A/N: Another 10k+ wordcount doozy. I really liked this one, though I struggled with ordering the scenes in a way that gives a coherent-ish timeline.

On a different note, some of you have noted (rightly so) that not only is this battle dragging on for more chapters than it should, but that each one seems to end in Yet Another Cliffhanger. To the first point, I'm gonna be straight with you and admit that I made an XCOM Rookie mistake and lost control of the situation. I had only planned for 2-3 chapters after the fighting started, and then I realized that I left a lot of loose threads dangling in the chapters leading up to BoB. The end result was the creative mess that you have all borne witness to.

To the second point, I think it's more of a push-pull relationship between the good dudes and the bad dudes. Each chapter has XCOM & Friends achieving critical victories (evacuating Amity, recovering rogue!Penny, securing the fairgrounds, rescuing Lily), but the forces of evil aren't taking this laying down. I'd like to think that all of their chapter-ending victories have been at least somewhat hinted at rather than coming completely out of left field, but I'll be the first to admit that I'm still learning how to craft an engaging story without resorting to some cheap asspulls (But that's where I rely on you guys to keep me honest!). In short, I want RWBYCOM to be the the team of Big Guddam Heroes that they are, but I also want the villains to have some teeth. Whether I do a good job of that or not is up to the judgement of you, the reader, but I hope the ride is at least enjoyable regardless of your conclusion.

Anyway, that's enough from me for now. Onto the chapter.

The lobby leading into Beacon Tower was deafeningly quiet, a stark contrast to the chaos that Ren and Nora left behind only moments before. A lot had happened in the time it took for them to reach Beacon, thanks in no small part to the fact that the large swarm of birds circling the upper levels of the tower forced their Icarus detachment to touch down far sooner than expected. Fighting towards the tower by ground allowed the huntsmen to clear a path through the monsters while Annette and the pilots kept Shen safe.

"So the bad guys have dragons on their side?" Nora mused. With the last of the defeated Grimm slowly evaporating behind her, she idly twirled her hammer and stepped into the massive tower with the rest of her team, "Why don't we get a… uh… a… wow, holy shit."

The lobby, though dimly-lit, offered enough light for Nora, Ren, and their companions to bear witness to the macabre aftermath of the battle that had taken place sometime after the fighting broke out. Bodies and limbs were strewn everywhere with blood sprayed against the floor and walls. A water main must have broken somewhere along one of the halls, as Ren could hear the pressurized fluid spraying freely out of its metal confines. Several video screens flickered on and off in the waiting area, providing intermittent life to multiple reporters' voices as they gave disjointed accounts of tonight's unfolding madness. The smell of weaponized Dust drifted past Ren through the open doorway, and he took some small comfort in knowing that the tower's security put up some semblance of a fight.

Jaune walked up behind them with a quick "What's the hold up?" before taking one look at the scene and promptly spinning around to settle his stomach on the steps outside.

"I've seen some bad shit on Earth," Annette commented as she joined the group in the foyer, "But this is pretty close to the top of the list."

Eightball grunted his agreement, "Doc, you should probably stick with the major while our vanguard sniffs out danger. Whatever the fuck did this might still be around."

While the group examined the lobby, Ren couldn't shake the feeling that this wasn't normal. He was familiar with Grimm slaughter, more so than he'd care to admit, but even this was a step above anything he'd ever seen. Arms with flesh chewed to the bone... faces frozen in terror with their eyes gouged out… Grimm were killers, not torturers.

"Nothing but bodies and trashed equipment over here." Jaune called out from the left, "There's a lot of them, though. How busy was this place when the fighting started?"

"When is the CCT ever not busy?" Pyrrha asked, sorrow behind her words, "All these bullet holes and residual dust patches weren't shot for fun."

"Maybe the good guys won, and nobody's here anymore because the security evacuated all of the survivors." Nora speculated, but her tone betrayed the fact that she didn't believe her own words. With the rest of his team vocalizing their theories, Ren silently tried to make heads or tails of the spectacle laid out before them. What had taken place here? What had incited such grisly behavior in an already vicious foe? Did the victims die quickly? Before Ren could get too deep in thought about that last question,, a familiar voice greeted them.

"Ah, it appears that my backup has arrived. Hello, everyone."

"Headmaster?" Nora asked, stopping dead in her tracks and looking around in confusion, "Do you have cameras set up in here or something?"

"An astute observation, Miss Valkyrie." Ozpin said, "One can never be too careful with the security of something as important as Beacon Tower."

Wait... in that case… "Does that mean you saw what happened in the lobby?"

A short silence followed Ren's question before Ozpin finally answered with, "I believe have a lot of work to do, and not much time to do it."

That… did nothing to assuage Ren's fears. Did Ozpin really watch the whole slaughter without lifting a finger to help? Or did he intervene and prevent the lobby from looking even worse than it already did?. Even though the headmaster's answer didn't do much to help the ominous feeling slowly growing in Ren's gut, he decided to follow Ozpin's lead and worry about the business at hand for now. The sooner they could wrap things up here, the sooner Ren could return to XCOM's aid in the main fight.

Pyrrha seemed to agree, "Just tell us what you need, and we'll get it done."

The elevator doors opened on the far side of the room. "First thing's first, miss Nikos. I think it's safe to say that the good Doctor has some very pressing matters to attend to. If you'll all step into the elevator and take it up to my office… Nora, Ren? Would you mind waiting in the lobby? I have a different task for you two once the elevator returns."

"Creeeepyyyyyy…" Nora said muttered as the rest of the landing party entered the elevator and the doors shut. Once this was all over, Ren really needed to have a long conversation with Ozpin about presentation. Or maybe this was all a game to him? No, the headmaster may be a bit weird, but he didn't lack empathy. Surely he was aware of all the carnage happening tonight, especially since he had front-row seats to the massacre that unfolded right here in his own tower. Ren took the opportunity to glance around the room some more in hopes of catching something that he had previously missed.

"I apologize for all the cloak and dagger business." Ozpin said, cutting into Ren's thoughts, "But I think that tonight's events are evidence enough that our enemies are listening everywhere."

Then why announce that Shen's team was headed to his office? I guess it didn't really matter. Anyone with half a brain would probably think to sweep that room first.

Ren opted for a diplomatic response, as usual. "I understand, sir. With respect, though, I think a bit more openness would be helpful in the future, now that the enemy has come out of the shadows."

"You'll find no argument from me."

The elevator doors opened, and Ren stepped in with his partner and approached the lift panel. Where would he be going with Nora? To the CCTS comm center? That was probably important enough to warrant sending in a huntsmen team to secure. To his surprise, Ren felt the elevator shutter ever-so-slightly before moving down.

