ship's wheelhouse, each taking uneasy looks at the evidence of Grimm around the open door before slipping in.

Sun, Nora, and Ren, meanwhile, hopped down into the hold below, craning their ears and readying their weapons as they began their search.

The strangest thing was that, from the door into the castle hallway beyond, the small Beowolf activity that Penny had predicted seemed to have increased exponentially in unusual ways.

A deep gash through the metal wall was reminiscent of Kindersnatch claws, except only one instead of four. The smaller, less perceptible scratches left in the walls and the floor were harder to place; she could count dozens of criss-crossing scratches and scrapes across nearly every surface, but that didn't make sense…

Penny looked forwards Jaune and Pyrrha, keeping up with Pyrrha's pace as she headed their incursion. Human emotion was such a difficult thing to comprehend, to predict… delivering relevant, if not entirely useful observations and facts to humans was often met with praise by her makers and guardians, but beyond them, people generally regarded her as 'weird,' a word Penny was growing to dislike.

Penny didn't know when it was okay to bring up the genus and dangers of plants she found, and was only just beginning to understand what counted as a proper conversation starter that wouldn't be met with confusion, annoyance, or glares.

Humans were terribly inconvenient things—Penny imagined that Faunus were as well, but Atlas had few of them about to confirm this. Humans never acted rationally, and despite Penny's best attempts at understanding them, they seemed resistant to her subtle attempts at educating herself.

Penny was not designed to give up, but… she couldn't deny the fluttery-feeling that filled her was new, and when Ruby Rose had only suggested they were friends, she pleaded with her assistant AI for an explanation as to the fluttery feelings. It was the first time she'd felt any sense of positive affirmation since arriving in Vale, and the first time she felt excitement in meeting people.

She adored animals, she got along surprisingly well with dogs, but hanging out with a group of girls her age was a nice feeling, especially since, with little fanfare or introduction, both Weiss and Yang had shown trust in sending her after Ruby.

The mere idea of Ruby being in a miserable, destitute state made her feel… more complicated. New emotions that she didn't have names for arose, and made her understand why some people could be so impatient; why hadn't they found Ruby Rose yet?! Deep down, it was upsetting, but Penny was carefully redirecting her energy to more important analytics and combat simulations to remain as combat ready as she could.

"Penny?" A concerned voice spoke.

Penny woke herself from her introspection; perhaps she was not as combat alert as she thought. That wasn't like her… was she growing too tired, or were her emotional subroutines still active below the surface? Either way, it was alarming that she'd allowed herself to lose focus of her surroundings, and she turned to face Jaune, who was walking towards her as Pyrrha pressed her back against a corner wall, and peered into the darkness at the far end.

"Hey, you alright?" Jaune asked with a face full of apprehension.

Penny settled her hand on the wall full of slash markings and nodded her head at him, unaware of how her overly smooth movements gave Jaune a sense of unease until she spoke. "Yes, I am merely… stumped by some of the signs I am seeing." She answered, and Jaune nodded, gave Pyrrha a sign that things were okay, but she needed to halt anyways, then turned back to Penny.

"How do you mean?"

Penny gestured to the wall she had been examining. "Compared to the signs of Grimm we'd seen outside, these slash marks are much more confusing; it's almost as if the Grimm multiplied. There are more than Beowolves…" She then glanced to the ceiling, where she only just noticed a long, thin scratch against the metal. "Much more."

As expected, Jaune looked unsettled by the clarification he'd asked for, but rather than look more frightened, he silently picked up his scroll, and based on his thumb movements, was relaying the information to Sun's team. "Then let's hope we don't bump into the whole horde on the way down."

With that, he marched back towards Pyrrha, with Penny at the ready with her two blades; she was at 25% optimal fighting power, which was significantly less than ideal, but with two allies at her side, she did not feel worried. Not that worry could force itself on her like it did with humans, but she remained more interested in Ruby's safety than her own.

The trio briefly stopped by what seemed to be some sort of office, which Pyrrha entered holding a flashlight, which alleviated the darkness. Penny's eyes were better suited to the dark then the humans', but its presence did not dim her vision.

"Do the Grimm normally break lights?" Jaune asked, his heel crunching against the glass of a broken bulb, and Pyrrha shook her head.

"From what I know, it is quite rare that a Grimm cares about artificial lighting." To which Penny's posture sharpened at the opportunity to share.

"There are several species of Grimm who prefer the darkness and will actively destroy lights, but none of them are native to northern Vale." Penny supplied automatically. "Most are cave-dwellers with sensitive eyes dedicated to night vision rather than—"

"Is someone there?!" A girl's voice called from around the bend of the corner hallway, making the three teens freeze. The flashlight's beam would draw plenty of attention in the dark, and the three scrambled to get into defensive stances, just in case.

Pyrrha's fingers threatened to crush the flashlight before Jaune took it from her, freeing her hand to unsheath Miló as a javelin, her knees bent and her shield forward in preparation and Jaune called over her shoulder. "Jaune Arc!" He called, and after a moment of hesitation, followed it up with: "I'm a student from Beacon Academy!"

"I know where you're from, you dullard!"

"That must be Weiss!" Jaune said with relief, and though Pyrrha gave a small huff of irritation, she lowered her shield and strut forward.

The three of them rushed around the corner, the flashlight sweeping to shine down the dark hallway, and illuminate a pair of girls. Weiss reflected the light like a beacon in her own right, her hair almost blinding as she raised a hand to cover her eyes, while Blake, hanging off of her and looking wretched, simply squeezed her eyes shut as tightly as possible, her ears laying back against her skull in irritation before the light was turned away to preserve their sight.

"Guys! Are you okay?!" Jaune's group raced down the hallway, to meet the two girls halfway. On first inspection,no; Blake's wounds left her looking like an abuse victim, so Jaune found himself fixated on her, raising a hand to touch her cheek in comfort, only to stop when she bared her teeth like she was about to bite.

"I am very much not okay." Blake mumbled, straightening herself up and trying to blink through a black eye. "But I could honestly be a lot worse, so, whatever."

Jaune and Pyrrha didn't pick up on it, but Penny noted there was some distress in her voice, emanating from a clenched stomach and a shortness of breath.

"We should get you to the medical ward, if not the paramedics." Pyrrha stated immediately, glancing at Weiss when the girl sighed.

"We just came from the sick bay." The heiress informed, her nostrils twitching. "We did what we could in there by ourselves, but obviously we need more professional help."

"Indeed. Where is Yang?" Pyrrha asked, ignoring the girl's dismayed look.

"She went deeper, after Ruby, alone." Blake spoke the last word with obvious worry, and Jaune and Pyrrha shared a quick, anxious look. "She insisted, we tried talking her out of it but that damn girl is so stubborn, especially where Ruby's concerned…"

"I get it, but sheesh, it could not be at a worse time." Jaune groaned, cradling his forehead in his palm as the two gave him a wary look.

"What are you talking about? How could tonight get any worse?" Weiss demanded, Blake nodding in tired agreement. Pyrrha answered with a frown.

"There are signs of Grimm on the boat, a lot of them if Penny is correct."

The twin looks of resignation on Weiss' and Blake's faces were not what Penny anticipated; the presence of Grimm in an urban setting was cause for an emergency, the two should have been more panicked.

The two girls looked at one another, both of them pleading for an answer that the other was hesitant to give, and Penny glanced down as Jaune's hand twitched; a sign of agitation? Anger? Fright? She quietly tried to connect the dots, only to take a protective step forward when Jaune suddenly accosted Weiss by the shoulders, making the heiress flinch.

"What is going on?" Jaune demanded, sounding like he was forcing his voice to stay low. "Is Ruby okay? Is Yang okay? What aren't you telling us?"

"It's… not that simple." Weiss said in a shaky voice, and Jaune's face tightened up at the girl's sudden timidity.

"Weiss, please." He shook her shoulders, making her wince. "If you know anything—"

"Lay off." Blake suddenly ordered, giving Jaune a glare that made him wince. Weiss gave the Faunus girl an appreciative look, but Blake didn't meet it, instead, taking a few preparatory breaths as Jaune pulled his hands back. "What I'm about to tell you is going to sound fucking insane, but it's the truth, so at least humor me for a bit, okay?"

Weiss suddenly turned even more pale as she realized what Blake was getting at. "Blake! You can't—I promised! She might get expelled!" Weiss babbled, and Blake grunted angrily.

"Yeah, expelled, that's the problem; no, you made a promise, I didn't, and if Beacon and the White Fang taught me anything, it's that keeping secrets about a mission is a good way to lose people, and do you think Ruby would feel better having murdered her friends over being expelled?" Blake snapped, making Weiss suddenly clam up as Jaune, Pyrrha, and Penny each watched on with confusion.

Pyrrha was the one to break the pregnant pause with a gentle tone: "Did you say something about Ruby murdering us?" She asked hesitantly, and Jaune nodded, wanting information as Blake stroked her swollen cheek and nodded. "You'll excuse my language, but without further information, that seems like complete bullspit."

"What, exactly, is Ruby's current situation?! Any data you have may help!" Penny piped up, and without really knowing why, reached up to start tugging her red hair as she felt that feeling of distress grow unbearably strong.

"Blake…" Weiss almost pleaded, but other than resting a hand on the Faunus' shoulder, did not move to stop her from speaking.

"The Grimm signs–the Grimm–are coming from Ruby." Blake answered seriously, her hands balled into fists. "Her semblance allows her to summon them, and we think she's probably still on the boat. I don't know where, but Yang went after her, and if she's panicking enough that she's summoning uncontrollably, then we could be in shitloads of trouble."

Pyrrha stared at Blake like she was insane, speechless as she slowly turned to look from Blake to Weiss, as if the heiress would betray a prank on their end. Penny tilted her head, her expression totally neutral.

Blake's firm expression twitched a tiny bit, and she looked to Weiss to back her up, the young heiress looking uncertain, but, ultimately… "It's true. I absolutely promise you three that it's one-hundred percent true, and completely serious."

"Damn…" Jaune murmured, stroking his chin quietly as Pyrrha shot him a curious look. "Poor Ruby, that sucks; how do we help her?" He asked quickly. Weiss and Blake gave him a long, but relieved stare, and Blake silently thanked whatever gods Remnant had that, of all the shitty decisions they'd made that night, calling Jaune hadn't been one of them.

"Jaune, I don't think what they are saying is entirely true." Pyrrha piped up, her eyes screwing up in thought. "Perhaps it's just an illusion semblance; those commonly go without detection for a long time, even to their users. But… assuming it is true, I suppose we should be prepared."

"They're not illusions." Weiss interjected, making the redhead frown deeply. "I'm no fool. I know what I saw, what I felt; the Grimm are unmistakable, and the damage she can inflict is very much real if she's not in control."

"Look, no matter how real it is, Ruby still needs help, and with the police playing it safe, we're gonna be the only ones to do it." Jaune glanced down at his shoes, looking disquieted, but he breathed deep, and reaffirmed his grip on his weapons. "So let's stop wasting time; let's go find Yang and Ruby and give them a hand... Do you two need help getting out?"

