Destiny - Part II

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Weiss' rapier danced down and then up, flicking one Beowolf aside and letting the Creep behind it impale itself on Myrtenaster. Behind her she heard as much as felt Nora's hammer slam down, crushing the Beowolf under its massive weight and power. With a grunt, Weiss flicked the vaporizing Creep off her blade and then flicked it up, hurling it and the crushed Beowolf's dissolving corpse down the road like cannon-shot. They both curved up, careening over partially destroyed cars and trucks, and then came down into a pack of Grimm headed their way, breaking them up and killing a couple.

A cluster of pink, streaming grenades followed her 'improvised' shots, slamming down in a linde across the road that ripped up pavement, shattered cars, and decimated the charging Grimm. A couple of Beowolves staggered through the smoke, alive but wounded, but snapped back as bursts of automatic fire ripped into them from Weiss' other side.

"Good shot, Renny!" Nora complimented, casually reloading her grenades and adding, "More of 'em are coming, though."

"Yes they are." She sighed, giving Nora a look and smiling, "Break them up for us? Give us a minute to catch our breaths?"

"Can do!" The girl laughed, stepping forward and kneeling to better aim and place her shots.

"The civilians?" Weiss asked, turning to the young man with her. He nodded and she sighed, pleased beyond words and watching Nora's bright, pink splashes of death buy them their minute to rest and recover. "We can hold here, then. The other roads?"

"Officer Wilger said that the alleys were narrow enough down here that nothing but creeps could get through." He answered, "But as long as we stay right here, that won't be a problem. Police and a few huntsmen are holding a perimeter around where the Breach occurred."

"Good." They just needed to focus and hold, then, even if none of them were very well built for this particular job.

"I'm almost out of grenades." Nora warned, pink smoke and black Grimm vapor covering most of the street a dozen or so yards up the road.

"Then save them. I have a slightly illegal idea." Weiss sighed, the woman nodding and extending her hammer once more, moving back to her side and grinning widely.

Flicking Mytenaster out, and knowing that the smoke was only confusing the Grimm in and beyond it, she flicked a hand. Black glyphs spun to life on the cars in front of them, spinning for a moment while she concentrated. Finally, the metal hulks rocketed forward, hurtling down the road and through the air like more cannon-shot. They vanished in the smoke and she heard them punch down, crunching and screeching to a stop where she couldn't see.

A moment later, though, more black smoke billowed behind the steadily dissipating pink clouds.

Then the smoke billowed away, the massive head of a King Taijitu emerging from the smoke as the serpentine monster slithered towards them. Its mass crushed apart the pavement it slithered through, hurling flakes of asphalt and cement to either side along with whatever else got in its way. Spinning Myrtenaster at her side Weiss spun and knelt, pressing her brow against the pommel and flicking the Dust cylinder, using it to raise a spiky palisade of ice a few yards ahead of them for the Grimm to slam itself against and, hopefully, impale itself on.

Instead, it turned, hurling its armored midsection into the air over it and using the momentum to vault the barricade entirely.

Wordlessly, Ren and Nora stepped in front of her while she rose, glaring at the creature as it landed and curled up, twin heads hissing threateningly while more Grimm surged to either side of the ice wall. Clicking her tongue she flicked Myrtenaster, detonating the wall and showering the great snake and its black and white fellows in hardened ice shards. Some were killed, some were wounded, and some escaped, but the giant snake only hissed and roared as the ice bored into its skin.

Uncurling, it continued on its way towards them, jaws wide and ready to swallow her up. Nora leapt to meet it but it yanked back at the last moment, black head snapping around and up to catch her, carrying her up in its mouth, head snapping side to side as it struggled to close its jaw around the flailing woman.

"Nora!" Ren called, scowling and leaping onto the writhing creature, peppering the white head with fire to keep it from turning its attention onto his struggling partner. An effort that worked, the man leaping off a moment later as it writhed, crushing other Grimm around it in an attempt to get at the man.

On her own, now, Weiss, leapt back as those Grimm who weren't trying and dying to get at her comrades came for her instead. A Beowolf leapt and she stepped back and then forward and to the side, Myrtenaster flicking out to carve its throat open. She left it to die and turned ducking under an Ursa's swipe and stepping forward, thrusting awkwardly up into a leaping Creep's chest as it came down on her. It died but its weight slammed home, forcing her down for the briefest of moments while she forced it off of her.

