Dust-tipped bullets spun through the air, sending the tiniest of air currents rippling outward. Most people wouldn't feel the shift in air pressure had the bullets missed them by mere millimeters, but Lie Ren sensed it on his skin even after dodging more than a meter out of the path of the projectiles. He had been in the middle of a leaping attack towards an opponent when he sensed the weapon's discharge to his left. He made an on-the-fly adjustment to his attack pattern. He extended his right arm forward, hand outstretched, keeping his left pulled back and ready to land an Aura-boosted punch. He closed the distance between himself and his target, a Guardian in the process of raising his weapon to fire at Jaune. He propelled his fist forward, transferring as much of the kinetic force of his jump as he could into a punch, aimed directly at the Guardian's temple. In between the punch impacting and the Guardian losing consciousness, which was a very short span of time indeed, Ren's right hand took hold of its own target: the Guardian's weapon. The weapon was a simple assault rifle with a drill-bayonet. Ren pulled the weapon from his opponent's hand, removed the magazine and threw it with all his strength to his left. He didn't need to look to know that it would land in the face of the Guardian firing at him. The rifle in Ren's hands was not completely empty; a single cartridge remained in the chamber. He cleared it and tossed the weapon aside. His feet finally met the ground, and he immediately twisted, altering his direction, and leapt again, now flying in Jaune's direction. He chided himself internally for wasting some of his momentum.

Jaune's was occupied with fighting the Guardian in front of him. He was swinging his sword wildly at his foe, his attacks governed by rage. His lack of controlled allowed his opponent to easily deflect each attack with his dual tonfas. Meanwhile, a second Guardian was closing in to stab Jaune in the back. Jaune was as unaware of this threat as the Guardian Ren had just disabled had been of Ren himself. It was this attacker that Ren was now flying towards. Jaune Arc had a fighting style Ren found to be highly admirable in a leader. Jaune fought with a brashness which drew attackers towards himself, trusting his team to disable these opponents before they could land their attacks. Ren had always considered it an honour to follow a leader who valued his team's safety so highly above his own. It pained Ren to see Jaune bearing such guilt following the failure of this strategy in their encounter with Ochre.

Ren realized he had slightly misjudged the distance between himself and his target. His kick would fall short of his enemy's head, and he would have to settle for the blow striking his opponent's torso. A consequence of the lost momentum when he had changed directions so acutely. Nonetheless, the kick would send the Guardian tumbling to his side. Ren adjusted the position of his right hand, preparing to launch the right half of Stormflower from his sleeve. The left half of Stormflower had been left behind when they'd fled the island several days before. Ren hadn't had time to mourn its loss. Far more important things had been left behind that day. His foot met the Guardian's torso just above the hip. The Guardian tumbled away, his head striking the dirt, not quite hard enough to knock him out. Stormflower flew out of Ren's sleeve and into his hand. He leveled the pistol at the tumbling form of the Guardian and fired, striking him in the chest. The Guardian's Aura shattered and he was rendered unconscious. Hitting the ground, Ren sensed movement behind him. The Guardian who'd been struck by the magazine had recovered and was taking aim once again.

"They're here, they're kicking our asses!" He was yelling into his radio, holding his weapon one-handed.

Ren spun, dropping to a crouch and taking aim at his opponent's head. He was already pulling the trigger before realizing that the idiot didn't even have his Aura raised. He twisted his wrist, adjusting his aim with no time at all to spare. Stormflower fired, the bullet striking the Guardian in the knee, destroying his kneecap and tearing several tendons apart. The Guardian fell, clutching his leg in pain.