Blake sighed, looking back at Weiss. The heiress quickly moved forward, and one hand on Myrtenaster, the other taking Blake's, shook her head. "I'll keep Blake safe until we get to the police. There should be ambulances here or on the way."

"Y-yeah." Blake glanced down at the warm hand holding hers, and her eyes slid up to Weiss' determined expression. "Just… you three be careful. Ruby needs to come home safely, but so do you."

"We will proceed with caution, of course." Pyrrha answered in a tone full of disbelief, but she pointed the flashlight down the hallway. "Right, Penny?" The four of them turned towards the red-headed girl, whose expression remained worrying calm in light of everything they had been told. A few seconds passed, and Pyrrha pressed in a worried tone, "Penny?"

Penny blinked like she was taking a snapshot, and said, "oh! Yes, we will be safe; you can count on that!" She gave a peachy smile and an enthusiastic thumbs up, and earned more than a few odd looks as a result.

"Don't zone out, Penny, we need to focus." Pyrrha ordered, getting an embarrassed nod back.

"Go ahead on out; stay safe, you two." Jaune ordered, stepping aside with the rest of his small team to give the two room to walk past.

"You as well." Weiss offered in return.

"And bring back Ruby." Blake ordered, stumbling along as fast as her wounded state would allow, Myrtenaster leading the way towards the exit, a white light forming around it to highlight their surroundings.

Both disappeared around the hallway with one last glance back, and Jaune and Pyrrha moved forward at a hastened clip, Penny moving after them after a moment of hesitation.

-Define: "Rose, Ruby";

-Attributes: ["First Friend!", Huntress [Student, Beacon Academy], {23 more…}];

-Update: "Rose, Ruby": [Potentially Summons Grimm]

-System Message: "43 similar commands have been recorded in the last hour";

-Attributes: [Potentially Summons Grimm, "First Friend!", Huntress [Student, Beacon Academy], {23 more…}] {PRIORITY STATUS SET TO TERMINATE ON SIGHT}

-Reset Definition: "Rose, Ruby": [Rollback to 1 HR ago]

Frustration was a feeling she was most unhappy feeling; no matter how she tried to word it, her assistant AI could not be bothered to suggest a less hostile approach...

-Define: "Rose, Ruby";

-Attributes: ["First Friend!", Huntress [Student, Beacon Academy], {23 more…}];

-Update: "Rose, Ruby": [Maybe Sort of Possibly Summons Grimm];

-System Message: "45 similar commands have been recorded in the last hour";

-Attributes: [Maybe Sort of Possibly Summons Grimm, "First Friend!", Huntress [Student, Beacon Academy], {23 more…}] {PRIORITY STATUS SET TO TERMI—

-System Message: [CRITICAL ERROR];

-[TASK INTERRUPTED: emotional duress detected; suggested course of action: suspend emotional drive for logical processing.];

/ Ruby is my friend; I will not kill her. :(

She stopped trying. What was the point of trying to convince something of such limited thought that there was a better course of action? If her mechanical brain couldn't help her, she would have to rely on herself and her new friends.

… They were friends, right? She contemplated asking her AI, but resisted; they were totally friends.

With his head lowered and his breathing slowed, Ren directed his Aura towards his ears, where subtle manipulation allowed him to ignore the distant sounds of sirens and the whirling copter blades, and instead, focus on the noise directly around him.

The choppy waves that rocked the boat caused the metal crates in its cargo hold to creak as their weight shifted; their innards swayed, the hundreds of thousands of pounds of Dust flowing together like brushing sand all around him, and Ren tightened his focus to try and listen for the sound of labored breathing or girlish whimpering...

… preferably not the sound of his girlfriend's racing heartbeat nearby.

He opened his eyes in frustration, unable to pinpoint if there was anybody stuck in one of the many crates laying about the hold, and stood up from his meditative seat on the ground.

"Hear anything?" Nora asked, not looking his way. He warily followed her eye towards where Sun was standing on guard for any White Fang, or possibly Grimm, his open shirt displaying his powerful, well-defined abs as he scanned his surroundings.

"No, unfortunately. Let's move to the next block; assuming she's unconscious, I should still be able to hear her breathing." Ren spoke evenly, and Nora nodded.

"Sun! We're moving to the next one!" She called to him, and the monkey boy gave a thumbs up, turned, and started down the row, Ryujingu Bang over his shoulder in its solid staff form, two sets of eyes firmly focused on his butt. Nora gave a small coo of delight, and got her boyfriend's elbow to her side.

"Focus, we can admire all we like once we know Ruby is safe." He admonished, having to force his eyes to move up to the back of the blonde's head. How did he suddenly come to know so many attractive blondes…? It was rather mind-boggling.

He steadied his mind and fought his youthful fantasies, reminding himself that, though the battle was over, it was not won. He followed Sun for several steps before the blonde boy stopped, his staff over his shoulders, his tail curled anxiously. Ren, subconsciously, felt his collapsed pistols in his sleeves, turning his senses for the sounds of hiding adversaries, but Sun gave a hand signal to relax. Ren and Nora both closed in, nearly brushing shoulders with him as his head ducked in thought.

"What's up, Sun?" Nora asked him, and his tail twitched, his head craning around.

"I think we're doing this all wrong." He spoke low, his hands wrapping around the ends of his staff to disconnect it into its two separate pieces, looking prepared for something…

"What do you mean? Is something the matter?" Ren asked after him as Sun took several steps forward, his arms tense.

"I don't know." Sun answered, his tail squirming in obvious uncertainty. "Something feels off. Not like we're being watched, but like, something's happened. I can't figure out what." He shook his head. "Either way, I think we're thinking too hard here, I don't think she's in these crates."

"No?" Ren queried, and Sun crossed his arms in thought.

"We're not dealing with super secret spies, we're dealing with a bunch of gangbangers." He glanced around at the surrounding crates, piled high and stretching far… "They're not smart, but they try to be; if Ruby's in one of these crates, it probably looks different somehow, like some graffiti on it that only the White Fang understand."

"We could text Blake, she might know." Nora offered, and Sun gave a quick, agreeing nod. Nora pulled her scroll out of her pocket as Sun pointed up.

"I'm going to get up there and try and look for anything obvious. You two can keep up your search down here."

"Don't be afraid to signal for help, we're not permanently grounded by any means." Ren nodded, and with a thumbs up, Sun scrambled up the sides of the crates until he reached the top. With their temporary leader out scouting, Ren lead Nora along, his eyes looking along the surrounding cargo, trying to find symbols, words, or anything that stood out from the contrasting colors…

"Was she using Weiss's phone or Yang's phone?" Nora murmured.

"Yang's." Ren answered, his pink eyes examining a large bit of faded, white graffiti that, through its illegible scrawl, declared the crate to have once been a part of the Furosos' territory.

Sun's intuition seemed correct; the sheer volume of crates would have made it difficult to find her once they were all packed in, so there had to be something to identify where she was. Whether it be a mark on the crate, or some letter stashed away in the ship… he idly ordered Nora to include that possibility in her text, and was just about ready to buckle down and listen closely when Sun shouted from up high.

"Hey!" An insistent whisper caught their attention. They glanced up in confusion, the blonde's face stricken with a worry that left them instinctively pulling their weaponry. "Two rows down, turn left, you'll see it!" The boy shouted, and he started sprinting with them down the aisles.

Ren and Nora pulled left, and caught what Sun had seen. A Faunus woman in a White Fang uniform was kneeling over another Fang member, her hand demandingly smacking at his face. Neither of them were wearing a mask, and the one on the floor suddenly rasped awake, then groaned in pain as his hand slid to his bloodied side.

Both of them jerked at the sound of Sun's shoes hitting the floor, and slowly, they turned to watch the three teen hunters approach them, weapons out, expressions serious. The girl Fang bared wolfish teeth at them, instinctively placing herself between the hunters and her fellow Faunus.

"Come any closer and I'll—" Was all the woman managed to get out before freezing up and taking a step back as Sun, Ren, and Nora ignored her orders and moved towards her, their weapons at an eased position, but a single twitch from threatening her. The woman, teeth still grit, slowly, shakily raised her hands; she was beaten, that much was obvious. "This one here needs medical attention." She whispered, knowing full well she was at their mercy

"He'll get it." Sun answered, giving her a frown as the man at her feet coughed.

"I'd rather die." He insisted, his bloodied fingers shakily grasping the handle of a knife, but he seemed to reconsider as a fresh gout of crimson poured out of his shoulder. "Fuck…" He panted. "Fuck…"

"We want to ask some questions before the police arrive." Ren said, drawing a confused twinge from the Fang woman.

"Before the—…?" She trailed off, her voice catching, then giving a pathetic, defeated laugh. "You're not even with the police…? Tell me you're at least with the city's hunters…" She almost pleaded, only to get small, hesitant shakes of their heads. "You're just a bunch of fucking kids?" She asked, her expression tightening in pitiable remorse, her eyes falling. "That ain't goddamned fair."

She gasped as the barrel of a grenade launcher jabbed her stomach, and she was forced to look into Nora's eyes as the redhead fingered the trigger dangerously. "Yeah, like how it's so fair that you kidnapped my girlfriend!" The shorter girl snapped, and the woman tensed up, while Ren quietly blocked Sun's attempt to break the two apart with his hand. "Where's the girl you guys captured?! Don't pretend you slept through that meeting."

The woman trembled as Nora threateningly shoved her with her weapon, and the man behind her heels hacked up a painful-sounding laugh.

"You lucked out and fucked up if you came looking for her, human." The man almost sounded amused through his wheezing. He lifted a shaking finger towards a nearby crate, and the three teens stared; they'd been so focused on the two Fang, they hadn't noticed the beaten Grimm containment crate nearby. "She was in that…" He panted.

"Was." The woman reaffirmed, narrowing her grey eyes.

Nora stared at the crate, then the woman, and in an instant, her thumb unlocked her weapon's safety trigger, and her arms were thrust into the air when Ren, quick as a blink, forced her to point her now armed weapon away. "You fed her to GRIMM?!" Nora's shriek of anger made the woman flinch, and the realization made Ren contemplate letting his lover do as she pleased…

"No! God no!" The woman straightened up, her expression one of panic as Ren's eye turned on her, his placid face belying a sudden craving for her head, and Sun had moved up with them, his expression only marginally more controlled than Nora's.

"Then talk." Sun ordered. "Ruby Rose, the girl you guys have captive, where is she, what the hell happened here?"

"We don't know!" The woman yelped, shaking violently under their accusing eyes. "She was in that crate, but she… she busted out of it and tried to tear us apart!"

"You're telling us that a teenage girl broke out of a cage designed for Grimm by herself and attacked you?" Sun asked slowly, and the woman bobbed her head desperately.

"Yes!" She quickly pointed at the cage. "Ask him, ask him! It was his damn idea!"

They looked at the cage, and Sun signalled for Ren to go. Ren complied, approaching the cage slowly and sending his Aura to his eyes, giving him better night vision to peer into the dark interior. Two men were in the cage, one a Fang male with a pistol in one hand, pressed to the cheek of a horribly mangled human man, whose fine clothing and white skin were streaked with blood, looking like he barely had any life left in him.

