Omniscient POV
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Amity Colosseum was chaos.
People shoved and trampled over each other to reach the exits, and despite Ironwood's best attempt to ease and reassure them from the commentator's booth, his voice was drowned out by the terrified screams flooding the entire arena.
A Nevermore shrieked and crashed into the hard-light Dust barrier at the top of the Colosseum, shimmering from every peck and claw.
Qrow and Goodwitch jumped out of the elevator and into the Headmaster's office, and Ozpin ordered them to defend the city before calling Ironwood to put his army to use.
Up high in the clouds, the airships lit up the night sky as most of them diverted towards the city, and the three airships that stayed behind were tasked with defending Beacon.
However, in one of those three airships, Roman and Neo had their fill of fun while Cooper roared a torrent of insults and threats.
"Roman, when I get out of here—"
"Aw, how adorable." Roman laughed his lungs dry. "Neo did mention you got all chummy with that robot girl. Didn't think you'd be this hung over her, though." He brushed his suit. "Get over it already. Besides, I think she needs time to get her act together if you know what I mean."
"Your plan is bloody mad, you know that?!" Cooper's joints popped and creaked under the strain of trying to throttle Roman and Neo. "What's the point in all this?!"
"As much as I hate to admit it, Stripes, this actually isn't my plan." Roman spun his cane around a finger. "And to be honest with you, I don't even know what the end goal is either."
The confession smacked him. "What?"
"You heard me, isn't that right, Neo?"
She huffed and wrinkled her nose.
"I'm just doing my small part in this big ole masterplan." He flourished a hand. "Misdirection, I'm sure you heard of it. Oldest trick in the book and all that. And you all fell for it. Hook, line, and sinker."
Cooper growled and rattled his cuffs.
Roman hung his cane off the side of the airship's control module and pushed every button like a giddy child with a brand new toy.
Excitement twinkled his eyes. "What's this button do?"
The red button he pressed caused the ship to fire a laser.
"Oh-ho-ho!" Utter glee partied on his face as he redirected the cannon towards the other two airships. "Now, this one's gonna be fun!"
Roman shot the second airship beside them.
It exploded and collided with the third airship, and they both fell out of the sky.
Roman whooped. "It's so good to be back!"
Dozens of Bullheads zoomed into Beacon's airzone.
The Bullheads landing in Amity Colosseum opened their doors to set free gangs of blood thirsty Grimm, and the Bullheads that touched down on the academy's campus delivered a payload of White Fang soldiers.
To top it all off, Adam Taurus led his troops across the battlefield.
-----
Meanwhile at the camp, Stiofan yanked and fought with all his might to break free from the wooden table his handcuffs were stuck on.
The war outside pierced the tent's thin fabrics, reducing his cries for aid to nothing more than the squeaks of a helpless mouse trapped in a cage.
Grimm feasted on the bodies of fallen soldiers.
Those who were still capable grouped together and barricaded themselves in the sturdiest structure, fighting tooth and nail for as long as possible.
The curtain at the entrance of the tent moved, and Stiofan's worst fears came true when a Boarbatusk paid a visit and rammed the table into him, snapping it apart.
Its tusks drilled into his abdomen. He chomped on a scream, but now that his hands were loose, he gouged the Boarbatusk's many eyes until it backed off.
Stiofan grabbed a broken table leg and put it through the boar's belly, silencing it for good.
Getting out of the tent, Stiofan avoided Grimm and looted dead soldiers for a key, and once the handcuffs came off, he hurried back to Beacon.
-----
Alexander did his best to snap Ruby from her despondence while Pyrrha stumbled and collapsed before Penny's dismembered body, completely oblivious to the dangers above.
"Warning: safety barrier failing," said a computerized voice in the speakers.
Team JNPR screamed at her to get out of there, and when the forcefield finally shattered, Jaune cleared the guard rail.
The Nevermore slammed into the arena, blowing away Pyrrha, Jaune, and Penny's remains.
"Rose!" Alexander shook her. "We need to move!"
Ruby stirred and stared at the Nevermore closing in on Pyrrha. Snarling, she zipped down there, snatched one of Penny's swords, and plunged it into the giant bird.
"Ruby?" Pyrrha said, awestruck.
Ruby ripped out the sword and stood guard in front of Pyrrha. "Leave her alone!"
Of course, the Nevermore cared little about what she had to say and flapped its wings, circling to build up speed before diving in.
Rocket propelled lockers rained like hail and crushed the Nevermore into the ground, stunning it long enough for an ensemble of students from each academy to work together and decapitate the bird.
With that out of the way, Ruby confronted Pyrrha, sobbing on her knees.
"Ruby," Pyrrha looked through her lashes and her lips quivered, "I'm so sorry."
Ruby sniffled and ran a sleeve across her tear stained cheeks. "Me too." She took a deep breath. "But it wasn't your fault."
"Nikos."
Ruby and Pyrrha looked to Alexander.
Alexander knelt in front of Pyrrha and offered his sympathies as he lent her a hand.
