Blake's lungs burned with the need for oxygen as she raced up the stairs toward the roof. Below her shouting and the tromp of boots lent her feet speed. She'd managed to evade capture in the White Fang's Vale headquarters for two days, but she's had to break cover when she got the message her evac was arriving soon. Now Blake was in a race against time; she had to be in position when her ride got there, or risk them being forced to leave without her.

She burst through the door, her breath heaving as she scanned the roof and the air above it. Nothing. Either her ride hadn't arrived yet or they'd been and gone; she couldn't be sure which. Her scroll was nothing but a memory now, dropped somewhere during the chase. Whoever tried to unlock it was in for a nasty surprise.

She staggered across the roof, barely managing to take cover behind some machinery before the first of her pursuers followed her onto the roof. A snap shot caught him in the leg, sending him to the ground screaming in pain and making his fellows more cautious. Good, she thought, that will slow them down.

Shots came from the roof access, trying to narrow down where Blake was hiding. Nice try, chumps. She snapped off a quick shot, catching one of them in the neck. Need to save one for myself. Blake wasn't sure what they'd do if they caught her but she was pretty sure it wasn't anything she was going to enjoy. Too bold; shots hammered into the machinery she was hiding behind. Peering out, she could see White Fang troopers crouched in the doorway. Time to move. Blake fired two shots into the darkness of the doorway, trying to make them flinch, then bolted for what looked like a water tank. It was closer to the edge of the roof anyway. Another way to make her exit, if necessary.

Shouts came from the troopers as the moved out onto the roof. That was good and bad. Good because if they were shouting at each other, they weren't that well-trained. Well-trained troops would have moved quietly, using handsign. Bad because it sounded like there were a lot of them. She was going to need more than the seventeen rounds her pistol held—twelve now, as she fired two quick shots into a White Fang Trooper that crept into view, one catching him in the neck above his body armor. Blake scooped up his weapon, keeping an eye out for others even as she searched his body for more ammunition. Ooh, flash-bangs. Those could be useful.

She cradled the ammo and grenades in her left arm as she scurried towards an electrical box at the base of a transmission tower. Blake had heard that this White Fang headquarters had once been the local branch of Vale News Network before the war. It sure fit all the crap on the roof. She'd never seen so many AC units, electrical boxes, and transmission towers on a roof. Guess newsies like it cold. She tore the vest she was wearing into a makeshift sling for the ammo and grenades. Not ideal, but better than nothing, and it freed up Blake's left arm to steady the rifle. That was one thing Weiss had hammered into her. "Always, always shoot two-handed if you can," the Atlesian woman had snarled at her. "In a firefight, your purpose is not to look good or 'cool.' Your purpose is victory. Every shot you miss fails to achieve that purpose."

"You can't run forever, Blake my love. Why have you betrayed me?" Adam's voice came booming over the rooftop; the self-important asshole was probably using magic to make it louder. Maidens, he really loved the sound of his own voice. "Even this betrayal can be forgiven. You believe in what we're doing here, I know it. I have looked into your heart and know that you realize that the Faunus are safe only when Humans have been wiped from the face of Remnant. Tell me who turned you against us and our vengeance will be sweet."

If only you knew what my heart contained, Adam. You'd be horrified, then tear it out and show it to me before I died. A smile crept across Blake's lips. If she wasn't going to make it out of this alive, she could at least do some more damage before she died. "That's where you're wrong, Adam," Blake yelled, her voice carrying across the roof. "I don't believe in the world of hate and violence that you do; I never did. Hatred and violence only breed more hatred and violence. The only way this world will ever know peace is when we set aside our differences and work together. The person that turned me against you was you, Adam. I've been spying on you this entire time. You call humans the monsters, but you're a greater monster than any human I've ever met."

"Then die with the humans, then." A blast of crimson energy slammed into the transmitter above her, sending it crashing to the roof even Blake scrambled to find somewhere else to hide. She'd known that insulting Adam was risky, but it was worth it any glimmer of doubt she could leave in his troops.

"One more thing, Adam." Blake crouched, readying herself to run toward a fresh hiding place as soon as she tossed off one more taunt at him. "Remember when I said I couldn't be yours, that my heart already belongs to another? She's human, Adam. Remember that, when I'm gone."

A hail of gunfire and blasts of arcane energy answered her, and Blake wondered for a moment if she might have gone too far. It didn't matter; she already knew she wasn't getting off the roof. The only thing left was to choose her end. Blake looked up at the limitless blue sky above her as if seeking a benediction from the heavens. She took a moment to pray to the maidens she wasn't sure she believed in anymore for them to look after the woman she loved.

And then her prayers were answered. Above her, a red aircraft with black trim shimmered into existence, rotary guns sliding into view from slots in its wings. Blake hunkered down on the roof, trying to futilely cover all four of her ears. This was going to be loud.

