Chapter 57

"Atlas is taking away our lives!" A rioter shouted as the Atlesian Knights clamped handcuffs around his wrists. Ruby sighed.

"No, they aren't. You rioted. Rioting is against the law. If you kept it peaceful this wouldn't be a problem. Blame yourselves or Jacques Schnee if you want." She replied with another deep sigh.

"Atlas supports Jacques! You're supporting tyranny!"

"Yeah yeah. Take him away." The AK did so, taking the screaming man away to join his equally yelling fellows. Winter was nearby, directing the soldiers while Ilia was trying to calm the captured rioters.

Ruby pulled out her scroll and quickly dialled. "Jaune. How's the gate looking?"

"Hey, Ruby! We're alright out here. Had a lot of Sabyr's and Beowolves try to get in but we got here fast enough. Some injuries among the soldiers but nothing I couldn't fix."

"Good to hear. We're alright on this end. Only real damage was to property. A think a few electronics stores will be closed for a while."

"Damn. Oh well. Not much we can do. We'll see you soon."

"See you." She ended the call as Winter approached. "Winter?"

"We can handle it from here. You've been up all night so head back up and get some rest. The election is tomorrow night after all."

"You sure? You've been up just as long."

"I'll be done soon as well. Replacements are on their way. You can head back first, however."

"Alright… we'll talk again soon."

"Of course."

Ruby waved to Winter as she left, quickly joined by Ilia. "Why would Jacques do this?" Ruby wondered aloud.

"Who knows. He's always after profit, so maybe he thinks he'll earn more this way?" Ilia replied.

"But it'll hurt his chances in Mantle! Either he's given up on getting elected or he has another plan."

"Maybe…"

Ruby sighed once again. I just don't understand.

"You guys have been doing really well. Take tomorrow off. You'll need the energy for what comes next." Clover reported with his usual grin.

"A day off? Shouldn't we be on guard for the election?" Jaune asked. Ruby nodded along. We shouldn't take things too easy. Not with how things got with the riots.

"As I said, you'll need the energy. While it looks like Robyn will win, Jacques may still pull a victory. But it doesn't matter too much to us. Either way, the next few weeks are going to be tough, to say the least. No chance for a rest after the election, so take one now. We can handle the night itself. Alright?"

"Okay. Sounds good." Jaune agreed.

Ruby turned to Ironwood, who was stood beside Clover. "You should talk to her. She seems reasonable. If you tell her about Amity she could help. At least by making sure Mantle stops rioting."

"She's an unknown quantity and I wouldn't say that she likes us. I'll consider it, however." Ironwood replied, but Ruby could see in his eyes that he'd hold off for as long as possible.

Ugh. He's so focused on his plan that he isn't willing to adjust. We should ensure Mantle is ready to weather a siege, not put our heads in the snow and ignore their cries for help. Ruby had seen how bad it was getting in Mantle. The fact Penny went out every day to fight Grimm that had snuck into Mantle showed how badly their defences needed upgrading. I can't change his mind, so I'll just keep working with Penny.

It was all she could do.

The following night they split up to enjoy themselves. Jaune, Pyrrha, Oscar and Ilia went to the movies. Ilia had originally wanted to go with Ruby, but she decided to join the others so that Oscar wouldn't be the only extra wheel. "I have experience being a third wheel, so I don't really want Oscar to be stuck alone dealing with that." Is how she'd put it. Good for her. Ruby thought.

She was a very different kind of third wheel. Ren and Nora were arguing. It wasn't the first and wouldn't be the last. Ren wanted to keep training while Nora wanted to take the day off. Didn't they do this back the last time we had a day off? Ugh.

"Jinn said that to Ozpin! That means someone else could be able to beat her!"

"Yes! Exactly why we should still be training! We couldn't beat Tyrian without Qrow and we barely made it through Haven! We need to get better!"

"Of course we do, but if we don't rest we'll collapse! We can't train constantly or we'll just do more damage to ourselves!"

"Guys…" Ruby tried to intervene but was handily ignored.

"Look everyone agrees that we need this time off!"

"Yeah, so Jaune and Pyrrha can go… relax together! They aren't thinking ahead! We don't have time for relationships!"

"Oh really!? So is that why you keep ignoring me? Because we don't have time!?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"Oh of course you don't!"

