Blake sat on her bed, alone in Team RWBY's room, methodically wrapping her ribbons around her arms. She watched the black fabric looping around her wrists, and hands. Each loop pulling tighter, Each one shrouding more of the white skin underneath in darkness. When she was finished, her white skin would barely be peaking from the cracks between the black, a contrast that only made the blackness darker. Blake spent a while longer staring at her hands, turning them palms up, and palms down, over and over, lost in thought. She was surprised out of her trance by a strange sensation. Her left ear, her cat ear, twitching, as it would reflexively when it was played with. The phantom sensation in a part of her that was no longer there was bizarre beyond words. She looked up in confusion, then smiled. Yang was standing next to her, hand placed on Blake's head. Fiddling with Blake's ears had been Yang's way of getting Blake's attention, telling her she wanted to go for a walk, or spar, or make out on Yang's bed. Sometimes she just did it to pester Blake while she was trying to read.

Blake stood, walked over to the desk where she'd left her weapon the night before, and picked it up. The Dust crystal that powered the plasma-sheathing had been almost fully depleted after only a few hours of use. The act of powering up the plasma-sheath seemed to be a particular drain on energy. It seemed to be caused by shoddy wiring and poorly spaced plasma emitters. It was a spectacularly terrible weapon, just like the rest in the armoury. Most had, at some point or another, belonged to first-years who had since built better weapons to replace them. Most primary combat schools like Signal required students to forge their own weapons, but not every student put as much of their heart and soul into their designs as Ruby had with Crescent. As a result, the plasma sword Blake had found herself with was the best weapon out of a whole room of decidedly poor ones.

Blake slung the sword over her shoulder, straightened her shirt, and left the room. She walked down the hall, heading for the front entrance of the building. The three teams out fighting would be returning soon, the Bullheads landing at the dock just in front of Beacon. They would need a quick refuelling before carrying RWBY, JNPR, and CRDL back to the island. Ruby and Jaune's plan had envisioned one group arriving at the island slightly before the previous one left, but after losing two Bullheads yesterday, along with their pilots, the plan had once again been adjusted. It meant a slight pause in what was meant to be an unrelenting attack, but it was necessary.

As Blake moved down the hall, She sensed somebody closing in behind her. Ruby caught up to her, and matched pace. She was wearing her backpack, with the Beacon Academy symbol emblazoned on its back, and carried the weight as if it were somewhat heavy. She looked up at Blake and smiled brightly. Blake returned the smile, with less enthusiasm, and they continued towards the dock together.

"Think you brought enough ammo?" Blake jested, motioning towards the backpack.

"I think so," Ruby said, sounding completely earnest, "Its mostly all standard. I like customized ammo, but most Dust-modified .50 Calibre rounds have much higher or lower recoil then standard cartridges, which makes it a lot harder to use. I need to know exactly how much Crescent will kick every time I fire."

"The weight of the backpack won't be a problem in a fight?" Blake asked.

"It would be," Ruby nodded, "Its not the weight itself, but it throws off my center of balance. I'm going to leave the backpack in the ship and grab ammo as I need it on the flight between targets."

They stepped out the main entrance to Beacon and into the sunlight. Blake squinted, let her eyes adjust, then looked to the sky for incoming ships. The sky was clear for the moment. Blake and Ruby continued towards the dock, catching sight of Team JNPR, who were having an animated discussion. Nora was seated on a bench, clearly upset with Jaune, who was acting defensive, pacing about in front of her.

"-to pay them back for everything they took from us!" Blake and Ruby heard Jaune shout as they came into earshot.

"We're supposed to fight for justice, not revenge!" Nora said, "You seem to think they're the same thing!"

"After everything the Guardians have done, I think they're close enough," Jaune said, "You fight for whatever you want, I can handle myself."

"If you keep going down that road..." Nora started, then trailed off.

Jaune stopped pacing. He turned and stared down at Nora, waiting for her to finish. She looked at him, shook her head, then looked to the floor.

Ren, who was watching the argument unfold from his seat next to Nora, stood and put a hand on Jaune's shoulder.

"Jaune," Ren said, "Fighting amongst ourselves, no matter how badly we want to stop the Guardians... this isn't helping."

