"So, what are those things Titor? The shadow people?" Summer asked as they walked the silent hallways, as the soldier scavenged about, grabbing supplies as they went. He held a flashlight of his own as he had hurriedly warned Drei to not come out into the open.

"Not a goddamn clue. One moment, we were dealing with the usual Grimm, next thing we know we get attacked by those damn things." The battered soldier said as they walked through the corridors. "Infectious buggers they are. The dead are the same. Only way to keep Remnant from having their own outbreak is to blow this ship up. Thankfully, we have you to initiate the blast, so we don't get casualties."

"Should we tell them about the soldiers over in the med bay?"

"I think it's best that we leave this to Cayde and the others. Besides, we don't know what lengths these people will go to. This might be curable."

"For someone all of Remnant has considered to be quite chatty, you're awfully silent." Titor couldn't help but remark.

"Just thinking things over." Summer replied back as to not look suspicious. "Is there a group of survivors that we need to evacuate?"

"About a tenth- of the remaining crew stayed on the ship, with only half of us having escaped. Some of them ghostless guardians, some just regular mortals." Titor said as he looked around cautiously. "The rest are either dead or missing. Won't be surprised if the latter just outright abandoned us. I would've. Little to no chance of escaping here alive without wiping out every single grimm."

They then came to a vent, of which automatically opened up for them. The soldier motioned to it.

"You're not coming?"

"I have to search for supplies, food and whatnot to keep everyone going. You'd be better off meeting Cordovin than sticking with me." The soldier then walked away, rifle aimed at the dark as he went within. "Though let's be honest… this is probably the last time you'll see me."

A beat passed by as a dreadful silence hung in the air. "You know, I think it'd be best to look on the bright side of things."

Titor chuckled. "Just send your ghost out first and have him give the message. The others should lead you. And one last thing? ...Let my daughter know that blind sacrifice isn't the way to go. Can't believe I let her mother's tendencies to refuse help get to her like that."

It was then that Titor disappeared into the dark, leaving Summer all alone. Following the man's instructions, she let her ghost go first into the vent. After hearing some surprised yelps on the other side, along with the barest hint of conversation, Drei came back through. "They're expecting you."

Summer then crept through the vents, being careful as to not make too much noise. Once on the other side, she saw what seemed to be a large room full of soldiers seemed to be on their rope's end, some of them only laying on the ground in wait of death. Commander Cordovin turned to look at her after finishing talking to a couple soldiers, eyes stone cold as she seemed to have been up for several nights. At first, Cordovin drew her gun at her, but hesitated, quickly proceeding to stop. "No. You're not that decoy that got on here. The ghost just came through after all."

"Cordovin I believe?" Summer asked, walking right up to her. Thankfully, Summer was only just taller than the woman. Just. "What exactly happened here?"

"You saw it yourself, sunshine." Cordovin said without a shred of remorse. "Everyone's dead down here. At this point, either we go out with passion, or by some miracle find a way to escape. The rest of the details as to how it all started oughta be spared."

Summer scratched her chin in thought as she looked over the crowd. The few that bothered to notice her seemed to have a small glimmer of hope left inside of their own eyes. Some had even prepped their rifles in belief that their final stand could finally be made. She brought her focus back to Cordovin. "This place has a mess hall, right?"

Caroline raised an eyebrow. "Yes? Why precisely do you-"

00000

"-think this is going to work." Cordovin flatly asked, as Summer had brought a plethora of fridges to accommodate the remaining crew of soldiers that were left.

"I saw it in a movie." Summer said as she had Drei transmat the last fridge they built off the previous one using parts of the ship. "Line them all up with a bunch of lead and you should be safe from the fallout. It'll be a tight fit, but the little room to move should prevent everybody inside them from getting hurt too bad. We should be able to have some lying around here."

The soldiers seemed to be in disbelief at the idea. Some seemed to even take to the notion out of desperation, trying to see who can fit with who perfectly inside the fridges.

Cordovin didn't seem to be amused by the idea. "Brothers, you're truly as insane as the reports say of you."

"So I'm told." Summer said as she put her hand on a fridge. "Now, about blowing this place up?"

It was then the soldiers around them suddenly seemed to be reminded of their mission. They looked between one another nervously.

"Sweet Oum, how are we supposed to deal with that… that thing?" One of the soldiers said as the crew began to mutter.

"Screw the Doom Psyche, you actually think we have enough ammo to kill off a whole damn ship worth of zombies?!" Another hissed out in anger. "Who in their right mind thinks they can take out a damn army, much less one as relentless as these guys?"

"There's that damn nickname you made it for the bloody thing!" Another hissed back. "Leave it to the officials already you damn maniac!"

"Officials?" The soldier laughed back, almost as if delirious. "In case you hadn't noticed bub, no one has power here anymore. It's all about-"

It was then that Cordovin stomped, catching everyone's attention. The room grew still as tension ran high, the infighting that was about to happen stopping instantly. She looked throughout the room, giving everyone a stern glare as she walked towards the soldiers.

"Our comms to General Ironwood may be cut off." Cordovin said as she eyed up the soldier from earlier. "But make no mistake. I am leading this rag tag group we have out of here. And brothers damnit, we are THIS close to leaving this ship alive. THIS close to us all barely scraping past death's grasp."

She then pulled the soldier down to her height by his chin. "And so help me, if any of you start up some shit during this last chance of escape we may have, I will personally give you a boot back into reality, and it will be oh-so painful because it's going up the worst imaginable spot anyone could have. Do I make this clear to every single one of you, particularly you Pvt. Pedro?"

