"Are you guys sure about this?" Neptune asked, loading up his pulse rifle and holstering it onto his back.

"We're going to go get Uncle Qrow if it's the last thing we do." Yang asserted, "Isn't that right Ruby?"

"That I'm sure of sis," Ruby replied, quickly loading up magazines for Crescent Rose into her pouches. "

"But Yang, your arm. You've barely began to repair it." Jaune pointed out.

"Jaune's right Yang, you'd only be putting yourself in danger." Blake warned.

"Would you be saying the same if it was your family in danger?" Yang sternly asked Blake, who initially kept silent for a few seconds as she contemplated.

Her own parents had endured threats from the more radical of the White Fang ever since the split the organization endured. Blake knew that she'd risk anything to try and save them should they be in any danger. But she also knew that to try and do so in the state Yang was in, missing one's arm, would be risky at best. And deadly at worst.

She didn't want that for Yang, her willingness to dip into recklessness was admirable, but hazardous all the same.

"No, I wouldn't." She replied, with a firm shake of her head.

"What?" Yang bewilderedly asked.

"I couldn't save them if I'm dead, and you're gonna need your other arm to stay alive out there. I'm coming with Ruby, but you have to stay here until you can get your arm fixed." Blake insisted.

"Don't even think about going out there without me, Ruby Rose." Weiss stepped up, Myrtenastar in hand. "If it means keeping a family together, my will won't be denied."

"You can count me in..." Ren declared, Nora stepped up alongside him, with her grenade launcher in hand.

"I can't wait to get back to breaking bad guys legs, finally!" She excitedly spoke with a wide and mischievous grin.

"But we barely have enough dust for three days, what if we don't succeed?... What if... Ruby, what if your Uncle's already dead?..." Neptune asked, which stopped Ruby right in her tracks. Everyone looked on as her head hung low, before raising up with a glimmer of tears in her eyes.

"... No! Don't say that!... We... can't..." Ruby clenched her fist tightly.

Her mind was awash with still images of what she could remember from her mother. Memories she made sure to cherish which she held so dearly, those of a piece of herself she lost. Even now they were as clear as crystal, locked away in a mental chest deep inside. But she knew that she wasn't going to endure another loss in her family, because she was going to save her Uncle Qrow. Whatever it took.

"I am not losing him... not after mom..." Ruby asserted, with almost fanatical dedication. Holstering Crescent Rose on her back. "Yang, Blake's right... you should stay here for now..."

"And I'll keep a watch over the place while you guys are gone... I'll even stay in contact with you." Jaune assured the group.

Neptune and Sun both looked at each other, before shrugging.

"I guess we're both coming then. If there's someplace where you can snatch boatloads of Dust, it's Frija." Neptune informed.

"Yeah, the only thing that stands in the way is a full garrison of Nordwind troops." Sun added. "Trust me, Neptune and I know the place up and down. Think of us like... your guides."

"You're welcome to come along, even though we have this map." Ren replied, holding up a rolled up map of the old city.

"What?... Where in Remnant did you get that?" Neptune asked.

"From the Vacuan Archives at Shade. Don't worry, it doesn't invalidate your scouting missions." Ren smirked, placing the map back in a backpack.

"Gee, I hope not!" Sun exclaimed, with his palm to his forehead.

"I guess the question now is, how are we getting there?" Weiss asked.

"Allow us to show you!" Nora declared, skipping over to a nearby room. Followed by the hunters partaking in the rescue mission, a total of six. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Neptune, Ren, and Sun.

She opened the door into a makeshift hangar, inside was a shoddy, old Bullhead. With the scratched out symbol of Nordwind PMC on the left side of its cockpit. The silhouette of a skull clenching a knife and rose in its teeth could barely be seen.

"Wait, wait. Qrow told us only to use that in emergencies!" Neptune protested.

"Saving the de facto leader of this resistance from execution seems like an emergency." Blake said.

"I-Uh... I guess..." Neptune stammered. "Any one of you know how to pilot this thing?..."

The hunters all looked at each other, soon everyone's gaze fell onto Sun and Neptune.

"Hey, Qrow was the one flying." Sun shrugged. "Ask purple streaks, he flew a supply mission once."

"I wouldn't see myself as a professional." Ren raised his hands abruptly.

"Aww, come on Ren. We all know you are the best at almost everything... Fighting, Cooking, Flying." Nora listed off.

"One of those things isn't quite like the other." He replied.

While Ren and Nora were debating his actions, Sun came up with an idea for the group's method of approach.

