Bonnie watched the camera feed go white. What had just happened ? She watched closely the blinding light of the explosion obscured all vision she had of the fight. Smoke obscured the scene further and she could not see the results. She watched the screen eager for a confirmation.
Was Arc dead? Was Vasily dead? The thought of him perishing as this sent a strange mix of emotions through her. What if he was gone? Her hand moved to her stomach as her thoughts turned to the life that was growing inside her of her. If he was gone it would be safe, if he was gone this would all be over. If only Arc had perished she would leave with him for Vacuo and continue on.
The thought made her nauseous. More assassionation, a repeating cycle of helping him best whoever happened to move into Vasily's crosshairs. The possibility seemed like a vast empty void expanding to swallow her into it's cold black depths.
A red light pulled her attention away alerting her. She turned and addressed the screen as it alerted her to an intruder. Her fingers danced across the keyboard showing her. A hacker who had managed to slip past her digital defenses and was currently rummaging around, she watched as the intruder severed her connection to one of the bombs, snipping the string that connected her to a dozen petty threats as an insurance for Vasily.
Watching the connection being wrestled away from felt like a weight being released from her. Watching the possibility of hurting an innocent being taken away sent a flutter of relief through her. Bonnie knew she should do something, she should expel the intruder from her system and detonate one of the bombs to make a point, but it was a weak call compared to the ease that soothed her.
With a few keystrokes instead she opened a message window and typed a message.
Who are you? She typed to her strange intruder.
Several seconds passed and she looked to the screed watching for any signs of life and finding none.
Pietro Polendina, and you are Bonnie. The hacker answered her.
How do you know who I am? Bonnie asked.
I watched Penelope's memories. Why haven't you stopped me? Pietro responded.
Bonnie stared at the question and looked back to the camera feed. She noticed Vasily's form moving on the ground, he was alive and that empty void seemed to expand ready to swallow her.
I'm not sure if I want to stop you. Bonnie answered him. Then don't. Pietro replied. It's not that simple. Bonnie protested. It can be. Pietro responded.
What will happen to me if he loses? I am not innocent. She told him wondering what to do. She should stop him, cold and empty as it seemed to go on with Vasily surely it was a better alternative than rotting in an Atlas prison for her life, she had gone this fat and there was no escape.
You can run, get away while you can. Pietro answered her.
You would let me escape? Bonnie asked him.
I would. Pietro told her.
Why? She asked.
Because I want this to end, because I want Jaune and Penny to both walk away from all of this. He told her.
I share responsibility in all of this, I hurt them too. She explained to him.
I don't want revenge, I want this to be over. Pietro told her.
Bonnie felt like she was staring into the black void of her future feeling the cold of it on her face. But behind her she felt a warm inviting future that she needed to only turn to and put the blank abyss to her back and walk away.
Bonnie touched her belly and steeled herself.
Then end it. Bonnie typed and turned away letting her control be cut away from her. A massive weight was lifted from her shoulder and she felt easy walking away and out the door leaving Vasily behind to face his fate without her.
She found her step was lighter and the void behind her was forgotten and for the first time in a long time she found herself looking forward to tomorrow.
Jaune coughed through the thick smoke that clogged the air. The steel cables that had kept him tied to the tree had loosened from the blast and fell away letting him fall to the ground next to the twisted and smoking remains of Vasily's rifle ruined on the ground.
He laughed despite the choking smoke. He hadn't expected all his cartoon watching to ever come in handy but here he was. Thank you Pumpkin Pete.
He looked at his left hand. It was numb with pain and bleeding but from what he could tell it was still mostly intact save for his middle finger which made Jaune nauseous to even look at it, it was crumpled like an accordion. His semblance had saved him but unlike last time he hadn't exactly gotten away from it unscathed.
Jaune wobbled as he put his feet beneath him trying to stand despite everything. He left his shield on the ground, he hated abandoning it but he didn't think he could hold anything in his left hand with it mangled like it was, thankfully Vasily hadn't fired both barrels, otherwise he would probably be in need of a new hand instead of potentially in need of a new finger.
He looked around trying to find Vasily. Where was he? He tightened his grip on Crocea Mors stumbling around the artificial forest feeling dizzy. He tried to hear something through the high pitched ringing that invaded his ears.
"Vasily!" Jaune called hearing his own voice muted, "Vasily!"
A rustle of bushes beside him caught his attention and he turned to find the assassin charging him clutching a knife, the stub of Penny's stolen and shattered blade. He growled as Crocea Mors struck him making his aura shimmer and but deflect the blade.
Vasily bushed the strike off and didn't let it steal his momentum and closed the distance to stab him with the jagged little blade. The tip smashed against Jaune's aura once, twice three times before his remaining aura dissolved into light. The fourth stab slipped between the armor plates and drew blood.
Jaune hissed in pain and smashed the pommel of Crocea Mors into Vasily's face knocking him back and retreating.
"Jaune!" Pietro's voice sounded in his ear. "I just need you to hold on a little bit longer, I'm in."
Jaune didn't respond to the microphone in his jacket collar and he kept his focus on the fight, taking comfort that Pietro was apparently having success on his end. He swung his blade as Vasily tried closing the distance again.
"Still using that old thing?" Jaune teased, finding it hilarious that he still clung to Penny's shattered blade instead of relying on one of his other weapons.
"You beat me with it, so I'm going to beat you with it!" Vasily answered with a growl leaping at him with reckless abandon. Jaune dodged to the side letting him soar past him and delivering a slash to back draining more of his aura.
"Suite yourself," Jaune laughed at him with more confidence than he felt. The stab wound burned and as silly as using the blade seemed to him the wound seeping blood made it hard to argue that this guy certainly could kill him. Even armed with a longer sword the fact was that Vasily still had aura left and Jaune had spent most of his aura imitating his favorite cartoon.
"I'd like to see you laugh as I gut you Arc!" Vasily growled lunging forward with a thrust of the blade. Jaune parried the knife thrust away and attempted a ripost only for Vasily's fist to shoot out and slam against his face knocking Jaune back and sending his head spinning. He tasted blood in his mouth and spat out onto the ground as he looked at the assassin's fist that clutched a set of brass knuckles.
"So you kill me and get to claim you're not as big a loser as me, what then?" Jaune asked him trying to keep him distracted with talk and quips. "Is there some kind of social media for assassins so you can tell all your friends about it?"
"Shut up," Vasily hissed closing in, Jaune sidestepped the attack with ease, his superior reach of his sword helping him control the fight.
"I'm just saying for all the work you put into this you gotta be getting more out of this than a simple ego boost," he taunted.
"Silence you insolent boy!" Vasily hissed again charging him. Jaune swung his blade but Vasily knocked the strike away with his hand letting his aura absorb the blow and he stabbed at Jaune's face.
He reeled back as the blade cut a thin line across his cheek and pressed. A thrust went right for his eyes and Jaune dodged with a tilt of his head, it sliced the side of his temple and bleed out covering his face in red.
"You might be a loser Arc!" Vasily growled at him as he stumbled back bleeding. "But my hand you're going to be a dead loser."
Jaune smirked despite the blood that dripped down the side of his face. "You know Vasily, I might have been the biggest loser to have ever set foot in Beacon, but I got to make friends with some awfully talented people."
"Reminiscing are you?" Vasily asked him, confusion coloring his face. "Nope," Jaune said grinning widely at him, "I'm bragging." Automatic fire cut in ratting through the atrium and striking the assassin making his aura shimmer. He turned to see the twin pistols of Storm Flower blazing away peppering him, their wielder Lie Ren couched in a tree as he fired. But even more to his surprise was Nora sprinting through the brush with her hammer roaring as she swung it at him.
"GET AWAY FROM OUR LEADER!" She cried as the hammer made contact with his chest. His aura glowed as the weapon crashed into him and sent him flying into the trees.
Vasily landed hard against the trunk of a tree. He managed to recover himself to at least land on his feet with some manner of grace before he sprinted into the woods. He needed a better weapon, he hadn't been planning on reinforcements, he had specifically arranged to keep them away.
"Bonnie," he said into his earpiece, "Arc brought friends along, detonate the bomb and prepare the second batch of drones now."
Killing those brats Arc watched would do him little good now but at least he could make him taste the consequences of cheating. How could his friends even have slipped in without her knowing? That should have been impossible.
"Bonnie?" he asked again when he heard only static on the line. "Bonnie are you there?" He asked again only to receive no answer.
He found a bench along the pathway and reached under it, finding the lever action rifle he had stowed away just in case his regular armaments weren't enough for him. He cocked the weapon chambering the first round and looking back into the trees. "Bonnie, answer me now!" he demanded over the line fruitlessly.