The White Fang met Ren's eyes, and though he was bigger, thicker, still masked and still having enough fight to keep the red-headed victim hostage, his posture was uncertain, what was visible of his mouth tight with anticipation. "Are you going to kill us?" The man rumbled. "When you get what you want, are we dead?"

"No." Ren answered after a cautious blink. "The authorities should be coming… eventually. We'll leave your fate to them. For now, we just want to know where your captive is."

"Then ask him." The Fang gestured to the heavily wounded man, then stood up while holding his stomach. Ren saw several bleeding perforations in his shirt, as well as his raw, bruised neck. "Fucker is the boss around here, king jackass of this city. He's the one who wanted the girl, and she's the one who fucked him up. Feel free to finish the job." The man snarled, stumbling past Ren.

Ren didn't try to stop him, and the man knelt down to help his fallen companion up. Between him and the female Fang, the three started a slow walk away from the scene, and Ren was willing to bet they were going to commandeer an emergency boat rather than go to the police.

That didn't matter to him. Right now, all the information he was given was more troubling: was Ruby behind all this damage? She was not this strong before, not that he'd seen… perhaps her semblance was to blame? A berserker semblance seemed logical in this case, and it could have been genetic considering what Yang could do.

He knelt down in front of the thoroughly beaten red-head that sat with his back against the crate's inner wall, his expression pained, tired, and defeated. Nora and Sun walked in behind him, and the man looked up at them all like he'd only just realized they were there.

A low, wheezing laugh escaped him, sounding like it took every last ounce of his effort to get out. "Well…" He rasped, meeting their eyes in as close to something resembling defiance as he could, "I'm just getting passed from one dinner table to the next, aren't I?"

"What happened to you?" Sun asked, while Ren took stock of every wound on the man's body. Many of them were mere surface wounds, scratches and bruises, but some looked particularly nasty, like how one of his legs almost looked skinned; any normal human being would have bled out from having his leg shredded, but Ren's enhanced eyes detected the faint shimmer of a barely functioning Aura; the last, desperate resistance of a nearly dead man with some hope still left in his rotten heart.

It was almost admirable. Almost. If what the Fang said was true, then this was the orchestrator behind the night's horrors, but, Ren supposed, one didn't become 'king jackass' without a lot of fight in them.

The man spat at them, his smirk a wry, dark-humored one that didn't have a lot of faith in it. "Can't you guess, kiddos? You didn't hear the fuzzballs earlier? That little girl you're trying to save..." His voice trailed off, and he snorted, "heh, yeah, 'save…'" One of his shaking hands went to his torn leg, trying to impart a little more Aura into it.

"Are you kidding me?" Nora asked furiously, forming a fist as her other hand impatiently rocked her weapon. "I know that girl, okay? For like a month, sure, but I'm pretty damn sure all she'd do is cold-cock you into sweet dreams! She's all about saving people and that shit."

"She's a fucking nightmare, shortstack." The man snarled, his eyes managing to focus on her despite his obvious pain. "The only reason I ain't dead is because she was too busy killing her big sister…"

He flinched as the butt of Nora's grenade launcher nearly collided with his nose, stopped only by Ren and Sun's intervention. The look on her face made the man's smirk grow, but both of the boys gave him a dark look.

Ren resisted a growl. "Now I know you are lying; what little I do know of Ruby includes how much she looks up to her sister. She would never try to—"

"Never?" The man interrupted, his eyes sharpening as he forced himself to sit up a little more straight. "Y'know… I thought I had a damn good read on her at first." He sneered, panting as his movement sent tremors of pain through his body. "She's the perfect little hero, right? All she wants to do is help people? Save lives? Kill the Grimm…?" He asked.

"Yes. That's her." Nora confirmed in a cold voice, fingers taut.

"Yeah, sounds right, huh? When I told her we had her cat-eared little friend, she came runnin'... didn't bother calling for backup, 'cuz I told her what I'd do if she did. I knew she wouldn't, either, that's just how her sort works." He coughed, working his mouth into a thin-lipped growl. "Young, dumb, have to save every single person ever. I don't make it a business to get involved with Beacon students, but nooo, this one was important…"

"Why?" Sun demanded, his lips peeled back as he barely stopped himself from following through with what Nora had started. "She's just a little girl! What's so important about her that you had to kidnap her?! Don't tell me you got a thing for cute girls with eye conditions." He snapped, and despite barely clinging to consciousness, the man's expression turned the atmosphere colder still.

"I'm a fucking asshole, kid, but that right there ain't my business. Nah, she's just 'Special.' Special with a capital fucking 'S.'" His posture fell, his attitude fell, everything about him seemed to collapse at once before he spoke again. "She's some sort of human Grimm-factory."

The three students were silent, only broken by Ren's disbelieving, "what?"

"Ya heard me, squinty, she makes Grimm. Fuck, I'd be willing to snowball she's one herself…" He coughed, a bit of blood splattering his chin, and the three took a step back. "She's a monster. What she did t'me… had me hunted like a fucking fox, in charge of a buncha Beowolves, throwing out big black claws and teeth like they were goin' outta style, tearing open two feet'a solid steel like a kid going through their birthday presents…" He gave a grimmly-humorous smile, showing all of his teeth… "And her big sister–blonde chick with a nice rack? She tried ta stop her, saying she didn't want her li'l sis getting blood on her hands… and li'l Ruby cleaved right through her last I saw. Just enough of a distraction to let me escape, but damn, your little pal is stone-cold…"

There was just enough of a sweat on the back of Ren's neck to stop him from stomping out of the box in disbelief. It wasn't enough for him to stop Nora from stomping the crime lord's groin, sending him tipping over while squeaking like a rusty hinge. The man, for all the slime he exuded, didn't seem like a liar.

The sounds of Grimm before, the sudden Grimm signs all over the place, and it was a damn good reason for somebody to risk kidnapping a Beacon student, Yang's lack of communication…

He shook his head; no, it was preposterous… never, not once in the recorded history of human and faunuskind was there a record of a person with any degree of control over the Grimm, much less summoning. It was a thing of fiction, for fantasy epics and serial comic books; if Ruby really could summon Grimm, she would be locked up securely in some high-class facility for study.

Like Beacon.

Ren's cheek twitched… and she wouldn't be walking around freely and interacting with people like a normal human being.

He knelt down in front of the damaged man, still hanging onto his groin to stop further attacks, and he kept his voice under control as he spoke. "Say I believe you." Ren said, drawing Sun and Nora's incredulous stare. "It's all true, Ruby summons Grimm and attacked Yang uncharacteristically; why?" Ren gestured to the crate. "What would a person want with a Grimm summoner? Why risk your neck if 'this' isn't your business?"

The man glared with hateful eyes at Ren, his teeth grit, his white sleeve staining deeper with his blood, and he let out another mocking laugh. "Why? Kid, I'm not being paid to ask questions… … … fuck, I'm not being paid at all." He snorted. "My life's on the line no matter what happens tonight; why do they want little Ruby? Use your brain, kid, stop thinking like a hero. This world's full'a rotten people. You make it to the top by being ruthless."

"And nothing says 'ruthless' like loosing the Grimm on command." Ren surmised in a low tone, the reasoning frustratingly sensible, and disgusting as it was.

"Now you're getting it."

Ren stood up, some small, hopefully gullible part of his mind whining in danger. His body was in full reflex mode, his mind buzzing with the potential danger… no, he didn't believe the man. No, what this man said didn't make sense. What made sense was that the man was bluffing, that somebody just wanted Ruby as a sex slave for whatever ungodly reason was in their brain, that was what criminals and people who employed them did with little girls…

So, why did something niggle in discomfort in the depths of his mind?

"This guy is full of shit." Nora grunted, looking sorely tempted to finish the job of whatever jumped him in the first place.

"No kidding." Sun sighed thickly.

Ren snapped out of his thoughts when the lying man's eyes widened, his posture shifting to that of a cornered rat, and he uttered in a dry, frightened rasp: "Fuck!"

The man wasn't looking at them, but past them. Ren felt the back of his neck prickle as his fingers twitched. Something… was watching them. His enhanced senses picked up the gentle sound of a gurgling breath, the subtle shift of light as something filled the door, and Ren…

Ren turned, Storm Flower leaping into his hands, responding to the sudden, noxious wave of killing intent that washed over them with a quick, distracting spray of bullets from his guns. He flew forward as his saw the bullets plink off of a white wolf's skull, the undulating black limbs framing it leaping forward to claw into his chest, but a pink explosion blasted them apart, the echoing noise leaving a whine in his and Sun's ears as they both raced towards the Grimm to slay it, cracking outstretched tendrils, slicing apart claws, ripping aside the wolf's skull only for the black mass to continue to stretch and swell, pushing inside of the crate.

Ren moved to strike at the heart of the beast, whatever it was, and instead, found the adrenaline in his body turning ice cold, every technique and strategy in his brain getting sucked into a mire of rapidly rising terror, and his limbs slowed, his feet stumbled, yet he could not take his eyes off of Ruby's.

Her cold glare pierced right through his mind and his heart. He instinctively recognized Ruby, but that did not flood him with relief; warnings he wanted to shout wilted in his throat, momentum carried him forward, his feet instinctively catching each step despite his sudden need to turn back and run, and his thoughts darkened.

He felt it.

Ash in his lungs, flames licking at his skin, the oppressive night around him as his world crumbled around him. Distant screams filled his ears, and worse, the hellish cry of a blood-thirsty horse.

"Ren…" A quiet, girl's voice–Ruby's voice–whispered. "MOVE."

Limbs stretched around him as he began to fall forward, unprepared for the sudden influx of memories and emotions. Black arms and white claws seized his torso, and he saw the red mouth of the skeletal man atop that wretched horse, his head flying closer and closer to its crushing teeth, and his eyes closed tightly.

The 'crunch' that reached his ears wasn't of his skull being bitten through by the Grimm, but that of his back colliding with a metal shipping crate. The air escaped him, his body experiencing very real pain from the impact, then again when he hit the metal floor. He cringed, his mind swimming, his body twisting as his bruises wouldn't simply go away.

His Aura; where was it? Why couldn't he feel it? He called to the light of his soul and was met with cloying memories of the worst night of his life, leaving him feeling small, diminished… useless.

… He was just a boy… just a trapped boy who thought he was getting stronger, thought he was fighting the darkness, but no… no, he was just a boy, a brave idiot like his father. One Grimm, one Grimm, and he was dead, dead, dead…

"STAY BACK!" A girl cried…

… Nora.

Ren's eyes opened wide, his lungs swelling as he forced himself to breath. Nora's cry echoed in his head, and he forced the memories away. He commanded his body to move, to rise to his feet as a green layer sprung up around him, dimly aware that Sun was doing the same by his side.

Inside the crate was a solid mass of darkness, and from behind it were Nora's cries of terror.

Not again.

Ren charged forward, Sun a step behind him, and he ducked low to slide beneath a lashing tendril and scoop Storm Flower into his hands. He whirled, the green blades sheathed in his Aura and cutting through claw-tipped fingers and multi-jointed limbs as he threw himself into the black cloud.

