Written as of; Volume 2 Chapter 4

Ruby stared out the side of the Bullhead as it powered through the night sky, her cloak whipping in the wind. Penny and Sun sat beside her, talking to JNPR in hushed tones. The other occupants of the ship were Weiss, Velvet, Blake and Yang, the blonde casting worried glances over to her sister every so often. The weight of what they were about to do finally sunk in, the brawler finally coming to a realisation of what they were asking her sister to do, that only seemed real once they passed the point of no return.

She couldn't imagine the courage her sister had to even consider the plan, let alone consent to it. If Yang had been asked to take Ruby's role instead of her, she wasn't sure if she would have agreed. As for Weiss… Who knew what was going through the Heiresses' mind? Yang opened her mouth, hoping to comfort her friend, but before she could speak she was interrupted by Ozpin and Glynda emerging from the pilot's compartment.

Ozpin calmly surveyed the students in the Bullhead, nodding calmly as he sat beside Jaune. A roar of engines tore Yang's attention away from the headmaster as the three Bullheads on her left carrying Junior's men adjusted their engines and veered off, followed by the Bullheads carrying the White Fang members. Yang forced a breath and clenched her fist, only for Blake to place a calming hand on her shoulder. Yang glanced over, seeing the unspoken reassurance in her golden eyes, nodding resolutely.

Suddenly the Bullhead shuddered, as an explosion ripped through the left engine, sending the plane into a spin.

"What the hell was that?" yelled Jaune, gripping onto his seat as the Plane shook wildly.

Ruby poked her head out of the hatch, just as another red beam of energy barely missed the ailing craft.

"They've got one of those Spider Droids down there." She yelled, reaching for Crescent Rose as she spoke.

"You guys land the plane; we'll take care of this!"

Gesturing to Sun and Penny, she launched herself out of the plane, the three black clad figures vanishing immediately into the darkness.

"Ruby NO!" Yang yelled, a hand outstretched desperately toward the hatch.

"Not now miss Long." Called Ozpin.

Miss Nikos, do you think you can slow our fall?" he asked, turning to the Amazon.

"I'll try." Came the response. Pyrrha closed her eyes and extended her arms. Immediately the downward spiral of the Bullhead flattened out, becoming more of a gentle arc. A minute later and the airship was on the ground, and Ozpin lead the others out of the grounded plane, Jaune supporting an exhausted Pyrrha.

Suddenly Ruby blurred to a stop in front of the group, with Penny and Sun bringing up the rear.

"Did you beat that thing already?" asked an astounded Blake, shock evident in her voice. Ruby just nodded, already turning in the direction of the mine.

"How?"

"Well." Answered Sun, looking slightly bewildered;

"At least we now know what happens when a red Laser meets a green one."

"It was just one battle." called Ruby, glancing back over her shoulder,

"We have more to come, so let's get moving."

Yang stared in shock at her younger sister, the once bubbly Ruby she once knew had disappeared, to be left with this cold, cynical shell.

'It was him.' She thought, clenching her fist in fury as she remembered her sister's description of the man in the white coat, and if she ever found him.

He was going to wish he had never been born.

Ruby whirled through the ranks of androids, Crescent Rose scything the Machines to pieces as she continued her deadly dance through the sea of black. The rest of her allies rushed to catch up, fighting off the stragglers along the way, with even the teachers struggling to keep up with the punishing pace.

The team had almost made it to the main administration block for the mines. Around them they could hear the sounds of other battles taking place, but paid them no heed; their objective was so close, they could not afford to falter now. Nora completely crushed the last android, giving the team a few precious seconds to catch their breath.

Just as Ruby placed her hand on the door, a red flash lit up the area, and a beam of energy lanced toward them. Glynda calmly created a barrier, the purple glyph reflecting the attack. As the rest of the team readied their weapons once more, four more Spider Droids stomped out of the treeline toward them. As Yang took a step forward, Ozpin held out his arm and shook his head.

"Leave these machines to Professor Goodwitch and myself, you should continue Miss Schnee."

Weiss hesitated, glancing at the oncoming droids before turning back to Ozpin. At the sight of his reassuring smile, Weiss nodded and turned, pushing the doors open as the machines came ever closer.

Weiss led the team through the twisting myriad of corridors that led to the main nerve centre of the mining complex. Fortunately, the layout of all the complexes was roughly the same, allowing Weiss to move through the complex at a breakneck pace.