The low rumbling sound of distant aircraft filled the air. The five of them looked up to see three Bullheads approaching the dock as expected. The ship in the lead was some distance ahead of the other two.

"About time," Jaune said.

Ruby looked around, and glanced back to the school building.

"Where's Weiss?" She asked.

"She said she'd be here," Blake said, "She went to visit the library first."

The lead Bullhead swooped in, hovering for a few second over the heads of students on the ground, then descending to a landing on the asphalt. The craft its side-door wide open, allowing Sun Wukong to lean out, shirting waving in the wind, and abs visible as usual. He saw Team RWBY and Team JNPR, and gave them a casual salute, grinning cockily. He hopped clear of the airship before it had even settled fully onto the ground. Neptune Vasilias followed soon afterwards, stepping out of the ship and pulling his goggles up from his eyes to their usual spot on his forehead.

"We tore that place up!" Sun declared, beaming pridefully. He held his bo staff one-handed, resting it on his shoulder.

"You hit all the targets on your route?" Ruby asked.

"Every target along the southern edge of the island," Neptune confirmed, "Two shipyards, a few drug labs, I think we really put a dent in their infrastructure."

"How many Guardians did you take out?" Blake asked.

"There was surprisingly little resistance," Sun said, "It was weird. I think they might all be retreating to one corner of the island, a main base of operations or something. Digging in."

"Trying to force us to take all of them on at once," Jaune said, "That'll make things difficult."

One of the two Bullheads still in the air was drawing closer, making it harder for the teams to speak to each other. Blake could see Team CVFY inside.

"Blake!" Weiss's voice called out from the direction of the school. Blake turned to see Weiss running towards her, looking desperate.

"Oh hey, Weiss," Ruby said, "You're just in time!"

Weiss closed the distance between them, then stopped to catch her breath. Hunched over, she turned her head up to look at Blake.

"Blake, I need-" Weiss said, between breaths, "I need to talk to you. Before we go, its important. I think- I think it should be private."

This last part was said in a slight whisper. Blake raised a suspicious eyebrow.

"Guys?" Ren asked, too quietly at first to be heard over the second Bullhead landing nearby, "Hey, guys?"

The group turned to look at him. Ren was staring up into the sky, in the direction of the third Bullhead. It was just coming over the school grounds now. Following Ren's gaze, they saw what had gotten his attention. Far above, a fourth aircraft had just broken through the lowest cloud layer, streaking towards the ground at an alarming speed. It was about the same size as a Bullhead, but was a distinctly different craft. It was a fighter craft, not a transport. As it rushed down to meet them, more ships emerged from the clouds. These were transports, and large ones at that. There were two that looked big enough for 30 people each, plus smaller transports, between the sizes of the Bullheads and the larger ships, flying in tandem.

"Oh no." Blake whispered.

The fighter craft in the lead fired a missile. It streaked through the air faster than anybody could react. The missile slammed directly into the third Bullhead. The entire craft exploded, filling the sky with fire and sending debris raining down on everybody below.

"NOOO!" Ruby screamed, as everybody dove for cover. The Bullhead had been completely destroyed. There was no way anybody on board could be alive.

The fighter fired a second missile, this one aimed right where the teams were standing. It missed its mark and struck between the two Bullheads. The explosion shook the ground and the shock wave knocked everybody off their feet. Even while tumbling through the air, Blake realized that the fighter still hadn't pulled up. Just as she rolled into a crouch and steadied herself, she caught a glimpsed of the pilot ejecting. Less than a second later, the fighter slammed into Team SSSN's Bullhead. Both crafts exploded, sending another shock wave out. The exploding ships were just a few meters away from Blake, she could see the wave of fire, heat, and debris rushing to meet her. Faster than she could blink, a burst of rose petals filled her vision and she was suddenly several meters further, outside the blast radius. She jumped and looked around. Ruby and Weiss were next to her, Weiss looking equally surprised. Ruby seemed fine for a second, but then collapsed in exhaustion. Blake looked towards the destroyed ships. Jaune and Nora were crouched, huddled together, Jaune still shielding both of them. The front of his shield was on fire. Ren was on the ground a short distance away, singed, but alive. He'd focused his Aura to shield himself, but it had been just barely enough. Sun and Neptune were nowhere to be seen. Nearby, the body of the pilot lay sprawled on the ground. He'd been moving towards the ground too fast, and had botched his landing. It looked like most of his bones were shattered.

