"Okay, that is very not good," Ruby observed. She and Penny had arrived at the Schnee Manor, where the SDC security was being overrun by the White Fang. The east wing of the building had a gaping hole in its front, and flames danced through a hole in the roof. On the grounds, several dozen masked and armed Faunus were spraying the building with bullets, while two large mechs towered over them, firing volleys of missiles at the building as well.

"Those are Paladins!" Penny exclaimed. "How did the White Fang get a hold of them?"

"I don't know," Ruby answered, drawing and unfolding Crescent Rose. "But they won't have them for long.

Penny nodded. "Alright, Ruby. Since you are a non-combatanat, you should stay back here."

"Awww, but I can fight! You said so!"

"Not these."

Penny took off toward the manor, several swords springing out of her back and taking positions behind her. Her Knights followed her, though two stayed behind with a pouting Ruby.

"Can't fight, huh? Let's see about that."

As Penny and her soldiers ruched forward, Ruby buried Crescent Rose's blade in the ground, lining up the barrel with one of the mechs. Just as the Knights began firing, drawing the White Fang's attention, Ruby fired. Her bullet flew, striking the Paladin dead center in the cockpit, and it suddenly stopped moving. Ruby pumped her arm in victory. "Yeah!"

Meanwhile, Penny's swords were circling around her as she tore through the White Fang's ranks, throwing them away from her. They had begun firing back at her forces, but the Knights' heavy armor deflected the majority of the bullets.

What they did not protect against, however, was the second paladin's missiles, which sprayed down into the Atlesian forces, sending the Knights flying. Penny turned to fight it, but was intercepted by a giant man in a White Fang mask with a chainsaw. The man leapt forward, bringing down the chainsaw in an overhand strike, and Penny pulled her swords forward to block. The pair exchanged blows, allowing the mech to continue devastating Penny's forces.

Glancing between Penny and the mech, Ruby again readied Crescent rose to fire. She shot at the mech, hoping for a repeat success, but it only glanced off the plating. "Shoot." She fired again, this time missing entirely. Again and again, each time hitting nothing important. Finally, she stomped her foot in impatience and glanced at Penny, who was still preoccupied with the giant chainsaw-wielding man.

"Okay. I can do this."

She pulled Crescent Rose from the ground and held it ready. As soon as the mech fired another salvo, she ran forward, leaving behind a trail of red petals. In moments, she was up close with the mech. She dashed between its legs, swiping at one with her blade. The mech raised its leg out of the way and spun around on the other, swinging an arm at her.

Penny was suddenly in front of her, arms raised to absorb the blow from the mech. Metal screeched against metal as Penny slid backwards, holding fast against the massive fist.

"Do not hurt my friend!"

Penny's swords began spinning rapidly, turning into a glowing green and silver blur, before shooting forward and slicing straight through the Paladin's cockpit. The giant mech shuddered, then fell, its top half sliding completely off and landing at Penny's feet with a loud thump.

Ruby blinked as Penny turned to face her, frowning. "I told you to stay back."

"Well… yeah… but I wanted to help," Ruby muttered, kicking at the ground nervously.

The ground underneath her suddenly exploded, sending her flying backwards.

"Ruby!"

Ruby shook her head as she stood, clutching Crescent Rose. "I'm good!"

"Well, now." Penny and Ruby both turned to see that two more men had emerged from the hole in the building's side. The speaker was a man in a white coat and bowler hat. Beside him was a member of the White Fang, his fancy mask designating him as a leader. "This is a surprise! Vale and Atlas working together against a common foe. It just warms the heart, doesn't it?"

"Just kill them," the White Fang commander growled.

"Now, now, Adam. We must at least try to be civilized." The human turned back to them. "You there." He gestured at Penny with his cane. "You're Atlesian, aren't you? Why do you care about this?"

"We had orders not to engage civilians. This is terrorism, not war."

"Please. Civilian targets are the best! They're not defended, they cause panic, and they make the soldiers come at you angry. Besides, Schnee is actually a member of the Valesian army. This isn't a civilian target, even though everyone treats it like one."

Penny shook her head. "You're a bad person. I can't just let you kill people."

"This is going nowhere." The commander turned to the giant man, who had joined the other two. "Hashimoto."

The giant man obliged, rushing forward at Penny, his chainsaw raised. Three of the swords jerked down as the chainsaw passed by Penny's shoulder before dropping completely to the ground. Penny backed away, glancing down at them.

"So, it's not magic. You can break." Hashimoto stepped forward, raising his saw.

Penny leapt backwards, knocking the saw aside with several of the swords while the others struck him in the chest, throwing him back at Adam's feet. Adam growled, placing a hand on the hilt of his sword, and rushed forward. Before he could get close, however, an intricate glyph appeared in front of him, throwing him back.

Ruby turned and yelled in surprise. "Miss Schnee!"

Weiss Schnee strode down the front steps, glaring at Penny and the White Fang. "We have to fight Atlas as well as the White Fang now?"

"No! They're helping us!" Ruby rushed in front of Penny, throwing her arms wide.

