Will I ever commit to one cover design for this story? Probably not. Anyway, it's nice to see some familiar names cropping up in my notifications. Hope I don't disappoint.

Chapter 3: Enter the Well

For a moment, the waves crashing against the cliffs was the loudest sound Blake could hear. The colossus was still facing Argus and everyone else was still recovering from the storm of Adam's out-of-control semblance.

Then the robot moved. Each step it took away from them shook the ground and produced a boom overlayed with rushing water.

"Is it over?" Jaune asked, voice shaking while he used his sword as a crutch to get back to his feet.

"Not yet," said Ruby, recovering the lamp and hooking it to her belt. "There's a leviathan and a huge swarm of flying Grimm attacking Argus. They probably have that robot just to deal with leviathans."

"And we were about to destroy it," said Ren.

"Well, we didn't." Ruby chewed her lip, then reached for her earpiece again. "Oscar, is the ship still working?"

Though quiet and directed at Ruby, Oscar's hesitant affirmative was still audible to Blake.

"Good. Bring it around; we're going to help."

"Whoa, whoa, kiddo." Qrow stepped forward, brows furrowed. "I like your enthusiasm, but if we go back there, we're asking to be caught. Did you forget that your whole plan was to steal this ship and get away without being noticed? Why would you take it right back to the base that wants you in a jail cell?"

"We're huntsmen, Uncle Qrow."

"In training. You're throwing away our one window, and for what?"

"We can't just do nothing when it was probably the lamp that drew them here! It's our fault the colossus was away from the base. We can at least fly nearby and make sure they can handle it, then get away before they can spare a fighter to go after us."

It was a fair compromise in Blake's eyes, and a quick survey of everyone else showed agreement. Ruby stared down her uncle for another several seconds before Qrow's eyes softened and he folded. "All right. If you're sure."

His agreement seemed to take a weight off Ruby's shoulders. "I am."

The manta, Maria at the controls and Oscar as her copilot, came down to hover next to the cliff—but no one moved.

"So…what are we doing with him?" asked Jaune, gesturing to Adam. The ground around him, torn apart by his semblance, was still drifting up and withering away in layers. Blake stepped closer just to see if he was awake and felt the wilting dirt give under her heels like sand.

"He looks familiar."

Blake's heart skipped a beat and she glanced back to see Weiss frowning.

"Yeah," Qrow agreed with narrowed eyes. "And not in a good way."

"We're leaving him behind," Yang declared. "Let the Atlesians handle him here. We've got bigger problems."

"Wait," said Blake. "I know he's not exactly an ally, but what Jinn told him…You were all frozen, but I don't think he's an enemy anymore. He's got a grudge against Cinder, and maybe even against Salem."

"You used the last question?"

"What do you mean by not exactly an ally?"

"And he's strong. Like, super strong," chimed in Nora right over Ruby's surprised question and Jaune's confusion. "Did you all see him just absorb that entire cannon blast?" Realizing how serious everyone else was, she popped her mouth shut and stepped back.

Blake turned to Ruby. "I know it's not in the plan, but we can take his weapons."

"Okay, you're all treating him like he's an enemy, but didn't he just help us?" asked Jaune.

"Then he threatened us," noted Ren.

"And exploded!" finished Nora.

"It's complicated," Blake said, doing her best to ignore the dagger that was Yang's gaze on her back. "Please, Ruby."

If they left Adam here alone, he would cut through the entire base to take a ship and follow them. He wouldn't care about casualties like they had. She'd made the mistake of letting him go once at Haven and the entire White Fang, even the members who had just joined to make a bit of a difference in their communities, had paid the price; she wasn't going to repeat that here.

Looking among all of them, particularly Yang, before landing back on Blake, Ruby chewed her lip, then nodded. "Uncle Qrow, can you take his sword?"

Qrow obliged, simultaneously taking on the unspoken task of seeing if he was conscious. He wasn't, and Blake breathed a quiet sigh of relief while she followed everyone into the manta. Jaune and Nora were in charge of manhandling Adam into the vehicle and, once the door slid closed, they leaned him against the bulkhead.

Blake opened her mouth to say something to Yang, but the blonde turned her back and headed into the cockpit as the ship shifted smoothly into motion. Blake's ears drooped. Lately, all she could do for Yang was the wrong thing.

"Found some cuffs!" Nora announced, holding them up like a prize while the lid to the storage chest next to her clattered shut. She tossed them to a waiting Qrow, who promptly fixed them around Adam's wrists.