"They can't attack us here!" Weiss shouted, "Not here!"

Blake struggled to her feet, and helped Ruby up.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"I'm alright," Ruby said, shaking herself out of her daze, "Never carried two people at once before."

One of the smaller transports swooped in overhead, a few meters off the ground. The doors opened and Guardians began jumping out, weapons at the ready. They landed on the pavement and began firing at anybody in sight. More transports flew in, dropping more and more Guardians down.

Blake, Weiss, and Ruby leapt into action, charging the nearest group of attackers. Ruby used her speed to reach the group first, and sent half of them flying with a spinning attack from Crescent Rose. One of the few still standing took aim at Ruby, foolishly putting his back to Blake. Blake drew her sword as she reached him and impaled him from behind. The Guardian standing next to him swung his axe at Blake. Blake ripped her sword free, spun and parried the axe swing, following it up with a riposte that brought down the attacker. Behind Blake, Weiss spun through the air, bouncing from glyph to glyph and raining blasts from Myrtenaster down on the Guardians. In between slashes and dodges, Blake caught sight of Team JNPR joining the fight. Meanwhile, the larger transports were just about to arrive. Blake dodged a flurry of slashes from an attacker dual-wielding combat knives, side-stepped him and slashed at an opening in his defence. She sliced one of his legs off at the knee and he crumpled to the ground. Blake looked around in horror at the battle. More students were leaping into the fight. Both sides were taking heavy losses, but more Guardians were constantly jumping in. Beacon Academy had become a battleground. The entire world, it seemed, had finally lost its mind.

"Ruby, what's the plan?" Weiss called out, "Do we have a plan?"

"Keep as much of their attention on us as we can so the other students can escape," Ruby ordered, "If they're running, cover their retreat, if they join the fight, help them out."

A Guardian wielding a chainsword charged towards Blake. She adjusted her position, preparing to dodge and counter. Just as he came within swinging range, he was struck from the side by a wave of fire. Blake was caught by surprise, and she looked in the direction the attack had come from. Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck was a few meters away, weapon in hand, his face showing a rage that even in battle alongside him, Blake had never seen. Oobleck looked around at the battlefield, full of fire and debris and casualties, and gritted his teeth. He caught sight of a first-year, desperately attempting to defend himself from an attacker. With lightning speed that almost matched Ruby's Semblance, Oobleck shot towards the Guardian and struck him down. He shattered his opponent's Aura in a single blow, and sent the Guardian tumbling away. Without pausing, Oobleck charged another enemy, sending him flying, engulfed in flame, with another single strike.

Ruby landed next to Blake, the two gave each other a glance, then they both charged to join Oobleck. Ruby caught up to him with a few quick bursts of Speed. As Blake sprinted after them, an attacker attempted to blindside her, but as he swung, a glyph appeared in front of him, shielding Blake from the blow. The glyph dissipated, and Blake thrust her sword into the attacker's chest and left it there. She continued onward, catching up to Ruby and Oobleck.

"Professor," Ruby called, "Where's Professor Ozpin? Where's Professor Goodwitch?"

A boisterous, roaring battle cry filled the air. The three of them glanced upwards to see Professor Port slamming bodily into one of the attacking airships with such force that it was actually pushed backwards. Port swung his axe overhead, bringing it down on the cockpit with enough force to destroy it entirely. Port jumped away from the ship as it plunged to the ground.

"Ozpin and many other members of the staff are not on school premises!" Oobleck yelled, "They're attending a meeting with the Altesian military! It is likely this attack was planned with their absence in mind!"

One of the larger transport ships swooped in, long side doors opening up along its length. Dozens of Guardians poured out, joining the attack. One Guardian in particular stood out. He stood almost seven feet tall, and was draped in a leather longcoat. He leapt from the transport and his fist met the ground when he landed, cracking the asphalt. He stood, and strode forward as other Guardians ran past him.

