"Okay, so let's go over the plan one last time." Raven then laid out a blueprint of Haven Academy she had gained through some connections several years prior as she explained her plan to Qrow and Team RWBY. "Intelligence points to Salem sending four of her surviving associates to Haven during the chaos to try to snatch the relic. Headmaster Lionheart may or may not be compromised in some form. It also points to another two associates of her's coming here. I'm going to kill two birds, no pun intended, with one stone when they do."

Qrow, concerned, asked her, "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Yes," Raven replied. "Now, Vernal will go with you guys to stop the White Fang and get your hands on the relic. I will stay here and pretend to side with Salem. This will involve me backstabbing the tribe and finally taking care of this nonsense once and for all. We will then most likely head to Haven to join in on the fight. When we get there, I'll backstab Salem's associates, literally. Now, as to how we will deal with the new Fall Maiden, we're gonna need to drill into her head who we want to be the next Fall Maiden and then kill her. Now, Qrow, who has Ozpin chosen to be the next Fall Maiden?"

"It was Pyrrha Nikos," Qrow told her before taking a drink. "But due to the Battle of Beacon, we won't know if that will remain his choice." Then, his phone rang. "Hello?"

"It's Ozpin," the headmaster himself replied over the phone. "Pyrrha has told me that she is willing to become the next Fall Maiden again. She will be joining you all in Haven Academy soon with the rest of Team JNPR, albeit she will be on crutches, so she won't be able to fight, at least until the Fall Maiden's powers transfer to her and heal her wounds. Have you worked out a plan with your sister yet?"

"I have, Oz," Qrow replied as she handed the phone to a sneering Raven. "Talk to him, Raven. Tell him of the plan. By the way, Pyrrha said yes to being the Fall Maiden again."

As Raven began reluctantly talking to Ozpin, Ruby said to Qrow, "How will we get Pyrrha to us? She hurt her leg bad in the fight. I saw it. Cinder put an arrow through her Achilles' tendon." She was clearly afraid for Pyrrha, as was the rest of Team RWBY.

"She's on crutches," Qrow explained to them. "We'll keep her in the guest house at Haven, and when the time comes, we'll need to maim but not kill whoever the Fall Maiden is now. Once she's within an inch from her life, we'll need to bring her to Pyrrha so she is the last thing she sees. Then, we need to kill her right then and there." He then sighed. "It's not the most morally right plan or the cleanest, but it's all we can do."

Blake asked him, "Will the rest of Team JNPR be coming, too?"

"Yes," Qrow replied. "They will be."

November 26, 2015

At the Branwen camp, Raven prepared herself for the impending arrival of Salem's associates. She had contacted Salem 3 days before soon after Qrow and Team RWBY left to Haven Academy by catching a train in a nearby town to the City of Mistral, telling her that she was going to side with her, eliminate her tribe, and then bring Salem's associates to Haven.

Late at night, around 11 PM local time, Raven waited outside the camp gates. She stared into the dark forest ahead of her, thinking to herself, "Raven, this is for the good of Vale and all of mankind, even if this tribe is family. You should have done this long ago." She then sighed and said to herself, "I hope this works."

Then, she spotted several flashlights in the distance. Then, a voice called out, saying, "Raven?!"

Raven then shouted back, "Over here!" She was the only one on guard that night at her camp, a move that would guarantee her success.

Then, Emerald, Mercury, Watts, and Hazel all came into view as Raven turned on her own flashlight. Emerald waved at her and told her, "So, you must be the legendary Raven Branwen."

"I am," Raven replied as she looked over the 4. "You must be the new Fall Maiden, Emerald Sustrai, loyal servant of the late Cinder Fall." She then turned to the others. "Mercury Black, Hazel Rainart, and Doctor Arthur Watts. What an interesting inner circle Salem has."

Mercury then addressed her, saying, "Interesting in terms of what?"

"Your feats and powers," Raven replied as she smiled innocently. "That's all." She then sighed. "Now, before we begin, I want to ask you something. Is Headmaster Leo Lionheart of Haven Academy compromised in any form?" She then pulled out a cigarette.

"He's with us," Arthur replied immediately. "I made sure of that. Isn't your brother and that Team RWBY that's been causing us so much trouble heading to Haven?"

"Indeed," Raven replied as she then lit up a cigarette with a lighter before puffing on it. "Once we take care of this tribe, I'll open a portal to Qrow, and we'll take care of them with ease. The Spring Maiden is already with them, and is pretending to be on their side. When we arrive, she'll backstab them, and boom, we have our relic, we burn Haven Academy to the ground, and we go back to Beacon to finish the job."

"Sounds like a plan," Emerald replied. She then began to feel anger. "Though, all I care about is seeing Ruby and Blake get eviscerated for what they did to Cinder. I'll make them pay taking her away from me with their lives." Her eyes then lit up with flames as she showed Raven a flame that spouted from her right hand. "Raven, Cinder was a mother to me. I never had parents that actually gave a fuck about me until I met Cinder. My mother was a prostitute, my father was a customer of her's, and I was a little mixed-race kid that had nowhere to go and no way to advance except by stealing shit from other people and by doing the very thing that created me until I met Cinder Fall." She then laughed. "Let me tell you, Raven. Do you know what it feels like to sell yourself on the street at the age of 11 to dirty old men, and even to dirty old women, who have no shame about stealing the innocence of a child of that age? How about the multiple visits to a backstreet doctor to take care of the inevitable pregnancies? How about stealing scraps of food at 4 in the morning before you're scheduled to meet a client in 30 minutes?"

