Watts shared a silent glance at Ironwood and Roman before continuing. "It was never completed. It was bait."
Roman chuckled. "It takes a mastermind to know a mastermind."
Watts: "Hmph, funny considering you were with us once."
"Ah, tsk, tsk, Watts; I never was truly on your side. Just a simple double agent job. But now that my true colors have been revealed, I am now free to deal with you however I want." Roman said, aiming his cane at Watts.
Watts simply narrowed his eyes as he drew his revolver. "I think you and Ironwod will find that more difficult than expected."
Roman raised an eyebrow. "You sure about that."
Watts activated the rings in his hands and gained control of the arena, setting one half to the firescape and the other to the gravity platforms. Watts now stood on one of those platforms and faced Ironwood and Roman.
"I'll handle this one" Roman offered.
"No. We do this together" Ironwood insisted, pulling his pistol out.
Watts puled the hammer back on his gun. "Nineteen."
Roman then launched his cane's grappling hook to swing onto the far platform while Ironwood fired a gravity shot into the ground behind him propelling him forward. Watts attempted to fire a shot, but was surprised when the bullet ricocheted off of an invisible field of energy. Confused, Watts waved the rings in front of him, but nothing happened.
"You didn't think you were the only one who could master Atlas technology, did you?" asked a robotic voice behind Watts, and he turned to see Hayden approach, his hand turned into a projection beam cannon.
"This field projector inhibits the abilities of anyone caught within it." he continued, "Both Semblance and technology. You're powerless now."
Watts gritted his teeth as Ironwood and Roman walked over and stood next to Hayden.
"Like I said," Roman chuckled, "It takes a mastermind to thwart a mastermind."
The sections of the arena began to lower as Hayden lowered the shield for Ironwood to put cuffs on Watts. However, the second the shield went down, Watts swept his hand through the air, opening a piece of the floor beneath them and sending a geyser of lava straight up, burning Ironwood's human arm. Ironwood yelled in pain as he stumbled back and Watts attempted to run off in the confusion, but as he ran, he was tripped up as Roman's grappling hook wrapped around his feet and pulled him back.
"I see you still have some fight in you" Roman said, "Let's change that."
Walking up next to Watts, Roman pressed his boot into the doctor's back, pinning him to the ground as he took his cane and crushed the rings on Watts's hand.
Hayden then took the cuffs Ironwood had dropped and placed them on Watt's arms as Roman hauled him up by his jacket.
"I didn't expect someone like you to be so active, Hayden." Watts said, "Otherwise, I might have spent more time focusing on getting rid of you."
"Don't listen to what Pierce says of me." Hayden replied, his voice stern, "I am willing to do what it takes to save this world."
"Well," Ironwood said as he stood back up, his arm badly burned but he didn't seem too fazed by it, "That makes two of us."
…
As the evacuation were going on down in Mantle, and everyone did their best to hold of the Grimm, In an alley, Tyrian stands before Robyn, Anton, Clover and Qrow, all with their weapons drawn.
"Tyrian Callows, you're under arrest" Clover declared.
Tyrian begins laughing maniacally, and Qrow angrily runs forward and swings his sword. Tyrian blocks with his blades, but the impact knocks him into a wall. Qrow slashes at him again, but Tyrian ducks and attempts to kick Qrow's feet out from under him, only for Qrow to jump over his leg. Tyrian rushes forward to stab Qrow, who blocks with his sword and then slashes at him. Tyrian dodges acrobatically, standing on his hands, then turning over and leaping into the air to stab down at Qrow with both weapons, but Qrow once again blocks with the flat of his sword. Tyrian hops down, and Qrow swings his sword at him, missing due to Tyrian ducking down and propelling himself backward with his guns.
Tyrian begins slashing at Qrow, but Clover hooks one of the blades with his weapon and pulls his arm away, causing him to turn around just in time to catch one of Robyn's crossbow bolts just short of piercing between his eyes. He at first looks startled but then grins smugly and turns back to Qrow, who punches him directly in the right eye, sending him stumbling. Qrow then knees him in the gut, turns his sword in his hand, and slams the end of the hilt into Tyrian's chest, knocking him away. Qrow turns his sword back around in his grip, and Tyrian slides to a stop and growls angrily.