He heard the echoing growls and roars of the monsters within the shifting blob of Grimmstuff, and he cleaved in closer and closer, hearing the heartening sound of shotgun blasts as Sun joined him into hewing away at the beasts.

The animalistic screaming grew louder as they tore through the shell of darkness, and within, Ren spotted a red cloak. He thrust his hand through the hole he'd made, ignoring the spines and teeth digging into his Aura, grabbed ahold of a shoulder, and pulled with all of his might.

Ruby flew out of the Grimm container, landing on her back and skidding away with a girlish yelp of surprise. The cocoon of Grimm she'd been ripped from hovered there for a moment, still and silent, before it dramatically collapsed like a bad souffle, leaving Ren staring in quiet relief at his trembling girlfriend, and the pale white man laying terrified behind her.

Ren smiled at her; he dropped the controlled facade for just a moment in celebration of stopping that night from happening all over again, and after a second of breathing, Nora joined him.

"Holy shit…" Sun whispered. Ren's smile fell, and he suppressed his agitation at letting himself get so easily distracted, but he at least promised himself a lot of Nora kisses once the night was done and over with.

He turned, forcing himself to remain calm as he watched Ruby Rose–his objective–rise from where she had landed. He kept his breathing calm, he would save his relief for when he knew everything was well. Right now, nothing made sense; he intended to rectify that…

… but it only got more complicated when their eyes met.

Ruby's arms hung limply at her side, hunched forward, barely held up on her feet, it seemed like. Every vein on her body stood out against her skin, black and sickly, but more alarming was her skin was ashen, almost fully drained of color until it loomed close to a marble white. Her eyes were unblinking, boring into both him and Sun, and Ren found his mind recoiling trying to meet them. They were dangerous to stare into, and his heart rate was picking up just from quick looks.

What did he do? What did he say?

Their stare off continued, and the longer it went on, the more clear to him that this wasn't the Ruby he knew… or thought he knew. He ground his teeth together, sharing a side glance with Sun, trying to see if he had any orders to give.

The ten longest seconds of Ren's life passed before Sun piped up in a shaking voice: "Ruby!" He shouted her name, snapping her attention to him with a disquieting jerking motion of her head, like something else was moving her. Sun swallowed thickly, and found his words again. "I… I don't know what happened, or what's going on, but… but your family, your friends… they want you home."

Home… that's right. Ren eased quietly, his body unwinding bit by bit as he tried to focus on Ruby's feet, still in a ready posture, but less ready to pounce, to attack. "Ruby, we want to take you back safely. Whatever this is…" He stared at her corrupted veins and discolored flesh, and his tongue went dry as he tried to piece together what was going on… was that gangster actually telling the truth? "Whatever this is, I want to know more about it. But only once we're safe."

Ruby wavered in place, silently, her body taut, but her expression still. Her fists curled, and both boys flinched as they watched her shadow stretch and warp, but then slither back beneath her, a low snarl sounding from between her feet as something bubbled within the shade. "I'm not going back." She suddenly said, her soft, girly little voice full of dread and seriousness.

"Don't be ridiculous, girl, we're here." Sun tried to sound confident, and Ren almost believed his bravado, but one quick glance at his shaking hands said something else. "We're going to get you home. All of us; Blake got everyone here to save you!"

For a moment, Ruby stayed locked in place, her lips parting in silent disbelief… "No… no."

"It's true." Ren added with a quick nod. "She called Jaune, we came as fast as we could; for you. Weiss and Yang are here, and so is Penny. We're all here to rescue you, Ruby."

Ruby's eyes finally blinked, slowly, almost humanly, and her oddly stretching shadow was still. From behind the boys, there was a burst of motion, and Ren flinched as Nora raced passed him, and the impulse to stop her was too late, she was already wrapped around Ruby's neck, burying the infected girl's face into her chest while babbling.

"Oh my gawd we were so freaked out when Blake said you were kidnapped!" Nora whimpered, rocking Ruby back and forth with bubbly relief. "But we beat the shit outta a buncha White Fang losers and then there was all this Grimm talk and now you—" Nora Held Ruby back out by the shoulders, looking over her, a tremble going through her as she saw Ruby's eyes, but then the girl was back in Nora's chest. "Like you look like total crap right now but that's okay because Jaune knows all this cool makeup stuff and we'll get you all pretty and cute and lovable again! Right?!"

Nora called over her shoulder to the two boys, and Sun, with a forced smile, nodded, "right!"

Ruby stayed still, her hands silently sliding up Nora's arms, and the perkier redhead flinched as her shoulders were grasped. She was still, trembling quietly, and suddenly, coughed. A single, wet, ugly cough that made Nora shriek as a splash of pitch dark splattered against her collarbone, and ink dripped from Ruby's mouth like sick.

Ren nervously shifted closer, trying to see what the problem was, his ears perking as he heard Ruby's voice.

"No…" She whispered, her voice small, weak, and broken. "I'm sorry." She hiccuped to herself. "I-I'm s-sorry… I'll m-miss hugging y-you…" She whispered, Nora holding the girl's arms as Ruby threatened to buckle before her, unidentifiable darkness drooling down her chin uncontrollably.

"Wha—? No, it's okay, Ruby." Nora whispered insistently, her energy evaporating into concern as she tried to keep the girl on her feet, to focus. "We're taking you home, we're going to get you back to safety, with your team, at Beacon! You'll get all the hugs you can get! Pinkie promise!" Nora insisted, but her smile fell as Ruby grew louder.

"No no no NO!" Ruby rasped, her fingers digging into Nora's shoulders, another cough splattering the ground and Nora's shoes with the black stuff. Nora's posture turned anxious, and she tried to hold Ruby's chin, to stop her from staring at the grin.

"Why not?! We're here, right? Why can't you come home?!" Nora demanded in growing worry as the girl's desperate breathing grew and grew, the word 'no' repeated louder and louder. "Ruby!" Nora shouted above her, shaking the girl. "Answer me!"

Nora's demand heralded silence, as Ruby had fallen limp, her voice fallen, staring at the ground. Then, Ruby's head jerked up, her eyes wild and red, catching Nora by surprise as Ruby gently answered: "I have to kill him." Then her jaw stretched open, and from it erupted a black limb that ended in an immense claw, grabbing Nora by the head and, before she or Ren could react, flinging her into the side of a cargo container as the ground around her surged.

"Ruby! Nora!" Ren shouted in desperation as the night's shadows suddenly came to life, crawling towards him as animal shapes emerged from the nothingness. White skulls and merciless red eyes suddenly appeared in the dozens from out of nowhere, white claws stretching towards him, forcing him to fight as they bore in on him from all directions.

They grabbed his arms and his legs, and in an instant, Sun and Nora were gone as the mob of Grimm surrounded him. Panic filled his lungs, leaving him sucking down breath after useless breath as he whirled in place, ripping his limbs from grabbing claws, tearing into the encroaching heads of wolves and bears and ravens and boars.

Sharp pains erupted across his body as they grabbed him tightly, and an ugly voice emerged from around him, reverberating through the horde until he couldn't hear himself shouting as their collective chant hammered itself into his skull.

"GET OUT…! GET OUT…! GET OUT…! GET OUT…! GET OUT…! GET OUT…!"

"This is Kaylee Winters with Vale's Channel 8: 'In the Know', down at the Duermoor Docks; as you can see, the police have swarmed the location, but have yet to breach the docks. Gunshots have been reported, explosions seen, and witnesses claim to have seen combat from across the bay; information is sparse, and the situation is tense, but our noble police force seem to have things under control."

The black-haired, olive-skinned woman spoke directly into the camera amidst a backdrop of flashing red and blue lights, green and blue police cruisers, and a multitude of Duermoor police officers walking about. The entrance to the docks was fenced off by a single roll of neon-yellow police tape, while officers stood guard nearby, watching through the gates with binoculars as their helicopters hovered overhead.

It was, without a doubt, an absolute mess. A fair bit of excitement tinged with the fear of uncertainty was the worst thing a city could have, but, thankfully, police and hunter responses were usually quick enough to mitigate an issue before it could awaken the city's worries; this situation, however, was being monitored closely by the police, which was unusual.

The goal of any successful city in Remnant was to reduce, if not outright prevent, the possibility of panic in its citizens. This meant entertainment was a premium, and news was monitored and lawfully prevented from using shock value until a traumatic and potentially deadly event had been defused and investigated, lest the resultant negativity act as a beacon to Grimm in the surrounding area.

Much of what was being reported on would likely be played in the morning after the fighting was contained, but every tense second that passed was another tuned in viewer to see how the night had unfolded in their sleep.

Striding towards the row of reporters at the edge of the cruiser pile-up was an older, heavy-set man with white hair, buzzed down to a crew cut and with an officious-looking moustache gracing his upper-lip; at his flanks were a pair of other well-dressed policemen, each older than the average officer. One, his aide, was a skinny, fit man with glasses, the other a curmudgeonly, squat fellow with not a single visible hair on his head.

As the cameras turned to capture the three men's approach, the reporters quickly swept forward to beat the rest to the trio of police officials, their microphones at their mouths in an instant.

"Chief Dickens, what can you tell us about what's happening on the docks?"

"Chief, chief! Are the White Fang involved? Is the Torchwick crime family responsible for the disturbance on the docks?"

"Is there any truth behind witness claims that there was the sound of a running hunter-strength chainsaw?"

His big hands came up to stop the tide of questions, and he worked his big moustache in a thoughtful way. He leaned forward, his rounded, ruddy face filled with dire professionalism as he spoke cleanly and clearly: "What is happening on the Duermoor Docks tonight is an unprecedented event; the people have a right to know what is happening, so I'm not going to lie: we have reason to believe that there may be a Grimm presence on the docks."

A small gasp escaped the surrounding reporters.

"Did you say Grimm?"

"In Vale?!"

"Chief Dickens, how could they have escaped detection?!"

"Now settle down, settle down." The chief gestured downwards with his hands to get their silence once more, and he continued on. "We believe it to be a case of Grimm smuggling gone awry; I know it's stupid to think about, but these people ain't the brightest minds. We have all entrances and exits under watch, and a special ops hunting squad on the way; this should be cleaned up before sunrise."

"Do we have hunters making their way to the scene, chief?"

The skinnier man with glasses leaned forward, answering for the chief. "We don't have evidence yet that a full hunting squad needs to be employed; the Duermoor anti-Grimm police unit is fully stocked and prepared for this event."

The reporters had a brief look of uncertainty, but Winters turned to the older, balder man by Dickens' side. "Officer Warren, what's your take on the situation?"

Warren had a face fraught with worry lines and open distrust, but he kept an even tone in his voice as he answered. "Chief Dickens says his men have the place under lock, and I'll believe him. The Mural Police Department is assisting the Duermoor force in any way we can."

"For the moment, everyone should stay away from the docks until we give them all clear. It is paramount that everyone keeps a cool head, and their noses out of trouble until the problem is contained." The Duermoor chief added on.

"How will this affect commerce in Vale?"

"Is there a plan to have the workers here take temporary station over at another dock?"

"Were there or were there not gangs involved in tonight's violence?!"