Another of the small Grimm was on her in a moment, its clawed back foot slamming against her stomach and sparking off her Aura as she cried out. Its jaw snapped down towards her head and she brought her right arm up, letting it bite down on that instead if only because it was better than her throat. They struggled until she managed to bring her rapier up and push it into the creature's stomach, the monster snarling and wrenching her arm to the side and up, trying to get away from her sword but unwilling to release her.

Finally, its feral strength won out and her arm snapped around at the elbow, her Aura flaring around the injury. Weiss cried out for it and the claws that wrapped around her legs, dragging her and the Creep to the side. She kicked at it and slammed her rapier's hilt into the beasts holding her arm's eye, snarling, "Get off me!"

Suddenly, something bloomed in her gut and she felt her Aura draining away almost frighteningly, like it was being siphoned. A heartbeat and her world bloomed white around the edges, as something metal slammed into concrete where she couldn't see and wrenched to the side, screeching through pavement and Grimm alike in a circle around her. Scrambling back on her good arm she looked up, watching the milky white, armored arm vanish before her eyes.

She'd summoned, she realized as she stood, her burning right arm hanging at her side. Her excitement was short-lived, though, more Grimm trundling towards her as the great snake fell, crushed on one end and somehow decapitated by Ren on the other. Raising Myrtenaster she took a deep breath, pushing her Aura through the instrument again to send gouts of flame up the absurdly suddenly swarming street.

Instead of her fire scorching through the Grimm, though, something from above snarled and bathed the street in white flame. Turning, she blinked and smiled, "W-Winter…"

"Weiss." The woman nodded, giving her a worry filled look before stepping between her and the fight, ordering loudly, "Retake the street! For Atlas and for Vale!"

In answer, a squad of armored soldiers surged forward amid two dozen grey, out of date but still armored, Knights. Behind them, two heavy mechs trundled, the mass of machines and men ripping through the Grimm like a super-heated knife through butter. Overhead an Atlesian strike craft hovered for a moment before belching a cluster of streaking rockets down the road to break the rear line of the beasts and slow the Grimm's reacting to the Atlesian assault.

"You can support the infantry." Winter ordered as Ren and Nora came jogging towards them, sweaty and covered in smoke smears and dirt. Weiss took a step to join them and felt a hand on her shoulder, looking to her sister. "You," she smiled, "are wounded and out of the fight, Sister."

"But-"

"No arguing, Weiss. The situation is being resolved." The woman snapped, turning and barking out, "Medic! We have a walking wounded, here. Huntress."

Turning, Weiss let the medic that came up to them guide her to a seat and start tending to her arm. A dislocation rather than an outright break, luckily enough, but she was still forced to sit and watch the fighting happen in front of her. Still, she decided as the shadow of an Atlesian warship covered the sky above her, the city was saved.

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Atlas had finally deployed fully to defend the City of Vale, after ten minutes of the Breach wreaking havoc and pushing the defenders back.

She smiled, leaning against a tree in the forest and using the hill it had grown on to watch the smoke billow over the city. She didn't need the hill to watch the air battle, of course. No one could easily miss the fighters and gunships screaming over the city, nor the great warship hovering low over the city. As the ship moved into place, smoke began to billow from elsewhere in the city.

The White Fang were making their own attacks under Adam's directions, then. A bit early but then, everything about their time frame had been sent right to hell. Turning her head she spoke to Emerald, "What do our contacts have to say?"

"The Schnee, Valkyrie and Valkyrie's partner went into the city well before the attack." The woman answered, reading off her Scroll, "Their Rocket Lockers were deployed in that direction, too, so they're probably fighting in the city. Some guards logged Nikos and her partner leaving, too, headed into the forest."

"Oh?"

"Yeah." Emerald turned and pointed, "They were headed that way, away from us and into the forest. The two teams were called into the Headmaster's office, so if they have a mission or he's recruited them-"

"Then they'd want to train, yes." Cinder understood as much, knowing what they were going to be facing. But regardless, where they were wasn't as important as where they were not. And they were not at Beacon when the Power had been transferred. "Xiao Long, Belladonna, and Rose, then. These are the options in the first year, the students he's paid special attention to but who are still there even now, with everything going on in the city."

