Qrow was taken by the soldiers to the camera-controlled interrogation room. Waiting for the man was General Ironwood.
"We meet again, Qrow."
"Tsk … do you want to shoot me again, James?"
"If you promise you'll be good then maybe the doctors won't have to take bullets off your legs. The last time we spoke you accused me of killing Clover, are you still convinced of this?"
"I've made mistakes in my life… so many mistakes, but I would never have faced Clover if it weren't for your stupid order to have us arrested. So yeah, James, it's your fault that everything got worse. You're the only responsible for that crime."
Ironwood sighed with a disappointed air.
"So you decided not to listen to me. Everything I've told you hasn't helped. Stay true to your beliefs. I would respect you if those beliefs were the right ones."
"So ... when are you going to kill me?"
"Should I kill you, in your opinion?"
"If you don't, I'll kill you first."
"I would really like to see ..."
At that moment Robyn Hill entered in the room, escorted by two soldiers. Qrow, surprised to see her there, asked anxiously:
"What are you doing here?"
"You do not understand?" She sat down first, at the table that was in the center of the room. "I'm here to find out if you lie or not."
"Why are you helping him?"
"Because I've made a choice just like you, Qrow. Now sit down."
General Ironwood left the room and locked the door. He joined Winter in a nearby room from where the interrogation room could be seen through glass.
Robyn held out her hand to Qrow.
"Give me your hand."
"No" he replied with a sad and at the same time nervous expression.
"Why not? If you know you're innocent then you'll have no problems with my Semblance."
"I'm not going to do what that man wants. I won't play his game. It's a matter of principle."
"That is, of pride."
"You can't understand."
"No, I don't understand why you don't want the truth. It can't all come down to your stupid pride."
"You don't have even a minimum of dignity ... allying yourself with the General was a stupid move."
"What do you know? I decided to go into politics not to do the morally right action but to do the ethically right one. But just digress: give me your hand."
"All right …"
Qrow held out his hand, then pulled it back and then put it forward again and brought it back. His arm was trembling and his forehead was wet with anxiety. Robyn's hand was there, still, as if waiting for him and he felt as if he were a few steps away from the guillotine. He looked at the woman and then at her hand. Finally he swallowed the fear, closed his eyes, and squeezed Robyn's hand.
"Now answer my question: did you kill Clover?"
Qrow, eyes still closed, thought back to the battle he had with his best friend, thought back to everything that had happened. The memory of that bloody blade piercing Clover's body had stuck to him like a photograph. In that instant, time had stopped for him and, in front of his friend's lifeless body , he had shed tears of sincere regret and blamed General Ironwood for the incident.
He opened his eyes. Anguish. He looked at Robyn. He opened his mouth.
"Yes, I killed Clover."
The aura that had enveloped Robyn and Qrow's hands glowed green. Everyone present was shocked by that confession.
"Yes, I killed Clover. It was my fault. Is this what you wanted to hear, James? Did you want to submit me? Did you want to humiliate me? You got what you wanted, but that doesn't make you any less guilty. I knew a man who would have given his own life to defend the weakest; I knew a man who, during the Grimm attack, which ended the Vytal Festival, was the last to board the lifeboats and left no one behind. That man was unbearable, a little too arrogant for my taste, but he was a brave man worthy of my respect and my trust. You're not that man. I don't know what you are, but you're not James Ironwood. You're just a heartless being who wants to be right. You're a power-hungry despot who wants to prove at all costs that he's always been better than Oz, aren't you? But you will never be better than him. He lied, yes, but he would never sacrifice innocents to defeat Salem."
Ironwood entered the interrogation room and ordered the soldiers to keep both Robyn and Qrow at gunpoint. He didn't say anything for a while. His gaze was lost in the void. He sighed. He turned to Qrow and looked him in the eyes. Qrow's expression was one of anger, Ironwood's expression was of regret. Anger turned to unrest, regret turned to compassion. The restlessness returned to anger but with tinges of sadness, while the compassion became anguish.