The soldiers frantically nodded. Pvt. Pedro seemed to be irritated with the little girl before him instantly wrenching back control with such ease.

"Good, because I myself am seriously too FUBAR to deal with your shit today. Especially considering I've had to deal with you maggots this whole week praying to a god that I'll never be desperate enough to answer to." Cordovin then let go of the soldier. "I want everyone to grab their weapons, pipes, knives, guns, whatever the hell you got. We've got a live guardian here, one of the best even, and we're not just going to sit by and do nothing about keeping the shades at bay or completely ignoring that leader hiding up in the control room. Summer, I need to discuss the battle plan with you, stat."

"Nice whipping them back into line." Summer whistled as they watched the soldiers get to work.

"As a wise man once said, the smaller people are the ones you need to worry about more than the bigger people." Caroline watched one of them stumble in haste to get ready. "Once your will is exerted, even the biggest, baddest soldier of them all will learn to not screw with you. And I'm sure your own guardian friends have learned that too."

Summer couldn't help but nod in agreement. "You know what? I think we'll have quite a lot of fun getting out here."

"Fun's a secondary objective." Cordovin waved her off as she pulled out a rough map of the ship's layout from some boxes, laying it on the table. She then went back to dig in some more. "Survival's the primary issue for us all right now when we can't even sleep peacefully."

"A real party crasher to the next degree aren't you?" Summer pouted at how unfriendly the short woman was.

"Heh," Caroline couldn't help but chuckle. "I guess the same could be said when they busted down that hatch. Lucky I managed to slip out through a vent when I tried to blow up the fuel. Too many bastards there already. Amazed how many engineers took shelter there."

She then pulled out a pair of gauntlets from the boxes. "A warlock on the ship made these in an attempt to help a hunter replicate a 'way of a thousand cuts' super without requiring the energy. Couldn't throw a knife to save his life, literally so." Cordovin then tossed it to Summer who managed to hold onto them both safely with one arm. "Think you could make some use of this sunshine?"

Summer looked it over for a few moments, before opening up her free palm. Drei then appeared and scanned the gauntlets. "Creator didn't get the chance to write their name on this, but the name of this piece is called 'Bloom of Doom'. Design seems to be similar to the Obsidian Mind, meaning it's the same person who made that, made this too. From what my scans are returning to me, this gauntlet's true power heavily relies on someone who never missed a knife throw before, as when you insert a knife into it, it somehow manipulates space-time to spontaneously produce…" Drei then looked to Summer, as she inserted a light-made knife into it. With moments, both gauntlets produced ten knives of the exact same shape and material, launching out of the gauntlet and getting stuck in the ceiling.

"Well, given the name I think this would more be a gift for you than some warlock trying to keep to his books." Drei couldn't help but comment. "Not like the guy has much other use for this. It's also compatible with your Bladedancer techniques."

Summer smiled a smile so unnerving, Caroline couldn't help but be impressed as she watched ideas flow through the guardian's mind. "Looks like I awakened a monster. Good. We'll need that for the rescue mission."

00000

Frederick opened his eyes to a red forest with leaves. Seemingly unphased by his new surroundings. However his eyes turned to see pure black figures with red insides in hordes going to an odd location. He pulls out his sword and rushed the hordes. The fire from it engulfed him and his light was brightened to a greater degree. Some of the hordes looked at him. The figures who once had indescribable looks of bloodlust and hatred, now seemed to have a sliver of fear inside of their empty, red hollowed insides.

He slammed his sword into one and forced his light to expand causing many to fall as they try to snuff him out. He then pulled his sword, and using long strikes he cleaved them in half. That is till a small portion of them morphed to a large egg sack like creature with thick tendrils as arms like that of a squid. The rest of the creatures ignored their titanic grimm before them and continued to where the gunfire was at.

"You think your light can save these rats from turning. But you forget the chaos that is the dark will overshadow the light."

"That's where you're wrong, demon. It's because of your shrouding everything in darkness that my light will shine brighter!" Frederick stated as he chanted in the an old language of man and his body grew brighter in a blaze of light.

"What is this power!?"

"Simple. The light that will erase you from existence!"

"Bah… most unexpected. A mere annoyance at most. I will have to see how you got the Gardener's light in this empty box."

All the while lifting his sword and with great speed he flew past the Juggernaut of a grim. His wings stopped beating as he then stood up and looked at the falling black demon.

"My Light is not from the Gardener." Frederick replied as he then jumped up high and his wings flapped and carried him away to the gun fire.

"Your righteous fury will be your end… this I can assure." The dissolving grimm said, as it dissipated. Frederick looked around, making sure there was no traces of darkness left, before seeing a ship off in the distance.

And then everything came back to reality.

He stood in the middle of the room. The one before him finally entered a peaceful rest that was well deserved, as many continued to babble and scream in irrational fear and panic. After a moment of observation on many personnel's part, the chief walked up to the titan.

"What the hell was that you just do?"

"I ruptured the psychic connection a being of darkness held on them." Frederick said as he stood up. "Though it's not for long. It's bound to come back."

"Dammit! We can't have viable soldiers at this rate." The chief sighed as Frederick walked past him. "Would you be able to figure out how long-"

"Grab some of the best men you got." Frederick said with a tone of finality being evident in his voice, as he readied up a shotgun. "That'll solve all their issues for good. It's the only option."

The man paused, as if uncertain about the course of action. "I can have an aerial strike force ready if needed. Do you even know where-"

"That'll be all I'll need. Make sure they're ready for action when I call it in case the situation gets ugly."

