AUTHOR'S NOTES: Nice, big chapter this time as we finally head into the "season finale" of On RWBY Wings. Everyone's going to be on deck for this fight.

In this AU, Ironwood doesn't have artificial limbs, because technology in 2001 wouldn't quite give him what he has in canon RWBY. So he's just badly scarred. Earlier in the story, it was mentioned that Ironwood was injured during Operation Eagle Claw, the failed rescue mission of the American hostages in Tehran in 1980. (Which would mean that the radical Muslim Revolution of 1979 happened in this timeline as well.)

Joint Base Beacon

Wisconsin, United States of Canada

3 May 2001

James Ironwood stared out over the flightline. As a general, he was given the corner room of the two-story Visting Officers' Quarters; it was slightly larger than the regular VOQ room. He could have insisted on more, but Ironwood was never much for creature comforts. As usual, the tarmac was lit up, but half the hardstands were empty, with both Ruby and Coffee Flights gone.

There was a knock on his door. He went over and opened it a little. It was Glynda Goodwitch, dressed in her faded flight suit. "I saw your light on. May I come in?"

"Are you sure it won't harm your reputation?"

Goodwitch laughed. "I think I'll be fine." He let her in, and opened the room's small refrigerator as she closed the door. "Nightcap? Unless you're flying."

"Just got back in. I took the combat air patrol tonight; gave Creamer the night off. I was getting a little behind on flight hours. Don't want to lose my flight status." She nodded and smiled. "So yes, I would like a nightcap, at that."

Ironwood withdrew a small bottle of bourbon, and got two plastic cups off the counter. "I don't have anything to mix it with, but as I recall, you like yours neat." He shook some ice into the cups, then poured. He handed one cup to her. "Skoal."

"In your eye." She took a sip. "Not bad for BX booze." Goodwitch took another sip. "Why are you up so late? It's almost 2 AM."

"Between everything going on and my arm acting up, I couldn't sleep." Goodwitch's eyes flicked down automatically to Ironwood's right hand. Normally he wore gloves and long-sleeved shirts, but he was wearing a short-sleeved fatigue shirt tonight. His arm was slightly misshapen at the elbow, as if the bone had been broken and not healed right, and it was covered in bright red scar tissue. "There must be a cold front coming in. It always hurts like this when there is."

"There is. So because you couldn't sleep, you got up, got completely dressed, and decided to brood menacingly into the distance, like Napoleon before Waterloo."

"Let's hope not. He lost." Ironwood pointed down. "Besides, I'm not completely dressed. I don't have any shoes on."

Goodwitch laughed despite herself, remembering her claim that Nora Valkyrie was not completely naked because her socks were still on. She took a longer sip of bourbon. It left a pleasant burning in her mouth. "So what's wrong?"

"Ozpin." He finished his own liquor. "There's something he's not telling us, Glynda. I've known and trusted the man for years, but there's something…just not right." He sat down on the bed. "And it's not just Ozpin. The Army and the CIA have been all over the Ohio Dead Zones for over a week now, and nothing. Torchwick and the White Fang have disappeared, and that's not like them. The CIA has completely lost track of Sienna Khan. Then we get that report of that smuggler's train…I just have to wonder."

Goodwitch finished her bourbon as well, and tossed the cup in the garbage. "The photos that Lieu—ah, Captain Belladonna took showed nothing."

"Or we don't know what to look for. You were involved in the evacuation of Mountain Glenn, right? Wasn't most of the settlement underground?"

"It was. And the few people who evacuated were the only survivors. Everyone else died in those warrens when GRIMM overran it." She saw where his train of thought was going. "It doesn't make any sense, James. Assuming Torchwick and the Fang somehow got across the entire Midwest without us knowing it, why set up shop so close to Beacon?"

"Maybe because it is so close to Beacon. Remember that someone attacked us the night before last."

Goodwitch put a hand on his shoulder. "If it will make you sleep better, Barty Oobleck told me that he and Ruby Flight intended to do another flyover of Mountain Glenn on their way back from Hector this morning."