"This is weirding me out." Nora whispered to her partner. Ren nodded in agreement. He trusted Ozpin, but the idea of dropping into some mysterious subterranean structure that the headmaster had taken the time to deck out with video feeds, secret entrances, and who knows what other security measures… How important was this thing? Important enough for Bradford to dispatch two valuable assets that could have otherwise helped significantly in the fight above. Ren remembered Ruby mentioning something about a meeting between Ozpin, Bradford, and Ironwood where Ruby and Weiss were asked to leave. Did Ozpin show the Central Officer the same thing that he was about to show Ren?

"I'm not sure how compromised this tower is," Ozpin said, pulling Ren out of his thoughts, "And I'm not sure how much she is watching, but I doubt there's any harm in directing you to leave the elevator when it opens and follow the hallway until-"

The elevator lurched to an abrupt halt, with Ozpin's audio feed cutting out in an equally sudden fashion, and Ren steadied himself against Nora. The two partners shared a concerned glance before a muted chorus of screeching Grimm echoed through their mechanical prison.

Shen moved swiftly into Ozpin's office the moment the elevator door opened with a pleasant ding. The Chief Engineer wasted no time at all as he took a seat at Ozpin's desk and booted up the terminal. His security detail followed and spread out to have eyes on all angles of the room and the surrounding sky. That swarm of Griffons remained swirling around the tower, though they seemed to take no notice of the new arrivals in the glass-walled office. Beyond the flock, Jaune could catch glimpses of the dragon flying over the city.

With the office properly secured, Annette took a moment to take in the tower's unique panoramic vantage of Beacon and Vale with a low whistle. "Damn, if being the headmaster of a school means you get to have this sort of view on a daily basis, then sign me the fuck up."

"Are you referring to the landscape, or the fighting that's breaking out all over it?" Jaune asked.

"I'm not sure I appreciate your sass, Arc."

"It is beautiful, in its own way." Pyrrha interrupted, "The fighting, I mean. Even in the midst of overwhelming darkness, we fight back. As we've always done, and as we always will."

"Truer words were never spoken." Shen added, his tone slightly absentminded as his attention remained fixed on the computer screen. He pulled a small device out of his breast pocket and clipped it into the terminal.

Annette raised an eyebrow. "You look like you've, uh… been here before, Doc. On several occasions."

"That would be correct, Major." Shen said, his fingers tapping and swiping the computer's haptic interface. The holographic readouts on the array of screens moved by faster than Annette could make sense of, which only raised more questions about how much time Shen had spent playing around in Ozpin's office over the past few days.

The Doctor's antics seemed to have tickled Pyrrha's curiosity as well. "Is that virus giving you trouble? I recall hearing chatter over comms that it was hindering Vahlen's ability to keep control over Amity."

"My associate was dealing with software and hardware that she had very little familiarity with, and found herself in a situation where she was woefully unprepared on account of us trying to make nice with Atlas." Shen answered tersely, "I suffer from no such setbacks."

Now that Annette had a moment to think about it, Shen was pretty quiet over the last couple of days. Sure, he put in a lot of work on the communications project, but all the help he received on that from Vahlen, MacAuley, and Ozpin's staff meant that he wasn't devoting all of his time to getting the comms running. And if Annette highly doubted that Shen would spend his spare time playing Civ.

The scene playing out before her wasn't as ridiculous as a film's representation of 'hacking' from the late 90's with keystrokes at 100 WPM and lines of code scrolling across the screen faster than they eye could follow. Shen's motions were as calculated as they were swift, and he paused for a moment before every swipe and stroke to be sure that it was exactly what he needed to do to achieve his objective. The fire in his eye and the faint feeling of rage Annette could passively detect from his psyche gave the operative all the clues she needed to understand exactly what was driving him forward with such purpose.

The rest of the squad also picked up on the sense that now wasn't the time for banter, and let the engineer work in peace. The silence was short-lived, however, as XCOM radio banter started to stream into the office.

"Shot are hitting the target sir, but we are reporting minimal damage. Jaegers are shifting armaments to MAC configuration."

"More Atlas mechs are assaulting the fairgrounds. Strike Six is holding thanks to additional huntsmen support."

"Icarus squad, Delta team reporting: lots of civilians trapped in the city. We're coordinating with our pilots and Atlesian security forces to rescue as many as possible."

"Strike Four reporting operative down! We've got more of those gorilla bastards entering the city!"

"Odin has arrived to reinforce the Skysnipers. We might have a shot at bringing this bastard down after all."

The chatter continued, and it didn't take a prodigy to guess what specific bit of news Shen was listening for as he continued his work. Speaking of his work…

"Doctor, how are we looking right now? With the whole 'deactivate the bots' thing."

"Making steady progress." Shen answered, "I've already established that the signal is not coming from the tower, and with some assistance from the relay station's on-duty comms tech, I'm close to isolating the rogue cruiser's signal that is the likely culprit for the hack."

Annette nodded. "Great. And when that's done?"

"Then our work here should be concluded."

"Actually," Jaune cut in, "I have an idea that might be useful if we have time after you're done. Do you think you could rig up an out-bound signal blast from this room?"

Shen stopped typing for a moment to stare blankly at Jaune, "You need to practice a little more with your technobabble, Lieutenant."

Pyrrha seemed to understand what her partner meant and clarified, "A message, Doctor. Would it be possible for you to send out a radio message from here?"

The Chief Engineer paused for a moment to consider the question before he answered with a quick, "I believe so."

"Shen is secured." And just like that, the Chief Engineer's attention snapped immediately back to his work terminal, "Repeat, we have recovered Lily Shen."

Silence, and then a choked sob of relief sputtered out of Shen's throat as he threw his glasses to the desk and fell back into Ozpin's chair. Images and characters continued to update on the screen, but the old man paid them no mind while he allowed himself a brief moment to savor the knowledge that he hadn't lost his one and only daughter.

The moment was short-lived, however.

"Operative Polendina reporting! Skysnipers ready to lau-"

Shen sat up in his seat at the sound of the radio feed cutting out mid-sentence. He pulled up several metrics and readouts on the terminal, before realization of what happened started to set in.

"No…" He whispered, his fingers moving frantically across the keys, "No, no no no no!"

"Doctor!"

"Lily!" Shen croaked, his fingers slamming into the terminal interface as he fought to fix the unfixable, "Give me back my Lily, you goddamn machine!"

"She's going to be fine!" Pyrrha tried to assure the distraught engineer, "No matter what happened to the signal, XCOM has your daughter. She's safe."

