Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Salem… she’s here.”

Ruby stared up at the darkening sky in utter disbelief as the great whale-like Grimm flew through the air over the floating city of Atlas, its dark, torn hide illuminated by flashes of red lightning. The pain in her head subsided, but the image of Salem’s face that had accompanied it felt burned into her memory.

“Well, things just went from bad to a whole lot worse,” Raven said.

“We need to do something,” Nora said, raising her fists. She glanced around at the others all standing in the back of Team BRIR’s beat-up airship—Team RWBY, Team JNR, May Marigold, Raven Branwen, Oscar Pine, Team BRIR, and Penny Polendina in the body of a former Venatrix drone. Not many looked quite as determined as Nora did. “…Don’t we?”

Ivy Thickety gestured out the window. “And what are we going to do against that in this rickety old boat?!”

Ruby saw movement from the corner of her vision—Penny. She was backing away from the window, backing away until she hit the opposite wall. She slumped against it, sliding down until she was sitting, eyes wide.

The girl had only recently been returned to the world of the living… and the nightmare outside was the first thing she had seen.

“Well we can’t just do nothing!” Yang shouted at Ivy, arms gesturing out to her sides.

“Yang, there’s nothing we can do,” Ruby said, turning her attention fully to her sister.

Yang’s face screwed up with more anger. “What?!”

“We’re all worn out from what we already did tonight,” Ruby said, motioning to the others in the aircraft with them. They’d done quite a lot—stolen back Penny’s core, fought the Ace-Ops, fought countless Venatrix drones… managed to survive Cinder and Neo. “If we go in there like this… we’re all as good as dead. We don’t even know what we’d be walking into.”

Yang seethed but remained silent as Blake walked up beside her, putting her hand on her shoulder. “Ruby’s right. I know it doesn’t feel good but sometimes the only option is to fall back and regroup.”

Ruby glanced around the ship, seeing a lot of sullen faces staring down at the ground. Nobody said anything… but that meant nobody argued either. They knew it was the right call, though that didn’t mean anyone was happy about that fact.

“In that case,” Roane Ashwood said from the pilot’s chair, red dreadlocked braids falling over her shoulder as she looked back into the hold. “I’m taking us back down to Mantle. Us and the Happy Huntresses already had a place we were lying low at.”

Ruby nodded at her. “Sounds good.”

Ruby looked out the window again, hearing the distant cry of the Grimm whale as it begin to shrink from her view, the airship pulling away. Salem… her mother’s murderer. Right there, closer to them than she’d ever been before.

Ruby turned away, looking at Penny again—she was still on the floor in a state of complete dissociation.

Ruby walked over to her, crouching down in front of her. “Penny? Penny, can you hear me?”

Penny didn’t speak, but her green eyes flicked up to Ruby.

Ruby took her hand between both of hers. “I know this is a lot for you to take in right now, and I… I’m so sorry this is what you had to come back to. I promise, I’ll explain everything I can once we’re somewhere safe.”

Penny’s mouth parted, shaking for a few seconds before she said, “Is there anywhere safe now?”

The hideout Roane referred to turned out to be an old, closed-down restaurant. It had apparently belonged to Roane’s parents and, when those parents passed on, it was left to her. As a huntress, Roane didn’t exactly have the time to devote to running a business, so the place was shuttered—though she did still come by to check on it and keep it from collapsing every now and then.

When the Happy Huntresses had gone completely underground, they’d left behind their old sanctuary, avoiding any chance of being ensnared just in case anyone in the AUF happened to know it was theirs.

For the first time in what Ruby assumed must’ve been years, there was more than one person walking the building’s rooms—in fact, there were now seventeen with the rest of the Happy Huntresses, aside from Robyn, having already been there when the others arrived.

Ruby walked through the old kitchen, filled with rusted pots, into the unkempt dining room. There were chairs and tables set up,  Fiona and Joanna sitting at one with May while she filled them in on all that had happened.

Ruby looked down at her shoes. She wanted to have a plan—she wanted to have a solution. But… she didn’t. She’d meant what she said before about taking time to rest up before doing anything, but she still didn’t even know what they’d be resting up for. Even at their best, she had no idea what they could do to that Grimm… especially with Salem herself inside it.

Ruby groaned, scratching the back of her head and asking herself why it all had to turn out this way. She hated it. Everything with Ironwood had fallen apart and now Salem was here—and the Leviathan was still heading their way. She longed for the days when Torchwick’s dust robberies were the worst of her concerns.

Ruby started walking again, and in short time saw the rest of her team and Team JNR all crowded together outside of a closed door. Raising an eyebrow, she walked over to them.

“So… what exactly are you guys doing?” Ruby asked.

They all turned, most looking at her with embarrassment. Blake gestured back to the door with her thumb. “Penny is in there. We… we all want to talk to her, but we know she probably wants space right now. Don’t want to overcrowd her too soon.”

“You know,” Weiss said, folding her arms and tapping a finger against her elbow. She looked at Ruby. “You were always closer to her than the rest of us. Maybe you should go in first? Check on her?”

Ruby gave a nod. “I wanted to talk to her anyway. There’s a lot for her to take in and I think she’s pretty overwhelmed right now. Hopefully I can… make that easier for her instead of worse.”

Weiss frowned a little at the self-deprecating comment, but stepped aside with the others to give Ruby a clear path through.

Ruby walked up to the door, staring at it for a moment. She wanted to talk to Penny… but part of her didn’t feel ready to have that conversation. There was so much Penny didn’t know, and so much of what she didn’t know was going to be painful to hear.

Ruby took a breath, closing her eyes. She raised her fist and knocked on the door.

Silence for a moment. “...Who is it?” Penny’s voice, muffled beyond the closed door.

“It’s me, Penny,” Ruby said. “Is it alright if I come in?”

Ruby heard footsteps and the door opened, revealing Penny. It was still so surreal to see her there—Ruby had seen an almost exact copy of her face on the Venatrix units, but something about the real thing could never be replicated in those soulless machines.

Penny was in a repurposed Venatrix body, one slightly damaged from the scuffles at Atlas Academy. She’d let her hair down, unlike the drones that always had it tied up under their blue AUF caps, her eyes were green, freckles dotted her cheeks, and she’d changed into some spare clothes of Ruda’s, a t-shirt for some Mantle sport team called the Smelters and pink pajama pants with Pumpkin Pete’s cartoon rabbit face all over them.

Penny looked at Ruby… then to the sides of Ruby, where all the other members of Team RWBY and JNR stood. Nora gave a grimacing smile and an awkward wave.

Penny, of course, waved back with a perfectly pleasant smile of her own. “Come in,” she said, turning her focus back to Ruby.

Ruby walked in, Penny shutting the door behind them. The room seemed to have once been a storage cabinet, but was long since cleaned out and now had a makeshift bedroom inside, complete with a bed. Ruby briefly wondered what the sleeping arrangements even were here. She doubted Team BRIR all crammed themselves onto one bed, and doubted even more that the Happy Huntresses would do that either.

“So… how are you feeling?” Ruby asked.

Penny dropped down, sitting on the bed—it sank a little more than would be expected of a girl her size and build. “I died.” Her hand reached beside her on the bed, picking something up—the pink ribbon Ruby had carried with her since the Vytal Tournament, the one she had tied around the Venatrix drone, Venny’s, arm. It had been reprogrammed for their heist and was now the new body Penny Polendina occupied after Venny’s core had been fatally damaged during their escape.

Ruby sat down next to Penny. “But now you’re back.”

Penny gave a nod. “Yes, I am. I… do not know how to feel about it.”

Ruby touched her shoulder, looking at her face with concern. “Penny…?”

Penny turned her head away, the hand holding the ribbon dropping into her lap. “I hope you understand, I… I am glad to see everyone again. And glad to not be dead. I just… I can still remember dying.” She touched her arm… one of the places her own wire had cut her original body to pieces. “And I really, really wish I did not.”

“I… I’m sorry, Penny,” Ruby muttered. This was her fault… if she had protected Penny in the first place, been fast enough to save her… she wouldn’t have to feel like this.

Penny looked at Ruby. She must’ve recognized the look of sadness on her friend, as Ruby noticed her make an effort to smile brightly. “I am sorry for being such a downer—thank you for bringing me back, Ruby.”

Ruby managed a tired smile back at her friend. “I would’ve done whatever it took.”

There was another knock at the door, both Ruby and Penny’s heads snapping toward it. “Penny? Penny, are you in there?”

Pietro.

Penny shot up to her feet. “Dad!”

She shot over to the door in a flash, ripping it open so fast Ruby thought it might come off its hinges… and realized that it actually did break off from the top hinges.

Pietro looked like he could scarcely see what he saw before him—and before he could say anything else, Penny leaned down, wrapping her arms tight around him in a hug. “Dad…”

Pietro put his arms around his daughter, smiling as tears started to run down his cheeks. “Penny… oh, Penny, I’m so happy to see you again.” He opened his eyes to look over her shoulder at Ruby, still sitting on the bed. “Thank you for bringing her back to me, Ruby. I can never repay you for this.”

Ruby let a soft smile stretch across her lips. “Good thing I didn’t ask for payment—and I couldn’t have done this without your help.”

After nearly a minute, Penny finally let go of her father and stepped back, letting his chair walk him into the room. She tried to shut the door, noticing that she’d broken it and wincing with a grimace.

Pietro looked up at his daughter. “Hmm… well, I think there’s one thing we need to take care of quick here. You deserve better than some messed up Venatrix body. How would you feel about some upgrades, Penny?”

Penny beamed. “I would love them!”

Ruby watched her friend carefully. She was acting more like her old self now that Pietro was there… but Ruby couldn’t help but feel there was something fake to it. Like she was forcing it.

“And of course, Ruby, you’re welcome to help if you want to,” Pietro said, turning his chair to face her.

Ruby stood up, giving a casual salute. “Always happy to assist a master—I’ll be there.”

Pietro nodded. “Sounds great. I’ll have Team BRIR help out bringing what I need over from the pharmacy.” He blew out a breath. “Things are getting crazy out there—glad I made it here safe today, but I don’t want to keep playing those odds.”

Ruby nodded. “Well, I’m sure you two have a lot to catch up on. I’ll give you some privacy.”

She walked toward the door, waving goodbye to father and daughter. However, when she reached the door, she felt someone grab her arm.

Ruby looked back over her shoulder—Penny was right behind her, still holding onto her wrist. She was looking at Ruby with a more serious, solemn expression than she’d ever seen on her before.

Ruby raised an eyebrow. “Penny? Is… something wrong?”

Penny looked down for a moment, eyes flicking around at different spots on the floor. Finally, she looked into Ruby’s eyes again. “Ruby… I am sorry for whatever happened that makes you look so sad now.”

Ruby’s lips parted just slightly with surprise, eyes widening. She blinked a few times, unsure what to say. Finally, she managed a weary smile. “Thanks, Penny,” she said in a hoarse whisper, before turning and walking out the door.

Chapter Text

While everyone else had eventually cleared away from the door Ruby and Penny had gone into, Weiss remained, sitting at a table nearby and watching it. She saw Pietro arrive, his emotional reunion with his daughter… which made a twinge of pain form in Weiss’s heart.

Right now, her own father was locked in his own home for collaborating with murderers and scum. The father who had treated her as his property all her life. The father who ensured she could never look at her own reflection without being reminded of him.

Weiss shook the thoughts away as Pietro went into the room. This wasn’t the time to be feeling sorry for herself—she should’ve been happy for Penny. She had a second chance… one that not many were ever granted.

And it was all thanks to Ruby Rose.

Weiss sighed, leaning back in her chair. Here she was again… waiting for Ruby. Always waiting. She wasn’t even sure what she was waiting for anymore. It wasn’t like anything would suddenly change, that she would suddenly get through to her when she’d failed to do so time and time again.

But what happened at the Academy unsettled her. Ruby staying behind to face Cinder and Neo alone, cutting the rest of them off from helping her. Team RWBY stood and faced their enemies together. They all would’ve been dead several times over if it hadn’t been for each other… why was Ruby trying to pull away from them all? Why was she acting like their burdens were solely hers to bear?

Eventually, Ruby exited the room. Her shoulders sagged, and she blew out a breath.

Weiss considered trying to talk to her again. Considered imploring her to open up. And then… she stopped considering. 

Ruby wouldn’t listen anyway. It was pointless to try and make her.

Ruby, without even noticing Weiss sitting off to the side, walked away. It frustrated Weiss that something so simple could feel so painful.

“You’re worrying about Ruby again.”

Weiss nearly shrieked at the sudden voice next to her. She jumped in her seat, throwing her arms up as she looked and saw that, at some point, Blake had managed to sit down in the chair beside her without making a sound.

Ignoring Weiss’s panic, Blake looked at her with those calm, golden eyes. “Have you been able to get through to her at all?”

Weiss took a moment to collect her breath. As soon as her heart rate died back down, she let out a sigh. “No… I haven’t.” She hugged her arms around herself. “I just don’t know what to do with her anymore. She won’t listen.”

Blake nodded, frowning. “I… I wish I knew what to tell you. But if we’re being honest, besides Yang, you’re closer to her than anyone. If she’s not listening to you… well, I doubt she’ll listen to anyone else either.” She adjusted in her seat, pulling one leg up and placing her foot on the edge of her chair. “And after what she pulled back at the academy, I’m worried about what else she might do. I just wish she’d wake up and realize she has friends to support her.”

Weiss felt her fingers grip tighter on her arm, tight enough that it actually hurt. “Blake, I… I’m worried that if we can’t figure something out soon, it… it’s going to be…”

“Too late?”

Weiss bit her lip, nodding.

Blake put her hand on Weiss’s shoulder, squeezing it. It was a silent show of support… after all, Weiss knew Blake didn’t know what to say. She doubted anyone would have.

When the time finally came for them all to attempt to rest, Weiss lay on a mattress in the dining room, tossing and turning.

They’d managed to scrounge up enough mattresses, blankets, and bedrolls so everyone had something to sleep on… though since restaurants didn’t have a wealth of spare rooms, privacy was limited, with most sleeping on the floor in the dining room, chairs and tables pushed to the sides to make space.

Weiss sat up, looking around the room. Her team all slept in a row together, Ruby to her right on a bedroll and using her cloak as a blanket, Blake and Yang sharing a mattress to her left—something they had “bravely” volunteered to do when it became clear they would have one less sleeping surface than was needed.

Seeing them now, Blake curled into Yang’s big spoon position, she felt confident their arrangement would’ve been the same even if there had been enough for everyone.

Weiss turned in her bed, looking at Ruby again. A lock of hair had fallen over her face, the tip caught in her mouth. Weiss reached over, moving it aside and gently brushing the girl’s cheek as she did so. Weiss let out a sigh.

She took out her scroll, opening the screen. It took her to the last thing she’d been looking at… Winter’s contact profile.

She’d been looking at it on and off all night, sick with fear. She’d been trying hard not to think about it, but she couldn’t push it away anymore. Winter and Olive Harper had stayed behind to fight Cinder and Neo, to give them enough time to get to Ruby and warn her they were coming.

But Cinder and Neo had caught up to them. And that meant…

Winter hadn’t sent any messages, hadn’t called. Weiss could’ve done it herself, but as her thumb hovered over the call button, she couldn’t make it close that last bit of distance. It wasn’t just the risk inherent to any of them contacting someone with such close ties to the AUF now that stayed her. There was a comfort, a safety in not knowing. As long as she never checked, she could pretend that the outcome she wanted was true—that her sister was still alive.

But Weiss was through lying to herself. Through pretending things weren’t the way they were. She got out of bed, walked into the kitchen, and leaned against a counter to make her call.

Before she could second-guess herself, Weiss pressed her finger to the screen with such speed she thought she might push her finger right through it. The other end ringed… ringed… and ringed.

With each repeated tone of sound, Weiss felt dread creep up through her, crawling over her heart like thorny vines, squeezing tighter, tighter…

Someone picked up. “W… Weiss?”

Winter. Brothers, it was Winter. She sounded weak, strained, but it was her voice. She was alive.

Weiss covered her mouth, eyes wet with tears.

“Weiss? Please… tell me you’re there. Tell me you’re okay.”

“I− I’m here,” Weiss practically spat into the phone. “I’m here. It’s me, Winter. I’m okay.”

“Thank the gods,” Winter said, her voice cracking. It was strange to hear that much emotion in her voice.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m…” There was a grunt of pain. “I’m a little banged up, but I’ll be fine.”

Weiss didn’t have to see what state her sister was in to know she was underselling it. Winter always was one to treat her own injuries as mere inconveniences.

“Weiss, where are you? Are you safe?”

The words were like a splash of ice water to Weiss’s face. She couldn’t tell her where she was… couldn’t trust that information wouldn’t make it back to Ironwood. “I’m safe.”

“It’s… chaos here. I don’t know what’s going on, but people are talking about a Grimm outside.”

Weiss went quiet. Grief struck her suddenly with the force of an oncoming train. How had her life come to this point? The point where she had to keep information from her own sister? Not even able to tell her where she was because a despotic general would stop at nothing to find them and arrest them… or even worse than that.

“...Weiss?”

“Winter,” Weiss said, voice quiet and croaky. “I… I’m glad you’re okay. I… we’re not going to be able to talk for a while. I’m sorry.”

“Weiss? Weiss?! Weiss, what are you−”

Weiss hung up with a shuddering gasp. With frantic fingers, she blocked Winter’s number.

She dropped her scroll on the counter behind her, pressing her fingers to her forehead, thumb digging into her cheek. She wanted to cry. It felt beneath her, childish and immature, but she wanted to cry. The world was falling apart around them, and all she wanted was for her sister to be there for her, to tell her everything was going to be okay.

But that wasn’t an option.

“Oh, sorry.”

Weiss looked up—May Marigold had walked into the room, wearing a tan-orange t-shirt and boxers, dark blue hair still braided behind her head.

“Guess I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t sleep,” May said, scratching the back of her neck. “I was gonna get myself a snack, but if you want some privacy…”

“No, no, that’s okay,” Weiss said. She let out a slight, hollow chuckle. “Actually, I… I think I’d rather not be alone right now.”

May huffed. “Well, that’s convenient—neither do I.”

May walked over, leaning against the counter next to Weiss. They maintained an awkward silence for just over a minute before May finally spoke again.

“So… what’s wrong?”

“I… I just called my sister.” Weiss crossed her arms, turning her head away from May. “I already know it was a stupid risk so we can skip the lecture, I just… I needed to know she was okay. Cinder… she doesn’t exactly show mercy to a lot of people.”

May nodded. “And your sister, she’s…?”

“She’s alive. Hurt, probably worse than she’s letting on, but she’s alive. But since we’re all kind of fugitives from the law now, I can’t exactly keep in touch with her.”

May’s eyebrow quirked. “You think she’d choose the law over you?”

Weiss sighed. “I’d… like to believe she wouldn’t, but I can’t say that in confidence. Law and order is… kind of her whole thing.” She rubbed her elbow. “She’s some of the only family I have that isn’t… as complicated as the rest. I don’t want to lose her, too. Not like this.”

May glanced away. “Don’t want to overstep or assume anything, but looking at you and your friends, I’d say you have plenty of family right here.”

Weiss gave a sheepish smile. “Yeah. I do. But…”

“But they’re not your blood family.”

Weiss nodded. “It’s not that they mean any less to me, it’s just… I think I’ve always wanted the kind of blood family other people have. The ones who love you unconditionally, who are always there for you… sorry. I know it’s childish.”

“I don’t think it is. Nothing unnatural about wanting something so many other people had that you never did.”

Weiss shrugged. “Maybe.”

May turned her body to face Weiss more. “I think I know what you’re feeling, to some extent anyway. My own family’s love turned out to be very… conditional. Guess if I wasn’t the son I was expected to be, they wanted nothing to do with me.” She smirked, looking at Weiss. “Their loss—personally, I think I make a much better daughter anyway.”

Weiss giggled. “It’s a little embarrassing, but… my father actually told me about you when I was younger. I think he meant it as a warning—what would happen to me if I ever stepped out of line. But honestly, I… I thought you were the coolest thing for doing what you did. You inspired me.”

May chuckled awkwardly, scratching the side of her neck. “I don’t think anyone’s ever looked up to me like that before. At least, no one’s ever told me they did.”

Weiss nodded. “Well, you have one now, at least. I think that’s where it all started—when I started to question what my family was, what their place in the world really meant. If it hadn’t been for you, I’d never have thought to leave and become a huntress.” She looked at May with a smile. “So thanks, I guess.”

May laughed. “Honestly, Robyn’s the one you should thank. I was a total mess before I met her, and she whipped me into shape. She did that for all of us, really. The Happy Huntresses wouldn’t be what we are without her.” May suddenly went quiet, chewing on her bottom lip.

“Are you worried about her?”

May exhaled. “I know she’s more than capable of taking care of herself. It’s just… she usually doesn’t go this long without contacting us. Or me, at the very least. I don’t know, it just makes me worried that something happened.”

Weiss nodded. “Qrow’s still out there, too. I don’t think anyone’s heard from him either.”

May sighed. “Then I guess all we can do is wait. Much as that sucks.” She cleared her throat, grinning at Weiss. “Anyway, there’s something else I’ve actually been wanting to ask you—I heard it was you that took your old man down. Arrested him in the middle of his own dinner party. That must’ve felt pretty great.” She chuckled to herself. “Wish I could’ve pulled something like that on my dad.”

Weiss looked down, fingers closing around her wrist. “Honestly… it didn’t feel as good as I thought it would.” She looked over at May. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m still glad I did it, but… it just feels like something that happened, you know? Just like I wake up every morning. It happened, and now it’s over. I thought it would make me feel… I don’t know, complete? But instead I’m just… still here, feeling empty. Feeling like it wasn’t enough.”

May nodded. “He hurt a lot of people.”

“Yeah,” Weiss said. She rubbed her thumb along her arm. “And putting him away means he can’t hurt anyone else, but… it can’t undo the damage he’s already done.” She reached up, touching the bottom tip of the scar that crossed her left eye.

May watched the motion, not speaking, but clearly understanding.

“It’s not like he’ll be any sorrier for it in prison than he was before anyway,” Weiss said, dropping her hand to her side.

“Well… look at the positives,” May said. “With him out of the way now, maybe you can focus on fixing what he broke. That might be what you’re missing.”

Weiss thought of the White Fang pendant sitting with her things. She smiled—the moment Sienna Khan put her faith in her, trusted her as part of their number… that felt far more fulfilling than any revenge she could’ve ever taken against her father. “I think you might be right about that, May.”

Chapter Text

Blake sat outside on the railing of what used to be a dining patio, staring up at Atlas floating above them…and the dark clouds that now filled the sky beside it, blocking out the stars. A flash of red lightning briefly exposed the silhouette of the whale Grimm before it faded back into nothingness.

Blake smirked. “Can you believe we used to be worried about grades?”

She turned to look behind her, seeing Ruby walking out onto the patio. She looked briefly surprised that Blake noticed her, glanced at her ears, and seemed to understand how before leaning on the railing beside Blake, giving a little chuckle. “Yeah… crazy to think about it now.”

For a moment, there was nothing but silence as the two girls stared up at the sky.. “Things are bad,” Blake said.

“Yeah. Things are bad.”

“I keep thinking we have to turn a corner eventually with everything we’ve been through. But… it feels like it all just gets worse and worse.”

“We’ve made it this far. We just have to keep fighting.”

Blake gave a nod, turning to look at Ruby. “We’ve made it this far by sticking together. By knowing when to lean on each other when we need to.”

Ruby didn’t look at Blake… but Blake did notice her lips crease into the slightest frown.

Blake sighed, turning away again. “I’m just saying, Ruby… we all care about you too, you know? We want to be there for you when you need us.”

“I’m not some− some little kid anymore,” Ruby griped. “I can take care of myself.”

“I’m not saying you can’t. I know how strong you are, but….”

“I’m. Fine.” Ruby huffed. “Can we just drop this?”

Blake took a deep breath in through her nose, fighting off her frustration. The last thing Ruby needed now was for her to snap at her. “Alright. If that’s what you want.”

They remained there in tense silence for a few more minutes. “I’m going back inside,” Ruby abruptly announced, just as quickly turning away from the railing and leaving the way she’d come.

“Well… can’t say I didn’t try, Weiss,” Blake muttered to herself.

As Blake exhaled, breath turning to vapor in the cold air, she felt like she’d failed. Ruby could be so damn stubborn when she wanted to be, and it felt practically impossible to break through that wall when she put it up. 

It reminded her somewhat of Sienna. Someone under the crushing weight of responsibility, someone who refused to budge when they had their mind made up about something. She’d gotten through to Sienna eventually… Blake just had to hope someone could do the same for Ruby.

Blake dropped off the railing onto the street below. Her head was swimming with aggravating thoughts, questions she didn’t know how to answer. 

Maybe going on an impromptu patrol could help clear her mind.

Blake leaped between rooftops, landing in a smooth roll without killing even a fraction of her momentum. It felt… freeing to run like that, to use the rooftops and stick to the shadows. No orders, no humans in uniforms telling her where to go, when to go, what to do, what to fight… who to save.

It’s not that she hadn’t wanted things to work out. It would’ve been a lot easier to have Ironwood on their side, rather than against them. But it had been hard to ignore her instincts, her concerns over what Ironwood and the AUF were doing. She felt angry with herself—she knew better than this. She should’ve put her foot down before they all got mired in this mess.

She’d seen it before, after all. The excuses. The justifications. The promises that it would all be worth it in the end.

Blake stopped running, standing at the edge of the building, the toe of her boot above open air and the street below. It was funny—she hadn’t seen any Grimm yet. She didn’t intend to fight any on her own, not unless there was someone in immediate danger, but she’d expected to at least see one around somewhere.

She looked up at the sky again, to where she couldn’t see the huge floating Grimm but still knew it was there. Salem… had she called the Grimm back?

Blake’s head shot down again, ears twitching as they picked up a sound. Something hitting the ground, raised voices… some kind of scuffle.

With her faunus hearing, she locked on to the direction the sound was coming from, tossing Gambol Shroud to the building across the street and pulling herself to it on her ribbon.

After jumping a few more rooftops, Blake stopped above a small side street. Her yellow eyes flicked over the scene before her, taking in information.

Two men stood over a short one on the ground, closing in on him. Their fists were clenched, bodies tense—the one on the ground was pushing himself back, holding a hand up imploringly. Blake blinked—not a human hand. The short man’s hands were covered with black fur, his fingers long claws like a mole’s. A faunus.

Blake took another look at the men who were standing. One in a heavy jacket with a dark green beanie, the other bundled up in layers of sweaters and hoodies, a hood up over his head. No animal traits she could spot on either of them.

Likely not a simple mugging, as she’d initially suspected.

The beanie guy approached. “We saw you steal that food, animal. Bet you were about to take it back to that hole you critters crawl around in, huh?”

The poor faunus was hyperventilating, too scared to even speak in his own defense.

Blake scowled. She’d seen enough.

She dropped down from the roof, landing in a three-point landing right in front of the approaching human. He stepped back, startled.

Blake stood, flicking her hair back as she did and looking down her nose at the human man. “I’m giving you two one chance to back down before I beat your asses into the ground.”

The guy further back, recovering from his own surprise, looked up at Blake’s cat ears and chuckled. “Woah, another animal out of its pen.”

“I dunno,” said the beanie man, rubbing his chin with a leering grin. “This one’s kinda cute for an animal, don’t ya think?” He chuckled to himself. “Hey, maybe she’s in heat or something—wouldn’t that be fun? Whaddya think, sweetheart?”

Blake felt bile rising to the back of her throat. “And you call us animals?” she whispered to herself. She closed her eyes, releasing a tense breath. “Alright. You had your warning.” 

She darted forward, a blur of motion.

Beanie threw out a lackluster punch—Blake easily swerved around it, swiping her heel into his ankle and knocking him down.

Hoodie let out a shout as he pulled a knife, charging at Blake. She ducked back from two swipes, palm striking his outstretched wrist and forcing him to drop the knife. She then grabbed him by the back of the head, smashing the bridge of his nose into her knee.

Hoodie let out a cry, holding his hands over his face as he fell and rolled on the floor. Beanie was back up again, grabbing an old, rusted pipe on the ground, going for a swing.

In a flash, Blake had gotten Gambol Shroud out, slicing right through the pipe mid-swing. The man stumbled—Blake pointed the tip of her blade right at his face. “I think it’s time for you two to go.”

Beanie was visibly sweating, swallowing down fear. He moved back, scrambled to pick his friend off the ground, and the two ran off into the night.

Blake thought briefly about Adam—about how he would never let scum like that leave his sights alive, how even if he made a play at mercy, it would only be a trick… a lead-in to striking them down while their backs were turned.

Part of her wondered if he might not have been right for that. Those two men could easily target another faunus who couldn’t fight back without her there to protect them. There was no guarantee they’d learn their lesson after the beatdown she’d given them.

She blew a breath out of her nose, sheathing Gambol Shroud with a flourish. Whatever happened, she wasn’t Adam. She had no problem fighting back… but even assholes like the ones running off with their tails between their legs deserved a shot at a second chance. She walked over to the faunus man still on the ground, holding her hand out. “You’re safe now.”

He looked at her, fearful for a moment… until he noticed the cat ears on her head. He grabbed onto her hand, grunting as Blake pulled him up.

He reached down, picking up a pair of small spectacles and a plaid cap, putting both back on. With him standing before her now, Blake got a better look at him.

He was very short, the top of his head only coming up just below her chest. He had small little eyes peering out from behind his round spectacles, a wrinkled, tan face and gray hair peeking out from beneath his cap. He wore a white button-up shirt, scuffed and dirtied, and a brown jacket in a similar condition. And, of course, there were the hands covered in fur, long claws like a mole’s in place of fingers.

“Thank you for stepping in,” the man said. “Not enough people around here would do something like that.”

Blake put a hand on her hip, looking around. “Is it… always this bad here?”

“Not usually.” The man groaned as he pressed his hands against his back, pushing in and stretching until Blake heard a crack. Her ear twitched. “Though, I suppose that depends on what part of town you’re in. With that Grimm attack and so many people panicking… well, guess it’s got people a little more on edge than normal.” He let out a chuckle. “Thought I’d be fine grabbing some supplies here since it wasn’t one of the bad parts of town—shows what I know.”

Bad parts of town… “‘Don’t find yourself in the Tungsten district after dark,’” Blake recited.

The little man’s eyebrows raised. “Oh? Didn’t think you were a local.”

“I’m not,” Blake clarified. “I’m from Menagerie, but my mom grew up here. She taught me that saying when I was younger.”

The faunus man pointed at her. “Well, that’s good advice—make sure you remember that one.”

Blake frowned. It was… disheartening to hear that it was still good advice. Had so little improved since her mom lived in Mantle? Since her, Blake’s father, and Ali Zarin Khan had fought in the Army of the Fount for faunus liberation?

“Well, I should get heading on back,” the man said, brushing off the front of his shirt. “Any longer and people might start to worry.”

“Do you want me to go back with you?”

The man shook his head, waving a dismissive hand. “Nah, it’s alright. I’ve already taken up enough of your time and generosity. Thank you again for saving me, by the by—we gotta look out for each other, you know? No one else will.”

With that, the man turned, hobbling off further into the center of the city. Blake watched as he left, then turned her gaze up to Atlas.

She realized now how shielded she’d been from the worst of anti-faunus sentiment when she was working alongside the AUF. It was still there, permeating through everything Atlas was, but it wasn’t so… direct as this.

She supposed that was why, somewhat unconsciously, she’d made herself smaller while she was there. Didn’t speak out as much, didn’t cause a fuss—taking up less space so the Atlesians wouldn’t have a reason to bother her.

Blake clenched her fist. No more. She wasn’t going to reduce herself for the comfort of bigots. Even if it endangered her, she would speak her mind—she would show them that the faunus could stand up for themselves.

She looked back in the direction the man went, still just barely visible at the end of the street. She pulled out Gambol Shroud, switched it to kusarigama form, and grappled up to the rooftop with her ribbon. She’d just follow him from the roofs until he got to wherever he was going. His silent, unknown protector for the night.

Chapter Text

Yang watched as Ruby reentered the restaurant hideout from outside. She had a sour look on her face… whatever happened out there, she wasn’t pleased about it.

Yang walked over to her, tapping her on the arm. “Hey, Ruby—got a second to talk?”

Ruby groaned. “Does it have to be right now?”

Yang grinned. “Yes!”

Yang grabbed her sister by the wrist, leading her into a room that she guessed must’ve once been a storage closet. Thankfully, there was enough space in there for the two of them to have some room to move.

Yang shut the door. “Alright, I let it drop before, but now that we’re not, y’know, in some time-sensitive situation… what was the deal with you staying behind to fight Cinder and Neo alone?”

Ruby folded her arms, leaning against the wall and looking at the floor. “They were after me. I wanted to make sure the rest of you got away. I didn’t want anyone else getting hurt because of me.”

Yang pursed her lips, raising an eyebrow. “Oh, really? Because let me ask you something else—you noticed that door panel before any of us, right? What was stopping you from getting on the same side as the rest of us and hitting it then, huh? Why did you lock yourself in there?”

Ruby shook her head. “A door wouldn’t have stopped Cinder for long.”

Yang swung an arm out to her side. “And you dying would have?!”

Ruby balled her hands into fists at her sides. “It wasn’t like I wanted to, Yang! Dying wasn’t exactly my plan!”

“But the fact that you could’ve didn’t stop you, did it?!”

Ruby stepped away, starting to pace as she let out a frustrated growl. “No, it didn’t! Because I’m a failure, Yang!” She ran a hand through her hair. “All I’ve done is drag everyone else down, get them all into worse and worse trouble. Even saving Penny didn’t go how I planned it! So if it took my life to keep the rest of you safe, to make up for all my mistakes, then yeah—I’d give it up.”

Yang grabbed Ruby by her upper arms. “Do you have any idea what it’s like for me to hear you say that, Ruby?! What it’s like to worry that you might be gone forever if I take my eyes off you?!”

Ruby narrowed her eyes. “I’m not a kid anymore, Yang. I don’t need you to protect me.”

Yang let go, folding her arms with a huff. “I know you’re not, Ruby. You’re… you’re a young woman that’s gone through nightmare after nightmare, and I am worried about you.” She sniffled, wiping a tear from her eye. “I just… you can’t expect to fix everything yourself.”

