So, it's been a while... agian. Same reason as before, but I think things might be looking up. Maybe. Don't count on it.

I've not contracted the virus, I'm still alive so no need to ask about that. As for all of you who have tried to reach out to me: sorry, but I've only visited this site on my reader-account as I decided to take a proper brake from the fic. I have no plans to quit it (I would announce it if that was the case), but bashing my head againt a methaphorical wall didn't get me anywhere for over a year so I decided a break was needed. And now that I'm returning to the fic I'm noticing how much of it I've forgotten. And is there anything as awkward as reading your old work? However, the big hurdles still remain storywise (trying to figure out what the different parts of the cast are doing and how/when they can interact with the rest). I might just have to bite the bullet and subject you all to a handful of chapters of really bad storytelling in order to move forward, but I haven't decided yet. Oh well, just have to take one step at a time.

And then there is the now concluded season 8... Oh boy do I have feelings about that. About Ironwood in particular. And Harriet.
It's like Atlas is full of spoiled brats who are not used to having to do their actual job. It's like they can't handle anything bigger than poorly trained faunus-rights extremists/activists (and even that they do poorly). I am glad that I can avoid having Ironwood lose his sanity in this fic.

Anyway. Here is a new chapter. You can all start making bets as to when the next one will come out.

Atlas

James Ironwood sighed as he eyed a message Klein had sent him regarding Jacques' current actions. It was as bare bones as they came, but he knew it couldn't be helped. He had been curious as to how Jacques would deal with Weiss's disappearance. Apparently Jacques' response was to hold a surprise meeting with the top brass of the Friends of Atlas. A very urgent meeting. There seemed to be no concern for Weiss' wellbeing at all. No warrants for her. No inquiries. No calls or questions as to where she could be. Hardly surprising, but it made Ironwood think that he had done the right thing by helping smuggle the girl out of Atlas.

Jacques had not given any official statement about Weiss disappearing. In fact, he seemed to be keeping his mouth shut about it. No doubt trying to keep it under wraps in order to keep prying eyes out of his goings on.

He sighed again. "Oh, to be a fly on the wall at that meeting." It was clear that Weiss' departure had upset Jacques. But it begged the question, why? Ironwood doubted that it was because she had a proper role in Jacques' plans anymore. Then did she pose a threat to them? A wild card? No, Jacques had had her locked up and under control. If that was the case, then it was the fact that she disappeared made her into a problem. She had left Jacques' sphere of control, but that probably meant that she could have gone to someone else's sphere. But what could she do with that? Why, she could tell someone. And Jacques' current actions did not want anyone telling on him.

This reasoning made Ironwood smile. It confirmed that he was on the right track. To be fair, he had already figured that out, but the confirmation was comforting in an odd way. His good mood was abruptly interrupted by sirens going off.

Turning around to his desk and checking his computer, he could see countless alarms and notifications going off. Fire alarms, earthquakes, desperate calls from defence posts and civilians. He did not have time to acknowledge them all before he began getting calls for help from his subordinates on how to manage the public. It was a mess.

It wasn't Grimm. Out of all the alarms, the proximity alarms were among the few that had not gone off. No, all signs indicated that something had slammed down into the Atlesian peninsula with great force. Could this be the astartes? No, this was not them. It lacked the precision that the astartes had displayed in Vale. And they had not just slammed into the planet back then. No, this was something else.

"Clover?" Ironwood was scanning all the displays he had as he called up the Ace Ops.
"Already en route to whatever this thing is, sir." said the young man over the scroll, without any sign of worry or discomfort.

"Approach with care. We don't know what it is."

"I doubt anything could have survived that crash, sir." The specialist turned his head and squinted. "Heads up, general. I can see movement on the horizon. Quite the grimm horde en route, it seems. Probably attracted to the sudden surge in fear."

"Noted. I'll have the fleet prepare a warm welcome for them." Oh yes, Ironwood would let out a lot of frustration on these grimm.

As the Ace Ops got closer to their quarry Ironwood dispatched some of his bigger ships to intercept the oncoming grimm. Sure, he had the entire Atlas fleet surrounding Atlas but he saw no point in letting the grimm get that close in the first place. No, preemptive strikes and proactive action was needed. No sitting around and waiting. He had a military and he would bloody well use it. He would not have a repeat of Beacon. He had a foe nowhere near any vital structure, people and an abundance of ammo. It was time to blow those bastards to bits, not sit on one's arse. Take that Ozpin.