Shen didn't seem to hear Pyrrha as he continued his efforts to fix the signal. Out of the corner of her eye, Pyrrha saw Annette fall into one of her psionic trances, presumably to try and comfort Shen's mind from within. The rest of the team watched in silence, unsure of what to do. They were here specifically to keep the Doctor safe, since he was the only one technically skilled enough to carry out the counter-signal mission. If Annette couldn't get through to him, what else could be done but wait?

Jaune's hand snapped up to his ear, "I read you, sir… Yes, sir… Yes… Understood… I'll notify you if our situation changes."

He looked up to see all eyes staring at him intently. "Comms are down for everyone. Instructions are getting routed through the Temple Ship at the moment, under Commander Van Doorn's coordination. Central has dispatched an engineering team to try to fix the situation, but… Van Doorn didn't sound too confident."

Silence fell over the room, followed by Dr. Shen letting out a deep sigh. He reached for his glasses to clean them with his shirt, stared at the constant stream of scrolling information in front of him, and finally put on his spectacles and resumed typing in his previously calm and deliberate manner.

"Lily's as safe as one can be in this mess." Shen muttered,"The least I can do is try to make it safer."

"Timmons!" Bradford barked, "Timmons, do you copy?"

Nothing. No Timmons, no asshole breaking into the comm center, no static…

No static?

Oh. Oh, that couldn't be good. Bradford switched to the channel used by the Fairgrounds team.

"Strike Six, this is Central, do you copy?"

Sounds of battle raged behind him as XCOM and Ironwood's forces sought to regain control of the city, but Bradford's radio was very, very dark..

"Otter? Otter, this is Central. Acknowledge."

"Boss?" Bradford looked up to see a pair of operatives approach, a passed out Lily Shen in the arms of one, "We've got the kid, but… are comms working for you? We're getting total radio silence."

"It's not just you, soldier. Comms are definitely down, although…" Bradford patched his radio to the old channel used in the early days of XCOM's Terran-Valean communications, "Commander, this is Central. Pete, please tell me you're receiving this."

A moment of silence, then, "Loud and clear, sir. Comms dropped off across the board, and we have no idea why."

"Someone found our relay station." Bradford explained, "Timmons had the wherewithal to hail me so I could listen to some jackass come barging in and order his goons to tear up the place before everything went quiet."

"Sounds like you need a recon team, then." Bradford looked over to see Blake and Yang approach. Their faces were slick with sweat and grime, but they showed no signs of fatigue from the battle.

Bradford smiled, "It sounds like you're offering."

"Does the Pope shit in the woods?"

"... Do you even know who the Pope is?"

"Nope."

"Give me a minute with The General, then we can plan out our next move." Bradford said, shaking his head in bemused exasperation as he keyed his comm once again.

"Pete, I need you to work through the list of active officers we have deployed right now and inform them that all comms are now routed through the Temple Ship. We've got a lot of moving parts down here, and it's all going to get thrown to hell if we don't regain some semblance of coordination within the next couple of minutes."

"Understood, sir. We've got all hands on deck at Mission Control, so it shouldn't take long. I'll personally relay any and all information intended for you, as well as keep you appraised of other critical developments."

"Thank you, Commander. I know it must be difficult for you to be relegated to a backline role like this…"

"But rules exist for a reason. I understand, sir. Van Doorn out."

Bradford turned to Blake and Yang. "Now let's get to the matter of our little comm problem."

By this point, several other operatives had circled up around Bradford, curious to hear what Bradford had planned to deal with their unexpected communication issue.

"We need to figure out what the hell just happened to our comms, and how to get them back online. I'm dispatching you with operatives Samuelson and Mtambe, and a small combat escort. Get to the relay ASAP and try to salvage the situation." Bradford glanced at Blake, "And if you happen to run across whoever caused this, feel free to show them our hospitality on behalf of Corporal Timmons."

The two huntresses, along with their new squad, snapped a salute to the Central Officer, "Yes sir."

"I'll work with Vahlen on our end to try and find an alternative solution to the problem. If these saboteurs were thorough, Mtambe and Sam might not be able to repair the waystation as quickly as we need." Bradford rubbed his temples and let out a stressed sigh, "I know the Doctors were playing around with the idea of adapting the Odin into a mobile signal booster. Hopefully they made more progress on that little project than they've told me about."

Yang nodded. "At the very least, you can count on us to get the comm center secured."

"I know." Bradford said with a weary smile, "You're XCOM, after all. You best get to it, Sergeant. And Godspeed."

"That doesn't sound good." Ren said, pistols swiftly appearing in his hands.

"You're telling me." Nora whined, "Hammers aren't that great in confined spaces."

"Then we'll need to find a way to get out of here, and quickly."

Another series of screeches and howls from below punctuated Ren's point. He could ask Nora to punch a hole through the floor, but what good would that do, really? They had no idea how much further they had to go before the reached the bottom of the shaft (if their destination was the bottom), and Ren worried that his partner's lack of finesse would end up blowing out the entire floor of the elevator rather than create a surgical opening.

He had to do something, though, and the only other options were 'the door they came through' and 'up.'

"Nora, give me a boost so I can reach that ceiling panel, then see if you can pry open that door. We might be lucky and the elevator stopped at another floor."

"Right." Nora crouched low, and Ren deftly hopped up onto her shoulders. The extra height boost once his partner stood up straight allowed Ren to easily reach the ceiling, and he sliced open the panel hinges with a flick of his blade. He pushed aside the broken pane and leapt from Nora's shoulders to the outside of the elevator box and took the opportunity to assess his new, dimly lit surroundings while Nora got to work on the main door. The first thing to catch his eye was the distinct lack of doors dotting the wall of the shaft. As he craned his neck upwards, Ren couldn't even see the doors that opened up to the lobby that they came from.

Just how far down were they supposed to go?

The concrete wall of the shaft started to fracture twenty feet above Ren's head and off to his right.

"Nora, forget about the door. I need you up here with me."

Loud static poured into the elevator from its speakers several seconds after Nora joined Ren on the roof.

"Zzzzzzdon't mean tozzzzzzzsooner rathzzzzzzzzzould be preferzzzzzzzzz."

The fracture continued to grow along the shaft, spreading to the other two adjoining walls and causing small chunks of concrete to trickle down and collide with the elevator. The next chorus of hellish screams reached the huntsmen from above as well as below. Their options, Ren realized, were rapidly dwindling. He peered through the open panel, took a moment to consider the best course of action, and made his choice. He aimed his pistol through the access panel and systematically unloaded the entire magazine into the floor.