"Guys… we're here." Ruby tried again.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh I don't know, maybe the fact that we have gone through so much but despite everything you keep ignoring my feelings?"

"I'm not ignoring anything. I'm just focused."

"Not ignoring!? I've been hinting for years! And I only got more obvious after Kuroyuri! We held hands!"

"That doesn't mean anything!"

"Right so… I'm gonna go meet up with Penny… have fun yelling at each other." Ruby scampered away a second later, trying desperately to tune out their arguing. They'd started drawing the attention of some of the crowd, who looked on in amusement once it turned into a lovers spat. Just kiss already. Ruby grumbled to herself.

It wasn't hard to find Penny, who was off to the side and watching the crowd. "Hey, Penny. How's it going?"

"Wonderful! Robyn has quite the crowd! How about you?"

"Uh, well…" Ruby sighed and pointed towards Ren and Nora, still deep into their debate.

"Oh. Did something happen?"

"Ren wants us to keep training every day, Nora wants to take the day off and rest. Oh, and there is all the romantic tension that's been building up since… well since they were children I guess. Nora's been into him and he's been ignoring her feelings."

"Really? He always seems to enjoy her presence. In fact, I have noticed his heart rate increase whenever he looks at her. I believe he reciprocates her feelings." Penny gave her a smile and a funny look.

"Hm?" Ruby cocked her head to the side, not quite understanding why Penny looked at her that way. Instead, she shrugged and continued. "Yeah well, he doesn't seem to want to accept that." Ruby sighed in exasperation. "Anyway, you here on your own?"

"Nope! Marrow is here as well. Shall we go behind the stage to where he is?"

"Sure." Ruby was eager to get a little further away from her arguing friends. They'd figure themselves out, right? Well, it's not like she knew how to help them anyway. Her experience amounted to failed crushes so far after all.

Penny led her through a curtain and into a clear space, where Joanna and Marrow were stood, glaring at each other. Marrow glanced over and groaned. "What's the pipsqueak doing here?"

"Meeting with my friend." Ruby replied.

"Well, we have a job to do so don't get in our way."

"A job huh?" Joanna asked with a smirk. "Well, we don't want you here so don't feel too bad about getting distracted."

"Tch." Marrow clicked his tongue in annoyance. "The General ordered us to be here so we will be. You should show some appreciation for our assistance."

"Oh really Wags?" A new voice interrupted as Robyn entered. "Defender. Reaper." She said, nodding to Penny and Ruby. "What brings you here? Thought it was just Wags and the bot on watch?"

"Penny is my friend. Plus I'm hoping you win."

"Oh really? Thought you'd prefer the Atlas favourite."

"Pft. Really?" Ruby rolled her eyes. "The only Schnee I'd support is Weiss, and she won't be running any time soon."

Robyn hummed and nodded. "Well, glad to have the support of someone who's quickly becoming a town favourite. Keep up the good work, Reaper."

"You too, Robyn." Ruby smiled and left the backstage area. "I'll be in the crowd Penny. We can hang out more after, right?"

"Of course!" Penny eagerly replied.

That was when Fiona took the stage. She seemed pretty popular as she talked about Robyn's ideals. The crowd loved her, that was for sure. Ruby hazarded a glance at Ren and Nora, only to find them still arguing. Uuuugh. Really? I'll deal with them later.

She took a spot near the front as Robyn came on stage. Ruby's eyes couldn't help but look at the screen behind her, and the ever-shrinking gap between Robyn and Jacques. He can't win. It's not possible. He's pissed off too many people in Mantle. His voting base is broken. If Atlas got to vote he'd be a shoo-in, but they can't.

It was an election for the councillor of Mantle after all, not Atlas.

Hm? Ruby looked around. Something felt… off. Ren and Nora were kissing all of a sudden, which was surprising but not what felt off. Penny was near a wall, watching. She sent Ruby a wave which Ruby returned. But then she saw it.

A tail.

It was metallic but familiar. It hadn't been metal before but it hadn't been cut in two back then either. The clock ticked down, striking the moment the election was decided. Ruby pushed past some of the crowd, rushing to get to that tail. Penny noticed her panic but it was too late.

The lights went out, and the slaughter began.