Through the screen Ironwood could see the Ace-ops' approach. They circled around for a bit, waiting for the dust to settle.
"Oh fuck…"
"Pull back! Pull back! Pull back!"
*KaBOOM*
"We're hit! We're hit!"
"Brace! Brace!"

"Clover! What is happening? Clover!"
"They're alive! General Ironwood, send the fleet! These things-"
"Get me visuals, dammit! What are we up against?"
*crash* *bang!* *Bang!*
"WAAARGH!"

"Oh fuck! Pull up! Pull up! Pull up!"
"How the fuck did it get up to us? Is that a fuckin' rocket on its back?"
"Damn if I care, Harriet! Just shoot it!"
"AArgh!"
"Oh shit! It got Elm!"
"Marrow, hold it before it throws Elm off!"
"I am holding it! Now kill it!"

*Blam!* *Blam!* *Blam!* *Blam!*
It took several round point-blank to put the damn thing down and even then it was the knock-back that got it off the Manta, not a killing shot.

"There! It's dead! Can we go now and let the fleet blow these things up?"
"Seconded, Bree. Pilot, get us outta here. It looks like its friends want to shoot some skeet."

Over the comms Ironwood could hear the pilot agreeing and putting the pedal to the metal just as the Manta began taking fire again. He had his fingers interlocked as he tried to digest what he had just seen.

Alien life, clearly hostile, durable like all hell, and right in Atlas backyard. And even worse, now they must know they were in someone's backyard.

"Well general…" said Ebi. "I've seen the enemy, and the enemy is hella' ugly."
"Specialist, first impressions?"
"Like I said, General: hella' ugly. Also a big problem. That thing could soak up punishment like an Ursa Major, and I got the feeling that there were a lot of them in there. I think I saw some kind of vehicle as well. And they were a bit too eager to see us, sir."

"Understood. Get back to base. I want you and your team stocked and ready for redeployment as soon as possible."
"Got it, sir. But about the fleet…"
"It will be deployed, but I want you to deal with anything that gets past it."
"Yes sir. Clover out."

Ironwood ended the call. He took a moment to consider his situation. Taking out his scroll with a sigh he looked up a contact and made the call.
"Willow, please forgive me for this." he muttered as the call connected.
"Special Operative Cordovin speaking."

"Cordovin, this is General Ironwood. I need you to relay orders to our people in Atlas."

"Understood sir. What orders would these be, sir?"

"Redeployment."

Patch

Taiyang was barely holding her back, her semblance giving her the upper hand. And yet she was not giving it her all. She was trying to be patient, to not give him any opening. But it was tedious. She just wanted to smash him so this would be done with. She didn't want this careful fighting. She wanted to punch something. HARD!

Her temper flared and so did her semblance. Tai was not prepared for the sudden surge in power and was taken by surprise by her left hook and was sent flying backwards.
Spurred on by this success Yang launched herself at him. What was there to worry about? How could he possibly withstand her semblance now? The power was exhilarating, making her throw caution to the wind. She was strong! That was all that mattered. What use did the strong have for caution?

She went in for a flying kick, just like those one always saw in those over the top martial arts movies. She would end this before Tai even had the chance to counter her.
Time seemed to slow down as she got closer, the sudden flow of adrenaline combined with her single minded focus on the certain victory affecting her perception.

But the thrill of victory was suddenly swept away as a flood of worry and fear erupted from the reptile part of her brain, telling her that she had fucked up. Tai wasn't off his feet as she had thought. Instead he had planted his feet firmly and was now standing awiting her.

Airborne as she was and dulled by sudden confusion, Yang couldn't bring herself to avoid what was coming, or to think of changing course with her gauntlets. Yang's foot passed harmlessly past Tai who in return delivered a blow straight to her gut, and all Yang could do was watch in slow motion. Her momentum was halted mid-air against his fist and the wind was driven out of her as all her weight was pushed against Tai's fist.

Port and Oobleck winched at the sight and Zwei whined at the sight. Oobleck patted the dog over the head, quietly whispering that Yang would be okay.