"Nora, grenade."

His partner quickly caught on to his plan, shifted Magnhild into its launcher form, and pulled the trigger. The elevator box shuddered from the kinetic force of Nora's explosion, but the damaged floor blew out in the circular pattern that Ren had created. The serrated metal fell away to reveal a writhing mass of subterranean Grimm crawling their way up towards the elevator from the depths below, their beady red eyes staring through the darkness at the elevator and its cargo.

Well, at least they'll soften the fall.

"Hang onto something." Ren muttered. As the concrete above them finally gave way to the first Creep, Ren threw all of his strength into cutting loose the elevator cable. It broke with a snap, and Ren cried out as the taught wire sliced his arm when it whipped free. Nora grabbed him with her free arm and held him tightly against the top of the elevator as the metal box began to plummet towards rock bottom. The Grimm hordes did their job and slowed the car's fall considerably, though the metal creaked and complained under the unusual forces and stresses. More Grimm fell from above and crashed into the rooftop next to the two partners only to be met with a swift hammer to the face that sent them crashing into the wall as it whizzed by.

Ren stole a peek through the hole in the floor and saw the floor of the elevator shaft rushing up to meet them.

"Jump!" He yelled. The duo leapt off of the elevator, and Ren dug his weapons into the concrete as Nora latched onto his waist. The elevator crashed into the basement in a mass of twisted metal, and the two students dropped down shortly thereafter. Nora blasted open the broken elevator doors with a mighty swing of her hammer, and they raced out into the hallway where they could use the wider space to their advantage.

"Zzzzzzeep moving, pleazzzzzzime is of thezzzzzzzz."

More Creeps burrowed up from below, and all manner of Grimm spewed forth from their tunnels. Beowolves, Lesser Taijitu, Ursa, and strange variants that Ren didn't recognize crawled out of the new gopher holes and swarmed the hallway.

"I don't know what's down here." Nora said as she pancaked another monster beneath her hammer, "But it's sure got these guys all riled up."

"Whatever it is, Ozpin will know." Ren answered, ducking under the swipe of an Ursa and splitting open its belly.

"Yeah, but is he going to tell us?"

Good point. Still, they had a job to do, and Ren wasn't about to quit because Ozpin didn't give him all the details. The two of them raced down the hall, with Nora's explosive strikes sending earthquakes through the mysterious cavern every few seconds. They quickly fell into a pattern whereby Nora would land a devastating blow that leveled all of the lesser Grimm and staggered the stronger ones, which allowed Ren to use his surgical precision to assassinate (or cripple) the sturdy elites.

Up ahead, Ren saw flashes of green light that could only mean one thing.

"We're close."

Nora shot a grenade into one of the gopher holes as they ran forward. "You know, it just occurred to me… has anyone ever seen the headmaster fight?"

"Goodwitch probably has." Ren guessed, "But you've got an interesting point."

The hall rumbled once again and Nora giggled as her explosive detonated. "I never get tired of using Elerium."

At the end of the hallway, the students bore witness to the incredible sight of Ozpin locked in combat. He just… flowed. Smoother than water, he danced from one enemy to the next. His cane didn't look particularly powerful, but Ren deduced that the headmaster didn't need to put power behind each strike when there were so many crammed into each second. Everyone from XCOM used to mention how Ren 'fought like a goddamn ninja,' but even his peak form couldn't match Ozpin's skill. Broad, sweeping strokes followed up with a flurry of jabs before a blast of energy sent the headmaster skidding towards his next victim. Because he put very little power behind each attack, Ren guessed that Ozpin could maintain this cadence for a very long time.

The rule of large numbers won out in the end, however, as the sheer number of Grimm surging forward meant that one lucky Beowolf managed to get close enough to land a swipe on the headmaster's back. Ozpin didn't cry out, nor did he flinch, and instead he whipped around so fast that Ren struggled to track his movements. The cane, despite it's blunt nature, tore into the monster from one end and ripped free on the other.

"By all means, students, feel free to join me." Ozpin quipped as he returned to his martial flow, "I promise I won't turn down your offer of assistance."

Ren nodded, silently chiding himself for getting entranced by the headmaster's display of combat mastery. "Of course, sir. Any other instructions?"

Ozpin bludgeoned another Beowolf into submission before answering, "Keep them away from the back wall. The technology back there must be protected at all costs. Nora, I believe we can best use your skills to thin out the horde as they approach."

"Absolutely!"

Under any other circumstances, Ren wondered how three huntsmen could possibly last for an indeterminate amount of time against wave after wave of Grimm. After seeing Ozpin fight, however, Ren realized that this was far from a typical circumstance. Even so, the Grimm threw themselves against the defenders will all the bloodthirsty determination humanity had come to expect from creatures of darkness. Nora conserved her explosives to maximize their impact and instead elected to use her raw strength to sail across the battlefield and plow into the sea of Grimm. At every chance he could get, Ren would supercharge his partner with the arc thrower attachments provided to him by Vahlen and Shen. He stayed back with Ozpin to pick off the Grimm that slipped past his partner, leaving the headmaster to take down the vast majority while he once again focused on the hardier targets.

A familiar voice buzzed in Ren's ear, "Sergeant, this is Mission Control. Radio communications have been restored, and all operatives are able to resume using their devices as normal. Please direct all new intel through regular channels and not those specifically keyed to Mission Control."

"Comms are up." Ren announced to his team.

Gopher holes continued to crop up until the hallway became a pockmarked landscape of ruined concrete and churned earth. Even so, the steady pacing of the huntsmen team coupled with the surge of morale in the face of Ozpin's inspiring power allowed them to hold their position without succumbing to fatigue.

Of course, Ren's confidence took a downward turn when a low-hanging mist started to flow out of the gopher holes with the latest wave of Grimm. If the accompanying sinister laughter that echoed through the hall failed to erase Ren's confidence entirely, Ozpin's comment did the trick.

"No..."

"Done."

Pyrrha turned away from the window view of the battle below and looked over at Shen. His eyes remained glued to the console's holographic display, but his fingers remained motionless as he monitored the fruits of his labor.

"Did you manage to disable the mechs?" She asked while she walked over to stand behind the doctor and look over his shoulder. On the other side of the room, Annette keyed her comm piece to relay the news to Mission Control.

"'Disrupt the malicious programming' would be more accurate." Shen corrected, "But yes… for the most part. It's not a perfect block, unfortunately. I was able to identify that the signal did in fact originate from the rogue cruiser, but I do not have the time to zero in on the signal's exact frequency channel, as my intrusion countermeasures to defend against the Black Queen will not hold out forever. However, the effectiveness of the static blast is roughly ninety percent uptime with only ten percent down, so the mechs are effectively crippled as they try to parse their conflicting instructions."