Jack raised his hammer and charged at Tyrian. Tyrian flips through the air before bringing his blades down towards Anton, who blocks him with the handle of his hammer. Anton then brought his head up, hitting Tyrian in the jaw and then kicked him in the chest, making him slide back. He looks over at Clover and Robyn, then nods at Qrow. Tyrian runs toward them while firing his guns at Qrow, who spins his sword to block the bullets. Tyrian leaps and slashes at Clover, who turns to the side to dodge before leaning backward to dodge a slash from Tyrian's tail. Tyrian slashes at him with his weapons, and Clover takes a step past him and leans back to go under Tyrian's attacks while grabbing the hook of his own weapon. As he moves behind Tyrian and straightens up, he maneuvers his pole and the hook to loop the fishing pole's wire around Tyrian's left arm and pulls on it. Qrow then leaps and slashes down at Tyrian, who blocks with his weapon on his right arm.
Qrow quickly pulls his sword away and punches Tyrian in the cheek, causing Tyrian to turn away. Tyrian puts his right hand on the ground seemingly to catch himself but then brings his feet up and uses his right hand to push himself up into the air. He pulls his left arm free of Kingfisher's line, turns upside down and kicks both Qrow and Clover in the head simultaneously. While the two recoil from his attack, Tyrian stabs his blades into the ground to catch himself and then pushes off, flying up through the air while Robyn aims her weapon at him.
He lands on a large pipe connected to a wall, and Robyn fires a bolt at him, only for him to swipe it away with his tail. He turns toward Robyn, but then gets knocked down from a hammer blow to the head from Anton. He quickly recovers and flips back to his feet.
Qrow begins slashing his sword at him, but Tyrian dodges his attacks by jumping, ducking, stepping aside, and finally leaning back away from an attempted stab. Qrow tosses his sword into the air, the sections of the blade splitting from each other, and Tyrian watches it. While Tyrian is distracted, Qrow kicks him in the back of the head and then catches his sword.
The kick sends Tyrian stumbling across the alley to slam into a wall. He glares at Qrow, his eyes glowing purple, then moves aside as Qrow attempts to kick him in the face. Low to the ground, Tyrian moves past Qrow, who is now holding his weapon backwards with the blade curved. They turn to face each other, and once again, Clover hooks Tyrian's tail with Kingfisher and pulls, dragging Tyrian backward and giving Qrow an opening to punch him in the cheek. Tyrian goes flying through the air but manages to land on his feet. He launches himself forward in an attempt to stab Qrow with his weapons, but Qrow blocks with his blade. Robyn fires two bolts, both of which ricochet off of pipes. Tyrian moves his head to dodge the first, but the second ricochets off of Qrow's weapon and strikes him in the chin, making his Aura flicker.
Tyrian falls back, rolls, and gets to his feet. Qrow jumps over and slashes at him, but Tyrian ducks under the first slash and jumps over the second. However, as Tyrian falls back down, Qrow repositions himself, kicks Tyrian in the gut, catches him on Harbinger's gun barrel and fires. As Tyrian falls back down again, Qrow punches him in the gut and then Anton charged in and drives his hammer in Tyrian's side, sending him toward Clover and Robyn.
While Tyrian slides back, Clover runs forward, deploying a Gravity Bolas. He tosses the bolas and slides between Tyrian's legs, while Tyrian attempts to slash him with his right arm. The bolas successfully binds his left arm to his side. Clover grips the top of his weapon's hook, and as Tyrian attempts to stab him, Clover pushes Tyrian's arm down with his left hand and uses his right hand to move the pole around behind Tyrian. As Tyrian attempts to pull back, his right arm becomes tangled in Kingfisher's wire, and Clover pulls the pole and holds the hook in place to restrict Tyrian's arm and press his tail against his back. Qrow and Anton takes the opportunity to punch Tyrian in the face.
Tyrian cries out in pain, then crouches, leans away from Clover, hops into the air and begins screaming. Anton and Qrow move away from him, and Clover loosens Kingfisher's cable on him and does the same, as Tyrian drops onto his back. Upon impact with the ground, the ends of the bolas disconnect from each other, and Tyrian spins frantically, swinging his legs through the air, to finish freeing himself from the bolas and Kingfisher's wire. He then gets to his feet, looking somewhat dizzy, and begins laughing maniacally.
Robyn fires another bolt, and he turns to catch it between his teeth. He turns back to Robyn with a smug grunt. There is a small noise, and the lines in the bolt begin flashing red, before the entire bolt glows red, bursts into flame, and explodes. Tyrian sways, and his Aura flickers and then finally breaks. With a dazed laugh, he collapses.
