"Comfortable?"

Frost groggily moved his head in the direction of the voice coming from nearby. He blinked his eyes a few times to clear his vision as the man responsible for his parent's death came into view. A fire burned in his chest as he glared at the man whose only goal was a so-called "evolution".

"I'm strapped to a table with a demon spawn slowly clawing its way through my mind while the people I care about are fighting a war against the creator of the Grimm. What do you think, asshole?"

The man smiled. "Then everything is right on schedule. Just a little longer now and there will be enough sustenance for the Grimm to swallow your consciousness and assume total control. Your existence will cease, and the next phase of my plan will commence."

"You know it won't end that way." Frost began as he continued to glare daggers. "They will find you, and they WILL stop you. Even if I turn, that won't stop them from preventing whatever fucked up world domination plan you have in mind."

"I would hardly call it world domination when both humanity and the Grimm have lived on this world for centuries. It's simply the stronger eliminating the weak; natural selection at its best."

"Even if to get there you use artificial ways to transform humanity? How is that natural?"

"Every step in the course of history requires a push. I'm simply acting as the catalyst for something greater. Why should I expect a mere child to understand the way the world works? Besides, I hardly believe your "friends" will prove of any help to you when they're too busy fighting to save their own as we speak."

"What are you babbling about now, you lunatic?"

"I believe there was a quaint little village near Atlas that you stopped by some time ago. Even managed to fight off a new species of Grimm if I recall. But did you ever consider how far my reach must be for my plan to truly come to fruition?"

"No…" Frost's eyes went wide as the man's smile only seemed to grow in intensity.

"I believe you even met one of my associates. One Miss Amalie if I recall?" He chuckled darkly for a moment before continuing. "Though that is hardly her real name. Even if it is barely a difference, she took on the moniker of Amala when she "promised" to give them my whereabouts years ago in exchange for amnesty. Amazing how useful a Semblance that allows her to control her heart functions for a moment works to fool a lie detector. How else would I have known about your existence if not for her sending me a sample of your blood?"

Frost's eyes turned towards the hand that he remembered burning when he had grasped Amala's hand when they had met her. "That feeling…is she...?"

"Like you? In a way." The man turned to gaze over the laboratory around them as he went on. "However her ability was not quite what I sought in terms of a long term solution to properly infusing Grimm with every person healthy enough to make the transition. I needed something more. Something that would allow the properties of the Grimm to slowly merge with the existing host rather than burn it up from the inside-out. Her talents have allowed her particular inhabitant to last much longer than other test subjects, but that will only last so long. No…" He turned back to face Frost with an eager look in his eyes.

"What I've always needed to finish my research...is you."

"What are we supposed to do?!" Emerald called out as she deflected a swipe from another villager-turned-Grimm.

"I don't know!" Neo called back as she parried one person's arm with her parasol before leaping back as another dove at her place in the snow. "These are still innocent people! We can't kill them!"

"But what are we supposed to do if we knock them out, if that's even possible anymore?!" Emerald asked loudly as a loud crashing sound signified another person bursting out of their home, this time with skeletal wings sprouting from their back as they limped forward a few steps. "They aren't the same people anymore!"

"Of course they are! Just because they have something inside of them it doesn't stop them from being the people they were before!" Neo snapped back as she swung her weapon across the back of one person's head, causing them to snap forward and slump into the snow for a few seconds only to rise up once again without any sign of slowing.

"Is that truly what you believe, girl?" Amala asked as she dodged an attack from Qrow while the two fought nearby. "Or is that just the foolish delusions of someone with no more options trying to grasp at straws for some hope of a light at the end of the tunnel?"

"You should pay more attention to the person you're actually fighting with." Qrow stated calmly as Amala narrowly dodged a swipe of his blade, a few strands of hair falling to the snow as she stumbled backwards a few steps.

"I'm simply trying to enlighten the girl as to how silly her view of things are. These people stopped being human when I planted the dormant Grimm in their blood. All it took was a matter of time to let them build strength off of their own bodies before we used them as fodder in the greater battle to come. They would never last after the initial battle anyways. Not even Ozpin's abilities to tamper with time would allow him to remove the alterations to their bodies. It's been far too long for a simple rewinding of the clock to turn them back into the weak flesh they were before."

"So why capture young Frost, in that case?" Ozpin stated as he appeared behind Amala before striking at her with his cane with a flurry of blows.

Amala snarled as she stumbled back from Ozpin's sudden attack before moving in a way that she could keep both Qrow and Ozpin in her field of view, though the former seemed far less interested in actually attacking her now that Ozpin had joined the fray. "Why should it matter to you, old man? He already has what he wants and the boy will allow our plans to come full circle to what we tried to do years ago."