Had they somehow gotten to Bonnie? Had some of Arc's friends snuck in and dispatched her? Again he couldn't understand how that could have happened, Bonnie had eyes everywhere here, an infiltration was supposed to be impossible.
A series of grenades leapt from the brush at him and he scrambled away as they detonated into pink explosions shattering the bench and several trees. Vasily raised his weapon and fired in the general direction of the grenades. Nora Valkyrie, he had briefly perused her file when he did his research on Arc. She wielded a weapon named Magnhild, a hammer and multi shot grenade launcher, her semblance allowed her to channel electricity into her muscles making his electricity dust unwise to use against her.
Another barrage of gunfire struck him in the side and whittled down a bit of his aura. He spotted the gunner as he emptied the magazines of his twin pistols. Vasily turned the rifle on the young man and fired fast as he could striking him several times with quick shots. His hand worked the lever of the rifle with expert speed. He watched his aura flash before moving as more grenades landed where he had been.
Lie Ren expelled the magazines from his twin pistols and moved to follow reloading with practiced speed and efficiency as he leapt from tree branch to tree branch with impressive grace. Vasily grinned to himself as he sprinted away into the thick brush. Follow me, he willed to the boy, taking note of his surroundings as he ran. Even outnumbered and with Bonnie out of action he still held the advantage, he had prepared this place and he was going to use it. Lie Ren kept following him deeper and deeper into the cover of the artificial forrest, right where he wanted him.
"REN WAIT!" He heard Arc shout out to his comrade. "DON'T RUN AFTER HIM HE"LL LEAD YOU INTO A BOOBY TRAP!"
Too late. With a touch of his scroll he remotely detonated the mine he had secured in the area. The tree the pistoleer had been perched on erupted into a shower of smoke and splinters. He lost sight of him in the explosion. He doubted it would have been enough to deplete his aura and kill him but hopefully it would slow him down if nothing else.
"REN!" Miss Valkyrie cried out for her teammate rushing to his position and deliver what aid she could. Foolish girl. Another swipe of his finger across the holographic screen and a second mine detonated sending a geyser of soil and smoke into the air catching her in the blast. He moved forward pulling the small rifle rounds from his bandolier and loading them into the tubular magazine of his , he already was lamenting the loss of his express rifle, Arc would pay for destroying it.
He closed on the ruined areas still smoking from the explosions, if he was lucky the blasts could have knocked Arc's friends out for some easy kills.
"GUYS!" Arc called emerging from the brush to help his teammates. Raising the lever action Vasily fired at his foe striking him with two quick shots. The first knocked Arc to the ground and the second put him down to scramble away, that damned armor had saved him again. If he only had his express rifle he would have punched a hole in it like tissue paper. He scowled, the weapon was destroyed now and nothing would change that, he's finish Arc as soon as he finished with his friends.
He scanned the ruins for them looking at the kicked up soil and shredded plants finding no sign of either of them.
A blast of machine gun fire interrupted his search. He rolled away to face the source of the gunfire only to find that one of his own turrets firing at him. His rifle cracked as he scrapped the treacherous machine. How was this possible? Several quick slashes stuck him as Lie Ren lashed out with the pistol daggers. The blades scraped against his aura and he smashed the butt of his weapon into the boy's face, sending him back before he fired from the hip striking the boy in the chest and knocking him on his back.
He raised his rifle to finish the job when another hail of automatic fire interrupted him. He growled seeing a second turret firing on him. He tried to roll away and dispose of the automated weapon only to have the ground erupt in front of him. Miss Valkyrie emerged with a swing of her massive hammer roaring at him.
He ducked the swing and jabbed the muzzle of his rifle into her belly and fired. He had expected to knock her down but she dug her heels into the dirt and stayed standing grabbing him and throwing him to the ground. He rolled away as she brought her hammer down creating a crater in the planting soil. He swung his rifle at her sweeping her legs and knocking her to the ground with him. He and ducked as the turrent fired again at it shattering the weapon into pieces. He pointed his weapon down to the girl only for him to feel steel claws rake across his back. He cursed as he felt steel jaws clamp down on his shoulder. One of his mechanical hunting dogs had lept on his back trying to maul him. He grabbed a blade from his belt and plunged it into the head of the drone.
How had this happened? How had Arc taken control of his support? Bonnie wouldn't have let this happen, she had to be dead, someone had to have taken control of this but who. How could he pull the plug on this?
The drone fell away to spark on the ground and he turned to see a whole pack of the creatures surrounding him. He fired, blowing one of the mechanical beasts heads off as he ducked a lunge and shot another ready to fight through the drones.
He swerved his rifle to blast another one away only to have the barrel catch on one of the green blades of Stormflower. Lie Ren caught his weapon and leveled the second pistol at him delivering a burst of automatic fire to his chest and delivering a series of quick slashes. Vasily parried as best he could from the quick attacks creating distance between them. He managed to get a shot off striking him. Vasily grinned as he watched the boy's aura shatter into light. He cocked the rifle ready to put a round through his heart.
He didn't see Miss Valkyrie coming. It slammed into his side and sent him flying away. He watched in horror as the remains of his aura dissolved into light. He was defenseless now, he was outnumbered and without any aura to protect him.
He crashed into the wall of the atrium. He heard a sickening snap as he fell to the hard concrete ground. He forced himself up and reached for his scroll. He had to leave, replusilve as the thought was he had lost all his advantages, there was no victory for him here, he would need to leave, find Bonnie or a replacement and try again.
His fingers danced across the holographic screen as he activated the only ace he still had up his sleeve. He activated the mines detonating them in a sequence, the ear splitting blasts echoed through the arium as it felled trees and uprooted the various exotic plants, the garden would be a ruin and with luck he might eliminate them. He ran, taking his rifle he limped down to one of the doors spotting the exit signs for him to escape from while the various explosions and traps kept Arc and his friends busy.
Before the thought of destroying Arc with something as impersonal as a mine would have revolted him. Now he hardly cared what happened to him, so long as he died, so long as his walking reminder of his loss was gone.
He limped down the hallways, his leg burned with pain, he hadn't even noticed anything when he fell but it must have happened to him. Damn Arc for bringing his friends along damn him for cheating. The thought of his planted explosives turning him to a red smear put a smile on his face, perhaps tonight wasn't for nothing after all. Behind him the explosions sounded like thunder and they shook the building.
The sound of steel claws against the floor stopped him. He turned and saw them. His hunting dogs ran straight for him. He leveled his rifle and fired as fast as he could, he downed one, then another, click.
The hammer fell on an empty chamber and he scrambled for more rounds. It wasn't quick enough. The first to close the distance leapt for him and he bashed it away with the stock of his empty weapon. The second fired a burst from it's back mounted gun.
He felt the bullet's pierce him. He stumbled trying to charge the other with his improvised club and the drone pounced. Steel jaws sank into the flesh of his shoulder and he crashed to the floor screaming. Claws tore through his clothes and opened his chest. The other drones swarmed. He tried to strike it with his rifle only to find teeth crushing his arm mangling it. His world became pain until he felt jaws descend on his face.
Pietro sighed as he observed the drones doing their dirty work. He loathed the cold feeling in his chest as he watched the mechanical creatures rend him asunder. He typed the controls to have them stop their brutality and leave the dead man alone.
They obeyed his command, such simple and cold machines with no concept of life or morality, killing with no more emotion than a blade or a bullet. Killing should never be a passionless affair, he thought, looking at the other drones on the screen standing statue still with gore hanging from their mechanical mouths.
He wished he could feel some semblance of regret or sorrow having watched him being torn apart but the only emotion he felt was relief. All this death and destruction was done and he couldn't be happier. That man wouldn't be hurting anyone anymore, not Penny, not Jaune, no one. Father?" He heard Penny call him from down the hallway. He closed the video feed from the drones and turned to see the door open and his daughter walk in. "Hey baby girl," he greeted her with a big smile, "I was just about to wake you up," he said, his chair walking closer to her as he offered his arms in a hug. "I woke myself up," Penny told him not moving into his arms. "Where is Jaune? He was facing Vasily and there was that girl Penelope she-." "Penelope is gone," Pietro said moving closer and setting a hand on her shoulder, "and so is Vasily."
"And Jaune?" Penny asked him. He turned back and stared at his computer screens as they showed the various camera feeds he had over the area. He observed the feed overlooking the botanical garden as it burned. He watched as three figures emerged, Jaune limped out with his teammates. "Jaune is fine," he said, feeling lighter to say it. He turned to his daughter and smiled, "A lot has happened baby girl," he said, "but that can wait, he's over by the Mantle Botanical Garden, how about you go see him, I know you want to see him." Penny nodded and pulled him into a hug. "Thanks papa," she said squeezing him tightly before turning and running out. Pietro smiled as he watched her race off, doubtlessly she would spend the rest of the night helping to fix all that damage Vasily had caused across the city. He turned back to his computer and returned to his work. He contacted emergency services to arrive and get the fire in the garden under control and give Jaune and his teammates whatever medical assistance they might need. He looked to the camera feed watching Penny land on the street and sprint towards Jaune pulling him into a bone crushing hug. He watched the two of them kiss and closed the window pleased that for now at least they were safe with each other.