"Oh, Oscar!" Ruby exclaimed, perking up. Oscar peeked back at them from the cockpit, having to strain a bit to see around Yang. "I can't believe you pulled off that landing!"

"Yeah," Nora said, picking up the thread. "I totally thought the ship was going to go boom!" She spread her hands for emphasis.

"It was impressive for a first time," Weiss acknowledged while Jaune and Ren both nodded, the former far more enthusiastically than the latter.

Blake offered an encouraging smile, but it faltered when she saw the almost guilty expression on Oscar's face. Ruby, of course, noticed it immediately. "What's wrong?"

"Hold that thought," called Maria. "We've got Grimm!"

Jaune and Ren both stood, then nodded at each other. Ren went to one knee with his palm pressed against the metal floor while Jaune rested a hand on his shoulder. Both closed their eyes in concentration, and while white light flooded from Jaune's hand, a monochrome wave spread from Ren's to engulf the entire ship and everyone in it. Instantly, Blake's anxieties grew muffled and distant, the black cloud that was Adam in her peripheral vision resolving into just a man.

Yang emerged from the cockpit, held Blake's gaze for a moment, and then focused on her sister. "What's the plan, Rubes? The only one here with range is you, and maybe Weiss with her summons."

"The farther away they are, the harder they are to maintain," Weiss noted.

"My max is actually a couple hundred yards," Nora added. "After that, the shells run out of fuel and it's wind and luck. But most Grimm can dodge when they're that far away."

"We'll act as support," Ruby decided. "I can snipe from here. Everyone else, save your strength in case we need to get in close."

"Can your eyes stop something that big?" asked Weiss.

"I…I don't know. But if it gets through that wall, I won't have a choice. I owe it to everyone in that city to try."

"Opening the door," Maria warned. They all braced themselves for the wind and noise as the hold opened once again. Ruby went to one knee, Crescent Rose unfolded into its longest-ranged rifle variant, and she peered through the scope.

They were hovering several hundred yards off the coast of Argus. A battle raged between them and the shoreline: hundreds of winged Grimm leaping and diving among a small fleet of mantas and other fighter craft while cannon fire spat up from the ground. A massive wall of hard light Dust encircled the bay, separated every fifty or so yards by massive pylons. For a second, Blake felt her hopes lift at the clear defensive power—and then saw the ruins of the outermost wall still sputtering in the leviathan's wake.

The leviathan itself was a black stain upon the water. Even as high as they were, they were still barely above its head. Ruby's rifle cracked and some of the griffins began to fall, but there was nothing they could do about the leviathan from this far away.

"How do you even fight something that big?" breathed Jaune with wide eyes.

"You don't," Qrow muttered. "Not alone."

"Where's the robot?" asked Yang, gripping the door to peer out the side at the way they'd come. "Oh. She's coming, but the water's slowing her down."

"Guys," Jaune said, the tremor in his voice pulling all their eyes to him, then to his pointing finger, and finally back to the leviathan. Its gills were glowing, its head tipped up while light and heat built in its maw.

With another deafening roar, it threw its head forward. A beam of concentrated fire crashed against the second shield wall, causing the light to flicker.

The shockwave from the blast knocked the ship. Blake stumbled, one hand going out to brace herself against the ship. Adam tipped over but thankfully stayed unconscious—though she had no idea how long he would stay that way.

"Incoming!" Yang called.

For a second, Blake didn't know what she meant. Then the colossus bounded into view, each thundering step propelling it up and over the waves. The cannon on its right arm was already spinning up, and as Blake watched, a massive beam of ice Dust exploded out and slammed into the leviathan. It keened and staggered under the weight of the glacier now glistening on its arm. A second shell froze its leg to the sea, immobilizing it while the colossus closed the distance.

"What is she—" Yang started, only to lose the rest of that sentence when the machine's other hand shifted into a massive drill. That drill, big and loud enough for them to hear its whine even at this distance, sheared through the leviathan's armor and flesh like it wasn't even there, erupting on the other side in a shower of viscous black smoke. "Oh."

Ruby lifted her gun, eyes sparkling for a second at the awe-inspiring technological display before them she visibly refocused, stowing Crescent Rose and stepping back from the doors. "It's time to go. They can handle the rest."

"Roger that," Maria said, closing the doors, angling them away from Argus, and gunning the engines. Ren and Jaune both deactivated their semblances and thudded to the ground, breathing hard and sweating. As the effects of Ren's power faded, Blake's numbed feelings came rolling back full-force, and she swiftly stepped away from Adam, a chill shooting up her spine.