"I guess that's better than nothing. The Army's not going to send a team into the Twin Cities unless there's solid proof. I guess I can't blame them," Ironwood sighed. "There's GRIMM there, and radiation."

She bent forward and kissed his forehead. "You're a good person, James. You've always done what's best for the people, even when it cost you personally. But you've got to trust people—Ozpin, Calavera, me."

"I suppose." Seeing Goodwitch's very pleasant face gazing down at him, Ironwood tried a smile. "I don't suppose you would…"

Goodwitch started for the door. She knew that if she allowed Ironwood to finish his sentence, she would stay. And that would open up an entire chest of feelings she had sealed away since that last night in Norway. "I can't, James, and you know why. Good night." She said it as gently as she could, but it was still a dismissal.

The door shut behind her.

Covert Base Hector

North Dakota Dead Zone, United States of Canada

3 May 2001

Ruby Flight was gathered in the main hangar—or at least three of them were. Ruby was still asleep, and Yang, Weiss and Blake had decided to let her sleep. While the rest had turned in early, Ruby had volunteered to keep a watch with the base personnel. It hadn't been necessary, but Ruby had done it anyway. They sat in a corner of the hangar, on the floor.

Weiss opened up her MRE. She withdrew the packets and the heating element, and a pouch containing some sort of beverage. "What did you get?" Yang asked.

"Hashbrowns with bacon, peppers and onions. And some kind of brown sugar Pop-Tart and pound cake. And I guess this is fruit punch?"

"Bug juice," Blake supplied, using the Marine nickname for it. "I got the same thing. How about you, Yang?"

"Pork sausage patty. And a strawberry Pop-Tart! Oooh. Living large here. I have some orange bug juice."

"Trade you," Weiss offered.

"Deal, but I want the orange bug juice."

"Good enough for me."

They heated up their MREs, watching as the ground crew put the finishing touches on their aircraft. Sunlight streamed in through the high hangar windows. "Hey, Weiss," Yang mumbled around her Pop-Tart, which threatened to suck out every bit of moisture in her mouth. "Why do you think Oobleck asked us why we wanted to be fighter pilots?"

"To test us." Weiss was surprised to find the pork patty to be decent, if a bit chewy.

"Did you mean what you said?" Blake asked. "About honor and being a Schnee?"

"Yes." Weiss regarded Blake over her fruit punch. "The Schnee name did not begin with my father, and it won't end with him. We have always served Germany, even back when we were known as the von Schnees. His idea of service may be flawed, but I'd like to think mine isn't, and although initially I just wanted to serve Germany and prove myself…" She smiled at them. "I think I've learned a lot already about the world to know that I serve something far greater than just my country and my family. I'm going to make things right. If I had not learned to fly and was merely stuck overseeing Schnee business, I would not be doing that." She pointed her fruit juice at Blake. "What about what you said?"

Blake sniffed a laugh. "I didn't say much. I was too busy trying to get that probe in the hole." She noticed Yang turning red. "What?"

"Nothing. These peppers have a kick."

Blake suspected Yang was lying, but ignored it. "Anyway, I've been thinking about it. All my life, I've been fighting for what I thought was right. Hell, it is right. But I was going about it all wrong. I followed the wrong people, who didn't want justice, but revenge. And became the very things they supposedly hated." Blake thought of Adam, but was pleasantly surprised that she did not stumble over her words. The emotion was there, but it was muted. "So when I had to come here to hide, the government offered me anywhere as a cover. Well, I wanted to be a fighter pilot, because I love to fly, and I wanted to be a Marine, because they're regarded as noble, and the best." She shrugged. "I hope I've lived up to that, but I'm not really sure what I want to do after Vytal Flag is over."

"Like you said, you're working on it," Weiss said. "You're not one to back down, Blake."

Blake frowned. "You know what the funny part is, Weiss? I almost always back down. I always run and hide." She pointed to her ribbon. "I'm hiding right now, and it doesn't make any damn sense." She pointed to one enlisted female helping to load a Sidewinder onto Weiss' Typhoon. "She's a Faunus. So why don't I just take off this stupid ribbon?"