Ruby lowered her head. The sisters remained in a cold silence for several, agonizingly slow moments. “I… think I want to be alone right now, Yang,” Ruby finally said, her voice low and hoarse.

Yang felt as though a punch had knocked the air out of her lungs… then, anger and frustration took over. She threw her arms up. “Fine! Sure! Whatever!”

Yang stomped over to the door, ripped it open, and slammed it behind her when she was on the other side. She gritted her teeth, holding her flesh and blood hand to her forehead.

After a moment, she looked to her side—and saw Penny there, who jumped back in surprise at her glance.

“Oh… hey, Penny,” Yang said, voice tired and defeated. Her shoulders sagged, arms dropping to her sides. “You… probably heard all that, didn’t you?”

“I− I do not know what you’re talking about!” Penny hiccuped.

Yang let out a short chuckle. “It’s fine, Penny—wasn’t like we were being quiet.”

Penny tapped her fingers together. “I was actually… looking for Ruby, but….”

“Yeah, I don’t think she’s in the mood to talk right now,” Yang said. She frowned. “And she definitely isn’t in the mood to listen.”

Penny gave a nod. “I… know it perhaps would not be the best time, but… would you be able to talk? I have questions I’ve wanted to ask someone.”

Yang pushed off from the door, looking back at it. “Yeah. Think I could use the distraction anyway.”

Yang and Penny sat at one of the dining room tables, far from any of the others in the room. Yang rested her prosthetic hand against the table—Penny eyed it curiously.

“Oh, right,” Yang said, holding it up for her to see it better. “Guess you don’t know about that yet, do you?”

“Is it… a glove?” Penny asked, tilting her head to the side.

Yang chuckled—she pressed her other fingers to the releases at the top of the metallic limb. It dropped onto the table with a thud. “Not exactly. It’s a prosthetic.”

Penny’s eyes moved from the detached limb to Yang’s stump. “What… happened to your old one?”

Yang picked the arm back up, reattaching it and flexing the fingers. “A guy named Adam Taurus happened. He was hurting Blake, I tried to protect her, and… well… bye-bye arm.”

Penny pulled back, her mouth in a little frown. “I’m sorry, Yang.”

“Eh, don’t worry about it. I’ve gotten used to it by now. And… Adam isn’t hurting anyone anymore.”

Penny looked over at another table, seeing Jaune, Nora, and Ren sitting together. It looked as though Jaune and Nora were playing some game on their scrolls, while Ren was turned in his chair away from them, looking contemplative.

“I have been wondering where Pyrrha is,” Penny said. “She is not with the rest of her team—is she on a different mission?”

Yang felt her whole body tense. Right… Pyrrha had been after Penny was already…

Yang sank in her chair, scratching her scalp—how did she end up the one that had to explain this to Penny?

Penny turned back to her, green eyes wide and expectant.

“Penny, I… she’s…” Yang blew out a breath. “This… is going to be hard for you to hear.”

Penny’s brow creased with worry.

“After you were, uh… taken… offline? Sorry, I don’t know what the correct term is for that, but after that, Pyrrha… she…” Yang shut her eyes, shaking her head. There was no delicate way to put it—she just had to say it outright. “She was… killed.”

Penny didn’t react for a moment, like the words hadn’t processed in her mind. Then, slowly, she put her hands over her mouth, eyes softening with solemnity. “Oh…”

“And she wasn’t the only one,” Yang said, deciding it better to get it all out now rather than draw out the grief. “Neptune, Cardin, Yatsuhashi, Oobleck… we lost all of them that night. And even more people who we never even knew.” She knocked her knuckles against the table. “I’m… sorry you had to find out so soon after coming back.”

Penny set her hands delicately on the table’s surface, staring down at the wood grain. She remained silent for a while, deep in her own thoughts. “My chest… hurts now,” she finally said. “Why?”

“Have you ever lost someone you cared about before?”

Penny shook her head.

Yang nodded. “It’s grief. That’s what you feel. It’s like being sad, but it… hurts more, I guess. Sadness is temporary. Grief is… it’s when you know someone is gone from your life and they’re never coming back.”

Penny closed a hand over her chest—over where her core was inside her body. “I don’t think I like it.”

Yang managed a smile. “Nobody ever does.” A beat passed. “I don’t know what to… uh… do you want a… hug?”

Penny nodded. “I think so.” Her voice was so choked and quiet that it felt like something had stabbed Yang right through the heart.

Yang got up from her seat. She walked over, putting her arms around Penny. Penny did the same back to her. They remained in the embrace silently for some time, Yang hearing the thrum of Penny’s core, the device pumping energy through her android body. Like a heartbeat, but… different.

She’d expected Penny would be cold, too, but she wasn’t. There was a warmth to her, distinctly different from the warmth of a human or faunus, but still there. It was… nice.

“It’s going to hurt a lot at first,” Yang whispered in a low voice. “But, over time, it won’t feel so bad anymore. You’ll still have bad days—days where it feels like this again—but they won’t happen as often.”

Penny was crying. She couldn’t shed tears, but Yang could hear her crying regardless. “You… and Ruby… you lost your mom?”

“Yeah. We did.”

“Did it… feel like this?”

“...It did.”

Yang felt Penny curl into her, her grip tightening. “How could you stand it for so long?”

Yang closed her eyes. “By… having each other.”

Penny had no more questions after that. The two continued to hold each other, Yang rubbing Penny’s back. Having each other… Yang wished it still felt like she and Ruby did.

Chapter Text

A lone man stood on a hill in the tundra of Solitas in a long dark coat, the tails of it flapping in the wind. He was plainly under-dressed for the lethally cold weather, but it did not seem to bother him. He hadn’t felt the bite of cold nor the burn of heat for a very, very long time.

Atlas and Mantle lay in the distance before him. There were still some pillars of smoke rising from the latter in the aftermath of the attack on it, though Atlas, of course, remained untouched… but given the large whale Grimm that was hovering in the sky not too far from it, it would likely not be for much longer.

The man grinned, adjusting the thin-framed, circular glasses on his face. While there was a beauty to destruction in its own right, there was something… special about the moments before it. It was the knowing that people were looking out in dread, understanding some terrible fate was imminent but not knowing the shape of it. Not a calm before the storm, but seeing the dark clouds on the horizon and knowing your chance to get out of dodge had long passed.

Within that Grimm was Salem. It had been quite some time since the man had last seen her in person—after all, he was most useful to her as a scout, a source of information. He had a way about him, a way to find his way into the circles of the most influential people in Remnant, to ply their secrets from their lips and vanish, a ghost, nothing to those hapless fools than the memory of a charming stranger or good conversationalist at some party. Another face to be lost to time.

But the time had finally come to return to roost. Salem had summoned him back, and he knew that meant her plans were drawing closer to their final stage. How lucky he was to have a box seat for the affair.

He did not need to inform Salem he was close by. She would already know, already feel his presence. That belief was confirmed when he saw two dark shapes approaching him from the air before dropping down in front of him, kicking up clouds of glittering white snow.

Two Beringels… each with a pair of wings on their backs. Salem had been experimenting during the man’s absence, it seemed.

He smiled at the gorilla-like Grimm, holding his gloved hands toward them in greeting. “I take it you fine gentleman are my ride?”

One of the Beringels snorted, holding its out arms out to carry him. The other kept an eye on the sky—one Beringel for transport, the other for protection… though it was not like the man really needed the latter.

He stepped into the Beringel’s arms, lounging casually on them as the Grimm beat its wings, taking them into the air and heading for the Grimm whale.

Ruby’s eyes opened to a dark void, the ground beneath her like black water. She remembered this place—her dreams had brought her there once before. It was where she had first spoken to…

Salem. Rising from the reflective pool that stretched off infinitely in every direction. Her gaunt body, skeletal limbs crossed over her chest like a corpse in a coffin, her eyes closed on her pallid face.

Those eyes opened, revealing the dark sclera and red irises. A wide grin stretched on her thin lips. “Ruby Rose… how lovely it is to see you here again.”

Ruby kept her mouth shut tight, trying to push every thought from her mind. Last time, Salem had found things to use against her—found out where she and the others were going and used that to lay a trap for her. She wasn’t going to let that happen again.

Salem gave her an over-performed frown. “No hello? How hurtful… is that any way to treat your ancestor?”

“What do you want?” Ruby asked bluntly.

The smile returned to Salem’s face. “To ask a question… about how it feels to lose faith in one you believed you could trust.”

“Shut up.”

Salem flowed over to Ruby, the tall, twisted woman’s body leaning over her. A sharp fingertip pressed up under Ruby’s chin, tilting her head up to look at Salem. “You know… I once felt the same sting… when Oz betrayed me.” She flicked her finger off of Ruby’s chin. “I feel it again whenever another foolish silver-eyed soul stands against me… when they should be standing with me.”

Ruby gritted her teeth. “You murdered my mom. I’ll never stand with you.”

Salem moved back, chuckling and tilting her head. “A simple soul has a simple way of looking at the world as well, it seems. I never said I killed Summer Rose… only that, once upon a time, she said something very similar to something you said not long ago.”

Ruby winced. She could feel it again. An almost scraping feeling inside her mind. Salem was digging, searching for something. “You can quit trying to get in my head—it isn’t going to work.”

“I don’t have to.” Salem raised a hand, fingers twitching and flexing, black strings of tendon connecting them. “Even only skimming the surface, I see that your mind is in quite the turmoil. Like roiling waves on the sea. You’re already conflicted, already unsure of your every move…” She laughed again, low, hushed. “You’ve already done my work for me.”

Ruby clenched her hands into fists, narrowing her eyes at Salem.

Salem rested her chin on the back of her hand. “I’d like to give you one chance… an offer. Your friends and Atlas needn’t suffer if you give me this one thing I ask.” Her eyes seemed to flare open wider, the red of her irises burning. “You.”

“I’m not stupid,” Ruby spat back. “You’ll just take me and destroy Atlas anyway.”

Salem shook her head with a sad sigh. Suddenly, she vanished in a swirl of smoke.

“Just remember that I gave you a choice.”

Ruby was suddenly aware of a presence beside her, whispering into her ear. Salem.

“Everything that’s about to happen will be your fault.”

In an instant, Ruby was staring up at the ceiling of the restaurant.

Emerald Sustrai stood with her back to the wall in one of Monstra’s “rooms.” She was still adjusting to the idea that she was currently standing within a giant Grimm whale—an “organic ship,” as Salem had called it before they set out.

She hadn’t been a fan from the very instant she stepped onboard, and time was doing nothing for her fondness of the experience. Some of the walls were slimy, the only furniture were slabs that seemed to be made out of a bone-like substance, and there was an odd odor no matter where you went. Not one that was distinctly awful, just… weird.

Emerald was still hoping she’d go nose blind to it eventually. So far, that had not happened.

While her external circumstances were miserable enough, the journey meant she’d had plenty of time to think. Think about what she was really doing, what Salem and her forces were really doing. Salem promised everything they did would be in service to a better world for those crushed under the kingdoms’ heels… but they had been responsible for so much death already.

How much blood was this new world going to cost?

Mercury stepped into the room. “Em. We’ve arrived in Atlas.”

Emerald looked up at her constant companion, Mercury Black. His brushed back gray hair, his track jacket of the same color… the closest thing she had to a friend with Cinder gone.

If Cinder really was a friend.

Mercury scoffed. “Well, you’re quiet today. What’s the matter? Zoning out or something?”

“Merc, why are we here?”

Mercury looked around the room. He raised his arms in a half-hearted shrug. “I don’t know. Why is anyone here? One of life’s great mysteries, isn’t it?”

Emerald groaned, pressing a finger to the bridge of her nose. “That’s not what I mean. I mean why are we here? Why are we doing all this?”

Mercury snorted, folding his arms. “Why do you care?”

Emerald glared at him. “Don’t you?”

“No,” Mercury said. “I already got the one thing I wanted when I finally killed my bastard old man. All this? Just something to do, really. Salem’s goals, Cinder’s goals… they don’t really mean anything to me, so long as I keep getting to do what I want.”

“Do you even get to do what you want? I mean… Salem already almost killed you once.”

Mercury’s eyebrow twitched. He paced to the side. “You really just can’t ever be alone, can you?”

Emerald took a step closer. “What’s that supposed to mean? Just say whatever it is you want to say.”

Mercury stepped over to the wall across from Emerald, leaning against it. Arms still folded, he pointed a finger at her. “Look, if you don’t want to do this anymore, you can stop. That’s your choice to make. But instead of making it, you’re here, bugging me about it ‘cause you need someone else to tell you what to do. To tell you it’s okay. You’ve been falling apart ever since Cinder’s been gone because, without her to boss you around, you feel like you don’t have a purpose anymore.”

Emerald jabbed a finger in Mercury’s direction. “That’s…!”

But no other words came… she realized she didn’t have any. Nothing she could say that could defend her against Mercury’s insinuations.

Because she already knew he was right.

“Ah, so good to see you two kiddies again—having fun?”

Emerald startled back from the new voice in the doorway… then sneered when she saw who it belonged to.

Tyrian Callows, his shining, metallic scorpion tail twisting in the air behind him, that creepy, wide grin plastered on his face.

“Tyrian,” Emerald practically growled. “And here I was hoping you froze to death out in the tundra.”

Tyrian snickered, making a small bow. “So sorry to disappoint.”

Mercury glanced behind Tyrian, then focused back on the faunus. “Where’s Watts?”

Tyrian stood straight again, pouting. “I’m afraid the good doctor wasn’t as careful as he should’ve been. He’s locked away in an AUF cell now.” He chuckled. “For all his vaunted intelligence he always bragged about, it was he who was brought low by a simple trick, and I… who framed Qrow Branwen for the murder of an Ace-Op.”

“You killed an Ace-Op?” Mercury said. Emerald hated that he sounded genuinely impressed.

Tyrian tilted his head to the side, everything about his expression radiating smug satisfaction. “I did indeed! And thus, two star players were removed from the field.” He laughed to himself again. “Oh, you should’ve seen the look on Branwen’s face when he realized he was going to be blamed for the death of his little boytoy.”

“Well, that’s a word I never want to hear come out of your mouth again,” Emerald griped. Despite her flippant remark, she felt… wrong. Tyrian wasn’t just bragging about killing someone—he was bragging about killing someone and pinning it on someone who’d cared about them. Something about it didn’t sit right with her.

“Now, while it’s been fun to catch up, I don’t want to keep our mistress waiting,” Tyrian said. “I’m sure she’s eager to hear all Watts and I have been able to accomplish before her arrival. Until next time, children.”

With a smarmy wave, Tyrian moved away from the door, walking down the hall.

Emerald and Mercury both stared at the empty doorway for a few seconds after. “Why couldn’t Watts have come back instead of him?” Mercury whined. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, he’s annoying too, but at least he’s less… creepy about it.”

Emerald didn’t respond. Instead, she thought. Thought about the kind of man Tyrian really was.

If Salem kept people like him around… how could they be on the right side of anything?

Neo piloted a small civilian airship toward the giant horror whale in the sky, something she’d never thought she’d do in her life, and something she also thought no one still sane would do.

The airship was smaller than the Mantas the AUF primarily used, though slightly larger than the Viper fighter jets. It was a half-circle shape, the front of the craft rounded, domed on top and flat on the bottom.

Cinder sat beside her in the co-pilot’s seat, arms folded over her chest. She’d looked intense ever since the Grimm whale showed up. Since whoever Cinder had called “she” showed up.

The whale was still a few hundred yards away. It was floating beyond Atlas, above it, surrounded by dark clouds and flashing red lightning.

“While we have some time,” Cinder said, adjusting herself in her seat to look at Neo, “I suppose I should tell you what to prepare for.”

Neo nodded emphatically. She didn’t like how little she knew going into this situation in the slightest.

“Salem is…” Cinder paused for a few seconds, as though finding the right word to describe who this “Salem” was was a challenge. “Salem is my leader, I suppose. Our group’s leader. She’s… not quite human.”

Neo shrugged, a gesture of “yeah, sure, why not.”

“When we meet with her, let me do the talking.”

Neo turned her head, raising one eyebrow and giving Cinder the universal “really?” look.

Cinder rolled her eye. “You know what I meant. I’m just warning you to be on your best behavior—Salem isn’t one to suffer fools.”

Neo nodded.

“Stay near me at all times when we’re inside,” Cinder continued. “As long as it’s clear you’re under my protection, no one will try and hurt you. You don’t want to be caught wandering alone if Tyrian happens to get bored.”

Neo raised an eyebrow.

“Scorpion tail,” Cinder said. “You’ll know him when you see him. If he knows you’re in my favor, he probably won’t try to do anything, but… you can never be confident that the chances are zero with him.”

Neo looked out at the window, seeing the whale growing closer.

She already had a very bad feeling about all this.

Cinder instructed Neo to fly through a ragged hole in the side of the whale—which she had been told was named “Monstra.”

Neo did her best to not be too grossed out by the tear in the creature’s hide, nor that she was expected to set down on its guts and walk around in it… but she was sure she still turned a little green as they passed through the monster.

After Neo had set down, she and Cinder stepped out into Monstra’s interior. It was more… spacious than Neo would’ve expected, at least in the “hangar.”

“Come on,” Cinder said, waving for Neo to follow her. “We shouldn’t keep Salem waiting—she’ll want to speak with us.”

As they moved out of the docking bay, Neo found that the insides of Monstra were a series of fleshy, interconnecting hallways, rooms jutting off to the side. Even without Cinder’s warning, she doubted she would’ve decided to wander around on her own. There was no signage and a lot of areas looked the same—she had no doubt she would’ve gotten lost in seconds without Cinder to guide her.

Eventually, they entered into a vast, circular chamber. Lines of red glowed on the ground, five lines all equidistant from each other, all leading to a raised platform of bone. The lines all met at a tall throne at the center of the platform… tall, as they had to accommodate the skinny, towering form of the woman who sat upon it.

It was hard to tell while she was sitting, but Neo estimated her to be at least nine feet tall. Her body was sickly thin. She wore a black dress, had skeleton arms strung together with strings of black tendon, and a pale face with intense, penetrating red eyes. Her hair was done into some fancy bun arrangement, six offshoots tightly wound together haloing the woman’s face.

Neo assumed this was the woman Cinder had been referring to when she said Salem.

To one side of Salem was a man who would’ve been impressively tall were it not for his place beside her. Still, he more than made up for it with his build—he was a solid mountain of a man, heavy muscle all over his body. Neo was surprised the seams of his green, buttoned shirt and dark pants hadn’t burst.

To Salem’s other side was a lithe man with a white, partially open shirt, as well as pants of the same color. He had a tail, one that started natural, but after a point turned metallic, and was tipped with a stinger. A scorpion tail.

The one Cinder had warned Neo about. Tyrian.

He was whispering something to Salem. As Cinder approached, Neo just behind her, Salem motioned for him to stop talking. She looked upon Cinder, smiling as she stood from her throne. “Cinder… I hope this exile has taught you a valuable lesson.”

Tyrian giggled, steepling his fingers.

Cinder walked up to the base of the stairs that led onto the platform and stopped. She knelt, bowing her head. “It has.”

Neo had to physically resist her jaw dropping, blinking with disbelief. Cinder was showing… deference to someone? It seemed impossible, but it was happening right before her eyes.

Salem gave a nod. “Good. Do not forget yourself again. My goals come before your desire for petty vengeance.”

Neo noticed a twitch in Cinder’s Grimm hand… but otherwise, she showed no reaction. “I understand,” Cinder said.

Tyrian cackled, stepping around Salem’s side to peer down at Cinder. “I like this new Cinder. So docile.”

In an instant, Cinder’s head snapped up, iris flashing orange as she growled.

Salem waved Tyrian back with a hand. “Don’t antagonize her, Tyrian—you’ll only have yourself to blame if she decides to incinerate you.”

Tyrian frowned, letting out a huff, but backed away and remained quiet.

Neo felt her heartbeat quicken as Salem’s black and red eyes fell upon her. “I see you’ve also picked up a new stray.”

“Yes,” Cinder said, finally standing back up. “This is Neopolitan.”

Salem rolled her head to one side, then another. Then, she seemed to almost… float over to Neo, leaning over her. “Tell me what reason I have to not throw her to the Grimm.”

Neo felt pinpricks of sweat forming on the back of her neck.

“She’s a valuable asset,” Cinder calmly stated. “A master of physical illusions—an ability superior to even Emerald’s.”

Neo ensured to keep her reactions internal, but still bristled at the description of her being an asset. Part of her wanted to ask Cinder if she became so physically… acquainted with all of her “assets.”

Salem continued to stare at Neo in silence, looking her over as one would examine a cut of meat at the butcher’s shop. The longer it went on, the quicker Neo’s heart beat. Salem was something… so beyond what Neo had ever expected. Looking upon her filled her with a kind of primal, animal fear—the fear one would get out in the woods at night, in total dark, knowing there was a predator stalking them but unable to see it.

Finally, after far too long in Neo’s opinion, Salem leaned back. “So long as this… Neopolitan proves her use, she can stay.” Salem turned her gaze to Cinder. “But I’ll warn you now, Cinder. You’ve already collected a fair amount of… assets. I’ll remind you to be careful not to overstep.”

Cinder bowed her head. “I won’t, mistress.”

Salem’s lips finally quirked into a smile. “Good.” She turned away, walking back to her throne as she waved a hand over her shoulder. “You may leave now. I’ll let you know when I have use for you.”

Cinder’s bow deepened. She held the pose for a full two seconds before straightening, turning, grabbing Neo by the wrist, and practically dragging her back out of the door.

Just before they were out, Neo looked back, seeing Tyrian’s eyes on her. He waved with a toothy grin.

Neo felt her skin crawl.

Once they passed the doorway, Cinder tugged Neo to the side of it.

Neo gasped in a breath of air. Had she been holding her breath that whole time? She hadn’t even noticed…

Cinder stepped back, a hand almost reaching for the side of Neo’s face but falling away. “Are you… alright?”

“She’s,” Neo started to sign, then slowly stopped, considering what she should say. “Intense,” she finished, her hand motions stressed.

Cinder managed a chuckle. “You have no idea.”

There were so many things Neo wanted to ask. How Cinder had met Salem, how long she’d been working for her, what Salem could do that someone as powerful as Cinder bowed her head in respect and obedience… but she asked none of them. She was sure that, even if she had, Cinder wouldn’t have answered a single query anyway.

Cinder’s brow furrowed, her clawed Grimm hand touching her chin in contemplation. “I’ve never seen that other man, though. The big one next to her. Who is he? Why is he here?”

Neo, thinking about it again, couldn’t help but feel there was something familiar about him. She was feeling sure she’d seen him somewhere before, distantly connecting him to the criminal element around Vale, but nothing specific came to mind. She shrugged.

Cinder smirked at her. “It’s alright—I didn’t expect you’d know either.” She rubbed her eye with her human hand. “Now, I think it’s safe to say that experience probably wore us both out a little—let’s say we find somewhere to rest.”

Neo nodded emphatically. That sounded like a lovely idea to her after all that.

Cinder led her again, taking her once more into the winding halls of Monstra. As they walked, they passed by weird Grimm floating past—like little glass orbs set upon bundles of tentacles.

Eventually, they saw another human form walking toward them from down the hall. Brown skin, mint green hair—Neo recognized her as Emerald, one of Cinder’s allies that she met when they’d orchestrated the fall of Beacon.

Emerald had changed her outfit up a little since then. She wore a white leather jacket over a dark green crop top, dark green pants with seams and pockets lined in a lime green shade, pant legs widening out at their bottoms.

Still not bad on the eyes at all, in Neo’s opinion.

Emerald’s red eyes widened as she saw Cinder. She smiled, bright and wide, speeding up her walk into a jog. “Cinder! Cinder, I’m so glad you’re−”

“Quiet,” Cinder snapped, walking right past Emerald without even stopping.

Emerald, however, did stop—looking stunned, even a little hurt.

Neo passed by her, Emerald’s eyes finally falling on her. “Wait… Neo?”

Neo shrugged, then waved at Emerald, turning around to keep track of where Cinder was going.

It seemed little had changed. Emerald was still hopelessly obsessed with Cinder… though, as Neo thought about it, Cinder hadn’t mentioned Emerald a single time in all the days she had spent with Neo.

After a little while longer, they reached a door that appeared to be a solid slab of bone. It opened automatically for them, sliding into the ceiling.

Inside was another round chamber, though much smaller than Salem’s throne room. There wasn’t much in the way of furnishings—just a solid, beige-white slab to the back of the room Neo desperately hoped wasn’t supposed to be a bed, bony, spiked protrusions in the red flesh wall around it… and there was also a man wandering around the space ponderously.

He was somewhat tall, though not exceedingly so, and wore a dark long coat and black gloves. Beneath that he had a white and black pinstripe waistcoat, a red tie tucked into that. His sharp features were framed by a curtain of wavy dark hair, about chin length, and he had a short scrap of beard along that chin, a manicured mustache, and round spectacles over his angular eyes.

His silver eyes.

Cinder took a step back upon seeing him, holding her Grimm arm up, clawed fingers flexed and ready to dig into flesh. “Who are you and what are you doing here?”

The man turned, tilting his head at her. Then he smiled… a kind of smile Neo knew well. The smile of someone that knew they had charisma.

A conman’s smile.

The man swung his arms out to his sides. “Now, that would be spoiling the surprise, wouldn’t it, love? But I can assure you I am precisely where I am meant to be.”

“Somehow, I doubt that,” Cinder snarled, teeth bared.

The man let out a soft laugh. He stuck one hand in the pocket of his coat, the other pushing his glasses up on his nose. “You may doubt all you like… but I think you are as aware of the fact as I am that Salem would not allow my presence here if she did not want me here.”

Cinder continued to grit her teeth but made no move to attack.

The man calmly approached the door, walking past Cinder and Neo. “Now, I’m sure we’ll become well acquainted in due time, but until then… I bid you farewell, Miss Fall.”

With that, he turned down the hallway, walking away.

Cinder watched him the entire time, eye burning with anger.

“Who was that?” Neo signed.

Cinder lowered her Grimm arm. “I don’t know… but I don’t like him.”

“Last night, there was an attempted coup that took place within the halls of Atlas Academy. It brings me no joy to say that this coup was orchestrated by one of our own—Major General Bram Thornmane. He had been working for Salem right under our noses and attempted to assassinate me under her orders. However… he was not working alone. Lieutenant Colonel Olive Harper, the Happy Huntresses, Teams BRIR, RWBY, and JNR, as well as their associates, were all part of this vile attack against one of our most valued institutions. These… former heroes are now considered terrorists acting against the state. They are heavily armed and extremely dangerous. However, we have succeeded in apprehending two of their number; Robyn Hill and Qrow Branwen, and Olive Harper was killed during the attack. The AUF urges anyone with information on the whereabouts or intent of the other perpetrators to please come forward. If you see any of the suspects, do not approach. Contact your closest AUF station immediately.”

Ruby watched the TV screen that Joanna had dragged into the dining room as Ironwood’s official statement on what happened at the academy the night before played out for all of Atlas and Mantle to see. It made her feel sick—the lies dropping from his mouth, the fear-mongering that they were all in league with Salem.

Ruby’s eyes picked up something different about Ironwood as well—he was wearing a thicker white coat, and some kind of technologically advanced belt was cinched around his waist. There were two bits of the buckle that extended up past it, and the buckle itself looked less like a buckle and more like some kind of cobbled together tech. She wondered what it was all for…

“Well, guys? How does it feel to officially be outlaws?”

Ruby looked back at Yang for her comment. Ruby had sat on the floor in front of all the chairs everyone had pulled up. The only ones not sitting down were Yang, standing behind the armchair Weiss sat in with her arms folded, Raven, May, Joanna, and Ren. Pietro technically wasn’t either, but that was only because he was sat in his… legchair? It wasn’t technically a wheel chair, but Ruby hadn’t thought to ask what the actual name for it was. The only people not present in the room were Penny and Fiona.

Ruby looked down again. “They have Qrow.”

“Robyn…”

Ruby looked up again—that time, the statement had come from May. The blue-haired woman was crossing her arms over her chest, holding her biceps, chewing on her bottom lip. She looked… worried.

“Ironwood probably had the cuffs slapped on ‘em as soon as they took down Callows,” Raven dryly remarked. “They weren’t useful to him after that.”

Blake turned in her chair to look at Raven. “Can’t you use your semblance to get them out?”

Raven shook her head. “I have a tie to Qrow, yeah, but Atlas invented semblance-blocking tech. If I teleport into his cell, I’ll be just as stuck as them.”

Nora sprang out of her seat, pumping her fists. “Are we going to do a jailbreak?!”

“No,” Joanna said. “There’s plenty of other things going on right now that we’ll need all hands on deck for.”

May turned to Joanna, a desperate look in her eye. “But Robyn−”

“Would want us to focus on keeping civvies safe before going after her,” Joanna said, each word enunciated with calm emphasis. “We’ve got a horde of Grimm sitting over our heads that came with that whale thing, the heat is still off, and I doubt Ironwood will ‘waste’ any of his precious resources to help Mantle now. If anyone’s gonna do anything, it’ll have to be us.”

May turned her head away, lowering her gaze. “Right. You’re… you’re right.” She shook her head. “Damnit.”

Jaune looked at Joanna. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking it’ll be easier to protect everyone in Mantle if they aren’t spread out. I think we should move everyone to the crater at the center of town under Atlas. Not the best position, but more defensible than the city is right now.”

“That’ll only work if the people already living there agree to it,” May retorted.

“Wait,” Nora said, looking between them. “People live in that?!”

May nodded at Nora. “It’s where most of the faunus in Mantle live. Little Menagerie is a more recent development, and even then, it’s more of a trade center than a neighborhood. The SDC mines the crater for dust, and back when most landlords in Mantle wouldn’t even rent their properties out to faunus, they decided to build shanty towns in the crater since a lot of them were already working there. Those eventually expanded to the slums that are there now.”

Blake’s ears flicked. “Why do they stay there?”

“Safety in numbers,” May said.

Blake folded her arms, shaking her head with a huff. “As usual, we get shoved into a corner where no one has to see us.”

Yang leaned over the back of Blake’s chair, putting her hand on her upper arm.

Blake pouted, her expression annoyed as she looked away… but then she relaxed, putting a hand over Yang’s and letting out a breath.

“As far as that plan goes, I think Fiona’s uncle still holds some sway down there,” Joanna said. “They don’t exactly have an official leader, but he’s the closest they’ve got. I’ll talk to Fi about it, see what she can do.”

May gave a nod. “Better get started on that then.” There was something… stiff and clipped in her voice.

Joanna put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it. “She’s going to be alright, May,” she said in a low voice. She patted May’s shoulder one more time before walking out of the room.

“Well,” May said, half statement and half breath. She looked over everyone else in the room. “If we’re doing this, I’ll have to get in touch with some of our contacts. Excuse me.”

Ruby watched as May left the room. She was doing a bad job of hiding how worried she was about Robyn… it must’ve been killing her to not immediately go after her.

The room was quiet for a moment—RWBY, JNR, Oscar, Pietro, and Raven all sitting in silence. “I think they’re right,” Yang said suddenly. “We need to do what we can to help Mantle now. We owe the Happy Huntresses that much after everything they’ve done for us.”

“We need to think about helping everyone,” Ruby said, standing up and turning to look at her sister. “We still have Amity—we can tell the rest of the world what’s going on. We can tell them about Salem, about the Imperators… we can even ask the other kingdoms for help!”

“Ruby’s got a point,” Blake said, resting her chin on her hand. “The Happy Huntresses know Mantle better than any of us. We should leave the evacuations to them and focus on the bigger picture stuff.”

“Hold on, hold on,” Yang said, stepping before all the chairs. “Amity wasn’t even finished.”

Ruby glanced over at Pietro. “Pietro? What would we need to get the Amity Tower operational?”

Pietro scratched his bristly chin. “Well, theoretically, I could jury-rig something together to get it going—I’d need to look at it myself to know for sure, but I’ve done enough work on the Atlas tower to have a pretty good idea what we’d need. The real challenge is going to be launching Amity itself.”

“Why would that be an issue?” Weiss asked.

Pietro grimaced, shrugging his shoulders. “Amity can’t launch without clearance from Ironwood’s own terminal.”

Yang threw a hand up. “So it’s a dead-end then. There’s no way Ironwood is going to cooperate with us now.”

“We don’t need him to,” Ruby interjected. “All we need is the clearance code from his terminal. That doesn’t mean he has to be the one to do it.”

Yang rubbed the bridge of her nose, shaking her head. “Are you even listening to yourself?! To get to his terminal, we’d have to get back into the academy—and there’s no chance Ironwood hasn’t beefed up security, like, a hundred times after what we pulled last time we were there.”

“Actually,” Pietro said, raising a finger. “There is… another option. Ironwood has another terminal in the AUF compound beneath the school. While it’s technically attached to the academy, there might be another way in.”

“Like…?” Nora said.

“Well, I didn’t mean I had any specific ideas,” Pietro said with a nervous laugh.

Suddenly, Weiss snapped her fingers, sitting up in her seat. “Snow Shoe Shipping!”

Silence fell on the room. “That’s… great!” Nora said, clapping her hands together. “What… does that mean?”

“Snow Shoe Shipping is an SDC subsidiary,” Weiss explained. “They ship things from Mantle to Atlas, including to the AUF. There might be a way in there.”

“That’s a possibility, yes,” Pietro said, scratching his chin again. “You’d still have to find the terminal once you’re inside, though.”

“And this is the easy option?” Oscar complained.

“There’s no chance we could pull this off,” Yang said, cutting a hand through the air. “So it’s pointless to even talk about it. Especially when we can’t even guarantee the message will do anything in the end.”

“It’s not pointless,” Ruby said, stamping a foot. “Atlas is only Salem’s current target. She will attack the other kingdoms eventually. We need to warn them so they can prepare for her, so they can unite against her, even if…” Ruby released a breath. “Even if… Atlas falls.”

“Ruby,” Yang said, voice gentle but also warning. “Are you sure you’re really in the best headspace to make decisions like this right now?”

Ruby glared at her. “Oh yeah? Why don’t you just say what you really mean, Yang?!”

“Woah,” Jaune said, leaning back in their chair and holding their hands up.

“And what do I ‘really mean,’ Ruby?!” Yang scoffed. “You’re already giving up, don’t you see that?! There’s still people we can help right now, but you’re acting like we’ve already lost! Shit, you’re preparing for it!”