"Still as foolish as when you were starting out under his tutelage, then. A pity." Ozpin shook his head sadly as he simply stood with his cane planted in the ground in front of him. "Did you ever consider that this whole time, you have been nothing but a simply tool for him to use in his own schemes?"

"I am one of his most trusted scientists! I fooled all of you when I made you believe that I was actually on your side!"

"Did you?" Qrow pondered aloud as he casually blocked an attack from one of the transformed villagers before kicking them away where they crashed into the side of a building, their body stuck for at least a few moments as they struggled to remove themselves from the hole they'd been lodged in. "We always knew about your ability to alter your heartbeat and what it could allow you to do. Why do you think we knew exactly where to find you? Or why a pair of "retired Huntsmen" just so happened to move into this town around the time you did?"

"Retired huntsmen…" Neo looked to Emerald as both of them realized what that meant. "He doesn't mean…"

"I always had some suspicions. But did you really think I cared about something like that when I agreed to be part of something better?"

"You should have thought about it more when you brought those Grimm here and ended up killing the people that were watching you." Ozpin stated as he continued to calmly speak to Amala. "Had they not been killed in your haste to test these new creatures, then we would have hardly thought to pay you a visit at this point in time. As it stands, your pursuit of progress still continues to blind you to the consequences of your actions."

"Mankind will die in the end if we do nothing to make ourselves stand taller than the Grimm! How can you still not understand that after everything you have witnessed?!"

"Oz…" Qrow started with a warning tone at a volume that only he and Ozpin could hear.

"It will be fine, Qrow." Ozpin stated as he raised a hand to calm the man beside him. "It's been just about long enough anyways."

"Long enough for what, you old fool?"

"Just some extra precautions we put in place."

As Ozpin stated this, the sound of engines could be heard in the distance as the wind began to shift somewhat. Heads turned to take a brief glimpse when they weren't busy blocking the unorganized attacks of mutated people to see the forms of airships begin to appear over the horizon, coming from the direction of Atlas.

"Atlas' tin soldiers? That's your backup?" Amala scoffed at the oncoming ships. "They'll hardly pose a threat to my plans."

Ozpin smiled. "Not alone they won't. But the people commanding them will."

"Wait, wha-" Her words were rapidly cut off as a series of glyphs appeared under her before she was roughly hoisted off of the ground and into the path of an oncoming fireball. The blaze crashed into her, sending her body flying back towards her office as she flew through the previously created hole and landed inside with a cloud of snow and debris that followed.

The airships landed shortly thereafter as soldiers, both human and robot alike, managed to pin and subdue the transformed humans despite their added strength and armaments. One slightly larger ship landed moments later as a pair of individuals walked down its ramp while the mutated people were brought aboard to be transported back to the city to attempt to have the beasts removed from their bodies.

"Took the two of you long enough, don't you think?" Qrow asked nonchalantly as Winter and Ironwood joined their group.

"Must every encounter with you be this trying, Qrow?" Winter snapped as she placed a hand to her forehead out of exasperation.

"Only until it stops being fun to mess with you."

"Winter, Qrow. Save it for when we actually have EVERYONE under arrest." Ironwood commanded sternly. "There is still the matter of arresting Doctor Amala so that we can determine where their main base of operations is located."

"Of course, General. Rig-"

"Winter, stop. I am no longer the commander of Atlas' forces. You are. I am simply an advisor at this time whenever I am not busy aiding Ozpin and Qrow with their own plans."

"Yes…Ironwood."

Qrow shrugged his shoulders before taking a swig from his flask. "It's a start, I guess."

"Uncle Qrow!" A perky voice called out as the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps sounded from nearby.

"What's up, kiddo?" Qrow asked as he turned to face the others as they returned from the outskirts of town.

"We did what you asked and kept any Grimm from reaching town, but then they just disappeared a little while ago! What happened?" All eyes looked with curiosity at Qrow just as he flashed a look of concern to Ozpin.

"Ruby." Qrow asked the young girl with a forced tone as he reached down to grasp her shoulders tightly. "What EXACTLY happened when they disappeared?"

"They just dissolved into clouds of snow before drifting away. Why?"

"Did you ever see anything that looked like black crystals inside of them?"

A chorus of shaking heads were his only answer. The man turned with a swear as he ran a hand roughly through his hair. Heads tilted out of curiosity as he started pacing back and forth before walking over to Ozpin.

"You know what this likely means, right?"

Ozpin nodded slowly. "I do, unfortunately. But our main objective still stands. Thanks to your distraction, I was able to retrieve the location of their main base from her files while she was busy avoiding your attacks."

"Oz, you realize what this means since she focused entirely on avoiding my attacks instead of fighting back. She was distracted."

"By what? We saw you two fighting. What could have distracted her?" Emerald asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Controlling the Grimm that the rest of you were holding off. Why do you think they just disappeared like they did? She was bringing them here."

