I hope Ghira and Sienna Kahn's conversation didn't feel too all over the place, or like she's stupid. I hope to make this more apparent in the future, but Sienna Kahn is being torn in several different directions right now, between two people she cares for as well as not wanting to take things too far but not wanting to be seen as a weak leader either.

Pilot Boi's alive. Hopefully, you guys know me well enough to know that it will serve more of a purpose than fanservice.

I felt like the bandits in canon Volume 5 went down a little too easy, and there were too many of them. Lionheart claimed that He, Qrow, and Team RNJR couldn't take all of them on, but if Yang can take seven down without taking a single hit, I think they would've been fine (I know it was probably just Lionheart trying to keep them from taking action, but Qrow didn't argue the point). Hopefully, my fight descriptions are getting through. I'm trying to get better at that.

By the way, from this Chapter on, this Volume will be pretty much unrecognizable, so these AN's will probably get even shorter. I would appreciate R&R's in these chapters.

Jaune strolled boldly up to Weiss and Yang, trying his hardest to look and sound confident. "I must thank you for leading us here, Ms. Xiao Long. I apologize for keeping ourselves hidden until now. We had hoped that you might be able to reason with your mother better than we could. We'll take it from here."

"What. Are. You. Doing?" Yang hissed under her breath.

"Saving your lives hopefully," Jaune muttered as he turned to Weiss. "Ms. Schnee, I hope you are well. Your sister will be overjoyed to know that you're safe, though it seems you had your own plans of escape. We had to move up our timetable, but the Atlas Military is nothing if not adaptive."

"Hurry up and get the rest of the charges set!" Ruby hissed into her earpiece. She was currently watching the bandit through Crescent Rose's scope.

"We wouldn't need to hurry if you hadn't jumped the gun!" Nora shot back in exasperation.

"Weiss and Yang were causing a commotion; it seemed like a good time to join in!"

"And who exactly are you supposed to be?" Raven interrupted Jaune's friendly discussion with Weiss.

"John D'arc, Atlas special forces, part of a team led by Winter Schnee." Weiss tried not to groan as Jaune continued to name drop her sister, who was currently miles away. "We've been looking for you for some time now, Ms. Branwen, hoping to discuss a military alliance."

"And am I to assume you have an army parked outside my camp?"

"About a dozen huntsmen and a local militia."

"How did we get roped into this again?" Sage Ayana groaned.

"Because we wanted to make a difference, and we weren't doing anything else." Neptune shot back.

"Could be worse." Supplied Scarlet, "We could have Jaune's job."

"I'd be very interested in seeing this army," Raven said with feigned interest.

Jaune held up his hand. "I need only make a fist, and you will see their strength."

"hangonhangonhangon!" Neptune insisted over his earpiece.

"But I didn't come here to threaten you." He lowered his hand. "I brought this army because I know you respect strength. You've seen ours, and I hope we can come into a mutually beneficial relationship that will benefit not only each other but all of Remnant."

The moment those words left Jaune's mouth, a pair of hands began slowly clapping themselves together at the camp's gate. Jaune turned to see Cinder Fall entering the compound.

"What are they doing here?" Sage whispered. As Cinder made her entrance, accompanied by Emerald, Mercury, and a large man, none of the others recognized.

"You're closest to the gate, how did you miss them?" Ruby asked.

"Emerald must've used her semblance," Ren supplied.

"Jaune, get out of there!" Ruby whispered urgently.

Cinder paused her clapping "good effort, Mister… D'arc was it? I'm sure Miss Branwen can appreciate the use of chaos and surprise to make a small force seem larger."

Jaune tried his hardest to remain calm in the presence of Pyrrha's killer.

"Although trying to pass off eight people as a dozen huntsmen and a militia was a little ambitious if you ask me."

Jaune forgot his anger for a moment, "Eight?"

"Eight?" Ruby repeated on her end.

"Ah, yeah." Scarlet said, "I think I know where she got that number."

He was looking directly at the wide-eyed pair of Blake and Sun. Sun sheepishly waved at his old teammate.

"What are you doing here?" Jaune growled at Cinder.

"Same thing you are, securing an ally." Cinder smirked, "And unlike you, I have real strength to offer."