00000

(Play Noisescream - The Doom Party)

Thousands of dead skulked about the hangar bay area of the massive ship, groans and moans of frustration making themselves known as they wandered about the closed off area aimlessly Some gnawed at the bones of already dead bodies, while others simply attacked the walls in a attempt to get out. Above them was another Krakumo, who simply hung from above watching the area closely for any signs of life. Its mandibles clicked in annoyance at having nothing to do for such a long time, and thus decided to idly toy with one of the lone turned down below, letting forth a tendril to dangle in front of the shade and agitating it. The shade relentlessly tried to attack the tendril, though found little to no chance in ever touching it. Unbeknownst to both, it unknowingly opened the way for a survivor to sneak over into another room, allowing the soldier to press on into a kitchen in search of food.

The soldier had to pause at the lack of fridge and mess on the floor, before proceeding to try and take whatever was edible back. He looked out to see that the Krakumo was still toying with one of its underlings, and tried to walk back out into his hiding spot. Unfortunately for him, the spider-squid's gaze suddenly shifted, and then proceeded to jolt the tentacle to the soldier in an attempt to grab him, stabbing him in the chest and causing him to cry out in pain as he was wrapped up and brought to the spider. The whole shadow horde instantly began clamoring to try and devour the soldier, getting on top of each other as the spider pulled in the soldier close to it, seemingly debating on whether or not it should kill the soldier.

"If you're going to do it, do it scumbag." The soldier practically spat at the grimm, as he closed his eyes in wait for death. The spider didn't take kindly to it, and opened its mandibles to be the head of the soldier off.

That was until an explosion rang out, and a knife flew through the air.

The soldier's eyes flew open as he felt himself suddenly falling. Instincts kicking in, he turned himself around mid-air to fall in a proper position, and also allowing himself to see his savior. He watched in awe as the guardian seemingly threw an endless cascade of knives at the horde below him, all landing straight into their heads with such deadly grace, he couldn't help but wonder about the strength of guardians if they really pushed themselves.

The horde didn't just stand around, though. Sensing an interruption to their meal, they turned around to the explosion and instantly started rushing down the guardian, before being shot down by a hailstorm of bullets and knives that rose to meet the fury of the horde. The soldier watched as the guardian then jumped up into the air, with clawed gloves that crackled with arc destruction, and like a bolt of lightning charged at the Krakumo, which was unprepared for the sudden attack. The guardian ripped the giant grimm in seconds, before landing back down on the ground as the body of another Hivemind monster fell once more.

The soldier coughed up some blood before laughing, the tendril still inside him. "Looks like this is where it's at then.

"Secure the area!" Cordovin ordered as she held a pair of SMGs, before casually walking up to the soldier. "Get ready for the bloody shadows to start rushing us all down too. Place will be swarming in a matter of seconds, and in the name of the General, turn that damn music off Summer!"

"Ok, you can't deny that this actually-"

"OFF. NOW."

Summer then turned off the music with an annoyed grumble, and Cordovin then looked down at the soldier with a stoic scowl on her face. "I told you it was a bad idea."

"Thanks for telling me that with the giant tentacle in my chest. How about-"

Cordovin coldly shot him in the head before moving on. "Someone also collect that dog tag, I don't have time for this."

The soldiers shouted out confirmation as one of them took the tag, storing it in their pocket. They then began to set up defenses. Cordovin then walked behind Summer, as if following her. Summer looked behind her as she swapped to Thorn, looking Cordovin in the eyes.

"You're coming with me?"

"I didn't blow the ship yet." Caroline said as she checked the mag's ammo. "I'm coming to finish the fight. Besides, I have the access codes, and the comms array is offline. You can't call your guardian buddies to blow up a ship this large without wasting even more time."

"Time isn't on your side." Summer shot back, as she opened a door before swiftly throwing a grenade, blasting a whole horde of shadow people into ashes.

"And it isn't on yours either." Cordovin said as she rolled into the hallway, firing at another spider that was hanging above them, shooting its eyes out with pin-point accuracy. "Recall your daughter and the mission in the Plaguelands?"

"Got me there." Summer said as she blinked up once more, decapitating the abdomen of the extra spider hiding in the hallway.

"Daughters if you're counting Raven's own, of course." Caroline couldn't help but comment. "She did a damn fine job while you were gone. Mostly anyways."

Summer turned to look at Caroline.

"She let her make the mistake of following in your footsteps. And considering where you are now, and what I heard from the other guardians?" Caroline couldn't help but shudder. "Your Traveler better help us all if we have two of you with ghosts."

"Ruby doesn't share my sense of humor. Tibia little honest, it's quite unnerving how Yang has that side of me."

Cordovin growled in annoyance.

"Oh come on, that was a knee-slapper!" Summer laughed as she blew up another door.

"I retract my statement about getting along. I hate you already." Cordovin said as she reloaded the SMGs.

The two then made haste to the fuel room, shooting and slicing through the shadow people and Krakumos until they finally made it to the area. Caroline didn't so much as hesitate as she immediately started placing explosives down, only to soon realize that Drei was placing them faster than she ever could. She looked at the robot with a mix of irritation and awe.

"Huh. I know we'd be replaced by you robots eventually, but I didn't think they'd be so small." Cordovin couldn't help but comment, as she gazed at the ghost.

"I'll have you know, I'm working on getting a bigger chassis." Drei huffed. "Then I'll be bigger than you."

Caroline whistled. "Sounds like your little light has quite big dreams."