“Protecting Mantle is something we know we can actually do,” Ren said, walking beside Yang and putting a hand on her shoulder. “Ruby, I’m sorry, but your plan is a gamble we can’t be sure will even pay off.”

Nora huffed, walking to stand next to Ruby with her arms crossed, tapping her foot against the ground with irritation. “It’s not just about Mantle and we’re not giving up! We need to protect all of Remnant, and the best way to do that is to let people know what they’re facing—give them what they need so they can start protecting themselves.”

Yang stomped a boot down. “We can’t just let people here die for the rest of the world!”

Blake stood up, also taking Ruby’s side of the room. “We aren’t, Yang. The Huntresses can still help them while we focus on helping the rest of the world.”

Yang looked shocked… and somewhat hurt that Blake took Ruby’s side.

“We can do both.”

Everyone turned to look at Jaune, still sitting.

“We’ll evacuate Mantle and use Amity to get a message out to the rest of the world,” Jaune continued. “There’s enough of us here for us to tackle both problems at once.”

“But we have to stick together,” Ruby protested. “Dividing ourselves is exactly what Salem wants.”

“No, that’s not it. Not exactly.” Oscar stood up from his chair, looking around at all the faces in the room. “Salem wants us to turn against each other… just like we are right now. We can split up and tackle separate goals while still working together.”

Silence fell again as everyone mulled over those words. Ruby thought about them… Oscar was completely right. Having different objectives didn’t mean they were splintering—it just meant there was more than one thing to do.

“In that case,” Blake said. She put her hand on Ruby’s shoulder, smiling at her. “I’m with Ruby—I believe in her plan.”

Ruby smiled back at her.

Yang looked away, crossing her arms.

“I’ll help with the evacuation of Mantle,” Ren said, giving Yang a nod. Yang seemed to perk up a little at the support.

Nora clapped her hand on Ruby’s other shoulder. “I’m also Team Ruby… huh, that’s confusing. Anyway, I’m sticking with her too.”

Ren’s mouth parted in confusion. “But… what about Mantle?”

Nora moved to lean her arm on Ruby’s shoulder while putting her other hand on her hip. “We’ll be saving it—‘cause I think we can pull this off.”

“Weiss?” Blake said, turning to the girl in question. “What about you?”

Weiss stood, smoothing out her skirt. She calmly walked over to join the others around Ruby. “I am the one that has a plan to get us into the compound, after all. Of course I’m joining Ruby’s team.”

“Yeah, that’s a big surprise,” Yang muttered.

Weiss’s eyebrow twitched. “What was that?!”

“So that just leaves me, Oscar, and Raven,” Jaune said, standing up from their chair.

“Jaune, I think you should go with Yang’s team. Your semblance would come in handy if they run into anyone injured,” Oscar said.

Jaune snapped their fingers, giving Oscar a finger gun. “Smart thinking.”

“I think I’ll go with you all too.” Oscar looked at Ruby with an apologetic smile. “I’d just be more useful helping evacuate—I think I’d just slow you guys down.”

Ruby frowned. “You shouldn’t doubt yourself like that, Oscar.”

Oscar just continued to smile. “It’s not doubt. I know I’ve improved, but I’m still not on your guys’ level yet. Better to stick with the team I know I can help instead of the one I might hinder.”

Ruby thought about that… and nodded to show she understood. Oscar had already matured so much since they’d met him—Ruby felt proud of him, but she couldn’t deny there was also something a little eerie about it.

“Well, if your plan is gonna work, we’ll need Amity ready,” Raven said, looking at Ruby. “I think I’ll head there with Pietro, keep it secured while he works on it.”

Jaune looked around the room. “Sounds like we’re all decided then.”

Ruby shook her head. “No, not yet—there’s still one more person we need to ask.”

“Now, you need repairs to the power supply line from your core to ensure you’re getting full power from your core. We’ll also have to overhaul a lot of major systems—the AV-160s aren’t as advanced as your original body, but I think we’ll be able to retrofit and get you back to that level. Let’s see, what else… oh! Right, we’ll need to make four new blades to bring Floating Array back up to its full eight. Also, feel free to suggest any ideas you have as well, Penny—even if they’re just cosmetic. This is your body after all, and I want you to be happy in it.”

Ruby watched as Pietro sat beside Penny, who was sitting up on a table they were using as a makeshift examination table, pulled in from the dining room into the room that had become Penny’s in the restaurant. He rattled off upgrades and different items of repair, while Penny listened attentively, nodding her head every once in a while to show she was still following.

“Wait,” Ruby said, holding up a hand. She was leaning back against the wall behind Pietro.

Pietro turned and looked. “What?”

“You said Floating Array had eight blades,” Ruby continued. “But I remember seeing twelve before.”

Pietro scratched the side of his head. “That can’t be right… I only designed her with eight.”

Ruby was very sure she’d seen twelve. “Are you sure about that? Maybe we should check her blueprints.”

Ruby walked over as Pietro began to flip through blue sheets of paper. Penny watched them both with curiosity.

“Ah, here it is—Floating Array,” Pietro said, a triumphant lilt in his voice. He stared at the page… and his smile slowly dropped. He held it closer to his face, turned it, held it further back and adjusted his glasses. “Huh. I didn’t write the number down.”

“I think I should have sixteen,” Penny chirped.

Ruby and Pietro looked at each other. “Sixteen?” Ruby asked.

“Sixteen,” Pietro said with a nod.

Pietro set aside the schematics on a side table, chair moving toward the door.

“In that case, I’ll have to go grab some more raw material—the Happy Huntresses brought some things over from my pharmacy I’ll need,” he said. “I should be back in a moment.”

Pietro shut the door behind him.

Ruby and Penny sat quietly for a few moments.

“Ruby?”

“Hm? What is it, Penny?”

Penny leaned up on the table, holding her arms around her legs. She stared down at the limbs, looking… pensive. “Nobody’s really told me yet what happened after I… died. Except for Yang. She told me about… about the friends we lost.”

“Penny… I’m so sorry,” Ruby said quietly.

Penny turned to look at her. “I overheard everyone talking earlier. You were being very loud.”

Ruby scratched the back of her neck, looking away with an awkward groan. “Yeah, guess things did get a little heated.”

“I heard you talking about Mister Ironwood,” Penny continued. “It… sounds like you are not friends with him anymore. Why?”

Ruby glanced at Penny. Penny was staring at her, eyes wide, hopeful… innocent. The idea of telling her how someone she trusted used her as Ironwood did was… unappealing to say the least.

Penny looked away again. “I keep trying to ask Dad, but he won’t tell me. But… I hope that you will tell me the truth, Ruby.”

“Right,” Ruby muttered. She stepped a little closer to Penny. “The truth is, Penny, that… that Ironwood was the one who took your core.”

Penny’s eyebrows scrunched up. She touched a hand to her chest. “My…?”

Ruby sat beside Penny on the table. “He lied to your dad about it. Said there was… no chance of bringing you back. He used your core to make… copies, basically. That’s where the body you’re in now came from. They’re not like you—they’re all programming.” She put a hand over Penny’s that was still on the table. “They don’t have a soul. They’re not… people, really.”

The hand over Penny’s “heart” closed into a fist. “He… he did that?”

Ruby squeezed Penny’s hand. “I’m really sorry, Penny. Ironwood, he’s… he’s not a good person.”

Penny curled inward more—it sounded like she was trying not to cry.

“Penny…?”

“I… I… I am… angry,” Penny said through clenched teeth. “I am very, very angry.” She didn’t have to say it—her voice was trembling with the feeling.

Ruby’s hand nearly flinched away from her friend’s. She’d never seen Penny upset like that before… and something about it felt a little scary. She was always so sweet and kind that it felt totally alien to witness such raw fury in her.

Ruby scratched her temple. “There was something I actually wanted to ask you, but now I feel like it might be a weird time to.”

Penny released a breath. Ruby wondered how she did—did she need to breathe? She was pretty sure she didn’t. “No, it’s okay.” Penny pulled her hand away from Ruby’s so she could turn around, looking at her friend. She managed a smile—even if it was blatantly forced, a show for Ruby’s sake.

“Well, that conversation you… overheard bits of,” Ruby started, “we were making plans for what we’re going to do next. The situation is…” she exhaled. “It’s not good, Penny. Salem, the one behind all this, is here now in some… giant whale Grimm. And there’s another Grimm headed here too—an Imperator. They’re these really dangerous ones that can wipe out a whole kingdom on their own if they wanted.”

“That does sound very bad,” Penny said with a nod.

“Yeah. Anyway, me and the others were talking and… we had a bit of a disagreement on what to do, so we’re doing two things instead.” Ruby held up two fingers—she lowered one. “Yang’s idea was helping the Happy Huntresses evacuate everyone in Mantle to the crater at the center of town. Mine is to break into the AUF military compound under the academy to get Ironwood’s credentials so we can finish the Amity Tower, launch it, and warn the rest of the world about Salem. I… know you’re dealing with a lot of your own stuff right now, so I totally get it if−”

“I want to go with you.”

Ruby blinked. “Really? Are… are you sure?”

Penny gave her a resolute nod. “I want to help, and…” she smiled sheepishly, “I do not want to be separated from a good friend so soon.”

Ruby smiled back at her. “Well, I’m sure Weiss, Blake, and Nora will be excited to have you come with us.”

The door opened again, Pietro’s chair walking him through and holding a box of scrap metal between two robotic limbs attached to the back of the chair. He grinned at the two girls. “Alright, I’ve got what we need—time to get started.”

“Alright, we’re going to try bending your wrist now. Ready? And…”

Winter winced as the doctor assisted her in bending back her wrist. The flare of pain was sudden and intense.

The doctor, a woman with dark brown skin and braided black hair dressed in white and dull, light blue scrubs, gently set Winter’s arm back down on the small table attached to her medical bed.

Winter hated being confined to this bed in the medical wing—hated feeling like dead weight. But with every part of her body feeling like she’d taken a bad fall down the side of a mountain, she couldn’t really deny she was exactly where she needed to be.

The doctor made a note on her clipboard. “Mm, definitely broken. We’ll need a cast.” She looked at the nurse behind her, nodding at him. He headed for the door.

Broken. It felt like everything was broken. Her body, her spirit… the academy itself.

She and Olive Harper had faced Cinder Fall and her companion, the one Winter had heard called Neo. Cinder had killed Olive and brutalized Winter… she wanted her alive, to know that her little sister was in danger and that she was powerless to do a thing about it.

It had been such a relief to get that call from Weiss, to know that she was alive and okay… though, she couldn’t get in contact with her anymore, and that gave her a new set of worries to fret over.

Winter looked across the hall, seeing the nurse walk by her window as he headed wherever it was he was going.

Directly across the hall she saw the Ace-Ops standing around Clover, eyes shut in his own bed. Comatose.

Winter’s attention shifted as she saw Ironwood walk down the hall, turning and entering her room. “Winter.”

“Sir,” Winter said. “I’d salute, but…” She looked pointedly at the wrist she had just been informed was broken.

Ironwood looked at the doctor. “Can you give us the room for a moment?”

The doctor nodded, getting off her rolling stool chair and stepping out of the room, the automatic door sliding down from the ceiling after she was gone.

“I’ll be fine soon enough,” Winter said. She tried to flex her fingers—she flinched in pain again.

Ironwood looked down at her, a deep set frown on his face. Then, he managed the slightest of smiles. “I’m glad you’re alright. It’s not like Cinder to show mercy.”

Winter let her head fall back against her pillow on the raised back of the bed. “That’s because it wasn’t. She made it very clear she intended to kill my sister… and made sure there was nothing I could do about it.”

Ironwood sighed, clasping his hands behind him and looking down at the floor. It was only at that motion that Winter noticed the new, black-colored prosthetic in place of his injured left arm. “I suppose it isn’t the best time, but, speaking of your sister… she’s now a fugitive from the law.”

Winter was too stunned to do anything for a moment. “Wh… what?”

Ironwood paced, head still hanging down, as he explained the situation to Winter. “Last night, a top secret project was stolen from the R&D labs, likely just before Thornmane triggered the lockdown. Ruby Rose, Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long, Raven Branwen, and May Marigold were discovered by the Ace-Ops, leaving the labs with something in a bag. I have no doubt it was the item that was stolen.”

Winter looked down. Ruby and the others… one of the Happy Huntresses? Why? She looked at Ironwood again. “You… didn’t say Weiss was with them.”

“She wasn’t,” Ironwood said. “But we have security footage of her escaping with them, as well as Team JNR. It’s reasonable to assume, especially with how close-knit her team is, that Weiss was at least aware of their intentions.”

“Weiss… what are you doing?” Winter muttered.

She recalled their conversation over scroll the night before. Weiss’s ominous claim that they couldn’t talk for a while… she’d blocked Winter’s number. Now it made sense why she’d done so.

“We already have Robyn Hill and Qrow Branwen in custody,” Ironwood continued. “We’re hoping that at least one of them might know where the others are hiding out.”

“Qrow and Robyn?” She glanced across the hall again… at Clover, unconscious and grievously injured. “What happened with Tyrian?”

Ironwood paused for a moment, his shoulders sinking as though more weight had been dropped on them. “Regretfully, Tyrian Callows escaped. With Clover in a coma and the other two refusing to talk, we don’t have a clear picture on what actually happened. All we know is that their transport crashed, Tyrian is missing… and Clover was stabbed with Qrow’s weapon.”

Winter gasped. “Qrow’s… do you actually think he…?”

Ironwood looked right into Winter’s eyes. “I can no longer afford to give anyone the benefit of the doubt. So long as it appears that Qrow is the one who attacked Clover, I have to believe it’s true.”

Winter’s chin dropped against her chest. “I… understand, sir.”

Ironwood closed his eyes. “I wish I could give you the time to rest and recuperate, Specialist Schnee, but… time is something I’m afraid we have little of at the moment. Right now, a horde of Grimm has surrounded Atlas. Bigger than any horde I’ve ever seen. That, and the Imperator is still out there. I’m going to need all hands on deck—not just to deal with the traitors but these more pressing threats as well.” He opened his eyes again, his steely gaze falling upon Winter. “I understand that it may be difficult to consider your sister an enemy. Can I trust you to put aside your personal feelings to do what needs to be done?”

Winter’s lips moved silently as she tried to find her answer.

“The sooner we apprehend Team RWBY and their allies, the sooner you can be certain that Weiss is out of danger.”

Winter thought carefully. Weiss… she didn’t want to fight her sister. But Ironwood was right—if Winter was involved, she could ensure Weiss wouldn’t be hurt. Maybe she could even talk to her, convince her to stand down.

Winter looked back into Ironwood’s eyes. “You can trust me.”

Salem walked into a dark chamber within Monstra, so dark that nothing could be seen even just a few feet past the doorway. The space reeked of blood and decay, of things long dead.

“It’s time to stretch your legs and go on the hunt, my pet,” Salem cooed to the shadow. “I think it’s time we took the king off the board. Find him.”

A deep, harsh growl answered from the darkness.

Chapter Text

Qrow stood with his arm against the hard-light wall of his cell, his head hanging down. He hadn’t slept at all over the night. Couldn’t sleep. Whenever he closed his eyes, he only saw…

Blood. Clover’s blood. On his sword, spattering the snow like flecks of paint.

“You know, Robyn, for all your speeches and lofty ideals, you still ended up exactly where I am. Makes me wonder if there’s really that much difference between us after all.”

Arthur Watts—he was sitting in the cell across from Qrow’s. One of Salem’s cronies.

“I didn’t murder innocent people!”

The response came from the cell beside Qrow’s—Robyn Hill. Leader of the Happy Huntresses, former electoral candidate for the Atlesian council… and now, cell neighbor. They had been placed together at first, but were later separated. Qrow guessed Ironwood didn’t want them collaborating to escape or something.

“Well, if we want to get technical, I didn’t either,” Watts retorted. “That was all Tyrian’s doing.”

“Don’t act like you didn’t have any part in it!” Robyn spat.

“Perhaps you should’ve taken a lesson from me. After all, while we’re both here now, I at least managed to succeed in what I attempted in the end. You, on the other hand−”

Qrow heard something slam into the hard-light wall of Robyn’s cell—he guessed it was her fist. “You’re lucky I’m not in there with you or I would take your head and shove it up your−”

“Both of you, shut up!”

At Qrow’s shout they both did. Qrow let out a long sigh, finally pushing off the wall. He turned.

Watts and Robyn were both looking at him—Robyn with wide eyes, Watts with that same glare that always let you know he thought you were beneath him.

“Qrow…” Robyn said, stepping up to the wall between their cells and laying a hand against it. “What happened wasn’t your fault. Clover… he made his own choice. The consequences are on him and him alone.”

Qrow shook his head, looking away from her. “That supposed to make a difference?”

Robyn pulled her hand back, keeping it in the air as her fingers curled in and she looked down… she didn’t know what to say. That much was obvious from her face.

Qrow’s head shot in the direction of the jail entrance—two armed AUF soldiers in their steel blue and white armor were approaching them. “Watts!” one shouted.

Watts’ head perked up as he looked at the guards.

“Time for your interrogation,” the guard said as the other swiped a card through a panel on his cell, deactivating the hard-light shield.

“About time,” Watts muttered, standing up. He looked back at Qrow and Robyn with a smirk as cuffs were snapped around his wrists—right before the guard walked behind him, shoving him to get him moving. The three walked out without another word.

Qrow tightened his hands into fists. “I’m going to kill Ironwood for all this,” he muttered to himself.

Watts walked down the lower level halls in the AUF compound, the two soldiers who had taken him from his cell at either shoulder. While he wasn’t eager to find out whatever methods of interrogation Ironwood liked to employ, he was at least relieved to be saved from being the sole witness to Qrow and Robyn’s vapid melodrama.

Watts was led into a small, almost perfectly square room with two chairs and a table, dark aside from one light directly over the table. The chair closest to the door was bolted to the floor. The other had Ironwood sitting in it, his bulky, inelegant pistol sitting on his lap, a hand resting on the grip. The general stared at Watts with cold eyes.

One of the soldiers gestured with his rifle for Watts to go in. He sighed, complying—there would be no opportunity for escape here. Not yet, anyhow.

Watts walked over and sat in the bolted chair. As soon as he did, one of the guards locked his ankle to the chair leg with a cuff, then his wrist to a small hole in the table.

The soldiers saluted General Ironwood before leaving through the door, shutting it behind them.

Watts and Ironwood stared at each other in silence. Ironwood had on a thicker coat, some new, fancy technological belt, messier hair, and also sported a new, black prosthetic arm on his left… a scar to remind him of him and Watts’ battle in Amity Colosseum.

“I like the new hand,” Watts said, pointing to it. “It suits you.”

Ironwood continued to stare.

“How have you been?” Watts leaned back in his chair. “I heard quite the commotion last night.”

Still, Ironwood did not respond. “You’re going to help me.”

Watts blinked, head flinching back. “I’m going to help you?”

Ironwood’s thumb ran over the side of his gun, brushing over the safety—it was off. “You are. You’re going to help me recover the stolen Venatrix prototype.”

Watts’ eyes widened. “Penny? Pietro’s little…? Hm. Quite a thing to lose. I wasn’t even aware she was still active.”

“It has fallen into the hands of reckless children,” Ironwood said. “And it is far too dangerous to let them keep it, not when we need it to develop weapons that can actually protect Atlas.”

Watts scoffed, turning his chin up. “And why would I have any reason to help the man who locked me up?”

Ironwood slowly, calmly lifted the pistol off his lap, aiming it across the table… right at Watts’ head. “Because if you don’t, that big brain you value so much is going to be decorating the wall behind you. If you help me, I have a reason to keep you around. If you don’t, then you’re useless to me… and I think it’s better to take care of a potential problem before it becomes one.”

Watts studied Ironwood carefully. His form was rigid, firm, his eyes locked on Watts and narrowed, his grip and aim unwavering. There was a calculating coldness in his eyes… he meant it. Every word of what he said. If Watts refused… that would be the end of him.

“You’ve changed, James,” Watts said at a low volume.

“Ten,” Ironwood said. “Nine. Eight. Seven…”

“Alright, fine, I’ll do it,” Watts said, throwing his unbound hand up . “No need to be so dramatic.”

Ironwood, at a deliberate, slow pace, slid the gun into its holster.

Watts sighed, slumping in his chair as he glared at Ironwood across the table. “Just tell me what you need me to do.”

“I’d been working on a project for you all before… well, all of this happened. It should still be at the pharmacy—you’re welcome to help yourselves to it.”

Yang remembered Pietro’s parting words with her group as she, Oscar, Jaune, and Ren walked through the eerily empty streets of Mantle.

Without the heating grid working, it was only a fraction warmer than the tundra surrounding it. Wind whistled and moaned through the empty streets and damaged buildings, cars abandoned on the road, some tipped over in the chaos of the Grimm attack.

“Kinda reminds me of Mountain Glenn now,” Yang said, looking up at the dark windows surrounding them.

“Yeah,” Jaune said. “Hard to imagine it was just a normal city only a couple days ago.”

“How many people are still here?” Ren asked.

Oscar shrugged. “There’s no way to know for sure, but Mantle has a larger population than Atlas, and the evacuations weren’t that far underway when Ironwood called them off, so… could be a lot, really.”

Something cracked beneath the tread of Yang’s boot. She stopped, lifting her foot and looking down—a watch, glass now glittering on the paved street after she’d cracked its face.

Not too far from that was a suitcase lying open just off the sidewalk. Someone must’ve dropped it during the evacuation . Within it, Yang saw a photo—three people, two guys and one girl. The guy closest to the camera was waving, a slight smile on his face. The other guy was giving a peace sign and the girl, a faunus with yellow dog ears, had her arms wrapped around his shoulders, leaning against him and winking at the camera with an open-mouthed smile.

The photo was crumpled and damaged. Yang couldn’t help but wonder if the three were still alive… if they’d ever see each other again.

Ren looked back, noticing Yang had stopped. “Yang?”

She perked up, shaking her head. “Sorry—coming.”

She lightly jogged to catch up to the others.

After a moment, she spoke again. “So, it’s been on my mind lately… do you think… Ruby made the wrong choice keeping the truth from Ironwood?”

“I don’t think compartmentalizing information ever helped things,” Ren said. “Maybe Ironwood would’ve been more willing to trust us and give us the benefit of the doubt if we’d been honest from the beginning.”

Oscar glanced down at his feet as he walked. “I did question her on that when she did it,” he said. He looked around them. “But seeing how everything’s turned out…? I can see why she was worried how he might react to that information.”

Jaune nodded. “It was only a matter of time. I mean, all that stuff with Penny was already going on before we got here—I think Ironwood was already starting to crack way before we ever got involved.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Yang said, scratching the back of her neck. “Guess I just wanna feel like… like there was something different we could’ve done. That things didn’t have to go this way.”

Everyone stopped as they all heard the same sounds… low growling and sniffing coming from around the corner. Without even needing to communicate, Jaune pressed their hand against Ren’s back, and Ren activated their emotion-masking semblance.

With careful steps, they all pressed up against the wall near the turn. Yang peeked her head out.

Two Sabyrs were prowling the square that Pietro’s pharmacy was on. One hopped up onto a car, the metal creaking under its weight. The other pawed at something on the ground, letting out another growl.

Yang leaned back behind the wall, turning to look at her companions. “Two Sabyrs,” she reported. “We can definitely take them—what’s the call?”

“There's only two now,” Jaune whispered. “If we start a fight, others might get drawn in by the noise, and we could end up in a bad situation. I think we should wait them out, see if they leave before doing anything.”

Yang nodded. Jaune was a good strategist—if they thought attacking was a bad move, she trusted that call .

Yang kept an eye on the Sabyrs as they waited. Minutes passed, reminding Yang of tense games of hide and seek in the past, both with her childhood friends and her famil y . Why was it you always had to go to the bathroom whenever you were hiding?

Suddenly, Yang felt a chill down her back—a sixth sense telling her something was watching her.

She turned around, looking. Nothing on the street behind them. Nothing on the roofs either… and the feeling began to ebb.

Yang shook her head—she was letting nerves get to her.

When she looked back at the street, the Sabyrs were finally clearing out , trotting off to somewhere else in Mantle. “Coast’s clear,” Yang said. “Let’s move before they come back.”

Everyone ran as quietly as they could until they reached the pharmacy. They went in through the front door, closed it behind them, then started to make their way to the back door Pietro had told her led to the building’s garage.

Yang stopped partway, noticing that the holographic screen behind Pietro’s desk was on and playing a news broadcast from Atlas Eye.

A blond-haired reporter in a green suit was standing before a graffitied building somewhere else in Mantle, holding a microphone up to his mouth. There was a picture-in-picture of Ironwood with a backdrop of the Atlesian crest in the upper right corner of the screen.

“With still no word from General Ironwood, citizens in Mantle are left frightened and perplexed by the sudden withdrawal of military personnel from the lower city, especially given the massive Grimm horde outside.”

Ironwood’s image was replaced by a photo of the whale Grimm, surrounded by the smaller black shapes of Teryx and… were those… Beringels? With wings?

The reporter walked to the side, the camera moving to show the rest of the street. Civilians were walking down it, all heading in the same direction. Yang noticed Joanna standing there, her back to the camera as she watched over the evacuation.

“I’ve… never seen anything like this,” the reporter continued. Yang saw Joanna take notice of him, starting to walk over. “It truly feels like the end of days—but the Atlas Eye is committed to−”

Joanna ripped the microphone out of the reporter’s hand. He shouted, going to grab it again… but quickly backed off when Joanna stabbed her crossbow staff into the ground between them and sneered at him. He backed off with his hands raised, clearly making the wise choice to simply let Joanna do what she wanted.

Joanna looked at the camera. “Citizens of Mantle, General Ironwood has abandoned you,” she said. “But we haven’t. If you can hear this, gather any food and supplies you need to stay warm and head to the Mantle Crater. The Grimm are starting to push back into the city, but we can hold the line if we all come together. If you don’t, well… we’ve all seen what’s waiting for us out there. It’s time to show them your teeth, Mantle.”

Joanna walked away from the camera, shoving the microphone back into the reporter’s hand as she trudged past him.

Yang grinned—she liked Joanna. She felt like they had a lot in common.

She walked to the back door, the others following, unlocking it with the keys Pietro gave her and stepping in to find three bulky shapes covered by tarp. She grabbed the corner of a tarp, tugging it off.

What she saw there made her grin ear to ear. “Ohoho, the others are definitely missing out.”

A few moments later, Yang skidded down the street on a gods. Damned. Hoverbike. Oscar was on the back, holding on to her and screaming his head off.

She guessed the vehicle must’ve used whatever weird gravity dust tech that Reese Chloris’s skateboard did back when they fought Team ABRN in the Vytal Tournament. Whatever it was, it was cool. She couldn’t deny that she still missed Bumblebee—missed the feeling of the tires rumbling down the road, the roar of her engine… but Bumblebee had made a worthy sacrifice to save Blake’s life.

And Blake’s life was worth far more to her than a bike could ever even hope to match.

Yang laughed again, revving up the engine to go even faster. The bike was shaped a bit oddly—the front of it was like a rectangular box, making it appear very front-loaded compared to the sparse back, which really only had a seat, footholds, and not much else. It could also use a coat of gold paint, in her opinion—the drab, gun-metal gray wasn’t much to look at.

There were glowing blue touch screens above the handlebars, which displayed all kinds of interesting information… but for the moment , all Yang cared about was seeing how high the speedometer could go.

She glanced in the side-view mirrors, seeing that Ren and Jaune were still following her on their own bikes. There had only been three, meaning Oscar had to ride with someone… and made the mistake of picking Yang since he knew she had a motorcycle license.

Yang took a pair of orange sunglasses out of her pocket, putting them over her eyes. She spotted something on the road ahead—a billboard sign had fallen off a roof, landing on a car at just the right angle to form a ramp.

She grinned wide.

Oscar saw it as well, and proceeded to have a very different reaction. “Wait wait wait, Yang, no!”

The bike hit the ramp, angling toward the wall as Yang let out a whooping cheer and Oscar screamed in terror. She fired her left gauntlet to turn the bike so that it would ride along on the wall for a moment before it began to fall—Yang fired her other gauntlet to put the bike into a midair spin.

She laughed with pure manic glee. Oscar made a gagging sound as he tried to spit out her hair, which was getting caught in his mouth.

The bike landed with a shudder, the gravity repulsion field keeping it from colliding with the street. She slowed down enough for Jaune and Ren to catch up with her.

As soon as she did, she turned her attention forward again—and rocketed off.

Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Nora, May, and Penny moved quickly across the Mantle rooftops, heading in the direction Weiss had indicated Snow Shoe Shipping was in. They needed to move fast and avoid getting entangled in any fights with Grimm or AUF drones that had been left behind.

Just as Ruby thought that, she saw a camera drone flying up between the gap in the middle of two buildings ahead of them. She motioned for everyone to get back.

They all took cover together behind an inactive heating unit, tall enough to obscure them all. Ruby watched around the corner of it for the drone to pass and, when it did, signaled for everyone to start moving again.

After a while, Weiss pointed ahead. “There—I can see it now.”

Ruby followed her finger—she was pointing to a building behind a chain-link fence that bordered right on the crater, red brickwork with a wide lower level and a smaller second level with a steepled roof. All around the roof were rusted metal tubes leading up, up… all the way up to Atlas right smack above it.

Ruby grimaced a little. She really hoped that rust was only a surface level issue and not an indicator of the tubes’ overall condition.

“Weiss, are you… sure this is safe?” Ruby asked.

Weiss lowered her hand, placing it on her hip. “Ruby, we’re outlaws trying to break into a compound that belongs to the most advanced military in the world so we can steal a general’s credentials and warn the rest of the world about an evil, immortal witch. Nothing about this plan is safe.”

“Yeah, fair point,” Ruby said.

“Well, let’s not wait on ceremony,” May said, starting to walk to the edge of the building.

Ruby moved to follow… when her scroll began to buzz . She reached into her pouch. “Hold on, it might be the others.”

Everyone stopped, turning to look at Ruby.

Ruby pulled out her scroll… and was shocked by the name on the screen. “It’s… it’s Ironwood.”

“Don’t answer that,” May said, raising a hand in Ruby’s direction. “He might be able to track your location.”

Ruby smirked, holding up the device and shaking it in her hand. “He would if I hadn’t spent a couple hours last night jailbreaking this thing to disable that functionality.”

Weiss blinked. “It’s a little scary how good you are at tampering with these things sometimes.”

Ruby answered the call, holding her scroll up to her ear. “What do you want, Ironwood?”

“You don’t know what you’re doing, Ruby,” Ironwood said. “Taking Penny was a mistake.”

Ruby folded her arm under the one holding her scroll. “Actually, I think I know perfectly well what I’m doing.”

“It is a weapon, Ruby. You might think it’s your friend, but it isn’t like us. It isn’t a person.”

“She’s more of a person than you,” Ruby said coldly.

“Have you ever even considered what might happen if it decided you weren’t its ‘friend’ anymore? If it decided that humanity was a threat to it? It’s a machine, and a machine put to much better use as research for more reliable, controllable, machines. With its core, we can keep advancing the Venatrix program—we can improve them, and they will save lives.”

“She’s not just a machine,” Ruby snarled into the scroll.

“I’m giving you a choice, Ruby. Return the prototype to the AUF and I can offer amnesty to you and your friends. We can forget this all ever happened… you can go back to doing the right thing. Protecting people.”

Ruby almost had to laugh—what would Ironwood think of how, just the night before, Salem said something so similar. “We’re managing to do that just fine on our own—and I am never letting you get your hands on Penny again.”

There was a long sigh on the other end of the call. “I was afraid you wouldn’t see reason. I gave you a choice—whatever happens to you and your friends now is on you.” Ironwood hung up.

Ruby slid her scroll away with a sigh. “Heard that one before too,” she muttered. She just… wish ed she didn’t feel like Ironwood and Salem were both kind of right, about that at least. However things turned out, it would be because of the decisions she’d made.

“We all good?” May called over.

Ruby huffed, walking up to the others. “Yeah, we’re fine.”

“What was that all about?” Blake asked.

“Just Ironwood being… ugh, Ironwood,” Ruby griped.

She noticed a glance from Penny—inquisitive and worried. Ruby guessed she might’ve overheard some of that talk… and guessed what it was about.

Penny looked different after her upgrades—she was taller for one thing, just short of Yang’s six foot height. Halfway down her thighs her legs were sleek jet black, widening into heavier mechanical feet like big boots to account for her stronger rocket thrusters, an advantage now that she no longer had to “pass” as human . Her hair was longer, still copper-red but falling all the way down her back and curling in at the ends. She wore a white pleated shirt and a forest green skirt that flared out, suspenders clipped to it. She also had a detached black shirt collar around her neck, and had tied the ribbon Ruby had saved back into her hair—freshly sewn up and repaired.

Ruby mouthed “later” to her. Penny nodded.

With that, they started to make their way down to street level.

Once Jaune, Ren, Oscar, and Yang reached a city block that was still occupied—and Oscar managed to hold onto his lunch despite Yang’s insane driving—they parked their hoverbikes, going door to door and gathering everyone who hadn’t already left.

When Jaune had made it someway down their side of the street, they were surprised when the next door they knocked on was answered by a little kid he recognized. He must’ve been only about four years old, with dark skin and grayish-black curly hair. One of the kids from the route Jaune used to lead them on to school.

“How’s it going, little man?” Jaune bumped fists with the kid.

The child giggled at them.

Jaune glanced up at the father, who had walked up behind his son.

“We’re getting everyone evacuated to the crater,” Jaune explained, gesturing behind himself at the other people already gathering up. “Take only what you need.”

The father nodded at him, gently touching his son on the shoulder and guiding him into the house to start gathering their things.

Jaune blew out a breath. Things had been going well so far. They were moving at a decent clip and, as of yet, nobody had put up too much of a fuss about being asked to relocate to the crater. There was some discontentment here and there, that was to be sure, but overall it seemed that people were simply thankful that anyone was looking out for them.

“The crater? Are− are you sure it will be safe out there?”

Then again, maybe Jaune had spoken too soon. They turned, seeing a shorter blonde woman holding a snow shovel as a makeshift weapon talking to Yang. The poor thing looked like she was shaking.

Yang started to answer when she was cut off by the sounds of screaming and snarls coming further up the road. She, Jaune, Ren, and Oscar all turned to see a handful of people running toward them in a panic… and two Sabyrs chasing after them.