A hurricane of rotary cannon fire swept across the roof, shredding transmitters, air conditioning, electrical boxes, leaving only the air conditioner Blake was crouched behind untouched. When it ceased, Blake looked up to see the aircraft turning in place, rear ramp already down. Weiss was crouched down, firing bursts of the tight, precise fire that was her trademark, Yang holding out her hands and yelling "Come on! We've got to go!" Of course, it was them; she'd known that since she saw the aircraft. Blake dropped the rifle she was holding and ran, grenades and scavenged ammunition flying behind her. She jumped, landing on the edge of the ramp, Yang diving to catch her with both hands. "I gotcha, kitty-cat."

"You've got me? Who's got you?" Blake shrieked. Yang laughed and squirmed around to get her feet under her, fighting to pull Blake up the boarding ramp. Weiss muttered something in Atlesian that sounded decidedly pissed off as she dropped her assault rifle to dangle on its sling and joined her teammate in trying to haul Blake aboard. The aircraft's nose dipped as angled away from the skyscraper, and a voice from the cockpit called back, "Have you got her?"

"Almost... got... her... sis... shaddap... and... drive... the... bus!" Yang snapped as he grip slipped and she grabbed hold even tighter, making Blake cry out in pain.

Suddenly the jump-jet went into a nosedive, sending the three women tumbling toward the front of the compartment to land against the bulkhead with a groan. The hatch slid shut and again the voice called, "Did that do it?"

"Yes, our katze-mädchen spy is now aboard. Now, will everyone please get off me? Between your oaf of a sister and your flying, I am feeling decidedly bruised," Weiss moaned. Somehow in the tumble, she had ended up at the bottom.

"I'll give you a full massage when we get back to Beacon, I promise. With that scented oil you like this time." Yang rolled off Weiss with a groan. "Sis, cloak and let's get out of here."

"Uh, small problem. The controller for the cloaking device has crashed and is now rebooting. It's gonna be a few minutes. Somebody want to man the gunner's position? I can see Nevermores headed our way, big ones."

With a muttered curse in Atlesian, Weiss shoved Blake off her and pushed herself off the deck, staggering to the flight deck to take control of the turret guns. Blake lay gasping on the deck, her heart slowing down from the chase. "Thanks for coming to get me. I didn't think you would."

"We were the closest team. If we'd had a choice, Ruby wouldn't have come." Yang sat up, shaking her head at their former teammate. "She's... really pissed at you, by the way," she added softly.

"I... wasn't given much of an option. The mission was there, and I fit the profile all too well." Blake gave Yang a lopsided grin. "I guess undercover work's off the table for me now, eh?"

Before Yang could respond, the jet banked sharply, almost sending the blonde back to the deck. Ruby's voice came from the flight deck even as they could hear Weiss swearing profusely. "Buckle up, sis. Gonna get lively."

The blonde dragged herself into one of the jumpseats at the edge of the bay, reluctantly reaching out a hand to pull Blake into the seat next to her. "I don't care much if you get banged around, but Ozpin gets cranky if we deliver damaged goods."

Blake winced. Once upon a time her and the others had been friends, teammates. Now it seemed as if she was going to have to earn that again.

The first Nevermore swooped into view behind them, and Ruby jinked to the left to avoid a barrage of razor-sharp feathers even as Weiss put a burst of cannon fire into the flying Grimm. She didn't manage to kill it outright, but it did go tumbling to the ground, one wing shattered. Ruby slid the throttle forward, looking for speed to trade for altitude. Being among the steel-and-glass canyons of what had once been downtown Bastion was a decidedly mixed blessing. One the one hand, it limited how the Nevmores could come at them. On the other, she couldn't see them coming or take advantage of their jump-jet's superior speed. But hiding down here was the best of a bad set of options while she bought time for the cloaking driver to restart.

The next two decided to be a little smarter, coming at her as a pair, one above, one behind, both swooping down at them, trying to box their jump-jet in. Ruby slewed to her right, firing the paired wing-mounted cannons even as Weiss turned the top-mounted turret gun on the one behind. Ruby missed, making the Nevermore dive behind a burned-out office building. The cannon fire sent shards of glass raining down on the street below, making the few people on the street run for cover. Sorry everyone, Agents of BEACON coming through, we're the good guys, we promise. Not that it probably mattered much. BEACON, the White Fang, Salem's minions, they were all bad news from the perspective of the people below.

"Dolt! You ruined my shot!" Weiss snapped.

"Fixed forward guns, you want to fly?" Ruby yelled back as the Nevermore she'd fired at flew into view again. Another burst caught the Grimm square in the chest this time, sending it tumbling to the ground even as it started to dissolve into smoke. Idly Ruby wondered if it'd dissolve or hit the ground first.

The Nevermore behind them gave a hunting cry as it followed them down a wide avenue. Ruby couldn't help but shiver a little; when a Nevermore gave a cry like that, it was calling the rest of its flock to the hunt, letting them know where the prey was. She opened up the throttle more and reluctantly kept the jump-jet low, hoping to use speed to keep the Grimm from encircling them.