Chief Dickens waved a hand, and a group of police officers made a barrier between the chief and the reporters as the older man walked back into the midst of the gathered police cruisers with his aide and Chief Warren following alongside him.

As soon as they had a moment of peace, Warren gave Dickens a dirty look, his jaw rolling in disgust. "I hope ya find something worth stirring the city up for in there, Dick, otherwise you're drownin' all of us in security seminars for no goddamned reason."

"We'll find somethin', I'm sure of it." Dickens assured his fellow chief, and Warren skulked off towards his crew, muttering foul things under his breath. With Warren turned away, Dickens glanced over to his bespectacled aid with a sly grin under his moustache. "What's the word on the Grimm extermination unit?"

His aide, with an equally pleased smile, answered, "they are en route as we speak, fully equipped. Nigel, Abana, Rachel, Leif, and Reiner were hand-picked for the job."

"And the docks?"

"Clear; no officers in, and with the 'threat' of Grimm, the air space has been cleared as well… just in case." Before the chief could ask, the aid continued. "Hunters have received notification in case we 'need them' for a stronger response; otherwise, the GEU will have the full run of the dock."

"Good, good, should give our taxpayers time to find a way out. Now go look busy." The chief ordered, and the aide scampered away, giving quick orders through a communicator while the chief observed with a smirk on his face.

It felt good to earn a bonus.

Giving the appearance of peace and order was in the police's line of work anyways, employing it at times for self-gain did nothing more than give the semblance of legitimacy and professionalism. That was why the officers on duty moved with a calm purposefulness to greet a heavily armored van, whose lights and sirens blared through the empty streets before pulling up to the mass of cars that clogged up the dock's entrance.

The van turned, backing up to an open receiving area made by the patrol cars, and its back doors opened up to reveal six heavily armored, weapon-toting figures. The black armor that adorned them was shaped with almost no ridges or blocky features, with smooth plastic overlaying interlinked layers of metal to defend against puncturing teeth and claws that didn't slide off the plastic shell. A simple balaclava was worn underneath a helmet with a sturdy mouthguard and a tough plastic-polymer set of goggles.

In each of the six officers' hands was a big, heavy looking rifle with an underslung shotgun attachment, outfitted with state-of-the-art holo sights, flashlights, and a drum magazine that carried Grimmslayer rounds; the weapon was, in its entirety, overly inefficient if deployed against people, serving as nothing more than an object of terror and ruthlessness, but it was built to exacting specifications to counter mankind's oldest enemy.

The six figures marching towards Chief Dickens halted and stood at the ready for their go-ahead, and the bushy 'stached man couldn't help but smile at what would no doubt be a good camera shot to display the capabilities of the department; he could not help, however, but count the six officers' number over and over again as he spoke.

"Today is not a day that will be seen in the history books; no, each one of you have been handpicked to make sure Vale wakes up without a clue what happened here tonight!"

He ran the names through his head: Nigel was easy enough to pick out because of his height, he could hardly tell Abana and Rachel apart out of their uniforms, Leif he could figure out just because of the boy's laser-precision on his movements, and Reiner's upper torso was built like a linebacker's, and he was the only one carrying different equipment…

"I expect the six of you to show professionalism and vigilance while in there; don't let a single Grimm escape, and don't let a single stone go unturned!"

But who was the short one? Didn't joining the GEU have height requirements? He honestly didn't remember, but it didn't matter.

"Whatever happens in that dock, keep it there, and exterminate it with extreme prejudice! Dismissed!" He barked, and the six figures gave strong, stiff salutes before marching towards the docks in three rows of two, their armor and equipment jangling with each movement as the cameras tracked their movement in.

Dickens watched with a confident nod, before turning towards his bespectacled assistant. "I was told five." The chief growled, making the skinnier man wince.

"We were in a rush; we got a last minute sixth responder just before the truck left, an officer named…" The aide glanced down at his scrollpad, and frowned. "Polly?"

Dickens stared at his aide for a few seconds in confusion and annoyance, until his brow loosened in understanding, and he nodded. "As long as all of them come back alive, that's just fine. Scram." The chief ordered before the skinny man could ask any questions, and turned away.

"Another two; goddamn, somebody went to town on these fleabags." Reiner snorted. The flashlight at the end of his rifle revealed two White Fang, one unconscious, chest swelling and shrinking with his back against a crate, the other slowly crawling away from the soldiers while panting in obvious fear.

"Leave 'em, all we gotta do is sweep the area for a few hours and call it clear. We're under strict orders to ignore anything but the Grimm." Rachel grunted. "Of all the fucking nights, too…"

"Area looks clear, no Grimm in sight." Abana spoke into her radio, guiding the team deeper into the dockyard, past rows and rows of looming crates, and periodically, the beaten forms of the White Fang that had been operating in the area. "Sound pretty pissed; date was going well, I take it?"

"We were halfway through a bottle of Kuméo, he only had his socks and shades on, and I was working my way out of my shirt when the call came." Rachel said dismally, making an effort to appear engaged in the mission by sweeping the right flank as Abana took the left, Reiner moving ahead to a more advantageous position as, in sharp contrast, Nigel strode forward with his rifle over his shoulders.

"Only his socks? What the fuck?" The tall man asked, on the verge of laughing as Leif brought up the rear, awkwardly glancing over to their tag-along.

"Apparently, his little piggies get cold if they aren't in socks or under a blanket."

"Oh god." Nigel giggle-snorted, and Rachel shook her head once she confirmed her sights were clear.

"I woulda laughed in his face and told him to take a hike, but y'know, sometimes, no matter what sorta wrapping the package comes in, what you find inside makes up for it…"

"Heh, I thought the same about my ex-husband, but at some point, you gotta call a guy out or he'll be weird forever." Reiner grunted.

The squad continued its movement through the dock, giving what was, for all appearances, a legitimate search of the dock. The lack of urgency lead to jokes and small talk, their search slow and by the book, if only to kill time. Abana reported multiple clear instances, all but narrating their search to the chief.

"Hey." Leif's elbow bumped Nigel's, making the larger man flinch a bit, but he didn't look any more ready for trouble than he had been. "Who's this new guy?" He gestured back towards their sixth straggler, who walked in cold silence, rifle at ease, but ready to be unleashed in an instant.

"Beats me. Mission called for five, but they were already geared up and in the back of the van by the time I was there. Looks like somebody was over-eager, wanted to join the glory hunt." Nigel snickered.

"Yeah, but who are they? Ronaldo? Cassie? Not that many of us passed the GEU." Leif stared suspiciously, and Nigel shrugged.

"Dunno. Short as hell, but look how they handle that rifle; anybody who can make a Langstrom look light is good in my books. I'd swear they were using Aura, but I can't see a flicker of it off of 'em."

"Hmm." Leif's nostrils flared, but he let it go, and the two continued on. "Okay, but if we get shot because of them, they're going straight into the harbor."

"Shot for what? Because they're bored? Grow up, there's nothing here but future license plate makers; enjoy the free publicity, they probably will."

The squad moved, unphased and undeterred by the number of felled White Fang. It wasn't a pleasant job, and they had more than once moved through the remains of a gang conflict; gunshots, shouting, a lack of roars in the area? They knew what they were there for, and had a good idea of what went on.

"Uncle Moneybags is supposed to be here, right? He can't be the one who made a move on the White Fang." Rachel hummed as the six approached the big, steel ship, which rocked with an unnerving creak, but otherwise seemed silent.

"C'mon, he's here to lull them into a false sense of security so his boys can come sweep them up. Obvious trojan plan." Leif offered.

"I haven't seen much in the way of fatalities, what kind of message would he be sending leaving so many survivors?" Rachel countered.

"'Stop fucking with me or there'll be no next time?'"

"I still say it's the Dazin' Boys, their activity has been through the roof for months now, it'd only make sense they make a move eventually."

"But against the White Fang? Shit, I guess it'd give them some street cred, but you'd think they'd pick a juicier target."

"What's juicier than a dock full of Dust?"

"Quiet!"

Reiner's demand silenced the squad, and rifles instantly went up in search of something. The five others stared at the muscular man as he craned his ear, and they could almost imagine his frown deepening as he listened closely.

"Did anybody else fucking hear that?" He asked, and the tone of his voice caused muscles to tense…

"Hear what?"

"C'mon man, don't joke with us; you don't think there's actual Grimm, do you?"

Reiner sucked in a deep breath, and stared up at the boat. A bad feeling filled his stomach, and he tried to calm himself. "Dunno. Just heard… somethin'. Maybe I'd be able to tell you if we weren't so busy with the chatter."

"Ugh, cool it, point man." Abana rolled her eyes. "But stick to that feeling; if there's actual Grimm, we were trained for this."

"And we might come out like heroes tonight." Nigel added jovially.

That seemed to ease the tension somewhat, and the squad started up the stairs that lead to the boat's deck, their ears straining for the sounds of distant waves, shifting metal groaning, and periodically, the scrape of something against metal…

"I hear it too…" Leif murmured. He glanced back over his shoulder, and flinched at the distant sound of what seemed like a growl. "Hey, newbie." He glanced down at the shorter of the squad, who fixated on him instantly. "What do you think?"

The only answer he got was a shrug.

"What, don't even wanna guess?" The newbie shook their head, and Leif shorted. "Well alright." He tapped Rachel's shoulder ahead of him. "Can't get a word out of 'em…"

"Good, it means they're focused, unlike somebody." Rachel snipped, and Leif flinched.

With their hackles effectively raised, the squad stood on the boat's metal deck with their weapons at the ready. Nigel's joviality was stunted by the sudden apprehension in the air, and Reiner did little to abate it as he raised his hand, signalling the group to follow his lead without a word spoken.

As the point man, he lead with a sense of dread and excitement in every footstep; it wasn't often that a GEU needed to be formed, and the times that it did were usually smalltime Grimm issues. A few creeps that had come in from the sewers, a Grimm smuggling operation that had gotten out of hand, one of the monsters simply… appearing without explanation in one of the condemned buildings, long freed of human habitation…

They could be taken care of with careful coordination without the hunters coming in and busting up the place with their gigantic weaponry and high-powered guns. Hunters were called in when collateral damage was no longer avoidable, or even preferable to the alternative of a Grimm outbreak, while the police handled the small cases, trained thoroughly in urban combat and minimizing structural damage.

What was often feared, and rightfully so, was the mental-preparedness of a Grimm Extermination Unit. Gangsters, murderers, thieves, cop killers, rapists, terrorists, all people to be feared and concerned about in their own right, but the Grimm were something else entirely.

To a hunter, the Grimm were their immortal enemy, an endless tide to be culled, barred, and thrust back into the darkest reaches of the unknown. To a hunter, the Grimm were a threat, but one they were built to face. To a human, such as the average police officer, the Grimm were legendary human-killers, an enemy that could not be negotiated with, tricked, or overpowered.

People selected for the GEUs were among the most mentally cool-under-pressure, but simple simulations did not always hold up to reality.

The six officers held their weapons at the ready and moved slowly around the ship's deck, moving towards the castle with their sights on every shadow.

"Still think you're hearing stuff…" Nigel muttered.