Clover turns and uses his communicator "This is Clover. Requesting prisoner transport. We have Tyrian Callows in custody".
Anton looked to Robyn. "I see you still have some fight left in you, M'lady."
Robyn twirled a dart in her fingers. "I've been building it up for the past nineteen years. Don't think I've forgotten what's happened."
Anton chuckled. "I wouldn't dream of it."
…
In Atlas Academy, Ironwood hears Clover's communicator transmission as he, Roman, and Hayden walk into the general's office, having recently dealt with Watts. The general's left arm is heavily bandaged and resting in a sling, and his right hand is holding Watts' bag. Ironwood lets out a relieved sigh and grins. However, when he looks ahead of him, his grin instantly fades, his eyes widen in shock and he drops Watts' bag on the floor.
Roman groaned in frustration. "Not again…"
Just outside the academy, transports of Atlas Academy students are arriving, and Winter and Khione are instructing them "All students are to remain indoors until further notice. Faculty and upperclassmen can provide gui-".
Winter's communicator makes a noise, and she answers it. Ironwood's voice comes through, and his tone is gravely serious "Schnee".
"Yes, sir?" Winter asked.
"Was anyone caught trying to enter the school grounds while I was away?" Ironwood asked.
Winter's eyes widen, and she turns to look at the school uncertain "N-no".
Ironwood speaks slowly "Are. You. Sure?".
"What do you mean?" Khione asked.
"Someone's gotten in." Ironwood said, "They can't get to Fria."
Winter's eyes widen more, and she and Khione sprint toward the school.
"Still afraid, I see" Cinder is standing in a hallway inside the academy, watching Winter through a window. The lights in the hall are red "Now show me where you've been hiding her".
…
A Manta was heading toward the City of Atlas with Ruby, Jaune, Nora, Ren, Hector, Julius, Katrina, Elm and Harriet aboard. Each of them looking confused by what was going on.
"I don't understand. Why would the general call us back without giving a reason?" Weiss asked.
"Especially with evacuations still going on in Mantle" Ren added.
"You don't have to understand orders, kids. You just have to follow them" Elm said, earning a quizzical look from Katrina. Following orders without knowing what was happening was something she didn't like.
"Civvy transports won't be stopping anytime soon. If the general says he needs us now, he needs us now" Harriet said.
"You all get to the general and find out what's happening. We'll bring Oscar and see you soon" Jaune said.
Sometime shortly after, Katrina, Team RWBY and JRHD, minus Roman, who is still there, arrives in Ironwood's office, along with the Ace Ops, minus Clover. Ironwood is sitting behind his desk with his back turned to them. Large military airships are visible through the window.
"General Ironwood" Harriet spoke and Ironwood turns his chair to face them.
"We have made a critical error" He places a queen chess piece made of black glass on his desk "The Black Queen was the symbol Salem showed us before we lost everything. Her way of telling us she was inside. That it was too late. We stopped Watts. We stopped Callows, but someone was here. They put this in my office to tell me that-" A look of realization crosses his face and he began panicking "What if Mantle was just a distraction? What if it was just to draw us away from the academy to, to-".
"Ironwood! Calm down!" Julius said, "Let's not jump to conclusions just yet."
"Sir. I-it's going to be okay. We've got Mantle on our side now, and-" Weiss began but Ironwood cut her off.
"How do we know that wasn't part of their plan?" He brings his hand down on his desk and stands up. Novus, Ruby and Weiss look at him with concern, while Blake and Yang look at him tensely "How do we know they didn't want us to bring people into Atlas by the thousands?".
"In trying to save everyone, we left ourselves most vulnerable" Vine said calmly, but there was a hint of worry in his tone.
"Salem has been one step ahead of us this entire time!" Ironwood angrily slams his fist down on his desk, denting it.
The impact bounces Watts' bag and the chess piece, and the latter falls over and rolls across the desk, emitting the characteristic noises of glass.
Ruby steps forward, staring at the chess piece "It's… glass" The Ace Ops look at her, uncertain of what she means "Black glass."
Julius immediately recognized it and growled. "Cinder."
"She's alive? And she's here?!" Yang said in both shock and worry.
Ironwood sighs "If Cinder's here, then, for all we know, Hazel's here, too!".
Blake walks forward a few steps "Sir, this isn't over yet. We're with you".
She places her hand to her chest and gives him an encouraging look. Ironwood looks at her and straightens up, his voice gaining an ominously serious tone "Are you with me?".