The Guardian that Jaune was clashing with saw all this happening behind his opponent. He dropped his guard momentarily, and Jaune seized the opportunity. Jaune thrust his sword forward, stabbing the tip into the Guardian's chest. The Guardian winced, further dropping his guard, and Jaune followed up by swinging his shield underhanded, slamming it into the Guardian's groin. The man fell to his knees, doubled over in agony. Jaune drew his sword back and swung with all his might. The blade struck the Guardian's cheek, and there was a horrific sound of splintering bone. Ren winced and looked away from the gruesome mess of the man's head. Jaune placed his foot against his defeated opponent's chest, holding it in place as he wrenched the serrated blade free from the Guardian's ruined skull. Jaune glanced around, taking note of the path of defeated enemies Ren had made across the battlefield. He grinned and motioned his head towards the lone enemy he had taken down.

"Don't worry, I got that one." Jaune chuckled.

"Good job," Ren nodded.

They both glanced to the right at the sound of somebody shouting in terror. There was a Guardian flying through the air, propelled by an explosive blow from Cardin Winchester's mace. Ren and Jaune turned just in time to see Nora leap into the air and cut his flight short with a blow from her hammer. She dropped back down to the ground gracefully, while the Guardian fell in a crumpled heap beside her. Just behind her, Blake was using a plasma-sheathed sword to cleave straight through the shield of another opponent. The blade didn't slow down when it met the man's arm. He fell backwards, clutching at a stump.

Jaune raised his arm to check the timer on his scroll. There was still almost 30 seconds before the Bullheads would complete their circle and pick them back up. They'd taken this group down very efficiently, mostly due to the element of surprise. It had been foolish of them to ever attack the Guardians without the hit-and-run technique. Of course, they didn't realize how powerful a force they were fighting then. Jaune was just about to ask where Ruby and Weiss were when they made their reappearance. They came crashing through a large window on the side of the building, rolling as they landed on the grass. As soon as both of them were on the ground, Ruby wrapped her arms around Weiss's waist and they vanished in a burst of rose petals. They reappeared where the rest of the group was gathered, amidst the strewn bodies of unconscious or dead Guardians. The spot where they'd been standing, outside the window, was consumed by a fireball from within the building before the rose petals Ruby had left behind even dissipated.

"Guardians inside cleared out, drug lab destroyed," Ruby reported, proudly.

"Good work," Blake said, in between short breaths.

Ruby took notice of the wounded man squirming at Blake's feet. Her eyes widened in surprise.

"Wow, Blake," Ruby said, "you took his whole arm off."

"The plasma on the sword cauterized the wound," Blake said, not looking down at him, "He'll live."

Jaune step forward, spun his sword around in his hand, and brought it down on the wounded man. The blade stabbed straight through his throat, just missing the spine. Jaune wrenched the blade out, causing a grotesque fountain of blood to spew from the Guardian's neck. He coughed and sputtered, clutching at his neck with his remaining hand.

"...yeah, I doubt that," Jaune said, before glancing nonchalantly at the sky, just above the tree line, "airships incoming."

Weiss and Ruby were both recoiling in horror. Blake stared down at the dying man with indifference. Ren and Nora were looking at their leader with shock and concern. Team CRDL's reactions were split between disgust and admiration.

"Jaune..." Nora began.

"You have something to say, save it," Jaune said, "get ready for pick-up."

The airships flew in slow, dropping to just a few meters above the ground. Everybody leapt upwards, landing within the ships. The moment the last of them pulled themselves within the doors, the Bullheads fired their engines and sped off. Ren took a seat and pulled one of the safety harnesses over himself. Jaune stood in the open door of the Bullhead, looking back at the ruin of the battlefield in front the building being consumed by flames. He saw a convoy of vehicles barreling down the dirt road towards the building they'd just left. Jaune grinned.

"Too late, assholes," Jaune whispered, "Take a good look at our handiwork, though."

"Jaune, are you sure you're not taking this too far?" Nora asked, "You just executed that-"

"These people killed Pyrrha, Nora," Jaune said, glancing over his shoulder, "Even after Yang died, we weren't taking this seriously. We were just... kids picking fights. I'm done with that. I'm done with mercy."

Nora looked horrified.

"We're supposed to be the good guys," She said, "If we sink to their level, what makes us better than them?"