"I'll take care of the big one," Oobleck said, "Cover me!"

Oobleck shot forward, weapon at the ready and spewing fire. Ruby switched Crescent Rose to sniper-mode and took aim. A Guardian between Oobleck and his massive target moved to intercept him. Ruby fired, hitting the Guardian in the head. Oobleck shot past him before he even hit the ground. Ruby snapped off a couple more shots picking off opponents attempting to get in Oobleck's path. As Ruby covered Oobleck, a Guardian charged her from behind, brandishing a machete. Blake intercepted him from the side, grabbing and twisting his wrist. There was the sound of snapping bone and he dropped the machete. Still holding him, Blake kicked the weapon, her foot connecting with the hilt, sending it flying upwards. She released her grip with one hand, elbowed him in the head to disorient him, then punched his elbow, dislocating his arm. The Guardian screamed, his eyes wide in pain and shock. She shoved him away and then caught the machete as it fell back down. She turned her attention back to Oobleck.

Oobleck leapt into the air as he approached his foe, sailing forward with his weapon held high over his head. The massive Guardian raised one arm to block the attack with his forearm. Oobleck brought the weapon down hard. The club met the Guardian's arm, and a shock wave exploded outwards through the air. Blake's eyes widened. The weapon had struck the Guardian's arm and stopped dead. The Guardian's Aura glowed brighter than any Blake had ever seen. Oobleck had landed awkwardly, having expected to send his target careening away. He stared at his unharmed enemy in disbelief for just a moment. The Guardian whipped his hand forward and grabbed Oobleck by the neck.

"That all you got, Huntsman?" The Guardian laughed.

He raised Oobleck over his head and chockslammed him into the ground. The pavement was shattered beneath Oobleck's body. He lifted him up as effortlessly as one might lift a toy, then slammed him down again.

"Come on, we gotta help him!" Ruby said, switching Crescent back to scythe-mode.

Ruby used Speed to shoot ahead once again, leaving Blake to sprint ahead. As she ran, she glanced to her left and saw Team JNPR, still fighting but massively outnumbered. Nora and Ren were both holding their own, but Jaune was just barely defending himself from a Guardian swinging a double-ended axe at him. Blake diverted towards them slightly, slid under one of the Guardian's swings, and slashed the back of his legs. He winced and was thrown off by the unexpected strike from behind. Jaune seized the opportunity and thrust his sword right into the Guardian's neck. Blake picked up speed again, looking around for Weiss. She caught sight of her, running to catch up.

The monstrous Guardian held Oobleck over his head again, this time using both hands to bring him down on the Guardian's knee. Oobleck cried out as his Aura shattered. The Guardian looked up to see Team RWBY charging him, and grinned. He tossed Oobleck's unconscious body aside. Ruby gave a final burst of Speed, jumped, and fired Crescent behind her to add more momentum. She sailed past the Guardian's head, hooking Crescent Rose around his neck. His head was pulled backwards slightly, but he remained standing. Ruby used the moment to swing 360 degrees around him by Crescent's blade. She twisted her weapon, freeing herself from him and landing in front of him. Fluidly, she switched Crescent to rifle-mode and shot him in the head. His head snapped back, but his Aura held and he grinned, looking no worse for the wear.

"Uh oh." Ruby whispered.

Blake flew in over her shoulder, spinning in the air and swinging her newly-acquired machete. Their opponent whipped his hand up and deftly grabbed the blade out of the air, stopping it dead. Blake was caught by surprise by the sudden stop in its momentum, letting the Guardian catch her by the neck with his other hand.

"Nice knife," He said, crushing the machete in his hand, "You think you can kill me with that? My name is Aaron Slate!"

He threw Blake backwards, sending her tumbling along the ground. Ruby shot forward, and Slate swung at her. Ruby vanished, and his fist cut through a cloud of rose petals. Ruby appeared behind him and slashed at his back with Crescent. He swung wildly behind him and Ruby vanished again. Reappearing in front of him, she struck him again. She was moving and attacking faster than could be seen, but none of the strikes she hit him with seemed to scratch him. As Blake stood up again, she saw Weiss shoot past her. Ruby used Speed one last time to get clear, and Weiss fired a barrage of Ice Dust at Slate. His entire body was covered in a massive ice crystal. Weiss flipped backwards, landing next to Ruby and Blake.