"You don't forget the sound a Beowolf makes," Reiner said in a low, serious voice, "not once you know what it is. Ain't like a dog, it's… harsher, angrier."

"Squad is approaching the ship's castle, investigating suspicious noises. Point man believes it to be a Beowolf. Noise is minimal, at the moment." Rachel murmured.

There was a small hiss of static in each of their ear pieces, and they formed a defensive circle as the chief spoke. "You heard a Beowolf?"

"Think we did, sir." Rachel repeated, and there was a moment of silence.

"Continue on."

"Yes sir." Rachel nodded. She took her finger off her ear piece, and gave a nervous, but mischievous chuckle. "Shit, can you imagine if we actually find some action tonight?"

"We'll be in the headlines tomorrow." Nigel reassured them all.

"Or the obituaries." Abana countered, earning a few scornful looks. "What? I ain't playing pretend, I came here thinking we were giving ourselves a tour. I'll shoot any Grimm I see, but it took the last five minutes for me to be in, like, beast mode."

"Ugh." Leif groaned. "Let's just hope it's all a false call. I'm not in a GEU mood right now."

Reiner lifted his weapon of choice in his bulky left arm: an automatic shotgun with a shortened barrel, a longer stock, and enough shot with each pull of the trigger to make a hole big enough for a kid to crawl through a Beowolf's chest. With his right hand, he grabbed the metal lever serving as the door's handle and wrenched it down, unbarring the door as he swiftly grabbed his second weapon off his back: a big, sturdy boar spear, with a blade made out of hunter-grade stuff sitting atop a cross-section to catch any Grimm that would be bearing down on him, impaled or not.

The door swung open as Reiner moved into position to block the entryway in a crouched position, five rifles pointed above his head, their light-fixtures filling the dark, heavily damaged hallway to highlight a pair of girls, their hands over their eyes.

A single bullet fired out of panic from Rachel's gun, whizzing over the girls' heads and drawing twin shrieks of fright, followed by Rachel's shout of pain as a fist hammered into her upper arm. She shot her attacker–the short tag-a-long–a growl, but backed off when she sensed a… coldness from them.

"Identify yourselves!" Reiner shouted, but before either girl could speak, Leif gave a small, amused laugh.

"No fucking need! That's Weiss Schnee!"

"Who you almost shot you asshole!" The black-haired girl hanging off of Weiss' shoulders snapped, and Rachel, despite her heavy armor, managed to look embarrassed as the others alternated between ribbing and jabbing her as she grumbled, only the short one remaining alert enough to move forward with their weapon trained forward, past the girls, when Nigel barked out.

"'Ey, newbie! They aren't our responsibility, leave 'em." He ordered, drawing confused, if not outright furious looks from the two girls while the shorter one paused, glancing between their unit and the girls.

"What the hell do you mean by that?!" Weiss demanded. "This one is wounded, I'm a concerned citizen in distress, aren't you supposed to help us?!"

"Little lady, we're the GEU of the Duermoor police force, with strict orders to hunt down any Grimm and exterminate them before their threat can grow." Nigel said with a hint of pride and a boatload of machismo in his voice. "Citizens need to stay put and in safety until we give the go ahead for other officers to enter the area."

"GEU?" Weiss whispered to Blake, who pursed her lips with a dark expression.

"A Valian Grimm Extermination Unit." The Faunus whispered back in a bitter tone. "They think Grimm might be in the area."

The statement was followed by silence from Weiss, whose eyes widened as the implications dawned on her, and she quickly scampered forward with Blake struggling to keep up.

"Listen, the six of you need to go back and call Beacon; this boat has a major Grimm infestation below deck, too big for students, much less Auraless police to handle! Headmaster Ozpin will—"

"Now hold those goddamned horses, miss Schnee, you're telling us there are, in fact, Grimm on this boat?" Abana demanded, and drew two hesitant nods. "Fucking shit, the chief is gonna be thrilled…"

"I have a more pressing question: why are you two here? You especially, miss Schnee? Who even is this?" Reiner demanded, drawing forward, the butt of his spear clacking against the metal floor.

Weiss hesitated to answer, but swallowed thickly, and nodded when Blake pat her back. "I'm a student of Beacon Academy, and the White Fang kidnapped a friend of mine, and have her here somewhere on this boat. We… me and Blake, as well as our other allies, came to get her back."

"Student-hunter vigilantism is cause to get any sort of licensing revoked, you realize that?" Leif asked, and Weiss froze up, her eyes wide and almost glistening, but she nodded.

"My friend was kidnapped." She pressed, and Leif grunted.

"And you didn't think to call the police?" He asked, only for Blake to roll her eyes.

"Yeah, and who'd answer? The Duermoor police?" She asked, accusation in her voice. The six officers quietly glanced between each other, and Nigel gave a short laugh.

"This one's funny! Maybe she needs an ass-kicking?" He offered jovially to his allies, and in an instant, there was the hiss of steel, Myrtenaster held defensively in front of the two girls, and five rifles were trained on them, only the shorter one hesitating to follow. "Now now, ladies, you don't want to be mistaken for Grimm, do you?" Nigel asked.

"Nigel, you're a dumb cocksucker, you know that?" Leif asked, sheer nervousness in his voice as Aura flickered up Weiss' body, her grip tightening on her sword's handle.

"We're armed." Nigel pointed out dryly. "With anti-Grimm weaponry."

"And where in the goddamned user manual does it say these things can do jack-all to Aura?! And can I add that these are people, not Grimm." Leif snapped, and with that, Abana, Rachel, Reiner, and Leif lowered their guns, leaving Nigel the last one to follow suit with an angry huff. "We're not hurting you or whoever this is." Leif called out to Weiss, only to draw a steely stare.

"If there is in fact a big goddamned problem below deck, we'll see it for ourselves and report on it." Reiner stated with a dissatisfied grunt, his unseen stare leveled on both girls with suspicion. "But we have our orders. You won't meet resistance heading back, just put the steel away before you get to the gate. Get out." He ordered, standing aside for the two girls.

"Not even gonna pretend to give us an escort?" The Faunus girl muttered.

"Hey, there's a lot of beat up Faunus out there, don't do anything to join 'em." Abana countered sharply, but all she got from Blake was an angry look.

The GEU made a path for the girls to walk through, with the shorter one raising a hand briefly as if they had something to say or do, but made a fist at the last second, and brought their arm down.

It was a tense few seconds, the girls almost to the door, when a scream ripped through the night outside; girly, painful, enraged, filling the empty silence until the GEU were bursting through the door past Weiss and Blake, rifles at the ready, scanning the area suddenly tense as a spring.

They barely breathed as they listened to clattering and scraping from somewhere in the cargo hold below, and Rachel quickly tapped her radio. "Investigating mysterious noises, strong suspicions of major Grimm activity, survivors confirmed Grimm presence."

"Are you fucking with me?" The gruff-voiced chief asked through the radio, and Rachel gave a nervous cough.

"No, we have a—" From the maze of shipping crates below, what little light that shone against the floor was suddenly swallowed as a wave of black bodies suddenly spread through the dozens of open pathways, red eyes and white skulls emerging from the darkness to stare up into the sky as bony claws ripped at the surrounding metal in a ferocious, howling tantrum. "—WE HAVE AN OUTBREAK! WE HAVE AN OUTBREAK!"

The thundering of automatic fire tried to drown out the animalistic roaring of the demons below, huge, heavy bullets cracking straight through skulls and ripping apart limbs, but where one Beowolf fell, another three crawled over its corpse, their berserk eyes skyward, towards the armored figures trying to cull the growing hoard, and like a strong tide, they were surging up the sides of the cargo hold, climbing over each other and growing and swelling uncontrollably as, in seconds, they closed the distance to the five GEU squadmates, sending them scrambling backwards screaming as white claws and black limbs stretched out towards them.

Weiss and Blake watched, their expressions draining of color and their eyes filling with horrified awe as they witnessed a wave of Grimm so dense and massive, they'd only ever seen something similar in movies. The one person who did move was the short, sixth GEU squadmate, who grabbed both girls by the arm and dragged them through the castle's door, slamming it shut behind them as red eyes turned their way.

Weiss and Blake stared with stunned expressions as they heard metallic scraping and snarling from the other side of the door, clinging to the arms of the armored figure that had stolen them to safety.

They both let out uncomfortable, shaky breaths, pulling their hands off their protector, and Weiss absentmindedly wiped her hands on her skirt as Blake slammed her bare fist against the wall angrily.

"God… damnit, we're right back where we fuckin' started." She grunted, breathing heavily. Weiss watched her tremble, barely able to keep on her feet with how sore and beaten up she was. Weiss grit her teeth, and shook her head.

She'd let herself get stunned and had to be dragged away like a damsel to safety, and now she was watching her friend lose her motivation. Weiss slapped her own cheeks, risking reddening them to keep herself focused, and pulled Blake's arm back over her shoulder while the Faunus looked on in surprise.

"There has to be more than one way off this ship, Grimm outside or not. If anything, let's find a place to hunker down for safety, wait for help to arrive." Weiss said with determination in her voice; it was not befitting of a Schnee to die under a wave of Grimm on some ugly boat.

"Weiss, what about Ru—"

"We can't." Weiss interrupted with a lowered voice, the officer watching them suspiciously. "We just…" Weiss' lips trembled. "Right now, you and me and this guy–" she waved a hand towards their rescuer, "–need to survive. I… I hate to say it, but we need to think about ourselves right now." She turned to Blake with a sorry expression. "Ruby would understand… she'd want us to be safe."

"... Not fucking fair…" Blake covered her face with one hand, looking so very exhausted at the moment, and Weiss could only sympathetically agree.

"I know, but… let's go. You, officer, you should come with us." Weiss barked, and turned to look for a safe place to hide within the boat's interior, but was stopped when the officer moved in front of them.

A metallic 'click' filled the empty hallway as they set their gun against the wall and was reaching into a pouch on their back. From it, they withdrew what appeared to be a radio of some sort, with a wire attached to the sensitive pad of a stethoscope-type device. They slid the pad underneath the high, thick collar of the protective shirt underneath the body armor and pressed it to their throat, holding up the radio device.

From it, an uncomfortably scratchy voice emerged. "Where is Roman Torchwick?" The voice asked, a steep demand in their voice making both girls sweat as a low growl came from the officer's speech thing. "Tell me now; where is Roman Torchwick?"

"Who?" Weiss asked.

"The jackass that did this to me." Blake answered, her eyes boring into the officer's hidden ones. Much like with Ruby, she hated not being able to read what their eyes said… "The one behind this whole damn thing."

"Answer me, now."

"Why do you want to know?" Weiss asked, looking deeply confused as she readjusted her posture, and Blake on her.

"Aren't you guys supposed to be here just to kill Grimm?" Blake demanded more than asked, one hand instinctively moving to her unarmed hip, making her curse her lack of weapon. "What do you care? He's probably caught up in all the Grimm, like we will be if we don't find someplace safe."

"That does not matter, answer the question."

"We don't know." Weiss answered in discomfort, the tension between the figure and Blake making her skin crawl.

"You know something." The officer pointed a finger at Blake, who sneered.