Yang fell to her knees, unable to breath properly. She looked up at her dad, surprised that he had struck her so hard. The look he gave in return was void of kindness and mercy. Without a word he clenched his fists and began beating her, starting with a blow to the side of her head that brought her down on her back.

In a desperate attempt to defend herself she raised her fists and tried to block Tai's blows. She tried to call for him to stop, but any and all attempts were shut down by more blows from her father. He did not relent. If she guarded her head then he would go for her stomach, going for the soft parts under her ribs. If she tried to stop that then she left her face unprotected. She paid for that.
Stars flashed in her eyes as her brain was being rattled inside her skull. Her eyes were swelling over from all the hits to her face. Her aura was gone and did nothing to protect her. Every blow felt like it was going to punch a hole through her skull. She lost track of how long it was going on.

Spent and beaten she looked at her dad as he raised his fist for a finishing blow. She had nothing to put against it. She was spent. There was nothing she could do. She fixed the fist with her eyes. The fist came down and it was as if it grew in size. It was going to end her. The memory of Adam Taurus cutting her flashed before her eyes. She was just as defenceless now as she had been back then.

The last thing she heard was the sound of her nose's cartilage breaking underneath Tai's fist.
The last thing she saw was Tai's fist, coming to knock her lights out. But her lights did not go out, but the fist did not go away either.
It took Yang's punch drunk brain several moments to realize that Tai had stopped his punch midblow/parked his fist in her face.

She didn't feel it yet, but she had wet herself out of fear. Tai pulled back his fist and looked at Yang with a grim look on his face. His heart ached as he saw the contusion forming and growing around her nose. But he had to be firm, for Yang's sake and her future well-being. Her training these last few days had been two steps forward, two steps back. She kept on learning her lesson only to discard it moments later. That would have to end.

"Da- dad, why did you-"
"To help you understand, Yang." he answered grimly. "You let your temper control you and abandoned caution again. You can't just rush at your enemy head first all the time. You can't let your temper control your actions, no matter how tempting it might be. You might have gotten away with it back at Signal, but no more."

He knelt down to look her in the eyes. "It can be a cruel and nasty world out there. And the people who call it home will not all be like the common chumps that you have gotten used to. Some…" he looked at her new arm, indicating Adam Taurus. "... are a cut above the rest. Rushing head-first without back-up at them will get you dead fast. Now, do you understand?"

Yang was silent for a minute, slowly applying her father's words and lesson to her own life experience. Particulary to this last bout. Slowly she nodded. "Ah' thin' ah' get it." she said weakly, her broken nose distorting her words.

Tai smiled at her and rose up. "Glad to hear it. You are very much like her, you know? Like Raven. Headstrong and stubborn, but I'm glad you are still enough of yourself to understand this lesson. Raven probably would still be refusing to learn."
"'eally?" Yang asked.
"Really." answered both Port and Oobleck in unison from the porch. Zwei decided to bark in agreement, getting a pat on the head from Oobleck in thanks.

*Beep* *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* *Beep*

"What tha- what's going on?" asked Tai as he went for his scroll. Port and Oobleck did the same and read the message sent to them.
"It's a summons. All able bodied huntsmen and huntresses are to prepare for deployment at Mountain Glenn." said Oobleck
"But we were supposed to have more than a week before that." protested Tai worriedly.
"Something must have happened to push it up. Oh, hang on! I'm getting a call from Glynda. Maybe she knows what is going on."

"Bartholomew, Glynda here! Is Port with you? I need to talk with both of you right now!"
The professor looked stressed, more so than the last time Yang had seen her. Whatever new duties Jaune has given her in connection to the council must be taking its toll.
'Or it might just be from this recent development.'

"We're here. And so is Tai. what is going on?" said Oobleck and adjusted his scroll so that they all could take part in the call.

"The astartes have issued an order for all hunters to prepare for Mountain Glenn. Something has struck down there as well as in the other kingdoms. The astartes are saying that it's "greenskins", a sort of "xenos" species. The old plans are being discarded. Whatever these things are, they have the astartes worried."

"Wait!" interjected Yang. "All the kingdoms? Wha' a'bout Mistral? Ruby is ther'! Is anyon' bein' sent ther´?"