"We could attack from two places at once... We still have one swoop bike left, me and Neptune could approach from the empty desert while you guys attack from the sky." Sun assured the group.

"That actually isn't quite the bad idea... it could work." Ren said. "If... I can even get this thing to fly correctly..."

"I guess that's a plan." Blake replied. Checking her mag loaded in Gambol Shroud. "After all, raiding Frija may be our best option when it comes to getting dust."

"I mean, you hit a few Schnee supply trains before. Best to know from the expert." Neptune shrugged, before getting an elbow from Sun.

"Not cool dude." He whispered in his friend's ear, before Neptune nervously giggled.

"Use what you got." Blake replied, before twirling her pistol and morphing it into her blade as she sheathed it.

"It's decided! Let's rock and roll." Ruby declared, hopping on board the Bullhead. Motioning for her friends to get on as well.

Sun and Neptune got onto the swoop bike, departing the facility just as the bullhead sluggishly lifted off, a side effect of Ren attempting to get a feel of the controls once again.

Nora turned to a boom box that they had installed onto the Bullhead, a sly grin on her face as she inserted a cassette tape into it. Energetic rock music began to sound out from its speakers.

"Because nothing screams underground resistance like loud music!" Weiss called to Nora, as Blake shook her head slightly.

"Hey, you wanna spend the ride just listening to the engine exhausts or something?" She snickered, placing on a pair of aviators as their aircraft rose into the sky and made a b-line towards the old city of Frija.

Among the huntresses, there was a collective jubilation at finally taking the fight to the PMC themselves. For too long they confined themselves to gathering information and dirt on their enemy, allowing Nordwind to continue their actions. But with one of their own on the line, now the gloves were off.

"Now this is where it gets good!" She said, hanging by an arm out of the compartment and raising her grenade launcher up above her head in a warrior-like stance, cheering with a cry as their Bullhead made its way to the Nordwind-occupied city.

Ruby also hung out of the compartment, with a balled up right fist and a grim determination to save her uncle, one thing was assured for the young Rose above all. She wasn't going to let another one of her family get taken from her.

Weiss felt as if she'd subconsciously switched sides. For most of her life she'd taught and knew people who stole Dust as lowly thieves and crooks who her father had assured her 'should just be shot'. Now she found herself on the other side of the pond, having to steal dust from a mining company. Though she indeed felt strange about the new dynamic, she knew it was for the best, and for a good cause.

Blake felt like it was deja vu all over again, meeting old ghosts and opening up old wounds. When she closed her eyes, she could imagine herself wearing another one of those masks and travelling with her old mentor once more. On the way to raid another train, gather more dust for the liberation. But opening her eyes consoled her with the present, it was yet another journey in her life with good friends she made along the way, and not with a domineering higher figure.

Yet she couldn't shake the fact that she had been apart of the Fang for so long, how long she had participated in assisting Adam to raid trains where innocent workers were harmed in some way. It took until he was willing to bomb it off the tracks when she had enough, but was it too late at that point?

And in the heat of that moment back in Mistral, where she had been willing to stoop down to his level. Yes, he was never going to stop hunting her... but was that something indicative?...

Her head hung low, Blake's ears drooped as well. Something she couldn't help but do, and it was something that was picked up by her teammates.

"Blake, is something the matter?" Weiss asked, as she moved beside her. A hint of concern in her tone.

"It's nothing, Weiss." Blake replied with a slight shake of her head, before looking at her and nodding with assurance. "Don't worry."

Placing her free hand on her hip, whilst her other was grasping the overhead grips, Weiss's left eyebrow raised in speculation.

"I can tell when you're lying." She replied.

"I don't think you'd understand if I told you," Blake admitted.

Weiss nodded slightly, and then continued.

"It's about that guy back in Mistral you and Yang... you know. Adam Taurus?"

"You know what, yeah, that's exactly it..."

"You wanna talk about it?"

Blake thought about it for a moment.

"Maybe not right before a combat mission..."

Weiss's expression didn't change, though she was visibly more understanding now that Blake admitted to it.

"Well, in that case we're always here." She assured. "It's not like death isn't a part of being a huntress, we just, don't like to think of it often."

"Yeah..." Blake replied with a slight nod, followed by a firm pat on the shoulder from Weiss.

"City of Frija here we come!" Nora grinned with enthusiasm she hadn't felt since the seemingly distant food fight in Beacon.

But now wasn't the time to reminisce, now was the time to crack some merc skull.