All eyes that weren't focused on scanning the skies ahead of them watched the ground pass by below as they began to reach the Menagerie shoreline. Fires raged out of control across numerous buildings as citizens of the island ran back and forth in a panic, the Grimm scattered amongst them searching for easy prey that were either injured or too slow to escape their ravenous appetites. Those that had witnessed the fall of Beacon set their jaws tight as memories flashed back through their minds. Even Penny, who had been offline during the incident, looked around with a look of shock and sadness as the massacre lay before them.

The hand that Frost didn't have propped against the open frame of the airship clenched tightly at the similar sight, this now being the third time he had seen such devastation occur so close to him. The others knew only of Beacon, but due to the freshness of the memories that had rushed through his mind while he had been unconscious in Patch, there was no way he could forget such a thing when a similar sight lay right in front of him, no matter how hard he tried.

Qrow tapped Weiss on the shoulder and gestured with one hand to a more open area just off the docks, to which the white-haired girl nodded and redirected the airship towards their destination. As they descended into place, the heads of multiple Grimm turned to face them as they became aware of the new visitors to the island. Snarls and growls echoed from amongst them before a large cluster broke off from the masses and charged towards the airship.

They didn't get far however, as anyone capable of used ranged attacks began to unload their weapons onto the charging beasts. The only ones that didn't were Weiss and Qrow due to them landing the ship while Frost conserved his energy to better fuel his attacks once they were on the ground. Within moments, a slight shaking of the ship signified that they had touched down, to which all of those waiting at the doors disembarked while Weiss, Qrow, and Penny waited aboard the metal vehicle. After the group hopped onto the ground, Yang rapped her metal arm against the hull a few times to give the signal before it once again took off for the second part of their plan to scout ahead. They had long since decided that leaving the airship unattended would have been the worst possible decision, and even though her original personality had returned Penny had still insisted on watching over Weiss while she flew Qrow and herself to another part of the island where they could better hide the airship.

This now left Yang, Neo, Emerald, and Frost all huddled together as they stood off against the masses of Grimm milling about the streets. It didn't last long as Yang immediately jumped into the fray and began to unleash devastating kicks and punches to the bodies of the Grimm, the latter of those attacks occasionally bolstered by the shotgun blasts fired from her weapons. With an opportunity to now release the pent up frustration she had felt for weeks without reservation, her eyes blazed red as the dark beings were erased left and right.

Neo and Emerald, meanwhile, were guarding Frost as he stood with his eyes closed and fists clenched at his sides as electricity started to crackle along the surface of his arms. Their weapons were loud with the sounds of gunfire as the two fired countless rounds of Dust into any Grimm naïve enough to charge at them in the attempts to land a hit on one of them. Occasionally Emerald would swing her weapons out to catch something with the bladed ends while Neo used the parasol to deflect any incoming swipes from those with claws before firing a point-blank shot out of the cane into the abdomen of whatever had gotten close.

As the three of them fought around him, however, Frost was also half lost in thought as he charged his Semblance through his body.

"You know this will only work for so long…why delay the inevitable?" The sinister voice filled his mind as he stood within the chambers of his mind. "Can't you just FEEL the negativity in the air around us? It's an all-you-can-eat buffet and yet here you are trying to hold onto the last vestiges of your sanity before I manage to take control for once. What happens when you start fighting? When the bloodlust and thrill of battle fill you? What will you do then?"

Frost's eyes turned to focus on the darkness, even though there was no actual physical figure to lock his eyes onto. He knew, however, what lay beyond the shadows surrounding him, now more than ever.

"And let you do what you did all those years ago? I saw what happened, and I know now that whatever you are, you're the one responsible for my parent's death. You and whoever made you. I don't know what kind of twisted science was performed to make you, or how you managed to survive such a fatal attack, but it doesn't matter. I won't let anything happen to these people while I have control."

"And therein lies your problem. You don't even know how long you have left before I'm able to take hold of the reigns. You've felt it since Atlas. I'm that much closer to having your body for myself, and once that happens you can't do anything to stop me. So enjoy your petty strands of hope you clutch to so tightly, because I'm merely waiting until the strands are thin enough for me to slice them apart and take what's rightfully mine."

"We'll see about that." Frost's eyes hardened as he returned to the world around him. His gaze quickly scanned over the crowd to see Yang, Emerald, and Neo all fulfilling their parts of the plan.

Now it was his turn.