Taiyang shot his daughter a look, letting her know to shut up. Goodwitch either took no notice of Yang's outburst, or was simply too busy on her end with a stream of reports and functionaries wanting something of her.
"No. All hunters in Vale are bound to Mountain Glenn. We're to support the contingent he left to watch Mountain Glenn as the lion's share of his forces are engaged in Mistral."

Yang decided that she had heard enough and pulled away from the older men. Ruby was in Mistral, the Xenos were in Mistral, ergo she was going to Mistral.
Making her way on wobbly legs to the shed where her bike waited for her, she felt her dad's hand on her shoulder.

"Da', don' try t'o s'op me. I'm going 'o Mistral and tha's final."
"And who said anything about me stopping you?"
This made Yang turn around with a questioning look on her face.
"All I ask is that you take your time to prepare properly for this. Remember, no rushing in head-first? C'mon, take a good look at yourself: you're exhausted, bruised, you need to pack, plan a route..." He made a show of wrinkling his nose. "And you smell like piss."

Yang almost wished the embarrassment would kill her. What with first being scared to death and then getting the news about the xenos she had almost forgotten about that.
"So yeah, clean up, rest, plan." said Tai and let go of her.
Yang nodded and began walking to the house, just now realizing in what bad shape she really was in.

Looking over his shoulder Port glanced at Yang. "Is it wise to let her go already?"
"It isn't." admitted Tai silently. "But I doubt I could stop her even if I wanted to, too much of her mother in her. No, the best I can do is to try to instruct her as best I can and hope we've been able to get something through her thick skull."
"Well, then I'm very sceptical." said the old huntsman and slapped Tai on the back. "Too much of her father in her, you see?"
"Oh, ha ha. Very funny."

Mistral

Looking around Ren took in the scene. The rubble, broken trees and misplaced debris and his team leader was surrounded by his Space Marines issuing orders and receiving reports all whilst trying to visualize all the information on his scroll. It had not taken long before it had become apparent that there had been several crashes across Remnant, but what had truly gotten the astartes aggravated was the report for Mountain Glenn. The crashes were not mere rock from space, it was Orks.

Ren and the others had tried to ask what Orks were but Jaune had only told them that they were a kind of xenos that had plagued the Imperium since its inception. That was all he told them before he had begun trying to get a grasp of the situation.

The lack of straight answers had them others on edge. Pyrrha, Nora and Ruby understood that Jaune had to prioritize and had faith that Jaune would fill them in better once this emergency briefing was concluded and they moved out to meet this new threat. And yet, Ren's mind was elsewhere.

He was trying to not look around himself like a scared hare, to twitch at any sound, and trying to tell himself that a breaking twig was not the sound of hooves approaching, that the rustling of the wind was not the deep breath of Grimm.

Ren was worried. No, he was scared. Years of suppressing his fears are becoming undone. And now freed from their shackles they threatened to overwhelm him. He had always stuffed these fears away, refusing to face them. Now however, he realized that he might not have a choice in the matter. Grimm were drawn to fear, It was drawn to fear. And the Orks were bringing fear to the people with their arrival.

He had already seen signs of It. It was active and he was scared of facing it again. He knew that it was not something set in stone, but he simply couldn't look away from the possibility that he would come face to face with it. Before, he could just move on, walk away and put his feelings about the matter away and pretend it didn't matter. But not now.

Feeling something brush against his hand, Ren moved to whip out his guns, only barely catching himself when he noticed that it was Nora.
"We're not alone anymore." she said. "We can do this."
Ren acknowledged her words with a faint nod, but they were not enough to reassure him completely. The rational part of Ren's brain knew that their situation was far better now, but his emotional side had broken loose and was overpowering him with fear, the trauma that he has spent his life suppressing was now glaring him in his face, and he couldn't turn away from it anymore. But what could he hope to do? He remembered how powerless he had been during the attack on Beacon. And there would be so many people to protect. He couldn't hope to hide them all with his semblance.

He bowed his head in a gesture of hopelessness and looked at his free hand. With his head so occupied he had not noticed it shaking. And yet the one in Nora's hand was still, held steady by her. She took his free hand into one of her and the shaking subsided. Not completely gone, but not as bad. "Ren, we're going to make it through this."

As if he could draw on her strength and will, his hands stopped shaking and he began to recompose himself. For her, for her sake.