"Why don't you?" Yang asked.

"Because I'm scared, Yang. That people will stop seeing me as Blake Belladonna or Captain Blake Belladonna, USMC. They'll just see me as a Faunus. I'm hiding. I'm hiding from…everyone, it seems."

"You're not hiding from us." Weiss reached over and touched Blake's hand. "Baby steps, Blake. Take it off when you're comfortable doing so. You don't have to run and hide anymore."

Seeing that Blake was starting to get upset, Yang began speaking. "At least you two have a goal. Me, I just want to fly around, kill stuff, and then go back and start the process over. Don't really have a goal, and I don't care what happens tomorrow. I wasn't kidding Oobleck when I said I get off on this shit. But what the hell am I going to do when I'm too old to do it anymore?"

"You could be like Oobleck," Weiss said with a smile.

"Me? A teacher?" Yang thought about it for a moment. "I can't see it."

"Weirdly, I can," Blake snickered. "So what about Ruby? Oobleck didn't even ask about her."

"Ruby?" Yang sipped at her bug juice. "She's like you guys. Ever since she was a kid, she's dreamed about being the heroine, like in the books. She's not in it for medals or anything; Ruby just wants to be the person who saves the day. Ever since she could barely talk, that's what she's wanted." Yang made a face. "Man, I can see why they call this bug juice. Leaves a gross aftertaste. I wish I'd brought some Listerine."

"I have a little something." Blake reached into her overnight bag—which she had thoughtfully brought and no one else had—and withdrew a flask. Yang's hands went to her mouth. "Why, Captain Belladonna!" she said, in a fair approximation of Ozpin's voice. "Is that illegal liquor? I am shocked, young miss, positively shocked!"

Blake rolled his eyes. "It's not illegal unless Ruby drinks it. I actually brought it because it can have medicinal properties." It was Weiss' and Yang's turn to roll their eyes. "I did, dammit!" Blake set the flask down between them. "Anyway, we forgot to celebrate Weiss making ace yesterday."

"That's right, we did!" All of them jumped as Oobleck and a bleary-eyed Ruby arrived. Oobleck had a thermos of steaming coffee and four plastic cups. The bug juice was quickly forgotten as four cups were filled. "Ah!" Oobleck stopped them before they could drink. "First we celebrate Weiss' acedom." He handed her the flask. "Horrido!" he toasted her with his thermos.

Weiss smiled in understanding. "Horrido!" she replied, and took a drink.

"Horri…what?" Ruby was still trying to wake up.

"It was what German hunters used to yell when they had downed prey," Oobleck explained, finger raised. "Similar to the English tally-ho, except the latter was only used when the hunter sighted their quarry. It was adopted by German pilots in the Second World War, and possibly the First."

"It's not Nazi, is it? I don't want to be toasting in Nazi," Yang said.

Weiss slapped the flask into her chest. "It's not Nazi, you dolt."

Yang winked, to show she was only joking. "Horrido or whatever!" She took a drink and handed it to Blake.

Blake raised it to toast Weiss. "Horrido." She took a drink, but hesitated to hand it to Ruby. Oobleck noticeably found something interesting on the ceiling of the hangar. Ruby took it, slammed it back, and stuck out her tongue. "Horrible."

"Horrido," Weiss corrected her.

"No, this stuff is horrible. Where did you get this?" Blake only shrugged. Ruby did the same and handed it to Oobleck, who finished the flask.

"Marine medicinal liquor," Blake said with a straight face. She shook a bag at Ruby. "Gourmet MRE?"

"Don't mind if I do." Ruby tore open the MRE and began sorting it out. Oobleck accepted one as well. Once they were eating as well, Ruby spoke up. "I have an idea about today." It came out as "Iadf haff fan fordea bouf todaf," so the rest of them had to wait until Ruby was able to masticate the pork patty and repeat herself.

"Let's hear it," Oobleck said, curious.

"We're checking out Mountain Glenn, right? Even though you didn't find anything there last time, Blake?"

