The RWBY team arrived back at their dorm in the middle of the day. Weiss slammed the door in frustration.

"It's a hundred miles away! How could they cancel class over a thunderstorm fifty miles away!" Weiss yelled.

"It isn't a normal storm." Blake said, looking at her scroll.

"It says here that the storm is large, even for this season. It's extending into the stratosphere. There's also increased grim activity in the surrounding areas, moving.. perpendicular to the path of the storm.." Blake said.

"Perpendicular that means.. they're running from it?" Yang asked. "Why would the grim run from a storm?"

"With the amount of damage a storm like that would cause, you would think that they'd have a feeding frenzy." Weiss said.

"Ruby!" Yang yelled. "Get up."

Ruby was fast asleep, having hit the pillow as soon as she got a foot in the door.

"What-...w.." Ruby muttered, turning over and going back to sleep.

"I got this." Weiss said, taking out a chocolate chip cookie.

Everyone in the room instinctively covered their ears.

Weiss then waved the cookie in front of Ruby's face.

"Ruby..." she taunted.

Ruby's eyes suddenly opened and she shot forward.

"Cookieeeeeee!" she yelled, happily grabbing it.

The team uncovered their ears.

"Told you that would work." Weiss said.

Ruby, realizing she had been asleep, laughed nervously.

"Sorry.." she said, embarrassed.

"So, what did I miss?"

"Well, the storm out there. We don't think its a natural occurrence." Blake said. "It certainly isn't normal."

"Do you think this could have to do with Cinder and Torchwick?" Ruby asked.

"An artificial storm that even grim are afraid of, people aren't prepared for that kind of damage." Yang said.

"It certainly fits their motive to cause damage, but they might as well keep grim for pets. They wouldn't want them running away." Weiss replied.

"So, what do we do? We have to stop them." Yang said.

"We still don't know what exactly this is. It could be Cinder, or it could be someone or something else entirely. It could even still just be a freak storm!" Ruby said, pacing the room.

"I'm not saying we need to go right in without knowing what's going on. We should check our sources. See if Junior knows anything. Maybe the scientists in Vale." Yang said.

Ruby sat, contemplating.

"Alright, but we go together. We need to be prepared for anything." Ruby said.

The team made their decision, and made their way to Vale on the next available transport.

Once they reached the city, they decided to split up. Blake checked the local forecasts and the freak storm was moving faster than anyone expected. They didn't have much time to get what they came for.

"Weiss and I will go to the CCTS tower, check in with the scientists working on the storm." Ruby said. "Yang, Blake, I want you to go to Junior's Club. See what you can find out."

"Got it." Yang said.

"Yang." Ruby said. "Be careful."

"You got it sis." Yang said in her usual cheery voice, getting on her bike with Blake and driving away.

Vale CCTS Tower

Ruby and Weiss arrived at the Vale CCTS Tower. Ruby still in awe over just how huge it is.

They entered and found the meteorology floor. Normally civilians, let alone students wouldn't be allowed into such an area, but Weiss flashed her last name and here they were.

"Dr. Connors, I presume?" Weiss asked as a man in a lab coat turned around.

"Ah, well, yes that's me." he said, in a gruffy voice.

"I understand you're probably very busy, but what can you tell us about the storm?" Weiss asked.

"The storm! Yes! We've been working on it the past two days. It came out of nowhere. The atmospheric data has been all over the place!"

"Why do you ask? Can you tell me anything about it?" he asked.

"No, sir. We were coming to ask you the same thing." Ruby replied. "We think that its possible it may be the result of some sort of generator or a device. Was there any piece of weather technology stolen that could do something like that?"

"Oh heavens no. Even Atlas doesn't have that kind of technology. Maybe a little rain to areas experiencing a drought, but that technology is 10 years away at least. This is something far more advanced. Alien, perhaps?" he said, lowering his voice to a whisper with that last question.

"We'll get back to you on that." Weiss said as they turned to leave.

"He certainly was of no help." Weiss rolled her eyes once they were around the corner.

"Well, we know it wasn't a stolen technology. That's something" Ruby said.

"I still think Cinder is behind this, just because it wasn't stolen doesn't mean they couldn't make the technology themselves. They could have kidnapped a scientist or some other horrible thing. Anything to gain an edge." Weiss replied.

