AN: Bonjour, folks! It's finally back!

I've been struggling with this chapter for a hell of a long time, but I've decided that I'll never write the thing in a way I'm completely happy with, so here we are!

"-son of a god damn BITCH!"

Roman breathed heavily as finally stopped his minute-long tirade of cursing and swearing. Blake and Ren stared with wide eyes.

"Do you have any idea how much effort I've had to put in to find this place?" the thief finally managed to say something coherent, "I poured a metaphorical ton of manpower into it. I used up contacts. Called in markers. Spent day after day observing and waiting and making more phone calls just to get a god damn lead to follow. And you brats just came out here and found your way here on your first fucking night!?"

"I suppose we'll call it karma," Blake muttered.

"Please," Roman rolled his eyes, "If that actually existed, I wouldn't have made it to age twelve, never mind where I am now."

"At least you're honest."

"Maybe ten percent of the time. Okay, how about this: I'm going to put up my cane, your little girlfriend back there is going to put away those guns pointing at my back, and then we might even talk like I'm not the only adult in the room."

"I'm fairly sure that insults aren't supposed to be part of a peace negotiation," Ren said flatly, his grip tightening on his guns.

"And I'm fairly sure that if the four kingdoms agreed with you there wouldn't have been a Great War," Roman grunted irritably, "Is it a deal or not?"

Reluctantly, Ren pointed his guns away, while Roman did the same. Blake took the chance to stand up, and retrieved Gambol Shroud.

"Now, explain," Blake demanded, "Why are you here?"

"The fact that you're asking me that suggests to me that this little field trip of yours isn't endorsed by Beacon," Roman shook his head wryly.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that if it was, your teachers may have filled you in on some rather vital facts. Like, for example, the fact that I'm working with your oh-so-wise-and-powerful headmaster."

"Professor Ozpin wouldn't work with a criminal," Blake snapped.

"Why not?" Roman chuckled, "He let you into his school, didn't he?"

Blake's expression flickered.

"Yes," Ren came to her rescue, "But unlike you, Blake is actually repentant about the things she has done."

"Repentance is for people who get caught," the older man shrugged, "But that aside, you'd be surprised at how practical old Ozpin can be when he wants something done. The short and only answer I'm going to give you is, I've spent a long time making myself extraordinarily useful to anyone who wants to engage in some shady dealings and it really tends to pay off."

"So what was your plan, here?"

"Find the hostages, cause a few sneaky problems, get out, call in the authorities to make their big, heroic rescue while the guards were in a tizzy and I got away un-noticed," Roman said simply, "The simple plans are the best, you know? Of course, you guys being here has thrown a bit of a wrench into that, as well as some unfortunate run-ins with the goons – I think I'm getting sloppy in my old age, you know?"

"We've already notified the authorities," Blake informed him, "They're on their way as we speak."

"Well, then!" Roman clapped his hands, "While I'd simply love to stick around for that, I really better be going, so how about we open this door," he waved toward the door behind him, "and save the scared, banish the Beowolf, rescue the kitten from the top of the tree or whatever it is you kids came here to do promptly so I can get the hell out of here?"

Neo closed the distance faster.

Her feet left the ground as she jumped, legs blurring into motion as a series of airborne kicks lashed at Pyrrha in quick succession. The tourney champion brought her shield up and caught every one of them, being driven back several feet by the impacts even as a pin-point thrust of a spear flickered out toward Neo's torso. Neo twisted around in the air around the spear, landing to launch another kick at her opponent's guard, but found herself stopped by the shield again even as the spear came back for another shot that came perilously close to hitting the mark.

She dropped low, leg curling around to try and sweep Pyrrha's feet, but her opponent was ready for her, dropping down to one knee so her shield offered full potential body coverage. She responded with a sweep of her own, her spear flashing in an arc to try and hit Neo while her mobility was limited.

Fortunately, Neo had worked hard to ensure that, no matter what position she was in, her mobility was never limited. Pushing herself up with her hands, she pushed herself into the air, twirling around as she did so to plant her feet on Pyrrha's shield before using it as a platform to launch herself away in a backward flip. Landing on her feet, she eyed her opponent, who had risen to her feet and watching her carefully, even more warily than before.

It was like trying to get around a one-woman phalanx. There didn't seem to be a way through that shield like this. But there was more than one way to crack a skull.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the blonde boy move forward as though to try and intervene. She could tell just by looking at him that this fight was out of his league, what did he think he could accomplish? She'd put him down quickly and-

"Jaune, stay back," Pyrrha barked. Huh. It seemed her opponent agreed with her.