"Can you stand?" he said so gently it caught her off guard.
Pyrrha nodded and clasped his forearm.
Pulling Pyrrha up, Alexander patted her shoulder and checked on Ruby.
"Rose." He leaned to her level and put a hand on her head. "Stay strong."
Looking at Penny's sword, grief sagged her mouth and an ache squeezed her cheeks.
"Whoever was on that microphone had to be who did this." Jaune returned Pyrrha's weapons, and they shared a heartfelt smile. "And we have to make sure they don't take anyone else."
Things were cut short when more Grimm stormed the arena.
Ren raised his weapons. "Griffons!"
Neptune aimed his rifle. "Anybody got a plan of attack?!"
Ruby whipped out her scroll and called her locker. Like all the other lockers, it rocketed into the Colosseum and embedded the arena floor, but just as she went to it, a Griffon landed on the locker, shrieking as if daring her to try.
A gunshot hit the Griffon dead.
Professors Port and Oobleck entered the fray and joined the students.
Port readied his blunderbuss/axe. "We need your help."
"Yes, indeed!" Oobleck pointed his thermos/staff at the stands. "There are still people here who are seriously injured up there."
That's when everyone noticed the mind boggling sight of Laurence, laughing as he carried off stacks of people on his shoulders, and Reynold, shooting Grimm and throwing random objects to move more people to safety.
"We'll stay here and distract the Grimm." Oobleck scanned the skies. "After that, I implore you all to move as quickly as you can. This will surely go down in Remnant's history, and I'd prefer it if my students could live to tell about it."
No one argued and did their best to carry all the survivors outside and load them onto any available airbus enroute to the city.
Arena clear, the students finally decided it was time to leave until they came across Ironwood blowing a hole into an Alpha Beowolf's skull.
"General Ironwood," Ruby ran over, "do you know what's going on?!"
Ironwood's stoic gaze shifted between her and the platoon of students in tow.
"Grimm are crawling all over the city." He paused, took a second to think, and he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "The White Fang invaded Beacon, and to make matters worse," acid sizzled on his tongue but he quickly put a lid on it, "some. . . vagabond has seized one of my ships. Until we regain command, the skies are out of control so—"
A Creep jumped at them and ended up with an extra hole in its snout thanks to Ironwood.
He holstered his gun and left for his dropship. "I'm going to deal with it."
Jaune stepped forward. "What should we do?"
Ironwood turned around, examining the many crestfallen expressions in desperate need for guidance.
"You have two choices: defend your kingdom and your school or save yourselves." The soft touch of forgiveness coming from his understanding eyes cushioned the latter's blow. "No one will fault you if you leave."
The students exchanged wary looks.
Ironwood whirled his finger, signalling the Atlesian Knights to follow him into a dropship.
Uncertainty grew among the students.
Sun growled and threw his hands up. "I mean, come on!"
"Now's not the time." Jaune wrestled with himself. "We need to make a choice."
Alexander broke off and went straight to the nearest airbus to Beacon.
"Leon!" Velvet skipped behind him. "Wait for me!"
"Wait, Velvet?" Coco's shades slipped down to reveal her incredulous eyes. "Hey, where you going?"
Alexander and Velvet entered the airbus, forcing Coco to reluctantly order the rest of her team to go after them.
After Team CFVY left, Ruby stepped up with a mask of complete and utter focus.
"Alright." She firmed up her voice and pointed with her scythe. "If you want to fight, follow Alex, and if you want to leave. . . Then wish us luck."
Everyone made their decisions, and the group of students split up, doing exactly as Ruby said.
-----
Roman had his way with the airship controls while Neo sat on some bodies and had her way with Cooper's tail.
"What deal did you cut, you wanker?! What are you getting out of this bloody mess?!" Cooper tried to free his tail. "Let go, already!"
Neo squeezed it, and Cooper whimpered.
"You got it all wrong, Stripes. It's not about what I get. This is about keeping what I have left." Roman leaned back against the control module and delight bedazzled his smile. "But honestly, when I found out you were here, I did it mostly to get a front row seat just to see the look you have on your face right now. Absolutely worth it." He gestured to the console. "Now, Neo, if you will."
Neo handed Roman a scroll with the black queen chess piece on the screen and inserted it into the console, changing all the lights in the ship from blue to red.
Down in the city and academy, the visors on every piece of Atlesian mech flashed red as well, and they redirected their weapons at the very people they were programmed to protect.
The most horrific thing possible happened next: they opened fire.
Ironwood wasn't spared either.
The androids with him in the dropship ran amuck, causing it to crash land in the city much to the shock of the students who witnessed it inside their airbus.
Ruby dove out of the airbus despite everyone's protests and used her Semblance to fly back to the Colosseum.
Latching onto the first locker she saw with Crescent Rose, she manually activated the rocket and rode it to clouds, shifting her weight around to change its trajectory and crash it into the airship.
Roman rolled his eyes at the sudden tremor. "Go see what it is."
Neo nodded and skipped outside.
Moments later, Roman received a message from Neo of Ruby's dumbfounded face.