"Seems odd to me." Mercury offered boredly, laid in the grass with his leg resting on a knee. "If Beacon has sent anyone to help Vale-"

"They have." Emerald interrupted to offer, "Air support and a handful of higher year teams. More leave every minute, too, so if we wait then they probably won't have more than first and second years on hand."

"Indeed." And that was an opportunity in and of itself. As weak as those children were, numbers alone could prove problematic. Cinder had learned that lesson in their attack on the previous Maiden. "Where are they?"

"They went up to his office for a meeting with the rest of the two teams, but apparently those three haven't come back down." She answered quietly, closing the cheap Scroll and tucking it into a pocket. "They're either still in his office or that elevator leads somewhere else. But whatever the case, Ozpin hasn't been seen in a while. Neither have those three or General Ironwood."

"Send word for Adam, then." If the General and Ozpin were there, then they'd need the reinforcements. If only to bog down the students while she and her team saw to Ozpin and Ironwood, or even just the Maiden herself, whoever she was. "Tell him it is time for him to launch his attacks on Beacon, then. The Belladonna girl must be worth something to him, so inform him she will be his once all is done."

"You know, that will probably make him a bit hard to control…"

"That isn't my problem." She knew he wanted her, and if he went ballistic trying to get at her, then that was just convenient for her. Turning to head towards the school she smiled, "Send the message and let's go. We've work to do."

"Yes, Ma'am." The two answered, Cinder smiling at their obedience. "And the Grimm?"

"They won't bother us." She smiled, "Beacon, though…" She turned to the floating orb a few feet away and smiled, bowing her head, "If you would, my queen?"

Glowing, the orb bobbed once and then withdrew, vanishing into the woods while her mistress saw to her end of the plans they had made.

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They were nearly to Beacon when he sensed something ahead of them and came to a stop, turning to catch Pyrrha who had been just behind him. She gave him a questioning look but didn't resist him, instead stepping away and raising her shield warily.

"Jaune…?"

"I sensed… Something, just let me have a second." He answered, kneeling and reaching out with a palm, letting the Force carry his senses forward. Scattered through the trees, obviously hiding and moving towards the path that led up to Beacon, he could sense… "People. I don't know how many, not exactly, they're too close together for that."

"Students?"

"No." He frowned, standing and reaching up to draw his glaive. "They have ill intent, I can tell that much. And I don't recognize their…" He paused to search for the word and then sighed, giving up, "Their presences, I guess. I don't recognize how they feel, and they have malice on their minds."

"Malice-"

As if to answer her unfinished question, a new siren joined the distant droning that just barely echoed from Vale beyond the sounds of gunfire and explosions. This one, though, was far louder and nearer. Echoing down on them from above they all recognized it from the drill done at the start of the year, made so they would recognize it, Beacon sounded the warning bell.

Grimm were attacking Beacon and instead of fear, all he sensed from the people in front of them was excitement. It rolled off them with a nervous energy and then they were moving, towards the path up. The path to Beacon.

"They're attacking Beacon!" He snapped to the woman, rising and surging forward without another word. She didn't question him or try to stop him, following behind as they ran until he pointed to his right, "Take that side, I'll take this one!"

"Right!"

At the edge of the treeline he leapt, using the Force to propel him faster and harder and setting him spinning. His leg slammed into the back of one's head, slamming him forward and down hard enough his legs curled up to nearly touch his shoulder over his back before he snapped back forward and lay still, splayed out on the ground. Stood in their midst and over their downed friend Jaune straightened, glaive held out to his side and eyes closed.

"White Fang." He sighed, shaking his head and turning to look between each of them. There were seven, not counting the already downed man and whoever Pyrrha was engaging further along the way, closer to the path up. "Why attack Beacon? Hunters protect everyone equally, so why-"

"Shut it, Human!" One snarled, rushing him with a curved sword and a snarl that ended his attempt to talk.

Well, no one, especially Blake, could say he didn't try talking at least…

He stepped back and to the side to dodge the slash and the Faunus growled, stepping in and cutting horizontally between them and over his fallen friend. Jaune ducked back until he was nearly flush with the wall and snapped a hand out towards the body, yanking it up and hurling the fallen Faunus into his first attacker with enough force both vanished into the shrubbery and undergrowth. One raised a rifle instead of a sword and his hand snapped to him and up, forcing the weapon high and letting it spray fire into the stone while he leapt for him.