"Good job," Ruby said, "If he can't move, he can't-"

With a flex of his muscles, Slate shattered the entire formation of ice. He dusted the front of his coat off, casually.

"Oh come on, seriously?!" Ruby yelled.

Jaune swung his shield about and block a shotgun blast, the force of the impact knocking him back a couple steps. He sprinted forward towards the shooter, dodging quickly to the left to avoid another shot. The weapon in his attackers hands was a double-barrelled shotgun, with a chainsaw bayonet and what looked like a small flamethrower mounted on top. The Guardian swung the weapon at Jaune, firing the flamethrower as he did so, spewing flames into the air. Jaune spun as he charged, blocked the spray of fire with his shield, and swung the sword into the Guardian's gut. The Guardian's Aura was significantly weakened, but he remained standing. Before he could recover, Jaune continued his attack, bashing him in the chest with his shield, knocking him to the ground, then bringing the sword down on his face. He wrenched the sword free and gave the Guardian's body a kick for good measure.

Jaune turned to his teammates. Nora was firing grenades at the transports. A few Guardians had stayed inside the aircraft and were raining gunfire down on the battlefield. Meanwhile, Ren was engaging a Guardian in hand-to-hand, and seemed to be having a rare bit of trouble, probably due to the damage he took in the explosion. The Guardian was clearly an experienced martial artist, and it was all Ren could do to block all of his attacks. Jaune slid his shield off his arm, took aim, and threw it. The Guardian saw the shield flying at him and knocked it aside with ease, but was distracted just long enough for Ren to counterattack. Ren shot forward and struck the Guardian with an open palm, right to his ear. He punched him in the solar plexus, then dropped to a crouch and punched him in the crotch. The Guardian stumbled back, stunned. Ren finished him off the a powerful roundhouse kick that sent him flying backwards, colliding with another Guardian, who was knocked off his feet.

"Thank you, Jaune," Ren said.

"We need to-" Jaune began.

He was cut off by a miniature rocket striking the ground a few feet away. Jaune and Ren were both thrown off their feet, Jaune hitting the ground hard. Jaune shook himself off, and started to get up, but was stopped by a heavy boot slamming down on his chest. He looked up to see the Guardian who'd fired the rocket, judging by the rocket launcher resting on his shoulder. The Guardian swung the weapon around, transforming it into a warhammer. He raised the weapon high over his head, readying to bring it down on Jaune. Jaune squinted, and gritted his teeth. Suddenly, a figure came flying towards the Guardian from the left. There was the sound of a mighty impact, and the Guardian's head was blown to pieces. The bits of bone and chunks of flesh were sent flying splattering the ground. The Guardian's headless body collapsed to one side, revealing Cardin Winchester standing behind him. Cardin held out his hand to Jaune. Jaune took his hand and Cardin pulled him to his feet.

"Come on, Arc, on your feet," Cardin said.

"I'm fine," Jaune said, "There are other first-years in trouble."

"Right," Cardin said, "Team CRDL will draw these guys' attention. You help any civilians or students too hurt to fight."

Jaune started to agree, then caught sight of another small transport sweeping in low nearby. Marcus Ochre leapt from the transport. He dropped to the ground, stood and looked around the battlefield, a predatory look in his eyes.

"Holy shit." Jaune said, "Cardin, we-"

"I've got 'em," Cardin said, "Team, let's go!"

Team CRDL took off towards Ochre, weapons at the ready.

"Cardin, no!" Jaune yelled.