Bonnie looked out at the sun rising over the ocean. When was the last time she had enjoyed a simple sunrise? She wondered. It looked inviting and welcoming. The ship beneath her rocked with the gentle waves as the crew made ready to set sail. Smugglers, working to send illicit goods out of the country and towards Vacuo, she had booked passage for her and Vasily and finding herself alone for the journey had felt strange, freedom had become quite a foreign sensation to her after all these years. She wondered exactly where she would go after Vacuo. Years of her life had stripped away and she felt raw, it was as if she had been dead and found herself suddenly resurrected. She had access to Vasily's accounts, he had given her so much control in the belief that she would never turn against him. With all that money she could go anywhere, perhaps to Menagerie. She touched her belly, among other faunus seemed to be the wisest option for her child. Many came to Menagerie seeking to find peace among their own kind and escape their past. She doubted that many would question her apparent wealth, she wondered if many would even care that it was blood money. "We're taking off," one of the smugglers told her, "You should probably be below deck and out of sight," he explained to her. She nodded and gave the rising sun another glance before giving him a nod and moving to disappear below the deck.
So much uncertainty seemed to stretch before her and too many sins and regrets hovered just behind. She didn't know it putting distance to it all was possible but she was determined to try and to move forward on this uncertain road wherever it led her. Stepping down the ladder into the bowels of the ship she decided that she would start by watching the sun rise every morning.
One week later.
General James Ironwood blinked at his terminal screen. He had zoned out after trying to get another report about damages. He checked the time and regretted his decision. Midnight had passed him by long ago and knowing the truth only increased his weariness.
He groaned and rubbed his eyes. He had not believed that one assassin could do so much damage but here he was losing sleep to become intimately aware of the extent of his destruction.
"I'm sure the rest of the reports can wait until tomorrow sir," Winter told him, setting a series of papers across his desk. Even more work for him, documents that required his signature so they could begin repairing the damages. The physical damages anyways, what destruction the grimm and those criminals had done could be repaired, it would take resources away from the Amity Tower but he needed to protect his public reputation now more than ever. But the trust he had lost would be an entirely different matter, Pietro had yet to return any of his calls.
"I think after this catastrophe the least I can sacrifice is some sleep," he said, releasing a sigh and forcing himself to focus again on the screen, intent on at least finishing this one report before turning his attention to the stacks of paperwork Winter was delivering.
The specialist frowned at him. "Losing sleep won't erase what has transpired," she said to him.
"I know that," Ironwood said, actually thankful to have some degree of conversation from his subordinate. "But the sooner I can settle this the sooner things can return to a degree of normality."
He returned to his screen and tried finding his place again;. He read the words but his tired brain hardly processed any of it and he decided that it was futile. He closed the holographic screen and stood up to get some coffee.
"I can get that for you sir," Winter told him.
"It's alright, I need to look at something other than a screen for a moment," he explained to her, pouring himself his preferred amount of cream and sugar into one of his mugs before taking his first sip. It was like an elixir of pure energy.
"Is there any sign of that Bonnie woman?" Winter asked him while he sipped his coffee. "Not yet," Ironwood told her, "she has more than likely left the country by now and we have little choice but to keep our ears to the ground and hope she turns up." He wondered if finding that woman would do him any favors, from what Pietro had explained to him it seems that she wanted to disappear more than anything Penelope's memory banks had at least revealed some damning evidence about the Schnee Dust Company having hired Vasily to eliminate her along with other employees. It was at least enough for Ironwood to launch an investigation into the matter, what it would turn up he would have to see. "How is Penny doing?" Ironwood asked her. "She left for Argus this evening," Winter reported to him. "And Arc left with her?" he asked. Winter nodded to him. "Indeed he did, are you sure about this?" Ironwood nodded to her. "With everything Penelope did I think some space away from Mantle is probably in order," he explained to her, "she doesn't deserve to handle the fallout of my mistakes."
"But what good do you really expect to get from her in Argus?" Winter asked him, "there hasn't exactly been much activity to warrant her presence."
"Exactly, it's a quiet post with little action in a serenely idyllic little town," Ironwood explained, "and Mr. Arc even has a sister in town he can visit, I cannot think of a better place to send the two of them after everything that has happened."
Winter raised an eyebrow at him. "So you sent the two of them on a vacation?" She asked him.
"An informal vacation, " Ironwood explained to her, "Penny will have some light duty and Mr. Arc is free to take whatever huntsmen contracts suit his fancy. But I think compared to everything that has transpired it will be quite relaxing."
Jaune watched the snowy shores of Argus approach. Thankfully his motion sickness had managed to hold up despite the ship rocking ever so slightly with the water. Compared to the tall white spires of Atlas or the towering skyscrapers of Mantle the little coastal city looked calm and homely. He looked to his side and looked at Penny as she scanned the shore with him looking at the snow covered city before them. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze pulling her attention away from the approaching docks to meet his eyes "Are you doing alright?" he asked her watching as the ocean winds tossed her long copper red hair about. "I am fine," she answered him, "it's just… I cannot seem to come to terms that this has truly ended, I cannot help but scan these peaceful shores expecting to see some kind of threat." Jaune let go of her hand and put his arm around her letting here rest her head on his shoulder. "He's gone," Jaune told her, "we know he is this time."Penny nodded against him, "I know that logically," she explained to him, "but the feeling persists despite all of that."
"That's normal," Jaune told her, "we just went through a lot, even died again. People don't just bounce back from that kind of stuff Penny, it takes time." "You do not seem to be fretting over a hidden assassin," Penny pointed out, putting her own protective arm around his waist. "I am," Jaune told her, "I'm just really good at hiding it." He smirked at her and gave her a little squeeze. "Plus I get to spend the next few weeks with the Protector of Mantle so I'm also pretty excited as well."
Penny smiled a bit at that. "I am excited too, though I am a little nervous to be meeting your sister."
Jaune chuckled, "She'll love you don't worry," he assured her, "I'm nervous because I know she'll take the opportunity to embarrass me in front of you, I'm sure she already has the photo albums armed and ready for our arrival." Penny giggled at that, "I'll try to help ease the experience and not laugh too much," she promised him. Jaune flashed her a grin. "Trust me, just give it some time and we'll be able to put everything behind us, it's just going to take a little time." Penny nodded, "I think it's working already."
The ship docked in a timely fashion and they stepped off after collecting their luggage. Jaune was happy to leave the cramped rocking ship behind, his motion sickness had adjusted to the vessel rocking but the first part of their voyage was sadly spent with him standing over a toilet bowl losing his dinner. Thankfully he had eventually been able to find his sea legs and keep his meals down.
"Do you need to report to the base immediately?" Jaune asked as his feet touched solid ground.
Penny shook her head, "I am supposed to report tomorrow," she explained to him, "so we can go and meet your sister now."
"We don't need to do that right now," Jaune told her.
"Are you not excited to see her?" Penny asked him.
"I am," Jaune said giving her a smile, "and I'm excited to show you off to her, but first I think I'd like to have some alone time that isn't in a cramped cabin."
She nodded as they left the docks together into the snow littered streets of Argus. "What shall we do?" She asked him.
"Take in the sights, go shopping, we have plenty of time to do whatever," Jaune explained chuckling and scratching the back of his neck. "It's kind of nice to actually have this kind of free time on our hands, back in Atlas we were always busy and we never had enough time, now it seeds we have plenty and I'm not quite sure what I want to do with it all."
"We can figure that out," Penny told him giving his hand a comforting squeeze and flashing him a smile that was more than a little mischievous, "Neon was sure that we got a shopping trip in, just in case we decided to pick up where we last left off."
Jaune grinned awkwardly at her. That certainly was appealing, and to know that they'd have whatever time they needed to take things at whatever pace they wanted. "Yeah," he chuckled awkwardly, "we'll make time for that."
They walked the streets aimlessly, Penny looked around at everything drinking in the scenery. They watched a couple of kids throw snowballs or make snowmen, plows drove down some of the streets clearing the roads.
"There's a park up here," Jaune told her pointing down a road, "there's a statue of Pyrrha there," he said somberly.
"Let's go see it then," Penny said, giving him a soft reassuring smile.
They walked the little pathway towards the bronze statue standing peacefully as if a silent somber guardian. Hand in hand the two of them walked up and faced it staring respectfully for a long moment together. "Do you uh… mind if I take a moment by myself?" Jaune asked her quietly.