She'd unintentionally put Qrow between them, but the huntsman just nodded his acknowledgement and shifted even closer to Adam, a silent signal that he would stand guard. Wilt dangled from his left hip, a sight so incongruous that Blake had to look away.

Nora was slapping Ren on the back with a wide grin, Jaune was offering the both of them a shaky thumbs-up, Yang was tousling Ruby's hair much to Ruby's chagrin, and Weiss—

Weiss was leaning against the wall and staring at Adam with a furrow between her brows. Blake swallowed. She might as well get this over with—

"Hey, Oscar," Ruby said, interrupting her thoughts while she ducked away from her sister and tried in vain to save her hair. "You looked kinda troubled earlier. What happened when the ship got hit?"

This time, Oscar got out of his chair and walked slowly into the hold, one hand coming up to clasp his opposite arm. The celebratory mood drained away as he entered, team JNR exchanging glances and then finding open spots along the wall to give Oscar the floor.

Oscar, if anything, looked even less thrilled now that all the attention was on him. Still, he powered through. "The thing is, it wasn't me that saved the ship."

"Was it Miss Calavera…?" Nora tried, probably hoping to give him a way out, but Oscar shook his head.

"Her eyes were damaged when we got hit. I…I really thought we were going to crash, but then Ozpin—he guided me through the landing."

Blake's eyes widened. She glanced back at Qrow, who looked equally surprised before his eyes narrowed. "Is he still here?"

Oscar shook his head. "He was gone the moment we hit the ground."

For a moment, silence reigned, then Yang frowned. "I can't say I'm super thrilled about that guy watching our every move even when he's not here."

"I don't think there's anything I can do to stop him," Oscar said miserably.

"Hey, hold on," Nora said. "All he did was help."

"Nora's right," said Jaune. "We should just take the wins where we can get them."

Everyone looked to Ruby, who nodded her agreement. "Yeah. Still, Oscar, you said he guided you—so it was you that landed the ship." She beamed at him. "Great job!"

Oscar blinked a few times, eyes starting to water, before he hastily rubbed at them and turned away. "Thanks."

Ruby's smile lingered for a moment until she turned to Blake, sobering. "You said you used the last question."

Just like that, all eyes fell on Blake. She shrank under the attention, but still tried to speak clearly. Ruby's tone wasn't accusing, just questioning. She probably figured Blake had a good reason to do it, and Blake wished she did, that her ask had not been entirely selfish.

"I did."

Shocked exclamations. Ruby bit her lip, looking down at the lamp. "Jinn," she tried, but nothing happened. The lamp was completely unresponsive. Blake felt her ears fold even lower. Ruby looked back up at her. "What was the question?"

To the best of her ability, Blake explained her question and Jinn's answer. In the silence that followed, she wished someone would say something, anything, to deflect the gazes weighing her down.

"We could've…I don't know, used it to figure out how to capture Salem, or hold her off indefinitely, or something," Jaune muttered.

"A way to banish the Grimm," Ren mused.

"Literally anything," Weiss finished. "Why, Blake?"

"I'm sorry, said Blake. "I know it was selfish and that I should've asked all of you first, but I didn't think I had the time. Adam probably thought I'd led him into an ambush, and when he gathers that much power, no amount of aura can protect you."

Yang bit her lip and looked away, right hand clenched into a fist.

Ruby looked between them, eyes widening, but it was Weiss who cut in first. "Wait, this is the same man who cut off Yang's arm?"

Blake nodded and Weiss instantly got to her feet and began to pace. "It was complicated enough when I discovered that you used to be in the White Fang, but now you're having us bring the worst of them to Atlas of all places after everything he's done to you? To us? Your plan had better be to get him locked up the instant we arrive."

The blood drained from Blake's face. She looked to Ren, Jaune, and Nora, who were all staring at her with varying degrees of shock. Weiss finally realized what she'd done and brought a hand to her mouth, a quiet apology slipping out as her fear and anger warred against guilt for revealing Blake's secret.

"You were in the White Fang?" Jaune asked.

"I was." She hugged herself. She'd thought she was done with this, but of course Adam would bring it all crashing back. "I couldn't agree with what we were doing anymore, so I left and came to Beacon. I haven't worked with them for a long time."

"Yeah, and the second she found out they were working with Torchwick, she threw herself into trying to stop them," Yang chimed in.

