In RWBY's Shadow

Divide and Conquer

The outer doors of the police station slammed open as Smit barreled through them. A quick glance at his scroll once again assured him his team was okay. The three girls' photos smiled back at him, each beside a bright green aura reading. None of them were full, but the missing segments weren't concerning. They'd been fighting – obvious, given the state of the city right now – but hadn't taken any serious damage along the way. His own reading looked a little better.

Then again, having opponents who were programmed to ignore you helped a lot. He'd lost a sliver thanks to some of his own strikes, but nothing worth noting.

More important to him was the message he'd found after his call with Mercury.

Heading to Beacon. We'll find you after. Stay safe.

Lilly's short message – received at some point during his brief arrest – confirmed what he suspected. The teams had retreated to defend the school, likely hoping to use it as a staging ground once they cleared the area. Unfortunately, that placed them right in the crosshairs of this attack. If Mercury's focused on the tower, they'll have to go through the school's defenders. He needed to get everyone away from the school before that happened.

"C'mon, c'mon!" he shouted impatiently as his scroll continued to reach out to Lilly's, only for him to growl and stuff the thing in his pocket as he hung up on Lilly's voicemail. "Guess that would've been too easy."

He still wasn't sure how he would convince his friends to abandon the school, but he had to try. Maybe they could hold out as a group against this siege, but he wasn't willing to risk it. Let them take whatever they want and leave. The authorities could sort it all out later. After all, they were still just kids. Better to step aside and let the real Huntsmen do their thing. No matter how talented people like Pyrrha and Randi were, at the end of the day, they still didn't stand a chance against experienced Huntsmen like the faculty. Torchwick had managed to hold out against Blake, Sun, Yang, and Randi all at once. If he was merely a pawn in this scheme, Smit wondered how much stronger the ringleader would be. On top of that, they already had Mercury's team, Torchwick's empire, the White Fang, and a whole army of Grimm. What else might be thrown at them?

Gotta get to Beacon. Smit looked around desperately, trying to ignore the bodies scattered in every direction. Evidently, the soldiers and police outside had put up a good fight, judging by the remnants of Knights and even a downed Paladin mixed in, but the remaining robots made it clear who'd triumphed. Another Paladin slowly stomped past, pausing to scan the area. It briefly pointed at him, but quickly turned and continued its rumbling march, crushing bodies and Knights underfoot without a care as it searched for new targets.

Smit finally let out the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding in as the monstrous mech passed on, proving Mercury had told the truth. A few Knights milled about nearby, stopping periodically to scan the bodies for signs of life. That they never fired at the downed forms proved there'd been no survivors. Despite the lack of a threat they posed now, Smit took a moment to quickly move among them, grasping each by the throat to rip out whatever vital mechanisms he could get his hands on before moving on to the next one. None of them even tried to defend themselves as he dispatched them one by one. He felt like a ghost as they seemed blind to his movements. No one else will be dying to you tonight.

Content that he'd cleared the station for now, Smit turned his attention to getting back to his team. Ideally, he'd call for a ride, but Smit doubted they'd spare a bullhead to pick him up from his sudden, unscheduled release. Hitching a ride with the White Fang sounded even less appealing. He was about to start the long jog back to the school, fully aware there'd still be a horde of enemies between him and his destination, when his eyes caught a glimpse of a bullhead's nose poking out from the corner.