Blake looked down. "It's just a feeling, Ruby."

"Sorry, that came out wrong. I mean, it's on the way home anyway, right?" Seeing that Oobleck was getting a bit impatient, she quickly continued, "So I head out ahead of the formation at about, oh, ten or twelve miles ahead. I'll go over low, see if I see anything. If Torchwick and his boys are there, maybe I'll stir up something. They won't open up on a two ship, but they see a single, and they might just take a shot."

"That is a super hard pass, Ruby," Yang warned. She didn't like it when Blake hung her tail out to get shot at; she positively hated the idea of her little sister doing it.

"I'm a grown woman, Yang," Ruby told her. Yang stared daggers at her sister, but said nothing. "Doctor Oobleck, I want to give it a try. If there's nothing there, nothing will happen."

Oobleck hesitated, then nodded. "All right. But we'll make it six miles, no more. If you see anything and you don't have time for a contact report, say…" He thought for a moment. "Mona Lisa. Yes, that will do fine."

"Mona Lisa. Got it. You hear me say that, something's definitely wrong."

The rest of the breakfast was eaten in silence. Yang kept looking at Ruby, as if by sheer force of will she could keep her sister from doing this. She told herself there was nothing at Mountain Glenn; she and Blake had been over it three times. But that did nothing to melt the ball of ice her stomach had become.

Finally it was time. They threw away their MRE bags, then separated to preflight their aircraft. Weiss noticed as she came out from under Myrtenaster's nose that there were now five kill marks beneath the canopy. She climbed up on the ladder and ran her hand over them. "Who did this?" she asked.

"Oh, I did, ma'am." It was the Faunus, who had a thick American Southern accent. "Didn't think you'd mind."

"I definitely don't mind." Weiss got into the cockpit, and the Faunus helped her strap in. She met eyes with the enlisted woman, and held out a hand, reading the nametape on her uniform. "Thank you, Sergeant Malikov."

"My pleasure, ma'am. Y'all come back now soon, y'hear?" Malikov winked and climbed back down the ladder.

An hour and a half later, Ruby was cruising at 25,000 feet, radar on, her head constantly moving. The skies were empty; unlike the day before, the clouds were scattered to broken. It would be raining at Beacon by the afternoon. For the fourth time, she radioed Regency, the AWACS orbiting to the south over Iowa. "Regency, Ruby Lead. Any paints my area?"

"Negative, Ruby. There's six Beowolves down to the southwest at 70 miles, no threat. Juniper is vectored to intercept."

Good luck, guys, Ruby thought. It's okay, she reassured herself. They can handle six Beowolves, no sweat. Anyways, they've got Goodwitch with them. She was tempted to go south and help, but that wasn't her mission.

Her mission was to be bait, and she had volunteered for it.

Another sweep of her radar showed nothing. Unfortunately, her older radar was a bit limited on ground targets. She had spotted the Goliaths from the day before near the Twin Cities—or maybe it was a different "herd"—but her F-16 was no threat to them, and they had ignored her, as she was well out of range. She glanced behind her, and saw two contrails. Normally, military aircraft avoided the contrail zone, as it was a giant white arrow pointing to their location, but Weiss and Blake were the ones contrailing. It was added bait to the hook, and reassurance to Ruby that her friends weren't far away. Yang had been noticeably laconic during the flight checks, which meant her sister was mad at her.

But true leaders never asked someone to do what they were not willing to do themselves. Her father had said that. Uncle Qrow wouldn't have asked someone else to play bait. Summer Rose definitely wouldn't have. At that moment, Ruby felt the closest to her mother since the day Summer had left, never to return.

Well…here I go, mama. Ruby pushed up the throttle a little and gave a minute push forward on the stick. The F-16 began a gradual descent. She would come in at two thousand feet.