"But Pyrrha-" he started to protest.

"Jaune, please," the tourney fighter pleaded, "You have made big strides, I know that more than anyone, but this opponent is too much for you right now. I can't fight her and protect you at the same time."

Giving her a look somewhat reminiscent of a kicked puppy (not that Neo would know, she had standards after all), he nodded and backed off.

Figuring that she had been way too polite in letting them have their little heart-to-heart, Neo launched herself forward again, parasol appearing in her hand. She managed to side-step the initial thrust of Pyrrha's spear then retaliated with a thrust of her own weapon, handle first. Pyrrha's shield came up once again, and Neo's blunt parasol handle skipped off the edge of the aspis.

Neo grinned.

Smoothly, she twisted the parasol and pulled back, the curved handle catching the edge of the shield and pulling it to the side even as Neo jumped into another spinning motion – this time, her right foot hit the girl's other wrist that even now was coming back around to slash with her spear-turned-short sword, while her other foot hammered down onto Pyrrha's chest, knocking her to the ground.

Not missing a beat, Pyrrha rolled backward onto one knee, shield up and spear pointing outward to stop any further advance from Neo, who was feeling satisfaction at managing to get payback for the earlier flooring she had received.

Pyrrha looked at Neo's parasol and frowned, eyes narrow, before her spear once again retracted to sword-form.

Neo went to attack again, this time opening up with a thrust of her parasol. As Pyrrha readied herself to parry it, Neo clicked the button on it, opening it up and blocking Pyrrha's view entirely even as she effortlessly pulled her blade from within the handle. In one smooth motion, she side-stepped to the left, practically gliding underneath Pyrrha's blade and going for a cut straight to the abdomen.

Suddenly, her arm jerked away, almost as though the blade it was holding was being pushed or dragged away by some sort of force. She stumbled, and winced as a heavy blow hit her back. Pyrrha's sword arm didn't stop, coming right back around for another blow – but as the weapon hit home, its intended target shattered, as though it had been made of glass.

Feeling a presence behind her, Pyrrha whirled around to attack – and found herself looking directly into the shocked and frightened face of a different girl entirely. Instead of pink and brown eyes, this one had bright green, and her hair was black instead of the multi-coloured motley atop the head of Pyrrha's opponent. This time, she was the one to stumble as she desperately avoided attacking what she assumed must have been a hostage who escaped their binding.

Her hesitation provided an opening. In a flash, the girl's palm lashed out, jabbing Pyrrha in the face and disorientating her. Not letting the opening go to waste, Neo, whose form now changed back to her usual appearance, leaped on her opponent, her legs curling around Pyrrha's neck in a vice grip. Suddenly, Pyrrha was tumbling over as Neo bodily swung down, coming to a handstand and bodily throwing Pyrrha straight through the window of a nearby office room with her legs.

Smashing through said window and subsequently a table, she showed remarkable agility of her own to turn the impact into a full bodily roll that saw her rising to her feet even as her weapon and shield flew in after her, settling themselves right into her hand.

Neo saw this, mentally compared it with what she had felt before with her own sword, and made the reasonable connection.

Leaping into the room through the smashed window Pyrrha had made, she rolled to land on her knees and lashed out with her sword, slicing the legs off of an office chair next to her. She stabbed her sword into the floor and in the next moment she had launched herself at Pyrrha again, a chair leg in each hand.

Pyrrha's shield blocked the first hit and her sword blocked the second. The third managed to slip through her guard thanks to the complete change in attack pattern from her opponent owing to the change of weaponry – and much to her apparent surprise, her other defence did not affect the weapon as it was thrust directly into her forehead, knocking her back. Her sword extended to spear form and lashed out in a wide sweeping arc, driving Neo back and allowing Pyrrha time to recover.

For a moment, the two fighters stared each other down.

"You figured out my semblance almost immediately and took the chair legs because they're not made of steel or any other kind of metal, so I can't affect them," Pyrrha said in reluctant admiration, "I must admit, you are spectacular. I do not believe I have ever faced someone in my age group who could push me to this extent."

Neo herself couldn't help but feel the same way. She had never actually had an even one-on-one fight before. Everyone else she had encountered up to this point was generally someone she could either beat handily or was way out of her league. And suddenly, here was this girl, a girl that she had written off as a pampered princess who was out of her depth, and she was being matched blow for god damn blow.