Jaune joined Pyrrha at the headmaster's desk, "And the cruiser itself?"

Shen shook his head, "Still in control of whoever hijacked it in the first place. My signal is little more than a disruptor, Sergeant: it is incapable of giving me even read access to the ship's systems, much less overwrite authority."

"Oh."

Annette strode over to the group, "New instructions from Bradford. Now that we've dealt with the mech issue, we have resources available to modify the region's largest radio tower to restore communication capabilities to our operatives."

"I was actually planning to investigate that possibility once I had finished assessing the results of my first task." Shen answered. He leaned forward in his seat and resumed typing at the console, "Given that we're already engaged in face-to-face combat with the Queen's forces, there's little point in trying to mask our presence anymore. It shouldn't be too difficult."

"Any possibility of getting that message out?" Jaune asked, "The one we discussed earlier."

Shen nodded wordlessly. Jaune, Pyrrha, and Annette exchanged glances while the Chief Engineer worked. Who would deliver the message? Annette could be the face of a new ally for the people of Remnant, letting them know that help was on the way and working to restore peace to their besieged world. Jaune, in full battle gear enhanced by his semblance, could project an image of strength and hope to people fearfully wondering who or what was seeking to cause so much wanton mayhem. Or Pyrrha, the star huntress that many people already knew, could use her fame to to provide assurance to those watching that they were in good hands.

"Communication protocols accessed." Shen announced, "The Black Queen is working to corrupt my control, but it's not as intense as before."

"Perhaps she is occupied with something else?" Annette suggested.

"It is likely. In any case, I have relayed the necessary information to Mission Control for them to pass down to our Strike Teams. Long range communications should resume in less than a minute." Shen looked up at his guardians, "Have you decided on a message?"

"It should be Pyrrha." Annette said, "XCOM is too much of an unknown wild card for us to be sure that a message from me would be well-received."

Pyrrha nodded resolutely. As much as she hated the limelight and didn't relish the idea of using her star power once again, this would likely be the single most important message she delivered to a worldwide audience. She knew how to put on a mask and deliver the speech she wanted, but she would be using those talents to prevent a global panic outbreak instead of trying to push some unhealthy cereal. She had to do this.

But what to say? Starting with her name would certainly be an effective way to command the attention of those watching. From there, she would just have to find the right words to replace their fear with hope.

"Short-range comms are live." Shen reported before gesturing to Pyrrha, "It will be another few minutes before I am ready for your broadcast, but you'll have to stand behind the desk once we are live."

A rumble shook the tower, and the room's occupants froze while they tried to determine the source of the tremor.

"We might need to get this done sooner rather than later." Annette muttered, "Pilots, I want you to get prepped to make a quick evac with the Doctor if need be."

Eightball snapped a quick salute before starting the process of fitting and double-checking Shen's harness equipment while the Chief Engineer tried to work in spite of the distraction.

"Sergeant Nikos?" Shen called to Pyrrha, "The console isn't configured for transmission yet, but we should at least record your message. Over here, if you please."

Pyrrha nodded and stepped behind Shen at the desk. He made one last keystroke before moving out of the way and allowing Eightball to finish his pre-flight check. "My dear, you'll be recording the moment that light on the hologram switches from red to green."

Pyrrha closed her eyes, breathed in deep, and slipped on that old, familiar mask. Pyrrha knew she only had one shot at this: there wouldn't be time for a re-take if she messed up. She had her smile (assuring, but not overly-exuberant) fixed and ready by the time the light indicator changed colors.

"People of Remnant, I am Pyrrha Nikos, and I stand before you with an important message."

So far so good. Pyrrha almost felt surprised at how easily she remembered how to use her interview voice. Good thing, too, because the hard part of actually comforting the populace came next.

"As I am certain you are already aware, the Vytal Festival has suffered a catastrophic attack. We are not sure who the instigators are, and we do not yet know their motives. It would be unfair of me to tell you that everything is fine, and that you have no need to be concerned. That would be a disservice to you and the gravity of the situation." With practiced motions, she slipped her facial expression into something more serious, "But what I can tell you is that we have an international coalition working both tirelessly and heroically to do everything they can to keep you safe. Huntsmen and huntresses from the four Kingdoms have recognized that this is not simply a matter of Valean national security, but a crisis that demands that all people of Remnant must stand together to face it. We will fight shoulder-to-shoulder, back-to-back to fend off the Grimm, and we will find out who caused this so that we may bring this horrific chapter to a conclusive end."

Now comes the magic. With a wide, sweeping gesture, Pyrrha summoned her two oldest companions, Milo and Akouo, to her hands and struck a confident pose that she used so many times during photo ops. It wasn't ridiculously over-the-top, but easily conveyed the message of quiet power that she had learned to perfect after countless hours of practicing in the mirror.

"It is fitting that these criminals chose to strike during the Vytal Festival. Clearly they hoped to send a message that there can be no peace between our Kingdoms, but that could not be further from the truth. Even if we come from different corners of the world, each rich with its own history and culture, we are all citizens of Remnant, working together to survive against a foe that cares not of lineage nor nationality. Despite our differences, big or small, we always come together to protect each other during the darkest of nights so that we, our friends, and our family may yet live to see the next dawn. So it has always been, and so it will always be.

"Do not be ashamed if you are afraid. Fear is the most basic of instincts that helps us survive. And though you may remind yourself that fear is what feeds the Grimm, you must also remind yourself of this: you are not alone. Remember that there are men and women ready to put themselves between you and harm at a moment's notice because it is everyone's right to feel a sense of safety and hope in the face of adversity. We will do what we must, not for glory or recognition, but because it is right. And we will bring an almighty fury down upon the Grimm to drive them back into the darkness from whence they came, and to where they belong."

The elevator quietly dinged from the back of the room, to reveal a woman wearing a scarlet dress and a cocky smirk as she brought her hands together in a slow clap. The XCOM operatives formed up around Shen and three rifles locked onto the newcomer.

"I must say, you are quite the speech-maker, my little Nikos." She casually stepped out of the elevator and into the room with five armed hostiles as calmly as if she were entering a daycare, "And as much as the world deserves to hear such… eloquence, I think you and I both know that I cannot let that happen."