Blake's cat ears fold over, and Ironwood walks around to stand next to his desk where Watts' bag is, while Vine and Marrow look confused.
"Sir?" Vine asked.
Blake backs up to stand in line with her teammates again, her ears still folded over.
"How did Robyn know about the Global Communications Project?" Ironwood asked, but it sounded more like a demand.
The Ace Operatives look at Team RWBY. Blake and Yang look nervous. Yang looks to the side in thought for a moment, then looks at Ironwood.
"We told her" She said, Ironwood narrows his eyes at her "The night of the ambush".
"You did what?!" Elm demanded.
"We were trying to help" Yang said.
"By going behind our backs?" Marrow asked.
"I was a part of it too." Novus said, "She's my mother; I may not have seen her for years, but I trust her. My team supported me."
"That excuses nothing!" Harriet shouted.
"Robyn is on our side! She always has been" Yang argued.
"We didn't know that for sure" Ironwood said.
Weiss grips her head "None of this matters right now!".
"Loyalty always matters!" Ironwood shouts.
"That depends on what you're loyal to!" Julius argued, "I should know-"
Suddenly, red tentacles spring forth beside Ironwood, who yelps and moves away, drawing and aiming his white revolver at the Seer that has emerged from Watts' bag. Everyone else in the room steps backward with widened eyes. Ruby gasps, Yang brings her fists up and Blake's cat ears prick straight up in alarm, while Novus and Julius instinctively reached for their weapons. Hector deploys his arm blades.
The Seer rises up high in front of the desk, and Salem's voice comes from it "General Ironwood".
The Seer's tentacles tense and curl up, and it trembles, emitting a high-pitched screech as its head cracks. Ironwood watches in fear, backing up against a wall with his gun still aimed at the Grimm. The Seer withdraws its tentacles against itself, turns over, and drops to the floor, the red smoke inside of its head fading away. It bounces down the steps, stopping in front of Team RWBY, and black smoke pours from the crack, swirling into the air and forming an apparition of Salem.
Her voice echoes out from the apparition as it speaks "The brave Huntsmen and Huntresses bested Arthur Watts. Congratulations".
Hector, Weiss, Blake and Yang stare at her in fear. Blake's cat ears are flat against her head. Julius and Novus grit their teeth, their expressions showing pure anger. Ruby speaks up, showing no fear.
"We stopped Tyrian, too. And we'll stop Cinder, and anyone else you try to send here" Ruby steps forward as she speaks, and Blake's cat ears stand back up again.
"Dear girl, their goal was never victory. It was merely to set the stage" Salem said, with no hint of worry.
"For what?" Ironwood asked.
Salem turns her head to look at Ironwood and smiles "For me" She drifts over to Ironwood "Time isn't on your side, James. It's always been on mine" Ironwood watches her with wide, terrified eyes "The people of Atlas have suffered enough. Surrender the Staff and the Lamp to me, and they needn't suffer any further".
Julius cocked back the hammer on his revolver. "Bullshit."
Ironwood lowers his gun "That's… not going to happen".
Salem leans down to look him in the eyes, and shows him a soft and gentle-looking smile "Simply accept the futility of your situation…And this can all be over".
"We've seen what you're capable of. The lamp showed us" Salem's feigned smile disappears, and she straightens up. Ruby is staring confidently at her "It showed us everything" Salem turns her head to look at Ruby, and then the rest of her body turns as well "We've seen that you can't be killed, not normally. But we've also seen you fail, and we've seen you be injured." Salem stares at Ruby with narrowed eyes, though her hand instinctively reaches to her side from where the Slayer had blood punched her; a wound that never quite healed. She drifts across the floor to hover in front of Ruby "We don't have to kill you to stop you. And we will stop you. We know what it is you fear, and we will release him."
"She's right. If you think we are just going to roll over for you. Then you don't know us at all" Julius agreed, "I'm not a little boy anymore; don't expect me to go down easily."
Salem looked at them "Your mother said those words once".
Ruby loses her confident expression "My… mother?".
"They were wrong too" Salem said calmly.
She has no idea. Summer chuckled in Julius's head.
Ruby begins crying and quickly lowers her head and presses her hands to her eyes. She frantically wipes her tears away. Her silver eyes flicker a couple of times, and then she yelps as her eyes emit a brief flash. She whimpers, gripping her head and swaying. Salem watches as Ruby drops to her knees, sobbing and whimpering with her head in her hands. Yang hurries to Ruby's side and drops to her knees beside her, and Ruby leans over to rest her head on Yang's lap.