"He's pretty bright, but not the sharpest tool in the shed, I'll admit."

"You are depressing and a mood killer." Drei said to Caroline, before turning to Summer. "And you are as annoying as ever, but at least you somewhat acknowledge my programming."

"I'll have to ask about that later." Caroline said. "Now we just have to-"

Suddenly, the room shook violently, causing Summer and Caroline to slip onto the floor. In which immediately after, the floor broke apart, causing them to fall into a dark, inky abyss. Summer managed to grab onto Caroline and hover for a bit, but whatever was below had other plans for them, as the darkness itself seemed to grab at them, tendrils of black pulling them in and binding them from moving. Summer felt her light being tugged at, as if some kind of suppressant was put upon it, as they were dragged away. Caroline fired at the dark blindly, still holding onto her SMGs as the muzzle flash was the only thing keeping her visible, until eventually the light from even those disappeared.

"So. The bane of the grimm itself finally has returned. And from beyond the mortal coil nonetheless."

"Who the hell are you?!" Cordovin yelled out. "I swear, if I die like this, I'll come back from hell itself to tear you apart!"

"I? I am the alpha of all grimm. Created by mother herself, and given even more power to serve masters I care not for. Especially when they haven't done what mother has."

"You mean Salem?" Summer asked, as she struggled fruitlessly.

"Get on with it you damn freak!" Cordovin ruthlessly said. "I have little care for your talk when I have nothing of my life left to spend!"

"As amusing as the idea is, I recognize that engaging in battle like this is fruitless. Especially since I have not located the roots of the White Rose now, even as I heard it talking in the room I found you in." The mysterious voice said, as it came out of the shadows, revealing itself. Like the Krakumo before it, it bore a very similar resemblance to them, except it was more kraken than it was spider. It looked to be a fifth of the ship's overall size, as the insides of its mouth glowed red with white, shark-like teeth, eyes glowing even brighter. It then pulled Cardovine closer as if to inspect her. "This one is of flesh and blind loyalty to an old world."

It then pulled Summer closer to inspect her as its tentacle moved around her helmet. "This one is of youth, hypocrisy and darkness. You love your power, and your soul craves the Dynasty's lost throne. A Lost soul in need of guidance. Yet so less the warrior you pretend to be."

"You should brush your teeth more often." Summer said as she turned her nose. "You stink."

"We're facing a demon that could swallow us whole, and that's all you have to say?!" Caroline shouted out. "What the hell is it with you guardians?!"

The grimm didn't seem to mind the small insult. Instead, it just took Order's Mask off her face to look at her. "Delicious… a mask that I had long since expected to see. I knew that one day, I would see the face mother would never see behind it all." It seemed to accurately read Summer's expression, as it could tell Summer felt slightly nervous about the position she was held in.

"I'm just not one to get stuffed into a gore hole, sorry. Maybe Uldren." Summer casually replied back. "So, why aren't you just immediately killing us and getting on with it?"

"Mother has grown soft. She decided to toy with prey instead of finishing things off immediately afterwards. Victory in her grasp." The beast hissed in distaste. "The grimm need a new leader. And with the unwitting assistance of her foolish captors, I shall be that. But first, I must get both you and the interloper out of the way. So… I propose a deal."

"Interloper?" Cordovin thought to herself. "The only one who's entered this ship was you. And the warlocks said there's no possible way a hunter could learn how to bend one's mind."

"...You want Frederick, don't you?" Summer said as she began to figure things out, narrowing her eyes in response. "The soldiers back at the med bay were suffering cause of you. And Frederick is there."

"A nuisance he is. But prey who's light is powerful." The beast held out a sword. A sword with such familiarity, that memories instantly came flooding back to Summer, and her silver eyes shone with recognition. "The shadows tasked me with killing you with this little trinket, forcing me to be a plant on this ship to lure you forth. Yet your death is inconsequential without your ghost taken care of. This other guardian will be bound to have his own close to him. This I know from the few I've taken into, what you call 'the shadow people'. I can tell by his final death alone, the other ancient grimm will come to respect me. And we may have a chance at salvation."

"I give you a choice, White Rose. A trinket as a bonus for whatever you choose." The beast dangled Cordovin and the sword in front of her. "One for all, or all for one... And I'm certain that your altruism as a 'defender of the people', and your 'dogma', will choose the right one."

Cordovin spat at the monster. "Ha! As if there's any of us left down here anyhow. You oughta try aiming for a higher price, idiot!"

"Why not kill me when my ghost isn't here!? What more could you want with Frederick!?"

"Not even the few guardians here have shown such potential to easily disrupt my psychic connections." The beast reminded her. "Besides… I know your ghost is nearby, waiting for the right time to resurrect in safety. I just don't have the time or care to search for him."

The beast then dangled Cordovin in front of its maw. "Time is becoming short, Summer Rose. Make your decision. Or I shall make it for you."

Summer grit her teeth. She wanted to tear apart the monster right then and there. She wanted it to realize that it wasn't her time that was short, but couldn't help but feel as she listened to Caroline the familiar helplessness in the situation.

The helplessness of not being able to save everyone.

It was what she felt as she watched the fireteam who accepted her for what she was the most die to Crota and his armies, with no way to help them out of their final deaths. Memories vividly and voraciously recalled to her in a flood. A hunter with a curiosity about Hive worms, devoured by a pit of live Hive larvae. A titan who knocked her out of the way of several Ascendant Hive swords, before being chopped into pieces. A warlock who got too greedy. And the last two…

In spite of their rocky start, Summer saw much of the last two in Caroline Cordovin. A sassy hunter, and a cold, yet strong titan who was practically the backbone of everyone in the team, both of which lost their lives to Ir Yut as they rushed to take down her defenses.