"How much longer for the verdammt cloaking device to come back up?" Weiss asked, firing the turret at their pursuer. This one was a more skilled flier than most. It was dodging very well and Weiss was enjoying the challenge of taking it down just a little.

"Not sure; I think it's about half-finished. I didn't do the last software upgrade."

"Maybe ask for a refund?" The pair shared a grim laugh even as Weiss finally got a burst on target, shattering the Grimm behind them. "Last one!" Weiss whooped with a grin.

"Don't celebrate yet. More are coming,"

"Yes, but now you have time to get us higher and further away. I don't know much about aircraft, but I do know they're not supposed to be this close to the ground. Or playing among buildings, yes?"

Ruby nodded, pushing the engines up to full throttle and bringing the nose of their jump-jet up to clear the skyscrapers. They'd terrorized the residents of Bastion enough for today.

Well, maybe not. As they cleared the buildings, she could see six more Nevermores headed their way. She gulped. "Well, this is going to be interesting. Or not," Ruby added as the driver for their cloaking systems finally came back online. I am definitely going to have a word with Goodwitch about that last patch. We could have gotten killed! The nose of their jump-jet turned toward the open ocean as it faded into invisibility. "And we're clear, ladies. Smoke 'em if you got 'em, except kinda don't, the smell lingers."

Weiss had the decency to look embarrassed as she pulled her cigarettes from a breast pocket. "One?" she asked piteously. "I think I earned one today."

"Fiine, but only one. And I thought sis told you to quit."

The white-haired girl glanced back to see that Yang was pointedly looking toward the back of the plane. "We are having a bit of a rough patch. Much baggage we must both shed." Weiss pulled out a cigarette and lit it with a guilty sigh. "This got me through so much in Atlas, it's very hard to give up. And I despise gum, and the patches make me itch."

"Pills? I know they have pills for that."

"I will look into the pills, for your sister's sake."

"And use the ashtray, dammit!"

Their jump-jet had flown for hours over the open sea before Blake worked up the courage to approach Ruby. "Can... can we talk?"

"Not now, Blake."

"But... okay, I guess that's it, then." Blake turned to go, only to be stopped by a "Wait," from Ruby.

Ruby exhaled heavily not wanting to take her eyes off the controls at the moment. "Blake, that's 'not ever', it's 'not now.' We're coming up on the Stormwall, and I really don't want to be distracted flying through that, okay? But you can sit in the gunner's seat."

The jump-jet shook as it flew into the Stormwall, the perpetual storm that surrounded Patch Island. Until Ozpin developed the first shield generators a century ago, the island had been uninhabitable. Now, decades later, better shields and a lot of landscaping made Patch Island a relatively pleasant place. Relatively.

Thinking of Ozpin, even in passing, made Ruby shiver slightly. Ozpin's immortality was a well-known fact. Only his wealth and publicly professed ignorance of the cause behind his longevity had protected him, before the war. Ruby knew the truth behind that lie, and it scared her. Now Ozpin hid behind the Stormwall, using his wealth and knowledge against the forces fighting to tear Remnant apart.

Ruby brought their jump-jet down on the landing pad with a flourish. "Patch Island, everyone. Last stop, end of the line. Please check to make sure you have all your belongings, and as always, thank you for flying Rose Airlines."

"Dolt. Why does Ruby have to say such foolish things when landing the plane?" Weiss muttered as she double-checked that she had all her gear.

"Because she's Ruby, and that's how she deals with things, by pretending not to take them too seriously," Yang murmured in response. "Lay off sis, she's dealing with a lot of stress. Keep riding her and no more backrubs."

"Sorry," Weiss responded with an internal whimper. One of the benefits of her... relationship with Yang that she most enjoyed was the blonde's backrubs and full-body massages. While Ruby dealt with stress by joking and acting the fool, Weiss internalized it, making her body tense. She was getting better about it (or at least she thought she was), but Yang working her over regularly was a gift from the Maidens themselves as far as she was concerned.

"It's okay. This mission was hard, on multiple levels, but let it go, okay?"

Ozpin himself was waiting for them at the edge of the landing pad. "Well done, Miss Rose, Miss Schnee, Miss Xiao Long. And very well done, Miss Belladonna. I know this assignment has taken a terrible toll on you in particular." His face grew grim. "Relax and enjoy a brief rest, because very soon, I have another mission for you."

"No." Blake's response came out as a snarl, surprising the Faunus woman.

"But-"

"I. Said. No." She stalked towards Ozpin, getting close enough that spittle struck his face as she snarled at him. "No more solo missions, no more deep cover. Six months, six months I spent among those, those, animals and I am not doing it again. Ever."

Ozpin took a step back. One thing centuries of lifespan had taught him was there was a time to stand fast, and a time to retreat. "I understand, Miss Belladonna. And perhaps I should have spoken more precisely. This mission is not for you alone, but for the four of you, as a team. And it's one I think you will be glad to undertake. There were some very interesting revelations among the information you were able to send us while you were undercover, including the opportunity to make right something that I and all of you hold as a personal failure.

"We have found Pyrrha Nikos."