Ok, that's it Summer said, That bitch is going down.
Salem then turned to Julius. "And you, my dear child." She says as she places a hand on his cheek, only to recoil as Julius slapped it away.
"You're NOT my mother." Julius growled.
"But I still have power over you" Salem calmly replied. "Though I'm sure you already figured that out when you tried to open the barrier."
"What is he talking about?" Blake asked.
Julius's expression dropped as Salem chuckled. "He didn't tell you? Well, you see, I added a little…failsafe, to him. The more magic he uses, the more he becomes like me. He uses too much, then, well…"
Team RWBY looked between Salem and Julius in surprise while Salem chuckled, amused by their shock.
"Oh, and one last thing" Salem said, "My associate is also as determined as I am, and she is especially displeased with your first effort to break the barrier. So she has something else in mind for you."
As if on cue, a flash of blue lightning flashed around JRHD, surprising all of them.
"Julius!" Blake and Ruby called, but when the flash subsided, JRHD had disappeared.
Blake's cat ears folded back in shock as her eyes teared up.
Salem smirked, "Like I said, you never had the advantage." With that, she disappeared, leaving everyone else alone in the room.
"That's Salem?! That's who we're up against?!" Marrow asked in horror.
"And she's apparently on her way" Harriet added.
Elm shook her head "But we'd be alerted if any forces had approached the Kingdom. We have long-range proximity alarms all along the coast, and-".
Vine brings out his Scroll and checks something "They're offline. With all of the chaos, we didn't notice".
"Watts must have shut them down!" Marrow said.
Ironwood's voice catches their attention. His tone is very serious and lacking in emotion "Or they've already been destroyed".
Ironwood walks over to the window and stares outside.
"What? All of them?" Elm asked, but He does not answer.
"You said in your speech that Amity Tower was ready to launch. Was that true?" Blake asked, but Ironwood continues staring out the window with no response. Blake and Weiss look at each other, uncertain about the silence.
"No. You just said that... to lure out Watts" Yang said as she sits up and looks at Ironwood. He continues silently staring out the window with no emotion in his eyes.
"General Ironwood?" Weiss asked, growing more worried.
There is silence for a moment before he finally responded "I sent your sister to claim the power of the Winter Maiden".
Weiss gasps, and her eyes widen "What?".
"When I realized we'd been compromised, I knew we couldn't wait any longer. The Staff and the Lamp have to be locked away" Ironwood said as he slightly tightens his grip on his revolver.
Ruby sits up, wiping her eye "I thought… you said we could keep it".
Ironwood began to speak, anger slowly returning to his voice "Well, that was before you lied to me about the Lamp. Before you lied to us about Robyn, before Salem was right on our doorstep" As he speaks, he turns around to face them. He then starts walking forward to stand next to his desk again "Before Mantle was nearly destroyed, and myself and my army were left exhausted! Before I realized that we have no way of freeing the Doom Slayer!" He lashes out, hitting Watts' bag off of his desk. He takes a moment to calm down and sets his gun on the desk "The timeline has changed. And so we must change accordingly".
He picks up the queen chess piece as Harriet stands at attention "What are our orders, sir?".
Katrina stares at her sister in shock, her cat ears folded back. "You're not serious?!"
"We are going to take our plan for Amity Tower and apply it to the city of Atlas" Ironwood said as he crushes the chess piece in his hand.
Ruby jumps to her feet "What?!"
Ironwood drops the shattered glass from his hand "It was Oz's plan in a former life. But he didn't take it far enough. If we harness the power of the Staff, and raise ourselves high into the atmosphere, the city's artificial climate will keep citizens and food supplies unharmed. Always out of reach of whatever Salem may try to send our way."
Blake began to speak; her voice shakes slightly from emotion "But we're nowhere near finished evacuating everyone! You'd be leaving Mantle to die".
Ironwood responds with far less emotion "Yes… I would. We can't allow Salem to capture the Relics. This is our best chance at getting the Staff, the Lamp, and the Maiden as far away from her as possible" Ironwood said calmly.
Katrina was getting angrier. "I have four ears, and I STILL can't believe what I'm hearing."
"But we have an opportunity to reunite the world. If we launch the tower, we can all work together again. We could even call for help. If we can hold out long enough-" While Ruby speaks, Ironwood picks his gun back up, holsters it, and walks over to her.
"Sometimes, doing the right thing means making tough decisions" Ironwood said.