Ironwood's mouth opened. It closed. The man closed his eyes and sighed again.
Qrow swallowed nervously and prepared to be hit by a bullet. Ironwood looked Qrow straight in the eyes and said in a low voice:
"If I didn't have a heart, you would be dead by now."
The interrogation came to an end. Qrow and Robyn were taken to their respective cells. Robyn was the first to notice the absence of Arthur Watts.
"So it begins," she murmured.
Winter Schnee entered with some soldiers whom she dismissed herself so that she could be alone. The girl approached Qrow and said:
"Don't you have even a minimum of shame?"
"And you?"
"What should I be ashamed of?"
"For choosing to be on the side of a man who would be willing to sacrifice thousands of innocent people to save his ass."
"You understood nothing of his plan, like allo f you, none of you understood General Ironwood's honest intentions. You're just annoyed because you wished you were the one making those tough choices, you wished you had the strength to face Salem. You're envious. You're criminals. Especially you, Qrow. You're the most envious of all."
"You're wrong-"
"No, I'm not wrong. You have always been envious of General Ironwood's willpower, a force you don't possess: becausewhile you solved your problems with alcohol, he tried to protect the world. You have never been a great man, honestly I don't even think you will ever become one."
"My uncle is a good man," Ruby said.
"Your uncle is a killer and it's better for you if you aren't suspected of complicity."
"You have really changed, sister. You're no longer the same as before ... Ironwood has changed you. "
"I have responsibilities now, Weiss, things you've never had."
Robyn noticed that one of the electric walls was making strange noises, she immediately knew it was Watts's doing. She then turned to Winter:
"I would advise you to stay behind if you care about your life."
"What are you talking about?"
Suddenly the energy walls all disappeared. Shocked, Winter, asked for reinforcements but was quickly hit by Qrow.
"Go! I'll take care of her!" he exclaimed.
"We must take our weapons!" Ruby said.
"Let's look around," Weiss advised.
When the doors opened, the girls had to deal with the soldiers. They were three armed men. May Marigold and Robyn Hill knocked all three out of the game. May took a rifle, Robyn took another.
"This way!" Robyn exclaimed.
The girls reached a room on the right where the weapons were kept. After recovering the paraphernalia, Robyn turned to her friend:
"May, be careful."
"You too Robyn. If all goes well, we will meet again in Mantle."
"Yes, you can count on it."
Robyn and Blake took a road to reach General Ironwood's office while Ruby, Nora, May, Weiss and Jacques took the opposite route with the aim of blowing the current.
Meanwhile Qrow and Winter were still fighting.
"You won't be able to escape!"
Winter tried to pierce his enemy's heart at least three times, however Qrow was faster and was also able to fight back with punches and kicks.
"I'm sorry, Winter, but this time I'm not going to take it easy."
Qrow was ready to attack again but suddenly something hit him from behind and he passed out. The moment the man's body fell to the ground, Willow stepped back in fear, clutching a soldier's rifle.
"Mother! Why did you do that?"
"Because you're my daughter, whether you want it or not, and I won't let a criminal harm you."
"Okay, give me a hand to handcuff him ... there should be handcuffs."
"Here," Whitley said, pulling them off the belt of a soldier who was still on the ground.
"Well done, little brother." Winter handcuffed Qrow. "Okay, now we have to call General Ironwood, he needs to know what's going on. I bet they're going to him-"
"That's not quite right, sister."
"What do you mean?"
"Weiss just happens to be collaborating with the same criminal who framed our father."
"No ... it's impossible, she would never do something like this ..." Winter didn't know what to say, she was traumatized by that news.
"And that's not all. Apparently our dear sister wants to cut the electricity."
"Nora ... they want to use her Semblance."
"Don't worry," Willow reassured "Atlas prisons can drain the aura after all."
"When they're in front of the generator they'll have enough to use the Semblance at least once. We have to move" Winter explained.
She heard a rumble coming from inside the building. In an instant darkness fell.
"I dare say it's too late. Or am I wrong, sister?"