She nodded and leaned forward placing a kiss on his cheek. "I will be by the bench," she told him before releasing his hand and stepping away leaving him alone to have some private words with the bronze effigy.
Penny took a seat on the humble steel and wood park bench watching as Jaune had his private moment. She could see his mouth moving, he was speaking to her for whatever that was worth. She did not know if the late champion could hear him from beyond the veil of death but it seemed to give him comfort.
She resisted the temptation to focus her mechanical ears and eavesdrop on him and his words but she respected his desire for privacy and only watched.
"I wonder what he's saying to her?" A voice said mirroring her thoughts.
Penny turned, seeing a familiar shade of red hair and green eyes staring at Jaune and the statue through red framed glasses.
"I think he is telling her about everything that has transpired in the last few months," Penny answered with her best guess as she studied the woman.
The woman smiled at her. "Are you a friend of his?" she asked her.
Penny smiled, "I am his girlfriend," she said.
The woman grinned at her, "I'm pleased to meet you, you're that Penny girl aren't you? The Protector of Mantle, I've heard about you."
Penny nodded to her, "I am, though it seems for a little while I shall be the protector of Argus," she said.
"That sounds like a very quiet job," the redhead giggled, "this is usually a calm and sleepy town."
Penny nodded, "I think that is what I need right now, we have been through a lot lately." The woman looked back to Jaune speaking to the statue. "This is the second time he's been here, but he seems much happier than the last time I saw him, maybe you might have something to do with that."
"Maybe," Penny said flattered by her words, "though I cannot help but feel that since we became better acquainted that troubles have followed us both."
"Maybe," the woman said, "but if troubles come it's usually better not to face it alone."
"But I wonder if maybe he only faced those troubles because of me," Penny told her, "it's that trouble that has brought me here in the first place."
"That's love," she told her, "troubles double when we come together, but we don't have to face it alone."
Penny nodded, "that's very wise."
The redhead giggled, "I try, whatever he is saying to her I he looks kind of happy saying it." Penny looked again and noticed what she meant. Jaune kept a smile as he spoke to the statue, his back was straight and he had a bright look in his eyes. He turned away and looked at her walking back toward her looking light in his steps as if he had dropped all his burdens behind him. "I guess he does," Penny said, agreeing with her observation.Silence was the only answer Penny received and she looked over to see that the woman was gone. How had she missed that? She was probably too focused on Jaune. "Thanks for giving me a moment," Jaune told her. "It was no trouble," Penny said standing from her bench and taking his hand in her own. "What do you want to do next?"
"How about we look at some shops?" Jaune suggested, "we should probably bring our friends some souvenirs back at least." Penny nodded finding the idea to be a perfectly pleasant waste of time. "I notices there was a syrup shot," she told him, "I bet Nora would appreciate a bottle for some pancakes, she is probably driving Ren crazy right now." Jaune chuckled, "those two have been together for a long time now, I'm sure they're making things work."
"Even without their fearless leader?" Penny asked him. "Even without me," Jaune said. She squeezed his hand. His new prosthetic finger gave him a tighter grip. It was a slight reminder of their recent events, that despite his aura the bones in that finger had been smashed to powder and didn't heal right. "Something wrong?" Jaune asked, sensing a disturbance. Penny shook her head, "no." A little hiccup revealed her fib and she felt herself being weighed down by embarrassment. She waited for him to ask her what was wrong and why she lied as they walked, she didn't want to explain her thoughts, about the lingering guilt that seemed to hover over her. He didn't ask her anything, he kept walking as if he hadn't noticed. "Are you going to ask me what is wrong?" She asked him deciding to break the silence. "Nope," Jaune told her, "If you don't want to tell me then I'm not going to press the issue."
"That is… comforting to know," she told him, "it does not bother you that I lied?"
"Was it a big lie?" Jaune asked her. "No," she said honestly. "Did you lie so we could simply enjoy this time together?" He asked again. "Yes," Penny admitted, putting everything behind the two of them only seemed to last a moment before they were reminded about everything that had happened. Speaking about Vasily or Penelope only seemed to make things worse. "Then I don't need to know," Jaune told her, "I'm sure that if you ever lie to me it's for a good reason." Penny nodded to him and smiled. "Thank you Jaune," she said, giving his hand a gentle and affectionate squeeze. "Of course," he said, "we all have the right to secrets or little white lies, so this is my way of letting you have that."
"I guess we will have to figure out quite a few things," Penny said leaning her head comfortably on his shoulder. "We will," Jaune agreed, "and right now we have tons of time for that." Penny sighed in contentment, "I cannot think of what I could want more than that." With Jaune on his way to assist Winter and Penny with the transfer of the Maiden Powers, James sat alone in his office with his thoughts. He had a moment to decompress, to let go and just think. No alarms, no council, just him. He sighed and put his face in his hands. The world slowed and a measured calmness came to him. He considered employing Mettle, but decided against it. Things were not so bleak that he needed that level of dedication, not yet. He stood up and activated the shutters and the central holo-display. Before him Atlas and Mantle, the encroaching Grimm forces, the evacuation, and all of the strength Atlas could muster to repel the evils at their doorstep. Arthur Watts and Tyrion Callows. He brought up their dossiers and glared at them. Watts was already locked away in a cell, an old school mechanical cell until something more secure could be mustered. No hacking steel plate. Tyrion was en-route with Clover, Robyn, and Qrow. Ironwood took a deep breath before sitting down at his desk. In all the chaos Oscar had not been appraised or accounted for. With a few keystrokes Ironwood had brought up all active AK-200 currently active within the academy.
Scrolling through the list he froze when he saw the units that had been commanded to guard Oscar.
DEACTIVATED – STATUS UNKNOWN
DEACTIVATED – STATUS UNKNOWN
DEACTIVATED – STATUS UNKNOWN
Ironwood stood up with a start, chair falling backwards behind him. Without waiting he ran out of his office and made his way to the dormitories. "This is Ironwood. Full lock down on Dormitory wing 3. Send squads to all access points. Double prescribed response teams." Ironwood said, tapping his earpiece as he ran.
Ironwood dashed through the dimly lit corridors of the dormitory wing, his footsteps echoing against the walls. The air was tense and heavy. The dorms were just ahead, marked by a flickering overhead light and a faint hum of electronic locks. Ironwood approached cautiously, his hand gripping the sidearm holstered at his waist. The urgency of the situation amplified with each step, a knot tightening in his chest.
As he approached the dormitories, the large double doors were closed and the lights embedded in the door and the frame weren't the normal blue, but instead a slowly pulsing yellow. As he approached the ambient sensors detected his approach, scanned him. A small touch panel next to the door displayed his name and his authority level before the doors unlocked and opened. Running as fast as he could as soon as the doors opened, Ironwood took off towards Oscar's room. He heard the shouting and boots of soldiers behind him. Confident that they would guard that entrance he continued alone.
He had memorized the layout of Atlas Academy years ago so making his way to a specific room was a non-issue. Eventually he turned the corner and saw the room assigned to Oscar. The door was opened. In an emergency situation the dooms were supposed to automatically shut unless in use.
Inside he saw the broken remains of the AK-200s he had assigned to Oscar's protection and no sign of the boy.
"Oscar, where are you?"
Cinder shot down the hall, flames beneath her feet propelling her, and Polendina and Schnee not too far behind. She looked behind her briefly as she made a corner with tremendous speed, planting her feet on the wall as her momentum denied her a clean turn. The impact left a crater in the wall before she blasted away resuming her speed.
She shot several blasts around her in every direction as she flew in a spiral down the hall, attempting to cave the structure in on itself. Still releasing a torrent of explosive fire blasts she saw Polendina make the turn she had just made. Green jets beneath her feet and blades in the shape of wings offered her more control over her manoeuvring, preventing her from impacting the wall as Cinder had.
Schnee was no longer behind her. Cinder furrowed her brow at that, but considered the speeds at which she and Polendina were travelling. The Specialist was simply pursuing on foot. Perhaps she had temporarily been left behind.
With the distance between them Cinder charged an extremely powerful blast of fire between her hands, taking the chance that she could build enough power in it before Ironwood's toy closed the distance between them. Cinder considered her position now that she was only facing the Atlesian wind up toy. Perhaps she could finish her off now.
Penny pushed her thrusters to the maximum, charging directly at the war criminal Cinder, and the one responsible for her "injuries" at Amity. Swords all pointed forward. Penny felt herself awash with negative emotions. Anger, Guilt, Shame, and Weakness.
Anger directed at Cinder for all the pain and death she had sowed. Guilt for being unable to do more for the people, for all of Remnant, and most of all her Friends. Shame for wanting to see her assailant dead. She shouldn't want to kill anyone. And lastly, Weakness, for giving into her negative feelings and now actively in an attempt to kill Cinder Fall.