As Caroline was about to be an inch away from the beast's gaping maw, all the while the small, frail woman constantly insulted and belittled the monster, she broke. "Fine. I'll do it."

Frederick...Violet...Daisy… I'm sorry.

"The hell are you doing?" Cordovin couldn't help but say in disbelief as she broke out of her rant towards the grimm, her voice taking on one of rage. "What in the actual hell are you doing right now?! I'm literally an old woman who doesn't have much time left, and even then I have to be protected by you pansy ass guardians!?"

"She has made a wise choice. For you, at the very least. As unlike you, I could sense you would live longer than even your 'top scientists' would've anticipated. Besides, I have no place for midgets in my army." The beast said, as he put Caroline away in some location that Summer couldn't see within the dark as she continued to curse at them both, before turning to Summer. "As for you… I will put you outside. He should be coming soon. Lure him as needed, or she and her crew shall join my flood, my legion of forgotten."

Light then burst into the room, as if a sudden light was turned on when the windows to the outside finally revealed themselves to Summer. The beast broke open one of them, and threw Summer outside of it, caring not for what happened to her. Thankfully for Summer, as soon as the beast's hold was rid of her, she felt her light finally being released, and was able to stand in the air. But now the situation had worsened by a dozen times more than it was needed to.

A hostage situation that can't be solved with bullets.

"You do have a plan, right?" Drei whispered in the comms. "I mean, it can't just be that you don't have any other workaround you could pull off with Frederick, right?"

Summer looked at her hands as tears fell from her eyes. The mutated alpha grimm could sense that Summer's decision was wavering from its position, and shook the ship itself as a reminder of what it would do to Cordovin and her crew.

You need me right now, don't you? She watched as her tears began to turn black, falling to the ground as if the tears themselves were burning with newfound rage against her pride as a legendary hero being stabbed at. Her failure of not being the promised hero Ruby thinks of her as. You know this intolerable act cannot stand.

"I… I… I don't know what to do. If I don't… then everyone would die… if I do, then Frederick dies. And either way, putting a life instead of my own in front of me, something no guardian is supposed to do..." Summer said as she desperately searched for a solution, all the while trying to cope with the guilt of purposely putting a guardian's ghost on the line, that of a friend's nonetheless.

"Come on now Summer! "We've had to deal with far worse! What about Crota? Or heck, even Oryx! We can't just let this hentai monster push us around! What if we just pop the golden Gjallarhorn and-"

Lets face it. He knows that'll not be enough. You know that'll not be enough. We are the final shape. They are weak, undeserving of strength. Put this spoiled child to bed. End this rebel so much as attempting to leave a mark in your legacy. Your legacy of infinite strength, strongest even in mortality. It is simply by pure logic through the cutting of others that our powers were to be combined. Take my power! TAKE HIM AND HIS ARMIES!

"SHUT UP!" Summer screamed at everyone trying to speak to her. "Shut...up…" she said again slowly trying to make out any rational thought. Trying to think. But all she could do was let her tears fall. And she sulked away from the hole. Her tears burned away the armored steel of the deck as she walked away from the ship, Oryx still threatening to take over all the while.

00000

For what seemed like hours, she continued to move, watching the sky as she continued to keep on moving, paying close attention to radio channels for Frederick's ship. All while struggling to deal with both Drei and Oryx pushing her in opposite, yet similar directions.

It was impossible to get herself together. And she hoped it wasn't blatant when she heard Drei deliver the news she dreaded.

"Frederick is coming. Just got a lock on his ship's radio signal." Drei emotionlessly said. Though his tone wasn't without it, as it was that of a disappointed parent. "Patching him in."

"Summer!? SUMMER!? Pick up dammit!" Frederick stated over the Radio. "I know what's causing all this! We got to blow this thing up with the engine's reactors!"

"It's dead." Summer started to try and lie, attempting to keep her voice as calm as she can muster. "I just came out of the control room. It has hostages that need a lift."

Frederick raised an eyebrow. He then played back the words she said. And came to a realization.

"Summer…. how does a grimm take hostages that need a lift…"

"I meant to say had hostages that now need a-" She took a sharp intake of breath. "Look, can you get into the ship's control room? I don't have a ship to pick them up with still y'know."

"Yeah...I can…" Frederick replied. "Though I have to ask… if there are still people alive in the ship, then why aren't they outside with you?"

Summer stayed silent as she kept Order's Mask on.

"Comms array is down inside...and I'm the only person on this ship that could stay safe and reach the outside."

"Then you should've been able to defuse the situation from the inside. A small army of grimm can't be anything for a guardian like you." Frederick refuted as he came to a conclusion. "Summer… be blunt with me here. The alpha grimm is inside the control center, isn't it? And it's got everyone basically at gunpoint."

She stood silent at that for a long while.

"Sum. If there's one thing you've always been bad at, it's lying to those closest to you." Frederick said as his ship got in view. "So, first things first, what's the plan? Do you already have the perfect turnabout all set up?"

"I don't have one set up…"

"Is it weak?"

"It suppressed my light with a single touch…"

"And so it just hoped I would've waltzed in there? ...Ok, I'll do that."

"Frederick-"

"If you promise to cheer up, that is." Frederick clarified. "Seriously, summers with a wet season stacked on top of them are the worst."

"...Was that a pun?"