She was actually starting to enjoy herself. Not that she would ever voice that. Instead, it was time to turn things up a notch.

"You're better than I thought," she saw Pyrrha blink in surprise at finally hearing her speak, "But this fight ends now."

She saw Pyrrha's eyes widen in alarm as they focused on something behind her.

"Good prediction, girl."

Every well-honed instinct Neo had developed over the course of her short life screamed in mind-numbing terror as she felt the absolute last thing she ever wanted to feel – something dangerous, right behind her, without her realising until it was too late.

Before she could even turn around, the most powerful blow she had ever taken crashed into her back. As she smashed through the outside window of the building, the last thing she felt before unconsciousness took her was the coldness of the night.

"So you've been following us the whole time without us knowing? How?" Ruby couldn't help but be impressed at the quick-notes explanation they got from CFVY after they finished hastily securing the White Fang members. Ren was very good at stealth, not to mention Blake who was basically a ninja, and to follow both of them unnoticed was no mean feat.

"One thing you'll quickly learn in this biz," Coco grinned, "Is that superior detection is better than stealth. Fox and Velvet can track you from far enough away with their hearing that we could follow behind you at a safe enough distance that even Yatsuhashi wouldn't get found out," she paused, "No offence, big guy."

"None taken," the giant boy rumbled, "We all have our strengths and stealth is not one of mine."

"I overheard you planning back at the school," Velvet said apologetically, "And we figured we'd follow behind you just in case you got in over your heads. I guess we really underestimated you, though," she shook her head in disbelief, "I probably should have been prepared for that after hearing your little speech." Ruby felt a tinge of embarrassment. She still wasn't used to speaking out, never mind people complimenting her on it.

"Those guys were really dug in," Fox praised, "You guys did a really good job, here."

"Thanks," Ruby said bashfully, "For the praise and the backup. That could have gone badly really easily." And it really could have. If there had been anything other than simple goons here it would have been serious trouble.

"Let's not count our chickens," Coco admonished her, "We aren't done here until we've got your other pals and any hostages out safely."

"Oh," Ruby winced, "Yeah, I probably shouldn't jinx it. We're still missing Blake, Ren, Jaune and Pyrrha."

Coco nodded. "Fox?"

"There are several people moving around in the other building," Fox shook his head, "Two of them are moving very quickly, like they may have been fighting, but one… wait," he said in alarm before dashing outside with all of his considerable speed. Sharing looks of concern, the others hurried out to follow him only to hear the sound of a window breaking and Fox diving forward to catch something that fell from above. On closer inspection, it turned out to be someone Ruby didn't recognise.

"What happened?"

"Is that a girl? Is she okay?"

"Wait," Coco realised with a start, "That's?"

"The girl who was at the warehouse where we took out that White Fang cell," Velvet confirmed with a frown.

"Damn," Yang whistled, "That was a pretty rocking colour scheme she had going on until someone added all that black and blue to it."

"Warehouse? Is that the mission you guys went on last semester?" Ruby asked curiously. There was no way she could forget given how the aftermath of that incident affected her team.

"Yes, we went with Professor Goodwitch," her faunus upperclassman answered.

"This girl pulled off the most kickass mid-air rescue of someone from a falling drop-ship," Coco remembered.

"A drop-ship that was falling because of you," Fox added unhelpfully.

"What can I say? I'm so good at landing them I can even do it from outside the cockpit," his team leader shrugged unrepentantly, "But that was a wicked move she pulled off and I'm pretty sure she wasn't on the White Fang's side, so that could mean we've still got someone lurking around who is neither friendly or someone to mess with. Stay frosty, gang..."

"I think this girl was fighting someone, but there was something else moving up there that interrupted them," Fox said with a grimace, "Something fast. Very fast. There's a fight going on still, too."

"That's probably one of the others," Nora voiced with concern.

"Damn," Coco grimaced, "Okay, gang, we need to get in that building, find your pals, find the hostages and get out of here before things get the chance to go to shit-"

"I'm afraid it's too late for that."

Everyone went still.

"I was keeping an eye on a passing curiosity, wondering if I would need to enforce a rule that I set many years ago."

The voice seemed to come from everywhere at once. Ruby looked around, trying to keep a handle on her nerves.

"I was quite surprised when it became apparent that I would not."

She felt her grip on Crescent Rose tighten and sweat appear on her forehead, seemingly ignorant of the cold.

"But then more curiosities showed up, and this swiftly became an unparalleled opportunity."

A strange, black and red portal burst into being in front of them, and something began to walk out of it.