Jaune's gaze shifted to Blake once again, and she shrank under it. There was an old grief in his eyes. "You didn't know they were going to attack Beacon, right? You didn't know they'd cause that."

She shook her head as adamantly as she could. "No, I swear."

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I get it. I'm not about to blame you for something you couldn't control."

"Neither are we," added Ren, speaking for himself and for Nora.

A bit of hope had a small smile blooming on Blake's face, but it died when Qrow spoke. "That's great, kids, but he's still Adam Taurus." He flipped his scroll around so the rest of them could read the wanted poster pulled up on the screen. "I recognized him for a reason. He's at the top of Atlas's most wanted, and before Vale went to hell, he was at the top there, too. I bet he's topped Haven's since he tried to bomb their academy."

"He's a terrorist and a murderer," Weiss said firmly, stopping her pacing to look all of them in the eye but especially Ruby. "He's targeted my family and its business for years. Kidnapped friends. Assassinated partners. Destroyed factories. We can't keep him with us. I don't trust him."

"Can't blame you for that," muttered Qrow. "Jimmy's gonna have a fit."

"So he's White Fang?" asked Nora. "Like what Blake used to be?"

"He was the leader of the Vale branch when I left," Blake said, wanting to distance herself from him as much as possible. "I worked under him. I don't know exactly when, but he killed the previous high leader and took the position for himself before attacking Haven."

"The worst of the worst," Weiss summarized.

"Yeah, but Blake said he probably wasn't an enemy anymore," Nora pointed out.

"You did say that," Ren confirmed. "And that he has a grudge against Cinder."

"We're not working with him," Yang snarled. Ruby's eyes darted to her sister.

Nora threw up her hands. "Okay, so he's not the greatest guy, but if Salem really is unbeatable, then we need all the help we can get to hold her off, right? A semblance that can cut right through aura isn't something you see every day."

Yang flinched again. Nora hastily apologized, but Yang left for the cockpit without another word. A moment later, Oscar took her place, looking a little lost at being kicked out of his seat.

Nora's arms dropped, and she looked to Ruby. "I really didn't mean to upset her. Is she…?"

"We're all a little tense right now," Ruby said. "I think it'll be okay. Maybe." She bit her lip. "I should talk to her."

"Give her a minute, kiddo," Qrow advised. "Sometimes you need a little space to yourself to think."

After a beat, Ruby nodded.

Nora stood and walked over to the unconscious Adam, ignoring Jaune and Ren's weak protests. Qrow put a hand on his sword's hilt. "Hey, I don't think that's a good idea."

She bent over to peer at Adam. Ren was taut like a bowstring next to Jaune, but he didn't move to interfere as Nora looked him over. "He looks hungry."

"Hungry?" Blake repeated. That was hardly the first thing to come to mind for her.

"Yeah. Hungry." Something flickered in Nora's eyes but it was gone before Blake could make sense of it. "Anyway, what's with the blindfold?" She reached out, probably to see what lay underneath. "It's—"

Adam twitched, and then Blake was choking out a warning as one of his hands clamped around Nora's wrist, halting her fingers an inch away from his face. The entire hold of the manta devolved into a flurry of motion as weapons were raised and readied. Qrow's sword was the fastest, resting at Adam's throat, but Adam didn't even flinch.

"Don't touch me," he hissed.

Nora blinked. "Okay."

His face tilted slightly while he took in the sight of no fewer than seven different weapons pointed at him, gaze seeming to linger on Weiss and Blake. After a beat, though, he scoffed and shoved Nora's hand away. "What a warm welcome. I guess I should expect no less from the group protecting the Schnee heiress herself."

"Former heiress," Weiss bit out. She kept Myrtenaster leveled at Adam's chest even as Qrow pulled his own weapon back. "Just give me an excuse."

Threats wouldn't do anything to him, and sure enough, he just let his lips spread into a cocky smirk. "While weaponless on a ship full of huntsmen- and huntresses-in-training? Sorry, you'll have to bloody your hands without one. I'm sure it wouldn't be the first time, Schnee."

"Both of you, stop," Qrow said, stepping between them even though he had already stowed his own weapon. He looked down at Adam, eyes hard. "We're still deciding what to do with you, so maybe don't make things worse for yourself. And Weiss, you know as well as I do that nothing you say is going to get to him. Don't waste your breath."

Behind him, Ruby had lowered Crescent Rose—the scythe had been compacted down to its rifle form—and put a hand on Yang's forearm to get her to lower her weapons too. Yang, who had rushed from the cockpit at the first hint of trouble, resisted for several seconds before finally giving in.