Jaune ran forward, taking a round, thick disc-shaped object the size of his palm from his belt, tapping the blue button at the center of it and tossing it in the direction of the two Sabyrs— another Polendina invention he’d picked up while they were at the pharmacy.

It skidded along the ground, stopping a few feet ahead of the Grimm —and just when they were drawing close to it, a hard-light shield about Jaune’s height and as long as one of the Sabyrs sprang up.

The Sabyrs were going to o fast to avoid it, slamming into it—before they could recover, Ren dropped down from a roof above them, stabbing them both through the back with the knives attached to StormFlower. They were precise, lethal strikes… the Sabyrs faded away into ash not even a second later.

Ren stood as the hard-light shield retracted back into the device. He kicked it over toward Jaune.

Jaune activated one of the new functions of their shield Pietro had added, magnetizing it. The device was caught by its pull and stuck to the outer surface—Jaune grabbed the device, deactivating the magnetism and looking at it in his hand with a grin. “Honestly? Way cooler than a hoverbike.”

“It’s alright, everyone!” Oscar said, motioning with his hands for the murmuring evacuees to calm down. “Danger’s over!”

Jaune walked over to him, as did Yang. Ren remained where he was, looking out for further threats.

“Have the Grimm already pushed this far in?” Oscar asked, keeping his voice low so as not to be overheard by the civilians.

“No, I don’t think so,” Yang said. “I think these are just the stragglers from the other night.”

“Still, there could be more out there,” Oscar said. “And with a group this size… it’s going to be hard to protect them on the move.”

Yang nodded. She looked over at Ren, cupping her hands around her mouth. “Hey, Ren! Do you think you could mask all these people if Jaune hits you with an aura amp?!”

Ren tensed for a moment, grip tightening on his guns. Then, with a released breath, his body relaxed again. “We can give it a shot! But it’s a lot of people and a long trip to the crater!”

Jaune heard a kid starting to cry—he looked to find it was the one who’d answered the door earlier, held in the arms of his father, who was bouncing him up and down, trying to calm him. Children couldn’t control their emotions as well as adults could… they could draw more Grimm to the group if they didn’t do something.

Jaune turned to Yang with a smile. “No, no, I think that’s a great idea! We’ll have a Grimm-free journey all the way to the crater.”

“Do we really have to shack up with those animals in the slums?”

Jaune, Yang, and Oscar all turned to look at the group of evacuees, seeing an elderly woman with a bandanna tied over her hair. She was looking at all of them, standing at the head of the group.

“I’d feel a lot safer up in Atlas,” she continued, gesturing up with a thumb.

Jaune took a step toward her, trying to think of how they would handle this—when Yang stuck a hand out to stop them, marching toward the woman instead.

Jaune noticed Oscar gritting his teeth a little. Jaune couldn’t blame him—this was a tense situation and, as much as he loved Yang, she wasn’t always the most… delicate person.

Yang stopped before the woman, looking down at her. “I’m sure you would—but the people up there have decided you aren’t worth the trouble. The faunus living in the crater, on the other hand, have offered up their homes and all the help they can give… regardless if everyone they’re taking in deserves it.”

The woman looked shocked at such a blunt response to her statement, shrinking under Yang’s glare.

Another woman, the blonde one with the snow shovel, gave a grimacing, apologetic smile to Yang as she started to gently lead the older woman away. “We’ll just… go get our things then.”

Oscar, Jaune, Ren, and Yang got the group on the move, Yang taking a hoverbike at the head of the crowd , Jaune and Ren sharing one at the center so Jaune could maintain contact with Ren to amp his semblance, and Oscar taking the rear to keep everyone herded together.

They all drove slowly to keep pace with the evacuees. Oscar felt worn out, though less physically and more… emotionally.

“I don’t want to go to the slums,” the same old woman who complained before whined.

“Mom!” The blonde woman—evidently, the older woman’s daughter. There was a kid walking between the two that Oscar presumed was the blonde woman’s.

“General Ironwood said we were going to Atlas,” the old woman continued.

“Mom, stop—you’re setting a bad example.”

“...That girl didn’t need to yell at me.”

Oscar sighed, sinking forward on his bike. He tapped his finger to his ear, activating his earpiece so he could talk to the other s on their closed, local channel. “It should not be this hard to get people to cooperate.”

“I know, it’s frustrating,” Yang said. “But I guess there’s some people who’d rather hang on to their prejudices instead of their lives.”

“Do any of you really think Remnant is even capable of uniting against Salem?” Ren asked. “With all we’ve seen, it feels like people will always sacrifice others to get what they want—even in the face of their own destruction.”

“I… I don’t know,” Yang admitted. “But that doesn’t mean we should give up.”

Oscar shook his head, sitting up again. “It’s not going to be easy.”

“I believe it’s gonna happen,” Jaune said. “We’ve gotta keep believing that—otherwise, what are we even fighting for?”

Oscar noticed Ren turning his head away up ahead of him. “I wish I could have that kind of hope.” Suddenly, he winced, his aura flaring.

Oscar frowned. This was taking a lot out of Ren… Oscar just hoped he could hold it together long enough for them to reach the crater.

“You okay?” Jaune asked.

“It’s just… a lot to focus on,” Ren replied.

“You’ve got this, Ren,” Jaune said. “We’re almost to the−”

“I don’t need encouragement,” Ren snapped. “I need to focus.”

“O− oh, uh… sorry.”

Jaune and Ren fell silent and Ren’s aura ceased flickering.

Oscar blew a breath out of his nose. Everyone was under so much pressure… he hoped they wouldn’t all fracture apart from it.

Weiss watched as May cut through the padlock on the fence around Snow Shoe Shipping with her crossbow staff. She pushed the door open, motioning a hand for everyone to go in.

As Ruby, Nora, and Blake started to move, Weiss looked back. Penny was standing behind them all, looking off in the opposite direction. At the crater… at the rest of Mantle.

Weiss walked over, gently touching her arm to get her attention.

Penny turned, looking down at her.

Weiss gave her a pleasant smile. “Come on—we’re going in.”

“Right. Sorry,” Penny said.

Weiss kept a hand on Penny’s arm as they walked.

“You have… changed a lot, Weiss,” Penny said. “Since I last saw you.”

Weiss raised an eyebrow. “I have?”

Penny nodded. “You are a lot nicer now.”

Weiss spluttered. “Wh− I was nice before too!”

“No, you weren’t,” Blake shouted back from ahead of them.

“I− Ruby, you think I was nice sometimes , ri−”

“You literally started a fight with me on the first day of class, Weiss,” Ruby called back.

Weiss folded her arms with a huff. She glanced at Penny out of the corner of her eye. “Okay. Maybe you have a point. Maybe.”

“Sorry,” Penny whispered.

“I’ll just… take the compliment,” Weiss said with a sigh.

“I like your new hair, too,” Penny said, sounding like she was desperately trying to make things up to Weiss.

They all stepped past the fence door, standing in the front courtyard before Snow Shoe Shipping.

“You know, I’m still kinda surprised you tagged along with us, May,” Nora said. “ Would’ve figured you’d stick with the rest of the Happy Huntresses.”

May grinned. “Well, this is definitely something you could use my help on. Besides, Robyn wouldn’t shut up about Amity Tower once we found out about it. I’m sure that, if she were here, she’d be totally on board with getting it up and running as soon as possible.” She blinked a few times… a frown fell upon her face and she held her arms around her.

Weiss walked up to her, touching her on the arm. “We’re going to get her back, May.”

May closed her eyes, managing a calm smile. “I know. I’m just… worried.” She shook her head, stepping away and opening her eyes again. “Anyway, with your other friends helping out the evacuation, we could spare one of our own for you guys.” Suddenly, May vanished, turning invisible before reappearing a second later. “And no one’s better suited for stealth missions than I am.”

“Showoff,” Nora said with a chuckle.

The five walked up to the front door s of the building, Weiss taking the lead and pushing them open. Inside, there were various automaton drones walking around, moving boxes, unpacking them, and placing packages into the loading areas for the various clear, pneumatic tubes that all stretched up into the ceiling.

The room was wide and circular, leaving plenty of open floor space for the drones to move around. There were shelves around the perimeter of the room where packages were stored until they were ready to be shipped out, and large shutter doors that were kept closed. Weiss assumed they led to more storage areas or delivery bays.

“Uh, Weiss?” Ruby said, eyeing the automatons. “Are you sure it’s okay if those things see us?”

Weiss continued to walk in. “Everything here in the shipping center is completely automated. All these drones you see here,” she said, motioning around, “respond only to the SDC—not Ironwood or the AUF.”

“That does raise an interesting question,” Blake said, smoothly moving around a drone that walked into her path. “Who’s even in charge of the SDC now that Jacques was arrested?”

“Well, since I was disinherited, it would fall to Whitley,” Weiss explained. “He’s the heir now.”

“Isn’t he like, twelve?” Nora asked.

“Fourteen,” Weiss corrected. “But he is still a minor. In theory, my mom would be serving as interim CEO until he came of age, but… I think she’s probably even less capable, so they might be waiving the rules a bit .”

“Whitley…” Penny said. “That is your… younger brother?”

Weiss nodded. “That’s right.”

“I see,” Penny said, touching her chin. “Winter mentioned him before.”

Weiss cocked her head to the side. “You knew my sister?”

Penny nodded at her. “Yes! When I was first created, I spoke with her frequently. I hope she is doing well.”

Weiss looked away, holding her arm. “Yeah… me too, Penny.”

“So how do these things even work?”

Weiss looked over at Nora to see she was pressing her ear to the horizontal portion of one of the tubes, listening to the packages as they whooshed through them. Every time one did Nora giggled, kicking her feet with delight.

“These tubes are for shipping dust refined in the crater directly up to Atlas.” As she explained, Weiss pointed a finger, moving it to track along one of the tubes and up to where it disappeared into the ceiling. “So all we have to do is find the one that goes to this AUF base. There should be some kind of label on it somewhere.”

Blake snickered, folding her arms as she looked at Weiss. “Are there any buildings in this kingdom that your family doesn’t own?”

Nora chuckled as well, pushing off from the tube she’d leaned onto.

Weiss raised a finger. “That… isn’t relevant at the moment.”

“We should all spread out and look for this tube,” Ruby said, turning on her feet and glancing around the room. “Give a shout if you see it.”

Everyone nodded before splitting up and beginning their search.

Weiss checked a few… ones for apartment complexes, public works, office buildings, official SDC dust stores … not any that they were looking for. She also spotted one with a name that read “The Glass Unicorn” which looked like it hadn’t seen use in quite some time.

Something about that name seemed familiar. Wasn’t there some hotel called that? She vaguely remembered a moment from her childhood, hearing on the news that it had burned down or something. Not relevant to their current mission, regardless of whether it was interesting or not.

As Weiss continued to wander around, she noticed that Ruby and Penny were standing near each other. It looked like they were talking.

Almost without consciously thinking about it, Weiss’s search began to bring her closer. It wasn’t that she wanted to overhear what they were saying or anything. It wasn’t like she couldn’t help but think back to how close Ruby and Penny had been as friends and maybe, sort of, kind of, Weiss was just… a little jealous.

“Ruby… that call… it was from Ironwood, wasn’t it? He… he wanted you to give me back to him.”

Ruby looked down, scratching the back of her head. “Yeah, that was… more or less the gist of it.” Then, she put her hands on Penny’s shoulders. “But I want to make sure you know I’d never give you up for anything, okay?”

Penny’s “breath” caught in her throat. “I just… it’s very upsetting and− and confusing. He used to be a friend, but now I… I think of him and just feel angry.”

Ruby slowly moved her hands off Penny’s shoulders. “It sucks, but… sometimes that’s how things go. Sometimes the people you thought were your friends do the wrong thing.”

Penny was quiet for a moment. “Do you think that Yang and the others are also doing the wrong thing?”

Ruby shook her head. “No, no, I don’t. I… I get why they’re doing it. It’s just… I wonder if they really realize how bad things are.”

“Okay,” Penny said with a nod. “I just do not want to have to fight them too.”

Ruby smiled at her with a short chuckle. “I don’t think it’s going to come to that, Penny. Don’t worry.”

Penny turned her head, looking right at Weiss… and Weiss realized she’d just been standing there, listening while not even pretending to do something else. Her cheeks flushed red.

“Winter is part of the AUF,” Penny said, not a question, but a statement directed at Weiss. “Do you think we will have to fight her, Weiss? Is she… also our enemy?”

Ruby noticed Weiss’s embarrassment at being caught snooping and snickered to herself. With a clipped sigh, Weiss walked over to join the two of them. “I… I don’t know, Penny. Winter had always been… diligent. I’d like to believe she’d turn her back on Ironwood if it came down to him or me, but… I can’t say for sure she would.”

Penny frowned. “I’m sorry, Weiss.”

Ruby, seeing the somber look on Weiss’s face, wasn’t chuckling anymore. She reached a hand out, placing it on Weiss’s shoulder. “Are you going to be okay if we have to face her?”

Weiss gave her a half-hearted smile. “Do you think I really have a choice either way?”

Ruby looked saddened by the response.

Weiss lifted a hand, putting it over Ruby’s on her shoulder and threading her fingers between hers. “I’ll be okay, Ruby. As… as long as I know I have you in my corner, I think I can handle it.”

Penny looked at the linked hands, then between Weiss and Ruby’s faces—she seemed to be unsure if the situation had changed and she was now intruding on a private moment.

“Found the tube!” Nora shouted out from across the room.

Ruby and Weiss unlinked their hands, turning to see Nora aggressively pointing at the loading station for one of the tubes with both hands.

The three of them walked over, soon joined by Blake and May. Nora crouched down, drumming her hands against the controls. “Soooo… how does this thing work?”

“It’s simple,” Weiss said, walking past her. She sat down on the open section of the tube, crossing her legs. “If you just lie back in the tube and press launch−”

Weiss didn’t get to finish her explanation before Nora slammed her fist down on the big, blue launch button on the console. Weiss was suddenly sucked up into the tube, screaming all the while as air rushed around her.

Nora Valkyrie was a dead woman.

“No, Crimson, I need you and your team over in Sector 11. Mantle police are helping us clear the hospital, but they’ll need some backup.”

As Fiona talked to the huntsman team over her earpiece, she made notes on the map on the table in front of her, ensuring she was keeping track of where everyone was. She just wished all the huntsman teams helping them out could simply follow instructions like BRIR and Yang, Ren, Oscar, and Jaune could.

Once Fiona got the affirmative, she dropped her pen on the table, sinking on the box she was sitting on with an aggravated sigh, sheep ears drooping down.

She was in a tent in the Mantle crater, one of the bigger ones… though most of that space was taken up by the table, covered in papers and maps and a million other things Fiona needed to keep track of all at once.

“You’re doing great, Fi,” Joanna said as she walked into the tent, carrying a fire dust crystal in her hand. She broke a piece of it off and walked over to the furnace at the corner of the tent, tossing it in. The fire inside flared up. “Robyn would be proud.”

Fiona turned backward on the box so she could look at Joanna, stretching her fingers out and using her semblance to dissolve and pull the map into her hand. She smirked. “I feel like you should be doing this after showing off on the news like that.”

Joanna chuckled, walking over to stand beside Fiona, setting the remaining chunk of crystal down on the table. “How else was I supposed to get the word out? Besides, seems like it’s working.”

Fiona’s ear flicked as she heard a rumble and a whir coming from outside—the elevator was coming down again . “Sounds like we’ve got more people coming in.”

Fiona stood up, stepping outside as Joanna followed her. Sure enough, Fiona saw the elevator moving down, carrying a reasonable crowd on it. She also spotted the familiar sights of Yang and her temporary team.

Yang, Jaune, Ren, and Oscar rode the wide industrial elevator down into the crater slums. As they descended, Yang got a good look at the area from above… not that it was much to look at.

The slums were more or less a tent city, shacks thrown up on rickety-looking beams with tarps and blankets thrown over them to protect the occupants from the elements. There were plenty of people milling around, faunus and human alike—it seemed a few groups had already evacuated there on their own.

The elevator hit the bottom of the crater, Yang and the others leading their group of evacuees off. She spotted Fiona and Joanna walking up to them.

“Where’s this group coming in from?” Joanna asked.

Yang walked up to her, extending a hand. They clasped their forearms and gave them a shake. “Sector 7,” Yang replied.

“Wow, I’m surprised you guys cleared it out so fast,” Fiona said as Yang and Joanna stepped back from each other. “Honestly, I wasn’t sure how well you all would do without all your teammates.”

Yang noticed Ren turn and walk away behind her—clearly, he’d appreciated that comment just as much as she did. She folded her arms, looking down at Fiona with a scowl. “Well, as you can see, we’re doing perfectly fine on our own.”

“Where are you putting everyone?” Oscar asked.

Fiona rubbed the back of her neck. “For now, we’re just fitting them into whatever homes and shelters we can—but there is a group working on clearing out some of the older mines and getting them into a livable condition.”

Joanna put a hand on her hip. “Right now, our biggest concern is making sure everyone stays warm. We’ve got Team BRIR and a few others on raiding runs hitting some SDC refineries for burn and combustion dust. Thankfully, no one’s getting arrested during the apocalypse—at least not down here, anyway.”

Jaune looked up. Yang followed their gaze. They were staring up at Atlas directly above them. Yang wondered if it would still fit back in the crater it left behind, or if time and man kind’s tampering had done too much for it to ever be able to return to where it came from.

She doubted that was what Jaune was concerned about, though—more likely he was looking at the shape of the Grimm whale above, the specks of black flitting around it like swarms of flies.

“I keep wondering…” Jaune muttered. “Why haven’t they attacked yet? What are they waiting for?”

Yang looked down at him. He was still staring up, focused on the Grimm. It was a good question—Grimm operating on their own devices weren’t exactly known for showing restraint. Salem was in control… which meant the real question wasn’t what the Grimm were waiting for, but what she was waiting for. Was it just the Imperator… or was there something more to it?

“Fiona—this is Roane,” Yang overheard from Fiona’s scroll. “We spotted Grimm moving in on the east side. We’d go hit ‘em, but we already got locked down protecting some civvies on the way back from our supply run and we won’t make it in time.”

Fiona’s sheep ears flicked down. “Oh, for crying out loud.” She held her hands before her, moving them away from each other—in a swarm of yellowish-white specks, a map formed in her hands.

Yang smirked, looking between Jaune and Oscar, then at Fiona while cocking her metallic limb. “Hey… did she say east?”

Ren rocketed through the Mantle streets with Oscar sitting backwards on the back of his hoverbike. In the gaps between the buildings on his right, Ren could see Yang matching pace with them on another road… with a Teryx flying low in the air behind her, screeching as it chased her.

Oscar pulled out a potato-masher-shaped device—a gravity dust grenade—and pulled the pin to arm it. “Ready?!” he shouted over their comms.

Ren heard a few muffled shots behind the buildings to the right. There was another scream from the Teryx—it was going to dive. “Now!” Yang shouted.

Ren made a sharp turn on the next intersection, drifting to the right. He saw Yang drive right past the front of his bike after passing under a small bridge, the Teryx opening its mouth wide as it aimed its body to go under the arch.

Ren brought the bike to a quick stop as Oscar tossed the grenade. It went off just as the Teryx was passing under the bridge, a wave of gravitational force radiating out from it and slamming the Grimm backfirst into the bottom of the bridge. The bridge cracked, crumbling apart, the Teryx buried under clouds of dust and rubble.

However, as the dust cleared, the Teryx let out a cry—pinned under the rubble, but not dead.

From further up the street, heading in the opposite direction from Yang, Jaune rode their hoverbike at full speed while holding Ignis Memoria out to their side. They aimed for an inclining piece of the bridge, ramping off it and swinging their sword right through the Teryx’s neck—its head was severed clean from its body, and as Jaune swung to a stop on the other side of it, the beast’s form dissipated into ash.

Ren and Oscar, Jaune, and Yang all sat on their bikes, stationary on the street and listening. Quiet… it didn’t sound like there was any more trouble in the area.

“Okay,” Yang said with a breath. She tapped her fingers to her earpiece. “Fiona? We’re clear over here—one more problem taken care of.”

“Good, because Crimson just reported another Grimm incursion to the west and is requesting backup.”

At Fiona’s words, Yang knocked her head back, shutting her eyes and letting out a short groan of frustration. Then, she pressed her fingers to her comm device again. “Alright. We’re on our way.”

What they were doing was important, but even Ren had to admit it was exhausting. Their forces were stretched thin, trying to both evacuate people and fend off Grimm getting into the city. He couldn’t help but feel frustrated knowing that it wouldn’t have been so hard if the others had just sucked up their pride and helped out.

“It must be all the negativity,” Oscar said, turning on Ren’s bike to face forward again. “Salem’s forces haven’t moved in, but it must be drawing in the stragglers.”

As Ren turned to look at his passenger, he saw something moving down the street toward them… three dark, low-built shapes.

Sabyrs.

“Guys,” Ren said. “We’re not done.”

Yang sighed, turning her bike to face the oncoming threat as Jaune did the same further behind her. “Alright,” she said, “we need to hurry this up and take−”

Before she could finish speaking, the lead Sabyr looked off to the right… and all three Grimm abruptly skidded as they quickly turned around, heading back the way they came in a hurry.

Ren was in silent disbelief for a few moments as he watched them run before finally finding his voice again. “What just happened?”

Grimm didn’t run from fights like that. Even the bigger or older ones that knew to retreat when their survival was at risk never ran from a fight before it had even started, and these were just average Sabyrs.

“They… ran. I… I’ve never seen Grimm act like that before,” Jaune said, echoing Ren’s thoughts exactly.

“But,” Oscar said, “ w hat were they running fro−”

Ren was abruptly thrown from his hoverbike as something crashed down from above into it, sending him to the pavement and knocking the bike aside. Ren saw Oscar fall as well, shouting in surprise.

And then, something big clamped its jaws around the boy’s arm. It was a Grimm, Ren could tell that much from the juts of bone protruding from its flesh and the slick black skin, but something about it seemed… different.

Its shape reminded Ren of a dog, thought that felt like a generous comparison. Its body was all taut muscle that appeared to have tremors in random spots. It had no eyes that Ren could see, not even the glowing red dots of most Grimm— unlike them, which generally had their entire skulls exposed, only this creature’s jaws were free of flesh, like the skin had receded back from them . There were two protrusions like cropped dog ears at the top of its head, twitching and listening.

The Grimm dragged Oscar up by the arm as he sputtered and shouted in fear, swinging him around and tossing him down the street, away from his companions.

With astounding agility, the creature pursued Oscar, leaping at him.

“Oscar!” Ren shouted.

The Grimm landed on Oscar’s back, the boy’s aura flaring but not failing. It walked over him, rolling him over with its feet—when he was laying on his back, Oscar pushed himself up onto his elbows, kicking at the monster’s foot with desperation.

It bit down on the extended limb around the ankle, pulling Oscar up and slamming him back down onto the pavement again—right before slamming its forelimbs into his stomach, Oscar’s aura flashing before it finally broke.

The Grimm lowered its head, standing over Oscar as it growled at Ren, Jaune, and Yang.

Ren’s eyes were wide—the thing had attacked so quickly, so ferociously. It had taken Oscar down in a manner of second s, before anyone else had time to fully process what was happening, let alone react.

The Grimm’s muscles began to tremble more, particularly around its neck—its head violently jerked to one side, then to the next, as Ren could hear something cracking inside it.

The pads of the forelimbs shot out into longer, clawed fingers, ripping right through the flesh of its own paws… which moved as well, stretching forward, latching onto the new fingers and reforming into them. It took its newly-formed hand, driving it into its shoulder and moving it back with another sickening crunch of bone and the sound of tearing flesh as its shoulder ripped open, revealing dark red blood and musculature inside before the skin stretched over it and knitted back together to accommodate the new position.

Its back legs began to shift and change as well, bones cracking apart and forming bumps and protrusions under the skin, some eve n briefly puncturing with jagged edges before reshaping to fit a different center of balance.

The worst moment was when its torso lengthened—which it did so by its upper half suddenly jutting forward, ripping apart along the back and briefly exposing its spinal column and some attaching bones, muscle strung and straining between them, before the flesh began to heal over it once again.

Ren felt a kind of terror that he’d never experienced before, a deep sense of pure… wrongness. The undeniable feeling that the thing before his eyes should not exist in this world, should not have been allowed to exist. Grimm were the perversion of life… and this was the perversion of Grimm.

The thing’s horribly shifting body finally stopped, and the creature now stood as a bipedal… well, Ren couldn’t bring himself to call it a “lifeform.” Whatever this thing was, it certainly wasn’t life.

Its forelimbs had lengthened into two long arms, its hind limbs also longer… it was suggestive of human physiology, but like it had only gone three-quarters of the way from “dog.”

It reached out with a clawed hand, picking up Oscar by the back. It held him up before its face, sniffing at his head.

Yang let out a shout as she revved her hoverbike, shooting forward on it. “Oscar!”

She let go of the handlebar, rearing a fist back… and then the Grimm held Oscar out in front of it.

Thrown off with surprise and not wanting to harm her friend, Yang didn’t follow through on her punch—and as soon as she was close enough, the Grimm’s other hand shot out, grabbing her by the face and pulling her bodily off her vehicle.

It turned its body, throwing her against the wall next to it—Yang hit back-first hard, dropping flat on her stomach on the sidewalk.

Ren finally got up, immediately aiming StormFlower and peppering the Grimm’s back with gunshots. He saw bits of black ichor and flesh fly off it… but all it did was turn around, “looking” at him with its eyeless face.

Ren shot out the knives of StormFlower, which sunk into the creature’s chest and attached it to Ren with wire lines.

Ren jumped, aiming his feet forward as he activated the recoil, dragging himself through the air toward his target.

However, the Grimm only held its free arm to its side before snapping it out in an arc, smacking Ren out of the air and into the wall across the street from the one Yang had hit, dropping his weapons in the process.

Jaune pulled out their sword… and once again, the Grimm held Oscar forward in Jaune’s direction.

“Wait!” Yang shouted, pushing herself up onto a hand and holding the other out toward Jaune. “It’s using Oscar as a shield!”

Jaune shook their head, looking perplexed. “But… Grimm aren’t that smart.”

Yang pushed herself up to her feet. “Smart or not, it’s doing it!”

Yang was right—it was using Oscar as a shield. Ren had seen a Beringel do something similar with Yang once, but it felt vastly different from what he was seeing now. The Beringel had been responding to simple instinct, responding to an attack by trying to block it with what it already happened to have in its hand, regardless of what it was.

This… this was deliberate. It wasn’t just using Oscar as a shield—it was using him as a hostage.

Ren picked up his guns, rising to his feet while clenching his teeth, staring down the disgusting thing that had grabbed their friend.

As soon as Ren was up, one of the Grimm’s ears twitched—it saw Ren just as he pointed his guns at it, turning and holding Oscar out toward him.

Ren growled with frustration. Oscar was out of aura—unprotected, a stray bullet could easily kill him. “Give him back!”

The Grimm pulled its head back, covering Oscar with its other arm… almost holding Oscar away from Ren protectively. Its neck suddenly twitched again, head cocking to the side slightly.

Then, a sound came from the creature. Deep, guttural, and prolonged. “N O ….”

Ren froze instantly, fingers feeling rigid like stone, so shocked he couldn’t even blink. He could see the same expression on all his companions’ faces as the Grimm began to stomp away down the street from them.

“Di… did it just…?” Jaune said barely above a whisper.

When it had gotten somewhat further away from them, the Grimm deposited Oscar on the ground before hunching over, shoulders twitching and spasming.

Ren saw its clawed hand clenching and unclenching, scraping up the pavement as it let out almost pitiable moans and wails of pain.

Then, something sprang from its back—bones, emerging in a high-pressure spray of dark red fluid as if an artery had severed, the fluid almost like blood but… wrong. The skeletal framework of bat-like wings had extended from the Grimm’s shoulder blades, held together by thin strips of black tendon and covered in shreds of its own flesh that had been ravaged upon the bones’ exit… which were already beg inning the process of reattaching themselves to the frame they’d stuck to.

Pitch dark flesh lashed out from around its shoulders like tendrils as though they were flayed or stripped by some unseen force, blurring with rapid movement and flicking more of the discolored blood around as they swung at the bone protrusions—they stuck to it, threading together, like a knitting project right out of a nightmare. In too short a time, every moment of transformation somehow so horribly clear even in the milliseconds they occurred in, the strands had formed two full wings, a thin red membrane connecting between the “fingers” of the wing.

The Grimm let out a final roar that was a disturbing mix of agony and ecstasy. It tested the wings with a flap, blowing air and light snow up from the ground—before grabbing Oscar up in its jaws, holding him as it flung itself forward with its wings, clambering up the side of a building.

Once on top, it flapped its wings again, taking off into the air.

Ren started to run after it… though not for very far before he realized he didn’t even know what he was doing. Whatever… that was, it could fly, and Ren very much could not. There was no chance he was going to catch it running on foot.

“Kids?” Fiona’s voice said over their communication line. “What’s your status? The west is taking damage!”

Ren could feel himself starting to hyperventilate as he watched the creature get further and further from them… with Oscar in its clutches. He turned back to the other two. “What do we do?!”

Jaune was still staring wide-eyed at where the Grimm had once been.

Without a command, Ren and Yang hopped back on their hoverbikes. The sound of them peeling off seemed to snap Jaune out of their shock and into action, as they too joined them, speeding down the road as they tried to catch up to the Grimm.

“Kids? Kids!” Fiona was still trying to hail them. “What’s your status?!”

Yang tapped her ear. “We’re not going to make it—we’ve got an emergency here.”

“What?! What kind of emergency?!”

Ren saw Yang look up—they’d gotten closer to the Grimm now, its flapping wings only just ahead of them. “...You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

Chapter Text

Sparks flew as Arthur Watts soldered pieces together for the “special order” Ironwood had requested in dealing with his Penny Polendina problem.

Watts had been given a lab to work in—stark white, a desk he was working at at the far side of the room from the door, countertops, and a central table—though only with guards constantly watching his every move. At least Ironwood had provided him with ample supplies to create the device meant to disable Penny for capture. It was coming along, though Watts wished it didn’t have to be such a rush job—his best work was done when he had time to perfect.

Watts flipped up the face shield he’d been using, holding the device up to the light. It was about halfway finished—the circuitry was exposed and there was still some wiring to be done, but he was confident it could be completed in short time. It was slightly smaller than his hand, a design goal as the intent would be to throw the device at the target from a distance. While Watts was irritated at the circumstances, the opportunity to show up Polendina’s creation once again did a little to take the sting off.

Watts glanced behind him at the two guards stationed on either side of the door. It was hard to tell if they were really looking at him under the mirrored visors of their helmets, but he had to assume they were. Not that it mattered—ignorant jugheads like those two likely didn’t even understand a fraction of what he was doing.

Watts grinned to himself as he turned around, pulling the face shield back down. Soldiers like that wouldn’t realize that Watts was adding something into the device that wasn’t according to Ironwood’s specifications … and nobody would realize until it was already too late.

Ruby felt air rushing around her as she moved through the pneumatic tube, the strong suction pulling her up to Atlas… to the AUF compound. It wasn’t a smooth ride—the tubes were never meant to accommodate a human body, and Ruby found herself bashing and crashing at every slight turn in the pipeline. Distantly she wondered if the packages sent through were reinforced somehow—they would have to be with how volatile dust was.

Ruby emerged into a sealed chamber with just enough space for her to stand. The hatchway was covered in foggy glass and she could only see vague, blurry shapes of color outside—until the hatch opened, one half of the door sliding up and the other down as it let out a hiss. Ruby coughed on the stale air as it was released from the tube with her.

May and Penny were standing on either side of the exit, Penny holding her arms out as Ruby stumbled out, ready to catch her just in case. Ruby managed to remain standing on her own two feet and stopped coughing just in time to notice Weiss tugging on Nora’s earlobe, a familiar scowl on her face.

“If you ever do something like that again…” Weiss said, tone foreboding.

“Owowowowowow!” Nora hissed, holding onto Weiss’s wrist in a fruitless attempt to free herself from the ex-heiress’s iron grip. “B− but you have to admit it was funny! And a once-in-a-lifetime experience!”

There was another hiss as the doorway to the tube opened again, Blake stepping out with her hair a mess, the fur on her ears fluffed up, and said ears twitching madly. “Good. Because I am never doing that again.”

Ruby walked over to Weiss, who had yet to grant Nora’s poor ear some mercy. “Weiss? Are you okay?”

Weiss finally let go, Nora stumbling back and rubbing her ear, pouting at Weiss. Weiss huffed, folding her arms. “I’m… fine. But still annoyed.”

Ruby chuckled at her.

“Well, since we’re all here and in one piece,” May said, before squinting and looking everyone over, “… probably, we shouldn’t linger around.” She turned to Penny. “So, Robo-Girl, where’s this terminal we’re looking for?”

Penny’s eyes flashed bright green—she was scanning, overlaying a schematic layout to see past the small, circular room they were in. She walked over to the doorway, which automatically slid up to reveal a walkway to the next door beyond it. “Alright—we need to cross the bridge, then go left, straight, right, straight, left, up, up, right, straight, right, right, straight, left, left.” She pointed in each respective direction as she spoke them.

“Got it,” Ruby said.

Everyone else did not look like they got it—in fact, they all looked completely perplexed.

Penny turned to May, a little bit of a glare in her eyes. “And my name is Penny.”

May, who appeared to have been in the middle of some mental calculations trying to figure out the directions, jumped with surprise. “Oh, uh… sorry. Ix-nay on that nickname, then.” She waved for everyone to get closer to her. “Alright gang, gather up—we need to move.”

Once everyone was close enough, May activated her semblance, enshrouding them all in her shimmering dome, making them invisible to anyone outside of it.

They made their way stealthily through the halls, Penny standing ahead of everyone so she could guide the group. They stepped onto an elevator, taking them to the upper levels they needed to reach.

So far, things had been going relatively smoothly… which was the thought Ruby had just before the elevator stopped, not yet on their floor.

Ruby heard May gasp—everyone started to back up against the wall as the doors opened, two soldiers stepping onto the elevator with them.

“I don’t even think the squad captain knows what’s going on up there,” one soldier said. “They can’t get close to that storm without getting zapped right out of the air. Heard one scouting party managed to get through, but… nothing since.”

The soldier speaking had hit a button for a floor above theirs—and thankfully, didn’t appear to think it was odd that one of the other buttons had already been hit.