"Don't ask for another."

As the ship came into view, she saw the distant figure of Frederick get on top of his ship, having aimed it directly at the control room. "Watch this Summer! For this is the most titan way to deal with a hostage situation! ...Well, for me anyway."

Frederick did a frontflip off the front of his ship. Wreathed in a mix of pure arc energy and light, he grabbed the ship as it was moving, and putting all his muscle into it, threw the ship even harder as it activated its NSL Drive. Summer saw the beast reach out to grab the ship, only to suddenly realize it wasn't slowing down.

The resulting blast caused an earthquake.

She watched as the control room of the ship blew up, as well as Frederick's own ship being reduced to atoms, followed with a massive chunk of the massive grimm inside flying out, who roared in surprise and pain as it literally had half of it blown off.

"YOU… TRAITOR!" The grimm barely managed to let out through the incredibly intense pain, as it convulsed within its place.

Frederick then landed in front of the grimm gracefully. He then pointed his Shotgun with multiple runes of an old human language, as he ran up the alpha grimm while firing shotgun blasts on it. The remains of the Grimm looked on in horror, as it spasmed, unable to deal with the titan who dealt with it up front and with such brutality, having been unable to capture it.

"Oh, sorry." He said as he quickly spotted Caroline within the wreckage, backflipping off the beast and grabbing her, getting her out of danger. She looked spitefully at the guardian as she was carried to safety. "Were you expecting me to simply shoot and stab you to death when I had a big ship to throw at you?"

"Mark my words, demon of light!" The alpha grimm said as it burrowed into the ground to try and recover. "Your power shall be your down-"

Before it could even get that far, Frederick did a german suplex on a part of the grimm, pulling its face back up to meet a fully charged buckshot of solar light aimed directly at it. The grimm was finished off before it had a chance to retreat and plan ever again.

"Tell me something I don't already know." Frederick said casually, as he grabbed the sword out of the air with a free-hand, placing it on his back.

"I swear to that Traveler if yours, if you leave me with a tentacle monster or go ahead and spare my life again, I will shove that sword so far up you'll have trouble getting it out in the next life!" Cordovin screamed at Summer as she shook her, who flinched at the sheer volume of her voice. "DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR YOU BLOODY DAMN CHILD!?"

Summer, slayer of gods themselves and roughly 10 years of guardian service, simply nodded, hoping for the ringing in her ears to stop.

"Good! BECAUSE I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP!" Cordovin kept on going, disregarding how loud she was. "I am under the employ of General Ironwood, the best military leader in all of Remnant! We were fine until you guardians-"

"Easy Caroline," Frederick said as he walked up to them, attempting to calm the situation down as Caroline whirled to him, giving him a glare so hot it could melt iron. "I'm certain you and your crew had a rough time in there. We got a pickup crew incoming to you guys up. Atlas bombing ships are two-seaters after all, right?"

"Tch!" Cordovin let out in annoyance, as she let go of Summer, who balanced herself well despite her ribs being crushed by the sheer grip of Cordovin. "Damn guardians and your whole heroism shit. Death probably would've been a nice change instead of dealing with moping your corpses up all day."

As Cordovin went to vent her frustrations off to her crew, Frederick picked up the sword the grimm had left behind, and gave it to her. "Let's hope the others don't catch wind of Caroline cursing so much at you. By chance is this the sword?"

"Yeah… yeah it is." Summer said with a laugh. "And honestly, I think the guardians could find ways of making her miserable without killing her. Remember that one time a bunch of Sunsinger warlocks filled up The Dungeons with corpses?"

Frederick shivered at the memory. "Can't believe the only option was to blow it up… let's get back to the Plaguelands and see what Barloc and Pyrrha have been up to."

00000

They neared the control room of the ketch, casualties few in the squadron of fallen they lead. Barloc, though injured in some places, was holding his own, while Pyrrha seemed to be exhausted.

"Remind me why the heck are we deciding to take a ketch instead of hijacking a skiff?"

"It'd be useful for when the fallen stronghold is located. And mapped out." Barloc clarified as he checked the team's ammunition, as well as thoroughly inspecting any of the crew for any SIVA. "And also so that it is proven fact that Remnant's huntsmen and huntresses could be of equal, if not more use to the Last City. No doubt many question why we still continue to divert resources when we're on our last legs."

Pyrrha's eyes widened at that. "B-but aren't we-"

"Your planet may be most ideal to evacuate to, and we do know you're people. Earth comes first, though." Barloc clarified, before turning to address the Eliksni. "Yun ra tun, ne nas. Bo hur?"

"Bo da ra de. Kle splicer ketch?" The captain of the fallen strike team said.

Barloc turned to the control room door. "They are ready. We must be as well."

"No time like the present then." Pyrrha said as she readied Milos, before rushing out the door.

"Wait, I didn't pop my heavy synth- … oh whatever!" Barloc stomped after Pyrrha in frustration, as the Fallen then proceeded to follow him into the final room.

00000

Omake:How to tell a character is plotting to kill you pt ii

Weiss walked into the house of the writer known as The Anime guy or so her contact said was one of the writers. However unlike her uncivilized teammates who have anger complexes for some reason, she wanted to discuss the lack of content on her character civilly but it appears that she has met one of the more… stubborn. and possibly more drunk writers of the team. That, or the blue cans called Pepsi was something else entirely.

She watched as the man in some sort of uniform took things from the black refrigerator and just started cooking. Despite the foul stench his body let off, the food smelled pretty good.