She raised her right hand, and flames burst from her fingertips.

"And that's just the tip of the iceberg." She continued smugly. "Soon, we will have the full might of the White Fang behind us."

At that, Blake rose and turned to Sun. "Wait here, if things go wrong, get back to Mistral and tell my father what happened."

She began making her way to the camp's entrance.

Cinder then turned back to Jaune, "but we can talk about my overwhelming power later. Right now, I can't help but wonder who I'm talking too right now? The Puppet? Or did the Puppet's Master?"

Jaune nearly reached for his sword when Ruby's voice stopped him. "Jaune, don't! Please, just get out of there."

Jaune breathed deeply then turned towards Raven. "Well, it seems negotiations have broken down. Shame really, I could've introduced you to the one who took this one's eye."

He smirked at Cinder, who glared back at him.

"But, I'll settle for taking our hostages." He placed turned around, followed quickly by Weiss, Yang, and the pilot until lightning struck the ground right in front of his feet. He turned to Cinder, but she seemed surprised by the lightning as well. Jaune turned back to the stand, where Vernal was pointing where the lightning had struck, and the masked Raven was approaching him with clear menace in every step.

"You didn't answer her question." The masked woman said, "Am I talking to Ozpin or Jaune Arc."

Jaune paled, and Ozpin groaned in his head.

"She knows."

"You're wasting your time." The large man who accompanied Cinder spoke, "Lying comes as naturally to Ozpin as breathing."

Jaune glared at the man, then faced Raven. "To be honest, Ozpin was against this entire idea. He wanted us to sit around and do nothing until Lionheart grew a backbone."

The eyes behind the masked pierced his then nodded. "So you're trying to resist him. I appreciate that."

"Unfortunately, Miss Fall, if that is her name, is right. You have nothing to offer me except a light show, and Summer Rose's brat. Even if the child were capable of overpowering Miss Fall, she could also offer me an alliance with the White Fang."

"Not yet, she can't!" Everyone turned again to see Blake Belladonna entering the camp. "My father is currently in negotiations with Sienna Kahn, seeking to end their alliance with Cinder and those she works for."

Raven rolled her eyes exasperatedly and shouted, "Would anybody else who wishes to participate in negotiations like to step forward?"

Ruby thought for a moment, then said, "Ren and Nora, come with me, the rest of you, wait outside in case we need to make a quick getaway."

Ruby smiled gently at Yang and Weiss as she entered the camp, but then shrank under Raven's gaze.

Raven began to pace as if pondering her options. "I'm in a complicated situation right now. I don't particularly care for Ozpin or Salem, but what my daughter says is true, I can't avoid fighting this war. I want to side with my family. If only their side didn't include the one who took my family from me in the first place."

Yang quickly stepped in front of Ruby. "That's not-" Raven held up a hand, silencing her.

"But my personal feelings aside, I doubt there will be much left of the world once Salem has her way with it, meaning nothing to carve out of it for my tribe. Though that may not matter so long as we survive."

She turned to face those present "The bottom line is, if I'm going to pick a side, I want it to be the winning side. So those present here will prove your strength to me."

Nora raised an eyebrow "what, you want us to fight each other? Like some sort of tournament?"

"You'd lose," Ozpin supplied. "Miss Rose can't control her greatest weapon against Cinder, and Hazel is on par with Tyrian."

"Not exactly." Raven shook her head, "A competition, but something a little more complex."

She cut a portal into the air. "Through this portal, you'll find the place where my mother and father are buried, about 10 miles north of here. My father's grave is marked by his old sword."

She turned to Cinder's group, "The four of you will step through this portal and defend the sword by any means necessary, though you are not to move it or hide it."

She then turned to Ruby's group, "The seven of you will attempt to retrieve it.

She glanced up at the setting sun. "In 72 hours, I will choose my allegiance."

Cinder considered for a moment then shrugged "Deal. We'll see you in three days."

Hazel growled. "This is a waste of time."

Cinder whispered in the man's ear while pulling him towards the portal, "It's a simple enough task. We eliminate seven enemies and secure the Spring Maiden. Three days should be more than enough for Tyrian and Adam to secure an alliance with the White Fang, then we move on the academy."