Yang dispatched the last Beowolf with a yell and a bang, allowing her strike team to proceed once more towards Beacon. Thanks to the Icarus equipment, the team managed to easily scale the cliffs overlooking the rest of Vale and proceed towards the school itself. The long journey from the docks to the dormitories stretched out before them, however, and filled with friend, foe, craters, and flame. The huntresses and operatives did their best to rescue nearby civilians cornered by Grimm or otherwise trapped by the destruction of war, but every corner they rounded seemed to reveal yet another poor soul in need of saving.

"We're never going to make it to the comm room at this rate." Blake noted, "As much as I hate to say it, we can probably save more lives by getting communications up between Strike Teams than we can trying to rescue these people."

While the notion was undeniably cruel, Yang couldn't deny the truth in her partner's words. A cornered child here or a trapped woman there… it paled in comparison to the people getting rounded up and moved to XCOM's established safe zone. If that perimeter fell to the Grimm because of no coordination with Bradford's other fire teams, the death toll would be horrifying. Even as the lesser of two evils, however, Yang still hated the idea of abandoning those in need.

"Leave it to us." Yang looked back at the operatives sent to escort them to the comm room. The squad couldn't afford to let the two engineers peel off, but the others were only sent for their additional firepower. Yang knew she could could keep the engineers safe with only Blake for backup.

Her partner seemed to agree.

"Go get 'em, Nitro." Blake said, "But remember to keep yourselves safe first and foremost."

"Just get the comms back online so we can shout for help if we need to, alright?" The soldiers snapped a salute before they pulled a hard left and shot into the air towards the nearest citizen in need of assistance. Two more jump jets fired, and the engineers landed next to their huntress escort. Despite taking a bad hit during the battle on Amity, Yang noted that Mtambe showed no signs of struggling to keep up. The Icarus jets continued to glow, their slow burn lightening the load carried by the engineers so that they could keep pace with the running huntresses.

"Contacts ahead." Blake warned. Bullets zipped towards the Grimm as Blake and Yang dashed forward to meet them head-on. More wolves spilled out from the sides, and the engineers switched their focus to keep the newcomers at bay while the huntresses cleared a path forward.

"Grenade out." The familiar beeping of a plasma grenade echoed above the howls of the hungry monsters before the explosive detonated with a loud crump. Yang crushed the face of her latest victim and glanced back to see that Samuelson's well-placed grenade toss left only a handful of Grimm chasing them from behind. Not enough to merit using one of her few remaining devastator rockets.

"We can outrun them, Sergeant." Mtambe said, pulling out his sidearm and popping off a couple of backward shots at the Grimm, "Unless the wolves have suddenly learned how to fly."

With the main part of campus looming ahead, Yang knew her partner could identify a number of alternative routes to the dorms that would allow the team to lose their Beowolf tail.

"Take that colonnade and jump over to the rooftop at the end." Blake instructed, "We can hop down to the small bridge connecting to the next building, which will put us right in front of our target after a quick sprint down the hall. Yang, alley oop."

Blake split Gambol Shroud and tossed the hook to Yang while the two engineers jetted up to the tall column structure. The black ribbon grew taught as Yang swung around her partner to build up speed while Blake anchored herself and braced for the throw. Yang kicked off from the floor and let momentum whip her towards the top of the colonnade. She hit the marble at a run, still holding Blake's pistol so that her partner could use the tether to swing herself up a few seconds later. She watched the Grimm try to climb up the columns, and discovered with immense satisfaction that a single blast from Ember Celica was enough to knock the vulnerable monsters off their posts and send them tumbling to the floor.

Yang secured the ribboned pistol to her waist and the team continued their run forward. Up ahead, the engineers jumped to the next building and disappeared as they ran across the roof. To her surprise, Yang heard the sound of rifles chattering almost immediately.

"Zzzzzolves! Recommenzzzzz-"

While XCOM's communications were shot to hell, short-ranged radio still worked… barely. Dirty signals and distress calls clogged up the common bandwidths, and adjusting the comm pieces wasn't exactly something most operatives knew how to do intuitively. The engineers accompanying Blake and Yang could have probably rigged their equipment to get it working better, but they didn't have the luxury of time to do it. Even so, Yang could take a guess at what had caused the disruption. Nothing Team Bumblebee couldn't handle.

The huntresses swung into view of what had sparked Mtambe's disjointed warning: a nest of Beowolves had taken up residence on the rooftop, with the splatters of blood everywhere painting a pretty clear picture of what drew them to the roof in the first place. Samuelson was up against a metal vent, his pant leg slashed open as an Alpha Beowolf loomed over him.

Yang's shotgun gauntlet echoed across the roof, and the explosive shot connected with the side of the Beowolf's head and grabbed its attention.

"Blake, grab Sam and get him out of here while I cover you guys."

The two huntresses leapt into action, with Yang exploding towards the encroaching wolves while Blake shadowstepped towards the wounded engineer.

"Thanks." Samuelson muttered as Blake pulled him up onto his good leg, "Fucker took me by surprise."

"Hurry up over there!" Yang called out, "There's more of these than I thought!"

"Can you still use your jump pack?" Blake asked as she half-carried Sameulson to the edge of the roof.

"Landing's gonna be a bitch," Samuelson sighed, "But it's better than being dog food."

"FUCK!" Yang cried angrily, "Oh, you're gonna pay for that!"

Blake glanced back to see Yang staring down the alpha that had cornered Samuelson, one hand clutching the side of her face while the other balled into a white-hot fist.

"Let's go. Yang can handle this." Blake said.

Samuelson raised an eyebrow, "You sure?"

The look Blake gave him convinced the engineer to fire up his jet pack and launch towards the next building where Mtambe waited for them. Samuelson grunted in pain as he landed on a bridge connected the two structures, and Blake continued to help him forward as the sounds of shotgun blasts and vulgarities echoed from above.

Blake checked her supplies, Samuelson patched himself up, and Mtambe took the chance to fiddle with their short-range comms while they waited for Yang to catch up. A final, particularly loud explosion rocked the rooftop with the Beowolf nest, and Blake looked up to see her partner sail through the air and slam into the bridge next to them.

"Having comms back up sure would be nice." Yang groaned as she dusted herself off.

"You didn't have to stay and fight after we got Sam off the bridge." Blake pointed out.

Yang shook her head, "Nah, that alpha needed to be reminded that he was several yards below me on the totem pole." Her eyes narrowed as she added, "Was."

"Either way, this problem with the comms is brutal." Samuelson said, stepping back to let Yang punch open the locked door, "Can't imagine how much shit the other squads are running into because of it."

The team ran down the hallway, crashed through the window on the far end, and deftly landed in front of the empty dormitory that played home to XCOM's comm station. The group took a moment to let Samuelson make sure his first aid wasn't falling apart from the exertion while the other three ran did a once-over of the dormitory's exterior.