Jaune turned and looked at her, raising an eyebrow incredulously.

"How can you even say that? After everything they've done, how could they not deserve everything we could do to them?"

"They deserve it," Nora said, "But we don't deserve to do it. We don't have that right."

Jaune rolled his eyes. He glanced over at Ren.

"Ren, anything?" Jaune asked, "Anything to add?"

Ren looked up at them. A steely, yet somber look in his eyes.

"I'll do what's necessary to stop them," He said, "I'll kill, if that's the only way. But I fight to put a stop to all this death, not perpetuate it. I want the Guardians stopped, I don't want them all to die."

For just a moment, Jaune's hardened grimace faltered, and Nora saw a glimpse of the real Jaune, an idealistic boy not so afraid of self-doubt. Jaune shook his head and steeled himself again. He turned back to the open door, this time looking ahead to their next target.

"I never said you had to kill anyone," Jaune said, "But I aim to put a stop to these people, and I'm going to make damn sure they can never hurt anybody else. Don't try to stop me."

From the pilot seat, John Maranz called back to them, "Coming up on the vehicle depot now."

Jaune moved forward, resting a hand on John's shoulder and looking at the holo-displays.

"Enemy activity?" Jaune asked.

"Large number of contacts," John reported, "Looks like their about to move out to the drug lab."

"Well, we can save them the trip," Jaune grinned, "We won't be able to hold out against that many for long. Pick-up one minute after drop, this time."

"Yes, sir."

Jaune tapped a few buttons on his scroll to open up a conference call with the others.

"Team RWBY here," Ruby answered.

"What's up?" came Cardin's voice.

We're going to do a quick hit-and-run and this time," Jaune said, "One minute. There are a lot of hostiles so we can't let the element of surprise wear off. Try to blow up a few vehicles when you land, cause as much chaos as you can."

"Got it." Cardin replied.

"Good plan," Ruby said, "Let's do this. And Jaune?"

"What?" Jaune asked. He didn't like the concern in Ruby's voice. It sounded too much like sympathy.

"...never mind. Let's go."

Jaune ended the call, drew his sword and went to the door. Ren was already standing there, at the ready. Nora was standing back, her weapon hanging lazily at her side.

"You coming, Nora?" Jaune asked, just before leaping out.

Ren looked back in concern, then leapt out after Jaune. Nora sighed, spun Magnhild into hammer-form, and dove out after them.

The convoy of vehicles, each loaded full of Guardians, tore down the road towards the drug lab. In the jeep at the head of the convoy there were four of them. Two up front, and two standing in the flatbed, weapons ready. The driver reached to the console and grabbed the radio handset.

"Closing in on the drug lab," He yelled into the handset, "Are the Huntsmen still there?"

"They're here, They're kicking our asses!" Came the panicked reply.

"We'll be there in one minute," The driver said, to no response, "Damon, do you copy?"

"They keep wrecking our shit like this," The guy in the passenger seat said, "We won't have enough left for the attack tomorrow."

"At this point, they can't stop it," The driver said, "Especially after I kill a few of those-"

A blur of movement in the rear-view mirror caught his eye. He adjusted the mirror and looked closer just in time to see one of the guys in the back go flying off the jeep, missing his head.

"What the fuck?!" The driver yelled.

There was the crack of a gunshot and the other Guardian in the back was thrown backwards. He might have survived the fall from the vehicle had he not met the grill of the semi truck behind them, before being pulled down beneath the truck's wheels. The driver was so focused on the rear-view, he almost missed the black-cloaked figure landing on the hood of the jeep. He and his remaining passenger had only enough time to let out a surprised yelp before the figure slashed his sword, slicing the windshield in half horizontally. The same swing decapitated the driver and passenger both. Before their heads even had time to fly off, the figure was standing, and sprinting along the roof of the moving jeep.

Witnessing this, the truck driver slammed on the gas, hoping to ram the attacker. The truck's passenger drew his auto-pistol and extended it out the window.