But CRDL was already out of earshot, smashing Guardians out of their way to get to Ochre. Jaune charged after them. A Guardian stepped into his path and swung a spiked club at him. Jaune dove through the air, passing over the club, rolled, spun and countered. The Guardian collapsed, and Jaune continued forward. He looked ahead just in time to see Sky Lark perform a leaping attack, slashing his spear, aiming for Ochre's throat. The blade sliced halfway through Ochre's neck, a wound that was closing before the blade even left his flesh. Lark landed next to Ochre, put a hand to his own slashed throat as it gushed blood, and collapsed. Dove Bronzewing charged Ochre, not paying attention to what had happened to his team-mate. He thrust his sword into Ochre's chest. Ochre stumbled back, but remained standing. Bronzewing coughed up blood. Ochre reached down to the sword in his chest, and fired the gun in the hilt several times, the shots travelling along the blade and into his chest. Bronzewing collapsed.

Cardin skidded to a halt in front of Marcus Ochre, looking at his fallen team-mates. Ochre pulled the sword from his own chest, and tossed it aside. He reached into his coat and pulled out a knife. Cardin swung his mace over his head and slammed it into the ground, sending a wave of small explosions towards Ochre, sending him flying off his feet. Cardin winced, feeling his flesh being burned beneath his armour. Ochre hit the ground, and Cardin marched towards him. Ochre quickly put his hand in his coat again. Cardin reached out to grab him. There was the sound of a gun firing, and Cardin fell to one knee. Ochre pulled the handgun out from his coat. He'd fired it into his own chest. He stood up, and dusted himself off. Cardin raised his mace again. Ochre transferred the handgun from his right hand to his left, then fired the gun into his right palm. Cardin dropped his weapon, crying out in pain. Ochre walked over to him, so he was standing over Cardin. He put the handgun under his own chin.

"Come on, Winchester," Ochre said, "Beg for your life."

"Fuck you." Cardin breathed, staring up at Ochre with hatred.

As Ochre's finger tightened on the trigger, Jaune shot past Cardin, his open hand slamming into Ochre's throat. Ochre's head was pulled away from the gun, and the shot went wild. Jaune put all his momentum into throwing Ochre, sending him into a backflip. Ochre's feet his the ground, and before he had a chance to gain his bearings, Jaune wrenched the gun from his hand, stepped behind him, and pulled both of Ochre's arms behind his back. He whipped out a pair of handcuffs and locked them onto Ochre's wrists. The entire move happened in only a couple seconds. Marcus looked behind him, stunned.

"Wow, Arc," Ochre said, as Jaune walked back in front of him, "That was pretty cool."

"Just like I thought," Jaune said, "With that Semblance, you never bothered to learn how to fight. Now I just have to keep you restrained until we find a way to kill-"

There was a sickening popping sound, and Jaune's right thumb popped out of its socket. He screamed in surprise, dropping to his knees. Marcus pulled himself free of the handcuffs, his own thumb snapping back into position. He looked at the handcuffs hanging from his wrist.

"Well, that was fun while it lasted," Ochre said, "Nice haircut, by the way. This had better not be one of those "shaving your head to reflect a shift in personality" things. Where's Belladonna?"

A short distance away, Team RWBY continued struggling against Slate. Everything they hit him with he shrugged off effortlessly.

"Nobody's Aura is this strong!" Weiss said, "How is he doing this?!"

Blake looked Slate up and down. His coat had been severely damaged by the barrage of attacks. She caught sight of something through the tears in the leather. Charging forward, she unleashed a series of precise slashes, splitting the coat into pieces. The coat fell off, revealing Slate's bare chest. His entire body was crisscrossed with glowing tattoos, which travelled between a series of Dust crystals set directly into his flesh. Slate glanced down at his chest, and looked up, grinning.

"He's using Dust to artificially boost his Aura!" Weiss said.

Slate charged at Weiss, swinging a massive fist at her. She dodged, and fired a blast of Dust into his side, throwing him off-balance. He tumbled, and struggled to recover, but not before Ruby jumped on him, landed on his back, and fired Crescent Rose downward into his back. He took the hit, continuing to stand up. He reached over his shoulder and grabbed at Ruby. She jumped off just in time, the edge of her cloak just slipping between his fingers. Blake couldn't offer much help without a weapon. She glanced around and caught sight of Jaune struggling with an enemy. The man's appearance matched the description Team JNPR had given of Marcus Ochre. Blake saw Jaune collapse as Ochre pulled himself out of a pair of handcuffs.