Mountain Glenn

Minnesota Dead Zone, United States of Canada

3 May 2001

"Quiet!" Roman Torchwick shouted. Instantly, the White Fang loading crates into the boxcars stopped. Everyone listened, and it didn't take Faunus hearing to detect the growing sound of a jet engine. "Take cover! Take cover!" Torchwick jumped into one of the boxcars, and looked frantically for Neo. She had come out to take some fresh air, an umbrella over one shoulder in case it rained. White Fang dropped under railcars, behind trees, any place with cover. Torchwick saw Ilia Amitola in the open, but she went prone and disappeared, her chameleon talent rendering her practically invisible. Finally, he spotted Neo as she rolled under a rusted boxcar.

He stole a glance to the northwest, where the noise was coming from. A dot appeared against the broken overcast, gradually growing into the shape of a F-16. He grabbed a burly Faunus by his jerkin, the leader of the work party. "Perry, radio down to the bunker, and tell them we're being overflown again!"

Ruby dipped a wing as she shot over Mountain Glenn at five hundred miles an hour. At that speed, the ground was just above a blur, but she was trusting her eyes. Just in case there was someone down there, she wasn't going to make it any easier on them.

A group of old warehouses went by underneath, followed by an old railyard. There was a train sitting on the tracks, complete down to two locomotives attached to the front. "Nothing," she said aloud. "Guess Blake was right."

Then she spotted movement, so small that probably she would have missed it had she not been looking at that exact spot. Ruby popped her speedbrakes just for a moment, shedding speed. Someone who could spot stars in the daytime could see a pink umbrella bouncing on the ground.

"Shit," Torchwick whispered, although there was no way the F-16 pilot could hear him, even if he screamed at the top of his lungs. Neo, in her haste to get undercover, had dropped her umbrella. The breeze had caught the extended umbrella, which acted like a sail as it scooted across the ground.

Torchwick, hidden behind a box in the railroad car, looked out at the F-16 as it flew past. Red wingtips and spine. "Little Red, Little Red," he breathed with an ironic smile.

An umbrella? Out here, after all these years? Ruby accelerated again and climbed. She flew southeast for a bit, almost to the Mississippi. Something didn't feel right. She turned around and dropped down again.

"Ruby, Yang, what the fuck?" Yang's voice was higher than normal. She had been watching her sister with her radar.

"Going back in. I think I saw something."

"Ruby, wait!" There was no acknowledgement. "Goddammit!" Yang shouted, and slammed the throttle to the stops, breaking formation with Blake. Cursing, Blake accelerated as well, her Tomcat's wings raking back as she caught up with Yang.

Neo reached out and snatched her umbrella back under cover. Some of the White Fang had crawled back out. "Stay down!" Ilia yelled. "They're coming back!"

Torchwick saw Perry raise his assault rifle as the F-16 came by, a little slower this time. "No!" Torchwick screamed, but Perry's finger tightened on the trigger.

Ruby looked out the right side this time. The umbrella was gone. "Huh. Great, now I'm seeing—" Then she saw the muzzle flash from the boxcar.

The White Fang saw their commander open fire, and wrongly assumed that someone had given an order. To Torchwick's horror, several more White Fang rolled out from under cover and opened fire as well; one, in an act of utter stupidity, fired a RPG at the F-16, despite it being already out of range. The only thing she had accomplished was to leave a thin smoke trail, and removing any doubt from Ruby's mind that she was under fire.

Ruby had never been under ground fire before; all she saw was several muzzle flashes, but she couldn't see any bullets, since none of the White Fang were kind enough to load tracers. She felt something hit Crescent Rose, and panicked. "Oh shit!" she cried. "Mona Lisa! Mona Lisa!" In her panic, she had forgotten to switch back to Ruby Flight's frequency, but was still on Guard, the frequency she had used to talk to the AWACS. As a result, the call went out to everyone in the Vale Defense Sector.

Below, in the bunker, Arthur Watts had been listening the entire time. As soon as Perry's call came in, he switched on a radio mast cleverly disguised as a tree. He was switching frequencies, trying to find the right one, when he heard Ruby's call.

Watts had no idea what Mona Lisa meant, but assumed it could be nothing good. With a swipe of another switch, he raised a larger mast from where it had laid perpendicular on the ground. Before it was even in place, another switch turned it on.