Junior's Club

Yang and Blake arrived at Junior's Club, but it was too late. They walked through the broken glass doors to find a bloodbath inside. The entire club was littered with dead bodies.

"Blake! Call 911!" Yang yelled, panicked as she rushed to where Junior was laying.

He was dead, multiple bullets to his chest. He put up a fight though, as his rocket launcher resting beside him was apparent.

"Yang! We got a survivor!" Blake yelled.

Yang ran, tears in her eyes as she found Melanie Malechite laying on the ground with a gunshot to her stomach. She was still breathing, and Yang immediately put pressure on the wound.

"We got you, Melanie. You're safe now." Yang said.

"Who was it? Who did this to you?" Blake asked, angry. "Was it Adam? Cinder? The White Fang?"

"No.." Melanie whispered.

"The storm.. You have to save Miltia.. They took her.. They wanted information." Melanie managed to gasp out before going unconscious.

"Stay awake Melanie! Melanie!" Yang yelled.

Vale EMS had finally arrived, and a pair of medics ran to Melanie. They quickly examined her and put her on a gurney.

"She's still alive but we have to get her to a hospital now if she's going to make it." They lifted her and carried her out as quickly as they could, leaving a worried and confused Blake and Yang.

After giving their statements to the police, the pair left.

"Weiss, tell Ruby to meet us in the shipyards. Junior is dead. We have to get to that storm." Yang said on her scroll, speeding through the city with Blake on the bike with her.

Vale Shipyards

Yang and Blake arrived as the clouds became darker and darker, the storm growing in size but remaining relatively where it was before. Ruby and Weiss were already there waiting.

"What did you find out?" Ruby asked.

"And why did you have us meet in the shipyards? This place is.. disgusting." Weiss said.

"We have to get to that storm." Yang said.

"Junior is dead. The club was attacked. Miltia is dead too. Melanie told us. She was almost killed herself. She referenced the storm." Yang said.

"I don't think they're the only places that were attacked." Blake said, looking at her scroll.

"It says here that a secret White Fang hideout in Mistral was found ransacked, with all members killed by an unknown organization."

A familiar figure walked up to the group.

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby yelled, running to and hugging Qrow.

He laughed. "Hey kid. I wish we could have met under better conditions."

"You came to help us?" Ruby asked.

"I did. Your sister called and told me what happened. Atlas is organizing its military, but I don't think they'll get here in time." Qrow replied.

"In time for what, do you know what's happening here?" Weiss asked.

"As much as you do. As soon as that storm came, some shadow organization has been taking wiping out organized criminal elements. I don't like it."

"I managed to get a transport for us. It'll take us right to the edges." Qrow said. "Any further and we might crash."

The team followed Qrow to the other end of the shipyard, where a desolate transport was waiting.

"Hey, Charles!" Qrow yelled to the plane.

"Charles..?" Qrow ran inside the plane. "Wait here!" he told the team.

When Qrow reached the cockpit, he was horrified at what he had found. Charles, their pilot, was dead. Shot in the head. It was a trap.

"Run!" he yelled from the cockpit, running out the plane. But it was too late.

A missile screamed forward from an unknown place, and the plane blew up into flames. Qrow barely escaped the blast.

The team readied their weapons, prepared to fight anything that came next.

Out of the sky descended several helicopters. Not like anything they had seen. They were long and angular, using rotors rather than jet engines.

While they were watching the helicopters, unsure of how to react, they were quickly surrounded by ground forces that appear to have been lurking in the shadows. Waiting.

"Drop your weapons or you will be terminated. You have five seconds to comply." a voice over an intercom said.

Qrow moved to take out his weapon, but Ruby stopped him. This wasn't a fight they could win. Not now, not alone.

The team dropped their weapons.

"What do you want from us? Why are you doing this?" Ruby yelled.

A dart hit her neck. Then Blake's, then everyone's. They fell soon after that as the world went dark.

The last thing Ruby could remember was looking up. Someone covered in black tactical gear with a white patch on the side looming over her. Their faces covered with black gas masks.

"This is Samsara Actual to Atlas Control, we have secured high value targets Romeo, Whiskey, Beta, Yankee, and Golf. Prepping for immediate extraction."

Then everything went dark.