"READY!" His yell carried over the din of battle to the ears of those that had arrived with him before they all hopped back and landed just behind him, Yang having to use a few precise blasts from her weapons to propel her into position. Once he knew they were all out of the way, he reached deep inside of himself towards the power that he had been building as they had approached the island. This was their only way to clear a path quickly since Penny had refused to leave Weiss' side, even if it would drain a good portion of Frost's reserves in the event of a more difficult foe arriving at some point.

He could feel the electricity crackling along his arms and popping at his fingertips as he gazed across the Grimm standing around them. Their plan had worked so far. The Grimm lay clustered up in front of the four of them, teeth and claws clicking against jaws and stonework as the beasts stood warily away from them after so many had been slaughtered already. That, however, was nothing compared to what came next.

"BRACE YOURSELVES!" Frost's voice echoed around them as he brought both arms out in front of him with his hands open wide as he held them at a 90 degree angle from his torso. Seconds later, after the lightning pulsing along his arms began to grow in speed and intensity, the energy was released in a massive wave as bolts of lightning cast out into the large group of monsters. There was no time to react as the power coursed through each of them and chained to their brethren nearby as the gathering began to glow from the sheer force of the attack flooding their bodies. Nothing was left untouched as the energy swapped from body to body before returning back to its previous host and eviscerating the crowd in instants.

As soon as the energy stopped flowing the beasts lay defeated and their bodies drifted away into black smoke one by one. Frost's arms hung at his sides as he took deep rasping breaths and his forehead glistened with sweat. That had been the largest lightning blast he had ever unleashed, and it had clearly taken more out of him than he had originally thought or intended. The others gathered closely around him as they quickly scanned for any remaining Grimm before turning to check on their out of breath companion.

"Dude, are you alright?" Yang asked with wide eyes as she scanned his tired face. "I know you said that was a thing you could do, but did you have to go so overboard? Seriously, even for me that seemed like a bit much."

Frost's eyes turned to give Yang a slight squinting look before he panted out a reply. "Well clearly fighting some Grimm cleared up your temperament a bit, but isn't that a little pot calling the kettle black, even for you?"

The blonde shrugged her shoulders as she gave him a strong pat on the back, his footing stumbling slightly as his squint turned into a glare at the suddenness of the gesture. Meanwhile Neo looked worriedly at his tired face while he was unaware before she felt a tapping sensation on her shoulder from Emerald, whom she turned to face questioningly.

"He's done stuff like this before, remember?" She whispered quietly enough for only Neo to notice. "You told me yourself this was normal for him to do, even if it left him in a state like this."

"I know." Neo responded plainly as her eyes flickered back to Frost for a brief second. "But it doesn't mean I have to like it, even if it WAS part of the plan."

The two turned back to Yang chuckling by herself while Frost straightened up his posture now that he had a few moments to regain his breath and return to whatever passed for normal for their group. His eyes still carried a controlled rage however, something that did not pass Neo's attention as she had learned how to read his gestures and face a long time ago. She passed it off as being caught up in the moment of trying to rescue Menagerie however, and disregarded it for the time being.

The four of them began to roam the streets for any signs of a place of safety where citizens were being gathered and protected. So far they had only come across more signs of destruction and chaos as Grimm continued to pass, with the occasional pack noticing them only to be decimated moments later by the four fighters as they pressed on. It was a while still before they eventually reached any indications of where the safe house would be.

Ruby's scythe planted into the concrete beneath her with a sickening crunch as the head of Beowolf was pinned beneath the massive blade. Shots fired from the gun barrel as its wielder took aim at the large pack of Beowolves lumbering towards them. Moment later, a clutter of grenades exploded in their midst scattering the bodies in a cloud of pink dust before it mingled with the black dust of the defeated Grimm as their bodies dissipated. Sounds of blades slicing cleanly through objects came from behind her and Nora as Jaune and Ren finished up the Grimm that had been coming at them from the opposite direction. The four of them gathered themselves as they looked back at the departing ship that they had arrived on.

The captain had been okay with transporting them to Menagerie as he had been in the midst of delivering supplies overseas. Once it had become aware that there was a mass of Grimm attacking the capital, they had nearly been turned around had it not been for Ren's careful negotiation that they had only wished to reach land, after which point he could immediately turn around and return to Anima. That and a large sum of Lien to guarantee his cooperation. Diplomacy could only go so far, unfortunately, before things had to be guaranteed with the right price.

"Are we sure this is even a good idea?" Jaune spoke first as the four turned to face inland now that they were forced on their current path. "I know we don't have a choice now, but maybe we should have listened to your sister, Ruby."