Hazel glared and whispered back, "By 'eliminate' you mean we capture the girl and kill the rest."

"Yes, yes," Cinder shrugged, "And you can take all the time you want, killing Ozpin."

Hazel shot one more furious glare at Jaune as the portal closed.

Raven turned to Yang. "You can spend the night here and head out tomorrow morning if you like."

Yang shook her head and spoke for the others. "Showing favoritism now, mom? Thanks, but we'll need all the time we can get tomorrow."

Raven nodded as Weiss's supplies and weapon were returned to her, and the group headed out, "Try to stay alive, Yang. We have a lot to talk about."

In the woods outside the camp, the pilot shook Weiss's hand before being led away by the newly reformed team SSSN.

"You saved my life. I owe you one."

Weiss smiled back. "Just get home and take care of yourself."

He chuckled, "Not looking forward to explaining all this to my husband."

Sun and Blake stood off a ways from the others. "Go back and tell my father what's happened. He has three days to talk sense into Sienna Kahn or unseat her. See if you can find Ruby's uncle. They may be able to help each other."

He held her shoulders gently. "You sure you'll be okay without me?"

"If the seven of us can't beat them, they're probably not the kind of people that four more bodies will make much difference against."

"That's not what I was talking about." He nodded towards Yang, who kept shooting glares towards Blake.

Blake sighed, "I let them down. I have to make it right on my own."

She embraced him tightly. "Thank you, Sun. For everything."

As team SSSN departed with their charge, Yang turned and embraced Ruby and Weiss, who quickly returned the hug and embraced each other back.

"I missed you so much," Weiss cried into Yang's chest.

"I missed you too," Yang said, then began to chuckle and turned to Ruby.

"What were you thinking, trying to intimidate and entire bandit tribe?" She laughed.

Ruby grew sheepish. "She has something that we need, but we didn't have the numbers to look strong, so we had to improvise."

Blake chuckled behind the three, "Well, that was probably better than just trying to get in on your father's name recognition."

Ruby and Weiss smiled back at the catgirl but paused when they noticed that Yang was glaring at her.

Jaune noticed the awkward atmosphere and cleared his throat. "We should probably put some distance between us and the camp. We need to set up a shelter for the night."

Ruby nodded, "We have a lot of important things to discuss."

Nora nodded. "Like how you three got here."

"And how we're now involved in high stakes 'capture the flag'," Ren added.

"And why people keep referring to Jaune as Ozpin." Weiss supplied.

Jaune sighed at that last one. "Let's find a place to camp."

As the group headed off, Ruby hanged her head and muttered, "Yeah, I guess those are important things to talk about."

Yang smiled knowingly at her sister. "You just want to know the specs on my arm, don't you?"

Ruby looked up with a twinkle in her eyes. Yang embraced her again.

"I love you."

Qrow groaned as he began to head towards the tiny cottage. He'd woken up from his hangover this morning, seen RNJR off as they went to train with some old friends, and then headed out himself to make contact with some old friends of his own.

Unfortunately, all of them had turned up dead or missing. Now Qrow was going through a list of mercenaries and unlicensed huntsmen, but most of them had demanded payment too far outside his price range. He decided to try one more name before turning in for the night. M. Calavera.

"Hey, Qrow!" Qrow turned just in time for Taiyang's face to meet his face. "Where's my baby girl?"

Qrow scrambled to his feet and took a defensive stance. "Nice to see you too, Tai. Ruby's fine."

Tai took another swing, which Qrow ducked. "I never wanted her involved with yours and Ozpin's sick games Qrow! I told you that years ago."

"She's involved whether she wants to be or not! We all are!"

"But not everyone has to be on the front lines!"

"She made her choice Tai. Nobody else made it for her. She's trying to make a difference."

"Well, you didn't exactly try to discourage her now, did you?"

"Gentlemen!"

The two turned to see a tiny old woman with ocular implants standing on the porch of the house.

"Think you can take this lover's spat somewhere besides the front of my house?"

Qrow straightened. "Sorry, ma'am. Do you know an M. Calavera? I need to talk to them about an important mission. All of Mistral may be at stake."

The woman smiled. "Well, you're in luck! I'm Mariah Calavera. Why don't you tell me about this mission."