Screams tore through the dark building as Tyrian Callows set to work. The crowd rushed, trying to get away. The force of it all kept Ruby from making it very far. By the time she activated her Semblance to rush in, he'd moved.

Fiona screamed as he tore into her. Penny jumped onto the stage, pushing Robyn down to protect her with her floating array of swords. The lights came on a moment later. Ruby was surrounded by several people, all unconscious and bleeding. If they weren't dead they would be soon.

Ruby's mouth went dry. This… it happened on my watch… I could have stopped him! She cursed herself for her failure.

"What the hell happened?" The crowd chattered away, fear obvious in their voices.

"Hey! Isn't that Atlas's robot?" One shouted, pointing at Penny.

"She took down Fiona!" Another cried out. The crowd was getting angry. Ruby dashed up onto the stage, followed by Ren, Nora and Marrow.

She's bleeding! Ruby realised, placing her hands firmly against Fiona's side. Tyrian's blades had cut right through. Did she not have her Aura up? She had enough time… does that mean this was Tyrian's Semblance? Can he cut right through Aura? Why not use it back during the fight in Oniyuri then? Maybe it has restrictions on its use? But what are those!?

Ruby was so focused on her inner thoughts she missed the crowd charging them, forcing Marrow to shout "Stay!" to stop them. She only noticed when Robyn pushed her aside to take care of Fiona herself.

"Look out for poison." Ruby mumbled as she left, taking Penny with her.

"This wasn't our fault!" Marrow shouted as they escaped out the back door. Already sirens could be heard. "Shit!" He shouted, kicking a trash can over. "An attack! And then Jacques wins the bloody election! No wonder the alarms are going…"

Ruby grabbed Penny's hands and held them tight. "They might have thought that was you but we trust you, Penny. Now let's go and save them, like we always do."

"Right." Penny's voice was low and hurt, but when she looked into Ruby's eyes they held a resolute fire. Ruby smiled.

"Let's go then."

"Tyrian was here!?" Ironwood collapsed back into his seat. It was a day after the catastrophic election night, and things were getting even worse. "Damnit. Watts could already be here. What about Hazel? Or Cinder? They could all be here, right under my nose! How could I be so foolish!?"

"Sir." Clover stepped forward. "We upgraded Mantle's security but judging by the doctored footage… we were too late. He had already made a backdoor."

"As long as we can keep him out of Atlas!"

"But what about Mantle?" Ruby asked. "We can't leave them to his whims!"

"It's too late. We can't boot him out any time soon." Clover rebutted. "He made Mantle's original system, he's better than anyone we have on staff."

"Even Pietro?"

"Pietro is far from the level of coder that Watts is. Pietro has always been better at building mechanical marvels than coding them. It's what would have made them a perfect team really." Ironwood answered.

"Then what are we going to do?" Ruby folded her arms.

"We'll- Clover?" Ironwood was cut off by a loud beep from Clover's scroll. Clover sighed.

"One of our Amity shipments has been robbed. By Robyn and her Happy Huntresses." The leader of the Ace-Ops almost scowled, but quickly morphed it back into a neutral expression.

"Damn her! Ace-Ops! JNPR! Ruby! Find her and stop her! Now!" Ironwood demanded, his eyes were bloodshot.

"Yes Sir!" The Ace-Ops and Ren called out, saluting.

"R-ren?" Nora asked, worried.

What the hell is going on anymore? Ruby thought as everyone began to depart. I… I need to talk to Robyn. She can't just steal these resources! Ironwood won't trust her to help, but I think I can. Mantle needs us and we need Mantle. Ironwood is too focused on Atlas and Amity, so I need to step up.

I'll get her on our side. I have to.

A/N: So, Jacques been elected. Election night is basically the same, with some slight differences. Without Yang and Blake, the argument between Ren and Nora takes a bit longer to get around to the main crux, but still, it devolves into a relationship argument. Poor them. Tyrian has his fun and everyone get sent out to hunt down Robyn, who Ruby decides to try and ally with. Fun times! Sadly knowing Watts is around doesn't help as much when he's already in. He's too skilled to be knocked out of the system any time soon. Not permanently at least. If the gang had arrived earlier, maybe they could have kept Watts out. Or if Ironwood cared about Mantle enough to actually try and keep their security up to snuff. Ah well.

I hope you all enjoyed and I'll see you next time!