Before either of them got the chance to talk Ruby ran up to them. "Come on! We're ready to move! Hurry! Hurry!"
"Where are we going?"
"Dunno. Jaune just said that we're going for the closest horde of Orks. now hurry up or we'll leave you behind!"

The city of Mistral

Looking out from his window Oscar could see that the whole city is uneasy. People were walking around tossing glances over their shoulders, being quiet as to hear anything approaching and as to not draw attention to themselves. It was only made worse by the fact that everyone was doing it. Oscar could understand their reasoning. It went something along the line of "If everyone else is worried, there might be cause for me being worried as well?" They had been like that ever since they had felt the tremors and showed no sign of quitting yet. Maybe with time.

Glancing at the newspaper, mostly for Ozpin's benefit, Oscar confirmed that nothing seems to have changed regarding the tremors. Oscar was half convinced that he didn't consciously have to read something in order for Ozpin to get the information, but he was not in a mood to test the theory.

The council was urging for calm and that there has been no destruction or death caused by the tremors. Probably just a meteorite, they said, crashed down in the middle of nowhere. The newspaper offered a lot of speculations, but no hard facts about the thing that happened. No one really knew what was going on.

The council seemed hesitant to dispatch anyone to investigate. "Why don't they?" asked Oscar.

'They are operating on the second rule of government, Oscar. "I don't see the problem, thus I don't have to deal with the problem"' answered Ozpin in the boy's head.
"Well, if that's rule number two, what's number one?"

'"You don't make an inquiry unless you already knew what the findings were going to be." Do you see how they link together, Oscar?'

Despite the snark in the dead man's voice, Oscar could tell that Ozpin was worried. Overall he was being quite jumpy, just as the people outside. They had on more than one occasion wondered if these tremors were the reason why he had reincarnated so soon. They had considered commandeering a ship of some kind to go and investigate, but due to a lack of means and to preserve their secrecy, they had settled with listening to the grapevine for now.

'Speaking of grapevine, Oscar. How about we go over to the Academy and check up on Leo and Haven in general?'
"Again?" asked Oscar wearily even as he got out of his chair. He knew better than to disagree with Ozpin on this issue. Oscar had been looking around, trying to figure out what was really going on, on Ozpin's behalf.

Bidding farewell to his "roommate" Oscar stepped out to snoop around. She didn't respond and merely kept eating her ice cream. His roommate was odd, not that Oscar was all that normal anymore himself. She didn't talk. At all. And all she seemed to do was mope, eat ice cream, and seemingly disappear into thin air. Occasionally she tagged along with him. The others had taken to calling her "Ice cream girl".
Their relationship worked out fairly easily. He didn't bother her much, she didn't bother him. He didn't touch her ice cream, she didn't beat him over the head with her bowl.

Getting out he could see that the people had gotten even more uneasy since the day before. Maybe that was why the militia was more active than usual, trying to put on a show and keep everyone calm. But even to Oscar's untrained eye, they seemed ill disciplined and not used to their tasks. A few seemed like they just wanted to preserve an air of normality and keep the peace only to be overshadowed by their louder counterpart who acted like they had something to prove. Their voices were loud and boastful but utterly meaningless, almost always having something to do with the guns they carried.
'Really, they behave like brats showing off their toys.' said Ozpin in Oscar's head. Oscar found himself agreeing with the man. The fact that said toys were functioning weapons was not comforting.

Going over to Haven Oscar found _SSN hanging about like a bunch of idle hands. Maybe it was Ozpin's influence, but he found himself a bit disappointed by the youths slacking off like this. His only consolation was the fact that the academy was not open yet.

"Oscar! What brings you here on this incredibly boring day?" asked Neptune and waltzed up to the newcomer.
"Nothing much. Just looking around. What about you? Anything new?"
"Not much. Only this rumor that some Atlesian hotshot came by the other day to talk with the headmaster. By the sound of it, I would have to guess that it was Weiss' sister. I've told you about her, didn't I? I think I did."
"You did. Also, Winter Schnee? Is she still around?"
"Nah, supposedly she left for Atlas immediately when she was done with old Lionheart. By the sounds of it she talked fast and left even faster."