"No. Yang is just babying me as usual." Ruby's determined look turned to face the blonde in their group. "Besides, you want to help just as much as I do, I can tell."

Jaune sighed. "Yes, I do. But that doesn't mean I have to like this."

"Besides, there are more of them and they have a trained Huntsman with your Uncle." Ren stated plainly from the side.

"So then why did you let me drag us onto that boat then once we saw the White Fang flying over the sea? Why did you convince the captain of the boat not to turn around once we knew what we were getting into? Huh?"

"Ruby." Nora's voice was calm from beside Ren as she spoke up from her rare silence. "We want to help just as much as you. We can't let Beacon happen again, no matter where it is. But what if they have a point? What if we're in over our heads without any backup or a trained Huntsman or Huntress to help us? We can't call for help or expect a teacher to protect us like then."

"If this is how you're all going to be, then fine! Wait for the next ship to arrive and go back to Mistral." Her scythe shifted back into its gun form as she took off running. "I'm going to help these people even if I have to do it alo-ack!"

"Dammit Ruby, wait!" Jaune called out as he pounced forward and barely caught the edge of her cloak, the girl yelping out with a strangled voice as it pulled her off-balance and into a heap on the ground. "We never said that we weren't going to help. But since there's fewer of us, we need to be more careful! We need to stick together if we want to stand a chance!"

Ruby grumbled from the ground as she untangled herself from her cloak and stood while dusting herself off. "Why didn't you say that in the first place?!"

"Maybe it was because you started rushing ahead, again?" The blonde regarded her with a targeted frown on his face.

Ruby sheepishly rubbed the back of her head with a nervous giggle. "I kind of did, didn't I?"

"Don't worry about it, Ruby!" Nora stated with pep as she wrapped one arm around the smaller girl's shoulders. "We'll just rush into things alongside you!" With that, the two of them charged off into the streets of Menagerie in search of survivors.

"Nora, wait!" Ren reached out but was unable to catch Nora like Jaune had caught Ruby previously. He hung his head with a sigh as Jaune rested an armored hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, Ren. They'll be fine. Besides, I doubt we could slow them down even if we tried at this point. Might as well charge in with them to watch their backs."

"I suppose. But perhaps in the future we could consider teaching the two of them some restraint?"

"If you want to try, go ahead. But let me ask you something. Has that ever worked before for Nora?"

"…No."

"That's what I thought. Let's go and catch up with them before they destroy half the island, alright?"

Ren cracked a small smile at the joke before sprinting ahead alongside his blonde companion. "Lead the way."

It was a long slog of bullets, punches, kicks, and stabs before the four of them came to a large clearing in the streets in front of a mass of armed citizens that seemed to be fighting a losing battle against both the Grimm and the White Fang alike. What was even stranger was that the Grimm only seemed intent on attacking those that weren't dressed as the White Fang, who seemed to be completely ignored by the monsters.

"What the hell?!" Frost exclaimed as the four of them looked over the battle. "What is going on?!"

"I don't know, but we can't stop to think about it!" Yang yelled before leaping into the fray and sundering two Grimm with quick swipes of her weapons before delivering a vicious punch to the back of the head of a White Fang member that hadn't turned to face her appearance right away as they collapsed to the ground beside the two dissipating Grimm, unconscious. "Protect the Faunus!"

The other three leapt into action seconds later as the Grimm and White Fang became aware of their presence and began to split their focus between the guards and the four newcomers. Fortunately, this meant that the pressure wasn't entirely on the Faunus guards and they were able to regain control of their end of the street that they currently presided over.

Frost's eyes whirled from opponent to opponent as he released bursts of energy into each combatant he faced, which resulted in them either being launched from the force of the attack or knocked unconscious by the force of it and collapsing to the ground in a heap. His fists began to burn as the fight went on and on, the ache almost becoming too much to bear as his vision began to tint red from the fury he felt. His mind began to race as he started to realize what this meant, his eyes starting to fill with panic even as his one eye turned into the sickly black and red that meant the Grimm side of him was growing stronger once more. There was only one thing he could do at this point, even if it was incredibly risky.

"NEO! SHIELD, NOW!" His voice carried over the large gathering to the ears of the girl in question, whose eyes widened in surprise at the suddenness of the order. Recognition flashed across her eyes as she realized what he meant and rushed towards Yang and Emerald before teleporting them both to stand beside the Faunus standing guard at the path, away from the cluster of Grimm and White Fang that Frost was still in the middle of.