"I think we'd seen clouds of snow randomly flying through the air." Yang stated with a disbelieving tone as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Even when it's already snowing?"

"I mean…maybe?" The blonde shrugged her shoulders without any other sort of answer.

"No. We need to move and go get the other kid back before they finish whatever scheme they have going on. Now that we know where we're going, we can grab one of these airships and le-"

Suddenly, a massive sound of crunching echoed from within the office that Amala had been propelled into previously. Moments later, the entire structure burst apart with a hail of debris as a humanoid figure the size of an airship extracted itself from its remains. At first glance, it looked much like a woman, however the ridges of pure-white bones protruding from its arms, legs, and torso, as well as the icy-blue wings coiled at its back proved it was anything but human. Glowing red eyes stared down at them as a toothy smile formed on the beast's skeletal face.

"WhO sAiD anY Of yOu couLd LEavE?" A voice that sounded much like Amala's, albeit far more demonic, echoed from the creature's mouth.

"So this is how far you have chosen to fall, is it Amala?" Ozpin calmly asked as he gazed up at what used to be the scientist with an almost pitying expression.

"I wOulD hArdlY CaLl tHis falLiNg wHen I aM nOw morE poWErfUl thAn anY oF yoU!" The monster screeched back as its body sent debris and snow flying as it shifted its mass slightly amongst the rubble.

"Oz, you remember our plan! Take the kids and go!" Qrow yelled over the noise of Amala's mutated body extricating itself from the smashed building.

"What?!" Yang yelled back as her eyes flashed red out of panic. "We aren't leaving you here!"

"There's no other choice! We don't know if she sent off a warning before showing herself, they could already be moving as we speak! We can't afford to waste time and let them slip through our fingers! Now, go!"

"NoBodY sAid yOu couLd LEavE yEt!" Amala's mutated voice echoed across the clearing as it turned its head towards one of the airships currently sitting in the open courtyard that the villagers were sitting safely aboard. "wHy doN't wE gEt riD Of soMe oF thESe toYs?"

Seconds later, a blast of snow and ice launched from Amala's open maw, decimating the ship in an instant with a massive crunching noise. All of those not currently standing poised in front of her reeled back in shock at the sight of such damage caused in mere moments.

"The...the villagers...she's killing them..." Ruby voiced meekly as everyone stood watching in shock and awe at the wreckage now sitting in the snow. "She killed them in an instant...when they didn't even do anything..."

"Children, we must go." Ozpin commanded sternly as he faced the group that now looked back and forth between him and the wreck with hesitation etched across their faces. "Frost is still in their captivity, and like Qrow says, we don't know how much time we have before they elude our capture once again."

"That doesn't matter right now." Heads turned with surprise at the sound of Neo's voice as she stood with a look of conviction and her weapon drawn and primed. "Frost can handle himself, and there's no way I'm letting her do this after everything these people have gone through. He made the choice between me and the intel on Torchwick to do what was more important by making sure he stayed behind bars. And I can't just go and selfishly rescue him while these people are slaughtered by a madwoman. I'm staying."

"So am I." Emerald stated as she took up a position beside Neo with a similar look in her eyes. "I stood by in silence as Beacon fell to Cinder and the White Fang. I'll be damned if I let this place burn, too." The others slowly joined the two after giving each silent looks before nodding and turning to face Ozpin with a fire burning in their eyes. Some more literally than others.

"If you do this, there is no guarantee that we will be able to catch them before they move to a different location. Are you absolutely sure of this?" Ozpin gave them all a look much like if he were the headmaster at Beacon once again. "We won't be able to get away once we get directly involved in the battle."

"We know." Neo replied as a smirk grew on her face. "But that's not stopping us from doing what's right."

"Very well." Ozpin nodded with a straight look on his face before turning back to face the monster currently swiping at the other fighters, sending a few poor soldiers from Atlas flying into the distance with screams of pain and despair. "Watch each others backs and do not falter. This is nothing like anything you have trained for at Beacon or otherwise. We are facing a Grimm with the intelligence of a human being. Two beings, fragmented and molded into one mass of destruction and fear."

"Any mistake you make...could very well be your last."

Now, after a flew lighter chapters to set the stage, we finally reach one of the apex battles of the story. The end is slowly appearing over the horizon. But there are still a few obstacles on the way to the end. I appreciate all of you that have been with me on this journey, both from my first story, from the beginning of this one, and even those that have joined in more recent times. I hope it has been en exciting one, and I do not intend to disappoint on the final result. A story is defined by not only its beginning or main plot, but also by the way it ends. But that is not now. For now, we get to see some epic Grimm butt-kicking, something that I haven't really shown off too many times in my writing. Here's hoping I do it justice.