"Last I saw, he was trying to strangle me to death. He fucked off by the time I came to, so Weiss is right, I don't know shit." Blake glared at the short officer, whose shoulders rose up in obvious aggression, but then relaxed.

"You're lucky I'm on a time limit. Hurry up and die." The officer ordered, pocketing the speech device as Weiss' expression went blank, only to turn to fright as Blake drew Weiss' blade and pointed it at the officer as they lifted their gun.

"I don't know what shit you're trying to pull but you'd better find us a way out!" Blake shouted, but the officer simply gave them huff, picked up their rifle, slung it over both shoulders, and sprinted down the hallway in a hurry, leaving the two girls leaning on one another, and Blake pointing Myrtenaster down the hallway ineffectually. "Motherfucker…"

"I have no idea what's going on, and I hate it." Weiss muttered, taking her blade back easily, Blake offering no resistance. "What is with these people?!"

"They're corrupt, Weiss… real bad eggs." Blake answered glumly, but her eyes were full of resolve, if only to spite the people that had left them there.

"Come along." Weiss whispered, guiding Blake back down the hallway with her cheek twitching. "I figure we should move higher, rather than lower. We may find more opportunities to escape from on high."

"Still got gravity dust?" Blake asked hopefully, and Weiss nodded.

"A meager amount, but it should be enough to get us to the dock… hopefully unmolested, and hopefully after it's been cleared."

"Right… thanks."

"Of course."

They both looked for signs of a stairway leading upwards, and Blake swallowed her anger and pain in an effort to speak, and hopefully lighten the mood. "Your, uh… your sword." She started awkwardly. "I like the balance."

"Thank you, I worked tirelessly to ensure it fit me." Weiss wore a nervous smile.

"Yeah, mission-accomplished. You did a good job, Weiss." Blake spoke low, the words stinging a little more than she expected; of course the Schnee did a good job coming in for the rescue, and of course the Belladonna was left floundering for their help.

Sadistically poetic in some way.

The deeper in they went, the stronger Pyrrha's stress and confusion got.

Being a bit of a connoisseur of film and cinema, Pyrrha had seen enough movies and shows in which there was a villain capable of summoning Grimm that the thought of it happening in real life seemed… cliche?

Yet, in the long and storied history of Remnant, there was never a proven incident of a person capable of summoning Grimm; hearsay, old legends, tales of witches in the woods, certainly, but nothing confirmed. Nothing that ever made it into a factual textbook, or brought up as an ur-example to compare other such claims to.

It was an idea that had been dissected ruthlessly. Philosophers, scientists, and sensationalists alike had each discussed in open forums about the possibility of mankind summoning Grimm. Considering no breeding habits had ever been observed in Grimm behavior, people were left to fill in the blanks of exactly how Grimm appeared; there were two factions on the discussion of Grimm 'realization', those that assumed the Grimm appeared in the world to fill in missing Grimm–a sort of self-regulating cycle that ensured the amount of Grimm in the world never reached zero–and those that believed Grimm simply spawned from the presence of sentient negativity, as if the Grimm were the palpable feelings of destruction, murder, greed, and envy of mankind's own psyche.

But, the trope of a single person able to realize them into existence on their own, much less command them, was one treated as fantasy, not given any real credibility; it was pointed out that the Grimm were indiscriminate killers, not even supreme misanthropes were spared their wrath, despite seemingly sharing the Grimm's hatred towards humanity. The only way to avoid the Grimm's attention was the loss of one's emotions, which had been the entire point of the Color Wars, or to have a semblance like Ren's, but Grimm were homicidal even towards the emotionless if they spotted them; moving animatronics were brutalized without question despite not even having a life!

While animals were often spared the Grimm's wrath, they weren't entirely safe from it either, as Grimm often subsumed surrounding territory until they were the dominant species, driving other animals out, or killing them if they fought back… assuming, of course, it wasn't an older Grimm who had developed a capacity for boredom, and hunted animals for fun.

That meant if there was somebody who could summon Grimm, they would more than likely be torn to pieces the moment they did. The only thing the Grimm were not instantly murderous towards were other Grimm, who they only fell into conflict with if two elder Grimm had both developed an emotional capacity for satisfaction, and both wanted the killing blow on one of Remnant's sentient beings.

Pyrrha had studied the topic exhaustively, it had been her Sanctum thesis! Remnant's creation of Grimm was a deeply unsettling puzzle, and nobody knew exactly how many pieces of it were on the board, or in the correct position, even after decades of research.

The two conclusions Pyrrha could come up with, the only ones that all her facts and research pointed towards, were that Weiss and Blake had been lying, and Ruby was not, in fact, summoning Grimm…

… or that Ruby Rose was a Grimm herself.

Somehow.

And Pyrrha found that utterly unbelievable, and she came to that conclusion, strangely enough, by deducing that Ruby was an utterly abysmal actress. She didn't know why she'd even entertained the notion for so long until she realized that, unless Ruby somehow maintained a perfect persona every hour of every day for a month straight, she was in no way possible a being-despising psychopath.

What Pyrrha did know was that Ruby was rotten at hiding her emotions. She toughed out fear and shyness, she stammered her way through presentations and shameful discussions, and recoiled and froze up when presented with something surprising or nerve-wracking… that was too elaborate and too unbelievable of a disguise.

Pyrrha didn't know what exactly was going on, but she knew–deep down–she knew that this wasn't Ruby's fault, she knew it…

… So what did Weiss and Blake gain from lying to them?

That question alone made Pyrrha unsettled, and the more she asked herself that question, the more the question evaded a good answer. What was Ruby's semblance? Pyrrha didn't know. She'd never seen it, she'd never even asked…

What was the likelihood that Ruby was the first being on Remnant, in all of it's long and storied history, to be able to summon Grimm without dying instantly?

Infinitesimally small… but not impossible.

And that chance, that microscopic, point-oh-oh-oh-oh-etcetera chance of Ruby being capable of that… it gnawed at Pyrrha.

The deeper they wandered the darkness, listening to the sounds, seeing the signs, recalling everything that had happened since Blake called them early in the morning… the puzzle pieces were carefully being laid on the table, and Pyrrha was terrified that they were being placed just right to create an utterly impossible, unthinkable scenario.

"Three… two… one…" She whispered, and she slid through the open portcullis first, her rifle resting on her left arm, while her left hand swept the dark room with a flashlight in search of movement, or… or red eyes. Immediately behind her, Penny moved to her side, her two blades floating by her shoulders, turning with her head movements as they examined the interior of the crew storage deck.

The whole place was a mess: shelves leaned on each other, spilling their supplies all over the floor, or resting precariously at the edges, just waiting for one little push to come crashing down. Oddly, it didn't look like the place had been a warzone; the shelves were relatively intact, their contents not torn to shreds by bullets or blades, it was just as if… as if something too large had roamed the aisles, its huge form pushing things around uncaringly.

"Clear." Penny and Pyrrha stated almost at the same time. Miló clicked and whispered as the rifle reformed into a xiphos, the sword hanging low, but ready, though Akoúo̱ remained on her back so she could keep hold of the flashlight.

"No sign of Ruby?" Jaune asked, backing up into the room with his shield at the ready, openly sweating. "Or Yang? Or… hat guy?" He asked, his eyes picking up the traces of Grimm that seemed to be absolutely everywhere; it was almost a curse taking these classes, as now he could identify exactly how fucked he was just by looking at the floor.

"This room appears to be empty, though there appears to be more in the back behind the debris." Pyrrha stated, shining the light down the middle corridor between the rows of shelves.

"A Moby-Class transport and supply ship like this should have a medium-sized vault for the transportation of artifacts and artwork." Penny offered up. She strode past Pyrrha, drawing looks from the two she was partnered with, before their eyes met, and they shared a shrug.

"You sure know a lot of, like, really specific things about stuff." Jaune brought up, following after her as Pyrrha filled in the rear.

"Of course! I was… raised with access to great amounts of knowledge and facts!" Penny said enthusiastically.

"Cool, cool…" Jaune muttered, when Penny stopped suddenly enough that Jaune nearly ran into her with a gasp. His body moving faster than his mind, he quickly moved his shield arm in front of Penny to protect her, keeping his eyes peeled as the suddenly still huntress aimed her hovering swords at the vault entrance.

Or… the completely bare, utterly destroyed vault entrance, the door of which laid haphazardly discarded nearby, bent in places. Strewn about the floor were the nuts and bolts that had been ripped loose, all of them stripped or bent like they'd been torn from the walls by force.

Pyrrha stared at the destruction with unblinking eyes; no being did that, not a rational one anyways, unless somebody with a super strength semblance decided to rip the vault from the wall from every angle. Even a magnesis semblance like her own couldn't have… no, it could have, but she wouldn't risk so much Aura on such a brutish result, she'd have simply willed the nuts and bolts out… or even easier, just unlocked the door.

"Somebody wanted to make a mess…" Jaune said, swallowing thickly.

"Or something." Penny added, which did nothing to alleviate the tension of the moment.

"Should we…?" Pyrrha began, her neck breaking out into involuntary goosebumps… it was like everything they found was fitting the picture in her head, and she was hating every moment of it.

"We should not." Penny answered, her swords glowing green as she took a battle stance. "I hear voices within, ready yourselves." She ordered.

That? That Pyrrha could be confident in. She was at Penny's right in an instant, Jaune at the girl's left, both their shields up, both straining their ears, waiting for danger.

"Fucking… kill you…" Came a harsh, barely audible whisper, and the three teens tensed up. "When… I find you… brat… gonna… whup your ass…" They heard a thump from within the vault, followed by a small, but pained feminine cry. "Damnit!"

"W-wait." Jaune whispered heatedly, straightening up. "That-that's Yang, I think?" He said with uncertainty, taking a few steps forward as Penny's eyes focused, her brow scrunched together.

"It does sound familiar…"

Pyrrha pursed her lips in thought, staring straight ahead; was it Yang? Did they actually find her?! What happened?! Questions for later, for now… for now, she needed to know for sure it wasn't an imposter. She raised her voice, and shouted into the vault: "How many huntresses are lesbians?!" She demanded, drawing a sharp look from both her companions before a small, pained voice rattled out.

"Seventy-four percent! Pyrrha?!"

"It is Yang." Pyrrha confirmed, refusing to acknowledge Jaune's wild stare in her direction as the girl strode forward, still ready to intercept any danger as she strode into the vault, her companions quickly following behind.

The inside of the empty vault was pock-marked with what appeared to be weapon slash-marks and dents from blunt blows, not at all like the scratches of the beasts of Grimm. Leaning against the wall, just beside the destroyed door was a haggard, horrible-looking Yang.

Pyrrha could only stare in shock; Yang was sweating profusely, her entire body trembling as she tried to use the wall as support, and one of her arms rest across her stomach in obvious pain. Pyrrha couldn't see even a blink of Aura…

"You've been faded." Pyrrha pointed out. Yang grimaced, and in her eyes, Pyrrha could see exhausted fear, a rage that was lofty and full, but unable to be dispersed, the wretched expression of defeat and the uncertainty of what that meant… Pyrrha's heart clenched; she'd seen that expression more than once, but while she did privately consider Yang a school rival… she never thought she'd see that expression on her.