Raven was horrified by Emerald's story, but had to remain focused. "That's... Awful..."

"It is," Emerald replied as she put the flames out. "Cinder helped me escape all of it. Without her, I'd be dead right now. Do you see why Ruby and Blake need to be taken care of by me?"

"I do," Raven replied as she crushed her cigarette with her feet. "Now, let's take care of the Branwen Tribe for once and for all."

Hazel then said to all of them, "Don't kill any of the children. Salem will not take kindly to that. Let them run off."

Arthur said to him, "What if they attack us? They could be brainwashed, Hazel."

"That's different," Hazel replied as he stepped forward and walked to the gate. "Except for that, don't kill any of the children. None of them need to die tonight." He then turned to Raven. "I got the gate." He then took off a backpack and took out an explosive charge before placing it on the gate door. He then began backing away with the backpack in his hands as he said, "Everyone, back up by a lot."

After the gang had backed up a good 150 feet from the gate, Hazel handed Raven a detonator. "Blow it up."

Raven then took the detonator and gulped. "Well... Here we go." She then pressed down on it.

What followed was a short but powerful explosion that ripped the gate apart and alerted the rest of the sound asleep camp. Emerald then summoned flames from her hands as she said, "Let's go take care of this camp." They all then charged at the camp as several people inside grabbed weapons and readied themselves.

A man carrying an assault rifle fired several rounds at Emerald before she used her flames to toss the man backwards. Mercury them jumped up and landed a roundhouse kick on a man armed with a sword, snapping his neck and killing him. "Too easy!"

Emerald then shouted, "Burn it!" She then rose into the air as she summoned a giant sheet of flame to engulf several tents that carried weapons before throwing fireballs at several people who tried to shoot at her. She then bellowed, "You think your guns can stop the Fall Maiden?!" All of the 6 who tried firing at her tried to flee, but they were quickly attacked by Mercury.

Raven then took her sword out and charged through several men armed with guns and clubs. After she stopped, all 4 fell to the ground, and one lost his head. As she caught her breath, she was suddenly hit from the rear with a club, knocking the wind out of her. She screamed and then slashed the man who hit her across the chest, killing him and coating her in his blood. "Just focus on the mission, Raven..."

Arthur drew a pistol and began indiscriminately firing at several fleeing guards, hitting several of them as they tried to run for their lives from the onslaught. As the other 3 battled their way through the camp, he and Hazel calmly looked on at the ensuing destruction. "Say," he asked Hazel. "I think it's time to set the device up in the middle of camp."

"Indeed," Hazel replied as he took another device out of his backpack. This device was much different from the explosive demolition charge used to destroy the gate. "I hope this thing you made works." He then quickly ran to the center of the camp, which was Raven's tent, with the device in his hands. As several men and women tried to charge at him, he simply brushed them away with his brute strength as he managed to reach the inside of the tent. "Alright, I just gotta place this device, and this whole camp will be gone."

Raven, meanwhile, put her sword away and drew a pistol and a knife as she took on over 40 people by herself as the camp burned around her. As she charged at them, they all tried to attack her, but she dodged them. One man tried stabbing her, but he missed, and Raven shot him point-blank in the chest as she then sliced open a woman's neck. When another man tried to grab her sword, she stabbed him twice in the back before shooting another with a metal pipe in the face, blowing off half of his head. The bullet then hit a man in the eye and stopped in his brain behind him. Raven then jumped over a woman who tried to kick her lower legs, turned her around, punched her in the face, kneed her in the stomach, and then sliced her neck open before shooting a man behind her. As she and the crowd continued to brawl, she whittled them down until finally, after 4 minutes, they were all dead or dying. She then looked at the pile of bodies she left behind, wiped her mouth off, and spit on the ground.

Hazel then shouted to all of them as he ran out of Raven's tent, "Let's get out now and set off the device!" Emerald, Mercury, Raven, and Arthur all booked it to the destroyed gate as Hazel joined them. Several survivors tried to attack them, but they were quickly repulsed.

After several minutes of running away, they made it to a waiting helicopter outside of the camp. Once they boarded, Arthur told Hazel, "Now!"

Then, as the helicopter became airborne, Hazel pressed down on another detonator. What followed was a giant flash of light as the Branwen Camp was completely engulfed by an explosion that rocked the helicopter. "There we go..."

"All thanks to technology I developed," Arthur followed. "I told you that dust device would work."

Emerald patted a downtrodden Raven on the back, telling her, "You did good out there, Raven. Thanks."

"Yeah," she replied. "I guess I did. Now, off to Haven Academy." She then thought to herself, "...where you all will perish!"