"Guys, Jaune's in trouble!" She called.

Weiss slid past Slate, stopped next to Ruby, and threw up a glyph in front of Crescent Rose's barrel. Ruby fired an Ice-Flower into Slate's face.

"Go!" Ruby said, "We've got this guy!"

Blake took off to help Jaune. Ochre reached into his coat a pulled out a pair of scissors. Jaune grabbed his dislocated thumb and forcibly snapped it back into position. He grunted in pain, and then burst forward toward Ochre. He tossed his sword aside, and bashed the scissors out of Ochre's hand with his shield. He swung around behind Marcus and wrapped an arm around his neck. He tightened it into a chokehold, immediately feeling tightness around his own neck. His chest suddenly tightened, like he was unable to breathe, even as he continued exhaling.

"Alright," Jaune said, clenching his teeth, "Let's see which one of us passes out first."

Blake ran up to them, and took in the scene. Ochre was struggling and fighting to get out of the hold, while Jaune was putting all of his strength into holding him tight. Both were starting to gasp for oxygen.

"Will that work?" Blake asked Jaune.

"I think so," Jaune said, panting, "If I pass out, you grab him and keep choking him until he's out. Do not let him take a breath!"

"Right." Blake nodded.

A Guardian ran at Jaune from behind. Blake caught sight of a weapon on the ground, a simple sword/gun combo. She kicked it up into her hand and shot the approaching Guardian in the head. She sensed movement behind her, and spun, slashing the throat of a Guardian who'd been coming up behind her. She looked down at the weapon in her hand and suddenly recognized it. It was Dove Bronzewing's sword. She looked down at the boy's body, laying nearby, along with the rest of Team CRDL. Cardin was passed out, but the other members of his team were dead. Dove's wounds weren't visible beneath his armour, but blood was spilling from his mouth and nose. Blake dropped the sword.

Jaune's eyelids started drooping. His grip around Ochre's neck was weakening.

"Alright, get ready to take him," He grunted, "I'll-"

Ochre suddenly pushed his way out of Jaune's grip. Blake thrust her hands at his neck, hoping to stop him from getting a breath. Ochre jumped forward faster than she expected, and he headbutted her. Ochre threw a wild punch, but Blake easily countered it. Ochre reached into the pocket of his coat and pulled out a scalpel. Jaune rushed to disarm him, but Ochre thrust the blade into his own arm and twisted. Jaune grabbed his own arm and cried out in pain. He thrust the scalpel towards his own neck, attempting to slice his throat. Blake grabbed his wrist and placed her other hand to his chest, holding the blade millimetres from his throat. She twisted his arm, spun him around, knocked the scalpel from his hand, and bent his arm against his back, restricting his movement. Jaune quickly pulled out his scroll.

"Maranz," Jaune said into it, "Are you in the air?"

"Took off as soon as the fighting started, kid," Team JNPR's pilot answered, "What can I do to help?"

"Get to the location of my scroll signal!" Jaune said, "We have to get this scumbag away from the fight!"

"Coming." Maranz said.

Ochre fought to get free. He used his free hand to reach into his coat again, trying to grab another weapon. Blake grabbed his wrist and pulled it back. Ochre cursed and spewed profanity as he struggled to free himself. Above the battlefield, a Bullhead flew into sight, weaving in between the Guardians' airships. The Bullhead swooped in above them, and lowered itself near the ground. Jaune jumped, grabbed the edge of the side-door, and pulled himself up. Blake reached down, grabbed the bottom of Ochre's coat, and pulled it up over his head, obscuring his vision and disorienting him. With all her strength, she threw him up to the Bullhead. Once she saw that Jaune had a good grip on him, she leapt up into the Bullhead and helped Jaune pull Ochre aboard.

"Now what?" Asked Blake, pinning Ochre down to the floor of the craft.

"We get him away from the fight so he can't kill anybody else, find a way to kill him, then get back," Jaune said, before turning to Maranz, "Fly! Take us out over the city!"