"Wait, what's going on? What's he talking about?!" Yang questioned over the confused yelling of the Faunus around them as orders were barked to hold their ground.

"No time!" Neo yelled before engaging the parasol on her weapon and clicking the heels of her boots together as a series of spikes embedded themselves into the ground below her, keeping her feet planted. "Grab onto me! As for anybody else, grab onto something if you don't want to get thrown off your asses!" Her second yell was directed towards the Faunus around them, many of them looking on in confusion before turning to look into the throng of White Fang and Grimm as a large light began to form and grow brighter from within the crowd. Moments later, orders were given to grab onto something firmly planted into the ground as the Grimm and White Fang made one final charge towards them.

The order came just in time as a massive shockwave of force pulsed from the light in the crowd, Grimm and White Fang alike being sent flying from the sheer power behind it before slamming into buildings and debris alike, the continued pulsing from the shockwave forcing bodies to remain pinned in place until it subsided and bodies either fell to the ground unconscious or dissipating into smoke. Where the light used to be emitting, Frost was hunched over on his hands and knees as his body shook from fatigue and the lingering sensations of panic. Neo was the first to move as the spikes in her boots retreated inside, her feet immediately carrying her to his side as he tried to struggle to his feet.

"You complete IDIOT!" Neo yelled as a sharp crack signified her slapping him rather harshly across the face. "That may have worked this time, but did you forget the other times you tried doing that?! What was that supposed to accomplish?!"

"It ended the fight fast, didn't it? And no one got hurt?"

"Yes, but-"

"Then I don't care." His voice was filled with conviction even through the clearly tired tone he used. "The majority of the White Fang and Grimm had to be gathered here, so that means that from this point things should be easier to protect or even clear out altogether. Mission accomplished."

"…You're still a complete idiot."

"If it means everyone is safe, then I'll take that any day."

"Okay, so this moment is sweet and all, but can we move on to the bigger problem. Like what we do next now that we're here?" Emerald's voice came from the top of the crater as she looked down at the two of them. "Or do you two need another few moments?"

"Oh, haha. Very funny Emerald." Frost groaned out as he slowly climbed out of the crater. "You wish you could have a moment like that with somebody. Maybe it would help your ego a bit."

"Couldn't care less, never been interested." The shot response she gave, accompanied by the dismissive wave of her hand showed that she was done with that part of the conversation. As she strolled back towards the main building that had been the target of the White Fang and the Grimm, she stopped for a moment to look back at the two with a softer look on her face. "It's…good to know you're alright, though. Can't go doing those attacks all the time after all."

"Huh." Frost stared wide-eyed after the departing green-haired girl. "Emerald being nice. This has been a weird day. Wonder what's next."

"For our sakes, hopefully nothing."

"GET AWAY FROM THEM!" A shrill voice that was rapidly increasing in volume came from a street nearby…however it wasn't the street that they had just been defending.

Heads turned to face the direction of the voice that had yelled, the majority of the crowd carrying looks of confusion. A few pairs of eyes, specifically belonging to those of Yang, Neo, Emerald, and Frost, all widened in shock at the oncoming storm. Still confused however, they all stood rooted to the ground until one of them figured out what direction the approaching object seemed to be headed. A body quickly started sprinting into place as they braced themselves for the impact with their weapon drawn.

Seconds later, and massive collision went off and a large plume of dust was created as a red cloud made impact, obscuring the four of them within and leaving the Faunus that bore witness concerned for what had just arrived. Neo's body immediately went sailing out of the cloud before colliding roughly with a lamppost just of the side of the street, her Aura failing soon after due to the severity of the hit and the remainder it had after their battles on the island.

As the cloud cleared, Ruby could be seen with her scythe positioned inches away from Emerald's chest as the other three stared at her with wide eyes before turning to face Neo as she lay gasping for breath on the side of the road.

"Neo!" Frost moved as quickly as his body would allow to reach the girl as Ruby looked over with wide eyes, now realizing what it was that she had hit upon her arrival.

"Umm…oops?"

I promised to deliver on something more action-y this chapter, so I hope it was satisfactory. I don't feel completely satisfied with some of the writing for this one, but I didn't really have time to adjust anything too much or really change things dramatically due to parts of this chapter being required for events yet to unfold.

So for now, this is where we leave things until the next update on November 23. I will see those of you reading RWBY then. For those reading my other story, I will see you in a week.