"It's Taurus!" The passenger shouted, "Kill him!"

Adam Taurus jumped from the roof of the jeep just before it began careening out of control. Flying through the air towards the truck, he fired off two shots from the rifle-sheath of his weapon, shooting the truck driver and passenger both in the head. He landed on the roof of the truck's cab, and sprinted along the trailer. He had barely jumped off the trailer when a hail of bullets ripped upwards through the roof, catching him off-guard. The Guardians were using the semi as an impromptu troop truck. Adam flew through the air towards the next vehicle in the convoy, a pick-up truck with a heavy machine gun set up on a tripod in the bed. The Guardian manning the gun reacted quickly, turning the gun upwards and firing. Adam spun in mid-air, the bullets passing just beneath him. He flew blade-first at the gunner. He realized too late that while firing with one hand, the gunner was reaching into his jacket. The sword strike that should have taken his head off was parried by a combat knife. Adam tumbled through the air before barely sticking the landing on the dirt road.

Steadying himself, Adam saw the last vehicle in the convoy, a Guardian on a motorcycle holding a machete, tearing towards him. He dodged to the side, sheathed his sword, and used it like a club to knock the Guardian clean off the bike. The bike fell over and skittered across the ground. The semi and the pickup both skidded to a stop. The back door of the semi flew open and Guardians spilled out of it, weapons drawn. The gunner in the pickup spun the machine gun around and leveled it at Adam. Gritting his teeth, Adam adopted a combat stance, sword sheathed at his side but ready to be drawn. He exhaled slowly, his muscles tense.

The heavy gunner opened fire, sending a hail of bullets at Adam. Adam fired his sheath, propelling his sword out at lightning speed. He wasn't conscious of every single movement of his blade as it knocked each bullet off course, most of his motion was purely instinctual. Still, he had no difficulty tracking the motion of sword in his hands, despite it moving faster than most human eyes could see. The machine gun's fire lasted a little over three seconds, sending out almost 200 hundred bullets in total. The gunner released the trigger, staring at his unscathed opponent in confusion. He glanced over to the squad of Guardians who'd come out of the truck just in time to see their bullet-riddled bodies fall to the ground. He looked back at Adam in shock. Adam sneered back at him, breathing heavily from the exertion.

"You get... one more shot." Adam told him.

The gunner looked down at the machine gun, shook his head, and leapt off the truck, drawing two combat knives. He charged at Adam, unleashing a flurry of slashes as he closed the distance. Adam dashed backwards, dodging each swing. He put his foot down, stopping his movement, and attempted a counter. He was surprised to be parried once again. The Guardian riposted with a thrust at Adam's gut. Adam dashed backwards a second time, just barely avoiding the attack. The Guardian went for a leaping attack, and Adam saw his window. He fired his rifle, striking the Guardian in the leg. The Guardian winced and let go of his knives as he fell out of the air, landing hard on his side at Adam's feet. He attempted to stand up, but with a quick swing, Adam decapitated him. Adam completed the strike by swing his blade and returning it to its sheath.

"Well," Adam said to himself, "That went well. Could have gone better."

He was surprised by a sudden electrical static sound. The radio attached to the jacket of the dead Guardian crackled to life.

"We just got the drug lab!" A Guardian was say, frantically, "They're gone! We missed them! Oh God, a lot of our guys are dead!"

Adam shook his head, "Damn Blake, getting kind of hard to keep up with you."

A different voice suddenly came through the radio.

"This is Barton! We're at the south-side garage!" The voice shouted, "They just dropped in, they're wrecking the place! You idiots gotta get here, right now!"

"Gotcha," Adam said, smiling.

He ran over the the fallen motorcycle, and righted it. He attached his sword to his back and climbed on the bike. Revving the engine, he activated the GPS on the bike's holo-display. The south-side garage was conveniently marked on it. He slammed on the accelerator and took a hard right, taking the bike into the woods. He'd spent enough time trailing after Blake. It was about time he caught up to her.