Crushed

Yang

I charge the enemy forces, barely giving them time to react before punching everything in range. My teammates and uncle opt for a more conservative approach. Boring people, I think. Ruby and Qrow are a deadly unit with their scythes, and Grimm drop like flies at their hands. Or blades, really. And bullets, in Ruby's case. Meanwhile, Weiss is launching a dozen Dust attacks a second, while Blake is jumping off so many shadow clones in such quick succession that I can't even track the real one.

I decide a nearby Paladin would be more useful to everyone as scrap metal, so I run at it, using Ember Celica to propel me faster. The pilot must have good reflexes, because he brought the mech's fist up to hit me. Unfortunately for him, I'm faster, and my Semblance is still active. I take a swing at the metal fist just before it hits me, and it shatters. The impact stops me, and I have a staredown with a giant suit of armour, because I'm just that awesome. Before either of us make a move, I catch movement in the corner of my eye. I turn just in time to see an Ursa's claw swinging at my face, so I flip backwards onto my hands then do another backflip to get back on my feet. Just before I counterattack, I spot a few strands of my hair falling to the ground. Touching my hair while my Semblance is active is never a good idea for anyone, because the rage will only contribute to my already increased badassery.

I punch the Ursa as hard as I can and fire Ember Celica as my fist hits its chest. My fist goes straight through the beast, for reasons related to physics that I neither understand nor care about. It looks down in surprise as I pull my arm back, then falls to the ground, lifeless. Obviously. It has a gaping hole in its chest.

I turn back to the Paladin to finish what I started. It launches a few missiles, which I shoot out of the air with Ember Celica's long-range mode, then I charge at it again. I jump and punch the cabin, putting a hole in the armour plating. I see the pilot's fearful face, before forcing the hole I made wider so I could pull him out. When he's out, I climb in and press buttons until the computer tells me "friendly" forces are targeted. Sounds good, I think, so I press a big red button in the centre of the console.

"Missiles away," a cool female voice tells me. I jump out of the Paladin in time to see several others being blown up by the missiles I fired, along with a Deathstalker and an Alpha Ursa.

"Nice one, sis!" Ruby yells at me. I give her a thumbs up, before getting back into the fray.

A couple of minutes later, Teams JNPR and CFVY show up, which is a good thing because my Semblance is starting to wear off and we're all getting tired.

"We'll take it from here!" Jaune tells us, so Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Qrow and I head to a nearby intact building to recover.

"You okay, babe?" I ask Blake. She nods, so I pull her in for a quick kiss. When I pull back, I see Qrow staring at us in surprise. "Oh yeah, Blake's my girlfriend," I tell him.

"And you haven't gone crazy yet?" he asks Blake jokingly. She shakes her head, smiling. Five minutes later, Pyrrha pokes her head in and tells us it's all clear outside, but there are still battles happening all over the city.

"We need to find the person behind this. He or she will be the one controlling the Grimm, and probably giving the orders to the White Fang," Ruby says.

"Ozpin and I, along with a few others, have been attempting to track the actions of a mysterious figure, codenamed 'Queen'. There's a good chance she has something to do with it," Qrow tells us. "We don't have much to go on, but we know she's in Vale, pulling all the strings."

"Vale's a big place. Even if we split up, it'll take forever to search. We need CFVY and JNPR to help," Blake says. With that, the five of us go outside to tell the other two teams what the plan is. We split into groups of two, except for Qrow, who goes alone.

Half an hour later, Blake and I have found no one, but we have killed dozens of Grimm and blown up a Paladin. We're about to give up when we see a familiar figure.

"I think you're looking for me," the visitor who once kidnapped Blake told us.

"I never did get revenge on you, bitch. Blake, contact the others, tell them where we are," I say, while preparing myself for a fight. "You gonna face me, or run away again?" I ask the woman.