Without Jaune restraining him, the concentration would be too much to risk with so many trying to converge on him, the Faunus was able to bring his weapon down. Slipping around behind him he slammed a boot into the back of a knee to force the man down, then threw the polearm across his throat and leaned back, rolling onto his back and using a combination of leg strength and the Force to hurl the man up where he slammed into a tree limb and curled around it, groaning while Jaune knelt.

Knelt and then, slowly, rose and smiled, "Five more of you."

Two with swords rushed him, apparently thinking that rushing a Huntsman with swords was a good plan. He turned, gripping the glaive in both hands and using the leverage to flick the first blade aside, bringing the haft up and into the woman���s throat. She fell, clutching at her bruised neck, and he stepped by her to slam a shoulder into the big man's sternum with all the power he could muster. The man crumpled over his shoulder and then shot across the clearing and into another rifleman, the duo crumpling under his weight and Jaune's power.

"Two, now." He murmured, the duo looking to each other over his head but hesitating. He didn't have time for this… Planting the head of his glaive in the dirt he straightened, gripping each and hurling them into the wall with enough Force to leave them groaning on the ground in heaps.

Hearing rustling bushes he turned, watching another White Fang grunt collapse in a heap in the shrubbery. "Come on," Pyrrha snapped, not the least bit out of breath and smiling thinly, "I dealt with my ten, so we need to go. Beacon needs us."

"Our friends need us." He corrected, knowing what she really meant and earning a wider and more genuine smile for it. Waving up the path he nodded, "Lead the way, then, partner."

"Happily."

Climbing the path they thankfully found no signs of fighting until they reached the gate, the guard standing ready as ever, armor clean and weapon unfired. Kneeling behind the edge of the gate he sighed, lowered his rifle and smiled, "Good to see you. Guessin' the fightin' I heard down that way was you?"

"It was." He nodded, turning an eye on Beacon and grimacing.

In the sky, Nevermore, Gryphons and everything else that could fly circled, fighting with airships from Atlas and Beacon alike. Guns on the ground sometimes turned skyward, their tracers carving into the sky and occasionally swatting one of the flying Grimm. Strangely, the walkway leading to Beacon was empty and undisturbed, vacant entirely save for the three of them.

"The Headmaster wants you to come to him, in his office, fast as you can." The guardsman grunted before he could question why that was, the two of them turning to him as he knelt, leveling his rifle on the path once again. "Best get goin'. It sounded important, and he said not to worry about anything but getting there."

"What about you, Sir…?"

"Miss Nikos, I have a job to do." He smiled, turning to them and shrugging. "Letter of the order, I'm to hold this gate until relieved. Now get going, before something shows up to slow you down."

"But-"

"Come on." Jaune grunted, grabbing her shoulder and turning her away from the man. She scowled at him and he sighed, pulling her along and explaining, "You wouldn't abandon your duty either, so don't ask him to. It wouldn't be right."

"Doesn't mean I have to enjoy it…"

"Yeah." He laughed, shaking his head, "You're telling me about it."

"Ah." She blinked, and then grimaced, earning a pang of guilt from him for it. "R-Right."

Unsure of what to say he picked up his glaive and pushed on, nearly jogging towards the main section of Campus. And towards Beacon Tower, overlooking them all.

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Ironwood groaned quietly as he eased back against the cold stone of the Vault, bare skin and metal resting against cold iron. His coat, ruined by the explosion, lay in a heap on the floor beside him. But aside from the burns all along the armored plating of his prosthetics, he was unharmed and in good condition, if a bit cold in the dark of the Vault. In front of him the young Rose paced, hair messed up and cloak in tatters, trailing petals while she watched Ozpin and Glynda tend to the Maiden and her partner.

"Miss Belladonna is fine, if unconscious." Ozpin assured them, taking his hands off her head and turning away from her little cot, brought down when Glynda had been called for help. "I can sense the power in her, though. That, at least, was a success."

"A-And Yang?"