Cinder glared daggers at her foe. The world seemed to slow down to a crawl, the noise of the fire, alarms and chaos faded away as the wall to her right slowly began to bulge and crack. Pieces of the wall began to break away, launched outward. Cinder only had time to scowl as the expanding wall before from the other side Winter Schnee came crashing through it.
Wreathed in magical power, snowflake-like emanation swirled around and beneath her. Truly a Winter Maiden now.
Ironwood was almost frantic as he began searching the dorms. "Oscar!" he shouted as he ran down the corridor, looking for any signs. As he made it to an intersection of corridors he paused and considered his next move. As he did to his left he saw the young boy standing there, no worse for wear.
He ran over to the boy to ensure the boy was truly ok and the lamp was secure but before he could reach him. "Noo!" Oscar shouted as he ran down the hallway before landing a solid punch to Neo's face, sending her sailing down the hall.
"Neopolitan. Associate of one Roman Torchwick, deceased. Wanted for questioning in regard to the Fall of Beacon." Ironwood said slowly removing Due Process from its holster. "Oscar, stay behind me."
Neo glared at them, but didn't make a move against them. Obviously weighing her options. She had not considered that Ironwood himself would show up.
"This is Ironwood. Combat situation in Dormitory Wing 3. I need all available sensor semblances to my location."
Just a few tense seconds later every other wall mounted light dimmed from the unremarkable white to a pulsing red. All of the dorm room doors shut and locked. "Nowhere to run." Ironwood said, drawing both white and black Due Process. "Stand down, come peacefully and with compliance and cooperation, a lesser sentencing may be considered."
Ironwood was hopeful that the young woman in front of him would consider her options and relent, but was not surprised in the slightest when she simply glared at him before producing a blade from the tip of her parasol.
"So be it." Ironwood grumbled before taking aim and opening fire with his white Due Process. All of his shots either missed or were blocked by Neo's parasol, but not without taking considerable damage. The shots to her parasol did not dissuade her in the slightest though. With remarkable agility she began scaling and bouncing off the walls in her advance.
With seasoned reflexes and more than two decades of battle experience, the General didn't falter in the slightest. Within mere moments of Neo getting remotely close to melee range Ironwood let off a shot with his black Due Process at the ground immediately in front of Neo, not sure how her parasol and its durability would react to a shot of highly powerful gravity dust.
The pure force of the gravity dust unleashed in the area seemed to circumvent Neo's defence. First throwing her parasol upward but remained in her grasp, then as the effect expanded the blast threw her back almost 30 feet. She landed with a hard thud and rolled an additional 5 feet. Quickly she got her feet underneath her but didn't immediately rise to her feet.
Oscar did his best not to simply cower behind Ironwood, holding Long Memory up and ready. He was confused and terrified of his mystery assailant, this Neopolitan person.
Penny could only watch as Winter came barrelling through the wall and crashing through the next wall with Cinder. She took the opportunity to reassess and check her Aura levels. She was hovering just above the red. She could hear the sounds of battle in the distance. A truly terrifying battle, Maiden vs Maiden.
She ran after them, flying through the hole in the wall but stopped after seeing that the duelling Maidens didn't stop after one wall, but broke through several. She went to pursue them but stopped when her comms activated.
"Penny, I lost her. Be careful. I'm coming back to you." Winter said, over the comms and panting deeply.
Penny allowed herself the slightest of smiles when she heard Winter's voice. "Roger. I will be on guard." She said, slipping a bit of optimism into her voice. She looked down the path that Winter had made in her assault on Cinder and reconsidered it. If Winter had pressed Cinder that way, then it was possible that Cinder was in that area, lying in wait.
Penny instead moved down the hall until she found a window, and hopped out into the Atlas skyline. She flew a few hundred feet out and looked back at the facility from the outside, activating her innate thermal vision. She had hoped that Cinder's pyromancy would give her position away, but this was in vain. The facility had dozens and dozens of hot-spots. Flames were all over it. she attempted to dial in her observation to find a moving hot-spot, but she was much too late. The attack came from above and suddenly. In a rapid spin, Cinder dove down on Penny with a kick, sending her plummeting 20, then 30, then 40 feet before she caught herself. She was only just able to put herself in a defensive position when a follow up attack came upon her. Blast after blast, Penny was forced to retreat, not finding an opening on Cinder who just peppered her with fire blasts and exploding sword constructs. Cinder was no longer controlling her anger and indignation, just raging incoherently, wordless malice. The damage to Floating Array had begun to accumulate and was beginning to cause malfunctions. Two of her swords could no longer produce their laser shots.
Cinder readied a blast but held on to it longer than her recent volley, charging the fire, and unleashing a powerful torrent on Penny, throwing her against a wall. The force of the impact crashed Penny through the wall, tumbling inside a lab, not too unfamiliar to the one her father operated out of.
She landed harshly and was slumped against the far wall from where she entered. Looking around her, Penny saw that most of her blades were inoperable. Some were laying flat, sparking, two were broken into pieces. She winced as she tried to stand. Looking at her leg, she saw it bent in a way it shouldn't, the thrusters on her soles crushed. She chuckled despite the pain. Had she been a real girl, the thing she aspired to so greatly, this would be a much more worrying injury.
Before she could consider her option, the telltale sound of Cinder's flight grew closer. She brought up her remaining blades and readied a blast, not really seeing any other option. She rerouted computing power from her motor control to processing speeds. The world around her slowed down.
She wouldn't need to move at the moment, as she couldn't properly make an escape even if she wanted to. A timer of her blades powering a blast displayed next to them in her, mind's eye. She had long come to terms that she saw things about herself that "normal" people didn't see about themselves.
Agonizingly slow she saw the hole in the wall she had made on impact start to glow in yellows and orange as Cinder approached. Floating Array wouldn't have a shot of any significant power ready in time. The best Penny could hope for was delaying Cinder long enough for reinforcements to arrive. She widened the diameter of her shot, spreading less power over an area but ensuring that she'd have more of a chance to hit.
With a slight change to the energy makeup of the shot, it significantly brightened. This wouldn't be an attack, it would be a flair. A large, blinding flair.
Ironwood turned the corner and saw Oscar laying on the ground, parasol blade deep in his stomach, pool of blood on the ground, the lamp nowhere to be seen. Panic flashed through Ironwood as he rushed over to him. He turned the young boy over, and he blanched. Oscar's eyes were wide open, lifeless. His throat cut. Blood had seeped into his clothing, no longer escaping from the gash.
"No, no, no!" Ironwood protested. He hurriedly pressed two fingers to his neck. Nothing. Despite his training Ironwood took this moment to grieve. This young boy had all this thrust upon him. The hardships, the danger, and the responsibility. He didn't deserve this.
Ironwood fought off tears. Before the anguish washed over him, he closed his eyes, scowled and activated Mettle. It all seemed to wash away slightly. The pain and remorse grew less and less. It didn't truly fade entirely, but it was now manageable.
Gently he put down the body and stood up. He tapped his earpiece and stared blankly ahead. "This is Ironwood. Medical to Dormitory Wing 3. We have fallen. Full honours." Ironwood said coldly, anger seeping into his tone.
There was a slight noise behind him. The soft crunch of someone stepping on glass. Ironwood whipped around and saw Oscar standing there. He gave a weak smile and held a finger to his lips. Even with Mettle, the rage burst to the surface and Ironwood charged the illusion, pinning him to the wall. He drew a pistol and held it against their head. "You are going to pay for all the death you helped sow. I'll make sure you never see the light of day again!" He roared, pressing his forearm against their throat.
They attempted to breathe and struggled. The fear in the eyes made Ironwood feel, not quite enjoyment, but a vague sense of vindication.
"W-wait." said Oscar beneath Ironwood's assault.
Before either of them could react, Ironwood felt a blade penetrate him from behind, and even exit on the front. He looked down and saw the thin blade poking out of his uniform, redness growing in his white jacket.
Slowly he looked over his shoulder and saw the corpse of Oscar looking at him, cold, dead eye. With the flickering bright lights of the illusion disappeared, no throat wound, brown and pink eyes, bowler hat appeared.
Neo smiled and winked at him before pushing him closer to the wall and to Oscar. Ironwood froze up and resisted. If he allowed Neo to press him further then the blade going through him would hit Oscar. He dropped his pistol and with a free hand pressed back against the wall, pushing Neo back.
Clearly not what she wanted, Neo pushed harder before twisting the blade and pressing it further in. Ironwood winced and furrowed his brow, he felt himself weaken and slowly he got closer to the wall, and Oscar. Slowly the blade approached Oscar, who cowered, but couldn't remove himself from the wall and Ironwood who was struggling to keep him from harm.