"No smoke, fire, or damaged windows." Mtambe observed, "Whoever did this must have known to be discrete about the sabotage."

Blake nodded, "If it's the same people who orchestrated this whole mess, I'm not exactly surprised."

Yang pulled out her scroll to unlock the door and the squad swept into the dormitory. They moved up the stairs in silence, but halted just before rounding the corner into the hallway. Faint voices carried down from further up the hallway. Voices that shouldn't be there. Mtambe pulled a flashbang off his belt, held up three fingers, and quietly counted down. The explosive rolled down the hallway and detonated on zero, and the squad dashed out of cover to see who got caught in the blast. The sight of the victims chilled Blake to her core: a trio of White Fang grunts clutching their ears and trying to regain their vision.

Yang didn't need to know anything else before her instincts took over and her fists launched a flurry of explosive rounds down the hallway. The engineers followed her lead and gauss rifles chattered in a tenor accompaniment to Yang's booming bass. The flanked and helpless grunts dropped before Blake could even shout for them to wait.

Blake cringed inwardly at the ruthless efficiency of her team as she dashed forward to assess the damage and hopefully find survivors. While Yang slowly followed behind her, Blake quickly determined that the first two grunts were very much dead. The third, however, was still alive with his mask half-shattered and his chest struggling to rise and fall.

"Brother." Blake said in a pleading whisper, "Why are you doing this? Why are you even here? Faunus fall by the hundreds or thousands tonight. Please tell me that the White Fang isn't behind this."

The grunt coughed blood and glared at Blake with a look of pure hate.

"T-traitor." He hissed, "Your so-called friends will get what's coming to them." He looked past Blake and an evil smile crossed his face, "Taurus is going to enjoy watching them burn."

Blake's eyes widened and she looked back to see Mtambe and Samuelson open the door to the comm room. The idea that Adam could be here tonight kept Blake rooted in a mixture of shock and fear. Yang, however, had enough sense to dash and blast her way towards the operatives as she yelled at them to get out of the doorway. All of her momentum allowed the huntress to shove the engineers to the floor several feet away, leaving Yang standing in front of the open door just as an audible click reached Blake's ears. An explosion rocked the building and fire poured into the hall, completely enveloping Yang in an infernal embrace.

"YANG!" Blake screamed, and she dashed forward as the fire retreated to see her partner laying face-up and unmoving on the floor. Her sacrifice wasn't in vain, Blake noted, and the two operatives slowly sat up from where they had fallen before the explosion. They were singed and dazed, but mostly unharmed. The same could not be said for Yang. Blake gingerly examined her partner's injuries, and a quiet wheeze escaped Yang's lips.

"Yang… Yang, please. Talk to me." Blake frantically tried to recall how to treat a burn victim, but so many thoughts raced through her mind that she struggled to remember the first aid lessons given by Ren and XCOM's Medical cadre.

"How precious." An amused voice said from down the hall, and Blake froze while the hairs shot up on the back of her neck. She slowly turned around to see her worst fears confirmed.

The sight of Adam Taurus, a thin smirk sitting beneath a masked face as he gazed upon his handiwork, stirred something strange in Blake. She felt as though Mercury had nicked her with his poisoned blade once more, with red slowly bleeding in from edges of her vision and narrowing her focus down onto the one man responsible for her suffering. This time, however, Blake knew that the seething rage was one-hundred percent her own. Adam had almost murdered her best friend, and he relished the sight of Blake's anguish. The man she had looked up to for so long, who she would have followed to the four corners of Remnant if he so desired, was nothing like the sick, twisted caricature of Adam Taurus that stood before her now.

"Mtambe." She whispered, "Take care of Sergeant Xiao Long."

Blake stood up, brandished her sword, and glared daggers at her old mentor. He probably thought his little trick had struck a critical blow at the poor, fragile psyche of the insecure protege that used to follow him like a shadow. He probably thought that the stress of Yang's mortality, and the Vytal festival crumbling all around her, would bring little Blake to her knees, and she would come sniveling to his side, presumably where this jackass thought she belonged.

Fuck. That.

Clearly their time apart had left Adam longing for the girl Blake used to be and unaware of the woman she had become. And if he had lost sight of what the White Fang stood for, what he was supposed to be… well, maybe he needed an ass-kicking to finally remember.

To Nora's surprise (and increasing concern), the remaining Grimm slunk back into their gopher holes while the disembodied laughter continued to rise in volume.

"Your orders, sir?" Ren asked as the two students stepped to Ozpin's side. Ozpin, Nora noticed, had fallen back towards the strange equipment at the back of the room. Was he trying to put himself between that stuff and… whatever evil was slowly filling the hall?

"This is a fight that I neither expect nor wish for you to join, students." He turned to Ren, "Take miss Valkyrie and find a corner to hide. Stay in the shadows, stay quiet, use your semblance if you must, but do not draw attention to yourself."

The laughter stopped, causing Ozpin to focus once more on the formless smoke billowing across the floor. "Go. Now."

The huntsmen didn't need to be told twice. Ren grabbed Nora by her wrist, and she followed her partner as he dashed off to the side of the cavernous hallway towards a small transept that offered some shadowy cover. She slid behind a square pillar and pushed herself flat against the wall while Ren peeked around from their cover.

"What's happening?" Nora asked, she felt her skin crawl as gooseflesh spread down her arms, though she suspected the cold wall had nothing to do with it, "Why did Ozpin tell us to hide?"

"I don't know." Ren answered. He peeked around the column for half a second before returning to Nora's side at the wall, "But I've never seen him this shaken."

Nora was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the situation as the waiting game dragged out longer and longer, "What could possibly have Ozpin so spooked, though? Isn't he, like, super powerful?"

A strong gust blew through the transept, as if something was sucking the air out of the entire hallway, and all of the rolling black fog vanished from view. Nora was certain she could have heard a pin drop amidst the ensuing silence.

A voice, low, deadly, and feminine, drifted up the hallway alongside the steady beat of light footsteps, "Hello, Ozpin. Surprised to see me?"

"Not particularly." Ozpin answered, his tone even in spite of the alarm that Nora and Ren had witnessed earlier, "Where your pets go, I know you can follow. To be honest, I'm more surprised it took you so long to pay me a visit."

"Tch. I had some annoying issues that needed to be dealt with. Who knew that our little friend could be so resourceful? I look away for one second, and he gets to work shutting down my little tin soldiers." The woman huffed, "But honestly, you're not the least bit curious how I got in here?"