"Ruby! Ruby—" Yang winced as her radio net was filled with static.

150 miles to the south, Juniper Flight flew in a rough diamond. They were still a good hundred miles from the Beowolves, so it would still be a few minutes before they were in range for even long-range missile shots.

Jaune heard Ruby's call. He switched frequencies to Guard. "Ruby, Jaune. Say again?" There was nothing but static. He was overriden by the AWACS frantically trying to contact first Ruby, then Ruby Flight in general. Jaune waited until there was a break in the calls. "Regency, Juniper Lead. What's going on?"

"Unknown, Juniper. We're getting a lot of jamming from over there. Stand by."

Jaune switched back to his flight's frequency, but hesitated before sending out his next radio call. "Pyrrha, Jaune. Do you know what Mona Lisa is?"

"Other than the painting, negative. Ruby sounded scared, though."

Jaune thought for a moment. Ruby might be excitable, but she was not panicky. For her to give that call meant something was going on, and jamming…he checked his map display, then turned on his radar. At the edge of the radar picture was electronic snow. There's nothing there. That's the Twin Cities. Everything's dead there.

"Jaune, Ren. Ruby Flight is exceptionally capable of handling themselves." Goodwitch, Jaune noticed, remained silent. She was letting Jaune figure this out for himself.

And he did. "Juniper Flight, Jaune. Change of mission. Come right to 75 degrees, let's push it up. Keep your tanks on until we find out what's going on." He cursed silently; that was going to leave Nora behind. "Nora, catch up as you can."

"Roger that!" Nora sounded happy.

"Jaune, Ren; I'll stay with Nora."

"Roger, Ren," Jaune replied. He hated to cut his striking power by another third, but leaving Nora alone was not a good idea either, no matter how confident she was.

"Jaune, Witch Lead." Oh, here it comes, Jaune thought. Goodwitch was going to be angry about Jaune suddenly flying off on a hunch. "I'll handle the Beowolves. Send report ASAP. Good luck. Witch Lead out."

Goodwitch watched the four aircraft of Juniper Flight peel away; Jaune and Pyrrha went supersonic and were gone to view in an instant. Nora was giving all her A-10 everything it was worth, climbing into thinner air as Ren kept pace. She checked her own display. "Mountain Glenn," she remarked to no one in particular, then touched her mike button. "Regency, Witch Lead. Relay to Beacon. Recommend scramble alert five, target Mountain Glenn." She dropped her external tanks and accelerated past Mach One herself, to close the Beowolves quickly.

"Roger that, Witch. Be advised, we've just picked up new targets approaching from the west. We're not able to lock on very well, so we're guessing here." Regency paused. "Classify new threat as two Nevermores, bearing two zero one, range one hundred, angels twenty."

Torchwick, despite being half a foot shorter than Perry, punched the Faunus in the face. "You fucking idiot! As soon as that F-16 gets off a contact report, everyone in the fucking Remnant is going to know we're here!" Perry was more surprised than hurt, and just rubbed his jaw in shock.

The thief jumped out of the boxcar. In the far distance, he could see the F-16 climbing, and two more specks. "We're blown," he said. He whirled back on Perry. "Get the train started."

"Not everything's loaded—"

"I don't give a flying fuck!" Torchwick yelled. "We stand a better chance of survival on the move than we do standing still! That train is a rolling bomb, and Little Red's going to come back with her friends and strafe the shit out of us! Now go, goddammit!" Perry nodded quickly and began running towards the front of the train. He saw Ilia, her skin turning back into its normal soft brown rather than the darker shade it had been against the ground. "Amitola, get your chameleon ass back down in the bunker and tell your High Leader that we're starting the party early! And scramble our fighters so we stand something resembling a chance!" He reached down and hauled Neo to her feet. "Neo, go with her. Tell that Taurus asshole it's time for you to get your surprise." He hurriedly pressed his lips to hers, enjoyed the feeling for a moment, and then pushed her along. "I'm borrowing your Sea Harrier!" Then he was running as well.

Neo opened her mouth to say something, couldn't say it, so she turned and ran after Ilia.