'Then something must have happened in Atlas, something big.' concluded Ozpin.
'Do you think it might have had something to do with the tremors?'
'Could be. Perhaps it's something global. But We just don't know yet. Best we keep our eyes open.'
'Should I ask the headmaster about Winter?'
'No, that would only raise suspicion. After all, what business does a youth that is not even a student have to do with that matter? Or any matter, for that matter. No, I think we have learned all we can today.'

"Sooo…" said Neptune looking at Oscar spacing out. "Care to have a look around the academy? We ain't got nothing better to do anyway."
"Sure, might as well. But won't we get in trouble if we get caught?"
"Caught doing what? Showing a prospective student around? Come on."

Following the others Oscar began exploring the academy, only paying half a mind to the supposed tour given by the students. The other half of his mind was dedicated to listening to Ozpin's tale about the academy and the history behind it. The huntsman seemed quite pleased to talk about one of the greater things he had ever done in his last life.

Their tour eventually took them to the statue in the grand hall and the statue therein. Both Oscar and Ozpin stopped and just looked at it. It depicted a slender woman with long hair in a billowing dress. Her waist and wrists were clad in golden chains. The statue's arms were raised as if they were trying to hold up the great stone above it or as if beseeching something up above.

"Just as I remember it." said Ozpin, not paying any heed to who might hear him. And indeed it was. There was no sign that the statue might have been disturbed. Ozpin allowed himself a smile. If the statue was undisturbed then the relic should still remain where he left it.

"What was that?" asked Neptune.
"Nothing. It's just as I had imagined it." said Oscar as he tried to cover for Ozpin's slip.
"What? The statue? Oh, Oscar! I knew you had women on your mind!"
"It's not like that!" Oscar exclaimed, blushing.
"Oh don't try that with me. I know you're bunking with that one chick. Bow-chicka-bow-wow!"

Oscar mentally noted that this comment would probably not fly with his roommate. In fact, said roommate might go through great pains to ensure that Neptune got what was coming to him. And Oscar might just choose not to stop her.

The youths' musings and joking about the statue was suddenly interrupted by the sound of sirens. It was the warning signal for an impending grimm attack, a warning that any citizen of Mistral knew well enough.

Looking around in half panic, barely constrained by Ozpin's mental pleas for him to remain calm, Oscar noticed that the students were not worried. They stood around casually, exchanging glances. Heck, some looked like they were placing bets.
"Are you not going to do anything?"
"Nah." said Cardin with a shocking amount of disinterest.
"What do you mean "nah"!? There are grimm coming!"
"So? It's just grimm. The huntsmen and the militia will deal with this."
"Mostly the huntsmen."
"Amen to that."

Despite the others' words Oscar remained unconvinced. And so did Ozpin. Breaking off from the group, Oscar began looking for a way to get to the wall. He was not driven by a desire to confront whatever was out there but he needed to know, or at least catch a glimpse of it. And the desire was not just his own. Ozpin was curious as well. Why a grimm attack now? Sure, negativity was peaking that day, but was that enough? Most grimm around the city knew better than to attack.

But alas, Oscar had to stop. He could not see a way to get up on the walls fast enough. Oh, he knew how to get TO the walls, but how to get up on them was a different matter. All the ways he knew was swarming with people trying to get to safety.

"Hey you, kid." says an old voice. A woman's. Turning around and down, Oscar saw who was talking to him. The woman was old and wrinkly, had grey hair and a very stylized staff. But her most noticeable feature was her eyes. They were two blue round discs, electronic in nature. Some kind of plates covering them seemed to act as eyelids. To Oscar they seemed to provide the woman with the ability to do facial expressions.
"Um, me?"
"Yes, you. Looking for a way up the walls?"
"Umm…" was all Oscar said at first, uncertain if he should answer this unfamiliar old woman.
'Go on Oscar. What's the harm?' said Ozpin, urging him on.
"Yes…?"

The woman pointed with her staff. "You'll find a ladder somewhere there. It's hidden from the public eye so that no kids will go and break a leg or something. It'll take you up the wall."
"Um, thank you miss…?"
"Calavera. Maria Calavera. And you had best get moving unless your huntsman friends come and try to stop you from doing this ridiculous and dangerous thing."
"But why would you help me if it's-"

*Twack*
Oscar shut up at the sudden twack on his head and blinked stupidly at the woman. Turns out the cane was good for more than just support.