"So uh… what do you do for the military?" Weiss asked, trying to break the ice.

The man just looked at her with a straight face and said nothing, as if it was apparent.

"…You're a cook then?"

"If you want to be all knowledgeable and book wormy about it, I'm a food service specialist. I basically work as a Mess Hall worker cooking food for literally thousands of Marines and soldiers depending on where I'm sent." The man replied looking back to the stove.

"So... what are you making?" Weiss asked.

Then as if time had stopped. The stove was shut off and he put the food from several pots onto two plates. After that he placed one in front of Weiss and one in front of himself and grabbed two Pepsi's and opened them both.

"Well, go ahead. Tell me why you're here." The man asked.

His tired eyes seemed to have given Weiss a bit about himself.

"Are you ok?" Weiss asked as she slowly started using a knife on a piece of grilled chicken.

He sighs and holds a hand in his face.

"Look I'm… sorry for hitting you with my Saga 12. I've just had a long day and stuff, lots of folk out there that make me tense around you." The man said drinking his can of beer from Weiss point of view.

"Should you be drinking too much of those if you're depressed the way you are?" Weiss asked.

He paused for a second. "You think this is beer?"

"Yeah, I'm still technically a minor to drink this despite being 19 in my world." Weiss replied.

A look of utter shock was on his face. Before a smirk creased his face then full on laughter.

"What's so funny?" Weiss asked, confused.

"Pepsi is a soda." He let out between laughs. "It's not beer. I hate that shit with a passion."

….

"Ok then." Weiss said as she took a sip eying the man strangely as if not trusting him. Only to find out it was a surgery drink like the soda back on Remnant. "Oh… now I see why."

He only laughed louder as Weiss blushed in embarrassment for her pre-assumption about the writer. They then continued to eat in silence.

"Well anyways... what's with the Fate Saber reject armor? Seems impractical, especially with the belts that have no use for anything." The Anime guy pointed out her current outfit out of the many she had worn before.

"Excuse me?" Weiss couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

"Yea, you look like a mixed Kingdom hearts or Fate Saber in that outfit. It feels like CRwby is lacking in the imagination department a bit in my opinion."

"...Not my preferred outfit in all honesty. Kind of miss the white I wore, and I should really do something useful with these belts, probably use them to carry around dust ammunition." Weiss admitted, as she scratched the back of her head. "Probably should do something about the hair or whatnot. Regardless, I'm wondering why I haven't been given enough time for the fanfic you four are writing."

The Anime guy calmed down his laughter and looked at Weiss.

"Look Weiss. The story isn't about you per say, nor the entire cast of RWBY. It's Ruby and Summer, as we work along the DLCs. We're building and trying to show these two characters trying to reconcile and reconnect after having spent nearly two decades apart from one another, and having experienced entirely different lives. Think about it. In the actual show, everyone is rather lackluster aside from you four, some of whom only build you guys. So we're just focusing on a much smaller cast while only making up one-off characters that don't matter and eventually disappear or get killed off, but still need to fill the scene as to have substance to them. Like the chapter Ptabs did with a plumber named Mario, or the shopkeepers and other such characters that have been made so far. And yea, I preferred your older outfits."

"I see. But-" Weiss was cut off and even was surprised that he even liked her older outfits. But listened intently to what he had to say.

"Look, you'll get your turn eventually. We have outlines, beat sheets even. Now then," The Anime guy said as he began to move until his phone buzzed. He pulled it out and looked at it for a moment.

Diluation:Survived the kitty cat. You guys sent the rest to me yet? Don't worry, I already have a contingency plan for the other three built in case they come after me. It should also work for the rest of us, if you can set it up yourselves or get over here safely.

He was still typing. Weiss waited pensively for Anime Guy's next response, an expression mixed between mild annoyance and curiosity on her face as she noticed him going to the phone.

Animeak116: Don't worry about me Weiss seems to be the more Civil of the four should be done with her soon. Quick question. If the girls are here do they have a place to stay?

"Sorry about that. A friend of mine just survived his encounter with Blake." The Anime guy said

Weiss however blushed a bit mostly about the antics that might come from Ruby and Yang and unexpectedly Blake. "Sorry about them. What's it like here?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, you still live with your parents despite-"

And just in cue, another message came up on the phone, followed by a couple other messages.

Diluation:Oh, and if any of you three are reading this, Ruby, you're an idiot for attacking your mother like that, Weiss, your father was right in that you should've stayed home, and Yang? I touched the Bellabooty. Come at me b.

Diluation:Oh. Uhhh…

Diluation:I retract my statement about Weiss. She's pretty cool despite losing almost every battle she's been in.

Aquilos:You dun fucked up boyo.

Diluation:Well, good thing my contingency plan is strong. So strong, it could stop any team of huntsmen in their tracks!

That was followed by an emoji of Cayde dabbing. The Anime Guy was just one step away from potentially getting Weiss to charge after Diluation too, as all Weiss had to do was look at the phone.

Weiss frowned a bit, as she wondered what was going on. "Is there something wrong? Blake still isn't attacking him or whatnot, right?"

The anime guy sighs.

"No, just the head writer now realizing what I just sent. Social suicide via 'touching' Blake's backside, and proceeding to brag about it." He said with a bit of annoyance. "I get he's watching out for us, but I don't think he can handle you three. I don't even know how he dealt with Blake."

She sighs in annoyance at the obvious, yet incredibly smart bait Diluation just played. "Maybe the white rose shippers were right." Weiss stated.

"I'd beg to differ."