The moment was over. Letting out a breath, Blake sheathed and stowed Gambol Shroud.

"I don't know what you youngsters are getting up to back there," called Maria from the cockpit, "but you don't want to miss this."

"I'll keep an eye on him," Qrow said with a jerk of his thumb at Adam. "She's right. It's not something you get to see every day."

Adam watched silently as Blake and her friends piled into the cockpit to presumably gape at Atlas for the first time. Then again, the Schnee had seen it all before, so she would probably just rub the kingdom's greatness in their faces. When they were crowded over there, he turned his attention to the old huntsman. Yang had mentioned an "Uncle Qrow" back in the forest, and this was the only man Adam had seen, so the two were likely one and the same.

He also had Wilt and Blush hanging from his hip. It made sense, Adam supposed, to strip him of his weapons and even restrain him. They had no real reason to trust him, and even Blake probably saw him as a mine ready to go off if any of them took a wrong step. A trained huntsman would be the most capable of fending him off if he did decide to attack.

Not that he felt up to it at the moment. Overextending his semblance had left him with what felt like the worst hangover of his life.

Qrow noticed him looking and spoke over a crackling voice coming from the radio. "You're not getting it back."

Adam spread his bound hands with a wry twist to his lips, then let them fall. The Schnee's voice drew his attention to the hold.

"That's…the Atlas air fleet," she said.

After a warning glance at Adam, Qrow stepped away to check what had them so quiet all of a sudden. Adam looked around the hold, but there wasn't anything nearby he could use to cut his restraints or even channel his semblance—at least, nothing he could get at without Qrow noticing. A wave of nausea had him closing his eyes, leaning back, and breathing deep until it passed.

The radio crackled again. This time, Adam could actually make out the words. "Please continue your approach to Atlas docking bay omega twelve. A security team will meet you there. Over."

"They're set up like they're expecting an attack," Qrow muttered.

"I've never seen our forces deployed so aggressively. If we land in a stolen ship, there's no way that security team will let us near Ironwood, especially if we appear to be smuggling a wanted criminal into the kingdom."

"Yeah, those billboards spouting orders aren't exactly encouraging," Yang said.

"We should put some distance between us and the fleet, at least," Ruby said. "Buy ourselves a bit of time."

"You don't have to tell me twice."

Apparently, the cockpit got a bit crowded for their discussion, because they slowly filtered back into the hold. Once again, Qrow took up guard duty. Blake was staying as far from him as the small ship allowed, Yang doing the same—though the latter, at least, seemed to be willing to look at him.

"What if we use him as a bargaining chip?" she suggested into the somber silence, hard lilac eyes fixed on him. "Like, hand him over in exchange for getting to see Ironwood."

A chuckle built in his throat. He let it fall from his lips, enjoying the way everyone shot him wary looks. "Try that, and I'll claim you're my allies. Blake already has a history with the White Fang. It won't take much digging for them to find it."

"There's no way that would work," Weiss sniffed. Adam's smile didn't waver. Qrow pinched the bridge of his nose.

"James was paranoid even before his own forces got turned against him. We don't need to invite trouble, especially with those ships in the air."

The conversation fell into an awkward lull. The blond boy Adam didn't know perked up, focusing on Weiss. "Wait, what about your sister?"

Weiss nodded, her scroll already in her hands. "My thoughts exactly. I'm sure she'll give us time to explain our situation."

More Schnees. His stomach rolled at the thought.

"Um, Weiss?" Oscar called from the cockpit. "Is that…?"

Weiss headed back over. Her grim "Yes" invited no further comment. In the quiet, everyone could hear the words being broadcast over all of Mantle in a voice that made Adam bristle: "A reminder: failure to cooperate with Atlas military personnel is a punishable offense. If your sector is under lockdown…"

Nora slouched. "Well, that's not great."

To make matters worse, the radio fired up again, and this time, the operator sounded annoyed to Blake's ears. "Manta Five-One, we've noticed a detour in your route. Head to docking bay omega twelve immediately. Do you copy, over?"

Blake noticed Ruby and Qrow exchange a look. There was a question in Ruby's eyes, an answer in Qrow's, and Ruby nodded, then turned to address the rest of them. "We're going to ditch the ship and use Mantle as cover while we figure out exactly what's going on."

Maria's voice came from the cockpit. "I have the perfect spot for us to visit. You children are going to love it."

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