The Bullhead climbed into the air, accelerating away from the fight below. The craft lurched and bucked as it weaved between the transport ships. Jaune almost lost his footing, stumbling backwards towards the open door of the Bullhead. He grabbed the hand rail on the ceiling, saving himself from the fall. The Bullhead levelled, and flew past one of the larger transport ships. As Blake glanced out the door towards the enemy ship, she caught sight of something that made her heart skip a beat. There, among the few Guardians who hadn't joined the fight, was him. Yang's killer. He was holding a grenade launcher, and taking potshots at the fighters below with it. He glanced at the Bullhead flying by, and his eyes met Blake's. Time seemed to stop for a split second as recognition crossed his face. Blake stood, forgetting about Ochre, and rushed to the small weapon locker mounted on the wall. She opened it and pulled out a handgun. Steadying herself with the handrail, she fired the entire clip at Jack. The bullets whizzed by him, harmlessly. One struck an unsuspecting Guardian standing next to him in the head, killing him instantly. Jack didn't flinch. He raised the grenade launcher, took aim, and fired. The explosive struck one of the Bullhead's engines, destroying it and sending the craft reeling. Jaune had been hanging out the side-door on the opposite side of the Bullhead. The sudden jolt in the ship's movement sent him flying away, tumbling towards the ground.

"Jaune!" Blake shouted, reaching out hopelessly, as the aircraft began spinning wildly out of control. The ship was losing altitude fast, but was still moving away from Beacon. It had already flown over the edge of Beacon's cliffs and was plunging towards the city. Blake grabbed tightly to the side of the ship, and braced herself. She caught sight of Marcus Ochre. He had stood back up, and was loosely holding onto one of the ship's rails with one hand, allowing his body to be thrown about freely in the chaos. He was laughing hysterically.

The Bullhead crashed into the side of one of Vale's skyscrapers, at an angle. Blake slammed hard into the side of the Bullhead's interior. The Bullhead careened off the side of the building, leaving a giant, burning scar in the metal exterior. Looking out the door, Blake saw that the Bullhead was falling towards the roof of the shorter building next to the skyscraper. Summoning all her strength, Blake pushed off from where she was holding, shooting out the door and clear of the aircraft. She attempted to turn herself around in midair, but there wasn't quite enough time. She landed on on foot badly, and felt her leg fracturing. She cried out in pain and crumpled to the ground. Behind her, the Bullhead crashed down on the roof, shaking the building and throwing about debris. Blake shielded her head with one hand, and then lay on the roof, momentarily in shock.

Blake fought her way into a sitting position, breathing heavily. Every part of her hurt. She gingerly felt her leg. A hairline fracture on her femur. She'd be unable to walk faster than a limp, and certainly wasn't in fighting shape. She looked up towards the cliff edge, far above the buildings. She could just barely make out the distant sounds of continued fighting. Blake didn't know how she would even get off this roof, much less how she'd get back up to Beacon to help her friends. She glanced towards the burning wreck of the Bullhead, and her eyes widened. Marcus Ochre was crawling from the wreckage. His clothes were burned and tattered, and he had a few small pieces of debris and scrap metal sticking out of his skin in some places, but he was otherwise unharmed. Through a giant hole torn in the cockpit, Blake could see the shattered body of John Maranz. Ochre had transferred his injuries to him in the crash. Ochre stumbled clear of the wreck, and shook himself off. He noticed that the shoulder of his leather coat was on fire, and he patted it out. He looked down at the remains of the coat and shook his head, looking mildly irritated. He looked up to Blake, lying on the concrete a short distance away.

"Man, look at this," Marcus said, pulling off the coat, "I really liked this fucking coat."

He tossed the coat aside, and checked his pockets for any weapons. Finding none, he looked around on the ground. He picked up a piece of scrap metal, burnt and twisted, forming a twisted, razor-sharp edge. He looked it up and down, nodded in approval, and then strode forward. As he walked towards Blake, he casually pulled the pieces of debris out of his chest. Blake felt the sting of small cuts manifesting on her chest. She grimaced. She attempted to stand. Marcus stabbed the metal shard into his knee. Blake fell back to the ground in agony. He closed the distance to her, and looked down at her, a satisfied grin on his face.

"Well, that little plane ride sure worked out great, didn't it?" He said, "Now we have some time alone. Let's talk."