An uncomfortable silence fell between the two for a moment, before Weiss smirked, a devious idea forming in her head. "How about outdoing your friend?"

00000

Ruby approached the house of one of the authors that adopted their story, Remnant of a Rose. It was a bungalow type of home in a run-of the mill suburban location. She approached the door to knock, but just before her fist connected to the door, it opened and before her was the author known as Dustiniz117.

"Hello Miss Rose, I've been expecting you. Please come in."

She entered the living room and sat on one of the chairs with Dustiniz taking the one across from her.

"I know why you're here… you wish to bash me and my fellow authors on why we haven't given you and your team their proper time in the spotlight. Cookies?" He said, handing her a plate. She gazed at the assortment of Chocolate chip, m&ms and Reese's pieces cookies and stuffed them all into her mouth nodding in agreement.

He leaned towards her, looking her in the eyes as equals. "What you must then realize is that it is not just one author, but several all working on it at once. And sometimes we have creative differences, so we compromise. One bit not having its due now, in exchange of it appearing in one of the DLCs at some future date. I myself am working on some chapters for my 'Remnant of an Iron Rose shorts'. Some are just "one and done" filler and some that will serve as the building blocks for the DLCs that we will be doing. Not to mention that we have school, jobs or other obligations that take precedence over writing."

She nodded in understanding. Knowing that everyone has lives outside of the stories they create and must do them in their own time. But she did have a question she had to let loose.

"I feel like me and mom have been taking up too much screen time. If it's too much to ask, can you guys give more to my friends?" Ruby asked her mouth full of sugary sweets.

He leaned back in his chair, pondering. "While I can't speak for my fellow authors, I will do what I can to give each of your friends their dues. What I will say is this: In Red War, all RWBY characters will have their moments. Would you like some milk?"

Ruby nods in understanding and hope. "Yes please."

And so the author and animated heroine enjoyed their milk and cookies. As they did so, Dustinz decided to once more ignore the notifications from his phone as he left it on silent, figuring that Diluation was probably trying to draw the ire of all the girls at once, and mentally scar them as he ran for safety. He knew, of course, that it was a ultimately pointless endeavor, since Diluation probably didn't calm down and think before attempting to do something. He likened it to dealing with Yang, and sometimes he had to wonder if the young adult had the hair to boot.

The best way to solve a conflict after all, was to settle it peacefully. And this was just that. Though he had to wonder where Summer was in all this.

00000

Summer was busy burning away all of the lewds pertaining to her, Ruby, and all of the other particularly disgusting lewds, humming a song to herself as a man helped her. Lewds were spread all over a long hallway as if it was decoration.

"This is quite a lot of ink he used just for a one-use thing, Ptabs."

"Must've costed him over hundreds just to do it." Ptabs said back to Summer, as he burnt a particularly nasty one pertaining to a degenerate level lewd. "Glad you could come by the way. Kind of hard to protect the people trying to finish your stuff when you're incorporeal."

"You got me where I was today, so it's no problem. Besides," Summer said, before smirking. "It'd be a shame if I just…"

"Tabbed out on you like that." They both said at the same time, before sharing a laugh.

Meanwhile, completely oblivious everything down below, stood Diluation on the rooftop, talking to someone on the phone. "You have yourself prepped up? ...Yeah I know, it's pretty demeaning, but trust me, we need to get Yang walking out in abject horror. I can't fight her, and you know we can't reason with her like this. Shock is the next best thing."

"...Did he seriously just-"

"Considering what we're burning? I think we're saving him from the worst death imaginable right now."

00000

"This is the place?" Barloc's nose upturned at the shack, with a hastily scrawled "Do not Disturb" sign at the door.

"Well, this is the only place at this address. Don't worry I'll knock." Cayde said cheerily as he strolled up.

"Cayde, tha's not-" He was cut off by Cayde knocking on the door, and it immediately falling off its hinges into the dark recesses of the shack.

"Wasn't me." Cayde said, holding his hands up. Barloc sighed and walked up peeking in.

"Hello?" he called out. "Is this where an Aquilos lives?" When there was no response, he carefully started going in.

"It's the pizza guy." Cayde called out following him. "You think the guy's home?" Cayde asked, stepping over a stack of loose leaf paper, almost a foot tall.

"Has to be, but just in case." Barloc unholstered a sidearm from his belt as he approached a door. Just as he was about to push it, a groaning sound emerged from behind it, immediately putting both guardians on edge.

"Ok, either someone has some serious indigestion, or he was the cause of something else's indigestion." Cayde remarked as his hand went for the Ace. Barloc had his sidearm raised at the door and held up his hand.

"On three, one, two-"

"THREE!" Cayde charged forward and kicked the door open with a crash, his ace leveled. "Alright come out you ugly piece of- what?" The room was dark, with a pile of notebooks and notebook paper in the middle. There was a rustling sound as a head with black flyaway hair and glasses popped out of the bottom of the pile.

"Whozat~" He mumbled, half asleep.

"Um, we're looking for an Aquilos?" Cayde replied, lowering his hand cannon.

"Oh that's me, um, have a seat anywhere, we have a lot to talk about."

00000

Diluation:Another chapter, another whole month instead of a week having passed by(Sorry! .)... well, at least we're getting close to the end. Onto the reviews.

Federal Republic of the Earth Empire:Can I ask what happened to Ptabs?

Diluation:Check the chapter saying 'News'.

DemonShimada:the no spacing is more of ruby forte, porte speaks more flamboyant and colorful words in the good way

Diluation:I'm sorry, what? Please clarify in a PM.