Neo scowled and jostled the blade before she shoved Ironwood with her shoulder. He cringed from the pain and involuntarily moved closer to Oscar, who closed his eyes and grimaced, waiting for the blade. It never came.
There was a soft click and Ironwood felt the blade swiftly removed from his body before receiving a roundhouse kick to the side of his head. The impact to his face forced Ironwood off his feet and falling sideways he plummeted to the floor. Before hitting the ground as Ironwood vision filled with stars he saw a startling lack of Relic on Oscar's belt.
With a harsh impact Ironwood hit the ground, head bouncing off the ground. His vision grew blurry, but he was able to see the last thing he wanted to see. Neopolitan with the Lamp, parasol, blade extended, bloodied.
She gave a playful bow before darting off to a nearby dormitory room and leaping straight into a window. Ironwood in a last ditch effort drew his black Due Process and fired blindly at her. The first two shots missed the mark, but the third made contact directly in the middle of her back, violently propelling her into the Atlas skyline.
She rolled, limply in the air, hundreds of feet in the air. Hopefully Ironwood considered the grim reality of what would happen if this foe, unconscious, fell to her death with the lamp. He would have to divert all available resources to finding the lamp, and the body. These considerations were dashed when slowly, Neo regained consciousness, righted herself midair and deployed her parasol. Lamp still fastened to her waist.
Oscar ran over to the broken window and watched and Neo softly and slowly disappeared into the Atlas skyline. He was about to turn back when the night sky was filled with an extremely bright green light.
The last thing Ironwood saw before losing consciousness was Qrow and Clover rushing to him, with a Medical Team right behind them.
Cinder screamed out in her rage as she was blinded. "AARRGH! You bitch!" She wailed. Thrashing about wildly Cinder shot flames all around her and conjured swords and knives, embedding them in the floor and walls around her.
Penny began to crawl away, but stopped. The floor was covered in debris and broken pieces of glass. If she moved over top of it, she would give away her position with the noise. She quickly considered her options and made a pitiful move. Grabbing a nearby piece of debris, she tossed it across the room against a pile of collapsed ceiling that hadn't fully dislodged, causing it to give way and come crashing to the floor.
Cinder spun to the noise and unleashed a barrage of flames and blades, the latter exploded on contact. "DIE!" Cinder screamed, completely oblivious to Penny on the other side of the room crawling away and out of the room.
By the time Cinder regained her vision, and the blinding after image faded, she found herself alone in the room, standing over a scorched pile of rubble. Realizing she'd been deceived she screamed and rage, destroying the room further, before shooting off into the night sky. Defeated and drained, she fought off tears of shame as she made her way to the meeting place she had decided with Neo.
Team RWBY, the Ace Ops, Nora and Ren arrived in Ironwoods office to see Jaune, Oscar, Qrow and Clover standing off to one side as a group of Combat Medics finished attending to Ironwood. Ruby immediately rushed forward. "What happened? Are you ok?" She said, holding her hands to her mouth. Concerned all over her face, she wore her heart on her sleeve.
Ironwood smiled at the worry. "I'll be fine Ms. Rose. Nothing that the doctors say can't be healed with time." Ironwood said, sounding tired. The Medics seemed to finish their work before leaving.
Weiss recognized one of the Medics, the last to leave, as the same doctor that attended to Winter when her leg was injured. He seemed to stay a bit longer than the other Medics.
"James, take these as needed. We've been through this before and your use of Mettle may make it easier to deal with, but will simply make it easier to ignore, not heal." The Doctor said, putting a firm but friendly hand on Ironwood's shoulder as he handed him a small bottle of pain pills, before nodding and leaving.
James relaxed in his chair, his jacket merely draped over his shoulders, ballistic shirt underneath his jacket, stained red with a clear puncture on the stomach. "Ms. Schnee, your sister is currently with Penny and Pietro." Ironwood said calmly. "She is fine, but felt it appropriate to be with Penny who received a not insignificant damage. She'll be fine by morning, but was in dire need of, repair."
His information caused concern to grow among the group, but was quickly lessened. "Robyn is currently overseeing the deployment of troops down to Atlas to maintain evacuation." Ironwood continued before activating the shutters and holo-projection. "Arthur Watts and Tyrion Callows are currently in our custody, separately. Watts' accommodations are entirely mechanical with no digital exploitables. Tyrion on the other hand is being detained in a black site, in a medically induced coma, under armed guard." Qrow rolled his eyes at the mention of a black site.
Ironwood turned his attention to the new arrivals. "During your time assisting down in Mantle, the Academy was infiltrated and assaulted by Cinder Fall and Neopolitan. This resulted in the loss of the lamp and the transferal of the Maiden Powers. Winter is now our Maiden." He finished with a heavy heart.
The tension in the room rose and a deep and grave understanding of the events ran through everyone's mind. The moment grew but eventually Ironwood decided to move on. "A Kingdom wide alert on Cinder Fall and Neopolitan will be made, asking the population to keep an eye out, to report any and all sightings and to stay clear."
A public posting of Cinder and Neo appeared on the holo-projection. Images of Cinder in Freya's room and Neo in the Dormitories. "I have refrained from immediately making these images and warnings public knowledge in favour of discussing it with you all. While I appreciate and value my position and experience, I would like to attempt to gain the experience of those in this room, for you have the most and paramount experience with our assailants than anyone else."
With a rejuvenation of her resolve, Ruby stepped forward with a scowl on her face. "Cinder is a danger to all of Remnant. She's violent, cunning, and without mercy. But she's volatile. If we close in on her, she'll lash out. Probably harming or worse, anyone around her, including civilians." Ruby said, holding everyone's attention firmly. "Having Cinder out in the open isn't good, but closing in on her while our focus is so divided won't play well for us."
Jaune nodded and stepped up. "During our confrontation tonight she seemed rather desperate, and reckless in her pursuit of the Maiden Powers. She grew more ravenous and deranged when denied or insulted." Jaune said with a thumb on his chin. "Ruby's absolutely right. If we press on Cinder, when we're already preoccupied with the evacuation or fending off the Grimm in Mantle it won't work out for us."
"But she has the Lamp." Oscar said, clearly perturbed by and his body language screamed guilt. "We can't let her get out of the Kingdom right? Letting Salem have a Relic is the last we wanted." He gripped Long Memory tightly.
"The kid isn't wrong." Qrow chimed in. "But Ruby and Jaune aren't wrong either. We need to prioritize getting Mantle up here. We can better defend from Atlas than we can Atlas and Mantle."
"So, what do we do?" Clover said, pointing his scroll at the holo-projector to display a map of Atlas and Mantle. Several lines representing Mantas travelling to and fro with evacuation Mantle citizens. "We can continue moving people up to Atlas, while fending off the Grimm, and even that pushes us extremely close to a very thin line of defence, but if we prioritize the weak point of the wall." He pressed a few buttons and a blue line drew itself around the Mantle wall, then segmented and grew thicker at certain sections.
"With the expediency of our evacuation, I think we can finish getting everyone up here in the next, 20 hours or so, but housing everyone would be even more hours, even days." Clover continued. "We can also consider now that Winter is a Maiden, we have access to the Vault and the Staff."
Another silence grew in the room.
"Oscar, can you fill us in on what the Staff can really do, or is that not on the menu?" Qrow asked.
Oscar furrowed his brow, visibly attempting to recall something that he wasn't sure he had. "No, I don't think I can." Oscar said meekly.
There was a brief pause as Oscar looked as if he had heard a noise. He looked down and to his side, anger written clearly on his face. "What? Now?!" He sighed. There was a sudden shift in his posture, and a familiar green shimmer.
"But perhaps I can." Ozpin said, with a slight smile. Ozpin looked down, the shame clear on his face. "I owe many of you an apology." He said, awkwardly gripping Long Memory. "In my campaign against Salem, I have deceived a great many people into helping me. My burden was lightened when I had people to share it with."
He began walking around the room, not making eye contact with anyone. "I justified my methods with a notion of "for the greater good". I've held off Salem for many, many years now by recruiting people that can counter the efforts of Salem and her ilk. Over time I stopped allowing myself the consideration of what my campaign did to the people around me. It wasn't until my secrets, my sins, were laid bare before you that I felt lifetimes' worth of guilt and remorse. I had lied to you. No flowery words, no turn of phrase to make my actions sound any better than they were. And for that you have my most sincere apology, and a promise that I will never lie to you again."
"Whether you accept my apology or not, I will never begrudge you, or think less of you. I am the one that has wronged you." Ozpin said, looking at the holo-projection of Atlas and Mantle. "I spent much time considering my words when this moment came, if it ever would, but in these last few days I forced myself to consider something new. Something to reflect the pride I find myself in seeing you all."