Nora kept her back pressed to the wall and Ren's hand in a death grip. Her soul screamed at every word this woman spoke, yet she knew that she needed to remain absolutely silent. She looked pleadingly at Ren for help. He nodded, extracted his hand from Nora's, and pulled her into a gentle embrace.

"You're here, and I can't change that, so why would I waste time worrying about the unimportant details?"

Despite the infectious shivers of dread that seemed to seep under her skin at the sound of the woman's voice, Nora felt the fear draining as if dissolved by the mere touch of her closest friend.

"Agreed." The voice said, and the change in tone from playfully cocky to chillingly deadpan sent a shiver down Nora's spine, "You know as well as I do why I came here."

"And you know as well as I do that I cannot allow you to take her."

The woman didn't even bother answering before throwing herself into combat and marking the start of the worst minutes of Nora's life. The young huntress could feel the air vibrate with energy as Ozpin fought not only for his own survival, but that of his students and the woman trapped in the back of the room. Pressed up against the wall and not daring to steal even a single peek, Nora was forced to subject herself to the sounds of unholy shrieks as the evil witch assaulted the headmaster with eldritch forces that she scarcely comprehended.

The roar of Grimm would echo through the hallway one second, and then be silenced the next as the dark smoke billowed like a rolling blanket around the corner and across the floor. Flashes of emerald clashed against bloody lightning as Ozpin fought back, but each cry of pain that escaped his throat felt like a dagger in Nora's chest. Ozpin the unflappable, Ozpin the almighty… someone existed that could force him to struggle against extinction, and the thought of that terrified Nora.

"Give her to me."

"... No."

The determination in Ozpin's voice offered Nora a small shred of hope as the woman responded with a frustrated yell, Even with Ren's efforts to suppress her fears, the stress proved too great for Nora and she leaned out for a split-second to see what was happening. She only caught sight of the carnage for mere moments, but the image seared itself into her memory like a vivid nightmare almost instantly.

Two primordial forces clashing hundreds or thousands of feet below the masses struggling for survival on the surface. On one side stood a man, his muted green aura surrounding him like a cloak that seemed to let him flicker in and out of time itself. His expression was one of determination as he stared down his foe and threw tendrils of emerald lightning up at the witch. And yet, doubt seeped into that determination like a crack slowly snaking its way through his armor.

Across from him, the source of all of Nora's nightmares for years to come hovered several feet above the floor, elevated by the Grimm essence that rolled across her body and coalesced into horrors both new and familiar with the flick of her hand. Several Beowolves lunged forward at their mistress's command to absorb the blow of Ozpin's latest attack while the woman summoned more demons from the inky darkness to do her bidding. The evil ash, though rebuffed by Ozpin's energy, still roiled forward and sought to suffocate him with tireless determination that would surely outlast the headmaster's diminishing stamina.

Nora pressed herself against the cold wall of the transept once more and softly whimpered. The destructive battle unfolding only yards away brought memories, vivid and painful, rushing to the forefront of her mind. Kuroyuri, where she met Ren and the last time he protected her from an impossibly powerful Grimm abomination. The feeling of complete helplessness, the loss that Ren had suffered that day, sparked Nora's drive to become a huntress and make sure they never experienced that horror ever again. And yet here she sat. Frozen, silent, and hoping that the evil would just go away.

The flashing lights stopped and the explosive sounds subsided, leaving only the sounds of heavy breathing in its wake. Did Ozpin win? The sound of the woman's voice, a steel blade cutting into Nora's heart, told the young huntress that no, the fight was not over.

"I am starting to grow weary of your games, Oz."

"Why must you continue down this path?" Ozpin said, and even Nora noticed the effort it took for him to keep his voice even, "You know what awaits at the end."

"Ascension? Why would I strive for anything else, dear friend?"

"Your deal with the Devil has blinded you to the truth. Listen to yourself, M-"

"ENOUGH!"

A crimson flashbang erupted in the main hall that shockwaved throughout the entire basement floor and instantly blinded Nora. Amid her disorientation, the young huntress felt something heavy slam against the concrete wall. She panicked when she felt Ren let go of her shoulders, and she cried out his name in spite of Ozpin's orders to remain silent. When her vision recovered several seconds later, she saw Ren standing above her, staring down… something. It looked human during the split-second glance Nora had stolen during the battle, yet now she had some doubts after her first real look. What person had ashen skin, bloody veins, and those eyes?

"How adorably heroic." The witch said as she watched Ren stand over his partner, "Fortunately for you, I have more important matters to attend to. Ozpin and I have a lot of catching up to do." She nodded back into the hallway, "And I'll be taking her as well."

She opened her hand and loosed another flash of raw energy, more powerful than the first. Nora realized she'd been knocked out when she regained her senses and found herself in a pile with Ren. She breathed a small sigh of relief when she felt her partner stir once she sat up. While Ren took a moment to collect himself, Nora examined their surroundings. They were still in the basement, complete with the hundreds of Grimm burrows and shattered concrete courtesy of Magnhild. From her position, Nora could also see the electronic equipment along the backwall that Ozpin had so desperately sought to protect. It definitely showed signs of vandalism, however, what with shattered glass and sparking wires.

That was when Nora realized that she and Ren were very much alone. How long had they been knocked out? What was going on up top?

Before she could explore further and get some answers, a faint purple glow shone down the hallway from the direction of the elevator shaft and the floor began to rumble.

A/N: So here we are, at the third of the three chapters I wrote during my little hiatus. Is the fourth one ready? Nope. Is it close, at least? I think so. But I'll be honest: work has been kicking my ass lately. I know it's a pretty weak excuse, but those of you who usually engage me in conversations about my chapters will have noticed that I was unusually quiet over these past two weeks. That's not because I suddenly grew a dislike for talking about my passion project. It's because any spare energy I can scrape up in the evenings and on weekends is either devoted to my real life obligations or to writing the next chapter. I am hoping that I will have the next chapter completed before two more weeks roll around... but we'll see.

Is there an end in sight to my extreme workload? Yes, though it's probably going to be late September to mid October. I still have enough capacity until then to keep making progress, though I think (hope?) I'll be much more proficient/prolific once things settle down.

Will these chapters be easier to write after BoB is over? Good lord, I hope so. This has been my most ambitious story arc to date, and while I'm definitely proud of what I've created, I'll be glad to see it finished. I've got one more chapter to go, and I swear it's the last one. I won't lie, though, it's more than likely going to end in another cliffhanger, because that seems to be the theme of this battle.

Thank you for listening to my ramblings. I really appreciate all of you who have chosen to continue this journey with me, and I wish I could be the punctual writer that I used to be, and the one that you all deserve.

Cheers.