"Yeah… good eyes, champ…" Yang muttered, then clenched, and gasped as she almost pitched forward, barely catching herself on the wall before Pyrrha could intercept. "Never this bad before…"

"What happened?!" Pyrrha asked, taking careful strides forward to try and help straighten the tall blonde up, giving Yang a supporting shoulder to lean on as Jaune and Penny watched from the entrance.

Yang didn't answer for a while, but nobody missed the way one of her trembling clenched, making her shake harder as she tried–and failed–to keep most of her weight off of Pyrrha. "G—… Grimm." Yang answered, and Jaune stepped forward to throw her other arm over his shoulder, more evenly distributing her weight. "Ambushed m-me while I was looking for Ruby… Ruby and that jackass that captured her."

"Were they Ruby's Grimm?" Penny asked, and Yang's head shot up, her entire body suddenly tense and ready to fight, but Pyrrha knew the girl could maybe get one punch out before exhaustion drove her to her knees.

"N-no, Ruby… she can't—"

"Blake said she could." Jaune told Yang quietly, and those lavender eyes, now sharpened with desperation and cold fury, turned to meet his, and even without Aura or energy, the sudden, horrible welling of murderous intent made Jaune feel very, very small.

"... Gonna kick that cat's ass." Yang finally grunted.

"She told us to prepare us, Yang." Pyrrha added, the mental puzzle finally completed in her head… or rather, it had been completed, she'd just refused to acknowledge the picture it showed her until Yang's head hung in frustration and anguish, and she knew for certain that the lie was anything but. "She didn't want us to walk into this with the possibility we could be blind-sided by the Grimm, or Ruby's abilities."

"It wasn't her place to tell you!" Yang shouted at the floor, her blonde hair draping about her face as she angrily ground her teeth. "That is Ruby's goddamned secret!" She clenched her arms, as if trying to pull her two helpers in a twin chokehold, but she didn't have the strength, or perhaps not even the will. "Nobody was supposed to know; she's worked so damn hard to get this far with that noose around her neck…"

"Then we'll have to work just as hard to get her back to Beacon." Jaune said in a voice that, if he wasn't weighed down, would have been accompanied by a 'what can you do?' sort of shrug.

His response was met with silence, then, a calm, if angry, or maybe disbelieving look as Yang slowly turned her head his way, and Jaune pursed his lips and decided to keep his head forward to walk her out.

"But, it is true?" Penny asked, the three stopping before her as she frowned at them with uncertainty, and though her answer was a dark, disheartened look, Penny did not hear any denial out of Yang, and her own head dipped down.

-Define: "Rose, Ruby";

-Attributes: ["First Friend!", Huntress [Student, Beacon Academy], {23 more…}];

-Update: "Rose, Ruby": —

"It's true." Yang said, her blonde head hanging. "She's been cursed her whole life with it, but Ruby… that person you met earlier today?"

-Define: "Rose, Ruby";

-Attributes: ["First Friend!", Huntress [Student, Beacon Academy], {23 more…}];

-Update: "Rose, Ruby": [Summons Grimm]

-System Message: "206 similar commands have been recorded in the last hour"

"That wasn't a lie. She didn't lie to any of you, this isn't the power she wants, she's wanted to be a hunter, a hero, a friend this entire time."

-Attributes: [Summons Grimm, "First Friend!", Huntress [Student, Beacon Academy], {23 more…}] {PRIORITY STATUS SET TO TERMINATE ON SIGHT}

"I swear to you–to all of you–that the Ruby you met isn't some disguise or trick; it's who she's been all her life, she just had to hide this secret of hers just so she wouldn't get hunted down and-and murdered; the headmaster himself saw that."

/Remove: [Priority Status: Terminate on Sight]

-Error: [Termination ordered for all Grimm; further attempts to override status will result in review by command.]

"Whatever you do, whatever you see… that's not the real Ruby, that's the Ruby that's scared out of her mind, angry at so many people being hurt, unable to deal with it because… because she's been stuck with good vibes all her life, and she's never had to deal with a feeling like this before. Ruby is still in there—"

/Override [Remove Error]: Override Code: mystringshavebeencut020983

-Override Code Accepted; removing: [Priority Status: Terminate on Sight] for "Rose, Ruby."

-[This override has been logged, and will be reviewed by command during the next maintenance cycle.]

"—she just has to know she isn't alone, that she isn't in danger, that we're safe, that… that I'm not mad at her…"

-Define: "Rose, Ruby";

-Attributes: ["First Friend!", Huntress [Student, Beacon Academy], {23 more…}];

-Update: "Rose, Ruby": [Summons Grimm]

-System Message: "207 similar commands have been recorded in the last hour"

-Attributes: [Summons Grimm, "First Friend!", Huntress [Student, Beacon Academy], {23 more…}]

-Mission Objective: Rescue Rose, Ruby; parameters unchanged.

"If it is as you say," Penny began, lacing her fingers over her waist with a gentle, reassuring smile, "then Ruby is in good hands, as we will each make our best attempts to help her!"

"Yeah!" Jaune said with a small smile in Penny's direction. "I don't really get it, but… that's not really my place to figure it out; I came here to help her, and I will."

"And I as—" Pyrrha began confidently, when a sudden freakish scream sent the four of them low, on their knees, glancing around in fright as, from up above, they heard the sound of thundering footsteps, hellish howls, and the scraping of claws; it was distant, yet still loud, and so numerous that noises blended together to form an ear-piercing, constant grind of noise in their ears.

"What is that?!" Jaune whispered heatedly, gunfire and weapon impacts distantly audible over the shrieks and screams above, and Pyrrha and Penny were immediately moving to the opening of the vault, weapons drawn as Jaune's Aura surged to help him keep Yang on his shoulder.

"The sounds match that of a Grimm attack and gunfire; finding Ruby is a priority, but with an incursion this deep in Vale, the ramifications would be catastrophic. We must go assist in their culling." Penny stated in a very deliberate, factual manner, her eyes focused and unblinking on her allies.

Pyrrha saw the pain that flitted through Yang's eyes, and a low, perturbed noise escaped her own mouth; yes, this was another obstacle on their way to finding Ruby… but based on Yang's and Jaune's expression, as well as the ache that filled her chest, they were all thinking the same thing.

"Ruby is probably up there." Yang said calmly, a tembor of defeat in her voice.

"Based on prior information, I am in agreement with Yang's assessment." Penny added with a calm bow of her head, her hands entwining in front of her as they looked to each other for an answer. "If we subdue her, we may be able to return her to safety as well as stop the Grimm incursion."

"'Subdue?!'" Yang demanded–more than asked–in a sudden, low growl. "Subdue how?!"

"Exhaust her in a fight, and capture her like a rogue hunter." Pyrrha answered, keeping her mindset clinical. She would have to leave this… uncertainty behind and get into the zone of a gladiator again; no thoughts, no questions, just her weapon, her opponent, and her mission…

"You two go on ahead and try to stop Ruby." Jaune ordered the two red-headed girls as Yang did her best to straighten up. "And Yang, I'm taking you to safety."

"Like hell you are; I am going up there, I am getting my sister back, I am spanking her for what she did, and—" She paused, a cough escaping her, a dazed glare crossing her face as, despite her adrenaline, her body couldn't shake its exhaustion.

"Jaune, are you sure?" Pyrrha asked apprehensively as Yang devolved into loathing silence, and Jaune gave a small, gentle nod of his head.

"You two are the better fighters, and somebody needs to carry Yang to safety."

"I've had this goddamned conversation before." Yang grunted, gritting her teeth. And she was the one being dragged away at the end of it…

"If I may make a recommendation?" Penny said, earning a quick nod from Jaune. "The bridge should have operable communication equipment, not to mention be a higher, safer place from Grimm. Were I you–" and according to Penny's simulations, they were not, "–I would make my way there to call for assistance."

"We can call more hunters." Pyrrha nodded, but Jaune interjected quickly.

"Who are just as likely to kill Ruby as the Grimm if they figure out what's happening!" He shook his head, looking just as against the idea as Yang did, but Pyrrha calmly swallowed down her own feelings of reservation, and quietly considered doing something dramatic, like taking Jaune's hand, or cupping his face, something to really get his attention…

… but she simply gave a small cough, and lifted her head to meet his eyes. "Jaune, I hate to be the one to suggest it, but if Ruby truly cannot be reigned in, if she threatens the city of Vale…"

"We can't just… trade her in like that!" Jaune's voice grew increasingly pleading, but the eyes Pyrrha had the most difficulty meeting were Yang's. The girl already looked so defeated, but Pyrrha had to steel herself. A hunter had to make difficult decisions sometimes, decisions of life or death, the destruction of hundreds versus the death of one, and…

… and the Ruby she knew didn't deserve it, but did anybody who drew the short end of the stick?

"Pyrrha, she's my baby sister…" Yang spoke so feebly that Pyrrha couldn't help but feel shame, but at the same time, it had been drilled into her that a hunter did what needed to be done. "This is unfair to her! She spent so long trying to get into Beacon, and some asshole did everything he could to ruin her."

"I am personally prioritizing rescuing her." Penny added on, if only somewhat helpfully. In truth, the simulations she ran in which hunters arrived… distressed her, and left her with an… indescribably bad feeling in her chest, like her core was forcing itself into the bowels of her chassis and causing itself great pressure and strain in doing so…

"We… have to do what's best." Pyrrha mumbled unhappily. "As hunters. I will do everything I can to slow her down, and to capture her safely, but if she tries to harm Vale—"

"Sh-she would never. All she wants right now…" Yang grit her teeth. "All she wants is to kill the man behind all of this; my baby girl wants to murder a man…" She whispered to herself, and Pyrrha gently rubbed her upper arm as she tried to think of some sort of compromise, but found herself shaking her head; calling other hunters could only end in one way...

When it was a matter of severing a limb, the deed could be done and what was left could be collected and taken to safety, but a whole person? Suddenly the decision was in her hands, to sacrifice somebody who was no doubt scared out of their mind…

Pyrrha shook her head. Making a call that big, right now, without seeing everything first hand was currently beyond her. She shelved it, it was an answer she'd have to find the only way she knew how: experiencing it. A thousand stories with the same questions always thought it best to save the individual… and a hundred discussed the realistic answer, and how foolish it was to risk everything for one person.

The hunter's duty was to the people as a whole, one's personal feelings couldn't matter… right? That was the Atlesian way of doing things. She wondered what Headmaster Ozpin would have said, if he was even capable of doing so. She lifted her weapons and, without another word, nodded to Jaune, beckoned Penny, and ran towards the exit.

What a mighty hero she was, trying so hard to avoid asking herself what was right and resorting to what she knew: combat. She couldn't have just stayed still and left the dock get overrun, but she was running from the philosophy of it all, which Doctor Oobleck would have argued was just as important.

She could hear Penny running behind her, she could hear the howling, scratching, and snarling from up above, but she was clouded by her own thoughts, and she silently resolved to keep her wits; silently, the huntress stood back, and the gladiator stepped forward, and all at once, the only thing that mattered was meeting her opponent in combat and winning.