"At least some of them have sense, then." Weiss narrowed her eyes at Ruby. "Ruby Rose? What are you doing here?"

"I came to help!"

"Well, fine, but don't get in the way." Weiss raised Myrtenaster and stepped forward, even with Penny, who turned to face the White Fang.

"Shall we?"

"After you, Miss Schnee!"

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"So…" Melanie said, watching the retreating backs of CDGL. "We still doing this?"

"Hell yeah!" Yang exclaimed, punching her palm and cracking her neck. "We didn't need them anyway."

Turning toward the building, Junior spoke up. "Yeah. Plan's the same, we just don't have Hunter backup."

"But what about the city?" Miltia asked quietly, gazing at the ships overhead.

"Hey, if Ozpin gets booted out, that's hardly a bad thing, right?"

"Quiet, Yang. Either way, this could be our only chance to make this attack. The city'll hold; Ozpin's got worse dogs than Winchester. But if Torchwick's boss gets the chance to reinforce…"

"Alright, then. Since we don't have Cardin, where do you want us?"

Junior looked between Yang and the twins. "Yang and I will go straight through the middle. You two, take a few of the boys and go round the back."

Melanie nodded. "Come on, Miltia."

Junior turned to his remaining forces as he shouldered his bat. "Alright. I'm going to open the door. You all get ready for whatever comes out."

The assembled men nodded, drawing an assortment of swords and guns. Yang cracked her neck and bounced on the ball of her feet.

Gunfire suddenly rang out from the surrounding buildings.

"Shit! Ambush!"

Junior's forces quickly recovered, ducking into cover and returning fire.

"Now, you didn't think we'd let you get in that easy, did you?"

Junior and Yang turned to see a man and a woman, clad in silver and green, respectively. They both stood casually, the man's arms crossed and the woman's at her side.

"You… you're hunters, right? Mercury and Emerald from CMNE. Did Ozpin send you as backup?"

The man laughed. "Oh, we're backup, all right. But not from Ozpin."

Emerald drew her guns and fired. Yang dove to the side, avoiding the shots, while Junior drew his bat.

"All right, what the hell's going on?"

Mercury dashed forward and leapt into the air, bringing both his feet down. Junior raised his bat in time to block the attack, and Mercury kicked off of it, sending Junior stumbling back. Landing on his feet, Mercury kicked out at Junior, firing a shot from his boot. Junior again blocked with his bat before swinging at Mercury's head. The hunter leapt back, staying just out of range of Junior's attacks.

Meanwhile, Yang had locked her gauntlets into place and was charging at Emerald, dodging shots as she went. Before she could reach the woman, though, Emerald fired a hook off at a nearby building, pulling herself away from Yang's fists. Yang growled and turned after her. Emerald repeated the process, dodging away before Yang could get within striking distance, but still not landing a hit on Yang.

Yang cursed as she ended up exactly where she began, Emerald laughing as she again jumped away. Yang glanced around for some advantage.

Junior's forces were preoccupied with Torchwick's, and Yang doubted they would be much good against trained hunters anyway. Around the side of the warehouse, Yang caught a glimpse of the twins fighting the same pink girl she had seen with Roman. And nearby, Junior was still fighting with Mercury. Yang grinned at the sight of Mercury's back.

She dashed forward toward Emerald again, repeating the same process that had occurred three times now. But this time, when Emerald shot away, Yang suddenly changed direction, dashing away from Emerald and striking Mercury squarely in the back. She grinned at his shout of surprise and pain as he tumbled face-first into the ground. Seeing his opportunity, Junior shouldered his bat, changing its mode, and fired a rocket at Emerald. It flew past her, striking the side of the building where her hook was attached, and dropping her to the ground below.

Mercury rolled onto his feet and turned to face Yang, his eyes narrowed. Yang grinned and gestured for him to come forward. He paused for a moment as though he had heard something before grinning and charging. Yang grinned back as she ran to meet him.

Yang's fist met Mercury's foot as both of them fired. There was a small explosion between them as they were each sent reeling backwards.

Suddenly, an arrow whistled past Yang's ear and shattered against the ground. Yang barely had time to look up before another flew at her, shattering against her aura. Yang scrambled to her feet, backing away as the arrows continued raining down.

"Junior!"

He glanced over from where he was fighting with Emerald.

"They have reinforcements!"

Junior cursed and swatted Emerald away with his bat.

"We've got to get out!" Junior called back.

"What?"

"We're losing men," Junior told her. "We don't have the strength."

"Dammit!"

Junior shouldered his rocket launcher and fired at the roof of the warehouse. The arrows stopped. "Gather everyone up. I'll cover us."

Yang nodded and dashed off to where the twins were still fighting.

Fifteen minutes later, Junior's battered forces were a dozen blocks away.

Looking around at the injured men and seething twins, Yang spoke up. "Well… that was a thing."

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A/N: Hey look! I updated! It's only been like six months, but that's okay, right guys?

...hello? Is anyone there?

Anyway, if anyone would be interested in beta'ing for me, shoot me a PM. I could use one. Because I can't spell sometimes. And also it would probably help me keep to my schedule, so... win-win.