"It's not to get you up on the walls It's to get your friends up on the walls. I have a feeling in my bones that something more than mere grimm are coming so we better get more people up on the walls. If you manage to get there, your friends will follow if they are even a halfway decent lot. Now GET MOVING! I'll make sure your friends find you up there."
Oscar opened his mouth to speak but a mental reprimand from Ozpin told him not to talk back and get going.

Getting up on the wall he found himself a perch out of the way and out of sight of the city's defenders. He could see grimm approaching in the distance. He could not make out any individual grimm, but their black forms were without a doubt moving among the trees towards the city.

And yet Oscar felt a bit disappointed. Was this it? Was it really just some grimm after all. Oscar had expected something worse. This was hardly anything to be concerned about. The city's huntsmen could easily handle these numbers.
'Don't count on it.' said Ozpin. 'Look closer. Something is off.'
Maybe it was their connecting allowing Oscar to tap into the elder's experience, but Oscar found himself reluctantly agreeing. Grimm typically did not attack the big cities of Remnant. Too much resistance for any one grimm, same for most packs. And yet he saw alphas running towards the city like their lives depended on it. It was as if they were running from something.
'Yes Oscar, but running from what?'
Oscar didn't want an answer for that.

"Here he is! C'mon Oscy-boy, time to go."
Oscar yelped as Cardin lifted him off the ground. "Hey! Put me down!"
"Oh? So that you can run off again? Not happening. We're not running after you again. Like seriously, why did you have to drag us up here? It's just grimm, nothing to be worried about."
"But-"
"No buts. Let's go."
"There is-"
"Zip it. I don't care."
"But-"
"I said! I! Don't! Care!"

"Waaaargh!"

The group turned around to see a horde of green skinned things rush out of the forest straight for the city. To everyone's dismay, these things seemed to have forgotten about their previous quarry and now sensed bigger prey in the form of the city.

The wall shook ever so slightly as the guns on the wall began to fire, but the things just seemed to run faster and more energetically as a response. More and more of their guttural battle cries were heard. Some of them raised crude guns and began to fire at the defenders at the wall, not aiming at any particular target, but merely doing it for the heck of it.

Oscar singled out a particular individual among the horde. It seemed to have slowed down despite keeping good pace with its fellows. To Oscar it looked as if it was tugging at rope connected to whatever was strapped to its back, an ugly metal contraption. After a few tugs the thing began to spit out puffs of smoke. Then the puffs became a cloud, growing by the second as the greenskin seemed to be getting the thing on its back to work.

Clearly pleased with itself, the greenskin looked up the wall and Oscar suddenly realized what it was going to do.
"It's coming!"

With a roar of triumph the greenskin was lifted off the ground and hurled up towards the wall. And it was not alone. All along the walls could Oscar see more of them, arching lines of smoke rising upwards. Many only got a few meters off the ground, some smashed against the wall, but some got all the way up.

And one had managed to land just where Oscar was. So stunned had he been by the sight of these rockets that he had not thought about keeping his wits about him. Screaming, Oscar tried to put some distance between the green monstrosity and himself. In his haste he managed to trip over his own feet and wall to the floor. Still driven on by terror he kept shuffling away from it.

It roared and swung a crude imitation of an axe around itself, trying to hit as many of the students as possible.
"Get it!" shouted someone. Oscar was too busy not getting smashed to recognize who. The huntsmen in training moved in trying to deal with it. Blades dug into its flesh but it did not seem to care. Sage looked shocked when he saw his blade draw first blood from the creature's arm with his first swing, realizing that this thing did not have aura. He was rewarded for his lapse of concentration by having the thing swing at him, sending him flying by the sheer weight behind the blow.

No matter how they struck it, it would not go down. It seemed like it cared nothing for the pain and wounds they inflicted on it. If anything, it seemed to be having the time of its life. The students tried to overwhelm it, to chip it down until it gave in.

'This isn't working.' said Ozpin. 'You need to end it or it will be that thing that wears you down. Or throws you off the wall.'
"How?" Oscar did not bother to ask the dead huntsman mentally. He was too frightened to care about that. "We're throwing all we have at it! What do I do?"

'If you can't kill it, just get rid of it.'
"If we can't kill it, how can we get rid of it?"
'Show it off the ledge!' Ozpin mentally snapped at Oscar's tone.