"The single quality that is common across every living creature on this planet, is fear; it's funny then that as common as fear is, we so easily underestimate its power." Ozpin said, turning his back to everyone in the room but turned around and looked at Jaune. "Fear of growing close to someone, and that subsequent fear of loss."
He looked to Qrow, then Ironwood, then Ruby.. "Or the fear of failure; and as more people depend on you, those fears can take on greater power."
"But fear itself isn't worthy of concern, it is who we become while in its clutches." Ozpin sighed but continued on. "Will you be proud of that person? Will you forgive them? Will you understand why they felt the need to do the things they did? Will you even recognize them? Or will the person staring back at you be the very thing you should have feared from the start?"
"But I'm reminded of a conversation I had some time ago. That I may prepare our guardians and build our monuments, but that I would find no victory in strength. You have all reminded me of a most promising retort to such willingness to give in to the darkness. Perhaps victory is in the simpler things. Things that require a smaller, more honest soul."
The room was silent, pensive.
"Oz." Ironwood broke the silence. "The staff?" It was clear that he wasn't in the mood to entertain Ozpin's failing, his guilt, or attempted recompense.
Ozpin nodded. "Like Jinn of the Lamp, the Staff as well contains a Spirit left by the Gods. Ambrosius, he can build you anything, but only if you can explain to him how. Like any craftsman, he'll need blueprints. Some sort of reference."
"Unlike Jinn however, Ambrosius is, a character." Ozpin said, embarrassed. "The Staff however can only maintain a single creation at a time. Once you request a new creation, the previous one fails."
Ironwood's gaze narrowed. "You mean Atlas. Without the Staff's continual effort, Atlas will fall." Ironwood said, annoyed at the concept.
Ozpin nodded. "Yes, as soon as Ambrosius finishes anything new, Atlas will slowly begin to fall. The gravity dust embedded in the rock will prevent an absolute free-fall, but it will still be cataclysmic for Atlas." Ozpin confirmed.
There was yet another long stretch of silence, but it was eventually broken by Yang. "So, wait, if we have the Staff make something else, it does its job, then ask it to make Atlas float again, then we're good?" She asked, hoping not to sound like the idiot in the room, but needed to voice the simple idea.
Ozpin placed his thumb just on his lips. "In theory, I see no reason why that wouldn't be possible." He confirmed, and seemed to be lost in thought. "So, that begs the question, what could we make that would aid us in the interim?"
"Something to destroy all the Grimm in Atlas?" Nora asked, sounding hopeful, but pitiful.
There was a mirthful chuckle from Ozpin. "As much as I would appreciate such a device, Ambrosius would need to be shown how to create such a device. He can create something from nothing, but he needs to know how." Ozpin explained.
"I think such an undertaking deserves more thought, perhaps the great scientific minds of Atlas could be brought in on such a brain trust. James?" Ozpin asked, attempting to sound, cordial, but not overly friendly.
Ironwood nodded and made to stand up but winced and held his stomach. "I think Pietro and a few others could be tasked with a, theoretical project. Until we deem it necessary to inform them of the true nature of the project." Ironwood said as he eased back into his seat. "Until then, I think we focus on repelling the Grimm, the evacuation of Mantle, and learning what we can from our captives."
With a characteristic bounce in her step Ruby stepped forward. "So should we start with that?" She said pointing to Watts' bag. She closed the distance and opened the bag. Before she could react or reach for her weapon, the Seer erupted from the bag. The rapid flailing of tendrils with sharp bony protrusions on the end of each. In a flash of crackling electricity, Harriet sprinted across the room and placed herself between Ruby and the Seer, shielding her from the unprecedented Grimm.
There was no attack from the Seer. It seemed to simply frenzy with its new surroundings and escape from the bag.
"You ok there?" Harriet asked, standing over Ruby, arms outspread in an attempt to protect the younger Huntress.
Ruby looked up, noticing the slight height difference between the two of them, just a few inches, but in that moment, she felt like Harriet was towering over her. She felt her cheeks grow warmer. "I'm, good. Thanks." Ruby said, meekly.
The Seer's tendrils tensed and curl inward, upon itself. A terrible high-pitch screech rang out from the Seer as it trembled. Everyone quickly regained their wits and backed up, weapons drawn. The room watched in horror as the Seer began to shake and crack before falling to the ground. As black smoke began to rise out of the Seer, a voice, smooth as silk, almost calming and inviting began to emanate from the smoke "The brave Huntsmen and Huntresses bested that have just Arthur Watts Congratulations." Said the voice as the smoke began to form into a large apparition of Salem. As if she was in the room with them, a sickening chill ran up many spines and Regaining her wits, Ruby gently moved Harriet aside and took a place in front of Salem, standing defiant. "We stopped Tyrion and Cinder, too. We'll stop anyone else you try to send here." She said proudly There was a passive glance to Ruby from Salem. Entirely unperturbed by the statement. "Dear girl, their goal was never victory. It was merely to set the stage." She said calmly.
Having positioned away from his desk to the side of the room Ironwood pointed his Due Process at the apparition. "For what?" Ironwood asked, sternly.
Salem's stone cold expression turned to Ironwood. "For me." she said before a smile appeared on her face. She slowly and delicately drifted towards him. "Time isn't on your side, James. It's always been on mine."
"But not only yours." Ozpin said defiantly, drawing the attention of Salem.
A lidded smile rolled over Salem's face. She looked genuinely pleased to see her long-lost love, turned eternal enemy. "My long-lost Ozma, found at last." She said before the smoke around her feat began to mold into vague shapes of four little girls dancing in a circle. Even the faintest sound of children's voice began to drift in and out.
"So small, this new host of yours. It's been how many years since we saw each other like this, face to face in a manner? And anything more to say?"
Ozpin merely smirked at the scrutiny. "I'm sorry the reunion isn't living up to your expectations." he said with a cold attitude to it.
A small frown formed on Salem's face before she turned her attention back to the group. "So many of you. All so committed to the protection of this Kingdom." She said with a smile. She turned back to Ironwood, leaning down to eye level. "The people of Atlas have suffered enough. Surrender the Staff and the Lamp to me, and they needn't suffer any further."
Jaune's hand tensed. 'She still thinks we have the Lamp.' He thought to himself.
Ironwood lowered his gun. After a moment, his eyes empty of emotion, became blank, and his voice hardened. "That's… not going to happen." He said sternly.
"Simply accept the futility of your situation…" She said with a lullaby quality to it. Her face, soft and gentle. "And this can all be over."
"We've seen what you're capable of. The lamp showed us." Ruby said, attempting to regain a semblance of control in the situation. Salem, despite her millennia of experience and skill maintaining control, her feigned smile disappeared. She stood upright to her full, towering height. "It showed us everything."
"We've seen that you can't be killed. But we've also seen you fail." Ruby continued, standing with her team. Salem stared down at her, eyes softly glowing red."We don't have to kill you to stop you. And we will stop you." The briefest moment of a smile appeared on Salem's face before the stoic, void of any uncontrolled emotion resumed. "Your mother said those words to me." She said with cold indifference. Several of the group did their best to control their shock, before looking to either Ruby or Qrow. Ruby's confidence staggered and her defiance almost immediately faded away "My… mother?" she whimpered. "She was wrong, too." The mysterious but startling revelation weighed heavily on Ruby. The realization of what it could mean began to unravel in Ruby's mind. She began to cry, quickly lowering her head and pressed her hands to her eyes. Ruby frantically wiped her tears away. Her silver eyes flickered a couple of times. The fear and emotional turmoil was affecting her Silver Eyes, something she wasn't aware could happen. She whimpered, gripping her head and swaying. Salem watched passively as Ruby dropped to her knees, sobbing and whimpering with her head in her hands. Yang rushed to Ruby's side and held her. Ruby staggered briefly before dropping to her knee, ultimately resting her head on Yang's lap. With one final glance around the room, lingering on Ozpin, the smokey apparition of Salem faded away. The tense silence was brief. "That's Salem?! That's who we're up against?!" Marrow said, fear dripping off his words.
"And she's apparently on her way." Harriet said rejoining the rest of the Ace Ops in formation.
Elm looked down briefly as she considered their options. "But we'd be alerted if any forces had approached the Kingdom. We have long-range proximity alarms all along the coast, and-"
Vine looked down at his scroll and shook his head. "They're offline. With all of the chaos, we didn't notice."