Still, it was making Ruby nervous seeing how close the soldiers’ backs were to the barrier of May’s semblance. If they moved even a few inches back…

May turned to look at the group, putting her finger over her lips—as if they’d even needed the reminder to keep quiet.

“It’s creepy,” the other soldier said. She adjusted her rifle in her arms, rolling her shoulders. “I mean, all those Grimm just… waiting there? Worse than if they’d attacked, if you ask−”

“Hey!” the first guard said, cutting his companion off with an elbow to her side. “Don’t jinx us, alright?”

The door stopped on the infiltration team’s floor.

“Ugh, I hate when they do this,” the male soldier complained, shoulders slumping. “How have they not fixed these damn things already?”

Penny, the furthest to everyone’s right, motioned for everyone to follow her. Everyone skirted along the wall, careful to avoid touching the soldiers as they made their exit.

“I just hope the C.O. can get us answers soon,” the female soldier said. “Waiting around like this is killing me.”

Ruby heard the quietest malicious giggle come from Nora—right before Nora ran her hand over every single floor button on the elevator.

“Huh?” Ruby saw the male soldier notice just before the elevator doors closed.

The group continued on without further interruption, arriving at a door with the numbers “03” painted on it in big, blocky white lettering. Penny walked up to its control panel, raising a finger—the tip of her finger flipped back, revealing a small plug inside.

Ruby felt like her eyes were sparkling with interest. “Ooooh, cool.”

“It’s not that cool,” Weiss said with a huff.

“Dad uploaded his backdoor program to my systems,” Penny explained, gesturing to her finger with her other hand. “It should be able to get us through most of the doors here.” She turned back to the console, slotting her finger into the proper port.

Blake nudged Ruby with her elbow, nodding at Penny. “We should see if we can put one of those in Yang’s finger.”

Ruby let out an awkward chuckle. “Would love to, but… pretty sure she would break it.” She turned her head away, frowning a bit.

Blake touched Ruby’s shoulder. “You okay?”

Ruby sighed, scratching her neck. “Yeah, I just… I don’t like fighting with her like this.”

Blake nodded. “I know. She… she can be pretty stubborn, huh?”

Ruby glanced up at her. “Bothering you too?”

Blake crossed her arms, lowering her head with a sigh. “I… I guess I’m just worried. I mean, it wasn’t that long ago that she and I… weren’t exactly on speaking terms. I just don’t want to end up like that again.”

“She really cares about you,” Ruby said. “Don’t worry—I’m sure she’s not gonna hold this against you.”

Blake smiled at her, one that was slight and soft. “Thanks, Ruby.”

“Welcome back, Doctor Polendina.”

A light blinked green on the door panel and the door slid open.

Everyone stepped though together.

“Alright,” May said, “where to next, Penny?”

“Right through Central Command!”

Penny pointed ahead just as the next door down the hall opened up, one wide enough that all six of their group could line up against it—behind it was indeed the command center of the compound. There was a map of the whole continent of Solitas on a screen that took up the entire back wall, banks of consoles operated by people in dark blue and light blue uniforms, all overseen by various officers in white military jackets and caps.

“Of course,” Weiss drawled, crossing her arms.

May grimaced. “Yeah… I don’t think I’m getting us through all that.”

“You do not have to!” Penny bounced to the tips of her feet with excitement before motioning to Ruby. “She will!”

Ruby blinked. “Wait, what?”

Penny looked between Ruby, Blake, and Weiss, smiling brightly and staring expectantly… until she must’ve realized from their confused faces that none of them knew what she was talking about.

“Her semblance,” Penny said, looking at Ruby. “She breaks herself down on a molecular level, negating her mass and allowing for her to travel at incredibly high velocity before reforming at her destination. As such, it would, theoretically, at least, be possible for her to transport us all this way, since mass would no longer matter.”

Ruby just blinked.

“I… thought you already knew all of this,” Penny said, giving Ruby a discerning look.

“No!” Ruby shouted, swinging her arms out to her sides. “How long have you known this?!”

Penny’s shoulders raised and she grimaced, turning her head slightly away. Ruby was sure she’d also be blushing with embarrassment if she had the blood for that. “Since… since the first time I saw you use it?”

Weiss snapped her fingers, pointing at Ruby. “That’s what must’ve happened before! Remember the funhouse and the train—you pulled me into your semblance. That’s how it works!”

Ruby put her finger to her chin. “Okay, but… Mercury kicked me out of my semblance once. How did he do that if I don’t have any mass in that form?”

Penny mimicked Ruby’s pose as she thought. “Perhaps there is still some sort of ‘center of mass’ within that form?”

Ruby shrugged. “Guess there’d have to be.”

“Hey, this also kind of explains how you’ve been able to split yourself up when you’re using your semblance recently,” Blake said. “Though that makes me wonder… I mean, what would happen if you tried to reform before those two pieces recombined?”

Weiss shuddered. “We really don’t need to talk about that right now.”

Watts was putting the finishing touches on the device as he heard the door to the lab open, the sound of military-booted footsteps approaching from behind him.

“Sorry for the delay,” Ironwood said behind Watts. “I got held up. Have you made any progress?”

Watts spun around in his wheeled office chair to face Ironwood, crossing one leg over the other and placing his hands on his knee. “It’s nearly complete.”

Ironwood nodded. “Good. Because I would hate to have to… motivate you again.”

Watts' eyes fell to the holster at Ironwood’s side, Ironwood’s shiny black prosthetic hand just barely brushing the grip of his gun with its fingers. He looked back up at Ironwood’s face. “I assure you, I already have all the motivation I need. However, that won’t make taking down Polendina’s little… magical science project any easier.” Watts spun back around, looking at the nearly finished device—it was a round, discus-like shape, though still had parts exposed. One side of it was covered with a black, soft material, adhesive enough to stick to something when thrown with force.

Watts felt a hand clap down on his shoulder, tightening so much that it began to hurt. “I trust you’ve come up with something.”

Watts sneered. “Oh, believe me, the trust is palpable.” He pressed a few buttons on the keyboard for the desk computer terminal. “But by the by, I would think you might like to be aware that Dr. Polendina himself is apparently gallivanting through your compound at this very moment?”

Ironwood rolled Watts’ chair aside to get a closer look at what he had pulled up on the screen. There was a layout of the base, doorways marked in red where “Doctor Pietro Polendina” had used some kind of backdoor access to get through. Clever… but detectable. Pietro wasn’t the type for subterfuge.

“How soon will the device be ready?”

Watts picked it up, tightened a few covers into place, and held it out toward Ironwood. “No time at all.”

Ironwood snatched it from Watts’ hand, holding it in his palm and looking down at it.

“I only have the one, and once it’s armed, it will fire on whatever it attaches to,” Watts said, holding up a finger. “So you better make sure your meatheads hit the target. There aren’t going to be any do-overs here.”

Ironwood tossed the device in his hand, caught it, and gave a nod. He turned away without a word, putting a finger to his earpiece as he walked out of the door.

Watts pressed his fingertips together as he watched the general go. The ends of his mustache were pushed up by his grin… he’d just handed Ironwood the key to his freedom, and Ironwood hadn’t the slightest idea.

This was going to work out quite nicely. Quite nicely indeed.

“A security threat has been detected in the compound, status alert level three—red. Lockdown initiated. Authorization granted to engage any threat with lethal force.”

As Ironwood’s voice played over the compound’s intercom system, Ruby saw the red lights come on in the hallway outside of Central Command.

Weiss’s shoulders slumped. “You have got to be joking.”

Penny’s glowed bright again as she viewed the base’s schematics and systems. She turned to the group as her eyes went back to their normal green. “The pneumatic tubes have been shut off.”

Blake’s ears folded down. “So we’re trapped.”

“Maybe not.” May pointed behind them with her thumb. “We passed a hangar back there—pretty sure I can hotwire one of their Mantas and get us all out of here. Won’t be subtle, but we’re not really spoiled for choice right now.”

“Wait,” Penny said, holding up a hand in May’s direction. “We are so close—we can still succeed if we push a little further.”

May grimaced. “I don’t know. That’s a pretty big risk, but…” She looked between everyone. “We’re probably not gonna get another shot at this if we leave now. What’s your calls?”

“I say we do it,” Blake said.

Weiss nodded. “We can’t back out now.”

“This is too important,” Ruby added. “I think it’s worth the risk.”

Nora grinned wide. “And I think I have an idea.”

The next time the door to Central Command opened to let an officer through, the team sneaked in past them, unobserved thanks to May’s semblance.

The plan Nora had pitched was… well, even calling it loose seemed generous, in Ruby’s opinion, but it was better than nothing. Nora said that all they would need is a sufficient distraction and Ruby would be able to pull everyone up and out of the room through a doorway to the side leading to a staircase to the floor above.

In theory, anyway. Ruby had only ever pulled Weiss and Yang separately into her semblance before, and she wasn’t totally comfortable with the idea of taking along so many when she didn’t even know she could when she’d woken up that morning. Still, it wasn’t like they had any other options. She’d just have to cross her fingers and hope.

Nora elbowed May, pointing at something. Ruby followed the finger to see what it was—the group had hidden in the back of the room, to the right of the door from the direction they were facing, and a bespectacled operator was walking to his station with a mug of coffee in hand… and it just so happened that their station appeared to be in their direction.

When he was right in front of them, May stuck her foot out of the invisibility dome, hooking it on the man’s ankle and tripping him. He stumbled forward, mug of coffee slipping from his grasp, the hot brown liquid flying through the air…

The mug, and coffee, landed on the lap of the operator furthest to the right at the back row of consoles. He held his hands up in shock, screaming in pain as more coffee struck his console, making it spark and smoke as the liquid seeped into it.

The worker to the screaming operator’s left got up from his station, turning on the one who had tripped, pointing over at the back wall. “Read the sign, Bill, read the sign!”

Ruby looked—there was a sign on the wall that read “no food or drink in this area,” an image of a hamburger and a cup crossed out on it.

More and more of the operators in the room started to stand up, some to simply see what all the commotion was about, others to join in on chastising the hapless Bill. Evidently, the poor guy already wasn’t popular with his coworkers.

The initial speaker continued to berate Bill, getting in his face. “Why don’t you ever just pay attention?! You’re here late all the time, your coworkers…!”

The individual who had been the unfortunate recipient of the coffee spill finally couldn’t bear the burning hot liquid anymore, getting up and screaming as he ran out the door.

When it seemed everyone’s attention was sufficiently on Bill, Ruby activated her semblance, trying to focus on pulling in everyone aside from May with her. She could tell she succeeded as she rushed through Central Command, heading for the staircase.

It was a… strange feeling. Like she could feel all the consciences surrounding her, the impressions of how they felt. However, it was hard to sort out who was who from the vague emotional imprints—one seemed completely calm, the other was giving a sense of familiarity—she guessed that one was probably Weiss—and of the last two, one was having the time of their life, and the other was outright terrified.

The blur of red and rose petals made it to the stairs, leaving the shouts behind. Ruby thought she heard something about… salmon in a microwave? She decided she didn’t feel quite so bad for Bill’s situation anymore—it seemed he had earned this ire.

As she reached the final stretch ascending the stairs, Ruby could start to feel the strain of carrying so many people with her—her semblance always felt so effortless to use when it was just her. It wasn’t even so bad when she added one other person, but five total, including herself, was straining her limits, making her afraid she wouldn’t be able to maintain cohesion.

Thankfully, she reached the top of the stairs, her blur spinning out and depositing everyone one by one until Ruby herself finally landed, sweating and panting.

“That… was awesome,” Nora said, jaw dropped open in awe.

“Well,” Blake said, leaning a hand against the wall. Her eyes were wide and her ears were pulled back, the fur on them fluffed up. “There’s another thing I never want to do again.”

Weiss put a hand on Ruby’s shoulder. “Are you alright?”

Ruby swallowed, taking a breath and wiping off her forehead as she stood. “Yeah. Just… took a bit out of me, but I’ll be fine.” She looked over at Penny. “Know where to go?”

Penny nodded with a smile.

The five began to walk off, Ruby’s earpiece crackling. “I’ll assume that not hearing a torrent of gunfire just now means you guys made it?” May asked.

Ruby pressed her fingers to the device. “Yep, we’re all here and all in one piece… I− I mean, five pieces for each of us. We’re not some… nasty huntress flesh blob or something.”

Weiss gagged.

“Alright, well, good,” May said. “I’ll head to the hangar and get a Manta ready for our escape.”

“Good luck,” Ruby said.

“You girls probably need it more than I do right now. See you soon.”

The group continued on for a while—thankfully, there seemed to not be many guards in the section they were in. It would’ve been much harder to go unnoticed without May’s semblance.

After a short amount of time, they reached a chamber with a long raised walkway… absurdly long, in fact. At the center of the room the walkway led to a circular platform, before narrowing again the rest of the way to the door Ruby could see at the far end of the room, which was covered by some kind of… bright yellow field. Each narrow section of catwalk seemed as long as two buses each.

Blake stared up at the tall ceiling, looked at the length of the chamber, then over the railing to her side to see the twenty foot drop to the floor below. “This feels kind of excessive.”

“That’s Atlas for you,” Weiss dryly remarked.

After making the long way to the door, Ruby got a better look at what that yellow thing was. It was buzzing with energy, crackling and shimmering… a shield generated by electricity dust. Anyone touching that would be in for a nasty experience.

“Is the terminal behind this, Penny?” Ruby asked.

Penny gave a nod.

Blake looked at the shield, scoffing. “Only Ironwood would be this security cautious.”

Penny stepped toward the console at the side of the door, once again exposing her finger plug. “Stand back, please.”

She inserted it into a port and Pietro’s program began to work its magic. After only a second, the electricity field shut down and the door slid open, the room beyond it dark. Everyone’s hands moved toward their weapons as they cautiously eyed inside.

The lights near the door came on first, then the rest of the rows all the way to the back of the room came on one by one. There was a whirring sound as power flowed into the room.

There was no one inside. It was an empty, square room, about twenty feet across in each direction. There were cylindrical server towers in two columns leading back from the sides of the door, and a single computer terminal against a larger tower with an office chair before it. All around them the towers glowed with bright blue lights.

Ruby moved her hand away from Crescent Rose. “There’s… no workers here?”

“This is a highly classified area,” Penny explained, walking inside.

Everyone followed her, looking around the room as she approached the computer terminal. As soon as they were all in, the door closed again, and Ruby could hear the electric hum of the field reactivating. Ruby walked to the terminal as well, taking a seat at the wheeled office chair. For such an important place, Ruby was surprised it didn’t feel more… grandiose.

“Dad?” Penny said. “We’re here.”

“Ah, good. I was worried for a minute there,” Pietro’s voice said over their communication line.

Ruby tapped her ear. “Did you guys make it to Amity yet?”

“We did.”

“How’s it looking?”

“Still abandoned, thankfully. Seems Ironwood has completely given up on this project after all.”

“Well, that’s good for us, I guess,” Ruby said.

“Now, this process is going to be a bit complicated,” Pietro said. “I trust you can handle this, Ruby, but you’re going to need to follow my instructions very carefully.”

Blake had managed to find another office chair left off in the corner of the room, slumping into it and staring at the ceiling as she spun it around, her mind far away.

Ruby was busily typing away at the computer terminal while Penny stood by her. Weiss was standing near Blake, leaning against one of the towers with her arms folded, and Nora walked over to them, standing nearby as well.

Blake planted the heel of her boot against the floor, stopping her spin. “Do you guys think Ruby and Yang are going to be okay? I mean… I’ve never seen them argue like that before.”

Nora let out a short chuckle. “I wouldn’t worry—it was way worse on the way to Mistral. Trust me. They’ll bounce back from this too.”

“Yeah. Sisters don’t always agree on the right thing to do,” Weiss added in a morose tone, looking down. It didn’t take a genius to figure out she wasn’t exactly talking about Ruby and Yang.

Blake grunted as she leaned forward in the chair, holding her hands down between her legs, one over the other, her thumb running along the back of her left hand. “I won’t lie and say I’m not worried about the other team’s chances without all of us there, either.”

“Eh, they’ll be fine,” Nora said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Jaune’s a good strategic leader, Oscar’s grown a lot since we met him, and we all know that Yang is more than capable of protecting people in a fight.”

There was a pause. Blake waited for Nora to continue. She didn’t.

Blake and Weiss exchanged a glance that was both confused and concerned before Blake looked back at Nora. “And… Ren?”

“O− oh, right, duh,” Nora said with a forced, awkward chuckle, smacking the side of her head. Her cheeks brightened to pink. “Of course, he’s… he’s…” Her shoulders sagged and she let out a huff, turning her head away. “I don’t… know what he is.” She began to gesticulate as she spoke. “I mean, I feel like every time we make progress, he pulls away! We’ve known each other basically our whole lives, but now… now I feel like I understand him less than I ever have, and I don’t know if that’s his fault or… mine.”

“When you spend that much time with someone, they become a part of you,” Blake said. “But it’s important to remember that they’re only part. You’re still you.”

Nora shook her head with a sad laugh. “I don’t even know who I am without him now.”

Blake smiled gently at her. She understood that kind of feeling—it wasn’t exactly the same as things had been with Adam, but she knew what it was like to forget who you were without someone else. At least in this case, it wasn’t on purpose—Ren wasn’t trying to control Nora, not that anyone ever could control her anyway. It was just the natural byproduct of spending so long around someone else. “Maybe this is your chance to find out,” Blake said. “To do something only Nora can do.”

Nora scoffed. “Like what? Be strong and… and hit stuff?”

“Oh,” Weiss suddenly said, looking off to the side. “Hi, Penny.”

Blake looked as well, seeing that, without her noticing, Penny had wandered over to join their conversation while Ruby was still working at the terminal.

Penny was looking at Nora with worry. “Nora… are you and Ren fighting? Do you… not like each other anymore?”

“Wh−” Nora blinked a few times before shaking her hands. “No, no! No, I− we still like each other, we just… we’ve hit a bit of a snag, I guess.”

Penny tilted her head. “A… snag?”

Nora nodded. “Yeah. I mean, sometimes, even with people you care about, there’s… a disconnect. You don’t always see eye-to-eye, y’know?”

“I did not realize relationships could be so… complex,” Penny said.

“People are complicated,” Weiss said, shrugging her shoulders. “When you throw people together, they’re not always going to mix. The key to making things work is that… well, sometimes you just have to talk things out.” She stopped talking, looking sadly over at Ruby. “Though… that doesn’t always mean they’ll listen.”

Blake noticed Penny following Weiss’s gaze before she turned her attention back to the group. “I… I feel like I have missed so many important changes in all of your lives.” She closed her fingers around her wrist, staring down at the floor. “I feel… left behind.”

Blake stood from her chair, putting her hands on Penny’s shoulders. “You’ll catch up eventually, Penny. Don’t worry—we’re going to make sure you don’t get left behind again.”

Penny looked up into Blake’s eyes. She smiled at her.

“Penny?” Ruby was calling from the terminal. “I’m gonna need you for this last step.”

Blake patted Penny on the shoulder. The group all walked back over together, Penny retaking her place by Ruby’s side.

“So, from what Pietro told me, we’re gonna need a clone imprint of this terminal. Penny, you’ll be downloading that, and when we launch Amity and it looks for Ironwood’s terminal clearance, it’ll be directed to your clone imprint instead so we can use that.”

Penny nodded. “I understand.” She flipped the tip of her index finger back again, plugging herself into the terminal.

“And…” Ruby said, watching the screen. “Done!”

Penny pulled her hand back, her fingertip flipping down again.

Ruby stood up from the chair.

“We shouldn’t stick around too long—May’s waiting for us,” Blake said.

The five walked over to the door, Penny disabling the security measures on it again.

Then, the door slid open… and on the other side Harriet Bree, Elm Ederne, Vine Zeki, and Marrow Amin were standing there, Harriet’s arms folded and a smug smirk on her face. The Ace-Ops… though Ruby didn’t see Clover anywhere.

Not that it mattered much—this was still bad either way.

“That looks like stolen AUF property standing next to you there,” Harriet said with a chin-nod in Penny’s direction. “Care to give it back?”

The infiltration team reached for their weapons, drawing them. “She isn’t property,” Ruby growled through gritted teeth.

“Wasn’t your loss last time enough for you anyway?” Weiss said, pointing her rapier in Harriet’s direction.

“Hey, we were holding back!” Marrow shouted, pointing a finger at Weiss.

Vine stepped forward, raising his hands. “Please—I implore you to listen before you act.”

Nobody stood down, but nobody moved to attack either.

Vine lowered his hands. “We’ve all said and done things that we regret, but the situation has changed. Salem is at our door, and we cannot afford to stand divided. All I ask is that you consider your duty as huntresses… that you do what’s right.” He looked sadly at Penny. “Even if it may hurt.”

“It was Ironwood that divided us in the first place!” Blake shouted. “We tried working with you. It was him that pushed us away.”

Harriet glared at her. “Well, you didn’t exactly make the best case for your trustworthiness, now did you?”

Blake clenched her teeth, letting out an aggravated snarl.

Penny took a step forward. “Ironwood lied to all of them about me. He told them that I was dead—you are speaking about trust, but he has already proven he cannot be trusted. There are people in Mantle who need help. You are supposed to help them. You could be helping them now rather than doing Ironwood’s bidding. Why are you not?”

Marrow looked down, almost looking… ashamed.

“He’s losing control,” Ruby said. “He’s scared—we all are. But he’s letting his fear control him and he’s doing exactly what Salem wants him to. This… this was her plan all along!”

“Oh, really?” Harriet said, cocking her head and raising an eyebrow. “And did she tell you that in one of your little talks?”

“I− that’s not−!”

“If you say one more word, I’ll throw you in jail right next to your uncle, runt,” Harriet sneered.

Penny took another step forward, Floating Array emerging from her backpack. “Leave. Her. Alone.”

Harriet scoffed, looking at Penny. “And what are you gonna do about it, tin can?”

Penny shot off like a bullet, a green trail of energy left in her wake as she flew forward.

The others went to follow—only for Harriet to suddenly reveal the remote she had been concealing in her hand, tapping a button on it. The doors slammed shut right in their faces, blocking them from Penny as the electricity field glowed back to life.

Penny stopped as she heard the door behind her close, turning to see the electricity field reactivate. The Ace-Ops had been planning on this all along—isolate and neutralize.

She looked back at the Ace-Ops, who were getting into a ready position.

“You’re outnumbered,” Vine said. “Please—don’t make this difficult.”

Penny narrowed her eyes at him. She spun Floating Array at her sides, keeping the blades pointed at her opponents.

“I… don’t think she’s going to surrender,” Marrow said, holding his boomerang weapon at his side.

Harriet flung her arms out to her sides, an exoskeletal framework extending over them. “No problem—we’ve seen plenty of Venatrice in action. We can handle her.”

Penny gritted her teeth before rocketing forward—Harriet sprinted to meet her.

Penny fired her thrusters again, flinging herself over Harriet’s head and making her rush beneath her, swinging the blades of Floating Array in an arc and catching her on the back, sending her flying into the wall above the door.

Vine used his semblance to extend an aura-hand toward Penny—she sent more swords in its direction, stabbing into the limb’s palm and holding it back.

Elm ran at her, jumping and swinging her hammer into her stomach. That attack landed, throwing Penny back through the air, her blades trailing with her.

She fired her thrusters again to halt her momentum, firing green lasers from the tips of Floating Array, covering the walkway in suppressing fire.

Marrow deflected a few shots with his boomerang while Elm rooted herself to the ground with her semblance—she was taking hits, but she was negating the force and keeping herself from toppling over the railing.

Harriet got back up to her feet. “Marrow, we need to ground her!”

Marrow nodded at Harriet, transforming his weapon into a rifle, firing at Penny.

She swerved and ducked to the sides, keeping up her own hail of laser fire—but with all her attention on Marrow, she failed to notice Vine reaching for her with his semblance. He grabbed onto her leg.

Penny tried to boost away, Vine straining to keep her from dragging him up with her. Elm disengaged her semblance, ran over to him, and rooted herself again as she grabbed onto Vine’s belt, keeping him in place. They let out a combined shout as they pulled, dragging Penny out of the air and slamming her down into the round center of the walkway.

Penny was flat on her stomach, trying to push herself up when Harriet ran over in a flash, crackling with sparking electrical energy as her semblance sped her up. She kicked Penny under the chin, making her roll back across the ground, landing in a crouch.

Harriet kept up the blistering assault, striking Penny with drive-by punches, pivoting and changing directions, running back and forth and every which way to keep Penny off-balance, to prevent her from predicting where Harriet would strike next.

Right when Harriet was about to punch her again, Penny crossed half of Floating Array’s blades in front of her, catching the strike—they flared out, knocking Harriet back and making her stumble. With a shout, Penny planted a boot right into Harriet’s stomach—before firing the thruster in her heel and blasting her back.

Penny began to circle each half of Floating Array’s blade count at her sides, eight each, pointing them at the Ace-Ops as they regrouped between her and the door her allies were trapped behind.

“You will not take me back,” Penny said through clenched teeth. “And I will not let you hurt my friends!”

The circling blades began to charge up with green energy—Penny threw her hands forward, two massive laser blasts firing at the Ace-Ops.

“Move!” Harriet shouted, sprinting forward and sliding under the projectiles. Vine extended an arm to the side, grabbing a handhold on the wall and pulling himself to it. Elm, not able to get out of the way in time, instead positioned herself before Marrow, rooting herself in place and taking the brunt of the attack in order to protect him.

Harriet’s slide ended just before Penny, and she popped up with an uppercut into Penny’s jaw. Penny’s head snapped back—but she disengaged her blades, swinging them at Harriet and forcing her away. Sparks flew as they clashed against Harriet’s aura, four swinging parallel with each other and smacking into Harriet’s side, Harriet hitting the railing with such force that it bent.

Then, Penny was caught off-guard when Elm transformed her weapon into a rocket launcher, firing it and hitting Penny square in the chest—Penny was sure that had done significant damage to her aura.

As she flew back, Vine swung back onto the walkway, thrusting an aura-arm forward and slamming Penny against the far wall from the door to her friends. He clenched tight, continuing to push as the metal creaked and bent behind her.

Penny screamed—she managed to send her blades forward, slashing Vine across the chest and forcing him back. He pulled a circular object from his back—some kind of frisbee-sized bladed throwing star—and used it to start deflecting the swords.

Penny used her free weapons to start shooting lasers at Vine—several hit in succession, blasting him back from her. She dropped back to the ground, fanning her blades out behind her.

The Ace-Ops had underestimated her—while she wasn’t confident she could win a four-to-one engagement, she at least knew she was going to ensure the Ace-Ops understood just how badly they’d misjudged her.

Ruby watched as Arma Gigas slammed its sword against the electrical wall, Weiss trying to force her way through with her summon. Strike after strike did nothing but create a shower of sparks.

“Four versus one?!” Weiss shouted at the door. “You cowards.”

Ruby didn’t think anyone on the other side would be able to hear them, but also knew that Weiss didn’t care if they did. She was upset and angry—Ruby was too—and she just needed to let it out.

Ruby stayed quiet. She wanted to save that fury for when they got out there to back Penny up. And they would back Penny up… as soon as they found a way through.

Ruby had looked at the door panel on their side, even going so far as to pop it open and look at its inner workings, but she couldn’t figure out what controlled the electricity field. What she feared was that the panel only sent out a digital signal to whatever mechanism did control it, meaning that without Penny to shut it down, they were out of luck. They didn’t exactly have time for Ruby to start tearing the entire wall apart looking for the trigger.

Arma Gigas hit the shield one more time, the effort just as fruitless as it was a moment ago, before Weiss finally dismissed her summon with a huff.

Ruby walked over to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Weiss, I know you’re worried, but you shouldn’t wear yourself out before we even get out there.”

Weiss looked at Ruby, angry for a moment… before closing her eyes, releasing a breath as some of the tension melted from her posture. “I… you’re right. Sorry. I just− I can’t believe they would do something like this.” She scoffed. “And they act like they’re heroes.”

“Penny will be okay for a little bit,” Ruby said with more confidence than she felt. “I mean, you remember seeing her in action before, right?” She chuckled. “She’s probably a stronger fighter than anyone in this room.”

Weiss nodded, though she didn’t seem too reassured.

Ruby looked around, seeing Blake standing with her arms held around her, staring at the door with a mixture of anger and hopelessness. Nora, on the other hand, was looking at a thick set of wires next to the door, a hand rubbing her chin.

Penny deflected strikes from Marrow as he lashed out at her with his boomerang, using it as a melee weapon. He struck twice before leaping over Penny’s head and smacking her in the back, making her fly back.

She cried out, spinning her blades back around and smacking Marrow away with them—only for Elm to drop from above hammer-first.

Penny raised her arms, catching the head of the hammer—the metal floor beneath her screeched and bent with the force, Penny grunting with strain.

Before she could act, Harriet ran in, going into a slide and kicking Penny’s legs out from under her. Penny fell, the hammer completing its arc and slamming into her chest, pinning her to the ground.

Penny cried out, struggling to get herself out from under it. She fired her thrusters, managing to slip away in an off-kilter flight. She hit the wall before managing to land back on the walkway again, falling to a knee. She was approaching her limit… she could feel it.

She looked at the electrified door. Her friends were still trapped on the other side… still unable to help.

“Marrow, would you quit messing around?!” Harriet shouted, stopping a sprint right next to the faunus. “Lock this girl down already!”

“R− right,” Marrow said, looking at Penny. Something in his eyes seemed… fearful. He took a breath—then snapped his fingers, pointing at Penny. “Stay.”

Suddenly, Penny felt her entire body lock into place. She was still aware, but all she could move were her eyes, looking around frantically as the Ace-Ops closed in.

Harriet reached for something on her belt—a round, palm-sized device. She tapped a button on the center of it, the device glowing with a yellow light. Using her semblance, she sprinted up to Penny, slamming the device right onto her chest.

Marrow lowered his hand, huffing.

Penny heard a high-pitched whine from the device—and then felt excruciating pain as electricity arced into her body. She screamed, dropping to the ground and curling into a ball, fingers twitching. She felt like someone had cut her mind off from her own body—she could feel it, but it was out of her control, systems all spiraling out of sync and refusing to respond. She was barely even able to stay aware of her surroundings.

Harriet crouched, tapping Penny on the side of the head twice. “Looks like that did the trick.”

Marrow frowned, walking up next to Harriet. “Brothers, she’s… that was… that sounded bad, Hare.”

“She’s just an android,” Harriet said, standing up and rolling her eyes at Marrow. “Quit being so soft.”

“What about the rest?” Vine said, motioning his head to the door.

“Leave ‘em for now,” Harriet said with a shrug. “Not like they’re getting through anyway. We’ll call for some backup—doubt they’ll be too eager to fight staring down a whole squad’s worth of rifles.”

“N… n… n… no,” Penny stammered, still trying to will herself to move. She couldn’t let them do this—couldn’t let them hurt the ones she cared for.

But her body wasn’t responding to her. And, after a moment, she felt something… cold. Like a trickle of ice water in the back of her head. She felt pure terror.

She had felt that feeling once before. Watts.

Nora let out a growl of frustration, Ruby’s head snapping to her. She was still standing before the door… but now she was pulling out her hammer.

“Be strong… and hit stuff.”

Ruby saw Weiss’s eyes widen as she reached toward Nora. “Nora, wait!”

Nora didn’t wait—instead, she swung her hammer forward, slamming it into the wires next to the door. Electricity flared out, forcing Ruby, Blake, and Weiss to shield their faces, backing away from Nora.

With her semblance, Nora started to absorb the electricity, the arcs turning pink as they raced over and through her. Ruby could feel her hair starting to lift with the static charge in the room—completely outdone by Nora’s as it started to all stick straight up.

She was taking on too much—with that much power coursing through her… there was no way it could end well.

Nora pulled Magnhild away from the wire, still crackling with energy. She screamed, rearing her hammer back—and slammed it right into the door.

Sparks flew, a sharp, cracking sound filling the air—and an explosion blasted the door away from its frame, sending it flying out into the walkway chamber like a bullet. Thick, black smoke burst from the door in every direction, the sharp smell of electrical fire in the air.

Eventually, the smoke began to clear. Nora stood, huffing and puffing, hair still standing on end and jagged pink cracks covering her body. “That… was awesome,” Nora managed to say at a quiet whisper. The pink lines on her body faded, revealing discolored electrical burn scars. She fell to her knees, her aura dissipated, and, finally, she fully collapsed to the ground.

“Nora!” Blake ran forward. She tried to touch Nora, only to shout in pain as she was zapped by the static charge still all over the girl. She tried again, this time placing her fingers against Nora’s neck.

“Is she…?” Ruby said, walking next to Blake with Weiss and already feeling dread in her heart.

“She’s alive,” Blake said. She looked at Ruby with a dour expression. “For now, anyway.”

Ruby heard a crash further down the walkway—she saw Vine lifting the dislodged, burned, and warped door off himself, the other Ace-Ops standing up from the ground, brushing themselves off and coughing.

Ruby, Weiss, and Blake all held their weapons at the ready. Behind the Ace-Ops, Ruby saw Penny on the ground… still. There was something on her chest, some kind of… metal contraption. She couldn’t tell what it was from a distance.

But as the Ace-Ops gathered themselves, she knew they were going to have to get through them first to find out.

Watts sat at the desk in the lab, idly tapping a finger against its surface and resting his head on his other hand. He heard a beep from the desk terminal, sitting up straight as he looked at it.

DEVICE FIRED. COMMAND PROGRAM UPLOADED.

Watts smiled, glancing back at the two soldiers behind him. Completely oblivious.

“I have to thank you, James,” Watts muttered to himself, “for this golden opportunity.”

Ruby, Weiss, and Blake remained in their tense standoff against the Ace-Ops. Neither side had moved, not wanting to give their opponents the opportunity to react.

Suddenly, Penny sprang up from where she was lying on the ground. Her movements were… rigid. Mechanical. And, as Ruby looked closer… she realized Penny’s eyes had turned yellow.

Without a word, Penny rocketed off through the door behind her and the Ace-Ops. The Ace-Ops looked back, frozen in confusion.

“That… wasn’t supposed to happen, was it?” Marrow said, looking at the rest of his team. “I feel like that wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“Something’s really wrong,” Ruby said. She turned to Weiss and Blake. “I need to go after her—you guys protect Nora.”