His joy instantly turned sour.
"You gotta be kidding me!" He kicked the control module. "Don't worry, Stripes. I'll be back soon. Just need to take care of some business."
"Oi, Roman!" Cooper threw a fit. "Get back here so I can keep yelling at ya!"
The moment the door shut behind him, the raccoon went eerily calm and picked the pockets of the closest dead soldiers with his tail.
Lo and behold, he found a handcuff key.
-----
At the dormitory inside of Team RWBY's room, Roderick and Yang hastily got dressed and prepared themselves for whatever trouble awaited them outside.
"Yang," Roderick threw on his jacket, "you ready?"
Yang transformed Ember Ceclica from bracelets to shot gauntlets.
"Yeah," she lifted Zwei off Blake's bed. "Let's go."
"Wait." He stopped in front of the door. "What should we do about the guards?"
"I don't know." She shrugged. "Break 'em?"
"I guess Ironwood will understand." He twisted the doorknob. "Hopefully everyone's alri—"
The door banged his face, knocking him to the floor.
"Roddy!"
Both androids strolled inside and held them at gunpoint.
Yang tossed Zwei and slugged one hard enough to blow its head off, but before she could get to the other one, it activated its jetpack as Roderick got up, tackling him out the window.
Crying out, Yang scowled at how they shrunk further in the distance and dashed out the room.
A faint cry made her hit the brakes.
Yang busted open the door to Team RTLS's room and found Teddy going crazy.
"Is that. . . a bear?" she said.
Zwei approached Teddy, and to Yang's confusion, the two pets had a seemingly intelligent conversation.
Sailing through the air, Roderick broke free from the android and bounced across the rooftop of the ballroom, but the android circled around and swooped down to tackle him into the skylight, where they made a glass shattering fall to the ballroom floor.
The crackling and crunching of glass rained around them.
Roderick pushed up onto his elbows and glowered at the android getting ready for round two.
Dings, grunts, and gunfire flashed from inside the windows until it went completely quiet, and a moment later, the android burst out the door, tumbling down the flight of steps.
Cracking his bones and huffing out an annoyed breath, Roderick walked out.
"Damn robots," he said.
The airbus transporting the students from Amity Colosseum whizzed by the ballroom and dumped them into the plaza of Beacon Tower.
Hundreds of defenseless students and civilians screamed for their lives, doing whatever possible to get away from the mobs of Grimm and Atlesian Knights hunting them for sport.
"Everyone!" Jaune jabbed his sword in different directions. "We need to save them. Split up and bring whoever you can here, and then we'll work on clearing a path to the air docks."
People nodded and broke off.
Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora were the last to move, too busy taking a second to admire and take pride in their leader.
All of a sudden, Mountain Glenn rumbled.
Every corner in the Kingdom of Vale shook, the tip of the mountain crumbled, giant claws and a tail busted through, lava eyes peered from between the cracks, and then a Wyvern exploded free of its prison.
Its enormous wings spanned across the night sky, and an unbridled yawn sent tidal waves to the city.
Heading straight for Beacon Academy, a tar-like substance dripped from the Wyvern's underbelly, splattering the ground where Grimm instantly spawned to life, and since it decided to stay near the tower, the students in the plaza lost the luxury to catch their breaths.
This led to some of them falling prey to despair and fleeing, boiling it down to the courageous few left to fend for themselves.
Roderick entered the plaza, panting.
Pyrrha gasped into her hands, overcome by elation, and Roderick melted in relief.
"Roderick!" She dove into his arms. "Do you have any idea how worried I was about you?"
"Miss me already?" He stroked her back and laid his face in her hair. "I haven't been gone that long."
"I'm so glad to see you're alright." She nuzzled into the crook of his neck. "Where have you been?"
"Sorry, but I'm here now." His arms tightened around her. "I got you."
"Took your ass a while to get here, Hill." Alexander slashed a Grimm on his way over to them. "Did you see Oakwood or Ua Binn anywhere?"
"I was hoping you did." Roderick held out his hand. "Can I borrow your scroll? I don't have mine."
Alexander passed it, and Roderick called his locker, flying on over and delivering Rex and Tyrannus.
The Wyvern dropped more goo, and when the next wave of Grimm came, Pyrrha froze at the sight of a man staring right at her from the tower's entrance.
Ozpin.
Pyrrha licked her dry lips and did her best to get a grip on her shaky nerves.
Bewilderment struck Roderick and the rest of Team JNPR, but before they could say a word, Pyrrha spared them an apologetic smile and followed the Headmaster inside.
Nora frowned. "Where's she going?"
Ren shrugged.
"I'll go find out." Jaune chased her. "You two stay here and keep fighting."
Roderick caught up to him. "I'm coming with you, man."
Not far off from a rooftop, Emerald and Mercury live streamed the carnage taking place, most notably how the Atlesian Knights massacred the innocent, while Cinder locked onto Beacon Tower.
"Continue the broadcast until the end," Cinder said and sauntered away. "And don't wait up. I have somewhere to be."