His faculties jumbled by fear, Oscar did what he could to comply with Ozpin's instructions and charged at the greenskin, despite the obvious danger. Putting all his weight into it, he slammed himself into the thing. Unfortunately for Oscar, he had forgotten just how big, heavy and strong his foe was.

Looking at him like he was an annoying horsefly the greenskin made to smack him off with one very big and muscular hand.
"HELP!"
As if summoned, Neptune grabbed him by his collar and yanked him away and let Cardin get in a decent swing at the greenskin. It actually managed to stun it for a while.
"What the shit were you thinking?" yelled Neptune as he deposited the shaken farmhand away from immediate danger.
"The edge… we have to knock it over the edge."
Neptune looked up and glanced at the situation. They were no closer to killing it that before Oscar's sudden burst of stupidity. But the boy had a point.
"I can do that." Neptune said and stood up.

Oscar looked at Neptune flabbergasted. How? He had seen Neptune's weapon. There was no way it could knock the greenskin off the edge.
"Hey, someone help me break open this pipe!" shouted Neptune and tapped a water pipe.
"On it!" Like a drowning man clutching at anything he can get a hold on, Cardin leapt at this apparent solution to not getting smashed. Bringing his maze down at the pipe for he was worth he smashed the pipe, denting it. He didn't let up and kept smashing.
"There! I cracked it! Now do your thing!"
"More! Open it up some more, dammit!"
"ARGH!" with a shout Cardin brought down his mace once more in a burst of fire. Water sprayed out, soaking him and Oscar.

It didn't touch Neptune though, having steered it clear of his person with his semblance. Having donned his goggles he began gathering up the water with his semblance until he was certain that he had enough before directing the mass of water towards the Orc.
"Get clear!" shouted Oscar just in time to buy the boys time enough to toss themselves out of the way.

The water slammed into the greenskin so fast it barely had time to react. Its roar was drowned out as the water pushed and carried it over the edge. Oscar went to look as the thing hit the ground. It didn't seem to be getting up again.

"We won! We fucking won!" shouted Lark. Cardin and Dove banged their heads together in celebration. The others were also quite cheerful, what with being alive and all. Oscar looked around, grateful to see that the other of the things that had managed to get on the wall had been or were being dealt with by the professional huntsmen.

"We did it." said Oscar, walking a bit unsteadily from the entire ordeal.
'But we're not done yet.' said Ozpin, chiding the boy. 'These were only the vanguard, what about the rest of them?'
"Um, guys…" Oscar said testingly, putting the dead man's words to his own. "Does anyone know where the rest of them are?"

Russel leaned over the edge and followed the movement of the green ones. "They are headed towards the gates."
"Will they hold? The gates?" asked Dove, speaking up for the first time. No one answered. Not wanting to think of it.

'You know what has to be done.' said Ozpin.
'I don't know if I can do it.' answered Oscar mentally.
'Then I'll deal with it.' said Ozpin and Oscar suddenly felt his conscience slipping. Not like he was falling asleep, but like someone had pulled him away from his own hands and senses. He could still feel and sense his surroundings, but it was dulled and trying to move his limbs felt like swimming in air. And that is how he realized that Ozpin had taken control when Oscar's hands were raised up without his will.

"Come gentlemen. To the gates!"
The words seemed off, coming from the youth's mouth. The tone and delivery had changed completely, like Oscar's balls had suddenly descended a few extra inches. His posture was straighter and he had a more determined look on his face.

"Um, Oscar? Are you feeling alright?"

"I feel better than alright, gentlemen. I feel ALIVE!"

I cut quite a bit of text for this chapter. Mostly stuff that was repetitive from previous chapters, stuff that would be straight up spoilers, bad filler etc. It was quite depressing that so much of my efforts turned out to be so worthless. But that's part of writing I guess.

One thing I would like to make clear to all is that the adults (read: Ozpin's inner circle, looking at you Ironwood) are more responsible in this fic than they were/are in canon. The reason is that they got told off after the attack on Beacon and were forced to reflect. They were made accountable for their mistakes and misdeeds by an entity that can at any time punish them with impunity. They got a reality check and it grounded them. I'm not going to eleaborate further on this matter now. Just wanted to throw this out there.