Blake nodded.

“Be careful,” Weiss said.

“You too,” Ruby responded before using her semblance to split herself into three blurs of red, rushing around the distracted Ace-Ops and recombining into one big blur when she reached the door.

“Oh no you don’t,” Ruby heard Harriet say. The Ace-Op used her own superspeed semblance to give chase, following after Ruby… though Ruby was just able to outpace her and start gaining a healthy lead.

Ruby, in semblance form, continued to rush through the halls. Using it for this long was taking a lot of her aura, but she needed to find Penny and catch up to her. Thankfully, Penny didn’t seem to be making much of an effort to hide her trail—Ruby saw gashes in the walls from Floating Array, burn marks from her jet thrusters… she was getting closer.

Ruby saw two unconscious AUF soldiers slumped on the floor on either side of an open doorway. She rushed in, coming out of semblance form and landing… seeing one more guard on the ground, another held up in Penny’s firm grasp by a single hand, and Arthur Watts sitting in an office chair behind her near a computer console.

It appeared to be some kind of engineering lab… and as Ruby saw the round device on Penny’s chest again, she began to have a terrible feeling that she knew where it came from.

“Penny…” Ruby said cautiously, putting her weapon away and raising her hands. “Put him down.”

Penny’s head shot in Ruby’s direction. There was an odd twitch for a moment, her eyes briefly flashing back to green before yellow overtook them once more.

“Well, you heard the girl, Miss Polendina,” Watts said, standing up from his chair. “Put him down, why don’t you?”

Penny looked back at the soldier—then threw him against the wall so hard his armor left a dent in it. She hovered off the ground, gently flying and landing beside Watts, who clasped his hands behind himself and looked at Ruby with a smug grin.

“What did you do to her?” Ruby growled.

Watts looked at Penny with a raised eyebrow. “Oh, this? I just… resused an old trick of mine to secure a means of escape.”

Ruby didn’t get a chance to do anything else before something tackled her to the ground from behind. Ruby quickly engaged her semblance, slipping out of the attacker’s grasp and landing on a nearby work table, swinging Crescent Rose out in rifle form and aiming it… at Harriet. It seemed she’d managed to catch up to her.

Harriet looked from Ruby, to Penny, to Watts with clear confusion. “What’s all this?”

“Watts did something to Penny!” Ruby shouted. “He’s using her to−”

Penny jetted forward into Ruby, slamming into her and wrapping both hands around her throat. Crescent Rose slipped from Ruby’s hand as they slammed into the wall, Penny continuing to fire her thrusters to keep Ruby pinned as Ruby struggled and squirmed in her grasp. She grabbed onto Penny’s wrists, trying to pull them away… but she wasn’t nearly strong enough for that. She felt her lungs burning, begging for air.

Harriet ran at Penny—Penny released one hand from Ruby’s throat to direct one half of Floating Array, sending swords flying at Harriet. Harriet dashed around them, leaped forward, skipped off one, and kneed Penny in the back of the head.

Penny finally let go, letting Ruby drop to the ground as she turned to fight Harriet. Ruby collapsed to the ground, sitting with her back against the wall as she coughed, massaging her throat.

She had just started to breathe again when she saw Watts slinking toward the door while Penny and Harriet went at each other. Ruby quickly scooped up her rifle, aiming and firing right in front of Watts’ face just as he was about to make it to the door.

He stumbled back, turning and glaring at Ruby with a frown. He looked at the unconscious guard on the floor, running forward and pulling their pistol off their belt, aiming it at Ruby. He looked at the weapon with disapproval. “I suppose this will have to do.”

He fired at Ruby—she engaged her semblance again, flying forward. She transformed out of it when she was close to Watts, slamming her feet into his chest and kicking off him, firing shot after shot as she flipped back through the air.

He took a hit in the shoulder, snarling as he fired back—hitting Ruby in the chest. Her aura dulled the blow to the level of a solid punch, but the shot still sent her flying back… right into Harriet.

The two tumbled to the floor. Harriet quickly spun back up to her feet, looking at Ruby with angry eyes before rushing her.

“Harriet, wai−!”

Harriet slammed into Ruby shoulder-first, knocking her to the ground before snapping her heel down—Ruby rolled to the side, just avoiding the blow as she transformed Crescent Rose into sword form.

“You slipped away once, brat,” Harriet sneered. “But your little girlfriend isn’t here to help you this time, is she?”

“Harriet…” Ruby said warningly, backing away from her. “You need to focus. Watts is going to get away if we don’t−”

Harriet rushed Ruby again with a shout, Ruby ducking to the side and tripping her up with her sword. Harriet tumbled forward, rolling into the wall.

Watts was leaning against the doorway out, arms folded. That smug… he was just watching. He had his chance to escape, but he was so confident that he could do so whenever he wanted he wasn’t even rushing to do it.

Ruby then looked at Penny. She had frozen up again, fingers and head twitching. Her eyes were flickering again, but not to green… this time, they were flickering red.

Harriet ran at Ruby again, Ruby dodging back from her wild punches. “Harriet, please! There’s more at stake here than you and me!”

Harriet screamed, slamming her fist right into Ruby’s face and knocking her back.

Ruby shook her head off as she stumbled. Alright… Harriet obviously wasn’t going to listen. And that meant Ruby was going to have to take her down if she had any hope of taking Watts down… assuming he didn’t bolt while they were distracted.

Ruby extended Crescent Rose into scythe form, swinging it at Harriet—Harriet jumped over it, kicked off the inner curve of the scythe, and punched Ruby in the face again.

Harriet landed on the other side of her, sliding to a stop before turning to rush Ruby again—Ruby raised her weapon, ready to defend herself, when Penny leaped back into action, slamming into Ruby’s back and knocking her to the floor. Penny shot a hand forward, four blades flying toward Harriet—she dodged three, only for the fourth to catch the collar of her uniform, pinning it—and Harriet—up against the wall, her feet dangling off the floor.

Ruby rolled onto her back, seeing Penny lift her hands… every other tip of Floating Array pointing down at Ruby’s head.

There was a grunt of strain from Penny as the swords began to fall. They punctured through the floor all around Ruby one-by-one, some barely more than a centimeter away from her face.

Penny’s eyes flickered again. “Ru… by?”

“Penny?!” Ruby was practically fenced in by all the swords in the ground, afraid to move in case Penny attacked again. “Whatever’s happening, I know you can fight it!”

The device on Penny’s chest sparked. She clutched the sides of her head, eyes twitching. “I− I can’t!”

“You’re stronger than him! Don’t let him use you like this!”

“I… I do not want to hurt you,” Penny managed to say… but her hand was rising again, and the blades were following. “I do not… want to hurt you.” The blades continued on their path… up… up… recentering their aim. “I do not want…”

Penny let out a choked cry, clenching her eyes shut as the device sparked again. One hand clutched at it.

When Penny opened her eyes again… they were red. “I will not hurt you!”

The device on Penny’s chest was suddenly repelled, flying off and smashing against a wall. Penny swung her arm out to the side, the blades flying toward Watts.

“Th− that’s not possi−”

Watts cut himself off when he hit the floor, just narrowly avoiding the blades as they stabbed into the wall behind him. He popped two shots off at Penny, the bullets sparking off her aura.

Ruby quickly got to her feet, standing beside Penny as she floated into the air, eyes still burning red. “I will not let you use me again!”

Penny shot forward at Watts… only to be stopped by Harriet finally wriggling free of the blade pinning her, sprinting at Penny and striking her in the stomach with a two-handed punch.

“This shouldn’t be possible,” Watts muttered to himself. “There’s no way she could’ve broken my control.”

Watts got off the ground, seemed to regard his new standing in the current situation—not good—and went for the door, running out into the hall.

Ruby wanted to go after him, but she couldn’t leave Penny at Harriet’s mercy either. She ran at Harriet, hitting her with her scythe. She struck Harriet in the knee, making her roll forward, before bringing the scythe back around and hitting her into the air. Ruby fired the scythe behind her, shooting herself up and jabbing Harriet with the bottom end of it, smashing her against the ceiling.

Harriet bashed an elbow back into the ceiling to send herself forward—she moved around Ruby’s scythe, kicking her in the side and into the wall. When they landed, she went for a roundhouse, Ruby ducking under it and using her semblance to split apart and get behind Harriet, dragging her scythe’s blade through the ground and firing a shot off.

It hit Harriet right in the chest.

“Penny, stop Watts!” Ruby shouted.

The command was unneeded, as Penny was already going for the door, pursuing Watts—but Harriet used the distance from Ruby to grab onto Penny’s leg, pivoting and throwing Penny into her friend.

The full weight of Penny’s heavy mechanical body slammed into Ruby’s chest, knocking them both to the floor. Penny fired her boosters, floating back into the air. “Get out of my way!”’

Ruby looked at Penny with fear… she’d never heard that kind of utter fury in Penny’s voice before. She genuinely worried what Penny might do if she actually managed to catch up to Watts… or if Harriet didn’t let her go after him.

“Harriet, you need to stop!” Ruby said, standing up. “Watts is getting away!”

“Tch,” Harriet said, flicking some spittle from the corner of her mouth with her thumb. “He’s not getting out of here. Your fight is with me.”

Penny flew forward again—her blades whirled around her like she was a spinning top of death. Harriet started to sprint in a circle, following the rotation of the blades.

Ruby switched Crescent Rose back into rifle form. She knelt, took aim, held her breath…

She fired—the bullet connected with Harriet’s knee, tripping her up. While Harriet was midair in her fall, Penny swung her blades up, connecting with the woman’s midsection and sending her flying back into the desk, the computer terminal’s screen shattering.

Penny spun all her blades in one big circle, pulled her arms back… then pushed them forward.

A massive stream of green energy slammed into Harriet, so bright that Ruby had to look away. When it faded, Ruby looked back—there was a scorched hole in the wall where the desk had once been. Ruby looked through it, seeing two more holes through two more walls… and Harriet at the end of it, lying on the ground.

She tried to get up… only for her aura to flicker and die. Harriet slumped back to the floor.

Penny looked at the empty doorway. “He got away,” she said through clenched teeth.

“I− I know,” Ruby said. “But we need to−”

Penny looked through the holes in the wall, at Harriet all the way at the end of them. “He got away because of her.”

“Penny…”

Penny took a step forward.

Ruby ran to her, grabbing onto her hand. “Penny, stop!”

Penny did, turning and looking at Ruby with intense red eyes, a scowl of rage on her face… before she blinked, eyes flickering to green before fully changing back. “Ruby…? I− I’m sorry, I− I don’t know what−”

Ruby sighed with relief, keeping her hands over Penny’s. “You were angry… I get it. I mean…” She looked back at the empty doorway. “What Watts did to you… I can’t even imagine how that felt.”

Penny lowered her head—it sounded like she was crying, but no tears fell. “I hate him.”

Ruby felt a brief moment of shock at hearing that word from Penny. Hatred just… didn’t seem like something she was ever capable of.

“Hey, uhhh, I’m seeing a lot of drones and soldiers running around,” May said over the comm line. “What exactly is going on in there?”

Ruby let go of Penny’s hand, pressing her fingers to her ear. “It’d take way too long to explain. The important thing is that Nora is hurt really bad and we need to get her out of here fast. I’m going to send you her location—Blake and Weiss should be with her too.”

“Wait, you’re not?!”

“Something… came up,” Ruby said, looking at Penny. The girl was still standing with her head down. “Don’t worry, we’re not that far—we’ll meet you there.”

Ruby put a hand on Penny’s arm. Penny looked up at her, clearly still upset. Ruby smiled gently at her, then motioned to the door with her head. Penny nodded, and the two ran out together.

After Ruby and Harriet took off after Penny, Blake and Weiss were left in a tense standoff with Vine, Elm, and Marrow.

Vine glanced at Nora, unconscious on the ground behind Blake and Weiss, then up at the two standing girls. “She needs medical attention. If you just stand down, we can get her the help she needs.”

“You’re using her life as a bargaining chip?!” Blake spat.

Vine raised his hands. “That’s not what I−”

“I don’t care what you think you meant,” Blake snapped. She stared at Vine, narrowing her eyes. “You disgust me. You do things like this and you have the audacity to act like you’re the good guys? Everything you stand for is a− is a farce! Atlas is a symbol that people can reach the heavens?” She scoffed. “Yeah, right—only if they’re rich. Only if they don’t look like me, right? All you’ve done is float yourselves over all the ugliness so you can pretend that you don’t see it. That you’re better than it. But you know what? You’re not any different from the people who would happily beat me just because you’re nicer about it. Not like they don’t still want to—you just get someone else to dirty their hands for you. Who cares who has to suffer so long as everyone up here gets to keep living their luxurious, carefree, vapid lives?”

Vine maintained a neutral, stern gaze through Blake’s rant. Elm just looked angry. But Marrow… Marrow was looking away in shame.

“And you Ace-Ops,” Blake continued. “Here to protect the people, right? Except that’s not what you do. All you do is protect the status quo. And even then, I tried to give you a chance. I wanted to hope that maybe things weren’t as bad here as I was always told they were. But now I know that everything my parents told me stories about, all the vile rot infecting this kingdom… it’s never gone away. You just… painted over it.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about!” Elm shouted. “Now stand down, or I’ll flatten you myself!”

Weiss looked at Blake. “You’ve been holding that in a while, haven’t you?”

“You have no idea.”

Weiss smirked at her. “Well, if you haven’t worked all your aggression out of your system yet, I think some very kind souls just volunteered to be our punching bags.”

Blake smiled back at her. “You’re right—that is so nice of them.”

They turned their attention back to the Ace-Ops—then, they ran in.

Weiss led the charge with a summoned Boarbatusk, the spectral creature charging ahead and forcing the Ace-Ops to disperse, throwing them off their footing. Elm rooted herself to the ground, grabbing the summoned beast by its tusks and locking it down as it pushed against her.

Blake hopped over the side of the railing, throwing Gambol Shroud in kusarigama form and hooking it on a section behind the Ace-Ops. She swung herself back up, kicking Marrow in the side of the head.

They needed to stay on either side of Marrow—his semblance was powerful, but he could only stop things in one direction at a time. So long as Weiss and Blake weren’t in the same direction, he wouldn’t be able to stop both of them at once.

Blake transformed Gambol Shroud into sword form, trading swings with Marrow’s boomerang. Metal clashed with metal… but Blake got the sense that Marrow’s heart wasn’t in this fight.

They locked weapons. “Something bugging you, Marrow?”

Marrow strained as Blake shoved against him. “Look, I get what you’re saying and all, but breaking the law isn’t the right way to go about this!”

“Oh yeah? Tell that to the Army of the Fount—because they’re the only reason you can even wear that uniform.”

Blake used her semblance, shunting herself to the side and leaving a shadow clone charged with burn dust. It exploded into flame, knocking Marrow over the side of the railing. He grabbed on, dangling by one arm—not totally out of the fight, but not an immediate problem at the very least.

Elm let out a shout, finally getting the upper hand over the Boarbatusk and tossing it over the side of the walkway. Weiss ran forward, leading with her rapier and striking at Elm.

Elm swung her hammer, catching Weiss in the stomach and sending her flying into the air. Weiss created a black, gravity-dust infused glyph behind her, landing against it and sticking herself in the air. She summoned more glyphs to her sides, letting out a torrent of hail and battering Elm with it.

Vine swung around to Weiss’s side with his aura-arms, attempting to get the drop on her. She purposely dispelled her glyph, dropping down just as Vine was about to reach her—she turned in the air, spinning Myrtenaster’s dust chamber and letting out an arc of flame.

It hit Vine dead-on. Weiss flipped again, landing on her feet—there were heavy footfalls as Elm charged at her, bellowing a war cry and preparing her hammer to strike.

Then, a ribbon wrapped around the shaft of the hammer… and Blake pulled herself toward it, landing on Elm’s back. She sprang off, leaving an ice-dust infused shadow clone in her place, weighing Elm down.

“Thanks,” Weiss said.

Blake grinned. “Always looking out for my best friend.”

Suddenly, an aura-arm grabbed Blake from behind, tossing her back. Weiss turned, seeing that Vine had landed behind them. He reached to his back, retrieving a throwing star and tossing it at Weiss. She parried it to the side, preparing to strike back with a lightning-charged rapier strike when something crashed into her back, knocking her forward onto the ground.

Weiss found herself staring into the eyes of an ice copy of Blake’s face. So that was what that had been.

Elm grabbed Weiss by the back of the shirt, yanking her off the ground—she pitched her overhead, slamming into the ground behind her, following up with an upward swing of her hammer that caught Weiss in the chest.

Blake watched as Weiss went sailing down the walkway, landing in a tumble. Blake had landed in a crouch next to the unconscious Nora, staring down Vine. He grabbed a chunk of Blake’s ice clone from behind him with his aura-arm, throwing it forward at her.

Blake slashed it apart, the two pieces flying around her as she ran forward again. Vine tried to sweep her legs, making her jump to avoid it—she kicked off the railing, going over Vine’s head and hooking her ribbon around his neck. She dragged him to the floor, skipping off the ground again to launch herself over him.

Blake used her semblance, leaving a clone behind to push herself down through the air, landing in a double knee strike right on Vine’s gut. He coughed with pain as the air was forced out of his lungs.

Blake looked up to see Arma Gigas slamming its massive blade into Elm—but she had rooted herself to the ground, an immovable object.

Blake glanced down at Vine—specifically at the bola-cuffs on his belt. She snatched them off. “Hope you don’t mind if I borrow these.”

She jumped off Vine before he could do anything to stop her. She spun the bolas in the air, tossing them at Elm’s ankles—they wrapped around, the magnetic lock latching into place.

Weiss must’ve noticed, as she suddenly pulled Arma Gigas back. Elm disengaged her semblance to chase Weiss down—only to trip on the bolas she hadn’t noticed, falling flat on her face.

Elm looked behind her at Blake with shock and utter, indignant rage. Blake waved at her.

Arma Gigas moved forward again, keeping its blade in one hand as it picked Elm up by the feet with the other. A pathway of glyphs appeared around the summon’s back, Weiss skating across them and rearing back with Myrtenaster, letting out a shout—she swung her rapier into Elm as she passed, electricity jolting through her.

Arma Gigas tossed Elm up, then Weiss created another glyph near her in the air—a boulder-sized chunk of ice flew out of it, smacking Elm out of the air and crashing her against the wall above the door out. She landed hard on the ground, aura sputtering… before dissipating.

Vine grabbed Blake with one of his aura-arms, slamming her into one of the walls to the side, over the drop. Blake struggled to get free, but his grip only tightened. She could feel her aura straining under the pressure… she wouldn’t be able to withstand much more of that.

Weiss was panting as well, visibly sweating. Elm had gotten some heavy hits in and Weiss had burned through a lot of her aura fighting as well.

Vine, though composed enough to not show it so obviously, had to be running on low as well. This was the deciding moment of the fight.

Weiss dispelled Arma Gigas.

“Your sister would be disappointed in you,” Vine said.

Weiss rolled her eyes. “Please—I’ve been disappointing family members since the day I was born.”

She summoned glyphs behind her, expelling fire in Vine’s direction. He covered his body with his other aura-arm.

The flames stopped.

“And what was such a telegraphed attack meant to accomplish?” Vine said.

Weiss smiled… Blake knew that smile. The chilling smile Weiss Schnee always had when she was about to do something particularly devilish. “Oh, nothing much—I just wanted to melt all those ice chunks around your feet.”

Vine looked down to see that he was standing in a puddle of freshly-melted water.

A yellow glyph formed by Weiss’s shoulder. “You know what doesn’t mix well with water?”

Vine looked up in terrible realization—just as a bolt of electricity shot from the glyph, striking the water. Vine let out a scream as the electricity spread over the puddle, frying his aura.

He lost focus on his semblance, his extended arms dropping… and dropping Blake as a result. She threw Gambol Shroud in kusarigama form forward, hooking it on the far railing just beside Weiss, yanking herself toward it. As she flew, she extended a hand. “Weiss!”

Weiss held her hand out in Blake’s direction—when she reached her, they grabbed on, Weiss spinning with Blake’s momentum before tossing her at Vine.

Blake extended one foot forward with a shout. It struck Vine right in the bridge of his nose, knocking him back to the floor as Blake’s momentum carried her past him, landing in a slide.

Vine groaned on the ground for a moment, moved like he was about to get up… then fell back down, aura breaking.

Blake walked back to Weiss, holding out a fist. Weiss obliged her with a fist bump.

Past her companion, Blake saw Marrow finally pull himself back over the railing. “Heads up,” Blake said, holding Gambol Shroud in sword form at the ready again. “We’re not done yet.”

Weiss let out a frustrated sigh. “We never are, are we?”

Marrow stood, stretching out his back… then noticed both his teammates were down for the count.

“Took you long enough,” Blake snarked.

Marrow looked past her… at Nora, still on the ground. “Well… can’t say I was rushing to get back into this one.”

Suddenly, the wall to Blake’s left exploded inward, spraying everyone with chunks of cement and dust. Weiss coughed and, as the dust cleared, Blake could see a Manta hovering outside, the cold wind outside the base howling as it filtered in.

Weiss coughed a few more times before regaining her breath.

“Weiss, Blake—grab Nora and get the lead out!”

Blake blinked her eyes in surprise. “May?!”

Weiss moved back toward Nora, starting to lift her shoulders—Blake snapped out of her confusion, taking Nora’s legs.

May managed to pilot the Manta into the room with only a few superficial scratches on its wings, turning it to the side and opening its doors. She held her hands out for Nora and they passed her off to her.

Blake looked to the side… Marrow was still just standing there, staring at them. He slid his boomerang onto his back. “Go.”

Weiss stared at him in confusion. “What?”

“Your friend needs help and she needs it fast,” Marrow said, gesturing to the ship. “If my orders would get in the way of that, then damn my orders.”

Blake looked back at Weiss. She shrugged, jumping the gap onto the Manta and holding her hand out to help Blake in. Blake clambered onboard.

May looked between them. “Where’s Ruby and Penny?”

“You didn’t already get them?” Blake said.

May groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. “She said she would be here.”

Blake’s ears twitched. She heard something…

Approaching gun and laser fire?

Ruby and Penny ran into the room from the entryway, bullets impacting the wall just behind them. Penny fired her thrusters, landing in the airship in a flash. Ruby locked eyes with Marrow as she passed him… but he made no move to stop her. She used her semblance, flying into the ship as well.

May ran to the pilot seat, turning the ship around as Blake saw a squad of AK-200s run in, pursuing Ruby and Penny. They opened fire… but as the doors shut and the Manta emerged into the open air with a disconcerting scraping noise, it was clear there was nothing they could do to stop them.

Ruby watched as the AUF compound on the underside of Atlas faded away in the distance, an indistinguishable speck against the mass of the floating city. Things had turned out more complicated than she’d expected, but they’d gotten what they came for.

Though as she looked at Nora lying across the long seat at the back of the ship, she couldn’t help feeling she couldn’t call this a success either.

Blake and Weiss were standing nearby her, keeping an eye on her condition. Ruby walked over to them. “How is she?”

Weiss shrugged. “I’m no doctor, but even I can tell she needs medical attention as fast as possible.”

Ruby nodded. She looked at Nora again. She wasn’t sure what else to say… they all knew the situation. It didn’t mean any of them knew what to do about it.

Ruby looked over at Penny. She was standing beside the side door they’d entered the craft through, holding her arms around herself and looking down. What happened with Watts had obviously rattled her deeply… and Ruby couldn’t say she was alone in feeling that way.

Ruby had never seen Penny angry like that before. And she had to admit, it scared her. She wanted to believe that Penny would never to anything to seriously hurt someone, but the look in her eyes when she’d started approaching the downed Harriet…

Ruby closed her eyes. Penny was back, but Penny was… different. It made Ruby wonder if she’d messed up somehow—another line of mistakes in a long line of mistakes.

She sighed. Her fault or not, Penny was hurting, and she needed a friend to talk to.

Ruby walked over to her. “Hey, Penny.”

Penny glanced up at her with sullen eyes. “Hello, Ruby.”

Ruby tried to force an awkward chuckle. “No salutations?”

Penny’s frown just deepened.

“Sorry,” Ruby said, leaning against the wall next to her. “You just… look really down, so I was hoping a joke might cheer you up a little. You alright?”

“I am fine.” Penny hiccuped.

Ruby reached out, touching Penny on the arm. “Come on, don’t lie to me, Penny. It’s alright—you can talk to me.”

Penny looked to the side, pulling her arm away. “I don’t like what happened. With Watts. With… me . I was… very, very angry. I wanted to hurt him. I hate feeling like that.”

Ruby looked down. “You know… Ironwood mentioned once that you and Watts have… some history, I guess. He told me some of the story, but I’m not really sure I can trust his version of events anymore.”

Penny sank down to the floor. Ruby sat down with her. “When Dad created me, I… had a remote override function,” Penny began. “He did not know I was going to become more than just a machine, so it was supposed to be a safety precaution.” She hugged her knees close to herself. “Dad and Arthur Watts were supposed to show people in the AUF what they were working on one day, so they could pick which project to fund. Watts found a way to trigger my remote override. He… he took control of me and forced me to try and attack people. My dad fixed it before anyone got hurt, and eventually I saw schematics of the device Watts used on his computer. I tried to apprehend him myself, but…”

“Ironwood said he went over some kind of… artificial waterfall?”

Penny nodded. “We all thought he was dead.” She looked at Ruby. “I am sorry I kept this a secret from you. It… it hurts to remember. I have never felt more scared then when Watts had control of me, when he tried to make me do awful things and I could not do anything to stop it. Dad disabled my override when that happened… but Watts must have found a way around that.” She looked down again. “And this time, he tried to make me hurt you. I almost… I almost hurt you.”

Ruby put her hand on Penny’s shoulder. “But you didn’t, okay? And even if you did… I would never blame you for what he made you do. I’m… I’m sorry you had to go through that again.” She clasped one of Penny’s hands between her own. “And I promise you I’ll do everything I can to make sure he never does that to you again.”

Penny managed a weak smile. “Thank you, Ruby.”

“So, uh, not to break up the tender moments back there,” May said from the cockpit. “But where exactly am I supposed to be taking us? The longer we’re in the air, the more chances someone might see us and start tracking us.”

Ruby and Penny stood up. They looked at Blake and Weiss.

“We’re not going back to the hideout?” Blake said.

“We don’t have what we need to help Nora there,” May said. “Crater’s probably a bust too—already too many people there and resources are gonna be stretched thin as it is.”

“Well, we can’t exactly just take her to a hospital,” Ruby said. “We’re wanted criminals.”

Weiss furrowed her brows, lightly biting her knuckle as she thought. Then, she looked up. “I… might have an idea. But it’s going to be a risky one.”

“Sounds like nobody else has anything in mind so far—hit us, kid,” May said.

“My family’s manor,” Weiss said.

Ruby sputtered for a moment before regaining the ability to form words. “Your family’s− isn’t that place gonna be, like, crawling with soldiers?!”

“I admit it’s not impossible,” Weiss said. “But from what we know of Ironwood, I doubt he’s wasting manpower on making sure my father doesn’t leave. I think there’s a good chance he pulled most of his forces out—probably only left some drones or something to guard Jacques specifically. It’s not like he’s a trained fighter, and he’s not useful to Salem anymore or knows anything that could threaten her, so I doubt he expects her to make a move to break him out or kill him to silence him.”

“That’s a lot of ifs,” Blake said, folding her arms.

Ruby looked over at Nora’s scarred form. She was still breathing… but softly, weakly. “Well, I think ‘ifs’ might be the best we’ve got right now. We can at least scout it out—if it seems too hot, we’ll avoid it and figure something else out. But Weiss might be onto something… I mean, it definitely wouldn’t be the first place I’d look for fugitives.”

“Alright,” May said, already sounding apprehensive about the idea. “To the Schnee manor we go, I… guess.”

May turned the aircraft, heading up over Amity and in the direction of the Schnee’s estate.

“Words cannot express the depths of my disappointment.”

Ironwood was pacing before the ragged, burned hole in several walls Penny Polendina had left behind after blasting Harriet through them. Her hair had been singed, her uniform blackened in spots, and she felt like she had a bad sunburn over every inch of exposed skin.

She was standing in a line with the rest of the Ace-Ops as Ironwood “debriefed” them… though that felt like just a formal way of saying “dressing them down without a shred of mercy.”

“Not only did you fail to complete your mission—against a bunch of children who, may I remind you, never completed their four year huntress training course—you also allowed a critical POW to escape.”

Harriet stood straighter. “Sir−”

“And I am disappointed in you most of all, Operative Bree,” Ironwood said, turning on his heel and stabbing a finger in Harriet’s direction. “You let your bruised ego get in the way of completing your objective.” He lowered his hand, sighing. “I had hoped that, with Clover out of commission, you would rise to the occasion. To step up and be the leader that your team needed. But I see now that I vastly overestimated your capabilities.”

Harriet looked down, ashamed. She was pissed—more pissed because she knew everything Ironwood was saying was absolutely true. She’d messed up. She’d let Watts get away because all she cared about was beating that little twerp Ruby Rose into the ground. Though she was also furious that Ironwood seemed unwilling to admit he’d made a mistake in forcing Watts to help them in the first place, providing the means of his escape.

But he was the general of the AUF—even Harriet knew not to let her temper get the better of her and lash out at him.

Ironwood clasped his hands behind him. “It’s clear to me now that this team is in dire need of new leadership and oversight.”

Harriet heard booted footsteps behind her. She turned, seeing Winter Schnee walking in with her typical, obnoxiously crisp posture. She was wearing some kind of garish, black and red armor over her uniform… which Harriet realized wasn’t armor. It was something similar to Harriet’s own exoskeletal frame. Harriet noticed a bandage under one of Winter’s eyes, a split lip.

No, that wasn’t armor at all—those pieces were holding the woman’s broken body together.

Harriet sneered at her. Of all the people in Atlas, Winter was by far the most insulting to be placed in command of the Ace-Ops.

“Starting now,” Ironwood said. “You will all be reporting directly to Specialist Schnee.”

Watts sneaked into a back alley, pulling the hood of his coat up. He was thankful for those Beacon brats—all the noise they made allowed him the perfect cover to sneak his way out. It was pitifully easy now that he understood Atlas’s security systems so well. He was sure they didn’t even realize he wasn’t in the building anymore, that he was running free in Atlas.

Watts leaned out of the alley—quickly ducking back as a camera drone floated his way. He pressed his back to the wall. The drone passed by, paying him no mind.

Watts stepped away, looking out of the alley again. It was a shame he hadn’t been able to procure a scroll on his way out. He made his immediate priority to find one and get in touch with his allies… it was time to get back to work.

Chapter Text

Robyn Hill was lying down on her prison cell cot, holding her hand out above her, fingers splayed so she could examine her fingernails. “You should’ve seen the look on her face. Pretty sure Joanna had never lost a fight before that—least not fair and square.”

Only silence answered the end of Robyn’s story.

She sat up, pulling a knee up and resting an arm over it as she looked through the shielded walls at Qrow’s cell. As usual, he was just sitting on his cot with his head down, staring at the floor.

Robyn frowned. What happened with Clover was really eating at the guy. She felt bad for Qrow, but also frustrated. Clover was the one who turned on them. He’d made his choice… and died for it.

“Damn, tough crowd tonight,” Robyn said. “Maybe Ironwood should’ve spent a little more on better cell block entertainment.”

Qrow finally smirked a little.

Robyn pumped her fists into the air. “And he smiles!” She hopped off the cot, walking to the hard-light wall that formed the border of their cells. “What do I win?”

“It’s your game—I don’t make the rules,” Qrow said.

Robyn was relieved to finally get Qrow to open up. And now that he had… maybe she could help him get over his obsessing. “You know, jokes aside… I am sorry, Qrow. About what happened to Clover. I just want you to understand that it wasn’t your fault.”

Qrow exhaled through his nose. “That’s the problem, Robyn. It was."

“Qrow−”

Qrow lifted a hand. “Let me finish—I’m not just sayin’ this to be self-deprecating. Clover and I… we tried to put things aside to focus on Tyrian. Thought if we worked together, we could take ‘im back down again. Thing is… bad luck struck. Like it always does when I’m involved.” He put a hand over his chest. “I thought that, maybe, I could finally be around someone— anyone— and not worry about my semblance hurting them… but that was just a stupid dream, and Clover was the one who paid the price for it.” He sighed. “Maybe I’m just better off alone. Maybe… maybe Dad was right all those times he told me I was nothin’ but a curse.”

Robyn turned, leaning her back against the wall and folding her arms. “You know… I think I can sort of understand what that’s like.”

Qrow scoffed. “Really?”

Robyn pulled off a glove, holding her hand before her face and activating her semblance. Her aura shimmered purple, like light reflecting off water. “Having a semblance that lets you sniff out people’s secrets makes it hard for them to trust you. They keep you at arm’s length. It’s… hard to form a real, genuine connection with someone.” She let out a dry chuckle. “And even those rare times you do, there’s no guarantee they’ll stick around.”

“Mm. Winter?”

Robyn smirked. “That obvious, huh?”

“Didn’t think you were tryin’ to be subtle.”

Robyn turned around, facing Qrow again. “Yeah, guess I wasn’t. Anyway, my point is that, even then, I found someone else eventually, and I know the rest of my team will always have my back . Don’t give up on people, Qrow. Your luck’s gotta turn sooner or later.”

Robyn heard the whoosh of the cell block doors opening… and scowled as soon as she saw Ironwood walking in, Winter following at his shoulder.

“James,” Qrow growled.

Ironwood and Winter stopped before their cells. “Whatever you might think, Qrow, it doesn’t bring me any joy to see you like this.”

Qrow let out a barking chuckle. “Honestly, James, I’m not convinced you’ve ever felt joy in your life at all.”

“Snarky rebuttals aren’t going to do you any favors here, Qrow,” Winter said, glaring at the huntsman.

Robyn just laughed. “Favors for what? We all know Ironwood’s just gonna kill us and dump our bodies off Atlas if we’re not useful to him anyway—why waste time?”

Ironwood ignored Robyn, focusing entirely on Qrow. “One of your nieces and her friends just attacked an AUF military compound.”

Qrow grinned. “Oh, yeah? Good for her.”