"Her back is covered in electrical burns, obviously." Glynda answered, the blonde woman laid on her side hissing as her clothes were peeled off of burnt skin. From where he sat, he could see the burn stretching across her shoulder-blades and knew it would leave an ugly scar. "How her hair survived intact, I'll never know, but aside from the burns she's alright enough. She must rest, but then, the Vault is the safest place for that."

"Not to mention you and I can protect them, if the worst comes to pass." Ozpin added, turning a look on Ruby and smiling, "Are you alright, though, Miss Rose? You were unconscious, too, when we arrived."

"I-I just pushed my Semblance too hard." Ruby assured them all, bouncing around the headmistress to give Yang a smile. Turning this way and that for her sister to see she was alright, she smiled, "See? I'm just fine. Just conked out for a second, that's all."

"S'good." The blonde ground out, voice hoarse for the injury and the scream she'd let out when the lightning struck. Trembling, she held a hand out and Ruby took it, smiling softly at her injured sister. "We'll be fine with some rest. S'all we need."

"Indeed." Ozpin nodded, turning to give the headmistress a look. The woman grimaced but he gave his orders regardless, "To that end, Miss Goodwitch, see to the Academy's defense. I will stay with them, to keep an eye on them and make sure they are safe."

"As you like, Headmaster." She nodded, turning and striding away quietly, rolling her shoulders gently as she readied herself for a fight.

"I should see to my men and the defense as well." James grunted, trying to stand and hissing as his prosthetic leg seized, nearly bringing him tumbling down in a heap. Ozpin caught him though, closing the distance impossibly fast and easing him back down. "Winter is in command in Vale, Oz." He ground out, "She can't command there and here."

"Then issue an order for your men here to listen to Glynda." He suggested, smiling thinly as he stood over the general, hands clasped behind his waist. Turning his back on him, Ozpin added, almost coldly, "You're in no condition to fight or lead, right now, James. Rest. We're perfectly safe here."

"Fine.�� He sighed, giving up if only because he couldn't walk yet without help. Pulling his Scroll from a pocket, and thanking the gods it survived, he set to work giving the orders out. "You know, Vale is a feint attack. Beacon is the target, Oz."

"Indeed." He answered, Ruby watching them both quietly and grimacing when Ozpin confirmed his suggestion. "But we have the Maiden, and the Vault is the safest place on campus. Our enemies would have to find it, and then punch through the best defenses on Remnant to get to us."

"Still…"

"We are perfectly safe, James." The man assured him, turning so he and the young Rose could see his smile. "Let's just relax, for now, and see what comes. Hm?"

Sighing, Ironwood nodded and let his head roll back to rest against the stone, working his leg up and down to try and get the mechanisms functioning. At least well enough he could move without help from someone else. Ozpin and one young Huntress in training did not make a very appealing last line of defense.

But he supposed he didn't have a choice...

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Dear christ, this one was harder than expected. Hard but fun! Hope you enjoy it. I got amped for some fucking reason and jammed this out in one day.

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Curious Guy (Guest) :

I mean that I am nearing the end of this part of the story, but not the story, if you follow. Think of it like book one ending. A sequel is already planned, if not named yet, and after a break for planning this story will continue. Much more is planned for this Jaune, don't you worry.

Blaze 1992 :

Many weapons either directly or in specific usages can bypass Aura. Neptune's is electrical, for instance, and in the presence of water can fry someone through Aura. Similarly, electrical attacks bypass Nora's Aura twice to hit her, the fact she feeds on that not-withstanding. 'Good against Aura' is a common enough thing. Further, Jaune had a story and had to be coerced into coming to Beacon, so it would be unlikely he was infiltrating it. Ozpin had little reason to challenge him until he became directly involved in important matters.

He was a bit busy dealing with other stuff, too. Directing Ironwood or Qrow to look into the guy Ozpin has reason to assume isn't a threat means not looking into things or people that could be. The Ace Ops, for example, were directed to look into Jaune rather than the White Fang.

Chainthatbinds :

Yes they did! They used Force Magic.

Stallionwolf :

The fandom has long had a problem with shitty people, and been combatting it. Depending on when you said it, various contexts were likely at play you didn't know about such as CJ Black who has been lying about and bashing RWBY ships for a year or two now. There's just complications going on is my point.

That said, you should separate that from the show and the ship in general. Otherwise, you're being unfair to both and to yourself.