Blake glared at him "You're right. And I think the right thing to do would be to stand our ground".
"Me too" Yang agreed.
Weiss "Me too".
"Me too" Ruby looks confidently at Ironwood and then looks over her shoulder at Vine and Marrow. Vine's expression shows no emotion, and Marrow is sadly looking away. Surprised, she turns to look at Elm and Harriet, who also show no sign of siding with her.
Katrina, however stood with Ruby. "Me too. If there's one thing Julius taught me, it was to not give in…no matter the enemy."
Harriet tried to stay calm "We ran ourselves ragged trying to save Mantle tonight. We try that again against an even larger force-".
"But you're Huntsmen and Huntresses! You can't just back down from a fight!" Yang argued.
"You can't focus on one single fight while trying to win a war" Vine said calmly.
"What's the council going to say?" Weiss asked.
"Nothing. Once I declare Martial Law" Ironwood said.
Weiss looked at him distraught "No".
"What about Robyn?" Blake asked.
"Who exactly are you loyal to?" Elm asked coldly
"We're loyal to the people counting on us to save them!" Ruby snapped; she shouldn't need to have to explain this to them.
"We are saving who we can" Ruby turns and looks at Ironwood, who looks at her with no visible emotion in his eyes "And you're standing in our way".
Ruby, Weiss and Blake look upset, and Yang and Katrina glare daggers at him.. Suddenly, Ruby's Scroll flashes and vibrates.
It then lights up with a ping noise and emits Jaune's voice, causing Ruby to look at it "It's Jaune! We've got a serious problem!".
Ruby's eyes widen. She looks at Ironwood, who furrows his brows. Ruby gains a determined expression and reaches for her Scroll. Ironwood steps toward her, bringing his hand out from behind his back, and Ruby uses her Semblance to split into two separate blurs and quickly fly past Ironwood.
The blurs converge behind his desk and turn back into Ruby, who is holding her Scroll with the group communications chat open
"Ironwood's declaring Martial Law and abandoning Mantle! Salem is coming, and he's going to use the Staff to move Atlas. If we don't stop him, then Mantle's going to be des-".
Jaune is listening in an Atlas Academy hallway that has red lights on. Winter, Khione, and Penny are listening in the facility that the Winter Maiden Fria is held in. Qrow, Anton, and Robyn are listening aboard the Manta transporting Tyrian. There is a beep, and Ruby's call is cut off. The three glare at Clover who is sitting across from them. Clover looks surprised, and a bound and conscious Tyrian grins at everyone. The other three Maiden sisters listen in on the ground outside of the Academy, horrified looks on their faces.
"She's coming?!" Spring gasped.
"I'm more worried about what Ironwood's going to do." Sandra added.
Just then, a different call came over their scrolls, and Khione's voice ordered, "I have to protect the Winter Maiden, you three deal with Ironwood!"
Sandra gained a determined expression "We're on it!"
With that, the sisters ran off towards the Academy in search of Ironwood.
Ruby looks at her Scroll, shocked. The communication symbol has turned red with a white slash across it, and the screen displays the word locked "What? No!".
She stands up from behind the desk and looks at Ironwood, who is holding his Scroll up. He puts his Scroll away and heads for the door "I'm sorry it's come to this, but until Atlas and the Relics are safe, you're all under arrest".
Weiss and Blake glare at him, and Yang looks furious.
"Are you crazy?!" Katrina demanded.
"Who's side are you on?" Harriet yelled.
"We won't just let you take us" Ruby said.
Ironwood stops in front of the door, and the Ace-Ops move to stand between him and Team RWBY, staring at Ruby and her teammates. He leaves his office, the doors closing behind him.
In a hallway somewhere in Atlas Academy, Jaune is staring at his Scroll's screen "Ruby, are you there? Ruby!".
He frantically taps on the screen and stops when he hears Nora's voice in front of him "Did you... tell them?".
Jaune looks to his left into a dorm room. The walls are covered with black scorch marks, and multiple broken Atlesian Knights are on the floor "Oscar, where are you...?".
…
The flash dissipates around Team JRHD, and they find themselves in a sort of floating metal island high above Atlas. As they looked around, the architecture seemed far beyond that of Atlas…it seemed more of celestial origin.
"Uhhh, where did we go?" Hector asked.
Novus raised his gun, "Not a good place."
The others followed his gaze to see the Kahn Makyr floating nearby and readied their weapons; they knew that a fight was coming…Let me know what you think so far.