That 'something' was dressed like a creature from the most primordial of nightmares. Their face was covered entirely by an ornate, fearsome white mask, with multiple eye slits, clearly reminiscent of some kind of Grimm. Jagged black hair spiked out and down behind their head like the mane of some kind of wild beast, while the blood red colour of their armour glistened in the moonlight.

Whatever aesthetic the White Fang thought they were trying to pull off with their own Grimm masks, this woman did it much, much better. The entire getup looked like it was set up to inspire terror, and in the dark like this, it was doing a really good job.

One of her hands lay on the hilt of a long, curved, sheathed blade, likely an ōdachi from the length and shape, with the sheathe itself containing variable dust chambers – possibly a blade that could utilise different forms of dust?

Ruby's analysis of the weapon was cut short as she eyed the other hand, which was dragging an unmoving body that Ruby immediately recognised as it was unceremoniously dumped on the ground at the woman's feet.

"Pyrrha!" several voices shouted at once, her own being one of them.

"An opportunity to meet the entirety of Ozpin's brand new little 'Golden Generation' without him, my brother, or any other of his pet huntsmen hovering over you like mother hens," the woman finished.

Ruby heard Yang gasp from beside her. It took her a bit longer to make the connection. Her eyes went wide.

"You," Yang gaped.

"Me," she responded calmly, "Hello, Yang. I hadn't meant to see you this early, but one day you'll understand that chances like this are difficult to come by."

"Raven," Ruby breathed, voice laden with a mixture of uncertainty and anger. This was her. The woman who cast such a long a shadow over their family with her absence.

Raven Branwen. Yang's mother. Uncle Qrow's sister. Ruby's… aunt, she supposed? What on Remnant was she doing here, now, and why had she apparently attacked Pyrrha?

The other students eyed the two sisters in concern. "Who?" Weiss asked.

"My mom," Yang's trembling fists clenched tightly as several heads whipped around to look at her in surprise, "I've spent my entire life looking for you and you just... show up out of nowhere now? After knocking out one of my friends? How? Why?!"

"There is something," Raven intoned, "That I wish to find out."

"Well that's just fine by me," Yang growled back, shock beginning to give way to anger, "Because I've got some pretty damn major questions for you too! Care to make it a Q&A? Maybe we can start with why you left me!"

Raven regarded her contemptuously. "If you want answers for your questions, you'll need to earn them, girl."

Ruby gaped for a moment in sheer incredulity at the dismissive response. Had she more presence of mind, she'd have seen her sister doing the same.

Earn them.

She'd have to earn them.

Like Yang hadn't been 'earning them' every day of her life with her near-obsession with finding this woman, and her guilt over nearly getting herself and Ruby killed over it years ago.

Like she hadn't 'earned them' with the constant fear she tried so hard to hide but still became apparent whenever she let her guard down – the fear that Dad, or Uncle Qrow, or even Ruby would get up one day and leave her, too.

Like she hadn't 'earned them' by looking after their family the way her mother should have done if she had actually been there.

Ruby felt a familiar fury bubbling and rising to the surface, one not entirely unlike what she had felt not too long ago upon finding a terrorist standing over the fallen form of her friend.

Crescent Rose twitched in her hand.

"You..." Ruby glared at her, "How can you say that?"

Yang whirled around in shock. "Sis?"

"How can you say that?!" Ruby repeated angrily.

The woman looked at her, and something caught her interest. "Oh my," she said amusedly, "I see you got your glare from your mother in more ways than one."

Ruby's personal tension went up even higher. She wouldn't dare-

"It's almost a shame that, like with her, they're only going to care about the silver in those eyes, when they should be paying attention to the steel."

Ruby blinked, confusion overwhelming anger for a moment. What did that mean?

"Of course, I'm sure it won't matter in the end, regardless. You also seem to have inherited her attitude, after all, so I'm sure you'll end up going the same way she did – throwing your life away for nothing."

Any confusion ended. Distantly, she heard what might have been familiar voices, shouting for her to stop.

She didn't.

Roman stared around the room where the now-frantic hostages were being held as Blake and Ren rushed in to untie them, the pair of students giving loud assurances all the while to try and calm them down.

He instantly understood that there was a problem.

It took him a moment longer to pinpoint what that problem was.

He turned to the two Beacon students, raising his voice to be heard over the sobs and relieved cries of the people currently being rescued.

"So... where are all the other victims?"

Any reply they might have made was cut off by a cacophony of gunfire, clashing metal and explosions going off outside.