Ironwood clasped his hands behind him, leaning forward. “I don’t think you understand, Qrow. The longer this goes on, the more damage she does, the worse things are going to be for Ruby when we finally catch her—and we will catch her.” He leaned back. “I don’t want her to get hurt, but if she forces my hand… I’ll do what I have to. So—if you know anything about where they might be hiding out−”

“Like we’d help a dictator like you,” Robyn said. “Keep your questions to yourself—you’ll just be wasting your breath.”

Ironwood slowly stepped in front of Robyn’s cell. “Miss Hill, before you make any further comments, you may want to know that May Marigold was seen with Ruby Rose and her allies during the attack.”

Robyn folded her arms. “Yeah? Well, May’s a big girl—she can handle herself.”

Ironwood closed his eyes, letting out a frustrated sigh. “Neither of you get it!” He opened his eyes again. “I don’t like what I have to do, but someone has to do it. Someone has to ensure that any of humanity survives. Why can none of you see that?!”

“Why’s that our only option, huh?!” Qrow shouted. “Why can’t you see any other way outta this?!”

“Because there is no other option, Qrow!”

“Yes, there is,” Robyn said, walking up to the barrier of her cell. “We stand together against Salem, we tell the rest of the world, and we find a way!”

Robyn noticed Winter looking away—she honed in on her like a hawk swooping in on its prey. “And what about you, Winter? What’s your take on all this?” She scoffed. “I mean, it was one thing to choose your career over me, but your own sister?”

Winter bit her lip for a moment. “Weiss… will come to understand. I know she will. I just need to talk to her and−”

“And what, Winter?!” Robyn shouted. “You’ll ask her to turn against the people she’s risked her life for? Who have risked their lives for her?” She shook her head. “I’ve met her, and she isn’t anything like you. She’s decided who she’s going to be for herself—she doesn’t need someone to tell her who to be.”

Winter flinched, appearing actually shaken by Robyn’s words.

“This is going nowhere fast,” Ironwood said. He looked at Winter. “I think it’s time to go—maybe if we leave them to consider their choices and the consequences of them, they’ll come around.”

Winter, after a moment of hesitation, nodded. “Yes, sir.”

The two turned, walking away and leaving the way they came.

Robyn hoped some of what she said got through to Winter—despite how harsh she’d been, despite their rough history, Robyn knew that Winter was a good person at heart. Winter had to know this was wrong… she just needed to have enough faith in her own decisions to stand against Ironwood.

Robyn only hoped that it wouldn’t be too late when she did.

Ren felt the cold sting of air against his face as he rode in formation with Yang and Jaune through the Solitas tundra on their hoverbikes, in hot pursuit of the Grimm which had abducted Oscar. It was still flapping its wings, carrying Oscar over a ridgeline.

The three aimed for it, hitting an incline and following the creature up. Whatever it was, Ren was not going to let it take Oscar wherever it was headed. It wasn’t like Grimm to capture people to begin with, and he was sure that nothing it intended for Oscar was going to be pleasant.

The raised ridge led into a narrow ravine between two canyon walls—they were heading into Solitas’s mountain range and the terrain was quickly becoming more treacherous. As they swerved to avoid rocky outcroppings, Ren saw the Grimm pulling away.

“It’s going to lose us in these mountains!” Jaune shouted.

A concerning quake went through Ren’s hoverbike, though he managed to wrestle the vehicle back under his control. Frost was forming over the dashboard. He wiped it off with a hand—a red exclamation point was blinking on the screen next to text that read “EXTREME TEMPERATURE—ENGINE INTEGRITY COMPROMISED.”

“I’m not sure how much longer these things are going to last in this cold!” Ren shouted to his companions.

Yang growled in frustration. “Really wishing one of us could fly right now.”

They rode quietly for a moment, none of them sure what to do as the Grimm gained more and more distance ahead of them. Then, Jaune perked up on their bike. “Wait!” They pulled the handbrake, sliding back until they were riding side-by-side with Ren, lifting their sheath and expanding it into a shield. “Ren—I’m gonna get you up there!”

Seeing what his team leader was thinking, Ren climbed up so he was standing on his bike’s seat, before jumping off it and over toward Jaune. Ren heard his bike swerve out of control behind him and crash as his boots landed on Jaune’s shield. He bent his legs, ready to leap as he pulled out StormFlower.

There was a glow as the shield charged up before firing off a repulsing blast of force just as Ren jumped, launching him high and far into the air.

He was closer to the Grimm… but not close enough to reach it. He aimed one of his guns forward, launching the knife attached to it, its length of wire trailing behind it. It wrapped around the Grimm’s ankle, snagging in place and making the limb jerk back. Ren felt a jolt in his arm as he was suddenly tugged forward in the air—he’d hooked onto the Grimm, and that was a start.

The Grimm looked back with its eyeless face before shaking its head and looking forward again… just before it started to take an erratic flight path, swinging up and down, trying to shake Ren off with the whiplash as he trailed behind the creature.

“Nice,” Yang said over the comm line. Ren caught a glimpse of Yang and Jaune high-fiving below him… the effort of which almost made Jaune fall off their bike before they regained control of it. Ren clenched his teeth—their friend was in danger, and this was how the other two were acting?

Ren didn’t have much time to be angry about that before the Grimm managed to swing him against one of the canyon walls, hitting him into an outcropping of rock that jutted out from the rest of the wall and making it crumble to pieces. Thankfully, his aura protected him, but he would have to be careful not to take too many hits like that.

“Okay, not as nice,” Yang said.

“He’s slowing it down!” Jaune said. “Hang on, Ren!”

The Grimm tried to slam Ren against a wall again—this time he managed to orient himself to connect with it feet-first, running across it and springing off as the Grimm dragged him through the air again. “I don’t have much of a choice!”

Ren clenched his teeth, looking up at the Grimm as he soared through the air. He was slowing it down, true… but not enough.

Ren looked down, aiming his other gun—he fired the other knife at a trash can-sized rock on the ground, snagging it and dragging it behind him.

The Grimm’s speed was reduced even further, and as Ren looked back, he could see that Yang and Jaune were right on its tail again. They almost had this thing… well, they almost had it stopped, anyway. Ren wasn’t actually sure what they were going to do once they had to fight it again.

The Grimm looked behind itself again, snarling before abruptly pulling up. The force of the sudden change in trajectory jerked the line attached to the rock free, making the knife recoil along its wire back into that half of StormFlower.

The Grimm dove again, swerving to smash Ren against a rock pillar, knocking him spinning in the air. He flew right into another pillar, practically smacking face-first into it.

The canyon floor diverged, an upper path splitting off from the main one—Yang turned her bike onto the natural ramp, driving at nearly the same height as the Grimm. She sped forward, pulling up next to it and firing a few shots at it s wings , trying to knock it out of the air.

The Grimm seemed to almost glare at her before flying under some natural archways in the canyon, using them as cover from Yang. It took in a breath, its throat bulging unnaturally—before letting out a deep, bass roar that felt like it was reverberating through Ren’s bones.

As soon as the cry stopped, dozens of centipede-like Centinels burrowed out around the canyon, antenna twitching in the brisk air.

The path Yang was on reconnected with the main one. She and Jaune dodged around the emerging Centinels in front of them. “Did that thing just call for backup?!” Yang said.

She swerved to the side just before the winged Grimm swooped at her, clamping its jaws shut on the empty air where she had once been. It swung around, flying back up into the air above them again.

Jaune cut at Centinels with their sword as they drove after the Grimm, the momentum from their speed making Ignis Memoria slice through them easily—though it seemed there were only more and more emerging for every one he killed.

Ren heard screeches added to the soundscape around him, looking behind him to see more flapping wings—several Teryx had just joined the chase.

He looked ahead, seeing Oscar between the flaps of the Grimm’s membrane wings. Ren slid his other gun away—hand by hand, inch by inch, he started to climb his way toward the Grimm on his rope line.

Below him, Jaune’s hoverbike engine was struck by vibrant, green goo spat by one of the Centinels. The engine began to smoke and sputter as the acidic goop burned into it , the entire vehicle shaking—it was sure to crash.

“Jaune!” Yang shouted from one of the crisscrossing arches she had started to ride.

Jaune pumped his legs, jumping from the doomed hoverbike—he flew through the air, turning to use his shield’s repelling blast to launch himself up to one of the arches. He nearly fell off it, pinwheeling his arms to keep his balance before Yang grabbed his arm as she drove by, pulling him onto the back of her bike.

Yang gunned it, speeding the bike up as she swerved through countless Centinels. Some distance ahead of them, a Teryx landed, roaring at them. Jaune reached for their belt, pulling out the small shield device and throwing it against a nearby rock.

It deployed, and Yang aimed for the hard-light shield—she hit it, making it fall forward against the rock and creating the perfect ramp. They launched off it, sailing over the Teryx’s head as it turned and roared at them.

Yang shot forward to reduce some of their momentum in the air, but when they landed, their bike briefly spun out of control, smacking against a rock. Its engine started to leave a trail of smoke behind them as they tried to catch up to the winged Grimm.

They had a few more near misses with Centinels, breathing a sigh of relief… just before they noticed they were heading right for a sheer cliff drop. The two gasped, Yang trying to bring the bike to a quick stop—it flipped over, throwing the two off it and rolling in the snow as the hoverbike crashed and bounced toward the drop off… before being stopped by slamming against a boulder.

Yang and Jaune, however, did not stop—they kept tumbling toward the edge, eventually reaching a slope that slid them faster toward the cliff. They started to scream, Jaune stabbing their sword in the ground in a desperate attempt to slow themself.

It didn’t work. Ignis Memoria remained lodged in place as Jaune and Yang both slid off the cliff, plummeting toward certain death.

Ren glanced at Oscar ahead of him one more time… before cursing under his breath, retracting StormFlower’s line and firing his guns to push himself back in the direction of the cliff. He fired two grappling lines, hooking one around the hilt of Ignis Memoria, and the other around Jaune’s ankle.

Yang grabbed onto Jaune just as they stopped, the three dangling on the side of the cliff. Ren looked down… the ground was hundreds of feet below them. No amount of aura was going to help you survive that.

Ren heard a screech, turning his head to the side—a Teryx was heading their way. Thinking quickly, Ren engaged his semblance, masking their emotions. The Teryx drew closer, closer… and flew right by, not paying them any mind as it continued on to places unknown.

After a moment longer, Ren released his semblance. He panted, feeling the strain on his arms from holding on to so much weight for so long. He saw the mutated Grimm carrying Oscar off in the distance… toward a dark cloud surrounding a mountain as the massive whale Grimm passed behind it.

That whale… Ruby had believed Salem herself was on it.

A pit of dread opened in Ren’s stomach over the thought of what was about to happen to Oscar.

Weiss stood before the large, double doors of her family’s manor, Ruby and Penny carrying Nora behind her. Thankfully, it seemed her hunch was right so far. She didn’t see any AUF presence on the outside of the house, no signs of transports or anything that would indicate there was still a significant number of people inside either. She wished Ironwood’s laser-focus was always so beneficial to them.

She closed her eyes, taking a breath… and knocked.

Seconds passed. No answer.

Weiss scrunched up her face with annoyance, knocking on the door even harder.

This time, the door did open… and Whitley peered out. Upon seeing his sister there, his eyes immediately widened with shock. “Weiss?! Wh− what are you doing here?! You’re a wanted−”

“I know,” Weiss said, holding a hand up to cut her brother off. “You don’t need to tell me.”

Whitley shook his head. “There’s no place for you here.” He started to shut the door again. “Go.”

Weiss shot her hand forward, slamming it against the door and keeping it propped open. Whitley still tried to force it closed… but stared at Weiss with fear. It seemed he was confronting the fact that his sister was a huntress for the first time, and much stronger than he was . Really understanding what that meant. “This is still my home, Whitley.”

Whitley laughed right in her face. “Oh, I don’t think that was ever true.”

“We’re all clear.”

Whitley jumped at the voice that had come from behind him, turning his attention away from the door just enough that Weiss could push it open to see inside.

Blake and May were walking down the stairs of the foyer side-by-side, May spinning the head of an Atlesian Knight android on her finger. “Looks like you were right,” May said, gesturing her chin at the door toward Weiss. “There were only a couple bots right outside Jacques’ room.”

Weiss looked at the AK-200’s head again. “He’s… not going to be able to get out now, is he?”

Blake smirked as they reached the bottom of the stairs, leaning against the banister with her arms folded. “Don’t worry—we made sure he’s not going anywhere anytime soon.”

Whitley’s face turned tomato-red in anger. “This! This is−!”

“Whitley,” Weiss said.

Her furious little brother turned and looked at her.

Weiss looked back at him with dire sincerity. “Our friend is badly hurt. We just need a place to lay low for a bit while we take care of her, and then we’ll leave—and I’ll never bother you again, if that’s what you want.”

Whitley looked past Weiss, seeing Ruby and Penny carrying Nora between them. He sucked in his lower lip, breathed in through his nose… then sighed. He opened the door wider, motioning for Weiss and the others to go inside.

Weiss led the way, Ruby and Penny close behind her with Nora.

Upon seeing Nora closer—seeing the electrical burn scars etched in her skin—Whitley’s mouth hung open in shock. “What… happened?”

Weiss turned to look at Nora as well. Ruby was carrying her shoulders while Penny carried her feet. The girl was still unconscious, breathing so shallow that it hardly looked like she was breathing at all. “It’s… safer if you don’t know.”

Whitley shut his eyes, rubbing his temple with a groan of aggravation. “Haven’t you already dragged our reputation down enough, Weiss? You’ve already ruined our father, the staff all left, and Mother’s locked herself in her room— again. If anyone finds out we harbored fugitives…”

“That’s what you’re worried about?” Blake said, taking an aggressive step toward Whitley. “Your reputation?!”

Whitley narrowed his eyes at the faunus girl. “Well, I wouldn’t expect someone like you to understand.”

“You little…”

Blake moved toward Whitley again, but Weiss held an arm out, stopping her. She looked back at her friend. “Blake, it’s okay. I’ll handle it.”

Blake’s nostrils flared… before she released a breath, tension leaving her body with it.

Weiss patted her on the shoulder, giving her a gentle smile. Blake smiled back, looking tired, before stepping away.

Weiss turned her attention back to her brother. “Whitley… I know you have every reason to not trust me. To hate me. But I need you to know that… that we’re trying to save everyone. The world. There are bigger things than our family at stake.”

Whitley stared back at her for a long moment… before looking away. “So, what do you need me to do?”

Weiss almost flinched in surprise at his sudden compliance. “Uh… well, for now, just stay in your room. I don’t want you to get mixed up in all this.”

Whitley tilted his head to the side with a withering glance. “Really?”

“Yes, really,” Weiss said. “I’ll come find you later.”

Whitley huffed, but did start moving away, heading up the stairs. Weiss watched him go, feeling relieved. Things certainly could’ve gone much worse. At least Whitley appeared to be growing into a more reasonable man than their father was… maybe he wasn’t a lost cause.

“So, uh,” Ruby said, adjusting her grip on Nora’s shoulders. “Where do we put her?”

“Ah,” Weiss said, remembering where she was. “We can put her in my old room—follow me.”

Weiss led them up the stairs and through the halls, Blake and May trailing just behind them, until they’d reached her old bedroom. She pushed open the door.

It was just the same as she’d left it—no one had even moved her things back into place from where she’d pushed them to the walls, clearing space to practice her summons before her escape. The bed had been made up, at least. She directed Ruby and Penny to it, and the two set Nora down gently, her head resting against the pillow.

Weiss walked over beside her, pulling off her glove and pressing her fingers to the pulse point on Nora’s wrist. There was still a steady, if weak, heartbeat. “Well, I don’t think her condition has worsened at all,” Weiss said, stashing her glove in her jacket pocket. “But that doesn’t mean she’s out of danger just yet.”

Everyone was silent for a moment. They were all worried about Nora… and all too aware that there was little any of them could do for her.

“Well,” Ruby said, turning to face the group. “In the meantime, I think someone should go check on Pietro and Raven at Amity.”

Weiss raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“I just… have a bad feeling, I guess.” Ruby looked at Nora. “Considering how things have been going so far… I just want to be sure.”

“I can go,” Penny chirped. “I am capable of flying myself there now with my upgrades, and you all might still need the Manta May stole.”

“Appropriated,” May said.

Ruby frowned with concern. “Are you sure, Penny? I mean… you’d be going alone.”

Penny laid a hand on her chest. “I will be fine.” She smirked. “I think I am more than combat ready now, don’t you?”

Ruby managed a smile. “Alright. Just be careful, okay?”

Penny nodded, saluted the group, then walked over to the window. She opened it, stepping onto the windowsill… then fell forward out of it, thrusters on the bottom of her feet turning on and carrying her off on a trail of green energy.

Ruby walked to the window, watching her go. Weiss saw a pensive look on her face. She could understand why—Ruby had only just gotten her friend back. It was only natural she’d worry about Penny being on her own.

Weiss was a little worried herself, but reminded herself that Penny was more than capable of holding her own. She’d be fine, especially once she made it to Amity and had Raven backing her up.

“I wonder if the others are okay,” Ruby said, voice quiet and strained.

“If you’re worried, you can just call Yang,” Blake suggested.

“That’s the thing,” Ruby said, turning from the window and pulling out her scroll. She turned the screen, showing the others what was on it… call history. She’d made several calls to Yang over their flight to the Schnee manor… and none had connected . “I have.”

Yang gathered up dislodged pieces of her hoverbike, collecting them and dropping them into a storage case on the side of it. At least Pietro had thought ahead.

She, Jaune, and Ren were still by the cliff that she and Jaune had nearly fallen off to their deaths. Ren had saved them… but in doing so, he’d had to give up on reaching Oscar. Right now, Ren was leaning against the rock Yang’s bike had crashed into, his arms folded and a glower on his face.

Needless to say, none of them were feeling too great about how things had gone. They’d lost Oscar, nearly died themselves, and were now down to one hoverbike that wasn’t even in working order. Yang dropped some more parts in the case, running her flesh and blood hand over a scrape on the side. Thankfully, the damage didn’t seem so extensive that repair was impossible—and Pietro had built it similarly enough to normal motorcycles like Bumblebee that Yang was confident she could fix her up.

She just needed tools, which they weren’t going to find lying around in the tundra.

Jaune was pacing around, holding their scroll up. “Come on, come on…” they muttered to themself. “Can anyone hear me?”

No response.

Jaune let out a frustrated growl. “Damnit. No signal.” He sighed. “Must be out of the tower’s range out here.”

After Yang was sure she’d gotten all the stray pieces of the hoverbike gathered up, the three began their trek across the tundra. Thankfully the bike’s hover function still worked, making it easy enough for Jaune to push it along behind her, taking over for her so she wouldn’t tire herself out.

They’d made it out of the canyon, the floating shadow of Atlas in the sky a decent visual landmark to keep them headed in the right direction, even as the wind picked up and more snow began to fall.

The cold was harsh, feeling like sharp needles pricking Yang’s cheeks even with her aura still up. She pulled out her scroll, checking the team’s aura levels. Jaune’s was at forty-one percent, still in the yellow… but Yang’s and Ren’s had dropped into the thirties, putting them in the red zone. She tried not to focus too much on the grayed-out portrait of Oscar below all of theirs, text reading “out of range” in place of his aura meter.

Yang slid her scroll back into her pocket. “We need to get out of this cold before it completely drains our auras. Even with our gear, we’ll only last one or two hours without it.” The wind howled, picking up for a moment. Yang shivered, hugging her arms around herself. “If that. How far is the next outpost again, Ren?”

Ren was ahead of the group by a good few feet. He didn’t answer—didn’t even show any sign he’d heard Yang at all.

Her voice might’ve gotten lost on the wind. “Ren, did you hear me? I said−”

Ren snapped his head to look at her. “I don’t know.” His voice was biting and harsh.

Yang looked back at Jaune. They shrugged. Yang sped up her gait, catching up to Ren and walking next to him. “I thought you said you saw it from the air?”

“I did—before I had to cut myself loose to help the two of you.”

Yang scratched the back of her neck. “Yeah… you’ve brought that up a couple times now. Is there something you wanna say?”

Ren frowned. “Not really. Wouldn’t want to waste any more time.”

There was no mistaking the clear annoyance in Ren’s voice just before he sped up, walking ahead of Yang again. She stopped with a quick gasp. That kind of attitude… it wasn’t like Ren. Not at all.

She ground her teeth, powering forward to catch up with Ren again—she passed him, turning to stand in front of him with her hands on her hips to make him stop. “Hey! What’s your deal?!”

Ren just shook his head, not even looking at her. “Don’t worry about it.”

Yang rolled her eyes, standing back on a heel as she crossed her arms. “Oh, well I’m so sorry things aren’t going smoothly enough for you, Ren.”

Jaune caught up to the two, still holding onto the bike when they stopped. “Guys…”

“Things aren’t going smoothly at all!” Ren suddenly shouted with an explosion of anger, cutting a hand through the air.

“Hate to break it to you, but that’s part of being a huntsman,” Yang snapped.

“Are you kidding?! We don’t know the first thing about being huntsmen! We weren’t ready— that much is obvious.”

“Guys, stop it,” Jaune warned again.

“Were we not ready when we fought the Pestilence? When we saved Haven? When we stopped Kadmeia from destroying Argus?” Yang counted off a finger for every event she listed. “I’m not gonna pretend we did everything perfectly, but things would’ve been a lot worse without us.”

Ren threw his arms out to his sides. “And then what, huh?! We get to Atlas and screw everything up so badly that now we’re fugitives, Ironwood i s turning into a tyrant , and Salem is just waiting at their gates! And now she has Oscar, and who knows what she’s going to do to him.”

Yang let out a huff. “We did the best we could with what we knew.”

Ren jabbed a finger at her. “Even you said you weren’t sure Ruby was making the right calls.”

Yang stamped a foot in the snow, eyes turning red and hair flaring for just a moment before returning to normal. “Leave her out of this!”

Jaune stepped away from the bike, walking up to the two. “Guys!”

Yang shoved Ren back. “Do you think you could’ve done any better? That any of us could have?!”

Ren pointed off to the side. “People are going to die because of us.”

“So what do you suggest we do then, huh?!” Yang said, throwing a hand in the air. “Let Ironwood do whatever he wants ? Let Salem take my sister and hope she doesn’t kill the rest of us?!”

“I don’t know!” Ren screamed. “And that’s the point— we shouldn’t be making these decisions, because we don’t know what we’re doing!”

Jaune tried to step between the two, keeping a hand braced against each of their shoulders. “Both of you, cut it out!”

Ren sneered at Yang. “I’m just saying what no one else wants to admit. We’re in over our heads. Ruby is barely more than a kid, I’m just some orphan from the middle of nowhere−”

Jaune turned, facing Ren. “Ren, that’s eno−”

Ren stabbed a finger into Jaune’s chest. “And you cheated your way into Beacon!”

Yang let out a sharp gasp, covering her mouth. It only took a moment for the anger to evaporate from Ren’s face… replaced with as much surprise as Yang felt herself, mixed with shame as he couldn’t even bring himself to look at Jaune.

In the silence between them, only the mournful cries of the wind filled the void. Jaune stared at Ren, breathing sharply through their nose. “You don’t think we should be huntsmen? Fine. Whatever.” They stepped away, heading back toward the bike. “But I’m getting out of this cold.”

Yang watched as Jaune walked away, turning to look at Ren again. Ren was still looking down, fingers clenching at his sides. There was anger, but this time it wasn’t lashing outward… it was all directed at himself.

Jaune pushed the bike past the two of them. “We still have a job to do,” they muttered.

Yang continued to stare at Ren for a moment longer. Then, she shook her head. “Are you trying to push everyone away?” She turned, following after Jaune.

After a moment, she heard feet crunching in the snow behind her—Ren was still following.

What he’d said to Jaune… Yang had no idea that Jaune had cheated themself into Beacon. He was usually such an upstanding, kind person, she almost couldn’t believe it. She decided it didn’t matter how they’d gotten in—they had earned their place, and were just as much a huntsman as anyone.

Even if Ren didn’t want to believe that any of them could be.

“Oscar. Don’t panic. We’re going to be okay.”

Oscar grunted, feeling consciousness slowly flow back to him. “Oz…pin?”

Darkness receded from the corners of Oscar’s vision, blinking as he gradually became aware of the world around him. Something was holding him up by the back of his jacket, feet dangling beneath him off the ground. There was some kind of pungent scent on the air. He was in a circular room, surrounded red walls that looked like they were made of flesh… and as one pulsed, Oscar realized it was flesh. Bony spikes rimmed the side of the room, partially subsumed within the flesh walls.

There was a doorway ahead, glowing with eerie red lines in the shadows surrounding it… and that’s when he noticed a figure in the darkness, leaning against a wall. Her skeletal fingers flexed, rolling up to touch her palm and then down again. Red irises glowed from the darkness, a pallid face just visible around them.

Salem.

There was an image made of smoke above her other hand—it depicted four young girls, varying sizes and ages, but all clearly children. They were running around, playing with each other… in the back of his mind, Oscar could hear laughs like whispers on the wind.

With sudden quickness, Salem clenched her fingers shut, dispelling the smoke and cutting off the sound of giggles. “My long lost Oz… found at last.”

Oscar felt something drip on his shoulder, looking from the corner of his eye to see that it was blackened saliva. Then, his memory caught up to him—that strange, hound-like Grimm had ferociously attacked him, knocking him unconscious. It was still holding him, the collar of his jacket clenched in its jaws.

The others hadn’t been able to get him back. He felt terror in his heart, wondering why—wondering if they were okay. If they were even still alive.

He began to struggle and kick, grunting with effort. It did him no good—the Grimm held him fast.

“So small, this new form of yours,” Salem said, drifting forward. “It’s a wonder my Hound didn’t break it.” She stopped before Oscar, leaning down from her considerable height to look Oscar in the eyes. The way her body bent forward looked… unnatural. “It’s been how many years since we’ve met face-to-face like this? And you with nothing to say…”

Oscar stared back at her. His heart was beating like a rapid drumbeat. This was Salem. This was the ultimate evil that humanity and faunuskind had ever faced , and likely would ever face. How many lives had she taken?

How many of those had been Oz’s prior incarnations?

Oscar tried to recall Ozpin’s cadence. Perhaps his chances of survival would be improved if Salem could be convinced she was talking to him, rather than Oscar. “I’m sorry the reunion isn’t up to your expectations,” he said, doing his best to capture the loft, aloof wilt of Ozpin’s voice.

Salem’s hand shot forward, dagger fingertips pressing into Oscar’s cheeks. She sneered. “You can pretend, boy, but you aren’t fully him. Not yet, at least.”

Oscar panted, trembling with fear.

Salem replaced her scowl with a chilling grin. She released her grip, dragging her sharp fingers along his face as she stepped back, standing at her full height and folding one hand over the other before her. She had to be at least nine feet tall. “But perhaps you and I can have a better… working relationship. Oscar, was it?”

Oscar glared at her. He pushed himself not to let her make him afraid. Turn the fear into resolve, stand firm… that’s what a huntsman would do. What Ruby would do. “What do you even hope to gain by capturing me?”

Salem tilted her head, still smiling. “It would be… troublesome for me if you and Ozpin were to complete your ‘fusion’ while you were still walking free. That… and I want you to help me capture little Ruby Rose.”

Oscar stammered for a moment. “Help you…?”

“I want to know where she is, who might be with her….” Her grin widened. “Weaknesses I can exploit.”

Oscar let out a sardonic chuckle. “Why don’t you just tell your messed-up dog to find her?” He gestured his head back to the Grimm holding him. “Didn’t seem to have much trouble finding me.”

“Oh, I’m sure it could find her as well,” Salem said. “But it would take more time, and I would really prefer to hasten this process. After all, it could only find you so quickly because this is not the first time my Hound and one of Oz’s incarnations have met. It knows how to track him.”

Oscar supposed that made sense… and wished Ozpin had thought to give him a little warning about that beforehand. “What makes you think I’d ever help you find Ruby anyway?”

Salem leaned down again. “Because if you don’t, little Oscar… things are going to get very bad for you.”

She drifted forward slowly, extending a hand and placing just the tips of her fingers against his chest. Tendrils of purple energy began to flow down the length of her arm like snakes, into her hand, her fingers… and then into Oscar, lancing in and out of him as though they were burrowing worms.

He felt pain worse than anything he could’ve ever imagined. It was pain that went beyond the physical—pain that seared his soul itself, pain that targeted the very foundation of his being and raked its claws against it. His mind couldn’t even cope with it. There was no adrenaline to block out the agony… the body didn’t think anything was wrong.

Distantly, from the deepest part of his mind, a word came to the surface. Magic. This is what it meant to be hurt with magic.

Oscar screamed, curling into a ball. The Hound holding him did not even flinch.

After a few more seconds, Salem drew her hand back , cutting off the magic.

Oscar went slack in the Hound’s jaws, panting.

Salem reached out again —Oscar flinched back from it. But, instead of hurting him again … she gently cradled his cheek.

“So difficult,” Salem tutted. “Like-minded souls, hm?” She lowered her hand from Oscar’s cheek, walking toward the door and speaking over her shoulder. “One of you is going to tell me what I want to know—I don’t much care if it is you or Oz. Either way, I will have that girl.”

Oscar clenched his teeth, biting back the aftershocks of pain. “I won’t tell you anything.”

Salem stopped by the door, turning to look behind at Oscar again. “Then you will only have yourself to blame for your suffering.” She walked out of the door, turning to speak to someone beside it. “Hazel—I’ll let you take over from here. I have other matters which require my attention. Come along, Hound.”

The Hound abruptly dropped Oscar at Salem’s command. He fell, sprawled on the ground, as the Grimm creature paced over to stand at Salem’s side.

Salem and the Hound vanished from the doorway… replaced by a hulking figure stepping through. He was shorter than Salem, though only by about a foot, but where Salem was thin and reedy, this man—Hazel—was wide and bulky with tan skin, built like a boulder.

Oscar managed to push himself up on his arms, despite their wobbling. “Who are… you? Why are you doing this?”

Hazel just looked down at him. His bearded face was firm and stony, showing no emotion. “Because it’s my job. That’s all.”

Hazel dragged Oscar up by the shoulder before laying a heavy fist straight into his gut. Oscar nearly threw up from the hit, coughing and sputtering as he fell back to the ground again. It didn’t compare to what Salem had done… but he had a feeling that Hazel wasn’t going to let up as quickly as she did either.

Hazel grabbed Oscar’s hair, dragging him up by it. Oscar cried out, struggling. Hazel pulled his fist back again.

“I’m so sorry, Oscar.” Opzin’s voice again. So Oscar hadn’t been hearing things—the headmaster in his head really was back after all. “I’m so sorry.”

Hazel’s fist flew toward Oscar’s face.

Salem walked down the hall of Monstra, distantly hearing heavy thuds and cries of pain from Oscar behind her. Brave, stupid boy… he would learn soon enough that defying her was not worth the price such an act incurred.

She traced a hand over the back of the Hound’s head, the Grimm creature shaking its head and twitching its ears.

“This… Ruby Rose character,” a voice to Salem’s side said. “What exactly is it that you want with her?”

Salem turned. Walking beside her was a man with dark, wavy hair that fell to just around his jawline, silver eyes behind a pair of glasses, and a carefully maintained patch of facial hair on his chin.

Salem smiled at the man. “Grissom—I wasn’t aware you were listening in.”

Grissom grinned at her. “You know me—always like to keep an ear to the ground.”

Salem looked ahead as she continued to walk, the Hound at one side, Grissom at the other. “I’m sure you’ve already figured out that she’s the daughter of Summer Rose.”

Grissom nodded. “Had a feeling as much. The rest of that family are dead, after all. ”

“But you may not have been aware that she’s inherited her mother’s eyes.” She chuckled. “And her spirit, evidently.”

“Ah, I get it now,” Grissom said, putting a finger on his chin. “So you’re saying I may have a new ‘little sister’ to be looking out for soon?”

“We’ll see,” Salem said. “Her abilities are stronger than most—even her mother. Right now, she lacks the control to truly make use of that power, but if she begins to learn… it may be safer to simply kill her. That’s why I’d prefer to capture her now, while she is still vulnerable.”

“Mhm, I see,” Grissom said, nodding. He gestured behind him with a thumb. “And what about the kid back there? Going to kill him once he gives you what you want?”

“No—doing so would trigger another of Oz’s reincarnations. I intend to torture that poor child for the rest of his life. Break his body so he can never physically escape, break his spirit so he would never even think to try. That is the only way to keep Oz off the playing field.”

Grissom chuckled. “I’ve always delighted in your beautifully cruel ideas.”

Salem turned a corner to find Cinder and her new companion, Neopolitan, waiting for her. Salem frowned—while she had accepted Cinder back into their fold, and still believed in her usefulness, Haven had been a blunder she couldn’t easily look past. Not only that, but this… Neopolitan she’d picked up seemed different than the others Cinder had recruited. Not a subordinate, but a peer. That was concerning, but Salem would wait to see just how things were playing out before acting.

“Your grace,” Cinder said, stepping before her and bowing her head. Neopolitan did not, at least not until Cinder reached back, grabbed her by the wrist, and pulled her into a bow. Cinder rose, as did Neopolitan, and the girl looked between Grissom and the Hound. “Who and… what are your companions?”

Salem scratched the Hound behind the ear. “This one is an old experiment. The other you do not need to trouble yourself with just yet—only trust that he is our ally.”

Cinder glared at Grissom, who just gave her a smile and a wave.

“Now, did you get in my way simply to irritate me, or is there something you wish to ask?” Salem said, folding her hands over each other before her.

Cinder took a moment before responding. “I… I want to resume my search for Ruby Rose. I think−”

“Did you hear that, my pet?” Salem said, turning to look at the Hound. “She thinks. She wants.” She stepped past her charge, Grissom and the Hound both following her. “As if she’s done something that warrants my caring about either of those things.”

Cinder pressed a hand to her chest, gesturing with her Grimm arm to Neo. “All we’re doing is sitting here and waiting when we could be−”

Salem turned with a stern glare. “I will tell you when you are needed.”

Cinder blinked. “B− but, your grace−”

“I would like to think I have shown a great deal of patience over my many years walking Remnant, but I do hate repeating myself. You. Will remain. Here.”

Salem saw a flash of anger in Cinder’s eye, a brief spot of defiance… before she closed her eye, kneeling and lowering her head. “Yes. Yes, of course. Without you… I am nothing.”

Salem scowled down at her. “And it would do you well to not forget that fact.” She turned away, walking down the hall. She noticed Grissom at her side look back with a cheeky smile, waving a smarmy goodbye at Cinder.