"How long do you think we have?" Asked Yang, her irises still a brilliant scarlet, her ruffled blonde hair whipping at her cheeks as she ran.

"I don't know." Replied Weiss,

"Ozpin won't let any through for at least a while, we just have to get to the –"

Weiss stumbled to a stop, her eyes wide in shock as the corridor opened up into a wide cavern, black knight statues stood beside each pillar, reminding Weiss eerily of home.

"This wasn't on the schematics." Weiss whispered.

"It doesn't matter, the exit's over there right?" asked Jaune, stepping towards the door on the far side of the cavernous room.

Even before his foot hit the floor, it moved, but Weiss was already charging. Changing to her vial of red dust, the heiress drew the powder up the length of her blade, causing her Rapier to glow a vivid red hue. Weiss spun to a stop in front of Jaune, holding her weapon above his head to block the giant sword that came crashing down from above.

The second Jaune had taken a step toward the far side of the room, the statues beside each pillar had sprung to life, and were advancing upon the small group of Huntsmen and Huntresses at the first door.

The giant stumbled backwards, the recoil from Myrtenaster sending it back into the wall. Pyrrha raised her hand, performing a grabbing motion, and the large sword the knight wielded was wrenched from its grip. She thrust her hand forwards, and the sword pierced through the chest of the statue, pinning it to the wall. Another knight fell, cut apart by beams of green light. Even as their brethren fell, more piled into the fray. Yang crossed her arms, absorbing the force of the strike from the next knight, shattering its sword with a single punch. The same knight was enveloped in a pink cloud, Nora's grenades swatting the enchanted armour over to the other side of the room.

"Go!" Jaune yelled, dodging a massive swipe of one of the knights closest to the team,

"We'll handle this, just go, we don't have much time, just go!"

Weiss nodded, before turning to Velvet;

"Stay with them, they'll need an extra pair of hands for this."

"Just make sure you finish this." The Faunus nodded calmly, before whirling around and diving back into the battle.

Weiss looked at her scroll;, the GPS indicating they were only a few metres from the main communications centre, where Ozpin hypothesised the controller was kept. They rounded yet another corner, and the GPS on her scroll indicated they were directly outside. Weiss stared at the oak doors in between her and the comms room, and placed her hand on the doorknob, exhaling slowly to calm herself.

Then the world exploded.

Weiss slowly sat up, brushing brick dust off her dress as she waited for her vision to stop spinning. Holding her head, she noticed the others climbing to their feet. In the light of the moon streaming in through the broken wall, she saw a shadow disentangle itself from the wreckage and limp toward the gap. A shadow with a long coat and a sword.

"Adam?" Blake hissed through gritted teeth,

"What are you doing here?"

Adam looked through the crumbling hole, glancing at a few other White Fang members flinging themselves at a man in a white coat.

"We got to the bomb easy enough, but then these guys got in our way." He growled, striding back into the battle.

"It's him!" Snarled Yang; staring wildly at the form of Roman Torchwick. Hair aflame, the brawler leaped out of the hole in the wall, sprinting at the man who tried to kill her sister.

"Leave this to us, Ruby, take Weiss and get the controller, we don't have much time." After taking her hand off the younger girl's shoulder, Blake led Sun and Penny out into the fight beyond, leaving the pair in the corridor.

After the departure of the rest of their team, Weiss shook herself back to reality, grasping Myrtenaster tightly, and pushed open the doors.

The communications room was several metres square, with banks of terminals set into the walls. The room was pristine white, a stark contrast to the granite surfaces of the rest of the complex. All the tables had been pushed into one corner, save for one, upon which stood a small black box.

"That must be it." Weiss reasoned,

"Let's disable it before…"

The rest of her sentence was interrupted by the sound of the far door opening. The Heiress entered her battle stance, feeling Ruby tense beside her, but shock immediately destroyed her posture.

"Well well." The man said, stepping through the doors, mug in hand.

"I'd say it's good to see you again, but for some reason I don't feel like lying today, must be something in the Brandy." He sniffed, before setting aside the mug of liquid and pocketing the small box.

Ruby's eyes widened in shock as she recognised the man in front of her, tightening her grip upon Crescent Rose in fury, her anger mirrored by Weiss, as she failed to hide the hint of disgust in her voice as she addressed the man in front of her.

"Father."