Marrow scowled "Watts must have shut them down!" He said optimistically, but clearly he was hoping for the off chance that someone would placate his fears. "Or they've already been destroyed." Ironwood said before slowly walking over to the window. Without a glance he held out his scroll and deactivated the holo-projector and the shutters. A look of sadness rather than fear grew on Elm's face. "What? All of them?" She asked. No one answered. Knelt next to Yang, comforting Blake looked up at Ironwood. "You said in your speech that Amity Tower was ready to launch. Was that true?" She asked. Her voice was grave, almost accusatory Ironwood continued to stare out the window, offering no response. Blake and Weiss looked at each other, troubled by the silence. "No. You just said that... to lure out Watts." Blake said, coming off more accusatory than intended. Ironwood took a deep sigh before raking his fingers through his hair. "Correct. While the replacement CCT is technically complete, it won't be functional until it reaches a certain height." Ironwood said before turning his attention back to everyone else in the room. "In order to properly broadcast and re-establish global communications Amity's propulsion systems still need to be completed." Ironwood thumbed his chin while in deep thought. "In an emergency scenario, we could possibly ferry Amity up higher, to a low atmosphere, just at the range of our carriers." Ironwood, optimism creeping back into his voice. "We might be able to launch Amity as is, though it won't be without risk." Slowly Ruby got back to her feet, seemingly shaking off whatever Salem's final remark had done to her.
Jaune allowed himself to think about the situation in front of him. "We also need to consider what we're going to do with the population of Mantle once the evacuation is finished." He said looking at his scroll. A map of Atlas displayed before he threw it up on the main holo-projector. "We're going to need to figure out where to put all these people, at least until it's safe to go back to Mantle."
"The Kingdom wide emergency shelters. So long as we don't move anyone in Atlas from their homes, then that leaves rooms for the people of Mantle." Clover said, gesturing to certain areas of Atlas. "Then there's plenty of Hotels capable of accommodating tens of thousands, but that's still nowhere near enough."
"This is literally a Kingdom wide emergency." Weiss said firmly. "We open up all public operations capable of safely housing the people of Mantle. Public schools, auditoriums, stadiums. Anything that can provide people with a safe place to sleep, eat, and not be in constant fear."
Several People nodded. "I think the other Councillors can more than adequately handle that." Ironwood said confidently. "We should focus our efforts on simply getting people to Atlas. There is another thing to consider, though I'm hesitant to enact it for the emotional repercussions. Martial Law."
The enormity of the act hung in the air and everyone silently considered it. "Sure it gets the job done, but the fallout may be more than we bargain for." Qrow said as he moved over to the window and looked out over Atlas. "We'd need to consider how much the people don't much care for you at the moment James."
Ironwood nodded. "Yes, despite the reasons, I haven't done right by Mantle since Beacon." Ironwood said solemnly.
"What if you didn't enact Martial Law?" Ruby asked, sounding a bit hesitant. "Well, I mean, are you the only person capable of declaring that? What about the other Council Members, or Robyn?" With a single low laugh Clover stepped forward. "That might work. Any Council Member could enact Martial Law, and then barring being shot down by the rest of the Council it will work." Clover said confidently. "Good thinking."
Ruby smiled. "So as soon as we can, we let Robyn know the plan, and we continue getting Mantle up here?" She asked, regaining her confidence. She opened her scroll and brought up Atlas and Mantle on the room's main projector. "Are we moving as many people as we can?"
"Atlas Military is operating at near maximum capacity on this evacuation. I'm not sure there's anything else we can do." Clover said, looking over the display.
There was a brief moment as everyone present seemed to consider any possible benefit to their future.
"Atlas Military." Jaune said quietly. "You said Atlas Military is operating on this evacuation. But what about the rest of Atlas? What about non-military ships? Are private citizens permitted to have ships capable of travelling from Atlas to Mantle?"
Everyone looked at Jaune, then to each other. "With Martial Law, we could enlist private citizens with licenses and ships to assist." Clover said, looking at his scrolls and rapidly typing away. Qrow smiled and stood next to Jaune, giving him a playful punch to the arm. "Good thinking there Jaune."
"Not just citizens." Weiss said, clearly having donned on something important. "Private businesses. The SDC has the largest fleet of ships barring the Kingdoms. With all the ships here in Atlas, that could almost double the pace of the evacuation."
The mood lifted in the room. The SDC did in fact have hundreds of ships, some rivalling an Atlas Cruiser in size. They could certainly ferry an immense amount of people. Weiss frowned slightly as she continued to think about the idea. "However, we need to know who is in charge of Atlas right now with my father's arrest. High Treason prohibits him from ownership and operation of the SDC."
Ironwood stepped forward. "Even with Martial Law, forcing our way into the SDC would be met with intense opposition from the remaining controlling interest. So, we need to know who Jacques left in charge." Ironwood said, annoyed at the thought of having to ask him.
Weiss frowned. "Whitley." She said, displeased.
"Leave Whitley to me." Winter said as she entered the room. Behind her, on a crutch was Penny, sporting a replacement leg from the knee down. It was barely functional, just a basic robotic skeleton. She gave it no mind though, she was back on her feet and a part of the conversation. There was an excited gasp and a flurry of rose petals shot across the room. "Penny!" Ruby cheered as she almost tackled Penny to the floor.
Jaune immediately closed the distance between himself and Winter. He didn't care anymore. She was safe, she was here, and he knew what he felt for her wasn't fleeting. He put an arm around her waist and another around her neck and kissed her.
The moment felt, magical. Winter had considered the ramifications of their relationship being discovered and decided on keeping it secret, but in their embrace that was thrown right out the window. She didn't care.
Unbeknownst to the couple, but awe inspiring to everyone else in the room, they began to slowly rise off the floor. A swirl of magical snowflakes surrounded them as they rose up. As their embrace waned, they slowly descended and were standing, arms around each other, again. Still within their little moment, they forgot about the everyone else in the room until Qrow coughed breaking the silence.
There was an awkward, but happy silence in the room. Yang and Blake stood shoulder to shoulder and just smiled at the pair. Ruby was dumbfounded, her arms and jaw hanging slack. Ironwood and Qrow shared a knowing look. Clover and the Ace-Ops, while surprised, maintained a stoic and control expression. Nora and Ren just stood together, holding hands, and nodded. Then there was Weiss. She simply stood off to the side, starring at the couple. She then closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and walked over to Jaune. "I have had time to think about this." She said calmly, almost eerily so. "I've come up with two things to say to you. I am, happy for you, for both of you." Slowly a smile grew on her face.
Jaune, to his credit, took this in stride. "Well, thank you Weiss." He said returning her smile. "And the other thing?"
Weiss' smile grew larger. "If you hurt her, I will not protect you from her."
The was a tense silence before most of the room broke out in laughter. "Weiss, I can live with that." Jaune said before taking Winter's hand.
"Well then" Ironwood said gently but firmly getting the room back on task. "It seems we have a plan." He smiled. It was a tired one, but a genuine one. Things were bleak, but not hopeless. "Winter, I'll leave securing SDC resources up to you. Stay safe. You newfound abilities may be monumental, but your value to Remnant's people is profound."
Winter nodded and stood at attention, though her hand was still held by Jaune. "And feel free to take Arc with you, if you deem the, support, necessary." Ironwood said with a smirk. "Furthermore, I'll bring my proposal of Martial Law to Robyn and the rest of the Council. Until then, we focus on evacuation. Protecting Mantle from more Grimm and getting everyone to Atlas."
Everyone smiled. They were doing it. They were going to save Mantle. They were going to use the Staff, though to what end they weren't sure of yet. Despite losses, things were optimistic. "Now, as of this moment, I'm ordering everyone in this room, to rest." Ironwood said. Before anyone could voice a concern or dissenting opinion he held a hand up. "I'm not, benching, anyone now, but I won't be sending anyone back out there if I'm not confident they can handle themselves. So, before you do, take an hour. Just an hour. Get something to eat, close your eyes, just stop fighting for a single hour."
Ironwood looked out at the horizon over Sanus. "Our day is far from over." A group of Atlas soldiers usher in another group of Mantle evacuees on to a Manta when the first flash of red lightning illuminates the dawn sky above them. "What in the world?" One of the soldiers asks to no one in particular. Slowly all of the Atlas soldiers were focused on the black and red clouds approaching. "Command, I need a sit-rep. What's with that cloud formation?" A tense moment hung in the air as there was no response, just static. The silence was broken when a trio of Mantas flew overhead. "We've got multiple hostiles on radar. Is anyone else seeing this?"
"These readings can't be right." Another voice said on the radio. The entire world seemed to just stop, and watched the cloud approach. As it got closer, there seemed to be black dots moving around it, independent of the cloud itself. "Brothers no..." Another soldier said as she slowly lower a pair of binoculars with a trembling hand. "Its, Grimm. More Grimm." She dropped her binoculars.
Before anyone could process the implication of that many Grimm, from within the cloud emerged a sickly yellow light. Initially obscured by the cloud, the single largest Grimm ever seen, emerged.
Picking up the binoculars and handing them back, the soldier checked how much ammo his rifle had and sighed. "Our day is far from over."