She smiles, before throwing a fireball at me. I roll to the side and charge, intent on disfiguring this woman. Without warning, she conjures a sword from midair and blocks my punch. Blake must have finished alerting the others, because she shoots at my opponent. She blocks the bullet with her bare hand, shocking my girlfriend and I. While we're distracted, she launches another fireball, which I blast out of the air with a blast from Ember Celica. Blake and I attack together, but this woman is incredibly skilled. She manages to counter every single one of our attacks, and I know we'd both be dead if we were fighting her individually instead of both at once.

Luckily, Ruby and Weiss get to us before long, and my sister shoots the woman. She blocks the bullet with her hand, and I use the temporary opening to punch her in the ribs. She grunts in surprise, and I grab her arm and twist, breaking it. She screams in pain, before blasting us all back with some weird energy. We get up and surround her, looking at each other. She can't watch four people at once, I think. My teammates realize this, too. Ruby and Blake, who are on either side of her, shoot together while Weiss stabs Myrtenaster into the ground. Ice snakes towards our opponent, who now has a split second to decide which two attacks to block. She opts to deflect the bullets, then jumps over the ice, effectively dodging all three. How she managed that with a broken arm is beyond me. I guess she forgot that I'm behind her, because she doesn't react to a long-range blast from Ember Celica that hits her, launching her into a building. I follow her through the hole she made and pounce on her before she can get up, then start punching her in the face repeatedly. Blood is spraying everywhere as I break her nose and knock out several teeth.

"Yang, that's enough!" Blake yells from behind me. Breathing heavily, I stand up and look at my human punching bag. She's clearly unconscious, and her face is covered in her own blood.

"How-how did you…?" asks Qrow, who has just arrived. "Ozpin always says she's too powerful for anyone but the best Huntsmen and Huntresses in the world to face."

"Best Huntresses, eh? Uncle, dear, you're looking at them," I reply, a cocky smile on my face. "If it makes you feel any better, it was difficult. Really hard."

He rolls his eyes at the banter, before announcing that we need to get the woman to Ozpin and Glynda, who can apparently restrain her properly. On the way back to Beacon, we see police, as well as Atlesian and Mistralian armed forces fighting off the last of the Grimm and the White Fang. It looks like the good guys are winning, and I'm exhausted anyway, so I decide not to help.

When we get back to Beacon, I see the extent of the damage from the armory explosion. The dorm building is half gone, and the entire courtyard is cracked. I shudder at the thought of how many students were in their dorms at the time, and make a mental note to find the traitors Roman mentioned, and murder them.

Qrow, my teammates and I arrive at Ozpin's office, the woman in tow. We'd been hitting her again every time she came round on the way here. We all enter the office and see Ozpin standing there, looking proud of us, and Glynda, looking as emotionless as ever. I swear, that woman has two expressions: expressionless, and pissed. When she sees our captive, she immediately casts a glyph that seems to drain her of all her energy.

"That will inhibit her from using her Semblance, or any Dust attacks," Ozpin explained. "It is a very advanced technique, not intended for combat."

The woman is suspended in the air by the purple glyph, which forms the most intricate pattern I've ever seen a glyph have. When Goodwitch catches her breath, she starts talking.

"While I'm undoubtedly very impressed at your achievement, I'm curious. How on Remnant did you manage it?"

"Short version: we're all badasses," I answer.

"I didn't even have to intervene," Qrow says. "They were already done when I arrived."

"Congratulations," Ozpin tells us. "Get some rest; you've earned it. We'll take it from here."

We leave the office and head back to our dorm. Luckily, our room is on the undamaged side of the building, and we immediately go to bed. All four of us fall asleep on top of our respective bed sheets, in our regular clothes. I dream of a long, happy life with Blake, during which there is world peace and Huntresses aren't even required. I wish this could happen, but when do things ever work out that well for Team RWBY?

Cinder

I wake up with pain on every inch of my body. I look around and see that I'm in an unfamiliar room, rather like a prison cell. I'm also aware of a purple glyph, with a pattern I didn't even know existed. I've never seen anything like it, but instead of dwelling on it, I try to conjure a fireball to escape. Nothing happens. I'm also unable to summon weapons, so I figure the glyph has something to do with it. No matter. Emerald and Mercury left the kingdom before the attack. There's no way they've been captured. They'll be here soon enough…