That girl… so much potential, but so much trouble. Salem had such hopes for her after her success at Beacon, even despite the injuries she received… but her obsession with getting revenge on Ruby Rose was distracting her, making her lose sight of her goals and get sloppy.

If Cinder was going to prove useful, Salem would have to find a way to change the trajectory she was headed on. Otherwise, more drastic measures would have to be taken—and Salem would prefer to avoid that outcome.

Cinder walked through Monstra’s halls with purpose, Neo walking ahead of her and signing with extreme emphasis as she walked backwards. “This is insane. Did you even hear what Salem said? What are you doing?”

“I heard her,” Cinder said, walking past Neo. “I’m just… checking on something. We’ll be back before anyone even realizes we were gone.”

Cinder made her way into Monstra’s “docking bay,” seeing the curved chassis of the airship she and Neo took to the whale Grimm. The docking bay was a series of outcropping platforms formed out of a gash in the side of Monstra, giving Cinder a view of Atlas and Mantle below it.

As Cinder started walking down the declining ramp toward the bay, Neo extended her parasol’s canopy, gently floating through the air with her other hand on her hip and giving a furious pout.

Unfortunately, Neo’s height and the abundance of pink in her look did little to make the expression anything other than cute and non-threatening.

Cinder tried and mostly succeeded at suppressing a chuckle. “I just want to see what the situation is at Amity Colosseum—if there’s still anything going on. If there’s not, we’ll leave. If there is, I’m sure the two of us can handle things quickly enough.”

As Cinder walked up the side of the airship, Neo floated over its wing, the tips of her shoes delicately stepping across like a ballerina before she collapsed her parasol, dropping down on the flats of her feet. She sat, dangling her legs over the wing and crossing one over the other before she started to sign again. “I still think this is a terrible idea.” She particularly motioned fiercely on “terrible,” pressing her middle fingers to her thumbs while leaving her other fingers extended, before extending her middle fingers again and aggressively moving her hands to the side, fingers splayed. She did so all while going so far as to mouth the word. “I…” Neo’s hands hesitated, and she frowned as if in thought. “I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”

Cinder smiled at her. “I’ll be fine. Salem doesn’t know those children like we do—I’m sure they haven’t given up yet. They have their little misguided hearts set on ‘saving the world.’”

Neo folded her arms, still frowning.

“If she doesn’t want to do it, I will.”

Cinder looked behind her—Emerald was walking down the ramp, to Cinder’s immense dissatisfaction. She had neither the time nor the patience to deal with that girl after everything she’d been through.

Neo glanced over at Emerald as well, narrowing her eyes.

Emerald stopped just before Cinder. “I’ve been working on improving my control over my semblance. I can help—and I won’t tell anyone.”

Cinder looked back at Neo, still sitting on the airship’s wing. Neo raised her right hand, putting a curved finger to the right side of her lips, just a t the corner of her mouth. Then, she turned her hand so the finger was bent inward. “Jealous.”

Emerald snapped a finger, getting both Cinder and Neo’s attention. She started to move her own hands, signing back at Neo. “I can understand you too, just so you know.”

Neo rolled her eyes.

Cinder closed her eye with a frustrated sigh, suddenly regretting teaching Emerald how to sign for clandestine purposes years ago . She opened it, looking at Emerald again. “How much did you overhear?”

Jaune crouched down and sprinkled some burn dust into the tundra outpost’s furnace. They closed its door, pressed the button to start it—pounded a fist against it a few times when it didn’t—then pressed the button again, the furnace finally coming to life and glowing orange, radiating warmth into the small space.

The outpost hadn’t been much to look at outside or inside. It was a small concrete building built against a short hill with one light pole indicating its presence and attached to a small garage. Inside it was gray and drab, some boxes of supplies shoved in a corner, a bunk bed, the somewhat functional furnace, and an AUF military coat that had been left on the coat-rack by whoever had last been stationed there… and considering the dust around the place, Jaune thought it was likely no one had been stationed there in a while.

Jaune held their hands in front of the furnace for a moment, warming them before standing up. They turned to see Ren standing at a window, looking outside with his arms folded. The snow was falling heavier now, the sky dark with night.

Little had been said since Ren’s blowup at Yang earlier in the day. It was as though everyone had silently agreed to keep their thoughts to themselves and just focus on making it to relative safety.

Ren had definitely crossed a line, but Jaune couldn’t keep themself mad at him. They were more concerned than anything. Ren had never been the type to lose control of his emotions like that… he must’ve been really worn down. Jaune just wished he would actually try to talk to someone about it rather than keeping it all bottled up.

Ren, Ruby… too many of their group had a tendency to act like they had to figure everything out for themselves. Jaune had once thought that way too. Pyrrha had shown him he didn’t have to .

They touched the circlet on their head, asking Pyrrha’s memory for guidance before walking over to stand beside Ren.

“You’re right, you know,” Jaune said. “I did cheat my way into Beacon.”

Ren glanced over at his team leader.

“But… I had people like you around to show me I was bigger than that,” Jaune said, gently elbowing Ren. “That I could be bigger. You don’t have to force yourself to be strong, Ren. The more you try to hide what you’re feeling, the more alone you’ll feel.” They smiled at their friend. “Trust me.”

Ren stared silently back. Then, without a word, he stepped away, walking out the door into the tundra night and closing it behind him. Jaune watched him go quietly… they hoped that Ren would at least try and process what they’d told him.

Yang walked in from the doorway to the garage she’d brought the hoverbike into, holding some kind of purple cylinder. “Found a part to fix the bike if… anyone cares.” She held it up, walking by Jaune and heading for the workbench in the back of the room. “So yay… good news,” she added with absolutely zero enthusiasm.

Jaune looked back out the window, seeing Ren walk up to the lamppost. He sat down with his back to it, resting his arms against his criss-crossed legs.

Jaune heard Yang set the part down on the bench behind them. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry he said that stuff to you. I know how hard you’ve had to work to get where you are, no matter how you started out .”

Jaune closed their eyes, letting out a breath before opening them again and turning to face Yang. “We’re all under a lot of stress right now. I used to push people away too.”

The two were quiet for a moment. Yang turned back to the bench, picking up some tools and going to work on the part she’d found. Jaune looked back out the window again. Ren was still sitting there under the light, his eyes closed… it looked like he was meditating.

“Hey, um…” Yang started, setting the part down again. She didn’t turn—she kept her back to Jaune as she leaned on the bench. “You don’t think she… thinks less of me for not helping with Amity, does she?”

Jaune turned again, raising an eyebrow. It wasn’t like Yang to be that openly insecure—especially not about her younger sister. “Ruby’s your sister. She’ll always love you, even if you disagree sometimes.”

“Right, yeah… Ruby,” Yang said. She picked a screwdriver up and used it to tighten something on the purple part she’d picked up.

Jaune frowned at her. Somehow, he felt as though he hadn’t given her the right answer. They didn’t get why— did she not want to be reassured that Ruby would still care about her?

Jaune exhaled, walking over to the bottom bunk of the bed and lying down on it. Whatever the case, the moment had clearly passed. “I’m exhausted,” Jaune said. “I want to sleep but… but I can’t stop thinking about Oscar.”

“We’ll have to do our best to get some shut-eye anyway,” Yang said. She held up the part and examined it in the light before putting the tools away. She walked toward the door. “I’m gonna make sure Ren doesn’t brood himself to death out there—be back in a sec.”

“Thanks. I guess I just have a bad feeling, you know? Things always seem to get worse for us before they get better.”

Suddenly, Jaune felt something through the bedframe… like a slight tremor. An earthquake?

Jaune sat up just as Yang reached the door, putting her hand on the handle. “Yang, did you feel that?”

Yang looked back at them, an eyebrow raised. “No. Feel what?”

“It was like…” Jaune trailed off, shaking their head. “Never mind, forget it. I’m sure it was just something I imagined .”

Yang smiled gently at him. “Sounds like you really do need that sleep.” She opened the door, stepping outside.

Jaune put their hands to their face, rubbing their eyes. They had a feeling Yang was probably right… but that didn’t exactly make the whole “getting to sleep” thing any easier. Not with Oscar out there in Salem’s clutches, all on his own.

“Keep holding on, Oscar. We’re gonna find you, buddy.”

Chapter Text

Finbar O’Shea flew his Viper fighter jet over the rolling white hills of the Solitas tundra. The view of the continent he called home was why he always jumped at the chance for scouting duty—it gave him a chance to appreciate Solitas’s beauty while also pointing out Grimm clusters to be cleared out, doing his duty to defend his kingdom at the same time.

Today, however, he was after much bigger fish than a pride of Sabyrs or even a herd of Megoliaths. And as he pitched his craft to the side, seeing a mobile, dark mountain on the horizon, he knew he’ d spotted his target.

The report had called it the Leviathan—part of a special class of Grimm named Imperators, much more dangerous than the average variety. Most Grimm relied on their overwhelming numbers, but from the intel he received, Imperators were walking destruction.

As he buzzed by the Leviathan, seeing that it stood tall enough to just reach Atlas itself, he could believe that. Its pitch black oily skin made it stand out amongst the snow and ice like a blot of ink on a blank page. It lumbered forward slowly, but with clear purpose, its whale-skull head staring off into the horizon, right in the direction of Atlas.

“O’Shea?” command radioed in. “What are you seeing out there?”

Finbar shook his head in disbelief. “That’s one big mother−”

“Pilot, report!”

Finbar picked up his radio. “R− right, sorry. I’m looking at this thing now. Brothers, it must be a thousand feet tall at least. Probably more.”

“What is it doing?”

Outside his cockpit window, the Leviathan continued to trudge on in singular purpose.

“It’s heading straight north toward Atlas,” Finbar reported. “At it’s current speed… I can’t give an exact estimate, but I think it’ll reach Atlas within the week.”

Winter walked through the halls of Atlas Academy on her way to a strategy meeting with General Ironwood and the Atlesian Council with a tablet scroll under her arm. There was a lot they needed to discuss about their current situation, so Winter had left early—wanting to time her arrival for precisely a half-hour before the meeting was to begin so she and the general would have one more opportunity to discuss matters before the meeting was upon them.

She hoped the council would be understanding of what Ironwood was about to tell them. They certainly wouldn’t like it, but desperate times called for desperate measures… even if Winter was worried about how desperate those measures would become.

As she turned into another hallway, Winter saw Harriet Bree standing near the briefing room the meeting was to be held in. As the Ace-Op noticed Winter approaching, she stepped out in front of her with her arms folded.

Winter stopped as well. “Operative Bree—is there something I can help you with?”

“Don’t you think you’ve gotten enough things handed to you?”

Winter kept her mouth a thin line, trying not to show how the brusqueness of that statement had surprised her. Talking to a superior like that was definitely not within AUF protocol. “I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean.”

Harriet pointed a finger in Winter’s face. “I had to fight tooth and nail for everything I got. I was some poor, deaf kid in Mantle—parents sure weren’t looking out for me, and no one else was going to either, so I learned to look out for myself.” She let out a dry chuckle. “Happiest day of my life was when I joined the AUF and left that shithole behind. But you… you never had to struggle like I did. Everyone knows the only reason you have your position is because of your name, Schnee. You’ve never been what you’re all cracked up to be—you didn’t do anything to earn those stripes.”

Winter stared at Harriet with cold indifference. Harriet had never liked her. Winter knew that already. And for what it was worth, Winter wasn’t too fond of Harriet either. She was a competent fighter but, in Winter’s opinion, a bad soldier. Good soldiers had to follow orders regardless of whether they liked them and didn’t put aside the mission over personal grudge matches. They definitely didn’t openly insult their commanding officers and insinuate they hadn’t earned their rank. While Winter respected Clover, she often felt that he wasn’t as stern as he should’ve been with teammates like Harriet. Sometimes, when you were a leader, you had to know when to crack the whip.

“If this is about my appointment as team leader of the Ace-Ops, I’ll remind you that your demotion was the consequence of your own actions. And I suggest that, should you wish to avoid further consequences, you refrain from any further insubordinate behavior.” Winter leaned closer. “This will be my one and only warning, Operative Bree. Test me again and you may find yourself off the team—permanently.”

Harriet gritted her teeth, clenching her fists at her sides… but, wisely, chose to remain silent.

Winter walked past her, heading for the briefing room door without even one glance back.

Ironwood stood with Specialist Winter Schnee by his side, encircling the holographic map table at the center of the darkened briefing room with Councilman Sleet and Councilwoman Camilla. The map displayed the lands surrounding Mantle and Atlas, a red 3D model of the Leviathan representing its current position. Not too far from the coast yet… but getting closer every day.

“Councilman Sleet. Councilwoman Camilla,” Ironwood said, giving a nod to each respectively. “This is the situation as it currently stands. He gestured to the Leviathan on the map. “The Leviathan is making steady progress toward Atlas. Based on the reports I’ve received, at its current speed, we should expect it to arrive within the next few days. And if that weren’t bad enough,” he pointed to another red model on the map—one of the whale Grimm right next to Atlas. “Another Imperator is right outside our door with Salem herself on board. They haven’t attacked yet, and our shields will protect us if she tries, but they’re definitely waiting for something.”

“An attack on two fronts?” Camilla asked.

Ironwood leaned his head to the side. “We can’t be one-hundred percent sure, but it seems likely.”

“And this ‘Leviathan,’” Sleet said, motioning to the creature on the map. “What’s being done about that?”

Ironwood moved his hands, making the map zoom in on the Leviathan and its immediate trajectory. “The Leviathan’s current path will take it right down the center of Lungra Valley.” He moved his hand over the valley on its path, making the area turn red. “Our current plan is to establish a line of defense there.”

“Staging a defense at the site of one of our greatest military defeats,” Camilla said, frowning. “That certainly doesn’t seem… auspicious.”

“The Leviathan is no Crimson Tiger,” Ironwood said, straightening his back. “From what we’ve been able to determine, it appears to operate with single-minded purpose—not much thought to strategy or cunning, unlike Ali Zarin Khan and his Army of the Fount. As a matter of fact, for this defense strategy, we’re borrowing a page from his book.”

“What do you mean by that?” Camilla asked.

Ironwood started to slowly pace around the holographic table, hands clasped behind himself. “The Battle of Lungra Valley was won by the Army of the Fount due to classic misdirection. Ali Zarin placed the bulk of his forces in the valley to give the appearance of a direct, forward assault… when, in actuality, he had placed more men along the higher ground here and here.” He motioned to each raised side of the valley. “He had them set up heavy artillery that had been stolen from one of our own armories. When the AUF attempted to meet their forces head-on, they were torn apart by the artillery, bombarded from both sides. As I’m sure you’ve seen in the history books, the AUF suffered heavy casualties and were forced to pull back and cede a great deal of land to Khan and his forces.”

Ironwood reached out, touching the Leviathan model on the map and dragging it into the valley.

“What we have planned against the Leviathan is essentially the same strategy on a much larger scale. We put heavy armor in its immediate path to draw its attention, and flank its sides with artillery. In addition, I will also be mobilizing part of the air fleet, surrounding the area—nothing can survive that amount of sheer firepower.”

Sleet grimaced. “Do you not think this plan might be a bit… excessive?”

Ironwood gave Sleet a steely gaze. “With all due respect, Councilman—this thing tore through three of our heavy naval cruisers in less than five minutes. There is no such thing as excess when dealing with a monster like that.”

Camilla nodded. “I understand, but still… what if it doesn’t work?”

Ironwood let out a sigh, closing his eyes. “If the Leviathan somehow manages to survive this assault and breaks through our defenses, we will have to consider boosting Atlas’s gravity dust engines and taking it into the upper atmosphere to get it out of reach. That would mean abandoning Mantle.”

There was a grim silence that fell over the room. Sleet looked at Ironwood with an uneasy smile. “Then… let’s make sure it doesn’t come to that, right?”

Ironwood remained silent. Even if they did destroy the Leviathan, Salem was still out there, plotting something. There were no guarantees that they wouldn’t have to abandon Mantle anyway.

Camilla looked at Ironwood. “Have you made any considerations as to how Salem and her forces will affect this plan?”

“As of yet, we have no idea what Salem’s intentions are,” Winter said, stepping forward. “She hasn’t attacked yet and we don’t know why. It’s possible that she’s waiting for something.”

Sleet frowned. “Is anything being done to find out?”

Ironwood blew a breath out of his nose. “The storm around the whale Grimm has kept most of our scouting parties from getting close. However, one squad was able to push through and get inside—that’s… how we know Salem is in that creature .”

Ironwood pressed a button on the table, bringing up a recording. It was from the helmet cam of one of the scouts who had gone in. He was accompanied by two other scouts and one AV-160 Venatrix drone. They moved slowly through fleshy tunnels, seeing no signs of life or Grimm. The only sounds were whispered communications between the team.

Suddenly, the area they were in became shrouded in darkness—not complete pitch black, but as though night had suddenly dropped on them.

“I do so hate when pests get in where they shouldn’t be.” The voice from the recording was silky and made Ironwood’s skin crawl… Salem.

The scouts went back to back, watching for each other’s blindspots as the Venatrix’s blades began to circle it, its eyes glowing red as it entered intimidation mode.

Skeletal limbs suddenly extended over every exit from the chamber, blocking them off. There was a chuckle from the darkness. The Venatrix was the first to go—two more skeletal arms appeared from beneath it, grabbing it by the arms and dragging it down.

That was when she appeared—barely visible between the darkness and quality of the recording, but unmistakable all the same. Salem herself.

The Venatrix directed her blades forward—Salem casually moved around most, body bending and contorting in ways that simply weren’t natural, before appearing to let the final blade strike her in the shoulder. She looked at the blade lodged in her, grinned, then grabbed it and pulled it out—shadows gathered under her feet and she rushed forward, swiftly bringing the blade through the android’s neck. She’d moved so fast the AV-160’s automatic hard-light shield hadn’t activated in time.

As the Venatrix’s head rolled from its body and the rest of it slumped, the scouts began to fire. Bullets tore specks of black flesh from Salem’s body, but she appeared almost… disinterested in the damage she was taking. Instead, she extended a hand forward, clouds of dark black and purple gathering in her palm before bright tendrils of pure energy lanced out, striking a scout through the chest. They dropped… dead in an instant, a hole burned through them .

The two remaining began to panic, backing away as Salem slowly approached them. One shot her directly in the forehead—she fell back. However, instead of landing on the ground, the flesh floor consumed her, dragging her into itself. The two remaining scouts glanced around frantically.

After a few moments, one hit a wall… and the one whose recording everyone in the briefing room was watching saw Salem emerging from the wall, clawed fingers extending down. The recording scout shouted a warning, but it was too late—Salem pulled her fingers into the other scout’s chest, the clawed tips puncturing his armor. He began to scream, rifle firing as he squeezed the trigger on instinct.

Salem emerged from the wall, tossing the scout aside. He was still alive, writhing on the ground, when she twitched a hand up—a skeletal arm the size of her rose up from a red glyph on the ground beneath the scout, grabbing him and slamming him into the ceiling with a scream cut off by an audible crunch, followed by the sound of dripping blood—the sight mercifully not caught on camera.

The last remaining scout kept backing away as Salem walked toward them, firing a full auto burst into her stomach. As soon as any flesh was stripped away on her body, it reformed once more. The scout ran out of ammo—they just continued to cry out in panic, still fruitlessly pulling the trigger of their empty rifle.

Salem shot a hand forward, grabbing the scout by the face. She pulled them in close as she stared directly into the helmet camera. “James… you simply have no patience, do you?”

Ironwood felt a shiver travel down his spine. Even only hearing her voice over a recording, it still unnerved him like nothing else.

On the video, Salem tilted her head, her grin widening to an unnatural degree. “But I’m afraid I can’t let you spoil the surprise—you’ll just have to wait like a good little boy.”

Then, Salem began to clench her hand. The scout started to scream in pure terror and agony as the sound of their helmet cracking could be heard. The glass of the camera shattered, blood briefly splattered its lens as the screaming rose to a deafening volume—and then the recording abruptly cut out to static.

There was nothing but silence for a few moments. “That… that was…? Camilla said. Her face looked greener than it had a moment ago.

“Salem.”

Sleet looked like he was swallowing vomit back down. “She’s a monster.”

“We’ll still work to find out what she’s planning,” Ironwood said. “But, as I think you can see now, she isn’t going to make that easy for us.”

Ironwood pressed the power button on the holographic table, shutting it down. The lights in the room came back on.

“All this aside,” Sleet said after seemingly winning the battle against his rebelling stomach. “There is still the matter of civil unrest—with this many Grimm so close to the kingdom, people are getting anxious… panicked. And that will only make the situation worse. We need them to be reassured that they will be protected.”

Ironwood shared a glance with Winter. She nodded at him. It was time—time to get to the real reason this meeting was being held. Ironwood looked at the councilmembers. “I have a plan for that as well. You’re right that the public needs to know that they are protected—that we can keep them safe. They need a sign of strength. That is exactly why I am declaring martial law.”

Sleet and Camilla’s eyes shot wide open, staring at Ironwood with incredulity. “You… you can’t be serious,” Sleet finally said.

Ironwood raised his chin. “In Atlesian law, a period of martial law can be declared by the serving general of the Atlesian Unified Forces during extreme circumstances that represent a clear, present, and immediate danger to the safety and security of this nation and its people.” He looked between the two councilmembers. “Councilman Sleet… Councilwoman Camilla… the enemy of humanity itself is at our gates. The largest Grimm the world has ever seen is marching toward us as we speak. The circumstances don’t get any more extreme than this.”

Camilla’s hands balled into fists. “This is− you’re overstepping, General!”

Ironwood gave her a cold glare. “I think now would be a good time to remind you, Councilwoman, that under martial law I am granted the authority to detain any and all civilian government officials who would put the safety of the nation at risk for an indefinite period of time until the emergency has passed. Even then, a formal investigation would be called afterward and, if deemed necessary, the official will be stripped of their position… and possibly even be tried on criminal charges.”

Sleet and Camilla didn’t look any happier, but the warning still quieted them right up. At least you could always trust politicians to be consistent in looking out for themselves.

“I understand that this will be a difficult reality for you to accept,” Ironwood said. “But we are at war. Not a war for land or for ideals… one for the very survival of humanity as a species. We need generals… not politicians.”

After handling a few other matters, the two members of the Atlesian Council departed the briefing room in low, but resigned, spirits, leaving Winter and Ironwood alone. While Sleet and Camilla certainly didn’t seem thrilled about how the meeting had went, they at least appeared to accept that it wasn’t something they could fight.

“That went smoother than I expected,” Winter said, staring at the door Camilla and Sleet had left through.

“Just a matter of knowing the right buttons to push,” Ironwood said. “They fear losing their positions more than anything—threaten that, and they’ll fall in line.”

Winter lowered her head in quiet. Ironwood was right, but… the way he said it sounded so cold and calculated. Using fear to control… that was what Salem did as well, wasn’t it?

“Any progress on locating Watts?”

Winter straightened up at the general’s voice, turning to face him. “No sign of him yet, sir, but they’re still looking.”

Ironwood sighed, rubbing his chin. “He slipped right through our fingers. At the very least, I think it’s safe to assume he’s still somewhere on Atlas.”

“The techs have also finished their diagnostic on the terminal that Ruby and her allies accessed,” Winter said, trying not to think too much about one of those allies being Weiss. “They found evidence that they may have made a copy of your clearance credentials for launching Amity.”

Ironwood’s hand froze on his chin. “Amity? Huh… so that was what they were after. They plan to launch it themselves.”

“Sir, respectfully, what would be the point in that? The tower was never completed.”

Ironwood lowered his hand from his face. “With Pietro helping them, I’m sure they could find a way to at least temporarily get it functioning. And if they do, I think it’s reasonable to assume they intend to tell the rest of Remnant about Salem and the Imperators.”

Winter held her tablet scroll, tapping on its screen. “I’ll put the order in to change the launch credentials right away.”

“No, don’t.”

Winter’s finger hovered in the air over the scroll’s screen. She looked up at Ironwood, squinting. “Sir…?”

“This could actually be to our advantage,” Ironwood explained, stepping toward Winter. “The Venatrix prototype was with their group. It’s likely they copied those credentials to it. It’ll need to be on Amity when they launch it… and they don’t know that we know what they’re up to.”

It made Winter uncomfortable the way Ironwood called Penny an “it.” Like she was just another tool, no different than the AK-200s, AV-160s, the Archers, the Paladins… but Winter had met Penny back in the early days after her creation. She was more than that.

But that was just her opinion—and chain of command was no place for that. “What are you planning, sir?”

“I’ll have to make some arrangements,” Ironwood said. He didn’t explain further, heading for the door.

Penny Polendina sat on the edge of one of Amity Colosseum’s docking platforms, dangling her legs over the side and kicking them in the air, looking up at the dark sky. She had volunteered to come here… but she still hated being away from Ruby and her other friends so soon after being reunited with them.

Returning from death was a strange experience—to think that people had grieved you, processed the loss of you… only for you to suddenly be back in their lives. And to her, it was like both no time had passed and all the time in the world had. Not quite like she’d closed her eyes in Amity and suddenly awoke. She could feel the time she was missing, the long stretch of emptiness.

She lowered her head. She just couldn’t stop worrying something bad would happen to the others while she was away. She wanted them to be safe—wanted to be there to keep them safe.

But there were things that needed to be done, and she was the best choice to do them.

Penny sighed, pulling one leg up and resting her elbow on her thigh, dropping her cheek into her hand.

She stayed that way for a moment, looking out across the expanse of Solitas. White hills, rocky mountains… this was home in a literal sense. But she had always felt more attached to people than places.

“Well, you look mopey.”

Penny looked behind her—Raven Branwen was approaching her. Penny still didn’t know much about her beyond her relation to Yang. After all, they hadn’t had much time to talk before all the teams split up to accomplish their various goals.

“I miss them,” Penny said, turning back to look over the view. “My friends.”

Raven sat down next to her, also dangling her legs over the side.

Penny turned to look at her again. “You are Yang’s biological mother.”

Raven’s easy demeanor faltered for a moment—Penny noticed her fingers tense, a wince of something almost like pain in her face. “Yeah, I… suppose that’s true.”

Penny looked forward again. “I think that is a fascinating concept. ‘Biological parent.’ It’s something I do not have—that I could never have for myself.”

Raven watched Penny quietly for a moment. “That something that bothers you?”

Penny shook her head. “I love my father very much—even if I do not have blood to be related to him by. I think it has just made me realize how… complicated other familial relationships can be. My father specifically chose to make me because that was what he wanted. It’s not always so simple, is it?”

Raven looked away, offering no response.

“Do you love Yang?”

Raven’s head snapped back in Penny’s direction.

Penny met her gaze, waiting for an answer.

Raven just stared… and then, after a moment, finally sighed. “She’s my daughter. I love her more than anything else in the world.”

“Then why did you leave her?”

Raven bit her lip. “I… at the time, I thought that was what was best for her. I’m not… I’m not so sure about that anymore, but that’s the thing with love. No matter what kind it is, sometimes… sometimes it means you have to make choices you don’t like. You have to consider whether you’re really what that person needs, no matter what you might feel.”

Penny pulled her other leg up, putting her arms around both. “I… am afraid.”

Raven cocked an eyebrow at her. “Of what?”

Penny looked behind her. She couldn’t see him, but she knew Pietro was back there, hard at work at getting the CCT tower working again. “I know that I am not the same as I was before I… ‘died.’ It… changed me.” She looked forward again, lowering her head. “I never got angry before like I do now. At Watts. At Ironwood. I lost control of it. I worry that if… if the people I care about realize I’m different, they will stop loving me.”

Raven glanced down, looking deep in thought. “For what it’s worth, I don’t think you have anything to worry about. Pietro risked a lot to get you back—that’s not the kind of love that goes away just because you’ve changed.” She smiled at Penny. “Everyone grows and changes over time anyway. That doesn’t mean you stop caring about the people you care about.”

Penny considered that thought. But then again, she couldn’t help but think about Ruby. The way she’d looked so… so afraid of her when Penny had lost control of her anger. Maybe Raven was right about Pietro, but that didn’t mean she was right about everyone—about Ruby. And it really, really mattered to Penny that she didn’t lose her. Ruby had been her first friend… her best friend. Losing that would feel like losing a part of herself.

“Thank you,” Penny said, keeping her other thoughts to herself.

“Don’t mention it.”

Penny looked at Raven again. “And I think you should talk to Yang more.”

Raven chuckled, pushing herself back up to her feet with a grunt. “Kid, I’m pretty sure that’s the last thing she wants.”

Raven stepped away, heading back toward the arena floor. Penny remained on her own, staring over the mountains in silent contemplation.

“Why am I the one doing this?”

Ruby stood against a hallway wall in the Schnee manor, Blake standing across from her and holding up her scroll as a camera.

“Because we actually have to record and send the message we’re going to broadcast to the Amity crew before we have to, you know, broadcast it,” Blake said.

Ruby grumbled in frustration. “I know that, but why do I have to be the one talking in it?”

“Well, it was your idea, so it only feels right to let you do the talking.”

Ruby folded her arms. “It’s not like I’m the only one here! You’re here, Weiss is, May is—why can’t any of you do it instead?” She scuffed her foot against the ground. “I suck at stuff like this.”

Blake lowered her scroll, holding up a finger. “First thing—no , you don’t.” She held up another. “Second thing—I’ve already hit my quota for big, inspirational speeches this year, May would almost definitely just start ranting about Ironwood the whole time, and Weiss… okay, well, she just didn’t want to.” She smiled. “Don’t worry, Ruby. You’re better at this than you think.”

Ruby stared up at the ceiling with a groan. She dropped her head again, looking down the hall. “Hey, speaking of Weiss… where is she anyway? I feel like I haven’t seen her in a bit.”

“Hm,” Blake said, ear twitching. “You know, I don’t know either. It’s a big place though, she could be anywhere.” She paused for a moment. “Are you… worried about her?”

Ruby, almost without a conscious thought, reached down to her wrist, twisting the charm bracelet on it—the rosebud in a snowflake. The one Weiss had given her just before they were separated for months. “I know she can handle herself, but… I mean, this is her family home. Being here can’t be easy for her.”

Blake raised her scroll again. “Well, when we’re done with this, maybe we can go look for her. Find her and check on her.”

Ruby’s hand fell away from the bracelet. “O− oh, no, I− I don’t think we have to do that. She’s probably fine, she’ll tell us if she needs anything .”

“Alright, that’s about all of that I can take,” Blake said, lowering her scroll again and sliding it into her pocket. She stepped forward in front of Ruby. “You and I are having a talk about this now.”

Ruby squinted, blinking in confusion. “A talk about… what?”

“About how weird you’ve been around Weiss lately.”

Ruby sputtered. “I− that’s not− I haven’t been weird around her, Blake, that’s−”

Blake crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows in the single most potent stare of disbelief that Ruby had ever witnessed. “You know, I’ve been paying attention—and it feels like you can’t decide if you want to be closer to her or if you want to push her away.”

“It’s not like that.”

“Yes, it is,” Blake said, voice stern. “And I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it’s putting Weiss through the wringer. And I’m not the only one who’s caught on. Honestly, by now, I’m not sure there’s anyone who hasn’t—they’re all just too polite to say anything about it.”

Ruby remained silent. She… hadn’t realized it had been so obvious.

“Look, it’s your personal business—I get that,” Blake continued. “I don’t have any right to it. But Weiss is a friend I care about a lot— and I can tell she cares about you more than anything else in the world. I don’t know what’s gotten you acting like this lately, but you need to sort it out—for her sake at least.”

Ruby looked away. “I’ll… think about it.”

Blake sighed. “Guess that’s all I can ask.” She reached into her pocket, pulling her scroll back out. “Alright now, enough stalling—let’s get this done.”

Weiss stood before the double door to her father’s master bedroom, staring down at the AK-200 forearm that had been jammed under the handles of the doors to keep it shut fast. She supposed that was what Blake had meant by saying he wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon.

Weiss took a deep breath in through her nose and out through her mouth. She wasn’t sure what she was about to do was a good idea, but… she had to try. She had to try and find some kind of closure for this part of her life.

Weiss slid the arm out of the handles. She grabbed onto one… freezing. It felt like her arm had totally locked up, that her brain had completely blocked off her ability to move it.

“He’s just a man,” she whispered to herself, closing her eyes. “And he has no power over you or anyone else anymore.”

She summoned all the willpower she could muster, focusing it on her arm—she tugged the door open and stepped inside.

The bedroom was incredibly spacious—it looked more like a lounge than a place for rest and privacy. There was a king-sized bed against the left wall from the door with canopy drapes, a furnace built to look like an ostentatious fireplace on the opposite wall with two lounge chairs pulled up near it, and doors for a private bathroom and a walk-in closet. There were also multiple dressers and bookshelves, though Weiss seriously doubted her father had read any of the books on the latter. They were all there for show and nothing more.

Her father was standing by the row of windows at the back of the room, looking inward at the courtyard, his hands clasped behind his back. He turned at the sound of the door closing again. “Ah, if it isn’t my traitorous daughter.”

“Jacques,” Weiss said with disdain.

Jacques turned back to the window. “You’ve ruined this family, you know. Generations upon generations of success… all undone by the actions of a selfish little girl. I do hope you’re proud of yourself, Weiss.”

Weiss stepped further into the room. “Don’t pretend like this isn’t all your fault. You consorted with a− a criminal.”

Jacque s lifted a hand, examining his fingernails. “Successful business demands we dirty our hands now and again.” He turned away from the window, taking steps toward Weiss. “Why are you here? Did James send you?”

Weiss restrained her surprise, not wanting to give it away to her father. He didn’t know she was a fugitive? Then again, that made perfect sense—Ironwood wouldn’t have let him keep his scroll. Without anyone telling him things directly, Jacques was completely cut off from the outside world.

“No. I came on my own,” Weiss said.

“Hmph. A little late to take a sudden interest in your family now.”

Weiss shook her head. “Do you seriously not feel sorry for anything you’ve done?!”

Jacques chuckled as though the very notion he should feel guilt was laughable. “I didn’t think I’d raised such a naive girl.”

“You barely raised me at all,” Weiss said through clenched teeth.

Jacques started to pace the room. “Everything I’ve done has been for the good of our family. For the sake of keeping our station in life secure.”

“Right,” Weiss said coldly, crossing her arms. “And it just so happened that you could line your own pockets at the same time.”